Bad Airline Coffee Epidemic

United Airlines once had good coffee, just last year actually.  US Airways had a decent brew too.  From recent experience, airline coffee, both in the air and on the ground, has been either bad or undrinkable.  This is a serious problem that is growing out of control.  How hard is it to get some Dunkin' grounds and add hot water? I doubt it costs that much more for good coffee than bilge water. Airlines need to fix this quickly because I need a strong cup of Joe before I land, but I can’t grab coffee before takeoff or I can’t sleep. Alaska Airlines just started serving Starbucks on board, so they may be the lone exception to this despicable trend.

US Airways Club Coffee

United Club Coffee

Free WiFi on US Airways

US Airways and GoGo are giving away 15 minutes of free wifi on flights from August 15 through September 11.  15 minutes is enough to check your email, twitter, and flight location on flightaware.com.  It's also the only form of in-flight entertainment US Airways offers on domestic flights.  Enjoy!

US Airways E190 and XA 737 at LGA

US Airways Company Store August Sale / Discount Code

20% off all full price merchandise at the US Airways Company Store.  Use the coupon code SUMMER20 at checkout.  Free shipping on orders over $75 too.  Offer expires August 17, 2012.

20% with code SUMMER20

August 2012 US Airways Miles Bonus

US Airways is running a 100% bonus on purchased mile promotion.  Again.  This promotion seems to pop up every few months.  I would not buy the miles unless you have a trip in mind.  Even then, call up reservations and have the trip put on hold before you buy miles.  I have a feeling this promotion will appear again before the year ends, so no rush.

US Airways Airbus at LGA

US Airways Club Changing Rooms

Due to scheduling complexities, I often need to travel on an overnight flight from Denver to the east coast for work.  I need to land fresh and ready for a full day of meetings.  This is challenging because Denver is less than three hours from the east coast, too short to sleep well.  It is further complicated because I need to look sharp in business attire.  The latter is solved by the US Airways Club changing rooms.   The rooms, located before the bathrooms, provide a large space to change from comfortable overnight wear into fresh business garb.  There is a chair, coat hooks, counter, tissues, and a mirror.  They are also kept very clean, offer good lighting, and a full door.  I love them and try to connect in CLT so I can use them. 

US Airways Club Changing Room in CLT

United Clubs don’t have these rooms, but I hope they are added to make overnight flying more tolerable.  The alternative is flying dressed up and landing wrinkled or changing in a bathroom stall, neither a good solution.  US Airways used to be my least favorite airline to fly (though I would fly them, unlike Spirit), but they have improved significantly over the past few years and are now at least tolerable.  

US Airways Airbus 319

US Airways Company Store Sale

The US Airways Company Store is having a 40% off sale on all clearance merchandise.  The discount is made on their end after the sale, so it won't show in the check out total.  Trust them, it works.  Use the code JULY4 for the discount.  With the discount, you can buy a Pacmin Dash-8 model for $90 or an America West teddy bear for $1.38  Free shipping on orders over $75 too!

US Airways Store Discount

US Airways Star Alliance Award Blocking

I just got off the phone with US Airways reservations and am furious.  I found a flight on Swiss in business class with availability, confirmed on United.com and ANA, that I wanted to book.  The US Airways agent found the connecting flight fine, but the Swiss long haul flight came back empty.  US Airways must be blocking Star Alliance awards from their reservation system to save cash.  This is frustrating and devalues their award miles.  I'll have to call back on the first of the month and try again in Q3.

US Airways is heading backwards

There's No Hope

I'm traveling for work this week and there is no hope for an upgrade.  Two US Airways segments then three Delta segments; I'm doomed to coach.  I'll be going through Milwaukee and Frontier's recent move to stop almost all Milwaukee flying is having an immediate impact by limiting my options and increasing my costs.  I never knew how much I depended on Midwest Express until they disappeared.  They also gave out warm cookies in coach, I could sure use one this week.

US Airways A319 at CLT

What is a Point or Mile Worth?

What is a point / mile worth?  It’s a simple question with a complex answer.  A mile or point in every program will have a different value too.  Also, miles might not have any value until a certain number are collected.  Ultimately the value is different for each person, but here are my answers and how I got to them.

