I’ve read a few articles lately opining that the bag fee revenue take for the airlines is down (slightly) because people are checking less baggage due to the fees. I say not so fast. Has anyone noticed that there are now a ton (ok…that’s probably an exaggeration) of ways to avoid paying the fee to check baggage. Of course, there’s always elite status as the airlines waive the fee for at least the first, and sometimes more pieces of checked baggage for their elite frequent fliers.

Another reason the baggage fee take may be heading down is that many airlines now waive the first checked bag fee for holders of their credit card products. For a family of 4 that flies 2 times per year, the benefit of carrying a credit card that includes a baggage fee waiver for the first bag usually exceeds the annual fee of the card. For example, a family of 4 flying 2 times per year would pay $400 dollars in checked baggage fees assuming each person checks 1 piece of luggage each way. However, if a member of the family carries the Delta SkyMiles Card from American Express, which carries an annual fee of $95 dollars, those baggage fees are waived (for up to 9 passengers in the same reservation). For American fliers, the Citi Platinum Select AAdvantage Visa card offers similar benefits (for up to 4 passengers in the same reservation) for those who are inclined to check baggage. United’s MileagePlus Explorer card offers a baggage fee waiver as well for up to 2 passengers in the same reservation.

Notably absent from the baggage fee waiver list is the US Airways Dividend Miles MasterCard, though it does offer useful benefits liked priority check in, boarding, and a 5,000 mile discount on booked award travel. These cards and others can offer numerous benefits to make your air travel more comfortable and save you money too. If you fly more than once a year and check luggage, you should probably consider obtaining the affiliate card of the airline you fly most.

Disclosure: Some of the links above are my affiliate links and will provide me with a referral bonus if you apply for and receive a credit card through my link. There may be other card offers available that provide a higher mileage bonus. If you are aware of more beneficial offers, please apply for the offer that benefits you most. I appreciate your readership no matter what link you use.

Disclaimer: This content is not provided or commissioned by American Express. Opinions expressed here are author’s alone, not those of American Express, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by American Express. This site may be compensated through American Express Affiliate Program.

I’m a little behind on emails this week, so my apologies if this has been blogged about by others. But anytime I see words like win 100,000 miles, I feel like it’s worth mentioning here just in case I’m not the only one that missed the email. US Airways has launched a gift registry, and to celebrate they are running a contest. Enter the US Airways Miles Gift Registry Sweepstakes and you could win 100,000 Dividend Miles and $2,000 dollars cash. Enter between now and June 30, 2012.

Contest Registration Link.

Contest Rules.

Not to be outdone by every blogger on earth, I thought I’d mention that the Delta – SunTrust Checking/Debit Card deal is back. This time, you can earn up to 55,000 SkyMiles if you open both a personal and business checking account. Since I’m so late to the party with mentioning this, I’ll just refer you to Delta Points who does a good job of summarizing the particulars.

I received an email from US Airways this afternoon offering a 90 percent bonus on purchased Dividend Miles. The email states “We’ve specially selected you to receive a 90% bonus. All you have to do is buy miles May 1 – 15, 2012, and you’ll automatically receive your bonus. This offer is exclusively for you and is non-transferrable.”

I’m not a fan of buying miles historically, but certainly would consider doing so if I had a specific award in mind and needed the miles to top off my account. Since this offer appears to be highly targeted, this post is more of an FYI, check your inbox and spam filter thing than a run and register for this asap deal. Nonetheless, the registration link is here if you wish to check it out. Again, YMMV.

Just prior to posting, I did a quick scan of Boardingarea to see if anyone else had posted about this. I see Points, Miles, and Martinis was targeted for the same offer. Good comments there too. Seems some others may be targeted for an 80 percent bonus. Feel free to share your experiences here.

US Airways Vacations is giving away a cool 1 million miles and a vacation too. If you purchase a US Airways Vacation, you’ll be automatically entered into the contest, but no purchase is necessary. Contest runs through June 4, 2012. And you can enter up to once per day. The vacation looks pretty great if you’re into Disney.

• 4 First Class tickets to Orlando (from within the U.S.)
• Four (4) nights accommodations in one (1) standard room at a Disney Value Resort, Disney Moderate Resort or Disney Deluxe Resort hotel of your choice at the Walt Disney World® Resort
• Four (4) 4-Day Magic Your Way Tickets with Park Hopper® Option
• Four (4) Walt Disney World® VIP tours (each tour length is a maximum of 4 hours; no more than one tour per day and no more than one tour per theme park)
• A $500 Disney Gift Card

As always, please review the complete contest terms and conditions. You can enter by clicking here.

Hat tip to TPG.

Got a minute? Good. Let’s chat. I told myself I wasn’t going to apply for the new 100,000 Avios British Airways Visa from Chase, but it’s starting to taunt me. I am not a prolific credit card “flipper” like a lot of my more motivated blogging brethren, but 100,000 Avios is 100,000 Avios. Actually, it’s 125,000 Avios since you earn 1.25 per dollar spent and you have to spend $20,000 dollars to get the full bonus. Of course, BA charges hefty fuel surcharges on its awards, but when you figure the price of a premium cabin ticket vs paying the fuel surcharge, it makes me feel a little better.

