More ways to earn miles: Hilton offers 6x mileage bonus

by Grant Martin on

Mileage promotions from Delta are coming in hot and heavy, and those on the ball with some of their most recent promotions are set to make quite the killing in a pretty short time.

Their latest promotion is in collaboration with Hilton‘s points program, HHonors. From now until the end of February, each time you spend more than two nights at a Hilton hotel they’ll give you six times the miles that you would normally earn.

Right now, HHonors is set up on a tiered program where you can earn any variety of airline miles based upon how much you spend at their hotel — but most members earn a fixed 500 miles per stay at a hotel. With this new promotion, you’ll now earn 3,000, or, just under 1/8 of a domestic round trip ticket.

You might not immediately think that’s very much, but combine that with the partner bonus promotion or any other of the generous offers that the airline is currently putting up and your miles can accumulate pretty quickly.

Sign up for the promotion at Hilton’s website here.

A handy guide to help you wade through airline rules and restrictions

by Jamie Rhein on

While I was packing yesterday for my daughter’s and my trip to Denmark, I asked her if she wanted to take a lightweight shawl to use as a blanket on the airplane.

“Don’t they give you blankets?” she asked.

Maybe. Some airlines charge extra for a blanket and pillow. Jet Blue already does. U.S. Airways is going to start soon.

In another conversation yesterday, this one on the phone, my father told me that he decided against checking a second bag on his Delta flight from Columbus to JFK in New York when he found out that this would cost him $50. On December 5, that fee will go down to $25.

My dad’s plane was an hour late leaving Columbus yesterday, and he said that the JFK connection to Albany was a hassle to navigate. Perhaps, that’s why the extra baggage fees seem unreasonable. Plane travel is anything but heavenly.

Blanket fees, bag fees, reservation fees, carry-on size changes, meals or no meals, drinks or no drinks, working toilet or no working toilet–just kidding on that one–are details that make air travel more confusing than it used to be.

Sure, buy the plane ticket, but don’t think you’re done paying for the cost of getting from here to there. Keep some extra cash on hand because you’re bound to need it for something when you fly.

In this comprehensive article at Smarter Travel, Tim Winship covers 25 policy changes that are coming to various airlines. When trying to find the best deal, knowing an airline’s checked baggage policy, for example, can make a difference as to how pricey a cheap ticket may become.

One point Winship makes is that complaining can work. When United received complaints galore from passengers who were miffed about paying for meals on overseas flights, the airlines dropped that charge.

If there is anything that’s certain, as soon as you learn an airline’s policy, it’s going to change.

More free miles for Delta passengers

by Grant Martin on

If you’re a member of the Delta mileage program, this year has been good to you. From double miles promotions to generous partner rewards to easy status

Their latest promotion gives members up to 150% bonus on activity (on and off the ground) through year’s end. Rewards are tiered as such:

  • Earn 0-5k miles, get a 50% bonus
  • Earn 5-10k miles, get a 100% bonus
  • Earn 10k or more miles, get a 150% bonus

So you could fly to Europe once (8000 miles) then, say, fly a transcon (4000 miles) and bang, you’ve got 12,000 miles plus a 18,000 bonus, or 30k miles, more than a free domestic ticket. That’s downright generous.

Why would you do this? Conspiracy theorists among the Northwest crowd (who will soon be assimilated into the Delta ranks) claim that this is some sort of underhanded way to sleight the NW crowd and make the DL frequent flyers stronger.

Personally, I think that Delta have figured out that miles are starting to turn into a profit maker. With inherent fuel surcharges and checked bag fees on every itinerary, no flight is free anymore and the airline will still make a few dollars. And all of the time that we spend earning miles and digging around for nearly impossible-to-find award tickets? More time indoctrinating ourselves with the Delta brand. Is that worth a seat on a plane that isn’t even full? You bet.

Travel Alert! Join the battle for Salt Lake City!

by Grant Martin on

Either the LDS, The Salt Lake City Tourism Board or Northwest and Delta are up to something, because all of the sudden, prices out to SLC just tanked.

I’m pulling up tickets from about $100-$125 round trip departing from Detroit and Chicago respectively, with other cities across the country at fairly competitive rates. At this point, fares look to be good through early February.

“Why go to Salt Lake City in the middle of the winter,” you ask? One word: skiing. Park City is right around the corner from Utah’s capital city and for the money that you save on the plane ticket you can afford a nicer condo rental.

In case you’re really interested, what really happened is called The Southwest Effect. As the airline best hedged against fuel prices, Southwest has the wonderful position of setting the market rate on fares between many cities across the country. That is, as soon as they decide to publish a sale fare on tickets between Dallas and Los Angeles, everyone else has to follow suit.

Just today the airline published a 50% off coupon to Salt Lake City, so to stay competitive, Northwest and Delta matched the price. And that’s where we come in, my friends.

Book your tickets soon, I just booked a pair out for a weekend in January and availability already dried up for those days.

Gadling Take FIVE: Week of Nov. 1–Nov. 7

by Jamie Rhein on

With Obama’s win has come a round of election related posts this week. There’s an Obama musical planned in Kenya, bling to be had with inaugeration hotel packages and Obama-themed safaris.

In other travel related avenues that had nothing to do with the election, here are five other reads that range from the serious to the silly.

But, of all the posts this week that should not be missed, it’s Abha’s Stand By Me. No matter what people’s politics, the video she highlights is one with a message that is worth holding dear. Take time to watch it. The music is wonderful.