Posted by Seth on January 10, 2012 under frequent flyer, points | 
JetBlue and interline partner South African Airways have come up with a rather interesting promotion for earning points in the TrueBlue program this month. They’re letting passengers double dip on points earnings for a limited time, netting 10,000 TrueBlue points in addition to the regular points the route would earn on South African. The rules are reasonably simple: Book by 20 January and travel by 31 March. Fill out the web form after the trip and you should score the TrueBlue points.
There is also a contest to win two "free" tickets to South Africa, but I’m not as convinced of the value there. There are blackout dates, which is fine, but the winner is responsible for all fuel surcharges on the winning, which is pretty crappy, especially considering that they are still "subject to seat availability" as well.
I wouldn’t go out of my way to book a trip just for the TrueBlue points, but if you’re buying and flying inside the promo dates anyways there’s definitely nothing wrong with 10,000 free TrueBlue points.
See http://flysaausa.com/jetblue/ for all the fine print.
Posted by Seth on January 2, 2012 under Flying, News |
Not sure how I missed this earlier but apparently Air Canada is matching the 50% off base fare sale that Porter Air launched on Boxing day in markets where Porter operates. The deal on both carriers is good for bookings made through this week and travel through April.
On Air Canada the discount codes to use online are PROMO26DEC11 or USPROMO26DEC11. On Porter Air the code is BOX50.
Happy travels!
Posted by Seth on December 26, 2011 under Flying, News |
It seems that Porter Air has been running some version of this sale for nearly a year now – some percentage off if you book in the next few days for travel in the upcoming quarter. The dates and percentages change but this is the first time I’ve seen the discount rise to 50% off and the first time I’ve seen it stretch out 4 months for travel. Hard to complain at all about either of those things.
Book at FlyPorter.com and use promo code BOX50 to get half off for travel between now and April 30, 2012. Book by January 6, 2012.
Oh, and if you’ve never had the opportunity to experience Porter, give ‘em a try. I’m a big fan, especially when heading to/from Toronto. Flying in or out of Toronto City Airport just off the heart of downtown is a great experience.
Posted by Seth on December 18, 2011 under News |
Star Alliance and the Global Hotel Alliance have teamed up to give away a pretty awesome RTW award to one lucky winner. The prize is a pair of business class RTW tickets and 30 nights worth of hotel accommodations in member hotels. Yeah, I’d enjoy winning that.
The contest is pretty simple. They release one clue per day via Facebook and you pick the correct city the clue refers to for that entry. Get all 11 correct and you get entered into the random draw to win the prize. So, yeah, you need to have a Facebook account and authorize the app to win, but it is worth a try. Entries must be submitted by 9am GMT on 21 December 2011.
If you don’t want to go through the effort of looking up the answers (or guessing) I’ve got my responses listed out below. I put them in white text just in case someone doesn’t want the spoiler so just highlight the list below to see the answers I’m using.
Good luck!
Start here: https://apps.facebook.com/global-pursuit/
Suggested answers:
- Washington DC
- Rome
- Stockholm
- Cairo
- Delhi
- Bangkok
- Singapore
- Hong Kong
- Sydney
- São Paulo
- Los Angeles
Good luck!
Posted by Seth on December 13, 2011 under frequent flyer, News, points |
American Airlines is apparently a tiny bit desperate; they’ve expanded their previously very targeted double EQM promotion to now be system-wide, for all passengers flying on AA metal. The promotion is valid on any normal mileage-earning tickets through January 31, 2012.
Most of the typical restrictions on this sort of promo – only newly purchased tickets, minimum fare class, residency requirements, etc. – are waived for this promotion. It even includes the rarely seen "This offer can be combined with other AAdvantage promotions," in the fine print. If you’re flying on AA anyways you should ABSOLUTELY go register here prior to your flights.
And, of course, the speculation can now begin as to whether other carriers will match the offer.
Posted by Seth on December 8, 2011 under Flying, Internet, News |
Since they first started offering in-flight internet service gogo has been toying with various pricing schemes to try to attract more customers. After starting with just a single flight option they’ve increased to multi-flight deals, day passes and two different monthly passes, one for a single carrier and one of all carriers where the service is available. Now they’ve added another option: a full year of service on Delta for $400.
Yes, this price is a discount from the cost of buying the service on a month-to-month basis. But only $20, or less than 5% savings. Take a month off – like maybe a vacation or something where you leave the country – and you’re actually paying more for the internet under the yearly plan. Ouch.
