December 19, 2007
Discounted Business Class Awards to Spain
For travel between January 1 and March 12, American AAdvantage is offering discounted redemption on Iberia, the best deals being business class from either Boston or Washington, DC to Madrid for 60,000 miles instead of the usual 90,000.If only my plans were taking me to Spain in March instead of April!
Posted by gleff at 10:23 AM | Comments (0)
October 7, 2007
New American Credit Card Offers
Citibank is offering 25,000 bonus miles and first year free for the Ameircan Airlines business and personal mastercards and personal American Express. All cards require $750 in spending within the first four months to qualify for the bonus.These cards can generally be churned every few months, and signing up for all is 75,000 miles at a pop.
Posted by gleff at 8:02 AM | Comments (2)
August 1, 2007
I Kinda Wish I Lived in Texas
Because Reliant Energy offers American Airlines miles for using their electricity.The 'up to 7500 miles' are broken up and awarded after the 2nd, 6th, and 12th invoices. And I don't know what their pricing etc. is like.
But miles are the second reason (no state income tax is the first) for me to consider moving to Texas.
Posted by gleff at 3:02 PM | Comments (0)
June 4, 2007
Diners Club Transfer Bonus to American
Transfers of 50,000 Diners Club points to American Airlines by August 31, 2007 earn a 5000 mile bonus.Posted by gleff at 7:58 AM | Comments (0)
June 2, 2007
New American Mastercard Offer to Consider -- 40,000 Bonus Miles
American and Citibank are offering up to 40,000 bonus miles with a new American Mastercard. The offer is:- 20,000 points for spending $750 in 4 months
- 10,000 points for spending $10,000 during the first year
- 10,000 points for $10,000 in purchases during the second year
- First year fee waived
Downsides of the offer: you need to keep the card past year one (while the fee is waived) in order to max out the miles -- so you need to pay $85 in the second year or receive no more than 30,000 miles.
The offer is available for both the personal and business cards so you can actually earn 80,000 miles through the special offer...
And despite the strange structure of the bonuses (designed to get you to make this a heavily used card and to keep it over time), the offer is better than the regular offers available with the card.
Posted by gleff at 6:19 AM | Comments (2)
February 9, 2007
Two American Airlines International Upgrades
The Upgrade: Travel Better blog discusses American's discounted business fares that include upgrades to 3-cabin first class.Meanwhile, American is launching non-stop service from Chicago to Shannon, Ireland using domestic configured aircraft. As with their existing Boston to Manchester, England flights, they'll use a Boeing 757 with 22 domestic first class seats. Only thing is they're selling only coach for these flights, and providing coach service. But American and Oneworld elites can reserve these seats like any other. Not a great international upgrade, but better than coach, much like the Premium Economy products offered by international carriers.
Posted by gleff at 3:38 PM | Comments (0)
November 12, 2006
Miles for Cheese
Specially marked packages of Swiss Knights Fondue and Cheese are offering 500 American Airlines miles. You can pick the stuff up at Costco, Traders Joes, and some supermarkets. Some folks looking to top off their American Airlines accounts may find buying long shelf-life, no need to refrigerate cheese worthwhile just for the miles.The economics aren't quite as good as buying pudding once was but I suppose you, too, can reduce your cost basis by donating the fondue to charity and taking a tax writeoff.
Product website is short on details, such as how long the promotion will run or whether there's a maximum number of codes a single individual can redeem for their account.
Posted by gleff at 8:42 AM | Comments (0)
November 11, 2006
10,000 American Miles for Free Citibank Accounts
There's been a Flyertalk thread over the past two months on how to earn 10,000 American miles at more or less no cost by opening a Citibank checking and e-savings account and linking an American Airlines Mastercard to those accounts. Even though I have an AA Mastercard!(After all, you can get 20,000 miles or more with first purchase or $250 in purchases with fee waived the first year -- and you can cancel before the fee is due, and they'll give you signup bonuses many times).
But the Free Frequent Flyer Miles website has done a writeup on the offer, and now I have no excuse not to participate.
