One of the things I really enjoy doing is responding to reader questions. Here’s your chance. I will my best to cover many of your questions. Some I may answer right away, others that I answer will take me a few weeks.
Please leave requests in the comments section. Some I may answer there and some will be standalone posts if they seem like the answers would help many readers..
As my boss once wrote making a similar request on his blog, “The only promise is that of weak monotonicity, namely that your mention won’t lower the chance of the topic being covered.” In other words, I won’t promise to cover everything, though I’ll read and ponder everything that’s written here in the comments.
I’d love to hear from you!
I’m needing a recommendation on a good, reasonably priced airport hotel at JFK. Any suggestions?
where has all the Y award space on AA Gone to Hawaii?
How to get to Australia on points for Christmas and New Years?
Gary, here’s one for you: Why are the Maldives more highly sought after, over Tahiti (the next logical comparison, with over water bungalows and such)? I know why you like MLE, because of the remote/disconnectedness, but the overall miles and points community is just so incredibly focused on them. This asked from a guy who has not yet made it there (but hopefully in 2017!).
I’m a 1K who will requalify soon. If I start crediting United flights to singapore, I assume I won’t get E+ or upgrades? Maybe would at least get lounge access?
I’d like a post about using points for award flights and hotel rooms for families, and especially those of 5+. Which airlines have that kind of availability in economy and business? And which hotels with award nights have rooms for 5 (Ergo Embassy Suites or Residence Inn)? In other words, which loyalty programs should families be focused on.
@Donna the best JFK airport hotels are (1) the Hilton, (2) the Sheraton. Before either of those was opened/converted the best a decade ago was the Hilton Garden Inn but I haven’t been there recently to vouch. For an airport hotel you want the hotel attached to the airport, if there is one (there isn’t at JFK) and next you want the most recently renovated one. Not sure what you consider reasonably priced but for my own preferences I usually go with the Hilton.
@Jeff the same place all the other award space on AA has gone. 🙁
@TravellerAtoZ – that is peak of peak high season, the flights sell out, award space is tough. Last year American had just launched their new flight, and it was going out half empty. But in general you can only get non-stop US-Australia awards when there’s a big dump of award space, perhaps by mistake, so you watch for it. Otherwise fly via Asia, and that’s tough for Christmas and New Years too. I long for a few years ago when Virgin Australia would make 4 business class award seats available even over those holidays…
@Trevor, I think it’s several things…
1. The Maldives, as remote as it is, is easier to get to. French Polynesia has service only on Air France (non-daily) and Air Tahiti Nui from Los Angeles and Hawaiian once-weekly from Honolulu. Price and mileage costs are high and availability can be tough. In contrast the Gulf carriers are great for the Maldives, plus there’s been growing service in recent years such as Cathay and Turkish.
2. Few great value award properties in French Polynesia, though I think the Hilton Bora Bora Nui probably qualifies. (If you could get award nights more easily at Intercontinental Thalasso that would be your best bet.) Park Hyatt Maldives is a great points value in comparison and lots of people have Hilton points for the Conrad Maldives.
3. French Polynesia has an element of France to it…. they go on strike, service is surprisingly lacking for the price point.
4. I far prefer Sri Lankan food common in the Maldives.
I have been earning and saving AA miles so that my wife and myself can travel one day in First Class from LAX to New Zealand and/or Australia around the month of November(2017 or later). I have 580k American Airline miles before the devaluation messed up my strategy. What is my best strategy now to get us First Class tickets and how many more miles do I really need?
@AE you can get your economy plus seat and even upgrades and then switch the program you’re crediting miles to. If you earned Singapore status (Star Gold) you’d get lounge access domestically.
@Beck I can speak to award routes but am sadly clueless on rooms that accommodate 5 people 🙂
@Jonathan your best strategy is to wait and watch for award space to open up, rather than paying the triple miles or so that American will want for their flights.
Or plan a trip US -> Asia, Asia -> Australia at the saver level.
So here it is my question:
I’m already an ExecPlat at AA with 163 EQM as of now. Soon I’ll have some flights on AA and BA and some others in JJ in Z class.
I was wondering… with all these changes at the Aadvantage program, would you start building up status in another FF program? I was thinking about Latam Fidelidade – TAM (not Latam Pass – LAN) since “domestic-wise” it is the only airline that I fly. Internationally I’ll be using more OneWorld carriers.
I only use Alaska Air to buy miles and redeem those aspirational awards (like Emirates F class, CX F class, for instance).
What would you do?
Speaking of the Maldives – what’s your best strategy for getting there and back from the east coast on a premium award, assuming fairly good flexibility on transferable and AA miles to redeem?
I’m trying to find two F seats on Cathay in about a year. What would you suggest? Also, I read a report that close in space doesn’t show on BA. Have you run into this?
Thanks for doing this.
Oops. Flexible cities.
If I earn Hyatt Diamond status early next year, when will the status expire?
What’s the message the new AA ad campaign is really trying to convey? Did they intend to be so very insulting to EVERYONE or was it just poor execution of some different message? I cannot, for the life of me, figure out what I’m supposed to be taking from it . . .(and I say that as one of the “greatest flyers”, apparently).
Hi Gary…
Do you predict that AA will allow high-tier (EXP) status to be earned through credit card spend (similar to Delta)?
Is there any way (other than registering a primary address outside the US) for minors to avoid PQD requirement for UA? Husband and I will both meet ours AND are exempt per Chase spend. But what about for our kids (ages 11 & 13), who will both have miles for Platinum but not PQD?
Mileage running is largely gone and multiple credit card bonuses don’t look long for the world. What’s the next game going to be?
Hi Gary,
Starting a new job (actually adventure!) and will be flying to west Africa every other month. Need rewards card but credit score at 610. Never owned cc, now have TD Bank secure card w $2,500 ceiling. Suggestions?
Thanks so much, love your insight!
Always,
Will
@Gary
A million thanks!
@Will Wharff – most important thing is, do you have any card balances? Because you want the lowest interest rate possible, look at 0% balance transfer offers as well with no balance transfer fee. 610 is a bit low for most rewards cards, airline cards tend to approve with lower scores, Southwest’s in particular. I’d also look at Citi’s Double Cash but you also probably want a card with no foreign transaction fees.
