Author Archives: Chris

Denied Boarding Statistics

Posted on August 26, 2011 by Chris

I’ve been voluntarily denied boarding (VDB) four times this year on United, netting me a total of $1,800 in United travel vouchers.  Earlier in the year, I also turned down a $400 offer because the reroute involved a layover at … Continue reading →

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Continental Mile Auctions

Posted on August 25, 2011 by Chris

I got an email this afternoon from Continental, advertising an auction for a 32GB iPad 2 and a Callaway Golf RAZR Hawk Driver.  Uninterested in either product (if I was, I would have bought one already), I ignored it.  Seth … Continue reading →

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AA eShopping Error

Posted on August 25, 2011 by Chris

I, like many others, jumped in on the AAdvantage eShopping advertisement for 83,871 miles with a rather small purchase from the Verizon website.   Since then, there’s been a massive thread on FlyerTalk (now 212 pages). I finally got my consolation … Continue reading →

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US Airways Grand Slam

Posted on August 24, 2011 by Chris

Registration is now open.  The promotion runs from September 14th through November 14th. The 40th tier requires having elite status on US Airways.  While it’s possible to buy a 90-day trial of the lowest tier  for $200 (plus 7.5% in … Continue reading →

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AA Million Miler Changes

Posted on August 24, 2011 by Chris

I’m a bit late to the party, but American announced the official changes to their million miler policy. Currently, all redeemable miles with American count towards the million mile thresholds.  This is inclusive of credit card bonuses, elite bonuses, and … Continue reading →

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Amex Bonus Bumping

Posted on August 23, 2011 by Chris

As discussed last week, I applied for (and received) the Amex Premier Rewards Gold card with a rather paltry bonus for $1k of spending.  I sent a secure message last night to apply promotion 6661 (75k points for $1k of … Continue reading →

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SPG Amex Ends Today

Posted on August 22, 2011 by Chris

The 30k signup bonus for the Starwood Amex ends today.  The bonus is split into two halves, 10k on first purchase and 20k more after $4.5k of spending. SPG points generally transfer at 1:1 with most airlines (United/Continental are exceptions).  … Continue reading →

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US Airways Grand Slam 2011

Posted on August 21, 2011 by Chris

I’m always hesitant to buy miles and points.  Airlines and hotels are profit-seeking entities; they wouldn’t sell the miles and points without some chance of making a profit on them.  As a testament to this, I have a hockey puck … Continue reading →

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American Express Premier Rewards Gold Card

Posted on August 14, 2011 by Chris

Online Travel Review details how to turn the current Amex Premier Rewards Gold card offer for 15k Membership Reward points for $1k of spending in 3 months into about 105k points for the same spend.  Membership reward points are transferable … Continue reading →

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Thoughts on the Mileage Plus Rumors

Posted on August 13, 2011 by Chris

Yesterday’s rumored changes have turned into a 36 page long thread (as of this writing) on FlyerTalk.  The lack of a complete denial by United’s representative on FlyerTalk isn’t helping.  A few other bloggers have written on the topic as … Continue reading →

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