Airline Miles Programs | Points to Miles Programs

 

Registrations and Other Bonuses
Miles and Points Programs

Always check here first before signing up for an airline miles program or a program that gives you points convertible to miles. Both often offer easy miles or points for signing up for their programs, signing up for receiving your frequent flyer miles statements on line, and/or for accepting their e-mail advertising and that of merchants affiliated with them.

Also listed here are some good deals that require registration with the airline or points program and then either flying with them or buying something from them or from one of their partners. Also listed are some means to access other bonus offers from the programs.

 

   
    

Airline Miles Programs

 
Many Airlines and Online Ticketing and Electronic Check In   Many airlines offer significant bonus miles for using their on line ticketing and check in process and their automated check in machines at airports. I list those I know about in the specific airline writeups below, but I am certain that my list in nowhere near complete. Check your airlines's home page for such an offer, and please let me know about it if I haven't already mentioned it. Thanks.

MileMaven maintains a huge list of bonuses for online booking for airlines worldwide. It is no doubt considerably more up to date than anything I list below.

 
Many Airlines and Bonus Offers

 

   Both MileMaven and Frequent Flyer Bonuses, the latter being part of the Rewards Canada Group, maintain huge listings of bonus offers for very large lists of airlines. Frequent Flyer Bonuses and PointMaven also maintain lists of bonuses for hotel chains worldwide, including bonuses very specific to country and/or hotel. Many of the non-U.S. airlines covered by these sites will probably never be mentioned on my website. Both are especially good at finding bonus offers from non-U.S. websites of airlines that are not listed on their U.S. sites, and both cover bonuses from non-U.S. airlines that will be covered lightly or not at all here. They are very good at finding bonuses for paid flights and paid stays at specific hotels. Always check with them before paying for either, as their listings for these will always be much more complete than mine. Registration for the bonuses is often required.

Rewards Canada features a very useful page for Canadians called Bonus Miles Promotion Directory, listing promotions for Airlines, Credit Cards, and Hotels. I suspect that Canadians will find these pages more up to date and complete than the Canadian offerings I list below.

 
Obtaining Elite Status

 

   On February 15, 2005, SmarterTravel published an excellent article on how to obtain elite status on airlines.

 
Exchanging Miles

 

   In September of 2003 SmarterTravel published an excellent article on exchanging miles between airlines and between accounts within the same airline. Usually you lose many miles for doing this, but sometimes you don't, and occasionally you actually gain miles.

 
United Airlines   Caution: Your United Airlines miles will now expire if there is no activity on your account for 18 months. Details.

United offers a 30% discount for short-hop award travel of 700 miles or less. Book by August 31, 2010 and fly before January 7, 2011,

Pay United $249 and check your bags for free for one year.

  • Check up to two standard bags without fees.
  • A single subscription applies for up to eight companions traveling under the same confirmation number.
  • Valid for travel on United® and United Express® operated U.S. and international flights.
  • Benefits are applied when you book your travel using your Mileage Plus number.
  • Read the details.
    • I like SmarterTravel's pithy comments on this offer. First they create a charge that they shouldn't have, then they offer us a "deal".

United lists your participation and non-participation in various programs that earn miles in its My Mileage Plus section. Log in, then click on My Earnings Participation.

United lists award availability on specific routes for this month and next on its website.

United usually offers free train travel on SNCF French Rail, France's high speed rail service, when you fly to France on United. Read the article to find out how to get it. I believe the train trips are code shared with United, so you probably have to buy your ticket from North America to the final train destination. But I don't know how to get the "train coupon". Ask United about all of this.

United lists many mileage promotions of it and its partners on its Mileage Plus promotions page. But some of the very best ones are listed in its My Mileage Plus section. Log in and click on Partner Offers and United Offers.

Frequent Flyer Bonuses, Milemaven, and United maintain good lists of individual United Airlines bonus miles offers. They are particularly good for individual flight route bonuses. Many of these offers require pre-registration, so always check these lists first before making a reservation. I no longer intend to list these types of bonuses here.

 
Delta Airlines   Effective May 15, 2008, SkyMiles members are required to redeem miles at the time of booking an Award Ticket reservation with a Delta representative. For your convenience, you can place a reservation on hold and avoid ticketing charges by booking and ticketing at delta.com.
  • A reader offer an exception to this rule:
    "There is an exception…if you have a Skymiles account that doesn’t have enough Skymiles to book the ticket they will make the reservation and hold it for you for 48 hours. This gives you enough time to transfer miles from somewhere else for example your American Express Membership Rewards or purchase the miles.

    "To do this you make the reservation yourself online with the Skymiles account (that doesn’t have enough miles) and then you will get a call “on-line” customer service message. You will also be given a confirmation number. They ask you to do this within 4 hours. At that time you tell them you need more miles, etc… they will oblige you and tell you that your reservation is on hold.

    "The trick is to be sure you use the “online” help phone number and not the general Skymiles number."

500 Delta Airlines miles for signing up for its advertising e-mails. (Thanks to FrugalTravelGuy for this information.)

All Delta Shuttle® flyers can enjoy a triple bonus as we celebrate our new service between New York LaGuardia and Chicago O’Hare. Register now and earn both triple bonus miles and triple Medallion® Qualification Miles (MQMs) on all Delta Shuttle flights flown June 14 through August 31, 2010.

Register to earn double bonus miles each time you fly a Delta flight or a flight on SkyTeam® members Air France, KLM or Alitalia, and an Alaska Airlines/Horizon Air flight on the same ticket between September 15 and November 15, 2010.

Supershuttle offers 50 Delta Airlines miles each way for its shuttles to and from various airports, or 150 miles each way for its private ExecuCar service.

Post #4 on this Flyertalk discussion mentions a 6,000 mile bonus for people with addresses outside of North America enrolling and doing the first flight in economy, or 11,000 miles for enrolling and doing the first flight in paid business or first class.

Delta SkyMiles Medallion members are offered bonus miles for continuing to fly with Delta. I leave it to you to read the details.

Delta frequently offers bonuse for transferring hotel, American Express, or Diners Club points to Delta Airlines miles. I will list them here as I find them. You must register first. Read the details, terms and conditions. If you are in no hurry to receive the miles, consider waiting until a bonus offer appears.

  • 20% bonus for transfering American Express Memebership Rewards points to Delta Airlines miles through September 30, 2010.

You can earn a free 25 Delta Airlines miles for joining Points.com. Points.com allows you to move miles and points between programs, at a loss of a majority of those miles or points. Click on this page and do a word search on "points.com" to find better mileage or points offers.

Delta lists many of its bonus miles offers here and here. Be sure to click on the "See more limited-time offers" link for each category in the page of the first link. More offers for its credit card holders are listed here. (So get a free one already. See my credit card page.)

Delta's website has a page listing all of its mileage earning partners.

Frequent Flyer Bonuses, Milemaven, and Delta maintain good lists of individual Delta Airlines bonus miles offers. They are particularly good for individual flight route bonuses. Many of these offers require pre-registration, so always check these lists first before making a reservation. I no longer intend to list these types of bonuses.

 
Alaska and Horizon Airlines

   Alaska Airlines Book Now

  If you plan to pay money for an Alaska Airlines ticket, you can help me at no cost to yourself by clicking on the button to the left to get to the airline's home page. Thanks.

Policy change: Effective April 1, 2008, accounts with no mileage activity for the previous 2 years will become inactive and the miles will be removed from the account. Any mileage earning or award redemption activity on your account will keep it active.

This post on Flyertalk indicates that Canadian residents will earn up to 3,000 Alaska Airlines miles for joining the program online. I am unable to find any mention of this on Alaska's website.

Here are Alaska's ongoing offers. Be sure to read and confirm each one before counting on them.

  • 1,000 miles for each purchase of a ticket at alaskaair.com. Details here.
    • Use your Alaska Airlines Credit, Debit or Business Card to purchase tickets at alaskaair.com and each traveler in the reservation will get an additional 1,000 Bonus Miles – in addition to the miles each traveler will already earn for their flights. If an Alaska Airlines Credit, Debit or Business Card is not used to purchase tickets at alaskaair.com, each traveler will not earn 1,000 Bonus Miles. However the purchaser will receive 1,000 Bonus Miles for the first ticket he or she purchases at alaskaair.com. Details.
  • 1,000 miles for the first time you redeem an award online. Details here.
  • 1,000 miles for first use of one of its airport kiosks to check in. Details here.
  • 1,000 miles for checking in online for the first time. Details here.

Alaska Airlines frequently offers awards at a discount to the usual number of miles required.

Starting August 1, 2007, awards booked through Alaska Airlines' reservation call center will pay a premium. I am told that premium will be 5,000 more miles. To avoid paying more miles, book online.

Baggage arrival guarantee. If your baggage is not at baggage claim within 20 minutes of your plane parking at the gate, you're entitled to a $20 Discount Code for use on a future Alaska Airlines or Horizon Air flight or 2,000 Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan bonus miles.

