"Up Front" Blog Entries

Following are some of Tim's recent blog posts:

• Amid Travel Gloom, Hopeful Signs for Frequent Flyer Programs
  New developments suggest there's hope for loyalty programs.
• United Discounts Europe Award Flights
  Mileage Plus members can redeem fewer miles for free flights.
• Top Five Miles and Points Deals for February 2009
  Noteworthy bonuses were hard to locate, but we found some.
• Earn Double Elite Miles on US Airways Flights
  New US Airways promotion is worthwhile, but only for a select few.

The FrequentFlier Forum - Hot Topics

As always, there's plenty of activity on the FrequentFlier Forum.

In the "Credit Card Programs" Forum, joelmeu likes the new rewards card from Discover: "The new Escape card from Discover is actually better than a 2% rewards card for the first couple years that you have it. It pays double miles on all spending. Plus for every month you charge something on the card for the first 25 months you get a bonus 1,000 miles. It has a $60 annual fee, but, when you think about it, that's no different than if the 1,000 mile monthly bonus were just reduced to a 500 mile monthly bonus. So you're still getting $60 worth of bonus miles each year for the first 2 years on top of your normal double miles rewards."

And in the "Airline Programs" Forum, SSheinfeld reports as follows: "American Airlines will begin this summer to transition to cashless cabins onboard flights within the United States and to and from Canada. On these flights, American, a founding member of the global oneworld Alliance, will only accept major credit cards or debit cards for onboard purchases such as headsets, fresh light meals, snacks and alcoholic beverages."

Questions, answers, opinions? Post them to the Forum!

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Air Canada Bonus for North America Flights

Through May 3, Aeroplan members can earn up to 15,000 bonus miles on Air Canada flights within Canada and between Canada and the U.S. as follows: Earn 3,000 bonus miles after three qualifying one-way flights; 4,000 additional bonus miles after six one-way flights; and another 8,000 bonus miles after nine one-way flights, for a cumulative total of 15,000 bonus miles.

Registration is required.

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100% Bonus When Buying Delta Miles

Through March 31, Delta is offering a 100% bonus on mileage purchases. So for the normal price of 10,000 miles, you'll receive 20,000 miles, and so on.

In dollar terms, those 20,000 miles will now cost $275, or about 1.4 cents per mile, not including the 7.5% Federal Excise Tax. That's much easier to justify than the normal 2.75 cents per mile, and is well worth considering. As always, though, consumers should factor in the value of the miles when redeemed. With the average price of a domestic coach ticket under $400, the value of a frequent flyer mile redeemed for a 25,000-mile award ticket is right around 1.4 cents, including an adjustment for the "hassle factor" of limited availability.

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Earn 1,000 Extra Delta Miles for Shopping/p>

Delta SkyMiles members who make a purchase -- any purchase, any amount -- on the SkyMiles Shopping Mall before February 28 will earn 1,000 bonus miles. That's over and above the normal miles-per-dollar spent awarded by participating merchants.

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Double Northwest Miles for Gas, Grocery Charges

Through April 1, Northwest WorldPerks members will earn double miles when charging gas and grocery purchases to their WorldPerks Visa cards.

Registration by February 28 is required.

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Deal Alert from SmarterTravel.com

1) Caribbean and Mexico Sale Fares on American From $100

Beach destinations in the Caribbean and Mexico are on sale from American. Fares start at $100 round-trip, and Aruba, Cozumel, Punta Cana, and San Juan are included.

Travel is valid Mondays through Thursdays from February 13 through May 14. Book by February 25, 11:59 PM ET.

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2) Southwest Sale Fares From $49 Each Way

Southwest is offering eight regional sales featuring different cities and regions around the U.S. Fares start at $49 one-way or $98 round-trip, and Los Angeles, Las Vegas, San Antonio, and Seattle are included.

Travel is valid from February 13 through May 20. Book by February 19, 11:59 PM CT.

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Win a Trip for 2 to Aspen, CO

Enter the Spectrum Organics "Food and Wine Classic in Aspen" sweepstakes by March 31 for a chance to win a trip for two to the Aspen food festival, including airfare, hotel, tickets to the event, and a meet-and-greet with chef Jacques Pepin.

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[Visit FrequentFlier.com for more travel sweepstakes.]

Feedback from the Frontlines of Travel

We welcome reader feedback on issues related to travel generally and frequent flyer programs in particular. Please use this link to submit comments.

Rescuing Expiring Miles by Donating Them

"My United miles were due to expire March 31, 2009. I booked a May flight in February but was told later by United it would not save my miles as I wouldn't actually fly until May. However, I did find a way to save them.

"On United's website I had to use the search box: 'donate miles.' The minimum donation was only 1,000 miles so I donated 2,000 miles to Make-A-Wish (there is a list of other charities). United almost immediately posted this as an activity and moved my expiration date to August 2011. Hope this is helpful to others." [John S.]

Regarding last week's "$49 Mystery Fee from United"

"Reminds me of the early 80's car shopping. High mileage, small Japanese cars in high demand had the familiar manufacturer's sticker price pasted on the left passenger window. Next to that was another, dealer's sticker that priced the vehicle $ hundreds higher. I'm trying to recall the initialism they invented, something like ADP, and was never spelled out. It would have, seriously, stood for Additional Dealer Profit. For all I know, Toyota dealers may have returned to that during the high demand years for the redesigned Prius Hybrid.

"Since the fee was imposed at boarding (similar to banks' resorting to extortion at closings on houses) and not at the original ticketing, I might guess this is a charge to return the United Airlines equipment to full availability of floatation devices (rafts, inflatable vests and/or certified seat cushions) since the controlled emergency landing in the Hudson River previous to this United Airlines flight. Fran W. and all flyers of United Airlines need to look on the positive side: United Airlines did not charge a fee when they removed earlier the sufficient number of these to make more room/comfort for the crew and passengers! They should rest easier knowing that if the United Airlines equipment they're flying on also crashes into the water, no Titanic decisions need be made of who lives or who drowns from insufficient safety equipment." [Bruce H.]

IAD Link

Speaking of updating your Airports List, the link you have for Washington Dulles (IAD) should be tagged as "unofficial." The official site is at www.mwaa.org. (FYI - MWAA runs both Dulles and Reagan National.)" [Richard W.]

Goosed Again

In reference to US Airways' new fee for blankets and pillows: "One would think that, with all of the really deserved free publicity and praise for having a captain and crew crash land in the Hudson River with little more than a broken leg, US Air would be giving away those blanket kits to reinforce the grace of good will. As it is, this sale is for the birds." [Ed N.]

Until next week...