"Up Front" Blog Entries

Following are some of Tim's recent blog posts:

• The Five Most Significant Travel Events of 2008
  In a year full of noteworthy developments, these are the highlights.
• United Discounts Luxury Add-Ons
  Three upscale amenities are on sale from United.
• Top Five Frequent Flyer Deals for December 2008
  This month's offers are from Continental, Delta, Hilton, United.
• Are Frequent Flyer Miles a Gift Worth Giving?
  Even with discounts and bonuses, airline miles are too expensive.

The FrequentFlier Forum - Hot Topics

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

In the "Airline Programs" Forum, SeansInChicago adds the following in the "United Award Accelerator miles" thread, regarding the question of purchasing versus earning frequent flyer miles: Referring to flights between Chicago and London, "I've been, historically, able to get this at its cheapest in economy for around $450. With elite bonuses, that comes to about 15.8K miles or about 2 cents a mile. I would love to see routing that can generate more miles for less money (total cost isn't a consideration).

"This is more expensive than anything that comes out to roughly 1 cent per mile, but purchasing miles doesn't have the arguably utmost benefit of giving elite status. So, I'd rather earn the miles on my butt.

"Programs charging near this rate are a viable option for someone knowing they are within a certain redemption threshold ... and knowing they won't have the time to earn it in the air."

Also in the "Airline Programs" Forum, vmorris828 is looking for charitable opportunities with a frequent flyer component: "I need to give to charities before the end of the month. Like UNICEF, Salvation Army or others."

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

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Earn Delta Miles for SuperShuttle Rides

Delta SkyMiles members can now earn 50 SkyMiles each way for using SuperShuttle's airport transfer services at 29 airports in 24 cities.

SuperShuttle also awards miles in the programs of Frontier, Northwest, and US Airways.

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Amex Hilton Card Revises Earning Rates

According to credit card statements received by cardholders for the period ending December 2, the following changes in the earning rates for the Hilton credit card issued by American Express will take effect on January 1, 2009:

Cardholders will no longer earn bonus points for purchases at restaurants and post offices.

Cardholders will earn an additional bonus point for purchases made in other categories.

Cardholders will receive six points (instead of the previous five) per dollar spent at supermarkets, drug stores and gas stations, in addition to spending in the new categories of home telephone, cable, satellite TV and Internet service providers.

Cardholders will also earn three additional bonus points (for a total of six points) for each dollar spent at Hilton hotels when paying with the Hilton card.

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From Hyatt: "More Than a Bonus"

Between January 9 and April 30, 2009, members of Hyatt's Gold Passport program will be able to earn up to 20,000 Hyatt Gold Passport bonus points or miles at any of more than 365 Hyatt hotels and resorts in 45 countries.

Bonus points are awarded as follows:

~ Stay two nights and earn 2,000 bonus points/miles
~ Stay four nights and earn an additional 4,000 bonus points/miles (totaling 6,000 bonus points)
~ Stay six nights and earn an additional 6,000 bonus points/miles (totaling 12,000 bonus points)
~ Stay eight nights and earn an additional 8,000 bonus points/miles (totaling 20,000 bonus points)

Registration is required, but won't be possible until closer to the promotion's start date.

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JetBlue Awards Points for PetSetters

Members of JetBlue's Truelue program can now earn two bonus points for each one-way flight they fly with a small dog or cat. The newly launched JetPaws program is only for pets traveling with TrueBlue members in the cabin.

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Deal Alert from SmarterTravel.com

1) American Competes with Southwest, Fares From $98

American's new domestic offer competes with a similar sale from Southwest. Fares start at $98 round-trip, and cities include Chicago, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and Nashville.

Travel is valid Mondays through Thursdays and on Saturdays from January 6, 2009 through March 11, 2009. American has not listed a booking deadline, but this sale is likely to end on December 29, the same day Southwest's sale expires.

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2) Europe Sale Fares on Lufthansa From $384

Through Thursday, Lufthansa is offering Europe sale fares starting at $384 round-trip. Amsterdam, Edinburgh, Lisbon, and Riga are featured.

Travel is valid midweek from December 23 through May 1, 2009. Book by December 18, 11:59 PM ET.

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Win a Trip for 2 to Phoenix to Attend the NBA All Star Game

Enter Southwest Airlines' "Slam Dunk" sweepstakes by December 31 for a chance to win a trip for two to Phoenix, including air, three nights hotel, and tickets to the NBA All Star game.

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[Visit FrequentFlier.com for more travel sweepstakes.]

Feedback from the Frontlines of Travel

"My wife and I were hoping to go to London in 2009 and were very pleased to receive an email from British Airways announcing a half-price sale using their frequent flier miles. We were able to arrange first class tickets from Miami to London for next October, and we were able to use Marriott points to book 7 nights at one of their premium hotels.

"All in all it worked very smoothly and we got exactly what we were hoping for. Easy and good use of airline and hotel points for what should be a great trip!" [Fred M.]

"I found this in my November Delta Reserve credit card from AMEX.

ACCUMULATION OF DELTA SKYMILES
YOU WILL CONTINUE TO ACCUMULATE DOUBLE MILES FOR QUALIFYING DELTA AIR LINE PURCHASES. HOWEVER, WE ARE ELIMINATING ALL OTHER CATEGORIES OF "ALWAYS DOUBLE MILES" PURCHASES." FOR BILLING PERIODS THAT BEGIN ON OR AFTER JANUARY 1, 2009, THE DEFINITION OF "ALWAYS DOUBLE MILES PURCHASES" IN THE AGREEMENT REGARDING THE ACCUMULATION OF DELTA SKYMILES IN CONNECTION WITH YOUR DELTA RESERVE FOR BUSINESS CREDIT CARD IS DELETED, AND THE REFERENCE TO "ALWAYS DOUBLE MILES PURCHASES" IN THE FIRST PARAGRAPH OF THAT AGREEMENT IS DELETED AND REPLACED WITH "DELTA PURCHASES".

IF YOUR CARD ACCOUNT WAS OPENED ON OR AFTER NOVEMBER 1, 2007, THIS CHANGE WILL NOT GO INTO EFFECT FOR YOUR CARD ACCOUNT UNTIL ONE YEAR AFTER THE DATE YOUR CARD ACCOUNT WAS OPENED.

"I called both companies. AMEX said I was the first to call about this. Delta (C. in Cincinnati office) knew nothing about it, saying this was AMEX.

"Please share this." [Alexander N.]

Until next week...