There are some incredible deals out there to earn miles.
United Airlines FTD.com 30 miles per $
American Airlines FTD.com 25 miles per $
Usair FTD.com 20 miles per $
Delta Airlines FTD.com 25 miles per $
Delta Airlines Flowers.com 25 miles per $
Delta Airlines Teleflora.com 20 miles per $
Continental Air Flowers.com 50 miles per $ code CNT26
Don't miss out on this great opportunity. If you are a Mother pass this on to your family because flowers are nice but flowers with miles are much better.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Staying for Free
It's time to learn the other piece to the puzzle. Each one of us has a favorite hotel chain that we prefer to stay at. Whether it is Choice, Marriott, Hilton, Priority Club, or my favorite Starwood, there are many ways to earn hotel points.
My favorite credit card is the Starwood American Express. The first year there is no fee and after that it is $45. We pay all our monthly bills (cable, cell phone, storage units) with this card. I used this card to pay for my children's college education.
Except at restaurants, movies, theater tickets this is our card of choice. We use it for all our everyday living expenses (gas,supermarkets, drug stores).
In the past when we stayed in the city for a weekend we would pay for the room using our Starwood card. When we were looking at colleges or had to stay overnight for a bowling match, or a concert, we would pay. I decided that we would use the FREE nights to go on a real vacation, 5 nights at a beautiful resort. I could have used it for a FREE night stay but my logic was that if we had to stay somewhere overnight and there was no Starwood Hotel ( for a wedding,or a funeral, a match, a concert,parents weekend,etc.)we would be paying for it so I just implemented this for Starwood hotels as well.
I wanted to build up our Starwood accounts so we could use the starpoints for vacations we would only have dreamed of.
I wanted our FREE nights to be vacations not a trip. I hope you all understand the difference.
Our first free vacation was to Las Vegas, 2 free first class tickets and 5 nights at Caesar's Palace(which was then a Starwood resort).
We have had many other wonderful 5 night vacations all over the country.
There is a great promotion right now www.starwood.com to get the AMEX card. This card is great if you spend more than $15000 in a 6 month period. So if you can add up all your expenses I bet you spend $15000 in a 6 month period. The first time you use the card you will get 10000 starpoints then after you spend $15000 within a 6 month period you will get an additional 15000 starpoints so that will get you to over 40000 starpoints which is enough for a FREE trip somewhere.
There is a great resort in Puerto Rico that only requires 28000 starpoints for a 5 night stay. It is a category 3 hotel. There is a list of hotel categories on the Starwood web site.
Any time you use the Starwood card at a Starwood property or restaurant you will get double starpoints on your Amex card as well as double points because you will be a Starwood Preferred Guest.
Another great perk is the ability to transfer starpoints to airline miles. It is best to do this in increments of 20000 starpoints because Starwood will transfer 25000 strpoints (they give you 5000 for nothing) into your frequent flier account so you then have 25000 miles.
Starwood is having a great promotion now, pay for 2 stays(can be one night, 2 different times) and receive a FREE weekend night in any hotel category 1-6. That is one night in any major city worth $400-$600, or a beach resort. The room must be used by 9/27/09.
We booked a room in Orlando for $78 and a room in NYC for $152 so I will have a FREE night so we just might head down to Washington DC and stay in the St. Regis for a weekend. There is no way that I can afford to stay at a St. Regis if I had to pay for it. That's what makes this so much fun. We have stayed in resorts for FREE that I could never or would ever pay cash for.
When we got the Starwood Amex card with the above promotion I had to time it right, I knew I had 2 tuitions to pay in August and December so I got the card for the August tuition and then my husband got his to pay for the December tuition so we got the 40000 starpoints twice.
Those starpoints are being used for my 12 FREE nights in Italy.
I received an e-mail from a friend a few weeks ago, thanking me for telling her about the Starwood Amex card, she was e-mailing me while she was on her FREE vacation.
I prefer Starwood hotels and resorts but in future blogs I will discuss the other hotel chains.
My favorite credit card is the Starwood American Express. The first year there is no fee and after that it is $45. We pay all our monthly bills (cable, cell phone, storage units) with this card. I used this card to pay for my children's college education.
