Frequent Traveler University, December 5-7, Hyatt Regency Crystal City (near Washington’s National Airport)
This promises to be the largest gathering of frequent flyers ever, bringing together some of the best minds in miles and points and creating an opportunity for folks interested in the hobby to learn, trade tips, and build friendships (and networks for sharing knowledge offline as well).
I’m excited to be helping to put it together, and I’m giving away two packages to FTU on the blog this week. Each of two winners will receive:
- A complimentary ticket to FTU ($149)
- 2 hotel nights for the event (valued at $99+tax per night)
So that’s over $350 in value per prize, with two prizes, an all you have to do to enter is comment on this post as I explain below. And of course everyone who buys (or wins!) a ticket receives Hyatt Platinum status.
And don’t worry, you can go ahead and buy one, if you win the contest I’ll make sure your purchase gets refunded – or refund it myself!
Here’s the details for the giveaway:
- This is the official entry post. Comment on this post to enter, by providing either one travel tip or one thing you would hope to learn at Frequent Traveler University.
- Since there are (2) questions, you may enter to up (2) times.
- Contest ends Friday at noon Eastern time.
- All of my decisions are final and unappealable and by entering you agree to this. In other words, don’t make it hard for me to give stuff away!
Truly a can’t-miss event and promises to be the best Frequent Traveler University ever! The room block is filling up, so I’d suggest signing up now…
Related:
- Tickets now available for the biggest frequent flyer gathering in history
- Everyone at December’s Frequent Traveler University Gets Elite Status
- New speakers added for Frequent Traveler University
- 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!
The cheapest way to manufacture spend.
Never let your miles expire and always call to try for a retention bonus. … hang up try again a few times
Travel Tip:
Sign up for a Chase credit card to avoid paying the surcharge for currency conversion when leaving the country
What I want to learn at FTU:
I want to learn more about earning status via segment runs
I’d like to learn about minimizing fuel surcharges.
I’d like to learn more about manufactured spending.
What I’d want to learn at FTU:
Alternative strategies for gaining/transferring points without dependence on credit cards.
I’d like to know more about points to remote locations.
Travel tip: make sure whatever hotel loyalty plan fits in with your budget/stay pattern as well as aims for the points (aspirational properties/free nights/general benefits on stays) you have.
I would like to learn about the best use for sky pesos.
I would like to learn about mileage arbitrage opportunities and mistake fare notifications
Would like to learn about getting the most for my frequent flyer miles.
I’m hoping to learn the sweet spots on award charts for ALL of the airlines.
I would love to learn more about searching partner airlines for award availability.
I’d love to talk about awards. Everyone asks how I get so many free international flights in biz class, but their eyes gkaze iver when I start ti explain it.
To Learn: I’d love to learn more about maximizing reward travel in economy class (ie traveling as much as possible).
Travel tip: capsule wardrobe + laundry + small(er) carry-on bag beats massive cumbersome suitcase + new clothes for each day. Makes for a much more nimble traveler and manageable trip.
It would be great if I could learn ways to make sure I am not overpaying in miles for a trip. So for me, tips on booking award travel are always good to know. You hear so much all the time that a refresher is great.
I hope to learn some new tricks on how to maximize my award tickets and of course make new friends that are as passionate about traveling as I am!
I hope to learn strategies for the timing of booking airfare.
Travel Tip: wash your hands often.
I would like to learn how to book a premium saver award to Australia and/or New Zealand.
My best travel tip is to help avoid jet lag, and it’s kind of 2 tips: don’t drink too much on the plane, and get out and walk around when it’s sunny even though your body is screaming for sleep!
One thing I’d like to learn at Frequent Traveler University is how to better plan multi-segment (e.g. round the world) awards in premium cabins. I’ve done it a couple of times and it takes me *days* of research… I must be doing it wrong.
Travel Tip – use space bags for packing so the inspectors in South America will not be touching every piece of clothing.
What I hope to learn – how to get to Australia in first class using all those American airline miles I have accumulated.
I’d like to learn more about opportunities with foreign FFPs.
My travel tip is to take a medium or larger binder clip (the kind we use at the office) to wrap your ear buds around. Then clip to your collar or cross-body bag strap at the gate. Your ear buds will be right in front of you, easy to wrap/unwrap, won’t get tangled and you don’t have to dig for them on the plane.
Travel tip: Charge all your electronics before flying back to the US from abroad, as security may ask you to turn them on and may prevent you from taking them if they don’t! Yikes!
What I want to learn at FTU: manufactured spending that doesn’t kill off my brain cells (or tire treds on my car!).
I’d like to learn more about locating and booking premium cabin awards, especially timing, which airlines don’t show on US online award booking sites but have good availability, etc.
Travel tip: Keep track of your credit card anniversaries and make sure you evaluate the worthiness of the annual fee as it comes up each year.
here’s one I discovered the hard way …
Make sure your backup ATM card is valid before your trip starts.
-David
I hope to learn how exactly Lucky manages to fly all over the place in F all the time. 🙂
-David
I’d like to learn more about the latest manufactured spend tricks.
I’m hoping the to learn how to book premium flight rewards for a family of 4!!!
I’d like to learn more about searching for and getting the most out of my miles redemptions.
Meet the stars in the field of miles and points!
I hope to learn from FTU:
How to alternate stragries on manufacturing spending and maximum miles for international flights.
Travel Tip:
Pack all electronic device in one bag and apply for TSA “fast pass” for quicker inspection. Arrive to the airport early to enjoy lounge service and duty free shops. Flight economy class to better utilize points for multiple family members.
Travel Tip: Always bring a card with your name and contact information like phone number and email address. While travelling, you’ll meet a lot of new people and in case you wish to keep in touch with them, handing them this card is very useful!
I would like to learn the best way to use AA miles to get to the Maldives
Travel tip: Compression bags for carry on! The only way I can fit it all.
manufactured spend!
I’d like to know how the BA bloggers have time to blog, respond, and work a full time job that requires traveling WITHOUT the use of drugs
Travel Tip: Charge in local currency for better conversion rate by your bank.
I would like to learn more about how to leverage the partner networks of the various airlines for which I collect miles.
I want to learn strategies for losing YQ (I know, I know…wishful thinking!)
I’m a local and would love to meet and learn tricks to MS from my favorite bloggers.
Given the devaluation of UA MileagePlus, especially for partner international awards, and the worthlessness of Sky Pesos (I DO have to hand it to Delta for surprising us all by how imaginative it is in finding new ways to make them worth EVEN LESS!), I would like to learn at FTU how those of us who fly primarily within the U.S. should structure our airline choices and mileage accumulations to provide the best opportunities for international premium class award travel.
Tip: Before leaving on an international trip, print out a page for each country you’ll visit that lists the U.S. embassy and/or consulate addresses and emergency phone numbers, and the names and addresses of English-speaking and well-regarded doctors and hospitals (from a source such as the International Association for Medical Assistance to Travelers – IAMAT), in the cities where you’ll stay. Put these pages in a folder with a color copy of your passport info page and an information page about how your health insurance works when you’re outside the U.S.