Tag Archives: promos

Promos Galore From US Airways Dividend Miles

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It’s just one promo after another this month with US Airways Dividend Miles!  Some of them are targeted and some are open to all.  Let’s start with the one that has the best value to members world wide.

SHARE MILES 100% BONUS

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  • Your account must be more than 12 days old.  If you don’t have a USDM account get one now!
  • You can share from your account to someone else’s and then that person can share back to you.  Example You share 50,000 to your spouse.  They get 100,000 miles for $567.50.  Then they share 50,000 miles back to you.  Spouse now has 50,000 miles and you have 100,000 miles.
  • You can share between 3 accounts to even up the bonus.  Example:  You share 50,000 miles to your child’s account.  You now have 0 miles, child has 100,000 miles.  Child shares 50,000 back to you and 50,000 to your spouse.  Child now has 0 miles and you & spouse will have 100,000 miles.
  • Remember, each time a sharing transaction takes place, it costs $567.50 to generate a new batch of 50,000 miles.
  • Transactions are processed by points.com so you don’t get category bonuses based on airline purchases.

Get up to a 100% bonus on all your fall flights

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This one will appeal to genuine frequent fliers as you earn bonus points on flights.  Interestingly enough, they carried over the sports theme from our dearly departed Grand Slam promo which got a lot of us lots of cheap miles between 2008-2011!  If you are interested in this promo, be sure to register first.

The first one is tempting to me, the second one didn’t interest me at all.  But the 3rd one is what I found irresistible to the point where I am scrambling to bring forward a trip to India and Sri Lanka.

REBATE ON AWARDS FOR US AIRWAYS MASTERCARD HOLDERS

If you have the Barclay’s US Airways Dividend Miles Mastercard, you may have an offer in your email.  According to reports on FlyerTalk, they vary from 10-50% but no one knows the criteria for who gets what.  A 30,000 discount off an award is basically a free ticket from Brisbane to one of the Pacific Islands in business class (if you can find it) or at least economy which costs 25,000 miles and easier to get.

T&C’s

¹ Offer is valid for select US Airways Dividend Miles MasterCard cardmembers and is not transferable. You will receive 25% of all miles redeemed during the promotional period back in your Dividend Miles account, for a maximum bonus of 30,000 bonus miles. You must redeem a minimum of 20,000 miles for award travel between October 1, 2013 and November 30, 2013 for travel completed before March 31, 2014. Award travel on US Airways, US Airways Express and any other partner airlines qualify for bonus. Miles used for mileage upgrades also qualify. If you do not redeem at least 20,000 miles you will not be eligible for this offer. Miles must be redeemed from eligible primary cardmember’s Dividend Miles account in order to receive bonus. Your US Airways Dividend Miles MasterCard account must be in good standing. Miles used during periods when your account is delinquent, your balance exceeds your credit line or your account is otherwise not in good standing as defined in your Credit Card Cardmember Agreement do not qualify for this offer. Your 25% miles back award will appear on your Dividend Miles account 3-4 weeks after travel has been completed. Offer expires November 30, 2013. Travel must be completed before March 31, 2014. Bonus miles do not count towards Preferred status.

MasterCard is a registered trademark of MasterCard Incorporated.

Are you planning to take advantage of these promos?  Have a question?  Ask in the comments!

Earn 1,000s Of Extra Miles Before October 4th‏

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This deal was emailed to me a couple days ago and I forgot about it.  I was reminded because the points I earned from our trip last month (bookings at eco-lodges) showed up in my United account.

The promo is pretty self explanatory, if you use my link we both get 1000 extra miles in our accounts.  Pointshound no longer partners with United but they do have American Airlines which is also a great program and several others.  Once you are a member, you also get your own referral link.

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1,000 Miles For You + 1,000 Miles For Friends

Did you know you can earn points and miles on PointsHound just by inviting friends?

From now until October 4th, invite a friend, and you BOTH earn an ADDITIONAL 1,000 points or miles after your friend’s first hotel booking!

Inviting is easy.  Email, text, facebook, or tweet your referral link to your friends.  After your friend travels, you each get 1,000 miles or points from your favorite frequent flyer program!
Referral link: http://www.pointshound.com/pgrqmj

Top referrers have already earned over 100,000 bonus miles!

Turn Two Dines Into 3,000 United Miles

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This was emailed to me yesterday, nice little bonus if you like to eat out!   Sorry I can’t give the link as it is personal to me but check your emails for a similar offer!

