First oneworld partner charts for Malaysian spotted

With the February 1 expected date for Malaysian Airlines to join the oneworld alliance rapidly approaching it looks like some of their future partners are getting around to posting earning rates for MH-operated flights. JAL seems to be the first in line, with the earning chart showing up online in the past day or two. Here’s a shot of the important part of the page:

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Not so exciting to see so many fares earning only partial credit. Even more worrisome is that there are a number of even cheaper buckets – N, Q, O and G at least – which earn no credit at all in the JAL program. It is also a bit strange to see S listed as a revenue bucket as at least one source I saw suggests that it is an award seat, not revenue. If they are aligning with the other oneworld partners it seems that U and T or X would be the business and economy awards, respectively, so maybe S is revenue now.

Anyways, just one of several partners who will need to update their details by Friday, but it is a start. Expect others to follow soon enough.

IHG Point Breaks list updated

From time to time the IHG group offers up deals on room redemptions known as Point Breaks. These are short-term sales for award nights at a limited number of properties. The site was updated today to include a new collection of locations, with booking valid only for the next three days (through 31 January 2013). With only about 30 properties on the list it isn’t quite the bevy of incredible deals it could be. And large swaths of geographic coverage are quite empty. Still, if the locations work for you this isn’t a bad way to get a hotel room on the cheap.

Here’s the list of participating properties:

ALABAMA
CANDLEWOOD SUITES ENTERPRISE
ARKANSAS
CANDLEWOOD SUITES JONESBORO
COLORADO
CANDLEWOOD SUITES PARACHUTE
INDIANA
CANDLEWOOD SUITES CRAWFORDSVILLE
KENTUCKY
CANDLEWOOD SUITES RADCLIFF – FORT KNOX
MARYLAND
HOLIDAY INN EXPRESS PRINCE FREDERICK
NEW MEXICO
HOLIDAY INN EXPRESS AND SUITES PORTALES
OKLAHOMA
CANDLEWOOD SUITES OWASSO
PENNSYLVANIA
HOLIDAY INN WARREN (KINZUA DAM-ALLEGHENY)
TEXAS
CANDLEWOOD SUITES BEAUMONT
HOLIDAY INN EXPRESS AND SUITES MEXIA

BRAZIL
HOLIDAY INN PORTO ALEGRE
COSTA RICA
HOTEL INDIGO SAN JOSE FORUM COSTA RICA

FIJI ISLANDS
INTERCONTINENTAL FIJI GOLF RESORT AND SPA

NEW ZEALAND
HOLIDAY INN AUCKLAND AIRPORT

MEXICO

HOLIDAY INN SALAMANCA
CROWNE PLAZA HOTEL NUEVO LAREDO

CHINA-PEOPLES REPUBLIC
CROWNE PLAZA HOTEL TIANJIN BINHAI
CROWNE PLAZA HOTEL XIANGYANG
HOLIDAY INN SHENYANG ZHONGSHAN
HOLIDAY INN HANGZHOU THOUSAND ISLAND LAKE

BELGIUM
HOLIDAY INN GENT – EXPO
CZECH REPUBLIC
HOLIDAY INN PRAGUE AIRPORT
FINLAND
HOLIDAY INN TAMPERE
FRANCE
HOLIDAY INN EXPRESS MARSEILLE – PROVENCE AIRPORT
GERMANY
HOLIDAY INN EXPRESS COLOGNE – MUELHEIM
PORTUGAL
HOLIDAY INN EXPRESS LISBON – OEIRAS
SPAIN
HOLIDAY INN ELCHE
UNITED KINGDOM
HOLIDAY INN GARDEN COURT A1 SANDY – BEDFORD
HOLIDAY INN CORBY – KETTERING A43

Triple Club Carlson points through March 15, 2013

Seems that not only the major chains are in on bonus points for hotel stays this winter. Club Carlson, the loyalty program behind the Radisson, Park Plaza and Country Inn brands has a triple points promo in play through March 15, 2013. Like all the others, registration is required.

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The promo will see members earn 40 bonus points on top of the 20 base points per US dollar spent on all stays completed by March 15th. With unlimited earning and minimal fine print this could be one of the more lucrative winter promos this year.

Bonus points for JetBlue Boston travel through February 13, 2013

JetBlue has had a promo running for the past few weeks for customers out of Boston but I just heard about it now. Still, it runs through February 13, 2013 so there is a chance to get in on it before it wraps up.

Big bonus for Boston business.

Fly three one-way segments to or from Boston so eleven specific destinations and earn 3,000 bonus TrueBlue points. Fly three more segments (six total) and get 6,000 more bonus points (9,000 total) for the promo. The eligible airports are:

  • New York City, NY (JFK or EWR)
  • Buffalo, NY (BUF)
  • Washington DC (DCA or IAD)
  • Baltimore, MD (BWI)
  • Chicago, IL (ORD)
  • Charlotte, NC (CLT)
  • Raleigh, NC (RDU)
  • Pittsburg, PA (PIT)
  • Richmond, VA (RIC)

Registration is required prior travel.

Not a bad deal, really, if you’re flying on JetBlue anyways. Getting $40-100+ in free points is never a bad thing.

Double airline miles from Marriott stays: Feb 1 – Apr 30

Marriott’s Q1-ish MegaBonus earning promotion is decent enough, I suppose, if you have a lot of Marriott stays during the promo period. And, generally speaking, earning hotel points for hotel stays is a better deal than going for airline points on those stays. But if you only have the occasional earning stay and would rather not orphan the points (or just accrue them ridiculously slowly) then crediting to an airline isn’t the worst choice out there. And thanks to the Mega Miles promo it can actually be a bit better.

