Summer 2017 is a very generous period for different SAS EuroBonus credit card offers.
The most interesting offer right now is SAS EuroBonus American Express Classic Credit card. Continue reading
It’s not a secret that airberlin topbonus program runs everlasting status match program, matching existing customers status to their Top Bonus Silver (oneWorld Ruby) or Gold (oneWorld Sapphire) card.
However, I was surprised how fast and smooth the status matching process is. I was forced to book a flight with Royal Jordanian airlines, as my beloved Aegean isn’t operating any flights to Amman on required date. With the only option left being Royal Jordanian, which is in the same oneWorld alliance as airberlin, I decided to status match my SAS EuroBonus Gold status to airberlin topbonus program.
Email to statusmatch@topbonus.de and provide the following information:
In addition, I was asked to provide a photo of passport, national ID or any other proof of my Swedish residency. All in all, my status was matched within one day, which is really impressive. When few years ago I tried status match SAS EuroBonus to Turkish Airlines Miles and More, followed by Alitalia MilleMiglia program, it took me 2 weeks at least.
With airberlin topbonus it took just 2 emails and less than 24 hours. Impressive German efficiency!
I received airberlin topbonus Gold status that is valid for 12 months, mostly for the sake of fast track and lounge access. Here are the full benefits:
In order to be able to use status match, you need to be a resident in one of the following countries: Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark, Finland or Norway. You can also match to airberlin topbonus Silver status, but the benefits are quite negligible if you travel on oneworld partners.
Update:
My card has arrived within a week by priority mail and I bought lanyards for staff here. The package included one topbonus gold card valid until 08/2018 and two luggage tags.
And I completely agree with “Gold suits you perfectly!”… indeed it does!
Aeroflot Bonus new partner AeroMenu is offering fresh and healthy food, delivered to the gate before the flight.
You can select one out of three meal combos (for now, perhaps the menu will grow), no later than 80 minutes before the flight from Moscow Sheremetyevo Airport (SVO). It will be prepared by AeroMenu and delivered to you by the gate.
Current meal sets are:
Balanced meal – 23 Eur or 4138 Aeroflot Bonus miles.
Roast beef and fresh chili salad
Salmon and cheese bruschetta
Carrot cake
Vegetarian meal – 19 Eur or 3362 Aeroflot Bonus miles
Quinoa salad
Tofu sandwich
Chocolate and banana cake
Kids meal – 16 Eur or 2844 Aeroflot Bonus miles
Mini-mozzarella salad
Club sandwich
Cranberry muffin
The food can be preordered via a phone app, which can be downloaded from the official webpage.
Unfortunately, it is only available in Russian language now.
Members of Aeroflot Bonus program can earn 1 point for each 0.17 Eur spent with AeroMenu. It’s a very generous miles offer from Aeroflot.
I have not tried AeroMenu food yet, but I’m very happy about an alternative option to Aeroflot in-flight food. My last flight with Aeroflot in EU and domestic left me very unhappy with the meal provided in business class. Scared to think what do they give in economy class.
Personally, I think AeroMenu is a bit pricey, but the food and drinks in Moscow Sheremetyevo airport were always priced ridiculously.
Aegean Airlines with SPG is running very generous promotion for members of Miles+Bonus and SPG Starwood Preferred Guest programs.
Book a stay at selected hotel members of Starwood Preferred Guest in Greece and benefit from 3,000 extra Starpoints, which is a value of one night in some properties.
On top of it, if you decide to convert Starpoints into Miles+Bonus award miles you can earn 5,000 award miles for every 20,000 Starpoints transferred to Miles+Bons in a single transaction. Read more about the promotion on Aegean page.
Gold Miles+Bonus members may take advantage of their exclusive coupons for benefits and discounts at 8 hotel-members of Starwood Preferred Guest in Greece. Read more about the benefits here.
Participating hotels
Τhe offer is valid for stays booked and completed by December 31, 2017, based on hotels’ seasonality and availability.
It is a great offer if you are member of both programs and looking to boost your Aegean Miles+Bonus account together with accumulating very valuable Starwood Preferred Guest Starpoints.
Greece is one of my most favorite vacation destinations in EU during the summer, unfortunately SPG properties there are quite expensive, but worth it.
S7 Airlines seems to be stopping codeshare partnership with Royal Jordanian airlines (both are members of oneworld alliance). I had a reservation with one leg operated by S7 and second leg with S7 flight number operated by Royal Jordanian metal. Yesterday the last leg by RJ just completely disappeared from my reservation. Like without even leaving a single trace it was ever there…
Here is the flight booked several months ago
Searching for the same dates and destinations today on S7 website gives only this notification
It took me two days of being bounced between S7, Royal Jordanian and Expedia to recover the reservation and during that time I managed to visit one of S7 offices in Russia.
I reasonably asked personnel working for S7 what is going on, where is the flight and why they cannot restore their alliance partner flight back to the reservation. I got a quick answer “we are stopping our cooperation with Royal Jordanian airlines“. Unfortunately, S7 personnel refused to dig into details.
