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.

Free and easy 250 miles: Join PointsHound via my link. Simply enter your name and email address, and click on a confirming email. Choose United, American, Delta, Virgin America, Hawaiian Airlines, Ethiad, Baltic, or AeroMexico's Club Premier. Each of us gets 250 miles with your first reservation. It is not yet clear if you can quadruple dip by using differnt email addresses (at least until they figure that out), but you must use a referral link from an existing member (like mine) to get the bonus. PointsHound gives miles for booking lodging with them. But caution:

  • Doing so may cause you to forgo points from the hotel company. PointsHound says "rates booked through PointsHound are generally not eligible for points at most major Frequent Guest Programs. Some hotel chains will credit stays booked through PointsHound towards elite status and most will honor existing status benefits on stays booked through PointsHound. If you have any confusion we recommend asking the hotel receptionist at check-in how your PointsHound reservation will treated by your Frequent Guest Program."
  • The number of miles you get is clearly stated on the listing of the proposed reservation you see on their website, but their forumla for computint these is not clear to me. hey say you earn around 4X, 6X, or 9X, depending on how many days you book, but they do not say 4,5, or 9 time what. They say "All PointsHound members start with Level 1 accounts which earn around 3 or 4 miles per dollar spent. We say 'around' because earn offers are different depending on the hotel property you choose, your advance purchase window, and the loyalty rewards currency selected. Level advancement on PointsHound is primarily based on the number of room nights booked. Your earn rate accelerates as you increase your level on PointsHounds. Level 4 members have achieved accrual rates of 15x per dollar spent on certain hotels but getting to Level 4 requires more than booking lots of room nights."

View from the Wing tells us how to earn up to 18,250 United/Continental Miles per year for social media airport checkins.

20% or 40% discount for buying or gifting United Airlines miles through 11:59 p.m. CT on June 30, 2013. Still a terrible deal, but if you are going to buy a few miles anyway to top off your account to get a specific award you know is availble, you might as well get the bonus. (Via View from the Wing.)

Pay United $349 and check your bags for "free" for one year. Pay them $499 to get access to Economy Plus for a year. Pay them $500 or 65,000 miles for one year of club membership.

Award Accelerator allows you to increase miles earned on your flight for a charge.

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 MileagePlus News & Offers page.

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   Bonus miles offer for new members. Best I can tell, you should register for this immediately after you join Delta's program, then get bonus miles for doing various things. Note that you may like the Delta credit card offers on my Credit Cards > Free Cards page better than the one suggeted in this offer. I see no date by which you must do the extra things, and no expiration date for this offer. (Thanks to Delta Points for this information.)

Free and easy 250 miles: Join PointsHound via my link. Simply enter your name and email address, and click on a confirming email. Choose United, American, Delta, Virgin America, Hawaiian Airlines, Ethiad, Baltic, or AeroMexico's Club Premier. Each of us gets 250 miles with your first reservation. It is not yet clear if you can quadruple dip by using differnt email addresses (at least until they figure that out), but you must use a referral link from an existing member (like mine) to get the bonus. PointsHound gives miles for booking lodging with them. But caution:

  • Doing so may cause you to forgo points from the hotel company. PointsHound says "rates booked through PointsHound are generally not eligible for points at most major Frequent Guest Programs. Some hotel chains will credit stays booked through PointsHound towards elite status and most will honor existing status benefits on stays booked through PointsHound. If you have any confusion we recommend asking the hotel receptionist at check-in how your PointsHound reservation will treated by your Frequent Guest Program."
  • The number of miles you get is clearly stated on the listing of the proposed reservation you see on their website, but their forumla for computint these is not clear to me. hey say you earn around 4X, 6X, or 9X, depending on how many days you book, but they do not say 4,5, or 9 time what. They say "All PointsHound members start with Level 1 accounts which earn around 3 or 4 miles per dollar spent. We say 'around' because earn offers are different depending on the hotel property you choose, your advance purchase window, and the loyalty rewards currency selected. Level advancement on PointsHound is primarily based on the number of room nights booked. Your earn rate accelerates as you increase your level on PointsHounds. Level 4 members have achieved accrual rates of 15x per dollar spent on certain hotels but getting to Level 4 requires more than booking lots of room nights."

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."

Delta Airlines has eliminated mileage expiration. Let's hope other airlines follow.

Delta now allows you to track the location of your luggage online. Let us hope the other airlines follow Delta's lead on this. (Not that any of them would ever admit to actually losing your luggage.)

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.

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 Airlines   Club 49™ is a free unique Alaska Airlines program just for residents of Alaska. Benefits include 2 free checked bags when traveling to or from Alaska on Alaska Airlines, two annual one-way certificates for 30% off Full Flex fares when flying to, from or within Alaska, and weekly fare sales.
  • Club 49™ members will receive double miles everywhere Alaska Airlines flies between May 17 and September 3, 2013 - no registration necessary.

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.

20% bonus for transferring your American Express Membership Rewards points to Hawaiian Airline miles through June 27, 2013.

