Post: #926

Need some expert guidance for a return rewards biz class ticket from Europe next May back to LAX. I have 105k in AmEx points along with 20k each in United and AA. Trying to avoid the dreaded BA fuel charges too, which seems to be every available AA biz saver so I'm stumped.

Post: #927

Use Aeroplan on Swiss, Turkish, United, LOT.

Check for availability on aeroplan.com before transferring the points from AMEX.

Should be under $100 in scamcharges.

Post: #928

Been traveling for over two months now (I set out on October 7 from Miami to Dubai), a few AirBnB's mixed in, but primarily hotels, and landing in my next spot, I'd say, on average every seven days (sometimes sooner). In the last ten days or so, I've been through China, HK, Bangkok, Tokyo, Seoul, back to Bangkok and I'll head back to Shenzhen tomorrow. I'm trying to wrap up American Airlines EXP (for the systemwide upgrades primarily) and I should be there, but a damn Qatar airways flight I took on American back in early November has still yet to post. I've been SPG Platinum for the second year running for months (at approx. 67 nights for the year thus far, though I'll finish the year it seems with one unused suite upgrade - I just cancelled an upgrade I had confirmed for Bangkok for tonight at the Sheraton Luxury collection and switched to an IHG for the promotion discussed below), and I'll hit Hyatt Diamond for 2016 (breakfast, suite upgrades four times for up to seven days each) as soon as the website maintenance is done (25 stays).

Because of an error, IHG gave me their Spire status (above Platinum) and so I think I'll have three top tier statuses for next year (IHG spire isn't really much except a bit of additional earnings, a better non-suite rom and 4PM checkout - though they did let me check in at the Holiday Inn Sumhkivit at 6Am on Thursday, which was nice after a redeye). I've been doing their Accelerate promotion as well, which wouldn't have been worth it (and maybe has been a bit of a fools errand too) except I've been staying in hotels anyway, and sometimes IHG has been a decent choice (Bali, Hong Kong, Bangkok). Sometimes less so (Shenzhen - not a great location for HKE, and a bit overpriced on Crowne Plaza, though good for points bookings).

I'm pretty much done chasing airline status for the foreseeable future - I'll have my AA for 2016, but they're fucking the program so badly (including reducing the systemwide upgrades from 8 to 4 and smashing RDM earnings on partner flights for elites) in so many ways, I'll probably switch a lot of my flying back to Star Alliance. Being based in Asia for the time being, there are far more options on *A than one world. But basically, life imitating art, I plan to be a whore when it comes to airlines.

One thing that came into focus during the last few weeks of travel was using Boingo, which is free with AMEX Platinum and maybe with some other cards as well. I hadn't really used it, but given short stops in Thailand (x2), Japan and Korea, and without buying a sim in any of them, using my Boingo account I've been able to get data service in quite a few places. The connections are not very solid, its easy for the app not to find the connection and it can be frustrating (more so in BKK than in Korea and Japan, where it tended to work quite well). However, given that its a free add on for your service, its a nice tool to have in your pocket. Just download the Boingo finder app if you've an account and then when you choose a wifi (such a TrueWifi, which is available in large parts of Bangkok) you should be able to access free data service. In each of the countries mentioned, I've found multiple Boingo partners in train stations, malls, etc. You shouldn't even have to register if you can connect directly through the Boingo App (which seems to work maybe half the time). YMMV.

Post: #929

^ Can you lose statuses or drop down a tier if you don't use them for a certain amount of time?

Post: #930

Statuses typically last a year, unless you've earned lifetime status with a loyalty program because of a significant amount of usage over time (e.g, million miler on an airline) or because you held status a certain number of years in a row (e.g., SPG lifetime platinum).

Other than these permanent statuses, after their calendar year is up (sometimes the calendar goes to sometime in February), then you'll either be reset to the status you earned during the year, or in some cases, be given whats called a Soft Landing, which means you're set one level down from your previous status. Some programs do soft landings, others do not. For example, BA does soft landings for their Gold status. I had Gold in 2015 (earned during 2014), and hardly credited any miles to BA this year, but I'll still be Silver in 2016.

Post: #931

Guys,

I've got a 16hr layover on Asiana in Seoul on next flight.

No problem but do they allow a free room in a transit hotel if it isn't overnight but during the early morning through early evening?

Post: #932

I've never heard of Asiana doing that - did you call/check the website? 16 hrs - even for Incheon (probably your airport) and definitely for Gimpo, I'd head into the city. I was just in Korea last week. Incheon is a bit of a hike to say, mid-town Seoul (Gangnam/Coex area) and the train requires several changes - I might suggest the luxury bus for about 20 USD rather than dealing with the trains. Gimpo (though I doubt you'll be there) is only about an hour's bus ride from the in-city airport terminal (near the Intercontinental Co-ex) and it was USD7, I believe. At minimum, go have a rocking lunch in a korea bbq place, get loaded up a bit to stave off the cold on some quality, 4$ a bottle soju, and have a look around. You can always head back to the airport a bit early. It looks to be a decent lounge in Incheon (check your terminal of departure - make sure this is the right one).

http://upgrd.com/matthew/photo-tour-asia...cheon.html

Post: #933

(12-23-2015 12:16 PM)Handsome Creepy Eel Wrote:  No offense taken Global, you're way more experienced on this stuff. But here's what my letter that came with the card says:

Quote:Enter up to 700 lounges around the world at $27 per person per visit, bring in guests at the same price

It doesn't say anything about these lounges giving you free stuff, especially not stuff worth more than $27.

