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 are helping get my grand baby here to Richmond in 2 weeks. Yay for sign up bonuses.
And I am most grateful for tips from fellow travelers, and from insight gleaned from reading A View from The Wing. Thanks!
Priority Club still puts out PointsBreaks, sometimes at hotels that truly do save me some points!
This hobby keeps me going and dream big everyday. And it does makes those dreams come true 🙂
Always a great read!
earn em and burn em never was more true
I’ve been able to visit 3 continents in 3 years thanks to points!
I appreciate the bloggers for giving me knowledge and ideas for trips I would otherwise not think of.
I appreciate the thrill of the chase.
The mental gymnastics to determine which card to use when.
I enjoy the sense of community that comes from sharing miles and points information.
keeping track of all my cards is harder than NYTIMES sunday crosswaord
I have taken so many trips around the US to visiy family and friends which would other wise be few without miles and points
Just had 3 free nights at Holiday Inn- thanks to this blog
Miles have allowed me to travel with my family and do things I probably would have not been able to do.
Ive learned a lot from blogs and people willing to share deals or tricks. Its definitely a fun hobby and turning into a way of thinking
The destination is always worth the effort put into the miles and points to get there!
I spent free nights at the Park Hyatt thanks to miles and points. It was amazing.
Miles allow me to visit my family every other weekend.
Having friends wonder how you travel so much is always a nice feeling!
Cash and points are more readily available now.
This is a great hobby! I get to hunt ( points/mile) without killing anything. After successfully hunting I have the pleasure of experiencing travel that I never dreamed Of by spending my points! It’s a great hobby & it’s legal!
5x at office stores is amazing!
Travelling for “free” is always nice.
Being able to see sick family on last minute miles trip is so important
What I like most about all of the following (miles and points, blogs, forums, AND my fellow travelers) is just how EXCITED everyone gets to share a great deal – be it an amazingly low fare or a great opportunity to collect points. We’re all in this together! 🙂
Upgrades are always positive!
We have been stocking up on United miles for the past few years, even though United is not the best airline we are still excited that we get to use (hopefully) our miles to fly business class for the first time to go back and see my family in HK next year!
Travelling for “free” is always nice.
(last entry!)
Getting added value out of spending I was doing anyway is great.
Visiting new places for almost no cost is outstanding.
Passengers are so nice during boarding, the flight and deboarding. They are friendly, makes you feel good!
I never thought flying first class would be a possibility but information from your blog has helped make that happen!
The excitement of approaching the hotel check in with the hopes of an upgrade !!
I love flying BA, and have been housing a nice fortune of Avios, as I can book US domestic flights cheap and easy!
maldives. first class on CX. less than the price of coach.
Enjoy the benefits of flying and seeing the world. How many folks in this world never see anything more than their own backyard!! We’re very lucky!
I love being able to use my points to book tickets I wouldn’t have been able to afford with cash. This has come in handy for happy occasion–like surprising my fiance with a visit from his best friend from college–and sad occasions–like getting my Mom back to Korea to see my grandpa before he died.
I like getting rewards for things I’d be buying anyway. It’s like getting a discount every time I buy something.
i love figuring out which card i need to use.
I love using Avios for short distance flights from NYC. I love using VS FC miles to book DL business class flights to Europe for less miles than DL charges.
i love the instant notification of changes in the points world
I love intermingling with different cultures and meeting interesting people while traveling.
I’m happy that I’ve flown a great deal in my life, thanks in part to the miles I’ve collected.
I am grateful to have stumbled onto your site and have learned many things.
Not many things in this world are ‘free’. But, you can get close when you arm yourself with knowledge. And knowledge is power. And power gets you sugar. And sugar can get you women. Women get you in trouble. Ergo, stop at sugar.
I thoroughly enjoy Points & Pixie Dust and would not have been introduced to her blog without reading other blogs.
I like it when you give stuff away on your blog.
With interest rates on credit cards sky high, points and miles are one of the few places where you can get something for your bucks.
Getting to use Avios for short-haul US flights out of the DC area is an awesome new tool!