It’s been a tough 18 months in the frequent flyer world. It’s easier than ever to earn points, but the cost of awards has gone up, up, up.
Miles and points have been very good to me, and I do my best to give back where I can. I don’t make a public show of my charity, but I do my best to give the best advice I can and to offer giveaways when things are offered to me. And when I have gift cards, I can either turn them into money orders or do various frequent flyer experiments, or I can give them away.
So here, I thought I would give away $400. And what better way to give them away than to my readers who comment on this post?
Goodness knows it’s been a tough 15 months or so for frequent flyers.
- United devalued its award chart, especially premium cabin awards and especially partner awards in first class.
- Delta devalued its award chart, and then decided they didn’t want to wait for changes to go into effect so they imposed an interim devaluation. Then they finally decided to go revenue-based.
- Southwest devalued its points, underscoring just how arbitrary such changes can be — there’s no fundamental reason to devalue a revenue-based frequent flyer program, higher ticket prices automatically make an award cost more already. Here they just decided to make their points worth less.
- American eliminated international gateway stopovers and distance-based awards and US Airways eliminated the 90,000 mile business class award.
- Hilton devalued the most among hotels, such that I am no longer inclined to stay with them when I can avoid it. I didn’t re-up my Diamond status (or accept free Gold status).
- Others devalued as well – Marriott with big award category shifts, Hyatt with a new more expensive award category 7 and other changes.
And that’s just a small sampling.
So I would like to focus on something positive for a change, and I’m looking to you for help to do so!
Here are the prizes:
- (4) $100 gift cards
So here’s how you enter.
- Leave a comment on this blog post. Say something positive above miles and points, blogs, forums, or your fellow travelers.
- Enter by Noon Eastern, Friday May 30. That’s 4 days from this writing, and there are four prizes.
- Enter no more than 4 times. Four prizes, four days to enter, you can enter by commenting up to four times. (It doesn’t have to be one per day, the only limitation is that you cannot enter twice in a row you have to at least wait for someone else to enter before you enter again each time.)
- Four prize winners will be drawn at random. As in past, I will use random.org for the drawing.
- Fine print. Void where prohibited by law. All of my decisions are final and unappealable, I want to make giveaways as easy as possible and with the fewest headaches possible.
So, what do you like about miles and points, blogs, forums, or your fellow travelers?
- You can join the 40,000+ people who see these deals and analysis every day — sign up to receive posts by email (just one e-mail per day) or subscribe to the RSS feed. It’s free. You can also follow me on Twitter for the latest deals. Don’t miss out!
ON THE BRIGHT SIDE (3)
It’s still pretty easy to use miles to fly locally in Y.
It’s not the most wanted scenario, but it’s handy. And cheap.
Points and miles can be given away to needy folks facing emergency flights, medical needs, etc.
I love the thrill of finding the deals!
Even with miles and points devalued so often and so steeply almost daily, it is with our miles and points that we can “afford” to travel and experience so many parts of the world we’ve dreamed about visiting for so long. We hoard miles and points, which I know is a “no-no,” but taking that one great trip a year fulfills our dreams! Thanks for all your insight over the years. Your blog has enabled us to earn and spend our miles and points to the best possible advantage!
You don´t have to go to United, AA or Delta! Let´s use the 2X1 Lifemiles promotion!
Despite all the devaluations and bad news, miles and points remain the best way to get a “rebate” back on your travel spend and cheaper than paying outright for aspirational travel!
Positive vibes for positive miles!!
You still have the error fares to earn miles at less than 1 cpm!
I don’t want to spend thousands on airfare to hawaii, so I’m glad the mainland to hawaii award flights did not go up too much
ON THE BRIGHT SIDE (4)
Let’s face it. Despite all devaluations, we still are privileged. It’s still amazing to explore the world paying very little in air fares and flying comfortably. It’s an exciting time to be alive 🙂
Trip reports are the most enjoyable
I’ve taken some amazing trips with miles and points!
I don’t care what other people say I like US Airways 🙂
SWA got me my first trip to NYC and an upcoming first trip to Napa Valley! Even after their deval, Rapid Rewards is one of my favorite programs.
Miles are still better than money!!! I can´t afford a business class ticket with money, but can afford with miles! =)
At least some airlines still fly to fsd!
As long as I can fly from NYC to ORD via LAX, I still can earn lots of miles
Miles and points help us able to have 2.5 weeks in Europe for less than $4000. It was such a dream vacation.
Still some great values to be had with Marriott, SPG, even Hilton with 5 nights for 4 on points.
Even with devaluations, i’m still trying to save up for once in a lifetime rewards for my parents!
In five years miles have taken me further then I thought I’d ever get in my lifetime
I appreciate the willingness of everyone to share their expertise with me. I’m fairly new to the game and I’ve learned a lot over the last year.
Despite the devaluation, miles and points still allow premium travel at reasonable prices! My wife and I used miles to fly business class to Europe on our Honeymoon!
I’ve met so many interesting ppl from FT and Mp traveling for free
Even after trashing their award programs on the net, they still let me fly on their airlines!
I’m new and I loved getting the companion pass
Copa Airlines has a great Business/First from MVD-MIA/JFL via PTY.
We all went to my son’s graduation in Chicago because of airline miles.
I’m thankful for my upcoming trip o SYD on qantas F, for only 140k usairways miles
I love to travel with my adult children. I have learned so much from reading the blogs that I can now redeem points to take them with me on vacations they would not be able to afford!
We are so lucky because most people have no idea about how to travel for free, while we do.
One time someone commented “nice post Octavian!”, that was pretty cool
I am still finding good fares using travel blogs.
I’ve been able to give my mom the trip of a lifetime… first class to Thailand!
We are actually thinking of living in a hotel if we relocate for a new job. I would have never thought of that as an option before reading all the online travel blogs.
Still great to be able to find seats at the last minute using miles and not having to pay exorbitant prices.
This community of sharing is awesome!
It is positive that I have not complain about anything today.
I like that I get to fly with my wife to places we might not usually be able to.
It is positive that I have not complained about anything today.
Love the community
I love boarding area.com!
I love figuring out how to book awards online. It’s such a challenge it’s half the fun of travel.
I love boarding area.com!
Miles and points have given me the chance to let my dreams come true!
A (virtually) free ticket to anywhere is ALWAYS worth the effort. Travel is like a fine wine, better each time. Indulge.
I am positive that I will travel more and pay less thanks to boarding area.
Miles and points changed my life. No way a poor 24 year old could travel to Europe and all around the US without them.
Free travel. Period.
The thing I like about miles? How easy it is to accumulate thanks to credit cards and shopping portals