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.

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 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   FrequentFlier.com says you can get 500 bonus miles for signing up for American's miles program by using promotion code ADV30. I can find no mention of this on American's website.

Free and easy 250 miles: Join PointsHound via my link. Simply enter your name and email address, and click on a confirming email. Choose United, American, Delta, Virgin America, Hawaiian Airlines, Ethiad, Baltic, or AeroMexico's Club Premier. Each of us gets 250 miles with your first reservation. It is not yet clear if you can quadruple dip by using differnt email addresses (at least until they figure that out), but you must use a referral link from an existing member (like mine) to get the bonus. PointsHound gives miles for booking lodging with them. But caution:

  • Doing so may cause you to forgo points from the hotel company. PointsHound says "rates booked through PointsHound are generally not eligible for points at most major Frequent Guest Programs. Some hotel chains will credit stays booked through PointsHound towards elite status and most will honor existing status benefits on stays booked through PointsHound. If you have any confusion we recommend asking the hotel receptionist at check-in how your PointsHound reservation will treated by your Frequent Guest Program."
  • The number of miles you get is clearly stated on the listing of the proposed reservation you see on their website, but their forumla for computint these is not clear to me. hey say you earn around 4X, 6X, or 9X, depending on how many days you book, but they do not say 4,5, or 9 time what. They say "All PointsHound members start with Level 1 accounts which earn around 3 or 4 miles per dollar spent. We say 'around' because earn offers are different depending on the hotel property you choose, your advance purchase window, and the loyalty rewards currency selected. Level advancement on PointsHound is primarily based on the number of room nights booked. Your earn rate accelerates as you increase your level on PointsHounds. Level 4 members have achieved accrual rates of 15x per dollar spent on certain hotels but getting to Level 4 requires more than booking lots of room nights."

Canadians can convert their RBC Rewards points into AMERICAN AIRLINES AADVANTAGE miles and receive 20% more. Offer valid until June 30, 2013. (Via Rewards Canada)

You can earn American Airlines miles instead of JetBlue points for Jet Blue flights between New York/JFK or Boston to selected markets. Ask when you book or check in. (From View from the Wing)

Share America Airlines miles for a 20%, 25%, or 30% bonus through July 1, 2013. Still a terrible deal, expecially since you already own the miles. Just use them to buy the ticket for the person with whom you are sharing. But if you are going to do this anyway, perhaps to top off an account for which you need a few miles to get an award you know is available, you might as well get the bonus.

American Airlines offers limited time, heavily restricted reduced mileage awards for holders of American Airlines credit cards. Discounted awards are now available for one way trips. Destinations change approximately monthly. (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 Airlines' HotSpots page lists opportunities for finding a MileSAAver award.

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. All of its miles earning partners are listed on its All Participants page.

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.

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.

 
U.S. Airways   This page says "Now you can double or triple your miles every time you fly for as little as $9 on usairways.com." You may multiply miles on any qualifying trip you book on usairways.com. I have been unable to discover how much you have to pay for how many miles. Weird that this information is not included in the F.A.Q.s. Perhaps a specific offer shows up when you book the trip.

Register to receive a 50% U.S. Airways miles bonus for hotel stays and car rentals with U.S. Airways partners. Miles must be reported by the hotel or car rental agency after registration and between May 1, 2013 and July 31, 2013. You must request Dividend Miles from the partner when making your reservation. You must be subscribed to US Airways e-Statement and Earn More Miles emails in order to register for this promotion.

Register, then use your MasterCard® card every time you book a flight with U.S. Airways and get 250 bonus miles for each reservation. Book your travel by October 31, 2013 and travel by December 31, 2013. Use Promo Code MC13. You do have the U.S. Airways Mastercard, right? Very easy bonus mega miles for first purchase, and they will become American Airlines miles after the merger.

50% bonus for transferring U.S. Airways miles from one account to another through June 30, 2013. And the $30 fee is waived. Transferring costs 1 cent/mile plus a 7.5% tax. So the extra bonus miles will cost you 2.15 cents per mile. This is a terrible deal, unless you consider the transferred miles to be dormant and useless unless transferred. Then the cost per mile would be a not bad 0.72 cent/mile.

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.

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   Register to receive double points and double Tier Qualifying Points on all Southwest Airlines flights you take through June 15, 2013.

Register to receive 1,000 bonus points for every one way flight when flying to/from Charlotte, North Carolina, Flint, Michigan, Portland, Maine, Rochester, New York, or San Juan, Puerto Rico. Service to these destinations begin April 14, 2013 and the promotion is for all flights completed by August 1, 2013. (Via Deals We Like.)

Southwest Airlines and AirTran Airways are in the process of merging. It is now possible to move points between accounts. Since AirTran points move to the old Southwest credits (not points), there is a nifty way to "launder" Southwest points to Southwest credits to increase their value. The Points Guy explains it very well.

According to this SmarterTravel article, you can extend the life of your SWA credits by paying them $50.

  • 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."

