.

 
Airline Miles Programs | Hotel and Other Points 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   United Airlines MilePlay bonuses are back. Log in to see what you get.

Try to register here to received bonus flight miles on United Airlines flights. Targeted.

Travelisfree.com posted a truly awesome article on how to use the new United Airlines rules for award travel to get many destinations on one ticket for very few miles. Well worth reading, studying, and understanding.

Up to a 30% bonus for converting your United Airlines mile to hotel points by October 31, 2024.

Earn up to 1,000 United Miles When Joining BP Driver Rewards.

You can pay for a subscription for free baggage transportation on United flights, starting at $349.

Here is a trick to save $75 on United Last Minute Bookings.

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

Here are two excellent articles on how to save mega United Airlines miles if you are taking more than one Star Alliance trip. These require careful study - you may have to read them several times to understand the technique. But worth you time and patience, I think.

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.

This is really good: 5 tips that will make you a United award search engine master

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   1,000 miles for simply joining the Delta Airlines Skymiles program.
  • After you sign up, be sure to claim the miles you earned on your recent flight at https://www.delta.com/acctactvty/mileagecredit.action. You’ll be able to request credit for any flights you’ve taken with Delta Air Lines in the past 9 months.

Legal residents of the state of Washington: Register to earn one mile for every Seahawks passing yard this season with 12Status.

If you have a mailing address outside of the United States, you can earn an extra 10,000 or 5,000 Delta Airlines miles by enrolling in Delta's miles program here and then taking a Delta flight within 6 months of enrollment. You must also be opted-in to receive (via email) Travel & SkyMiles Info, a monthly SkyMiles Statement and Special Offers and Promotions. (I think that comes automatically with enrollment, but check to be sure.)

Delta Airlines lists its award sales deals here.

If your checked bag doesn't arrive at the carousel in 20 minutes or less after any Delta Airlines domestic flight, you are eligible to receive 2,500 bonus miles. Just complete this form within three days of your flight's arrival.

Delta regularly offers sales on award tickets. Check here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here before booking an award ticket. Please let me know about any Delta award sales you see that I have not listed on my What's New page. Thanks.

Turning groceries into getaways: Delta teams with Instacart to reward SkyMiles Members on everyday purchases.

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.

Million Mile Secrets posts a super description on how to book hidden award tickets on Delta's website. In late 2017 I used the China Air trick do get an award business class ticket to Hanoi, Vietnam, for 95,000 miles. The award was not listed when I did the standard search for SFO to Hanoi.

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   Fly Alaska Airlines - ski free.

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.

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.

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. And again in September, 2013, I snagged another 2,000 miles.

Alaska Airlines will match your status with Delta Airlines if you have an open Alaska Airlines Visa® card. Better yet, if you have Delta status through 2024, they will raise your status another level.

13 Resorts Where You Can Ski for Free with Your Alaska Airline Boarding Pass

I like this: Bike here, fly there: Earn Alaska Airlines miles when you ride Ford GoBike in the San Francisco Bay Area. I am unable to find out what you actually have to do to get them to give you the miles. There must be a way to register for this. If you know how, please tell me. Thanks

The Points Guy tells us how to Ski for Free with Your Alaska Airlines Boarding Pass.

On September 23, 2015, Alaska Airlines announced a partnership with Iceland Air.

With the new codeshare agreement, to take effect Nov. 1 pending government approval, customers flying on Alaska Airlines and Icelandair will enjoy seamless reservations and ticketing, one-stop check-in, baggage checked to its final destination, coordinated flight schedules, the ability to earn miles and/or points on the reciprocal airline and consistent passenger service standards.

Use Promo Code USALK14 when buying your Emirates ticket at emirates.com/as to save 10% on First Class and Business Class fares or 5% on Economy Class fares**. Valid between Boston, Chicago, Dallas/Fort Worth, Houston, Los Angeles, New York-JFK, San Francisco, Seattle, or Washington D.C. and Dubai, plus onward connecting flights from Dubai.

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.

