TWA did have some good awards. 2 business class seats to Asia (India to Japan region) for 110k, 2 coach seats to Europe peak season for 50k (one person could also book 2 separate tickets to go to Europe twice in a year).

Leading the Way, TWA.
You're going to like us, TWA.
Look to us, Northwest.
You Can't Beat the Experience, Pan Am.

those were the days...

EDITED: Asian awards were on Japan Air Lines, the airline that has Playboy in its magazine collection.


[This message has been edited by seat 50J (edited 03-05-2003).]

Try 50,000 miles for that award. It was amazing. I was able to use my last one just a couple years ago. If you didn't use the upgrade portion of the award then TWA would offer you 10,000 miles back.

And don't forget that the upgrade was a double upgrade - from coach all the way to first.

My favorite though that year was the triple miles plus 1,000 miles that PSA was offering. For one SFO-LAX-SAN-LAX-SFO trip you would earn 13,000 miles (750 minimum, tripled, plus the 1,000). For 10,000 miles you would get a free trip anywhere PSA flew plus a free night at any Marriott. Those were the days.

Yup, I agree, if I am thinking what you are saying.

When I could earn status miles with an affinity credit card, well, that was the day.... but to me anything after that time was down the hill...

2002, USAirways-Get Out More. I received 14,500 miles on a round trip from mci-dca once.
insane.

Although I am a Continetal Flyer - - - -

The Complimentary Upgrade IS the program, I do not beleive the snake oil salesman about the free travel. With the fare wars you are better off booking Coach and using the upgade.

90 + Segments a year - Just can't fly coach

I still enjoyed the People's Express flight I once tookd from LAX-BOS. On the giant plane (which cost nothin') they asked if anybody onboard wished to carry onto London for only $100. Show yoru passport to the flight attendant (stewardess in those days) and give her $100 cash and you are off once the plane connects thru Boston.

I didn't go but should have because the hottie sitting next to me was British and very friendly.

No miles that trip, but those were the days indeed!

better other perks such as those fun red-eye flights you read about even today!

MM

I have a great story about this promotion (or a similar one, I'm not sure which!). AA had an offer of "fly 8 segments, get a free ticket" provided each segment had a minimum value of $50/segment after taxes.

Being a college student with plenty of free time and two segments under my belt heading back to school from winter break, I booked a ticket STL-BNA-DFW-SEA-SJC-DFW-STL and paid for part of it with a travel voucher from being bumped.

Unfortunately, the agent made a mistake and failed to charge tax on the amount I paid in cash -- causing the ticket to price back at around $293.

So, I called up AA and said "This is going to sound crazy, but I owe you $15 and want to pay it." After explaining the story to the agent, my ticket was re-issued at the right price and I got my free ticket!

Greg

There have been some very generous promos. that I'm sure will never be repeated. It was fun while it lasted The best one was last year when KLM matched all teh miles I had in another FF acct. That added a nice high 7 figures to my totals. Cost me around $1500 but could have done it cheaper if I had been really clever. The Million miles on LatinPass was also another winner in my book. Oh, and back in the 80's the 75,000 all inclusive award for FC to Hawaii, suite at the Westin, and rental car came in mighty handy for Spring Break when I was in college.

THAI AIRWAYS - ROYAL ORCHID PLUS
April - September 1994
One of the most innovative and exciting bonus offers ever created for frequent flyers. It started with a milage bonus
of 70 % for just three international flight
sectors, increasing to a milage bonus of 150% if you flew more then ten flights sectors with Thai in the period beetween april 18 and september 30 1994. For me it was the best, as I was in the air almost all the time during that period.

The original United program: 2 first class tickets to Hawaii PLUS a week in a Hilton hotel for 75,000 miles. Best program awards, hands down. This was in the early 80's....took out trip in '87.

I also pine for the fly-writes on Northwest.....they were each (20k) worth a roundtrip....just show up with one and you could take any flight...just as long as not a blackout date printed on the fly-writes. While they did expire, this was in the days of 30k to europe or Hawaii....and upgrades via certificates were easy to get and use.

Finally, while there have been some fantastic promotions (triple miles, etc.), current programs are far too diluted, and there's far too much code-sharing for there to be much differences today.

United's 50 state challenge in the mid 80's. At that time United served at least one city in every state and offered one year of free first class travel (for two) for traveling to all 50 states during a 2 month period.

I recall that some qualified by spending around $2,000.

TF

I would say that the ValuMags saga marked the end of that era.

For me, it was 2000-2002. Mainly because I learned to play the game much more effectively, but by learning the programs inside and out (with a lot of help from FT) and by jumping on exceptional mileage-run-quality fares to ensure I kept the statuses that were important to me and kept earning 100% bonuses and more.

Specific things that I participated in during the past 2-3 years that are probably gone forever:

- 8 cheap Hampton nights = 1 free week in an Ocean-view Executive-level room at the Hilton Waikaloa Village.
- A few (I forget how many - about six or eight) cheap roundtrips booked at TWA.com = 2 free F tickets to the Caribbean + a six-month Ambassador's Club pass + the usual miles and bonuses earned on the paid flights.
- 70,000+ Skymiles for $10,000 in DL Amex spending, thanks to 10,000-mile first-use bonus and 50,000(!!!) mile $10K threshold bonus.
- The Sprint/NW 40,000 mile promo. (They HAD to lose boatloads of money on this one.)
- 2-ticket F awards to Hawaii on AA.

I will say this, however: I don't think 2003 is too bad, from an AA/Hilton/Marriott/DL perspective. I have award trips planned this summer and fall, and I'm getting the dates/flights/rooms I want. I never fly DL, so I haven't had to feel the pain that a loyal DL flier is feeling, but I was able to get 2 business-class tickets on DL when I needed them. 2002 and 2003 have been my best years yet for getting free trips. In 1999-2001, everything was sold out so often (especially nice hotels), I thought it was harder to get what I wanted back then.

For me, it was the 1985 AA spring special. I don't remember the exact terms of the deal, but I flew 24 segments back and forth between the east coast and Hawaii and received 4 free first class tickets to Hawaii and 8 first class upgrade certificates, plus earned miles for the initial flights.

1. AA's VIP2s before they were capacity-controlled internationally.

2. Triple miles in the 80s.