Triangle Trip

With double and triple Elite Qualifying Miles (EQM) coming to an end next Monday, June 15, 2009, United has launched a Double Miles promotion (link to promotion) to try and keep its customers from going to another airline.  On surface, the double miles promotion seems like a sweet deal following the Double & Triple EQM offer. The double miles offer allows you to earn double miles on flights between June 15, 2009 to September 15, 2009, up to three round trips.

So what’s the catch?

If you read the fine prints in the Terms & Conditions, the double miles offer is only available for the following fares:

• United First (F, A, P)
• United Business classes (C, D, Z)
• United Economy (Y, B, M, H, Q)

This means you will need to travel on either First, Business or a Full Fare Economy ticket to earn double miles. This is a marketing ploy similar to Delta’s Triple MQM offer (see previous post). This is another “caveat emptor” offer (aka: scam).  It doesn’t hurt for you to register as you may have last minute travel plans which requires you to buy a full fare economy or business class ticket.

Good article from the Wall Street Journal regarding the recent flurry of elite qualifying mileage promotions:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123966495750415057.html

Here’s Triangle Trip’s recent post regarding Elite Qualifying Miles (EQM or MQM for Delta).

A follow up to my earlier post, Continental Airlines has succumbed to the pressure from United and American by offering double Elite Qualifying Miles (EQM) today. Here’s the link to register if you’re interested. Continental is upping the ante by not requiring a ticket be booked during the promotion period. You just need to be onboard during the promotional period which is now until June 30, 2009.

Since all these EQM promotions wont’ take affect (credited into your frequent flyer account) until after the promotion, we will have a bunch of fliers with “cheater” status come July 1, 2009. For the record, it was USAir (US-Scare) that started all this… For those of you who hasn’t registered for US Air’s double EQM promotion, here’s the link. You’ll have until the end of March to get your double EQM offer.

So … will ghetto Delta be next to join this pack?  I am hoping for a better offer than what I have seen so far. The Sky Team needs to step it.