My two are a bit more mundane. In 2001 cathay offered this deal of like 40,000 american miles to hong kong and 5,000 miles to some other asian points. It made it possible for me to fly from washington to bali for 45,000 miles.

Then there is the cheap round the world flight i took business class for like 80,000 or 90,000 miles, which is considerably less than the 300,000 miles round the world trips are supposed to be. then again it was a trip to vietnam going east from washington to newark to singapore to ho chi minh city and returning west thru japan and chicago. I basically got bragging rights to have done an around the world trip. (by the way, the same trip was available for coach for like 60,000 miles)

oops i didnt realize how old this thread was

from reading this thread, i'd say >

- KLM allowing you to effectively triple your total miles

- BA's 175K RTW with Concorde

After the KLM match, a great deal was award tickets redeemed not to actually fly but to book flights on full planes to line up bumps that provide vouchers.

^ ^ ^ ^

My best by far was BA R/T between JFK and LHR on Concorde, with onward travel to anywhere in Europe in Business, for a promotional 62,500 miles. Which is how I took my two flights on Concorde (went to Greece for two weeks). This was in 1997. On the way back, got an extra special treat on Concorde as the pilot let me sit up in the jump seat for landing!

Seven letters:

DYMTWTU

350,000 miles off of one promotion...wow.

When does KCYMTWTU begin?

I recall the award a bit differently. If you redeemed 100K for an international first class award, you got an upgrade to first good on a purchased coach ticket (any published fare) that could be used for a companion ticket or by you alone at some other time. Since I was traveling by myself frequently on business to Europe I piled up the miles but wasn't flying first on the company's money. I did use the awards several times when we took vacations together, though, which kind of discouraged my wife's willingness to fly coach internationally afterwards. I rolled the last couple hundred thou into AA when TWA got bought, but there's nothing close to that old award out htere now.

Approximately 1993 or so Budget had a promo where if you rented a car 5 (perhaps as many as 6, I can't remember for sure) you received a totally transferable free coach R/T on AA, for most participants the free R/T was good for travel only in the continental US however if you were a Hawaii resident - which I was at the time - it could be used between HI and the mainland. I lived about 3 miles from Honolulu Intl at Hickam AFB, would pop over and rent an econobox for about $25, drive it home and let it sit in the driveway until I returned it the next day.

Maybe not the best promo of all time but still pretty good...

back when you could ask NWA to send you your miles voucher, you could take it into any airport, any time and walk on any flight if there was any seat in your class.

MM classic

Mine is just recently actually, this xmas season. FTD.com and united have a great partnership with 20 miles per dollar spent. This xmas they offered some of their gifts for an even higher 35 miles per dollar spent. I loaded up for the rest of the season and spring with birthdays ect. I spent probably $600 bucks and got 21,000 miles with united. You not only get the miles but the value of the gift that I sent to someone. Great deal.

They werent EQM but still they will come in handy.

This may seem lame to you guys, but I remember in the 80s, EA had an award for around 100,000 that was lifetime Ionosphere Club Membership. I remember having a tough time deciding whether to redeem for it or not. It went away before EA did, and I never did get it. I assume that I'd still be reaping the rewards for that in the President's Club if I had taken it?

Yes, you would. But the again how much would it have cost to buy a lifetime card at that time? Might have been better to use the miles for a couple business class tickets to Europe and buy the membership. Oh well, could of, would of should of ...

AA was the same. And I did it, many times.

I am reminded of another oldie, that was really 2 different great awards. I was about to cancel my BankAmericard when then sent an offer. You earned points for spending, good for travel. I do not remember the spend requirement. But I think it was about $80,000, in one year (I did a lot of reimburseable travel, charged to my personal credit cards). In exchange we got a complete vacation, for 2, which included round-trip airfare on Pan Am from LA to London (took the non-stop - see next paragraph for reward #2), and a full week bus tour of the UK including hotels and meals.

The Pan Am tickets were actually consolidator price tickets, because VISA bought them from Pan Am. Just then, Pan Am had a promotion - 15,000 miles to upgrade *any* purchased ticket to business class. And that included these consolidator tickets. So, for 30,000 Pan Am miles, we upgraded our free tickets on the LAX-LHR Pan Am non-stop to business.