250 points for enrolling in the program plus 500 more for signing up on two email lists.

You can buy Southwest Airlines gift cards at Staples, both in the store and online. Using your Ink Bold® Business Card or the Ink Plus® Business Card will get you 5 Ultimate Rewards points/$1 spent. Ultimate Rewards points can be transferred to airline miles 1,000:1,000.

  • In the store: The clerk I spoke with said there is no extra charge for the card. I have not verified this by actally buying the card.
  • Online at Staples.com: No extra charge for the electronic form of the card emailed to you. You should be able to use this for online purhcases of SWA tickets. Accessing Staples.com via your favorite cash back portal will give you even a better deal. For example, I noticed that on February 22, 2013, Big Crumbs was offering 3%.

Companion Pass: Fly 100 qualifying one-way flights or earn 110,000 Qualifying Points in one calendar year to receive a Companion Pass. A Companion Pass lets one person of your choice fly free when traveling with you anytime throught the calendar year following the year in which you qualify. Sometimes the Southwest Airlines credit card offers will give you 100,000 of those 110,000 miles by receiving both the Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards Premier Credit Card (or maybe even the less expensive Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards® Plus Credit Card) and the Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards® Premier Business Card. See the Million Mile Secrets discussion on how to easily get the remaining 10,000 points.

  • The terms and conditions of the offer say
    "Companion Pass Qualifying Points are earned from revenue flights, points issued on Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards Credit Cards, and points earned from Rapid Rewards Partners. Purchased points and points earned from program enrollment, Tier bonuses, flight bonuses, and Partner bonuses do not count toward Companion Pass status."

    "A Member who is a Customer of Size and earns a Companion Pass can use his/her Companion declaration for an extra seat."

    "Member may change his/her designated Companion and request issuance of a new Companion Pass up to three (3) times within the validity period of the Pass." (So it's o.k. to change girlfriends.)

  • Interestingly, I see no mention of what type of ticket you must have in order for your companion to fly free. Perhaps if you ticket is an award ticket (using some of your 110,000 points), your companion might also fly free. Please tell me of any experience you have with this.

Purchase Southwest Airlines points with a 25% bonus through July 16, 2013. Deals We Like explains why this us usually a terrible deal, but offers a couple of exceptions where you might want to take advantage of the offer.

Southwest Airlines lists it Rapid Rewards promotions here.

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   Southwest Airlines and AirTran Airways are in the process of merging. It is now possible to move points between accounts. Since AirTran points move to the old Southwest credits (not points), there is a nifty way to "launder" Southwest points to Southwest credits to increase their value. The Points Guy explains it very well.

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.

Register to receive double credits when you book your flight through AirTran® Airways and travel between February 14 and June 12, 2013.

Be sure AirTran has your birthday. I was offered double credits on mine.

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   View from the Wing says you can receive 1,000 miles for joining Frontier Airlines' miles program. Read the comments to find out how to convert these miles to a few miles in other programs. I have not found mention of this offer on Frontier's website.

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.

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   Download the HawaiianMiles Toolbar. Million Mile Secrets tells us how to earn up to 5,000 miles per month for doing searches on this toolbar (if you have nothing better to do), and how Hawaiian Airlines miles are becoming increasingly valuable, not only for trips to Hawaii, but also for trips to French Polynesia, tickets on Delta Airlines metal, tickets on Continental, Virgin Atlantic and Korean Air, and transfer to Hilton HHonors points. At the very least earning miles from the tool bar (1 mile/3 successful searches) keeps your Hawaiian Ailrines account active.

Free and easy 250 miles: Join PointsHound via my link. Simply enter your name and email address, and click on a confirming email. Choose United, American, Delta, Virgin America, Hawaiian Airlines, Ethiad, Baltic, or AeroMexico's Club Premier. Each of us gets 250 miles with your first reservation. It is not yet clear if you can quadruple dip by using differnt email addresses (at least until they figure that out), but you must use a referral link from an existing member (like mine) to get the bonus. PointsHound gives miles for booking lodging with them. But caution:

  • Doing so may cause you to forgo points from the hotel company. PointsHound says "rates booked through PointsHound are generally not eligible for points at most major Frequent Guest Programs. Some hotel chains will credit stays booked through PointsHound towards elite status and most will honor existing status benefits on stays booked through PointsHound. If you have any confusion we recommend asking the hotel receptionist at check-in how your PointsHound reservation will treated by your Frequent Guest Program."
  • The number of miles you get is clearly stated on the listing of the proposed reservation you see on their website, but their forumla for computint these is not clear to me. hey say you earn around 4X, 6X, or 9X, depending on how many days you book, but they do not say 4,5, or 9 time what. They say "All PointsHound members start with Level 1 accounts which earn around 3 or 4 miles per dollar spent. We say 'around' because earn offers are different depending on the hotel property you choose, your advance purchase window, and the loyalty rewards currency selected. Level advancement on PointsHound is primarily based on the number of room nights booked. Your earn rate accelerates as you increase your level on PointsHounds. Level 4 members have achieved accrual rates of 15x per dollar spent on certain hotels but getting to Level 4 requires more than booking lots of room nights."

