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Just a week after a similar announcement from United, American has unveiled details of its own discounted award promotion.
As with United's promotion, restricted award tickets for flights of less than 750 miles each way will be discounted from 25,000 to 15,000 miles in coach, and from 45,000 to 30,000 miles for first/business class. Discounted awards must be booked on American's website.
Where American's offer differs from United's is in the effect dates. Where United's discounts are available for travel between July 15 and Dec. 31, American's discount applies to award travel between Sept. 1, 2005, and Feb. 28, 2006.
According to American's press release, AAdvantage members redeemed more than 80,000 discounted awards in response to a similar promotion last year.
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Through Sept. 5, American will match mileage donations from AAdvantage members to provide travel support for U.S. military personnel injured in Afghanistan or Iraq and their families.
AAdvantage members can donate miles to Operation Hero Miles by completing the Miles For Heroes AAdvantage Donation Form, which may be found at http://www.AA.com. Completed forms may be sent by fax to 817-963-7882, or by mail to Miles for Heroes, American Airlines AAdvantage Department, P.O. Box 619688, DFW Airport, TX 75261-9688.
Donors will be asked to provide their AAdvantage account number, name, mileage donation and signature on all mailed or faxed pledges. The minimum donation per member is 500 miles.
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Effective for tickets purchased on or after Aug. 1, only Hawaiian Airlines flights within the Hawaiian Islands will be eligible for AAdvantage mileage accrual. I.e., no more mileage credit for transpacific segments on Hawaiian.
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Just when you thought American Express already had every conceivable permutation of rewards credit card in its sprawling product portfolio, they prove us wrong by launching yet another new card. Actually, another 2 cards.
They are the Blue Sky credit card for consumers and the Platinum Business FreedomPass card for small business owners. Both are what we usually refer to as bank cards with a proprietary travel-rewards program (for lack of a more concise descriptor) and what some refer to as fake miles cards (because there are no actual flight miles awarded).
The consumer card competes head-to-head with a long and growing list of other bank cards such as the heavily promoted Go Miles card from CapitalOne and the recently introduced PremierPass MasterCard from Citibank.
Like those cards and others in the category, the 2 new Amex cards award cardholders with 1 point for every $1 charged. Points can then be redeemed for travel. Specifically, points are redeemable in increments of 7,500 for each $100 discount on "eligible travel purchases."
What's an eligible travel purchase? That would include charges for any of the following: airlines, hotels, car rental companies, cruise lines, travel agencies, tour operators, and online travel sites.
The redemption process is altogether unlike other cards'. After booking the trip through the cardholder's preferred channel (Orbitz, direct with the airline, etc.) and charging the travel to the Amex card, the cardholder calls a toll-free number to redeem points to cover all or a portion of the amount spent. The discount is then applied and reflected on the next billing statement.
While they share a family resemblance with other proprietary travel-rewards cards, the Amex cards have some notable advantages over their peers.
First, there's no annual fee for either card.
Second, the discount applies to travel that the cardholder herself has chosen and purchased. So not only are there no capacity controls on awards -- a selling point of all cards in this category -- but there's no restriction on where travel may be purchased, or on its cost. Which means that you can purchase a ticket on any airline or a stay at any hotel, from whichever vendor you choose to do business with, at whatever price suits you, and still use points to receive a discount.
Finally, there is no limit to the number of points that can be earned; and the points do not expire, as long as the account is current.
The math: the points are worth a maximum of 1.33¢ each ($100/7,500 points). (Since points must be used in 7,500-point parcels, if you used 15,000 points to pay off a $150 purchase, for example, you'd get less than the points' optimal value.) That's solid value, especially considering the flexibility on the award side.
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Through July 22, HHonors members can bid their points to win a trip for 4 to the 2005 Teen Choice Awards in Los Angeles, including tickets to the event, airfare and hotel accommodations.
Current bid (as we go to press): 450,000 HHonors points.
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Through Sept. 30, Independence Air is offering a 500-point bonus for new enrollees in its iClub frequent flyer program.
The enrollment bonus puts new members a third of the way to a short-haul award, offered at 1,500 points.
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Legions of frequent eaters went on a mileage diet beginning July 1. That's when the dining-for-miles feature of 10 airlines, including American, United and Delta, went from Porky to puny.
Previously, the programs -- operated on the airlines' behalf by Rewards Network (formerly iDine) -- rewarded participants with 10 miles for every dollar spent, including tax and tip, at more than 10,000 participating restaurants. It was an exceptionally lucrative way to earn miles for an everyday activity.
Now, diners will only earn between 1 and 5 miles per dollar, depending on their status.
Like the airline programs themselves, the revised dining program has tiers, 3 status levels reflecting members' level of activity. Members earn elite status by dining 12 or more times at participating restaurants during a calendar year; engaged status is for those with between 4 and 11 qualifying dines, or who have established an online profile; and active members have participated up to 3 times in a year.
The earning rate varies according to the member's status: elite members earn 5 miles per dollar spent (plus an additional 5 miles per dollar through June 30, 2006); engaged members earn 3 miles per dollar; and active members earn just a single mile.
For longtime dining-for-miles fans, who were accustomed to being rewarded at the 10-miles-per-dollar rate, the lower earning rates are a disappointment.
Between Aug. 1 and Dec. 15, Mileage Plus members will earn 5,000 bonus miles for qualifying Transpacific roundtrip flights on United.
Flights to/from Hawaii and Australia are not included.
Eligible fares: first (F, A), business (C, D), economy (Y, B, M, H, Q, V, W) class fares only. Bonus may be earned a maximum of 3 times.
Registration is required.
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In a rather more comprehensive (and generous) approach to award discounts recently announced by American (see above) and United -- which are limited to flights under 750 miles -- US Airways will offer a 20% discount on award travel over large portions of its network.
For travel within North America between Sept. 15, 2005, and Feb. 28, 2006, restricted coach and first awards will be 20,000 and 40,000 miles, respectively; unrestricted coach and first will be 40,000 and 80,000.
For travel between North America and Central America/Mexico or the Caribbean between Sept. 7 and Nov. 14, 2005, restricted coach and first awards will be 25,000 and 50,000 miles.
And for travel between Europe and North America, Central America/Mexico or the Caribbean between Oct. 1, 2005, and Apr. 30, 2006, restricted coach awards will be reduced to 40,000 miles.
Discounted bookings must be made online at usairways.com.
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