Cribbed from their latest update:
- Super offer through December 31, 2006: Get 10,000 American Airlines miles for linking your existing American Airlines credit card to a new Citibank e-savings account within 30 days of funding the new account. You need not be a new Citibank customer to accept this offer. It is o.k. if you already have these accounts. Just open new ones. You need $100 to fund the required new checking account that goes with this account, and $1 to fund the e-savings account, but after funds clear there is no minimum balance required so long as you keep open both accounts, and no monthly maintenance fees. The procedure:
- You must first have a Citibank American Airlines Mastercard. Getting one now will earn you an additional free 20,000 miles. See the Annual Fee Cards page (though the card is free for a year) of my Credit Card section to see how.
- Call (877) 681-9200 and tell the rep you want full information on offer code CS2R. If asked, say that you heard if from a friend. Sorry, I can find no way to get the details online. I have spent a great deal of time tracking them down for you (and me).
- Open the new e-savings and checking accounts during that phone call. You risk the system not registering you for this offer if you do anything online. You may fund the account by transfer from another bank account while on the phone(very easy if it is an existing Citibank account) or by check after the accounts are opened.
- Within 10 business days you will receive a welcome kit and (I am told) the details of this offer. (As of November 11, 2006, I haven't received mine yet.)
- After you receive the kit and within 30 days of opening the account, call (800)745-1534 and chose option 1. Tell the rep you want to link your Citibank American Airlines Mastercard to the new e-savings account, and give the info required. Be sure to give your American Airlines AAdvantage frequent flyer number.
- The 10,000 miles should post within 120 days of the closing date of the statement within which you got all of this done. (But the Flyertalk thread I tell you about below starting with post #89 says that the miles actually post 5 days after linking your credit card.) Keep the accounts open until you see the miles post. But you will probably like them anyway. On November 11, 2006, the e-savings account was paying an APY of 5%.
Posted by gleff at 12:06 PM | Comments (0)
October 29, 2006
10% Off Flights From Chicago
American wants you to text WORLD to 88398 and they'll send you back a 10% discount code valid on roundtrips originating in Chicago.Discount requires booking by December 19 for travel through March 31, 2007.
Posted by gleff at 3:10 PM | Comments (0)
September 23, 2006
New American Mastercard Offer
The traditional outstanding offer for the American Airlines Mastercard is 20,000 bonus points with first purchase and fee waived the first year. I guess too many people were cancelling the card before the fee hit, because there's a new offer that ups the ante -- 20,000 bonus points with first purchase, fee waived the first year, and 5000 more points after a year.Strictly speaking I don't know when the 5000 additional points will post, perhaps you'll have already paid the annual fee or perhaps it's still within the timeframe that you can cancel without owing the fee (even if the $85 has shown up on your credit card statement already). Either way, the offer is clearly aimed at getting folks to keep the card through the first year's renewal.
5000 points for $85 may or may not be your bag, but an interesting offer nonetheless and the current best of class for the card as far as I'm concerned.
Posted by gleff at 4:31 AM | Comments (0)
September 4, 2006
American Airlines Discounted Awards
One of the neat things about the American Airlines Mastercard is that cardholders have access to discounted awards to specific destinations which change each quarter.I don't actually find the card worth the annual fee, but since it's generally available for 20,000 bonus miles with first purchase and fee waived the first year, and since you can earn this bonus with fee waiver multiple times, I generally have a free version of the card in my wallet at all times.
The new quarter's discounted awards are out. Domestic sale destionations drop to 17,500 miles for a coach award (down from 25,000) and 37,500 for a first class award (down from 45,000). Even Paris is on sale for 32,500 miles in coach durin gthe dead time of October 15 - December 31 and Osaka, Japan is on sale for 42,500 miles in coach during the month of October.
Posted by gleff at 5:41 AM | Comments (0)
July 6, 2006
American Miles for Movie Theatre Sodes
Cinemark Theatres are again offering American Airlines miles for the purchase of a large soda.Back in 2004 the offer was just 100 miles per soda. Now it appears that not all codes are winners, but at least 1 in 5 are and those receive a minimum of 500 miles and a long-shot chance for 100,000 miles.
Sounds great, right? Just go to a Cinemark theatre and dumpster dive for these codes off sodas and get some award tickets.
Alas there's a limit of 10 Instant Win 500 AAdvantage miles Game Piece codes and two 5,000 AAdvantage miles Game Piece codes per account. Of course, each member of your family can have a separate account and I'm willing to bet that excess codes wind up on eBay...