I get the idea of bundling up products and offering bulk discounts. I think that, when done right, they are a great way to increase sales for a product. But I also see very little value in paying such a high rate in advance, especially when the chances to realize the value of the discount are potentially limited. Too much risk and not enough potential savings.
Then again, my travel patterns are sporadic enough that committing to something on the same carrier for an entire year is never a good idea. Even my status earning comes from many partner flights. I suppose if you really are stuck on the same carrier every trip of every month (and that carrier happens to be Delta) it might not be so horrible. But still some real risk there.
Posted by Seth on November 27, 2011 under News |
If you’ve got $60,000 then that opportunity can be yours. Even better, the deal comes with a round-trip charter flight on any Virgin America route currently operated within the United States.
It is actually a pretty great deal for the charter flight option especially if you go for the transcon routes. The hourly charter rate at that point gets to be pretty close to costs of much smaller aircraft. Plus, they’re throwing in the standard catering kit for free to passengers. Open bar!
I wish I had the spare cash to do this. It would be an incredible party. Alas, I haven’t won the lottery lately.
Thanks to Dan over at Things in the Sky for pointing this out earlier.
Posted by Seth on November 16, 2011 under Flying, News |
Hawaiian Airlines has announced that they will offer service to New York City‘s JFK airport from Honolulu starting in June 2012. In addition to advertising free meals and blankets on the flights (my how times have changed), the carrier has also announced an introductory sale that is a pretty impressive deal: $222 each way for the month of June with no minimum stay requirements and one-way purchases eligible.
After June the low end of the fare seems to be about $860 round trip (or $540 one-way), which is similar to the pricing offered by the only other carrier running non-stop in the market, Continental. No indication yet whether other carriers will be matching this half-price sale to the islands.
Seats on the inaugural flight are readily available; I’m considering going just for fun.
Posted by Seth on October 9, 2011 under Hotel, points |
I’ve never been a particularly big fan of using American Express Membership Rewards points for hotel stay transfers. The rates are generally pretty awful and there are better ways to accumulate hotel points out there. Still, the option is there and every now and then it is something that folks use.
It looks like AmEx is trying to make the product a bit better, at least for a few months.
UPDATE: This promo is only for cards in the MR First program, namely US-issued Platinum and Centurion cards. Sorry for getting anyone else excited, though you probably shouldn’t have been anyways.
Through the end of the year they’ve got a sale on for transfers to Hilton HHonors and Starwood Preferred Guest. Both programs are offering 25% off.
There is also a 25% discount on the various free night certificates that are available via the Marriott Rewards program:
None of these are a particularly great deal but it does suck a bit less.
Posted by Seth on October 9, 2011 under frequent flyer, points |
The three largest US airlines have apparently decided to have some fun with bonus frequent flier points and London this fall. It is not particularly clear what started the push, but American Airlines was first out of the gates with their promotion: 25K bonus points for the first flight, 35K for the second and 45K for the third between the USA and anywhere in Europe. Each subsequent flight will continue to earn at the 45K level. British Airways has a similar deal out there as well.
The catch here is that the tickets must be booked in a full fare class. So paid premium cabin tickets as well as Y, B and H fares in coach are the qualifying fares. Generally not a tremendous value, though there are some discounted business class seats available around Thanksgiving that could make this a worthwhile deal.
United Airlines was next on the list, with bonuses of 25K, 35K, 45K and 45K available for flights on either Continental or United metal but only to London. The United offer is slightly less attractive in that they are only offering the bonus for premium cabin flights; full-fare economy gets you no bonus.
Delta was on board just a couple days later, matching the United promotion. They, too, have limited the deal to only London and only on premium cabin fares.
No idea why London has become the target of the big bonus miles, but if you’re going anyways and you’ve got those high fares you may as well take the bonus points. Registration is required for each program’s bonuses.
UPDATE: If you’re looking to cash in on this deal without dropping a lot of cash check out the sales to London on right now from most of the carriers for later this fall. There are some bargains to be had (~$1400 r/t) if you can make the dates work!.
Posted by Seth on September 29, 2011 under Flying |
I’d love to use the 20% off any flight code I just got from Virgin America but the travel period ends a week prior to me next west coast trip. As such, I’ve got a one-time use coupon code that needs a good home. The flight must be booked by midnight pacific time on the west coast on 30 September 2011. The travel must happen by October 27, 2011.
The fine print says that the coupon is only available for non-refundable tickets in the S, L, M, U, E, H, B, or V fare buckets.
If you can use the code leave a comment as to what you’d use it on and I’ll pick one and send it via email mid-day tomorrow.
