Arrival Miles Can Be Used to Pay Airline Taxes and Fees

The card offer described in this post has expired. To see the latest top travel credit cards with big bonuses that will save you tons, check out our Top 10 List for Consumers and Top 10 List for Small Businesses.

Arrival miles are good for so much more than just airfare.

Can You Get the Annual Fee Waived on Your US Airways Card?

Reader Joanna emailed me to let me know the results of calling Barclaycard:

"My US Airways® Premier World MasterCard® annual fee was due August 29. I called and got 5,000 miles for $1,000 spend over 90 days and annual fee waived for a year."

Barclaycard is really going all out to get people to get this card, keep this card, and use this card, and Joanna's email is another example.

Hurry: Lufthansa Card’s 50,000 Bonus Miles Disappear Today

Update July 1, 2014:

The current offer on the Premier Miles & More® World MasterCard® is 20,000 miles after first purchase and payment of $79 annual fee.

Earn 20,000 award miles after your first purchase or balance transfer
Earn up to 15,000 award miles with balance transfers (1 mile per $1 transferred) within 30 days of account opening
Earn 2 award miles per $1 on ticket purchases directly from Miles &

This One Mistake on the US Airways Award Chart Can Save You 15k Miles

US Airways charges the same price for three-cabin First Class within the United States and Canada as it does for two-cabin First Class or Business Class.

I consider this a mistake rooted in the fact that US Airways only operates two-cabin planes within the United States as did its former partner United (with a few exceptions.)

But US Airways' new partners American Airlines and Cathay Pacific both operate three-cabin planes within the United States on a few routes:

New York-JFK to Los Angeles (American Airlines)
New York-JFK to San Francisco (American Airlines)
New York-JFK to Vancouver (Cathay Pacific)

I expect

US Airways MasterCard Now Offering 40k Bonus Miles

This card offer has expired so its links have been removed.

Hawaiian Airlines 35,000 Bonus Miles Means Free Roundtrip to Hawaii

The Hawaiian Airlines® World Elite MasterCard® comes with 35,000 bonus Hawaiian Miles after spending $1,000 on the card in the first 90 days. That's enough bonus miles for a roundtrip on Hawaiian Airlines from the mainland to anywhere in Hawaii.

The six main reasons I love this offer:

Hawaiian Airlines has amazing award availability from the western United States to all the major Hawaiian islands.
Cardholders receive a discount on Hawaiian Airlines awards, so instead of paying 20k miles each way between the mainland and Hawaii, cardholders pay only 17,500 miles each way.

The Four Frontier Airlines Awards You Can’t Ignore

Frontier Airlines is a Denver-based airline with flights throughout the continental US, Alaska, Mexico, Costa Rica, Jamaica, and the Dominican Republic.

Frontier Destinations

Right now The Frontier Airlines World MasterCard® is offering 40,000 bonus miles after spending only $500 in the first 90 days.

That's a huge sign up bonus for such a tiny minimum spending requirement. Making it even better is the fact that Frontier charges only 10k miles each way for a Standard award within the United States including Alaska.

Hurry? Rumor is That Arrival World MasterCard Minimum Spending Requirement Set to Triple

Update 2/21/14: This post was about a rumor that the spending requirement on the Arrival card would go to $3,000. It has gone to $3,000. The minimum spending requirement is now $3,000 in the first 90 days to unlock the 40,000 bonus miles. Full offer details:

Earn 40,000 bonus miles if you make $3,000 or more in purchases in the first 90 days from account opening.

Barclaycard Arrival World MasterCard Are Worth 1.075 Cents Each Because of This One Quirk

Everyone knows that the Barclaycard Arrival PlusTM World Elite MasterCard® comes with a sign up bonus worth $400 in free travel after spending $3,000 in the first three months, and that the card earns 2% back toward travel on all purchases.

Except that those numbers are wrong! The card's sign up bonus is actually worth $430 and the card actually earns 2.15% back on all purchases.

Until we both got the card, we didn't realize that you actually earn miles on the purchase that you redeem miles to remove from your statement.