The Points Guy points to an offer of 3,000 Free British Airways Avios Points for trying out the Realtytrac service.

Realtytrac allows you to research real estate properties at a cost of $49.95 a month. They do offer a 7 day free trial and people have reported receiving their points even for the free trial.

Simply login to the British Airways e-store and search for Realtytrac to take advantage of this offer.

If you choose to cancel your free trial, you can call them at 1-877-888-8722 or by going online to realtytrac.com and selecting “My RealtyTrac” >> “My Account” >> “Cancel Free Trial“.

You can earn 1000 Southwest Rapid Rewards points for using Turbotax online to file your taxes by going through this link.

The offer will expire April 17th and the points will post in six to eight weeks.

Thanks to Milepoint for the tip.

I thought I would bring this to everyone’s attention. With my wrist problems, I maxed out this year on my flex / cafeteria plan spending. The cafeteria plan is where you designate an amount (up to $5000 for me) to be used towards medical bills for the year. It’s a use it or lose it proposal and so both parties are risk. You are at risk if you don’t use it all by the end of the year or you get terminated by your employer. It’s a risk for your employer because you could max it out, spend it all, and then quit your job and your employer would be out the money.

In any case, you usually receive a debit card tied to your flex spending balance that you can use at doctor’s offices, to pay medical bills, etc. that just directly debits from your available balance.

However, I choose not to use the debit card and use my American Express card instead to earn miles / meet minimum spending requirements. It does require that I have to turn all my receipts in from reimbursement instead of having it automatically debited from my flex account – but I don’t mind the extra work if it means more miles.

Million Mile Secrets posted about a way to earn miles by paying your rent with a credit card – are there any other creative ways for every day expenses that you’ve thought of?

Here in Utah we claim to have the Greatest Snow on Earth. I can’t vouch for it personally as I’ve never dared to go skiing. But for those of you more adventurous than I – Park City is offering a chance to turn your boarding pass to Salt Lake City airport into a free lift ticket. Here’s how you do it:

Step 1:preregister at visitparkcity.com . You will receive an email with a redemption voucher.
Step 2:take a morning flight to Salt Lake City airport and bring an extra copy of your printed boarding pass
Step 3:Enjoy your same day lift ticket to Canyons Resort,Park City Mountain Resort, or Deer Valley Resort. All of these resorts are only 35 minutes away from the airport.

Some of the terms and conditions (you can read them all here):
Valid from Monday, January 2 through Friday, February 17, 2012.
Blacked-out from Saturday, February 18 through Saturday, March 31, 2012.
Valid from Sunday, April 1 through respective resort closing day 2012.
(Currently, all three resorts are planning to close Sunday, April 15, conditions permitting)

Welcome to Utah!

Thank to Sice for the tip

I’m always ready to tackle the top issues weighing on everyone’s mind. Today I’d like to discuss restrooms on road trips.

Each person at one point or another has taken a road trip. There’s nothing better than turning on some music, turning on the radar detector, rolling down the windows and heading off to your destination.

One of the things that invariably comes up is the need to use the restroom at some point. So what really are your options?

The rest stop
The rest stop saw its heyday in the 70s and 80s as a cool place for families to get out and stretch their legs, use the restroom, and get a refreshing beverage or snack. There was plenty of green grass and a real calm feeling. Most of the rest stops now are a private/public partnership with scary surroundings, barred up vending machines, and the prospect of escaped child molesters waiting in the restroom. For me the rest stop has become really the last resort as far as emergencies go.

Creepy rating: High
Cleanliness rating: Low

The fast food restaurant
there are plenty of McDonald’s, Wendy’s, and the like littered throughout the highways of America. While this option is certainly better than the rest stop – it still leaves plenty to be desired. Am I the only one that feels like I need to buy a hamburger or a drink for having use the facilities? Usually the fast food joint doesn’t have the cleanest of restrooms which certainly downgrades it in my ratings.

On another note – I wish America would follow the European model of restrooms in that there are self enclosed actual rooms instead of the flimsy metal support around the restrooms. Whoever invented the weird contraptions that we have become accustomed to now?