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.

 
JetBlue   Earn 7,500 bonus points when you join, register for this special offer, book and fly a roundtrip JetBlue flight by June 19, 2013.

High Five Bonus: Members earn 5,000 points with the purchase of three round-trip or six one-way flights in 2013. Presumably the offer ends December 31, 2013.

You can earn American Airlines miles instead of JetBlue points for Jet Blue flights between New York/JFK or Boston to selected markets. Ask when you book or check in. (From View from the Wing).)

As of January 16, 2012, BigCrumbs was offering up to $2.40 cash back on JetBlue tickets. I don't know what up to means. You can find the offer after joing BigCrumbs and clicking on Online Retailers on the Shop page, then on the letter J. You may read about the excellent Big Crumbs cash back shopping portal on my Buying Stuff page in the Shop On Line > Cash Back Portals section.

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.

 
Virgin America   Virgin America's Elevate points program is very different than the miles or points programs of other airlines. On February 2, 2013, I found round trip flights from the west coast to Hawaii for 20,000 points, and from San Francisco to Newark for 13,828 points.

Virgin America now has a partnership with Singapore Airlines. One Mile at a Time describes it fully. It appears that using Virgin America points for Singaore Airlines flights could be a very good deal. Note for example that all of Singapore’s routes between the US and Asia, including those out of Houston, Los Angeles, New York, Newark, and San Francisco to Hong Kong, Seoul, or Singapore cost only 95,000 points for business class on perhaps the best airlines in the world, and really cheap intra Asia awards, such as Singapore and Bangkok in economy class for only 6,000 points. This makes the Virgin America credit card with its up front bonus a very intersting choice for spending.

Register now and fly by June 30, 2012, to earn double Elevate points* for all your flights along the West Coast. Plus, earn up to triple Elevate points** after your second round-trip on our newest routes from San Francisco to Austin, Los Angeles to Las Vegas, and San Jose to Los Angeles, and between San Francisco or Los Angeles and Philadelphia. To make the deal even sweeter, all the bonus points you earn will count toward Elevate Silver or Elevate Gold Status on Virgin America.

Virgin America often has excellent credit card offers that can give you a round trip for the annual fee ofr $49.

Free and easy 250 miles: Join PointsHound via my link. Simply enter your name and email address, and click on a confirming email. Choose United, American, Delta, Virgin America, Hawaiian Airlines, Ethiad, Baltic, or AeroMexico's Club Premier. Each of us gets 250 miles with your first reservation. It is not yet clear if you can quadruple dip by using differnt email addresses (at least until they figure that out), but you must use a referral link from an existing member (like mine) to get the bonus. PointsHound gives miles for booking lodging with them. But caution:

  • Doing so may cause you to forgo points from the hotel company. PointsHound says "rates booked through PointsHound are generally not eligible for points at most major Frequent Guest Programs. Some hotel chains will credit stays booked through PointsHound towards elite status and most will honor existing status benefits on stays booked through PointsHound. If you have any confusion we recommend asking the hotel receptionist at check-in how your PointsHound reservation will treated by your Frequent Guest Program."
  • The number of miles you get is clearly stated on the listing of the proposed reservation you see on their website, but their forumla for computint these is not clear to me. hey say you earn around 4X, 6X, or 9X, depending on how many days you book, but they do not say 4,5, or 9 time what. They say "All PointsHound members start with Level 1 accounts which earn around 3 or 4 miles per dollar spent. We say 'around' because earn offers are different depending on the hotel property you choose, your advance purchase window, and the loyalty rewards currency selected. Level advancement on PointsHound is primarily based on the number of room nights booked. Your earn rate accelerates as you increase your level on PointsHounds. Level 4 members have achieved accrual rates of 15x per dollar spent on certain hotels but getting to Level 4 requires more than booking lots of room nights."
Frequent Flyer Bonuses and Milemaven maintain good lists of individual Virgin America 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   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   1,000 Aeroplan miles for entering its Around the World contest via facebook. (Via Rewards Canada)

Frequent flyers on Air Canada metal should register for its Earn Your Wings bonus for bonus miles for flights. Rewards Canada explains how it works. Book your flights and fly between April 11 and June 16, 2013, inclusively.

Sobey's in Canada offers 1 Aeroplan mile / $2 spent at their stores in Ontario, British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

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/Avianca LifeMiles   Taca/Avianca is now a Star Alliance member.

You can accrue from 2,500 to 3,500 bonus LifeMiles for your every purchase in taca.com.

Receive triple LifeMiles when you purchase your Avianca and TACA tickets with a LifeMiles Visa Signature® Card. This offer expires and tickets must be purchased by July 31, 2013. You can get this card with a 20,000 miles bonus with your first card use ,annual fee waived the first year.

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.

 
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.

 
VARIG   Iberia

View from the Wing says that Iberia is giving 2,500 points to each kid that gets a child account, that Iberia points transfer to British Airways and that you can set up British Airways household accounts and draw on your kids’ mileage balances for your own awards.

