Wow, what a busy week! I’ve spent the majority of my days up without wifi in Swampscott, MA, so I apologize for being MIA. I’m enjoying a relaxing weekend now catching up on all things points and miles. Luckily, I woke up to a great post on View From The Wing alerting me of a lucrative $200 off a Travelocity vacation package (air + hotel) with no minimum spend using code NFB2012.
The code must be used by August 4 and is good for travel up until December 31, 2012. But, hurry the offer will end as soon as 3,500 coupon codes have been redeemed.
Tiffany had asked me to join her for a 3 day trip to Orlando in September, but I had put if off for some time because I had been swamped with work and I was still finalizing my fall travel. Well, after playing around with the advanced search option on Travelocity, I’ve snagged a great “package”, allowing me to secure a round trip flight from NY to Orlando for just $24.35 on American Airlines.
As Gary said it best, the value proposition here is that you can book a really cheap flight that you don’t bother taking, and have a discount on your hotel stay. Or you can do what I just did, and book a really cheap hotel somewhere in the world, and get an insanely cheap (or even free) round trip flight.
Here’s how I took advantage of the offer:
The trick is, when searching for the vacation package, be sure to click on “advanced search”, then select the “I prefer to stay in a city that’s different than my destination airport”.
Then, I set my hotel preferences to Bangkok, Thailand, and I was matched with this hotel:
The total package came out to $224.35 with my NYC – Orlando flight and my Bangkok hotel. After the coupon code was applied, the final price was $24.35! Score!
I’m excited that I was able to get a mileage-earning round trip flight on American Airlines for less than a tank of gas. Please share your success stories with this offer in the comments below.
UPDATE: I came home from food shopping and learned that it appears that this discount is being promoted by Travelocity to members of the National Federation of the Blind. It’s up to you to decide if that influences your decision to use the coupon code or not. If you’re steering away, there’s still a way to save by by tweeting #AmexTravelocity, which gives you $50 off a $250 Travelocity booking.
Ugh, all my weekends are booked but I’m so tempted to book something anyway haha!
Do I get AA miles through Travelocity booking?
SWEET! I just got IAD to BOS for $25.22! (GREAT timing as I was planning to drive instead)
@New Girl: I am about to go on a booking frenzy LOL
@Charles: Yes, you get miles =)
@Megan: Awesome! Great deal. Cheaper than driving!!
Trying to find was-lax with the stay in another another city but still giving me hotels in la area any ideas?
How are you getting round the once and once only restriction?
Way to go, Angelina! You just took away a member of the National Federation of the Blind’s ability to have an inexpensive vacation!
How proud are you now?
Any thoughts on multiple bookings?
It says one booking per person, how do you think that’ll be enforced? The reason I ask is they say they can charge the $200 if they feel they need to so I’m wondering if they use cc or e-mail to track.
Also, the NFB is the National Federation of the Blind as Gary posted on his page…..definitely a organization that deserves these coupon codes as they encourage travel and have a partnership with Travelocity that makes booking travel accessible to the blind.
$54 TPA > SJU Thank you much! and I’ll see you in Thailand :<)
Update from Gary at View From The Wing:
Update 2: A bit more Googling and it appears that this discount is being promoted by Travelocity to members of the National Federation of the Blind. I leave it to you to determine whether or not that influences your willingness to use the discount.
THANK YOU for the Bangkok hotel idea!
This is awesome thanks
Is there any value to booking a flight you can’t take? Cancel for credit?
Wow, what a great deal. I’m very tempted even though I’m trying to stick with Star Alliance.
@Colin: Went food shopping and came home to tons of comments. Didn’t see Gary’s update about National Federation of the Blind. Thanks for your sarcastic comment though.
Like he said, based on the information that is now available, it’s up to you if you want to use the discount or not.
@Tim: I’m not sure about credit, I guess that varies by airline carrier/hotel program, though I’m not too sure about bookings through 3rd parties (travelocity).
Phil & Kevin F: I’m not sure how to go about multiple bookings as I only made one.
Angelina, I think its the right thing to do to by at least editting your post and mentioning who this code is for.
I think this deal is dead now. code isn’t working anymore.
@Mike: You read my mind. Post updated.
Brilliant
thanks angelina! Booked LAX-PHX for $1.83 after $200 discount and the useless bangkok hotels! LOL THANKSSSSS
Pricing
Flight + Hotel: $164.20
Taxes, Tax Recovery Charge + Airline & Agency Fees: $37.63
You are saving $200.00!
