Amtrak is offering a free Acela Express or Metroliner roundtrip when you take two roundtrips between select cities through May 31.

They’re also offering double Amtrak Guest Rewards points for tickets purchased with a Mastercard.

Registration is required.

Eligible city pairs are:

Boston – Stamford, Boston – New York, Boston – Newark, Boston – Metropark, Boston – Washington, Boston – Philadelphia, Route 128 – Stamford, Route 128 – New York, Route 128 – Newark, Route 128 – Metropark, Route 128 – Washington, Route 128 – Philadelphia, Stamford – Washington, New York – Washington, Newark – Washington, Metropark – Washington.

You can earn up to 8 free roundtrip certificates valid for travel between June 15, 2005 and December 15, 2005.

Print this coupon for 15% off a single item at Borders through February 2nd. You can, of course, print the coupon numerous times and make multiple trips to generate additional discounts.

Pier 1 has a printable coupon for 20% off a single item, redeemable in stores (not online) through January 27.

Colloquy summarizes the current state of frequent flyer miles:

By the end of 2004, almost 14 trillion frequent flyer miles had been accumulated worldwide. According to a new analysis by The Economist magazine, the global stock is worth more than $700 billion, more than all the US dollar bills in circulation.



More than 130 airlines issue them, handing out more than 14-million free flights annually. So many different types of frequent flyer miles are in circulation that consultancies have sprung up in Europe and America devoted solely to helping people get the most of their portfolio.



Ravindra Bhagwanani, founder of Frankfurt-based Global Flight Management, said: “[Frequent flyer] miles are a game you have to play. If you want to play a game successfully, you need to know the rules.”

…

More than 120 million people belong to frequent flyer programs worldwide. The record for the biggest individual account is just over 23-million miles.

Delta is offering a 10-15% bonus on transfers from American Express Membership Rewards through February 28, plus complimentary Crown Room Club membership with large transfers. Registration is required.

Register to earn 1200 bonus United miles when flying with a pet by May 27th. The bonus can be earned twice, and is valid on almost all booking classes (but not on T fares).

American Express is offering a $10 gift card for viewing their expense management report demo.

It’s geared towards corporate cardmembers, but isn’t anywhere that they ask for a card number to verify eligibility.

American is offering 42,000 bonus miles for premium class flights to London.

The move is very similar to British Airways’ offer of 40,250 bonus miles.

Registration is required.

Balloting for the Freddie Awards has begun.

For 17 years, frequent travelers have been asked to make their picks for the best frequent travel programs via the Freddie Awards. Introduced by InsideFlyer magazine publisher Randy Petersen in 1988, the Freddies allow consumers to rank airline and hotel programs from their point of view. The awards have grown in stature and importance and are the most prestigious consumer-generated awards in the industry.

The nice thing is that the Freddies are voted on by hundreds of thousands of real travelers. I get rather sick of having to roll my eyes at the hotels and airlines that claim to be world’s best this and that as determined by an award they’ve funded themselves. When a program wins a Freddie Award they tend to trumpet it pretty loudly.

I’ll share some of my own thoughts and votes with you, in hopes that I might influence some of the votes out there by the power of persuasion. Of course I have no vested interest in the outcomes. I just want good programs to be rewarded.

The award that is most important to me is Best Elite Level both for airlines and hotels.

This one is a little bit tricky, though, because I think there’s a big difference between the best top-level in the elite programs and the mid or bottom tiers.

Undoubtedly the best top elite level among North American airlines belongs to American, followed closely by United. If I were giving a third-place vote for best top elite level it would go to Alaska.

American gives unlimited complimentary domestic upgrades to its 100,000 mile flyers, and eight one-way international upgrades each year that are good on any fare.

But if I were a first or second-tier elite I’d rather be a member of the Northwest or America West programs because of their unlimited complimentary upgrades and the extent to which the programs deliver on those upgrades to all elite members and not just those at the very top.

On Best Award Redemption I’d give the nod to American, Alaska, United, and Delta in that order — fully recognizing that American got a bit tighter this year at least anecdotally. Alaska does a really good job with award availability, and has strong partnerships, but is somewhat limited in its own route network. United has gotten far more difficult to redeem an award with — less availability (or just greater demand for the same capacity), and reducing hold times from 14 days to 3 (down from 30 days just a few years ago). Nevertheless, Star Alliance awards really keep them in the running.

Northwest and Continental are just awful at redemption on their own metal, but their partnerships allow you to redeem on carriers that actually do make awards available. So their miles are worth something. But the gutting of the Northwest chart especially this year deserves a major kick in the pants.