Since there aren't any Cinemark theatres near me I'll consider writing in for game pieces:
- For a free Game Piece, send a self-addressed stamped envelope in a business size (#10) envelope with first-class postage affixed, to: Cinemark/Coca-Cola Promotion Game Piece, 3900 Dallas Parkway, Suite 500, Plano, TX 75093, to be postmarked by September 1, 2006 and received by September 8, 2006. All requests must be handwritten. No mechanically reproduced requests permitted. Limit one request per outer envelope.
Posted by gleff at 8:52 AM | Comments (1)
May 18, 2006
25,000 American Mile Signup Bonus for New Mastercard
Citibank is offering 25,000 American Airlines miles for purchases of $250 or more on a new American Mastercard.It's today's (day 18) American AAdvantage 25th Anniversary offer, though I owe the heads up to the indispensable free MilesLink newsletter.
I still like the 20,000 mile offer better because it comes with fee waived the first year, and a simple $1 gas purchase will trigger the bonus. The 25,000 mile offer's $85 fee comes immediately, so you're paying 1.7 cents a mile for the incremental 5000 miles.
Update: the offer mentioned in MilesLink and today's AAdvantage25 offer are different.
The former is 25,000 miles for $250 in spend and an $85 annual fee. The latter is 25,000 miles for $250 in spend and fee waived the first year.
In theory you have to apply today to get this offer. However, if the Citibank page detailing it is still around later (and experience suggests it will be) you can probably continue to get it in the future. Here's the direct Citibank link whose terms and conditions specify the fee waiver. Make sure you print it and save it for later, just in case!
Posted by gleff at 7:42 AM | Comments (0)
May 3, 2006
25 Days, 25 American Airlines Bonuses
American is celebrating 25 years of their AAdvantage program this month with 25 separate offers, one available each day for 25 days.Today is the third day, and the offer is that you can register for 25% bonus miles on your spending with the Citibank American Airlines Mastercard posted on your May, June, and July statements (up to 2500 bonus miles, that is based on up to $10,000 in spending).
The spending cap reduces the potential value of the offer, but it's still worthwhile, and the daily offer website is worth checking, well, daily.
Posted by gleff at 5:22 AM | Comments (1)
March 9, 2006
1000 Bonus American Per Night at Hyatt
In addition to Hyatt's offer of 1000 Cathay Pacific AsiaMiles per night, they're also putting the choice of 1000 American Airlines points per night on offer as well from March 15 through June 30.Posted by gleff at 3:54 AM | Comments (0)
March 8, 2006
It pays to be a procrastinator
Last month I reported that American Airlines was offering 2500 miles for test driving a Lincoln. (250 miles also on offer for watching a video about Lincoln.)Now they've upped the offer to 5000 miles for a test drive (and 50,000 miles for purchase, along with the original 250 miles for watching the video).
I'll finally get off my duff and go for a test drive this weekend!
The new 5000 mile offer does say that it was targeted, though I have no idea if there's actually a way for them to check who got this in their American Airlines eSummary. You might just use the old 2500 mile offer, but I'm going to use the new one.
Posted by gleff at 5:32 AM | Comments (0)
January 24, 2006
Up to 60,000 Bonus Miles for Flights Between Dallas and Kansas City, St. Louis, Austin and San Antonio
It's part of their broadside against Southwest, they've titled their press release American Airlines Gets Serious About Competing at Love Field- Starting March 2 through May 26, customers who fly three roundtrips between Dallas Love Field or DFW International Airport and Kansas City, St. Louis, Austin and San Antonio can earn 30,000 AAdvantage bonus miles
- Fly six roundtrips in the same time period and earn an additional 30,000 bonus miles
Posted by gleff at 12:05 PM | Comments (0)
December 20, 2005
Missing Baggage: a Tale of Two Airlines
When I'm traveling on my own I'll do everything possible to avoid checking luggage. That will remain my strategy, at least until Ted Stevens succeeds in limiting carryons (from one carryon to... one carryon).But when I'm on a three week trip involving multiple climates it isn't possible. And when I'm traveling with my wife for a long weekend, and she packs enough that we have to check her bags, I tend to check mine as well. Even without a connecting flight that turns out to be a mistake.
