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!
Glad me & the family can get from point A to point B with little to no cost.
Seems like lots of good credit card signup bonuses lately, so I can accumulate all the points I need for all the places I want to visit!
I enjoy the travel
i love the creativeness and the sharing that happens around this crazy points game!
By using the forums and sign up to blogs you can find out about offers you might not normally come across! 🙂
The good news is that I’ve actually used 3 million of the 4 million points I’ve earned sinc originally enrolling in AADvantage. That’s a lot of free flying…. Can’t complain.
The best part is the chase. It’s fun to find a way to get the best deal on an itinerary that I’m planning to take. Indispensable tool: ITA Software.
I love how miles make it possible for us to visit family abroad on a far more regular basis than otherwise. My kids have flown 16 flights in 2 years!
Thank you for all your travel help and the great deals you notify us all about :@)
I enjoy how airports are organized and how each one is unique!
Gary, thanks for all of the useful advice and for scooping most of the best mileage deals. Despite the devaluations, I’m still traveling for less, and if nothing, miles and points have been fun to collect!
vacation vacation vacation on sign up bonuses?I ll take it
travel with class
We can still fly first and business class and stay in amazing hotels to see the world for pennies on the dollar.
I appreciated learning how to churn credit card bonuses.
Amazing luxury travel, like spas in airport lounges, completely change the hassle of our pre miles and cards airport experience. Best was when I brought a friend who was flying on the same flight as a guest into the lounge… She couldn’t believe this existed in the airport.
It’s nice to earn cash back and points on spending that I would do anyway.
Barclays arrival card pays the taxes on award tickets, so our trip was basically free! 4 credit card a bonuses for a free vacation! Amazing! 🙂
Devaluation may have occurred across the board, but at least we have our health, shelter, loved ones, education, and my favorite… your blog.
SPG allows you to use points to book and then upgrade using a few more points (yay!) at some of their properties. For example; I booked 5 nights in at the Sheraton Honolulu last year and for a reasonable amount of additional points I upgraded to a suite with a view of Diamond Head. The other hotel chains could learn from them – it creates loyalty!
Points allow me to visit my sister and baby nephew who live across the country.
Devaluations aside, I can hardly complain after hitting Wideroe (3x) and the *A Z/P sale (1x)…
For the past 6 years, I’ve managed to travel the world thanks to the tips in this blog.
Blogs like this and others have encouraged me to share with my friends as well. They’ve scored multiple trips to Europe, South America, Asia, Hawaii, and more. Sharing is caring!
My AA miles just bought my round the world first class honeymoon for next year, including First on BA, JAL and Qantas. It’s tougher, but there are still deals to be had with persistence and flexibility!
I’ve taken 42 flights already in 2014 thanks to credit card sign up bonuses!
Also let’s not forget we still have some great deals, like BA short-haul awards, LifeMiles, etc
Upgrades may be getting more expensive, but some airlines still offer systemwide upgrades into flat bed business class seats, a great deal even when looking historically!
Thanks to miles & points, I’ve been able to easily maintain a long distance relationship! I fly from PDX to CLE at least 2x/month. It’s not the most glamorous destination, but I’m grateful that I’m able to get there for so cheap!
I’m grateful that my mum is still healthy to travel with me. We just used points to travel to hyatt Maldives.
In the old days, redeeming American miles meant flying American. There may have been a couple of partners, but it wasn’t always easy to know who or how to book. Between the Internet and airline alliances, there are now many more options for redemption all over the world, and for the committed traveller it’s much easier to find inventory. Changes, but not necessarily for the worse.
Love the way that Gary finds so much to write about as there is so much to know. Kudos where it’s due Gary!
Thank you for sharing valuable travel information with the rest of us. I’ve got quite a few deals because of you.
With credit card earn (bonuses and regular spend) I have way more miles than I used to. I suppose for me I don’t mind spending more, since they’re so much easier to come by than before.
Points take me to great places!
+1 with @Jeff G for using miles to make LD relationships work
Even with Delta’s changes, I still plan to fly them because the offer the best domestic product.
I love how this hobby has connected me with so many people who enjoy traveling and like earning and burning!
Still getting business class cheaper then retail value
The opportunity to interact with so many others who willingly share their time and experiences. Without them this would be a struggle.
Getting suites biggest enough for the whole family at low, low rates.
I love the still very common reaction from friends and family, “You flew/stayed there for free???” They may think it’s a scam at first, but a lot of them do come around eventually.
Miles have been very very good to me…..even with devaluations I have been able to still travel well beyond my means.
I am so grateful that through miles and points, I’ve been able to travel to so many amazing places throughout the world almost entirely for free!
Life is better knowing Gary Leff. Now give me some candy!
I have learned a great deal from you blog. Thanks for sharing your knowledge.
One thing that will never change for me is the tingling sensation I get once I “pull the trigger” on an award ticket. There is something purely magical about that feeling when you set up the perfect itinerary, click to reserve button, and see a confirmation number pop up on your screen.
Couldn’t be more upbeat. Given that lately well you know you know , the ‘system’ has been out to get eh you know who. Makes it fun. I often like to imagine what possesses someone to be so bored not to collect points ( which is how some stuffed shirts see us) but to actually passive aggressively try to make the use of these programs impossible. The level of rampant negativity towards their occupation, their spouse, their households, must be astounding.
Roll with the punches. Have a great week.
I still look forward to some wonderful trips using points that I was able to earn through the help from bloggers. Thank you!
Thanks to Gary, those PJ’s are wonderful in FC on C/P