You’re going to be reading about this one on many of the BoardingArea blogs.
BoardingArea and the American Express Premier Rewards Gold Card are sponsoring a giveaway — a trip for two to Australia’s Gold Coast including air and seven nights hotel (all mileage-earning), meals even, and cash and gift cards as a kick-in to cover taxes on a trip that’s otherwise valued at over $10,000.
Each of 20 participating BoardingArea blogs will be able to select one reader for the final drawing. By reading several of the blogs you have more chances to win and by being selected on one of the blogs you have about a 1 in 20 chance of winning the grand prize.
The contest is only open to those 18 years of age and older and to US residents only, not to our friendly Canadians or to residents of U.S. Territories.
Here’s how you enter. Leave a comment to this post answering the question:
What’s your top tip for travelers who want to earn and use their loyalty points?
I will select at random a tip from among those that meets, in my sole discretion, a minimum standard of usefulness.
In other words, your tip doesn’t have to be the single greatest one ever. It just has to be useful or thoughtful to some. I don’t want blank entries here, or “I’m in!” as a comment, that won’t get you an entry. But anyone with a reasonable tip about something they’ve found useful in earning or burning points gets you an entry.
And I don’t want to get into the game of selecting what’s the best, the winner from my blog will be selected at random (via random.org).
That winner will be selected based on comments received by noon eastern time on March 28. They’ll be forwarded to BoardingArea as one of ~ 20 finalists who will go on to be selected to win the trip!
More details on the contest can be found at contest page, along with a full list of the twenty or so participating blogs where you can leave similar tips and gain additional entries into the giveaway!
Questions? Shoot those over to me by email rather than in the comments to this post, the comments here are tips about earning and burning points in order to enter to win a truly amazing trip!
Always keep a look out for promotions!!!
Use your points-earning credit card for all of your purchases (and pay it off religiously). Concentrate your travel as much as possible to one airline and one hotel chain. Decide how you want to use your points ahead of time (lots of cheap travel vs a few luxurious trips) and then execute – don’t hang onto them forever.
ALWAYS sign up for airline text message notifications and/or get FlightTrack Pro or other applications to keep up to date about your flight. When things go irrop, my phone starts buzzing, and usually before the GAs make any announcements. Minutes count when a flight gets canceled, and it is super nice to know about gate changes before others do!
I really like the credit cards and utility offers that earn miles just by doing what you would do anyway. A very fast way to collect additional miles.
Always have a spouse/partner/friend take part in the promos and deals so you don’t have to fly first class all alone!
If your long distance flights are fairly inexpensive pay for them and collect miles. Use your miles for shorter flights, which in recent times haven’t been costing a great deal more than long distance/international flights, may leave you with more miles for your buck!
Just takes a little cost to mile comparison to figure out the way to go 🙂
She’s a no brainer mate- use a the same credit card for ALL OF YOUR PURCHASES and the same for travel – you will say DANG! I EARNED ALL THOSE MILES!? Fair Dinkum?
Don’t limit yourself to a hotel chain…there is no worse way to travel…be free…go where the road leads you. It is about the journey not the destination!
Since airlines and hotels sponsor “loyalty programs” it pays to be loyal! Never jump form one airline to another just because you can save a few bucks. The benefits, in terms of awards and elite status are far more valuable than the $10-20 dollars you might save on one flight.
When booking a hotel in a busy city location or at a busy time of year, hotels are less likely to let you use points for free nights or upgrades. Many programs,like SPG (Starwood) allow you to pay cash + points. I’ve found this a great way to book a nice room ( usually the free rooms are by an elevator, ice machine, lower floor etc). But by using the points and cash option, the rooms are usually upgrades. You still earn points on the portion of the room paid in cash so it’s a win/win.
Another Quick Tip: Start a mileage program only with the major airline serving your area, and search online for free mileage contests and promotions!
SPG points to LAN kilometers is the best credit card deal out there per dollar spent, especially for short, expensive flights on OneWorld partners.
