Via Travel Tech Talk, Amazon has an AT&T Blackberry Curve for free with net cash back after rebate of $75 with activation of a new 2-year plan. It even looks like Amazon now supports porting a number to the new phone and service.

This comes with free 2-day shipping and a free travel charger (if you add the item to your shopping cart).

The price will require both a data and voice plan, not just data. Even existing AT&T customers can upgrade to this device and get the pricing provided they’re within a couple of months of being out of contract, although — and I could just be misinterpreting — it doesn’t appear to work if you have a family plan.

Personally I’m waiting for the Blackberry Bold to be released before upgrading…

Delta offers one-time visit passes to their lounges for $30. That’s the second-cheapest offering out there — Alaska Airlines offers one-time boardroom passes for $25, and boardroom members can purchase transferrable passes for just $15 each.

Now, that may not be worth it for everyone or every time. And more frequent guests are better off with a membership, with elite status with a non-US Skyteam airline, or with the American Express Platinum card — each of which would secure access to the lounge. (And many Crown Room Clubs are also Priority Pass affiliates as well.)

But The Flying Critic makes two interesting points for those transiting Los Angeles not just on Delta but also on airlines like Continental and United.

• LAX Terminals 5, 6, 7, and 8 are connected … so passengers from several airlines can reasonably access the Delta lounge in Temrinal 5.

• The Delta Crown Room Club in Terminal 5 at LAX has showers.

Seems like one for the back pocket…

Last month I shared a code for 100 free Citi Thank You Points. You can add these points by logging into your account and, under “My Account” choosing “Enter Promotional Code.”

Now Via Frugal Travel Guy is an additional code for another 100 free Citi Thank You Points: DPRICDW408WK.

Thank You Points are worth between 1 and 3 cents apiece depending on how they’re redeemed.

Qantas is running Los Angeles to Sydney for $160 plus all taxes, which omes out to about $500 – $520 all-in. It’s valid for November and December travel on their new Airbus A380 and you need to depart on Monday or Wednesday (many more Wednesday departures are actually available) and return on a Wednesday, Friday, or Sunday.

Best to try flexible date search using the Qantas website or booking engine with similar functionality such as Travelocity, since it can be somewhat tricky to find availability.

This is the lowest I’ve ever seen US to Australia. The flight won’t even credit full 100% mileage in American’s frequent flyer program, but if you credit the points to Qantas or LAN you’ll receive full mileage.

The Flyertalk discussion is here.

Update 1:20pm Eastern: The fare no longer appears to be available.

Wow, this one almost makes me cring to post. A couple of years ago I wrote about Greyhound introducing a loyalty program.

At the time I declared I had no interest in joining. And I still haven’t. After all, 16 Greyhound trips and you get… a free Greyhound trip. Ouch. And I cringe at the prospect of flying over 1000 miles in coach. When I come back from Asia, I even huff and puff at 5 hours in domestic first class, having gotten used to the charms of international premium cabin travel for similar stage lengths.

Yet it was only a matter of time before someone came up with a Greyhound mileage run. I’m appalled.

It might not be the right forum, but since GREYHOUND has some kind of loyalty program (see HERE and TERMS AND CONDITIONS) I decided to post the info.

Greyhound started a new bus venture called NEON which has wifi, power ports, etc and goes the New York-Toronto route. See HERE FOR MORE INFO.

There is a $2 r/t price available for mid-week in SEP.-OCT. Play around with the dates and you will be able to find something.

If you do 16 o/w “credits” with them you can get a free r/t wherever the “fly” (somewhat like southwest), so technically speaking for 16 bucks you can get a 200 dollar “ticket” coast-to-coast.

One of the few times I throw my lot in with the refrain of conservatives, “Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should….”

The TSA brags that they just caught someone with a fake ID!

Update: 6/14/08

Just a quick note… Our ticket checkers found a fraudulent ID at JFK. Just thought some of you might be interested.

At New York Kennedy Airport (JFK) on Thursday, June 12, a passenger was interviewed by police after attempting to enter into a security checkpoint with a fraudulent ID.