What am I missing?

This is a carryover from the new Priority Pass discussion - it makes sense to me, at least to integrate it into this bigger thread.

Priority Pass is a lounge network covering 700+ lounges in different countries. Some airports have five or more such lounges, some have 1, which may be the only lounge in the airport, and of course, many others have none.

The general quality of the lounges can vary greatly. I've been in PP lounges that compare favorably to the lounges in the US for the big three airlines/Alaska, and I've been in ones that are pretty shabby and poorly appointed, providing little more than soft drinks, instant noodles and wifi.

As far as using PP, they do offer a pay as you go service, but as HCE intimated, thats a heavy price to pay for many of these lounges, especially when the additional guest is an additional $27.

Another, much more palatable option for those its available to, is to get either an AMEX Platinum (biz or personal) or the Citibank Prestige Card. Both come with an upgraded Priority Pass card. It provides the holder with free access to each of these lounges. With the AMEX though, your membership is just for one person, and each additional person is still $27. The Citibank membership is for you plus two additional guests at no additional charge.

Consequently, those of you who intend to use it while traveling with others, if you've both an AMEX Platinum and a Prestige card, make sure to sign up for the Prestige PP, even if you already have it from AMEX, for the additional guests permitted.

By the way, both these cards carry a hefty $450 per annum annual fee. However they both have some valuable benefits (airline credits, e.g. 200 for AMEX for a specific airline choice (have to use for gift cards, a hassle but essentially the same as a ticket credit, or incidental fees such as baggage) and 250 for Citi Prestige (credits against basically any airline charges). AMEX Platinum also gives Delta Sky lounge access, while the Prestige gives AA Admirals club access. The Prestige is a much better card for earning points for travel than the AMEX Platinum (3x points on travel spend) and I use mine far more than I use the AMEX Plat (I have the biz and personal), which I use most often when AMEX offers a cash rebate on someone I spend (such as $50 dollars off at whole foods 100 purchase, 50 off 200 at AirBnB, two I recently used). Both transfer points to Singapore Airlines (among others) which is a great program with some terrific award prices within Star Alliance (including to fly domestic US on united for fewer points than United charges) and the only way to book a Singapore first class award.

There are a few dozen blogs covering the benefits of various credit cards and trying to get you to sign up for them, so I haven't really focused on credit cards on the thread to date. It was conceivable that I could start a second site and offer some affinity links on that blog, driven by this one, and I am still thinking about that. But if people have questions or have thoughts on how to handle this, I'm quite open to answer and hear the suggestions.

Post: #934

I was thinking of sharing my year-end wrap up on status etc. in the thread (despite the likelihood of the very knowledgable El Cid stomping on the benefits ) and then was thinking, well, would be useful for any number of us to give a rundown of where we ended up in 2015.

As of the end of this year, on the hotel side:

I have Diamond with Hyatt (top normal status), having hacked into 25 stays (only 27 nights total), mostly by shuffling around MGM hotels (which count as Hyatt stays via their partnership) in Vegas and switching every night a few times when I was there on business. I also used some of my Chase UR points to lower costs of Hyatt stays by transferring points to Hyatt, for Cash and Points bookings (now bookable online). While straight award nights don't count towards status, cash and points do (so if you're going for status and want to book a multi-night award, it might make sense to book one of the nights as a cash and points, and the balance as an award). Lounge access, four confirmed suite upgrades for stays of up to seven days, and breakfasts, often full depending on the property. Gonna see how I use this in 2016 and then decide whether to try to keep it going. Hyatts tend to be pricey but nice, so this may depend on how much work- reimbursed travel I have in 2016. Top stay(s): Grand Hyatt Jakarta.

Platinum with SPG (lower then SPG75/100 but providing suite upgrades on avail., 10 confirmable suite upgrades upto five days before a stay and breakfast). This is my second consecutive year as a platinum, and it continues to be my go-to-hotel chain, but perhaps not so much now that Hyatt is a better option with status, the impending SPG merger with Marriot (yikes), and with the statuses below). SPG has had the best way to earn transferable miles to 32 airlines and other programs, and transfers to many at 125 percent of the earned points. In addition their own points are worth, typically at least 2-2.5 cents each on their own properties (when combines with suite upgrades at a premium property, often significantly more). I'm using the last of my 2015 10 suite upgrades this NYE at the St. Regis Shenzhen to get a duplex suite on this property, which while not on the level of other St. Regis hotels, still has stunning architecture, an amazing brunch (which is free with status) and rooms on the 110th floor or thereabouts. In addition, its only 12K points, but SPG is throwing a bone to members who stayed in at least nine property types in 2015, and St. Regis will be my ninth. 9K bonus for nine types (0 for 8 types), so the net cost of this room, with the already confirmed duplex suite upgrade, is just 3K SPG points. I have about 60K SPG points in hand. The Marriot merger will play a role in whether I try to continue with SPG as my primary (especially how they deal with the airlines points transfer and bonuses).
Top Stay(s); Grovesnor, Dubai (though I didn't like the city much); Westin Sire Bay, Phuket (very nice mid-priced hotel/resort, but far off the beaten path), Keraton Jakarta (just a baller hotel on the Plaza).