Back in June I flew in from Melbourne on Qantas and transferred my bags to Alaska. This was in the midst of their baggage handler unpleasantness, and one of our four bags was sent to Reno instead of Seattle. The baggage service office was extremely apologetic, embarassed even. The woman who took my claim gave me her name and her direct number, so that I could call and speak to someone in Seattle directly whenever I wanted an update. They found my bag that night and dispatched it immediately out to my hotel. I had a phone call from the baggage folks even before I tried to call them!
Fast forward to yesterday afternoon. American Airlines baggage services at Washington-National was staffed with a man and two women. Both women were missing most of their teeth. The woman who took my claim never looked at me. She entered my home address, but wouldn't take my business address (in case the bag came in and was ready to be delivered during the day, of course no one would be home).
The helpful women processing the claim of the person next to me (off the same flight) explained that when flights are full sometimes weight issues prevent all bags from being loaded. The flight we came in on was less than half full, although strictly speaking I don't know what kind of cargo load it might have had.
When the claim process was done, she didn't speak to me. She handed me a piece of paper. I asked if we were through, she didn't answer. Well, at least the printout apologized!
American's 800 number for baggage is an automated system, without the option of speaking with a person. My bag apparently came in on the 6:22pm arrival yesterday, but nobody updated the system until after 9:30pm. According to the automated system, that may have been later than they do residential deliveries so I don't yet have my bag. And the automated system doesn't give out contact information for the delivery service.
In theory my bag should be delivered today, but I don't know when or by whom. Thanks, American!
Posted by gleff at 5:07 AM | Comments (0)
December 18, 2005
American Elite Buyback Returns
American is offering its annual elite buyback offer for Gold and Platinum members who did not requalify during 2005.Depending on the number of miles you flew and the status you already have, you can pay $299 - $599 to retain that status through February, 2007.
Posted by gleff at 6:00 AM | Comments (0)
December 15, 2005
Two Elite Changes at American
American AAdvantage Gold elite status can be obtained for 25,000 miles or 30 segments. Platinum is 50,000 miles or 60 segments. (Both can also be obtained via a fasttrack challenge.)However, Executive Platinum has been obtainable only by flying 100,000 miles -- so segment qualification existed for the "EXP" level.
Supposedly American will announce shortly that next year they'll introduce segment qualification for their top elite level. Just like United, 100 segments flown in a year will earn top-tier elite status.
American has also announced a price increase for 500-mile segment upgrades. They'll go from $25 to $30 when purchased online or at a kiosk. Over the phone or otherwise 'assisted' the price will be $35.
Posted by gleff at 11:00 AM | Comments (0)
December 12, 2005
20,000 Bonus Miles first First Purchase on AA Business Mastercard
As a companion to the best ever American Airlines Mastercard offer, Citibank is also offering 20,000 bonus miles and fee waived the first year on its Business Mastercard.Posted by gleff at 4:38 AM | Comments (0)
November 19, 2005
Best Ever American Airlines Mastercard Offer
Via Fre Frequent Flyer Miles, American and Citibank are offering their co-branded Mastercard with 20,000 bonus miles for first purchase and fee waived the first year.Posted by gleff at 7:05 AM | Comments (0)
October 23, 2005
American's 36,000 Bonus Miles to the West Coast
In response to United's similar offer, American now has a bonus of up to 36,000 miles for flying up to 8 roundtrips to California, Oregon, or Washington through February 15, 2006. Registration is required with promo code AAWCB.Posted by gleff at 6:19 AM | Comments (0)
October 18, 2005
Online Dirty Tricks at American Airlines
The Wikipedia entry on the Wright Amendment (the law which restricts destinations of flights taking off from Dallas' Love Field, which serves -- and was intended -- to protect American Airlines from Southwest) was edited by someone using an American Airlines domain.- Someone using an Internet service provider registered to American edited online encyclopedia Wikipedia last week to describe Southwest Airlines as "a notoriously litigious company constantly seeking to change laws to gain an advantage."
For a time, the site also said Dallas-based Southwest is "known for its PR machine and litigious nature."
Posted by gleff at 10:27 AM
July 26, 2005
How did American make money in the second quarter?