A TSA Travel Document Checker noticed a passenger trying to use a fraudulent New York driver’s license and notified the Port Authority Police Department who came and interviewed her. The Port Authority Police Department released the passenger after issuing a Summons to Appear.

Travel Document Checkers are TSA officers that are specially trained to detect fraudulent IDs and boarding passes to help keep our airports safe and secure.

Sounds like we’d all be safer if we got rid of the TSA at airports and redeployed them to bars and polling places? At least then we’d be protecting the children and the integrity of our democracy (or something like that).

It seems to frequently be the case that the Westin Reston is pricing all of its internet prepaid rate room types the same. Several weekends, such as at the beginning of July, all room types show up at $99. During the week their prepaid rates go as high as $329, but again will frequently price all room types the same.

Alas, the hotel doesn’t have a club lounge or I might take a Staycation out near Dulles airport in a $99 Deluxe Suite

605 Sq Ft Spacious 2 Room Suite Suited For Business With Contemporary DecorDeluxe Suite Non-smoking, Heavenly Bed And Bath, Separate Living Rm/w Sofa Bed, Separate Luxury Shower/bath, 42 Inch Plasma Tv

This doesn’t work with all dates, of course, and I haven’t tested how far out these suites are bookable. But folks looking for some mattress runs in the Dulles area, or anyone actually needing to stay out there, might zero in…

L’Occitane is running its ‘friends and family’ sale through Sunday, June 15th. Promo code FNF25 is good for 25% off.

Mary2e reports this on Flyertalk and adds

The downside, it doesn’t look like they have any of the freebies with purchase left. I made out like a bandit with some of them by breaking up my orders into $80 batches to qualify for free shipping and the freebie.

Still, there are plenty of additional opportunities for leveraging L’Occitane purchases including free shipping, 3 American Airlines or Membership Rewards points per dollar (or 4 Citi Thank You points), or 4% cash back from Ebates or Fatwallet.

Hertz is offering 3,000 Virgin Atlantic miles per rental through September 30th. You have to use their rate code to get the offer, which may not be the best rate available, but 3000 miles is a good offer nonetheless.

(I usually rent from Avis and take advantage of their standard 1000 Virgin miles per rental, most of my rentals are for just a single day or a couple days, and rack up the Virgin miles quite nicely, thank you.)

There’s a current discussion on Flyertalk of a glitch at Lan.com that allows you to book tickets between the US and Europe without being dinged for a fuel surcharge. That’s a substantial savings; the “YQ” charge usually runs about US$250 roundtrip.

This appears to work best with British Airways, or at least to and from Heathrow or on fitineraries transiting Heathrow. Heathrow seems to be the key here, and and the need for British Airways stems from the difficulty that LAN has in pricing and ticketing multi-carrier itienraries.

It’s worth reading through this post by Flyertalker djohannw who has plenty of experience booking at Lan.com.

Tumi’s Summer Sale will be running June 16-July 31. The specific sale offerings aren’t loaded onto the site yet (or so it seems) but they promise “Save up to 50% on some of our very best styles.”

Generally the sale consists of discontinued items and colors, and the products still aren’t cheap, but Tumi produces my favorite travel accessories and these sales are often the only times that I can afford ‘em!

The pickings may be slim, or generous, we’ll see in a few days. But the key is to check in early because a sale item lasts until it sells out, so although the sale runs until July 31 only the barest pickings will be left as the thing goes along.

Meanwhile, there’s a free shipping offer and also 5 American miles per dollar spent, though I haven’t tested whether all of these are combinable.

The US Mint sells $1 coins on its website, doesn’t charge for shipping, and takes credit cards.

It’s an opportunity for free miles: buy coins, deposit those coins back into your back account, use the money to pay off the credit card. Net result = the miles for the charges on your card.

Here’s the Flyertalk discussion. Reports are consistent that these show up on your credit card statement as purchases rather than cash advances (fortunately!).

