"Up Front" Blog Entries

Following are some of Tim's recent blogs:

• New Delta credit card offers big spenders big miles
  Reserve card awards elite miles and lounge access for charges.
• Continental move redraws the merger landscape
  Continental rebuffs United, opening door to new scenarios.

FrequentFlier Forum Topics

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

In the "Airline Programs" Forum, ronald has the following heads-up on a popular rewards program: "Just in case you were not aware, the last date to redeem E-Rewards to your American Airlines ff program is June 11, 2008. After that date, no more AA miles from E-Rewards."

And in the "Credit Card Programs" Forum, mrfatboy wants to avoid being gored by credit card companies on his Europe trip: "I will be traveling to Italy and Spain this year. I'm going to try my luck with the Bulls in Pamplona.

"Anyway, what is the best card to use in Europe? More specifically is there a card that does not charge all those foreign transaction fees? I guess most if not all cards charge 3% of the total purchase for a conversion fee. Are there cards that charge less or nothing at all?" (Surprise to us: the consensus so far is a Capital One card.)

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

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Mama! 25 Miles Per $1 Spent at FTD.com

Twenty-five miles per $1 spent? These days, that earning rate is hard to come by. But, as a Mother's Day promotion, FTD.com is offering 25 American, Delta, or United miles for every $1 in eligible purchases.

The American offer is in effect through May 12, Delta's through May 15. There's no end date published for the United offer.

:: American
:: Delta
:: United

Delta Opens the SkyMiles Store

SkyMiles members can now earn 10 miles per $1 spent at the SkyMiles Store for "a wide selection of travel-related products such as luggage, luggage tags, passport holders and retail items including apparel, and sports and leisure items, as well as selections from the Medallion Collection."

Through June 15, there's an extra 500-mile bonus for every $100 spent.

There's no possibility of price-comparison shopping for such Delta-branded items as Platinum luggage tags ($10) or a Lacoste polo shirt with the Million Miler logo embossed on the sleeve ($85). But the Hartmann luggage, for example, looks to be priced at full retail and can probably be purchased for less elsewhere. I.e., don't let the miles blind you.

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More Miles for Hyatt Stays

Through June 30, Gold Passport members will earn 2,000 bonus frequent flyer miles for the second eligible stay and 1,000 bonus miles for subsequent stays at Hyatt, Hyatt Place, or Hyatt Summerfield Suites hotels. (AmeriSuites stays do not earn the bonuses.)

Registration is required.

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Earn Bonus Northwest Miles for London Flights

Through July 31, WorldPerks members can earn bonus miles on Northwest's new Detroit-London Heathrow flights, launching May 1.

Bonus depends on fare type, as follows: 15,000 bonus miles for round-trip in J, C class; 10,000 for Z, Y, S, B, M class; and 5,000 for H, Q, V, L, T, K class.

Registration is required, by July 21.

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Deal Alert from SmarterTravel.com

1) Spring Europe Fares on Delta from $398

May flights to Europe from New York (JFK) are on sale from Delta starting at $398 round-trip. Destinations include Edinburgh, London, Milan, and Paris.

Book tickets at least seven days in advance and by May 5, 11:59 PM ET.

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2) Sale Fares on Southwest from $48 Each Way

Southwest has announced a new domestic sale with fares starting at $48 one-way or $96 round-trip. Cities include Austin, Las Vegas, Orlando, and San Francisco, and this offer is available through Thursday.

Travel is valid from May 8 through May 31. Book by May 1, 11:59 PM CT.

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Win $50,000 or 1 Million Best Western Points

Enter Best Western's "Rewards Mania " sweepstakes by May 29 for a chance to win the $50,000 grand prize, plus other prizes including $100 Best Western Travel Cards.

For the more ambitious, Best Western also has a "Points for Free" contest underway, with a grand prize of 1 million Gold Crown Club points. To enter, you'll have to produce a 30-second video and post it on YouTube by May 23.

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[Visit FrequentFlier.com for more travel sweepstakes.]