What is it about the card that is calling my name? It’s not so much the 100,000 Avios as it is the possibility of 250,000 (or more) Avios IF MrsMJonTravel and I both procured the card. Since there are 2 of us, we can pool our Avios in a household account, and given MrsMJonTravel’s penchant for shoes and my spendthrift habits, there’s a good chance we can not only hit the minimum spend for the 100,000 Avios each, but one of us might even be able to hit $30,000 and receive a companion ticket that the card offers as well. However, that would require our dedicating all spending to this card…..and that’s the only thing holding me back right now….. but maybe not for long.

LINK: The British Airways Visa with Up to 100,000 Avios Bonus

Disclosure: If you apply for and receive the BA Visa through the link I provided, I will receive a referral bonus. I appreciate your readership whether you apply through my link or not.

Petfooddirect.com and US Airways Dividend Miles have a semi-decent deal going. You can earn up to 10,000 bonus miles for purchasing your everyday pet needs through Petfooddirect.com. MrsMJonTravel and I have a large herd of orange cats that really like to eat. We’ve started ordering all of their food, liter, and other stuff through Petfooddirect.com. You can even order your pet prescription diet needs through their online store. I wouldn’t call this “lucrative,” but if you are ordering pet food, why not earning a few miles for it?

Mister Kitty loves flying First Class with his MacBook Air too.

Another Saturday morning, another cup of coffee on the porch with my MacBook Air. Life is good. There’s a good bit of upcoming fun stuff in travel so let’s talk about it. First, The Freddie Awards are coming soon. It will be interesting to watch who this year’s big winners are. I cast my vote, did you? Following the Freddies is the Randy Petersen Travel Executive Summit on Friday, April 27.

This event offers an opportunity to hear from loyalty industry big guns. Last year the executives from the major airline programs like AAdvantage, MileagePlus, and SkyMiles were presenting. This year, the focus will be on mileage/points as a currency in the morning with American Express, Points.com, Loylogic, and Swift Exchange participating in the discussion. The afternoon will be dominated by the big hotel programs, Marriott, Starwood, Hyatt, Choice, Best Western, IHG, Wyndham, Hilton, Carlson, Accor, and Taj Hotels. The cost to attend is $99 dollars, which includes lunch. If you are a Milepoint.com member, you can attend for $49 dollars. Proceeds from the event will be donated to charity. This promises to be a very interesting session, and I’m hoping I can arrange my schedule to attend before it sells out.

Following the Randy Petersen Travel Executive Summit is this year’s Frequent Traveler University. Beginning Friday evening, April 27th, with a cocktail party, and ending Sunday, April 29th, you’ll hear from miles and points pros on everything from how to get started to credit cards and award booking. You can check out the full schedule of events here. I don’t know about you, but I think I’m looking most forward to that debate between Brian (The Points Guy) and Gary (View From the Wing) on whether or not SkyMiles represent a good value! Yes, I will be there to learn more about miles and points from the best in the business as well as socialize and have a good time. As previously promised, the first person to find yours truly at the event gets a highly sought after MJ on Travel key chain, and a cocktail of your choice!!

Now, a word about the next week and a half here at MJ on Travel. I am entering a brief period of what one could describe as madness at my day job. It won’t last long, but it will be intense. As a result, you may see some “Best of” content popping up here for the next week or so like I sometimes do when on vacation. But trust me, I won’t be vacationing….just working….a LOT. I’m going to try very hard to post once per day, but we’ll have to see. But before Monday, I’m working on a special post about my effort to convince someone who shall remain nameless that she needs to dump her Royal Caribbean Visa card (not an affiliate link) for something more lucrative, primarily the Chase Sapphire Preferred or British Airways Visa.

Disclosure: If you apply for the British Airways Visa or Chase Sapphire Preferred card through the links provided in this post, I will receive a referral bonus.

OK…. It’s time. If you’ve got a little money to spend, and are interested in flying premium classes of service across the pond or even getting 4 American Airlines domestic coach class tickets for free, it’s time to apply for the Chase British Airways Visa. I’ve told my wife, my mother, my in-laws, my cousins, my friends, and anyone else I come across to get this card!!!! I previously posted about what a fabulous deal I think this is. And I haven’t even talked about the benefits of pooling your Avios together in a household account.

• You will get 50,000 bonus Avios after your first purchase
• 25,000 bonus Avios after you make $10,000 in purchases within the first year of account opening
• Plus an additional 25,000 bonus Avios after you make an additional $10,000 in purchases within the first year of account opening
• That’s enough Avios for one roundtrip business class reward ticket
• New: Smart Chip Technology allows you to use your card for chip based purchases in Europe & beyond, while still giving you the ability to use your card as you do today at home.
• Pay no foreign transaction fees when you travel abroad
• In addition to the bonus, you will also get 2.5 Avios for every $1 spent on British Airways purchases and 1.25 Avios for every $1 spent on all other purchases
• Every calendar year you make $30,000 in purchases on your British Airways Visa card, you’ll earn a Travel Together Ticket good for two years

Apply here for this great offer.

