View from the Wing

I don’t know that this is new, but I hadn’t seen it before: a way to troll for discounts on Amazon, the Amazon Discount Finder.

You select the category of items and optionally specify keywords, and then select the range of percentage discounts off regular price you want. Amazon then returns search results of items that are within that range.

I really dislike Enterprise Rent a Car. They don’t have any sort of expedited pickup process that I’ve ever experienced, the paperwork takes a long time, and the ritualistic walkaround of the rental car, the theatre to sell you additional insurance, is grating. And I’ve not personally seen any nice cars on their lots. Give me Avis or Hertz any time, and oft-overlooked rental car status, thank you very much.

But if you must rent from Enterprise, I came across a couple of discount codes on Flyertalk recently, no notations as to when they expire. Code ESJ8A3 provides 25% off at neighborhood locations only (not airport locations). And code ERACFRE offers 20% off at all locations when paying by Discover Card.

Virgin America is offering a free companion with a paid ticket.

Book an itinerary for two and use promo code DIGGNATION by December 7, 2007 for travel through March 19, 2008 (with December 19, 2007 through January 6, 2008 and February 14, 15 and 18, 2008.blacked out for travel with this promo).

Many of these are summer items, to be sure, but I did just stock up.

Through October 8th, promo code SALELC takes an additional 30% off of sale prices on clearance items.

Pay with your Visa card and use promo code VISATEN for a $10 discount on orders of $10 or more through September 26th. The game, of course, is to find items right at $10. You still pay shipping, unfortunately, and JC Penney doesn’t let you use more than one promo code on an order (so no free shipping codes with this deal). But enjoy nonetheless…

They even have a clearance page of items under $10, but many of those won’t work with this deal, clearance items and this coupon are very much a ‘your mileage may vary.’

Orbitz is offering $200 off five nights at hotels outside the U.S. using promo code 200INTL. Requires booking by September 30.

When you go to Orbitz, choose hotel and then ‘expand search options’ so you see the box to enter the promotion code.

Through October 1, TACA is selling miles in its Distancia program at half-off. Normally 2.5 cents a mile, they’re selling at 1.25 cents a mile.

• Minimum purchase required: 1,000 Miles
  
• If you wish to buy more than 32,000 Miles, Please make another transaction. You can make as many transactions as you like.
  
• *Prices do NOT include local taxes

There appears to be no limit to the amount of miles you can buy. However, it also appears that the website hasn’t been updated yet to allow purchase of the miles at the discounted price. I imagine that will be fixed shortly.

TACA partners with both United and Iberia, however it appears as though redemptions on those carriers can only be done in coach (making miles purchase less of a good deal). You can fly non-stop from Washington-Dulles to Buenos Aires, for example, but only in coach. Business class redemptions actually need to be done on TACA, which will frequently involve connections. And despite the award chart including business class levels to Asia, it doesn’t actually seem possible to accomplish such a reward.

Still, for folks interested in redeeming in premium cabins on TACA and Avianca, this seems an excellent deal. TACA Distancia miles do expire after 12 months of account inactivity, however, so only load up on miles if you’re certain you can extend the life of your account (and not being all that familiar with the Distancia program myself, I do not know what kinds of account activity qualify).

Discussion of the deal on Flyertalk is here.

Los Angeles (LAX) to Phnom Penh (PNH) on China Airlines (CI). Change planes in Tapei. Bookable at Travelocity. Non-refundable, non-changeable. Usual fare is ~ $1000.

Travel on the outbound transpacific sector must commence between 5 September and 4 November, so there’s just a two month window for travel.

If you have Priority Club points you could pair this deal with a special at the Phnom Penh Intercontinental, which is showing up as a “Point Breaks” hotel at only 5000 points a night instead of the usual 40,000.

Or you could travel a bit farther to Siem Reap and see Angkor Wat.

Personally this is another one I’m not taking advantage of. I’d first have to buy airfare to Los Angeles. I don’t have any means to upgrade on China Airlines. CI travel earns 100% of flown miles — but not elite qualifying miles — on Delta (80% on Northwest).

Flyertalk Discussion here.

Flyertalk’s lemex has posted a new hotel deal at his website.

$50/night - Heron Island - Great Barrier Reef - Australia


Voyages Heron Island, Heron Island, Australia. Turtle Room with buffet breakfast for 2 people. $50/night. Availability is wide open from now to the end of March 2008. This rate is bookable for a maximum of 3 consecutive nights. Book multiple consecutive 3-night stays if you want to stay longer. The actual rate is $66/night, but enter Promotional Code “HOTEL50″ and use your MasterCard and you will save $50 on each 3-night stay, bringing down the cost to about $50/night. Regular rate for Turtle room is AUD370 (about $320 US). Explore the resort at heronisland.com but book this mistake rate on travelocity.com.