Except at restaurants, movies, theater tickets this is our card of choice. We use it for all our everyday living expenses (gas,supermarkets, drug stores).
In the past when we stayed in the city for a weekend we would pay for the room using our Starwood card. When we were looking at colleges or had to stay overnight for a bowling match, or a concert, we would pay. I decided that we would use the FREE nights to go on a real vacation, 5 nights at a beautiful resort. I could have used it for a FREE night stay but my logic was that if we had to stay somewhere overnight and there was no Starwood Hotel ( for a wedding,or a funeral, a match, a concert,parents weekend,etc.)we would be paying for it so I just implemented this for Starwood hotels as well.
I wanted to build up our Starwood accounts so we could use the starpoints for vacations we would only have dreamed of.
I wanted our FREE nights to be vacations not a trip. I hope you all understand the difference.
Our first free vacation was to Las Vegas, 2 free first class tickets and 5 nights at Caesar's Palace(which was then a Starwood resort).
We have had many other wonderful 5 night vacations all over the country.
There is a great promotion right now www.starwood.com to get the AMEX card. This card is great if you spend more than $15000 in a 6 month period. So if you can add up all your expenses I bet you spend $15000 in a 6 month period. The first time you use the card you will get 10000 starpoints then after you spend $15000 within a 6 month period you will get an additional 15000 starpoints so that will get you to over 40000 starpoints which is enough for a FREE trip somewhere.
There is a great resort in Puerto Rico that only requires 28000 starpoints for a 5 night stay. It is a category 3 hotel. There is a list of hotel categories on the Starwood web site.
Any time you use the Starwood card at a Starwood property or restaurant you will get double starpoints on your Amex card as well as double points because you will be a Starwood Preferred Guest.
Another great perk is the ability to transfer starpoints to airline miles. It is best to do this in increments of 20000 starpoints because Starwood will transfer 25000 strpoints (they give you 5000 for nothing) into your frequent flier account so you then have 25000 miles.
Starwood is having a great promotion now, pay for 2 stays(can be one night, 2 different times) and receive a FREE weekend night in any hotel category 1-6. That is one night in any major city worth $400-$600, or a beach resort. The room must be used by 9/27/09.
We booked a room in Orlando for $78 and a room in NYC for $152 so I will have a FREE night so we just might head down to Washington DC and stay in the St. Regis for a weekend. There is no way that I can afford to stay at a St. Regis if I had to pay for it. That's what makes this so much fun. We have stayed in resorts for FREE that I could never or would ever pay cash for.
When we got the Starwood Amex card with the above promotion I had to time it right, I knew I had 2 tuitions to pay in August and December so I got the card for the August tuition and then my husband got his to pay for the December tuition so we got the 40000 starpoints twice.
Those starpoints are being used for my 12 FREE nights in Italy.
I received an e-mail from a friend a few weeks ago, thanking me for telling her about the Starwood Amex card, she was e-mailing me while she was on her FREE vacation.
I prefer Starwood hotels and resorts but in future blogs I will discuss the other hotel chains.
Friday, April 24, 2009
New offers with Delta
Hi all, just got home from a few days in St.John, it was very restful and we met some very nice people.
When I got home there was a great e-mail from Delta that I want to share with you.
Earn an additional 25000 bonus miles when you use our non-airline Skymiles partners, well, that caught my eye.
here is the link: delta.com/pileonmiles
I will be able to earn an extra 6000 miles on my account from doing the following things:
1-buy half of my usual items at Drugstore.com
2-stay at the Marriott for a seminar
3-order flowers for Mother's day with FTD.com
4-order flowers for Mother's day with 1800flowers
5-rent a car when we go to Florida
6-eat out at a Rewards Network restaurant
I will be able to earn an extra 4000 miles in my husband's account from doing the following things:
1-buy the other half of my usual items at Drugstore.com
2-eat out at a Rewards Network restaurant
3-Get a quote for car insurance
4-order flowers for anniversary with Teleflora.com
Using the promotion for things that we would be doing anyway will net me an extra 10000 miles plus the miles given for each activity.
