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Today we start a new feature on the Frequent Flyer Bonuses blog called Earning Stories. For nearly 10 years we have been providing travelers around the world with the information on tens of thousands of bonus mile and point offers but that was really it. These Earning Stories will look at
the select earning actions featuring a bonus or offer that was posted on FFB that we ourselves and also our
readers have accomplished. We want to share these to provide some weight behind the bonus offers we post and why they make sense to utilize. There are so many ways
to earn bonus miles and points that if we covered them all there would
hundreds of posts each day so these Earning Stories will look at those
significant ones that involve a major promotion, free miles or the earning of lots of miles/points for very little spend. If you are a miles/points rookie be sure to keep an eye on
these stories as they are another great way to learn on how to maximize
your miles and points and to help fulfill our mission of being the World’s
Gateway to more Miles more Points and more Rewards.
The first Earning Story we look at is a car rental that we completed ourselves.
On a recent trip to Palm Springs we rented a standard SUV from Hertz for
4 days with a final cost around US$280. I booked it using this
promotion we had listed on FFB’s Aeroplan Bonus Miles page:
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| Offer Details taken from our Aeroplan Bonus Miles page |
There
is another similar offer on our page that offered 1,000 miles per day
but that would have only been a 4,000 mile bonus versus the 5,000 that
this offer provided on rentals of 3 or more days. The rate was as good
or better than the no bonus mile rates and I was also
surprised to see that Hertz was cheaper than most other car rental
companies for this type of vehicle which made booking this offer a no
brainer! The booking was simple via Hertz
and I also provided my Hertz Gold Plus Rewards number so that we could
the typically shorter line for members at the PSP car rental counter.
At
the outset of the rental we ended up earning the 200 base Aeroplan
Miles plus the 5,000 bonus miles from the offer and since I
also provided my Hertz Gold Plus Rewards number we earned 250 points in
that program for this rental.
Here are screen shots of all the miles and points that posted:
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| Hertz account screen shot |
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| Aeroplan account screen shot |
Overall
I think this was a great earning action for the rental and for what we
paid. We like to rent SUVs but I could see people getting an even better
return on a promotion like this by renting a smaller vehicle that does
not cost as much!
Tips for Car Rentals
–
Watch the rates that include bonus miles – For us it is about 50/50 in
terms of earning bonuses on rentals, many times rates are out there that
are quite a bit cheaper and provide more value versus paying more and
earning more miles. For a complete list of car rental bonus offers see
this page on the main Rewards Canada site.
–
Read the fine print – When a bonus offer is available be sure that your
rental meets the criteria. Those are primarily minimum number of rental
days and vehicle type. There are many promotions that don’t get awarded
on the smallest/cheapest vehicles.
– Join the Car Rental
company’s program – Hertz Gold Plus Rewards, National Emerald Club and
others all provide great benefits such as dedicated check in counters,
bypass check in counters and more.