The Alaska Airlines checked baggage page says "Customers departing from Pasco (PSC), Santa Rosa (STS), Walla Walla (ALW), or Yakima (YKM) airports are allowed to check one properly packaged box of wine (with up to twelve standard 750 ml. bottles in one case) without charge for domestic itineraries". View from the Wing says that this policy also applies to all Oregon airports, and discusses the offer. I would ask before counting on Oregon airports.

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   Before flying American, be sure to check its Earn Extra Miles page for bonus offer for paid flights. They usually require registration before booking. Often also listed are bonuses for hotels, rental cars, and vacations.

You can track your bags online for American Airlines flights.

American
British Airways

A Trick When You Are Short A Few American Airlines Miles.

The American Airlines Specials page lists numerous double miles offers. Check there before buying a ticket on AA or its partners.

AA’s award search map tool.

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? I list them here.)

American now has an award ticket category called “Economy Web Special”, offering very limited domestic tickets for as low as 5,000 miles. You should see this category when booking an award ticket on line, if it is available for the flight you want. The Points Guy provides a good explanation of the program.

American Airlines' HotSpots page lists opportunities for finding a MileSAAver award.

How to Game American’s New Connecting Flight Award Availability to Get the Ticket You Want. I consider this to be a must read article.

FrequentMiles writes about a neat trick to get an award space listed as available on the British Airways website but not on the computers of U.S. based American airlines agents.

How to Save Hundreds of Dollars When Cancelling American AAdvantage Awards

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.

 
Southwest Airlines   Caution: According to Frugal Travel Lawyer, Southwest Airlines points can not be used to book a flight that takes place after the points expire, even if you try to book the flight before the points expire. Also, an easy instant workaround is provided. But best to plan well ahead by occasionally earning SWA points.

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 credit 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."

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 of a choice of many airlines 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 actaully 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.

10 Unusual Ways to Earn Southwest Airlines Points

Companion Pass: Fly 100 qualifying one-way flights or earn 135,000 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 throughout 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.

Southwest Airlines

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.Thai

 
Frontier Airlines   Frontier domestic tickets start at 10,000 miles one way, making its credit card offer worthwhile. For more miles Frontier will fly you to Costa Rica, Mexico, Dominican Republic, or Jamaica. See Frontier's awards chart.

Frontier flies from a large number of U.S. cities, always routing through Denver. See its route map.

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   There are Hawaiian Airlines credit card offers with pretty good bonuses.

Rapid Travel Chai explains how you might be able to share Hawaiian Airlines if you hold a Hawaiian Airlines credit card or Bankoh Hawaiian Airlines Visa® check card.

Earn 350 Hawaiian Airlines Miles by joining Opinions Take Flight and completing your first survey. You will then be awarded HawaiianMiles for each additional survey you complete.

Hawaiin Airlines discounted flight awards are available to Hawaiian Airlines® Mastercard® cardmembers, and Pualani Platinum, Pualani Gold, and Premier Club Members Travel on Hawaiian Airlines using Hawaiian Air miles. Discounted Awards are available online for select Neighbor Island and North America flights, based on availability. See my section on Hawaiian Airlines credit cards to find how easy it is to get those miles.

The Hawaiian Airlines website lists its special offers for miles and fares. On that page you can sign up for e-mail notices 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 Hawaiian Airlines bonus miles offers. They are particularly good for individual flight route bonuses. Many of these offers require pre-registration, so always check these lists first before making a reservation.

 
JetBlue   JetBlue Airways Offers Elite Status Match To Disgruntled Delta Air Lines SkyMiles Medallion Members

Slick Deals describes a JetBlue Badges program, wherein you can get 1,200 Free trueblue points, plus up to 4,000. I leave it to you to read the details.

JetBlue offers Family Pooling, wherein you can pool your points with family members.

JetBlue has flash sales, sometimes lasting only a few hours. They are listed here, but best to follow @JetBlueCheeps.

JetBlue lists its points promotions here.