@LarryInNYC – mileage running TO EARN MILES really hasn’t been a thing in a decade. for status it still exists, cheap business class fares on partners.
I think credit cards have more of a future, with new products and issuers. long run (10-15 years) I think interchange is a bigger problem than bonus restrictions. when that happens things will get harder.
@Travel Mom– you’ve identified a real hole in the exemption…
@Jason they seemed to suggest there’d be something like that back in June but they came out with new credit card deals and we haven’t heard anything about it yet. We should know soon.
@GloverParker – I think the new ad campaign can be criticized but it’s coming under some unfair criticism too. I think execution was poor but also some criticisms are off.
I don’t think American is saying “great flyers take what they’re given and shut up” as people seem to be claiming.
They’re saying experienced flyers want to fly American, and here are some things we all know as experienced flyers….
The problem is that business travelers DON’T really want to fly American these days, they don’t have the generous mileage program they used to and they don’t have the airline operation Delta does. So the ad campaign exposes a disconnect between marketing and reality.
As I wrote in my post on the ad campaign, it actually COULD be quite good if it served as a real touchstone for the company, BECOMING THE AIRLINE THAT GREAT FLYERS WANT TO FLY. Then doing everything possible with that focus to actually be that airline.
@Christian if you earn the status in 2017 it will expire Feb 2019
@Christian – BA.com wasn’t showing some specific routes for sure. Check Qantas, check Expertflyer. Cathay tends to open only one seat on long haul US-Asia a year out. Some Europe routes they open more, intra-Asia also. You could book 1 F / 1 J and hope something else opens or book on two different flights and monitor both for another seat.
1. What’s the best program to use for redeeming points within Australia? I know AA is 10k one-way but am miles poor with AA right now and have tons of MR & TY Pts.
2. What’s the best miles currency to use for redeeming points for shorthaul within Southeast Asia and for travel on which airline? (Or shall I just pay cash on a low fair carrier?)
3. Rank the best 3 or best 5 low cost budget airlines in Asia.
4. When redeeming BA Avios for a short flight between two cities (under 650 miles & outside the USA) that requires a connection should it cost 4,500 miles per segment (like BA website shows me) or should it be 4,500 Avios for the entire two-segment, single ticket? (i.e. HKT – SIN via KUL on MH)
5. Finally, I was ticketed x2 in first class on SY flight SIN-IAH via DME in early January ’17 and wait listed on the 380 flight to JFK when SY changed their routes. Now my flight goes through MAN and arrives at IAH 15-minutes later. Could I use this schedule change as grounds for pushing through my wait list on the A380 to JFK? Should I?
@Steve I love Etihad first class US-Abu Dhabi but that’s going to require an overnight connection to get to Male. I’ve done it 4 times I think. You can also look for Qatar business class, ideally on their A350.
@George I’m not really sure what the benefit of status on another oneworld airline is going to be for you, how much status will you earn and how much will you fly the local airline?
Why is the Amex biz plat $300 per AU while the personal is $175? Are there additional benefits for biz AUs?
Of all of the world’s airlines, has the best mileage program?
@Justin not REALLY, there are a few business plat benefits but nothing to ‘justify’ the fee other than who is paying it. Business Platinum cards really are for small businesses and the product decisions are being made by a different team.
Planning trip on Aeroflot from LAX-LED and return SVO-LAX using Flying Blue miles. Even though the Delta website showed available seats (30k each way), FB customer service didn’t seem interested in searching anything other than AF or KLM. Placed 4 calls, 2 to FB’s US and 2 to customer service in France. No luck. Finally had to bite the bullet and pay the extra 10k/RT using Sky Miles. Any suggestion for dealing with FB in the future?
@Joe that’s a GREAT question. And my first instinct is to demur, different programs are great for different purposes, depends on what’s important to you…. I love Korean Air SkyPass, Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer, and Etihad Guest a lot from a “transfer credit card points and redeem” perspective. I think that American AAdvantage still (barely) offers the best top elite program that you can qualify for based on published criteria. For reasonable redemption availability, no fuel surchrages, and a good elite program united should probably be up there. But this all underscores that you have to specify whether you’re talking about the earn and burn aspects of a program, or elite recognition, and what’s important to you…
I have a QF F booking SYD-DXB-LHR, with an 8-hour layover in DXB First Class Terminal.
I also have the opportunity to change DXB-LHR into a BA F bookinig, for a longer layover in DXB. If I do that, will I have access to the FCT at all?
Thanks! It’s stumped BA, QF, and EX agents.
What’s the best airline for a biz/first class award from east coast to tokyo?
Thanks for doing this!
Gary,
I’m seriously wondering if AA miles are worth much. Looking even 11 months ahead for award travel on business class to Europe or Mid East, 95%+ of the award inventory is something using BA through LHR whose fuel surcharge means effectively you pay $1100 for a biz class and they take 130K+ miles from you too. United has way more award inventory out 11 months. I’m a lifetime million miler on AA but looking forward, it all seems Star Alliance over oneworld to me.
@Kamal Ali – I suspect you’re looking for award space at AA.com and the website simply doesn’t support most of their airline partners, so you don’t see the space that *is* available. Search online using the British Airways site and then call…
American isn’t great for Europe precisely for the reason you identify, the BA fuel surcharges and BA is their primary transatlantic partner. American releases space on their own flights in spurts and you have to be vigilant. For Mideast though no miles are better than AA’s since they partner with both Etihad and Qatar as well as Royal Jordanian.
@Danielle – for quality, or do you mean best mileage program for awards? I’d say that Star Alliance miles get you United and ANA plus Asiana via Seoul, good availability and good products.
@Cliff Redeker as an arriving Qantas first class passenger, connecting onto BA F, you would not have access to Emirates lounges in Dubai.
British Airways first class is definitely inferior to Qantas first class as well.
@Ralph this wasn’t bookable on the AirFrance.us website?
What is the best strategy for people who get miles by buying them? What programs have miles that are worth buying (at a price that is at least sometimes available)?
Which mileage programs do you think are overdue for a devaluation?