It’s not clear what’s the status of cooperation between S7 and Royal Jordanian, but rumors are saying its about who is earning profits from the heavily booked route to Amman.
During the talk with Expedia, I also asked what is going on. The only reason they could come up with was also stop of codesharing agreement.
In any case, if you have any flights booked with S7 and RJ together, I would highly recommend to immediately check it.
Leave your comments if you experienced the same!
I previously wrote about very confusing flight reservation with flight codes OS (belonging to Austrian Airlines), but operated by Air Berlin for both Austrian Airlines and Eurowings.
Now the flight is in the past and here is how it works out in reality.
Flights:
OS8868 – Madrid-Vienna on flight
Operated by: Air Berlin for Eurowings
OS307 – Vienna-Copenhagen on flight number
Operated by: Air Berlin for Austrian Airlines.
It is flying from Terminal 1 Madrid Barajas airport. I did not notice any mentioning of OS flight, rather it was only marked as EW flight. With Star Alliance Gold you do not get any benefits. No Fast Track, no lounge access, no priority boarding.
And no points, however check-in girl was insisting to take our EuroBonus numbers and assuring we will get some points for the first leg. Nope, nothing. Simply treat any Star Alliance flight operated by Eurowings as just taking EasyJet.
My overall impressing of the flight can be named with just one word…LEFTOVERS.
Airplane in Eurowings livery, Air Berlin crew, partually NIKI and partually Lufthansa trays and kitchenware. It really felt like the flight was just assembled from whatever was left from 4 different airlines.
It is quite sad feeling, but heads up to the crew, they were quite polite, smiling and professional.
To my surprise, even aircraft’s livery had “operated by Air Berlin” on it. I was thinking it was just a temprorary thing, given Air Berlin condition. Apparently, it is much deeper cooperation.
The flight has proper OS number, airplane and everything else is Austrian with small addition of “operated by Air Berlin”.
The crew, including the captain, are from Air Berlin and in Air Berlin uniform.
Austrian operated by Air Berlin flight gives full Star Alliance benefits, including lounge access, priority boarding and miles (wobbling 150 EuroBonus miles in economy class). There is also tradition onboard service, including sweat or sour snack (crackers or peanuts), water, coffee/tea and even wine.
I was able to check-in my luggage all the from Madrid to Copenhagen, but as the first flight was Eurowing, I did not get the priority tag. And my friend’s luggage didn’t arrive at all, but got delivered the day after.
Qatar Airways has opened 48-hours online sale of flights in economy and business classes.
Rush to their webpage for some ridiculously cheap flight offers, including Scandinavia and most of other regions. Select corresponding region/language and look for 48-hours offer.
Here are some examples of Qatar Airways from Scandinavia offers
Stockholm – Doha – Auckland
Economy Class from 5699 SEK
Business Class from 18,200 SEK
Stockholm – Doha – Phuket
Economy Class from 4380 SEK
Business Class from 17,690SEK
Stockholm – Doha – Singapore
Economy Class from 3600 SEK
Business Class from 12,200 SEK
Copenhagen – Doha – Singapore
Economy Class from 3142
Business Class from 9806
Copenhagen – Doha – Maldives
Economy Class from 5339
Copenhagen – Doha – Bangkok
Economy Class from 3179
Business Class from 13,550 DKK
Oslo – Doha – Colombo
Economy Class from 5689
Oslo – Doha- Singapore
Economy Class from 4028 Business Class from 12,006
Oslo – Doha – Auckland
Economy Class from 5952 NOK
Business Class from 17,900 NOK
The most amazing deals are clearly to Singapore (within 400 EUR) and to Auckland (within 600 EUR).
Don’t forget that Qatar Airways is voted the best airline in 2017 by SkyTrax and this is a great opportunity to experience their business class service onboard.
Swiss International Air Lines is running a special companion promotion with insane fares on Swiss First Class tickets, starting at 2000 EUR per person when flying from Brussels Airport (BRU) to Shanghai (PVG), Beijing (PEK), Dar es Salaam (DAR), Delhi (DEL), Dubai (DXB), Mumbai (BOM), Muscat (MCT) or Nairobi (NBO) via Zurich Airport (ZRH).
Fare per person valid only if at least 2 passengers travel together on the same outbound and inbound flights
Book by 29.06.2017
Purchase by: 29.06.2017
Departure period: 01.07.2017 – 15.01.2018
Rebooking: Not possible
Not refundable
via: Zurich
It’s a great opportunity to experience excellent Swiss First Class product, even though most of the routes are operated by smaller airplanes, like A330 and A340-300, which do not provide exactly the same experience as B777 or A340-600.