 
British Airways   British Airways miles are now Avios points. Redemption levels have changed.

Until recently I had been unimpressed with the Avios program and hadn't advocated it to you, mainly do to the very high fees associated with flying on British Airways metal. However, I am now convinced that with proper planning Avios might be very useful indeed. Here is what I have learned:

  • Avios awards are now distance based. For each segment of your trip, look up the distance between the cities, then look up that distance on the Avios award chart, or use British Airway's award calculator. The Points Guy provides the chart. Click on it to enlarge it to a readable size. (I would most appreciate your giving me specific directions on how to find this chart on the British Airways website. I find that site very difficult to navigate.) Add up the points needed to get your award. Note that these methods do not give you all of the fees, which can be minimal or quite substantial.
  • Using British Airways partner airlines can be a very cheap way to use Avios.
  • Flights on partner American Airlines charge only very tiny fees. This is great for trips within the U.S. and to Central and South American, as American is very strong for flights to those countries. Note the cheap prices for flying to Hawaii from the U.S. west coast.
  • Flights on partner LAN to Central or South American would be a very good use of Avios.
  • Flights on partner Aer Linguas to get to Europe (Dublin) does not incur high fees.
  • Short haul tickets, even on British Air metal, can be very cheap. They are especially cheap for such flights on American, say for example you commute between San Francisco and Los Angeles.
  • Tickets on partner Alaska Airlines incur fees only slightly higher than using the miles of Alaska or American Airlines. Note that Alaska flies to Hawaii in addition to, of course, many cities in Alaska, some quite obscure.
  • Flights from Brazil incur no fees due to a wonderful law in Brazil. This opens up huge possibilities to visit two, three, or four continents for very little money. Million Mile Secrets has an outstanding post on exactly how to do this. Everyone should carefully read this.
  • British Airways allows household accounts, thus allowing you to combine Avios from several family members into one account, making it easier to reach thresholds for specific awards.
  • One Mile at a Time tells us how to avoid the mega fees from British Air for trans-Atlantic flights by moving your British Air Avios to Iberia (yes you can - instantly), then booking on Iberia Metal to Madrid and beyond. Be sure to read the entire article and all of its comments.

35% bonus for transferring American Express Membership Rewards points to British Airways Avios by June 7, 2013. (Via View from the Wing.)

View from the Wing says that there is a 30% bonus for transferring your Diners Club points to British Airways Avios between June 1 and July 31, 2013.

Rewards Canada says "RBC Avion cardholders (Infinite and Platinum) that the much coveted 50% transfer bonus for RBC Rewards points to British Airways Executive Club Avios is coming back soon! The promotion will run from July 1st to 31st so now is the time to ramp up your spending if you have been planning to take advantage of this great transfer bonus." The link for this offer is not yet alive. Stay tuned.

Up to 29% bonus for purchasing British Airways Avios. Still a terrible deal, but if you are going to buy a few Avios to top off your account for an award you know is availaible, you might as well get the bonus. Log in to see the deals, which I leave it to you to read.

British Airways partners for the U.S. are listed here. To find British Airways offers for your country, click on "Change country" at the top of the page. Navigate to Executive Club > Partners > Additional partners in your region. There are many offers for many countries.

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   Be sure to tell Virgin Atlantic your birthday, probably on your account details page, whatever that's called. In 2010 they are offering 2,000 miles on your birthday, free.

Virgin Atlantic offers mega miles for referring friends who then fly on Virgin in certain classes. I leave it to you to read the details.

Webflyer reports that Virgin Atlantic is having an award sale: 25 percent discount - applies to coach tickets booked by June 17, 2013.

15% bonus miles on top of any Virgin Atlantic Buy, Gift, Transfer or Boost transactions you make between May 31 and June 30, 2013. Still a terrible deal, but if you are going to buy these miles anyway to top off an account for an award you know is avialable, you might as well get the bonus.

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. On April 7, 2013, these included Air China, Air New Zealand, ANA, Cyprus Airways, Gulf Air, Hawaiian Airlines, Jet Airways, Malaysia Airlines, Scandinavian, Singapore, US Airways, plus Virgin America and Virgin Australia. I am particularly interested in Hawaiian Airlines, as it seems to be expanding its routes to Asia, with perhaps (?) a nice stopover in Hawaii (a nice prophylactic for jet lag).

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.

 
Miles and More - Lufthansa, Austrian, Croatia, LOT Polish airlines, and SWISS, Adria Airways, Air Dolomiti, Luxair and   The Italian blog Frequent Flyer Italia says you can earn 500 Miles and More miles for signing up for its newsletter. Use Google Translate to read the blog in your language. It works very well Italian to English. You need a PIN for your account before you can get this bonus, and apparently you need at least one mile in your account to get a PIN. Please tell me whether or not you received the miles if you live outside of Italy. Thanks.

