#1 Richard G who says:

“Retweeted. Crossing my fingers. Thanks for the giveaway.“

Congratulations, Richard! I will e-mail you soon! Wow was it hard to get readers to both comment AND to tweet as well. If you are not using @DeltaAssist yet, you are missing out and need to get on Twitter if ONLY for that. Please! – René

▲Delta▲ SkyMiles® Credit Card
RESERVE/PLATINUM/GOLD
from American Express®
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A while back I had a post about the 3500 bonus points you could get if you were targeted by US Bank for this spend promotion. Mommy Points had a post about spending $50 at Neiman Marcus if you were targeted for that and it ends on the 19th. She suggested starting at some shopping portal to get bonus points. That may work or it may not track unless you START at the US BANK link so up to you if you want to try for extra bonus points or just get the 3500 US BANK Flex Perks points worth $70 toward air travel.

Anyway, there are not a bunch of things you can buy for around $50 at Neiman Marcus but one thing we can all use as a frequent flyer is a TUMI luggage scale (see photo above & here is the link but do please start at the US BANK link first). The other item that could be good is the passport cover also for $50. I do not see any harm in using the free S&H code: MAYFS

Anyway, speaking about FlexPerks I also have a test on the way this week with my mileage run. US BANK FlexPerks, both the personal and the business, when you redeem points for a ticket like I did for my positioning flight to PHX, will allow you $25 credit after spend for “incidentals”. I am going to buy a Delta e-Gift card online the day I fly and see if that will work for credit. It should and I should get a $50 cert for just $25 net!

BTW the TUMI luggage scale is very nice, comes in a nice gift box. I have no need for it and just wanted to test this for the 3500 points and to help get my spend for the month for the other targeted bonus. So how about a “targeted” giveaway today to match the targeted deal. If you want my brand new TUMI scale, you must comment below on the blog that you are following me on twitter, and then ALSO retweet my tweet about this post  (ya gotta do both if you want to win)! Have fun and I will use Random.org late tonight for the winner – René

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

Readers have been e-mailing me about having to RUN in ATL due to very very long lines at security. If there has ever been a time to go ahead and get your GOES and TSA Pre done it is now as I blogged about  HERE  . Also, the strike in Brussels, Belgium (BRU) could affect you today as well.

➤ Points Miles & Martini’s has a good post on the latest “enhancement” to our Economy Comfort seating fees!

➤ In case you missed my post last night, nothing but “skunky beer” now for free in the Delta Skyclubs!

➤ If you are going to Scandinavia Delta is resuming seasonal flights to both Sweden and Denmark.

➤ You may want to read the comment on the Delta e-Gift cards if you have an AMEX PLAT card of either the personal or business flavor!

➤ Live in Austin? Phoenix? Join me and other points enthusiasts for lunch on Tuesday!

➤ I have posted some Mileage Run updates at Milepoint – 11,000+ MQM’s under $500!

➤ And lastly today, always take your SKY with you and shoot a photo for a chance to win from SKY!

 Any other little Delta updates I have missed or you know about? Please comment on the blog below. – René

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

If you either book or fly the JFK route to LAX or SFO in Business class you will get your choice of a “delicious” meal (assuming they don’t run out of your choice before they get to your seat). And this is a longish flight so good food and drink is nice. In Economy Comfort you now get Complimentary Beer, Wine, and Spirits as well on these routes. But what about back in coach?

Delta.com now lets you order ahead to make sure those of us who don’t get an upgrade can have more than just what happens to be available (or not be) on the “Eat’s” menu.

As you can see from the above, you can now plan ahead and pick something nice delivered to your seat on your flight.

The ordering process seems very straight forward but for me, when I tried to place a test order, my flight from JFK-LAX (DL95) does not yet show up as a flight from JFK-LAX.

The cancellation policy, for now, seems very good. As long as you get your upgrade at least 48 hours before your flight you can cancel and get a refund. Heck the way I read the policy, for now, if you don’t like what you got, after the flight, you can even get a refund!

I would love to find out if any readers have tried out the new vittles and how the process worked for you and if you think the price is worth the service. If you have tested this, please share with your fellow readers on the blog! – René

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

With a HT to reader Marc I can say I am not a happy club “hopper” as Delta Corp Guy has posted this:

Update from DL on Club beverage changes – FT

Delta Sky Clubs are changing the selection of both complimentary and for-purchase premium alcoholic beverages beginning tomorrow. Complimentary well-known alcohol brands will still be provided at the Club just as they have been.