  • This is a super deal. In July of 2010 I snagged 4,000 miles on my trip between San Francisco and Spokane. I just timed it carefully, starting my timer the instant the door opened. Luggage arrived 21 and 23 minutes after that. A quick stop at the luggage office got me the certificate. No questions, no hassle. Amazingly, I was the only person from the two flights taking advantage of the offer, even there was a sign on each carousel advertising it. This is very cheap advertising for Alaska Airlines. Online acquisition of the miles from the certificate was simple.

You can earn a free 50 Alaska Airlines miles for joining Points.com. Points.com allows you to move miles and points between programs, at a loss of a majority of those miles or points. Click on this page and do a word search on "points.com" to find better mileage or points offers.

I don't usually list miles promos for small businesses, but since this one is about Alaska kayaks, and since most all businesses in Alaska are small, I can't resist: If you are a current Folding Kayak Adventures customer and you refer a friend who purchases a kayak, you can earn 500 Alaska Airlines miles. Also, if you buy a kayak, the company will award Mileage Plan miles to your Alaska Airlines account at a rate of 1 mile per each $3 spent. No details are provided 15:11 8/28/2010 about how to do the referral. Ask.

Frequent Flyer Bonuses, Milemaven, and Alaska maintain good lists of individual Alaska Airlines and Horizon Airlines bonus miles offers. They are particularly good for individual flight route bonuses. Many of these offers require pre-registration, so always check these lists first before making a reservation. I no longer intend to list these types of bonuses.

On February 2, 2007, the terms and conditions of Alaska's program indicated that if an Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan account is inactive for longer than three years, you lose all of your miles.

 
American Airlines   This page in Spanish offers 1,000 miles for joining American's miles program. Use code HIS10. Alas, I cannot get the links to the signup page to work for me. Perhaps you can. You can use Babble Fish to translate the page to your language. If you can't get this to work, try putting HIS10 in the promotion code box for the English enrollment page. No promises, but worth a shot.\

American offers in Spanish 1,000 miles for accepting your statements via email.

  • Go to aa.com/mismillas
  • In the left menu, hover over AAdvantage > Bonifaciones de AAdvantage and click on En Aerolíneas.
  • Click on "1,000 Millas por suscribirse al AAdvantage eSummary®", and follow the three step directions there. You can use Babble Fish to translate the page to your language, but I would enroll by clicking on the links in the offer in Spanish. It is possible that the system already knows your language and thus may not give you the miles if that language is not Spanish. But it's worth a shot.

American Airlines offers 500 miles and a low price guarantee for booking your hotel through aa.com. This double miles offer is valid through October 11, 2010, I leave it to you to read the details. Note that booking throught this program may preclude you from earning points or miles from the hotel program. Ask.

For a limited time, you can book an Economy Class short-hop MileSAAver award for only 8,750 miles one-way or 17,500 miles round-trip — a 30% savings off the standard MileSAAver award. Book between August 3, 2010 and August 31, 2010. Travel between August 3, 2010 and December 15, 2010. Travel must be completed by December 15, 2010

You can earn a free 100 American Airlines miles for joining Points.com. Points.com allows you to move miles and points between programs, at a loss of a majority of those miles or points. Click on this page and do a word search on "points.com" to find better mileage or points offers.

  • Special offer for American Airlines Elite members: Get 150 miles for joining points.com. I suspect, but do not know, that points.com has no way of knowing whether or not you have Elite status.
  • Special offer for regular American Airlines members: Get 100 miles for joining points.com.

CNN article: "A back door to VIP status" on American Airlines.

American Airlines offers limited time, heavily restricted reduced mileage awards for holders of American Airlines credit cards. (You have one and got the free mega bonus miles for it, right? See the Annual Fee Cards page of my Credit Card section.)

American Airline's Code Share Partners Page lists some European railways in addition to a very large number of Airlines.

  • American Airlines offers miles for transportation on various SNCF TGV trains in conjunction with American Airlines operated flights to Paris/Charles de Gaulle International Airport, Paris, France (CDG). SNCF is the high speed train service in France. To qualify your rail ticket must reflect an "AA" coded flight number and you must travel between Charles de Gualle and the U.S. on American Airlines. If my link doesn't work, go to the American Airlines web site and use the search feature in the upper right corner to search on "SNCF".
  • American Airlines codeshares with Deutsche Bahn train service in Germany between Frankfurt airport and Bonn, Cologne/ Koeln, Dortmund, Duesseldorf, Essen, Freiburg, Goettingen, Hamburg, Hannover, Kassel, Mannheim, Munich/Muenchen, Nuremberg/Nuernberg, Stuttgart and Wuerzburg. Your ticket must reflect an "AA" coded flight number. If my link doesn't work, put "Deutsche Bahn" in the search field in the upper right corner of most of American's web pages.

You may be able to earn more miles than you would from using your credit card to purchase tickets at American Airlines by instead purchasing an American Airlines gift certificate from GiftCertificates.com. See my description of this ploy in the GiftCertificates.com section of the Shop On Line section of my Buying Stuff page.

American Airlines' website now has a special offers page and a new offers page, which list Airline, Hotel, Car Rental, and Other bonus miles offers.

American Airlines allows you to acquire certain tickets with a combination of miles and money. The opportunities are listed here, but those interested should also call the airline to see if other similar opportunities are available that didn't make it to the web page.

Seekers of American Airlines miles should also read about the frequent offers of those miles by Cathay Pacific. My listing of those I know about can be found below.

American lists likely routes available for miles awards.

Frequent Flyer Bonuses, Milemaven, and American Airlines maintain good lists of individual American Airlines bonus miles offers. They are particularly good for individual flight route bonuses. Many of these offers require pre-registration, so always check these lists first before making a reservation. I no longer intend to list these types of bonuses here.

 
Continental Airlines   Caution: Most airline miles expire only if you have not had an activity in your account within the last 1 - 3 years. Continental advertises that its miles never expires. However, its terms and conditions say
"If no mileage is deposited in your account for 18 consecutive months, commencing after June 1, 2001, your membership will be cancelled, and your miles may be forfeited. To keep your account active, you can earn mileage with a variety of airline, non-travel and shopping partners."

1,000 miles to U.S. residents for accepting e-mails from Continental.

Learn about the OnePass Online Auction by September 30, 2010, and earn an easy 250 Bonus Miles.

250 easy Continental Airlines miles for learning how to Get In-flight Discounts by October 31, 2010. I see no nothing that acutally requires you to have a Continental credit or debit card to get the 250 mles. Use Promotion Code 59074.

Use your MasterCard® credit or debit card to purchase a ticket at continental.com from Jan. 11, 2010 through Dec. 31, 2010, and earn 250 bonus miles. I leave it to you to read the details.

Hotel offer: Earn 250 OnePass miles per stay when you book a Best Rate Guaranteed hotel reservation at continental.com and complete your stay.

This offer is a way of purchasing Continental Airlines miles at 1 cent/mile if you are certain you will fly at least 25,000 or 35,000 miles on Continental Airlines metal in 2010. Enroll in The Extra Mile program and receive 50% more miles for every eligible fare you purchase and fly on Continental Airlines from January 1 to December 31, 2010. Choose between two different mileage bonus offers.

  • Offer 1 AC1M01
    Pay $125 and receive a 50% mileage bonus on all flights up to 12,500 bonus miles.
  • Offer 2 AC1M02
    Pay $175 and receive a 50% mileage bonus on all flights up to 17,500 bonus miles.
  • I leave it to you to read the details.

Register to receive 2,000 Continental Airlines bonus miles every time you fly on Copa Airlines between Dec. 1, 2009 and Feb. 28, 2010. Use Promotion Code 58066.

Earn 2,000 Continental Airlines bonus miles for booking a Copa Airlines flight online at copaair.com. I leave it to you to read the details.

Earn 100 Continental Airlines miles for signing up for a free Points.com account. I leave it to you to read the details. Points.com allows you to move miles and points between programs, at a loss of a majority of those miles or points. Click on this page and do a word search on "points.com" to find better mileage or points offers.

You can book a Standard Economy travel reward ticket to any destination within 1,500 miles for just 20,000 miles, with some restrictions. The discount is shown on Continental's award table.

Members of Veterans Advantage are offered a 5% discount on purchase of Continental Airlines tickets on Continental's website, plus 3,000 bonus miles for first purchased flight. Read the details. Continental says that registration is required, so I suggest you do that first before following the directions on the Veterans Advantage website. Find the registration info by looking for the offer on Continental's OnePass News & Offers page. Try the "All" tab. Use promotion code 56047.

Continental Airlines offers Base Miles, Elite Qualification Miles and Elite Qualification Point(s) for Amtrak travel to and from Newark airport to and from connecting Continental flights, and for Amtrak Metroliner and Acela Express travel between New York's Penn Station and certain points (no connecting flight required). Read the terms and conditions.

