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!
You guys keep up with goings-on in the industry so i don’t have to! Thanks!
I’m a newbie in miles and your blog helps a LOT! Thanks!
I like seeing all the people excited about traveling. Seasoned pros or newbies, most still get excited when traveling for pleasure
I appreciate your advice and commentary Gary!
Great blog! Thanks for sharing your knowledge and experience with us!
There are still many great free or reduced cost trips to come… thanks for your blog!
There are a few smaller, foreign airlines that have great award bookings.
Love your blog! You give us an opportunity to travel almost for free!!!
Complimentary upgrades are a nice surprise when I’m traveling with friends and family.
So its a holiday week and I am not going to the Airport kicking my feet up and relaxing
I’ve been able to travel the world for free(almost) because of you. Thanks!
Thanks for everything you do…I couldn’t travel the world without it.
Flight delayed – staying positive and reading View from the wing
I loved FTU! It was such a fun experience.
Hyatt’s cash and points was one of the most positive changes in the points world recently. I’ve utilized it multiple times as of late.
Great to read the travel reviews, so I can know any insider methods when I go there.
Thanks for your Trip Reports and Frequent Fryer info! Great job!
Thank you for your blog. I especially appreciate the information and help regarding hotel points.
Thank you for updating everyone on credit card offers. I’m always waiting for your advise in order to apply for a new CC.
I’m thankful for all of the freebies we’ve been able to partake in so far. Seems like the next big thing is just around the corner, so here’s hoping!
Every time I travel, I’m reminded how lucky I am to be able to do so, when others have so little opportunity.
I appreciate everything that you do for us
Miles have allowed me to travel all over the world in the past year and a half!
You are doing an amazing job! Keep it this way! And I will keep on suggesting your blog to everyone I know ;o)
USAir, Malaysian Airlines, TAM, Qatar have joined oneWorld and practical, last minute distance-based awards are easier than ever using Avios. Spontaneity and positioning flights use to be expensive!
I’ve been able to travel for free(almost) because of you. Thanks!
Just happy to be able to travel with my family to a lot of amazing places around the world!
Delta miles in S. America on GOL Economy are a GREAT value, and they are a rare exception for DL miles that are hardly mentioned because they’re not aspirational.
Free is free. They won’t go as far or earn as fast but it’s still free. I love free.
I’m headed to Poland (and a few other places) for 3 weeks next month, with my flights and most hotel nights paid for via miles and points. My grandfather’s family came over from there and I can’t wait to see what the “old country” is like in person!
I like that Chase has added Singapore Airlines as a redemption partner.
Flying in F internationally for the first time. All because of points!
May the luck be with me 😛
I love being able to go places and not pay!
Traveling has introduced me to some of the most interesting and generous people I could hope to meet. I love the way they’ve influenced how I think about the world and my place in it!
Traveling on points and miles makes our family trips abroad each summer affordable so we can spend a month overseas each year. Without points and miles traveling with 4 people would be to cost prohibitive. Thanks to blogs like yours we are able to travel in luxury.
I’m thankful that I haven’t paid for a flight in over 2 years thanks to this hobby.
Miles are still cheaper than paying! thanks
I can positively state that this blog has had a huge impact on my quality of life. My newfound travel savvy has brought me many new friendships and opportunities. Thank-you.
Manufactured spend is more lucrative than ever, and it can bring in huge numbers of miles for below 1 cpm.
I love being able to fly premium cabins b/c of points that I otherwise wouldn’tve been able to fly
And for my 4th entry… Using miles and points gets my to Europe in F and top notch hotels at “no cost”. Never even thought this would happen until reading all the great blogs out there. Including this one!
Despite the devaluations, I’ve been able to provide my friends and family with opportunities to travel that we couldn’t otherwise afford.
Love the camaraderie among travelers, especially when in a less than ideal situation. We all stick together.
I’m thankful to bloggers like yourself that taught me so much about this hobby!
There are so many changes, yet everyone is so knowledgeable and helpful in keeping us up to date!
I’m excited to take advantage of what I’ve learned on my next trip to Europe this summer!
Points have helped me treat friends and family, which is tremendously rewarding, even when it’s not somewhere aspirational. Being able to surprise people you really care about with a flight or a few hotel nights is so fun, and since I’ve gotten into the miles/points game I’ve done a lot more of it. Too fun!
Several deals, like the $131 JFK-MXP and Wideroe fares have surfaced and even survived for a while amidst the frenzy. These sorts of cheap surprises continue!