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!
Hyatt cash and points award is a positive
Points can still make international or last minute travel significantly cheaper than paying cash
British Airways miles on short haul flights in the USA is still a tremendous value. Especially for last minute travel.
Reading your blog reminds me of just how amazing travel can be.
Despite devaluations, still being able to book great business class deals with LM has been great!
You can really write!
Miles and Points let me go places and in a manner I could NEVER do the “regular” way.
Great credit card bonuses are still around. 50% of the way through my spend requirement for AA Executive 100,000 mile offer.
I’ve met some wonderful people sitting up front – some of whom I’ve stayed in contact with for years.
I appreciate the sharing of information and experience – with everyone’s help, my fiancee are about to embark on a 12 night honeymoon in Hawaii, with all of our flights and hotel nights paid for by points!
I’ve learned how to maximize my points earning – and also how to use those points to make travel less stressful. A true double-benefit.
I feel fortunate to be able to travel often and in style thanks to this hobby.
Travel well with points/miles.
Well thanks, Gary. We still can fly up front for little $ & effort and to me it’s a game I’m winning for this poor preacher’s kid to go RTW in 1st sipping Krug
Despite all the devaluations, I’m hoping that the success of the 100,000 mile AA card will motivate other banks to bring back some mega offers.
Love that you can use Avios with no close-in booking fee!
Miles and points…really helping folks to see the world!
It lets me have aspirational vacations!
With points/miles, I save on family trips.
I love reading trip reports, even for places I’ve been to or for product I’ve flown. It’s like a little moment of vacation when I’m hurtling off in the subway to an office tower.
Love theHyatt Diamond challenge!
Mega bonuses rule!
Despite all the devaluations, we’re still able to utilize foreign programs like LifeMiles and Singapore. And thank to you for being so meticulous for pointing out those fantastic redemptions.
It is still possible to have fun at this game.
There are still bargains and values to be had!
Hopeful for some other really large offers like the 100k AA Executive and the 100k British Airways Visa I’ve gotten in on this year!
Just last week I was able to book one of the cheap ($270) flights to Milan. This will be my first trip to Europe!
I just booked a free first class trip to Los Cabos on AA!
I still enjoy the look on everybody’s face when you tell them about all the great deals you can get.
I love reading travel and points blogs like yours to know where to stay and how to get it for the lowest price
Even though I missed out on so many opportunities, I’m still enjoying booking amazing flights – like being the sole passenger in first on Air China Beijing to LA, or just picking up my bags and jotting off on a long weekend in business on Swiss.
Southwest companion pass and hotel points allowed me to share the experience of a volunteer vacation with my daughter!
We have gone so many places on points, and in first or business most of the time. Couldn’t have done It without the blogs. Thanks.
My miles and points (mostly AA, then Avios and also a few LanPass kilometers) have allowed me to travel to South America at least twice a year since 2009, a few times even biz class and once first class home on a 12 hour leg from Buenos Aires to New York.
I left my engineering job to travel full-time. Miles and points are what’s subsidizing my travel costs. If it weren’t for miles and points, it would not be possible for me to see the world.
The miles and point seminars is what brings people together to FTU and it’s been a pleasure meeting and networking with the folks I’ve met.
I love that there is SO much information in this blog and similar blogs that help is not only get the most miles possible, but use them to their fullest potential!
Without miles and points, many would not be able to experience first class travel.
There’s still great value to be had from points and status. I used the diamond challenge with Hyatt last year to get status and together with chase ultimate rewards points stayed in a suite at the Andaz Maui with an amazing free breakfast at less than the cost of a regular room!
ON THE BRIGHT SIDE….
I feel like the frequent flyer community is definitely working together as a response for the continuous devaluations. It has never been so easy for me to get in touch with good deals!
Points allowed our family of 4 to book award tickets to Africa this summer, saving tons!
Also positive is the fact that I’ve nearly replenished the Alaska miles I used to book my trip to Africa, thanks in part to a tip from your blog about being able to transfer points from the SPG AMEX to Alaska (plus earning a sizeable signup bonus).
Club Carlson Visa 5x on everyday purchases! Easy points and a great free night combo with the credit card!
Companies have been investing major improvements in premium cabin travel so that even while the products are costing more, they are providing a nicer experience
AA still has decent award prices overall.
Honestly, there are still some good promotions out there (such as Flying Blue promo awards).
The ability/flexibility to position for mistake fares!
Fragrance,see of the devaluations, hyatt still seems to be one of the best hotel programs out there
I can still burn 12500 for a domestic one-way on AA.
Bad as things are getting, I am still able to get a ticket for a non-stop flight for my mother-in-law to visit.
Hilton points have lost a lot of their value, but status is still well recognized. Got 3 suites upgrades this year!