Here’s some of the latest news in the rewards travel world. Enjoy.
Facebook Advantage Miles Game
American Airlines has a new trivia Facebook game where you can earn up to 10,000 miles.
Here are the details from their Facebook page:
“Like us on Facebook and participate in the AAdvantage® Passport Challenge. Earn a stamp in your passport – and AAdvantage miles – each time you complete a quick and fun game. You can play when you’re waiting to board your next flight, sitting in the carpool line, or relaxing at home.
- Play trivia and other games to earn up to 700 miles
- Share and complete social actions to earn up to 350 miles
- Fly our expanded network to earn over 9,000 miles
The challenge is open now through May 23, 2014.”
I played one of the many games, and it took a little longer than I wanted for only 50 AA miles, so I will have to put the other games on hold for now….
1000 Free Delta Skymiles
If you’re brave enough to collect Skymiles, Delta is giving new enrollees in their loyalty program 1,000 miles.
Free miles are free miles, but be careful when you’re dealing with Delta Skymiles. You never know when they will kick you below the belt.
Marriott Award Category Changes
I’m not a Marriott man, and after their announcement, I’m kinda glad I’m not, but the changes really aren’t that bad. Marriott is changing its award categories, which is a normal annual process for most hotel chains. Here are the details from the announcement page:
- All redemption reservations booked on or before April 7, 2014 will be honored at the current point price, even if the stay occurs after April 8. 2014. If you have not ordered your certificate prior to April 8, 2014, call Guest Services prior to your stay to request the lower priced certificate.
- As always, you may book redemption reservations up to 50 weeks in advance of your stay, even before having the required points in your account.
- You can also use Cash + Points to take advantage of booking your redemption stay early.
How many hotels are affected?
73% of the properties remain unchanged
66% of the program’s properties will remain in Categories 1-4
27% of the hotels are changing; of these, 22% are decreasing by one category and 78% are increasing by one category
Is my existing redemption reservation impacted?
All redemption reservations booked on or before April 7, 2014 for stays beginning April 8, 2014 will be honored at the point price booked. If you have not ordered your certificate prior to April 8, 2014, call Guest Services to request the lower priced certificate before your stay.
How long can I book a redemption stay using the current hotel categories?
You may book redemption reservations up to 50 weeks in advance of your stay, even before having the required points in your account. For example, on April 1, 2014 you may book your redemption stay as far out as March 15, 2015.
You can see the full list of hotels here.
New Pointbreaks Hotels
The new Pointbreaks hotel deals are now live!
You can start booking the new hotels from March 24th to May 31st. However, these deals go fast so I wouldn’t wait to make a booking if a location works for you.
Pointbreaks hotels cost only 5,000 IHG points a night! The locations aren’t always the most convenient destinations, but if you can find a hotel that works for you, they are a very good deal. I have yet to find a Pointbreaks hotel that fits my travel schedule. Sad face.
If you don’t have any IHG points, there’s their Chase co-branded rewards card, or you if you hold the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, being updated, or the being updated , you can transfer your Ultimate Rewards to IHG at a 1:1 ratio.
Last week to burn Southwest Rapid Rewards Points at a lower rate
Just a heads up that the small change to the Southwest Rapid Rewards chart goes into effect on March 31, 2014.
Southwest Rapid Rewards
It will now cost 70 points per $1 instead of 60 points per $1. Not the biggest increase in price, but it still always hurts to see prices go up. And since Southwest is a revenue based award program, the inflation seems to be for no reason really. The changes are only going to be on “wanna get away” fares, but that’s all that I fly with Southwest.
Anyway, just a reminder that you should book your Southwest flights NOW. Southwest has great cancellation and change rules, so it doesn’t hurt to book now if you have some upcoming flights in mind.
(Disclaimer: I do receive a referral for some of the cards mentioned in this post. Thanks for the support if you ever apply through the site!)
— Geoff Whitmore