Credit Card Promotions Gone Wild

If you're in the market for a new airline- or hotel-affiliated credit card, there's never been a better time to reap the rewards currently on offer to new cardholders.

The 5,000- and 10,000-mile bonuses of past years have been eclipsed by sign-up bonuses which routinely award enough miles or points for a free ticket or hotel stay.

In the next week or so, we'll post an article on FrequentFlier.com summarizing the best of the current credit card offers.

For now, we've highlighted representative offers from Choice Privileges and Priority Club in the "Miles & Points" section below. Both feature upfront bonuses sufficient for a free hotel night. The Choice card has no annual fee, and the Priority card's modest $29 annual fee is waived the first year.

FrequentFlier Forum Topics

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

In the "Airline Programs" Forum, Max Bialystock shares details of a series of US Airways flights gone horribly, outrageously wrong. He complained through the proper channels, and wonders, "What kind of satisfaction will I get in response, do you think? What do I have a right to expect?" (This is one of the few such stories with a heartening outcome.)

Also in the "Airline Programs" Forum, silktrading paid $2,000 for coach seats upgradeable with miles to business class on United flights to Europe. But in spite of paying the premium fare and redeeming 60,000 miles for the upgrades, the business-class booking was not honored. "At the gate at IAD, we were advised that our booking in Business Class was voided because of a change in aircraft, and we were bumped out of Business Class into Economy Plus seats. To our knowledge, no offer was made by United to anyone to give up their seats, so we have no idea how United evaluates this kind of situation." In addition to refunding the miles for the undelivered upgrade, shouldn't United also compensate the customer for the extra money paid for the upgradeable ticket?

Questions, answers? Post them to the Forum!

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AA Triples the Miles for New York-London Flights

Unfortunately, the bonus is only for business and first class.

Through August 31, AAdvantage members will earn triple miles for roundtrip business- and first-class flights between New York and London.

Registration is required.

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Free Night for New Choice Visa Cardholders

Members of the Choice Privileges program who sign up for a new program-affiliated Visa card by August 16 will earn 16,000 bonus points after using the card to charge $150 or more in purchases. That's enough points for two free nights at over 1,000 Choice Privileges hotels (Comfort Inn, Comfort Suites, Quality Inn, Sleep Inn, Clarion, Cambria Suites, MainStay Suites, Suburban Extended Stay hotels).

There's no annual fee for the Choice card.

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Earn More SkyMiles for Hilton Stays

Through August 31, SkyMiles members can earn 1,000 Medallion Qualification Miles (MQMs) plus 1,000 bonus miles for qualifying stays of two or more nights at Hilton family hotels.

To earn the bonuses, SkyMiles members must also be Hilton HHonors members and choose the Double Dip earning option. A maximum of 10,000 MQMs and 10,000 bonus miles may be earned during the promotion period.

Registration is required.

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Redeem Marriott Points for More Virgin Miles

Through September 6, Marriott Rewards members will earn a 10% bonus when converting their Rewards points into miles in the Virgin Flying Club program.

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Priority Club Rewards Visa Bonus

Priority Club members who sign up for the program's Signature Visa card will receive 15,000 bonus points after using the card the first time, enough for a free night at many Holiday Inn hotels. There's also a 10,000-point bonus that kicks in after charges reach $15,000 within a year. And cardholders receive gold elite status in the Priority Club Rewards program.

The annual fee is $29, waived for the first year.

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US Air Sells "Trial" Elite Status

Dividend Miles members can now purchase elite status for 90 days through the carrier's new Trial Preferred Program.

Current non-elite members can purchase 90 days of silver status for $200, gold status for $400, and platinum for $600.

Those who have already reached silver status can upgrade to gold for $200 or to platinum for $400.

And gold members will pay $200 to sample platinum status for 90 days.

To maintain the purchased silver status, members must fly 7,500 miles or 10 segments during the 90-day trial period. Or fly 15,000 miles or 20 segments to maintain gold status, or 22,500 miles or 30 segments for platinum.

The obvious question raised by this is how it will be received by current US Airways elites who earned their status the old-fashioned way. They aren't likely to welcome the increased competition for upgrades, already in short supply, from the nouveau elites.

