Chasing Delta Medallion Status? Qualifying Miles for Charity Donations!

Delta is offering up to 15,000 miles towards status (not just regular old frequent flyer miles but status miles that push you towards Gold or Silver Medallion status which means free upgrades, no checked bag fees and the like) for donations to three Atlanta based charities.

Donate $500 or more and earn 5,000 status miles (or MQMs in Delta parlayance) - donate $500 to all three and earn 15,000 status miles. Given Silver Medallion status starts at 25K miles and Gold at 50K, this is a pretty good way to get the basic tier or bump up to a higher tier, particularly if you haven't flown much this year. Oh, and there is the tax write-off which, at least for many living in New York and other high tax areas makes the bite pretty reasonable. And, best of all, there is the do-good feeling!

Donation links are below:

https://www.aidatlanta.org/sslpage.aspx?pid=522

https://give.gradyhealthfoundation.o...e.aspx?pid=272

https://secure.mlkmemorial.org/site/...MK0PwE6LHLZPME

Southwest Offers Double Credits (miles) Until Memorial Day Weekend

We've been missing all the crazy double mileage deals that made traveling (slightly) more fun last spring. There have been a few isolated deals we've talked about (double miles from Denver for example) but nothing on a broad scale like last year when the economy was so dour.

Well, today Southwest came out with a new promo offering double credits (Southwest counts credits, not miles) from now until the start of Memorial Day Weekend.

Interestingly, this promotion was announced on the same day that Southwest announced March traffic figures. March looked pretty good for Southwest - traffic jumped slightly but RASM (Revenue per Available Seat Mile) soared 22% year over year indicating Southwest has been better able to align demand and capacity.

How long before the other carriers match? We doubt long - Airtran will probably match quickly. Other carriers may match more selectively (for example, only on routes where they compete with Southwest) but this may be the re-start of the battle for business travelers.

And isn't this a better story than Spirit airlines which just announced a plan to charge for carry-on bags?

United Matches American With One-Way Mileage Awards

United has announced that Mileage Plus members may now redeem awards on a one-way basis rather than the previous round-trip requirement. Best of all, there is no premium for a one-way redemption - it is a simple 50% of the miles required for a round-trip award. This new structure matches that of American, Alaska and British Airways, among others.

For members, it greatly simplifies award redemption. Now consumers can make an informed choice about to earn vs. burn based on the price in miles or money based on each direction of their travels. In addition, given the scarcity of frequent-flyer award seats these days, consumers can redeem the higher peak level one direction while taking advantage of the lower off-peak award in the other direction - previously, the higher mileage level applied round trip, even if the low mileage level was actually available.

One possible downside for consumers is that if they are booking these awards separately on the phone, they may get nailed with more phone booking fees - one for each direction of the trip.

And, alas, the new structure only works for United/United Express flights - no one-ways on Star Alliance partners. At least yet anyway - one Star carrier, BMI does allow one-way awards on all Star Alliance partners - we only hope United will do the same in time. And American and BA already allow one-ways on their partners.

United also announced that users can now combine "miles and money" if they are short on miles. While I like the flexibility this offers, I've never found combining miles and money to be in anyone's interest except the airlines....

Overall, however, greater flexibility is always a plus. Or a Mileage Plus in this case.

Southwest Announces the First Bonus Mileage Incentive for 2010

Remember how good business travelers (those that were still flying, that is) had it in 2009? The falloff in business travel brought dogfights to the skies as airlines showered travelers with miles to try and stimulate business and steal market share.

American, United and Continental all offered double status points for not just one period during 2009 but for two separate multi-month periods.

Delta offered double miles to on all flights for American Express card holders and American offered double miles to everyone living in the New York area.

Delta offered 50,000 miles flights to London and the list goes on...

Southwest has fired the first shot in 2010 by offering Colorado residents a free ticket for every ticket purchased. Yes, you have to buy one of the more expensive (for Southwest, anyway) Business Select tickets but then you earn a free one anywhere they fly.

Look for United to match with something similar in the Denver market shortly. And we bet Frontier, not wanting to be left out in the 3-way Denver fight will also offer an incentive as well.

So far, only Colorado residents are benefiting from the continued slump in business travel but we bet more incentives are on the way soon....

American Airlines to Allow One-Way Mileage Redemptions

Over the weekend, American Airlines quietly released new functionality on AA.com which simplifies mileage redemption and allows one-way award travel. This may not seem all that huge, but AA is the first US major carrier to allow customers to redeem half the number of miles for a one-way ticket.

In the past, if a consumer wanted a simple one-way ticket, they were required to redeem the full amount of miles required for a round-trip. For example, a one way ticket from JFK to LAX now "costs" 12,500 miles or half of the 25,000 miles required for a roundtrip "MileSAAver" award in coach.

Consumers can also now book a coach ticket in one direction and first class in the other - handy if award seats are only available in first one way and coach the other. Also nice in this case because the first class award seat is 25,000 miles one way - the same amount as the "double mileage" often required for a seat in coach. We'll take a big seat any day!

It also makes combining miles and paid tickets an interesting proposition, especially in today's world where many airfares are simple one-way tickets. For example, if you found a great fare to LAX from JFK for say $129 but the return was very expensive, you might look at buying a ticket one way (and earning more miles!) and using miles for the return.

Southwest, JetBlue, and AirTran all offer one-way awards today but AA is the first of the majors. Many international carriers also offer the option including fellow AA oneworld partners British Airways and Cathay Pacific along with Air France/KLM.