Continental offers actual miles or a minimum of 500 miles on SNCF TGV trains in conjunction with Continental Airlines operated flights to Paris/Charles de Gaulle International Airport, Paris, France (CDG). It offers a 50% bonus for travel in SNCF TGV first class. To receive mileage credit, you must provide your OnePass number when making flight reservations or at flight check-in. SNCF will not accept OnePass numbers.

Frequent Flyer Bonuses, Milemaven, and Continental maintain good lists of individual Continental Airlines bonus miles offers. They are particularly good for individual flight route bonuses. Many of these offers require pre-registration, so always check these lists first before making a reservation.

 
U.S. Airways   Enroll in U.S. Airways' miles program by September 30, 2010, and earn 1,500 miles. Enter promo code NM15 when you sign up.

Earn 4,000 - 100,000 bonus miles by registering and then doing business with any of U.S. Airways' many partners between September 1 and November 14, 2010. Note that a transfer of hotel points to miles counts as 1 "hit". A stay at such a hotel generating U.S. Air miles counts as another hit, with a minimum purhase for Starwood. There are lots of easy ways to earn miles from the partners. Do an iDine, buy something from Skymall, etc.

Buy miles for yourself and get up to a 100% bonus, or gift miles and the recipient gets up to a 100% bonus, or get 1,000 Preferred-qualifying miles for every 10,000 miles you buy for yourself (up to 5,000 Preferred-qualifying miles) August 16 to September 15, 2010. This is still a not a very good deal, but I might be useful to some needing a few miles for a specific award. I leave it to you to read the the details.

Read how to increase your status with U.S. Airways by trying its international destinations, the US Airways Shuttle or one of its new routes July 7 – October 10, 2010.

Double or triple your miles with Dividend Miles Multiplier for as little as $9 on usairways.com. I have not studied this offer. I leave it to you to read about it. The cost per mile seems to be well hidden.

Supershuttle offers 50 U.S. Airways miles each way for its shuttles to and from various airports, or 150 miles each way for its private ExecuCar service.

You can earn a free 25 U.S. Airways miles for joining Points.com. Points.com allows you to move miles and points between programs, at a loss of a majority of those miles or points. Click on this page and do a word search on "points.com" to find better mileage or points offers.

U.S. Air lists available award seats 1 - 2 months out on its website. Click on Award Travel Suggestions.

U.S. Airways offers discounted award tickets for off season travel.

Caution: Be sure to have at least one activity on your U.S. Airways account in all consecutive 18 month periods. Current policy, as of October 11, 2006:

Reactivation policy
Active membership status is based on having earned or redeemed miles within a defined period as stated below. To keep your account active, be sure to fly US Airways, apply for a US Airways MasterCard or Visa credit cards, or earn miles with one of our over 50 other partners. Learn more.

Effective January 31, 2007, active membership status is based on having earned or redeemed miles within a consecutive 18 month period. With our new Mileage Reactivation Policy, Dividend Miles members have an opportunity to reinstate their Dividend Miles accounts to active status for an additional 18 months for a $50 processing fee and reactivation fee of $.01 per mile. If members do not extend with this reactivation option, the Dividend Miles account will be closed and all miles forfeited.

Members who have no account activity for a consecutive 36 month period will have their accounts closed and will forfeit all miles in their accounts. Once forfeited, miles cannot be reinstated.

Prior to the above policy changes taking effect, 36 consecutive months of account inactivity will lead to account closure and forfeiture of all miles.

Both Frequent Flyer Bonuses and Milemaven maintain good lists of individual U.S. Airways bonus miles offers. They are particularly good for individual flight route bonuses. Many of these offers require pre-registration, so always check these lists first before making a reservation. I no longer plan to list these types of bonuses here.

 
Southwest Airlines   Ominous statement from Southwest Airlines: "Effective December 8, 2007, Southwest Airlines reserves the right to amend, suspend, or terminate the Rapid Rewards program at any time, with 30 days notice. This constitutes a revision of Rapid Rewards rule #27, which currently states: Southwest Airlines reserves the right to amend, suspend, or terminate this program at any time, with six (6) months notice."

According to this SmarterTravel article, you can extend the life of your SWA credits by paying them $50. Please tell me about your experience trying this. Thanks.

  • On September 8, 2009, a reader wrote
    "I just extended an expired Southwest RR voucher by paying $50. I was able to do it by crediit card online (no Southwest gift cards allowed) and immediately was able to use it to book a flight. You have 24 months after the voucher expires in order to reactivate it, and it then gives you a one year window to use the voucher."

Earn 6 credit for enrolling and 2 more credits for signing up for emails if you are a resident of Massachusetts or the state of New York.

Enroll in the program to receive 2 credits. Provide your e-mail address and subscribe for Rapid Rewards communications; Rapid Rewards E-mail Updates and the Rapid Rewards Report—stay subscribed for three months, and you will get 2 more credits.

Southwest Airlines normally offers 2 credits for signing up for its Rapid Rewards program.

Southwest offers up to 16 credits for using its partners. You probably received an email from Soutwest about this offer. If so, use the link on that email. The email implies that the offer is special to you. If you do not have the email, fill out this form to see if they will give you anything. No promises. The link was figured out by a flyertalker.

Rapid Rewards Members who fly 50 or more roundtrips (or receive 100 credits through flight and partner use) within a 12-month period receive a Companion Pass. A Companion Pass lets one person of your choice fly free when traveling with you anytime for an entire year. Details. Read them.

Southwest Airlines lists it Rapid Rewards promotions here. Note also the menu on the left side of this page for links to partners.

Both Frequent Flyer Bonuses and Milemaven maintain good lists of individual Southwest Airlines bonus miles offers. They are particularly good for individual flight route bonuses. Many of these offers require pre-registration, so always check these lists first before making a reservation. I no longer plan to list these types of bonuses here.

Caution: Southwest credits expire 2 years after they are earned. So be sure you can earn enough credits within that time to earn a ticket and can spend them within that time before you accept Southwest offers.

 
AirTran   Receive A+ Rewards Elite Membership when you earn 10 or more A+ credits flying AirTran Airways within any 90-day period or earn 25 or more A+ credits flying AirTran Airways within any 365-day period. I leave it to you to read about the details, and what Elilte Membership means.

The AirTran website has a separate page for its A-Plus Rewards special offers. Often double credits are offered.

As of July 21, 2004, it takes 16 credits to earn a round trip ticket within the U.S. There are options to use your credits for tickets to anywhere in the world on any airline. However, the program has the restriction that you must earn all credits toward the flight you want within a one year time span, so it is for frequent users of AirTran only.

Frequent Flyer Bonuses, Milemaven, and AirTran maintain good lists of individual AirTran Airlines bonus miles offers. They are particularly good for individual flight route bonuses. Many of these offers require pre-registration, so always check these lists first before making a reservation.

 
Frontier Airlines   Supershuttle offers 50 Frontier Airlines miles each way for its shuttles to and from various airports, or 150 miles each way for its private ExecuCar service.

You can earn a free 30 Frontier Airlines miles for joining Points.com. Points.com allows you to move miles and points between programs, at a loss of a majority of those miles or points. Click on this page and do a word search on "points.com" to find better mileage or points offers.

Frontier sometimes offers deeply discounted award tickets.

Frontier mileage, partner, and other offers are described on the airline's Specials page.

Frequent Flyer Bonuses, Milemaven, and Frontier maintain good lists of individual Frontier Airlines bonus miles offers. They are particularly good for individual flight route bonuses. Many of these offers require pre-registration, so always check these lists first before making a reservation.

 
Hawaiian Airlines   You can earn a free 50 Hawaiian Airlines miles for joining Points.com. Points.com allows you to move miles and points between programs, at a loss of a majority of those miles or points. Click on this page and do a word search on "points.com" to find better mileage or points offers.

The Hawaiian Airlines website lists its special offers for miles and fares.

A reader writes:

Hawaiian Airlines changed their policy -- miles expire after 18 months instead of 36 months. Apparently they changed this in May 2009, but I don't remember seeing any info about it. I contacted them today when I noticed that my miles had disappeared (I only had a handful as I had used the bulk of them in May 2008) and they told me about their new policy. They kindly very promptly reinstated my miles for free and gave me 5 goodwill miles to keep my account active. I thought this was a really nice gesture.

You can sign up for e-mail telling you about specials. (Beats relying on me to get around to telling you about them.)

Frequent Flyer Bonuses, Milemaven, and Hawaiian Air maintain good lists of individual Hawiian Airlines bonus miles offers. They are particularly good for individual flight route bonuses. Many of these offers require pre-registration, so always check these lists first before making a reservation.