If you have any questions about the promotion or anything that has been addressed please feel free to ask.
When I got home there was a great e-mail from Delta that I want to share with you.
Earn an additional 25000 bonus miles when you use our non-airline Skymiles partners, well, that caught my eye.
here is the link: delta.com/pileonmiles
I will be able to earn an extra 6000 miles on my account from doing the following things:
1-buy half of my usual items at Drugstore.com
2-stay at the Marriott for a seminar
3-order flowers for Mother's day with FTD.com
4-order flowers for Mother's day with 1800flowers
5-rent a car when we go to Florida
6-eat out at a Rewards Network restaurant
I will be able to earn an extra 4000 miles in my husband's account from doing the following things:
1-buy the other half of my usual items at Drugstore.com
2-eat out at a Rewards Network restaurant
3-Get a quote for car insurance
4-order flowers for anniversary with Teleflora.com
Using the promotion for things that we would be doing anyway will net me an extra 10000 miles plus the miles given for each activity.
If you have any questions about the promotion or anything that has been addressed please feel free to ask.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
OTHER WAYS TO EARN MILES
As you hopefully started navigating the airline websites I hope you have noticed that there are many other ways to earn miles.
You can buy or sell a house and get a mega amount of AirMiles, put money (if anyone has any)in an Ameritrade account, join a wine club, join Netflix, and there are so many other ways.
What you all have to do is re-educate yourselves and think outside the box.
We earned 20000 points using the Ameritrade account.
We have 3 kids and each one of course needed a college education, one of the criteria when they selected their school was that we can charge their tuition on a credit card.
We paid the 2% charge for the ability to charge their tuition but I turned that fee and the AirMiles into 2 glorious FREE vacations that would have cost more than the 2% fee.
I will be away on a FREE vacation from Friday - Wednesday. FREE air and FREE hotels.
Life is good.
Coming up how to complete the picture with FREE hotel rooms......
You can buy or sell a house and get a mega amount of AirMiles, put money (if anyone has any)in an Ameritrade account, join a wine club, join Netflix, and there are so many other ways.
What you all have to do is re-educate yourselves and think outside the box.
We earned 20000 points using the Ameritrade account.
We have 3 kids and each one of course needed a college education, one of the criteria when they selected their school was that we can charge their tuition on a credit card.
We paid the 2% charge for the ability to charge their tuition but I turned that fee and the AirMiles into 2 glorious FREE vacations that would have cost more than the 2% fee.
I will be away on a FREE vacation from Friday - Wednesday. FREE air and FREE hotels.
Life is good.
Coming up how to complete the picture with FREE hotel rooms......
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Mother's Day
As we all heard April showers bring May flowers when we were a kid, and May is right around the corner. And so is Mother's Day. I am sure many of you send flowers to Mom but are you maximizing your purchase? There are many ways to order flowers, over the phone, on-line and of course a store. But if you order them on-line or over the phone please go through the airline mall of your choice. You will receive anywhere from 10 miles -25 miles per dollar depending on the promotion.
If you send flowers during the year it is the same thing. I send flowers -5 times a year and each time I get at least 1000 miles per purchase.
Stop wasting your hard earned money.
For those of you who have been reading the blogs so far, could you please comment so I know you understand what I am writing about.
I hope all this is pretty straight forward and easy to understand.
If anyone has a specific question, I will answer it.
If you send flowers during the year it is the same thing. I send flowers -5 times a year and each time I get at least 1000 miles per purchase.
Stop wasting your hard earned money.
For those of you who have been reading the blogs so far, could you please comment so I know you understand what I am writing about.
I hope all this is pretty straight forward and easy to understand.
If anyone has a specific question, I will answer it.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Eating Out for Flyer Miles
The subject I am going to discuss relates to Southwest, Usair, American, Continental,Northwest,United,Delta and others.
On each of these airline sites there is a partner called Rewards Network. This is a site that I definitely recommend that everyone signs up for it. It is free to sign up and if you eat out this site is for you.