IHG - Not a great club, and my Spire status doesnt really entitle me to much, other than the best available non-suite, 4PM checkout, and additional points. IHG is good about awarding points for stays towards additional free nights (better than SPG by on average 2 nights, 6 nights at an IHG will yield a free night, while it takes 8 with SPG on average), but there's not much more officially available than that. That said, some hotels go above and beyond, and I was recently allowed to check into the Holiday Inn Sumhkivit at 6:30AM as a Spire, which was great because I got limited sleep on the red-eye from Tokyo. This status was granted in error due to the points from my IHG Card bonus posting to my account. I didn't call (NEVER CALL), and I am not sure if this will extend through 2016, or 2017. Even if it doesnt, having just the card gives me Platinum, which is almost the same as Spire (maybe quite not as much kowtowing by staff on arrival).
Top Stays - Nothing overwhelmingly memorable in 2015. Seoul Coex was decent, nice lobby but the room just average for a 35K point room. I've tended to use IHG at the lower end of the cost spectrum for Holiday Inn Expresses, which are often a decent value.

Hilton - I matched my SPG Platinum to Hyatt for their Diamond status. I have to admit I don't know too much about their program and though room upgrades and breakfasts are part of the status, suite upgrades are entirely voluntary upto the particular property. Apparently, asking for them at check-in is the only way being discussed to get the upgrades. I matched because Hilton hasn't done status matching historically, and so its impossible to know when they'd do it again. (Usually status matches are once in a lifetime, though that can surely be hacked). It simply gives me another option for hotels when traveling.
Top Stays - No stays in 2015.

Hotels.com - I have 9 nights this year, one more and I'll have a free night based on my expenditures of the 10. For those not pursuing status, this is a very straight forward way to go.
Top Stays - Kempinski hotels.

AirBnB - I've been banned (two accounts). My original account wasn't working to book, I set up a second account on referral from the first, and they banned both accounts without me being able to make a case about it. Very irritating as it was occasionally part of my approach, especially when AMEX offered a $50 dollar credit towards stays. Their customer service mechanism is truly shitty, but the product overall, in certain cases, offers strong value, and I like the feeling of permanence an AirBnB conveys (vis a vis a hotel) to dates.

Airlines
This is definitely the last straw year for US Airlines (other than Alaska, which we hope won't go revenue anytime soon).
American - I got to EXP, earning just 100,500 or so of the required 100K to hit that status. I ended up booking a flight from BKK to Korea via Japan to get over the last hump, and finally got part of my November Qatar flight posted, which put me over the top. Earnings for 2016 for redeemable miles should be good, but then get nuked in the second half for those of us who liked to fly discount biz or low price economy tickets on long flights. So I'll focus on earning in the first half, and I'll see where that leaves me with status.

For the second half of 2016, I expect I'll be much more mercenary, and be looking for the best bang for the buck, regardless of alliance. I may match into Star Alliance (Turkish) for the second half, once the status match would provide 2017 full year benefits, so I'll get lounge access for SA lounges. That way, since most of the best options (other than CX) from Asia back to the USA tend to be Star Alliance (and definitely the most choices), I'll have benefits for that as well when I'm flying SA on regional flights as well. Have about 235K AA miles to burn, but I have some tickets I need to book, so I'm not too worried about that balance being too high, especially since even after the chart change, there are still some decent values for biz class (first class partner flights were, by far, fucked the worst).


Other than AA, I have a promotional expiring status of MVP from Alaska, but since Im not based in the Salt Lake area anymore, there's no point of worrying over it. It has nominal value to me, especially since I can get into their lounges with Priority Pass, or into DL's with the AMEX Platinum. My balance with Alaska is 35K, which mostly consists of previously transferred SPG points. All my 2015 DL bookings were credited to Alaska, but I used those miles to book tickets for my girl to fly CX in Premium Economy from HKG to NYC and back.

Delta- I have a lot of DL miles, and I am finding them somewhat difficult to use. Mid january should be squarely off-peak, and the costs of tickets from Asia back to the USA suck in mileage costs. My balance is around 230K. Hoping to burn some of them off in the next 6 months, perhaps for tickets to Europe for Cannes or something. All future DL bookings will continue to go to Alaska fro points credit. One can check wheretocredit.com to see where it might make sense to credit miles, though that site is just half the story, since it doesnt take into account the costs of awards. No point to credit to EVA, for example,, when their awards cost 2x-3x of other SA airlines, even if they give full credit for your discounted ticket.

United/Singapore - United has been selling miles and between that and my Chase UR, I’ve been actively booking SA awards for family and for myself. However, I’ve very little actual revenue flights on SA. I may start to credit my flights on SA to Singapore, which has a great award chart in general, and also has decent online booking for its own flights (gotta call for partners, which sucks). I also have Citibank TY points, and AMEX Membership Rewards points, and those both transfer 1:1 to Singapore. so I have a potentially very nice stack of SQ points. And SQ has some very good deals around Asia - business class on their metal from Manila to Bangkok or Jakarta is only 17.5 miles if booked online. In the absence of a discount direct flight with a Tiger/Jet/Lion/AirAsia, thats a pretty good deal (especially Manila to Jakarta). Got around 25K SQ miles, a handful of United Miles, but bunches of transferable currencies that transfer to SQ and somewhat to United. Its conceivable that SA and Singapore become my go-to alliance and airline for crediting, going forward.