JetBlue has a nifty interactive map showing you how they will get you to where you want to go. First click on your departure city, then on your destination city. Cool. I see this airline as very much up and coming.

 
Virgin America   Be sure that Virgin America knows your birthdate. They gave me 500 miles for mine.

Earn 1,500 Virgin America Elevate points and a $20 Airbnb credit on your first Airbnb booking. Details.

Virgin America will match your status with another airline for 90 days. (So time it carefully.)

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 Singapore 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.

One Mile at a Time tells us how to get 250 free Virgin America points by entering a contest via facebook. I am unable to verify this, as I do not have a facebook account.

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

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 truly for frequent flyers on Spirit Airlines only.

Register your Free Spirit number, then book and complete an eligible* roundtrip flight in 2024 to receive 1,000 bonus points.

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   Register by September 1, 2024, to earn 6,000 Air Canada Aeroplan points per paid flight between September 1, 2024 and March 30, 2025.

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

Rewards Canada, 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.

 
Copa Ailines ConnectMiles   1,000 miles for joining CopaAirline's ConnectMiles program, 2,000 more for completing steps 2 and 3 of your profile, and still another 2,000 after your first flight with Copa (presumable a paid flight). Copa is a Star Alliance member.

Copa is a member of the Star Alliance.

 
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.

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.

 
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.

 
Iberia   Iberia

Head for Points says that you will receive 500 bonus Avios points when you sign up and have some account activity within 45 days. The sign-up page does not mention this offer, but the comments on the post indicate that it is working. I don't know when the offer expires. Please tell me when it stops working. Thanks.

If you have an Iberia Avios account that has been open 90 days and has earned at least 1 point, you can transfer British Airways Avios over to Iberia Avios.

How To Transfer Avios Between Programs For Free. (British Airways, Iberia & Aer Lingus).You might want to do this for several reasons. For example, Iberia often charges significantly lower fees than does British Airways. Or, you might have Avios in more than one of these airline accounts and need to consolidate to get an award ticket.

The airlines are partners with each other. British Airways and Iberia are members of the OneWorld alliance. Their Avios are especially useful for short haul tickets. They can be really good for domestic American Airlines flights. I have used them for short haul flights within South America - between Buenos Aires and Iquazu in Argentina, for example, and for tickets from London to Central Europe.

Iberia's Offers page lists many offers for earning Avios and using them at a discount.

Why you should NEVER book Avios flights on Iberia via ba.com

Chase Ultimate Reward points and American Express Membership Rewards points transfer to British Airways miles, which, in turn, transfer to Iberia miles. But before doing this, check with both airlines first to be sure this will work. I have not yet heard from anyone who transferred from these two programs to Iberia via British Airways.

Seven Avios secrets you probably don’t know

Iberia charges much less money for "fuel" charges than does British Airways, and they are both members of the One World alliance, with the same access to award tickets within that alliance. It is possible to transfer British Air Avios to Iberia Avios. To do this, your Iberia account must be open for 3 months, and it must have Avios in it.

  • Mommy Points shows us how we might acquire these points very cheaply without actually flying.
  • Head for Points lists several possible problems with this offer. There is some risk with the process Mommy Points describes.

How To Find Award Availability With Iberia Avios.

 
British Airways   British Airways miles are now Avios points.

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.
    • Wandering Aramean has created a nifty Avios Destination by Price map. Enter your departure airport of interest at the top, then use the color codes or scroll over each of the airports shown to see how many Avios will get you to each. Includes partner airlines, like American and Alaska and many European, Central and South American, and Asian airlines.
  • 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 Lingas 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. To do all this, your Iberia account must be open for 3 months, and it must have Avios in it. To accomplish the latter, get 50 Iberia Avios by registering for Iberia's Summer Flights drawing and or follow Dan's Deals's instructions here.
  • Why you should NEVER book Avios flights on Iberia via ba.com
  • How To Transfer Avios Between Programs For Free. (British Airways, Iberia & Aer Lingus).You might want to do this for several reasons. For example, Iberia often charges significantly lower fees than does British Airways. Or, you might have Avios in more than one of these airline accounts and need to consolidate to get an award ticket.
    The airlines are partners with each other. British Airways and Iberia are members of the OneWorld alliance. Their Avios are especially useful for short haul tickets. They can be really good for domestic American Airlines flights. I have used them for short haul flights within South America - between Buenos Aires and Iquazu in Argentina, for example, and for tickets from London to Central Europe.