Creepy rating: Medium
Cleanliness rating: Low

The Truck pit stop
Where else can you get a tattoo, a potato log, take a shower, and renew your wedding vows all in one place? There certainly is variety in what you can purchase in regards to food and they basically have everything. However, the truck pit stop is usually spread out pretty far and the trucker aspect of it makes me a little leery.

Creepy rating: Medium
Cleanliness rating: Medium

The Holiday Inn
Think about it – you probably haven’t even considered this. The Holiday Inn lobbies are usually extremely nice. All the people staying at the Holiday Inn just go up to their room if they need to use the restroom. This leaves only the front desk staff that would use the lobby restroom. Therein lays the benefit because to their own self-interest they’re going to keep that thing immaculately clean. The only downside is you have to pretend like you’re staying at the hotel as you walk in the lobby. I’ve had lots of people ask if they can help me and I mutter something about forgetting my room key as I walk past them.

Creepy rating: Low
Cleanliness rating: High

I hope this advice will help make your next road trip a lot more enjoyable – till next time!

You can get 1000 Free Hilton HHonors points by registering a mobile phone number and a Visa card. You’re basically agreeing to receive “special offers” via text. They promise to only send you two messages and you can opt out at any time.

You can earn an additional 4000 Hilton Honors points by spending at least $100 at a US Hilton hotel or resort with your registered Visa card.

You must register by June 30, 2012 to receive the sign up bonus and must spend $100 by then to receive the additional 4000.

Sung to Viva La Vida by Coldplay

I used to be able to type
Words would appear when I pushed a key
Then one tragic night
I broke both wrists and it was hard to see

All of a sudden collecting points
Became less important than healing my joints
The other BoardingArea bloggers stepped up right away
And volunteered to post alternating each day

My wife and three kids took care of me
Lots of rest was certainly key
And I discovered as a humbled man
You can get trapped when can’t turn a knob yes you can

The external fixator finally came out
I wanted to run to a hill and shout
Be close to the ones you love
You never know when you may be called up to the one above

I’m ready to start blogging again
Thanks for your patience as I overcame this pain
I ask you to join me on my behest
Let’s restart our MilesQuest!

Ooohh ahhh oooohhh ahhh oooohh ahhh ooohhhh ahhh oohhh ahh!

I’m ready to start blogging again
Thanks for your patience as I overcame this pain
I ask you to join me on my behest
Let’s restart our MilesQuest!

Oooohhh ahhh oooohhh ahh ooohh ahh ooohhh ahh ooohh ahh!

Special thanks goes out to the Boarding Area bloggers who guest posted on my behalf:
Mommy Points
AJ from Live from a Lounge
The Weekly Flyer
AAdvantage Geek
Rapid Travel Chai
Road Warriorette
Plane N Simple
Deals We Like
Gary from View from the Wing
The Wandering Aramean
Frequent Miler
Randy Peterson

This post is brought to you by AJ (Live From A Lounge) while Jason is out with two broken wrists and a microphone. Keep an eye out at MilesQuest for future guest posts by other Boarding Area bloggers.

I am not a fan of someone else taking decisions for me, be it the big ones like which party to vote for, or the small ones like what should I eat or drink. When an airline tries to do that, it could specially be more troublesome, because they are your service providers, and when they start taking decisions, it is seeking trouble.

One of my favourite airlines, Jet Airways, is doing exactly that and getting into trouble repeatedly. I was taken by surprise when a friend who lives in Goa, India’s favourite beach destination, informed about Jet Airways requesting him to bring out a package of delicious crab-meat he was carrying for friends in Mumbai, before they could load his luggage on the belly of the plane. He wasn’t sure if he was the only one so played ball, but seemed like Jet Airways was using this trick with enough residents of Goa to ask for trouble and requesting to abstain from flying Jet. Owned by a vegetarian entrepreneur, this is the first time I heard personal choices being imposed on the airline. The modified policy, which I access via the news media report, stated:

effective June 27th, 2011, there has been a policy revision wherein carriage of fish, crab, sea food, meat and poultry products will be prohibited as check-in baggage

This first got reported in the local media, and of all places, New York Times  picked it up. The airline claimed to have put in place this guideline to ensure such products do not lead to seepage and damage of luggage. However, pray tell dear airline, how did you let go the tin of Indian sweetmeat I carried in my bag in July 2011 in my trip to Delhi.

