We have our 4th qualifier for Nook giveaway. It is # 589 – Mike

Congratulations Mike You now have a 1 in 7 chance to win the Nook on Sunday!

The list so far is

Monday: Chris F

Tuesday: Bianca S

Wednesday: Lynn U.

Thursday: Brian M.

Friday: Mike

Saturday: ???

Sunday: ???

Grand prize winner is: ??????????

BTW – why not take a second and vote for a
Deltapoints reader to win a trip to Spain HERE!

☺☺☺☺☺ ☺☺☺☺☺ ☺☺☺☺☺ ☺☺☺☺☺

You still have two more days to qualify to win the new NOOK 7″ Tablet so be sure to sign up for the once a day e-Mail for a chance to win it this Sunday!

▲Delta▲ SkyMiles® Credit Card
American Express – RESERVE/PLATINUM/GOLD
Click here for more information

Readers know I am no “Fan” of Facebook. I do not have my “name” there and use a generic login just to keep watch of what is a good deal from companies who use the social media site.

I stumbled across one ending very soon. It looks like it has little interest so we (one of us anyway), who have some social media awareness, should be able to get this. If you have a few hundred friends on FB or want to say reach out to FT’er or MP’er or even here in the comments on the blog, you should be able to get a bunch of votes and win this trip to Spain! Please please please, DO NOT vote for me as I do not want to go in coach that far unless I am getting a ton of MQM’s for it on a paid ticket.

Also, if you are going to the movies tonight, don’t forget about the buy one get one free most of the summer  HERE.

If you have some stays at Best Western on the way you can get some money back  HERE.

So have a good weekend everyone! – René

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You still have three more days to qualify to win the new NOOK 7″ Tablet so be sure to sign up for the once a day e-Mail for a chance to win it this Sunday!

▲Delta▲ SkyMiles® Credit Card
American Express – RESERVE/PLATINUM/GOLD
Click here for more information

Back in February I had a post talking about the different business class seats between DL/KLM/AF. Delta has a bunch of different products due to the integration with NWA. I still like the old NWA clam shell product and have yet, as much as it pains me to admit, not had a chance to try a single one of the now many different styles of lie flat seats. But is it not strange how many different kinds of lie flats that Delta is going with? Is it really that hard to find the best type and cost of seat and then put them in all the birds? Then I came across this video interview about business seats. Take the time to look and see what you think:

Click photo to watch

This does explain a bunch. But why has Delta gone with so many choices? I mean look at all these types:

You have the 747 style in the video clip above

You have this one in the 767

You have this one in the 777

You have yet another one on the way in 330′s

???? – wait and see!

Why is this? I reached out to Delta and was told that one of the main differences between Delta and all the other airlines is that Delta wants all customers to have direct aisle access from all BE seats so we do not have to climb over another passenger to get out of our seat.  Also that it is not a question of cost of one vendor over another, but due to airplane shape and cabin size from the different aircraft manufactures. Lastly they are reacting to customer feedback going forward with seat choices.

Progress is happening. Delta hoped the refit would be done this year but I have been advised it will be between 2013 and as late as 2014 until all the planes in the fleet are done. The 330′s will not start until Q3 or Q4 this year.

So have any of you been on all the different types of Delta lie flats? Do you like one over the other? Do you think Delta’s focus on aisle access is a winner over the other airlines product choices? I would love to know! – René

[EDIT: Please take the time to read comments from readers in this post.
They are very helpful!]

☺☺☺☺☺ ☺☺☺☺☺ ☺☺☺☺☺ ☺☺☺☺☺

You still have three more days to qualify to win the new NOOK 7″ Tablet so be sure to sign up for the once a day e-Mail for a chance to win it this Sunday!

▲Delta▲ SkyMiles® Credit Card
American Express – RESERVE/PLATINUM/GOLD
Click here for more information

We have our 4th qualifier for Nook giveaway. It is #227 – Brian M.

Congratulations #227! You now have a 1 in 7 chance to win the Nook on Sunday!

The list so far is

Monday: Chris F

Tuesday: Bianca S

Wednesday: Lynn U.