I wouldn’t give the award to Southwest even though they’ve managed to eschew capacity controls. Southwest simply don’t provide the kind of awards I would ever want.

Best Affinity Credit Card ought to belong to the Starwood Amex, followed by Diners Club.

I’d give Best Website to Northwest, with honorable mention to Continental for their new award availability calendar. American might be up there, but there’s a lack of detail on some of their award rules. United is just downright unreliable. Alaska and Southwest deserve mention for their simplicity.

Best Newsletter just isn’t important to me. The category this year was expanded to include all member communication. That includes emails, but unfortunately most programs haven’t figured out how to communicate effectively online.

Best Customer Service? I love the folks at Alaska. Continental actually deserves some small mention for finally creating an actual elite desk. No doubt Southwest offers good customer service, but I have no direct experience.

On the hotel side of things, Starwood should win Best Elite Level because they offer suite upgrades and tend to deliver on the benefit. Marriott even took upgrades to suites out of their elite program. Starwood offers the best award redemption, by far. But I only hope that they don’t win best website again, because their web work is so unreliable. On the other hand, Hilton only just introduced online award redemption a year ago. So there isn’t much competition.

Now’s the time to subscribe to Inside Flyer magazine. They’re offering 50% off subscriptions in conjunction with the Freddie Awards. The usual $45 a year may be rich for some, but a few new tactics or bonus offers to take advantage of and it more than pays for itself. At $22.50 it’s a steal.

British Airways is offering 40,250 bonus miles for transatlantic roundtrip flights in first or business class through April 30. Registration required and offer is available to residents of the US and Canada only.

As NotiFlyer observes, BA is trying to make itself relevant to North American flyers by marketing the way that these bonus miles can be used on partner airlines for domestic travel.

Register to earn 500 bonus Amtrak points on your next train trip by March 31.

Speaking as someone with a hefty seven-figure total mileage balance (which doesn’t compare to some folks I know with an eight-figure balance), my own preferences are as follows, in order:

Starwood: hotel rooms are almost always available, plus points transfer into most airline programs is at 1:1 — plus 5k bonus for transferring 20k. Starwood Amex is the best points-earning card to the extent that spending earns 1.25 miles per dollar on all spending when transferring points in 20k blocks to airlines with 1:1 ratio, which is better than the AA Mastercard for instance. Not to mention the card is cheaper.

American: I’ve never had any problems with availability. Partner awards are great. All miles earned count towards lifetime elite (we’ll see if that feature lasts).

United: Availability on UA metal ain’t what it used to be, but Star Alliance provides for amazing redemption options. Required mileage is low by most standards (e.g. 90k miles for a business class ticket to Australia from the U.S.). No fees for last minute bookings.

Alaska: Provides great availability. Only 10k miles to confirm an upgrade from any fare. That would get you from Boston to Juneau. Good partnerships (AA, BA, CX, QF, KL, CO, NW, DL for example). 20k domestic awards on Alaska metal.

Delta: Have had good experiences with availability. Good partnerships. But this is bottom on my list because I simply don’t trust the program, award costs have risen, and I can always transfer points in from Membership Rewards so why go out of my way to earn directly from Delta?

(Oh, by the way, I’m not including Diners Club Club Rewards or American Express Membership Rewards on this list, perhaps I should and need to rethink my ordering. I’d probably rank Diners second, Membership Rewards behind American.)

I stay away from:

USAirways: I burned my miles there. What have I really lost by playing it safe and claiming awards? I’ve gotten use out of the miles, which is all I’d have gotten later anyway. And since they participate in Membership Rewards I can always deposit more in my Dividend Miles account if I need to. Current balance: 236

Continental: Continental availability is terrible. The only saving grace is that they have partners who offer better availability, like Delta and Alaska. Mileage prices are on the high side for valuable awards. Also a Membership Rewards participant, so why would I want to earn exclusively in the Continental program? Exclusive earning, for me, goes to programs whose points are inherently valuable and where I have a more difficult time accumulating. Current balance: 719

Northwest: Love the elite program for domestic-only flyers, hate the redemption program. Massive price increases for awards. Saturday stays required for domestic standard awards. And I’ve found availability on NW metal to be pretty poor, at least as a non-elite there. If I ever want to claim an award on Northwest metal I’ll transfer points to Continental or Delta from Amex, or I’ll use Delta or Alaska miles I’ve chosen to build up. I use these miles when I can, keeping balance low. Current balance: 2719.

America West: They just lack the route network and partnerships to offer valuable awards. And while they offer some attractive fares, especially for last minute travel and for their premium cabin, I don’t really want to fly the airline anyway if I can avoid it. Current balance: 60.