Altering our complimentary offerings will enable us to expand our portfolio of premium for-purchase products and maintain complimentary spirits, beer and wine as we continue to invest in the overall Club experience. We review our Club offerings periodically so that we are able to make changes based on customer feedback, financial considerations and other factors including the variety of options we offer our members.

The new offerings are comparable to house/well brands in other airport lounges.

• Complimentary spirits: Vodka – Gordon’s; Gin – Gordon’s; Rum – Myers’s Platinum; Scotch – Scoresby; Bourbon – Jack Daniel’s; Sweet Vermouth – Martini & Rossi; Extra Dry Vermouth – Martini & Rossi.
• Complimentary beer: Budweiser and Miller Lite
• Complimentary wine: no changes to current wine offerings

Other brands will be available through our for-purchase options available through our Luxury Bar. Our goal is to offer members quality products and services at reasonable prices that are competitive with other airport lounges while continuing to provide good value for membership.

__________________
DLCorpGuy  -  FT

I am all for Delta making as much money as they can from the Skyclubs but in NO WAY is Budweiser and Miller Lite a drinkable beer. I have said it before and will say it again, soon Delta will charge for AIR on the jets (unless it is a stinky CRJ 200 as they smell so bad that it would be criminal to charge for that air)! – René

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

Do you know what has changed since I was interviewed by Million Mile Secrets and told readers to “Start earning everywhere you can”? Absolutely nothing. One of the keys to this crazy points earning “game” we play is paying attention to the details. If there is one and ONLY ONE most important feature you must learn to succeed in this, it is that you must be detail-oriented. For example, if you are not detail-oriented you may miss paying a credit card IN FULL each and every month forever and pay a stupid amount of interest to the banks. Even just one month of this and you are loosing big time, so be detail-oriented.

The same thing applies to points. Look at THIS post about dining rewards that just take the time to add your credit card then you can get extra points when dining out (plus they have a 1500 point Skymiles bonus for new accounts). E-Rewards no longer offers Skymiles as a redemption option, but there is a VERY nice way to earn Skymiles and more as you can see HERE as I blogged about in another rookie post. There are also Thanks Again that once you enter your card you can earn Delta Skymiles at a bunch of places. Lastly we can always check the Delta.com page that has all the current partner bonus deals going on.

But now to today’s topic E-Miles. Until the first of the year we could earn Skymiles. But, like E-Rewards, that came to an end. During the transition time they really had a very poor grouping of redemption options. That has now changed as you can see from the screen grab at the top of this post! If you are reading this post not on May 15th, 2013, you may want to search for the most current new member bonus deals. As of today, you can get:

• 275 E-Miles from the Hhonors link HERE

• 275 E-Miles from the US Air link HERE

• 100 United miles from this link HERE

• ZERO bonus but you can PICK your reward program HERE

So pick the link that will give you the best perk. Then, once you reach 500 E-Miles you can pick any of the rewards you like the best (you are not bound to the program you join from). EDIT: It seems you ARE still bound by the start program, at least if you are an old user, so you may want to start and PICK the one you want from the list with ZERO bonus points. So, old Delta users get much more choice than others!

I chose to redeem mine for 750 Priority Club points. I try to always use my PC points for the point breaks nights at 5000 each so this redemption has some nice value toward a free night for me. But there are some “gotcha’s” you need to watch out for.

As soon as you earn an E-Mile the clock starts ticking for it’s expiration. You ONLY have one year after earning your mile to use it so BE CAREFUL if you let your miles sit too long!

Details details details. I can not say this enough times rookies. There are so many points out there and all the little ones can add up and can mean not just getting 1x points for a dollar spent but maybe 2x or 5x or 10x! Have any other neat little ways of earning points? Please share them with your 4000+ daily E-Mail and RSS Delta Points readers on the blog below (and include the link to the program you are talking about please)! – René

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

Next  Tuesday May 21st  myself and Kathy from “Will Run for Miles” will have a layover on a mileage run and will have time for lunch around noon in Austin Texas (assuming all our flights work out that is).

If anyone wants to join us or has some good ideas for a spot near the airport that would be great. Please feel free to comment below on the blog if you are game! – René

PS – #TheReason2BeDiamond day 1 all cleared!

