Frequent flier: Get more than 100,000 miles fast

Name: Budget Travel LLC
Price range: $

By Sean O'Neill

October 3, 2012

Three credit card sign-up offers can earn you hundreds of thousands of frequent flier miles. But you have to act fast. These are the three most generous rewards we've ever seen. These cards are the speediest ways to earn free overseas trips.

Until now, the best offer we've ever seen was in November 2009, when the British Airways Visa Signature Card invited new card-members to sign up and earn up to 100,000 miles with just a small amount of spending. For comparison's sake, the best sign-up card bonus is typically 25,000 miles.

Well, that amazing deal is back. Earn 50,000 bonus miles after your first purchase and another 50,000 bonus miles after spending $2,500 to your card within the first three months. British Airways allows "households" to pool their miles for an award. So two people each sign up for the card, and the combined totals can earn a reward. Another perk: The miles can be redeemed on flights on BA's One World partner, American Airlines.

Award availability on British Airways is "outstanding", especially for upgrading one class, reports Reuters. In another perk, the card has no foreign exchange fee for foreign purchases. But the card does charge a $75 annual fee.

The offer is obviously subject to credit approval. New cardholders only are accepted. If a customer does not qualify for a British Airways Signature Visa, they may qualify for a British Airways Platinum Visa. Both cards have the same enhanced earn rate and the same premium bonus offer (100,000 miles). There is not any other alternative card—customers either qualify for the British Airways Signature or Platinum cards (both of which have the same bonus and new earn rate) or they are declined and do not receive any card. Sign up at the British Airways Visa Signature Card site.

Another tempting offer is from Citibank's AAdvantage card. Score 75,000 American Airlines miles with a card that can be applied for only by telephone at 800-408-4954. Spend $4,000 in the first 6 months, and you'll receive 75,000 miles. The $85 annual fee is waived in the first year. If you don't think you can charge that much in six months, there are two alternate offers with lower bonus amounts that might be better for you (see here). You still have to pay foreign currency conversion charges of up to 3 percent when making purchases abroad.

UPDATE: The following deal has since expired. You gotta act fast!

Capital One has a 110,000-mile bonus credit card sign-up offer. It's worth $1,100 in travel after spending just $1,000 in three months, through a status match on miles earned in other air card programs. There's no annual fee the first year, $59 in the second. Earn double miles on on every purchase. Redeem miles on any airline via any travel site. Just add two zeros to the price of your travel to find out how many points you'll need to receive the equal credit reimbursement on your card. For instance, a $189 ticket on United would require 18,900 points. Like the BA card, there are no foreign currency transaction fees on purchases made overseas. Sign up at the Capital One Venture Rewards card site.

There's a catch to all of these programs, of course. Fuel surcharges may be included in a free ticket, as Christopher Elliott has reported. So, for example, on a San Francisco to London roundtrip flight on British Airways, a "free" ticket might actually cost around $400 (or higher) in fuel surcharges on the mileage-award ticket. But, still, you would be saving more than $400 off the actual price of the ticket. And, as always, the best way to max out frequent flier miles is in purchasing upgrades to business class seats.

Act now, because these programs will end soon. The British Airways program ends May 6, 2011, for example. But any of them may end sooner if they follow the unpredictable, standard life-cycle of such promotions.

State Department downgrades Egypt warning

The U.S. State Department has softened the wording of its Egypt travel warning, and consequently more travel companies are returning to the destination following the 18-day revolution earlier this year that led to a mass exodus of tourists. The State Department now urges U.S. citizens to consider the risks rather than to avoid all non-essential travel to the North African country, which the previous warning recommended. The travel warning, which is still a "warning" and has not yet been downgraded to an "alert" (for more on the difference see What to do when the State Department issues a travel alert), reports that the security situation in popular tourism destinations such as Luxor, Aswan, and the Red Sea resorts, are calm. Also, all airports are open and operating, but travelers should be in touch with their airlines or tour operators regarding flight schedules, the State Department advises. The U.S. government also cautions travelers that "elements of the Egyptian government responsible for ensuring security and public safety are not fully reconstituted and are still in the process of being reorganized. Until the redeployment of Egyptian civilian police is fully restored, police response to emergency requests for assistance or reports of crime may be delayed." Trafalgar Tours announced that it would be recommencing its Egypt program on May 1 "as events in Egypt continue to stabilize," the company said. Trafalgar noted that it took into consideration the updated State Department travel warning to Egypt. Most major tour operators have now said they will start up their Egypt programs again, including Globus, Big Five Tours & Expeditions, Central Holidays, Great Safaris, Abercrombie & Kent, Insight Vacations, Grand Circle Travel, Overseas Adventure Travel, and Isramworld. Many have been able to renegotiate better rates in light of the dearth of tourists right now, and many are offering discounted pricing to the destination. Trafalgar is offering discounts of up to $165 per person off their current brochure prices for land-only vacations; and Central Holidays is offering a $100 per person discount for new bookings made on any Egypt cruise or land program for travel in 2011. More from Budget Travel: Less salt in the wound: Solo traveler savings 95% of Americans plan to travel more in 2011 Riots in Egypt: How much can travel insurance help?

