Rocketmiles Offers 3,000 Mile Signup Bonuses to Certain Airlines

Rocketmiles is a hotel booking website that gives you bonus airline miles for booking with them. They currently offer 500-5,000 miles or points per night to any one of 26 frequent flyer programs.

Read more: What is Rocketmiles? Let's Start with 1,000 Bonus Airline Miles...

The standard signup bonus is 1,000 miles after your first stay. However, Rocketmiles is offering a special 3,000 mile signup bonus for members of certain airline frequent flyer programs.

Below is a list of these airlines, along with their book-by dates. Click to sign up:

• AeroMexico (June 30)
• Air Canada (June 30)
• Alaska Airlines (March 31, stays completed by August 31)
• There is also currently a 5,000-mile bonus for Alaska elite members
• British Airways (June 30, stays completed by December 31)
• Cathay Pacific (July 31)
• Icelandair (June 30, stays completed by December 31)
• Malaysia Airlines (June 30)
• Qatar Airways (June 30)
• Saudi Arabian Airlines/Saudia (June 30)
• Turkish Airlines (June 30)
• United Airlines (June 30)
• US Airways (June 30)

To earn the 3,000 bonus miles:

• Sign up for a new Rocketmiles account using one of the links above.
• Reserve your stay by the deadline (the actual stay can be after the deadline) through the same promo link above. That is to say, if you close the page and subsequently come back to Rocketmiles.com, you won't receive the bonus.

Update: The offer is for 3,000 miles minimum for the first booking, not on top of the miles already earned. Still not a bad deal on what would otherwise be a 1,000-mile night. The terms & conditions are similar for all the promotional links, here's the one for Aeroplan from Rocketmiles:

Qualifying Activity: To be eligible, the hotel reservation must be booked via the Rocketmiles mobile app with promo code "AEROPLAN" OR using this promotional link (www.rocketmiles.com/aeroplan-3k-bonus) by 11:59PM CT on 30 June 2015 (a yellow banner at the top of the search results page will clearly show if search criteria qualify for the bonus). Limited to first time customers and subject to investigation post-purchase. Limit one per customer. Limit one per stay. Promotional offer can not be applied to existing bookings or retroactively applied to bookings not made using the link above. Promotional offer can not be combined with any other bonuses or offers. Rocketmiles reserves the right to retract a bonus at any time if it detects fraud, stacking of bonuses, technical errors, cancel/rebooking activity (defined by identical search criteria), or any deceptive behavior attempted to circumvent the limits expressed above, including multiple accounts. Rocketmiles reserves the right to change the terms of a promotion, or end a promotion, at any time. Rewards that can not be posted due to incorrect or incomplete information may become ineligible after 12 months of attempts with no customer response. See www.rocketmiles.com/terms for full terms, or call our friendly concierges at 1-855-355-7625 (U.S.) / +1-773-257-7680 (International) with questions of eligibility or for any other assistance. Please allow 2 weeks from checkout for miles to post. ®Aeroplan is a registered trademark of Aimia Canada Inc.

If your preferred airline isn't listed above, you can still sign up for the standard 1,000 signup bonus. Unfortunately, Vietnam Airlines is not available (yet).

(H/T Frequent Flyer Bonuses)

Were you successful in signing up with Rocketmiles and your favorite airline program? Let me know in the comments below!

Turkish Mulls Leasing A380s from Malaysia

Malaysia Airbus A380-800

Reports have surfaced that Turkish Airlines (TK) is considering leasing two Airbus A380s from Malaysia Airlines (MH).

TK had previously been reported as being in negotiations with Airbus to acquire 10 or more of the superjumbo airliners.

The largest aircraft currently in TK's fleet is the Boeing 777-300ER (B773), configured to carry 337 passengers. MH's A380 is configured to hold 494 total.

Turkish 777-300ER

This may be a greatly beneficial move for both airlines. TK would have a quick and relatively easy way to acquire A380s for a "test drive" to see if its presence in the TK works with the airline's operations and expansion plans without a long term commitment. 

Financially-strapped MH, on the other hand, gets to offload the costs of a huge, expensive-to-operate aircraft it no longer needs. MH is in the midst of a intensive restructuring effort to bring the carrier out of massive operating losses, fueled in large part by the dramatic losses of two separate flights last year.

MH370 disappeared in March under mysterious circumstances, and MH17 was shot down over Ukraine-Russia border by parties unknown. There were a total of 537 souls on board the two flights.

One can't blame MH for offloading its flagship aircraft. A 6 aircraft order for A380s led to the downfall of Japanese low-cost carrier Skymark (BC), which recently declared bankruptcy in large part because it could not fulfill the order. 

Airbus is seeking a penalty payment of up to 70 billion JPY (US$589.5 million) for the canceled order, on top of the 26 billion JPY (US$21.9 million) already paid by BC.