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United Airlines' Frequent Flyer Sale Knocks Off 25% to Europe or Africa

We know there’s plenty of people saving—or even hoarding—those frequent flyer miles in hopes of the next great redemption or value. Now just might be the best time to cash some in, as United Airlines is running a decent sale on redeeming MileagePlus miles for an award ticket.

The airline is offering up to a 25% discount on "free" flights—plus taxes and fees of course—to most destinations in Europe as well as Central and Southern Africa. The biggest savings are available on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, as you’ll only get a 20% discount during other days of the week. There’s probably all kinds of permutations and calculations involved with your dream ticket, but a basic 60,000 mile coach ticket to Europe from the United States can now be had for as little as 45,000 miles round-trip.

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So, What Does a Frequent Flyer Get After Racking Up 10 Million Miles?

By now you've probably heard the story of Tom Stuker, the first man to fly 10 million miles on United. This past weekend, the man—who's made over 200 trips to Australia, 50 to Asia and 80 just to Hawaii—received the first-ever Titanium United Mileage Plus loyalty card and partied down at O'Hare Airport after achieving the milestone.

Of course we're wondering how all the travel effects his social and family life, but the bigger question is: what sort of perks does Tom Stuker now get to enjoy? Let's count up all we know:

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Three More Airlines Giving Frequent Flyer Miles for Netflix Subcribers

Last week we delved into the world of earning frequent flyer miles just by watching TV—Netflix, to be more specific. United, Delta and American will all happily throw at least a thousand miles your way, if you're a new sign-up to Netflix.

Thanks to some investigative work from commenter Ted3x, we now have three more airlines who are down with instant streaming for miles:

Continental OnePass:
Sure, they're on the way to changing Continental OnePass over to United Mileage Plus, but you may as well earn some CO miles while you can. Their deal with Netflix nets you 1,000 miles or 2,000 miles if you pay for your Netflix subscription with a Continental credit card. You can sign up for the promotion HERE.

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Join Netflix, Get Frequent Flyer Miles on These Three Airlines

It's rare to run into someone these days who doesn't have Netflix, especially now that their Instant Streaming isn't all movies like Logan's Run and Cruel Intentions 2, but new sign-ups stand to benefit nicely from airlines who've partnered with Netflix to offer miles.

Here's three airlines with whom you'll get closer to the skies just by watching TV:

Delta SkyMiles:
Delta just got down with the Netflix-for-miles idea recently, and it's a pretty good deal. New sign-ups can earn 1,500 SkyMiles, no matter which plan you pick. Just be sure to have your SkyMiles number ready, and a list of what you'd like to add to your queue first. You can sign up for the Delta promotion HERE.

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Celebrating Free In-Flight Pretzels

While Southwest Airlines still has snacks, they're going to celebrate them! Oh yea, and also they're recently relaunched Rapid Rewards frequent flyer program.

This new design for their in-flight pretzel snack bags was tweeted today by one of Southwest's team, and we can say that we're liking it. It gives airlines who've completely eliminated free snacks—even on lengthy flights to Hawaii—a swift kick in the shins. *A hem* Continental, did you feel that?

The bag design refers to the fact that the new Rapid Rewards programs allows you to use your points to book a seat on any of Southwest's flight, not just where they have reward seat availability, because all seats are potential reward seats.

[Photo: Plixi/ashleypettit]

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Tis the Week of the Relaunch of Southwest Airlines' Rapid Rewards Program

This is the week! After leaving their Rapid Rewards frequent flyer program virtually untouched since launching it in 1987, Southwest Airlines has revamped it and hopefully made it a bit easier to redeem your miles for flights you actually want. The refreshed Rapid Rewards program launched on March 1, and although they have been technical kinks to work out of the system over the last couple days, we're sure it's here to stay.

In the new Rapid Rewards, we're seeing a change to points rewards based on the price of your flight and the level thereof (ex: "Wanna Get Away" fares versus Business Select). What's more is the rewards you earn can be used on things like cruises, rental cars or even gift cards [Update: if you have the Southwest credit card, as the commenter below points out]. No more automatically generated flight vouchers.

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All the Juicy Details on Southwest's New and Improved Rapid Rewards Program

You haven't heard us talk much about Southwest Airlines' loyalty program Rapid Rewards before, and that's because it wasn't much interesting and Southwest will be the first to tell you that. In fact, that's exactly what they're saying today by throwing out the old Rapid Rewards program and starting fresh, with a completed updated scheme designed to both attract new SWA flyers while opening up the field of options for current Southwest passengers.

That's right: This year marks the first big restructuring of the Rapid Rewards program since it was introduced in 1987. But keep your pants on—this new Rapid Rewards program officially kicks in on March 1, 2011.

Let's see what Southwest has added to make it worth your while...

