Delta Airlines SiteSeer Challenge: 2000 free Delta Miles

TODAY September 17 marks round 4 to earn an additional 250 Delta Airlines bonus miles - plus a 1000 mile bonus if you voted in all 4 rounds. If you havn't voted in previous rounds, you can still vote for this 4th round and earn 250 miles.

(Repost)
Free and Easy 2000 Delta Airlines Miles
This afternoon Delta is expected to launch round 1 of a new contest where different people compete to win trips. You can watch their short video clips (5 of them in each round) and vote for your favorite team. You receive 250 miles per vote, and a bonus 1000 miles for voting in all 4 rounds. More information about the contest and Delta's new website SiteSeer can be found here.

Miles for surfing the web
For those who just can't get enough Internet surfing and/or frequent flyer miles, here is a site that will offer the best of both. ZooMiles, a search engine powered by ask.com, will allow you to earn miles while surfing the web. The site is expected to fully launch next month, but folks can request an invitation now. Link

Free bonus miles points/miles with United, American, Amtrak & Air Canada
Thanks, View from the Wing Blog

Fill out a short survey and/or sign up to receive emails and earn the bonuses below.
250 free United Airlines miles
250 free American Airlines miles
250 free Amtrak points
1000 free Air Canada miles

These promotions are great because most airlines require some activity (air or partner) within a certain amount of time, otherwise they delete your frequent flyer account. Most airlines recognize these registrations as a qualifying partner activity therefore keeping your account active.

HOT OFFER!

Get approved for the Southwest Airlines Visa card and earn 16 rapid rewards credits after your first purchase, enough for a free roundtrip ticket. They are also offering additional credits for balance transfers (balance transfer fee applies).

Previously the promotion has been 8 rapid rewards credits for signing up and using the card. So.....with the annual fee of $59.00 per year - $59 bucks to fly to one of the many destinations Southwest serves in the U.S makes this a hot offer. More information here.

Thanks to RedSox9547 on fatwallet for pointing out this offer.

Three global airline alliances include 82% of the world's top 60 carriers

Oneworld 21.6% (ie: American Airlines)
Star Alliance 27% (ie: United Airlines)
SkyTeam 22.5% (ie: Northwest Airlines)
Unaligned 28.9% (ie: JetBlue)


All three airline alliances are seeking to sign carriers out of such emerging markets as China and India.

For the consumer, the added benefit may be more opportunities to earn and spend frequent flyer miles with airlines in each alliance without having to belong to each airline's frequent flyer program.
Contributing source: Business Travel News

American Airlines officially released Dealfinder today, a downloadable desktop tool reportably to offer people more options and control when booking travel. The program was available on a limited Beta basis before today. Some say it has the same feel as Southwest Airlines Ding! downloadable program, but has fallen short since it focuses on more vacation packages and less on bargain basement cheap down and dirty give it to me for next to free fares, that Southwest sometimes offers. Also unlike Southwest, American hasn't so far announced any free miles/credits for giving the program a try.

A lack of "Sun" at San Francisco Airport (soon to change)

Have you seen this plane hanging around at San Francisco Airport?
(probably not)

Sun Country Airlines, recently named top 5 on the list of Top Domestic Airlines in Travel+Leisure’s 2007 World’s Best Service Awards has daily service out of SFO. So where are their planes?
Well according to its schedule, the planes are on the ground at SFO for a mere 50 minutes - a quick drop off and reload of passengers, hardly time to gatch a glipse of their fairly new & crisp planes.

So who are they? The privatly owned company initiated its first flight in 1999 and today has over 1200 employees on staff. Based in Minneapolis, Sun Country offers year round service from San Francisco to destinations in the U.S such as New York's JFK, Washington Dulles and Dallas via its Minneapolis hub. Sun Country is really known however for its flights to Sunny destinations including Miami, St.Petersburg/Tampa, South Padre Island, Puerto Vallarta, Zihuatanejo/Ixtapa, Acapulco, Montego Bay and San Juan.

The airline just announced a "UFLY" frequent flyer program in attempt to attract new business. For coach passengers this means 10 round-trip flights=1 free flight with no blackout dates or restrictions.