Million Miles Secrets has an excellent article, 18 Ways To Use Lufthansa Miles. Very useful if you get the 50,000 miles Lufthansa credit card offer.

Doctors can receive 5,000 miles for registering with Lufthansa as a "doctor on board." I leave it to you to read the details, especially those concerning liabiliby.

You can earn miles on all flights operated by Lufthansa Private Jet. Hmm. If you can afford a private jet, why would you need miles?

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 USA/KLM Flying Blue Miles Program

  I have an email from KLM that says
JOIN FLYING BLUE before August 31, 2013 by using this promotional code: CA13. You will automatically be AWARDED a WELCOME GIFT of 3,000 Miles* upon completing your first flight with us or any SkyTeam partner by August 31, 2013. Offer restricted to Canadian residents of legal age, who are not yet members of FLYING BLUE. Application to the programme must be carried out online on www.klm.ca.
I am unable to find this offer online, and the page to which the email links does not mention it, perhaps because I am not in Canada.

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.

Save up to 50% on FlyingBlue award trips via its Promo Awards page. (Via Frequent Flyer Italia.)

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'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.

For a limited time, you can enjoy a 30% discount on flight award redemptions on Cathay Pacific and Dragonair routes, including Hong Kong, Mainland China, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, India and Australia – as well as selected European ports. I leave it to you to read the details. (Via View from the Wing.)

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)   100 ANA Mileage Club miles for competing this 11 question multiple choice survey. View from the Wing explains that having miles in an ANA account is useful, as it allows you to search on ANA's website for available Star Alliance award tickets and thus be prepared for a specific request for a ticket from your favorite Star Alliance carrier.

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.

 
El Al  

25% bonus for transferring American Express Membership rewards points to El Al points. Hover over or click on El Al to see the offer. On November 3, 2010, there was no expiration date listed for this offer. Please tell me when it is gone. Thanks.

 
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, esp. Hotels 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.

Usually there are excellent Priority Club credit card offers available.

Priority Club has renewed its offer of 300 Priority Club points for answering 5 easy multiple choice questions on this quiz. This may be targeted, but it's certainly worth a shot. This is a repeat quiz. If you did it before (a few years ago, I think), you will get a message saying so and will not get the credit. Answers: Think all of these, 4,300, and 50 nights or 60,000 points.

1,000 easy Priority Club points for watching this short video on its 80,000 point credit card offer. Enter your Priority Club member number and PIN and the Promotion Code MIAMBXWF09, FLLNUVUAA37, PGFTNHNAD3 or DMOMOPJVC1. I don't know what happens if you try all three.

Possible 1,000 Priority Club points for filling out this 17 question survey about your preferences. It is not clear whether or not this is a targeted offer, but worth a shot.

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.

Register to earn up to 1,000 points per stay. I leave it to you to try to figure out the very vague terms and conditions.

Register to receive earn Double Priority Club Points or Double Miles on every qualifying stay, starting on your second stay. Stay at Staybridge Suites® hotels or Candlewood Suites® hotels and you’ll start earning double on your first qualifying stay. Valid for stays June 1 through July 31, 2013.

Priority Club Insider says you can earn 5,000 bonus Priority Club points when you stay Friday and Saturday, or Saturday and Sunday nights (two consecutive nights total) within 90 days. Register, then stay within 90 days (so be sure to time it right). The link provided does not go to a page that describes the offer, and no info is provided about where the offer was found. But this sort of bonus is the specialty of Priority Club Insider, so it is probably accurate. Use code 7637. No expiration date is provided - the post is dated April 19, 2013.

The new Priority Club award chart became alive January 18, 2013. So if you took my advice to book a room before the new chart comes in effect, now is the time to compare what you paid to the new price in points. Also, in the past, people were able to book at the old rate for a few months. But you had to know the old rate and call to ask for it. You can sort of see the old rates on this View from the Wing post.

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.

With Last Minute Reward Nights, Priority Club members save 50 percent on award bookings at select InterContinental Hotel Group properties during the first weekend of every month. Participating hotels are announced on the preceding Tuesday, and rooms at the discounted rates are limited.

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.

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.

As of January 16, 2012, BigCrumbs was offering 2.4% cash back on Intercontinental Hotels Group stays. You can find the offer after joing BigCrumbs and clicking on Online Retailers on the Shop page, then on the letter I. You may read about the excellent Big Crumbs cash back shopping portal on my Buying Stuff page in the Shop On Line > Cash Back Portals section.

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. However, I am finding that using the points for actual rooms is a much better use of them, especially in expensive places like Europe.

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

I no longer plan to list offers that require that you actually pay money for a room - too much work for one old man. The websites I list below do a much better job of keeping up with these offers that I possibly could. Be sure to check with each of them before booking a room.

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   Loyalty Lobby tells us how to get instant Le Club Accorhotels Platinum status, and says that you can use that status to status match to Club Carlson or Priority Club Platinum status.

2 Accor points:5 Avios conversion for Iberia Avios, which can be freely converted to British Airways Avios. See the Le Club airline partner conversion page.

