You can now link your Delta and NWA account

You can link them from here and transfer miles btw accounts instantly, but do note that transfer miles btw accounts doesn't extend u miles expiration on Delta.

This is a indirect way to transfer ur Amex Membership points to Northwest

Trip to Hong Kong on UA 869

Upgrade on UA new Business class from SFO-HKG is extremely hard, Inventory Management people try to hold seats until last minutes. I checked in at LAX 4.5 hours prior to departure and the service director on site told me they only sold 22 seats in Business class and I was #4 on the waitlist, she couldn't understand why the seat still hadn't opened up.

After getting into LAX RCC around 4 hours prior to SFO-HKG departure, upgrade finally cleared. My flight from LAX-SFO scheduled for take off on 9:35 and landed in 10:55, which left me 1 hour for the connection, but after I boarded the plane, Capital annonced that there would be a delay due to air traffic control at SFO.

The plane finally landed at SFO GATE 90 on 11:33 am and flight to Hong Kong still scheduled for departure on time at 11:55 am at GATE G102. I run as fast as I can from the furthest gate in Terminal 3 to THE furthest gate in international terminal. Cabin door closed right after I step into the plane. Although, I finally made on board, I was really worried about my checked luggage.

The business seat itself is very good, lie flat bed and it does make a better sleep than 170 degree reclined seat. IFE system is running all the time, so u don't have to wait until take off to enjor ur entertainment. However, the movie selection is still not great, I have watched most of them already. No comments on food since I am still on diet. Overall, Not bad if u just want to have a very good sleep.

BTW, I was happy to see my checked luggage arrive with me. :)

New Three tier NWA redemption is not very bad yet!

I mentioned here about new NWA three tier redemption chart, which is similar to Delta system. However, the intra Asia Economy and Intra Africa Economy/Business still remain as 20K and 25K/50K and agent still able to calculate award level manually, so redeem them ASAP if u want to go to these detinations.

Made few more award redemption today

use 30000 BMI miles +105 british pounds for North America-Zone 8 one way business class award, whole process took less than 10 minutes, but they got my wife last name wrong, so had to ring back to correct it. Also, the taxes amount did not match to ITA, so will ring back tomorrow to ask for taxes detail.

In addition, redeemed 37000 km on Hainan Airline RT in F from SZX-PEK. was going to redeem from HKG-PEK, but Hongkong airline has blackout date until Feb 3rd, use SZX instead.

Hertz Top Tier-Platinum is on sale

via View from the wing, Hertz is offering its invitation level only-platinum membership for sale at price of $1350 if u r Gold, or $1275 if u r Five Star $1200 if u r President Circle. The benefit includes vehicle airport delivery, guaranteed upgrade, extra grace period, etc

If u rent car every week and want to save time at airport like LAX,IAD, ORD, go for it.

AADER promotion bonus selection link is up

You must select ur bonus by March 5th if u reached threshold and registered prior to June 15ht,2008.

The link is here

Membership Reward to Delta transfer 20% bonus

Register here, then transfer ur MR points to Delta before Feb 15th,2009 and earn 20% bonus miles.

The best airline program in China

It is Hainan Airline, the forth largest ariline in China, aka Grand China airline for international route. Although, they are not part of any alliance right now, I am expecting it will join oneworld eventually.

they have following advantages:

the only airline sells YUP fare, F class with price of full fare Y

the only airline you don't need to go to ticketing office to get award ticket with passenger ID copy,everything can be done on the phone and soon online

only airline has personal entertainment system on international flight in every seats

180 degree C cabin seats for international flight, also used for SYX to PEK route.

has lowest award requirement. eg. from PEK-HKG in F only cost u 37000km Roundtrip.

Award seat is on request basis and it is very easy to get one, if u r Silver or Gold member, you can get free seats on almost any flights

and many more benefits that other big three airlines don't have.

