6000 Velocity Points With Midas Car Service

The Midas promo is back and almost as good as before.  I got 10,000 points 2 years ago and my car is so sparingly used, it doesn’t really need another one or I would go for this.  6000 points is still pretty good for something most car owners do at least once a year.  This is a good one to combine with the free 1000 points new member bonus if you aren’t already a member.

DETAILS

*From 14 March 2017 to 21 April 2017, Velocity members can earn a bonus 6,000 Points on all vehicle services at Midas*! From 22nd April 2017, Velocity members will revert to the base earn 2 Points per $1 spent on all vehicle maintenance, maintenance services and Manufacturers Logbook Services. Service definitions are found at midas.com.au/car-service and midas.com.au/logbook-service.

The following additional maintenance service items are eligible for Velocity Points earn if deemed to be required and are additional to the service package: Brake fluid flush, Coolant system flush, Power steering flush, Transmission flush.

The following repair items are not eligible for Velocity Points earn: Brake parts, Exhaust parts, Drivetrain parts, Engine parts, Body parts, Suspension parts, Electrical parts, Climate control parts, Steering parts, Tyres and Non-related service labour.

Velocity members can book an eligible service by calling 13 MIDAS (64 32), booking online at midas.com.au or in any Midas Service Centre. Velocity Points will be loaded within 7 days of the completed service.

To earn and redeem Velocity Points, you must be a Velocity member. Velocity membership and Points earn are subject to the Member Terms and Conditions available at velocityfrequentflyer.com as amended from time to time.

Aussies: Qantas & Virgin Both Have Transfer Promos

These promos come up several times a year so no need to rush and transfer your points.  Best to wait until you are within a few months of booking an award to avoid being caught out by devaluations.

First up: Qantas is emailing members who have previously transferred credit card points with a tiered bonus promo.  Few people will be able to hit the 30% tier so I am calling this a 15% bonus for all practical purposes.  The link emailed to me is tied to my account so keep an eye out for it.  You may want to transfer a nominal amount of credit card points to keep you in the loop for future promos.

Not to be outdone, Virgin’s Velocity has a more accessible promo with Flybuys that anyone can do if you have linked your Flybuys and Virgin accounts. 

This promo was a real nice earner for me last year as I got lots of Flybuys points from maximizing shopping promos, then used a promo like this to get a 15% bonus!

Avianca’s New Buy Lifemiles Promo Through 28 Feb

Avianca has periodic promos throughout the year so only take advantage of them when you will be redeeming them within a few months.  Lifemiles can be very valuable to eco-tourists visiting Central and South America as it gives you access to all the birding hotspots such as Napo Wildlife Centre, Galapagos, many places in Colombia & Peru and more!

Only 3000 Lifemiles for Avianca’s subsidiary Aerogal from Quito to Coca!

Here’s the details of the current promo:

    • For LifeMiles members that have Colombia, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Panama, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, Brazil, Argentina, Chile or Venezuela as their country of residence in their Member’s profile the bonus percentage applies as follows: for purchases from 1,000 – 10,000 LifeMiles receive 2×1, for purchases from 11,000 –40,000 LifeMiles receive 2×1 + 15% additional miles, for purchases from 41,000 – 200,000 receive 2×1 + 25% additional miles.
    • For LifeMiles members that have any other country as their country of residence in their Member´s profile the bonus percentage applies as follows: The bonus percentage apply as follows: for purchases from 1,000 – 50,000 LifeMiles receive 2×1, for purchases from 51,000 – 100,000 LifeMiles receive 2×1 + 15% additional miles, for purchases from 101,000 – 200,000 receive 2×1 + 25% additional miles.
    • The bonuses are calculated based on the miles purchased per individual transaction without taking into account the 2×1 bonus.
    • The miles must be purchased in multiples of 1,000.
    • The minimum miles to purchase per transaction is 1,000 LifeMiles.
    • The maximum miles to purchase per transaction during this promotion to receive the bonus showed in the table above is 200,000 LifeMiles if the Member has not purchased miles in 2017 or 200,000 LifeMiles minus the miles previously purchased by the Member in 2017.
    • The Member may purchase miles outside of the limits showed in the table above but in such case the transactions will be processed but no bonuses will be granted.
    • The maximum amount of miles to receive by a member per calendar year outside of this promotion is 200,000 LifeMiles (including miles purchased and bonuses received). If the member surpasses the limit, through purchases made during this promotion and other purchases in 2017, taking into account the bonuses received for those purchases, he or she will not be able to purchase any more miles until the next calendar year.
    • Each package of 1,000 LifeMiles costs USD $33.00 without applicable taxes and USD $40.26* including applicable taxes according to correspondence country registered in the LifeMiles database**
    • Only form of payment through Avianca´s Call Center and LifeMiles.com: credit card or international debit card. Cash payments are only allowed at Avianca´s Information Centers. Other Conditions: The receipt of the transaction will reflect the total number of miles accrued to the member´s account, including the bonus miles and the total charge for the transaction.
    • This promotion applies for miles purchases made between February 15th and February 28th, 2017 (between 00.00-23.59 GMT -6, El Salvador).
    • The miles purchased and earned with this promotion do not apply to achieve or maintain the Elite status.
    • The purchase of miles is not reversible or refundable. The purchase of miles is an immediate execution contract. Once the payment is made, the miles will be accrued immediately on the members account. As of that moment the miles can be used according to the terms and conditions of the LifeMiles Program. For these reasons the purchase of miles is a contract that cannot be resolved and retraction or similar rights according to applicable law are not applicable.
    • Miles are not endorsable.
    • Miles purchase is available through Avianca´s Call Centers, LifeMiles.com and Avianca Information Centers. For residents of Curacao it is only available through LifeMiles.com and Avianca´s Call Centers. For residents of Venezuela, it is only available through LifeMiles.com.
    • Does not apply to the Flexible Redemption (miles + money) during the payment process of air ticket redemption.
    • Miles purchased, once accrued, can be redeemed in accordance with the conditions specified in the LifeMiles Program Terms and Conditions and the portfolio of products and services available for redemption.
    • LifeMiles Terms and Conditions apply. LifeMiles is a trademark of LifeMiles B.V.

*For residents in Colombia: the values are settled based on Colombia´s exchange rate on the date of the transaction. For residents in Peru each package of 1,000 miles has a cost of USD 38,94 or S/.128.23 including taxes. Prices in Nuevos Soles reflect the reference exchange rate to February 10th 2017: S/. 3.293 Per 1 USD dollar. Final prices in Nuevos Soles will be determined bases on the exchange rate of the date of the transaction. For residents in Costa Rica the values are settled based on the exchange rate as provided by IATA. For the rest of the countries the values are settled based on the exchange rate of the date of the transaction.
**The price can be lower depending of the correspondence country entered on the Member´s profile in their LifeMiles account.

 

Scottevest’s 16th Anniversary Sale – Save 40% Through 6 Feb

Scottevest has some huge bargains on some of their most popular products.  You can save 40% through 6 Feb by using coupon code SEV16.

scottevest sale feb

For tropical birding, I recommend the Featherweight vest (Shown below) or the Hunting vest which comes in a nice olive shade.scottevest sale feb2

They have some nice women’s styles for city traveling on sale this time as well.  See my more detailed review on Scottevest.  With more and more airlines restricting carry on bags, I find them invaluable to get those heavy birding field guides, laptop, camera lens past the boarding gates.

It’s also a good idea to keep your valuables like your passport, credit cards, SD cards, cash in the inner pocket and keep it on during the flight.  If there is an emergency evacuation, you will be wearing your valuables and can disembark safely without losing anything essential!

10,000 Flying Blue Bonus Miles With Hotel Stay

This is one of those rare opportunities where even booking an eco-lodge can earn you a huge miles bonus!  Flying Blue, the miles program for Air France, KLM, Kenya Airways & more have teamed up with Pointshound to offer 10,000 bonus miles for a 2 night hotel stay booked before 31 Dec!  The stay can be after that date but you must book and pay on a credit card before then.  Some eco-lodges can be found here or you can try smaller independent hotels in cities where birding is easily accessible.  I have a few 2 night stays coming up in Uganda & Zambia next year so I will be taking advantage of this promo.

For a limited time, earn 10,000 Award Miles as a bonus for your first 2-night stay! That’s on top of the Miles you earn for each night of your stay… Make your booking via the special PointsHound for Flying Blue website before 31 December 2016. It’s our best deal yet!