As of January 16, 2012, BigCrumbs was offering 8% cash back on Accor Hotels stays. You can find the offer after joing BigCrumbs and clicking on Online Retailers on the Shop page, then on the letter A. You may read about the excellent Big Crumbs cash back shopping portal on my Buying Stuff page in the Shop On Line > Cash Back Portals section.

  • Although Motel 6 is owned by Accor, apparently it is not included in this offer. There is a separate 3.6% cash back offer for Motel 6 in Big Crumbs. Click on M.

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.

I no longer plan to list offers that require that you actually pay money for a room - too much work for one old man. The websites I list below do a much better job of keeping up with these offers that I possibly could. Be sure to check with each of them before booking a room.

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, esp. Hotels section.

 
Starwood Hotels   See the Points to Miles, esp. Hotels 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.

Frequent Flyer Bonuses tells us how to receive 1,000 bonus Hilton HHonors points for joining the program through July 31, 2013.

Special offers for Starwood American Express card holders are listed here.

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.

Register for double Starpoints® on all eligible stays May 1 through July 31, 2013, plus 500 additional bonus Starpoints for each eligible booking made through the spg.com mobile site.

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.

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

I no longer plan to list offers that require that you actually pay money for a room - too much work for one old man. The websites I list below do a much better job of keeping up with these offers that I possibly could. Be sure to check with each of them before booking a room.

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   Please allow me to refer you to the Marriott Rewards program if you are certain you will stay at a Marriott property within 365 days of enrollment.
  • Read carefully below to find the three promises I require before I will refer you.
  • I can do only 5 referrals, so please be certain you will stay at a Marriott property within 365 days of enrollment. I require that you make that promise to me before I will refer you.
  • Both you and I will earn 2,000 points per your stay at a Marriott property within 365 days of enrollment, up to 10,000 points.
  • New members who join through the Refer A Friend program must designate Marriott Rewards points as their earning preference. Miles earning preference is not an option with the Refer A Friend program. So if you plan to earn miles, not points, for your stay, please do not waste one of my referrals. I require that you promise that you opt to earn points, not miles, before I will refer you.
  • The program is for new memebers only. So please be certain that you have never enrolled in the program before. I require that you promise this before I will refer you.

Register July 31, 2013 for the Marriott Rewards® Unexpected Bonus. The bonus offered varies, so take a look to see what you get.

Marriott allows you to choose between points and miles from a large number of airlines for stays. Special offer: Earn 500 AAdvantage bonus miles when you stay at over 3,700 participating Marriott properties around the globe between July 15 and August 15, 2013. Just follow the directions. (Via View from the Wing.)

Marriott Hotels Rewarding Events offer up to 15,000 miles on a large selection of airlines or up to 50,000 points for each group, event or meeting, plus 10 Elite nights toward your Silver, Gold or Platinum Elite status for each qualified group or event.

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.

Marriott's Seasonal Awards page offers award nights for at least 25% fewer points during certain times of the year. Always check this page before booking an award night off season.

Using your Marriott points for an award stay is probably better than converting them to miles. But you can get both if you want Southwest Airlines, JetBlue Airways or Virgin America points.

Marriott offers seniors 62 years or older a 15% discount for paid stays.

As of January 16, 2012, BigCrumbs was offering up to 4% cash back on Accor Hotels stays. I don't know what up to means. You can find the offer after joing BigCrumbs and clicking on Online Retailers on the Shop page, then on the letter M. You may read about the excellent Big Crumbs cash back shopping portal on my Buying Stuff page in the Shop On Line > Cash Back Portals section.

I no longer plan to list offers that require that you actually pay money for a room - too much work for one old man. The websites I list below do a much better job of keeping up with these offers that I possibly could. Be sure to check with each of them before booking a room.

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 to Miles, esp. Hotels section of my Other Programs I Like page.

 

   
Wyndham Rewards   I no longer plan to list offers that require that you actually pay money for a room - too much work for one old man. The websites I list below do a much better job of keeping up with these offers that I possibly could. Be sure to check with each of them before booking a room.

Wyndham Rewards is the awards program of Wyndham 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 to Miles, esp. Hotels section of my Other Programs I Like page.

 

   
Best Western Rewards   Register now, book and complete your stay between November 19, 2012 and June 30, 2013, and earn 250 bonus points for any qualified stays that were booked on bestwestern.com.

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.

As of January 16, 2012, BigCrumbs was offering up to 4% cash back on Best Westerm stays. I don't know what up to means. You can find the offer after joing BigCrumbs and clicking on Online Retailers on the Shop page, then on the letter B. You may read about the excellent Big Crumbs cash back shopping portal on my Buying Stuff page in the Shop On Line > Cash Back Portals section.

I no longer plan to list offers that require that you actually pay money for a room - too much work for one old man. The websites I list below do a much better job of keeping up with these offers that I could possiby do. Be sure to check with each of them before booking a room.

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.

 
Club Carlson (Carlson Hotels)   Click the Facebook Like Button to earn 1,000 Gold Points®. Please tell me when this offer is gone. Thanks.