Focusing on hotels, what do you think are reasonable benchmarks for hotel currency redemptions? Just as a rule of thumb-I get some are points rich and cash poor, others may want to earn an elite stay night (some programs only grant for paid stays).
Within Hyatt, SPG and Hilton which properties do you think offer the best redemption value/are your favorites?
Is there a good way to do a calendar search for award flights to Europe that are ONLY on AA metal? If you go to aa.com and click non-stop, for a route like LHR-JFK it doesn’t help much since BA also does that route non-stop. Moreover, when you do something like CDG-JFK and click non-stop only, you get the Openskies flights to EWR, which are also no good. (I’m trying to avoid big fuel surcharges here.)
Similarly, is there a good way to do a calendar search for award flights only on United metal? The partner awards cost more and I’m looking just for UA.
I just checked the Delta website for June 30, 2017. SU 106 is available for 30k. Checking AirFrance.us, no Aeroflot service is listed. However, connections are available thru Rome, Amsterdam or Paris.
@Matt when you go to do the award search, don’t search from the aa.com home page but actually navigate to award search. There you can specify “AA only” and then you will see AA metal only.
@Joe I think that LifeMiles sales below 1.4 cents are worthwhile…
@Jeff i think we could see more UA devaluation, it’s been 3 years since they’ve announced one (although they did just devalue stopovers). i think alaska airlines mileage plan has an award chart that’s too good relative to competitors especially for first class redemptions on airlines other than emirates.
@Josh G – my points valuations are here, including for hotel programs:
http://viewfromthewing.com/2016/01/19/value-of-miles/
I tend to like higher-end hotels. But whether a given hotel is worthwhile on points vs cash on a given night depends on the cash price, Hilton charges a range of prices within a category and so is the closest to revenue-based on redemptions of the major hotel programs so you’ll get less great values. In general though hotels are placed in categories based on their average rates, but off season or certain days of week rates are low and redemptions don’t make sense but during high season or special events you get outsized value.
I love Park Hyatt Maldives, I think there’s few properties that are better value than Park Hyatt Mendoza (although not every loves the hotel…), Grand Hyatt Kuala Lumpur just dropped in category. Park Hyatt Chennai is amazing value… I did love my stay at Starwood’s Al Maha this year, using the 35% off promo (but it’s still 39k points per night– all inclusive for a standalone villa with pool, and activities are included too).
Not a question but a belated thank you. Your tip last year allowed us to book 3 award seats this summer in AA J LAX-LHR. Daughter’s 1st trip to Europe and going in style made it special.
With Europe cash fares being heavily discounted in many instances for winter and sometimes early spring travel, do you foresee the carriers extending the sales to their point customers? For instance I remember that United recently reduced their European round trip flights for a short time to 45k or so. Do you think that we might see more of this?
Is there much availability for two people in F on JAL from the U.S.?
People have reported being able to renew Global Entry without another interview. Will Nexus also renew without an interview?
I live in HNL, would like to travel to SIN, anywhere in Japan or Korea, and HKG; order doesn’t matter. What’s the best way to book award tickets? Is UA the best option?
Does the chase 5/24 apply to there Southwest Airlines card?
Any idea on what the point redemption rates for Hawaiian Air using Jet Blue points is? I have the 75,000 points for the Virgin match, and not sure what the best use is.
Thanks!
Question about JetBlue points:
Now that I’ve got 75,000 of them from the Virgin America max, do you know what the redemptions are for Hawaiian Airlines? It looks like that’s the only other airline that you can use JetBlue points for.
Thanks Gary!
i am incredibly, ridiculously frugal. back in the days of amex serve, i could hit minimum spend requirements on cc’s. now, i can’t.
i know of tactics like the staples gc deals and reselling stuff on eBay etc etc.
but is there ANYthing currently out there similar to amex serve where i can sort of “spend” money on a cc while, really, just ultimately xfer’ing it back to my bank account?
thanks for your site,
How many aa elites will be culled by the recent changes? I don’t see much point in trying to get back to aa plat since I have lifetime gold, my company mandates cheap economy tickets, and I barely make gold if I fly next year like this year. It seems easier/better to go after some other program (for me, Alaska since I travel to Seattle) and churn credit cards instead of bothering with aa and the new rules.
i am incredibly, ridiculously frugal. back in the days of amex serve, i could hit minimum spend requirements on cc’s. now, i can’t.
i know of tactics like the staples gc deals and reselling stuff on eBay etc etc.
but is there ANYthing currently out there similar to amex serve where i can sort of “spend” money on a cc while, really, just ultimately xfer’ing it back to my bank account?
thanks for your site,
Hello, I-m from chile and never made a conection in the US, so if you can help me with the MCT for a conection in houston from Lima to Toronto in bussines with united
I have 4 one-ways DFW-LIH booked with AA. Still need return flights and have Chase UR and Citi Thank You. Dates aren’t flexible and need either 1/13 or 1/14 return. Flying Blue has no availability. My understanding is that Singapore doesn’t allow free one-ways anymore? Would love to build in a free one way to Europe or anywhere. Is United my only choice? Just want to know if I’m overlooking something? Want to get the best value for my points. Thanks!
I almost always fly paid first domestically and use points for international business/first travel. A lot of the benefits for elites have to do with upgrades. What’s the best way for me to maximize both my free travel as well as my fringe benefits (lounge access, etc.)
When was the last time you flew international economy? I don’t mean like IAD-LHR, but rather a 9 hour+ flight?
FlyingBlue has an unusual expiration policy: unlike other airlines, where any account activity resets the expiration clock, with FB you actually have to fly to “save” your miles. A while back (2013-05-12) you explained FB’s expiration policy thusly: “Air France/KLM: Non-elites lose their miles after 20 months without a flight on a Flying Blue or Skyteam airline”. I suppose this include any paid flight on a partner airline (such as Delta or Aeroflot) where I have made sure to have FF miles credited to my FlyingBlue. What about award flights: if I use some of my FB miles for an award ticket for myself, and fly on that ticket, does it reset the expiration clock as well? What about using my FB miles to get an award ticket for someone else – I guess this won’t reset the clock?
What is the best option to get a family of 4 to South Africa or Austailia from JFK with AA and BA points?
