Maximizing Your Holiday Shopping Spend on Amazon.com

As the Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals descend upon us, many will be eager to log onto Amazon and knock out all of their holiday shopping at once. Before you buy anything on Amazon, make sure you are maximizing your mileage earning potential.

Hawaiian Airlines' shopping portal is the only one that earns frequent flyer miles on Amazon purchases.

Delta offers 1,500 MQM for one year Sky Club membership

According to this thread on FlyerTalk, Delta is offering elite qualifying miles for buying a Sky Club lounge membership. To take advantage, you must purchase a one or three year membership by December 31st.

You can choose between two additional free months on a one-year membership or 1,500 Medallion Qualification Miles (MQMs). MQMs are what Delta uses to calculate elite status.

US Airways and American Airlines have merged since the publication of this post so it is no longer valid.

According to this thread on FlyerTalk, US Airways is now offering a 100% bonus when you buy or gift miles. This promotion runs through November 30th and you can purchase up to 50,000 miles. Purchasing the maximum will net you 100,000 miles (50,000 + the 50,000 bonus) at a cost of $1,881.25.

Tropicana Las Vegas Rebranded as a DoubleTree hotel

According to this thread on FlyerTalk and this article in USA Today, the Tropicana Las Vegas is being rebranded as a DoubleTree hotel. This change finally allows Hilton HHonors members the ability to earn and redeem points while staying on the Las Vegas Strip. Previously, the only Hilton options were the Hilton Grand Vacation Suites and the Grand Vacation Suites at the Flamingo.

Prepaids are All the Rage--Add Another to the List (if You Live in New England)

Word on the street is that miles and points aficionados may be interested in prepaid debit cards. See How Much is Bluebird Really Worth? and my Bluebird Calculator.

The players involved have included the NetSpend card, Mio card, Wells Fargo prepaid card, US Bank and Nationwide Visa Buxx cards, and the American Express Prepaid card.

According to this thread on FlyerTalk, Aegean Airlines--a Star Alliance member--is offering a 2,000 mile signup bonus to new members of their loyalty program, Miles & Bonus. Although this 1,000 mile increase over their previous offer may seem like a paltry sum from a Greek airline you are unlikely to fly frequently, this 2,000 mile bonus actually puts you halfway to Star Alliance Silver status and 1/10th of the way to Star Alliance Gold Status!

Aegean Airlines has one of the lowest mileage requirements for elite Star Alliance status.

For the past 24 hours, this thread on FlyerTalk has been buzzing with excitement about Alitalia's most recent discount code that gave a flat $315.30 discount off any flight booked up until 10/26/12 on Alitalia's Japanese website.

For several days, the US, Italian, German, British, Canadian, and Spanish Alitalia websites have been running a promotion that gives a 25% discount on flights booked using the e-Coupon code SPECIAL:

This was a nice upgrade from the 15% off promotion that Alitalia offered in September--covered in Mile Value's first Forum Buzz post.

More enticingly, the version of the promotion offered on Alitalia's

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.

Southwest Holding Huge Winter Fare Sale

The Southwest forum on FlyerTalk is buzzing about Southwest's recently announced "Big Winter Sale." Fares to most cities are a whopping 40% off which creates some incredible values in the Southwest route network. To take advantage of the sale, you must book by midnight on Thursday, October 11 and fly 11/28 - 12/12 or 1/7 - 2/14 excluding Sundays.

To book, simply go to the main Southwest home page and enter your city pairs.

There has been quite a bit of recent discussion on FlyerTalk on Radisson's new "Stay One Night, Get One Night" promotion.

Club Carlson properties Radisson, Park Inn, and Country Inn have run similar promotions in the past--I mattress ran in Krakow, Poland to take advantage--though those deals awarded Club Carlson points instead of a free night certificate.