 
Midwest Airlines   If you have a Midwest Airlines Mastercard, you may purchase a Midwest Airlines ticket and obtain a companion ticket for 15,000 miles. Companion travel must be booked through Midwest Airlines by calling 800-314-7125, at least 24 hours in advance and may not be booked online. Please reference code YXMCC15 when you call to book your itinerary. Not all flights qualify. I leave it to you to read the details.

For every three paid round trips on Midwest Airlines (or six paid one-way trips) that pets fly with their owners, they earn one free round trip. And owners who are Midwest Miles members can earn a free round trip for their pets by redeeming 15,000 Midwest Miles. (That's what it says - you interpret it.) I leave it to you to read the details.

You can earn a free 150 Midwest Airlines miles for joining Points.com. Points.com allows you to move miles and points between programs, at a loss of a majority of those miles or points. Click on this page and do a word search on "points.com" to find better mileage or points offers.

Frequent Flyer Bonuses, Milemaven, and Midwest maintain good lists of individual Midwest Airlines bonus miles offers. They are particularly good for individual flight route bonuses. Many of these offers require pre-registration, so always check these lists first before making a reservation.

JetBlue   JetBlue has announced major changes to its program starting this Fall. Points earned will be revenue based, not miles based. Bonus points will be awarded at certain earned points threashholds. The points expiration policy has be liberalized. Award rules have changed. See the FAQs page of the announcement page and the Flyertalk discussion for anaylsis.

JetBlue offers double points for booking online.

Frequent Flyer Bonuses and Milemaven maintain good lists of individual JetBlue bonus points offers. They are particularly good for individual flight route bonuses. Many of these offers require pre-registration, so always check these lists first before making a reservation.

 
Spirit Airlines  

Register for an easy 5,000 miles. If you have not yet signed up for the program, do so, then register. Please tell me when this offer disappears. Thanks.

Spirit Airlines regularly offers very short term e-mail special super discounts on its tickets, way too frequently for me to track here. I strongly recommend that you sign up for e-mails from the airline to read about the latest discounts.

Caution: FREE SPIRIT Miles will expire when an account becomes inactive for a period of 6 months or more. An “inactive” account is one that has less than 2,000 miles credited to it from any source during the preceding 6 months. However, miles can be kept alive with one purchase per month on their credit card, which you can read about on my Credit Cards > Annual Fee Cards page. This program appears to be truely for frequent flyers on Spirit Airlines only.

Milemaven maintains a list of individual Spirit Airlines bonus miles offers. Milemaven is particularly good at finding individual flight route bonuses. Many of these offers require pre-registration, so always check these lists first before making a reservation.

 
Air Canada Aeroplan   Caution: Air Canada has changed its terms and conditions on expiration of miles to perhaps the worst policy in the industry:
Effective July 1, 2007: All mileage in an account expires if the Aeroplan member has not accumulated or redeemed Aeroplan Miles for a period of 12 consecutive months. Mileage may expire without further notice.

Effective January 1, 2007: Mileage in an account expires 7 years (84 months) after the date of accumulation. Mileage accumulated in an account prior to January 1, 2007 is deemed to have an accumulation date of December 31, 2006 (regardless of the actual mileage accumulation date). Mileage may expire without further notice.

If I were a Canadian, these changes would cause me to strive to accumulate my miles on another airline. Consider Continental Airlines, United Airlines or U.S. Airways, for example.

Air Canada offers 1 Aeroplan Mile for every $1, $2, or $3 spent (depending on the type of ticket) for tickets booked at aircanada.com for travel within North America, and various bonuses for international travel.

Sobey's in Canada offers 500 miles for joining the program, plus 1 Aeroplan mile / $2 spent at their stores in Ontario, British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

You can earn a free 25 Air Canada miles for joining Points.com. Points.com allows you to move miles and points between programs, at a loss of a majority of those miles or points. Click on this page and do a word search on "points.com" to find better mileage or points offers.

Air Canada lists many of its miles earning and rewards offers on its Promotions Page. Click on the appropriate tab.

Frequent Flyer Bonuses, Milemaven, and Air Canada maintain lists of individual Air Canada bonus miles offers. They are particularly good for individual flight route bonuses. Many of these offers require pre-registration, so always check these lists first before making a reservation.

 
Grupo Taca   Buy Taca miles at the rate of 1.25 cents/mile, minimum 1,000 miles, no upper limit. I strongly recommend that you read this Flyertalk discussion on this offer to find out why this may be a very good or not so good offer. Apparently Taca miles can be used to get tickets on United, Iberia, Avianca, Taca Regional, and TAM Airlines. Taca is my favorite airline for getting around Central and South America. I used to use it extensively using American Airlines miles. (That opportunity is no longer available.) But I have never flown business class on it, and have no experience with its miles program.

Grupo Taca offers 2,000 miles for purchasing a ticket on line at its web site. On August 10, 2007, I received an e-mail from Taca saying "It doesn´t matter your origin or destination, every time you purchase your ticket at TACA.com, you receive a 2,000 DISTANCIA bonus miles!"

I have an e-mail from Grupo Taca dated March 29, 2004, that says

Get 1,000 DISTANCIA miles with online e-statements! Why wait to receive printed DISTANCIA account statements when you can have access to them online 24 hours a day from anywhere in the world? Order yours today and get 1,000 free bonus miles as well!.
I can find no mention of this offer on the Distancia web site.

The Grupo Taca website lists its specials:

Taca's website lists its Distancia partners.

Frequent Flyer Bonuses, Milemaven, and Taca maintain good lists of individual Taca bonus miles offers. They are particularly good for individual flight route bonuses. Many of these offers require pre-registration, so always check these lists first before making a reservation.

Grupo Taca is my favorite airline for getting around Central and South America. It's customer service desk at the San Jose, Costa Rica airport is the best I have ever dealt with. They were especially helpful when I was stranded in Peru, and then in Costa Rica, because of the 9/11 disaster.

 
Lan Airlines LanPass  

Sign up to LANPASS and receive 1,000 kilometers free.

LanPass offers 1,000 kilometers for purchase of a ticket at LAN.com.

View from the Wing explains the very good value of short haul awards from LAN, especially if those Lan Kilometers are obtained via transfers of Starwood Starpoints.

LAN offers a free shuttle bus between New Jersey and its JFK airport terminal for holders of LAN tickets. Details.

The LanPass program is described here in English. Note its membership in the OneWorld Alliance, which includes American Airlines, amongst others. If you find yourself flying on LAN (perhaps a tour put you on it), ask for the kilometers or miles you deserve from the airline program to which you belong. (A planned internal flight within Peru on an organized tour motivated me to look at this program.)

Frequent Flyer Bonuses, Milemaven, and LAN maintain good lists of individual LAN bonus miles offers. They are particularly good for individual flight route bonuses. Many of these offers require pre-registration, so always check these lists first before making a reservation.

 
AeroMéxico   AeroMéxico offers 4,000 miles for signing up for their free frequent flyer miles program. They offer an additional bonus of 4,000 Premier Miles for your first purchase of Tickets or Gran Plan Specials if you make them on line, and then an additional bonus of 1,250 Premier Miles every time you buy tickets or Gran Plan specials on line. It is possible that the 4,000 miles here is the same 4,000 offered for initial sign up, and you may not be able to receive the initial 4,000 unless you buy a ticket. Not clear.

Note: The first link I gave you works with Microsoft Internet Explorer, but not with Netscape 4.7. If anyone knows why, please explain it to me.

Aeroméxico offers 6,400 Premier Kilometers on your first online purchase at aeromexico.com and 2,000 additional Kilometers for each subsequent purchase.

Club Premier Familiar is Aeromexico's Frequent Flyer Program specially created for you and your family (Spouse and Children), where the designated beneficiary (Only Spouse) of the Family Account, can obtain 20% additional Premier Kilometers, over every flight each of his family members do, even if they don't fly together. Another benefit it the possibility of transferring Premier Kilometers from each individual in the family account, to the designated beneficiary account in order to obtain more Award Tickets easily.

By paying the full Clase Premier ("J" Juliet) fare, earn a 100% bonus on the Mileage flown on international flight and 50% on domestic flights. Pay the special Clase Premier ("A" Alpha) fare and earn a 50% bonus on the Mileage flown on international flight and 25% on domestic flights. Details.

Both Frequent Flyer Bonuses and Milemaven maintain good lists of individual AeroMéxico bonus miles offers. They are particularly good for individual flight route bonuses, so always check these lists first before making a reservation.

 
Mexicana Airlines   Mexicana Airlines offers 2,500 bonus miles for purchasing a round trip ticket on line at its web site (1,250 miles one way).

5,000 mile bonus for certain trips between the U.S. and Mexico. Mention code GGFTAMTINT02. Read the terms and conditions.

AARP members are offered discounts of 10% - 12% for paid Mexicana flights originating in the U.S.

Mexicana Airlines lists its miles partners here.