Transferrable currencies.
CitiThankYou - 110K (mostly likely use SQ miles)
Chase UR - 120K (use for BA short haul, Korean, UA miles where cost is lower to book than SQ)
AMEX MR - 65K (undecided but not DL).
SPG 60K (SPG itself, Alaska or to top of other currencies)

Cards - I haven’t applied for any new cards since the summer, when I got the Citi Prestige, which is my go-to card right now for all travel spend (3x points for SQ for each travel dollar is an amazing deal) and want to pull the trigger on one. There don’t seem to be any right now with the max sign up bonus, so I’ve been hesitating. I know Ive some travel spend coming though, so maybe I’ll just wait for the next promotion. I could just add a card that doesnt provide for points bonuses on sign-up, like the Hyatt Chase card (2 nights free with the spend), but I’m just not that excited by that one. Suggestions welcome.

Hopefully some of you will fill us in on your “achievements” in 2015, and your plans for 2016, in the points/miles game.

Post: #935

(12-28-2015 09:34 PM)Global Entry Wrote:  Platinum with SPG (lower then SPG75/100 but providing suite upgrades on avail., 10 confirmable suite upgrades upto five days before a stay and breakfast). This is my second consecutive year as a platinum, and it continues to be my go-to-hotel chain, but perhaps not so much now that Hyatt is a better option with status, the impending SPG merger with Marriot (yikes), and with the statuses below). SPG has had the best way to earn transferable miles to 32 airlines and other programs, and transfers to many at 125 percent of the earned points. In addition their own points are worth, typically at least 2-2.5 cents each on their own properties (when combines with suite upgrades at a premium property, often significantly more). I'm using the last of my 2015 10 suite upgrades this NYE at the St. Regis Shenzhen to get a duplex suite on this property, which while not on the level of other St. Regis hotels, still has stunning architecture, an amazing brunch (which is free with status) and rooms on the 110th floor or thereabouts. In addition, its only 12K points, but SPG is throwing a bone to members who stayed in at least nine property types in 2015, and St. Regis will be my ninth. 9K bonus for nine types (0 for 8 types), so the net cost of this room, with the already confirmed duplex suite upgrade, is just 3K SPG points. I have about 60K SPG points in hand. The Marriot merger will play a role in whether I try to continue with SPG as my primary (especially how they deal with the airlines points transfer and bonuses).
Top Stay(s); Grovesnor, Dubai (though I didn't like the city much); Westin Sire Bay, Phuket (very nice mid-priced hotel/resort, but far off the beaten path), Keraton Jakarta (just a baller hotel on the Plaza).

Great write up ! Any news on the Starwood merger with Marriott ?

I rate SPG points closer to at least 3 cents and Marriott at about half that based on the redemption values based similar hotels in the same cities. I earn most of my SPG points through the SPG Amex but I'm thinking about cancelling and saving the annual fee when the card comes up for renewal next year as I expect SPG redemption values to go down hill to match Marriott.

Post: #936

The conventional wisdom (which you can adopt or discard) is that 2016 won't see any devaluation in starwood due to the merger, and that the changes, whatever they are,will hit in 2017. However, even if that is true, earnings kept over from 2016 (and before) will be impacted in value. People are also looking at Kimpton/IHG as merger partners and how slow the integration has been, but those two chains were so different in size and in market, its not surprising. Additionally, one company's speed in integrating its program doesnt necessarily bear on that of an unrelated company, even within the same industry.

I guess for me the takeaway is I'll continue to hedge my bets across basically all programs, not stockpile points (even in programs that have recently devalued because a double devaluation has happened with several programs recently (e.g. British Airways). Better to earn and burn, and leave your options open while getting the most value you can by arb'ing the programs against market changes, and each other.

Post: #937

Anyone know of an online tool or app that has all the award charts, redemption rules/quirks, point transfer rules, cross-booking rules, credit card redemption discounts etc loaded into an algorithm whereby you can input the amount of points you have in each program (or have pull from AwardWallet) and have it spit out maximized redemption options? I know people offer this service or something like it for a fee, but a computer program would be great. Even if it wasn’t 100% perfect, just a general idea of where to start looking would be very helpful.

I guess barring that, some kind of big chart or cheat sheet would be a place to start.

Post: #938

God, I certainly hope not. There are certainly separate tools that prove, separately, some of what you're looking for, but a single algorithm based engine that did that would ultimately kill the sport for people like me, I think, at least if it was easy to use and became widespread. The arbitrage opportunity (like any) exists in a world of imperfect information and poor execution (often based on that lack of information). I can get deals because by and large, I'm on the fringe and the loyalty programs make money. If everyone all of a sudden started maximizing the values of their points and other aspects of the programs, the loyalty programs would become far less valuable and their sponsors would have little choice but to "nerf" the benefits. Even the blogs (which I follow myself) negatively impact benefits, as they spoon feed many of the deals to the masses, and are monitored by the programs themselves (the big ones are). Flyer talk is so fractured that while the programs monitor them, and the hardcore points gamers post in there, the overall impact seems smaller than that of The Points Guy, whose "intel" is being shared via Facebook and other social media.