We use the Delta site to accumulate our miles on the Rewards Network.
The site lists restaurants all over the country.When I want to eat out at home or on vacation I enter the zip code to see if there are any restaurants that the family would be interested in going to. We have been to some amazing restaurants and of course some that we would never go back to.
Here is how the program works: Once you register your frequent flyer number with the Rewards Network you also have to register up to 5 credit cards.(any credit card)You may register your spouses cards under the same account. These credit cards on file are the ones you will use to pay for the bill at the restaurant you have chosen from the Rewards Network list.
The first 12 times you eat out you will receive 3 miles per dollar including tax and tip. After the 12 times you will go to the next level which is 5 miles per dollar (which the new level extends to the next year). That adds up very fast.
Have you ever gone out with friends and everyone wants to charge their portion of the bill?
Well, to get to 12 times fast, if the the bill is over $50, split the bill with 2 cards that are on your account it will get you to the next level much faster.
There is a promotion now on most of the airline Rewards programs that will give you double miles when you eat out on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.
The card I use all the time is my Jetblue card because as I stated before, one of the perks is double on all restaurants.This called double dipping.
Each program always has promotions going on, once you register you will receive e-mail updates from them, OPEN THEM,they can get you extra miles.
Delta had a promotion : eat out 25 time during a certain period and receive an additional 25,000 miles plus the regular amount for each dine. That was a great promo.
Last year Delta had a promotion that you had to spend $450 from May 1-June 30 and you would receive an additional 5000 miles. We went out (7 of us) for Mother's Day in NYC and we were planning to go the Uncle Jack's Steakhouse (very expensive but wonderful). We spent the $450 . At the time we were getting 10 miles per dollar (now it is 5) so that came to 4500 miles and then since we spent the $450 we also got the 5000 bonus miles and of course we used the Jetblue card so I got 900 credits for Jetblue. It was a very Happy Mother's Day for me.
My husband's Delta account is the registered account with the Rewards Network from just eating out and working the system(all the promotions) I booked him his first class ticket to Italy. So mine came from everyday living expenses and his came from eating out. I still can't believe we are going. It takes time but the miles add up.
On each of these airline sites there is a partner called Rewards Network. This is a site that I definitely recommend that everyone signs up for it. It is free to sign up and if you eat out this site is for you.
We use the Delta site to accumulate our miles on the Rewards Network.
The site lists restaurants all over the country.When I want to eat out at home or on vacation I enter the zip code to see if there are any restaurants that the family would be interested in going to. We have been to some amazing restaurants and of course some that we would never go back to.
Here is how the program works: Once you register your frequent flyer number with the Rewards Network you also have to register up to 5 credit cards.(any credit card)You may register your spouses cards under the same account. These credit cards on file are the ones you will use to pay for the bill at the restaurant you have chosen from the Rewards Network list.
The first 12 times you eat out you will receive 3 miles per dollar including tax and tip. After the 12 times you will go to the next level which is 5 miles per dollar (which the new level extends to the next year). That adds up very fast.
Have you ever gone out with friends and everyone wants to charge their portion of the bill?
Well, to get to 12 times fast, if the the bill is over $50, split the bill with 2 cards that are on your account it will get you to the next level much faster.
There is a promotion now on most of the airline Rewards programs that will give you double miles when you eat out on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.
The card I use all the time is my Jetblue card because as I stated before, one of the perks is double on all restaurants.This called double dipping.
Each program always has promotions going on, once you register you will receive e-mail updates from them, OPEN THEM,they can get you extra miles.
Delta had a promotion : eat out 25 time during a certain period and receive an additional 25,000 miles plus the regular amount for each dine. That was a great promo.
Last year Delta had a promotion that you had to spend $450 from May 1-June 30 and you would receive an additional 5000 miles. We went out (7 of us) for Mother's Day in NYC and we were planning to go the Uncle Jack's Steakhouse (very expensive but wonderful). We spent the $450 . At the time we were getting 10 miles per dollar (now it is 5) so that came to 4500 miles and then since we spent the $450 we also got the 5000 bonus miles and of course we used the Jetblue card so I got 900 credits for Jetblue. It was a very Happy Mother's Day for me.
