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!
Been a while, but would love to fly again!
Buy gift cards at 5x points and liquidate from the comfort of my home. Priceless!
Getting miles makes all of my long business trips more tolerable…
Even minor status still gets you good treatment from airlines and hotels.
I have benefited a lot from blogs – just went business class to Italy using Avianca miles and I never would have known about that possibility but for blogs and miles!
i like Chase having Singapore as a partner now.
We’re still able to fly for free with our miles!
Despite the recent devaluations, I’m still able to take 1-2 international trips per year in business or first thanks to miles, which would otherwise be impossible.
Bloggers are a great resource for all kinds of travel information. Also, there are very helpful members of FlyerTalk.
Being able to stay at great hotels for very little cost is pretty fantastic.
I like getting status, as a frequent traveller, it makes all the difference.
I used miles to fly to my college roommate’s wedding last month! Thanks Gary
I like that I have a mental game to play when purchasing something: which CC has the best points/miles/bonuses.
Hotel redemptions have no fees.
Thanks for the great tips over the years that have helped me and my family use our miles for amazing trips to Europe and Africa. And more to come!
I have had the opportunity to send our family to many exotic places using my and my wife’s miles. That is an awesome thing.
I love Lufthansa first class.
You still get lounge access on an international business class award ticket.
I think it’s fun to play the points “game” and figuring out how to earn points in new ways.
I also love that I’m going on a honeymoon flying Lufthansa first class.
Reading travel blogs has introduced me to other mileage programs that have saved me time/money, such as using BA Avios for short distance trips.
And for entry number 3, I really love that I’m staying at Park Hyatts for a big chunk of my trip. Thanks Chase!
Finally, I really appreciate that the banks keep approving me for more credit cards.
I love the challenge of using points and miles to the best use when they make these devaluations.
I used SPG points this year on my honeymoon and was upgraded to a Suite, which is bigger than my apartment!
Professional tennis players are the best travelers.
Elite status upgrades on domestic flights.
Points let me go to Berlin for free on Air Berlin! It’s not all doom and gloom 🙂
With the increase in the prepaid card market, the options for MS are growing daily!
Love being recognized like royalty!
Travel for almost free is always a good thing.
Being very new to all this I’ve found that 99% of the bloggers and readers have been very helpful with my edcuation. I’m looking forward to my 1st awards trip and many more thanks to all the great teachers!
I like having 50,000 miles in reserve for emergency situations when I need to be somewhere ASAP
Miles and points have enabled me to see more of the world than I ever thought possible!
Hotels that honor elite status benefits on award stays.
Its fun to play the points “game” and figure out how to maximize my points earnings.
Blogs allowed me to spend 7 nights in Rome with my gf for a total of $400. Thanks!
Simple: When folks help other folks – easy as helping with a heavy bag in the overhead bin, to letting soldiers take a 1st class upgrade…it reminds me that the people flying on these airlines are still good at heart!
I really like the guides you publish, I plan on using your plan to get to the Maldives!
Avios have saved my relationship. As one half of a long distance relationship, Avios allow me and or my partner,to see each other at the bargain rate of 9K per trip. This short flight somethings cost as much as $800 if we were to pruchse the tickets outright.
1 other positive- can’t speak for other airlines, but UA still seems to be taking pretty decent care of its top-tier elites, all things considered.
Hmm. let’s see. Grateful for the 17 day trip to Italy and Paris on points last month. Gritti Palace, Westin Excelsior, Park Hyatt Vendome.
Hey, at least points are still around and not entirely worthless. 🙂
This blog is my travel savior. I’m way too busy at work to spend as much time researching credit card options, travel values, etc. I’ve found your advice consistently helpful over the years. Thank you Gary!
can still earn lots of points through credit card signup bonuses!
I like flexible points currencies.
Travel for almost free is always a good thing. (3)
For the past 6 years, I’ve managed to travel the world thanks to the tips in this blog. Thank you for all your help!
I love that I can use miles to fly business class on overnight flights. What a quality of life improvement!
Love meeting great people who enjoy traveling and cultural exchange as much as I do.