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!
Points allowed for a nearly free weekend in Yellowstone with the family
Knowing the TSA officers my home airport by name. Learning the names of the people in my travel universe makes the process go smoother and friendlier.
As Mark Twain said, “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness.”
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. Thank you!
I love that we have so much greater access to distant locations that we ever had before. Accessibility has improved both financially and technologically.
Opportunities for points earning have been more than ever, so an increase in award cost is more or less bringing us to the same ground as a couple years ago! We are not behind!
Points/Miles devalue. Cars and houses (typically) increase in price..and devalue. That’s life for most of us. Good or bad. I’d speculate most of the readers and players in this game are still very fortunate to be playing and traveling for mostly free. I’ll take it!
Because loyalty still has its perks, I can look past devaluations. Sticking with a brand means something to the customer service teams and as long as you keep an open mind, there are many good things points and miles can bring to the table.
Travelling is one of the best educations one can have. Education might cost, but knowledge is free.
Points getting devalued? No big deal, just churn and burn!
I’ve thoroughly enjoyed meeting the travel bloggers, Rene of delta points, being the first, I’ve “met” via their blogs. Rene, and others, provide valuable information and have helped me earn more of the devalued delta miles. Keep up the good work!
I love the opportunities! Without miles I would never be able to afford many trips that now I can just book. Miles are awesome though not always easy to use…
At one time, I only focused on airline flights and how to get my 6’5″ self into flights all over the world. After blogs, I’ve learned I can stay in much nicer hotels, too, without too much expenditure.
I get to regularly fly First Class on Cathay Pacific! What a dream!
No matter what happens, I’ve been able (and will continue to be able, if not quite as often) to go places for free! You can’t beat that with a stick.
Thank you to this community on a whole. To every helpful person on every blog and site. This would not be possible without you.
Points and miles allow me to many destinations that I never would have flown to.
When the Economy turns down, airlines and hotels will REVALUE to attract customers!
How else do you take a family of 5 to Hawaii just by opening two credit cards?
It has opened up a whole new world of travel opportunities that I had no idea of before.
There are a lot of travel blogs, View from the Wing is the most comprehensive. If I had to only read one, this would be the one!
Thanks to new techniques, I can pay bills that previously couldn’t be paid by credit card and then earn points or cash back!
The best uses of “skypesos” article writen what seems like forever ago is still one of my all time favorites. Now if only those skypesos were easier to use…. [sigh]
This blog is helping me figure out the best ways to afford to fly across the country and internationally to friends’ and family members’ weddings and special events several times each year.
Gary goes above and beyond what other travel blogs provide. Most other blogs re-post information from flyertalk. Gary actually adds to the travel space by articulatinghis personal opinions and projections instead of just regurgitating someone else’s’ posts. Yippie!
Keep ’em flying!
Thanks to points and miles, and even Skypesos at times, I’ve been able to see a lot of the world in great style.
I ignore all the devaluations and I am very thankful for learning how to travel for almost free.
Despite the devaluations, I think airline miles are still more valuable than 1 cent per point. That’s something to be thankful for!
Points=travel! and for those people too busy for points, there is always the 2% cash back Fidelity Amex card. win-win
I love that I can get any portion of travel for free! Whatever they’re willing to give me, I’ll take!
Collecting miles beats digging a ditch.
Cash in hand is better than miles in the bush.
It might take more points or miles, but as prices have climbed too, it’s sometimes not as bad as it looks!
Traveling by itself is expensive. But when miles and deals are put in place, traveling becomes a reality and something each one of us can fulfill.
Devaluations provide the opportunity for us to learn even more about how to earn, collect and use miles and points.
The increasing availability of information on the web (such as this blog) has made it much easier to keep up with important changes.
I love the information on this blog and other sites. Has really shown me best ways to earn and burn for some great travel.
This blog!
Keep up the good work, Gary!
my father was able to visit me in a different country with miles!
Sometimes it’s not about the actual dollar value we get in return from using our miles. For example, I’m more than happy to use my miles to fly girlfriend across the country to see me. It may not be the best redemption in terms of dollar amount, but it’s quite possibly just the best redemption period.
With so much help (thank you bloggers)anyone with a good credit report can get anywhere they’ve dreamed of with little or no cost for the transportation.
For me, miles and points are a game with a real-life reward. I genuinely enjoy “min-maxing” my spend (through portals, with bonuses, etc) to try to get the best value and maximum amount of points. It’s a hobby I put a lot of time into – and one that has actual rewards for my family and friends! Therefore I get double satisfaction from my points and miles: once when I earn them, and again when I spend them!
I’ve enjoyed reading your posts, Gary, about the far flung places I will probably never get to visit. Nothing like living vicariously through someone other than your children!
Post #2: I enjoy reading your blog for the mileage tips, your travel reviews and the informed comments. It’s not often that a blog can have a comment thread that doesn’t spin out of control when the troll take over…well done.
Miles and Points:
Best.
Obsessive.
Hobby.
EVER.
Hmm. let’s see. Grateful for the 10 day trip to Moorea. First class flights and an overwater bungalow.
As disappointing as devaluations are, thanks to sign up bonuses and points from continued spending my family has been able to travel the world for nearly free.
This is one of the few hobbies that actually pays/rewards you for pursuing it, rather than just costing you money!