These are ‘Presidential Dollar Coins’ and there are only (6) different ones out so far. They’re adding another 2 per year, apparently. And unfortunately you’re limited to purchasing 500 of each. So right now you can buy 6 x 500 = $3000 and thus 3000 miles.

Not quite as lucrative as the days when you could buy savings bonds on your credit card, or prepaid gift cards that operated as debit cards and could be used to purchase money orders redepositable into your account ($3000 worth a month back around 2003-2004).

But it’s a little bit of effort and some free miles, so some will find the strategy useful.

You can earn a rebate or top off your mileage account at no extra cost beyond the shopping you already do online. And using EV Reward helps you search out the best offerings. And it may even be a useful mating strategy, too!

Most online purchases aren’t that lucrative, since the spending amounts are small. Sure, if you buy a high-end laptop computer at a few miles per dollar you’ll wind up with several thousand miles. But the odd $30 purchase here or there will yield only a couple hundred miles at best most of the time. But it’s amazing how much I, for one, shop online and thus how easily those shopping miles add up. A little effort in clicking a link through a mileage portal goes a long way towards free travel.

But which portal? There are so many, and the offers change. I’ve written many times before about EV Reward. I used to use Rewards DB but quite awhile ago I shifted my useage patterns because EV Reward is comprehensive, easily searchable, and up-to-date. It’s a free service that gives you a comprehensive picture of offers available for online purchasing with merchants that participate in the various online mall schemes. Included are the hotel and ailrine program malls, of course, along with the credit card-linked programs and various cashback sites. And they comb for coupons, to boot. So it’s a must-stop destination before making any online purchase… since there’s free miles or money available for the clicking.

Talking wih two friends of mine who have been dating for some time, the woman says about her boyfriend, “He’s really into EV Reward and it’s sooo sexy!”

intensely analytical as she is, she knows that the extra effort he takes to get the best deals (for her! signaling — just like a primate!) means that he’s able to stretch his budget further and give her more gifts, and that those gifts earn miles that will take her on trips. Budgeting responsibility signals an ability to be a good provider, just like in hunter/gatherer societies. Thus the use of EV Reward (and for that matter, this blog, Flyertalk, Fatwallet, etc) isn’t just shrewd judgment, it’s a mating strategy!

US Airways announced several changes today including charging for all checked bags beginning with the first, charging for coffee and water in coach, and closing some of their lounges.

But the two changes that really hit home are:

• An “award redemption processing fee.” American recently announced a minimum $5 fee for redemptions made online, and that crossed a line for me — a fee to use your miles for a free ticket. US Airways takes this to a new level beginning on August 6th: $25 to redeem for US domestic and Canada tickets, $35 for tickets to Mexico and the Caribbean, and $50 for Hawaii and international. (No word yet what this would mean for a Star Alliance award intra-Japan, say. Is it $50 for Tokyo-Nagoya?)

• The end of status bonuses on top of flown miles for elites for tickets purchased after August 6th. A United 50,000 mile flyer earns double miles for their flying. Why would any elite credit flown miles to US Airways (unless United eliminates the bonus on US Airways flights…)

It no longer makes any sense to credit flown miles to US Airways. Elites should look for another airline unless they’re truly captive based on their market, and should at least consider crediting flown miles to another Star Alliance program unless their only interest is upgrades on US Airways planes (free non-alcoholic beverages now being worth $2, after all…).

Now, it can still make sense to accrue non-flight miles with US Airways. The credit card bonuses can be generous, and even with the new redemption fee the miles go a long way towards premium class Star Alliance awards. The US Airways award chart is still generous compared to many Star Alliance programs. And US Airways seems to lack the technology to filter out otherwise available awards the way that United does.

So continue to accrue US Airways miles, sure, but only spend them for international first and busienss class awards on Singapore, ANA, Asiana…

Nonetheless, the end to bonus miles for elites is a huge shot across the bow of all loyal travelers, especially since every other major program offers such bonuses. And a ticketing fee on all awards — that’s just a slap in the face of members who have earned miles with the promise of free travel, and now will be charged for the privilege of redeeming for that free travel.

Poor showing, US Airways. Poor showing indeed.