The hue and cry raised did force them to modify their policy again, and they issued a media statement in November about not wanting to hurt the sentiments of anyone and how the whole thing was a well-thought out move. As you’d read at the end of the NYT piece, 9W refused to speculate how vegetarian pickle would not cause damage but delicious sea-food would.

And while I was getting over this, I came across a case of 2009 where a flight attendant, again with Jet Airways, refused a Canadian female passenger on a Bangkok-Delhi flight a ‘rum drink’ on the grounds that she was a woman. BBC reports that the female passenger took them to court. The FA did pass of her personal policy as the airline policy, but again, another instance of personal beliefs being imposed on passengers took the airline down as one with a regressive line of thought. Guess what, the court has now ordered for compensation of US$ 1000 to the passenger, and this will no doubt turn out to be one very expensive drink for the airline.

(In all fairness to the airline, I did try to look for a copy of the judgement, but not able to find it yet on the website of the court. If someone succeeds in finding this one, please send me a link!)

Readers, do let us know at BoardingArea if you think customer is king or not?

Enjoy these other Guest Posts while Jason recovers, and wish him a speedy recovery:

• Guest post: Delta Air Lines’ voucher policy change is a good move
• $200 Platinum American Express Delta strategy
• Guest post: The last DC-3 still in passenger service in North America
• Guest post: Visas for Ghana, Nigeria and Kenya
• Guest Post: The Spouse and Upgrades debate, take 5
• Guest Post: Air New Zealand reveals its All Black B777-300ER
• Guest Post: The Spouse and Upgrades debate, take 4
• Guest Post: Lessons Learned Booking Mileage Runs on American Airlines
• Guest Post: The Spouse and Upgrades debate, take 3
• Guest Post: The Spouse and Upgrades debate, take 2
• Briggs & Reilly 20″ Expandable Carry-On by Mommy Points
• Lapault 20″ 2-Wheeled Foldable Duffle Carry-On by Points, Miles & Martinis

This month, Delta Air Lines very quietly rolled out new rules for redeeming vouchers. Effective December 15, 2011, those issued for voluntary denied boardings, as well as any other travel credit good on Delta, are non-combinable and non-transferable.

This post is brought to you by Frequently Flying while Jason is out with two broken wrists and a microphone. Keep an eye out at MilesQuest for future guest posts by other Boarding Area bloggers.

Airlines wager on breakage with voucher issuance and this policy change will certainly increase Delta’s percentage. One airline source revealed that the change was made mostly to combat the sale of vouchers on eBay and craigslist, a practice that violates the terms and conditions of the certificates.

The boards on Flyertalk lit up once this was discovered and many are incredibly upset no formal announcement was made. The Points Guy devoted a post to the subject and he is in the camp thinking Delta should have been proactive and formally notified Skymiles members. I’m not so sure.

Brian Cohen, author of Flyertalk’s “The Gate” blog uses an analogy where a supermarket doubles the price of nuts. Should that supermarket issue an all-encompassing notice of the price increase to every customer? I’ll say absolutely not. Is this an apples to oranges comparison? I don’t think so.

So long as the certificates issued have clearly explicit terms and conditions on them, I think airlines can change those terms without the need to make an official announcement. The same Delta source as before mentioned they didn’t issue a public statement about the change given “there is no target audience to make that announcement without causing undue worry.”

I’m not a Delta flyer, so don’t really have a vested interest in this, but would be totally fine if United Airlines – my carrier of choice – decided to change the terms on their vouchers. Currently, VDB certs on United aren’t combinable, but can be used by anyone. I’ve always used them for my own travels, but appreciate the option to give them away. If that changed, I’d understand.