Thursday: Brian M.

Friday: ???

Saturday: ???

Sunday: ???

Grand prize winner is: ??????????

☺☺☺☺☺ ☺☺☺☺☺ ☺☺☺☺☺ ☺☺☺☺☺

You still have three more days to qualify to win the new NOOK 7″ Tablet so be sure to sign up for the once a day e-Mail for a chance to win it this Sunday!

▲Delta▲ SkyMiles® Credit Card
American Express – RESERVE/PLATINUM/GOLD
Click here for more information

This post is a bit silly but since I took the time to blog about the deal the other day, a follow-up about the experience is appropriate.

I had never heard of the franchise called Penn Station East Coast Subs until SoDoughSavvy put up the link for a free sub for signing up for their email club. Well I am all about signing up for emails giving my drawing for the Nook this week!

The choices for dinner looked very good and I had a hard time picking. I went with an Italian. At the checkout I noticed the cooler and the “real” meats they use. Nice.

Also, they don’t get their fries in a bag pre-cut and frozen, they cut the whole potatoes right there. Never seen that before.

The sub was just nummy and tasteful (they don’t serve Coke products is the only thing I can be critical of Delta fans). I will be back and not just to this South Bend, IN store, but will look for the Penn Station locations when I travel.

They even had mints on the way out the door! The deal is good till the end of the month by the way if you missed it yesterday. And not to be outdone, Jen has a new deal that is nationwide for a Quiznos lunch. So many subs – so little time.

We now return to our regularly scheduled program of all things Delta and Travel related things! – René

☺☺☺☺☺ ☺☺☺☺☺ ☺☺☺☺☺ ☺☺☺☺☺

Don’t forget that later today I will do the drawing for today’s qualifier to win the new NOOK 7″ Tablet so be sure to sign up for the once a day e-Mail for a chance to win it this Sunday!

▲Delta▲ SkyMiles® Credit Card
American Express – RESERVE/PLATINUM/GOLD
Click here for more information

I hate spiders. I admit I have an almost unbalanced fear of them that could use psychiatric help. Yes, it is that bad. I get that spiders need to live for the balance of the ecology, but I would take more gnats, flies, bugs or you name it if all spiders became extinct.

Slightly lower on my list than spiders comes cell phone calls on an airplane. I also freely admit I have a problem I try to work on each day and that is being a “loud talker” on cell phones. I fight it, I am aware of it, and do try not to be so loud. I cannot imagine how bad I would be on an airplane. I bet the cabin crew could hear me from coach if I ever made a call in-flight.

I weighed in on my fellow BoardingArea.com blogger Kevin’s (aka ghettoife.com) post “about Virgin Atlantic introducing full Mobile Communications on-board” and voted the “only in an emergency” option.

Thankfully our Delta CEO seems to have no plans to allow cell phone use on our Delta jets any time soon as you can see at the end of the interview from THIS post about the opening of the ATL airport the other day. And in case you missed it in the news a few weeks back, there was an incident on a Delta flight where a customer, who btw develops voip apps, got in deep trouble for trying an in-flight call as you can see HERE.

Brian Williams video about VA calls

I can tell you, and I am betting many readers will agree, that many of our fellow flyers are over the top loud on their phones in the Delta Skyclubs! One of the reasons I go to the Skyclub is for peace and quiet from the “din” in and around the gate area. Think  about the idea of one of these types of people going from loud there to loud on the plane for hours! That would make me completely over the top nuts. So just to be clear, I am 100% against even the idea of allowing calls in-flight! We are tightly packed together in an already loud environment. We do not need to add to the noise and I hope Delta keeps the ban in place. Do you agree? – Rene

☺☺☺☺☺ ☺☺☺☺☺ ☺☺☺☺☺ ☺☺☺☺☺

Don’t forget that later today I will do the drawing for today’s qualifier to win the new NOOK 7″ Tablet so be sure to sign up for the once a day e-Mail for a chance to win it this Sunday!