Also SFO direct flight from NYC ?
Have an 8 hour layover in IST via Turkish airlines (economy) that doesn’t qualify for accommodation not free your because of landing time. How does one pass all that time. I figured CIP lounge but there seems to be no way to access it for a fee. Any advice?
If I buy Disney tickets with a Chase Reserve, will I be reimbursed the $300 credit?
I was recently treated very badly by a AA gate agent at PHL. To the point that they actually yelled at passengers in line for no apparent reason. I would like to formally complain to AA management about this situation as it also included the local supervisor. Who would be the most effective person or department to reach out to in this situation?
I would like to maximize newly received (not by flying) Virgin and JetBlue status. Which airlines match status? Worth it??
What are the expiration rules for Miles & More? It’s not after 3 years of earning the miles because I earned miles over 3 years ago and still have them in my account. I called LH M&M, and they said that the miles won’t expire for “at least” another year, but they couldn’t give me an exact expiration date.
What would you recommend reading to figure out the basics of manufactured spending?
This might be a bit tricky but could you give us a comparison and help us understand how much premium should United Miles command over Avianca miles? Both are * Alliance and they have their quirks. But Avianca miles can be purchased for almost 30% less than UA miles. So, the $5000 question is: if one had the option of purchasing both miles, how much premium he/she should pay for UA over Avianca? If at 1.43 cents, Avianca miles are great value, should one even focus on getting UA miles through credit card spending?
I’ve asked this question of you a number of times, maybe I’ll be lucky this time. Have you personally made a claim on the CSP for damage to a rental car? Do you know anybody who has? I’d like to hear real world experiences, especially with non-US rental companies. Ease of claim, speed of payment, docs required, completeness of payment, and especially circumstances of non-payment. Thanks.
Ask you anything?
1) Can you unify the theories of general and special relativity?
I’ll stop there
While i do read this site, its quite US focused. Is there a UK equivalent you could recommend?
For USB Flexperks, and I assume some other bank rewards, there’s a “trick” to redeem for a Southwest ticket and then cancel the ticket and have the funds to use on Southwest. Do other airlines have tickets that can be cancelled and funds made available so this trick would work for them?
Are there any protections on a business credit card that aren’t there on the personal version? For instance, I buy most of my company’s inventory on a mix of personal and business credit cards. Is there any business focused purchase protections (for instance protections covering inventory in a fire or something) on the business cards that make them worth using over the personal cards?
What’s the best use of a $100 United Voucher that expires today? I live in HNL. Thanks!
I paid for two award tickets on BA to fly on Cathay, and I bought one actual ticket with real money on Cathay through Chase site. Would there be any mile gain in calling a Cathay Pacific person to combine my air tickets? Is there a way to combine the tickets? They do form a round trip, and are within the 23 hour layover rule. PVG-HKG-SGN, SGN-HKG-PVG. Also, is there any way to become a member of the Marco Polo club without paying a 100 fee?
What is the easiest and most efficient way to book a 2 week vacation to Italy (flight and hotels) combining Amex, Chase, and Citi reward points?
@Matt the only good hotel transfer partner is Hyatt, so if you want those points to cover hotels then transfer Chase to Hyatt and then you’ll want to use Citi and Amex points for air. You can transfer both to Singapore Airlines and book Star Alliance flights with fuel surcharges. You can transfer both to Air France and book with somewhat more modest fuel surcharges (and you can fly Alitalia). You can transfer to Etihad and if you fly Brussels Airlines there are no fuel surcharges. You can transfer Amex to Aeroplan and I’ve outlined the airlines where Aeroplan doesn’t add fuel surcharges.
@MaryE you’re not going to be able to combine those tickets into a single reservation nor is there really any benefit to do so
@Benji generally no although many business cards and very few personal cards offer primary collision coverage when renting cars, but often restricting this benefits to rentals for business purposes. Business cards don’t have the same legal protections for disputes and unauthorized charges that personal cards do though in practice card company procedures are often similar.
@tassojunior – Citi ThankYou Rewards years ago used to give you greater value for premium cabin awards than for coach awards, so people would book a non-refundable premium cabin ticket then cancel (had to be non-refundable or ticket would get refunded to citi) to keep the flight credit. even before that citi would buy you tickets that met certain criteria regardless of cost, those were the days….
@Phil “Head for Points” is UK-focused
@losingtrader No, I cannot.
@SH in SF – I haven’t ever damaged a rental car myself, I have helped my father in law submit a credit card claim for rental car damage. You just have to report it and do the paperwork and follow up in case there’s a discrepancy between what the rental agency wants (eg loss of use fees) and what the card’s insurer is willing to provide
@jediwho – they have fairly simlar award charts. the difference is that United has better customer service and better ability to piece together itineraries by phone. I’d pay a 20% premium for United miles, but LifeMiles discounts more than that, so I buy LifeMiles but not United miles.
@Kathy see the PointChaser blog
Hi Gary,
I have 2 questions. First, I have 4 family member accounts with flying blue each with 5k points. They are about to expire at the end of this month. I am trying to find a way to extend their life. The only option i see is to buy more thru points.com, do you know of a way to either consolidate them into 1 acct or extend their life?
Second, I have a paid trip planned on AA. The flight schedule has changed already 3 times for a flight that is still 4 months away. I know that award tkts can be cancelled free because of a schedule change, is it the same for paid tkts ?
@A – Lufthansa’s Miles & More miles expire at the end of the quarter 36 months after they’re earned, unless you’re an elite or have their co-brand credit card and make a purchase on it every month.
@DaninMCI you won’t get real action, you might get some compensation. I would both email customer relations (https://www.aa.com/contact/forms?topic=CR) and tweet @AmericanAir
@kath a status match is only worth it if you are going to fly the airline you match to. What are your travel plans? I like matches to foreign airlines for lounge access (see statusmatcher.com)
@Jamie – I believe both the primeclass and comfort lounges in Istanbul an be paid-in
Just a comment that it is really awesome to make such a nice offer to try to answer questions. Very few people want to take their time to help others. I appreciate the offer.
I booked a deal on a whim 6 months ago which is set to depart this Friday.