Beginning later this month, Sun Country will add to its existing 1240am "red eye" service to include a 605pm departure to its Minneapolis hub (arriving at almost midnight). The airline's entire 737 fleet is young, averaging less than 5 years old. Each plane has leather seats in both first and coach class, along with high fidelity audio programming.

With this added 2nd plane you may be seeing more "Sun" at SFO.
More information about the airline can be found here.

500 United miles for joining MyPoints (free)

Through July 27th, new members of MyPoints will receive 500 UA mileage plus miles for signing up.

MyPoints is a rebate/rewards website where they essentially pay you to shop online merchants through their website. For example, clicking through to United.com and purchasing a ticket would earn you 250 MyPoints. Other merchants such as Overstock.com and Travelocity earn points at tiered levels. Points can then be redeemed for gift cards, discounts and other goodies.

If you shop online already, MyPoints is a good way to earn some extra bonus goodies while in effect, not changing your shopping routine all that much. "Something for nothing" as I say.

500 Northwest bonus miles when using Paypal for purchase

Northwest Airlines just added a new promo which provides 500 Northwest Worldperks miles for any roundtrip ticket paid through PayPal. Purchase must be made by September 30, 2007 for travel through the end of the year. You can continue to use any payment method that Paypal accepts (ie: Visa/MC, checking) for your purchase.

Miles for your time and thoughts

The "E-miles" program, offering frequent flyer miles in exchange for your time and thoughts (fill out surveys), is currently offering a sign-up bonus of 250 Northwest Airlines miles to new members.
The program is available to Delta, Continental, and US Airways members as well, though not with a sign-up bonus.

I've used e-miles for the past several months. I recommend not using your primary email address as new offers and other associated junk mail may soon fill your box. The earned miles post too your respective frequent flyer program each quarter in 500 mile increments.

"Thanks Again" offers 500 free frequent flyer miles

"Thanks Again" a program whereby local merchants, mostly dry cleaners, offer miles for utilizing their services are offering a one-time sign up bonus. Sign up (free) between now and the end of July and receive 500 frequent flyer miles on either United, Continental or Delta. Then earn additional miles after qualifying transactions.

The program requires you to register your credit card; some may be concerned about releasing this personal information to 3rd parties. 1) I've personally joined the "Thanks Again" program and received the 500 miles from United - took a couple weeks. 2) You could provide a pre-paid debit/gift credit card with a balance on it, or perhaps try registering a virtual credit card number offered by banks.

Here are links to the respective programs:
United
Continental
Delta

Your First Class Seat Awaits

First on & first off the plane, complimentary fine foods and alcohol, massage, warm terry cloth socks, down-filled duvets and more are waiting for you (really); come aboard.

The quiet, the relaxation, the temptation...ugh, the price. Business and First Class for international flights can set you back well over $5000-$10,000. But, there are other options. First, consider this sampling of luxuries that await you when flying business or first class on some of these top international airlines:

Forget standing in long lines at the airport. Qatar airlines will have your personal escorted to the plane by way of a ride in a 7 series BMW. Once aboard and relaxed they offer a 10 course meal, "that typically includes caviar, lobster, prawns, Arabic mezzas, fine chocolates, cheese platters, freshly brewed cappuccinos, and the finest wines from the old and new world."

Singapore Airlines rolled out the SkySuite on some of its flights (ya can't just call it a seat), which fully reclines to any angle - right down to a flat bed. Also offered is turn down service, fresh bed linens and a down filled duvet.

Malaysia Airlines features 15" LCD monitors in first class, including video, TV and music on demand and tempting cuisines from around the globe. Malaysia Airlines also offers advanced onboard lighting systems, which replicates outside lighting providing a more natural feel to your journey.

Virgin Atlantic prides itself on having the longest fully flat (79.5") bed in its upper class suites, an upper body massage and mini-manicure.

Emirates Airlines 500 channels of on demand entertainment await their customers, along with Internet access on board for laptop enabled laptops and currently a promotion for 2 complimentary nights at the Ritz-Carlton, Dubai for first class travelers. First class cabin reportably comes with the highest ratio of crew-to-passengers of any airline in the world.

