Airline allowance - tax-free item ?
 

I've used Flexpoints for a number of International tix, but have never been able to use the in-flight $25 allowance, altho I've had some "creative ideas".
Plenty of free food, booz, upgraded seats, checked bags, entertainment etc, so there's no real incentive to use the allowance on board.

Unless one is allowed to make a tax-free purchase - I've asked this question over a year ago, without a response.

It's $25 per award redemption. Doesn't matter one-way or rt.

When I had a skyguide membership, I double reimbursed lounge passes through Skyguide and FlexPerks.

Actually, I just looked up the notes I took of the redemption terms, and it's a bit more restrictive:

I wonder if they'll know the difference between baggage fees, food, etc. and Economy Plus seat upgrade if I buy my seat on the day of travel.

Regarding full MQM credit for Delta flights
 

I booked a 20k point ticket with Delta flights this month. In the process, I noticed that if you hover over the link to the fare rules on the purchase page, the URL will have the full fare code embedded. Something like: "VA21R2SP"

Comparing this to a list of published fare codes from the http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...lity-tool.html it looks like about half of them were in the list.

I'm not sure how significant any of that is but I made sure the ticket I booked had only codes listed in KVS and Delta verified I had booked a full MQM ticket.

US Bank FlexPerks Travel Awards ???'s
 

Two questions.

What's the best way to get the most bang for your buck for these points?

It seems like domestic flights can be had for 20,000 points but haven't had any luck on international flights for less that 50,000 points.

Also, has anybody ever submitted a photo for the contest to win Flexpoints?
Any trouble with submissions?

I tried it for the first time this month and my submission was held in pending mode for a week and was finally approved. It cost me 10 days worth of potential votes.

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It's a tiered system where a certain number of points = certain retail dollar value of ticket:

http://hackmytrip.com/wp-content/upl...ard-Levels.png

The best redemption is exactly on the point level boundary. Thus, using 20k points for a $400 ticket = 2 cents per point.

I just fininished my min. spend on my second card. Whenever I see those sub-$1000 fares to Asia on the Flight Deal Blog, I start thinking about my flexpoints balance.

I'm planning on using 20K points for a domestic ticket, and 30K for a long weekend in the Caribbean.

Question: I thought you could only submit a travel photo from a trip you took using a ticket bought with Flexpoints. Am I wrong?

$25 Airline Allowance follow up
 

I called the services line and it was explained to me that the $25 allowance is per ticket and can be used for services offered by the airline ONLY during your flights, specifically designed to cover baggage fees and food & beverage purchases. It might cover entertainment (possibly wifi) and lounge access during a layover. Also a purchase in the lounge could be covered.
It's all up to the Travel Center's approval after you made your purchase and submitted it.

If it's on international flights you might be out of luck, since everything is basically covered by the airline and it was repeatedly mentioned that the Travel Center would check with the airline to verify your charge after you've submitted it for the allowance.
So I guess if your purchase comes up as "Duty Free" - even when made during your flight - it would not qualify as an on-board service rendered by the airline.
Even the order of a gourmet meal as an upgrade of your regular meal would not qualify as such, I was told.

When asked, the several agents I talked to, could not confirm if even a seat-upgrade in coach to Economy Comfort would qualify.

Anyone have experience with the use of the allowance for a seat upgrade ?

Why don't you call and verify ?

It's interesting you were told the purchase of gourmet meal upgrade would not be allowed on a international flight, as that's exactly what I used it for on a US Air flight to Europe last fall. Mrs. Skaps21 and I (both on FlexPerks award tickets) each purchased the MarketPlace meal in advance of the flight and had no problems getting the credit applied.

The fine print only states the purchase has to be posted under the airline providing your award travel during the dates of the trip. So, seat upgrades billed by the airline should work also, but duty free purchases in-flight (most likely billed by a different company) probably would not.

The photo submission thing also seems like an overlooked perk. You get 500 points just for uploading a picture, which is worth $10 if you can actually find a $400 to use for 20K points. I've never had issuses with the couple times submitting photos, but I've only done it following an actual award trip.

Interesting indeed and very helpful information - Thanks ^

FYI, posted by me almost 2 years ago:
It's a manual process, so as long as the date falls within your travel period and the merchant is the airline you're flying, you should be fine.

Anybody know how long it takes the "airline allowance" credit to post? I called over 2 weeks ago and was told the charge was okay but still haven't seen anything post online. Do I need to wait until the next statement or should I call again? (took me several tries to get to the right dept through their confusing phone tree so I'm not in a big hurry to do that again)

New bonus point offers
 

New FlexPerks promo begining May 1, 2013. Spend $750 and receive 3,500 bonus miles. Also spend $50 at Nieman Marcus and get 3,500 bonus points. I can't figure out how to add a link to the info without my CC info showing up so here is the text of the first offer:

Earn 3,500 FlexPoints when you use your card. Use your FlexPerks Travel Rewards Visa Signature® card for $750 in purchases from May 1–June 30, 2013, and you'll receive 3,500 bonus FlexPoints. You can redeem 3,500 FlexPoints for your annual fee or combine them with other FlexPoints for other rewards.

Nieman Marcus Offer:

Shopping at Neiman Marcus earns you 3,500 bonus FlexPoints.
Shop for favorite designers' spring styles at Neiman Marcus or neimanmarcus.com, and earn 3,500 bonus FlexPoints. Simply spend $50 or more using your FlexPerks Travel Rewards Visa Signature® card anytime from May 6 through May 19, 2013.