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!
I’m thrilled that we’ll fly to Sweden this summer in Business Class – practically free. Thank you for convincing us that we can do this!
IT’s still fun to meet the challenge and find the best ways to accumulate miles.
100K citibank signup bonus was found using this great blog site
Happy to be comment #922!
Even with all the devaluations, miles and points still allow me to bring my son to visit his great grandparents!
Haven’t taken advantage of it yet, but plan to take advantage of an IHG Point Break deal someday soon.
Even with all the devaluations, lots of people like yourself are still helping people like me earn miles and points and find good values for them in the new award charts.
Using my learning experiences with this blog & the FF community, I’m booked on an upcoming around-the-world first class air trip with a stay at the St Regis Bali. Retail price is $58K. My cost all-in is only $475! Thanks to the bloggers who help everyday.
Credit cards perks are still good! My favorite are those associated with the Hyatt card: free nights at great properties and (low level) status.
Bluebird!
American agents brought my forgotten laptop to me on layover gate. Completely spaced on an early AM flight, despite the 3 hour layover at DFW they tracked me down. Mind you, laptop didn’t even have my name on it. They just assumed (correctly) must have been the guy who sat in 2A. Superb customer service on most all my AA flights.
I love the 2nd award night free with the Club Carlson credit card.
Btw flew business AA A321 product LAX-JFK. All I can say is triple wow. Well done AA!
Open Question – I’m 25k miles away from lifetime gold on UA. Stopped flying them after CO merger. ..should I bite bullet and get the status?
Allows me to travel near and far.
Flexibility of SPG point transfers + 5000 bonus per 20k transfer is great..
going first class to Singapore and Thailand with my wife and son..all on miles. Could not pay for that using $$, so thank you miles!
All the great things I’ve learned from my fellow travelers, and occasionally running into those folks along the way!
Because of miles and points, I can still have great travels on my retirement budget!
I love being able to redeem business class
Thanks to all the information I’ve learned, and some helpful tools, I’m going on a US Airways N. Asia Award in F & C to Berlin, and Seoul, along with most of my stays covered by Points @ Radisson, Conrad, & Park Hyatt Hotels!
Thanks!
I got to fly first class
been able take my whole family to Paris
I’ve been to the most fascinating places on mileage runs, like Marrakech and Stavanger–two remarkable cities I may have never otherwise visited.
miles and points have allowed me to take vacations I never would have been able to afford!!
great community , willing to share
Let s you experience the world
This miles and points hobby can make you into a Santa Claus as you help your friends and family travel.
gift your family with vacations
Taste what it feels to be rich
became a hobby.Gives me adrenaline sometimes moving points and miles
the travel blogs are awesome, they keep me up to date on the latest and greatest offers and deals. It’s helped me a ton! keep it up!
Points have been the best and have helped me to travel to places I would never have been able to without them!
Having status with hotels.Being treated like royalty
Devaluing points makes sense and makes me angry too!!!
Sharing tips and thoughts trough this community
Miles and points let me do things that would otherwise take a lot of money! It’s nice being able to travel. 🙂
Teaching others what i ve learned about this
Travel travel travel almost for free
I love being able to get first class flights to Europe on United with miles. Even though it costs more in miles now it’s still comfortable and convenient.
spending time with family on affordable vacations
I love the the surprised reaction from my wife when I explain how cheap it is to travel with points and miles!
I love being able to give my kids qff domestic redemptions so they can explore our big wide land..
Etihad does offer a positive ray of hope with their new A380 product
no one believes how easy is to get to different parts of the world for such spending
Mistake fares/ rates are the best! Currently the Westin Diplomat in Hollywood, Florida is offering a mistake rate of just $10 per night for November 11-13, 2015. Check it out!
I feel that community members give back to eachother
Chase Hyatt credit card still offers 2 free night signup bonus, which made it possible for me to stay at my dream hotel: Park Hyatt Tokyo.
being poor and still able to see the world
My Elite Rate and Points and Cash have saved me many digits worth of yen at Hyatt hotels this year! 🙂
Could never afford to travel, the way we do and how often we do, if it wasnt the community and its sharing