$280 round trip JFK-LIS-FCO (TAP)
I added in DTW-LGA r/t using an AA bump voucher ($225) and added in FCO-ATH r/t on Alitalia paid $140 cash.
Welp – first time in my life I have decided to cancel a trip entirely. 8 flights in 8 days to spend 4 days in Greece and 1 in Lisbon when I have other things going on right now just doesn’t feel like a good experience.
Should I contact each airline today and inform them that I am canceling or is there some reason it is better to just no show? I’ve been looking for answers but can’t seem to figure out if there is any downside to alerting in advance?
I don’t plan on changing/re booking any of these FYI – just letting them go – thankfully I worked out a deal to be reimbursed all the flight costs through volunteered work, so it’s already a wash for me.
@danR NYC – Africa is really really tough with American miles (or BA points) because there aren’t a lot of airlines in oneworld serving Africa. BA points will mean fuel surcharges. American you want to avoid BA to avoid fuel surcharges. And that leaves flying Qatar pretty much but 4 award seats on the same flight in the same class of service is tough. American awards SFO-JFK non-stop are nearly non-existent.
@The Tumbleweed Farm – a partner flight works but it must be a (paid) mileage-earning flight
@Dan many many years ago. I used to fly economy to Sydney as a kid.
@Mike R – status matters less when you’re buying premium cabin tickets. For paid travel you’re earning more miles. Either way with status you’re in a better position to be re-accommodated during irregular operations. And with oneworld a top tier elite gets first class lounge access even when on a business class (or economy) ticket — AA status it’s international only however
@ST check Alaska Airlines availability although that won’t get you a free one way as part of a europe award. Singapore never allowed free stopovers on one-ways.
@vicente minimum connection time at IAH for a United online international-to-international connection is 70 minutes
@rmh have you looked into funding new bank accounts with a credit card?
which bank accounts are fundable by cc?
thanks for taking time to field my question,
rmh
@David D – you can use JetBlue points on Hawaiian at about a penny a point based on cost of the ticket
@Jimster – I believe the guideline does apply to the Southwest card
@kiko with a united award you get one stopover on a round trip. I like Korean Air which allows stopovers on one-way awards when flying Korean metal. You could do United HNL-ICN or NRT (stopover) – HKG, open jaw, SIN-(NRT/ICN)-HNL and then you need to separately book HKG-SIN. You could do something similar with Korean making the stopover ICN.
@pssteve I haven’t paid attention to Nexus renewal process, sorry!
@Christian – usually quite a lot within a couple of weeks prior to departure, and then occasionally in spurts for months at a time. In generally look out two months, not 11 months, for JAL availability.
@Mike United sometimes runs redemption discounts, usually only for economy. Delta runs redemption sales for both economy and business. I see some great fares and empty planes to Europe this winter especially.
@James — very glad! Thanks!
@rmh doctor of credit maintains a list
@Matt s – wait until as close as possible to departure. If there was a schedule change you may be able to get a refund. If not, wait until day of and see if the flight is significantly delayed. Might as well check in for the flights online that you can. And if it is delayed/cancelled you can get a refund.
Thanks @mark
@Sam unfortunately non-flight activity does not extend expiration of miles in a flying blue account.
Yes paid tickets can be refunded for significant schedule change. AA usually wants two hours but just claiming the change is unacceptable may be enough.
I am taking a round the world trip in June of 2017 with my wife. We booked the outbound portion thru United and end in Sydney Australia. What is the best option for points redemption back? We have AA, Delta, and United miles to use.
@patrick sullins – the best option is whomever has availability, sydney is a notoriously tough award
I’ve become pretty good at accumulating miles through credit card promotions and spending. Reading articles here on Viewfromthewing helps me maximize those miles. However, when it comes to the best way to spend them for the trips I want, I’m less of an expert. In fact, I recently used your booking service to book a trip to Thailand next year. A few of the segments will be in Economy instead of Business. While I realize that the service will check my flights again for potentially better availability one week before my departure, I’d like to be able to do this myself on an ongoing basis! Can you point me to some articles or give me some recommendations that might help me learn how to best utilize my miles…and monitor the availability of award flights? (My existing reservations are on AA/Cathay, but really, I’d like to be better at this portion of the mileage game regardless of the airline!).
@Mike it’s been a year since I’ve done a post on where to search for award space and how to get updates when availability changes, I will update that, thanks for the suggestion!
I just realized we are traveling across the international date line during Sefiras Haomer. Given that we are losing 1 day during our NRT-JFK flight and that Shavuos needs to be 50 days after Pesach, do you have any advice under halakha?
I just got done with a 3 day weekend trip at a ritz that was “buy 2 nights get the 3rd free”. At check out I found out that they had already given the discount in the onine rate. Reviewing the rate detail terms didn’t explicitly say one way or the other. They were misleading at best. Have you ever run into this? What would be the best way to go about getting it resolved?
Using Delta or Alaska points, what would be the best award redemption route from Seattle to New Zealand with a stopover in Fiji? I still can wrap my mind around how to use partner airlines and stopovers. I appreciate your help.
@Mitch if you fly Tokyo to New York you land the same day you depart, you do not lose a day you gain a day.
@sunny morris – you’re going to want to use Alaska miles. Business class between the US and New Zealand is 55,000 miles each way on Fiji Airways, and they allow a stopover in Fiji.
Thank you but I don’t see that as an option when I search on Alaska. Do I need to search on FijiAirways and if so how do I use Alaska points for that? Also, how do I extend my time in Fiji?
Thank you for your offer Gary,
I am normally on the answering travel question side, but do have an interesting question for you.
I booked two round trip LAX-BRU tickets next summer going on United Global First and returning on Turkish business using AEROPLAN miles. On line I was charged 140,000 miles each, as if the entire trip was in First class. I think it was a mistake and it should have been 70K going and 55K returning. However, I may want to pay the $90CAD and change to first class Lufthanza without fuel charges after I go and a few days before I come back. Was it a mistake for Aeroplan to change 140K each for going First and returning business? Assuming it is a mistake [first question really], would you wait until a few days before your return to change to Lufthanza First as I have already paid the roundtrip FIRST or do you think I will run into probems when I call Aeroplan a couple days before returning to change from Turkish Business to Lufthanza First [when I paid First roundtrip? I would like to keep the “overpayment” in order to change to Lufthanza first, but if that will not work out, I would like to get the extra 30K aeroplan miles back one way or another…
Stuck at the HY Arlington (DCA) in about 10 days for one nite. Any walking distance restaurants worth a look? TIA
Thank you for offering to respond, with so many readers this is a very nice surprise compared to others in your profession.