我觉得海航是现在中国最好的航空公司，无论是从服务，里程兑换，还是飞机硬件，都比别的3家大公司快一步。虽然现在不是任何一个联盟的成员，但我估计迟早会加入寰宇联盟（oneworld)

超值商务舱的票，付全价经济舱，直接升级到商务舱
电话上就可以搞定里程兑换，不需要到订票处提供证件复印件。
国际航班上经济舱每个座位都又娱乐系统
180度的国际航线商务舱座椅，有时用三亚到北京的航线
里程兑换的要求最低，从北京到香港头等舱才37000公里往返。
里程兑换是申请制，很容易，如果是金银卡会员，就更容易了，基本什么飞机都又票放出来
还有很多其他的好处

Another Netflix signup offer from AA

Earn 3,000 AAdvantage^® bonus miles when you join Netflix. Plus, earn an additional 500 miles after your third month of service. Offer ended on Feb 1st, 2009.

Booked my ticket to Hong Kong

JFK-LAX(stopover)-SFO-HKG-SFO-LAX-JFK, total is $1017, not too bad consider inbound is 5 months later and a stopover in LAX and W class, which can be upgraded with my systemwide certificate.

I was looking for fuel surcharge buster to drop fuel surcharge, but my return is too far away, the buster route has not release any cheap ticket yet, adding buster route only pushed the price higher.

a not very good UA west coast Bonus offer

Got this offer in my email today, you need to register here, then fly from SFO/LAX to listed destination below or v.v, valid only on tickets purchased between January 13 and February 9, 2009, for travel through April 30, 2009.

Los Angeles to or from:	San Francisco to or from:
Seattle	Seattle
San Francisco	San Diego
Boston	Boston

you will earn

Roundtrips in F,P,A,C,D,Z,Y,B,M,E,U,H,Q,V:	Roundtrips in W,S,T,L,K:
Fly 1, earn 1,500 miles	Fly 1, earn 500 miles
Fly 2, earn an additional 2,500 miles	Fly 2, earn an additional 1,000 miles
Fly 3, earn an additional 3,500 miles	Fly 3, earn an additional 1,500 miles
Total: 7,500 miles	Total: 3,000 miles

Hilton Refer your friend 2009 promotion is here

If you are not member of Hilton yet and want to be referred by me, send me a email.

You will earn 1000 bonus points after two stays, better than nothing

1000 bonus miles for New AA enrollment

I got this email today from mycoderewards.com, enroll AA program before Feb 28th,2009, u will earn 1000 bonus miles.

T&C:
Advantage® bonus mile offer is valid December 1, 2008 through February 28, 2009 and only for new members who enroll during this period. To earn the 1,000 bonus miles, you must enroll in the AAdvantage program at AA.com/enroll, then visit AA.com/offers and register with the promotion code that you receive upon redeeming this offer.

2009 AA Elite Status buy back Promotion

the link is here, on Jan 22nd, All current AAdvantage Platinum and AAdvantage Gold members who earned their 2008 elite status^ are eligible to participate in this offer provided they have flown at least one elite qualifying segment during 2008. Members who participated in the 2008 offer are not eligible to extend their status through this offer for the 2009 membership year.

AAdvantage Platinum
40,000 Miles or Points or 48 Segments $549	Less than 40,000 Miles and Points and less than 48 Segments $649
AAdvantage Gold
20,000 Miles or Points or 24 Segments $349	Less than 20,000 Miles and Points and less than 24 Segments $449

Confirmed!!! No more free change on award ticket for Delta Platinum members

I posted few days ago about Northwest move on this benefit and expected Delta to match. Today, I saw this program update on delta.com.

"Effective March 1, 2009, the redeposit and reissue fee for Award Travel will no longer be waived for Platinum Medallion members in an effort to preserve award seat availability for all SkyMiles members. Platinum Medallions have conveyed that making as many awards seats available as possible is one of the most important SkyMiles benefits. Many of these award seat bookings are held until the last minute and never flown. As a result, other SkyMiles members are unable to secure those seats. As a reminder, Platinum Medallions are not charged an Award Ticket Fee for reservations ticketed less than three weeks before travel."

This is bad, very bad!!!Free change can save considerable amount of money for Platinum members.With this change, I would say Gold level with them is more than enough, give ur money to programs that still offer ree change benefit for their Top Elite member.

Continental Airlines Program signup bonus

via View from the wing, Continental is offering 2000 miles for new member who sign up before Dec 31st.2009 and 5000 extra bonus miles if u take a flight with them before Dec 31st,2009.

However, Offer is restricted to member reside in Mid Pacific, South Pacific, China or South Asia (excludes Japan). Residency is defined by the address on the OnePass account.