My husband's Delta account is the registered account with the Rewards Network from just eating out and working the system(all the promotions) I booked him his first class ticket to Italy. So mine came from everyday living expenses and his came from eating out. I still can't believe we are going. It takes time but the miles add up.
Monday, April 13, 2009
Get Air Miles for Shopping Online!
On the first of of my blog I started discussing Delta. Mostly everything I hold dear to my heart about Delta is gone. As the recession hit the wonderful Delta benefits also disappeared.
As I mentioned on the the first blog, every major airline site has a mall. I have become an on-line shopper.As many of you have .You will go to Macys.com, Nordstroms.con, Barnes and Noble.com,etc. But you only get your merchandise and 1 miles for using your credit card. That's where the new training must start.
I hope by now you all have gotten a frequent flyer number for all the major airlines. At this point please find the mall. To find it press find the name of the frequent flyer such as Dividend Miles, Skymiles, Worldperks, Aadvantage,etc. Navigate this part of the site. You will see numerous ways to earn miles. Look for partners (dining, shopping, etc) that will get you to the mall. Register your frequent flyer number with the mall. This is very important, because if you are not logged into the mall you will not get the miles. It is different than logging into the frequent flyer home page.
Now we are logged in, start looking at the stores that are on the site. It will show you how many miles you will get per dollar spent. This is a big part of how I travel for free. My favorite stores to shop on are Drugstores.com,magazines.com, shoes.com and many others.
This past month Delta had a promotion with shoes.com when you shop on the site through Delta skymiles mall you will receive 15 miles per dollar, no shipping , no tax, and a $20 coupon if you spend over $100. So I bought 2 pairs of sneakers for myself and 2 for my son and while I was sitting in my house in my PJ's I got 3000 skymiles plus the miles from using my credit card.
Drugstore. com also is having a promotion with Delta now, get 9 miles per dollar. So I purchased toothpaste, mouthwash, my shampoo and conditioner, q-tips, etc. I got discounts and used coupons and had no shipping fee and got 450 skymiles. It was delivered to my house the next day. I didn't use any gas and I shopped at 1am. Drugstore.com works like CVS when you are a repeat customer you get bucks back to use in the upcoming months. Last month I had $15.48 in my account to spend this month. So to me this is a fantastic way to shop.
I mentioned that I used a credit card to shop, an important piece of information is that you DO NOT have to have the airline credit card to shop on the mall. You can use any credit card.
Last Christmas season my Starwood American express card was targeted to recieve double points when I shopped on-line, well that was fantastic for me. During the holiday season starting sometime in October all the airline malls start their promotions( which is a great benefit to us because that means more miles for us). Barnes and Noble.com was offering through the Delta site 8 miles per dollar and they were allowing you to purchase gift cards on this offer. Every year we give out about $500 worth of gift cards to various people and plus my kids love the store so I purchased a few extra for a total of $700. When doing the math, I received 5600 miles plus the 2 from my Starwood card(1400) and then I took it a step further, once the cards came in I went on-line to shop on Barnes and Noble .com and used the $200 in gift cards to purchase merchandise at the store so I got an additional 8 miles per dollar for the books and CD's, which comes to an additional 1600 miles. Sitting in my nice warm house, no traffic, no crowds, I got 8600 points to put in my "travel bank".Not a bad return on my $700 I would have spent
anyway.
I will share many of these stories with you as we go on.
Just to give you food for thought, I booked us two first class tickets to Italy which cost me $90 for the taxes. Each ticket if I paid for them (which of course I can't afford) is $3800, yes that is correct, $3800 for one, that is $7400 for the two. Pretty cool if you ask me.
As I mentioned on the the first blog, every major airline site has a mall. I have become an on-line shopper.As many of you have .You will go to Macys.com, Nordstroms.con, Barnes and Noble.com,etc. But you only get your merchandise and 1 miles for using your credit card. That's where the new training must start.