BA does charge some hefty fuel surcharges for its awards, but their above average (at least when I’ve searched for it) premium class award availability combined with the fact that you can use their miles on Oneworld partners like Cathay, Qantas, and yes, even American, really make this card a compelling product for your travel wallet. That said, I must acknowledge that prior offers have been more generous than this as $20,000 dollars in spend is required to get the full bonus. On the other hand, I’m not sure how many miles or points we can reasonably expect to be given away. No matter what, this is a decent deal. It’s so decent that I’m going to do something no one else will do. Don’t trust me, or my affiliate links? Go here and apply for the same offer (not my affiliate link) directly with Chase. Yes, I’m that serious about your taking advantage of this opportunity.

Disclosure: If you apply for and receive a card through the links I’ve provided, I do receive a referral bonus except as noted as not my affiliate link. Of course, I’m very appreciative if you use my link to apply, but that’s by no means required. I appreciate your readership no matter what.

Sitting here on the front porch in NW DC pondering the day ahead over coffee and my MacBook Air. Of course, I’m flying out this afternoon for Ohio, but other than that, I’ve been perusing the blogs and message boards for information. The big news of the 50,000 point Amex Business Platinum was only good for one day (yesterday), but the bigger news was the reemergence of the 100,000 Avios British Airways Visa (now my affiliate link!) (Hat tip to Gary) 100,000 Avios is pretty snazzy, biz class across the pond anyone? Unless I change my mind, I won’t play this time. I’m pretty much loaded up with all the credit cards I can manage for the moment. But if you are in a good spot with your credit and spending, you should consider this offer.

You will have to do some work for it. You get 50,000 Avios with your first purchase, then 25,000 for the next $10,000 in purchases and the final 25,000 with the following $10,000 in purchases. In other words, you have to spend $20 grand in a year to get the full 100,000 Avios. The card does have some extra bennies that make it worth considering. Companion certificate, chip technology for spending abroad, and no foreign transaction fees. I could make the spend if I tried, but I just did a Citi AAdvantage application and am working on meeting the minimum spend for that card now. Not to mention I really want to hit $25K in spending on my US Airways MasterCard this year for the 10,000 preferred qualifying mile benefit. Living 15 minutes away from US Airways’ large operation at Reagan National (DCA), it’s just too handy to have US status, and anything I can do to keep it and build on it, I will. All this coupled with most of my dining/travel expenses being charged to my Sapphire Preferred card, and there’s only so much money I can throw around.  But that’s just me. If you’ve got the spending capability, I’d jump on this BA offer right now. You never know how long it will be out there.

In cruising news, Royal Caribbean has a pretty good deal available for a limited time. If you book by April 15, you can book a European cruise AND air fare starting at $1,349 dollars per person. Seriously, if I didn’t have a big vacation commitment this fall, I’d be on this one. As you know, I think cruising represents an amazing vacation value, especially in Europe. See fantastic sights, but use the ship for your “hotel and restaurant.” Cruising can also be a great way to sample the fabulous Mediterranean and Europe to give you an idea of where you might want to take your next land-based vacation.

Well, that’s all for my Saturday morning musings. Time to get ready for the airport. Next post will be from the Southwest Airlines elite lounge at BWI aka the Vino Volo with a cheese plate and wine.

Disclosure: The credit card links in this post are not my affiliate links and I do not receive any kind of referral bonus if you apply for and receive the card products mentioned. These simply represent the best available offers that I am aware of for the card. Updated on 4/11/12 to note that the BA Visa offer is now my affiliate link. It is the best offer available to my knowlege.

As you know, April 3rd was the last day for the 50,000 point Chase Sapphire Preferred offer. Today I received the new offers and a surprise. First, the new offer is as we expected, 40,000 bonus Ultimate Rewards points for spending $3,000 dollars in the first 3 months of card membership. What I had not expected was a Chase Sapphire Preferred MasterCard to be in the mix. I’ve known that if you asked, it was possible to get a Chase Sapphire Preferred MasterCard, but it has not been actively marketed by Chase until now that I’m aware of. So here’s the new lineup.

Chase Sapphire Preferred^SM Card

Note: The Chase Sapphire Preferred MasterCard offer has been expired.

Even though the new offer is a little less than before, these cards still represent an amazing value and the Ultimate Rewards program is among the best. The utility of transferring your points to great mileage programs like MileagePlus and hotel programs like Hyatt and Marriott is awesome. I love my Chase Sapphire Preferred card, and I think you will too.

Disclosure: If you apply for and receive a card through one of the above links I will receive a referral bonus.