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Deal Alert from SmarterTravel.com

1) Caribbean and Mexico Fares on United from $158

Flights to Mexico and the Caribbean are on sale from United. Fares start at $158 roundtrip, and destinations include Cancun, Aruba, Montego Bay, and Puerto Vallarta. Travel is valid from September 4 through December 13.

Departures are valid Tuesdays through Thursdays. Book tickets at least three days in advance. Fares require a two-night stay, and the maximum stay is 30 days. Book by July 17.

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2) Caribbean and Mexico Fares on American from $89

American has launched a massive Caribbean and Mexico sale with fares from $89 roundtrip. Destinations include Cancun, Los Cabos, San Juan, and St. Maarten. Travel is valid from September 4 through December 13.

Departures are valid Tuesdays through Thursdays through December 11. Book tickets at least three days in advance. Fares require a two-day minimum stay, and the maximum stay is 30 days. Book by July 17.

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Win a Trip for 2 to Japan

Enter the Kikkoman "50th Anniversary" sweepstakes by September 30 for a chance to win a trip for two to Japan, including air, hotel, and sightseeing. Other prizes: 1950's Style Jukebox/CD Changer/AM-FM Stereo, toy Kikkoman trucks, recipe books.

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[Visit http://frequentflier.com/sweeps.htm for more travel sweepstakes.]

Feedback from the Frontlines of Travel

In the previous newsletter, we included a note in this section from a travel agent who, among other things, assists frequent flyer program members with their award bookings. She charges a $50 fee for the service -- very reasonable, considering the difficulties of working around the airlines' capacity controls on free tickets.

We neglected to include her full contact information, which is as follows:

Vicki Burton
Manager
CI Travel
1206 Laskin Rd. Suite 201
Virginia Beach, VA 23451
(757) 428-2522/Fax (757) 428-1825
Toll Free 1-866-247-2056
Email: vburton@citravel.com

"As a charter member of AirTran's A-Plus Rewards Elite program, I am becoming more disappointed at the lack of perks for this designation. As of right now, the main benefit is: I can use the Elite card for preferred access to security lines. Another nearly valueless perk is to upgrade to Business Class 48 hours in advance of flight time instead of at the gate (which you can usually do anyway). And for an additional $40 - $60 per segment (same as a NON MEMBER), I can't even justify the cost to upgrade with my company anymore. They DO offer free upgrades for Elites - but now you must wait until everyone boards the plane in case a non Elite flier wishes to buy an upgrade - which they keep promoting at the gate. More and more often - I am the last one to board the plane with no place for my luggage - and still in coach because Business sold out at the last minute. With Delta, by the time boarding begins, I have a pretty good idea whether I'll make the 'Upgrade cut' or not - usually not but I do have my Exit Row seat (at no additional charge).

"With the new seat selection procedure for all customers, AirTran Elites have crummy seats when we book at the last minute and pay higher fares, as there is no Preferred seating section like the major airlines. If AirTran wishes to maintain my loyalty, they need to lower the cost of upgrading - or better yet - honor free upgrades like all the other airlines, and not CHARGE $15 for Elite members to sit in Exit Rows!

"Delta seems to be working to improve value day by day. I hope AirTran keeps up or they are going to lose me as a long time flier and enthusiastic fan." [Bob S. - Marietta, GA]

"Thank you very much for this newsletter. It's great to have a feel of how others are dealing with mileage programs, and get info on mileage-accruing opportunities.

"I have always been somewhat wary about Delta's SkyMiles program because it requires more miles for redemption than other airlines, such as American, for example, so that using mileage for a free flight seemed practically unattainable. However, I had a great experience redeeming Delta miles this past week!

"I was trying to book a round trip flight from London to New York, and would later fly from New York to Florida, on a separate round-trip flight for which I would pay myself. But within the 20 minutes it took me to book my LON-NYC-LON flight with mileage, the flight simply disappeared. In despair, I ignored the booking fee for phone reservations, and called Delta. Not only was the agent able to find a flight - the original one really had been taken, but she found another on Delta's partner, Continental - but she was also able to book in the NYC-MCO-NYC flight with those same miles. So now I am flying from London to Florida, round trip, with a week-long lay-over in NYC instead, using the same amount of miles it would take for me to fly to NY, to fly all the way to Florida, stopping in NY for a week.

"I am very pleased with Delta's SkyMiles program, and especially with their travel agents- the booking fee was definitely worth it, as it saved me paying for a whole round-trip flight." [Emy]

Until next week...