Check out all the details from American Aadvantage eShopping and start racking up extra miles.

So let’s first focus on all those miles, just what might they be redeemed for? Perhaps any one of these options (depending on availability):

• 2 Round-Trip Tickets from the USA to Europe In Coach Class
• 1 Round-Trip Ticket from the USA to Europe In Business Class
• 4 Round-Trip Tickets on American Airlines Within the USA in Coach Class
• 2 Round-Trip Tickets on American Airlines Within the USA in Business or First Class
• 5,000 Miles Short of 2 Round-Trip Tickets to the Caribbean, Central America or Hawaii on American Airlines
• Or other possibilities with partner airlines Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Brussels Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Iberia, Japan Airlines, LAN, Malev, Qantas and Royal Jordanian

Sounds good so far.  Let’s look at what will be required to earn the miles.  First and foremost, the card comes with an annual fee of $75 (fairly typical for affinity credit cards).  You will earn 50,000 miles when you activate the card and make your first purchase.  Then you will be required to spend $2,000 in the first three months of having the card in order to earn the second 50,000 miles.  If you put all your grocery purchases, gas, and a few holiday gifts on the card in the next few months, that should be no problem.

Then for all you big spenders out there, there is the possibility to earn an additional free companion ticket.  Spend $30,000 in one calendar year and you’ll receive a voucher good for an additional mileage ticket when you redeem one from your miles.  (Redeem miles for a business class flight to Europe and get a companion ticket one free!)  I’m thinking of all you parents paying college tuition there – does that college take payments by credit card?!

Now, this offer may be withdrawn as soon as November 30th – or it may run longer at their discretion.  BUT I have to say, the buzz on this offer is HUGE, so if you’re interested, I would apply as quickly as possible.  Naturally there are many paragraphs of terms and conditions which you should read carefully before applying for the card.  You can find all the details at MyChaseCreditCards.com.

#1 – Previously if the lowest level award was available on one flight (of a roundtrip), but only a higher award was available for the other flight, you would have to redeem an award at the higher level.  Now you can combine Saver Awards with Anytime Awards.  So you could potentially put together a flight for 12,500 Saver miles with 25,000 Anytime miles and redeem for $37,500 instead of $50,000!!

#2 – You can now combine First Class or Business Class one way, and Coach the other way.

#3 – You can travel to a destination with a one-way frequent flyer ticket, and return by another means of travel.  i.e. Fly out to meet your child at college and drive home with all their “STUFF”.

#4 – It makes “open Jaw” travel a whole lot easier.  Let’s say you want to fly into San Francisco and out of San Jose, now that’s easy with two one-way tickets.

#t – Hopefully other airlines will follow the lead, and you may be able to fly one airline in one direction and another airline in the other direction – increasing your odds of finding an available frequent flyer seat.

It’s all good for a change!

Here’s the process:  The first step is to plan your trip – enter your destinations and the dates of travel.  The system will return available flights sorted by price (so far just like everyone else) – BUT now comes the neat part….  choose the flights you like the best and ask YAPTA to track them for lower prices OR available frequent flyer seats.  They will email you as soon as the price goes down or frequent flyer seats become available, saving you endless hours of searching over and over again.

I gave this a try for seats from Boston to Denver.  The initial reply was that no frequent flyer seats were available, but within half an hour I received an email saying they had found frequent flyer seats for the trip I wanted on United Airlines and to click right over to obtain the seats. – GREAT!!!  The industry has been waiting a long time for tech deveopers to master the search for frequent flyer seats and this may well be the beginning of easy free seat searches ahead.  BRAVO!!

Here’s how it works – nice and simple.  Get a free hotel night for every 10 nights you book (and stay) – anywhere, anytime.  You’ll need to sign up for a rewards account, either by logging in to your current online account or by calling 1-800-246-8357.  Then each time you book a hotel room (either online or by phone that prices over $40 per night), identify your Welcome Rewards number, and you’ll begin earning credits at the completion of your stay.  After you have accumulated 10 credits, you will automatically be awarded a free one night hotel stay up to $400 in value at any of Hotel.com’s partner properties with no blackout dates.  Wow – I love it already!  Anyone booking hotel stays for business trips will be able to rack up enough free nights for a vacation anywhere in the world in no time.  So, check out all the details for yourself at Welcome Rewards and start earning those free hotel stays!!

PS – We’ve placed a link for Hotels.com on our Links Page so you’ll be able to find it whenever you need it.

What causes miles to expire? Basically you need some activity in your account every 12 to 24 months depending on the individual airline program. Now is the time to check your accounts – or at least right after the Christmas crush is over.

Here are three easy, inexpensive ways to save your miles without buying an airplane ticket.

Tip #1. Do some gift buying on your airline’s online shopping site. You’re likely to find all the major national store chains represented and the catalog sites as well. A great way to earn some miles and add activity to your frequent flyer account.

Tip #2. Subscribe to a magazine on your airline’s website. This typically takes VERY few miles and will qualify to keep your miles alive.

Tip #3. Go out to dinner. Join your airline’s Dining Club (free) and then go out to dinner. The miles you earn will revitalize your frequent flyer account.

The BIG exception to saving expiring miles is Southwest Airlines. Southwest miles expire every two years without exception – so the only way to save your old miles is purchase a ticket for a new trip.

Don’t let you miles expire! – Give the airline a call, ask them what the expiration date is for your miles and what the least expensive way is to renew them. PS – don’t forget to check your children’s accounts as well – they tend to fly less frequently than we do.