Jets Lined Up at FRA

Miles and points are a currency that can be exchanged for goods and services.  These goods can also be purchased for cash, making it a simple equation: Total Value / Total Points = $x.xx per point.  If a flight to Europe is $1,000 or 50,000 miles, then each mile is worth 2c.  The denominator will always be known, but the numerator gets fuzzy when you are buying awards that you would never buy with cash.  A first class trip to Europe costs $13,000 or 135,000 miles; yielding almost 10c per mile in value!  But I would never pay $13,000 to fly to Europe, so what is it really worth?  Priceless is the best answer, but it doesn’t help with the math.  I just total the perceived value of the experience and that’s the value.  The means a first class award is more like 3-6c in value; still a good deal.

Do the math for yourself and use your answers to decide if to spend miles or cash.  For example, I would use miles to book a $450 domestic round trip, but use cash for a $300 ticket.  It’s a gray area for borderline redemptions.  I’ll lower my threshold if my balance still has a large number of miles.  Also, if your credit card doesn’t earn at least 2c in value for every dollar spent, just use the fee free Fidelity Amex. It has 2% cash back on every purchase and cash is accepted by any airline.

Sun Rise at ORD

SPG – 3c

Starwood Hotel (SPG) points are my favorite.  With the Cash & Points redemption option, SPG points are consistently worth about 4c each, while full points awards run 2-3c.  The SPG Amex (business card has the better sign up bonus) earns one point per dollar and two points for spending at SPG hotels.  Points can also be transferred to about 30 airline programs with a 25% bonus for every 20,000 points transferred.  This makes the SPG card better for earning American or Delta miles than the airlines’ own credit cards.  SPG is my favorite program and currency because of its high value and flexibility. 

W South Beach Miami Hotel View

Drawbacks: There aren’t SPG hotels everywhere and the top level hotels cost too many points to have any value.  The cobranded credit card is an Amex and not everyone takes those (like my local liquor store).  Mile awards with United and Southwest are poor value. 

Minimum balance of 4,000 needed to achieve top value.

United – 1.75c

United miles are the best in the air.  They are part of the Star Alliance (25 airlines and growing) and have a few other strategic alliances for miles redemption (Aer Lingus has great availability to Europe).  Their reservations people are very good and the website can be used to find and book complicated award trips.

Minimum balance of 12,500 needed to achieve decent value.

United Airlines Jets at EWR Sunrise

American – 1.5c

American is a oneworld partner and doesn’t charge excessive fuel surcharges on awards.  They allow one way bookings and have a decent award chart.  American availability, coach and first, to most places not over the Atlantic, is second to none.  Good off season discounts and a cheap oneworld partner chart (80,000 miles in first London to Australia).  oneworld coverage is spotty and fuel surcharges pop up on European carriers.

Minimum balance of 12,500 needed to achieve decent value.

Delta – 1c

Delta has a three tier award chart and every time I want to redeem, my flight is in the second or third tier, destroying the value of my miles.  They are a Sky Team partner and Virgin Australia partner, so It’s best to redeem miles with Air France/KLM or Virgin Australia.  I wound up cashing in my miles for Economist subscriptions, 3,200 for a year or 3c in value.  Not bad considering my options.

Minimum balance of 25,000 needed to achieve decent value or 3,200 for a year of The Economist.

Not Every Trip Is Glamours

Alaska Airlines – 1.6c

I credit my Delta and American flights to Alaska.  Alaska isn't part of an alliance, but are partners with most airlines you would want to fly not in the Star Alliance.  The award chart is downright cheap in places too.  The flexible earning and redeeming of miles makes Alaska a great program to have miles in.  One ways are allowed and there is a cash and points option.  Partner awards have to be a single carrier plus Alaska to get you to the gateway city.  Not Star Alliance good, but close.  Other than flights and credit card spend (not a good deal), it’s hard to earn miles with them (SPG transfers mostly).

Minimum balance of 12,500 needed to achieve decent value.

US Airways – 1.7c

Star Alliance member with a reasonable award chart (more reasonable than UA to Asia in business).  Only allow round trips.  Can’t book partner awards online, so be prepared for an hour long call with reservations.  Great deals on off peak awards.  The Mileathon promotion runs annually and is a great way to stock up on miles.  US Airways also runs frequent mileage purchase promotions.   I constantly fear award chart devaluation. 

Minimum balance of 25,000 needed to achieve good value.