If you accumulate points mostly on spend and can’t decide on a card—- the American Express charge cards and the SPG Amex offer flexible points that can be redeemed for hotels, merchandise or highly sought after upper class international airfare.
As a newbie to this, I’m sticking to one airline and doing everything I can to accumulate miles on that airline. Now that I have elite status, it makes it much easier to stay elite and now I can start to branch out to other mileage-earning opportunities on other airlines.
Save BIG, go BIG
Don’t neglect mileage credit on partner airlines – sometimes really small lines are affiliated with your program. It’s worth a little extra time on the website to ensure that you can be credited for trips on small carriers.
My top tip for travelers who want to earn and use their loyalty points is to do their research and utilize as many resources as possible. For example, utilize partnered dining websites and shopping websites. If you are going to buy something you might as well get points for it. Additionally, always ask if a loyalty program is doing a promotion for bonus points (there is always one going on). For those looking to use their points my best advice is to research forums and ask question sof experienced travellers. We are a community we are always there to help! Also, see if there are combined packages that are available. It may cost less points to transfer your airline miles to hotel points and take advantage of a combined vacation package. In summation, ask questions! The worst answer you could get is no, and usually you will get tips and advice on how to maximize your points.
Start building your mileage bank by joining every program, earning miles or points on every $ that you spend, and taking advantage of every promo offered.
I’m totally new to all this, so frequenting travel blogs, flyer talk forums, signing up for Amex Starwood, and entering promotions have all been the best way to start accumulating miles.
Non-frequent fliers can still find great ways to spend miles. Examples: 1)Wall Street Journal print subscriptions are an excellent value. 2)Amtrak Guest Rewards (no annual fee) lets you travel one-way in Northeast for only 3,000 points.
I would like to enter as well.
Look at the terms and conditions carefully.
Use RSS feeds and SMS alerts on your phone from favorite travel and deal websites to ensure you see the best points deals and promotions that you can take advantage of while you are traveling.
look into alliance partners and non-flight earning opportunities, such as miles for shopping online.
If travel is flexable wait unil you find a good promotion before booking. I never travel unless I can get at least double points.
Be flexible with travel dates–experience new places when the price is right and earn miles along the way 🙂
Use farecompare.com searcher to get best deals regarding cost per mile and to find those new places to see. http://www.farecompare.com/search/flyertalk.html
Stay loyal to one airline to get even more miles with elite bonus miles!
Take advantage of promos & join flyertalk.com community to keep up with the latest.
Always look for the new route bonuses!
Get a AMEX credit card that gives you airline miles (for me Delta Plat) per $ spend and charge everything paying balance off at end of the month. Track what you spend and when you hit the annual spending that gives you the bonus miles–switch to a 2nd AMEX point card (for me SPG Amex).
If looking for award tickets to Europe, always call the agents and be patient and very kind to them–they will work it for you and search all of the partner sites too. It has taken me some time on the phone but they have always been able to find me a low mileage award ticket even on short notice for Europe in the summer 🙂 If by chance they can’t find anything then at least you were nice to them anyway as I am sure that is always welcome.
Don’t overlook discount European airlines if you can not get into your desired European destination–fly into where the award is low if you can coordinate a cheap flight to your desired destination.
And most importantly—Enjoy life & the adventures!
Having belonged to several programs over the years:
– consider what you want to get out of the program (where do you want to go), spending and patience help you accumulate points;
– belong to 2 programs, accumulate points domestically and use internationally to upgrade;
– re-evaluate your programs every year;
– lastly spend your points.
Flyertalk is the single one stop database to get more info / deals on ff programs.
Make people around you and your family aware of the benefits of miles. You”ll be surprised to find how many people just let go of miles and don’t know how to take advantage of them. You can benefit from miles of your friends and family members too by doing certain promotions together and doubling your miles.
Don’t forget to provide car rental companies with your FF# to earn additional points. Last year, one company gave 9,000 miles per rental! Makes it worth driving out to the airport to pick up a car, only to park it in the driveway overnight before returning it (three times!)