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Terms and conditions:
*This bonus offer is open to new MileagePlus Dining members or existing members without a dining profile at the time of registration. A dining profile includes creating a web login and opting in and remaining opted in to receive emails from MileagePlus Dining with a valid, deliverable email address. To qualify, your profile must originate through one of the links on this page. You must register by October 31, 2013 to qualify for this bonus. You must continue to satisfy other Online and/or VIP Member level criteria to earn this bonus.

To earn this bonus, you must spend at least $40 (including tax and tip) in one dine at a participating restaurant, bar or club within 40 days of registering for the bonus, but no later than October 31, 2013. You must also complete your post-dine review within 30 days of your dine. Please note that activity that occurred prior to registration will not be eligible for this bonus. In addition, the dine must occur during a valid reward period and be paid for with a credit or debit card registered in MileagePlus Dining. Member may earn the 3,000 Reasons to Dine Bonus up to two times for a total reward amount of 3,000 bonus miles (consisting of two $40 dines) per member. Offer is not combinable with other MileagePlus Dining bonuses. Please allow 6-8 weeks from the date of your qualifying dine for any bonus miles to post to your MileagePlus® account. All account inquiries related to this bonus must be received by December 31, 2013.

Please note that some restaurants offer rewards only on certain days of the week or up to a maximum spending amount per month. For complete program Terms and Conditions, guidelines and restrictions, and the latest rewards calendar, visit united.com/dining. Other limitations may apply.

Advanced registration is required. Please note that activity that occurred prior to registration will not be eligible for this bonus. Other terms and conditions apply. See Web site for details.

Miles accrued, awards, and benefits issued are subject to change and are subject to the rules of the United MileagePlus program, including without limitation the Premier® program (the “MileagePlus Program”), which are expressly incorporated herein. Please allow 6-8 weeks after completed qualifying activity for miles to post to your account. United may change the MileagePlus Program including, but not limited to, rules, regulations, travel awards and special offers or terminate the MileagePlus Program at any time and without notice. United and its subsidiaries, affiliates and agents are not responsible for any products or services of other participating companies and partners. Taxes and fees related to award travel are the responsibility of the member. Bonus award miles, award miles and any other miles earned through non-flight activity do not count toward qualification for Premier status unless expressly stated otherwise. The accumulation of mileage or Premier status or any other status does not entitle members to any vested rights with respect to the MileagePlus Program. All calculations made in connection with the MileagePlus Program, including without limitation with respect to the accumulation of mileage and the satisfaction of the qualification requirements for Premier status, will be made by United Airlines and MileagePlus in their discretion and such calculations will be considered final. Information in this communication that relates to the MileagePlus Program does not purport to be complete or comprehensive and may not include all of the information that a member may believe is important, and is qualified in its entirety by reference to all of the information on the united.com website and the MileagePlus Program rules. United and MileagePlus are registered service marks. For complete details about the MileagePlus Program, go to united.com.

See additional MileagePlus terms and conditions.

 

Avianca-Taca Lifemiles Bonus Promo Back 1-31 August

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See my review of LifeMiles to learn how to best use this program.

Buy miles and get twice as much!

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At LifeMiles we give you more because we want you to live your miles to the fullest. Therefore, until August 30th, 2013, for each package of 1,000 miles you buy, we will give you a bonus of 100 % more that can be redeemed to fly to more than 1.300 destinations around the world with Avianca, AeroGal or Star Alliance member airlines. Also, at LifeMiles.com we offer you the redemption platforms “Hotels Around the World” and “Hilton HHonors™” for you to enjoy your miles at more than 100.000 hotels in 90 countries.

And there are many more ways to enjoy your miles! Visit EarnandEnjoy.com to discover our vast air and commercial network and everything you can do with your LifeMiles.

You can access this promotion through our Call Center, LifeMiles.com or at Avianca’s Information Centers.

Terms and Conditions

  • This promotion is available through Avianca Call Centers, LifeMiles.com and Avianca Information Centers, except Colombia where is available only through the Call Center and LifeMiles.com.
  • This promotion is available between August 1st, and August 30th, 2013, as the last date of purchase.
  • Maximum miles to buy per transaction: LM75,000.
  • Minimum of miles to buy per transaction: LM1,000.
  • Maximum miles to buy during a calendar year: LM150,000.
  • Miles must be purchased in multiples of 1,000.
  • Maximum number of transactions: 1 transaction.
  • At LifeMiles.com, the purchase can only be done through Earn/Buy LifeMiles. Does not apply to the Flexible Redemption (miles + money) during the payment process of air ticket redemption.
  • The amount for purchase of miles is not refundable.
  • Each package of 1,000 miles  costs USD 35, 40, including all taxes applicable to each country *.
  • For Venezuela residents: each package of 1,000 miles costs USD 50,oo plus local taxes of 12% IVA, for a total cost of USD 56,oo. The values are settled at the current exchange rate to Bolivares Fuertes.
  • Form of payment through Call Center and LifeMiles.com: International credit or debit card. Cash payments are only allowed at Avianca Information Centers.
  • The cost per block of 1,000 miles may vary according to the country or channel of purchase.

