"Up Front" Blog Entries

Following are some of Tim's recent blog posts:

• United Shortens Airport Lines, for a Price
  New Premier Line service offers elite perks to casual flyers.
• Are Frequent Flyer Miles a Gift Worth Giving?
  Even with discounts and bonuses, airline miles are too expensive.
• New Delta Program Will Be Biggest, Aims to Be Best
  Latest changes in SkyMiles are a step in the right direction.
• Latest Delta-Hilton Promotion Kicks Off New Wave of Offers
  New Delta-Hilton promotion is uncommonly generous.

The FrequentFlier Forum - Hot Topics

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

In the "Airline Programs" Forum, the "United Award Accelerator miles" thread continues with the following comment from shmoozy1: "The commercial value of miles from a purchaser's perspective is really no more than 1 cent or maybe 1.25 cents per mile. If the airlines can persuade you to spend double or triple that sum in order to buy miles they are making the killing."

And in the "Credit Card Programs" Forum, joelmeu has info on a new credit card that seems ideally suited to the times: "Not a miles card, but sweet enough to mention anyway. This new Schwab card gives you unlimited 2% cash back on purchases, automatically deposited into a Schwab One brokerage account each month. This beats the old Fidelity 1.5% card."

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

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Continental Offers Extra Miles, for a Price

Between today and January 31, 2009, OnePass members can opt to pay a surcharge to earn a bonus on Continental miles flown during 2009.

There are two versions of Continental's Extra Mile offer: Pay $125 to receive a 50% mileage bonus on all flights, up to 12,500 bonus miles; or pay $175 to receive a 50% mileage bonus, up to 17,500 bonus miles. In either case, assuming you fly enough to receive the full bonuses, you'll be buying the extra miles at 1 cent each.

Considering that the average value of a frequent flyer mile is between 1.2 and 1.5 cents, this is not a bad deal. And for comparison, United offers a similar feature, called Award Accelerator, that effectively sells the extra miles for 3 cents apiece.

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Delta Bonus for Alaska Flights

To promote its expanded alliance with Alaska, Delta is offering SkyMiles members a bonus when flying both airlines.

Between December 1 and February 28, 2009, SkyMiles members will earn a 1,000-mile bonus on itineraries that include both a Delta and Alaska Airlines or Horizon Air flight.

Registration is required.

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United Offers Miles-for-Flowers

Miles-for-flowers normally brings to mind the typical offer of airline miles awarded by any number of online florists. But United and FTD are flipping that assumption, allowing Mileage Plus members to redeem their miles for FTD floral arrangements.

As always with frequent flyer awards, the key question is value: How many miles, in exchange for how many dollars' worth of merchandise?

Among the options: a $62.99 bouquet for 8,400 miles; an $82.99 arrangement for 11,100 miles; a $105.99 item for 14,200 miles; and so on. That amounts to getting $0.0075 (three-quarters of a cent) per mile redeemed.

If you have an account with some orphan United miles in it, this might be a way to cash out. Otherwise, you can get much better value for miles by redeeming them for a free trip.

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Triple Dining Miles from US Airways

Through December 31, Dividend Miles members can earn triple miles for qualifying dines at restaurants participating in Dividend Miles Dining. A maximum of 3,000 bonus miles may be earned during the promotion period.

Registration is required.

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Deal Alert from SmarterTravel.com

1) $18 Spirit Sale Fares

Spirit has announced its second $18 fare sale of the week. The lowest prices are available only to members of the $9 Fare Club, and non-member fares start at $58 round-trip for travel on the same routes and dates.

Travel dates vary by destination. Book by December 11, 11:59 PM ET.

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2) Worldwide Sale Fares on American From $244

American has announced a new worldwide sale for travel to cities in the Caribbean, Europe, Mexico, and South America. Fares start at $244 round-trip.

Book tickets at least seven days in advance. A Saturday-night stay is required, and the maximum stay is 30 days. Book by December 11, 11:59 PM CT.

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Win a 15-Day Trip for 2 to Thailand

Enter Rough Guides' "Ultimate Adventure" sweepstakes by February 28, 2009, for a chance to win a 15-day trip to Thailand for two, including air, hotel, and Thailand "Wilderness Adventure" tour.

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[Visit FrequentFlier.com for more travel sweepstakes.]

Feedback from the Frontlines of Travel

"I had approximately 280,000 miles in Amex Delta platinum card and 25,000 in Amex gold Delta small business card. I needed 300,000 miles for round-trip first/business from SRQ to EDI.

"They could not combine miles from two accounts on the phone but the very nice lady at Delta's international reservations told me how to do it. I faxed the request with details of accounts and photo I.D. (drivers license) on Friday. By Sunday my accounts were combined. I had 305,000 miles in one account.

"On Delta's website I booked two round-trips for next August returning in September SRQ/ATL/JFK/EDI first/first/business, and the same coming back. 150,000 miles each and $164.02 in taxes each. No complaints." [Charles C.]

"Yesterday (December 5), I flew from Zurich to Washington, DC.

"I was amused to see that one-third of the coach section was Economy Plus (United's upgraded coach product). An interesting way to pluck an additional $89 from the wallets of travellers looking for extra leg room. In the past, it seemed Economy Plus only accounted for about 15% of the coach seats. Anybody else notice this phenomenon?" [David E. - Potomac, MD]

"Just wanted to take a moment to thank you for your recent coverage of the various airline tie-ups with Internet retailers. I have been doing as much of my Xmas shopping as possible with miles in mind, and am earning quite a few with all the bonus miles being offered.

"Thanks again and best for the Holidays." [Abby]

Until next week...