Travel Tips

No more waiting in line at the concession stand

The ubiquity of apps happened rapidly and quietly, ending the days when telephones were used only to converse. Suddenly, seemingly overnight, there were apps for just about everything—apps to help you locate Girl Scout cookies and public restrooms, apps to convert currency, language, and clothing size, and apps to help you organize travel plans. And now there is an app that lets you...just sit there: Next time you travel to a sporting event, skip that whole waiting in line at the concession stand business and order food directly to your seat. Yorder (previously called iConcessionStand) is a free mobile-app for iPhones and Android phones. The idea behind the app is simple: sports fans can order food, beverages, and merchandise from their seat and about 15-20 minutes later receive their order without missing a minute of the game. So far the app is only available for San Jose's Earthquakes games at the Buck Shaw Stadium in Santa Clara. The app relies on location-aware technology to locate fans in the 10,000+ seat stadium. Fans can order from the food and drink menus at the stadium's two concession stands, and make a payment through their PayPal account. (A $1 per-transaction fee applies to each order.) The food is provided by Bon Appetit and delivered approximately 15-20 minutes later. Later in the season, fans will be able to order food from the gourmet food trucks that the team brings in for home games. Although this technology is only available at one stadium so far, the app (and its inevitable evolutionary offspring) could very well revolutionize the way we visit sports events, concerts and even theme parks. And as much as I hate the idea of missing a single moment of the game, I wonder if this technology will actually change the way we experience such outings. For me, going to a sporting event is never about just the game; I have always found the atmosphere equally intriguing: The inevitable brawl in the stands between rowdy fans, the mass crowd 'waves', and yes, even the long queues for a $10 pint of beer. Are we creating a future where a $1 surcharge lets you sit back and let someone else do the dirty work? Will we eventually be able to schedule the exact time we ride a roller coaster or use a public restroom? Will queuing in line no longer be relevant? Maybe...but thankfully, not yet. What do you think? Are apps helping too much? — Madeline Grimes MORE FROM BUDGET TRAVEL: The Ultimate App Tool Kit iPhone: Travel apps picked by an iPhone expert The World's Best Street Food

Horizon Air sorry for kicking tall man off flight

How tall is a 6-foot, 9-inch man? Too tall to sit in a coach-class seat on Horizon Air, apparently. On a mid-March flight between Portland, Ore., and Ontario, Calif., flight attendants removed a 6-foot, 9-inch-tall gentleman from a plane because his legs were blocking the aisle. To complain, the man's daughter contacted The Consumerist blog. The airline soon apologized to the passenger. A spokesperson said: "What should have happened in this scenario is the flight attendants should have asked for passengers seated in an exit or bulkhead row to voluntarily give up their seats to provide the passenger with the much needed leg room he requires. Moving him to a seat with more leg room would have ensured the aisle was clear." if (WIDGETBOX) WIDGETBOX.renderWidget('1462bdfb-93c8-4db3-9acc-fe5f24942317');Get the Poll Creator Pro widget and many other great free widgets at Widgetbox! Not seeing a widget? (More info) The man says that he had expected his seat assignment would be a problem. He says he contacted Horizon Air in advance of the flight to ask to be reseated. The agent declined to move him to a roomier seat. But it all turned out happy in the end. The airline reimbursed the man with a free future flight. There have been other incidents like this. The most dramatic one happened in December. Spirit Airlines forced passenger Brooks Anderson to stand for a two-hour flight because his 6' 7" frame was too tall for its seats, according to ABC News. Anderson had also been denied an exit row seat. Does this mean that tall people ought to have a right to roomy exit row seats? As you know, most airlines only have a policy of reserving exit row seats for passengers who can help evacuate the plane in an emergency. None we could find has a policy about giving preference to tall passengers. Or should tall people be expected—as obese ones are—to buy a second seat? They could put one of their legs in the space beside them. (Though I'm not sure this is much of an improvement.) Sound off in the comments. Or vote in our poll! MORE FROM BUDGET TRAVEL Should we tip flight attendants? (50+ comments, 110+ "likes") Trains versus planes? Survey shows a pull towards tracks (40+ comments, 60+ "Likes") Introducing the new 'all you can drink' cruise (20+ comments, 120+ "likes")

News

What's your biggest language gaffe?

When navigating a foreign country, you have a lot to consider. Certain cultural traits, customs, body language—and the local language. We try our best not to commit cultural crimes, but it's hard! Sometimes what we think is an innocent gesture is actually completely offensive, or a Tango misstep in Buenos Aires can leave you dancing solo. But there's something about a non-native speaker trying to talk with the locals, especially if slang is attempted, that really brings out the blunders—and quite a bit of laughter. While traveling in Central and South America, I said "despacio, por favor" (slowly, please) more times than I'd like to admit while attempting conversations with locals. I was routinely (but politely) laughed at for my accent, especially in Argentina, whose accent is much different than the Central American Spanish I studied in school. One particularly bad language snafu of mine was in Quepos, Costa Rica. I just got back to my hostel from hiking nearby Manuel Antonio National Park and I desperately needed a shower. Unfortunately, I finished my bar of soap the day before so I decided to run into town and restock. When I walked into the pharmacy, I asked the pharmacist—while mock lathering my arm, for emphasis—"¿Ud. tiene sopa?" Turns out, I asked the pharmacist if she had any soup, not soap! Needless to say, she died laughing. "No, no tengo sopa," she responded, "No, no I don't have soup." A bar of soap, for the record, is jabón. Another language faux pas of mine was on a bus in Mendoza, Argentina. I kept on confusing cambio, which means when something changes, like the temperature, with moneda, which means coins—or what we Americans think of as change. So when I asked the driver if he had change so I could buy my bus ticket with a larger bill (I later learned there were ticket kiosks on the bus... another gaffe) he thought I was asking him if he could change me as a person. He was confused. My colleague here at Budget Travel, Laura Michonski, frequently confused "J'ai fini," which means, "I'm done" with "Je suis finis," which means, "My life is over" while traveling in Paris. In restaurants, waiters would ask, "Are you still working on this?" and she'd respond, "No, my life is over." Now it's your turn, what's the biggest language faux pas you've committed while traveling? Tell us below! MORE FROM BUDGET TRAVEL Vote now in our Readers' Choice Awards! What is your favorite travel book? What do you collect on your travels?

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