Through September 23, Staples is offering Peachtree Pro Accounting 2007 free after rebate — $140 minus a $140 rebate. Shipping is free.
(Go to Staples via a cashback or mileage portal, Fatwallet is offering a 4% kickback.)
As occasionally happens, a frequent flyer program organizes a meet-up with members of Flyertalk.com. SAS Eurobonus hosted such a meeting, and reports of the event are here and here.
Most important news:
Always nice to see improvements rather than marketing-speak “enhancements” to frequent flyer programs!
Starting October 1 two new benefits go into place:
The extra point per dollar is long overdue, as a rule across the board hotel-branded credit cards provide extra points for spending with the hotel chain — except, until now, Starwood.
Gold status doesn’t mean much. The card already gets you ‘preferred plus’ status which has almost all the benefits of Gold (room upgrade generally limited to better view or higher floor, late checkout except at resorts). On top of Preferred Plus, Gold only gets you an additional point for eligible spending at Starwood hotel properties (separate from the extra point you’ll now be getting for putting hotel spend on this credit card). And Hilton’s Gold — which is a richer benefit level — comes via their American Express card at only $20,000 in spend. Still it’s a step in the right direction.
Personally, I’d love Platinum status to come at $150,000 or so in annual spend, though that hasn’t been announced as a benefit and would be surely controversial among members earning the status via butt-in-bed nights.
This month’s Inside Flyer cover story is about award redemption. They tested several airline programs across several routes, both online booking engines and call centers, at various points in time to get real data on how programs rank in satisfying member needs.
A key takeaway is that the USAirways website is terrible, always call. But more generally, just because the web doesn’t show availability with any program, try the phone. Very few websites check more than the most traditional flight routings, and even fewer offer good details on partner award availability.
American’s program fares well as it always does. United didn’t do as good a job at redemption as its results two years ago, which is consistent with my own experience as well (though nothing beats Star Alliance awards for Asia).
Despite the article reporting some succeess redeeming for business class awards via Northwest Worldperks, I wouldn’t press my luck there. Continental, Delta, and Northwest really are subpar on award redemption.
Here’s my general advice on award redemption.
Flyertalk’s S.P.A.M. forum is home to discussion of off-beat or nontraditional loyalty programs, such as e-Rewards and other programs offering miles for surveys and clicking. Then there are also loyalty programs that have nothing to do with the travel industry. And sometimes freebies slip in. Some recent mentions there include restaurant offers –
Red Lobster has a Overboard Club loyalty program, sign up and get a coupon for a free appetizer or dessert with the purchase of 2 adult entrees.
McCormick and Schmick
has a loyalty program as well. It costs $25 to join but you get a $25 dining certificate plus program benefits —
You get 200 points for paying your $25 membership fee with a Mastercard.
Morton’s also has their $99 steak and seafood dinner for 2 through September 30th. You get steak, shrimp or crab, salad, vegetable, and dessert. Most locations are participating (the earlier similar offer for $89 had only a few locations).
It’s my birthday next week and I’ve been getting lots of free meal offers and discounts, my inbox is full from the likes of Red Robin, Hard Times Chili, and Silver Diner…
Truly poor taste but strangely enthralling, Jet Set Lara has photos of the Barbie Death Camp in Nevada, a barbecue joint whose motto is “We Put the Barbie in Barb-B-Q”…
Bose is offering 150 free American Airlines miles for watching a video about their headphones. Or you can just go to the page where you enter your American Airlines frequent flyer number. Points post relatively quickly. (Thanks to several readers for the pointer.)
Bonnie Tyler may be faster than the speed of night but I have a hard time seeing her singing onboard as a security threat. She offered up part of “Total Eclipse of the Heart” on a Paris-Mauritius flight while a passenger in first class at the request of the retiring co-pilot.
Apparently some Belgian travelers didn’t take well to it and reportedly felt their safety was threated due to the party atmosphere. Government security doesn’t appear to have a problem with the performance (this isn’t a USA flight after all), but apparently perceived threats allow for a private cause of action.
Paging Overlawyered.com…
The Bomb Or Not training course is hours of wild fun. Seriously.
One of the neat things about the American Airlines Mastercard is that cardholders have access to discounted awards to specific destinations which change each quarter.
I don’t actually find the card worth the annual fee, but since it’s generally available for 20,000 bonus miles with first purchase and fee waived the first year, and since you can earn this bonus with fee waiver multiple times, I generally have a free version of the card in my wallet at all times.
The new quarter’s discounted awards are out. Domestic sale destionations drop to 17,500 miles for a coach award (down from 25,000) and 37,500 for a first class award (down from 45,000). Even Paris is on sale for 32,500 miles in coach durin gthe dead time of October 15 – December 31 and Osaka, Japan is on sale for 42,500 miles in coach during the month of October.
The TripRewards hotel points program will give you 250 Air Canada miles just for enrolling. From a TripRewards email:
The first screen is registration. Once you register you get to a preferences screen where you choose your earning preference — be sure to select ‘airline miles’. The default partner should already be filled in, but make sure it says Air Canada Aeroplan. Then enter your Air Canada frequent flyer number.
