Frequent Flyer

Gabriel Leigh's (video) Thesis on the Frequent Flyer.

Hilton Devaluation Coming???

Gary at View from the wing points to an interesting Flyertalk thread about the coming Hilton Honors devaluation of points. Seems odd they are devaluing their points at a time when everybody is hurting to fill their rooms. Must be a function of their new owners, not sure what they are thinking here, this will only drive loyal guests away in droves.

Thoughts On Budget Fast Break

Back in September I posted about a Budget promotion where you earn 3,000 Delta miles with every qualifying rental of 1 day or more. So I decided to take a break from the Avis 5,000 Delta mile promotion and try this out.

First let me point out that I am an Avis Presidents club member and also a Budget Fast Break member.

My Experience

The first thing I noticed with Budget is that they assign you a group number as opposed to a rental car space as Avis does. The group number indicates the type of car you rented where those types of cars are parked. You simply walk up to the group of cars and pick anyone that you'd like to drive for the day or week. This seems odd as it requires additional action on the part of the customer to get the car off the lot. This additional action doesn't exactly fit with "Fast" in the Fast Break.

So after I picked my car for the week, you drive up to the exit and hand the check out person your slip that was hanging from the mirror. This slip has nothing related to your reservation on it or name. So you must hand over your ID and credit card to start your checkout process.

This is the point that is significantly different and more time consuming than Avis. At Avis you would have walked up to your pre-reserved parking space with car that has your rental agreement in it. When you leave Avis you simply hand them the agreement and they tear half it off, and off you go.

But at Budget, they have to take your credit card to run it, then it appeared they generated a rental agreement. The odd thing was I was never handed a rental agreement what-so-ever before leaving the lot. So all I have when leaving is the car and a set of keys.

Bottom Line

The promotion for 3,000 Delta SkyMiles is great if you have a week that requires you to have a rental of fewer than 4 days (which is what is required to earn the 5k at Delta). But overall I found the Budget process to be less transparent, and more time consuming.

Captiva Island Florida

We just returned from a trip to Captiva Island Florida. Captiva is a fantastic island off the coast of Fort Myers Florida with great beaches. Here is a picture of the sunset from Mad Hatter restaurant.
We sat right next to Willard Scott who owns a property on the island. It was easy to recognize with his distinct voice, wanted to ask him what the weather forcast was but fought off the urge.

Free 500 Priority Club Reward Points

You can earn a quick and free 500 Priority Club Reward points by completing this Priority Club survey. It took just under 1 minute to complete the multiple choice quiz.

Don't worry if you get the answers wrong, you get unlimited tries until you complete it correctly.
In addition you can earn 5,000 Priority Club Points

Priority club has a refer a friend promotion where the referee and the referrer both receive 5,000 points for a referral. If your not currently a member and would like to earn the 5,000 bonus miles, email me at theweeklyflyer at gmail dot com and I'll refer you. We both win.

Seychelles Article

Here is an interesting article on the US relations with Seychelles.

There is a Sky Team option to the Seychelles through a Air France code share with Air Seychelles. This is a good way to burn all of those Delta miles your earning. Last I checked it was 120,000 per person in Business to the Seychelles on Sky Team.

Free 150 American Airlines Miles

This week I've posted a few different ways to earn miles or points.

Here is another one. Earn a free 150 American Airlines miles by watching a two minute video on Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones.

Bottom Line

Its easy to rack up quick and free points here and there. After a while these definitely add up. Its free, takes only a few minutes and can add points to your account.

Free 100 Continental Miles for Learning About Pet Program

All you have to do is click this link and learn about Continental's pet program by November 31, 2009.

United Fall Promotion

United is running a fall promotion for flying with them from October 1, 2009 through December 31st, 2009. You can earn up to 15,000 United miles.

Fall Promotion Details

Purcahse and fly one qualifying roundtrip each month and earn miles. Fly two and earn miles and upgrades, up to 15,000 bonus miles and three regional upgrades. Qualifying flights must be taken between October 1 and December 31, 2009.

Terms and Conditions

Qualifying class of service: United First (F, A, P), United Business (C, D, Z) and select United Economy (Y, B, M, H, E, U, Q). Other classes of service are not eligible for this offer.

