Last month, Delta introduced the following promotion for flights originiating and terminating in the following cities: Raleigh-Durham (RDU), St. Louis (STL), Pittsburgh (PIT), Nashville (BNA)

5,000 bonus miles plus double MQMs when you fly to Delta hub cities—Atlanta, Cincinnati, Detroit, Memphis, Minneapolis, New York/JFK and Salt Lake City 10,000 bonus miles plus double MQMs for flights to all other cities in the U.S., Canada, Mexico and the ...

In this week's frequent flyer podcast Mike, Matthew, Gary, and Matt discuss:

American Airlines Your Choice program Triple Elite and Redeemable Miles on DL and AA Delta in the news again ... for fighting ... again Your Hometown, Your Airline: San Jose, California A few traveler tips for New York City

And our picks for great travel gifts for your favorite frequent flyer:

From The Crew Lounge: Jonathan's travel steamer instead of ...

This week we discuss our two <sarcasm>favorite</sarcasm> airlines: Southwest Airlines and US Airways. Join us as we discuss the double elite qualifying mile promotion from US Airways and talk about Southwest's Rapid Reward Program.

• Rapid Rewards A-List "Elite" status
• Rapid Rewards email mailing list bonus credits
• Business Select
• And other Southwest promos including car rentals and more

 

 

This week's frequent flyer podcast covers some news and our predictions for 2010. If last year's predictions are any indication only thing I can predict with certainty is how broken our crystal balls are. We discussed:

• Continental CEO forgoes pay until profitable http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/6798733.html
• Our travel goals for 2010
• Our guess as to whether or not double elite qualifying miles (DEQM) will be back and how many times it will be offered.
• Our predictions for upcoming changes to frequent flyer programs and the airlines.

Please send in your predictions or add them to the comments below.

 

The big news of the week is another double elite qualifying mile (DEQM) promotion started by American and, thus far, only matched by United. In this week's frequent traveler podcast we discuss the promotion and:

• Delta's JFK T3 experience ... again
• Delta's SkyClub
• American and United's Double Elite Qualifying Miles Promotion - register now to earn status more quickly
• Swiss first class pajamas
• Ben needs help from a foodie

Remember to take advantage of discounted festival passes for the San Diego Film Festival. We will be recording live on September 26th with more details to be posted on our Facebook page.  Also, follow us on twitter.

Sorry for the delay in releasing this week's podcast, let's just say there were some technical difficulties. This week's Upgrd podcast continues our main topic discussion of hotel programs. In addition we discuss:

When/If will airlines offer double elite qualifying miles (DEQM) and will they charge for it this year? Will new flat beds decrease your upgrade success? (see poll) US Airways continues to handle the flight 1549 incident with aplomb, Spirit airlines - not so ...