Happy New Year to all the folks who are reading this. Today I want to highlight something which is easily overlooked by all of us while looking to purchase our flight tickets. There are times where you would be looking to just purchase a one-way flight ticket. This could be because you are able to secure the other one-way ticket using miles in premium class or you were able to get on the myriad sale where the other one way ticket was awesomely cheap. In the miles and points world you do end up buying flight tickets with cash lot of times and below info would be useful when you do your next flight search.

Buying two one-way tickets on different carrier can be cheaper in peak season:
If you have ever tried to purchase a flight travelling out of USA during summer break or Christmas/ New Year you would know what I am talking about. Everyone is travelling during these times and the airlines know it and thus prices can be exorbitant. Most 3rd party aggregation sites would give preference over a round trip ticket booked as one ticket then two separate one-way tickets and this is where it would be useful to search for separate "one-way tickets" which at times would be cheaper than a single round trip ticket. Make sure you check the price on the regional website where you plan to return from and you might be in for a surprise.

Converting a return one-way ticket to a multi-city ticket for future use:
This is where it gets interesting. As we all know during non-peak times round trip tickets are almost always cheaper than one-way tickets. So, why not convert a one-way return trip into a round trip? Let's assume you want to travel from San Francisco, CA to Amman, Jordan in Christmas and return back in January. For the purpose of this demo I will use Google Flights as my go to tool. Below is what it looks like booking one-way return trip today for Jan, 15th, 2018:

As you can say that most folks are planning to return from their vacation during early January the one-way tickets are still a tad bit higher. So, what if you tag along a future one way trip and make it a round trip? How about booking a future one-way trip to completely different destination which you might have in your visit list? Check out below for example.

As you can see, changing the search to "multi-city" and putting a destination which you might already be planning to visit in future is just ~$300 more than the original one way ticket you were looking to purchase anyway. 

So, the next time you plan to travel in peak travel periods do not forget to change your search criteria and you might be in for the unexpected discount on your travel.

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IHG is out with their accelerate promotion for Q1 2018 which runs from Jan 01 to April 30. Here is the link to register for the offer. As earlier quarter offers the baseline offer is to earn 30,000 IHG points by completing various stay challenges/activities. Below is the snap shot of the baseline offer.

As you can see the standard baseline offer requires minimum of 4 night stay to earn 30,000 bonus IHG points. Interestingly, if you notice you can earn easy 500 bonus IHG points by just downloading and logging in the IHG App on your mobile device. This is good enough for extending the validity of your IHG points without any stay activity on your account. 

Alternatively folks have been targeted with much better promotional offer based on their stay pattern and thus can earn much higher amount of bonus IHG points.  IHG routinely lists certain properties for redemption for just 5k points. Here is the last list being published.  So you can certainly score some cheap stays. Also IHG has points+cash feature which can be useful for generating points at ~0.5 cents/points. You can find more details on a very old post here.

So, go ahead and register for this offer even if you do not plan to stay and see if there are any easy bonus IHG points available for grabs.

Disclaimer: Some of the links used in the post may be referral links and earn referral to this site. We appreciate you supporting the website.

 United recently updated the award chart redemption values for travel to various destination. One of upside of that "devaluation" was introduction of short distance award redemption on partners for just 8,000 united miles. Although the new redemption value is not applicable in North America (U.S.A and Canada) you can get good value out of it for the places where the short distance flights are really expensive. Below are the requirements for getting the redemption for 8,000 united miles:

• The travel should be within one region outside North America.
• The flight should be non-stop flight.
• The flight distance should be less than 800 miles.

As long as the partner flights you are looking at meet above rules you can get your flight reward for just 8,000 miles. An interesting use of this is to travel to tourist destination by travelling from near by non-tourist destination. Below are few examples of where this can be useful.

Bangalore (BLR), India to Male (MLE), Maldives on Air India:
Air India has non-stop flight from Bangalore, India to Male, Maldives which is a distance of ~682 miles. You can fly this route for just 8,000 United Miles + taxes which otherwise would cost $150+.

Cairo (CAI), Egypt to Amman (AMM), Jordan:
Cairo in Egypt and Petra in Jordan are tourist places of interest although due to recent conflicts in the region they might not be in everyone's list of to-go places. Still they are at a distance of just ~294 miles they might still set you back by $150+ each way. Getting between them for 8,000 United miles + taxes would give a good redemption value.

Above are just two example but there are many more to be had and a good value if you are looking for short distance redemption less than 800 miles.

​Disclaimer: Some of the links used in the post may be referral links and earn referral to this site. We appreciate you supporting the website.

