US Airways discounts Europe flights, adds bonus

US Airways is offering 10 percent off coach-class tickets to Europe plus 10,000 bonus Dividend Miles for round-trip tickets to Europe. Or, if you feel like splurging, you'll receive 20 percent off its Envoy (business-class) seats as well as 20,000 bonus miles.

Both promotions are valid to the following cities: Amsterdam, Brussels, Paris, Dublin, Frankfurt, London, Manchester, Munich, Milan and Zurich.

To qualify for either promotion, you'll have to use a valid MasterCard to book your ticket before Dec. 31 for travel through March 15. Blackout dates are Dec. 14-29 and Jan. 1-8.

For coach tickets, use eCertificate MCEUROPE when making a reservation and MCENVOY for business class. You'll have to register online first before making your reservation in order to receive the bonus miles.

Find complete rules and restrictions, and register for the bonus miles, at www.usairways.com/awa/content/specials/promotions/mastercard-fall-europe-specials.aspx?c=110107_224 .

Buy United miles, get a small bonus

On the heels of Delta Air Lines' bonus miles for SkyMiles purchased, United Airlines is offering a similar promotion, only on a smaller scale: 10 percent verses Delta's 20 percent bonus.

Much like Delta's offer, when you purchase Mileage Plus miles for yourself or as a gift for family or friends, you'll receive a 10 percent bonus. However, you can keep the bonus for yourself, give it to the recipient of the gift miles, or give it to someone else altogether (including United's Charity Miles partners, such as the American Red Cross, the Dream Foundation, the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, Guide Dogs of America, the Hospital for Sick Children and others).

This bonus offer is valid for miles purchases made before Dec. 31. Miles cost $0.0275 per mile for purchases of 5,000 miles or less and $0.0250 per mile for purchases of more than 5,000 miles, and must be purchased in increments of 1,000 miles. In addition, an applicable 7.5% federal excise tax and a $35-per-transaction processing fee apply.

So, for example, for a total of $64.57, you'll receive 1,000 miles, plus 100 bonus miles.

For complete rules and restrictions, and to purchase miles, visit www.ualmiles.com.

Refer a friend, get Marriott points

If you're a good sales person, you stand a chance of earning up to 25,000 Marriott Rewards bonus points through its Refer a Friend program.

Refer up to five friends before March 31, and each time the friend makes a stay at a Marriott hotel, you and your friend will receive 1,000 points each (up to a maximum of five stays). To earn the bonus points, stays must be at a participating Marriott hotel, and must be made within 365 days of enrollment.

Find complete rules and restrictions, and start referring friends, at www.marriott.com/marriott.mi?page=member-referral.

Take a walking tour of South Africa

To mark its 25th year as one of the world's premier purveyors of walking adventure vacations, The Wayfarers will make its long-awaited South Africa debut in March and October 2008 with a detailed Wonders of the Western Cape walk in the company of walk leaders (and Cape connoisseurs) Christopher and Malle Hague.

This new vacation was listed among the Best Trips in 2008 in National Geographic Adventure's November issue.

The 12-day journey (with an average of eight miles per day of moderate walking) starts from $7,895 per person, double occupancy, and includes overnight stays at the Bushman's Kloof Wilderness Reserve and Madikwe Safari Lodge; open Land Rover game drives; bush walks; tours of the winery estate of Toka and Madikwe Game Reserve and Kirstenbosch Gardens; and end-to-end exploration of the Western Cape.

The tours are scheduled to begin March 2 and Oct. 26, 2008, as well as March 8 and Nov. 1, 2009. The price is land-only and also includes meals, all transfers, admissions, gratuities and more.

For more information or to make a reservation, visit www.thewayfarers.com or call (800) 249-4620.

Active women tour China and Tibet

AdventureWomen, the oldest worldwide adventure travel company for active women older than 30, is offering an 18-day adventure tour to both China and Tibet from April 7-24. The price is $6,295 per person, all-inclusive, with international and all internal airfare from Los Angeles to China and Tibet, and requires an $800 deposit.

This tour includes visits to the province of Yunnan, home to the ancient city of Lijiang; Chengdu; and a week in Tibet. Located on the Tibetan Plateau of China's border with Tibet, Lijiang was the capital for the mountain kingdom of the indigenous Naxi people -- their origin is a mystery, their language and way of life are unique, and their rulers are women.

While there, you'll stay in Lijiang's UNESCO World Heritage "Old Town" and also visit Tiger Leaping Gorge (one of the deepest on the planet), Black Dragon Pool, Jade Dragon Snow Mountain and Tibetan monasteries.

The next stop, Chengdu, is the gateway to Tibet and the home of China's Giant Panda Breeding Center, followed by seven days in Tibet where you'll explore monasteries and the Tibetan Buddhist capital at the "top of the world." Then you'll travel from Lhasa to Xining on the newly opened Qinghai-Tibet railway that rises to 16,600 feet.

For more information, visit www.adventurewomen.com or call (800) 604-8686 or (406) 587-3883. And something to note: Smoking is not allowed by participants in AdventureWomen vacations.

Reactivate expired AAdvantage miles

Members of American Airlines' AAdvantage mileage program can now reactive some or all of their miles that expired on or after Dec. 31, 2002.

There's currently no limit as to how many expired miles you can reactivate, but it does come at a price. It'll cost $50 for every 5,000 miles, plus a $30 processing fee per transaction, per account, and it must be done before Dec. 31.

For example: To reactivate 24,500 miles from one account will cost $280 -- that's a $250 mileage reactivation fee and a $30 transaction fee. To get that many miles, you'll have to fly round trip to Asia.

To reactive your miles, you can either call AAdvantage customer service at (800) 882- 8880 or e-mail your request to AAdvantage customer service by selecting the Contact AA tab at the top of www.aa.com.

Reactivated miles will be credited to your account as a mileage bonus and do not count toward elite status qualification. It'll take up to 72 hours for the miles to post to your account. You will have at least 18 months to redeem reactivated miles for an award. Reactivated miles will not expire as long as your account has qualifying activity in any 18-month period.

Reach George Hobica athobica@gmail.com, Kim LiangTan at KimLiangTan@aol.comor log on to www.airfarewatchdog.com.