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

I get requests all the time for award booking help. I would love to help, but just don’t have the time. My good friend, PM&M did award booking in the past, but he too is now too busy to help as well (he has a full time job in addition to blogging).

So I want to introduce my readers to another fellow blogger, Adam, who runs the BoardingArea blog “Point Me To The Plane“. Not only is he great at award seats booking but at finding them for the lowest points possible. I asked Adam some questions so you could get to know him.

A warm welcome to you Adam!

Thanks René, I’m a big fan of Delta Points and I’m also a Delta Platinum member (7 years straight now). One of my previous jobs required a ton of international travel and Delta was our company’s preferred provider. As such, you can imagine my first hand knowledge with the SkyMiles award booking process and the frustrations that sometimes come with trying to find low level awards!

First some basics. What is your award booking service all about?

 I started Juicy Miles, my award booking service, as an easy way for my colleagues to request help booking their award flights. We were all earning miles, but I was one of the only ones who was successfully able to redeem them. I was flying off to Europe or Asia while my co-workers were complaining that their miles were useless. As I began booking their award trips (with a little flexibility), the link to the site was passed around to friends and family and the public site was born. I work to find the ideal routing and pricing for each customer and don’t stop until they are satisfied.

DeltaPoints readers are good at finding seats, but not always. Will you be able to successfully find tickets when it seems we cannot?

As you always say, and I’m sure your readers already know, SkyMiles are still an extremely valuable currency! Sometimes you just need to get a little creative using multiple SkyMiles partners and some “exotic” routings. I think of each request as a puzzle and love finding redemption options for my customers. As I’m doing these so often, I’ve grown accustomed to some lesser known options that work and can assist your readers in getting to their ideal destinations.

That sounds good. More questions; what is this going to cost us and is it really safe to give you all of our frequent flyer information so you can book for us?

That’s an easy one. Juicy Miles uses a flat fee pricing model. The charge is $125 per person for the first two travelers and then $100 per person for each additional traveler. The price is fully inclusive regardless of the difficulty or complexity of the itinerary. If the options proposed are not to your liking, there is absolutely no fee! In terms of safety, I do require each customer’s frequent flyer number in order to secure the bookings. I recommend that my customers change their passwords and/or pins prior to providing me their details and then change them back after I’ve completed the bookings.

That helps! As Delta flyers, schedules change all the time and what if we run into trouble after we book? Will you help us or do we call the airline or hotel?

Absolutely, this is full-service redemption assistance and I continue to provide help as flights or plans change. I perform all follow-up with the airlines as needed before, during, and after the flights.

OK. That sounds good. Well thank you so much for this chat. While DeltaPoints readers tend to be better than most at finding seats, it is good to know we have an option we can trust if we need it!

Of course René, thanks to your readers for inviting me into the Delta Points world! I’m happy to be a sounding board for booking advice and your readers can feel free to shoot me an email at any time. Additionally, if they find themselves in a bind and can’t find any availability, they can of course visit www.juicymiles.com.

I hope DeltaPoints readers will reach out to Adam when you need help. Delta Skymiles are some of the most valuable points in ANY miles program if you know how to use them and now we even know how to get help spending them if we don’t have the time to do it ourselves! – René

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

I am at last home safe and sound from BAcon or the Boarding Area Convention. Due to some technical issues, I had to delay the Random.org winner for all sorts of fun Saturday SWAG! To make up for this the winner will get a few more goodies like a free GoGo WiFi pass and maybe some more for having to wait so long!

Congratulation to PCB who says: “One day a trip to South America on a Delta Private Jet to ride with the Gaucho’s!”

PCB, I really like the way you think. A Delta Private Jet ride. Humm…. Gonna have to think bigger than I do now – well done and I will email you soon. – René

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

Not all too long ago I had a Rookie Wednesday post about just who could get a Skybonus account and what it will take to remain in the program.

For me, most times, I simply redeem my points for Delta Amenity coupons. Personally I like to have a cocktail in the sky when I don’t get an upgrade or a HOOU coupon or to be able to give them away to readers on the blog now and then.

But the other day a reader asked me what I thought was the best value of Skybonus points. I answered that gifting Silver Medallion to a family member or a good friend is one of the best values. Then, the Amenity coupons. But maybe I am missing good values for these points.

So why not help this reader, as well as your fellow readers, with your thoughts of what you think the best redemption is for Skybonus points. You can look at the full list in a PDF HERE and see the point totals for each redemption. In advance – thanks! – René

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