About six months ago I joined a travel service called Travelers Advantage. They had a three month trial membership for a dollar, then it was 59.95 per year.

The gimmick they are running is a 5% cash back for travel made through them. Thus far this year I have received checks in excess of $300.00 for travel...more than the membership fee obviously.

Their url is www.travelersadvantage.com I believe. I also got some American vouchers when I joined and they have a low cost hotel program as well.

Thought I'd let you know...cash AND miles!

It is not a gimmick - I've pulled down over $2,000 a year for the last two years. Some of the travel warriors at my company get $500-600 a month.

My guess is that within a few months the beatings that travel agents have received at the hands of the airlines will spread to this program and the % will be cut. I just received a $150 rebate on a flight that the agent got a $50 commission on.

I didn't mean for gimmick to have negative connotations. I love it and am not complaining!

Ive been with them for almost a yr now basically for car rentals,but its not worth it they push Alamo, and most times all they do is match a lower price that I found,the 5% is but a few bucks and not worth the time.HOWEVER,via "MY POINTS" click on their "shopping" button and hit "TRAVEL NOW " site Iwasnt able to find better prices anywhere.On a rental for LA for @ wks from now they were $7 a day lower than the THRIFTY site or when I called THRIFTY or T.A. For those who can buy their tkts thru them its prob. worth it.

Why not use them for hotel as well? I also use them when I need to purchase a last minute ticket as 5% of 1,000 is more useful to me than booking on-line to get 500 miles.

I use them all the time and get excellent service and rates. With the commission rate falling to 5%, and the rebate being 5% does anyone see the refund going down a few percentiles?

Having recently changed jobs, I had to give up the luxury of using the travelers advantage service. I will really miss the three to five hundred a month (w/o the IRS knowledge, or wife knowledge) that I was able to accumulate.

This service is not to be confused with a normal full service business travel agency. You cannot expect them to make frequent changes to your itinerary or book last minute car reservations at the airport upon arrival.

However, if you can prepare several itineraries at once, and purchase a high percentage of high dollar fares and hotels, this is the deal!

The phone lines can be hard to get in on, and some of the agents aren't the brightest. They really market the service through bankcard and auto clubs expecting to make money from people who don't travel much.

Merry Christmas.