Winning tip of the week would have gone to Oblivious Asinine but the program rules state that you must include your first name and last initial with your tip, sorry OA. By luck of the draw the award goes to Cindy M. Remember to read the program details in order to qualify (something the Frugal Travel Guy drills into me).

Cindy M send Rick your email address, please.

All and all this was another great week for the Rookie. I really value all the tips and I am putting them away for future use. Even if a tip does not get “picked” for the week, I still use them and will probably write on my experiences with them in the future. So Thank You All.

This week  I went on a program joining mission. I joined; Southwest, US Airways, Delta, Continental, United and American Airlines. Then, I joined the hotel programs of the Hyatt, Marriott, Hilton, Starwood Preferred Guest, Choice Privileges and Priority Club. I think these are a great place to start. The process to joining all the programs was very similar, and it took less than five minutes on each one. After joining I logged them into my Awardwallet account and also stored them in my cell phone for quick access anytime. Joining these programs all at once is a great idea because once you are in, you can focus efforts onto getting some real points stacked up.  On that note it was sad to look down the line of my programs on Awardwallet and see all those zeros.

How do I start racking up the points? And are there any other crucial programs I have left out?

- The Rookie

Here is the Delta Play Again for 90,000 Miles, Silver Status til 2/13, $200 in Incidental Airline Expenses and Lounge Access for One Year

Do it step by step and ask for help in the comments section. Those that have been successful will help you.

1. Sign up for 30% transfer bonus offer These points take longer to post than the 50% bonus

2. Sign up for 50% transfer bonus offer

3. Then apply for Plat card using this ad please.

4.When you are approved for the card you will be given the opportunity to “borrow” 50,000 MR points from Amex and transfer them to Delta. You do this step on the Amex Membership Rewards site. When they see you have the Plat card, they will let you “borrow the points”

5. Transfer the borrowed points to your Delta Account to receive:

30% bonus  50K x 30% =15,000 miles bonus
50% bonus   50K x 50%=25,000 miles bonus     50K+15K+25K=90K Delta Miles or 1/2 cent each
25,000 MQM and Delta Silver status

NOTE: To receive the 50% bonus offer this must be your first time making a transfer to Delta from Memebership Rewards

Net result is you now have 90,000 Delta miles in your account for the total cost of $450, plus one year’s lounge access, plus 25,000 Medallion Qualifying miles which gives you Delta Silver status until Feb 1, 2013, and $200 of incidental expenses on your favorite airline.

6. Spend $1000 in the next three months on your new Plat card and you will earn 50,000 Membership Rewards points which will “repay the points” you borrowed.

2 Free Nights at Any Hyatt. No Foreign Transaction Fees

Free Ten Day Trial