Stackable Airline Miles Promotions For Hilton

A few days ago I posted about the Hilton HHonors More Points promotion, where you can earn 1,000 bonus points for every night you stay between January 1 and March 31, 2012. In addition, you can earn 5,000 bonus points for every weekend stay of two nights or more.

Well, it looks like Hilton has quite a few other offers running concurrently, where you can earn bonus airline miles. Remember, you must have your earning preference set to points and miles (variable or fixed), and you must have the respective airline selected as the earning partner. Your stays must occur between January 1 and March 31, 2012. All of these offers are stackable with the More Points promotion, except for the Lufthansa offer.

• Lufthansa Miles And More: Earn double miles on all eligible stays at any Hilton brand hotel worldwide
• Delta Skymiles: Earn 2,012 bonus miles on all eligible stays of two nights or more at any Hilton brand hotel worldwide
• American Airlines AAdvantage: Earn double miles on all eligible stays at participating Hilton brand hotels worldwide
• Air Canada Aeroplan: Earn double miles on all eligible stays at participating Hilton brand hotels worldwide
• US Airways Dividend Miles: Earn triple miles on all eligible stays at participating Hilton brand hotels worldwide

    
Remember that the Hilton HHonors program offers three methods of earning points/miles you can choose from:

• HHonors Points and HHonors Points: 10 base points + 5 bonus points per eligible dollar spent
• HHonors Points and Variable Miles: 10 base points + 1 airline mile per eligible dollar spent
• HHonors Points and Fixed Miles: 10 base points per eligible dollar spent + 500 airline miles per stay (100 miles per stay at Hampton Inns & Suites and Homewood Suites)

      
So for all of the airline bonus miles promotions above, if you select the variable miles option, you will earn two airline miles per eligible dollar spent. If you select the fixed miles option, you will earn 1,000 airline miles per stay (200 miles per stay at Hampton Inns & Suites and Homewood Suites). There is no limit to the amount of bonus miles you can earn on any of the offers above. Remember to double check the participating hotels list before booking your stay (there are many that have opted out)!

More Hotel Promotions for Q1 2012

A few days ago I posted about Marriott's MegaMiles and Hilton's More Points promotions. Here are two more that may be worth a look:

• For Marriott Rewards members who choose to earn points instead of miles, they are concurrently running a MegaBonus promotion that gives you one free night after every second paid stay. Register for this promotion by March 31, 2012, and paid stays at any of the 3,500+ Marriott brand hotels between February 1 and April 30, 2012 will qualify. A maximum of two free nights can be earned, and the free nights can only be redeemed for category 1-4 properties between February 1 and September 30, 2012. Since only two free nights can be earned, four paid stays within the promotion period will maximize your earnings. Also, hotel hopping with one-night stays is the quickest way to earn your two free nights. Members must select Marriott Rewards points as their earning option in order to qualify. Rewards nights cannot be transferred or gifted. Register here.

• Starwood Preferred Guest's Better By The Night promotion begins today. Register by March 15, 2012, and for every paid stay of two nights, you will earn 2x Starpoints, and for every paid stay of three nights or more, you will earn 3x Starpoints. Paid stays must occur between January 9 and April 8, 2012. However, if part of your stay begins before or ends after the promotion period, your entire stay amount will still count for the bonus offer. Be aware that there is a very long list of non-participating hotels, so double check to make sure your stay will actually count prior to booking. Starwood Preferred Guest members earn two Starpoints per eligible dollar spent on a paid stay. With this promotion, members will earn four Starpoints per dollar spent on a two-night stay, and six Starpoints per dollar spent on a three-night or more stay. Elite members will earn one additional Starpoint per dollar spent, regardless of the bonus earned. There is no limit to the amount of bonus Starpoints you can earn during the promotion period. Register here.

Given a choice between the two, I would opt to take advantage of the Marriott MegaBonus promotion first. If you need to have further hotel stays after, then take advantage of the SPG Better By The Night promotion. Since the SPG offer rewards longer stays and higher rates, the return on investment is quite a bit lower than other Q1 2012 promotions out there right now.

