If you are moved immensely by the tragedy at Haiti but do not have immediate cash to help, despair not. For example, you can donate your hotel points (10,000 Hilton Honors pts converts to $25 for Red Cross) or Discover card's cashback money ($20 or $25 increments). Further Discover Credit Card is matching donations up to a total of $1 Million.
According to some estimates, another 7000-8000 people could donate $20 -$25 which would get fully matched by Discover. The matching is a nice gesture by Discover, which it normally reserves for gift cards to certain merchants.
The hotel points may not be the most efficient donation though in terms of value. Typically, 10,000 Hilton points can get me a hotel stay at an Airport Hilton (~ $80-100) in some places. But if the points are just languishing and you are not traveling soon, just donate it! And have some peace of mind!
Other ways to donate your frequent flier/hotel points are listed below:
Starwood ($50 for 4000 points and corresponding $$ for higher increments) - to Red Cross
United lets you donate miles to the American Red Cross. United Airlines Foundation is also matching up to $50,000 of monetary donations via United's page to the Red Cross.
The above four are the programs that I use most, so I wrote about them first. An additional list of programs and donations can be viewed in this USA Today Article.
Showing posts with label miles. Show all posts
Showing posts with label miles. Show all posts
Apr 12, 2009
MagsforMiles One Step Away!
MAGAZINES FOR AIRLINE MILES INFORMATION
Information on airlines provided in alphabetical order by airline name. American, Continental, Delta, Hawaiian, Northwest, United and US Airways are covered in this post.___________________________________________________________________________
AMERICAN AIRLINES----------Follow this Link
BRITISH AIRWAYS (no direct link) try POINTS.COM
CONTINENTAL AIRLINES---- Follow this Link
DELTA AIRLINES-------------- Follow this link
FRONTIER AIRLINES---------- Follow this link
HAWAIIAN AIRLINES----------Follow this link
MIDWEST AIRLINES------ Follow this link (Alternate Link)
(they also have Mileage exchange, a useful program for converting to Hilton Or use points.com to swap)
NORTHWEST AIRLINES------ Follow this link
UNITED AIRLINES------------- Follow this link
(zip code needed)
US AIRWAYS------------------- Follow this link
Magazines only with US Airways miles, for newspapers you have to use Points.com
through the link Subscriptions for miles
POINTS.COM-------------------- Follow this Link
___________________________________________________________________________
Additional notes, reviews, comments etc.
AMERICAN [Link]
In my opinion, The Wall Street Journal - 230 and Conde Nast are good deals. I have used this twice successfully.
BRITISH AIRWAYS (no direct link) try POINTS.COM
CONTINENTAL [Link]
Has magazines as well as some kind of discount deal (50% off) on other merchandise. About the 50% deals [Miles for Merchandise], compare prices before buying. I am not reviewing Onepass as I have earned Onepass miles.
DELTA ([Link]
Comparable to the deal you get with AA miles.
FRONTIER [Link]
Not reviewed
HAWAIIAN [Link]
I have not used Hawaiian so I am not reviewing it here.
NORTHWEST [Link]
Same deal as AA or Delta miles (Note: NW is going to merge with Delta soon but websites remain separate)
UNITED AIRLINES [Link] (zip code needed)
I have not used this service as I use my UA miles for travel rewards usually.
US AIRWAYS [Link]
(please turn off your pop up blocker on the US Airways website)
___________________________________________________________________________
MAGAZINES AT POINTS.COM website
Points.com is an online portal that lets you convert airline miles and hotel reward points to useful items or swap them into other programs. You can also get Amazon certificates at points.com using your airline miles. This is yet another way to get magazines for airline miles. For miles of these carrriers: Hawaiian, American, US Airways you can get magazines via the POINTS.COM website. The downside of using a service like points.com is that the conversion losses are considered steep by some people.
But still, you have some additional flexibility to convert miles or points with which you cannot fly, but want some value out of (it). At points.com you can also convert those miles to amazon.com cash. You would need certain minimum miles depending on the program to get anything useful on points.com. So make sure you have a few thousand miles at least.
Points.com may give you more flexibility in spending the final amount. The approximate conversion rate to amazon.com gift certificate value* is discussed here. Currently (Jan 09) it is free to sign up with points.com.
My experience at Points.com: I converted some 13,000 US airways miles (near expiry) from my mom's Dividend miles account to Amazon gift certificates (~$11?). At points.com, you can convert miles at rates ranging from 0.8 cent/mile to as low as 0.4 cent/mile , which is way lower than my cost basis of 1c/mile).
If you want any other Airlines to be covered or have info on other airlines, please leave me a comment and I will add that to this list. Thank you! A similar post on this topic is here.
___________________________________________________________________________
Looking for cheap paid subscriptions to magazines?
