Here’s a toast to Leap Day and to this new AAdvantage Miles Bonus Offer.  

(BTW, I don’t think that this cat is going to leave a tip)

American Cellars Wine Club is offering up to 5,000 Bonus AAdvantage Miles when you sign up for membership:

Join American Cellars Wine Club today and enjoy 6 bottles of hand-selected wine. This introductory half case is yours for just $41.94 or $6.99 per bottle plus FREE shipping – you save $69!

Plus earn 2,000 AAdvantage bonus miles with your first wine club shipment then earn 3,000 AAdvantage bonus miles with your second shipment.

Also, earn 5 AAdvantage miles for every dollar spent on all other wine club shipments and orders.

Go here for full details.

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Now that we covered the wine, and the bonus miles, it’s time to get to the dirt.

I’ve been waiting for a good reason to share this video from the O’Connell family of winemakers. If you’re not familiar with them, Joe, Liz, and their son Ryan, moved their very American family from Boston to the Languedoc-Roussillon region of France to pursue their dream of making wines.

Over the years, Ryan has put together some really funny and creative videos about life on the vineyard, food, and of course, wine.

Among his classics:

Petting Zoo Cheese Tasting – This cheese tastes the way a petting zoo smells.

And this one:

Winemaker tastes dirt – True Vin de Terroir Tasting: dirt in a wine bottle

Ryan’s working in California now, and flies back and forth between Napa and the Languedoc (hopefully earning AAdvantage Miles).

If you’re a wine enthusiast, you might want to follow his observations about the winemaking differences between Napa and the Languedoc, or as he explains it:

“A young winemaker kidnapped from his vineyard in the Languedoc to learn the ways of the west coast wine business”

You can find his kid napa blog here.  

Photo: basil dines “You have allowed my glass to become empty…”
Credit: cyrusbulsara on FLickr

The likelihood is that you’re the mileage and travel expert for your family and circle of friends, so even though you’d never fall for this scam, you should be aware in case they come to you about it.

Last year, people began receiving emails like the one above that was received by blogger and SkyMiles Geek, Rene over at DeltaPoints.

These emails usually come in the form of a fake confirmation for some supposedly “recently purchased tickets” and contain instructions to click a link or open an .EXE attachment in order to view the ticket.

The deception works when the recipient, concerned about receiving a confirmation for a ticket they never purchased, follows the instructions and their computer gets infected with malware.

Here’s a sample posted on AA.com of one of the bogus emails:

From: sales1@acshomeshow.com [mailto:sales1@acshomeshow.com]
Sent: Thursday, November 17, 2011 5:17 PM
To: AMessina
Subject: Re: Your Flight Order N590-5507130

Dear Customer,

FLIGHT ELECTRONIC NUMBER 8532856
DATE & TIME / NOVEMBER 28, 2011, 11:17 PM
ARRIVING: NEW YORK JFK
TOTAL PRICE : 278.02 USD

Please download and print out your ticket here:

http://www.aa.com/flight-nyc/flightno36952281084a

Marie MATTHEWS,
American Airlines

It’s obvious to you and me that it’s a fake email (apparently the scammers are to lazy to even produce any fake graphics) but to others (particularly elderly parents) it might very well seem legit.

If  someone does come to you after they’ve fallen victim to the scam, they should:

• Run a virus check to remove any malware

• Change their AA.com password

• Confirm that the email address on file with AA.com is correct and hasn’t been reset by the scammers

• Contact their bank if they think that finanacial account information may have been exposed

•  Forward a copy of the email, including the header to webmaster@aa.com

You can visit AA.com for more info.

Photo: phishing aa email
Credit: Delta Points on Flickr

I’m recovering from a really bad cold. To give you an idea of how sick I’ve been, I actually went to the doctor (something I rank just below sitting in a middle seat on a flight without wifi), and I wouldn’t get out of bed for 1,000 free AAdvantage Miles!

I woke up late yesterday morning thinking that I had been living in a Whataburger. I wasn’t sure if I’d died and visited heaven or just had a fever dream, but after a possible out of body experience, I thought it might be a good idea to check my email. When I did, I found this message:

Play our hidden object game, Go For The Emerald, to explore your oneworld elite benefits and register for your chance to win 2 Business class tickets for a trip around the world.