The promo offers double airline miles starting with the second stay during the promo period (Feb 1 – April 30, 2013). Plus, the promo is valid for the nearly 40 airline programs Marriott partners with.

Registration is required but otherwise this is a pretty simple program. Full T&C here.

Related Posts:

United offering bonus miles for new SFO-Taipei route

As is typical for the introduction of new routes United Airlines is offering bonus miles for passengers this spring when they reintroduce their non-stop service between San Francisco and Taipei. The bonus is available for all paid fares, even the cheapest ones, though the earning rate changes based on the fare class. From the T&C:

  • MileagePlus members can earn 100% more bonus award miles on paid qualifying roundtrips in United Global First, United BusinessFirst and select United Economy fares (F, A, J, C, D, Z, P, Y and B fare classes), or 50% more bonus award miles in discounted United Economy tickets (M, E, U, H, Q, V, W, S, T, L and K fare classes).

    • Other useful bits from the T&C:

  • Offer is valid on tickets purchased between January 15, 2013, and June 30, 2013, for travel between April 9, 2013, and June 30, 2013.  
  • Connections into and out of San Francisco International (SFO) or Taiwan Taoyuan International (TPE) are allowed, however the bonus is only valid for segments between San Francisco International (SFO) and Taiwan Taoyuan International (TPE).
  • Registered MileagePlus members can earn the bonus an unlimited number of times.
  • Offer is only valid on flights marketed as and operated by United and is not valid on United-marketed codeshare flights operated by other carriers.
  • Offer is not valid on government fares.

    • Registration is required.

    Overall this is a pretty good deal in that it includes the cheapest economy fares. At the same time, the higher (but not full fare) economy fares are earning less than what they traditionally have with similar bonuses in the past. Everything is a trade-off, I suppose.

    Marriott MegaBonus for Q1-ish now available

    Marriott is the latest hotel chain to announce their earning promo for Q1 ’13. This time around the MegaBonus 2013 offer is a free night for every two paid stays between February 1 and April 30, 2013. A member can earn a maximum of 3 free nights. The free nights can be redeemed for category 1-4 properties around the world and are valid up to one year from when they are earned in the promo. Registration is required.

    image

    This is a rather weak promo with limited earning upside and limited redemption value. Yeah, there are sweet spots out there where it might make sense but, especially for customers who typically have multi-night stays, this one is pretty pathetic.

    There may be other, targeted promo versions available as well but this is the generic one.

    Hilton's Q1 2013 points promo goes live

    Hilton has enabled registration for their first quarter points promotion. The promo officially launches on January 7, 2013 and covers stays between then and March 31. HHonors members can choose to earn either double points or double miles for all stays during the promo period.

    image

    For members choosing double points only the base points will be doubled. For members choosing double miles either the variable or fixed miles earnt will be doubled. The promo covers all nights during the promo period, even if check-in/check-out occur outside the promo dates. Also be aware of the hotels not participating in the promo; the list is rather long.

    Once a particular earning style is chosen it cannot be changed. Choose wisely, else you suffer the fate of so many who have chosen poorly.

    This promo still isn’t enough to sway my hotel spending patterns. That said, if you’re already an HHonors aficionado the bonus earning won’t hurt. I’ll still be registering for double miles just in case I have a stay.

    Who wants a $25 Restaurant.com Gift Card??

    Cleaning up this week I came across all sorts of goodies that I’ve collected over the past year. In the coming days many of them will be offered up as giveaways to our listeners and readers. First up is a $25 credit to Restaurant.com.

    Some people seem to love restaurant.com. I really have no idea if it is any good or not. I know they are a part of one of my affiliate link networks and the payout is high enough that I’m assuming their markup on things is pretty decent. Or the breakage on the purchases not being redeemed is huge. And they seem to have $25 gift certs for only $4 these days if you use coupon code ONEDAY when shopping.

    So check them out and if you think a $25 gift cert is something worth getting your hands on leave a comment below. I’ll pick someone a winner from the comments entered prior to 6am Hong Kong time on Sunday, December 30, 2012.

    And, yes, the link above labeled “affiliate link” is one. The other links aren’t. Have fun with that.

    Marriott announces new (slightly better) lifetime elite status requirements

    The folks at Marriott have apparently finally decided that it is time to publish their Lifetime status requirements as part of their upcoming program year details. The lifetime program has been around for a while but apparently it was always unpublished. There have been a couple changes to the program – most notably there is no longer a minimum number of years of membership required – and the company is finally going to publish the requirements. Here is what they’ve got online right now:

    Achieve a status milestone over the course of your membership and you’ll enjoy Elite status for a lifetime. You’ll still be able to reach a higher status—but you’ll never go below your Lifetime level. You’ll have the Elite experience, always.

    Lifetime Milestones

    • Platinum Elite: 750 nights + 2 million points

    • Gold Elite: 500 nights + 1.6 million points

    • Silver Elite: 250 nights + 1.2 million points

    For more details, visit MarriottRewards.com/Lifetime.

    The URL doesn’t work yet which makes sense sortof given that this is just the marketing copy that they’re working on putting out to their members. At the same time, their official reps have confirmed that these new numbers are the actual planned status levels so that info is accurate.

    For loyal Marriott members this seems like a pretty decent opportunity to realize those levels. And the number of nights required for Silver and Gold status are the same as what Starwood requires. Not too shabby.

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