You can visit the following Amazon.com link Magazine Subscriptions From Amazon
Maybe people are trying to use up their accumulated miles for something, rather than letting them go waste. Considering how hard it has become to redeem miles for award tickets nowadays, converting them to magazines or Amazon cash (more on that in another page) is very welcome.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TYPICAL MAGAZINES
Barrons, Conde Nast Traveler, Fast Company, New York Magazine, Wine Spectator and several others are great choices for leisure or useful (read as "forming money making ideas") reading.
Looking for paid magazine subscriptions?
Support this site by getting your Magazine Subscriptions From Amazon
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ORIGINAL POST ON HOW I WAS WARNING PEOPLE TO BE CAREFUL ABOUT MAGSFORMILES WEBSITE
with updates in blue
Watch out for bad ugly sites out there. Especially if you want magazines for your miles (airline miles). I have a feeling that most of these Magazines for miles websites could just be phishing operations.
The classic case is MagsforMiles [http://www.magsformiles.com/], a site that makes you fill out information such as FF no, name and address, makes you select the magazines and then when you click Submit selection, it gives a response that the site is just a demo, but thanks for the info anyway.
Hmm! Thankfully I used my one account with only 1000 miles but I am still concerned about giving my name and address away. Shucks.
UPDATE: I realized that my paranoia was a little unfounded. [I got my mags and nothing untoward happened back then] I had posted the above material long back, but recently found out that this page has been getting lot of views. [My random post seems to be of some to people on this planet so I have rewritten my initial post to make it more informational.]
Aug 18, 2008
Value of Airline miles and credit cards
While going through yahoo finance and looking at Mastercard's stock price, I came across this article on mileage credit cards. This article several points that have always been running through my head and a few more, so I decided to 'repost' a small portion of it here. I will not be posting the entire article as you can see it on Yahoo or in New York Times. (log in might be required on NYT site).
I have personally given up on the Citi AAdvantage card because of the high spend requirements and the absence of an AA flight from my area.
Anyway I just thought of this:
Starwood is still good
Amex Hilton is right on
Hilton Citi, please have some pity
With Capital one, I waste time on phone
Ok, the last one is just for a finish, I have never had a Cap one no hassles card so I should not put them down much.
Good luck flying, but keep making sure you pay your bills fully month to month on the credit cards you have!
?? To Keep an Airline Credit Card or Not ?? Ask yourself these questions (Bullet points modified a little from RON LIEBER's article in New York Times.DO YOU CARRY A BALANCE? If you don’t pay your bill in full each month, you’re excused from this discussion. No credit cards for you actually. Well maybe you can try to snag a 0% APR, but remember you do have to pay back at sometime.
The article covers cards that let you earn miles (like United Mileage Plus Visa card, Delta American Express Card, US Airways Dividend Mastercard etc), hotel cards like Starwood American Express ($45 fee but woth it, especially because of Amex's insurance products that come with the card), Hilton Honors Citicard (fee) or Hilton Honors American Express (no annual fee), and general points cards that come from other banks.DO YOU HAVE ELITE STATUS? Some airlines — like American, Northwest, United and Continental — carve out additional inventory of free seats at their lower mileage levels for some or all customers with elite status. That inventory, plus the bonus miles that most airlines still offer to elite members, make a mileage credit card more attractive.
ARE YOU A BIG SPENDER? If you’re wealthy, or can run business expenses through your card, you can earn six figures in miles from card spending alone each year. A huge mileage balance gives you the ability to exchange those miles for premium-class overseas tickets, which could cost $10,000 or more if you bought them with cash. Miles are worth a lot more if you redeem them for this sort of travel.
ARE YOUR CHILDREN IN SCHOOL? If they are, you’ll be fighting everyone else who wants to travel at the same time. The airlines, knowing your desperation to get out of town, may make fewer free seats available during school vacations, since the airline will probably sell all the seats on those flights anyway. EXCEPTION: Some cards like United MP Visa, American express with membership rewards and Delta American Express might have some benefit even in blackout date travel because they let you pay for your airline ticket by using the miles/points you earned on the credit card. United calls this " CHOICES", Amex just uses points and DELTA - they have some name, but the concept it similar. Typical cost sonversion is 1 cent per mile (point), not the usual 25000 mile/ticket shill Delta's program is complicated because conversion starts to become profitable only for tickets costing above $100 or better yet, over $250 [not hard nowadays huh?]. So if your ticket costs $350 and you want to apply 25000 miles/points, it will reduce your cost by $250 (in most cases). Amex charges an extra $7 service fee, take note.
I have personally given up on the Citi AAdvantage card because of the high spend requirements and the absence of an AA flight from my area.
Anyway I just thought of this:
Starwood is still good
Amex Hilton is right on
Hilton Citi, please have some pity
With Capital one, I waste time on phone
Ok, the last one is just for a finish, I have never had a Cap one no hassles card so I should not put them down much.
Good luck flying, but keep making sure you pay your bills fully month to month on the credit cards you have!
Aug 4, 2008
Delta Nortwest Merger and Frequent Flier Miles
I recently read an article here about somebody's plan trying to book an award ticket next Spring for two people to Hawaii for the cost of $90. My first issue with that is this is a very very risky venture with a low chance of success. Why Skyteam you may ask? Many frequent travelers think that when it comes to award redemption, Skyteam is the toughest. I joined the ranks of those people with a first hand experience in that process recently!