Silly question, but I don’t want to be “that guy” – are the pajamas they give in premium cabins yours to keep (like the amenity kit), or are they handed over at the end of the flight? Flying Singapore Suites and don’t want to be stuffing them in my bag.
@Chris Beck – yes they are yours to keep! The only thing I’ve ever seen intentionally collected from passengers are sweaters on ANA.
@GringoLoco Much better food downtown or further out in Virginia, this is a bit of a tough spot with lots of bland mediocre food options. District Taco is across the street, it’s ok for a quick bite that’s literally right there. Maybe a 7 minute walk is Ray’s to the Third and Pho 75. Piola is a little closer, a 5 minute walk, people really like it but I haven’t been there.
If you’ve got time for dinner get out of the neighborhood though 😉 In fact, UberX or Lyft out to Merrifield for Elephant Jumps, just check to see in advance whether Tom the owner will be there (he’s alternated between taking Wednesday or Thursday nights off), if he is just tell him to give you what I would order.
Flying MLE-AUH-JFK (on Etihad) and then JFK-DCA (AA) all on the same PNR. Will I be able to through-check my bags in MLE for pickup in DCA? Thanks!
@sunny morris you can search online for space on alaska’s website, there’s just not particularly good availability…
@Marriott Marty business one way, first the other, booked as 2 one ways would have been fewer miles. This was booked as a first class roundtrip with voluntary downgrade to business. Remember that roundtrips allow you to do things like have stopovers which one ways do not. If first opens up on the return there’ll be no additional miles collected.
@Sigmund you will check your bags to DCA in MLE. You do not pick them up / recheck them in AUH.
What is a best case/card strategy for someone who is Atlanta based, thus mainly a delta flyer, and prefers the Hilton properties because my work takes me mainly to small towns where I can usually count on a decent Hampton inn? I travel so much for business that my idea of a vacation is to stay home and play golf so I have no big aspirational trips in mind that I am saving towards. Thanks!
Gracias, Gary — I could not remember the name of Elephant Jumps for the life of me and googling “Tiger thai restaurant NoVa” got me no where for some reason ;). Serious thank you!
@Jamie – do you earn status with Delta? If not, get a delta credit card for the perks when you fly the airline but do not put any spending on it [unless spending will help put you over the top towards elite status]. Do you have elite status with Hilton? If not, I’d get the Citi Hilton Reserve Card for Gold status and put $10k in spend on it for a free weekend night each year, you probably will need a free night at some point during the year. But don’t put more spend on it other than that.
If you don’t want aspirational stays and you don’t want trips then get a Citi Double Cash or Fidelity Investment Rewards credit card, you want cash not points towards travel.
So then I would need to book a separate leg from NAN-AKL? That adds 17.5k miles plus $145. Is that my only way?
@sunny morris — no, no. if you cannot put it together online put it together by phone (but search the space online). It’s 55k one-way in business class us->new zealand and you can do a stopover in fiji for no additional miles
Hi Gary, thanks for your response about using Korean Airlines/metals that allows stopovers on one way awards. Do I transfer pts to Korean Airlines mileage program then redeem or transfer pts to one of the partner Airlines?
Thanks again!
I see now. Thank you very much.
If I book this year for travel next year 2017….will my Southwest Companion pass benefits still work? My benefits expire the end of 2016
@kiko that’s correct
One more question… although not as good of a redepmtion, can I also use my Delta miles on Alaska flights? I just noticed Alaska is a partner of Delta and I have a lot more Delta miles than Alaska miles. I had no luck checking Deltas search engine would this be another case of calling to put it together?
@sunny morris yes you can and you can book them at delta.com (usually)
@Gary where is the best free site to search for korean airlines awards? (other than expert flyer etc pay-sites?)
@kiko https://www.koreanair.com/global/en/skypass/view-bonus-seat.html and alaska airlines now shows business and economy awards on korean online
Thanks for the quick response Gary! Following up on the MLE-AUH-JFK-DCA through-check bags question, I was concerned about the need to pickup bags and re-check them at JFK since that is where I switch carriers from Etihad to AA, but based upon your answer I should be all set to pickup my bags in DCA since it is on the same PNR?
By January 2017 my wife and I are likely to have 300,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points in the bank (we both will meet the bonus minimums on our new Sapphire Rewards cards by the end of November, and we already have 95k UR points at the moment).
Does it make sense in January to look for award space from Europe? We will be traveling west from St. Petersburg in mid-June. Or should we simply be looking for best fares between now and then, and purchase tickets on a Star Alliance vehicle?
@Sigmund correct [and in fact, while American won’t interline onto Etihad on separate tickets, Etihad WILL interline onto American on separate tickets, you wouldn’t actually need to be on the same PNR for this going MLE-AUH-JFK-DCA… you WOULD need to be on the same tickets if you were going JFK-DCA-AUH-MLE]
Thanks Gary- did not realize the voluntary downgrade- will try and change withi 8 days to Lufthanza F home now that I have paid for it with a one way to Hawaii F as a free one way . I have vonuntarily downgraded (with AA) to change to a more direct route (and 777-300 LHR-LAX) but was told about it. I definitely wanted the round trip to change on Aeroplan. Thanks again for your insight.
A lot of you experts don’t like putting spend on airline cards like Delta or Hawaiian, but at certain breakpoints you can get bonus miles which earns you 1.4 miles/$. I understand if it’s a carrier where you can transfer from Chase, then it’s better to earn at 1.5 miles/$ on Freedom plus have flexibility to transfer. (And of course other cards have 2x-5x on certain categories, which is always better.) And I understand a card like American that doesn’t give any bonus points, you’re better transferring from SPG at 1.25 miles/$. But if you know you could use Delta and Hawaiian points in the future, and since they don’t transfer from Chase, then isn’t 1.4 miles/$ good?