When booking an award ticket with miles, use allowed free stopovers to get the most value out of your miles and see new places that you may not otherwise have seen.
I give this advice to my family members and friends, especially those who aren’t going to be earning elite status: pick a program that offers the best redemption value and availability. E.g., accrue US and UA to CO (or maybe US, due to crazy routing possibilities) and DL to AS.
Don’t let your miles expire due to inactivity! To keep them active, either buy some token miles or redeem a small amount for a magazine subscription. Or better yet book a flight!!
Pay attention to which of your FFPs have miles/credis which can expire, and do what you can to preserve them: e.g. United requires activity every 18 months, so make sure to participate in their dining program at least once per year or plan to buy 1000 miles each year or do something else to extend the validity of the miles you have already earned. For FFPs in which miles/credits earned disappear after a fixed time limit, either use them fast or see if there is a way to extend their life. As an example, AirTran credits expire one year after they were earned UNLESS either 1) you earn A+ Elite status with them or 2) you get the AirTran Visa Card.
Good Luck to everybody posting!
Pay attention to hotel points – they are often more valuable than airline miles.
Pick your loyalties and stick with them! Switching around between airlines and hotel chains will scatter your points around and probably not earn you elite status anywhere. It’s worth it in the long run to not always go with the cheapest price in order to maintain your loyalty to that carrier or brand!
Make sure every fare/hotel you stay at “actually” earns points, I don’t know how many times people book something and they end up not earning points on it. Look for promotions and BE FLEXIBLE when it comes to redeeming. The farther out you can book the better off you are!
Focus on BONUS offers (especially but not limited too credit cards) and create a system of organization which allows you to follow up on bonuses that you have earned. Be aggressive in pursuing bonus opportunities.
Use a mileage tracking tool for a consolidated view of your portfolio of air, car and hotel accounts.
Concentrate your loyalty to only a few programs(at most) and take advantage of all their bonus promos! They add up surprisingly quick.
For international trips I always buy lowest upgradable economy fare and use miles to upgrade to Biz Class. You still earn miles to add to your account for the next trip.
Have flexibility with your dates, think outside of the box on routings, and be nice to the people helping you on the reservation!
Nothing beats the Starwood Amex card. Easiest way we’ve found to earn and use points. Starwood also has the excellent cash+points option which I haven’t seen from other loyalty programs.
Pay attention to promotions! You’d be surprised at how easy it is make your points go farther when combined with existing offers from Airlines / Hotels. You do need to be flexible, though!
Use United points for USAIR/Continental flights when close in. Use the phone number, United charges 30.00, but you save the 75.00 near-departure ticketing fees (on US Air. I have booked a flight two days ahead of leaving.
stick to one airline (and alliance) to earn elite status. even the lowest level of elite status with united gets you free economy plus, which is a huge benefit if you are in economy.
Don’t forget to register for all those point promos as well — e.g. Marriott Mega Bonuses. Registration is free.
Just check all the websites of your preferred program ona regular basis.
Aside from the obvious (read the blogs each day; it’s the quickest way to learn about promotions and earn all the miles you can), if you end up with miles across various programmes (for work travel, work decides my hotel and airline), use software like pageonce to track your expiry dates so that you never forget.
Remember to spend your points; they’re worth nothing if you don’t spend them! (Ask anyone with Ansett points.)
Some people don’t fly as often as business travelers so racking loyalty points/miles for a flight or hotel reward might take YEARS to happen. Here’s a tip: you can redeem your loyalty points or miles for other things such as gift certificates, electronics, and even magazine subscriptions. Not all people can earn enough miles for multiple flight rewards so for those who are limited in budget or time – it’s another benefit of having loyalty points/miles. Sometimes instant reward gratification is so much better than waiting for months or 5 roundtrips before you can get your reward.
Keep in your mind a list of places you’d like to visit, and when those hard-to-find award seats to a place on your list pop up, book the trip and go. Picking a specific date and a specific destination and *then* looking for award tickets is a recipe for disappointment and frustration.
It also helps, of course, to keep enough miles for a trip in programs in each of the three major alliances.