Update: Could it get even worse? I write above that US Airways still has a decent award chart, they charge fewer miles for awards than many of their Star Alliance partners.  But I went to pull up the award chart and right now I get the following error:

We’re sorry! We’re working on the website. Our scheduled maintenance should only take a short while, but if you need immediate assistance, call our reservations center at 800-428-4322.Please check back soon.

What kind of maintenance do they need to perform on a downloadable .pdf file? When the rest of the website seems to be working as well as it ever does? Could they be about to put up a new award chart, with higher redemption rates? Nervously watching this one . . .

US Airways is joining United and American in charging for the first checked bag, exempting premium cabin and elite customers (including Star Alliance partner elites). No word in the press release on whether companions of elites will be exempted from the fee.

They’ve also announced that they are “Introducing a new in-flight beverage purchase program.” I love the description. It sounds exciting, new and improved, now 25% larger!

US Airways will begin selling all non-alcoholic beverages (including sodas, juices, bottled water and coffee) in its domestic coach cabins for $2 effective Aug. 1, 2008. Alcoholic beverages will be available for $7 (currently $5). …

Complimentary beverages will continue to be served in domestic First Class, US Airways Shuttle flights, trans-Atlantic Envoy and trans-Atlantic economy class. Unaccompanied minors will also receive complimentary non-alcoholic beverages.

$2 for a cup of coffee, but thank goodness water (remaining hydrated!) is included in first class and on trans-atlantic flights… but apparently not flights to Hawaii in coach.

And even US Airways club members will be unable to get complimentary beverages in Baltimore and Raleigh… since they’re closing those lounges in early August as well as terminating arrivals services for premium passengers in Munich, Rome, and Zurich.

If there was ever any doubt that US Airways had given up the last pretenses of offering a premium product, the announcement of the closure of lounges and ending arrival services really ends the doubt.  But they assured customers that non-alcoholic beverages remain free in first class . . .

United sends its 100,000 mile flyers complimentary alcoholic beverage coupons so that on those rare occasions they sit in back (or when flying on a single cabin aircraft) the drinks are at least on the airline.

US Airways has announced no plans to begin offering complimentary coffee, water, and soda chits for their Chairmans Preferred members, however.

But the changes that I really care about will get their own post…

Via lucky, it’s worth perusing The 5 Most Ridiculous SkyMall Products Money Can Buy.

My favorite? The NoseAid!

No need to hold the nose. By gently applying pressure to the outside of the nose, NoseAid stops nosebleeds instantly!”

And don’t forget all the mileage offers available for shopping at SkyMall…

The Flying Critic lays out the details of United’s plan to follow American’s lead and charge a fee for the first checked bag, after only recently adding fees for checking a second.

Although I’d point out that – unmentioned by the Critic – United exempts not only elites (including Star Alliance partner elites) but also other passengers traveling on the same reservation as the elite member. This isn’t mentioned on United’s website detailing the new rules, but it is mentioned explicitly in their email announcements today.

Lucky scoffs at how United has built something so complex that it requires a United’s website detailing the new rulesmatrix on the website to decipher the fees a customer will be charged.

Skyteam Chairman Leo van Wijk gave an interview in which he discusses mileage upgrades coming to Skyteam, presumably much along the lines offered by most Star Alliance airlines (United being a notable exception).

[W]e will start a mileage upgrade program, where you can have upgrades from one carrier to the other. That will be available as of summer next year, but that requires also that we have a more coordinated fare structure. Otherwise, it’s difficult to implement. …

In principle, that will be a program that will not only be available in the North Atlantic, but we will start on the North Atlantic. We will test it in the fall of this year between the U.S. and the U.K. and France first. Then we will roll it out in the course of 2009, in principle, among all the SkyTeam carriers that can participate, because it does require certain IT functionality that is not available for all SkyTeam carriers. But the majority of the major carriers will be ready by that time to implement it, and not only on the North Atlantic.

Presumably these cross-alliance upgrades will be restricted to close to full fare tickets, and won’t be easy to secure (just try upgrading a Delta or Northwest transatlantic flight with their own miles…). Nonetheless, big progress it seems.

