So here's a possible situation: you have hotel points, you want airline miles. As a concrete example, I have a lot of Choice points and I might want some Northwest miles. The exchange ratio is 5000 pts -> 1000 miles.

Suppose I have 125,000 points. I can turn them in for 25,000 miles.

But NW is running a promotion, and a hotel point-to-miles transfer gets a 1000 mile bonus. (I've been using this promo with hotel stays to build up the miles).

Anyhow, my first solution is to transfer the 125,000 points into 25,000 miles and get a 1000 mile bonus, for a total of 26,000 miles.

It just struck me, that I could transfer 5000 points into 1000 miles, and get the 1000 mile bonus, for a total of 2000 miles for that transfer. If I do the same thing every day for 25 days, I should get 25 1000 mile bonuses, for a grand total of 50,000 miles at the end of the 25 day period. Effectively doubling my result.

Obviously, the technique depends on the exact promotion involved, but I just thought of it. Please don't tell me everyone's been doing this for years, and why am I so slow?

There are several Perkology-related loopholes that have been discussed at length in various places on FT. But highlighting these loopholes does no one any good in the long run.

Furthermore, I can tell you that NW has a long history of retroactively closing sinilar loopholes long after a promotion has ended and points have been posted. (I for one have the -45k entry in my account history to prove it.)

Given the official NW presence on these boards, this thread should probably be deleted.

You could be right.

But this isn't really a "loophole", any more than routing your trip through "extra" cities to pick up some extra miles/segments.

I don't really know if it works, so I've asked NW whether this kind of transfer is legal (for Perkology). If they say it's OK, what more would I need?

To learn to stop pointing out dubious areas to the airlines...

:eyeroll:

Even if it's legal today, I can guarantee that it won't be next week.

are you sure there isn't fine print stating you can only receive the 1000 mile bonus once?

Well, I've already gotten 17 1000-mile bonuses from hotel stays.

an understanding that banging a drum (both in posting on FT and calling NW for their blessing) to get NW's attention to close said loopholes is counterproductive to your objectives and those of your fellow FT'ers. odd this is being said by a FT member with 3 posts to one with 6,956... (albeit i have used FT for years, i just have no post count because i find answers thru searching rather than posting duplicate questions, and every time i find a good deal, someone else has already posted it)

What a pack of nervous nellies we have around here. Are you afraid NW will put a black mark on your "permanent record"?

1. I stay at a hotel. NW doesn't make a nickel on that.
2. The hotel gives me some miles. NW makes money, because they sold them the miles.
3. For some reason, NW has decided that if I put miles in from a hotel chain, they will give me a bonus. They still aren't making a nickel off the hotel, other than the miles.
4. They (NW) have no idea where the miles from Hotel Chain X come from (stays or my bank account); all they know is that the hotel send some miles over, and they have agreed to pop in a bonus.

What incentive does NW have to track this down, much less try to ban it? They've already limited their exposure by maximizing how many miles you can get, so as far as they're concerned, I'm just another frequent traveller/good customer.

Now, if this is unethical, what do you say to hotel-hoppers? Are you aware that some people on this board actually change hotels on a nightly basis in order to maximize the bonus points?

Have you ever seen the forum called Mileage Run? Would you expect an airline to call you up and say, "I'm sorry, but your ticket from A to B goes through C, D, E, and F. We don't allow that. Here's a ticket directly from A to B. Have a nice day."

BFT (Before FlyerTalk) I was just another schlub, scraping a couple miles here and a couple miles there, hoping that, if I was a good boy and said my prayers, maybe I could scrape together enough miles for a couple of off-peak coach tickets to Europe with my wife. Hopefully, before we both died.

Then a couple of years ago, I bumped into FlyerTalk.

Four First Class/five-star European trips later, I'm still playin' and I'm still smilin'. And I'm still pushing the envelope. That's what we do here.

I'm in the kitchen and I can take the heat. If you don't want me to share the recipes, don't read them.

PS - second transfer tonight. NW usually "sweeps" on Tuesday nights, so we'll see tomorrow (I hope) how it works.

Against the expert's advice, I'll still post the results. Damn the torpedoes, I say; damn them!

I must have missed the "sweep", because nothing has shown up yet. But I did get a response:

1. If it's coded as just miles from the hotel, it will trigger the bonus.
2. If it's coded as a Mileage Transfer, it probably won't.
3. There were no threats of locking my account or any other dire consequences; just a thanks for being a loyal Northwest customer.

So, I'm at the mercy of the hotel chain. I'll make no more transfers until I see what happens -- you win some, you lose some.

I'm glad the hotel bonus worked. I hope the NW bonus also works for you BigLar. It should not come as a surprise to any coupon clipper that applying a cents off coupon to the smallest size possible nets the biggest value. That's why all those toothpaste coupons usually list the minimal size you can apply the coupon to. If not, we would all be getting the travel size for free. The same principle applies to hotels that give awards based on stays versus nights. I changed hotels four times last week in the same city due to Marriott's Megabonus giving credit for stays and not nights. I also used 30 USAIRways miles exchanged through Mypoints last week to get 1 Skymile to count as a transaction toward Delta's 5000 mile bonus program. As with the promotion like you found with Choice hotels that doesn't insist on a minimum transaction amount, they should be aware that people like you (and me) will try to maximize our return based on what the rules will allow. If the NW bonus doesn't work, at least you tried. Hats off to you if it does. If too many figure out the loophole, as we have seen in the past, then NW will change the rules.