Feedback from the Frontlines of Travel

"Congratulations on your 500th issue of the FF Crier. Looking forward to the next 4500 issues.

"My only wish is that some of the news could be better, such as FALLING fuel prices and airfares; LESS, not more airline mergers (I'd really hate to see CO and UA merger, as CO is much better then UA, and doesn't need UA to pull them down), and the economy doing a bit better. Also sad to see that the airlines have to ground planes in order to shore up their filled seat number averages and fly overfilled planes that still don't allow them to make money, with the price of Jet-A. The airlines do what they feel they must do, and the passengers are suffering. As an old timer, I can remember good, edible meals in coach, with meals that even filled you, and even a small pack of cigarettes when there were smoking sections on aircraft. Those were the days when it was fun to fly, not a chore. But times change, and 9/11 has changed the world. Guess we can't look back. Maybe someday things will improve. My wife and I still love to fly and travel, even though it's getting tougher as we're now retired. Someday though, if we can, we'll have enough FF miles to do our dream trip to NZ for a few weeks, or our second most wanted trip, to drive slowly down the California coast (hi Clint, make my day!), starting in SFO, then over to PSP, LAS, up to Tahoe, then home. Someday, maybe!

"Anyway, thanks again and many congrats for your 500th issue and the FF Forum." [Jeff F.]

"I think 'school is still out' on Crandall's reputation surviving his slash & burn tactics vs. 'innovator.' My impression, however (I haven't researched this), is that he at least didn't line his pockets while CEO and take a hike as so many other airline execs have over the years of deregulation.

As to 'Hall of Fame,' I'd go back farther: to C. R. Smith who really put AA 'on the map,' together with Wiliam 'Pat' Patterson of United. Certainly, you could put Juan Trippe of Pan American into the same bucket, given that he ordered the launch of the 747 buying 25 at the outset, if my memory is correct, and not a clue as to how he was going to fill the planes (he didn't for a long time). Granted, all these old boys played their game under a highly-regulated (by government agency) program (more/less government sponsored oligopoly price-fixing) and where deregulation and incredible waste at PanAm laid it to a pitiful final rest (good riddance at the time).

But, you know all this.

"Congratulations on #500. I had no clue as being a relative 'newbie.' You may find it syncopation, but during the last week I got around to cleaning out my e-mail inbox going back three (!) years. FF is the only 'serial' communication I left in my inbox; why, I haven't a clue except to say that it is of substance.

"Thanks for your continuing gift of FF." [Ed N.]

"This summer, we're looking to go business class to Australia with miles. It seems like the only 1-stop from Boston that allows for unrestricted awards is United - unfortunately one of the airlines where I have fewer miles. However, even if you had no miles, with the FTD 25 miles per $1 promo (plus 1 mile per $1 credit card spend) it's about $8500 for an anytime biz class ticket -- or about 40% of the cost of buying it outright. So we're debating doing what we can to get our mile balances up in the next couple months, and getting the balance through a combination of purchasing miles and flowers. Need to send roses to anyone?" [Dan S.]

"I had 35K unused miles on AA and lost them in a very underhanded way. I retired in 1999 and was a Million Mile Flyer on United and was given lifetime Prem. Exe. on United. American on the other hand never sent be notices about pending changes in their program. The only notices I received fro them was in the form of a credit card application which they said they sent me. I did receive many of these (from Citibank) and I never opened them not know there was info inside. American also said they did not know how to contact me.

"I moved from Dallas to Florida upon retiring and did get statements in 2000 and then they stopped. I even had some activity with them in 2001. American was not telling me the truth. They did offer to give me back my miles if I purchased them.

"In addition to all of this grief, I could never get any flights on American using the miles even calling 12 months in advance. This is how American treats their retired customers.

"As far as I am concerned I wish I could warn every flyer about American, it is bad news now. When they started the program it was great and I quickly racked up 100K miles and used them. Not anymore. United Mileage Plus, great.

"Flyers BEware, American will scr..w up, you can bet on it." [Joseph H.]

Until next week...