Don’t make rookie IHG credit card mistakes! Plus: a conspiracy theory and a Starwood loophole

IHG CREDIT CARD TIP #1: Now that the new list of Pointbreaks is out, please keep in mind that there is the “official” 60,000-point IHG credit card bonus, and then there is the unofficial, unmarketed 80,000-point bonus. Choose wisely, and by “wisely” I mean “the 80,000-point bonus.” Here’s the relevant Flyertalk thread.

IHG CREDIT CARD TIP #2: Here’s a tip I got from Frequent Miler when he came to the Charlotte Do. I meant to mention this in yesterday’s post, but better late than never. Anyway: if you’re planning on using the free night from multiple IHG cards in a trip, it’s nice if the parties involved can apply for the card at the same time of year so that the free night schedules can match up. My wife got her card in May a couple of years ago, and I just got my card this month, so the free night windows of opportunity will synch up and make it easier to coordinate vacation plans ahead of time.

MISTAKE FARE CONSPIRACY THEORY: In case you missed it, there was a mistake fare last week–or was there?–that let you fly from LAX or JFK to Asia via Milan for $148. Drew at Travel Is Free has some interesting thoughts on this:

Someone creates a generic sounding name, “man4business” and immediately makes their first post, a globe trotting mistake fare, and gives directions to book on Alitalia.

And it happens to be that Alitalia is extremely strapped for cash.

I really shouldn’t suggest anything about this particular post without any further evidence, but I will say… lately a lot of people post killer mistake fares and then someone says, “great first post, welcome to flyertalk!”.

Wait a second. How? Why?

Okay, no rumors, just facts. And for the record, I don’t actually think this mistake fare was posted by Alitalia or anything. It’s just not. But I do wonder who these people are who registered just to post a deal on FT.

He follows that with a fact-filled expose of the Wideroe mistake fare from a few months ago. Interesting stuff, so check it out.

STARWOOD PLATINUM LOOPHOLE: The Reward Boss reports on the backdoor way to Starwood Platinum. It’s a neat trick, but I would strongly recommend against doing it as (a) it strikes me as unethical, and (b) if/when Amex and/or Starwood figure out what’s going on, it’s time for a blacklistin’.

LUXURY MAPS FOR LUXURY TRIPS: As long as that dude over at boardingarea.com is raising $25,000 in donations to fly the luxury mansion suite class on Etihad (he’s up to $14.4K so far, vs. the $1,700 raised by Drew at Travel Is Free in an effort to help some family members adopt a child), I hope he commemorates the trip suitably. I recommend a 16th century style map by artist Connie Brown, which she’ll custom create for your trip. The cheapest one you can possibly get is $5,000, but… they’re pretty cool.