Post: #939

Quick reminder.... by midnight New Years eve....
Use up your airline fee credits. If you have a card like American Express Platinum, or Ritz-Carlton Rewards, make sure to use your annual fee credit. It’s not allowed by policy, but in general American Express reimbursements for $50 and $100 American Airlines gift cards are happening, as are Delta. (American is my designated airline for fee reimbursement.)

Post: #940

Just came across this tool recently. Allows you to put in an origin/destination pairing and tells you the cheapest award program redemption:

http://www.travelcodex.com/how-many-mile...rt-search/

Post: #941

I saw that pop up on the blogs yesterday as well - its only part of the puzzle, but its definitely a helpful tool. It doesn't inform much on the earning side/cost of miles side, and routing is a quandary, but it seems pretty good. Unfortunately, I'm not sold on its reliability quite yet. My first search was for an upcoming redemption I want to book from PEK to CGK. While the engine provided the right figures for AA redemptions (22,500 AA miles), for UA it gave me the same figure, while booking online on UA shows 35,000 for a mixed class booking, and 40K for the saver business, one way.

The reason is simple - his engine included CGK (Jakarta) in North Asia, and it should be in South Asia (quite an easy issue to fix). Anyway, I'm sure he'll get it right, and hopefully (1) improve it, and (2) have it still not be used too widely. Most people don't think about buying different program miles to keep available for such uses, and selfishly, I hope that doesn't change. For the most part, the top end programs' seats are a zero sum game, and what someone is newly booking is a redemption that isn't available to me, even when many airlines fly with empty premium class seats.

NM, nice contribution to the thread, tho. Thumbs up.

(01-04-2016 02:14 PM)nmmoooreland20 Wrote:  Just came across this tool recently. Allows you to put in an origin/destination pairing and tells you the cheapest award program redemption:

http://www.travelcodex.com/how-many-mile...rt-search/

Post: #942

(01-05-2016 07:12 AM)Global Entry Wrote:  I saw that pop up on the blogs yesterday as well - its only part of the puzzle, but its definitely a helpful tool. It doesn't inform much on the earning side/cost of miles side, and routing is a quandary, but it seems pretty good. Unfortunately, I'm not sold on its reliability quite yet. My first search was for an upcoming redemption I want to book from PEK to CGK. While the engine provided the right figures for AA redemptions (22,500 AA miles), for UA it gave me the same figure, while booking online on UA shows 35,000 for a mixed class booking, and 40K for the saver business, one way.

The reason is simple - his engine included CGK (Jakarta) in North Asia, and it should be in South Asia (quite an easy issue to fix). Anyway, I'm sure he'll get it right, and hopefully (1) improve it, and (2) have it still not be used too widely. Most people don't think about buying different program miles to keep available for such uses, and selfishly, I hope that doesn't change. For the most part, the top end programs' seats are a zero sum game, and what someone is newly booking is a redemption that isn't available to me, even when many airlines fly with empty premium class seats.

NM, nice contribution to the thread, tho. Thumbs up.

(01-04-2016 02:14 PM)nmmoooreland20 Wrote:  Just came across this tool recently. Allows you to put in an origin/destination pairing and tells you the cheapest award program redemption:

http://www.travelcodex.com/how-many-mile...rt-search/

Definitely not the first, quite a few sites have had such a tool for a while. I'm surprised you haven't heard of them. At least three off the top of my head:

http://www.flyermiler.com/ - Very technical, but great for experts like myself

http://www.topmiles.com - Most newbie friendly, popped up on the map recently, by far the most popular option of the three

http://www.awardace.com/ - In the middle seems to try and be newbie friendly but ends up going right back to the jargon

Almost all the best content I've found is OFF boarding area, which is just a conglomerate of bloggers who take ideas and ping it off each other. Really its quite laughable how much they repackage content, I'd call it the buzzfeed of miles travel.

http://www.travelisfree.com is by far my favorite resource for advanced travel hacking

Post: #943

Another big expert - with respect, leave your ego at the door, sir. No need to claim to be a big expert (we'll still read your posts and perhaps make our own determination of how helpful your expertise is), and yes, even though I'm no expert (knowledgeable perhaps) I've seen travelisfree (meh) and the rest of the repackaged and consolidated junk on Boarding Area, including the awards booking services to which you linked, and I do peruse flyertalk but more use it to search specifically for what I am looking for, as I can live without the attitude of many of the most frequent posters there, those who seem to post to scratch some egotistical itch or validation need they have rather than to be helpful or informative.

Looking at Flyermiler, which I haven't used before, that does look more detailed and useful, and not overwhelming by any stretch of the imagination for people familiar with award travel. Gonna play with that for a while.

Welcome to the thread.

(01-05-2016 10:55 AM)Putin Closes Wrote:  

(01-05-2016 07:12 AM)Global Entry Wrote:  I saw that pop up on the blogs yesterday as well - its only part of the puzzle, but its definitely a helpful tool. It doesn't inform much on the earning side/cost of miles side, and routing is a quandary, but it seems pretty good. Unfortunately, I'm not sold on its reliability quite yet. My first search was for an upcoming redemption I want to book from PEK to CGK. While the engine provided the right figures for AA redemptions (22,500 AA miles), for UA it gave me the same figure, while booking online on UA shows 35,000 for a mixed class booking, and 40K for the saver business, one way.