Use BA Miles to Fly LAN Around South America

British Airways - .5c or 2c

BA is great for short one segment trips on American or LAN.  BA has a distance based award chart, allows one ways, and has partner booking online.  For long flights (less generous pricing), connections (each segment is charged, not total distance), premium cabins (x2 for business, x3 for first), or trips in Europe (steep fuel charges) don’t bother.  Good deals are found mostly in the America’s. The scary high fuel charges take the value out of any BA, Iberia, of Finnair award.

Minimum balance of 4,500 needed to achieve decent value.

Other Carriers – 0-10c

Southwest will sell any seat at 60 points per dollar so they have a fixed value of 1.67c per point (not bad really).  Other airline programs can be anywhere.  My Frontier miles might only be good for a magazine subscription.  Foreign carriers could have no value or tons of value, depending on if you need to use those airlines.  If you are going somewhere only Emirates flies, then those miles will be worth much more.  It’s too subjective for me to give a definitive value.

Southwest and US Airways Jets at ABQ

US Airways 100% Bonus on Purchased Miles

US Airways is selling miles with a 100% bonus again.  A trip to Asia in business class (or around the world award) is only $1,575.  That’s cheaper than the coach fare in some cases.  Great way to stock up on miles, but don’t sit on them too long.  US Airways has been selling miles like mad for the last few years, so this may be a prelude to an award chart change (the price of purchased miles has increased, so that may delay the points inflation).  Or they could be laughing all the way to the bank if Star Alliance awards cost them less than what they sell miles for, but only they know that.  This move also generates liquidity, so not a bad way to stay out of the bond market.

US Airways Airbus Tails at Phoenix

Offer good until June 30, 2012.  Maximum of 50,000 bonus miles can be earned with the promotion.  You need to make a Dividend Miles account before purchasing.

Why Fear of Overbooking?

The Sydney Morning Herald (I’ve been hooked on it since first reading it in Sydney) has one of the best travel sections in the world; much better than travel magazines or the NYT.  I enjoy taking a read though their articles and sometimes browsing reader comments (unlike any story remotely political, there is some decent information to glean).  One story talked about how Southwest doesn’t suck as much as other US carriers.  I disagree, but will save that for a later time.  The interesting bit was the comments.  There was an engaging discussion on which US airlines frequently bump passengers and suggestions to avoid them.

US Airways A321 Spending the Night at PHX

Why are people so afraid of bumping?  I understand the obvious, missing the flight and having travel plans thrown in a blender, but it shouldn’t be a large enough concern to avoid airlines that do it frequently (they all do it to some extent).  Also, flight delays or cancellations happen, so it is best to add some padding to travel planning if that were to happen (always fly in the day before your cruise ship departs).  This padding will also help mitigate the impact of an involuntary displaced boarding (IDB or bump).

United Jets at EWR

Bumping can be very lucrative if travel plans are made with padding.  United offers $400 in travel vouches for volunteering for a bump; US Airways gave me $250 for a 90 minute delay.  They will rebook you, sometimes in paid first (bonus miles), provide a meal voucher if the delay is long enough, and buy a hotel room if it is an overnight delay (Westin LAX for me).  These vouchers can add up to several thousand dollars in value if you are bumped several times in a year.  Other airlines provide different amounts of compensation, but they all make it worth your while to take the later flight.  Bumps can be a great way to extend your travel budget and add variety to routine flying.

US Airways Company Store Discount Code

20% off any non-clearance items at the US Airways Company Store with the coupon code MOTHER.  Free shipping on orders over $75 too.  Offer expires May 4th.  Opportunity for some good deals on PacMin models. I've always had great experiences ordering from them.

US Airways Company Store Coupon / Discount Code

Travel Tip – Good Day Trip Ideas

Sometimes you need a few more miles for the next status tier, other times you just want a mini-vacation, day trips are great solutions.  Instead of going on a two day cross country trek for miles, a little hop somewhere can do the job just as well; you can’t claim to experience a city just by their airport. Here are a few cities that make great day trip material.

United Airlines 757 at SFO

San Jose (SJC) – I really like San Jose, the airport is short cab ride to downtown, walkable once you get there.  While in town, I recommend the Technology Museum; it has really interesting stuff like a robot that draws your picture and computer chip making equipment.  There are also a few good places to grab a bite in the area too.  The weather is usually outstanding too.

San Jose Tech Museum

San Antonio (SAT) – San Antonio usually has cheap fares and is a very easy city to tour.  The airport is about 15 minutes by cab from the Alamo (free tours).  From there, take a stroll on the river walk and grab a bite at one of the many restaurants along the river.  The boat rides are cheap and fun too.  It can get hot in the summer, but you don’t feel it that much by the river.