GoldpointsPlus offers 1,000 - 3,000 points when you reserve a room online at goldpointsplus.com or any of its hotel brand sites - more if you have elite status. Read the terms and conditions.

Register, then stay two or more consecutive nights anytime between May 13 and July 21, 2013 at any of the more than 1,000 participating Carlson Rezidor hotels worldwide to earn 10,000 bonus Points for each eligible stay.

As of January 16, 2012, BigCrumbs was offering up to 4% cash back on Radisson Hotels stays. I don't know what up to means. You can find the offer after joing BigCrumbs and clicking on Online Retailers on the Shop page, then on the letter R. You may read about the excellent Big Crumbs cash back shopping portal on my Buying Stuff page in the Shop On Line > Cash Back Portals section.

I no longer plan to list offers that require that you actually pay money for a room - too much work for one old man. The websites I list below do a much better job of keeping up with these offers that I possibly could. Be sure to check with each of them before booking a room.

These websites do a good job of listing Goldpoins Plus offers for booking a room:

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 1,000 bonus points after your first stay at one of their properties by joining via a referral from me. Just ask. I get 1,000, 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.

Register, then book at ChoiceHotels.com or 800.4CHOICE and after your second qualifying trip with arrival between May 23 and August 21, 2013 you’ll receive to receive enough bonus points to reach the 8,000 point level, which can be redeemed until November 1, 2013, for one $50 gift card at defined retailers on ChoiceHotels.com/giftcard.

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.

As of January 16, 2012, BigCrumbs was offering 4% cash back on Choice Hotels stays. You can find the offer after joing BigCrumbs and clicking on Online Retailers on the Shop page, then on the letter C. You may read about the excellent Big Crumbs cash back shopping portal on my Buying Stuff page in the Shop On Line > Cash Back Portals section.

I no longer plan to list offers that require that you actually pay money for a room - too much work for one old man. The websites I list below do a much better job of keeping up with these offers that I possibly could. Be sure to check with each of them before booking a room.

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.

 

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

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.

  • Same offer for Carlson Wagonlit Travel customers. Again, I see no place to identify yourself as a Savings at Work customer on the first page of the enrollment form.

If you must actually pay money for a Hilton stay, register to earn 1,000 Bonus Points for each week night and 2,000 Bonus Points for each weekend night stay April 1 to June 30, 2013.

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.

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.

I no longer plan to list offers that require that you actually pay money for a room - too much work for one old man. The websites I list below do a much better job of keeping up with these offers that I possibly could. Be sure to check with each of them before booking a room.

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   Buy Hyatt Gold Passport points from June 1 through June 30, 2013, and receive a 10%, 20%, or 30% bonus. Still a terrible deal, but if you need a few points to top off your account to receive an award stay you know is available, you might as well get the bonus.

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'.

Hyatt offers a 3% discount to holders of an American Express Open Business Card.

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

I no longer plan to list offers that require that you actually pay money for a room - too much work for one old man. The websites I list below do a much better job of keeping up with these offers that I possibly could. Be sure to check with each of them before booking a room.

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

These websites do a good job of listing Goldpoins Plus offers for booking a room:

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.

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

I no longer plan to list offers that require that you actually pay money for a room - too much work for one old man.

You can read about the WORLDHOTELS 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.

I no longer plan to list offers that require that you actually pay money for a room - too much work for one old man. The websites I list below do a much better job of keeping up with these offers that I could possiby do. Be sure to check with each of them before booking a room.

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.

 
La Quinta Hotels and Baymont or Woodfield Suites Returns program   300 Free La Quinta Returns points for logging in here.

Members of the military and veterans can receive additional benefits when enrolling in the La Quinta Returns Military Rewards program. Military Rewards members will receive 20 percent bonus points, 2,000 bonus points after their first stay, La Quinta Returns Gold status, express check-in, complimentary room upgrades, dedicated customer service phone number and a personalized welcome kit. Members who present a valid, government-issued military ID card at check-in can also receive a 12 percent discount off the best available rate at La Quinta Inns & Suites. Spouses, dependents and caregivers of service members are also eligible to join La Quinta Returns Military Rewards.

Join, then complete two paid nights at points-eligible rates, and each with check-in within 60 days from your enrollment date and be upgraded to La Quinta Returns Gold status.

View from the Wing tells us how to get 300 easy La Quinta points for watching a video.

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

I no longer plan to list offers that require that you actually pay money for a room - too much work for one old man. PointMaven does a much better job of keeping up with these offers that I possibly could. Be sure to check there before booking a room.

Rewards Canada and Frequent Flyer Bonuses maintain good lists of individual La Quinta 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.

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 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.

Amtrak gives a 15% discount on most fares for riders 62 and over.

Join the National Association of Railroad Passengers to earn 300 - 7,500 Amtrak Reward Points and a 10% discount on most Amtrak rail fares. But first please comments from View from the Wing on why you might not want to do this, and the Association's response to these.

Special offers:

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.

 

    

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