▲Delta▲ SkyMiles® Credit Card
American Express – RESERVE/PLATINUM/GOLD
Click here for more information

We have our 3rd qualifier for Nook giveaway. It is #143 Lynn U.

Congratulations Lynn! You now have a 1 in 7 chance to win the Nook on Sunday!

The list so far is

Monday: Chris F

Tuesday: Bianca S

Wednesday: Lynn U.

Thursday: ???

Friday: ???

Saturday: ???

Sunday: ???

Grand prize winner is: ??????????

☺☺☺☺☺ ☺☺☺☺☺ ☺☺☺☺☺ ☺☺☺☺☺

You still have four more days to qualify to win the new NOOK 7″ Tablet so be sure to sign up for the once a day e-Mail for a chance to win it this Sunday!

▲Delta▲ SkyMiles® Credit Card
American Express – RESERVE/PLATINUM/GOLD
Click here for more information

It is out! The new PC 5k per night PointBreaks list is live! You can check it out HERE

I just cannot say enough good about IHG as I blogged about HERE and HERE lately.

Also since we are Delta flyers you may want to look at these:

• In ATL Hotel Indigo Atlanta Midtown HERE

• In MSP Crowne Plaza Bloomington Msp Airport / Moa HERE

• In NYC area

Crowne Plaza Syracuse HERE
Crowne Plaza Monroe South Brunswick HERE

There are a few nice world wide to look at too for 5k. I just booked a weekend at the InterContinental Cleveland for a fun weekend getaway for Lisa & me!

BTW – as a fun perk for Platinum’s (don’t know if Gold get this or just anyone with an account) you can request a custom PC card HERE

☺☺☺☺☺ ☺☺☺☺☺ ☺☺☺☺☺ ☺☺☺☺☺

Later today I will do the drawing for today’s qualifier to win the new NOOK 7″ Tablet so be sure to sign up for the once a day e-Mail for a chance to win it this Sunday!

▲Delta▲ SkyMiles® Credit Card
American Express – RESERVE/PLATINUM/GOLD
Click here for more information

One of the reasons “everyone else” tags us with the label “travel hackers” is because we think about all the ways to make something work. We don’t just think I have no other choice. Let me give you a hypothetical example to look at. Also this is for demonstration purposes ONLY to show the concept.

Let’s say you live in NYC but want to end the year in LAX. You look and find only HIGH level award seats.

Oh no! 50,000 points to get the seats I want. I guess I could look at just paying for the tickets then, how much would that cost me.

$530 each is a lot of money when I have all these Skymiles saved up. But if I do pay for the ticket, as a GM or higher, I would earn 4950 MQM’s and 9900 Skymiles for the trip that I would NOT get using Skymiles for an award ticket. I could use “pay with miles” and it would almost be the same price as the award ticket but I would not earn any MQM’s once I spend a single Skymile with “pay with miles” under Delta’s rules.

Is there anything else I can do? YES! If you have any Delta branded AMEX card and can get access to the Skymiles Marketplace. Once there, you do this:

You can, for 104,000 Skymiles, buy 8  Bloomingdales $100 gift cards. Then, you can take them, once you get them in the mail that is, and sell them for 85% of the face value as you can see here:

You would net $680 and would only have to spend $380 more buying your tickets and would earn MQM’s and RDM’s for the trip! Now again, not saying this a good or smart thing to do. I would never do this. I value my Skymiles at a much higher level than 6/10th of a cent each and use them for 100k business class low level awards to Europe and I know how to get them!

So today’s post is just to make you think. To help you understand that you do not have to accept what is offered. – René

☺☺☺☺☺ ☺☺☺☺☺ ☺☺☺☺☺ ☺☺☺☺☺

PS – Later today I will do the drawing for today’s qualifier to win the new NOOK 7″ Tablet so be sure to sign up for the once a day e-Mail for a chance to win it this Sunday!

▲Delta▲ SkyMiles® Credit Card
American Express – RESERVE/PLATINUM/GOLD
Click here for more information

We have our 2nd qualifier for Nook giveaway. It is #402  – Bianca S.