I don’t meaningfully participate in the Southwest, Airtran, or JetBlue programs either; short expiration of credits and inability to redeem for the kind of awards that I value.

I have some British Airways miles but don’t go out of my way to accumulate. I’m glad that I don’t hold a big balance with Qantas, what with the gutting of their award chart.

I have plenty of points with Amtrak, Hilton, Priority Club, and a few others. I consider those somewhere in the middle of the pack. Amtrak transfers 1:1 into Continental and Midwest (but they dropped bigtime in my book by pulling the rug out from under United transfers). Priority Club redemption is excellent in my limited experience and points are easy to accumulate. Hilton redemption is less than stellar.

The Starwood American Express is now offering 6000 points with first purchase and 6000 bonus points for hotel stays. Fee waived the first year.

(Hat tip to Free Frequent Flyer Miles.)

Travelocity has a new promo code, TRAVEL_MORE, which will take:

$50 off any Last Minute Deals package purchase of at least $300.


$100 off any Last Minute Deals package purchase of at least $600.

Valid through April 30.

Anecdotally it appeared to take $150 off a $900 package as well, but it may be an anomaly.

I’m very proud of Courtney.

Only good on a few dates and flights, but nice values nevertheless:

	Hot Winter Specials – 2 Romantic Destinations Just in time for a Valentine’s Day Getaway!! Take your Sweetie to Tahiti or go to France for Romance! Tahiti Moana Economy $395 per person, plus tax Poerava Business $2000 per person, plus tax Paris (CDG) Moana Economy $498 per Couple, plus tax Poerava Business $3400 per Couple, plus tax *** Tahiti Instant Purchase Special *** $395 (plus taxes) per person – Moana Economy Class $2000 (plus taxes) per person – Poerava Business Class Valid only by combining the following designated flights: Southbound – Los Angeles to Papeete, Tahiti Flight # TN1: January 23, 30, February 3, 6, 13, 24 & 25. Flight # TN301: February 22. Northbound – Papeete, Tahiti to Los Angeles Flight # TN2: January 31, February 7, 9, 14, 16, & 28. Flight # TN302: February 1 & 10. *Reservations must be made at least 3 days prior to departure and tickets must be paid for and issued at the same time that the reservation is made. Waitlists are not permitted. *All tickets must be issued by February 18. All tickets must be issued in North America and “Prepaid” tickets are not permitted. *Tickets are non-refundable before departure. Changes to the outbound flight are not permitted. After departure, to change the return date – the full amount of the fare paid less $200.00, can be applied to the purchase of a higher fare that allows a date change, provided that the rules of the higher fare is met and the the tickets are reissued and reservations are made for the higher fare at the same time that the original return reservation is cancelled. *Child and infant discounts do not apply to these fares. *Seats are capacity controlled and fares may not be available on all flights. *Name Changes are not allowed. *** Paris Instant Purchase Special Companion Fares *** $498 per Couple (plus taxes) – Moana Economy Class $3400 per Couple (plus taxes) – Poerava Business Class Valid only by combining the following designated flights: Eastbound – Los Angeles to Paris, France (CDG) Flight # TN22: January 17, 21, 22, 28, 30 & 31, February 2, 5, 6, 7, 12, 14, & 20. Westbound – Paris, France (CDG) to Los Angeles Flight # TN21: January 22 & 30, February 1, 7, 8, 13, 14, 15, 17, 24, 27 & 28. *Reservations/Ticketing: Both passengers must travel together on the same flights and be booked in the same reservation. Both passengers must check in for all flights together. Tickets must be purchased at the same time the reservation is made. *All tickets must be issued by January 24, 2005. Waitlists are not permitted. *Tickets are non-refundable and no changes are allowed before departure. After departure: the full fare paid less a $200.00 fee can be used as credit towards the purchase of a new ticket that allows a date change. The new ticket must be reissued, original reservation cancelled and new date reserved in the same transaction at the same time. *Infant and Childrens discounts do not apply. *Seats are capacity controlled and fares may not be available on all flights. *Name Changes are not allowed. Call your professional Travel Agent or Air Tahiti Nui (877) 824-4846 toll-free

Get a free subscription to Maxim and then click the bottom link for a free subscription to Stuff as well.

The Sporting News is also available.

H&R Block is offering up to 1000 American Airlines miles for filing your taxes with them.

United is offering 500 miles for gifts of $50 or more to one of their six designated relief charities. If you pay with your United Visa, you’ll earn double miles (update for clarity: double miles on the actual donation amount, not on the 500 mile bonus).