Other conditions

  • Applies only to members enrolled in the program prior to August 1st, 2013.
  • The miles purchase transaction receipt will show the total of miles credited to the customer’s account, including bonus, and the total amount charged for the transaction.
  • The miles bought and earned with this promotion do not apply to achieve Elite status
  • The amount paid for the miles’ purchase is not refundable.
  • The miles are not endorsable.
  • 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.

* The price may be lower depending on the country of residence registered in the members account in the database.

June Special – 500 Extra United MileagePlus Miles From PointsHound (Yes, Eco-Lodges Too)!

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I’ve blogged about Pointshound before as an excellent way to earn points for booking certain eco-lodges.  This is also a great way to maximize your normal hotel bookings too if you aren’t loyal to any particular chain and don’t care about getting status.  If you have any bookings coming up, now is a great time to book them as you will get a bonus of 500 United (or airline of your choice) miles!  If you aren’t already a member, please use my referral link to join as you and I both get 250 bonus points.  After that you will get your own referral link to pass on to your friends and family.

Pointshound partners

Here is a sample of a Costa Rican eco-lodge you can book with PointsHound.

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And how about 2000 United miles for 2 nights at this wonderful eco-lodge in Daintree, Australia?

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Or maybe a luxury safari camp in Kenya?

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When Should You Use A Promo To Buy Miles & Points?

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The holy grail is free travel by manipulating your spending or business travel paid for by your employer in such a way that you get free miles and points for your personal use.  If you are a business traveler, you are probably already doing this so this post will be more useful to non-frequent travelers who want to travel someplace they otherwise wouldn’t be able to afford to go.  Many of the places I have been writing about for eco-travel such as Brazil, Peru, Australia, India, the Cook Islands would be only a distant dream if not for miles and points.

Some non-frequently flying people will have better opportunities than others.  Currently people in the USA are the luckiest with all the credit card sign up bonuses and manufactured spending (using a miles/points credit card to buy gift cards that can be liquidated or used to pay the same credit card’s bill).  I have some very basic guides on this but my style is more “teaching you how to fish” rather than spoon-feeding so you need to be able to take the basics and apply them yourself and be proactive about seeking out the best sign-up bonuses.  These can change daily so always check around before getting a new credit card.  Credit card sign-up bonuses are the closest thing to free miles if you use the cards only for things you have to buy anyway and pay the bills off each month.  I suppose Facebook contests and sweepstakes would be true FREE miles but the odds of winning those are so slim.  It’s worth a try if you are active on Facebook.

Some promos such as the Daily Getaways are directed at Americans only and recent reports show that non-US credit cards have been rejected.  Last year, I was able to buy a package from Daily Getaways with an Aussie Amex but haven’t tried yet this year.  Other promos such as the 100% bonus miles when you buy miles are available to anyone.  US Airways and Avianca-Taca are famous for this type of promo.  Then there are shopping promos where you use an airline’s shopping portal to get miles or do a certain number of transactions with partners to get bonus miles.  The US Airways Grand Slam was the best by far of this sort of promo but hasn’t been seen since Sept 2011 and won’t be back because they are merging with American Airlines later this year.  2008-2011 were the golden years for people who wanted to get LOTS of cheap miles with partners if they weren’t true FREQUENT fliers.  My husband and I still have a couple trips left for next year we earned with Grand Slam from previous years.

The thing with promos are that in most cases, you aren’t getting FREE miles/points anymore.  You are paying for them at a reduced rate.  Take Daily Getaways for example.  Next week, there are point purchases available for Best Western, Choice and IHG Priority Club.

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The following week, IHG Priority Club and Wyndham points are on offer.

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So how do you know if they represent a good deal for you?

You need to have a good idea of what your future travel plans are.  What airlines can you use, what hotel chains are at the cities you will visit or transit?