American Airlines is out with another shopping promotion where you can earn up to 1500 AAdvantage bonus miles for shopping. The promotion is valid from 12/01 to 12/17 and has tiered earning for the bonus miles which are on top of the miles you would earn at a participating shopping merchant.

The earning of miles is as follows:

• 500 bonus miles when you spend $150
• 1500 bonus miles when you spend $300

So if you still have some shopping left or have Amex offers for the merchants where purchasing gift card trigger the AAdvantage Portal miles payout then make sure to remember about this promotion when deciding which portal to use for cash back or miles.

​Disclaimer: Some of the links used in the post may be referral links and earn referral to this site. We appreciate you supporting the website.

As we get in to the holiday shopping season various major airlines are promoting their shopping portals by providing shopping bonus points/miles. I wrote about United MileagePlus bonus here. Below are the shopping bonus details for Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards program and American Airlines AAdvantage program.

​Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards earn up to 3000 bonus points:
As with United Airlines this is a tier promotion as well. Earn bonus Southwest Rapid Rewards points for shopping from 10/30/2017 to 11/20/2017. You earn points based on tier spending as below.

• Tier 1 bonus: 500 bonus points for qualifying purchases of at least $150 - $499.99
• Tier 2 bonus: 1,000 bonus points for qualifying purchases of at least $500 - $999.99
• Tier 3 bonus: 3,000 bonus points for qualifying purchases of $1,000 or more

The first 5000 bonus miles:
United MileagePlus has a promotion where you can earn up to 5000 miles for tier spent through MileagePlus shopping portal between 10/30/17 to 11/19/2017. Here is the link for the promotion. Below is the tier earning details:

• Tier 1 bonus: 500 miles for qualifying purchases of at least $150
• Tier 2 bonus: 2,500 miles for qualifying purchases of at least $750
• Tier 3 bonus: 5,000 miles for qualifying purchases of $1,500 

Note that the miles are not cumulative. So if you spent $1,500+ you would earn only 5,000 bonus miles.

The next 500 miles:
Apart from that United Airlines has sent out mailers (link here) where you can earn bonus 500 miles by doing activity as shown below.

The last 1,000 bonus miles (YMMV):
If you are United MileagePlus Credit card member and shop using that card then you are in luck for another 1,000 bonus miles although the terms are not clear if this bonus is only for new members of MileagePlus Shopping or it applies to existing members as well. Here is the link for the promotion banner.

​So, if you are looking to shop within the next 2 weeks you can take advantage of this promotion. As always do not forget to compare the earning rates for various merchants through aggregation sites such as Ca$hback Monitor.

​Disclaimer: Some of the links used in the post may be referral links and earn referral to this site. We appreciate you supporting the website.

Groupon recently announced loyalty program partnership where you can earn Airlines miles or Hotel points with participating airlines and hotels by using a airline/hotel specific promo code. The current earning for Airlines and Hotels are as below:
Airlines

• New customer bonus for local purchase of $30 or more = 1,000 miles
• Local = 5 miles/dollar spent
• Getaways = 4 miles/dollar spent
• Goods = 3 miles /dollar spent

Hotels

• New customer bonus for local purchase of $30 or more = 2,000 points
• Local = 10 points/dollar spent
• Getaways = 8 points/dollar spent
• Goods = 6 points /dollar spent

Below are the current participating partners:

• Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan
• American Airlines AAdvantage
• United MileagePlus
• JetBlue True Blue
• Choice Privileges
• IHG Rewards Club
• LaQuinta Returns

When you click the link here you need to login and select the partner program in which you need to earn miles/points as and enter your membership number on the screen as shown below:

After confirming your membership number you will be given the airline/hotel specific promo code. For e.g. below is what you would see for Alaska Airlines.

Delta is offering certain Delta Skymiles members opportunity to earn up to 25k Delta Skymiles by doing transaction's with various non-airline partners (targeted).  You earn 1,000 Skymiles for each unique partner activity with which you have not done any Delta Skymiles earning transaction from Jan 1st, 2017 to Oct 17th, 2017. There are few non-airline partner exclusions such as Delta Vacations, Points.com, Gilt and Biscoff.

