Shouldn’t It Say Get 1 and 5/7 Roundtrip Flights?
April 19, 2014
Southwest and Chase market their Southwest card in a misleading way. The big bold letters say:
The 50,000 points the card offers in no way correlate with two roundtrips.
Membership Rewards,Virgin America
30% Transfer Bonus from Membership Rewards to Virgin America Opens Up Great Deals to Hawaii and Europe
April 18, 2014
There is currently a 30% transfer bonus on Membership Rewards transfers to Virgin America.
Until April 30, 2014, 200 Membership Rewards transfer to 130 Elevate points. (The normal rate is 200 Membership Rewards to 100 Elevate points.)
What are the sweetspots on the Virgin America chart that might make a transfer worthwhile?
Taking advantage of this transfer bonus is not a good idea if you want to fly Virgin America domestic flights.
Get the 40k Offer on Hilton HHonors Card
April 17, 2014
The Hilton HHonors Signature Card's (the one that earns points) sign up bonus has expired. Click here for the top current sign up bonuses.
A lot of people will love the benefits and sign up bonus on the Citi® Hilton HHonors™ Visa Signature® Card.
The card comes with automatic Hilton Silver status, which earns a 15% points bonus on Hilton stays, late checkout, and free access to fitness centers.
MileValue Was Down Twice in the Last Week!
April 17, 2014
MileValue has gone down twice in the last week.
The site was down for almost 48 hours starting last Wednesday because I screwed up while moving the site to a private server to keep up with growing readership.
Luckily a loyal reader helped get the site back up about 24 hours earlier than it otherwise would have been up. Check out @pcg on twitter. He's a wizard with WordPress and web hosting (and judging by his twitter handle, an early adopter of twitter.)
Yesterday, the site also went down for about 12 hours.
Fifteen Percent Discount on Frontier Flights This Spring (Must Book by Tomorrow)
April 16, 2014
Frontier has announced a 15% discount on domestic flights bought by Thursday April 17, 2014 and flown by June 12, 2014 with promo code REFUND. Sale fares apply every day except Fridays and Sundays.
This 15% discount does not apply to Frontier’s international destinations like Jamaica, Mexico, Costa Rica, and the Dominican Republic.
To get to those places, your best bet is to redeem 15k Frontier miles each way.
Where are the Bright Spots on the Airline Award Charts after the Devaluations
April 15, 2014
The last year has seen all four of the American legacy carriers make their miles less valuable.
Delta bumped its business class awards up in price.
United put premium cabins on partner airlines out of reach.
US Airways went to the slightly inferior oneworld alliance from the Star Alliance, then bumped up the price of roundtrip business class awards to North Asia.
American eliminated its Explorer Awards and free stopovers on all awards.
But great value awards still exist with all four types of miles.
Jetstar from Singapore to Cambodia (Low Cost Carrier Tips in Asia and Europe)
April 14, 2014
This is the sixth installment of a round-the-world trip report that started here. We pick up in Singapore.
As the title of this series indicates, my trip was built around flying Cathay Pacific, Singapore, and Lufthansa First Class. I booked those long flights well before I had a plan for my time on the ground.
When I looked into how I wanted to spend my time in Southeast Asia, I decided to spend eight days in Cambodia.
This is Your Last Chance to Get Some Mega Bonuses from American Express
April 13, 2014
This is your last chance to get repeat bonuses on your favorite American Express personal cards.
Currently you can get the sign up bonus on an American Express personal card every 12 months. So if you got the bonus on, say, the SPG card in February 2013, you can get it again today.
Starting May 1, you will not be able to get a sign up bonus on an American Express personal card if you have ever gotten that bonus in the past.
Using Everything I Know to Help a Friend Plan Two Summer Trips
April 12, 2014
My friend has big trip aspirations for this summer, but nothing booked.
Approx July 12: Boston to France, Italy, or Spain
July 13/14 to 24/25: work on a vineyard in France, Italy, or Spain
July 25: vineyard location to Croatia
July 26 to August 2: Yacht Week
August 2: Croatia to Greece
August 10/11: Greece to Boston
August 22: Boston to Colombia
August 31: Colombia to Costa Rica
Sept ~7/8: Costa Rica to San Francisco
She emailed me for my suggestions.