Compare the cost of buying points through this promo vs other options.  Can you use a discount code (Expedia, Hotels.com) to book any hotel, not just a chain hotel for a better price?  Can you earn airline miles for your hotel booking via Pointshound?  Can you get free points from getting the hotel’s credit card or transferring points from Amex Membership Rewards (most countries) or Ultimate Rewards (USA only)?  Do you really want to stay in a chain hotel vs a local independant hotel?

Look at what the hotel chain’s reward program allows you to redeem your points for.  Would buying one of these package get you a better value on the hotel chain’s partners?  Here are the pages for the hotel chains to help you determine this, you will have to do your own math though!

Best Western

Choice

IHG (Priority Club)

Wyndham

Converting to airline miles

You will notice that most hotel chains have airlines as their partners so you can redeem hotel points for airline miles.  In past years, this has been extremely lucrative when using Daily Getaways.  This year, the promo has been so over-exposed, the prices have gone up on the point packages so they may or may not represent a good value to you.  Pull out your calculator and start doing the math.  The things you need to consider when buying airline miles in this way.

  • Is it cheaper to just buy the flight and earn miles for it?
  • Can you get a better deal on Priceline, Groupon or similar?
  • Will you be traveling within the next couple of years? (Airlines can depreciate their programs in the meanwhile)
  • Is the hotel program likely to depreciate the redemption rate before you can swap them for airline miles?
  • Is your personal situation likely to change before you have a chance to use the miles (new job, moving, health, fitness, marriage, baby, etc)?
  • Will the points or miles expire before you can use them?
  • Can you afford to outlay the cash now for a possible savings in the future?

If you read a lot of miles and points type travel blogs or forums such as Flyertalk, you will see some people praising these deals as the greatest thing since sliced bread.  For many people, these deals may be the best value, for others they may not be.   Don’t let anyone (blogger or otherwise) whip you into a competitive frenzy over this or any other promo.  They don’t know you, they only know their own situation and what is good for them.  Everyone is an individual and has their own personal circumstances so I would encourage everyone to do their own research and their own math.

February Buy Miles Promos – Are They Worth It?

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Let’s take a look at the buy miles promos that have been released so far this month and let’s assume that we want an award from North America to Brazil not during peak season to keep an even playing field.  The award costs 60,000 in economy on the 3 main airlines serving this route – AA, UA and US.  So how much would it cost to buy enough miles to complete this award?

American Airlines – to buy 60,000 miles it would cost around $1217 including tax and service charge.  You would get your credit card spend miles but no category multipliers as it is processed by Points.com.  This trip can be done for 40k in off-peak season.

AA Buy Miles Promo

 

US Airways – if you have the US Mastercard you can get a 100% bonus, otherwise you get a 50% bonus.  It would cost $1128 to buy these miles including tax.

US Airways Buy Miles Promo

United Airlines has not announced a Buy Miles Promo yet so you would have to pay full price for the whole 60,000 miles – whopping $2257.50!  If they did join the party and offered a 100% bonus promo, the cost would be $1128.75.

United Airlines Buy Miles

 

So how much would it be to simply BUY a ticket from LAX to the gateway city of Sao Paulo, Brazil?  Let’s try Kayak for a generic fare quote.  As we can see, economy fares start at $1015 for a multiple airline routing and go up from there.  The purchase price of a ticket is at least $100 cheaper than buying miles, PLUS you will earn miles from your purchase!

Kayak Quote LAX-GRU

Fare quotes will vary depending on which city you start from and which city in Brazil you want to get to.  If you are headed to the Pantanal, you would need to get to Cuiaba or Campo Grande which can be reached on Brazilian carriers GOL, TAM and TRIP.  In this case, when I tried a fare quote from LAX to CGB (Cuiaba) the fares started at $1414, so in this case if you can use a partner award all the way to Cuiaba you would save around $200, but you would not earn miles.

Fare Quote Cuiaba

 

RECAP

  • Compare costs to buy miles including the promo bonus miles with how much it costs to simply buy a ticket.  Use the examples I have provided to check every program you belong to for the destination you have in mind.
  • If your destination is not the main gateway city, try a fare quote all the way through to your final destination.  Compare that with the cost of buying a local domestic ticket.
  • Check to see if your airline program’s partners can get you all the way to your final destination.  TAM is currently in Star Alliance but will be joining LAN as LATAM and expected to join One World soon.  Copa and Avianca/Taca are in Star Alliance so can be used to get you to domestic destinations in South America.
  • If you are planning an award in business class, you may save a lot of money using a Buy Miles promo.
  • Don’t buy miles if you aren’t going to redeem them within a year.  The award prices could go up, airlines change alliances or even go out of business.

