Speaking as someone with a hefty seven-figure total mileage balance (which doesn’t compare to some folks I know with an eight-figure balance), my own preferences are as follows, in order: Starwood: hotel rooms are almost always available, plus points transfer into most airline programs is at 1:1 — plus 5k bonus for transferring 20k. Starwood Amex is the best points-earning card to the extent that spending earns 1.25 miles per dollar on all spending when transferring points in 20k blocks to airlines with 1:1 ratio, which is better than the AA Mastercard for instance. Not to mention the card is cheaper. American: I’ve never had any problems with availability. Partner awards are great. All miles earned count towards lifetime elite (we’ll see if that feature lasts). United: Availability on UA metal ain’t what it used…
General
Category Archives for General.
Applying for credit card signup bonuses… over and over
A reader writes: Hi Gary: I’ve been reading your blog for quite a while now and find it highly enjoyable and informative. Thanks! However, I’ve never seen one question asked or answered. How frequently can you sign up for an airline or hotel credit card, get the signup bonus, cancel the credit card, then sign up again? I’ve signed up for the various airline and hotel credit cards, used them for a while, then canceled them since I never actually used them much. My credit rating is good enough that it can suffer another round of hard inquiries on my credit reports if I were to sign up for those credit cards again and would be worth the extra signup points. I’m somewhat puzzles that this isn’t a more frequently asked… Perhaps I am missing…
Useful advice on upgrades
Smarterliving.com has two new useful columns on upgrades. First is a piece by Tim Winship on affordable first class and second is an article by Erica Silverstein on upgrading with miles. Both are useful and worth reading, although it’s always worth remembering that any time you try to tackle such a broad subject across a range of carriers, the devil will be in the details and some small items will be wrong or misleading. Contra-Winship, not all carriers offer unlimited domestic upgrades to their elite members. United, for example, does not. Erica Silverstein offers a bit of confusing prose about what fares are eligible for upgrades on US carriers. Northwest allows all but the most deeply discounted fare classes to be upgraded; and Delta only allows full-fare economy economy tickets to be upgraded. She’s correct…
New hotel search tool
Airfare metasearch website Mobissimo now has a hotel metasearch as well. I much prefer the display and features of TravelAxe, though.
Why you should keep earning miles, in spite of rising award prices
Several days ago I offered a long discussion of why I believe that frequent flyer awards will get more expensive over time, and why the best strategy is to “burn as you earn” rather than building up large balances. I also said, though, that the programs remain a good value and well worth participating in. Several readers asked if this wasn’t a contradiction. I actually believe both simultaneously. Award prices are going to go up over time, so the value of previously earned and banked miles will be diluted. At the same time it’s easier to earn new miles than ever before (part of why prices will go up in the first place) so it may not be any harder or take any longer to earn awards under new reward charts. A decade ago you…
Spend your miles NOW (and earn more…): why mileage award prices will rise now and in the future
Over a year ago I posted on Flyertalk.com a fairly lengthy explanation of why I thought that the mileage required for most airline awards — especially premium class international awards — would go up over time. In light of Northwest’s recent announcement that its best awards would cost 25-40% more next year, I thought it prudent to recreate the argument here … So that folks can attenuate their strategies accordingly, before more airlines follow suit (which they will). The August 2003 issue of Inside Flyer had a cover story (subscription required) on making your miles last into retirement, essentially creating a mileage 401(k) plan. With all due respect to the folks at the magazine, this strikes me as the worst possible mileage strategy. Miles are worth more now than they will be tomorrow and the…
Stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid
Good Housekeeping should offer itself a seal of stupidity. It recommends best rewards credit cards and somehow manages to put the Capital One GoMiles card at the top of the list. Capital One’s “Go Miles” Visa lets you rack up miles without airline restrictions or blackout dates. For every dollar spent, you earn one mile, and for every 9,000 miles you earn $100 toward a plane ticket. This amounts to a 1.1% rebate, but unlike most rebate cards that pay you cash this rebate limits what you can do with the money. It’s a small award, 1.1%, and the award can only be used on airline tickets. And then you have to book the ticket through Capital One, complying with their rules and restrictions. David Spade may be a cool spokesman, but could there be…
View from the Wing awards “Rolleyes Award” to Marriott Rewards
Marriott sent out a press release today announcing that they had received several travel awards. Marriott Hotels & Resorts was named by readers of Travel Savvy as the best domestic hotel chain, and Marriott Rewards as the best hotel rewards program. Travel Savvy is a travel lifestyle magazine that covers international and domestic destinations, fashion, design, food, travel news and celebrity travel trends. Readers of Executive Travel, a lifestyle magazine for business travelers, gave Marriott Hotels & Resorts top honors in the following categories: best hotel chain; best for customer service; and best hotel chain for meetings. Marriott Rewards was selected as the best frequent guest program. Ah, yes, the famous annual rankings from Travel Savvy and Executive Travel. Those are much anticipated each year, with management of various travel providers waking up with night…
View from the Wing awards “Rolleyes Award” to Marriott Rewards
Marriott sent out a press release today announcing that they had received several travel awards. Marriott Hotels & Resorts was named by readers of Travel Savvy as the best domestic hotel chain, and Marriott Rewards as the best hotel rewards program. Travel Savvy is a travel lifestyle magazine that covers international and domestic destinations, fashion, design, food, travel news and celebrity travel trends. Readers of Executive Travel, a lifestyle magazine for business travelers, gave Marriott Hotels & Resorts top honors in the following categories: best hotel chain; best for customer service; and best hotel chain for meetings. Marriott Rewards was selected as the best frequent guest program. Ah, yes, the famous annual rankings from Travel Savvy and Executive Travel. Those are much anticipated each year, with management of various travel providers waking up with night…
Starwood Cash & Points Award
Starwood’s last round of cash and points awards expired, but a new set are now available for stays through November 30th and it appears as though there’s an increase in the number of properties participating. The value can be illustrated with a single example: instead of 10,000 points for a night at a ‘categoy four’ hotel (such as the Westin in the Bahamas or the W in Mexico City), the cash and points award gives you that same property for $60 and 4,000 points. Put another way, you’re buying back your points at only one cent apiece. Since I generally consider a Starwood point to be the most valuable hotel or airline currency out there, this is an exceptional value. Not all Starwood properties participate in this promotion. Many do not. But it’s worth checking…
