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!
One good use of miles may be for emergency trips, where the normal fare may be too high. I’ve done this twice.
I’m able to fill up on Biscoff cookies and Nutella with access to Skyclubs with my AMEX Plat.
Airplanes and the experience of flying is just a straight-up mindwarp. But I’m good with eating and drinking in the sky!
Learning how to get to get the best value out of the miles from your blog!
Best travel blog out there! helped me and my family do things we otherwise could not do…
Despite the devaluations, I am traveling more than ever and loving it!
Love to fly!
I love the upgraded rooms.
I love getting giant suites. It’s rare, but a luxurious treat every time.
I love getting tips about point breaks and other great deals.
I love the way American treats me, even when I don’t get an upgrade. Exit row seat, free drink, free snack… It makes missing out on an upgrade somewhat bearable.
Staying at a better hotel for free is great fun.
Pointsbreaks have saved us at $500 last year!
I love how even as good deals die (goodbye free stopovers at international gateway on AA), new good deals are born. I’ve been doing very well with the Orbitz best rate guarantee now that I’ve gotten used to the program’s quirks.
What positivity can I spew forth today ?.
“LOTS” “………….I am not flying at all today!
Using Avios for short last minute flights to visit family and friends.
Forums and blogs like this are the best!
Hey, free trips is free trips! (of course nothing in life is *really* free…)
Great to have a hobby that is both fun and profitable 🙂
Frequent flyer miles and the knowledge on these pages have helped me stay in touch and contact with my parents who live in Ohio and my brother who lives in Hawaii while I was Active Duty in the US Army. Now that I’ve transitioned from the Army I still try to keep up with the mileage deals to keep visiting friends and family all over the US and globally.
The best things in life are free – and the FF community goes a long way in showing you what those things are 🙂
Having a community of like-minded people. The people in my regular life think I’m crazy when I jet off somewhere for a long weekend – it’s nice to have a community of people who get me.
This hobby has given me a different perspective on many fronts, started to value my time with the ones I love as it provides me with the chance of a break, of a setting change of the daily routine.
Thanks for reading, Tom 🙂
the fact that there are still decent sign up bonuses is definitely a positive!
with all my miles I am able to fly down to New Orleans and hang out with my cousin for the next week!
I really appreciate the wealth of knowledge that is available on travel blogs. In essence, its made traveling so much easier!!
I love being able to travel better for the same money, and the support from others on MP 🙂
I love finding ways to get minimum spend bonuses for cheap manufactured spend!
As a newbie on a budget, I’ve come to find that mileage redemption when combined with flight fare deals is invaluable in travelling the globe, perhaps the most convenient and best way to travel. The fun is exploring how far my miles will take me!
I have been FT member for over a decade and I am loving it
The Internet makes the knowledge and advice of the frequent traveler community available to anyone.
The travel blogger community is such an amazing resource! Thanks for all you do.
I continue to appreciate how readers share their creative ways to accrue points.
Miles let me travel with my granddaughter in style.
Going to Japan over Christmas vacation in business returning First plus the annual trip in business to Belgium with nice point hotel stays!
I loved helping book an AA Explorer trip <20,000 miles with 12 stops in business for 130K AA plus $215 in taxes for a favorite 22 year old Au pair (US-Asia-Middle East-Europe). It was merely $50 per hour in business class on JAL, Makaysia, CX, RJ, Air Berlin. Although I can not do it again it is fun to hear her adventures and smiling at the incredible value. Similar routes are doable with ANA & BA in some countries…Brazil, Austrailia, US, Japan…the fun is sobbing sweet spot awards and the smiles
Because of all the advice and miles i’ve accumulated thanks to tips from blogs such as these, i’m able to fly my girlfriend to bali in first class, and give my cousin a wedding gift of first class singapore airline tickets.
It’s still rewarding to travel for business
I flew first class on BA from DFW–>LHR–>ATH and back on miles. I experienced the LHR Concorde Room and sat next to a celebrity on one of the legs: all on miles. I would’ve never been able to afford the cost of the ticket had it not been for AAdvantage miles.
I can honestly say that reading blogs like yours definitely provide me with tidbits of info I’d have never thought about before. I saw one last week about the animals that pass through Dusseldorf. Amazing!
First time tasting Caviar on Lufthansa First Class.
Enjoy the free stays at hotels using points.
Great community of travelers!
i love the opportunity to experience the world on a budget.
flying first class and staying at nice hotels for practically free!
Since becoming a mom, the miles and points I earn go a long way to keeping my child connected to her grandparents, who can no longer travel internationally due to various health reasons.
Suite upgrades for elite members!
Excited to start acummulating points & miles through informative blogs like yours!
(Entry 4):…and, it’s all good!!! 😉