I hope by now you all have gotten a frequent flyer number for all the major airlines. At this point please find the mall. To find it press find the name of the frequent flyer such as Dividend Miles, Skymiles, Worldperks, Aadvantage,etc. Navigate this part of the site. You will see numerous ways to earn miles. Look for partners (dining, shopping, etc) that will get you to the mall. Register your frequent flyer number with the mall. This is very important, because if you are not logged into the mall you will not get the miles. It is different than logging into the frequent flyer home page.
Now we are logged in, start looking at the stores that are on the site. It will show you how many miles you will get per dollar spent. This is a big part of how I travel for free. My favorite stores to shop on are Drugstores.com,magazines.com, shoes.com and many others.
This past month Delta had a promotion with shoes.com when you shop on the site through Delta skymiles mall you will receive 15 miles per dollar, no shipping , no tax, and a $20 coupon if you spend over $100. So I bought 2 pairs of sneakers for myself and 2 for my son and while I was sitting in my house in my PJ's I got 3000 skymiles plus the miles from using my credit card.
Drugstore. com also is having a promotion with Delta now, get 9 miles per dollar. So I purchased toothpaste, mouthwash, my shampoo and conditioner, q-tips, etc. I got discounts and used coupons and had no shipping fee and got 450 skymiles. It was delivered to my house the next day. I didn't use any gas and I shopped at 1am. Drugstore.com works like CVS when you are a repeat customer you get bucks back to use in the upcoming months. Last month I had $15.48 in my account to spend this month. So to me this is a fantastic way to shop.
I mentioned that I used a credit card to shop, an important piece of information is that you DO NOT have to have the airline credit card to shop on the mall. You can use any credit card.
Last Christmas season my Starwood American express card was targeted to recieve double points when I shopped on-line, well that was fantastic for me. During the holiday season starting sometime in October all the airline malls start their promotions( which is a great benefit to us because that means more miles for us). Barnes and Noble.com was offering through the Delta site 8 miles per dollar and they were allowing you to purchase gift cards on this offer. Every year we give out about $500 worth of gift cards to various people and plus my kids love the store so I purchased a few extra for a total of $700. When doing the math, I received 5600 miles plus the 2 from my Starwood card(1400) and then I took it a step further, once the cards came in I went on-line to shop on Barnes and Noble .com and used the $200 in gift cards to purchase merchandise at the store so I got an additional 8 miles per dollar for the books and CD's, which comes to an additional 1600 miles. Sitting in my nice warm house, no traffic, no crowds, I got 8600 points to put in my "travel bank".Not a bad return on my $700 I would have spent
anyway.
I will share many of these stories with you as we go on.
Just to give you food for thought, I booked us two first class tickets to Italy which cost me $90 for the taxes. Each ticket if I paid for them (which of course I can't afford) is $3800, yes that is correct, $3800 for one, that is $7400 for the two. Pretty cool if you ask me.
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Southwest Rapid Rewards Program
Today I will be talking about the Southwest Rapid Rewards program.
We flew out of Islip with Southwest for many years. Before I got the credit card I was able to get a free flight about once a year.
I linked my hotel programs(other than Starwood) to my Southwest account and I also linked the rental car programs to my Southwest account. So every time I had to stay in a hotel other than Starwood I wanted to make sure the stay was not lost so I linked it to my Southwest account.
A few years ago I found a site to get a free Southwest ticket the first time you used the card for any amount of money. www.southwest.com/flyfree was the link I used. So I had my husband and myself get the credit card. So we had 2 flights for $59 (the fee for the card)each. It was well worth it.
Here is how the Southwest card works: To get a Rapid Reward point you must spend $1200. You need 16 credits to get a free flight.
If you use your card to book any southwest trips and any of their partners you get double. A partner such as a hotel or rent a car.
Last year they had a great promotion, buy $500 worth of Southwest gift cards with your Southwest credit card and receive a free flight. So we each bought $500 worth of gift cards.
We just finished using up the gift cards for flights this year. So we had 2 more free flights.
I only use the card when a store does not take American express and of course when I use one of their partners.
This year the Rapid Rewards program has expanded to include the purchasing flowers on line through the Rapid Rewards site and the Dining rewards Network. So there are many other ways to get more points.