Not a bad offer, consider CO will join Star alliance by end of 2009, maybe is time for me to join them.

21000 Continental Miles with New Chase Checking Account

From frugaltravelguy, earn 21000 miles when opening a new Chase checking account.

here is link, You need to refresh page to get ur own Coupon code.

To get first 10000, uou need a direct deposit from uremployer, SSN or other government benefits within 60 days of account opening.

Too bad, I don't qualify since I don't have payroll.

Hilton French Polynesia Properties Update

I wrote New Hilton opening in French Polynesia here,

now, one of these properties website is up, Hilton Moorea Lagoon Resort and Spa, as category 6 hotel. 40000 per night or 175000 points for 6 nights. Much better value than previous Starwood Category 6.

The "new" Bora Bora Hilton and Hilton Tahiti should be category 6 too because they all have HILTON name and there is no HILTON hotel above caterogry 6 unless branded as W=A.

15000 Priority Club points for DirecTV

Link is here, don't know it's great offer or not, maybe good for someone.

BTW, points count toward Elite qualification.

Earn 3000 UA miles for Netflix signup

This is the best offer so far WITHOUT mileage credit card requirement. Sign up here

10000 Delta miles for Brink Home Security system

Installation fee $99 with free second keypad. You will get 10000 delta miles.


Here is detail.

Credit to"happydawn"

Hyatt and SPG Q1 promotion registration page are up

I mentioned here about these Q1 promotions, Register here for SPG and here for Hyatt

Some New Delta Offers

1. 2500 SkyMiles for Fiji Water order

Posted on slickdeals, Use code fijiblack for 40% off. Total $22.5

2 100% bonus for transfering miles is back

Got this offer in my email today, Delta is offering 100% bonus for buying miles btw Jan 1st-Jan 31st,2009.

3 Delta 2500 or 5000 bonus miles for Avis rental is back

Saw this on flyertalk, but I have not get email yet.

Here is the detail

• 2500 bonus miles valid on a qualifying rental of three consecutive days at participating Avis airport locations in the US and Canada. Please mention coupon number MUAA132 to receive bonus miles offer.
• 5000 bonus miles valid on a qualifying rental of four consecutive days or more at participating Avis airport locations in the US and Canada. Please mention coupon number MUAA133 to receive bonus miles offer.
• Bonus miles offer valid on all car groups.
• An advance 24-hour reservation is required.
• Offer may not be used with any other coupon, promotion or offer except your AWD discount.
• The savings of up to 25% applies to the time and mileage charges only.
• Taxes, concession recovery fees, vehicle license recovery fee, customer facility charges ($10/contract in CA) and fuel charges are extra.
• Optional items such as LDW ($35.99/day or less except in Louisiana $49.99/day) and other surcharges may apply and are extra.
• Offer may not be used in conjunction with any other promotion or offer.
• Offer is subject to vehicle availability at the time of rental and may not be available on some rates at some times, including some online rates at Avis.com.
• Car rental return restrictions may apply.
• Offer subject to change without notice.
• Holiday and other blackout periods may apply.
• Renter must meet Avis age, driver and credit requirements. Minimum rental age may vary by location. An additional daily surcharge may apply for renters under 25 years old.
• Frequent flyer surcharge of up to $0.50 USD per day, may apply.
• Rental must begin by June 30, 2009.

AA citi Bank Credit card 30K Bonus Miles offer

I got this offer in my wife email box, you will earn 30,000 miles after $750 purchase in first 4 months of account opening. This is a better offer than currently 25K listed on AA or citibank website.

However, the first year annual fee is not wavied for this offer.

ANA award redemption advantage

I posted here last May about the advantage of ANA program. Yesterday, I saw an award itinerary held by "tiddy", which had 3 stopovers at TPA, ICN and NRT > 24hours and 2 connections < 24hours at KIX and FUK.

