Pre-posting update: Wyndham is trying to renege on the deal. A rep posted on FlyerTalk:
Sorry for the confusion everyone. To clarify there were 2 parts to this promotion.
First part were for members who were targeted through email and the dates for that part were August 6, 2012 to October 6, 2012 and completed by October 9, 2012.
Second part is for member's who were targeted through direct mail. Dates for this part are 9/12/12 to 12/31/12 and completed by 1/3/13.
To qualify you need to have been sent the direct mailer and book through the link provided.

Update 10/13/14: Southwest awards now cost 70 points per dollar of the cash fare instead of 60. Taxes are now $5.60 per direction within the United States instead of $2.50 per flight. Everything else is the same.

The other day I helped a friend book a roundtrip Southwest award from Los Angeles to Denver for 11,761 Rapid Rewards and $5, taking advantage of a 1,000 Ultimate Rewards transfer to make up a shortfall of points in her account. For some people, this post will be very basic.

American Airlines has added the ability to search Finnair and airberlin award space on aa.com! If you follow thepointsguy, View From the Wing, or One Mile at a Time, they all beat me to the story, so I'll try to add some valuable information if you want to book one of these airlines.

It's always great news when an airline adds the functionality to its award-booking engine. American Airlines has made big strides this year, so you can now book American, Alaska, Hawaiian, British, Qantas, Finnair, and airberlin online with your AA miles.

Starwood Hotels Offering 20% Discount on Starpoints Purchases

Per this thread on FlyerTalk, Starwood is offering a 20% discount on all Starpoint purchases through November 30th. Purchasing Starpoints normally costs 3.5 cents per point. With this promotion, you can buy Starpoints for 2.8 cents each.

To purchase, simply follow this link and input your Starwood Preferred Guest information along with your payment selection.

I see that Starpoints top your Mile Value Leaderboard.

To everyone in LA or willing to travel:

I had such a fun time at last month's dinner that I am organizing another one for next Saturday, October 27 at 7 PM.

We will meet at a delicious restaurant in the 90006 zip code with convenient access to the 10, 101, 5, and 110. (Average entree, approximately $12.) Tahsir and I will both be there, but you'll probably learn more from the other attendees than you will from us. There won't be any formal teaching, just chatting and socializing.

The Chicago Seminars were last Friday through Sunday just outside O'Hare at the Holiday Inn Elk Grove. I had an absolute blast, learned quite a bit, and highly recommend everyone go next year. This post is part recap, part tips for next year if you go. Interspersed are pictures of me and some of my favorite bloggers.

Daraius (Million Mile Secrets) and I are both in our signature outfits

I had volunteered to help with registration starting at 4 PM on Friday.

According to this very active thread on FlyerTalk, Taca Airlines is offering 250 LifeMiles for each purchase made through its e-shopping portal through October 31st. (Hat Tip Mommy Points.) The most important part of this deal is, according to the terms and conditions, there are NO minimums on purchases. Conceivably, you could order many inexpensive items separately and rack up Taca miles quickly.

Many in the FlyerTalk forum are attempting to order multiple $1 items from various stores in the shopping portal. If everything goes as planned, they will receive 250 miles for each $1 purchase.

Club Carlson is selling points with a 50% bonus through November 10, 2012 bringing the cost down to 0.47 cents per point. Club Carlson hotels include Radisson, Park Plaza, Park Inn, and Country Inns & Suites.

To purchase points from this non-targeted promotion, start on the promotion's home page. The promotion page lays out the rules. Every 1,000 points purchased costs $7 and earns a bonus 500 points.
The maximum Club Carlson points you can purchase in a given year are 40k, which would get you 60k total points under this promotion.

Delta is selling Alaska Airlines direct flights from San Diego to Maui roundtrip for $297. And American, United, and Delta are all getting in on the sub-$370 party from Los Angeles to Hawaii roundtrip.

There have recently been a ton of great deals to Hawaii. I'm not sure the cause of the sales--tourism to Hawaii is way up this year--but I've taken advantage and been trying to get everyone else to take advantage.

US Airways and American Airlines have merged since the publication of this post so it is no longer valid.

US Airways has some incredible deals on its award chart. I've talked about off peak awards, South America deals, and intra-South Asia before.