1,500 US Airways Dividend Miles for Sentry Insurance quote

Insurance quotes are a pretty reliable/exploitatable source of miles & points, and there's a new one for 1,500 US Airways miles today. This may be a targeted promo, so your results may vary; Mrs. Wrider received the promo email but I did not. It's up to you how "accurate" you want to be indivulging your personal information; in the past the miles have posted regardless.

A new twist with this promo is the drawing for 250,000 miles, winner to be notified by telephone. Perhaps they've been receiving a few too many "inaccurate" entries for recent promos? Note: Open to residents of AZ, CO, IL, IN, KS, MN, OH, TN and WI. Only 500 miles are given in AZ, and sweepstakes prizes are $10 in AZ and $50 in OH. Boo.

Free Hilton HHonors Gold status thru 8/31 or 5,000 points for elites

It's already been reported elsewhere, but you can snag a trial of Hilton HHonors Gold status if you have a Visa Signature card at this link. If you have three stays at Hilton properties by 8/31 you'll keep the staus through 2012. If you're already Gold or Diamond (and have a Visa Signature card) you can claim 5,000 free points.

There's not much difference between Gold and Diamond so it's a pretty good offer. Though I'm Diamond right now, I plan to let my HHonors status drop to Gold next year by spending $20,000 this year on my ever-useful HHonors Amex card.

Followup: 15% off AA flights to/from DFW or MIA

Thanks to the Dallas Mavericks' NBA Finals win, American Airlines is handing out some extremely limited-use 15%-off coupons as part of their All-American Shootout promo I covered earlier. It's good for a roundtrip to or from DFW or MIA for travel Sept. 6 through Nov. 14, just it time for fall fare hikes when I searched for some routings on ITA. And it's only valid for the next 48 hours. With conditions so restricing, I probably won't be able to use it. Bummer.

Thanks for playing the All American Airlines Shootout Game on Facebook. You are the lucky winner of a 15% promotion code that you can use to purchase your next flight booked on AA.com. Code is valid for one roundtrip flight for you and a companion from Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) or Miami (MIA) to anywhere we serve in the continental United States OR from anywhere in the continental United States to Dallas/Ft. Worth (DFW) or Miami (MIA).You must make your purchase in the next 48 hours for travel Sept 6, 2011 through Nov. 14, 2011, VisitAA.com now and use the promotion code shown below 

Datapoints: Citi Checking AA miles, Free Spirit promo, Modded Marriott MegaBonus

To give you an idea as to how some various mileage-accruing endeavours can go, I'm starting a "datapoints" feature. Enjoy!

1) I opened a checking account through Citibank on 1/7/11 through the promo code C25A which gives 25,000 AAdvantage miles if you (a) make two direct deposits per month or (b) pay a couple online bills per month or (c) make five signature-based (non-PIN) debit card transactions, whichever you choose for two consecutive months. I opted for option (c) as it would be least disruptive to my normal banking operations. I also signed up for a basic AA debit card (2,000 miles for a $25, not a great deal but whatever). After doing at least seven debit purchases (a couple extra than necessary just in case there were processed as PIN debit accdentally), I watched my AAdvantage account patiently for two months after the last statement closing date which satisfied the requirement (3/24/11). Little did I know the miles where supposed to post 90 days(!) after that last statement date, but I actually thought it was 6-8 weeks. So on Sunday 6/12 I sent an online secured message to Citi via the stating that I have met the requirement and would they please post my miles. The reply came on 6/13 verifying that I had indeed satisfied the conditions of the promo and they would be posting the miles immediately, and on 6/14 the miles showed up in my AAdvantage account. Success! But the real beauty of this promo is it looks "churnable," so I'm going to close the account and do it all over again once another Citibank signup promo shows up...

Bonus datapoint: My wife did the same deal, got the same card, met the same requirements, sent the same email, and was told the miles would post no later than 7/22. YMMV, indeed!

2) Spirit Airlines announced a Mega Miles Giveaway tour on 4/4, which promised 5,000 Free Spirit miles (in addition to a shot at 1,000,000 miles) for signing up to their email list as part of the promotion. Even though I've never flown Spirit, that's no reason to turn down 5,000 free miles! Besides, you never know when you might need a positioning flight for a mileage run. Anyway, I signed up for the promo and on 5/13 I received an email with the 5,000 certificate and a link to sign up for a Free Spirit account. I did so, and entered the certificate number from the email. Miles posted today 6/15, as promised.

Bonus datapoint: My wife did the same deal, with the same results.

3) As I blogged previously, you can usually modify your Marriott MegaBonus offer to suit your travel plans for a timeframe of the promotion. I did so myself for the promo ending on 4/30; changing my 25-night/35,000 point offer to 15 nights/25,000 points. The points hadn't posted after a few weeks so I called the Marriott Platinum number last night to ask after them. At first the rep couldn't follow what I was asking, but after a few minutes on hold he found the notes on my account from my earlier request and agreed post the points. This morning, my Marriott Rewards account is 25,000 points richer.

100% bonus on US Airways purchased miles is back!