New 60,000 Bonus Miles United MileagePlus Explorer Card

Towards the end of 2011, many United elite members were offered a 60,000 miles sign-up bonus for the new MileagePlus Explorer card from Chase. Unfortunately, those of us with no status were left out in the cold. Well it looks like just a few days ago, United started making the 60,000 miles offer available to almost all Mileage Plus members, with or without status.

There appears to be a few kinks in the system still, but once you log into your Mileage Plus account, you should see the 60,000 miles offer on the front page. If you still see the general 40,000 miles offer, it could be because your account has a zero balance. One solution is to transfer some of your Continental OnePass miles over if you have any. Transferring miles is easy and can be completed here. If you still cannot see the 60,000 miles offer, try logging off of your account, clearing your history and cache, logging back in, and clicking on this link. A FlyerTalk member seems to have found this workaround for those who continuously have trouble accessing the 60,000 miles offer page.

While the offer is good for 60,000 bonus miles, technically it is really for 50,000 bonus miles after your first purchase (which is pretty amazing already). The last 10,000 bonus miles requires you to spend $25,000 within your first calendar year of cardmembership. Other benefits include:

• Annual fee waived for the first year, a $95 value
• First checked bag is free for you and a companion when you fly on United/Continental-operated flights
• Priority boarding privileges
• Two complimentary United Club passes every year
• Earn 2 miles per dollar on United/Continental purchases, and 1 mile per dollar everywhere else

This offer will expire February 29, 2012, but my personal feeling is that another 60,000 bonus miles promotion will most likely make an appearance again sometime later in the year.

New Zealand December 2011 - Air New Zealand LAX Koru Club Lounge

***This post is part 3 of a full trip report. The index can be found here***

After arriving at LAX, I made my way over to Terminal 2. Despite having my LAX-AKL boarding pass already (printed by United), I headed to the Air New Zealand check-in counter to request a real one. There was a premium check-in area to the right, but I decided to go to the regular line since it was completely empty. It ended up being a good idea to get my boarding pass reprinted because Air New Zealand actually requires proof of your return flight prior to departure - something United failed to inform me of when I checked in at SFO.

There was no premium security line that I could find, so I joined the regular queue with everyone else. Luckily it moved fairly quickly. Once through, I made my way upstairs to the mezzanine level where all the T2 lounges were located. The entrance to the Air New Zealand Koru Club was fairly nondescript, although the sign outside did indicate that Virgin Atlantic Upper Class passengers were also welcome. Inside, the lounge was nicely decorated with Christmas trees and plenty of reminders of New Zealand, such as a giant kiwi stuffed animal, and All Blacks paraphernalia.

 

New Zealand December 2011 - United Airlines 274 First Class (SFO-LAX)

***This post is part 2 of a full trip report. The index can be found here*** 

I arrived at San Francisco International Airport a full two hours ahead of my departure time, a lesson well-learned from my previous departure debacle while leaving for Tokyo last year. I entered Terminal 3 and found my way to the premium check-in area. Unfortunately, this was the start of several slightly unpleasant situations I found myself in throughout the day.

Being that this was my first time flying out of the United terminal in first class, I was a little confused by the setup. All the way to the left was premium check-in for 1K and international first/business class, and next to that was premium check-in for domestic first/business along with Premier Executive, Premier, and Star Alliance Gold/Silver. Further to the right was Premier Access check-in.

I suppose logically, I should have just started at the international first/business class line since I was planning on checking in all the way to Auckland, but I made my way over to the domestic first/business line (reasoning that I was flying to LAX), only to find that there was nobody working the counters. Then I made my way over to Premier Access line and waited a few minutes, only to find that this was a self-service line with just one baggage handler working the counters. Finally, I walked over to the international first/business line and was checked-in by an actual United agent. While this was completely my own idiotic mistake, I was somewhat surprised that there was not a single agent working the domestic first/business or Premier Access check-in lines. I noticed several other people who had issues to resolve besides checking in luggage also playing musical chairs with the three lines until they finally headed over to the international first/business line as well.

Once at the counter, I was able to get myself and my large backpack checked-in all the way to Auckland. The friendly agent handed me the boarding pass and told me that I could enjoy access to the United Club a little ways past security. I was a little surprised, and I even asked her again because I was pretty sure I shouldn't have access to the lounge at SFO since this wasn't my international departure point. She assured me that I did.