(SA)
TG630 Hong Kong Taipei 20:15 21:40 333 2 Economy 1 01:25
(MO)
TG634 Taipei Seoul(Incheon) 12:50 16:15 773 1 Economy 1 02:25
(WE)
OZ112 Seoul(Incheon) Osaka(Kansai) 10:00 11:40 333 - Economy 1 01:40
(TH)
NH423 Osaka(Itami) Fukuoka 11:15 12:25 76P - Economy 1 01:10
(FR)
NH252 Fukuoka Tokyo(Haneda) 12:15 13:55 773 D2 Economy 1 01:40
(TU)
OZ103 Tokyo(Narita) Seoul(Incheon) 15:30 18:10 777 1 Economy 02:40
(WE)
LH716 Seoul(Incheon) Shenyang 06:30 07:15 343 - Economy 1 01:45

Total cost for this trip in coach is only 22000 miles in Coach+$161 taxes and fees

I think this is the program where ur Amex Membership Reward points should transfer to.

Will Delta charge $100 dollar award cancellation/change/redeposit fees to their Platinum Elites soon?

There is a discussion on Flyertalk about upcoming benefit change on Northwest airline Platinum Elite member. Effective March 1st, 2009, Platinum member need to pay $100 for award redeposit and reissue fees (formerly called change fees).

There is no announcement from Delta yet for this change, but Northwest will become Delta soon, so I am expecting Delta will have same change.

A big plus for being a top elite of each airline program is waiving those fees, if this benefit is eliminating, it will be a BIG disappointment for lots of people.

Earning change on Amex Hilton Credit Card

I just notice this change, effective Jan 1st, 2009, you earn 6 points per each dollar at Grocery Store, Drug Store, Wireless, Cable, phone,internet bill, Gas station and Hilton Family Hotels instead of 5 points.

Restaurant and Postal Office charges are exclude from bonus list and no longer earn 5 points, only 3 points per dollar now. Everything else will earn 3 points per dollar.

Bye Bye Thankyou Network-The most rewarding Credit Card Program

From March 1st, 2009, Thankyou network fixed flight award option will be discontinued, which means the most rewarding program for credit card spending will be gone forever.

With 90K fixed business class award flight option, I get approx 8.5%-14.5% back for every dollar I charged on my Citibank Credit Card. After March 1st, only flexible award option is avaiable which value 1 point = 1 cent. This will make the cashback for Citi credit card to 5% max when u use Citi AMEX PLAT at Grocery store, gas station and 3% for everything else and less cashback on other cards.

With discontinue of this option, Starwood Amex Credit card and Hilton Amex Credit Card are back to primary cards along with Citi PLAT Amex Card. Hilton Program is improving, so their points are value more than before.

Let's do some comparison here, If you charge 60K per year and 5K of them are from selected catergories such as Gas station, wireless bill, Grocery store and postal office.

You are getting

190K Hilton points if using Hilton card

190K Thankyou network points if using Citi Amex PLAT(I know there is 150K points annual cap, but let's assume you and ur spouse each has one)

60K starwood points if using Amex SPG.

190K can give you 6 nights free at some top Hilton resorts such as Seychelles, Mauritius, Maldive, Tahiti, Europe and 15K left over. Approx value > 2700 USD.

190K Thankyou network points can give 1900 Cashback on tickets or other gift cards. If you use 1900 to buy the ticket, the ticket will get miles, so assume you get 50K miles on these tickets, the value is 1900-210(2 cards annual fees)+1000(worth of miles)>2690.

60K starwood can get u 13 nights at Cat 4 hotels with C+P option, if each 4K worth at least 100, those 60K worth >1300. However, you can have option to transfer these points to airline on 1:1.25 ratio, which equals to around 70000 miles, Value of 70000 miles> 2000 depends on how u use them.

I personally value those points and miles higher than above estimate.

As you can see, there is no signifant difference on these cards, so all depends on which rewards program you want and flexibility of these awards. I would say, all three cards will be best cards now.

Northwest Award Redemption Level Changes effective Jan 15th

Soon in late 2009, NW and DL will become one airline and Worldperks program and miles will become Delta Skymiles. In February, member of both programs can transfer btw their accounts without charge. However, in order to avoid taking advantage of lower award redemption fee and miles requirement with Northwest, NWA increases award level and fees to match with Delta skymiles.

The problem is, new chart is no longer showing travel btw Non US zone. I don't know what is the effect on new Northwest intra Asia award and intra Africa award. Previously, they were 20K/30K and 25K/50K for economy and business. If the change is identical to Delta, then award will increase 25K/30K for Asia and 50K/80K for Africa. I think the only way to find out is call them after Jan 15th.