Best Bets – April, 25 2006

by Randy Petersen

Best Bets – April, 25 2006
  1. American AAdvantage members can earn up to 60,000 bonus miles: Fly three qualifying roundtrips between Austin, San Antonio, Kansas City or St. Louis and either Dallas Love Field or DFW International Airport. Fly another 3 trips and get another 30,000 miles. Register online at http://www.aa.com or by calling 1-800-882-8880. Use promo code FLY3. (P.S.: Total fares for earning the 30,000 mile bonus can be as low as $264.)
  2. Alaska Mileage Plan has introduced its Spring Award Sale. Fly Alaska or Horizon Air between Phoenix, Tucson, Las Vegas, Reno or Denver and any cities in Washington, Oregon and Idaho for only 15,000 miles — a savings of 5,000 miles off the regular 20,000-mile Coach Saver awards. This offer is valid for travel until June 8. The discount is not available May 26-29. Book award travel online at http://www.alaskaair.com
  3. Best Western is marking its 60th Anniversary by offering lifetime Diamond Elite status to Gold Crown Club members who stay a total of 60 or more qualified nights at Best Western hotels around the world during 2006. To be eligible, guests must be members of Gold Crown Club, but no registration is required.
  4. Marriott Rewards has brought back its long-running and popular MegaBonus promotion. Through May 15, members will receive up to 10,000 Rewards points after completing five stays collectively at any of 2,600 participating hotels in 65 countries. To become eligible, members must register for the promotion offer via http://www.MarriottRewards.com or by calling 1-888-MARRIOTT (627-7468) during the promotional period.

    Members earn 2,500 bonus points for every stay beginning with their second stay up to a maximum 10,000 points.

  5. As they are wont to do, the good folks at InterContinental Hotels Group Priority Club Rewards have replaced one solid promotion with another. Spring’s “3,000 Points or 1,000 Miles” promotion has given way to summer’s “2,000 Points or 500 Miles” campaign. For every second night, members will earn 2,000 points or 500 bonus miles. Don’t let the name fool you…you can still earn up to 20,000 points or 5,000 miles from May 15 until Aug. 31. Registration is, of course, required. Check out http://www.priorityclub.com/2000 for details.
  6. 25 deals in 25 days. So says American AAdvantage about its newest promotion to celebrate its 25th year. Starting on May 1, one big deal a day will be offered at http://www.aadvantage25.com. We’ve been promised “incredible sweepstakes, huge discounts and unheard-of bonus miles.” Stay tuned!
  7. Dollar, Thrifty and Hertz are offering triple miles to Delta SkyMiles members.

    Thrifty is offering the triple-threat when you rent a mid-size or larger car for 2-7 days through May 31.

    Hertz is giving triple miles and special rates on Volvos, Jaguars, and the Lincoln LS at participating locations in the U.S. and Canada through June 30. Provide your SkyMiles number, CDP# 165385, and PC# 959000.

    Members who rent a compact or larger car for two days or longer from Dollar will also get triple miles through June 30.

  8. The new Marriott Rewards Premier Visa Signature Card is almost too good to be true. In fact, we called a few times just to be sure we were reading this right. The card earn five Rewards points for every dollar spent on the card at any Marriott property, plus two points for every dollar spent on qualified dining, airline and rental car card purchases, and one point for all other card purchases.

    Premier cardmembers receive a 15,000-point bonus upon the first use of the card; a free night certificate valid at category 1 — 4 hotels, which is awarded upon account approval; a two-for-one golf certificate for use at participating Marriott-managed golf courses; a free-night certificate valid at category 1 — 5 hotels every year on the account anniversary date; and 15 nights toward elite status every year, which makes every cardmember a Silver Elite member and also gives a boost toward Gold or Platinum Elite status.

    This is not to be missed. http://www.marriottrewards.com/premiervisa

  9. Northwest continues to please by offering bonus miles for next to nothing. Check out their latest Refer-A-Friend promotion, where you can earn up to 20,000 miles for your friends’ travel when you refer them to Northwest WorldPerks. You can earn up to 4,000 miles for each of five friends, and your friends can earn an unlimited number of bonus miles.

    Registration is required before May 15. Upon registering, you’ll receive a confirmation email that you can send to up to five friends. To be eligible, your friends must be WorldPerks members (or join the program prior to receiving your email) and may not have earned Northwest miles for travel since Jan. 1, 2005. Your friends then have until May 31 to complete specific activities, like purchasing a ticket at nwa.com (500 miles) or checking in online (500 miles).

    Visit http://www.nwa.com/offers/referafriend/ for details.

  10. Through May 31, Northwest WorldPerks is offering its 100,000 Mile Dash promotion. Registered members can earn points for a number of Northwest and Northwest partner related activities, including flights, hotel stays and car rentals. Hotel stays, for example, earn five points.

    Points are converted to miles at the end of the promotion. For example, 1 to 19 points nets 500 bonus miles, 100 to 149 points gets 3,000 bonus miles.

    Is it the greatest promotion ever? No, but it gets honorable mention, because Northwest WorldPerks remains one of the only programs in North America to consistently offer the kinds of creative promotions frequent flyers used to know and love.

    Check out http://www.nwa.com/offers/dash for more information.

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