The Frugal Travel Guy Predicts 2012 Trends for Frequent Travel Enthusiasts

Jan. 11, 2012 - PRLog -- (Hilton Head, SC) – Like other travel writers this month, Rick Ingersoll, the author of the popular “Frugal TravelGuy” blog, has weighed in on what he believes will be key issues for travel fanatics in 2012.

Ingersoll, who was recently featured on ABC’s “Nightline,” is a member of a growing community of people who use a variety of tips and techniques to amass thousands – even millions – of frequent flier miles and hotel rewards points so that they can travel the globe for free or nearly free. As a blogger on the subject and a former mortgage banker, his particular expertise is in using credit and debit card sign-up bonus and bank offers to amass miles and points quickly.

To that end, Ingersoll says he believes applying for credit cards strictly for their sign-up bonuses will continue to be the primary source of free or inexpensive miles throughout the year.

“As a good result, more people will actually work on improving their credit scores to take advantage of this,” he said. “Without a very good credit score, you can’t apply for cards. And credit card sign-up bonuses are still the best way to amass thousands of miles quickly.”

Ingersoll also thinks 50,000-mile offers will remain the norm and generate a lot of excitement among mile hoarders as credit card issuers’ compete for card accounts will continue.

And on the subject of American Airlines filing for bankruptcy in 2011, he believes its frequent flier program will remain secure and American will survive “as a stronger competitor and will not merge with US Airways.”

On a related subject, Ingersoll predicts both American and US Airways will offer significant sign-up bonus opportunities on their AAdvantage and World Mastercard credit cards, respectively, in an effort to hold onto their market shares.

The Frugal Travel Guy also predicts that US Airways’ Dividend Miles Grand Slam promotion – in which Dividend Miles members can earn up to 110,000 bonus miles -- will return with basically the same guidelines and opportunities.

On the retail side of amassing miles, Ingersoll believes Catera Commerce, a provider of card-linked marketing solutions that increase revenue and customer loyalty for merchants, banks, issuers and loyalty programs, “will make another huge shopping mall mistake and lose at least one airline as a customer.” Last year, Catera made an 83,871-mile “system error” mistake on American’s AAdvantage Shopping Mall. Catera apologized but claimed it wasn’t responsible for the miles due to the “Terms and Conditions.”

For more information on Rick Ingersoll and amassing miles and points, visit his blog at http://www.frugaltravelguy.com.

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Rick Ingersoll, "The Frugal Travel Guy," is an expert on frugal travel and amassing frequent flier miles and rewards points. He shares his information on his blog (http://www.frugaltravelguy.com), in his book "The Frugal Travel Guy Handbook," and through seminars and speaking engagements.