Now that American Airlines announced a profit for the second quarter, there are lots of stories trying to figure out how they did it. One piece contends that they managed to cut costs by listening to ideas from their employees. (Naturally the piece cites no evidence whatsoever that American did this any more than any other airline.)Still, there are some interesting stories about cost savings. For example,
- Two American Airlines mechanics didn't like having to toss out $200 drill bits once they got dull. So they rigged up some old machine parts - a vacuum-cleaner belt and a motor from a science project - and built "Thumping Ralph." It's essentially a drill-bit sharpener that allows them to get more use out of each bit. The savings, according to the company: as much as $300,000 a year.
After all, it's the labor costs, stupid!
Posted by gleff at 5:17 AM | Comments (0)
June 30, 2005
Reactivate expired American Airlines miles
Through the end of the year, American is offer AAdvantage members the opportunity to reactivate miles that expired after December 30, 2002.There's a fee -- $50 for every 5000 miles plus $30 for 'processing'. So really you're just being allowed to purchase miles at a discount, one cent per mile, but that's actually a pretty good value.
(Hat tip to the MilesLink newsletter.)
Posted by gleff at 4:47 AM | Comments (0)
May 2, 2005
When First Class is Really Coach
I don’t usually fly American. With the exception of an American Eagle flight booked as a Northwest codeshare in late 2004, I haven’t been on American metal in nearly two and a half years. And my review is this -- American Airlines’ domestic first class can be summed up with a your choice of two words: either “ghetto” or simply “coach.”One three of four flight segments, no pre-departure beverages were served. No coats were taken. The MD80 seats are incredibly worn and dirty. Pen markings are on display everywhere, and on one flight duct tape was holding the meal tray cover onto my seat.
The ‘meals’ they’re serving look like the food that used to be offered in coach. And by used to I’m not harkening back to the long-gone days at the beginning of the Jet Age, or offering fond remembrances of the regulated era. I’m talking about the food that was served in coach in 2002.
Flight one offered pizza or a roast beef sandwich as a ‘snack’. The pizza was small and despite the description as “Uno’s Deep Dish” it was actually more like an English Muffin Toaster Pizza or something that would be microwaved out of the freezer from the Schwann truck. “Dessert” was a shrink-wrapped package of cookies.
Flight two I had the chicken breast. It was the length of my index finger. Dessert was an ice cream sundae with freezer burn.
Flight three brought chicken strips or pizza again. This time I tried the chicken strips, served with overdone pasta beneath congealed sauce. There was a hair in my salad.
Flight four was pizza or roast beef (surprise!).
On each flight someone reclined their seatback all the way into me. I couldn’t take out my laptop, hence nothing was written to post over the weekend (sorry!).
Changing planes in Dallas I watched luggage truck after luggage truck drop bags on the tarmac, and no one came to collect them. At one point there were half a dozen errant suitcases strewn about, having fallen off the tops of trucks.
True, domestic first class isn’t generally anything to write home about. I’m really looking forward to my first class flight on Qantas next month, at least by comparison. Northwest offers an even tighter pitch on some of its aircraft. America West food is probably worse. USAirways isn’t any better. Frankly, though, I haven’t ever seen anything this bad up front on either United or Continental.
One interesting sidenote. US domestic airlines insist on calling their premium cabin ‘first class’ whereas in most of the world a slightly bigger seat and a meal of some sort would be called ‘business class’. Believe it or not, that terminology can have consequences. If you wanted to redeem British Airways miles for a domestic flight in business class, it would be 50,000 points. But since American and Alaska call their cabins ‘first’ British Airways requires 75,000 points for the flight. One of the stranger things out there, thus I can’t imagine domestic US premium class travel is a frequent redemption choice for BA miles.
Posted by gleff at 10:50 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
April 2, 2005
10,000 American Miles for Earthlink Still Available
The standard American Airlines offer for Earthlink internet is 6,000 miles after three invoices.Reader John points out that if you go to Earthlink directly, add internet service to your shopping cart, and enter promo code 1018865 the cart will display 10,000 American Airlines miles which will be awarded after six invoices.
Posted by gleff at 4:32 AM | Comments (1)
March 22, 2005
American Mastercard Bonus
The American Airlines Mastercard is again offering no fee for the first year and 15,000 bonus miles with first purchase.Citibank has been known to award the bonus miles even to people that have had the card in the past, despite terms that specify that the bonus can only be earned once.