San Francisco (SFO) – San Francisco has a lot to offer, Alcatraz tours (book in advance), great sea food, In-N-Out, sights, the water front, and the trollies.  All of this is a (expensive for public transit) BART ride from the airport.  Very easy to day trip, but the BART is a little long, so allow extra time.  SFO isn't the most predictable airport, inconsistent security wait times and fog regularly causes delays.  There are usually cheap transcon flights, so it's worth a shot.

San Francisco Sights

Boston (BOS) – Take the T (subway) into town for $2.  It’s maybe a 20 minute ride to get to Boston Common.  Boston has a few sights all within a short stroll, like the capital building, old cemeteries, and other historic buildings.  There is also a lovely park along the Charles River for a stroll.  Another quick hop on the T and you are back at the airport.  BOS is also a nice airport to chill in if you have a connection, free (and fast) wifi, good views, and a nice terminal for Continental, US Airways, and Delta.  The United, jetBlue, and American terminals are difficult to spend time in.

Massachusetts State House, Kodak B&W Film + Fisheye

US Airways Company Store Discount / Coupon Code - April

Use the discount code SHOWERS between April 6 and 13 for a 30% discount on all non-clearance items at the US Airways Company Store.  You need to have at least $100.00 worth of merchandise to your cart for the discount.  Free shipping on orders over $75.  I've never had a bad experience ordering from them and shipping is lightning fast.

US Airways Sale Details

Around the World with US Airways Dividend Miles – Award Booking Tips

US Airways will let you fly around the world for 120,000 miles in First, 90,000 in Business, and 60,000 in coach.  The award is just their basic North America to Northern Asia, but you are allowed to route via the Atlantic and the Pacific.  You also get a free stopover (stay longer than 24 hours) in a Star Alliance hub along the way, or somewhat out of the way.  Complete Dividend Miles rules are here.  I was able to book from Denver to Tokyo with a stopover in Helsinki with all segments in business class.

Star Alliance Air Canada Jet

The first step in booking is to find the flights.  I have some time off from class in summer, wanted to go somewhere new in Scandinavia, and see Japan.  Narrowing down the possible destinations will shorten the search process and focus your attention.  I found the list of Star Alliance hubs and started looking for flights. 

The two best search tools are United.com and fly-ana.com (you need to join Mileage Club to search).  I start with United and use ANA only if I’m stuck.  United has a much simpler interface and shows more routings.  When searching on United, make sure that you are only looking at Star Alliance airlines, Aer Lingus will show in United results, but can’t be booked through US Airways.  If Aer Lingus or other airlines outside the Star Alliance keep filling the search results, switch to ANA.

Lufthansa 747

The best way to build a trip is segment by segment; being too ambitious can overwhelm the search engine.  First open a spreadsheet to track all the available flights and see all the options in one place.  From there start searching for the beginning and ending flights, NRT-DEN and DEN-European gateway city.  Flying from Japan, I wanted a lay flat bed, ANA preferred over Asiana over United.  I found several options on ANA’s new 777-300s, a pair on Asiana, and a lot on United.  To Europe I preferred Swiss (flat bed) over Lufthansa (angled) over SAS (angled) over United (flat).  I’ve flown United business class, the seat is very good, but the service and food are awful.  There were a few Lufthansa and SAS flights available, so things are looking up.  Intra-Europe connections are plentiful and have great availability if going to capital cities.  The more out of the way, the harder it is to find flights (Berlin easy, Mehamn, Norway rather difficult).

Once the bookend flights are found, it is much simpler to find the middle flights (dates and connecting cities are limited).  Through sheer force of clicking, I found several options to stop in Geneva, Oslo, Stockholm, and Helsinki.  Getting from Europe to Japan had very limited availability.  I did not want to fly Edelweiss Air (Swiss’ low cost airline with poor seats and bad service) or Air China (subpar seats and an evening arrival).  Lufthansa had a few flights, Austrian had one, and Turkish Airways had a lot from IST-NRT (but almost no options from my stopover cities to IST).  The date and timing has me on Lufthansa; I would prefer Austrian or Swiss, but the availability didn’t permit it.