-outoftown

I hate to repeat myself, but:

I don't think anyone can make that guarantee. Why so negative? Color me curious.

hmmm, seems to me upgrade me and biglar are like a yankees red sox rivalry or something. (nothin against ya, Upgrade Me... )

Having miles deleted from one's account is a bummer and I wish it did not happen to you, but it may not mean the whole world is (A) wrong for doing a loophole or getting away with it, (B) also going to have their miles deleted too (C) or so guilty of ethical violations that you feel the need to preach to the world how it's wrong to even THINK or TYPE about doing X just because something bad happened to you once. Again, I wish it did not happen to you though. Maybe you could have redeemed an award VERY quickly? There's a way out for next time!

Instead, I feel that pointing out a cool idea is NOT wrong in FT--it is what this freakin web site is supposed to be all about! :-:

Alas... I have been blasted many a time for sharing info that the blaster is probably doing as they type in how stupid it was of me to highlight the effing idea in here for them to now know about and benefit from!

AS IF!

Relax people. Give BigLar some credit for sharing what could be a decent gig even if it only lasts one time! Heck, I may STAY at one of those hotels just to get some pointage that I can transfer as a test and then do more activity to try it further! (they thusly gain my business even if only once, right?)

After all, some promos that yeild far less in boni last for the short periods, and we clammor to gain those miles, right? What's the dif, other than the fact it was a fellow FT member who just told you about the idea!

Do we BLAST e-miles, for example, because it only gives out significantly spaced lots of 500 miles? (well, I am wary of that site but I do actually have faith I will get my 500 miles eventually from that gig) No we do not. We either participate or we dont. Now, if it messes up and I have to fight to get my miles, I will be upset. But that's different. I praise any person or company that puts forth a promo. It's great. places that do not kinda suck to do business with if you think about it. I know of one ski area I love but it touts that it is being higher class oriented for NOT having all kinds of deals. Still, it does some and they kinda have to to stay in business. Similarly, FT members kinda have to think up this stuff like this OP did to be true FTers in miledum. I mean, what are ya'll, posers?

And IF some company or airline puts forth a promo, please let's hope it works or can at least fix any errors (and admit to having them) to make me have faith and want to shop there again!

BUt the main point is, if this idea worketh, you could all stand to earn a bunch of quick miles even if they only allow this to slide for a short while. I mean, really. That could be a lot of miles BigLar just told YOU how to GET!

WHY are people upset with THAT???????????? @:-)

While it is possible, and has probably happened to a few sorry souls in here, the idea of them deleting everyone's extra miles gained from something that they figured out should not have happened will probably not happen. Instead, they have to go by this:

We made the silly promo. We made the holes in it. We should either live and learn or carry on being inept enough to let it happen again!

Thank god for the fact that THIS type of lax philosophy did in fact exist in gift card land for oh so many moons a couple years ago.

They eventually shut us all down though and while people love to point fingers, it is mostly just a matter of time before all things do inveriably change! I recall the day I totally knew the Bank of America CEO was probably sitting on the crapper reading the Wall Street Journal and saw a blurb in there about how you could get miles from cashing in money orders gained from the use of their debit card's pin feature! And oh, so many others have come and gone... aint they? (newbies do a search and read)

I say do the gig. Take the chance. Go big. And deal with it! Good grief: take the gift now, and move forward. Or, here's an idea: Instead of telling someone off who just gave away a cool secret, POST ONE YOURSELF PEOPLE!

Geesh!

Another example of loopholes I have experienced included these:

a bank that accepted cash advances over the phone AND online as PURCHASES off your CC. It lasted several years and then one day they just ended it without notice. Fortunately, I had NOT done one that week and so I did not lose some huge sum in fees on my unsuspecting, often utilized CC. I asked the bank and their response actually was, "well, sir, we let people get away with it for a while, we knew about it all the time, and it was a good run. In the end, we decided to change it but you all made out one way or another so it is what it is." I accepted this and could not be mad at them just as they were apparently not mad at me!

another was how I successfully purchased gift cards through one of the airline mall portals during a promo that made it so I could get more than 10k miles in onoe shot, and just use those store gift cards later, well after said promo was over. I knew I would eventually spend the money needed at that online store that would otherwise have given me these 10,000 miles, but not in the short period of that promo's lifespan. So I rallied, read the fine print, looked it over again and again and then took a risk. It paid off and guess what: The naysayers do NOT have those 10k. I do!

This place is about sharing ideas. It's about risk taking, finding the what if's, and trying to win. In my mind, if these airline marketing dudes cant get it right, they SHOULD be exposed and/or exploited until they do. I'd rather a strict but fair and fast-posting promo with no hitches or glitches than one with confusing language and poorly constructed policy any day. I think, therefore, that many of us are here to TEACH these blokes HOW to write a freakin promo! If they cant, then HIRE ME! Fire the stupid CSRs who have no clue when you call about missing miles from something you DID DO right, or who have no idea how to translate the actual terms of the promo that THEY put out while we waste our unpaid hours on the phones calling in to ask.

A horrid example of that is this old issue in FT of yesteryear:

Anyone here recall the ebay anything points AA promo. God, what a mess. over 100 FTers were held hostage for nearly 9 months missing upwards of 10,000 miles each from several partners in a new Points.com scheme with ebay's now defunct anything points program. It took us near legal pushing and fighting to eventually get the people responsible to post everyone's points and I recall sending an excel sheet with names and missing mile amounts on it to a ebay exec! THEY botched it and we had to fight to get the miles! Whose loophole is THAT?

Look, we all don't want to really break rules in things (most of the time), but often times our actions become issues of ethics with some people in here who I think take everything too seriously. The airlines, in my opinion are NOT ethical these days. I can go on and on about that, and while one could argue that "getting back at them" may not be the best way to handle stuff, I will quote an old song heard on the Dr. Demento show many years ago called "Fluke of the Universe."

"Consider that two wrongs never make a right, but three do"

MM
Go Red Sox (but they blew it tonight-oh well, still 9.5 up and best in baseball right now!)

but hey, great post by the OP! ^