well, first an update - for all of you following my adventures, it seems as though the goldpoints/valuemags thing worked! i now have 1,747,350 that translates to 436,837 miles with AC, AA, BA, CX, DL, UA etc. that's my four round trip business class tickets to australia.
but for all of you not following the adventures, let me fill you in.
let's just say you want to fly on the concorde from NYC to london. check the BA rewards page and it's 125,000 miles. so, we need that many.
now that you've enrolled there, you're entitled to 4:1 exchange ratio. (4 goldpoints: 1 mile) the FF programs you can get into are listed under membership rules. they include all the ones i have above - including BA, the one we need. we need 125,000x4=500,000 goldpoints then.
ok. now, go to www.goldpoints.com and enrol there using the goldpoints number that radisson gave you.
now that you're logged in there, follow the links to get to valuemags.com (it's important to follow the links - they get your goldpoints number from the page referral).
valuemags.com has a nifty promotion on. 450 goldpoints per dollar spent. we need 500,000 goldpoints. divide that by 450 and you get $1111. thus, go spend that amount on magazines and you'll get 500,000 goldpoints credited to your account that you can then transfer to your BA FF account (at the rate of 4-1) and end up with a very cheap flight on the concorde.
it works, because i just did it
i got the idea from here and i just wanted to let everyone know that it *does* work.
1. i sent all the magazines to children's hospitals. a bunch of comic books, parenting magazines, news, etc. they wouldn't let me send to canada.
2. i have my flight reserved with AA. it's an YYZ-LAX on AA, then LAX-HKG on CX and HKG-SYD on CX. 100,000 miles. ready to go i also had a better YYZ-LAX-SYD route, but the dates were bad.
3. i haven't transfered the miles yet. i've asked the question above before i transfer. i'll transfer tomorrow or the next day. i don't see that as a problem. (does someone else?)
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Exclusive Radisson Airline Partner Rewards
Only a Radisson Gold Rewards member is entitled to redeem Gold Points to airline miles at a 4:1 ratio. Redemptions are available at 2,000; 6,000; 10,000; 20,000; and 50,000 Gold Point increments. PARTICIPATING AIRLINE MILES PARTNERS: Air Canada, American, America West, Asiana, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Continental, Delta, EL AL, Gulf Air, Icelandair, Latin Pass, Mexicana, Midwest Express, Northwest, Qualiflyer, TWA, United, US Airways</font>
Programs: AA PLT 1MM, DL Silver riff-raff (ex NW Gold)
Posts: 535
Great job fireflyreaction!
I'm still working on it -- over 300k goldpoints now with plenty left to go.
Another use I've found for the subscriptions: give them to people in exchange for a donation to charity in the amount of 50% of the subscription price. (i.e. give somebody a $50 mag and they give $25 to charity.) So:
1. I get lots of miles at under $0.01/mile without having to deal with lots of magazines
2. People get really cheap magazines
3. The world is a better place
What a deal.
Also, another noteworthy possibility that has been mentioned elsewhere on FT: $9K of magazines (wow!) = 4M Goldpoints = 1M AA miles = lifetime AA Gold. Might it be easier to claim J/F awards as a "million miler"?
Does this really work? Do the points you get from going through www.goldpoints.com actually go into your Radisson Gold Rewards account?
If it does, I forsee a quick end to the recession with quadruple digit sales growth in the magazine sector. Front page of the WSJ: "FT saves the world!"
This really works. The information is being followed in the Radisson forum.
There are other things besides magazines that can get you some decent goldpoints. Not as many as the magazine, but things that might be of more use to you in your Holiday shopping.
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I'm still confused (nothing new)...is "gold rewards" and "gold points" the same thing? I can only find the 10 for 1 redemption (5,000 points for 500 miles)...But that is only on 3 airlines...How do you get the 4 for 1 redemption??
This just occured to me: If I order business or computer-related magazines, can I write them off as some sort of business expense? Or, if I order a gift subscription to a charity, can the expense be counted as a charitable contribution? (I promise I will only order worthy magazines. )
that's my four round trip business class tickets to australia.
