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!
I entered the game late but I have my first major trip for two to Europe AND Asia all in business and first in the coming weeks! For that I am grateful
Learned a lot about miles!
How else will I afford Hawaii between Christmas and New Year’s every year?
Positive – although there have been devaluations, I am still able to book the family trips that we need and want.
Devaluations just offer us the opportunity to learn EVEN MORE about earning, collecting and using miles and points.
Positive is what positive does. I do not imagine you get tax deduction for your donation to people and I know your followers are not the hungry kids of the third world who could eat for a month with a hundred bukcs.
Yet, your act of kindness will make someone happy and that is positive.
I have witnessed great acts of self sacrifice and willignness to help (though only online) in the last 10 days, during the worst ever floods in te Balkans ever since the meteorological data is recorded (1868 or so).
So all that is positive, I’d say: the fact that many people give away something, be it money, aid, their time, advice… whatever.
Of course, there are always quite a few of those who freeload and jump on bandwagons too. And the fact that the universe lets us roll and carry on, such as we are: with more of those who need and those who do not want to give than those who do, is kinda positive, ain’t it?
The positive is that I am still able to travel for less and experience new things using miles. Now if all programs became revenue based…that would change. It’s also great to meet and talk with fellow points hounds – real camaraderie.
Was able to book my preferred flight for the 4th of July and earn miles using Flexperks points!
Positive to be 1501!
I get to take my family on vacations for (near) free!
Miles & Points create unforgettable events like my recent LH F to FRA for the new Porsche 911 test drive (wow – what a rocket and the sound) and back home in F again. From now on always 5 hour layover in FRA for that :))))
Free mileage tips.
I travel the world in a manner that would be impossible if not for miles and points – written from France – flew free biz class – received $1000 off my new Mercedes (from my MB AMEX Platinum card) I picked up in Germany.
I like the cabin crews at Hawaiian. They’re pretty chill all the time!
I love reading travel blogs that post trip reports and focus on the food whether during the flight or on the ground.
I was able to take my boyfriend on his first trip abroad using miles.
I’m going to Japan with my good friend this summer thanks to this wonderful travel community!
I’m grateful for the fact that I get to choose whether to drink Dom Perignon or Krug when redeeming my miles for Singapore First.
Everyone sharing tips/information
even if it costs more miles, I can still see parts of the world I would never otherwise see for free!
Several airlines serve Dom Perignon in business and/or first class. What’s not to like about that?
Blogs like yours have saved me lots of money while traveling in the past year! 🙂
The points I earn thanks to this blog help me to save money and have great vacations!
Earning miles and points has allowed me to visit places I’ve always dreamed about!
I’ve almost saved up enough miles to fly the family to South Africa in business 🙂
I love reading travel blogs that post trip reports and focus on the food whether during the flight or on the ground too.
Taking the family on trips is made easier with miles and points.
Earning miles & points = being able to eat caviar on a plane. It’s a completely indulgent activity … and I loved every minute of it.
I was traveling to an East Coast summer destination for my son’s wedding, and stopped to get gas. At that station I discovered
a supply of Vanilla Reloads that could be bought with credit cards!!!
points and miles is fun like playing a game!
Appreciate that you keep us up to date with program changes, good or bad, as well as promotions and opportunities to leverage the points / miles already accumulated.
Points and miles hobby has changed my life for the better!:)
UR points now transfer to Singapore Air!
It’s a wonderful day in the neighborhood of travel.
Traveling keeps me positive no matter what may be happening around me. I love it because it’s an opportunity to travel the world, fall in love with different cultures, and experience new adventures. I get inspired when reading story’s and updates from fellow frequent flyers.
Saving money while seeing the world; very special.
Able to use points earned for emergency without having to pay through the nose.
Still a lot of great opps out there to allow us to travel in style. And there will be new products we haven’t seen yet add to the opps.
There are still plenty of value in redeeming points.
One thing the last few rounds of devaluations has taught me is how ingenious and resilient the FF community can be. I’ve seen many people share tips and experiences, offer advice, and guide people to be able to experiences vacations that they otherwise wouldn’t be able to afford. I love travel, seeing the world, and seeing people help others experience the wonderful places this world has to offer.
I love to travel, love to save money, and love to earn points and miles. Thanks for helping with all three!
Miles aren’t taxed, for now
Spend bonuses make my day, especially when they’re for credit cards that I had long stashed away in my drawer.
Affordable travel for all.
Looking for good opportunities to earn and save in Thailand. Thanks.
As I get more into the hobby, it’s so fun to teach others as well. I love promoting travel.
Life and Miles Are Great
I have accumulated a lot of miles and points, thanks to the hard work of the bloggers being . Looking forward to my next trips this year to see more of the world for free…
What I like about frequent flyer miles is the fact that it gives us a sense of belonging where we are able to be rewarded for our loyalty(although that might be overrated) for an airline(s)
I love that the airlines, hotel chains and car rental agencies want to give me miles!