Total Before Savings: $201.83
Less Promotional Code Savings: – $200.00
Total: $1.83
We charged a total of $1.83 to your American Express® Card xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-3008.
I love the snarky back and forth. :)
still working..
Did not realize this was for federation of the blind. I only made one booking and saved $200. I will make a contribution to them for that amount now that I know that fact. At least I can still take a deduction and the charity loses nothing. I suggest others consider that too
So I actually would like to use this for a discount on hotel stay in thailand (since my flight to HKT is already booked w/ miles) If I book a throwaway flight and don’t show for it do you think it will have any impact on my hotel reservation?
code doesn’t work for me anymore.
So NFB is not a group only for blind people, but a group for blind advocacy, education, etc. You are not taking away some blind person’s cheap vacation. Like is said above, pay the ten bucks and you are a member. Anyone can join. If you are going to use the coupon, just join the organization.
The real scam is booking the cheap flight and then dumping a Bangkok hotel. That is Travelocity’s fault for not putting a max radius on their packages.
The funny thing is, I’m a member of the NFB but read about this first from you.
What happens to the miles if you end up not taking the booked flight? You don’t get them, correct?
You can become a member of NFB by enrolling at below website:
https://www.nfb.org/civicrm/contribute/transact?reset=1&id=2
@Joe, that hotel in Bangkok is going to be paid whether people show up or not. Doesn’t seem like a bad deal for them, either. Get the money, but not the work. I’d take it in their shoes.
I don’t know what I am doing wrong. When I go through Travelocity, the flight that I am interested in $472 and then they add in the hotel part of it. When I go to Delta.com for the same flight, it is $363. Something’s not right in Dodge :( What do I do Angelina? By the way, I grew up about 2 towns away from Swampscott – love the area/
@Jamison: Great find!!
@John T: I don’t think it should affect your booking.
@laurent: You don’t get miles unless you take the flight
@Jane: Hmm, I’m not sure. Just make sure you’re looking for a hotel in a cheap area (southeast Asia), and see if that changes? I played around with it for some time before I made my booking. Yes – it’s a fun place to be! Going back to Swampscott on Mon night!
Deal is DEAD
Darn, I missed it! It’s dead! :(
“This discount is no longer available. Each promo code can only be redeemed by a limited number of users, and this one has reached its maximum. We recommend that when you see a code for a trip you’d like to take, you book your travel as quickly as possible.”
Looks to be dead now. I booked 2 trips, used topcashback and the 50.00 Amex promo for Travelocity which might or might not work. Maybe I made money on the trips.
lol Paul.. hopefully!
Discount no longer available as of 8:41 AM
Uh oh, looks like Travelocity is canceling these reservations.
travelocity is canceling all these reservations, such bullshit !!
Please join Facebook group NFB2012: Travelocity Cancelled My Trip: http://www.facebook.com/groups/474672299219401/. Please invite all your friends and family and spread the word!
Also, please join and promote the Facebook page dedicated to this fiasco. Surprisingly, Travelocity is allowing links to this page to be placed on its own Facebook page, which makes me think it wants to keep track of how many people will join. This would allow them to gauge the PR impact as they evaluate how they will resolve this issue. http://www.facebook.com/sneakygnome
Has anyone not had a res cancelled?
Looks like it hit the pres. Check this out. Spread the word!!
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/short_sighted_web_site_nSXz20nYDiJAM601CNDGzN
Another press report with an “official” response from Travelocity exec. http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/consuming-interests-blog/bs-tr-travelocity-nfb-20120809,0,989834.story
Shame on you people. If it seems to good to be true then it is to good to be true. This company attempted to better the lives of those who have a true disability…. Not just stupidity. Now you aren’t getting these deals and you’ll do anything you can to bring the bad press to a company that just wanted to help.
ashley, that kind of off the cuff reaction is what Travelocity is counting on as they screw over thousands of people on this deal.
Yes, Travelocity tried to do something nice but they messed it up horribly every step of the way and to correct their mistakes they have lied and cheated.
Before I booked I called and asked a Travelocity rep if it was ok to use this code. The rep looked at the terms, which were on the Travelocity site, and said yes. Now Travelocity has retroactively changed those terms and reps deny that Travelocity ever even published those terms.
I used this in good faith and was basically robbed; total cost to me has been about $220+. And oh yeah, I’ve been an NFB member for years.