Be one of the first 20,000 people to register and earn 1,000 AAdvantage bonus miles!

I was still a little groggy, but because of the offer of 1,000 Free AAdvantages Miles, I briefly reconsidered, maybe I had passed on, and Whataburger was just the waiting room to Paradise. But then, the aches and pain kicked in and reminded me that I was still here on earth, and was facing a dilemma.

My iPad was out of reach, my laptop in another room, and for a moment I thought about getting out of bed. But after some synaptic back and forth between my brain and and the rest of my body, it was decided that it hurt to much to walk, so brain and body went back to sleep.

(Side note: After reading this post from Mrs. Deals when I woke up, I learned too late that I could have entered on my iPhone. Anyway, I won’t miss out again, I just activated my Deals We Like email subscription).

By the time I felt well enough to make it to my laptop, I was number 54,000 and out of luck on the miles, but even so, this is a really great promotion:

Discover the benefits of the oneworld alliance. You might be rewarded with a trip for two around the world.

As a frequent flyer, you can enjoy many benefits that help make travel an easier and more rewarding experience through the oneworld alliance. We invite you to discover these benefits in our hidden object game, Go For The Emerald. And when you travel through the three rooms named for oneworld tiers – the Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald rooms – you’ll discover the great benefits you have wherever you fly. Plus, you’ll have a chance to win two round-the-world tickets in Business Class. Rewards await you!

To enter, all you have to do is visit oneworld.com/emerald and follow these instructions:

How To Play: Find the hidden items in each room.

You’ll find a clue for each item at the bottom of the page and a hint button for some additional help.

You have 90 seconds to find all the objects in each room. Earn bonus points the faster you play. When you find an item, click on it to reveal the oneworld benefit. (The timer will pause while the benefit message appears.)

Get through all three rooms and enter for your chance to win a trip around the world.

You don’t have to have AAdvantage elite status to play. From the official rules:

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN.

ENTRY DETAILS: Open to legal residents of the 50 United States and the District of Columbia who are 18 years or older.

Sweepstakes begins at 11:59 a.m. Eastern time February 22, 2012 and all entries must be received by 11:59 p.m. ET time on April 27, 2012.

PRIZE DETAILS: One Prize consisting of 2 oneworld Explorer 3- continent tickets, ARV $21,480.56.

There is a limit of a total of five entries per email address regardless of entry method.

Go here to enter and good luck!

For some amusement today:  British Airways is getting into the spirit of the London Olympic Games with a new ad that has a little British girl’s suitcase racing through the BA luggage system against bags from other countries.

Guess who wins?

I used to work with this guy that grew up in Louisiana and despite the fact that we kept all these gourmet coffees in the office kitchen, he’d bring in bags of Community Coffee.

At some point I got around to asking him why, and he told me that if you’re not using Community Coffee, then you’re just making brown water.  You can take the man out of Louisiana…

Anyway, Commumity Coffee and American Airlines have teamed up to offer the “Navigate NOLO” sweepstakes on Facebook:

Want to win a trip to New Orleans? Test your knowledge of The Big Easy and enter to win!

The winner receive 2 American Airlines travel certificates good for travel anywhere in the lower 48 states and a $3,500 gift card for travel expenses.

One (1) Grand Prize (the “Prize”) will be awarded consisting of: (A) Two (2), Roundtrip Coach Class Travel Authorization Certificates on American Airlines from any city served by American Airlines or its Airline Associates in the 48 contiguous United States, to the destination of the winner’s choice in any of the 48 contiguous United States, the Bahamas, Canada, the Caribbean or Mexico (Approximate Retail Value (“ARV”), $750.00 for each Travel Certificate),

A gift card with a value of $3,500.00 for expenses that the winner may incur with use of the Travel
Certificates.

Ten enter, all you have to do is go to the Community Coffee Facebook page, like their “Navigate NOLA” app, then answer these four questions (scroll below to see the answers):

Question 1
What national historic park in new orleans has the oldest collection of oak trees in the country?