Wake up. Dream is over. These amenities (and really, this is a short list of them) do make hops over the Oceans a lot easier. An alternative to paying cash for these great seats is to redeem frequent flyer miles. For example, United frequent flyer members can redeem points toward business class travel on its partner Singapore Airlines. Another way are operational upgrades (rare), where an airline may be oversold in economy class and "bumps" folks (typically high paying or elite passengers) to business or first class.

250 American Airlines miles for completing a survey about American Airline Vacations

Frontier Airlines modifies their birds and frequent flyer program

Denver based Frontier Airlines says it is adding blackout dates to its award redemption tickets but concurrently increasing redemption seat availability options by 30%. For example, traveling the day before or the day after Christmas are considered blackout dates and you couldn't use miles for to redeem for such an itinerary (Christmas day itself is OK though). "EarlyReturns will be better equipped to guide you towards dates that have seats available. Adding this flexibility to the program will allow you to use your miles for more flights" says Frontier in a written email to its Early Returns members.

Also, Rocky Mountain news reports Frontier will be swapping out seats, for a thinner and lighter version, ultimately adding 4 additional seats on most planes and a reduction of seat pitch of 1-2 inches, though reportably no loss to leg space.

Frontier Airlines currently operates flights from San Francisco, San Jose and Sacramento, and is one of only a few U.S based airlines still offering round trip Domestic U.S & Canada award redemption's starting at only 15,000 miles.

Travel focused credit cards with up-front perks

Several credit card companies offering first-use bonuses for signing up for their card have been around for a while; United & American have a 20,000 miles sign-up bonus, Delta 17,500 miles, Alaska 15,000 miles, just to name a few. But here are two gosh darn good (great) deals worth really checking out:

For a limited time, American Express is offering a FREE domestic round-trip ticket (25,000 membership reward points) after you are approved and use the Business Gold Rewards card.
No annual fee the first year.

A personal favorite of mine is the AMEX Starwood Preferred card, offering 10,000 Starwood points on approval and 1st purchase. 10,000 points is worth a few nights hotel stay at many Starwood properties throughout the world, with no blackout dates. Or you can transfer these points to airline miles. No annual fee the first year.

Air Canada commences Sacramento service

Air Canada Jazz begins service from Sacramento International on Friday, offering twice daily non-stop service into Vancouver, BC., and connections to cities around the world.

AC is part of the Star Alliance network, United Mileage Plus members receive credit for flying many Air Canada flights. Alternatively, Aeroplan members can earn double miles for flying this route by registering here first.

Air Canada will be operating 50-seater regional jets, with 7:40am and 4:30pm departures from Sacramento.

4000 Delta SkyMiles to NEW members

Gotta be a member of the Starwood Preferred Guest program (free to sign up-and HIGHLY recommended by me). Complete this form by June 30th and 4000 Delta miles are yours!
Something for nothing - always a good thing.

American downgrades miles expiration policy

American Airlines joins United and U.S Airways as airlines that cap the lifespan of earned frequent flyer miles to 18 months, down from 3 years. You must have valid activity (ie: earned miles) in the account in order for the 18 months to reset. If you fail to maintain an active account, your miles will cease to exist.

Many people have complained about how frequent flyer programmes are stiffening policies, and this is yet another example. In reality however, the policy is not that difficult to follow. One car rental every 18 months, where American Airlines is a valid partner is a qualifying activity to keep your account active. Opinion Place, an online survey site allows you to earn AA miles for voicing your opinion; again, a valid activity to keep your AA frequent flyer program active.

In the end, this policy will allow airlines to truly drop infrequent flyers & people uninterested in keeping a relationship with the particular airline.

Northwest & Southwest Slash fares to/from Colombus Ohio

Likely in response to SkyBus' low price model, NW & SW airlines have slashed prices to amazingly new lows. NW is offering fares to/from Oakland, San Jose & Sacramento to Colombus for $98+ tax roundtrip...and SW offering DING fares for $30 each way. You must download DING from the Southwest website in order to see these fares. Most flights are for August and September.

"Free" 300 Northwest frequent flyer miles

Northwest Airlines "WorldPerks University" is an ongoing program where you can earn 100 frequent flyer miles for each course you complete. Each course takes about 2 or 3 minutes.
Currently there are 3 courses available. Every mile helps the frequent flyer account!