US Airways, Making This Trip Possible

I found the flights I wanted and then reran the searches segment by segment before I called US Airways.  This was important because my A380 seat from FRA disappeared, so I had to find a replacement.  Luckily an A340-600 out of MUC had space and I could find a flight from Helsinki to Munich.

The reservation I had planned, DEN-FRA-HEL-MUC-NRT-LAX-DEN, met the rules and the flights were available.  US Airways agents don’t consistently interpret the rules.  If the agent says NO, just apologize, say you need to reevaluate the trip, hang up, and try again later.  I called to make the reservation and things started well.  I reached an agent quickly, gave her the flights one at a time, all were found, and the agent thought the reservation looked good.  Next the agent has to contact the rate desk to validate and price.  I was on hold, so didn’t hear what was discussed.  The agent came back and said I had to spend less than 24 hours in Tokyo or I couldn’t book the ticket.  I said I would re-plan off the phone and call back later.  I thanked her for her time, asked to have the reservation placed on hold (she did, thereby saving my flights and making it easier the next call).  This was a clear misunderstanding of what a stopover is by the rate desk.  To avoid getting the same guy again, I waited 10 hours before calling back.

United Airlines 737 Collection

My next call lasted 75 minutes and at least 60 of those were spent on hold.  I still had a positive experience thanks to the very bubbly and excited agent I spoke with.  She was new, so the US Airways culture hasn’t sunk in yet.  She quickly found my reservation, I explained what I was trying to book, she validated that it looked right to her, and then got on the line with the rate desk where things got weird.

After a few minutes on hold, I was told I could not book my trip because I was backtracking.  To make a valid reservation, I had to keep going east (my original direction of travel).  After a quick check of Google Maps, Oslo was my only option between FRA and MUC.  I quickly found flights to OSL on United.com, keeping my long haul segments in place, and she tried the rate desk again.

When my agent came back on the line, she said the rate desk now said I had to stop in a hub.  I explained both OSL and HEL are hubs for SAS (Scandinavian Airlines System) according to StarAlliance.com.  She confirmed this and went back to play rate desk lotto.

She returned excited and told me that my original itinerary with a stop in Helsinki was validated and priced out to $130.  I jumped with joy, gave her my Amex number, she booked the ticket, gave me a confirmation number, and we parted ways.

The moral of this story is twofold; first find your flights before calling, second, be patient and persistent.  

Update 2/1/15:
US Airways' new oneworld award chart isn't as generous.  It's 110,000 miles to North Asia now and 100,000 to Europe.  Also oneworld carriers have fuel surcharges (British Airways is the worst) that are added to the price of the award.

US Airways Company Store Discount Code

US Airways' Company Store is having a sale, 20% off all non clearance items.  Just use the coupon / discount code Madness. Free shipping on orders over $75 too! Sale ends April 2.

US Airways Sale Details

Thoughts on Around the World Travel

I was discussing around the world travel with my friend Mary at Pies Etc. the other night and an interesting contrast came up.  Mary sees round the world travel as a month long journey to explore several continents, make 8-12 stops, and fulfill romantic travel dreams.  I see it as a way to follow in the footsteps of aviation pioneers.

Mary views RTW travel as one Atlantic crossing, one Pacific crossing, and many stops along the way.  Something like New York to Africa to Europe to India to Southern Asia to New Zealand to Polynesia, then back home.  Airline alliances sell tickets for these travels (Star Alliance, oneworld, Sky Team) that give you a certain number of segments and miles flown for a fixed price.  They can be a very good value, especially if you are going on some expensive flights.  The websites are also a fun way to play at work.  Airlines also offer RTW tickets with miles, but they offer far less.  United for example allows 5 stops (but unlimited segments) and 24,000 miles flown on their RTW ticket.  The pricing is also steep, 200,000 miles in coach, 300,000 in business, and 400,000 in first.  There are award seat limitations like a normal round trip.  Depending on your trip, it may be cheaper to assemble a collection of one way award tickets.  The ease, flight availability, and value provided from the Star Alliance RTW ticket makes paying cash look very tempting. 

My view of RTW travel is based on the International Air Sports Federation, FAI, the final authority on setting aviation records.  They define Round the World as a course beginning and ending in the same location, the course must be a minimum distance of 27,000 kilometers (16,778 miles), and the course must cross all meridians.  I can accomplish that in a few days using a few airline miles, 90,000 US Airways Dividend Miles for business class actually.  Mary decided she would not want to travel in my style and lost interest in my idea, but not before laughing after thinking of me as an aviation pioneer, wearing goggles flying over a corn field.