Through June 30 you can get a 100% bonus on purchased US Airways Dividend Miles, to a maximum of 50,000 miles purchased (plus 50,000 bonus) for a total of about $1480 (or $0.0148/mile). As The Points Guy explains, there are a some great bargains to be had from North America to Europe in January and February in US Airways sweet new lie-flat Envoy seats are 60,000 for a roundtrip low-level award. Even stretching that return into March only costs an additional 20,000 miles for off-peak flights.

Even as a loyal American-flying Chicagoan there are tempting deals. I've been looking to book a flight for three to Paris either this fall or next April/May, a destination and calendar that are notriously hard to accommodate on American. US Airways has some strong availabilty for next spring in their Envoy class, certainly much better than American's availability.

A few caveats: The off-peak awards are for US Airways-operated flights only and you must have an active Dividend Miles account for 12 days before purchasing.

Take a shot at 50% off AA fares to DFW or MIA

American has their bases covered with the teams in the NBA Finals representing two key AA hubs, Dallas and Miami. To celebrate, they've launched a promotional game to win a discount code good for 50% off travel to or from Dallas (DFW) or Miami (MIA). It would appear you can play the game more than once as you're not required to give you AAdvantage number, just a name and email address. I played it on my phone and couldn't really tell how well I did, anyway. Access the game at http://www.aabasket.com/ or at AA's Facebook page http://bit.ly/AABBALL. Good luck.

How to make your own Marriott MegaBonus

While some hotel promotions can be incredibly lucrative (Hyatt's famous Faster Free Nights) or incredibly boring (Hilton's current 1,000 points per night), Marriott Rewards has arguably the least exciting/most reliable promotion in their quarterly MegaBonus. It usually offers something like 35,000 points for 20 paid nights plus an additional 15,000 points for 25 paid nights yelding a total of 50,000 for 25 nights stayed within a three-month period on the high end. On the lower end, it's around 25,000 for 15 nights. It's a targeted promo tied to your recent activity and elite status, you can view your offer under Promotion Central (scroll all the way to the bottom of the page while logged into your Marriott Rewards account).

But there's a little-known feature of this promotion: It's flexible. Say you've been staying at plenty of Marriott properties lately and/or you have elite status. You may log in to see your promo is the 35,000 for 20 plus 15,000 for 25 variety. But with your travel plans don't get you anywhere close to that many nights. No worries, just call the Marriott Rewards customer service and ask them to change your offer to one of the lower thresholds. It won't change the offer you see while logged into the website, but they will track it for you manually. Which means you may have to call back if your points havent posted in 6-8 weeks.

Read this thread at Flyertalk to see what success folks have had with this in the past. The offers fluctuate slightly from quarter to quarter so make sure you're quoting an active offer. Phone numbers are below. Good luck!

Regular Member: 800-450-4442
Silver Elite: 1-800-228-2100
Gold/Platinum Elite: 1-800-321-7396

Marriott Rewards customer service.

Book AAdvantage award flights for 30% less

It's the end of the run for AAdvantage's 30th anniversary promotion, and it goes out with a "pop" rather than a bang (or a whimper). From September 7th through November 18th, 2011 you can travel on a MileSAAver Economy award in the US or Canada for 30% less than usual (8,750 vs. 12,500 for a one-way, 17,500 vs. 25,000 roundtrip). You'll need to book by Friday June 10th to get the deal and no registration is required.

AAdvatange MileSAAver awards are relatively easy to find so this makes a decent deal. AAdvantage award are also low-fee; most domestic roundtrips will cost you a mere $5 in cash. You can only use AA miles for this deal, so my soon-to-be 100,000 BA miles will have to sit on the sideline for now. Yeah it would be nice to see this offer extended to international and/or premium cabins, but you takes what you can gets.

30 AAdvantage miles per dollar for donations to Susan G. Komen and USO

Yesterday's AAdvantage 30th Anniversary deal is a great one. Until May 31 you can get 30 miles per dollar for donations to two very reputable charity organizations. There's no cap on the donation amount, but you'll only receive up to 50,000 miles for US AAdvantage members (60,000 for international members), which translates to $1,666.67 (or $2,000) respectively. Per organization.

So for $3,333.34 you'll get 100,000 miles, enough for a business class roundtrip to Europe as well as a donate to great causes. 3.3 cents per mile doesnt set my world on fire, but considering the cause (and potential tax savings) it's a great deal. Use a Citi AAdvantage card a you'll get 31 miles per dollar! Minimum donation is $25. Terms & conditions below.



Offer valid on contributions made online at www.uso.org/aadvantage orwww.komen.com/aa May 25, 2011, through May 31, 2011. You will earn triple AAdvantage miles for each dollar that you donate during this period. Gift card purchases are not included in this promotion. Minimum $25 donation required per charitable organization. Mileage cap for a 12-month period is 50,000 AAdvantage miles per charitable organization for U.S. members; 60,000 AAdvantage miles per charitable organization for international members. AAdvantage bonus miles do not count toward elite-status qualification. Please allow up to eight weeks for the AAdvantage bonus miles to be posted to your AAdvantage account. Donations can only be accepted in U.S. dollars. All gifts are welcome; however, AAdvantage miles will only be earned for donations of at least $25 USD. AAdvantage bonus miles may post separately from AAdvantage base miles.