Join Marriott Bonvoy® for free. Collect 250 British Air Avios and start enjoying exclusive Member Rates, complimentary in-room internet access and more. Not sure, but this might keep your Avios account alive

Seven Avios secrets you probably don’t know

Earn British Airways Avios by staying with Airbnb or by Hosting your home. Details.

If you are using British Airways Avios for flying on two or more partners (excluding British Air), this little known award chart often will give you a better deal than the standard award chart.

Million Mile Secrets posts an excellent article: Save 4,000 British Airways Avios Points for Short Flights With This Trick. Short haul British Air flights and its partners will increase in price to 7,500 Avios each way. The article tells us how to pay less by transferring Avios to Iberia Airlines, then booking the same flight there. Once again this is motivation to open an Iberia account now, since you will not be able to transfer Avios points from British Airways to Iberia unless you have had both a British Airways and Iberia account for at least 3 months and have some sort of activity in the Iberia account.

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.

Don't call the US British Airways phone number - try this instead. Useful if you can get free or very cheap international calls, such as Skype.

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 will match your status with any other airline.

The Points Guy posted an excellent article: How to Use Virgin Atlantic Miles Without Fuel Surcharges. It describes the many partners of that airline for whose flights Virgin Atlantic does not charge "fuel charges".

New Airbnb Hosts Can Earn British Airways Avios, Virgin Atlantic Miles.

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   Milenerd posts a mistitled 1,000 Lufthansa Miles and More miles offer for simply registering here. Use google translate if you need to.

The Italian blog Frequent Flyer Italia says you can earn 500 Miles and More miles for signing up for its newsletter. 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.

Kids and teens can receive 2,000 miles for joining Miles & More's JetFriends program. Chose your language at the bottom of the page. View from the Wings says "Miles&More program wouldn’t allow members without miles in their account to search for award space (and I much wanted to be able to search Lufthansa and Swiss award availability as offered to their own members as opposed to as offered to their partners like United or ANA), but that restriction was lifted for members of this program."

Free Stuff Times shows us how to get 1,000 free Lufthansa miles. Enter via the German page, not the translated page.

MaltaPoints says you can get a very easy, free, 300 Lufthansa (and others) Miles & More miles for logging in with your Facebook account and adding your M&M log-in details when prompted. Please tell me when this offer is gone. 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.

HolidayCheck.com offers 100 Miles and More miles for reviewing a hotel. I am told you can to this up to 10 times/month.

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/KLM   Save 25% to 50% on the Air France/KLM Award Miles usually required for award tickets. I leave it to you to read the details. The specific discounted awards are posted the first of each month. Remember that you can transfer points into Flying Blue instantly from American Express Membership Rewards and not instantly from Starwood Preferred Guest.

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.

 
Alitalia   2,000 bonus miles for joining Alitalia's Millemiglia program.

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. It is a member of the Star Alliance, so it has its uses.

Singapore Airlines' KrisFlyer Spontaneous Escapes offers 30% discounts on award tickets.

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

View from the Wing gives a pretty good explanation of the program.

Travel is Free has an excellent article on the various best ways to use Cathay Pacific miles.

Here is the award chart.

 
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)   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 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   Join Eva Air's miles program to earn 500 miles for free. Then fill in your data to earn another 500 miles. The airline is the second largest Taiwanese airline (after China Airlines). It is a member of the Star Alliance.

Eva Air lists its partners here.

 
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 lists its mileage earning partners.