US Airways charges 90,000 miles to fly business class from North America to North Asia (Japan, China, Korea, and some -stan countries).  They will let you fly via the Atlantic on one leg and Pacific on the other.  You also get a free stopover at a Star Alliance hub.  This award will meet the FAI requirements, be a fun way to see two cities, and a chance to experience different business class products.

I’m thinking of Tokyo and Warsaw can be my stops.  I was booked to go to Tokyo last year, but my trip was to start the morning after the earthquake, so I took United’s refund offer (the ticket was only $700 round trip from Denver through ORD, unmatched since).  My second stop has to be a Star Alliance hub and I’d like it to be in Europe (Star’s Europe hubs are Ljubljana, Athens, Thessaloniki, Heraklion, Rhodes, Larnaca, Vienna, Helsinki, London Heathrow, Brussels, Zagreb, Warsaw, Frankfurt, Munich, Duesseldorf, Copenhagen, Oslo, Stockholm, Zurich, Geneva, Basel, Lisbon, Porto, Istanbul, Ankara).  I’ve already seen a few of the cities listed and want to go somewhere new.  Warsaw works well because LOT has quite a few flights into North America with outstanding business class availability.  Austrian Airlines has good availability from Japan and to North America, but I’ve already been to Vienna (It’s amazing and I recommend it to all).  Istanbul is tempting too with almost 100% business class availability from NRT to IST, but almost nothing onward to North America (United announced a new EWR-IST flight, but no business awards yet). 

I’m using Continental’s website to find availability and piece this trip together.  Once I find the flights, I’ll need to call up US Airways to book it.  I’ve heard that I should allot an hour for that call.  I’ll let you know how it goes.

Routine Flying in 2012

I’d like to think that I frequently fly foreign carries to far away destinations, but over 95% of my flights are domestic hops.  Also, thanks to the glut of elite flyers trying for upgrades, I’ve sat in coach on over 90% of my flights this year.  This is routine flying.  The basic Denver to Chicago for work type flights that generate the miles needed for grand adventures. 

US Airways Jets at Boston Logan

So how do I do I fly 22,000 miles in coach in two months?  Business trips are the foundation.  Denver to Chicago, White Plains, Newark, and White Planes again help build miles at no cost to me.  Also I booked two weekend trips just for the miles.  I found some cheap fares (about 2c a redeemable mile) and booked the flights to build my mileage balance, for a little vacation, and get a head start on elite status. 

United 757 Night Landing at EWR

The United and Continental merger has also made upgrades much more difficult to obtain.  There is the same number of first class seats on each plane, but now an entire extra airline worth of customers trying to grab the seats.  It used to be easy to clear upgrades a few days out on bigger planes like 767s and 757s, but now they are clearing at the gate if at all.  It is also taking some of the fun out of flying; airline food is quite decent these days.  At least the lounges have plenty of space (thank you JP Morgan Palladium card).

US Airways Lounge in Charlotte 

So how do you make the best of a suboptimal situation?  Relax.  That is the most important key to traveling.  Calm down and go with the flow.  My next key is to grab a window seat.  I feel like they have more space and as long as I think that; they will (I also believe in the power of extra strength placebos).  Some good reading material helps, so does a pillow, blanket, and eye mask for overnight flights.  Stay hydrated; the air in planes is very dry and you should be actively counteracting that.  Lastly, try to enjoy the magic of flight.  100 years ago, a nonstop flight from coast to coast was just a dream.  

US Airways Company Store Sale

The US Airways company store is having a sale with 30% off everything and free shipping on orders over $50.  Use the promo code NEWYEAR at checkout.  You can get some good deals on PacMin models for less than $150.  The also have some cool trinkets and shirts.

Company Store Sale Email

Thank You Thanks Again

I won 5,000 US Airways dividend miles from Thanks Again’s facebook promotion.  Thanks Again gives you miles for using a registered card at selected retailers.  It doesn’t cost anything to participate, so definitely sign up your cards for free miles.  Also look into the dinning program for your airline of choice and register your credit cards with them too.  I don’t recommend changing your spending habits; the rewards are only about 3 miles per dollar, but it is a nice surprise to receive bonus miles for spending you were going to do. 

It also shows that real people actually win things from facbook promos, but only participate with brands you know to avoid some major spam.