Question 2
What music festival has taken place in new orleans every spring since 1970?

Question 3
Which of the following universities is not located in New Orleans

Question 4
True or False: The Mercedes-Benz Superdome is the world’s largest fixed domed structure?

It’s one entry per person and the deadline to enter is 11:59:59 p.m. CT on March 31, 2012.  You can find the complete rules here (warning, it opens as a PDF in your browser).

Go here to enter.

Good luck!

Scroll down for the answers:

Answer 1: City Park
Answer 2: Jazz Fest
Answer 3: Louisiana State University
Answer 4: True

Here’s an item I first read about in a milepoint thread started by forum member sobore.   Kyle Gosnell, his wife and his son were traveling from Denver to Belize City on American Airlines.  

Despite clearing TSA and being boarded by a gate agent in Denver, when they got to DFW to make their connection, the American Airlines gate agent denied them boarding because of a “damaged” passport.

Denver television station KDVR that first reported the story. Here’s Gosnell’s explanation to their reporter Hema Mullur:

Gosnell, his wife Dana, and their young son, Kye, received boarding passes all the way through to Belize City.
But in Dallas, they hit a roadblock.

“They took a look at our passports and said that my passport was mutilated, therefore I wasn’t able to fly,” Gosnell said.

The reporter asked American for a comment:

A spokesperson for the airline didn’t give FOX31 an official statement, but said it is within the airline’s rights to refuse a traveler for a passport that might not be able to be scanned.

American is paying for the family’s hotel in Dallas while they wait to get a replacement passport.

Without being able to examine the passport, I guess I can’t second guess the DFW gate agent, but if the “damage” is exactly as it appears in news video, then it seems more like an instance of a gate agent in a bAAd mood.

My passport doesn’t look much better.

Anyway, go here to view the video for yourself, then come back and share your thoughts.

Flickr Photo: Screenshot taken of the original news video posted on the KDVR website.

Check your email inbox for this new targeted offer from the American Airlines Business ExtrAA program:

Give Your Business a Boost. Earn 1,000 Business ExtrAA bonus points – that’s halfway to a round trip ticket!!

The American Airlines Business ExtrAA program has teamed up with VerticalResponse to offer your business the marketing tools you need to stay competitive — plus you will earn 1,000 Business ExtrAA bonus points after your first purchase of $5 or more before May 31, 2012. With 1,000 bonus points, you will have a great head start on your next round-trip ticket!

Your company can benefit from a variety of VerticalResponse solutions to help expand your business in a dependable, affordable way, with proven results. Try them out for free with a no-risk trial.

Open your business to a whole new audience with marketing programs including:
Email Marketing
Social Media Marketing
Event Marketing
List Building and Management
Postcards
Online Surveys

A 1,000 points is pretty sizable. It’s halfway to a round-trip domestic ticket. It’s an upgrade to first class with enough points left over to get a day pass to the Admirals Club.

I visited the promotion page and took a look at their services and prices and VerticalResponse has some pretty cool tools, and spending $5 is pretty easy.

For $5 you can send out a mailer to about 300 clients. Or for the same price, you can send out 6 post cards. Either way, VerticalResponse had some nicely designed templates and an online assistant to walk you through the process.

Again, it’s a targeted offer. Here’s the fine print:

You received this email because you have opted in to receive emails for Business ExtrAA Account News and Information.

*Based on Economy PlanAAhead award valid for the Continental U.S., Canada and Mexico. All taxes and fees, including reservation fees, assessed at the time of ticketing are the responsibility of the passenger.

This offer is available only to recipients of the email sent by American Airlines to select Business ExtrAA® members and is valid through May 31, 2012. Promotional bonus points available for new VerticalResponse customers only, who provide the requested information using the enrollment site provided via link from this email and complete a qualifying purchase with VerticalResponse of $5 or more between January 26, 2012, and May 31, 2012.

Points will post to your company’s Business ExtrAA account 6-8 weeks after promotion ends

Go here for complete details.

Here’s a new bonus offer from Avis that will let you earn a discount and some extra miles with a 2 day rental:

Now through July 31, 2012, American Airlines AAdvantage members can earn 500 AAdvantage bonus miles from Avis on rentals of 2 or more consecutive days at participating airport locations in the U.S. and Canada.