I’ve seen oodles of certs and miles for sale on eBay and craigslist and think airlines are doing their due diligence in cracking down. This week I watched a man take a VDB off a United flight in Reno and the agent clearly explained the rules and policies. That certainly doesn’t always happen, but once you accept such a voucher and its terms, you, the traveler, should be willing to abide by them.

Change is annoying and Delta’s switch in policy definitely irks quite a few fliers. I honestly think it was a smart business decision on their part and support their policy. Will the other airlines join Delta’s move?

If you’re like me and made the awful decision to choose Delta as your airline for the $200 Platinum American Express airline credit, you’re probably struggling to spend the money.

Delta is offering 5 – 1 day Delta Sky Club passes for $99 right now through Dec 31st. I purchased two sets last night at a Sky Club. They are good for one year and can be gifted to anyone of your choosing. Unfortunately you have to purchase them at a Sky Club as they are not available online.

I will be switching my $200 credit to another airline at the beginning of the year.

This post is brought to you by AAdvantage Geek while Jason is out with two broken wrists and a microphone. Keep an eye out at MilesQuest for future guest posts by other Boarding Area bloggers.

I don’t have a bucket list, but if I did, riding as a passenger on a DC-3 would be one of my items.

The Douglas DC-3 aircraft was one of the most successful aircraft in aviation history.  It entered into passenger service back in 1936 when American Airlines introduced it on their Chicago – New York route, and its arrival came at an important time in the early years of commercial aviation, for the DC-3′s operational, safety, and financial performance had a big impact on the industry.

From the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum’s “America by Air” exhibit:

(The DC-3) was the first to fly profitably without government subsidy. More than 18,000 DC-3s, both civil and military versions, U.S. and foreign built…the 21-seat DC-3 was comfortable by the standards of its time and very safe, because of its strong, multiple-spar wing and all-metal construction. The airlines liked it because it was reliable, inexpensive to operate, and therefore profitable. Pilots liked its stability, ease of handling, and excellent single-engine performance.

Its impact went beyond commercial aviation. More than 10,000 DC-3s were built and put into service during World War II, and it played a critical role supplying troops, ammunition, and equipment to the effort in Europe.

It’s a beautiful plane. It looks fast. On the ground it resembles a bird ready to take flight.  And the streamline modern look is probably one of the most recognized and influential designs in industrial design history.

And though it’s been more than 75 years since it carried it’s first ticketed passenger, it’s still possible to find a DC-3 in regular, scheduled passenger air service in North America.

Tiny little Buffalo Airways, based in Hay River, Northwest Territories in Canada is still operating a DC-3 on their route between Yellowknife, NWT to Hay River, NWT.

The short 45 minute flight departs Hay River for Yellowknife each morning and then returns from Yellowknife in the early evening.  Round-trip fares are $327 through the week and $244 on the weekend.  Here’s a look at the schedule:

Yellowknife to Hay River
Mon-Fri departs at 5:00pm
Sat no flight
Sun departs at 4:30pm

Hay River to Yellowknife
Mon-Fri departs at 7:30am
Sat departs at 8:00am
Sun no flight

Buffalo also operates cargo flights on Lockheed L-188 Electra Freighters and Douglas DC-4 aircraft.

To take a ride on the DC-3, a person would first have to get to Yellowknife, a mining town of about 20,000 people, by traveling from Calgary, Edmonton on either Air Canada Express or WestJet.  From Yellowknife, they’d connect to the Buffalo Airways DC-3 for the short trip to Hay River (populations less than 4,000).

It’s possible to find charter companies that offer a one or two hour arial tour in a DC-3, but for me the idea of riding in one that’s being used in regular commercial air service has always been more appealing: it’s a “real” flight and not just an amusement ride.

I would love to do it, but there’s just never enough time…

So for now, a Buffalo Airways DC-3 t-shirt and this short video will have to do.

Photo: The Buffalo Airways DC-3 Passenger Cabin
Credit: Hugh Lee on Flickr