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

 
Emirates Airlines   Sign up to Emirates Skywards today and earn 2,000 bonus Skywards Miles. Simply use the code ‘FLYDUBAI’ to avail this offer. View from the Wing says "You want to do this anyway because Emirates is a partner of all the major transferable currencies, it’s how you gain access to first class award space on Emirates and to cheaper JetBlue redemptions."

Save Money In Dubai With Your Emirates Boarding Pass

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.

 
Qatar Airlines   Join Qatar Airways Privilege Club using promo code OALSMH121 and receive 2,500 bonus Qmiles right away. When you take your first flight as a Privilege Club member, fast-track your tier status with 50 bonus Qpoints, and you'll also enjoy an additional 5,000 bonus Qmiles.

Qatar Airways Will Adopt Avios As Its Currency, Allow Points Transfers

 
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  

 
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.

 
      

Hotel and Other Points Programs

The programs below are great for earning free nights at major hotel chains. I usually use them for the first and last nights of travel, to recover from jet lag on that first day, and to be near my departure airport for departure. But for most of my travel, I much prefer smaller, family owned hotels and B&Bs. Many of the latter are simply home stays in local homes with a few rooms to rent to make a bit of money. The interactions with the local people are priceless and are a major reason I travel.

Booking.com is my main resource for finding these accommodations. It does not have a points program, but its listings are hugely extensive world wide. They include home stays, farm stays (fun!), guest houses, hostels (many with private rooms - fun, especially for the young), resorts, apartments, inns, campgrounds, luxury tents, villas, country houses, lodges, boats (yes, you can stay on a boat), condo hotels, chalets, and even motels. Booking.com books directly with the property booked. The booking is immediate - the property owners know who you are immediately after you book, so you can contact them directly to confirm that your booking was actually made. To my knowledge this is the only third party booking company that does this. With others, the property owner may not know who your are until a day or two before your arrival.

Accessing booking.com by clicking on the banner above helps me at no cost to you. Thanks.

 

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

 
IHG® Rewards Club - InterContinental Hotels Group   InterContinental Hotels includes Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, InterContinental Hotels, Crown Plaza Hotels, Hotel Indigo, Staybridge Suites, and Candlewood Suites. It's loyalty program is the IHG® Rewards Club (formerly Priority Club).

New member will receive 5,000 points for joining the program. Its free.

Usually there are excellent IHG® Rewards Club credit card offers available.

Intercontinental Hotels Group (IHG) offers 15% off on bookings using points at new and renovated properties by 30 November 2024.

IHG One Rewards 15% Off Award Flash Sale For Stays Through November 23, 2024

Expiration of points. Points do not expire unless your account becomes inactive for any period of twelve (12) months or longer. To maintain the points in your account, you must have at least one earn or redeem transaction posted to your account every twelve (12) months. If you do not keep your account active for any period of twelve (12) months or more, all of your points may expire which means your points will be removed from your account and are no longer able to be redeemed. Points in your account do not expire for all current Elite members, although all of your points may expire twelve (12) months after your account moves to Club level from an Elite level without earn or redeem activity.

Caution: Loyalty Lobby says that IHG is aggressively canceling accounts for activity it thinks violates its terms and conditions. This includes signing up for targeted offers for which you were not targeted.

Be sure to tell IHG your birthday. They occasionally give us a gift of points on that date.

Register to receive 500 IHG One Rewards points when you download the IHG app. Details.

1,000 Free IHG Rewards points for joining IHG Business Rewards Via Crown Plaza (free). Follow exactly the instructions on this Slick Deals post, using the 3 links provided

Earn 1,000 Intercontinental Hotels Elite qualifying bonus points for each night on your next trip at select properties.

Useful: IHG Rewards’ Hidden Award Price Calendar

The Military Frequent Flyers points out that many military hotels are now being managed by IHG, and allow you to earn all the points and nights just like any other major hotel chain, for living on base/ post.

IHG® Rewards Premier and Business Premier Cardmembers can receive up to $50 in TravelBank Cash each year. Registration required. Do it now, because it take a few weeks to take effect.