Frequent Flyer Bonuses, Milemaven, and Mexicana maintain good lists of individual Mexicana Airlines bonus miles offers. They are particularly good for individual flight route bonuses. Many of these offers require pre-registration, so always check these lists first before making a reservation.

 
VARIG   VARIG (Viação Aérea Rio-Grandense SA) says you will earn You earn at least 1,000 miles on each VARIG or Pluna flight, no matter how short it is. "Some flights and fares have restriction for mileage accrual. In case of any doubts, contact the Smiles Service Center."

VARIG's website lists its partners (both airline and other).

Frequent Flyer Bonuses, Milemaven, and VARIG maintain good lists of individual VARIG bonus miles offers. They are particularly good for individual flight route bonuses. Many of these offers require pre-registration, so always check these lists first before making a reservation.

 
British Airways   On August 23, 2010, One Mile at a Time said that there is a 20% bonus for transferring American Express Membership Rewards points to British Air miles. He says "I’m not sure if this is for anyone with a Membership Rewards card or just Platinum and Centurion members, but it will show up on your Membership Rewards online page if you’re eligible." He does not give an expiration date. If you can see the award, please tell me what it says about eligibility and expiration date. Thanks.

British Airways partners for the U.S. are listed here. To find British Airways offers for your country, click on USA at the top of the page, then use the pull down menu and click on your country. Navigate to Executive Club > Partners > Additional partners in your region. There are many offers for many countries.

Ahlay Travel provides the British Airways Gold Phone Number USA. The claim is that there is no wait for an answer and no one checks to see if you have the approprate status.

Frequent Flyer Bonuses, Milemaven, and British Airways maintain good lists of individual British Airways bonus miles offers. They are particularly good for individual flight route bonuses. Many of these offers require pre-registration, so always check these lists first before making a reservation.

 
Virgin Atlantic   Virgin Atlantic offers mega miles for referring friends who then fly on Virgin in certain classes. Details. Read them.

The Virgin Atlantic website lists its mileage earning partners and many local partners in the U.K., U.S., Caribbean Islands, Asia, and South Africa at which you may spend your miles. It also lists its airline partners for earning and spending Virgin Atlantic miles.

Frequent Flyer Bonuses, Milemaven, and Virgin Atlantic maintain good lists of individual Virgin Atlantic Airlines bonus miles offers. They are particularly good for individual flight route bonuses. Many of these offers require pre-registration, so always check these lists first before making a reservation.

 
British Midland Airways (BMI)   BMI regularly has some offer for joining, but it changes so frequently that I can't possibly keep up with it. Do not count on these offers lasting to the stated deadlines. Often the change is made to replace an offer that originally said it has not yet expired. This flyertalk thread does a pretty good job of tracking the offers. Just jump to the last pages to see the latest. Or go to BMI's website to see what is offered before joining.

Note that it is possible that BMI's miles program will be merged with that of Lufthansa - so those seeking miles of the latter should joing the former for the bonus.

BMI is a Star Alliance member, so it should be able to get you to most anywhere in the world on a mile award. Also, it has additional airline partners.

You can earn additional BMI miles from it various partners.

You should read about the BMI promotions Mile Maven and Rewards Canada know about. I will list some of the better ones I happen to come across occasionally, but I do not intend to follow this airline closely.

BMI seems to have rather strict expiration policies for the miles you earn. I leave it to you to figure out the rules. They are stated in the terms and conditions, and seem to require that you maintain various statuses year to year.

 
Miles and More - Lufthansa, Austrian, Croatia, LOT Polish airlines, and SWISS, Adria Airways, Air Dolomiti, Luxair and   2,000 miles for joining Lufthansa's miles program. Please tell me when this offer disappears. Thanks.
  • On June 6, 2010, a reader told me that you will receive these miles only if you provide an address in China when enrolling.

Lufthansa's website offers miles promotions.

Frequent Flyer Bonuses and Milemaven maintain good lists of individual Lufthasa bonus miles offers. They are particularly good for individual flight route bonuses. Many of these offers require pre-registration, so always check these lists first before making a reservation.

 
SAS   SAS lists its many bonus offers here. Also note the link at the left of the page for Partners and Points, and the link at the bottom of the page for more EuroBonus offers.

Milemaven and SAS maintain good lists of individual SAS bonus miles offers. They are particularly good for individual flight route bonuses. Many of these offers require pre-registration, so always check these lists first before making a reservation.

 
Air France/KLM Flying Blue Miles Program   Flying Blue offers 5,000 miles for enrolling in its program and then taking one flight between the U.S. and Paris in your first 6 months of membership. Enter FB05 in the “Promotional code” box when you enroll.

Flying Blue regularly offers up to 50% discounts for selected award tickets. (Thanks to One Mile at a Time for this information.)

KLM offers 7 Flying Blue Miles per minute when you are traveling abroad and making mobile phone calls on the T-Mobile network in the UK, Germany, Austria and the Netherlands and the Mobistar network in Belgium. You must register first. Read the details, terms, and conditions.

KLM participates in two mileage programs, its own Flying Dutchman program, and Air Miles, a general purpose Dutch shopping program. Info on how to earn bonus miles on each of the programs can be found on any of KLM's European web sites. Here is the site for the Netherlands in English. Be sure to do the math before deciding in which program you want your miles. Sorry, I can't help here. I don't read the language of the Air Miles web site.

KLM lists its partners offers on its web site. After getting to the site via the link above, click on Flying Dutchman, then on Partners.

The bonus offers for Air France's frequent flyer miles program for U.S. residents are found by going to its U.S. home page, clicking on Frequent Flyer Programs in the left menu, then selecting Fréquence Plus. Then click on Earn Miles, then Other Partners to find lots of ways to earn miles without flying.

The French web site of Air France lists a card for young people from 2 to 24 years residing in France called La carte Fréquence Jeune which apparently offers miles and/or discounts at certain attractions and for certain purchases. The information is in French, and my French is almost non-existent. To read it, go to the web site, click on Voyageurs fréquents in the left menu, and select Fréquence Jeune.

Frequent Flyer Bonuses maintains a good list of individual bonus Air France bonus miles offers. It is particularly good for individual flight route bonuses, and hotel and rental car bonuses for specific hotels outside of the U.S. Many require registration, so always check this list first before making a reservation.

Frequent Flyer Bonuses maintains a good list of individual bonus KLM bonus miles offers. It is particularly good for individual flight route bonuses, and hotel and rental car bonuses for specific hotels outside of the U.S. Many require registration, so always check this list first before making a reservation.

 
SWISS International Airlines   Request your SWISS mileage balance on your mobile phone (SMS) while in Switzerland and receive 50 miles each day you do so. Instructions.

SWISS promotional offers are listed here. Note the menu to the left side of the page you get.

 
Alitalia   Alitalia offers 2,000 miles welcome bonus, that you will receive after your first flight with Alitalia or with one of its airline Partners, providing it is flown within 3 months from your enrolment.

Alitalia's website lists its miles bonus offers.

 
Finnair   I found the following Finnair offers by going to finnair.com, clicking on United States, then on Finnair Plus at the top of the page. This probably also works if you choose your country.
  • Finnair offers a 1,000 to 3,000 point discount for booking award tickets online. I saw the link to this at the top of the Finnair Plus page.
  • Finnair lists its partners at www.finnair.com > United States (or probably your country) > Finnair Plus > Partners (in left menu).

 
Czech Airlines   Czech Airlines offers a 2,000 mile bonus for joining its frequent flyer and doing your first activity.

Czech's website has a link to a page with its bonus offers, and another to its partners.

Rewards Canada lists bonus opportunities for Czech Airlines here.

 
SN Brussels Airlines   SN Brussels Airlines often offers bonus miles on selected international fights from Brussels. You must register first, so always check the page to which I link before flying.

The Promotions Page of SN Brussels Airlines' website lists and links to many miles promotions.

 
Singapore Airlines   Singapore Airlines's opportunities to earn miles are listed here.

 
Cathay Pacific   Residents of Malaysia can earn 3,000 bonus miles for flying round trip business class (J, C, D, I) or economy class(Y, B, H, K, L, M, V) Cathay Pacific's new non-stop flights between Penang and Hong Kong. You must register first. Read the terms and conditions.

You can earn a free 25 Cathay Pacific miles for joining Points.com. Points.com allows you to move miles and points between programs, at a loss of a majority of those miles or points. Click on this page and do a word search on "points.com" to find better mileage or points offers.

Cathay Pacific lists its special offers for U.S. residents here, and its mileage partners here.

 
Japan Airlines  

Japan Airlines offers numerous promotions, some of which require registration. To find them, click here, then on JMB Promotions to find a description of the program and link to the sign up page. Here are some of the offers of interest that I noticed last time I looked:

  • You can Redeem 10,000 JMB miles and get a 15,000 Yen JAL COUPON. This could avoid capacity controls on using miles directly for award tickets. I leave the math to you to figure out how much more expensive this would be for you to do.
  • American regional members of JMB flying with transpacific normal economy fare tickets can receive JAL Group International Upgrade Awards for fewer miles during this special campaign. Details. Read them.

