Saturday Recap: American Express British Airways Transfer Bonus, Bonus SkyMiles from Hertz, Bonus Miles with Wine Clubs, 1,000 Free United Miles, Update on Hyatt Platinum Extras

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here – British Airways Visa Signature Card

Here’s a recap of the interesting points and miles news from this week:

American Express 30% Transfer Bonus to British Airways: In case you missed the post from earlier this week, now through January 14, 2013, American Express cardmembers who transfer Amex Membership Rewards points to British Airways Avios will receive a 30% bonus. The bonus is hard-coded into the transfer page, so you don't have to register or do anything special, just transfer miles as you normally would. So instead of the usual 1:1 ratio where 1,000 Amex points will get you 1,000 British Airways Avios, you’ll end up with 1,300 Avios instead. This isn’t as lucrative as their 40% and 50% transfer bonuses, but a 30% bonus is still better than nothing and if you know how to leverage the Avios program you can reap huge value out of redemptions. Don't forget, the British Airways Visa 100,000 Avios sign up offer is back until February 27, 2013.

2,000 Bonus Skymiles when renting from Hertz: Hertz and Delta have teamed up to offer Delta frequent flyers the opportunity to earn up to 2,000 bonus SkyMiles on their next car rental. SkyMiles members normally earn 100 miles per day and Medallion members normally earn 200 miles per day on rentals, but now they can earn 500 additional bonus miles for retails of 1-2 days, 900 additional bonus miles for rentals of 3-4 days, and 2,000 additional bonus miles for rentals of 5+ days. Hertz is also offering discounts up to 40%. Reservations must be made by December 31, 2012 for rentals picked up by March 31, 2013. Don’t forget to include your SkyMiles number in the reservation process and you must provide discount CDP 165385 and PC 170166 as well.

Bonus Virgin Atlantic Miles or JetBlue Points for Joining Wine Clubs: Virgin Atlantic is offering 2,000 bonus miles when you join and order from the Virgin Wines Explorers Club. You'll receive 12 holiday wines for just $79.99 and 3 free bottles of Argentine Malbec. All of this comes with free shipping, full tasting notes on each bottle, and a 100% money-back guarantee. On future orders, you'll earn 2 miles per $1 spent. When you place your order, you will have the option to choose between a mixed case or if you prefer, you can receive all red wines, or only whites. This is a great way to try out some new wines, while earning some bonus Virgin Atlantic miles. JetBlue members can also earn 2,000 bonus TrueBlue points when enrolling in the 4 Seasons Wine Club from Laithwaites Wine and ordering a case of wine at the introductory price of $89.99, plus applicable tax. Orders must be placed online or by calling 1-888-421-9924. Your TrueBlue number must be provided at the time of order. You will also receive 5 TrueBlue points for every $1 spent on any future purchases. TrueBlue points will be awarded for completed sales, excluding refunds.

1,000 Free United Miles Social Media Promotion: Here's a chance to earn 1,000 Free United miles with a social media app called Bckstgr. To be eligible, you must first sign up for Bckstgr. After you sign up, you will instantly earn 400 miles, and will have the opportunity to earn an additional 200 miles for linking each of your Twitter, Facebook, and Foursquare accounts for a total of 1,000 potential bonus miles. You can link each of your accounts by choosing each social media site under the profile and preferences tab. While 1,000 miles isn't going to get you that next first class award to Asia, every mile counts, and will keep your account active that much longer. (Hat Tip: Deals We Like)

Hyatt Platinum Extras Awards Update: Jeff Zidell, VP of Hyatt Gold Passport, posted on Milepoint yesterday that they would be discontinuing the Hyatt Platinum Extras perk. He wrote, "After a thorough evaluation, we concluded that Platinum Extras did not provide a significant enhancement to the Hyatt experience; in fact, more than 75% of the awards earned by Platinum members were never redeemed. Therefore, it simply makes sense for us to focus our time, attention and resources on improving the program in new and innovative ways rather than administering a benefit that members don’t value." Platinum members will still earn Platinum Extras Awards through the end of 2012 and will have 90 days to redeem these awards. This is due to the fact that Hyatt is trying to invest in benefits that enhance the Hyatt experience for the majority of their members and are eliminating benefits that are not valued or utilized.

MegaBus is giving away 200,000 free rides: While the majority of my readers would prefer air travel to bus travel, sometimes for a quick trip avoiding the airport and taking a bus might be easier. Megabus is giving away 200,000 seats for travel between January 9th and February 28th. The free seats will be subject to availability for travel Jan. 9 - Feb. 28 to/from cities served by megabus.com in the USA and Canada. You can book your tickets now using the promo code TRYMEGABUS. Megabus offers service to more than 120 cities in North America and recently announced new service hubs in Los Angeles and San Francisco as they are expanding their west coast service.

Lufthansa Check-In Promotion: Now through December 31, 2012, Lufthansa is offering passengers who check-in for their flights online a chance to win roundtrip tickets to Europe. To be eligible to win, you must register with an upcoming confirmation number, then when you check-in you will be entered. The winner will receive two economy class roundtrip tickets on a Lufthansa-operated flight from any of the current U.S./Canadian gateways to any of the current Lufthansa European destinations. The prize will be awarded to the first person selected at random from among all eligible entries. Here's a list of the full Terms and Conditions.

Triple Points with Choice Hotels: Choice Privileges members can earn up to 50,000 bonus points by earning triple points on all qualifying stay starting with their second stay. To be eligible be sure to register before your first stay. Then book your hotels on their site, and after your second stay with an arrival date from December 13, 2012 and February 20, 2013, you’ll earn triple Choice Privileges points with every qualifying stay; corporate travelers can book through a travel agent or corporate booking system. Elite Diamond and Elite Platinum members can book directly with a hotel, however if they book through Choice Hotels these members will receive 100 additional Choice Privileges points with every qualifying stay.
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