If you have the Chase Sapphire Preferred (SM) Card, Ink Bold® Business Card or Ink Plus® Business Card, then making your paid InterContinental Hotels, Holiday Inn or Holiday Inn Express reservation through the Chase Ultimate Rewards shopping portal usually nets you a few points/$1 spent. There are probably other portals that list these, also.

IHG® Rewards Club's PointBreaks page lists opportunities to book award nights for only 5,000 points per night. Usually these are incredible deals. Always check this page before booking an award night.

With Last Minute Reward Nights, IHG® Rewards 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.

The wiki at the top of this flyertalk thread lists many bonus offer at IGH properties.

You can check on the status of all IHG® Rewards 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.

Various cash back portals offer rebates for IHG stays. For example, on January 11, 2016, Mr. Rebates was offering 10%. You may read about these portals on my Buying Stuff page in the Shop On Line > Cash Back Portals section.

You can buy IHG® Rewards Club points for $11.50 - $13.50 per 1,000 points. This could be useful in acquiring expensive rooms via the PointBreaks page.

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

Normally you can see your IHG® Rewards 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 IHG® Rewards 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.

IHG® Rewards 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 IHG® Rewards Club maintain good lists of individual IHG® Rewards 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   Accor Hotels encompasses many brands. Here is the list of those offering Le Club points.

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 IHG® Rewards Club Platinum status. View from the Wing provides two methods to do the same.

Accor points convert to miles for many airlines. See the Le Club airline partner conversion page.

As of November 19, 2014, topcashback was offering 6% cash back for Accor Hotels stays worldwide, and BigCrumbs was offering 3.6% cash back on Accor Hotels stays in the U.S. and Canada. You may read about these programs in my Cash Back Portals section

  • Although Motel 6 is owned by Accor, apparently it is not included in these offers. There is a separate 5% cash back offer for Motel 6 in topcashback.

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 Hotel and Other Points Programs section.

 
Marriott Hotels   Marriott Bonvoy 2024 New Member Bonus
  • Sign Up: 500 points
  • Stay 1: 2,000 bonus points (2,500 cumulative bonus)
  • Stay 2: 5,000 bonus points (7,500 cumulative bonus)

Join Marriott Bonvoy® for free. Collect 250 British Air Avios and start enjoying exclusive Member Rates, complimentary in-room internet access and more. Not sure, but this might keep your Avios account alive.

Save Big On Marriott Hotels By Booking Them Through Airbnb. But you may not get the points for the stay.

Earn Marriott points on qualifying orders with Uber Eats and rides

Who Knew You Could Earn 50,000 Bonvoy Points In Your Pajamas?. It works by participating in a virtual presentation of the Marriott Vacation Club.

Marriott gift cards can usually be purchased at office supply stores like Office Depot. Some credit cards earn bonus miles for purchases there.

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 credit card offer.

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.

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

Some of the Cash Back Portals list Marriott.

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 Hotel and Other Points Programs section of my Other Programs I Like page.

 

   
Wyndham Rewards   Wyndham Promotions: Up to 15% Off Stays and Upgrade to Platinum, 35K bonus

Beginning May 11, 2015, 15,000 Wyndham points will get you a free night at any property. Also, for paid stays, you'll get 10 points for every dollar you spend or 1,000 points on every qualified stay, whichever is more. Details. Note that this means that the Wyndham Visa credit card offers will give you one night for free, or two nights for the $69 annual fee.

1,500 Free and Easy La Quinta (or Wyndham Points) With Redeem Away.

You can match status or transfer your La Quinta points to Wyndhnam points. Details.

You can convert Wyndham points to the miles of many airlines.

Wyndham offers bonus points and status to active and retired military members, veterans, and their families.

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 Hotel and Other Points Programs section of my Other Programs I Like page.

 

   
Best Western Rewards   Best Western will match your status with any other hotel program.

Free Night at a Best Western property for only 10,000 Points (with some restrictions). Best Western has 4 credit card offers with good bonuses.