I have found booking with a free flight is hassle free and in most cases if booked early enough, Ihave never had a problem getting a free flight.
Once you get a free flight you also get coupons for free drinks on the plane which I share with my fellow passengers.
This year I have 3 free tickets with Southwest so far. The program works when used correctly.
We flew out of Islip with Southwest for many years. Before I got the credit card I was able to get a free flight about once a year.
I linked my hotel programs(other than Starwood) to my Southwest account and I also linked the rental car programs to my Southwest account. So every time I had to stay in a hotel other than Starwood I wanted to make sure the stay was not lost so I linked it to my Southwest account.
A few years ago I found a site to get a free Southwest ticket the first time you used the card for any amount of money. www.southwest.com/flyfree was the link I used. So I had my husband and myself get the credit card. So we had 2 flights for $59 (the fee for the card)each. It was well worth it.
Here is how the Southwest card works: To get a Rapid Reward point you must spend $1200. You need 16 credits to get a free flight.
If you use your card to book any southwest trips and any of their partners you get double. A partner such as a hotel or rent a car.
Last year they had a great promotion, buy $500 worth of Southwest gift cards with your Southwest credit card and receive a free flight. So we each bought $500 worth of gift cards.
We just finished using up the gift cards for flights this year. So we had 2 more free flights.
I only use the card when a store does not take American express and of course when I use one of their partners.
This year the Rapid Rewards program has expanded to include the purchasing flowers on line through the Rapid Rewards site and the Dining rewards Network. So there are many other ways to get more points.
I have found booking with a free flight is hassle free and in most cases if booked early enough, Ihave never had a problem getting a free flight.
Once you get a free flight you also get coupons for free drinks on the plane which I share with my fellow passengers.
This year I have 3 free tickets with Southwest so far. The program works when used correctly.
Saturday, April 11, 2009
The Jetblue Credit Card!
Hi, just back, before I tell you all my secrets, I must say that this is for people who pay off their credit cards every month and do not carry a balance.
Just want to give you an update of my last year's travel plans.
2008
February - Florida FREE air with Southwest
March - Arizona FREE First Class ticket with USair
April - California 2 FREE First Class tickets with USair
May - Bahamas 3 FREE tickets with Jetblue & paid for the other 2
June - Florida paid $35 with Spirit
July - Orlando 2 FREE tickets with Southwest
September - Lake Tahoe 2 FREE First Class tickets with USair
October - Williamsburg Va, paid for the seats
November - Bahamas paid for the seat
As you can see I travel a lot. I can't afford to pay for all those flights but I can go if it is free.
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Today we are going discuss the Jetblue American Express Card.
American Express also known as AMEX
If you eat out often at any kind of restaurants, even at well known eating establishments such as, Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts, McDonald's, and others as well, then the best card to have is the Jetblue AMEX Card. Besides restaurants they give double points for theater tickets, sporting events, movies, and gym memberships.
So the only time our Jetblue card comes out of our pocket is at restaurants , movies, or Broadway show tickets.
Now let me explain how the Jetblue system works.
When you book your flights on Jetblue through the internet the value of the trip will be doubled. as an example a flight from NYC to Lax, Ca is 6 points one way so if you booked on line you will get 12 points for that segment.
The catch to Jetblue is that you need to get to 100 points within a year of your first travel date. So if you don't make it to 100 TrueBlue points you will lose them.
BUT the Jetblue American express will save those points. Every time you use your card all your points gets extended to that date plus one year.
here's an example:
I have 24 points from my flight in October 2006 so I would lose those points in October 2007. But with the AMEX card let's say I made a purchase September 2007 then the 24 points are now good until September 2008. So the one year to acquire 100 TrueBlue points is now NOT part of the equation. The next time you use the card is July of 2008 so everything is now extended to July 2009.
Using this card is a very easy way to get free flights. It adds up very fast.
If you are thinking about getting the card please e-mail before you apply for it and I will send you to a site to get the card. Jetblue is having a promotion for card holders to get referrals.