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'The Points Guy' Shares His Secrets for Maximum Frequent Flyer Miles

A few weeks ago, we dished over at HotelChatter about our friend Brian Kelly, who successfully made a transition from lowly desk jockey to jetsetting superhero with the Ryan Bingham-esque moniker, The Points Guy. He dished on the best hotel reward points programs, told us which ones to avoid, and shared his favorite tricks for getting suite upgrades.

This week, we queried him on airline loyalty programs to discover his picks of the moment, where he sees the industry trending in general, and what you, the average traveler, can do to fly business class while everyone else is getting stuck in coach. Here’s what he had to say.

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Virgin America Gets in Bed with Morgans Hotels for Frequent Flyer Miles

A Virgin America plane takes a well-deserved nap at The Royalton

Well, it's not new route news, but it's exciting nonetheless. Virgin America and their eleVAte frequent flyer program are finally hitting the road to include a big, cool hotel partnership, and it's a good one, just announced this morning: Morgans Group Hotels. Morgans is no Hilton—who VX already partners with—and they've got the Delano in Miami, after all.

Morgans Group, with properties in New York, Miami, San Francisco, Boston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Scottsdale and even London, covers many of VS's routes, and the chic, very contemporary style of the hotels would be the type of place that Virgin America's target demographic would look to sleep.

Right now, the partnership to earn 1,000 miles per stay at Morgans Hotels like The Royalton in New York or the Ames in Boston is only valid until December 31, 2010. To receive points, you'll have to book via 800.606.6090 or morganshotelgroup.com.

Related Stories:
· Virgin America Announces Partnership with Morgans Hotel Group [News Release]
· Place Your Bets For Virgin America's Next Destination [Jaunted]
· Virgin America news [Jaunted]

[Photo: Virgin America plane & Royalton Hotel bed]

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How American Airlines And I Survived The British Airways Strike Together

And now, in the spirit of holiday travel, a rant from Jaunted writer Omri Ceren, who has spent the last week riding an emotional roller coaster thanks to the called off British Airways strike and his complex flight plans. Do enjoy his story:

Many of you have been following with interest my ongoing and frustrating odyssey to book a winter trip using only American Airlines miles. It's not really "many of you" as much as "three or four" and it's not really "interest" as much as "idle curiosity." Still, there are a couple lessons to be drawn from the final itinerary: LAX-SOF, SOF-TLV, TLV-LHR, LHR-LAX for 80K miles plus fees and taxes.

The initial itinerary was uneven—seats that I thought were available weren't and I couldn't get a SOF-TLV flight even though oneworld partners fly that route—but it was what it was. Then the British Airways strike was announced, which led to this series of phone calls, the tips that came out of the experience, and an itinerary that included a bus ride from Heathrow to Gatwick and an overnight in the Budapest Airport. Then the strike got called off and I tried to get my original itinerary back, which is where this little Teaching Moment picks up.

First, I'd like to thank the US Mint for providing what until now has been the easiest way to convert credit into miles and then back again. They've closed that loophole so now you're advised to seek out branded debit cards. Second, this trip couldn't have been created without American Airlines one-way awards booking. More on that below.

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Use AAdvantage One-Way Bookings To Create A European Vacation

Get together with any group of frequent fliers and—after they get done rightly trashing Ryanair—the topic of conversation inevitably turns to the declining value of mileage programs. When airlines aren't busy taking away perks, they're spending their time restructuring awards tiers so you don't notice how they're taking away perks. It's that steady decline, more than anything else, that underlies the very first rule of airline miles: don't hoard your airline miles.

So being good, rule-abiding travelers, we booked a trip to Europe this winter using AAdvantage miles and oneworld partners. We were able to book three destinations for 60K miles. That's not impressive on its own—three flights times 20K is 60K—but the beauty is that it more or less forms a round trip. The important trick comes from the policy change American Airlines implemented last March, allowing customers to use their points for one-way trips. And so 60K miles will get you most of the way from LAX to Sofia, Tel Aviv, and London and then, unfortunately, back home. The caveat is that you have to book SOF-TLV on your own unless you want to spend another 40K bouncing around Europe. Not ideal, but not a disaster.

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American Express Will Hold Your Miles Hostage If You Pay Late

The corporate sharks at American Express apparently see no reason why Delta, United, and American should get to levy random fees while they have to settle for regular, reasonable, generally accepted fees. How old fashioned! So the credit card, which is cobranded with Delta, JetBlue, Hilton, and Starwood Hotels, is introducing a new fine for customers who are late on their bills.

Not only will those customers have to pay all the normal late fees, but they'll also have to pay an additional fee if they want the points that they've earned to get transferred to their hotel loyalty accounts or frequent flier programs. According to Yahoo, it works like this:

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