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Just a reminder: If you're not already doing so, use this link to follow us on Twitter and stay abreast of the latest in frequent flyer program news, opinion, and advice.

Alternative Frequent Flyer Awards... Magazine Subscriptions, Anyone?

With flights fuller than ever, and airlines desperate to squeeze every last dollar from every last customer, award seats are scarce. There are other award options, but good value is hard to come by.

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"Up Front" Blog Entries

Following are some of Tim's recent blog posts:

• New BFFs, American and JetBlue Partner on Flights, Miles
  Today, American and JetBlue launched a partnership that makes for easier connections in Boston and New York, and will eventually include limited frequent flyer benefits.
• The Best Time to Get a Starwood Credit Card: Now
  With the 30,000-point sign-up bonus extended through July 31, this may be the best time ever to apply for one of the best travel rewards credit cards ever.
• Latest Amex Card Perk: Access to US Airways Airport Lounges
  American Express cardholders can now use US Airways' airport lounges, in addition to those of American, Delta, and Continental. The future lounge lineup is in doubt, however.
• Starwood Rewards Frequent Stays With "Rewarding Returns"
  Members of Starwood's Preferred Guest program who register for the Rewarding Returns offer and complete five stays between July 1 and December 31 will receive a choice of three bonuses.
• JetBlue Adds Shopping Miles to TrueBlue Program
  With the launch of the ShopTrue mileage mall, TrueBlue members can earn points when shopping at more than 800 online merchants.

The FrequentFlier Forum - Hot Topics

As always, there's plenty of activity on the FrequentFlier Forum.

In the "Hotel Programs" Forum, QF WP shares a tip for legitimately getting access to Friends and Family rates at more than 4,000 InterContinental Hotels Group hotels, even without a friend or family referral:

This is an interesting offer from IHG, where it is trying to increase patronage during the GFC [Great Financial Meltdown]...

One of the IHG Execs, Steve Sickel, has virally released his access ...to the Friends and Family booking page on the IHG website.

I've used it this year, where the property wanted AUD$375 for the night; but the Friends and Family rate was only $187.50. I was happy to save $187.50 over some Priority Club points.

Perfect for people who don't use Frequent Guest programs, or have irregular stays at IHG hotels. If you are in their Priority Club program, expect the stay to post as non-qualifying. But there have been instances at other web sites that points and stay credit has been granted, either by:

1. Not being asked for the Certificate, or
2. The hotel mis-posting the stay

I therefore would always have a Certificate available, but only proffer if asked for it.

Questions, answers, opinions? Post them to the Forum!

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Deal Alert from SmarterTravel.com

1) $49 Each Way Southwest Sale - Travel Into December

If your schedule is flexible, you can get a jump start on holiday travel with Southwest's latest sale. More than 2,000 routes spanning over 60 cities are available, including Boston, Chicago, Las Vegas, and Orlando. Flights are priced from $49 one-way, $98 round-trip.

Travel early September through mid-December, but book by Thursday, August 5.

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2) $612 Lufthansa Late Summer and Fall Sale

Visit cities in France, Germany, Italy, and other countries with Lufthansa's latest sale. Popular destinations include Rome, Marseille, and Frankfurt, while less frequented locales include Verona and Bergen. Round-trip fares start at $612 per person.

Fares are valid for travel late August through late January 2011. Book by Friday, July 23.

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Win a Trip for 2 to the Amazon

Enter the Burt's Bees "Rejuvenating Rainforest Retreat" sweepstakes by December 31 for a chance to win a trip for two to the Amazon Rain Forest in Brazil, including air, hotel, and a choice of excursions (one of which includes piranha fishing).

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[Visit FrequentFlier.com for more travel sweepstakes.]

Feedback from the Frontlines of Travel

We welcome reader feedback on issues related to travel generally and frequent flyer programs in particular. Please use this link to submit comments.

Northwest Miles Not Transferred to Delta

" I received inquiries about transferring my Northwest miles (156,000+ miles) over to Delta. I said YES. Now I find they were never transferred and I am receiving the silent treatment.

"What can I do to recover those miles?" [John S.]

[FrequentFlier.com replies - Yours is one of the very few complaints I've heard about issues with the transition from Northwest to Delta. If you haven't already, the first thing to do is call Delta's SkyMiles service center at 1-800-323-2323 and see whether they can rectify the problem over the phone.]

How many Miles ...?

"Could you let me know how many frequent flier miles it takes to redeem for one round-trip airline ticket?" [Jayne K.]

[FrequentFlier.com replies - Welcome to the world of frequent flyer miles. And thanks for the reminder that not everyone is a battle-scarred road warrior who knows these programs inside-out. You didn't mention which program you participate in. That's important because different programs have different award prices. But in most legacy airline programs, the price of a capacity-controlled round-trip domestic award ticket is 25,000 miles.]

New Acronym: IBACDIHBIFWTA

"Last week I travelled to Racine, Wisconsin to do a much-anticipated job for SC Johnson. As Jackson Browne sang 'The audiences were heavenly but the travelling was hell.' I'll spare you the long drawn out story of my travel travails but suffice to say I wound up spending a lot more time in airports than I expected.

"My Delta flight from Miami was so late I missed my 4:20 PM connection in Atlanta. I was quickly put on the next flight and scheduled to leave for Milwaukee at 6:45. Unfortunately that flight was postponed time after time until Delta canceled it altogether at 9:30.

"Luckily I was able get a one-way ticket on an AirTran flight scheduled to leave at 10:20. Up until now I have avoided AirTran, remembering that they strategically changed their name from ValueJet right after they stuffed a plane so deep into the Everglades muck that there was nothing left to pull out. But I did need to get to Wisconsin and they had a flight available. Thanks to more delays, that 10:20 flight didn't leave until 2:30 in the morning but I was still able to make my meetings with SC Johnson (albeit on two hours sleep).

"When my work was over, my hosts where nice enough to arrange a tour of their Frank Lloyd Wright designed campus -- an afternoon of joy for an architecture groupie like me. Then a quick flight to Detroit where I eagerly checked the connections board only to find five dreaded red letters next to my flight to Miami -- 'CNCLD.'

"Two Delta flights cancelled in two days! And this one meant an overnight stay at the scenic Detroit Airport Clarion Hotel, albeit with two six-dollar meal vouchers from Delta. Who said flying's not glamorous anymore?

"When I posted my plight on Twitter, @Randy_Gage responded that Delta stands for 'Doesn't Ever Leave The Airport' which pretty much fit my experience.

"Randy's tweet, coupled with last week's blog post 'What's In A Name?' got me wondering what's in an acronym? FIAT used to stand for 'Fix It Again, Tony' and Saab meant 'Swedish Automobiles Always Break' and neither brand is sold in the U.S. anymore. Bud is short for 'Beer's UnDrinkable' and I agree with that. TCBY used to stand for 'This Can't Be Yogurt' until they were sued for copyright infringement by the 'This Can't Be Butter' people and changed their acronym to 'The Country's Best Yogurt.' I can't tell you if that was true but I doubt it.

"Some brands have managed to avoid the fate of their acronyms. Ford used to stand for 'Fix Or Repair Daily' but seems to have figured out how to build quality cars. And BMW stood for 'Break My Window' in the eighties but changed their electronics and cut down on radio theft.

"Getting back to my feelings about Delta, I can't think of a better acronym using their name but I do like IBACDIHBIFWTA which is short for 'It'll Be A Cold Day In Hell Before I Fly With Them Again.'" [Bruce T.]

Until next week...