Happy Thanksgiving

Best wishes to all for a safe and restful Thanksgiving.

Judging by this summer's record-high load factors and the robust advance bookings for the holiday week, it's a safe bet that the airports will be mobbed in the days surrounding Thanksgiving. So in addition to wishing you a happy holiday, we hope that you're reading this issue of the Crier in a warm and happy place. Rather, that is, than on a laptop perched on your knees in the departure area of a hectic airport.

And if you are on the road, we hope you snagged enough bonus miles to take the edge off the full flights and moderate the shock of those endless security lines.

I'll be spending the day close to home with family and friends, cooking, eating, drinking, and watching DVDs. Among the latter: Sideways, a film I've avoided, in protest of its having put the largely undiscovered wineries of Santa Barbara County on the tourist map. In the pre-Sideways era, wine hounds like myself had the backroads and rustic tasting rooms of the Santa Ynez Valley to ourselves. Those days may be gone -- thanks to Sideways -- but they're not forgotten.

We'll be toasting the good old days with a reserve pinot noir from Sanford Winery (which I understand is featured in the film) and a big cabernet sauvignon from Rancho Sisquoc.

Cheers.

Mileage Pro - The Insider's Guide to Frequent Flyer Programs

A quick update on the book first announced in last week's Crier... the website www.mileageprobook.com is now live.

Please accept our apologies if the previous link left you short of the page describing the book. There were issues with coding, which have since been worked out.

FrequentFlier Forum Topics

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

In the "Airline Programs" Forum, ET is facing the prospect of a family member's expiring miles: "My mom has an AA FF acct with last activity 12/8/02, so she is looking at losing her miles. Is there anything painless she could do to get an activity posted before the miles expire?"

Also in the "Airline Programs" Forum, Cornroaster has details and a link to an easy 500 United miles for requesting a no-obligation quote on their car or homeowners insurance. (Note: available only to residents of AZ, CO, IA, IL, IN, KS, KY, MN, MO, OH, TN and WI.)

And much more. Questions, answers? Post them to the Forum!

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Hilton to Lose Alaska Airlines as Award Partner

After Dec. 31, Hilton HHonors members will no longer be able to redeem points for award travel on Alaska Airlines.

Rewards to be discontinued include:

FF1BAS - 40,000 points
One companion coach ticket within the U.S., excluding Hawaii, with the purchase of one full-fare coach ticket.

FF2NAS - 90,000 points
One coach ticket within the U.S., excluding Hawaii, or one coach ticket from the U.S. to Canada, excluding Hawaii.

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Points.com Waives Exchange Fees

Through Dec. 31, Points.com members -- even those not opting for the paid Gold-level membership -- can exchange their miles and points among participating loyalty programs for free.

While the swap fees may be waived, the usual caveat when making Points.com exchanges applies: beware of the conversion loss.

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Points.com Partners with GlobalPass

Effective immediately, GlobalPass members can convert their miles into miles or points in other participating programs, or convert miles or points from other programs into GlobalPass miles.

To promote the tie-up, new Points.com members will receive a bonus of 200 GlobalMiles and automatically be entered to win one of 10 prizes of 25,000 GlobalMiles.

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Holiday Bonus for Priority Club Shopping

Through Dec. 31, Priority Club Rewards members can earn double points for purchases charged to a Visa card at 23 participating Priority Club Shopping e-tailers, including Ashford.com, Circuit City, Old Navy, Target, etc.

In addition to the double miles, members earn "threshold" bonuses based on the total spent at the 23 merchants and charged to a Visa card: 1,000 bonus points for $100 spent, 2,500 points for $250, 5,000 points for $500, or 10,000 points for $1,000 spent.

Chances are good that the mileage mall associated with your airline or hotel program has similar bonuses in effect for the holiday shopping period.

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From Southwest: Thanksgiving Greetings

In the "We couldn't have said it better ourselves" category, we couldn't do better than direct your attention to Southwest's Thanksgiving greeting.

Bonus miles are great, but it's also nice to take a moment for a good-humored shout-out to travelers.

Gobble-gobble to you too, Southwest!

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Redeem United Miles for Dining

Mileage Plus members can now redeem their miles for Dining Certificates through Restaurant.com.

Redemption options: 1,000 miles for a $25 certificate or 2,500 miles for $100 in certificates. Certificates are valid at more than 6,000 restaurants. The fine print: "Some restaurants may restrict redemption to specific days or require a minimum purchase."

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Up to 7,000 US Air Miles for Sprint Service

Dividend Miles members can earn up to 7,000 miles for purchasing a new phone and rate plan from Sprint.

Bonus miles are awarded in seven monthly increments, 1,000 per month, and require a two-year subscriber agreement on each line of service.

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Deal Alert from SmarterTravel.com

1) Sale Fares on Southwest from $29 Each Way

Southwest's latest sale fares start at $29 one-way, and are the lowest available for the routes and dates we checked. Destinations include Chicago, Las Vegas, Orlando, and San Diego.

Travel is valid from Jan. 1 - 31, 2006. Book tickets by Nov. 28, 2005.

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2) Europe Sale Fares from $189

Late-fall and winter flights to Europe are on sale from 1-800-Fly-Europe, a package tour operator. The sale starts at $189 roundtrip, and destinations include London, Paris, and Rome, as well as Dublin and Reykjavik (new additions to 1-800-Fly-Europe's usual sales).

Departures are valid through Dec. 10, 2005, and from Jan. 10 through Mar. 15, 2006. Book tickets by Dec. 31, 2005. Fares require a Saturday-night stay, and the maximum stay is 30 days.

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Win a Royal Carribean Cruise for 4

Enter Royal Caribbean's "Wax And Win Surf Game" by Feb. 15, 2006 for a chance to win a six-day cruise for four on Royal Caribbean's Freedom of the Seas, including roundtrip air to Miami. Other prizes include iPods, etc.

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

Feedback from the Frontlines of Travel

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, we'll save this week's rants for next week's newsletter. But here's a joke shared with us recently by an anonymous reader:

Two vultures boarded a plane, each carrying two dead raccoons. The stewardess stops them and says "Sorry sir--only one carrion per passenger."

Until next week...