While on a “web browsing break” at work, I was presented with the Earn 1000 Airline Miles advertisement below (scary how well the marketers know me, must be time to clear my cookies).
I clicked on over and saw that they are offering the following – After your first ride you’ll earn 1000 points/miles. It’s that easy. Then each ride after that will earn you 1 point/mile for every $1 spent (points/miles awarded on the base fare). Offer expires 8/31/12. Within two weeks of completing your GroundLink ride you’ll receive an email from Points.com with a claim code. Click through and choose the loyalty program for which you’d like to deposit your points/miles. Participants include Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan, American Airlines AAdvantage, Best Buy Reward Zone, Frontier EarlyReturns, HawaiianMiles, Icelandair Saga Club, LifeMiles, Priority Club Rewards,US Airways Dividend Miles, and Virgin Atlantic Flying Club.
According to their website, GroundLink services every US city and 110 countries. In order to take advantage of the offer you need to either enter promo code EARN when booking on their website or mention it to the phone agent when calling in.
This offer is much more generous on the initial ride but not as generous as Carmel’s current offer on future rides when earning with American, Delta, or JetBlue:
Earn 200 bonus miles each trip and 5 (Delta) or 6 (American & JetBlue) miles per $1 spent (outside NYC)
Earn 100 bonus miles each trip and 5 (Delta) or 6 (American & JetBlue) per $1 spent in NYC
Carmel also partners with Alaska, El Al, United, and US Airways, though those offers aren’t nearly as generous.
Carmel services all US cities and also allows for worldwide reservations.
So for my next trip, I decided to compare pricing between GroundLink and Carmel to see if I could earn the 1,000 miles and essentially still pay standard rates:
NYC – LGA (Full Size Sedan, tolls and tip not included)
$33 – Carmel
$38 – GroundLink
$20 – $30 (from my apartment) – Regular Taxi
NYC – JFK (Full Size Sedan, tolls and tip not included)
$48 – Carmel
$49 – GroundLink
$45 – Regular Taxi
NYC – EWR (Full Size Sedan, tolls and tip not included)
$47 – Carmel
$49 – GroundLink
$45-$55 (from my apartment)- Regular Taxi
*Carmel currently has $3 coupon on their website, so another $3 can be deducted from the prices above*
Not bad, for my next trip to JFK, GroundLink will earn me 1000 miles and I’ll only be paying a few dollars more than a regular taxi or Carmel, definitely worth it. After the original trip though, it most likely makes sense to stick to Carmel which will earn me 6 AAdvantage miles per $1 spent instead of $1 and 100 bonus miles.
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