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!
The reality about what we do is that no matter how much they take away, we are still able to travel and see the world at prices 99% of the universe dreams about.
Awesome Points & Cash stay at Park Hyatt Buenos Aires a couple of weeks ago
Points allow me to see friends and family more than I would be able to otherwise.
I did not rush to use my mile stash when the recent devaluation was announced because it makes me feel good that I can still travel even it it means the bak of the plane.
Glad to have bloggers like you who share so much with us -with nothing in return….well, maybe a couple of clicks here and there! 😉
Using miles and points has allowed me to take some amazing trips for next to nothing. I’ve also been able to share with others and helped friends take some free trips too.
Positive about product enhancements
Earning points is better than getting kicked in the nuts!
I enjoy the free night I get when I renew my Hyatt card each year!
Positive that we will find values to combat the devaluations going forward.
My daughter is spending a month exploring the Iberian Peninsula, Prague, and Croatia. Another generation takes flight
With all the changes it makes all of you bloggers that much more valuable to the rest of us.
Club Carlson continues to offer essentially buy 1 get 1 free redemptions!
Looking forward to a trip in early Oct by earning some more Hilton points first so will be watching those blogs for tips!
So many great and entertaining travel bloggers that help us maximize our points and miles!
United Economy Plus fares from South Bend to SNA were so expensive, I just bought first class tickets instead and didn’t even feel bad about doing so.
Really enjoy printing and reading on a plane, and then passing on to other passengers.
Thanks!
Points are great for Honeymooners!
Since there aren’t a plane-full of Medallions flying out of my airport on Wednesdays at 5:45 am (on the only flight from here with a front cabin), I almost always get upgraded to First. I usually sleep and skip the Cheerios, but hey, it’s great to sleep in style, AND be one of the first off, to make a run for my 35-minute connection.
There are still a lot of opportunities for newbies to get a lot of points quickly and get a few coach tickets to a far off land.
Gary, You are my first stop when I read the blogs. Thank you for what you do.
I was able to get a 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom suite for 7 nights along with 132,000 United miles using Marriott’s rooms and flights program. That is a $300 per night hotel.
There have been a growing number of devaluations, but miles and points are still worth something. It’s a matter of looking in the best possible place for the best possible deal(s) and scenario(s). Blogs like yours help us navigate through the possibilities!
I’ve stayed at some wonderful properties and flown in some amazing cabins due to points and miles.
Would love to see some blog posts on how to best use UA awards when you only have Silver status.
Thanks to lots of shared advice, I was able to get VERY nice free rooms in Boston for my daughter and family and save us all a bunch of $$ on the recent “college visit” trip. Fun to be able to meet them there and add something really special to the trip.
I am super grateful to the Avis at CVG for staying open until 2:00am so we could pick up our rental car after a mechanical delay.
While there have been major devaluations, the opportunity to redeem for free travel still exists! That is a huge positive.
I recently had to self-fund my travel for medical school interviews. Points paid for all of my flights and hotels, even after some programs devalued. The interviewer at my top-choice school was so amazed by this hobby, he spent a good chunk of our 1-hr interview asking about it. A few months later, I got an acceptance letter!
Both paid and award travel continues to allow us to open our minds to new places, new people and new cultures which brings us all much closer together.
Saving my family several hundred dollars when they drive to Montana from NC this summer to visit the national parks. Even with devaluations, those hotel points are a lifesaver for a family.
Roundtrip flights in Etihad suites/first class for under $100!
I am always flexible with my wish-list places so if a great fare or hotel deal comes up I just re prioritize.
When you have bloggers who continue to write about how to find values in our efforts, we all benefit.
I never could have taken more than 25 international trips – all in premium cabins – without points and miles!
Having saved most of our points and miles for future retirement use, devaluation hits at a bad time. But also having just discovered this neat and helpful blog, I feel that a thoughtful plan may be developed for their use and the earning of others. Your advice is a positive, as is the comraderie that the blog viewers offer. Thank you, one and all!
I’ve visited places all over the world thanks to frequent flier miles. It’s getting more difficult now, but I’m still getting a lot out if this! Here’s to more trips!
Southwest still allows for companion travel!
I can see new places AND visit my daughter with all of the miles/points I DO have!
I try to look at the free plane tickets I get as a bonus- to get them I’ve spent money I would have spent anyway. So, even if it takes longer to get an award ticket, eventually I do and then have extra to spend at my destination!
It is still possible to book last minute travel for a fun trip with the family using points and miles creatively. What a great hobby this is!
My girlfriend and I get to see each other twice a year, since she’s in London and I’m here on the east coast. Redeeming miles has always been a helpful way of defraying the travel expenses.
And no matter what, I’m grateful.
BA Companion Certificate means my wife can travel with me in First Class ORD-LHR-HKG next month!
It’s still a fun hobby.
Being able to fly business class for dirt-cheap is amazing.
Being able to go back home to the Asia in a decade thanks to miles and this blog! Thank you, thank you, thank you!
It is still pretty fun getting free travel
Thankful for Hyatt at least giving us the Points + Cash option in the midst of their devaluation!
Great how easy it still is to earn large quantities of points: CIti AA 100k
Times change but Alaska Airlines price for Emirates awards still hasn’t!