Coming back to the issue at hand, saver economy tickets (35,000 miles per ticket on Delta) to Hawaii are the hardest to find because they are gone usually 330 days ahead of time. Or, the opening day of award seat availability for most airline ticket systems. The author's son is planning a trip in next spring, good luck buddy. I really wish you good luck but it's gonna be hard especially after the NW/DAL merger. However, if you ever read this post, make sure you read my story just below this post and make sure you look for availability on delta or continental websites and then call an agent with some probably date ranges - and do it the moment you get your miles in the account!
Additional notes
By the way the cost of $90 for 2 tix is far from accurate. Airlines are already imposing ($25-$50) fuel surcharges, $5 to book online award tickets e.g American, US Airways]. So while the thought is noble in the author teaching his son how to travel at a discount (yes that is what I can call it, not free travel), they need to be made aware of possible sticker shocks which could add up to $50-100 per ticket including surchrages and airport taxes and other fees). Of course this would still be cheaper than the $500-700 per ticket. Also to be noted is that sometimes, to book an award ticket for a relative/friend using your miles, you may not be able to use the website but have to call a reservations agent - which means an automatic $25-30 fee. I don't blame the airlines for the fuel surcharges, but a lot of other fees are the bane of air travel nowadays.
A small tip regarding award travel: to reduce your baggage fees try booking on Continental - it seems to be the one Skyteam airline as of now that is not charging a 1st bag fee. i wonder if this is due to the fact that CO's main market is Houston - where it competes with Southwest - which has not imposed a 1st bag fee yet. Otherwise be ready to pony up $15 to carry your nail clippers and shampoo bottle in checked luggage :).
There is one other option which the author could have elaborated. Even if you cannot book an award ticket directly, Delta might buy back your miles at the rate of 1c/mile if you use the Amer express Delta card and pay for your trip using the miles. This is similar to the Choices program by United. More details behind those links in the fine print. This way, a person could redeem some of the miles earned using the Delta card - note that the Northwest miles which convert to Delta might not work in this process - no guarantees. So given all these hoops one has to jump through it seems like a better idea would probably be to learn value investing or swing trading and make good money and then pay full fare tickets and use the miles to bump to business class. Disclaimer: Risks are a given in stock investing and trading which might include a loss of all your capital and maybe some more. There are also tax issues with capital gains.
[While the premise of flying free with DL miles is good, the author needs to back it up with past successful results with Delta/NW on getting free flights in this manner or they will get a serious reality check]
Coming back to the issue at hand, saver economy tickets (35,000 miles per ticket on Delta) to Hawaii are the hardest to find because they are gone usually 330 days ahead of time. Or, the opening day of award seat availability for most airline ticket systems. The author's son is planning a trip in next spring, good luck buddy. I really wish you good luck but it's gonna be hard especially after the NW/DAL merger. However, if you ever read this post, make sure you read my story just below this post and make sure you look for availability on delta or continental websites and then call an agent with some probably date ranges - and do it the moment you get your miles in the account!
Additional notes
By the way the cost of $90 for 2 tix is far from accurate. Airlines are already imposing ($25-$50) fuel surcharges, $5 to book online award tickets e.g American, US Airways]. So while the thought is noble in the author teaching his son how to travel at a discount (yes that is what I can call it, not free travel), they need to be made aware of possible sticker shocks which could add up to $50-100 per ticket including surchrages and airport taxes and other fees). Of course this would still be cheaper than the $500-700 per ticket. Also to be noted is that sometimes, to book an award ticket for a relative/friend using your miles, you may not be able to use the website but have to call a reservations agent - which means an automatic $25-30 fee. I don't blame the airlines for the fuel surcharges, but a lot of other fees are the bane of air travel nowadays.
A small tip regarding award travel: to reduce your baggage fees try booking on Continental - it seems to be the one Skyteam airline as of now that is not charging a 1st bag fee. i wonder if this is due to the fact that CO's main market is Houston - where it competes with Southwest - which has not imposed a 1st bag fee yet. Otherwise be ready to pony up $15 to carry your nail clippers and shampoo bottle in checked luggage :).
There is one other option which the author could have elaborated. Even if you cannot book an award ticket directly, Delta might buy back your miles at the rate of 1c/mile if you use the Amer express Delta card and pay for your trip using the miles. This is similar to the Choices program by United. More details behind those links in the fine print. This way, a person could redeem some of the miles earned using the Delta card - note that the Northwest miles which convert to Delta might not work in this process - no guarantees. So given all these hoops one has to jump through it seems like a better idea would probably be to learn value investing or swing trading and make good money and then pay full fare tickets and use the miles to bump to business class. Disclaimer: Risks are a given in stock investing and trading which might include a loss of all your capital and maybe some more. There are also tax issues with capital gains.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)