  • Choose the ‘Earn Miles’ option and pay with your credit card
  • Make your first booking for 2 consecutive nights before 31 December 2016
  • Earn Award Miles every night you stay, plus an extra 10,000 Award Miles as a bonus!
  • Earn Award Miles towards your next short-haul flight!

Full details, T&Cs

Flying Blue is one of my recommended programs and is very useful if you are traveling to Africa as Kenya Airways is one of the core members.  They also run some excellent promos every month where they reduce the required mileage on specified awards so if you are lucky enough to be traveling to one of their featured destinations you can save a bundle!

 

15% Bonus When You Transfer Partner Points to Velocity

Traditionally Virgin Velocity has been running a 15% bonus promo every November and May and thankfully this year has been no exception!  I always plan my transfers to take place during a promo like this to maximize the value I get from my credit card and supermarket points.  The promo ends 30 November but I wouldn’t cut it too close, I like to have all my transfers done at least 3 days ahead of time.

Full details and T&C’s

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Please note that while NAB has Velocity branded credit cards they are not included in the promo.  This may give you an idea of which banks offer products to help you grow your Velocity point balance.

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Velocity’s latest partner – Flybuys is also part of the promo so you can really get great value for those Flybuys points that come with your weekly grocery shopping!va-nov4

25% Bonus – Hotel Point Transfers To United MileagePlus

This promo comes around pretty much every year and while not earth-shaking, it’s a good way to get rid of orphaned hotel points you can’t use.  I got rid of 2000 unusable Club Carlson points but couldn’t transfer my 2000-ish odd Hilton points because their minimum transfer is 10,000 points.

You need to register for the promo, then go to your hotel account and initiate the transfer.

ua-25-hotels

This is a good opportunity for people who have lots of Marriott points (from credit cards?) but don’t need a hotel stay or want to do one of the travel packages.  Since I am not up on luxury hotels, I will refer you to Loyalty Lobby for a better explanation.

Expedia Coupon Deal – $50 Off $200 Booking – Today Only & Works On Prepaid Eco-lodges

This is a great deal for eco-tourists as many lodges can be booked via Expedia and it gives you a chance to save some money.  I would be using this deal myself for next year’s Africa trip if the dates had aligned.  It’s only valid for stays between October 11, 2016 and January 31, 2017 (inclusive).

See full T&C’s on their page.

Here’s an example of a lodge I have my eye on for Livingstone, Zambia (near Victoria Falls & Mosi-oa-Tunya NP).

expedia1

The room MUST be pre-paid to use this promo.  Hotels where you pay on arrival can’t accept coupon codes.  This lodge does require pre-payment and the room rate BEFORE taxes is over $100 and I have selected 2 nights on random dates to show the promo.expedia1-5

And here you can see the $50 taken off the total!  I hope they do this promo again next year so I can use it for my actual dates!expedia2

So if you will be traveling before 31 Jan 2017, make use of this deal but hurry!  You only have until midnight USA PDT!

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

Hotel Offer: $50 off on select hotels 

Coupon Code: AUTUMN50

Qualifying Bookings: This coupon code discount applies only to qualifying stand-alone hotel bookings (not a hotel booking in combination with any other product or offering such as flight + hotel or flight + hotel + car) made online at www.expedia.com that are prepaid at the time of booking (subject to the restrictions set out in the Terms and Conditions below). 

Coupon code value: $50 USD off.

Minimum Spend: $200 USD (minimum spend is the price of the travel reservation excluding any taxes, fees or additional costs). This spend must take place in one transaction.

Redemption Period: 12:01am PDT, to 11:59pm PDT, October 11, 2016.

Travel Period: The travel dates must be between October 11, 2016 and January 31, 2017 (inclusive).

It’s Back: Convert Starpoints & Earn 20% Bonus Miles From August 1 – September 14, 2016

I’m not sure about the USA but this promo is very popular with Aussies and I have been watching for it since last month!  We can collect Amex Membership Rewards and transfer them to SPG at a 2MR = 1 SPG ratio, then transfer them onwards to AAdvantage to get award tickets which in most cases have no fuel surcharges.

40,000 Australian Amex MR = 20,000 SPG

20,000 SPG = 25,000 American AAdvantage miles

SPG AA 2016

I got a lot of free AA miles last year which helped me book the award tickets in J class from Windhoek to Brisbane for next year’s trip!  Starwood will be merging into Marriott later this year so I doubt this promo will be back next year so take AAdvantage of it while you have the chance!