The reason is simple - his engine included CGK (Jakarta) in North Asia, and it should be in South Asia (quite an easy issue to fix). Anyway, I'm sure he'll get it right, and hopefully (1) improve it, and (2) have it still not be used too widely. Most people don't think about buying different program miles to keep available for such uses, and selfishly, I hope that doesn't change. For the most part, the top end programs' seats are a zero sum game, and what someone is newly booking is a redemption that isn't available to me, even when many airlines fly with empty premium class seats.

NM, nice contribution to the thread, tho. Thumbs up.

(01-04-2016 02:14 PM)nmmoooreland20 Wrote:  Just came across this tool recently. Allows you to put in an origin/destination pairing and tells you the cheapest award program redemption:

http://www.travelcodex.com/how-many-mile...rt-search/

Definitely not the first, quite a few sites have had such a tool for a while. I'm surprised you haven't heard of them. At least three off the top of my head:

http://www.flyermiler.com/ - Very technical, but great for experts like myself

http://www.topmiles.com - Most newbie friendly, popped up on the map recently, by far the most popular option of the three

http://www.awardace.com/ - In the middle seems to try and be newbie friendly but ends up going right back to the jargon

Almost all the best content I've found is OFF boarding area, which is just a conglomerate of bloggers who take ideas and ping it off each other. Really its quite laughable how much they repackage content, I'd call it the buzzfeed of miles travel.

http://www.travelisfree.com is by far my favorite resource for advanced travel hacking

Post: #944

(01-05-2016 11:51 PM)Global Entry Wrote:  Another big expert - with respect, leave your ego at the door, sir. No need to claim to be a big expert (we'll still read your posts and perhaps make our own determination of how helpful your expertise is), and yes, even though I'm no expert (knowledgeable perhaps) I've seen travelisfree (meh) and the rest of the repackaged and consolidated junk on Boarding Area, including the awards booking services to which you linked, and I do peruse flyertalk but more use it to search specifically for what I am looking for, as I can live without the attitude of many of the most frequent posters there, those who seem to post to scratch some egotistical itch or validation need they have rather than to be helpful or informative.

Looking at Flyermiler, which I haven't used before, that does look more detailed and useful, and not overwhelming by any stretch of the imagination for people familiar with award travel. Gonna play with that for a while.

Welcome to the thread.

(01-05-2016 10:55 AM)Putin Closes Wrote:  

(01-05-2016 07:12 AM)Global Entry Wrote:  I saw that pop up on the blogs yesterday as well - its only part of the puzzle, but its definitely a helpful tool. It doesn't inform much on the earning side/cost of miles side, and routing is a quandary, but it seems pretty good. Unfortunately, I'm not sold on its reliability quite yet. My first search was for an upcoming redemption I want to book from PEK to CGK. While the engine provided the right figures for AA redemptions (22,500 AA miles), for UA it gave me the same figure, while booking online on UA shows 35,000 for a mixed class booking, and 40K for the saver business, one way.

The reason is simple - his engine included CGK (Jakarta) in North Asia, and it should be in South Asia (quite an easy issue to fix). Anyway, I'm sure he'll get it right, and hopefully (1) improve it, and (2) have it still not be used too widely. Most people don't think about buying different program miles to keep available for such uses, and selfishly, I hope that doesn't change. For the most part, the top end programs' seats are a zero sum game, and what someone is newly booking is a redemption that isn't available to me, even when many airlines fly with empty premium class seats.

NM, nice contribution to the thread, tho. Thumbs up.

(01-04-2016 02:14 PM)nmmoooreland20 Wrote:  Just came across this tool recently. Allows you to put in an origin/destination pairing and tells you the cheapest award program redemption:

http://www.travelcodex.com/how-many-mile...rt-search/

Definitely not the first, quite a few sites have had such a tool for a while. I'm surprised you haven't heard of them. At least three off the top of my head:

http://www.flyermiler.com/ - Very technical, but great for experts like myself

http://www.topmiles.com - Most newbie friendly, popped up on the map recently, by far the most popular option of the three

http://www.awardace.com/ - In the middle seems to try and be newbie friendly but ends up going right back to the jargon

Almost all the best content I've found is OFF boarding area, which is just a conglomerate of bloggers who take ideas and ping it off each other. Really its quite laughable how much they repackage content, I'd call it the buzzfeed of miles travel.

http://www.travelisfree.com is by far my favorite resource for advanced travel hacking

My intention was not to be an egomaniac. However, I can sense a hint of resentment from you of making the miles "hobby" more open. I am glad more people are finding out about this personally, no need to be greedy and keep it like fight club, which is what FT has become.

After all, this is a luxury, and seems like many posters on FT treat it as a privilege. How many first class trips on the same airline can you do before it starts getting repetitive.

I am sure all those "travel bloggers" who make newbies pay to book awards from them aren't happy its become easier and easier to learn by yourself.

Anyways, I've been reading your thread, your knowledge is quite useful to the average newbie, so I am sure many readers here appreciate your posts.

I personally think travelisfree is the most useful travel resource out there for someone who isn't a complete newbie. Obviously much more advanced stuff on FT if you dig through code speak, the "trick it" thread use to be a goldmine until the german / polish blogs cracked the code and posting deals there.