1. Offer valid only for original recipients of the email invitation to this offer.
2. Registration required any time prior to travel, or within 30 days after travel, but must be completed by Dec 31, 2009, in order to qualify for the bonus miles.
3. To register for this offer, go to united.com/offer/MPD539
4. To qualify for this offer, registered members must purchase and complete one paid roundtrip anywhere United flies within the ticketing and travel periods. For this offer, a roundtrip is defined as travel from an origin city to a destination city with return travel beginning in the outbound destination city back to the first origin city with all segments on United or United Express®; a segment is defined as one takeoff and one landing.
5. Circle trips do qualify. Open jaws do not qualify.
6. Eligible classes: United First (F, A, P), United Business (C, D, Z) and select United Economy (Y, B, M, H, E, U, Q).
7. Ticketing period: October 1, 2009 - December 31, 2009.
8. Travel period: October 1, 2009 - December 31, 2009.
9. E-Ticket® purchase required.
10. For tickets purchased in the U.S.: Tickets purchased through United Reservations are subject to a $25 ticketing fee and tickets purchased at airport ticket counters are subject to a $30 ticketing fee. Fees are subject to change.
11. For each month of the offer, registered member can earn 2500 bonus miles for the first qualifying roundtrip completed, and 2500 bonus miles and a promotional Regional Upgrade for the second roundtrip completed in the same month. Promotional Regional Upgrade will expire three months from the date of deposit, at the end of month.
12. For this offer, roundtrip will be counted in the month in which it is completed.
13. Bonus miles can be earned on a maximum of two roundtrips per month (5000 bonus miles), for a maximum of six for the offer period (15,000 bonus miles). A maximum of one Regional Upgrade can be earned per month for a maximum of three for the offer period.
14. Bonus miles will credit to the account six to eight weeks after qualifying activity.
15. Offer not valid on government fares.
16. Not combinable with other non-combinable offers.
17. All Regional Upgrades terms and conditions listed at united.com/upgrades apply, except the expiration date.
18. Passenger must be a member of United's Mileage Plus frequent flyer program for travel to qualify for this offer. Flights must be credited to the Mileage Plus account in order to qualify.
19. Valid on United and United Express, and not on United-marketed code-share flights operated by other carriers. Bonus miles apply to base flight miles only and do not count toward elite status. Bonus is in addition to paid flight miles and any applicable elite or class-of-service bonuses.
20. Offer subject to change without notice. Other restrictions may apply.
21. Miles accrued, awards issued and bonus offers are subject to the rules of the United Mileage Plus program. The Mileage Plus program, including accruals, awards and bonus miles offers, is subject to change without notice. Taxes and fees related to award travel are the responsibility of the passenger. United and Mileage Plus are registered service marks. For complete details about the Mileage Plus program, visit united.com. (MPD539)

Hilton's Fall Promotion

Hilton sent me an email today about their new fall promotion for stays between October 5th and December 31, 2009.

Choose Your Route to Earning Free Nights Faster Route 1 - This route lets you earn 25,000 after completing four stays at more than 3,300 Hilton Family hotels through December 31, 2009. Maximum earning potential is 75,000.

Route 2 - This route lets you earn Double Base Points with every stay at more than 3,300 Hilton Family hotels through December 31, 2009. Maximum earning potential is 75,000.

Bottom Line

The Hyatt/United promotion going on right now is my personal choice. But if you are a Hilton loyalist and have no use for United miles or free nights in Hyatt's program I would select the option that allows you to earn the maximum amount up to 75,000 points.



Terms and Conditions

Offer valid for stays completed between October 5 and December 31, 2009 at participating hotels. To participate, you must be a member of HHonors and register for the promotion at HiltonHHonors.com/pickoffer2009 prior to check-in. Guests not currently enrolled in the HHonors program may register at HiltonHHonors.com. Members may only select one of the two offers and offers cannot be combined. Maximum number of bonus points earned as part of this promotion cannot exceed 75,000 bonus points. Once the member has made a selection, the offer choice is final and cannot be changed. “Double Base points” means you will receive a bonus equal to the number of Base points earned during a stay. Bonus points earned on Base points do not count toward VIP tier qualification. Registered members must check-in and check-out between October 5 and December 31, 2009 to be eligible to receive bonus points. Offer cannot be combined with other select promotional rates, bonus points and/or miles offers. Hilton HHonors® membership, earning of Points & Miles®, and redemption of points are subject to HHonors Terms and Conditions.

Hyatt Next Big Thing Promo Combines United Miles Earning Option

Hyatt's recent Next Big Thing promotion allows you to earn a free night at a Hyatt for every 2 stays at a Hyatt property. This promotion was recently amended (see post #47) by Hyatt to allow you to select miles (instead of Hyatt points). This is fantastic news because United is running some really good mile promotions for staying at Hyatt properties right now.

United Promotions for Hyatt Stays

This is all good news so now you'll be able to combine the Next Big Thing promotion with the 2 United mile earning promotions (5k per stay & 2.5k per 2 stays). So you can now earn 5k United Miles + the standard 500 United mile amount for every Hyatt stay + 2500 United Miles for every 2 stays.

So lets assume you stay 4 nights a week and switch between Hyatt properties every night you'll earn at the following rate:

1st Night - 5000 United Miles + 500 United Miles

2nd Night - 5000 United Miles + 500 United Miles + 2500 United Mile Bonus

3rd Night - 5000 United Miles + 500 United Miles

4th Night - 5000 United Miles + 500 United Miles + 2500 United Mile Bonus

Total United Miles earned in 4 nights = 27,000 United Miles

Bottom Line

Even if you don't normally fly United, this promotion is well worth taking advantage of to earn the maximum amount of miles for your hotel stays.

AirFrance A380 Inagural Flight Auction

Last week I posted about the AirFrance inagural flight auction. The auction started today for the inagural flight from Paris to New York on November 20th, 2009.

Check out the auction for the Paris>New York Flight here, and the New York>Paris flight here. They are both on Ebay.fr

The least expensive business seat I could find was for 948 Euro on the New York to Paris flight on November 21st, 2009.