 
All Nippon Airways (ANA)   This newspaper article indicates that mileage obtained in ANA's frequent flyer program and points gained by shopping at Rakuten's on line shopping portal can be swapped by the first 10,000 people who sign up. Alas, it does not tell you how to sign up. On February 9, 2005, a reader sent me this link to info on the deal. Alas, it is in Japanese, so I can't read it to verify that this is what it is. He says a bit of a translation to English can be found here.

Register for a 100% bonus flight miles bonus for many international flights. Fly April 1 to September 30, 2010, date of boarding (Japan local time).

Register for a 10% bonus flight miles bonus. Fly April 1 to September 30, 2010, date of boarding (Japan local time).

All Nippon Airways' website has a page dedicated to its mileage promotions.

ANA lists its partners here. (Thanks to Gary Leff from View from the Wing for this information.)

Frequent Flyer Bonuses, Milemaven, and ANA maintain good lists of individual ANA bonus miles offers. They are particularly good for individual flight route bonuses. Many of these offers require pre-registration, so always check these lists first before making a reservation. I no longer plan to list these types of bonuses here.

 
Asiana Airlines   Asiana Airlines offers 2 miles/$1 spent when you purchase your Asiana ticket with your Asiana Visa Platinum credit card. You may read about that card the Annual Fee Cards page of my Credit Card section.

 
China Airlines   China Airlines promotions are listed here.

 
China Eastern Airlines   Enroll in China Eastern Airlines' miles program and fly with them within 30 days and receive 500 miles.

 
Eva Air   Effective now to DEC 31, 2009, join Evergreen Club during the promotional period will be eligible to receive 500 bonus miles on next day of enrolment. Join now to get more benefits. Please click here for more details. Joining Evergreen Club with password applying on-line can earn extra 1,000 bonus miles. (Thanks to View from the Wing for this information.)

Eva Air lists its bonus offers online.

Eva Air lists its partner offers online.

 
Caribbean Airlines (Formerly BWIA)   The Membership Guide of Caribbean Airlines says you will receive 2,500 miles to sign up for its frequent flyer program.

The Caribbean Ailines website lists its promotions and partners.

 
Qantas Airlines   Qantas website regularly lists discounted award tickets for

Qantas' website lists its mileage earning partners and many of its special offers. It has a nifty page describing current award availability. This service should be copied by all airlines.

 
Air New Zealand   Air New Zealand lists its partners with whom you can earn miles here, and its miles specials here.

 
Emirates Airlines   The Miles Accelerator enables you to earn more Skywards® Miles when you fly with Emirates®, irrespective of the fare you pay or where you buy your ticket.

Emirates lists its special offers here. They often list some very nice flight bonus miles deals and discounts on award travel. Many require registration, so always check that page before booking an Emirates flight.

Frequent Flyer Bonuses maintains a list of Emirates bonuses that will probably be more up to date than anything I post here. Many of the bonuses require registration, so always check that list before booking a flight on Emirates.

 
EgyptAir   EgyptAir offers 1,000 bonus points upon enrollment, plus extra baggage allowance and an unspecified number of extra points for flying with your family. (Perhaps this implies a family account. Nice.)

EgyptAir offers a 20% or 30% points bonus and access to its lounges in Egypt after accumulating certain numbers of points.

There is an amazing variety of discounts listed on EgyptAir's partner offers and special promotions pages on its website. Click on the appropriate links in its left menu. Offers include hospital and medical care, Radio Shack, eyeglasses, and lighting, lodgings, car rental, restaurants, and tickets on EgyptAir. I would not travel in Egypt without EgyptAir's frequent flyer points card, even if I do not intend to accumulate points on it.

 
Air Seychelles   Air Seychelles offers members of its Seychelles PLUS frequent flyer program 50 PLUS points for receiving their statements on line. No, I had never heard of this airline either, but a reader possibly more addicted to this stuff than am I introduced me to a geography lesson. If interested, start here. Its intriguing.

 
South African Airlines   South African Airlines lists its partners opportunities here. Click on the next arrow in the upper right corner to proceed to the details of each partner offer. The airline's entire frequent flyer mile program is explained here.

 
    

Points to Miles Programs

The details of and why you should join the points to miles programs I follow below can be found on my Other Programs I Like page in the Points to Miles section.

 
Best Western Rewards   Best Western Gold Crown Club has changed its name to Best Western Rewards.

Join Western Rewards and earn 500 extra points for your first stay.

U.S. holders of certain credit cards may convert their credit card points to Best Western Gold Crown Club points:

  • 1,000 American Express Membership Rewards points convert to 1,250 Gold Crown Club International points.
  • 1,250 Diners Club International® Club Rewards points convert to 3,300 Gold Crown Club International points.

AAA, CAA and AARP Members receive the lowest room rate available (minimum discount 10%). Anyone over 55 years old receives a discount of at least 10%. AAA Members who join the free AAA (American Automobile Association) or CAA (Canadian Automobile Association) Preferred Gold Crown International frequent guest program earn a 10% bonus on points for stays.

Members of the automobile clubs in Europe that participate in the Show your Card! program are offered a minimum 5% discount.

Best Western lists its special offers on its website. Sometimes these involve more miles or points for stays at specific Best Western properties.

You may read about and register for Best Western Special Offers by signing into your Gold Crown Club account, then clicking on REGISTER FOR SPECIAL OFFERS.

Frequent Flyer Bonuses, PointMaven, and Best Western maintain good lists of individual Gold Crown Club bonus points offers. They are particularly good for individual hotel and motel bonuses. Many of these offers require pre-registration, so always check these lists first before making a reservation.

Gold Crown Club points are convertible to miles. You may read a description of the program on my Other Programs I Like page in the Points for Miles section.

 
Priority Club - InterContinental Hotels Group   InterContinental Hotels includes Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, InterContinental Hotels, Crown Plaza Hotels, Hotel Indigo, Staybridge Suites, and Candlewood Suites.

If you have not yet signed up for Priority Club, each of us can earn an extra 5,000 points if you allow me to refer you. I need your first and last names and the e-mail address you will use for the account. Thanks. After you sign up, you must do a qualifying stay by December 31, 2010, to get the points. Note: The small print of this offer says you must enroll by May 31, 2010 to get the bonus. But the offer is still on line, and Priority Club has a good history of honoring any offer on line. So it is worth a shot, but don't count on it.

100 easy Priority Club points for answering this 3 question quiz. The answers are 15, All of the Above, and Silver.

300 easy Priority Club points for answering this 5 question quiz. There are over 4,300 Priority Club points earning properties. It takes 50 nights or 60,000 points to get to Platinum elite status. The other answers are obvious. Points post instantly. (Thanks to View from the Wing for this information.)

100 easy Priority Club points for answering this 3 question quiz. The answers are obvious. Points post instantly.

This post on the FrequentFlier.com Forum indicates the possibility of earning 250 - 2,000 Priority Club Points for opting into e-mails. No promises, but worth a shot.

Earn 1,000 Bonus Points when you book a room using the new Priority Club® Rewards iPhone® app.

Register to earn 5,000 points for staying Friday and Saturday, or Saturday and Sunday nights (two consecutive nights total) within 90 days of registration.

Here is a huge source of little known Priority Club bonus offers, apparently written by a Priority Club insider. Read the introduction page first, then look at the list of bonus offers. Always check the latter page before booking a paid stay at a Priority Club property. (Thanks to FrugalTravelGuy for this information.)

You can check on the status of all Priority Club offers for which you have registered by logging into your account and clicking on "My Offer Status" in the left menu.

  • A reader tells me that targeted offers for which you are not targeted will not show up on this list. But you may get the points anyway.

DHL acquired Airborne Express. Info here (at the bottom of the page) says that Priority Club Reward members earn

  • 4 points/$1 spent on purchases of Airborne Express products and services.
  • 1,000 bonus points upon first shipment on Airborne Express account
  • 1,000 bonus points upon initial order of Airborne's prepaid Flight-Ready packaging.

You can earn a free 25 Priority Club points for joining Points.com. Points.com allows you to move miles and points between programs, at a loss of a majority of those miles or points. Click on this page and do a word search on "points.com" to find better mileage or points offers.