(Maybe) 100 free Continental miles

You can register for 100 free Contintal OnePass soon-to-be United Mileage Plus miles here. Most "free" Continental miles promos require one of there co-branded credit/debit cards but you might as well try anyway.

Via The Points Guy.

BA 100k and Priority Club 80k churn results

Both I and Mrs. Wrider applied for the now-expired British Airways 100,000-mile Visa two weeks ago, I also applied for the targeted 80,000-point Priority Club Visa. Both cards are offered by Chase, who denied me the 30,0000 United Mileage Plus card in November (in hindsight, they may have done me a favor as there's been a 50k offer floating around for a while and Chase usually forbids double-dipping on the same card). After clearing a few negatives on my credit reports I was ready to take another shot.

To my surprise, the BA Visa was instantly approved. Hers resulted in a we'll-get-back-to-you page and the PC Visa got the same result. After a week I called the Chase reconsideration line at 888-245-0625 to find out the status of the PC Visa, and the rep told me it had not been approved. I asked the rep if I could move some credit over from an old WaMu card I hadn't used in years and after several minutes on hold she said it could be done if I closed the old account and transfer the entire line over. I weighed the impact of closing a 4-year-old credit line on my credit report and decided the benefits of the new card were worth the small negative, and I was approved.

You'd think this would be good news, but I'd heard it before back in November. When I was initially denied the United card I called for reconsideration then too. On that call, the rep used the term "recommended for approval" which I interpreted as a done deal. Of course, it didn't get approved even after three more phone calls. So I made sure this time that "approved" really meant approved and that the card would be in mail.

So after a long week at a Holiday Inn Express in bucolic semi-rural Georgia I was anxious to see what was waiting in the mail pile. There was my BA Visa card...as well as Mrs. Wrider's! I was planning to spend an hour on the phone with Chase to get her approved when it was already in the bag! Now to "spend" $2,500 on each card to trigger the minty fresh 100,000-mile bonuses...

Bottom line: If you're denied credit, always call for reconsideration. Offer to move credit lines, take a reduced credit limit and if all else fails close another line to get approved. Work with them. Make it easy for the representative to say "yes"!

Using Topguest for easy points

Topguest.com is a new location-based site that awards points for Facebook, Foursquare and Twitter check-ins. You get points for each daily check-in at Priority Club (InterContinental, Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn), Hilton HHonors (Doubletree), Virgin America Elevate, Best Western Rewards and Wyndham Rewards are the main draws.

Current participants and their points per check-in:

Priority Club: 50
HHonors: 50
VA Elevate: 25
Best Western: 50
Wyndham Rewards: 50
Choice Privileges
Total Rewards: 50
Kimpton: 1
ClubHotel: 1
Avis: 10% off next rental
Standard Hotels: 1
Viceroy Hotels: 1
Thompson Hotels: 1



Pros: With an Android or iPhone app you can search for nearby properties and check-in. In my experience, the iPhone app has been a bit buggy so I've been checking in with the Chrome Foursquare extension. Easy points. HHonors points posted the next day, but this Milepoint thread suggests PC points post in batches. Best Western Rewards and Avis were just added in he past week so it seems this is a quickly growing program.

HHonors, Best Western, Priority Club, Total Rewards and Elevate also offer very modest signup bonuses through the Topguest portal if you've not yet joined their programs.

Cons: Only one check-in for points is allowed per day, Doubletree is the only HHonors property that is currently participating.

To join or not to join?

You can't earn miles if you don't an account, so why NOT join? It's not as a simple as it seems. Some programs offer bonuses to merely sign up (1000 miles for US Airways, 500 miles for American, 500 for Alaska, 4 credits for Southwest), most require you to take a flight (5000 to 10000 for Delta, 1000 for Air Canada, 1000 for Air France/KLM) and some don't give you anything at all (I'm looking at you United/Continental). And that's not even considering the hotel programs!

If you're not planning to fly on an airline for which you have a frequent flyer account, it still is a good idea to join if only to be in the loop for any non-flying promotions...be sure to sign up for email communications when you join. For instance most programs have mileage-earning opportunities through the Rewards Network which awards miles for dining, as well as online shopping portals for each FF program.

Now the counterpoint: Concentrate on the few programs you currently belong to and wait for more lucrative, commitment-free bonuses to appear. It contradicts conventional points & miles wisdom (which encourages collecting as many miles on as many programs as cheaply as possible) but if you're diligent and monitor the best sources daily this strategy may work out well.

Intro

Welcome. If you're not as obsessed with hotel points and air miles as I am, you will be soon. It's the best way to travel the world in style without spending a fortune. This blog will focus on how to accumulate the currency of "free" travel, and everyone from the seasoned road warrior to the once-a-year vacation traveller can take advantage.

As a business traveller who spent 200+ nights on the road last year, I'll focus quite a bit on how to make life away from home a little more rewarding. For the vacationer, I'll help you get the best experience for your money and avoid common costly mistakes.

There's a lot to talk about and lots of points out there for the taking. So let's start collecting so we can start traveling!

-CC