Post: #945

I used to subscribe to the trick it thread, trying to figure out the appetizers and desserts - god, what a load of attitude in my inbox on a daily basis. And since I have no great urge to fly long-haul in economy, where the surcharge is a significant percentage of the ticket cost, it didn't really make sense for me to allocate much time to it - I was just curious. I'm guessing these german blogs will eventually ruin the fun tho for those who do fuel dump - I had downloaded some report written by a German that discussed dumping in depth, and it was a free download from a site I googled.

I'm guessing you'll be a quite helpful contributor. What I hope doesnt happen is that this thread becomes a flame thread - we have all levels here, from guys getting their first credit cards, to people like El Cid who are deep into this hobby and very knowledgable (even when we disagree). I hope you'll consider sticking around and keeping this flame free for those who have questions about how to get improved travel experience or at least approach the economics of travel properly.

In other news, I've got my first flight on Garuda next week. It isn't the F flight I wanted, business class instead, but a long-haul direct from Beijing to Jakarta, booked with DL miles. The cost is higher using the DL miles than flying biz or even F using AA (which would book into CX or MH, but on an indirect flight via HKG/KUL), but (1) I find DL miles less and less useful for longhaul recently (couldn't find anything worthwhile at a reasonable cost back to the US from Asia mid-to- late January (but well before Chinese NY), a time that should certainly be off-peak), and its direct, more than 7 hours and still 40,000 sky pesos (of which I've still a decent stack). I'll post some photos.

(01-06-2016 12:00 AM)Putin Closes Wrote:  

(01-05-2016 11:51 PM)Global Entry Wrote:  Another big expert - with respect, leave your ego at the door, sir. No need to claim to be a big expert (we'll still read your posts and perhaps make our own determination of how helpful your expertise is), and yes, even though I'm no expert (knowledgeable perhaps) I've seen travelisfree (meh) and the rest of the repackaged and consolidated junk on Boarding Area, including the awards booking services to which you linked, and I do peruse flyertalk but more use it to search specifically for what I am looking for, as I can live without the attitude of many of the most frequent posters there, those who seem to post to scratch some egotistical itch or validation need they have rather than to be helpful or informative.

Looking at Flyermiler, which I haven't used before, that does look more detailed and useful, and not overwhelming by any stretch of the imagination for people familiar with award travel. Gonna play with that for a while.

Welcome to the thread.

(01-05-2016 10:55 AM)Putin Closes Wrote:  

(01-05-2016 07:12 AM)Global Entry Wrote:  I saw that pop up on the blogs yesterday as well - its only part of the puzzle, but its definitely a helpful tool. It doesn't inform much on the earning side/cost of miles side, and routing is a quandary, but it seems pretty good. Unfortunately, I'm not sold on its reliability quite yet. My first search was for an upcoming redemption I want to book from PEK to CGK. While the engine provided the right figures for AA redemptions (22,500 AA miles), for UA it gave me the same figure, while booking online on UA shows 35,000 for a mixed class booking, and 40K for the saver business, one way.

The reason is simple - his engine included CGK (Jakarta) in North Asia, and it should be in South Asia (quite an easy issue to fix). Anyway, I'm sure he'll get it right, and hopefully (1) improve it, and (2) have it still not be used too widely. Most people don't think about buying different program miles to keep available for such uses, and selfishly, I hope that doesn't change. For the most part, the top end programs' seats are a zero sum game, and what someone is newly booking is a redemption that isn't available to me, even when many airlines fly with empty premium class seats.

NM, nice contribution to the thread, tho. Thumbs up.

(01-04-2016 02:14 PM)nmmoooreland20 Wrote:  Just came across this tool recently. Allows you to put in an origin/destination pairing and tells you the cheapest award program redemption:

http://www.travelcodex.com/how-many-mile...rt-search/

Definitely not the first, quite a few sites have had such a tool for a while. I'm surprised you haven't heard of them. At least three off the top of my head:

http://www.flyermiler.com/ - Very technical, but great for experts like myself

http://www.topmiles.com - Most newbie friendly, popped up on the map recently, by far the most popular option of the three

http://www.awardace.com/ - In the middle seems to try and be newbie friendly but ends up going right back to the jargon

Almost all the best content I've found is OFF boarding area, which is just a conglomerate of bloggers who take ideas and ping it off each other. Really its quite laughable how much they repackage content, I'd call it the buzzfeed of miles travel.

http://www.travelisfree.com is by far my favorite resource for advanced travel hacking

My intention was not to be an egomaniac. However, I can sense a hint of resentment from you of making the miles "hobby" more open. I am glad more people are finding out about this personally, no need to be greedy and keep it like fight club, which is what FT has become.

After all, this is a luxury, and seems like many posters on FT treat it as a privilege. How many first class trips on the same airline can you do before it starts getting repetitive.

I am sure all those "travel bloggers" who make newbies pay to book awards from them aren't happy its become easier and easier to learn by yourself.

Anyways, I've been reading your thread, your knowledge is quite useful to the average newbie, so I am sure many readers here appreciate your posts.

I personally think travelisfree is the most useful travel resource out there for someone who isn't a complete newbie. Obviously much more advanced stuff on FT if you dig through code speak, the "trick it" thread use to be a goldmine until the german / polish blogs cracked the code and posting deals there.

Post: #946

Double dipping...or triple.

