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!
Miles fuel your travel imagination.
By using the forums and signing up to blogs…you can find out about offers you might not normally come across!
Credit card bonuses are really great in the US, even if there are devaluations. The bonuses in the UK are not nearly as good!
When we emigrated to the U.S we had no idea how expensive it would become to visit our family back home; miles and points have allowed us to keep our connections with our loved ones 🙂 Ann.
Delta skymiles took me to Paris and I got to see the Eiffel Tower!
The points may be devalued but sitting in a business louge still beats being set loose amongst the hoards!
I love it when the Marriott desk clerk says, “thank you for your loyalty.” It’s a nice feeling. Without my loyalty (and theirs), my family wouldn’t have enjoyed three expenses paid trips to Disney World!
Thanks to points and miles, I was able give my 80 year old mom a wonderful trip to Central Europe, including her first flights(and mine) in Business/First class. Thanks Gary for the education.
you just have to take what they give you and be thankful- these are basically free miles and points
The open flow of info on various deals and offers
There are still great opportunities to earn and use points and miles. Stop mooning about the OLD DAYS
Points and miles are awarded on things you already do; Travel, eat, spend.
It’s easier than ever to accumulate low cost or free miles/points.
There are great values to be had with mid tier hotel properties.
I’m traveling to places I never thought I’d be able to afford to go using points & miles. It’s opened up so many possibilities and I’m travleling so much more. Love, love, love points & miles!
Love the deals I find on the blogs for maximizing miles. Trip reports are very helpful as well. We are going to Kuala Lumpur in Jan. and connecting through Hong Kong to JFK so am very interested in your latest trip report.
Devaluations for coach travel really has not been so bad or worth fretting over.
My husband is the miles guru in our family. I like the hotel reviews on the blogs as they help me decide where we will stay, especially on international trips.
I just award stayed at Holiday Inn (Porto, Portugal)for 3 nites.We were upgarded to an executive floor with river view, given 3 incredible executibe breakfasts with all stops pulled out and a concierge service that found us incredioble “off-the-beaten-track” restaurants and sites. I am a platinum member of IHG and shall continue to be so!
It still keeps me happy to daydream about where we can travel next!
Even with the devaluations, I still can travel the world in luxury I never imagined prior to getting in this game.
We still get to travel for a lot less money than many people do!
Miles have allowed me to travel in First and Business Class, something I would not have been able to pay for.
Miles, even devalued, are a commodity about which we should always be excited – they allow us to travel the world!
I am positively grateful for the incredible trip we just took to Hawaii that was funded by points and miles earned from reading my favorite blogs.
Whatever the devaluations and changes along the way, I still love the challenge and strategizing that is an essential part of this “game,” the payoffs for which remain wonderful–free travel in and free hotels in some of the most exotic cities in the world! (So “Thanks, Coach View!!”).
Thanks for the Fairmount tip! I was able to book two free rooms at the Four Seasons in Hamburg!
Regardless of devaluation, us readers are usually on the cutting-edge of earning miles. That’s got to count for something!
What other hobby gets you 2 nights in a 900+ Euro/night room for buying a pack of gum!?
(Thinking of my stay in Paris when the Hyatt card used to be 2 nights after 1st purchase.)
I’ve enjoyed meeting the bloggers at the Chicago Seminars.
Bloggers like you give hope to families by making travel possible and memories that last. 🙂
Regardless of devaluation, it is still possible to fly in suites on the cheap!!!
I thank God my family is healthy and we are looking forward to our summer travels.
Wow what a response!
My favorite thing about points is getting a luxury I would never want to afford on my own …. With the way travel is, that extra comfort and service makes all the difference.
Writing this from Buenos Aires where our 55000 United miles got us business class on Copa and our 30000 American miles will get us home. Despite devaluations, etc. there are still reasonable redemptions and heck! we’re in Buenos Aires!
Points & Miles have enabled me to travel to places I would never spend “real” money on!
I enjoy your articles and have learned quite a bit.
Travel is still a highlight and I look forward to planning the various trip we take. A gift card will be good for our upcoming vacation to Western Canada.
Boardingarea and milesandpoints has changed my travel for the better. I now get incredible hotel rates and free flights all the time. I now am averaging 1-2 vacations a month!!
MSing opportunities are still abundant!
If it wasn’t for the blogs and forums I would of never learned about status matching 🙂
It’s better than golf!
Points and miles are still the best way to show my children the world
It helps you travel for less…
It’s like cutting coupons…for travel.
I need “deals” to keep my everyday expenses in check!
Loved my free Vendome weekend!
A day does not start for me without Delta Points
Collecting miles and finding deals is FUN!
I love reading your blog every day!
Miles allow us to visit family across the country that we wouldn’t get to see as often otherwise.