Congratulations Bianca! You now have a 1 in 7 chance to win the Nook on Sunday!

The list so far is

Monday: Chris F

Tuesday: Bianca S

Wednesday: ???

Thursday: ???

Friday: ???

Saturday: ???

Sunday:  ???

Grand prize winner is: ??????????

☺☺☺☺☺ ☺☺☺☺☺ ☺☺☺☺☺ ☺☺☺☺☺

You still have five more days to qualify to win the new NOOK 7″ Tablet so be sure to sign up for the once a day e-Mail for a chance to win it this Sunday!

▲Delta▲ SkyMiles® Credit Card
American Express – RESERVE/PLATINUM/GOLD
Click here for more information

I am sure all DeltaPoints.com readers know who Rick Ingersoll, aka The Frugal Travel Guy, is but if you don’t be sure you read his blog each day (www.frugaltravelguy.com). I do and I learn something new almost each time I visit. He is a world expert when it comes to all things credit cards and points! As such, and with the Chicago “DO” on the way soon (seats are selling fast fyi), I wanted to get his thoughts on the rest of the year.

Hi Rick thanks for taking the time to chat with me today.

Good to talk with you again René

This has been an interesting year for points credit cards. Big offers coming and going. Old offers coming back and spend requirements hitting record highs. What do you think we will see the rest of this year?

I think this peak in reward card sign up bonuses is past us and we will continue to see somewhat smaller offers with tighter restrictions.

So issuers, like AMEX, have been focused almost exclusively on targeted offers. Do you think we will see more of this with them and other banks?

I don’t really anticipate that the industry will move entirely to targeted offers. At present, it is just Amex’s way of doing business.

You have given great advice in the past to never cancel a card if it has no annual fee to establish a long term credit history. Do you use those cards now and then or do they just sit and collect dust and is there an advantage to use them each year a little or a lot?

The old ones are collecting dust but there is evidence in the last month or so that maybe we should pull out those old cards and use them occasionally. To put it as clearly as I can, We are Being Watched.

Great insight and thanks for that point. Any other thoughts you would like to share that we should keep in mind in regard to points cards?

It is imperative at this point to keep an eye on the blogs and forums. The credit card game is changing as we speak and current information is essential to maximize your opportunities.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Now on to the Chicago DO ( Click URL for more info www.chicagoseminars2012.eventbrite.com). I see the seats remaining are down to 158. How are things shaping up for the event? Anything you have changed from planning time to now and what may still change before the event?

The Chicago Seminar is in a lull at present but will heat up again shortly as we get closer to the date. With almost 400 tickets sold already we expect another sell out. There have been no changes since our original announcements and posts.

Should a rookie to the frequent flyer game be afraid they will not understand and be overwhelmed by attending the Chicago DO event. That is, is this an event only for the expert flyers?

Rookies should all show up. We have established a Beginners track of events this year to better suit their needs. In fact I’ll be doing the credit card basics session this year and leaving the more advanced stuff to others.

Great! I can see the DO is for everyone and a chance for all to learn. This is the 3rd year for the event. Do you think you will have one next year as well?

Next year??? Wow René. We aren’t even through this one yet, but I guess as long as we have people interested in attending and meeting face to face with their fellow travel crazies it will continue for years to come.

Well thanks Rick for taking the time to chat with DeltaPoints readers!

As always René. Good to catch up with you.

I hope you have enjoyed this interview with Rick, I know I sure have. The frequent flyer community is a truly unique group. They share openly and honestly all they know. They take the time to give one on one help to those at any level. If you are new to all of this, welcome! If you have been doing this for years, share what you know with the next generation please. – René

 ☺☺☺☺☺ ☺☺☺☺☺ ☺☺☺☺☺ ☺☺☺☺☺

PS -  Later today I will do the drawing for today’s qualifier to win the new NOOK 7″ Tablet so be sure to sign up for the once a day e-Mail for a chance to win it this Sunday!

▲Delta▲ SkyMiles® Credit Card
American Express – RESERVE/PLATINUM/GOLD
Click here for more information