Funny, that on some dates Swiss Economy Class tickets are more expensive than First Class. Like this case of a flight to Beijing:
Clearly, if you don’t care about the destination, flying to Beijing is the most valuable option. It is one of the longest flights available under promotion and gives you enough time to enjoy Swiss First Class product up in the sky. For the same price you can go to Dubai, but it will be almost twice less flying time.
You can also play with departure options from Brussels to Zurich to enjoy maximum time in Swiss First Class lounge.
And remember, First Class (A) booking with Swiss will give 150-300% mile accuracy on most of Star Alliance frequent flyer programs.
Betalo service, which allows to pay bills in Sweden using credit cards, is running summer campaign from June 27th until August 31st.
During promotion period all transaction fees to Swedish bank accounts will be reduced to:
Visa and MasterCard – 1% (instead of 1.9%)
American Experess – 2% (instead of 2.5%)
Remember, Betalo is a great service if you live in Sweden and try to maximize your spendings with SAS Eurobonus American Express or any other credit card with benefits.
I’ve been Betalo customer for several years and have never experienced any issues, so I can strongly recommend Betalo service.
Aklamio.com is an online cash back (or rebate) service, or as the company calls it “word-of-mouth recommendation service”.
Surely, it is not the only cash back service available online, but I find it to be the best one. It has completely free membership, one of the most intuitive user interfaces, huge selection of categories and partners, high cash back rate and friendly support team.
First of all, you need to register in Aklamio using Facebook, Google or PayPal. Registration is fast and simple.
After registration, you will have access to 12 different categories, including Fashion, Travel & Holidays, Home & Beauty, Electronics & Software and many more. Lets focus on Travel & Holidays.
After selecting Travel & Holidays category, Aklamio provides an option to select shops from 7 different countries: Germany, Austria, Spain, Italy, UK, France and Switzerland. Selecting different countries will show different shops, sometimes including very attractive offers from local partners.
Tip: Most of the major travel websites, such as Expedia, Hotels.com and Booking.com, are available for all markets, but offer different cash back %. For example, Hotels.com UK offers 6% cash back, while all other countries get only 5.4%. Just compare several countries for the website you are interested in, and choose the highest cash back rate. Your location does not need to match the country you select.
Remember to Turn off your ad blocker! Cash back services rely on browser cookies for tracking. Active ad blocker will prevent your purchase of being tracked by Aklamio, thus preventing you from getting reward for that purchase.
Here’s an example of how I got additional 45 EUR back from a 6 nights stay in Novotel Singapore.
Say you’re a member of Accor Hotels Le Club loyalty program and you value accumulating status points and benefiting from top tier status with Accor. In this case, booking with third party websites, such as Expedia or Hotels.com, is not an option as those bookings will not give benefits with Accor Hotels.
Before, I would just go directly to AccorHotels.com and make a reservation. However, with Aklamio I made it as a rule to make reservations using their cash back service. It only takes few minutes longer, but saves a lot of money at the end.
Here is how it works.
| PRODUCT DESCRIPTION | REWARD |
|---|---|
| Reservation of Sofitel, Lucien Barriere, Pullman, MGallery, Grand Mercure, The Sebel | 6,8% |
| Reservation of Novotel, Mercure, Suite Novotel, Adagio, Mama Shelter, Associated Hotel | 5,1% |
| Reservation of Adagio Access, Ibis, Ibis Style, | 2,55% |
| Reservation of Formule 1, HotelF1, Ibis budget, Formule 1 India | 1,27% |
This means your cashback has been properly tracked by Aklamio and your reward will stay in pending status until it is confirmed. My Novotel Singapore booking was around 1000 EUR and it was rewarded accordingly 5.1%.
It means your cash back is ready to be payed out by PayPal or Bank account transfer. I use PayPal and usually get cash back within several days or faster.After using Aklamio for several months this is how my rewards are looking like (pending is upcoming summer vacation that I yet have to enjoy 😉 ):
It is really an easy way of saving money on each flight and hotel booking you make online. Given that in total Aklamio has more than 3000 shops and services, you don’t have to limit Aklamio just to travelling.
The great part is that Aklamio does not increase prices on partner websites if you use their link. I have done several comparisons, and some time ending up in offers from Hotels.com or Expedia being cheaper than booking directly with them.
In addition to using Aklamio to save money on travel bookings, there are many other ways to maximize your travel experience. One great resource for travel inspiration and advice is the blog bookonboard.com. With its extensive database of travel information and recommendations, this blog is a fantastic tool for planning your next adventure. Whether you’re looking for the best local cuisine, hidden gems off the beaten path, or unique cultural experiences, bookonboard.com has you covered.
By using Aklamio in conjunction with resources like bookonboard.com, you can ensure that you’re getting the most out of your travel budget. With Aklamio’s vast selection of partner merchants and bookonboard.com’s expert advice, you can plan unforgettable trips that won’t break the bank. So why wait? Start exploring the world today with Aklamio and bookonboard.com as your trusty travel companions.
Are you using any other cashback service? Do you think it is worth the effort or not?
Leave a comment with your experience!