US Airways 2011 Grand Slam Promotion - No GS is good: the glass is half-real

They are doing us a favor.

Think of all the benefits of scrapping the GS and all related wasteful brouhaha. Here's my top ten:

1. No more buying useless crap with high shipping charges from SkyMall (and a few other places). It didn't save the economy in 2011

2. No more 'no shows' in hotels, supershuttle, etc

3. No more support for Trackitback and similarly useless services

4. Less time wasted with earning and manipulating imaginary points at various E-shmiles and exchanges

5. Fewer screenshots saved and sent when resolving conflicts with managers having no clue

6. No more meaningless driving around many Alamo parking lots in the country to get several rentals a day

7. No more con artists like Energy Plus having a field day

8. Fewer meaningless websites at NetSol, less headache from lousy wines,

9. No messing with serious stuff (LASIK). No more messing up somebody's poetry shows.

10. Less checking every month into March if the last hit was credited on time and posted or you need another fight with the DM

If you're really into it - it's all available. Do you need getAbstract? - get it. Do you need the cranky toolbar to search - get it. Do you need to 'Buy up to Preferred' - buy it.

An opportunity to focus on some real goals in life.

Anything I forget?..

Anything I forget?..

Yeah, it appears you probably forgot the reason you signed up for FT in the first place. . . :o

Last year's GS allowed my gf and me to fly all business class in order to spend amazingly fun times in Seoul, Bangkok, south India and Kuala Lumpur. That was the kind of itinerary that few people could ever afford if paying with cash.

9. No more messing up somebody's poetry shows.

Anything I forget?..

Haha... i totally forgot about that poetry ticket. I didn't get the poetry, i got some high school band show though.
I'm curious to see what those poetry show must've thought with all the no-shows. Bet they were disappointed :)

What does US make off of the partner transactions?

If 2012 happens it will be my third year participating. This year I specifically extended a late September trip I was going to make by 2 days to give more natural hits. I have a SuperShuttle ride, 2 rental cars, 3 hotels, and Dining for Miles that will incidentally occur. If there is not a Grand Slam those partner points will remain in their native program or be routed to SWA (~$55 in RR credit). US will not see a penny on their books for this activity without a promotion. Additionally I would be inclined to transfer hotel points in that I otherwise would not do give the ratios. How much is there to be gained from selling ~5,000 miles per participant to Hilton/BestWestern/Choice/SPG/IHG?

I can see the waste aspect, I was careful to choose partners and products I would use. Track It Back is defunct but my Skymall, DM Mall, and even wine purchases were above minimum to get something useful.

Yeah, it appears you probably forgot the reason you signed up for FT in the first place. . . :o

+1

Yeah, it appears you probably forgot the reason you signed up for FT in the first place. . . :o

I'm really contemplating whether I do or do not:

a) get your irony
b) get first posters subtle irony
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x) just agree with tommyleo about all the wonderful trips which were over most peoples budget having spent time in OZ, NZ, Asia in general..

I'm really contemplating whether I do or do not:

a) get your irony
b) get first posters subtle irony
.
.
.
.
.
x) just agree with tommyleo about all the wonderful trips which were over most peoples budget having spent time in OZ, NZ, Asia in general..

By my definition, a) is subsumed within x).

Anything I forget?..

What a nonsense! Nobody is forced to buy all that crap! It's also fun and it gives lots of miles for cheap money! So, no favor at all!

Has it been confirmed that GS2012 will not be taking place?

Has it been confirmed that GS2012 will not be taking place?

No. We're all speculating!

So far, US has been the preferred program for my partner transactions because of the Grand Slam. If there is no GS12, then I would look at the pros and cons of other programs and it's hard to go past UA and AA having one way awards and partner booking online-at least AA has the partner I would be using more often-QF. So no GS would defintely change my priorities in airline loyalty programs unless they decide to compete with UA and AA in offering better features. UA also allows Australia-USA awards via Asia, though AA doesn't.

In addition to not buying the unwanted crap mentioned above, I would also be more likely to use non-chain hotels through Hotels.com and similar if they were cheaper and more convenient.

No. We're all speculating!

IIRC, last year they announced it mid August 2011. Around the 15th or 16th I want to say...

In all honesty, there is only one real benefit of there being no GS2012: Not having to see our posts re-posted on boarding area by bloggers looking to make $.

IIRC, last year they announced it mid August 2011. Around the 15th or 16th I want to say...

It was more like late August and effective around September 15th. I just checked my AMEX activity and my Biscoff purchase hit my account on 9/16. It was the first thing I ordered during GS2011.

For those posting about GS on twitter, it seems the #GrandSlam2012 hashtag has already been used by others too... LOL!

Really hoping this promotion takes place once again this year. This year I will go all the way!

An FTer found the T&Cs by hunting around on US's website on 21 Aug. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/2011-grand-slam-promotion/1249944-grand-slam-2011-faq-up.html

The links to the registration went live by US on 24 Aug http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/16980114-post78.html and the promo started on 14 Sept. It's possible that US was forced to go live before they intended to because the details were leaked prematurely.

I don't know if anything can be found by playing with urls, I had a go and couldn't find anything.

If they are not going to have it, I wish they would just come out and say so.

If they are not going to have it, I wish they would just come out and say so.

Amen to that. Getting fed up with the uncertainty.

What uncertainty? It is absolutely certain that US Airways will either have a Grand Slam 2012 or they will not.:D

Amen to that. Getting fed up with the uncertainty.

What uncertainty? It is absolutely certain that US Airways will either have a Grand Slam 2012 or they will not.:D

Why is this sounding like Schrodinger's Cat?

Why is this sounding like Schrodinger's Cat?

Gee, thanks for making me google "Schrodinger's Cat" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schr%C3%B6dinger%27s_cat) and making my head explode... :eek:

Why is this sounding like Schrodinger's Cat?

That takes me back to P-chem. :D

Gee, thanks for making me google "Schrodinger's Cat" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schr%C3%B6dinger%27s_cat) and making my head explode... :eek:

Not to forget the use of the cat in the box in various episodes of the Bing Bang Theory: https://www.google.com/search?q=schr%C3%B6dinger%27s+cat+big+bang+theory&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:de:official&client=firefox-a

So.. are you claiming that Soap operas rly are good for something :D ?
And may it just be to overcome Internet ADS..

What do you people have against cats? No wonder AA is bankrupt!

Mike

Why is this sounding like Schrodinger's Cat?

It's the Grand Slam Uncertainty Principle. σTσB > *N/2, when σT is the Standard Deviation of our Topguest daily earnings, σB is the SD of how much Biscoff spread we'll be purchasing, and *N is the Starnet blocking constant :D

Of course, P / *N = FCT, where P is the participation level in the GS.

It's the Grand Slam Uncertainty Principle. σTσB > *N/2, when σT is the Standard Deviation of our Topguest daily earnings, σB is the SD of how much Biscoff spread we'll be purchasing, and *N is the Starnet blocking constant :D

Of course, P / *N = FCT, where P is the participation level in the GS.

There's no wave function nor Planck's constant? This needs to be further worked. ;)

There's no wave function nor Planck's constant?
F(wave_goodbye_to_Grand_Slam). If anyone cares to wager, I've got several dozen TrackItBack stickers :D that say it won't happen this year.