Best practice is to print out the application page which mentions the 15,000 bonus miles and also to print out the terms and conditions which mentions no annual fee for twelve months.
Posted by gleff at 4:51 AM | Comments (1)
February 23, 2005
Southwest and American Posturing in Dallas
Arguments over the Wright and Shelby Amendments restricting flights out of Dallas-Love Field are reaching absurd proportions.For years Southwest, which is based at Love Field, has maintained official neutrality to the federal rules which limit flying out of the airport to contiguous states. It took years of litigation for Southwest to even be able to use the airport, which had otherwise been abandoned for the Dallas-Fort Worth facility.
I've assumed that Southwest's newfound desire to overturn these restrictions is mostly a matter of posturing. I don't think Southwest really wants substantial new flying out of Dallas.
There's not much room for expansion out of Love Field. They're pretty close to maxed out in their existing terminal space. New flights to further away destinations could certainly displace existing flights, and those might well be more profitable than certain existing services. But I have a hard time imagining that greater focus on Dallas is the next best expansion opportunity for Southwest.
In order to expand Love Field they'll have a whole separate battle with the city over space, possibly years in the making, and they'll have to bear 100% of the cost.
If they actually wanted more Dallas flying, it seems to me that they would have placed a higher priority on picking up the Delta gates at DFW with free rent and $22 million in incentives. The fact that they didn't suggests to me that they don't view Dallas expansion as a high priority and are simply posturing about expansion at Love Field hoping to scare away expansion by potential low cost competitors who might be interested in those DFW gates.
That said, Southwest expansion beyond the limits of the Wright and Shelby amendments scares the bejeesus out of American which is based at DFW.
American predicts doom and the end of the world in the event these laws are repealed, and suggests that they would have to build a hub at Love Field in order to fight back "because that's where the customers are going to want to go." But that seems to me to be an argument for repealing the laws -- customers would benefit from added convenience -- rather than an argument against repeal!
And American is bluffing in any case. They have three gates at Love that are going unused. They've been completely chased out of the airport due to low fares and an inability to fill their planes.
Posted by gleff at 5:03 PM | Comments (0)
February 8, 2005
Double Miles on American
In a move that matches United, American is offering double miles on all flights booked by February 18 for travel through May 25. Registration required.Posted by gleff at 5:48 PM | Comments (0)
January 15, 2005
American Bonus for Premium Class Flights to London
American is offering 42,000 bonus miles for premium class flights to London.
The move is very similar to British Airways' offer of 40,250 bonus miles.
Registration is required.
Posted by gleff at 12:51 PM | Comments (0)
January 7, 2005
AA Tax Offer
H&R Block is offering up to 1000 American Airlines miles for filing your taxes with them.
Posted by gleff at 9:59 AM | Comments (0)
December 3, 2004
American Airlines AAward AAvailability ChAArt
American Airlines publishes a chart, perhaps updated weekly, with a rough guide to award availability between select city pairs.
This isn't nearly as useful as Continental's real-time availability calendar, but it's a start.
The city pairs are all domestic, and availability appears to be listed strictly for coach awards, but some disclosure is better than no disclosure at all -- although the color coding (white, yellow, green) eerily resembles something from the Department of Homeland Security.
Posted by gleff at 7:14 PM | Comments (0)
November 16, 2004
American Airlines Enters Calls Center Alliance With Hotels.com
American Airlines has entered into an agreement with Hotels.com to transfer customers from one call center to another.
In other words, when you end your call with American the AAgent will ask whether you would like to be transferred to Hotels.com for hotel accomodations.
American will even give you 150 miles for completing a Hotels.com stay.
It's strange that American is charging booking fees for making a reservation through a call center at the same time they're using their call center as a cross-marketing profit center.
My strategy will be whenever I want to make a Hotels.com booking I'll call American, ask a silly question (But not book a ticket! Don't want that booking fee!), and take the Hotels.com transfer for the bonus miles.
The only other place offering points for Hotels.com bookings is GlobalPass. Personally I'll take a few American miles over a bunch of GlobalPass miles.
Posted by gleff at 5:12 PM | Comments (0)