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 November 19, 2014, topcashback was offering 5% cash back for Best Western Hotels stays worldwide, and BigCrumbs was offering up to 3% cash back, plus some mega coupon offers. You may read about these programs in my 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.

 
Radisson Rewards (Previosly Club Carlson and Gold Point before that)  

Radisson Rewards includes Radisson Hotels, Park Plaza, park inn, and Country Inns and Suites.

You can now exchange points between Choice Hotels and Radisson Rewards. The ratio of exchange is two Choice Privileges points to one Radisson Rewards Americas point.

Earn 3,000 Bonus Radisson Rewards Points When You Go Mobile

Club CarlsonSM offers members 20 Gold Points® per U.S. dollar* spent on eligible hotel nights –plus meals and beverages charged to your room.

Park Plaza is experimenting with a an energy and water saving offer for some properties in Europe. For each night you decline housekeeping services, choose from a 10% food discount, 1,500 Club Carlson Gold Points® or a €/£3.00 donation to its nominated charity.

Caution: Rapid Travel Chai warns us that when you select Miles as your earning preference your entire balance of Gold Points and all future Gold Points earned will automatically convert to Miles with the airline you have selected in 10,000 point increments. Miles can not be converted back to Gold Points. All miles with this auto conversion option will be redeemed at an 10:1 ratio.

As of November 19, 2014, topcashback was offering 5% cash back for Radisson Hotels stays worldwide. You may read about cash back programs in my 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 Goldpoints 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     Choice Privileges® Says Thanks with Lifetime Gold Status and 2,500 Points for Our Military. Simply fill out the form.

You can now exchange points between Choice Hotels and Radisson Rewards. The ratio of exchange is two Choice Privileges points to one Radisson Rewards Americas point.

You can earn airline miles instead of points for stays at Choice Hotels properties.

Choice Hotels will match your status with another hotel loyalty program. You probably know Choice Hotels from their budget brands such as Comfort Inn, Quality and EconoLodge among others. Loyalty Lobby explains the various status levels. FrequentMiles suggests that you wait until you really need it, since the status match is only available once per lifetime. Also, match early in calendar year, as the status match lasts the rest of the current calendar year and all of the next calendar year. However, I see no end date for this offer, so you risk the offer disappearing if you wait. Please tell me when this offer is gone. Thanks.

If you have the Chase Sapphire Preferred (SM) Card, Ink Bold® Business Card or Ink Plus® Business Card, then making your paid Choice Hotels reservation through the Chase Ultimate Rewards shopping portal usually nets you few points/$1 spent. There are probably other portals that list these, also.

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 November 19, 2014, topcashback was offering 8% cash back for Choice Hotels stays, and BigCrumbs was offering 4.2% cash back. You may read about these programs in my 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   New member bonus: As a new Hilton Honors member, you’ll earn a Welcome Bonus of 1,500 Bonus Points on your first stay, plus an extra 3,000 Bonus Points after two stays.

Register for 2,500 bonus points for stays at Hilton properties, even those paid for by points. Offer valid for stays completed September 3, 2024 through December 31, 2024 (“promotion period”) at any hotel or resort within the Hilton Portfolio.

Earn 1,500 Hilton HHonors Points when you ride with Lyft. Link your Hilton Honors account and take five rides by September 3, 2024.

Get Free 90 Days Of Hilton Honors Elite Status (Just 8 Nights To Keep It Through March 2026).

The Military Frequent Flyer says that Hilton is offering up to 100,000 HHonors points per year to veterans for stays while job-searching, for training, or for relocation. Info here.

Earn Delta Miles and Hilton for Lyft rides.

Hilton is offering a generous status match with any other hotel program. You must upload proof of status and proof of a stay within the last 12 months with the other hotel program. If you have the IHG credit card, you probably have platinum status there. Hilton status is quite valuable. It will probably get you an upgraded room, a free breakfast, and access to the top floor for food, beverages, and internet access. Please tell me when this offer is gone. Thanks.

euflyer tells us how to get the valuable Hilton Gold status for 20,000 Hilton HHonors points. Note that the Hilton credit card Visa and Amex offers provide an easy, free 110,000 bonus points. Awhile back the Hilton Gold Status gave me a very nice stay in Frankfurt, Breakfast, upgraded room, and access to the top floor lounge with internet access and free food, all included. Great for recovering from jet lag before traveling on to more adventurous accommodations.