Your Thoughts? I took a last minute vacation with my 3 kids to Loews Miami. Booked with Kayak. Got confirmation. Saw charge on my CC. Then the night before (8 hours before leaving) I get a cancellation email. What? Called Kayak (Getaroom) and yes it was cancelled and cannot provide me a reason NOR cannot re-instate the reservation. Call hotel and inform me that the reservation is there. Send email and again the Hotel confirms reservation. We stay. We pay the room charges etc. Now 5 months later they are asking for payment. Why because Getaroom did refund the charge but during our stay and on my cc that after checking in was compromised. Yeah that was not fun. So honestly I did not see the credit. Until now. Its $2800. They cannot charge it because the card they had on file was cancelled. The right thing would be to pay but 5 months? timing couldn’t be worse…
@Cindi – I’d rather earn 1.5x Membership Rewards or more on all spend with Amex Everyday Preferred and have the option to transfer to Delta or Hawaiian or anywhere else I’d like.
Hi Gary,
I’m a frequent traveler with Air Berlins Topbonus program. Currently I am at the Gold Tier. Now, since I live in Miami most of my flights are with American Airlines (almost exclusively domestic). Only for my three or four trips per year to Germany do I actually fly with Air Berlin. Up until the beginning of the year this usually worked out Ok since the miles earned with AA could be used to upgrade my overseas trips. However, Award Space has been extremely limited since and I am wondering if it might be time for me to switch to a different program – but AA just made some significant changes themselves and I am not sure if it would end up in me getting more frequent upgrades.
Any thoughts from your end?
@Ellen I’m confused. You stayed, but never paid, and the hotel is asking for money 5 months later?
Sounds like this experience I had though with less money involved:
http://viewfromthewing.com/2016/04/18/hotel-charges-card-5-months-stay-long-long/
Is there a way to redeem Alaska miles for BA tickets without paying the ridiculous taxes and fees? $400 in fees each way?! I might as well just buy the ticket outright!
Gary,
You’ve mentioned using Korean skypass miles to book 80k roundtrip (business class?) to europe . I’ve hunted quite a bit on their site, but I seem not to be able to book it online. How do you find these? AwardNexus? Or by calling Korean?
Gary,
I’m looking to use 140K AA/oneworld miles for a business-class SFO-CAI roundtrip in Dec 2017. I realize we cant book Dec 2017 yet, but just searching by AA’s website, all their award routes they’re showing me go through LHR (so huge fee). How can I find routes that avoid LHR? Do I have to call? The AA website is pretty useless to me because any search I do for award travel to Europe or Middle-East, 95% of it goes through LHR. Any ideas on how to use AA miles w/o incurring fee to Europe/Mid-East?
How to see how many awards seats available on Korean Airlines? Thanks
Gary, I recently took BA flights from Asia to the States, connecting in LHR. BA didn’t allow advanced seat selection for my paid business ticket, so I used my elite AB FFN to select seats in advance and changed my FFN back to BA at the airports. I double checked with ground staff my BA number is in the system and I retained my boarding passes to prove that. However, weeks later, I found only the flight into LHR was credited to BA while the flight out of LHR was credited to AB, even though both my boarding passes showed BA numbers. I contacted BA multiple times but they refused to admit it was their system mistake. They insisted I need to have AB return the miles before BA can recredit it. AB refused to do so unfortunately. It looks like I will finish the elite earning year just short of that BA leg for Gold qualification. I guess I am now more curious than upset if such things happen to others and what’s the possible cause?
Gary,
All of the different mileage\reward programs are confusing. In your opinion which one is the best?
Also, I’m traveling from MSP to MEL in a few weeks with a 15 month old to see my husbands family. Do you have any travel tips?
Thanks!
Misty
Where did the Qantas award space go? It used to be that you could find one (and sometimes 2) Qantas First Class award seats between Australia and the US. It used to be visible on the BA website, and later on the AA website if it wasn’t already taken by other partner airlines before it opened up to AA. I have been looking all year, and can’t find a single first seat on Qantas for any day, any time to/from any cities in the US/Australia, ever. Am I looking in the wrong place, or did it really all go away?
Thanks very much!
Jason
I see you recommend using Momondo to find fares, which in turn sends you to a third-part site to book. Do you know of drawbacks of using these sites rather than the airline site? More severe restrictions, problems earning miles?
Not a question, but thought you’d enjoy this blog.
http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/sometimes-even-mother-goose-could-use-a-helping-hand/
@grif305 Some tickets and sites will be more restrictive than booking direct or through other OTAs, I usually point to these sites when they’re cheaper.
@Jason usually you’d see some space before the AA booking window opened, space has gotten tougher, even for BNE
@Misty unfortunately the answer is ‘it depends’ on what’s most important to you. Programs are both earning/redeeming miles and elite benefits, different programs will do different pieces well. And within earning/redeeming it depends where you want to travel to and in what class of service. So I’d need to know more.
For points accumulation I like the bank programs whose points transfer to miles best because of the flexibility.
I admit I don’t have tips for traveling with a 15 month old, I’ve never done it, I don’t have kids yet 🙂
@FrustratedBATraveler this happens often especially with BA, you may need to push to get miles reversed and then credited, BA is good about reversing when the miles credit to them in error
@Kamal ALi – the AA website doesn’t show partner availability like Qatar and Etihad. Search Qatar on the BA.com website, search Etihad on its own website. Then call AA to book
@Kamal ALi – Korean doesn’t show partner availability on its website, you have to call once you find the space
@Christina no way for flights to/from the US
I am a recent fan to join your amazing club–thanks for all the great info.
You tell us about all the great deals from USA to other countries.
How about deals from Spain to long haul areas–please
Thanks, Gary. That 30 transactions a month requirement is too stressful for me. I usually do a smaller number of larger transactions and don’t want the stress of keeping track!
I am planning to look for premium cabin space from Hawaii to the South Pacific. Some of the carriers are using old planes now and have crappy non-flat seats, but I read they are planning to upgrade the seats soon. Do you think once those are nice seats they will charge more miles for them? Its that something carriers tend to do, or not?
