Frequent Flyer Program News

Northwest WorldPerks members can now visit the Northwest website to book their award trips on Northwest, Northwest Airlink, KLM, Continental, and Alaska Airlines flights worldwide. Go to Northwest's website to request award travel.

PRIORITY CLUB

Beginning March 29 2004, Priority Club Rewards members will earn points or miles at more than 100 Candlewood Suites hotels in the United States.

Earning bonus miles for Priority Club family hotel stays. Members of nine frequent flier programs can earn 500 miles for every third stay, or if you'd rather save up for free hotel stays, you can earn 3,000 Priority Club Rewards points instead. Just stay three nights at any InterContinental, Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, or Staybridge Suites hotel worldwide, between January 19 and April 30 2004, and you can earn 3,000 Priority Club Rewards points or 500 Air Canada, Alaska, America West, American, Continental, Delta, Northwest, United, or US Airways miles. To be eligible, you need to be a Priority Club Rewards member and choose a preferred airline for earning miles. In addition, you must register for this promotion prior to your first stay.

SOUTHWEST

Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards Members who are also La Quinta Returns Members will earn double Rapid Rewards credit, one credit rather than the usual 0.5 credits, for every qualifying stay Between July 1 and September 30 2004. To earn the bonus, make reservations at southwest.com or laquinta.com, or call 1-800-531-5900. Provide a Rapid Rewards membership number when checking in and ask for double Rapid Rewards credit. For details, see http://www.lq.com/lq/index.jsp

Southwest Rapid Rewards members can now book award travel online, but they must request an e-ticket. Go to Southwest's website and enter your cities and dates; you will need to provide your Rapid Rewards number and password.

Southwest has extended the end date of its online booking bonus from June 30 until December 31, 2004. The promo offers Rapid Rewards members one bonus credit for each roundtrip, or a half-credit bonus for one-way trips, booked on southwest.com and flown by December 31 2004. Details are at http://southwest.com/rapid_rewards/rr_whats_new.html#bonus.

Members of Southwest's Rapid Rewards program now have two new credit- card options, the Rapid Rewards Visa Signature card and the Rapid Rewards Visa Business card, both issued by First USA.

Both offer two Reward Dollars for every $1 in Southwest Airlines purchases, excluding Southwest Airlines Vacations purchases, and one Reward Dollar for every $1 in everyday purchases. (1,200 Reward Dollars = one Rapid Rewards Credit.) Annual percentage rate for both cards is 12.65%, variable, and the annual fee is $59. For further information, see http://www.Southwest.com/visa or call 800-SWA-VISA.

THRIFTY

Thrifty Car Rental kicked off its Blue Chip Rewards program as a new facet of its popular Blue Chip Express Rental Program. Blue Chip members will earn credits through the program that can be redeemed for free rental days throughout the U.S. and Canada. Normally, one free day is earned after 16 credits are earned (usually one credit per rental day), but now through Sept. 30 2004, Thrifty is giving members double rewards when bookings are made through the company Web site www.thrifty.com. Single credits will be earned when bookings are made through other channels.