For a $90 annual fee, the Virgin Atlantic Black Card — a Bank of America co-branded American Express — offers

• 20,000 Bonus Miles with First Purchase

• 50% off a companion coach award when you spend $25,000 on the card in a year

• 3 Miles Per Dollar on Virgin Atlantic Spend and 1.5 Miles Per Dollar on “Everyday Purchases” — I haven’t verified the categories of the latter, but presumably gas and groceries.

• You get one tier point per $2,500 in purchases (up to 2 per month). Since it takes 40 to earn gold and 30 to retain it, up to 24 tier points a year from a credit card is a big deal. They also advertise “additional tier points when you fly Virgin Atlantic Airways” but I’m not clear on what this means, presumably bonuses rather than just stating the obvious that flights earn tier points.

• Up to 15,000 bonus miles every Anniversary (I haven’t tracked down what “up to” means yet)

(Update: see the bottom of the post for details.)

• Up to 5,000 bonus miles when you add additional Cardmembers to your account (I haven’t tracked down what “up to” means yet)

(There’s also a somewhat less lucrative $49-a-year White Card.)

Jaunted says

no other frequent flyer card we know of allows you to–in theory, at least–cash in your miles for space travel. 

Of course, American Express Membership Rewards has a space offering. Presumably some of the other cards with ‘customized rewards’ options would as well. And US Airways used to have this.

Still, for Virgin Atlantic flyers this card would seem quite good — especially if you need the boost towards status. As for me, I credit my Avis rentals to Virgin and an extra 20,000 points would make for a nice shot in the arm even at $90…

Update: The anniversary bonus miles works as follows:

7,500 anniversary Flying Club miles will be posted to your Flying Club account when you spend a minimum of $15,000 in net purchases within the anniversary year with your Virgin Atlantic Card. An additional 7,500 anniversary Flying Club miles will be awarded when you spend $25,000 in net purchases within the anniversary year with your Virgin Atlantic Card. Earned Anniversary Flying Club miles will be posted to your Flying Club account each year within four to six weeks of the anniversary of your Card’s open date.

Reader Lisa points to the LA Times Travel Blog which asks whether airlines should charge for carry-on bags.

George Hoffer, a professor of economics at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, thinks the people in a hurry — that is, the ones who want to get off the plane fast and shoot out the door — would be willing to cough up some cash to carry on a bag. Time, after all, is money.
“What you’re doing is catering to the person whose time is of more value,” Hoffer said.

The question is, what service are you asking people to pay for that they were already receiving at a lower price than they’re willing to absorb? Is it having their bags moved from city A to city B, or is it ‘getting off the plane fast’ or is it both?

Airlines do receive greater payments for getting off the plane first, most carriers have a bundled product they call first or business class. And the front rows of coach are generally dedicated to elite travelers a.k.a. repeat buyers.

And airlines already charge those in a hurry — business travelers buying last-minute or refundable/changeable tickets – more. They’re also far more profitable, so nickel and diming them may not make sense, especially if an airline’s competitors don’t adopt the same policy, and especially if corporations don’t adjust quickly to become willing to reimburse the expense. Such travelers will book away from the airline.

But the idea really seems to turn incentives on their head. People who don’t check bags are less costly to process, that’s what you want to incentivize not penalize. Charge for carryons and you’ll get more checked bags, which will increase costs to the airline for handling those bags.

Besides, it’s also much more difficult to enforce. Customers could declare their carry-ons at the check-in counter, but customers with only carry-ons are generally encouraged not to check-in at the counter but on-line or at a kiosk (customers with bags to check are as well but they still have to interact with a person — another way customers without checked bags are cheaper to process, and charging for carryons will change that dynamic). Sure, many international carriers pay close attention to the weight and dimensions of carry-ons, so it’s possible, but enforcement will happen at the gate which is either a significant added staffing burden there or a likely cause of departure delays which are also costly to the airline.

So while it’s creative, I also think it’s counterproductive for an airline to go down that route.