How does SQ Flyer earn their miles? Becoming Gold earn them 150% miles? Are they better than UA Mileage Plus?
One more, you think there’s any chance they’ll offer a Sapphire Reserve business card? I need a business card that I don’t mind putting a lot of spend on. Otherwise I’m thinking an SPG business card.
Boo BA taxes and fees! Oh well, thanks Gary for confirming at least. I should be able to find availability to London on either AA or DL around my dates.
That leads me to another question. Can you recommend any tricks or best hotel chains for getting multi-night discounts? London is still expensive even with the improved exchange rate and I could use whatever help I can get. (I have Marriott and Hilton points but don’t remember seeing any current “free night” deals.) Thanks!
I see the questions, but not the answers.
Why is the redemption rate for hotel awards on AA more expensive than on UA, sometimes by as much as 40%?
As a long time mileage collector, I’ve switched 90% of my credit card usage to a Bank of America travel rewards card where I get 1.5 points plus a 75% bonus, because of my Merrill Lynch account. That gets me a 2.63¢ for each dollar I spend. Given the devaluations at American and Delta, and the lack of seat availability, I feel I am getting more value. Am I right, or am I missing something?
@alan that is the strongest ongoing rebate on offer, so if you don’t want premium cabin international awards that’s a great deal — in fact, take your cash offset and buy avianca lifemiles for star alliance redemptions 🙂
Thanks for doing this!
1. Whenever I look for award flights (using miles to pay), I struggle to find availability on partner airlines. I had some success with Delta, but found nothing through United or American Airlines. Do you have any tips for how to search and book awards flights on partner airlines going through the US-based airlines?
2. With the new Chase Sapphire Reserve card getting 3X points on travel, is it even worth it to put United/Delta flights and Starwood hotel reservations on their own cards? Because those are only 2X.
Thanks!
Sarah
Dear Gary
Thank you for the information on the Sapphire Reserve. I got it first up!!
1. This post is to ask if you can announce any special deals from Canada, particularly Toronto. As a US family – with US Bank accounts etc- living for the moment in Toronto- it would be so incredibly helpful, if, from time to time you can give special deals on flights from this city to either the USA or Europe. It’s not possible to fly to say Boston to get the deals you highlight to fly to Europe. There must be some in Canada but we never see them. We, and our friends do a lot of expensive long distance traveling as well as to the USA and the Caribbean.
2. Secondly, what about deals from London to USA – in addition to the USA/Europe/London flights you list. Are you able to list anything like this on your email announcements!
3. We would also like to see flight deals from London or other European cities to Asia/Australia.
The Asian and Middle East Airlines which service these routes from Europe are just top class. Better than any airlines in North America and worth a detour to the EU to then take one of their flights. We go to Europe to visit family, (sometimes twice a year) and have USA Airline Loyalty programs, so it would be GREAT if you listed some occasional deals. There are lots of US people living in Europe to whom I could mention your Blogs and news items. There is simply no other web info to compare to ‘View from the Wing’ that we have found.
Again thank you for the great service. There are too many emails to read each in detail every day, but I do my best and have found the information invaluable.
Suz
One thing I like about your blog as a differentiator from other blogs is you sharing your thoughts on various aspects of the travel industry. I had a thought about something recently, and immediately wondered what your take would be. So good timing with the open question forum!
Do you think it’s at all related that we’re seeing a flurry of low fares that somewhat coincides with frequent flyer programs becoming less rewarding? These days it’s dangerous to buy a flight without first checking wheretocredit and other resources to ensure that it’s actually going to be eligible for mileage accrual somewhere, let alone your preferred program. Do you think the airlines are willing to lower their prices because they feel there are fewer ways for the evil tricksters to game the system? I tend to think it’s mostly, if not completely, unrelated, but would enjoy hearing your take on all the good deals out there, the major causes, and any relation to points and miles that you see.
Thanks!
Lower prices aren’t being driven by less rewarding frequent flyer programs. Lower prices are driven by greater competition allowed by lower fuel prices, and macroeconomic issues, travel is often a leading economic indicator. There are huge challenges in South America, and Europe as well and not just because of uncertainty from Brexit and terrorism in France.
Less generous frequent flyer programs could be a challenge in that environment, as airlines have to compete to fill planes, so we could we see programs become more generous.
United award search does not show Singapore Airlines. Any way to still use United miles to redeem for Singapore Airlines flight without being charged more miles? Happy Thanksgiving!
@Lee you call to book SQ. Agents SHOULD offer SQ options, to avoid spending more miles you have to tell the agent your starting city and destination city you cannot feed them individual flights one at a time.
I’m curious if you’ve had much success booking multiple Lufthansa First Awards on the same flight, same date. I am willing to book up to just a few days in advance.
From expert flyer, it looks like there are 6 award seats available on my route from FRA-JFK (out of 8) but when I try to book more than one on Aeroplan or United, it shows no availability. Do you think if I book one via each website that would work? Or perhaps book one at a time on the same website? What have you done in the past? I’m worried that once I book one, the saver award will disappear from both and I’ll be left with just one ticket. I need to book two tickets in First (one for me, one for my wife).
Hi Gary,
I fly often for business, in business class. Here is my question: When flying an allied airline, is it better to credit points to the US counterpart, or build points on numbers of airlines. For example, if I fly Japan Airlines, is it better to build points on JAL or credit the points to American Airlines. My experience has been that crediting to the US based alliance partner does not usually give extra points for business class, just gives you the mileage equivalent.
Thank you for your interesting posts! I read them every day
@David Rintell – if you are working towards elite status, you want to credit flights from an alliance partner to your home airline in order to make progress towards status.
If not, in general I think you should build up points in an existing account until you have enough miles for the award you want and then diversify.
However consider (1) which program will award you the most miles for your ticket — a good resource is wheretocredit.com — and (2) how good/easy to work with that program is, e.g. Singapore Airlines miles expire after 3 years and you can’t reasonably extend them, but you can easily top off a Singapore account with transfers from Chase/Citi/Amex.
JAL is a very good program, but earning JAL miles from things other than flying is tough (though Starwood points will transfer).