Priority Club's PointBreaks page lists opportunities to book award nights for only 5,000 points per night. Usually these are incredible deals, especially in places where the dollar is weak, like Europe. Always check this page before booking an award night. On June 16, 2008, a reader wrote:

"Literally an hour ago, I just booked 4 nights using 5k pts/night in the Latin Quarter of Paris, at PARIS-ST. GERMAIN DES PRÈS for a grand total of 20k points. The hotel rack rate is $108 EUR ~$164 USD right now. If I had paid for it, would've cost me $656. Instead, I used 20k points."
On June 24, 2009, a reader wrote:
"I just used 70,000 Priority Club Points from credit card offers, for my wife and I, for 10 nights in Paris and 4 nights in Toulouse, June 2009, with their Point Break program of 5,000/night. So, it is still working, but you need to check for Pont Break nights frequently. I just happened to check back the day after trying to book in May, 2009, unsuccessfully, and the next day, June 2009 came on line, and was gone in 2 days. "

You can buy Priority Club points for $11.50 - $13.50 per 1,000 points. This could be useful in acquiring expensive rooms via the PointsBreak page. Details. Read them.

You can transfer points from one account to another for $5/1,000 points. Again, possibly useful in acquiring expensive rooms via the PointsBreak page.

Normally you can see your Priority Club points history for only the past 6 months when you log into your account. But View from the Wing provides this link to access a much longer history. Of course, you must log in from that page.

InterContinental Hotels Group Priority Club points can be converted to miles on a large number of airlines. See my description of the program in the Points for Miles section of my Other Programs I Like page.

Priority Club lists its points earning opportunities, including partner opportunities, on its website, some of which require registration.

If you know the promo code for an offer, but do not have a link to it, register for it here. (And of course you will share that code with me, right?)

Priority Club Insider,Frequent Flyer Bonuses, PointMaven, and Priority club maintain good lists of individual Priority Club bonus points offers. They are particularly good for individual hotel and motel bonuses. Many of these offers require pre-registration, so always check these lists first before making a reservation.

 

   
Accor Hotels   On presentation of the American Express Business Card, cardholders are entitled to a 20% discount off published rates when staying at Sofitel, Novotel, Mercure, and Ibis Hotels and Resorts in Australia. Details.

Before booking an Accor Hotels stay, be sure to check these websites for special offers specific to your stay:

You may read about Accor's miles offers on my Other Programs I Like Page in the Points to Miles section.

 
Starwood Hotels   See the Points for Miles section of my Other Programs I Like page to see why the Starwood program is extremely useful to seekers of airline miles.

The Starwood American Express credit card is my favorite credit card for acquiring miles through spending on it. You can read about it on the Free Cards page of my Credit Card section. Special offers for Starwood American Express card holders are listed here.

Be sure to register for Starwood's Rewarding Returns program. You will be offered a choice of bonuses for stays through December 31, 2010. Choices that Rewards Canada has hear of include
- 2,000 Bonus Starpoints
- $25 Award Certificate
- 25% off Reward redemption
For Stays until Aug 31, 10 (must complete 1 stay) or
- 4,000 Bonus Starpoints
- $50 Award Certificate
- 25% off Reward redemption
For Stays until Dec 31, 10 (must complete 5 stays) or
- 5,000 Bonus Starpoints
- $50 Award Certificate
- 25% off Reward redemption
For Stays until Aug 31, 10 (must complete 1 stay) or
- 3,000 Bonus Starpoints
- $50 Award Certificate
- 25% off Reward redemption
For Stays until Aug 31, 10 (must complete 1 stay)

Starwood offers 500 Bonus Starpoints for booking your hotel online when Starwood's customer contact centers are extremely busy and cannot answer your call to make a reservation. Note you cannot book with this link during non-peak times.

25,000 Hawaiian Airlines miles are offered for a stay for at least 5 nights at any of Starwood's eleven properties in Hawaii.

Starwood Pay Your Birth Year offer. With this special offer for two or three night stays, you'll receive rates equal to your birth year.

  • First night: rate varies by property.
  • Second or third night: rates equal to your birth year. (If you were born in 1948, you'll receive your 2nd and 3rd nights at $48).
  • Rates for second and third night stays will be confirmed at check-in upon presentation of valid ID.
  • Some individual hotels may charge more. Look at the offer for the specific hotel before booking.

It is now possible to redeem Starwood points directly for airline tickets on hundreds of airlines worldwide — with no blackout dates — even during peak periods such as holidays or for last-minute flights. Click on the SPG Flights Starpoint Chart link near the bottom of the page to see how many points you need to get your flight. I like the flexibility of this, but be sure to do the math to see if you are better off with this offer or by transferring points to miles on a specific airline. The chart shows a not bad conversion rate, but it all depends on whether or not Starwood's travel agent has access to the least expensive tickets.

Starwood offers discounts to AARP members of up to 50% on 21-day advance purchase rates or 15-25% off reservations every day.

AARP members can receive a free upgrade on their Starwood account by calling Starwood at (888) 625-4988 and mentioning enrollment code AARP.

Meeting planners should join Starwood's Preferred Planner program to earn mega points for holding events at its hotels.

Four Points Sheraton Norwood Hotel and Conference Center offers 500 Starwood Preferred bonus points when you Register and schedule your first meeting. (That latter condition was added after I first posted this offer.) Thanks to Gary Leff from View from the Wing for this information. Note: Before doing business with this outfit, you may want to consider the snotty response Gary receive from them regarding this offer. Gary reports this on this post on FlyerTalk. Search on "gleff" in 4 places, the last perhaps being the most telling of how you might be treated if there is a problem with your stay at this facility.

Be sure to read the information in the Amtrak writeup on my Other Programs I Like page to see how to still get Continental Airlines miles for your Starpoints, even though Continental is no longer listed as one of Starwood's partners.

Loyalty Traveler suggests that Starwood's Airline Direct Deposit may (or may not) earn you more miles.

Frequent Flyer Bonuses, PointMaven, and Starwood maintain good lists of individual Starwood bonus points offers. They are particularly good for individual hotel and motel bonuses. Many of these offers require pre-registration, so always check these lists first before making a reservation.

 
Marriott Rewards   200 Marriott Reward points for friending the Fairfield Inn Las Vegas Airport on FaceBook. This Flyertalk post tells you how.

Register to earn up to 60,000 bonus miles with the Delta SkyMiles® program for your Marriott® stays by earning 5,000 bonus miles per stay — beginning with your second stay — from May 1 through September 6, 2010. I leave it to you to read the details.

Elite Rollover Nights. After you’ve stayed enough nights to earn Elite status in 2009, Marriott will roll over all additional nights to 2010 (for example, Silver member nights in excess of 10, Gold member nights in excess of 50 and Platinum members nights in excess of 75). That means you can start earning next year’s status this year.

Marriott Meetings and Events. Marriott offers up to 15,000 miles on any of a large number of airlines, or up to 50,000 Marriott Rewards points for having a meeting or event at any Marriott, JW Marriott, Renaissance or Courtyard by Marriott location worldwide. Details. Read them.

Have the Luggage Club pick up your luggage from your home and deliver it to your destination, and earn 10 points/$1 spent. You can even redeem points for Luggage Club gift cards. Details. Read them.

Marriott has a good free credit card offer. You can read about it on the Free Cards page of my Credit Card section.

Frequent Flyer Bonuses, PointMaven, and Marriott maintain good lists of individual Marriott bonus points offers. They are particularly good for individual hotel and motel bonuses. Many of these offers require pre-registration, so always check these lists first before making a reservation.

Marriott Rewards is the awards program of Marriott Hotels. Its points are convertible to miles, and can be used to acquire free stays and other goodies. You can read about the program in the Points for Miles section of my Other Programs I Like page.

 

   
GoldpointsPlus (Carlson Hotels)   Carlson Hotels operates hotels under the brand names Radisson Hotels and Resorts, Regent Hotels & Resorts, Park Plaza Hotels & Resorts, Country Inns & Suites by Carlson and Park Inn.

GoldpointsPlus offers 500 points when you reserve a room online at goldpointsplus.com or any of its hotel brand sites. Read the terms and conditions.

Earn 1,000 points when you check in online. I leave it to you to read the details. Please tell me when this offer disappears. Thanks.

Instant, free, Silver Elite status. Here's how. Please tell me when this offer disappears. Thanks. (Thanks to View from the Wing for this information.)

The Rewards Canada web site has a list of opportunities to earn Gold Points.

You may read about the GoldpointsPlus Rewards program in the Points for Miles section of my Other Programs I Like page. Points are convertible to miles for many airlines.

 
Choice Hotels     If you are not yet a member of Choice Privileges, you can receive 500 bonus points after your first stay at one of their properties by joining via a referral from me. Just ask. I get 500, too, and so can you after you join and refer others (your spouse, for example). I need your first name and your e-mail address. Thanks.

Choice Hotels offers a 10% discount to AARP members.

AAA Members receive 10 - 20% off standard rates at participating Choice Hotels. Call (866) 222-7283.

Seniors should mention their age when making a reservation with any Choice Hotel. I have received discounts of 30% at Comfort Inns and EconoLodges by doing this.

Frequent Flyer Bonuses, PointMaven, and Choice maintain good lists of individual Choice Hotels bonus points and miles offers. They are particularly good for individual hotel and motel bonuses. Many of these offers require pre-registration, so always check these lists first before making a reservation.

