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Emily: We were in Pune, India, for Christmas and boarded our IndiGo flight to Delhi the day after Christmas and hired a van from Delhi to Agra. The IndiGo flight was cheap and punctual and got us to Delhi on time.
At Delhi Airport
Posted in Club Carlson, Trip Reports
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1. 1,000 Club Carlson Points. Via One Mile at a Time, Club Carlson is offering 1,000 points for liking their page on Facebook.
2. 300 La Quinta Points. Via View from the Wing, you can get 300 free La Quinta points.
3. $15 Gift Card from Staples. Frequent Miler writes that Staples will offer a $15 gift card if you buy $150 or more in Visa prepaid cards. Continue reading
Posted in Chase, Club Carlson, Uncategorized
Note: This post is satire and you shouldn’t follow any of Points Envy’s suggestions, nor should you break the law. Any resemblance to the truth is purely coincidental.
A lot of exciting things have happened in the Points World over the last week or two, and this week at Billion Mile Secrets we are bringing you up to speed on some of the most significant developments. As President Thomas Jefferson once said, “Whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own points balances. E pluribus unum.”
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Emily’s mom, Connie, wanted to visit India to visit my family, so we used our miles and points to take her with us in December. She has briefly visited Canada and a resort in Mexico before, so India was going to be very different. Emily’s step-dad doesn’t like traveling and didn’t want to come – even in First Class! – so Connie brought along her childhood friend Judi instead. They’ve been friends for almost 55 years!
Connie, Emily, and Judi by the Taj Mahal
Trip Report Index
In this post, I’ll explain how Emily, her mom Connie, and her mom’s friend Judi and I visited India using miles & points. We went to 5 cities in 2 weeks: Bombay, Pune, Goa, Delhi & Agra. Later, I’ll post a more detailed account of the different airline, hotel, food, transport, and activity options so you can plan a trip to India.
Keep in mind that the chart below covers only the cost for hotels and airfare, and not for dining, activities and other travel expenses. And we stayed with family in Bombay and Pune, so we didn’t have to pay for hotels there! Continue reading
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I’ve written about how to keep your airline miles from expiring without flying. Here’s how to keep your hotel points from expiring without staying in a hotel! Points expire in most US based airline program after 12 to 24 months of no earning or redemption activity.
Some programs like Choice and Wyndham hotels expire after 2 and 4 years and there is nothing you can do to extend the expiration, so you might as well use them before they expire.
Award Wallet is a good tool to track your miles and points balances and expiration dates.
HotelExpiration Policy
Choice Hotels On December 31st, 2 years after you earned the points.
Club Carlson 24 months of not earning or spending points
Hilton 12 months of not earning or spending points
Hyatt Gold 12 months of not earning or spending points
Marriott 24 months of not earning points
Priority Club Points Never Expire
Starwood Hotels 12 months of not earning or spending points
Wyndham Points expire after 4 years and you can't do anything to extend them beyond 4 years.
However, they will expire sooner (in 18 months)of not earning or spending points
But it is really, really easy to keep your hotel points active WITHOUT staying in the hotel!
Sometimes, all you need to do is to make an award booking and cancel it later, for free! This will generate redemption activity when you make the award and earning activity when you cancel the award and reset the point expiration clock. But be sure to check the cancellation policy when you book!
You can easily extend the expiration by buying something cheap or making a $1 donation from the airline’s online shopping mall, or using a credit card to keep your points active!
Disclosure: Emily and I do NOT get a referral for the Club Carlson credit card as of the post publication date.
Via FlyerTalk, Club Carlson has announced a new Club Carlson credit card with up to 85,000 bonus points as a sign up bonus from US Bank.
Club Carlson is the hotel loyalty program for Country Inns and Suites, Radisson, Radisson Blu, Park Inn by Radisson, and Park Plaza.
I’ll write more later, but in the meantime here’s Mommy Points with her thoughts on the card.
PS: I won’t be able to get to much of the comments and email until Monday.
Posted in Club Carlson
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1. 33% American Airlines Double Elite & Redeemable Mile Promotion. One Mile at a Time explains American Airlines’ double elite & redeemable mile promotion between November 1 and December 31, 2012.
2. 100% Bonus on Buying US Air Miles. The Points Guy explains the 100% bonus on buying US Air miles. In short, it costs ~$1,880 for 100,000 miles which could be a good deal if you use for international business class or first class trips, but not that great a deal if you use it for coach travel within the US. Continue reading
Posted in American Airlines, Club Carlson, Southwest, US Air
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1. 1,000 United Points. Points to Points B writes that you can earn 1,000 United miles for downloading their shopping toolbar and completing one search with it.
2. Free Marriott Silver Elite Status. View from the Wing writes about how to earn Marriott Silver elite status for free. Continue reading
Posted in Aeroplan, Club Carlson, Starwood (SPG), United Airlines
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Club Carlson is the hotel loyalty program for Country Inns and Suites, Radisson, Radisson Blu, Park Inn by Radisson, and Park Plaza.
Club Carlson has run very generous promotions over the past year where you could earn 50,000 points or more for a single Club Carlson stay! Emily and I took advantage of these promotions and also had our family participate.
However, we have Club Carlson points across many accounts so I wanted to consolidate all our points so that it is easier to track and use our Club Carlson points.
All you have to do is call Club Carlson, 888-288-8889, in the US and ask them to transfer the points from one account to another account.
You will be asked to confirm the account number and name of the person to whom you want to transfer points to. Continue reading
Posted in Club Carlson
I have earned and redeemed millions of airline miles and hotel points to travel the world for free. Now I'm blogging to help more people do the same! Find out more.