​An easy 1,000 miles could be earn by transferring 1,000 miles from American Express Membership Rewards (MR) Points, SPG Hotels Rewards program or doing a $1 shopping transaction from Skymiles shopping portal. There is a limit of 1 bonus per transacting partner. You can check the partner conversion rates for non-airline partners here. Below is the snap shot of promotion page:

You can check if you are eligible for this offer by going to the link here. Below are terms for this promotion:
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Terms and Conditions
Member eligibility: This is a private offer is exclusively for selected SkyMiles members who receive the promotional email. Offer is not transferable to other members.
Offer Registration: Offer registration is required. To register, eligible members need to visit the dedicated landing page and register with their SkyMiles number. 
Offer: Registered SkyMiles members will earn a bonus of 1,000 miles for every new participating partner they earn miles with between October 16, 2017 and December 31, 2017 up to a maximum of 25,000 bonus miles per member. The term "New" refers to a partner the member has not earned miles with during the period January 1, 2017 to October 17, 2017.
Participating Partners:   The following non-airline partners are participating in this offer: SkyMiles Credit Card Partners, Hotels & Airbnb, Car Partners, SkyMiles Cruises, Retail and Specialty, Financial Partners, SkyMiles Shopping and SkyMiles Dining.  For a list of partners, please click here. Airline partners, Delta Vacations, Gilt, Points.com and Biscoff are expressly excluded from this offer.
Airbnb Terms: Visit deltaairbnb.com for full terms and conditions of this offer.
Lyft Terms: Visit delta.com/lyft for full terms and conditions of this offer.
Eligibility of Transactions: Only accrual partner transactions with an activity date between October 16, 2017 and December 31, 2017 will be considered for this bonus. Activity date is defined as the date of the transaction as reported by the partner regardless of the date the transaction is posted in the member’s account. Some partners offer multiple ways to earn miles under different products, brands, conversion of currency to miles, etc. These will still be considered as a single partner. Some examples of these cases are: Hotels booked via delta.com Hotels, hotel brands under the same Hotel portfolio, stay activity and a points conversion to miles from the same partner and others.
Please allow up to 60 days after the qualifying transaction for bonus miles to be added in your account.
Delta may change the SkyMiles program rules, change or terminate program partners, regulations, benefits, conditions of participation or mileage levels, in whole or in part, at any time with or without notice, even though changes may affect the value of mileage already accumulated. This offer may be terminated by Delta at any time, with our without notice. All SkyMiles program rules apply to SkyMiles program membership, miles, offers, mile accrual, mile redemption, and travel benefits. Offers void where prohibited by law. Other restrictions may apply. To review the rules, please visit delta.com/memberguide.
Delta, SkyMiles, and the Delta logo are registered service marks of Delta Air Lines, Inc.
Promotional Reference Code: To enquire about this offer, please refer to code 179004 when contacting any Delta customer service representative.

So go ahead and check if you are eligible to register for this promotion and earn some easy Delta Skymiles with this promotion!!. ​
​Disclaimer: Some of the links used in the post may be referral links and earn referral to this site. We appreciate you supporting the website.

United Airlines has sent out offers to their MileagePlus members where you can earn bonus miles apart from the regular miles (5 miles/$ for base members) you earn on flying united flights and crediting to United Airlines. The offers vary from member to member but it requires you to register before Nov 1st, 2017 and fly by Nov 15th, 2017. Only tickets purchased after registering for the offer count for the bonus miles offer. Here is the link to check your offer.  Below are the few variants of offer available:

• Spend $300 and earn 3,000 bonus award miles or spend total of $500 and earn additional 5,000 bonus miles, thus a total of 8,000 miles for $500 spend.
• Spend $900 and earn 6,000 bonus award miles or spend total of $1,200 and earn additional 6,500 bonus miles, thus a total of 12,500 miles for $1,200 spend.
• Spend $500 and earn 5,000 bonus award miles or spend total of $800 and earn additional 8,000 bonus miles, thus a total of 13,000 miles for $800 spend.

Below are the complete terms as per United Promotion webpage:
​For this promotion, rewards will be awarded for each spending threshold that has been met, subject to the terms and conditions. Threshold bonuses may be earned only once. Partial bonuses will not be awarded for members who don't reach a certain threshold. All calculations made in connection with this offer will be made by MileagePlus in its discretion and considered final.