You can read about the Choice Privileges program in the Points for Miles section of my Other Programs I Like page. Points are convertible to miles for many airlines.

 

    
Wyndham Rewards (formerly TripRewards)

Wyndham Hotels and Resorts

  If you plan to pay money for a stay at Wyndham Hotels, please use the link to the left to access the Wyndham home page. This will help me at no cost to you. Thanks.

Earn 3,000 bonus American Airlines miles when you stay three separate times between April 30 and September 30, 2010. Limit: 3 bonus mile offers per member during the Promotion Period. Details.

Wyndahm Rewards website pages of interest:
Special Offers
Partners. (Look at the menu to the left.)

Rewards Canada maintains an excellent page on Wyndham offers.

You may read about the Wyndahm Rewards program in the Points for Miles section of my Other Programs I Like page. Points are convertible to miles for many airlines.

 
Hilton HHonors   Savings at Work customers can enroll and then have two qualifying stays within 90 days of enrollment to earn HHonors Silver VIP status and just four qualifying stays within 90 days of enrollment to earn HHonors Gold VIP status. It normally takes 16 qualifying stays in a consecutive 12 month period to earn Gold VIP status. Details. I see no place to identify yourself as a Savings at Work customer on the first page of the enrollment form.

Use your Hilton HHonors American Express credit card to pay and earn 2,500 Hilton HHonors bonus points for each of your first four stays at any Hilton Family Hotel. You may read about the credit card on the Free Cards page of my Credit Card section. I am not certain when this offer appeared. It may not apply to cards obtained earlier than its appearance.

Free Hilton HHonors Gold VIP status or status upgrade is a complimentary benefit of the Citigroup Chairman Card.

MyPoints are frequently offered for making a Hilton reservation through the MyPoints portal. Log into MyPoints, click on Merchants, then search on Hilton. You may read about the MyPoints program and what it has to do with miles and hotel points on my Click for Miles, Money, and Good Causes page in the Click for Miles section.

AAA members save up to 25% at U.S. Hilton Hotels, receiving the lowest rate available for dates of stay. Children stay free when sharing the same room with a parent or grandparent. Call (866) 222-7283.

Hilton Events. Hilton HHonors members who hold qualifying events at participating HHonors hotels can earn one HHonors bonus point and one airline mile for every eligible U.S. dollar spent on guest rooms and meeting room rental. Details here. Thanks to View from the Wing for this information.

Hilton's Point Stretcher Reward page lists hotels offering rooms at a points discount. Use the pulldown menu for each brand of hotel.

Frequent Flyer Bonuses and PointMaven maintain good lists of individual Hilton bonus points and miles offers. They are particularly good for individual hotel and motel bonuses. Many of these offers require pre-registration, so always check these lists first before making a reservation.

You can read about the useful Hilton HHonors program in the Points for Miles section of my Other Programs I Like page. Points are convertible to miles for many airlines.

 
Hyatt Gold Passport   View from the Wing says that Hyatt offers a 2,500 bonus United Airlines miles/stay through January 31, 2011. The offer is marked to United elites, but the terms and conditions do not mention that this is a condition of the offer. Try it, but don't count on it. Register here.

Hyatt offers a discount of up to 50% to seniors age 62 and over for stays at Hyatt Hotels. To see this offer, at the Hyatt home page click on 'Specials & Packages', then click on 'Hyatt Special offers' then finally 'Senior Citizen Travel Rates'.

One Mile at a Time says that you can buy 2x$50 Hyatt gift checks for $80 at Costco.

Hyatt lists its special offers on its website. Some require registration. Always check these three pages before booking a stay at Hyatt:

Frequent Flyer Bonuses maintains a huge list of Hyatt bonuses for individual hotels. It is especially good at finding out about bonuses for properties outside of the U.S. I list only the bonuses applicable to large numbers of hotels, and only if I happen to know about them. Many bonuses require registration, so always check the Frequent Flyer Bonuses list before booking a room with Hyatt.

You can read about the Hyatt Gold Passport program in the Points for Miles section of my Other Programs I Like page. Points are convertible to miles for many airlines.

 
WORLDHOTELS   500 miles per stay from 12 airlines are offered. Each airline listed has its own special offers, too numerous to list here (though I will occasionally list particularly good ones). You can find them by clicking on the appropriate link on WORLDHOTEL's airline parter programs page.

2,000 United Airlines miles per stay offer through March 31, 2011. Beware: "Must book the 2,000 Miles Per Stay rate for 2,000 miles." So look at other rates to see what you are paying for the miles.

WORLDHOTELS offers a senior rate for people 60 years and older.

You can read about the WORLDHOTELS program in the Points for Miles section of my Other Programs I Like page.

 
Omni Hotels   Omni Hotels' website lists its special offers.

You can read about the Omni Hotels program in the Points for Miles section of my Other Programs I Like page.

 
Fairmont Hotels   You can read about the Fairmont Hotels program in the Points for Miles section of my Other Programs I Like page.

Frequent Flyer Bonuses and PointMaven maintain good lists of individual Fairmont bonus points offers. They are particularly good for specific individual hotel and motel bonuses. Many of these offers require pre-registration, so always check these lists first before making a reservation.

 
Loews Hotels   Loews' As You Wish page regularly offers special deals.

You can read about the Loews Hotels program in the Points for Miles section of my Other Programs I Like page.

 
La Quinta Hotels and Baymont or Woodfield Suites Returns program   Triple Continental Airlines miles offer for stays. I leave it to you to read the details.

Members of AARP and AAA, and seniors 55 and over are offered discounts of up to 30% at La Quinta Hotels.

You can read about the La Quinta program in the Points for Miles section of my Other Programs I Like page.

 
Amtrak   Caution: You must now purchase at least $200/year of Amtrak tickets on its credit card before you can transfer points to miles, hotel points, or any other award except Amtrak tickets. No warning was given for this change. Details.

The Amtrak Guest Rewards program offers points convertible to miles on Continental Airlines. and to other airlines at a loss of miles via Choice Hotels, provided you meet certain strict and serious conditions. Thus I mention the program here, in case you were wondering. Also, points can be converted to Hilton HHonors points, and of course can be used for train travel. You can read about the Amtrak in my Other Programs I Like section of this web site.

Caution: Amtrak is always under the threat of ending its subsidy from the U.S. government. This could spell the demise of the system and its Guest Rewards program. I strongly suggest using your points or moving them to an airline as soon as you have enough.

Caution: Amtrak has a terrible history of changing it points transfer policies without notice. Do it now. It might be gone tomorrow.

Enrollment bonuses:

  • The standard offer for joining Amtrak's program is 500 points if you travel on an Amtrak train within 90 days and add your Amtrak Guest Rewards member number to your reservation.
  • If all you want is the points, there are very short Amtrak trips costing only a few dollars in many Amtrak markets.

Continental Airlines offers Base Miles, Elite Qualification Miles and Elite Qualification Point(s) for Amtrak travel to and from Newark airport to and from connecting Continental flights, and for Amtrak Metroliner and Acela Express travel between New York's Penn Station and certain points (no connecting flight required). Read the terms and conditions.

How to find Amtrak promotions:

Always check these pages before booking an Amtrak trip, as you will need the promotion code to receive the discount. And be sure to check out

 
S&H Greenpoints     Aviation Points Exchange (APEX) allows users to earn S&H greenpoints for the aviation services they regularly purchase. Details. APEX is a nationwide rewards program developed specifically for aviation decision makers including: corporate and general aviation pilots, schedulers, dispatchers, flight attendants and many more.

You may read about the S&H Greenpoints on my Buying Stuff page.

 

    
Petro-Canada's PETRO-POINTS program     Petro-Canada's PETRO-POINTS program offers points convertible to Cathay Pacific Asia Miles and other goodies. You may read about the program in the Points to Miles section of my Other Programs I Like page.

2,500 points are offered for joining the program. It's free. This may be the same 2,500 points offered for providing your e-mail address.

2,500 points are offered on this page for signing up for e-mails from the program.

There is a no annual fee Citi PETRO-POINTS Mastercard that earns 10 PETRO-POINTS/$1 spent most anywhere, plus a 2 cent per liter discount on Petro-Canada gasoline. You may read about the card on the Free Cards page of my Credit Card section.

It appears that you can convert SEARS CLUB POINTS and PC points to PETRO-POINTS.

The PETRO-POINTS website has a bonus offers page. Double, triple, and even 10X offers can often be found on it.

Since I am not a Canadian, I am unable to sign up for this program, and thus will not be receiving regular information about it. Please keep me informed of any good offers or any additions of airlines to the program. Thanks.

You may read about the PETRO-POINTS program in the Points for Miles section of my Other Programs I Like page.

 

    

Thanks to SmarterTravel for donating both the web space and the domain name for this web site.