For a limited time, earn miles in your sleep at select newly opened hotels and resorts within the Hilton Portfolio throughout Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Book the Bonus Miles Package and you’ll earn 500 miles per stay at select recently opened Hilton Garden Inn and Hampton by Hilton hotels, and 500 miles per night at select recently opened Hilton Hotels & Resorts, Waldorf Astoria Hotels & Resorts, Conrad Hotels & Resorts, Curio – A Collection by Hilton and DoubleTree by Hilton hotels.

LoyaltyLobby lists quite a few bonus points offers for stays. One is for meeting planners.

The Points Guy says that American Express is offering 4,000 bonus Hilton HHonors points when you spend $400 or more in a single transaction directly at hotels and resorts in the Hilton portfolio, and pay using your co-branded Amex Hilton card. He provides no link to this offer, but says that registration is not required.

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.

 
World of Hyatt   You’ll Want to Be a Hyatt Member for Free Breakfast. Also, must book at Hyatt directly.

Million Miles Secrets posted a useful article: When Hyatt Says Award Rooms Aren’t Available, There’s Still Hope!.

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 Goldpoints Plus offers for booking a room:

You can read about the World of Hyatt 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   If you or your spouse are an active or retired member of the U.S. or Canadian military, the La Quinta hotel chain is offering
  • 12% off our low Best Available Rates with your Military discount
  • “Instant” La Quinta Returns Gold status with Military recognition
  • 2,000 Bonus Points after your first stay as a Military Rewards member*
  • 20% More Points For Your Stays
  • Free Room Upgrade Certificates
  • Express Check-In … and more
  • Register here

1,500 Free and Easy La Quinta (or Wyndham Points) With Redeem Away.

You can match status or transfer your Wyndhnam points points to La Quinta. Details.

Members of AARP and AAA, and seniors 55 and over are offered discounts of up to 10% 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. The websites below do a much better job of keeping up with these offers that I possibly could. Be sure to check there before booking a room.

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

 
Hotels.com  

The Hotels.com Welcome Rewards® program offers credit towards a night's stay of the value of the average of you 10 nights paid stays. You must register to participate.

Hotels.com is listed on the Chase Ultimate Rewards shopping portal. This means that if you own one of the excellent Chase cards that earn Ultimate Rewards, you not only earn the extra points from the portal (up to 4/1$), I believe you also earn the double points for travel and hotels from the Chase Sapphire Preferred (SM) Card, Ink Bold® Business Card or Ink Plus® Business Card.

  • If you book via the Chase Ultimate Rewards shopping portal and are not logged into the Welcome Rewards® program, the FAQs of the latter say
    Welcome Rewards nights are stored in your Hotels.com account. If you weren't logged in when you booked your reservation, you need to attach your hotel reservation to your account to earn your Welcome.

The Faqs also say

If you join the Welcome Rewards program after booking and your hotel stay has not been completed, you can still earn nights.

As of November 19, 2014, topcashback was offering 7% cash back for Hotels.com reservations, and BigCrumbs was offering up to 3.9% cash back, plus some mega coupon offers. You may read about these programs in my Cash Back Portals section

 
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. Please allow me to refer you to this, as it would help me at no cost to you. Just ask. Thanks.
  • If all you want is the points, there are very short Amtrak trips costing only a few dollars in many Amtrak markets.
Save 25% - 50% on the dollar cost of Amtrak fares by booking in advance.

Save 17% - 60% by buying your Amtrak tickets as a group of at least 3 passengers.

Amtrak gives a 10% discount on most fares for riders 65 and over. Details.

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.

 
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 BoardingArea for donating the web space for this web site.
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