United has a targeted offer (neither of the two accounts I tried worked) for 50% bonus award miles on non-stop flights from the US to Hong Kong. The deal is valid for trips through November 30, 2012. And the fine print also says only for those purchased after October 2, 2012, so not a whole lot of opportunity. But it is another offer to try. Full details here. More discussion here.
Apparently this started a few months ago but I just noticed it now. Oops.
Air Canada has a promotion for travelers between Montreal and Toronto’s City Airport. Lasting through the end of 2012, customers on Latitude fares (not the cheap ones) will earn an extra 50% elite qualifying miles for flights between the two airports.
No registration required to earn on this promo; just show up and fly.
Clearly trying to pull business from Porter Air on the route. Competition is good in this case.
That’s a whole lot of points, and one blogger is giving them away over the month of October. It isn’t us, but we’re still pretty excited about the offer.
VeryGoodPoints has a series of giveaways over the coming weeks with large blocks of points from hotel and airline programs to share with her readers. Entries can be made on FaceBook, Twitter and on her blog each week. Definitely something worth adding to your weekly routine through the end of the month!
ANA is offering double points through the end of the year for flights from North America to destinations beyond Japan.
The deal requires registration prior to travel. It also only applies to North American members of the program who book online between 1 October and 30 December 2012 for travel through 31 December 2012. And, most unfortunately, it only applies to the segments between Tokyo and Asia. Specifically, the following flight numbers are eligible:
111/112/151/152/173/174/901/902/903/904/905/906/907/908/909/910/911/912/915/916/917/919
920/921/922/925/926/927/928/929/930/931/932/933/934/935/936/937/938/943/944/947/948/949
950/953/954/955/956/959/960/1083/1084/1161/1166/1171/1172/1185/1188/1255/1256/1259/1260
US Airways apparently is skipping the Grand Slam promotion this year in favor of just selling points outright at a discount. For the month of October that comes in the form of a 100% bonus on purchases up to 50,000 points. For purchased miles the price tag comes out to around 1.88 cents each, up to 100,000 total points purchased. NOTE: Apparently this is targeted and I got lucky; go figure.
There is a second 100% bonus being offered this month for mileage transfers to a second account. This promo is also capped at 50,000 points but the price point is rather cheaper – only 1 cent per mile, plus $30 per transaction and 7.5% excise tax.
If your end goal is 100,000 total points the best approach is to buy 25,000 points using the 100% buy bonus. That should cost ~$900. Then transfer those points to a second account (spouse, child, pet, etc.) using the transfer bonus. The second transaction will run you about $570. Total cost for 100,000 points is only ~$1470. And that’s enough points for some very attractive rewards. For around $1400 in spend you can have enough to fly business class pretty much anywhere in the world from the USA. South America or Europe can be had in first class around $1400 as well.
Note that accounts less than 12 days old cannot participate in these promotions. If you are even considering it and do not yet have an account open one NOW! You can still think about it and get the transaction done later in the month once you realize that is is a good idea.
Etihad has launched a new redemption option for their Etihad Guest program, allowing points to be converted into cash loaded on to a credit card which can be spent in the real world. And to celebrate they are giving away 100,000 points in the program. The contest doesn’t seem to have much in the way of rules published so it isn’t clear what you have to do to win other than write in a comment/post that they might use for promotional copy at some point in the future. And they probably really only want true stories about the program rather than people just making stuff up. Still, it is 100,000 points being given away; it doesn’t suck.
The PointsPay program is a cool idea and there is definitely some impressive technology involved to make it work. I am a bit worried about what it means for the future of points as providing travel rewards in the longer term. But I guess we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.
British Airways has joined partner American Airlines in offering up big bonuses for high fare customers on transatlantic flights. The terms of the promotion are identical to those AA came out with a couple days ago. In short, earn 15k, 35k and then 50k for each return trip in high fare classes.
- American Airlines operated flights: F, A, J, R, D, I , Y, B or H
- British Airways operated flights: F, A, J, R, C, D, I, W, E, T, Y, B or H
- Iberia operated flights: J, C, D, R, I or Y
It is interesting to note that the BA promotion is only open to members residing in the US or Canada, just like the AA promo. It is also nice of BA to finish their T&C list with this awesomeness as item 15: “Other significant restrictions apply.”
Gee, thanks.
Registration is required prior to travel. The promotion runs through 31 January 2013.
JetBlue has launched a promotion for purchasing TrueBlue points through their online portal, offering a 50% bonus on purchases of 5,000-30,000 points through 11 October 2012. With the promotion the points price in the range of 1.97-2.37 cents each. Given that TrueBlue points are valued around 1.05-1.55 cents each this isn’t a great way to beat the system, but it you’re looking to top off an account to redeem an award this is better than paying full price.
The company is also running an auction through CharityBuzz to support their corporate charities. Items up for bid range from throwing out the first pitch at a Red Sox game (minimum bid of $2,500) to flying the Jetblue simulator in Orlando (current bid: $275) to various vacation destination packages. There are even some distillery tours in England, Scotland and Ireland available (airfare excluded).
Got a two-night stay coming up at a Candlewood or Staybridge Suites hotel before the end of 2012? That’s worth 5,000 bonus points if you register in advance. There is a list of participating hotels and, while I’m not an expert in the brand, it seems that the list is lengthy enough that it isn’t too exclusive.
Pretty simple promo and a pretty easy way to get those points. Enjoy!
If you’re flying between the United States and Europe this winter on American Airlines, British Airways or Iberia and you’re flying on expensive tickets then get ready to cash in with some major bonus AAdvantage points. American is offering a LOT of extra points for such trips, up to 50,000 per trip with no caps on earning. Here’s the break-down on earning rates for each trip:
Of course, there is the fine print. The promotion requires flying on the most expensive fares so these aren’t likely to be useful as fodder for mileage runs. That said, if you’re booked on Thanksgiving deals in I these bonus miles apply and that should make the trip just a bit better. Here are the eligible fare classes:
- American Airlines operated flights: F, A, J, R, D, I , Y, B or H
- British Airways operated flights: F, A, J, R, C, D, I, W, E, T, Y, B or H
- Iberia operated flights: J, C, D, R, I or Y
The deal is valid for all travel between September 25, 2012 and January 31, 2013. Only flights marketed and operated by AA/BA/IB count and only AAdvantage members registered in the US or Canada are eligible. Registration is required prior to travel.