Lots of programs have overlapping promos, and then one may be accessing more than one points program at the same time via a booking. Some are fairly obvious - points from an unaffiliated points credit card and from a hotel stay, thats clearly giving you a double dip. If you add in booking through an OTA (which may make sense under some circumstances where there is a big price drop), then getting those OTA points (from say Agoda, Expedia or Orbitz) can represent a triple dip.

Im currently in Jakarta at a major chain hotel (and yes, in my opinion, its fine to visit the city, the incidents of yesterday didn't have any major impact, despite how heavily they were played up in the news). The chain, IHG, has a promotion that allows for generous points bonuses for stays over the next month of so, which is why I'm doing IHG, and not my preferred Hyatt (pricey in Jakarta anyway) or SPG (the better hotels are pricey too, the others older properties or poorly located).

In addition to the bonus points for the stay (under the 2016 accelerate promotion - registration required), rather than getting bonus points from using my IHG Chase credit card, I booked using the Citi Prestige. Prestige has a program where if you book 4 nights, they refund the cost of one of the nights if (1) you book though Carson Wagonlit, the Prestige authorized travel agency, and (2) you use your Prestige card (tho apparently this is in dispute, I'm not testing it as 3x points on the Prestige card is a good enough reason to use it anyway). So for that reason I booked through CW (after checking that the price difference between booking this way and through other ways wasn't significant vs. getting 1/4 nights free. The free night, which includes the taxes, will be worth a rebate of around 125, and should post two billing cycles for now. Do this a few times and you've paid for the $450 fee on this card (which is actually 200 after you've spend 250 on an airline ticket, with the airline expenditure rebate). CW had dozens of options in Jakarta for booking.

I'll get four nights credit for points etc with IHG, when booking with Prestige through CW, and all the benefits of my status with the chain (Spire). So I'm not having to choose between saving the money and having my benefits. They upgraded me to a club room with free breakfast and I'll save the money, plus earn 3x points on the Prestige card. In addition, I'll get 4/5 (because as far as IHG is concerned I am staying 4 nights, not the three I am paying for) for the bonus points which require five nights stay during the period.

When considering how to book, its not just through the hotel or airline's website or not. Its also which card to use, and have you registered for any ongoing promotions. Almost all of the hotel programs run promotions in the first quarter of the year, when bookings can be slow - stay on top of them if you can just by perusing a blog like View From The Wing, or Loyalty lobby, and make sure to register for them. Then put those benefits into your calculus when considering which bookings you want to make.

I'll be splitting my bookings up to maximize my earnings/minimize my costs. I just earned around 5K points (not even including the credit card points I'll get for AMEX SPG spending on a SPG hotel) for a stay at the W Chang'an in Beijing for one night, which for me is worth around 250-300 dollars towards an airline ticket in biz class (more if I use for F). The price of the room was 223.

I guess I'd venture to stay that I don't do any stays that are single dips (meaning I'm always getting CC points and taking part in some other promotion, even if its a discount code on Orbitz or something), and the same largely holds true for airline tickets. I've done very well triple dipping, and in some cases, like the recent W Chang'an stay, I got credit card points, an upgrade to a ridiculously nice suite, and points from two separate promotions at the same time, all for a single nights stay. That's how you make hi-end travel cheap.

Post: #947

There is a targeted offer on the United Club visa card. First year free, then 450/year.

The card includes full United Club membership with benefits such as unlimited United and Star Alliance lounge access for you and companions, guaranteed seat availability for United flights miles redemption (United metal and standard redemption rates only) and 2 checked bags for free. No spend requirement, no introductory bonus.

You can check here if you qualify (need to enter your United Mileage Plus credentials) mpclubcard.com/rsvp . Word is they are casting a pretty wide net with this offer.

There is more information on Flyertalk and The Points Guy websites.

I'm going to get the card just for the free lounge access for a year and then cancel before the 450 fee kicks in. My understanding is that you don't need to fly United to be able to use Star Alliance lounges with this card, but please correct me if I'm wrong.

Post: #948

(01-24-2016 12:10 PM)Brodiaga Wrote:  There is a targeted offer on the United Club visa card. First year free, then 450/year.

The card includes full United Club membership with benefits such as unlimited United and Star Alliance lounge access for you and companions, guaranteed seat availability for United flights miles redemption (United metal and standard redemption rates only) and 2 checked bags for free. No spend requirement, no introductory bonus.

You can check here if you qualify (need to enter your United Mileage Plus credentials) mpclubcard.com/rsvp . Word is they are casting a pretty wide net with this offer.

There is more information on Flyertalk and The Points Guy websites.

I'm going to get the card just for the free lounge access for a year and then cancel before the 450 fee kicks in. My understanding is that you don't need to fly United to be able to use Star Alliance lounges with this card, but please correct me if I'm wrong.

If you want to use the (participating) Star Alliance lounges, then this card requires a flight on a Star Alliance airline, not necessarily United. A nice option is the Lufthansa lounge at Dulles.

Still, if you have any kind of status, you can status match your way to Star Gold status easily. This card is not worth a credit pull and the first year free option has always been available with an easy workaround.

If you don't fly often and only fly United then this card is a decent choice.

Post: #949

^Thanks. Can you elaborate on "status matching your way so Star Gold status easily"? Is it a gold status with another airline which is part of the Star Alliance or with the alliance itself? How can you get this status as a United Club member?

Post: #950

Gracias ElCid. Booked it via Aeroplan on Turkish biz for 115k miles and only $85 in taxes.