1. Only original recipients of this email invitation can register and participate in this promotion.
2. Registration is required by November 1, 2017. Only tickets purchased and ticketed after registration and within the ticketing dates will qualify.
3. Ticketing dates: September 14, 2017 through November 15, 2017.
4. Offer is valid for travel beginning on or after September 14, 2017, and completed on or before November 15, 2017.
5. Tickets purchased in Basic Economy (N fare class) are not eligible for this promotion.
6. Offer is not valid on government fares.
7. Qualifying flight activity must be posted to the member's MileagePlus account in order to qualify for this offer.
8. Flights on award travel tickets and other tickets that do not earn Premier qualifying credits do not qualify for meeting the requirements of this offer.
9. This offer is not combinable with other non-combinable offers.
10. Bonus will post to your MileagePlus account six to eight weeks after the promotion end on November 15, 2017. Bonus will be calculated using the originally ticketed fare and/or fare classes and Economy Plus® purchases, as applicable, and subsequent changes to any fare and/or fare classes as a result of itinerary changes, complimentary or paid upgrade, purchase of travel products (including but not limited to United ClubSM, Premier Access®, Award Accelerator®, Premier AcceleratorSM), irregular operations or otherwise will not be considered.
11. Bonus award miles are redeemable miles and do not count toward Premier status. Award miles do not apply to class-of-service bonus miles, Premier bonus miles or promotional Premier qualifying miles.
12. Dollars earned toward this promotion will count as Premier qualifying dollars (PQD) toward MileagePlus Premier status qualification, but do not guarantee status. All other requirements must be met for the applicable Premier status.
13. E-Ticket purchase is required. Service charges for ticketing with a United representative in the 50 United States, District of Columbia and Canada are $25 by phone, $30 at a City Ticket Office and $35 in person at the airport. Ticketing charges may vary outside of the U.S. and Canada and based on MileagePlus status level. The ticketing service charge does not apply for tickets purchased on united.com. Service charges are subject to change without notice.
14. Offer is subject to change without notice. Other restrictions may apply.

Miles accrued, awards, and benefits issued are subject to change and are subject to the rules of the United MileagePlus® program, including without limitation the Premier® program (the "MileagePlus Program"), which are expressly incorporated herein. Please allow 6-8 weeks after completed qualifying activity for miles to post to your account. United® may change the MileagePlus Program including, but not limited to, rules, regulations, travel awards and special offers or terminate the MileagePlus Program at any time and without notice. United and its subsidiaries, affiliates and agents are not responsible for any products or services of other participating companies and partners. Taxes and fees related to award travel are the responsibility of the member. Bonus award miles, award miles and any other miles earned through non-flight activity do not count toward qualification for Premier status unless expressly stated otherwise. The accumulation of mileage or Premier status or any other status does not entitle members to any vested rights with respect to the MileagePlus Program. All calculations made in connection with the MileagePlus Program, including without limitation with respect to the accumulation of mileage and the satisfaction of the qualification requirements for Premier status, will be made by United Airlines® and MileagePlus in their discretion and such calculations will be considered final. Information in this communication that relates to the MileagePlus Program does not purport to be complete or comprehensive and may not include all of the information that a member may believe is important, and is qualified in its entirety by reference to all of the information on the united.com website and the MileagePlus Program rules. United and MileagePlus are registered service marks. For complete details about the MileagePlus Program, go to united.com.

​So, check your offer and register for this promotion if you are planning to buy and fly United Airlines before Nov 15th, 2017.

Disclaimer: Some of the links used in the post may be referral links and earn referral to this site. We appreciate you supporting the website.

Lately American Express has been promoting their credit cards by giving away bonuses for authorized users on personal credit cards. There have been bonuses on some good cards such as 2.5k SPG points for authorized users on Starwood Preferred Guest, and 2.5k Membership Reward points for authorized users on Everyday Preferred card. 

One of the interesting offer is for authorized user on Amex Platinum Card where you earn 5k Membership Reward points for each authorized user upto 20k Membership reward points in total. This offer may not be available to all holders of Amex Platinum Card but you can check by clicking this link and login in to your Amex Platinum online account. 

The offer gives 20k Membership reward points in total for upto 4 authorized users when you spend $500 on each authorized user card but you need to add all of them at the same time. Also you can choose to add American Express Gold card for no extra cost if you are doing this just for membership reward points without the real benefits of the card. 

Lot of the folks who have this offer would see it expiring on 10/20/2017 but quite a few might have different date of expiration so do check for expiration date before you apply for the offer. One other thing is you do NOT require to provide SSN for authorized users up-front. Even when the card arrives you can get away with activating the card by calling in and providing alternate evidence such as Passport instead of SSN number. Also being an authorized user does not exclude the authorized users from getting their own primary card in the future along with the sign on bonus if they never had this card before as a primary applicant. 

So see if you have this offer and if yes earning 20k Bonus Membership reward points with a total spend of just $2000 without a credit pull is a great deal.

Disclaimer: Some of the links used in the post may be referral links and earn referral to this site. We appreciate you supporting the website.