Extra legroom will cost you extra dollars with United

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 30: If you like extra legroom and sitting close to the front of the plane, you’ll pay more for the privilege when United Airlines starts expanding its Economy Plus plan to Continental in 2012.

United and Continental have merged and are making the switchover to the United brand.

All Mileage Plus (United’s frequent flier programme) and Continental’s OnePass elite members will qualify for complimentary Economy Plus seating.

If you don’t fly enough to earn Elite status, you can pay $425 for yearly subscription for economy plus, which entitles you to five extra inches of legroom on flights.

The prices per individual flights range from $9 for a short haul trip to $109 for long haul routes.

No prices were announced for the Bermuda to Newark route on Continental, but it will be less than $109.

AirTran

From now until November 7, you can earn double A+ Rewards credits for every one-way flight instead of the normal A+ credits.

It’s possible to earn a free flight after two round trips. If you book Business Class you’ll get three A+ credits each way, giving you six A+ credits per round trip.

You have to be a member of AirTran’s A+ rewards prior to travel.

To sign-up, go to www.airtran.com

The only bad thing about AirTran’s reward programme is their credits expire within a year of being earned so if you don’t do a lot of flying between Bermuda and Atlanta and Baltimore, your credits may go to waste.

Grand Slam

Two weeks ago I started giving hints on how to maximize your miles through US Airways Grand Slam promotion.

It’s possible to earn up to 110,000 miles in collections of “four hits”.

I have six hits so I need two more to reach the second level of hit hits. The first level of four hits is worth 3,000 miles and when I reach eight that will be worth additional 7,000 miles.

Plus I’ve earned an additional 4,300 miles by the regular bonuses attached to doing the hits (I previously downloaded the tool bar, signed up for www.emiles.com, signed up for Netflix and sent my sister a birthday gift through Teleflora).

This past week I’ve transferred miles from e-rewards.com — it’s another survey website.

I don’t like it as much as www.emiles.com as it takes longer to fill out the surveys, but if I’m watching TV, I can give it my half-hearted attention. The only plus over emiles is you can transfer miles at a lower level.

I transferred points over to US Airways and earned 250 miles besides the hit.

I also sent my mom some flowers from FTD (I’m such a good son). I earned an additional 750 miles from purchase.

I’m now at 8,300 miles and next week will be over 15,000 miles.

First register for the Grand Slam promotion here www.usairways.com/gs11 to start earning your miles.

The promotion ends on November 14.