I have to fly this week from NY to Amsterdam in business class and was wondering whether there are any special deals out there e.g. bonus miles, free coach ticket for future travel, upgrade to first, upgrade to Concorde...

Thanks.

I don't know if this will help you, but if you have an AmEx Platinum card and book business or first class trans-oceanic tickets through them, you can take a companion free on several airlines. Probably not enought time left for you to get the card now if you don't already have one, but if that sounds useful and you're going to do it again in the future it may be worth the $300 per year (minus the fee for the AmEx card you probably do have).

Most airlines will give you a 25 or 50 percent class of service mileage bonus. Depending on the program, flying in front may also get you to elite status quicker. AA, for example, bases one of its three elite qualification methods on "points" where business class flights accrue 1.25 points per mile. AA also has some bonuses going now for their Sabena and Swissair code-shares if you don't mind changing in their respective hubs. (More details on the AA web site, or ask a question in that forum.)

Check ITN.COM--they've posted a special on SAS from ORD and EWR to pretty much anywhere SAS flies in Europe for $2950.

jl

1-800-AIR TRAVEL they've been great, good luck

Check for departures out of Toronto (YYZ) or Montreal (YUL). The poor value of the Canadian dollar vs. the USD, less robust Canadian economy and related lower purchasing power makes airfares a bargain from Canada.

YYZ-AMS on KL is showing US$2,580 r/t in J, while it is US$5k ex-NYC airports.