But check out the reviews at TripAdvisor much of which are excellent but point out that this resort won’t be for everyone.

Tumi’s summer sale is back — up to 40% off on discontinued items and colors. Tumi is great luggage, highly recommended, but bear in mind that even on sale it isn’t cheap.

And don’t forget that Tumi is in the AAdvantage Mall…

It’s on American Airlines. Bummer that there’s $130 in fuel charges and another $60 in US and Guatemala departure/arrival taxes. Brings the total price to around $330.

Fare basis is QEA14L5K. 14 day advance purchase required. Valid for travel on or after June 19, completed by November 15. Must purchase by June 20 (unless it’s pulled first.).

Via Slickdeals.net, the W Hotels Store is offering 40% on their beds and bedding through May 31 with promo code WE4XT.

I got in on a similar offer back in March, and am very pleased with my purchase. My understanding is that W properties use the plush top mattress with a featherbed, rather than the softer pillowtop that’s also on sale here. But preferences will vary.

TripAdvisor is offering a $50 off Orbitz coupon good on a 3+ night hotel stay or vacation package.

In addition, Orbitz promo code PRIDE100 offers $100 off on a 5 or more night hotel stay or $40 off on a 3-4 night stay.

These presumably work only on ‘OrbitzSaver’ hotel rates, though I haven’t ploughed through the relevant terms and conditions to verify.

The Pride offer is part of their Gay and Lesbian travel deals, but anyone can use the savings (the booking engine lacks appropriate gaydar).

United has blown it with a decimal point — San Francisco or Los Angeles to Auckland, New Zealand was supposed to be $10,620+tax for full fare business but got published (fare basis CNZ) as $1062+tax or about $1480 all-in.

The fare works to Christchurch, New Zealand as well.

This is available at Orbitz, Expedia, United.com, and some other places.

You have to fly LA or San Francisco to Sydney on United and then any carrier (Air New Zealand, Qantas, Emirates, Thai, LAN) on to Auckland (for the Auckland fare).

It doesn’t appear to allow stopovers in Sydney — just connections. While the fare says ‘unlimited stopovers’ it is apparently a mileage-based fare, so stopovers cause a “HIP check” aka a check for the highest fare to any stopover and causes the price to jump accordingly (a stopover in Sydney prices the fare at the more expensive Sydney business class roundtrip price).

It’s full fare business class, fully refundable (and in theory changeable, but that may require exchanging for the then-current higher fare). Of course, when searching for this fare you need to specify business class!

Available through the end of the schedule (return flights available up to 330 days from now).

Naturally, UPGRADEABLE TO FIRST with miles (30,000 each way) or systemwide upgrades.

This fare looks to be on the way out, won’t be around much longer, and in truth has been around for at least a day and a half. I learned about it over a day ago and shared it with some people directly, but had to commit to the person passing it along that I wouldn’t post anything about it. (Sorry, folks!) But now it’s been posted on Flyertalk so I feel free to share it here as well.

It’s available in either direction and it’s refundable. Search for first class tickets at delta.com or expedia.

There’s no minimum or maximum stay, these are actually one-way fares ($368
is just the all-in roundtrip price, although may vary slightly depending on the connections you make). It’s a refundable YUP fare, fare basis YUPBV.

Discussed on Flyertalk here.

Cold Stone Creamery is offering buy one get one free with coupon through the end of February.

For seven days the W Hotels Store is having a Warehouse Sale. Lots of junk, a few decent items, advertised as “up to 80% off.”

The Upgrade: Travel Better blog points to a $34 roundtrip (or $17 each way) discount promotion on JetBlue.

Start your flight search via their promo page and enter SEVENTEEN in the “promotion password” box. (Apparently teenage girls are worthy of an airfare discount.)

The promotion is valid for travel through February 14.

Tumi, my favorite luggage brand, is having their winter sale — up to 40% off on discontinued styles and colors. This seems to come twice a year (most recently back in June) and items are available until they sell out.

Even with the sale this isn’t cheap luggage. You won’t find any $35 wheeled carryons here. But Tumi is outstanding for the frequent business traveler.

Travelocity has a coupon offering $50 off a two-night ‘Travelocity GoodBuy’ hotel stay booked by November 30th (requires paying with Mastercard). Promo code is HOTEL50.

If the discount code doesn’t work for you it’s likely that you have a Travelocity affiliate cookie on your computer (eg you clicked on a Travelocity link somewhere, such as from a cashback mall). Travelocity won’t let you use the coupon and pay someone a commission on the booking at the same time, so you need to delete these cookies for this to work.

There’s a current Flyertalk thread on hotel stays you can get for free via this promo, mostly centered on Las Vegas properties.

As one Flyertalk member observed, “just because the icon “Use MasterCard® and SAVE $50!” is not listed with a GoodBuy hotel… the promo most likely works (NOT all but MOST I’ve found in my extensive searches).”