If you travel with a spouse or significant other you each have to have your own Jetblue American Express Card. (Otherwise the spouse will lose the TrueBlue points from travel.)There is a fee to have the card but it has paid for itself many times for us.
*Next time we will get back to Delta.*
Just want to give you an update of my last year's travel plans.
2008
February - Florida FREE air with Southwest
March - Arizona FREE First Class ticket with USair
April - California 2 FREE First Class tickets with USair
May - Bahamas 3 FREE tickets with Jetblue & paid for the other 2
June - Florida paid $35 with Spirit
July - Orlando 2 FREE tickets with Southwest
September - Lake Tahoe 2 FREE First Class tickets with USair
October - Williamsburg Va, paid for the seats
November - Bahamas paid for the seat
As you can see I travel a lot. I can't afford to pay for all those flights but I can go if it is free.
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Today we are going discuss the Jetblue American Express Card.
American Express also known as AMEX
If you eat out often at any kind of restaurants, even at well known eating establishments such as, Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts, McDonald's, and others as well, then the best card to have is the Jetblue AMEX Card. Besides restaurants they give double points for theater tickets, sporting events, movies, and gym memberships.
So the only time our Jetblue card comes out of our pocket is at restaurants , movies, or Broadway show tickets.
Now let me explain how the Jetblue system works.
When you book your flights on Jetblue through the internet the value of the trip will be doubled. as an example a flight from NYC to Lax, Ca is 6 points one way so if you booked on line you will get 12 points for that segment.
The catch to Jetblue is that you need to get to 100 points within a year of your first travel date. So if you don't make it to 100 TrueBlue points you will lose them.
BUT the Jetblue American express will save those points. Every time you use your card all your points gets extended to that date plus one year.
here's an example:
I have 24 points from my flight in October 2006 so I would lose those points in October 2007. But with the AMEX card let's say I made a purchase September 2007 then the 24 points are now good until September 2008. So the one year to acquire 100 TrueBlue points is now NOT part of the equation. The next time you use the card is July of 2008 so everything is now extended to July 2009.
Using this card is a very easy way to get free flights. It adds up very fast.
If you are thinking about getting the card please e-mail before you apply for it and I will send you to a site to get the card. Jetblue is having a promotion for card holders to get referrals.
If you travel with a spouse or significant other you each have to have your own Jetblue American Express Card. (Otherwise the spouse will lose the TrueBlue points from travel.)There is a fee to have the card but it has paid for itself many times for us.
*Next time we will get back to Delta.*
How the Journey Took off!
I was your typical traveler, saved and saved for a weeks vacation and this was to stay at a 2* hotel.
Then about 6 years ago, someone said to me "Pay for a coach ticket and upgrade to First Class using Air Miles". This is when I started exploring the web going to the websites of many of the Airline Companies.
Low and behold on every major airline site there is a mall and many ways to get Air Miles.
I registered for every Frequent Flier Program and every hotel chain program and every rent a car program. I had tons of numbers and learned how to link them together.
I figured I buy gas, shop in grocery stores, drug stores, Home Depot, and Lowe's so why shouldn't I get the Delta Credit Card. This card gave double points for every purchase at these places. We had to eat, get gas, and we had a once a week trip to CVS for something so why shouldn't I get an extra benefit for spending our hard earned money. It was amazing how fast the Miles started to add up just from our everyday living expenses.
Then about 6 years ago, someone said to me "Pay for a coach ticket and upgrade to First Class using Air Miles". This is when I started exploring the web going to the websites of many of the Airline Companies.
Low and behold on every major airline site there is a mall and many ways to get Air Miles.
I registered for every Frequent Flier Program and every hotel chain program and every rent a car program. I had tons of numbers and learned how to link them together.
I figured I buy gas, shop in grocery stores, drug stores, Home Depot, and Lowe's so why shouldn't I get the Delta Credit Card. This card gave double points for every purchase at these places. We had to eat, get gas, and we had a once a week trip to CVS for something so why shouldn't I get an extra benefit for spending our hard earned money. It was amazing how fast the Miles started to add up just from our everyday living expenses.
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