Use coupon # MUAA086 and provide your AAdvantage number at the time of reservation or at the rental counter to earn your AAdvantage bonus miles. These AAdvantage bonus miles are in addition to the AAdvantage base miles you earn every time you rent with Avis.

This offer is in addition to your everyday savings of up to 25% when you use AWD # K817100.

Go here for complete details.

Other Avis Options

Avis offers 50 base miles per day, so with this offer a 2 day rental will earn you 600 AAdvantage Miles. Avis has a much better offer of 1,500 bonus miles plus base miles, but it requires a minimum 3 day rental.

Other Rental Options

Dollar and Thrifty both have less generous 150 miles per day promotions that require a 3 day minimum.

Hertz is offering 3 AAdvantage Miles per $1 spend and only a single day minimum, but unless you spend $200 over 2 days, the Avis offer is probably your best chance to earn some extra miles with a short term rental.

Photo: Avis CheckIn
Credit: oliver eiternick

You probably recall the controversy Citibank started last month, when they started sending out 1099s to customers that received big AAdvantage Mile signup bonuses for opening new accounts accounts last year.

The move made a lot of customers unhappy, and as you might have expected, it was only a matter of time till someone filed a lawsuit.

The Courthouse News Service is reporting that last week, plaintiffs Bertram Hirsch and Igor Romanov, through their attorney James Kelly, filed suit in federal court claiming that:

Citibank lured them in by offering 40,000 frequent-flier miles to open an account – but didn’t tell them they had to report 2½ cents per mile as income to the IRS…

Citibank grossly overvalued the miles, which have no actual value to customers and should not be taxable.

Seth over at The Wandering Aramean does an excellent job explaining that while the IRS hasn’t said that Citibank is correct, or that the government is going to go after taxpayers, the agency confirmed that big mileage sign-up bonuses can be considered a taxable event.

The plaintiffs concede that it’s possible for the miles to be taxable, but disputes the value of each mile:

Even if the airline miles were taxable, Citibank’s practice of valuing the airline miles at 2.5 cents per mile is grossly unfair and deceptive. Airline miles have no value to Citibank customers that can be fixed at the time they are awarded. If redeemed, these miles typically have an average value to customers of between .76 cents per mile and 1.2 cents per mile. At least one study recently concluded that American Airlines miles in particular are only worth about .76 cents per mile.

I agree, 2.5 cents per mile does seem a little high.

Now this seemed a little odd:

Hirsch, a semi-retired lawyer, says he became concerned when he read the fine print on Citibank’s offer letter, which states: “Customer is responsible for taxes, if any.”

Hirsch says he asked a local Citibank employee if the miles were taxable, to make sure he did not exceed a certain income threshold, so he could keep his retirement benefits. He says the employee assured him the miles were tax-free.

It seems to me that if the attorney Hirsch was worried about an item in the terms and conditions of the offer, he should have consulted with a tax attorney rather than a bank employee.

So far, there’s been no repose from Citibank nor have I been able to find a link to the actual. petition.

Prediction

I’m not a Court TV analyst, nor is my name on a short list fill the next vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court, but I do have AAdvantage Elite status so I think I’m qualified to make a few predictions about the legal outcome of this case.

Citibank will settle the case by offering to pay plaintiffs’ attorneys a large sum of money, a portion of which will probably go to the two lead plaintiffs, and anyone that decides to join the case as a plaintiff, will get a few extra miles worth less than $25.

Photo: Mystery Judge
Credit: Mike Licht on Flickr

In the 1970s, American Airlines flight attendants would give out free AstroComics to kids on their flights.

The comic books featured well known Harvey Comics characters Casper the Friendly Ghost, Wendy the Witch, Richie Rich as well as some of the lesser known ones like Little Audrey, and Dot.

Anyway, this was back before the days of $2 headphones ( and deregulation), but in a world of Angry Birds and iPads, the idea of kids reading comics books seems as quaint as the idea of an airline giving them out.

What really seems antiquated is the “Story of you Stewardess” from the “All About Your Flight Crew” section of each comic book.