Travel Promo Year In Review 2012

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The quest for free or very cheap airline miles and hotel points is always filled with intrigue and drama!  Here are a few of the most memorable promos of 2012.

1.  Huge credit card signup bonuses – lucky Americans got to collect hundreds of thousands of free miles via credit card signup bonuses.  I have a few of them in my series here if you missed out.  Remember to “learn how to fish” and check out each deal before you sign up for it.  Aussies have a few credit cards too but not as lucrative as the Americans.

2.  Discover America promos in April and May delivered a nice bonanza to those who were quick on the draw.  I am not sure if this will happen next year but I will blog about it if it does.  Meanwhile, read up on it via FlyerTalk.

3.  United’s 4 mile redemptions to Asia.  This was a mistake fare that only a few VERY quick people who were prepared to travel straight away actually got in on.  Many people tried, but when UA discovered the mistake, they cancelled all bookings of people who hadn’t traveled yet.  A few threatened to sue so it got really crazy!  Grab your popcorn and see this FlyerTalk thread!

4.  Club Carlson’s Big Night Giveaway.  What made this one special was that it was available worldwide.  Many people did “mattress runs” to cheaper hotels nearby to get the bonus miles which they could then redeem at an expensive hotel on a future trip or transfer to airline miles.  Lots of fun as most people got in on it!

5.  50% Bonus on Hotel Points converted to Dividend Miles.  Nice way to get rid of extra hotel points or make a huge profit on Starwood SPG points!

6.  The rise and fall of Bluebirds and Vanilla Reloads.  No, I don’t mean THIS bluebird!   I mean the frenzy of people seeking cheap Ultimate Rewards via Office Depot and various reload card options.

7.  Wyndham Rewards Phantom Phrenzy.  It was supposed to be a targeted promo but somehow a link got out and people were booking cheap Wyndham hotels and not even showing up to stay in them just to get the 16,000 point bonus.  I didn’t do it as I am wary of mistake promos as sometimes they are honored, sometimes they aren’t and this one you had to fork out for the rooms in advance without knowing if you would get the bonus or not.  It turns out they did get it after LOTS of complaints back and forth to Wyndham.

8.  Cartera Online Mall Mania.  Cartera is dodgy at best about giving you miles for your click-through purchases.  Unfortunately, they operate most of the airline’s affiliate shopping malls so you can’t really escape them.  Sometimes they stuff up and offer ridiculous bonuses that are obviously a mistake but people will try to get them honored.  This Flyertalk thread has one of the best ones that carried over from last year and had most people getting a “goodwill” bonus instead of the cheap miles they had hoped for.

9.  LifeMiles 250 miles per purchase bonus.  New kid on the block, Avianca Taca’s LifeMiles opened an online shopping mall and sent out emails to all members offering 250 bonus miles per purchase.  Of course savvy miles collectors wasted no time in finding the cheapest way to rack up the miles.  Those of us who are eco-friendly opted for online automatic transactions such as e-books, donations to puppies and e-gift certificates.  The worst of the bunch were ordering $1 shampoo bottles, each of which were packaged separately and shipped individually until the drugstore cancelled the unfilled remaining orders and withdrew from the online mall.  So far, no one has gotten their bonus miles but you can read all about it here.

10.  The demise of US Airways Grand Slam promo that had been going for 4 years previously.  This was the one we all waited for with breathless anticipation of cheap miles to be spent on exotic destinations all over the world.  The more experienced Grand Slammers would start saving a year in advance for hotel points and other “hits” to be used in September each year for this extremely lucrative promotion.  Last year, FlyerTalk had a whole forum dedicated to the Grand Slam! In August, we eagerly started following US on Twitter, playing with URLs looking for a hint of the 2012 Grand Slam…………….all for nought!  It didn’t happen!  Most people blame it on several beginner oriented bloggers who spell out the tricks and loopholes in such detail a two year old could do it and it no longer required finesse and intelligence to maximize the promo.  It would have been unsustainable for US to hand out so many miles to so many people.  In October, they did throw us a bone with a Share Miles promo that wasn’t nearly as good as the Grand Slam had been but allowed us to top up our accounts at a discounted rate.

What does 2013 have in store?  Of course no one knows, but if you follow this blog by rss feed or subscription (use the form in the sidebar to the right), we will be right on top of the new promos that come up so you can get to those wonderful ecotourism hotspots you are all dreaming about!