I gave just a few people in my office one-on-one consultations about getting started in miles and points. I’ve also helped several of those people book award tickets with their points. Usually the first actionable thing my co-workers take away from those conversations is to sign up for the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card. I tell folks that they want to start with understanding their reward goals — that both motivates them and helps them pick the right program to earn points in. For most goals, though, Chase Ultimate Rewards points are the best place to start. And to track their points, using a site like Award Wallet. What’s interesting is that once people get this advice, get the card, and use the points the advice seems to spread like wildfire. How did you do that?…
ASIA
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When to Take Advantage of United’s 25% Discount on Purchased Miles
United is offering a 25% discount on purchased miles through December 31. The miles do not post instantly, they warn posting can take up to 48 hours though they usually post a bit faster than that. The minimum purchase is 2000 miles and an account can purchase up to 100,000 miles per year. The only time this makes any sense is when you have almost enough United miles in an account for an award and need to top off that account (and do not have other, more cost effective ways of doing it). The deal in effect offers miles for purchase ~ 2.8 cents apiece. That’s still expensive. United miles are about the most valuable single airline currency out there because of the amazing award availability offered through Star Alliance (best from North American to…
Why We Must Shout About Delta’s Miles Problems From the Rooftops!
In response to a post I wrote about devaluing elite benefits in the BalticMiles program of Latvian-based airline Air Baltic, Gene wrote, Maybe you can spend your time bashing them instead of Delta now. My criticisms of Delta are, I think, fair. Delta is a well-run airline, and has a frequent flyer program that offers much less value than those of American, United, and US Airways (and offers a worse redemption program in my opinion than Avianca Lifemiles, Singapore Airlines Krisflyer, Air Canada Aeroplan, and many many more around the world but that’s not important right now). I coined the term ‘Skypesos’ for their currency because Delta miles don’t go as far as many other major currencies. They’re harder to use. They don’t permit one-way awards for half the cost of roundtrip (neither does US…
Qatar Waits Weeks, Won’t Honor Mistake Fare, Fibs About its Cause
I’ve always said I have no moral qualms taking advantage of ‘mistake fares’. If an airline publishes a far of, say, $28 to Paris and decides to honor it — if some people are going to get to go to Europe at a very very low price — then I would like to be one of those people. I don’t generally complain when such deals aren’t honored, and to me that’s a relevant moral difference. I don’t want to miss out, but I also don’t feel like there’s a moral claim against the travel provider either. “I’m going to sue” doesn’t really enter my thoughts. However, I do think that travel providers owe a certain clarity and expediency in communicating about the deal and how they intend to handle it. If it’s a mistake and…
Up to 2000 Singapore Airlines Miles Per Hilton Stay
Hilton’s points-earning value proposition has long been known for double dipping, the ability to earn both points and miles for your stays. They’ve made things much more complicated though since now you can earn points and extra points instead of miles. Or if you earn miles you can pick between ‘fixed miles’ (a set number of points per night or per stay) or ‘variable miles’ (a number of miles based on your spending. This gets super complicated because you’re best off switching your preferences from stay to stay — short cheap stays are best earning fixed miles, long and expensive stays variable miles (or points and points). And on award stays you can earn points and points or points and variable miles but you will not earn fixed miles. So setting your preference to fixed…
How to Book a Business Class Award to India Using Delta Miles (in Front of Hundreds of People)
One of the things I try to do on this blog and in presentations is explain how to make the most of points, not just earn them. That’s why I walk through the best tools to find available award seats, and point y’all to the routes with the best premium cabin award availability for a whole family. At Frequent Traveler University this past weekend in Tampa, Lucky from the One Mile at a Time blog and I team-taught a session on the basics of award booking and then we put on another session together that we called Theory to Practice: How to Find Award Space and Construct Your Booking. What we decided to do was to challenge each other to book a complicated award over the phone with an agent, live in front of a…
How to Find Business Class Award Seats for the Whole Family
Last month I argued that premium cabin award travel is best for families. More award seats cost more miles, and not everyone has the balances to support flying up front. But premium cabin awards in many programs do not cost substantially more than coach awards do — a business class ticket might cost 5 to 10 times the price of a coach ticket, but a business class award may be only 50% – 100% more miles. Ultimately you should redeem your points for what you value, and not everyone feels like extra room, a better sleep on long flights, or fewer hassles is worth any extra points or money. Last month I suggested ways to earn more miles instead of strategizing to economize on miles, as well as some of the compromises involved in finding…
A First Look At the New Singapore Airlines 777 Economy Seat
Last week I shared a first look at Singapore’s new 777 first class cabin and then I followed up with the new 777 business class cabin as well. I was fortunate to attend the delivery of Singapore’s first 777 with their new interior at Boeing’s Everett Delivery Center and to roam around the aircraft taking photos. I didn’t get to take pictures of everything, the lavatories were closed off for instance and since the plane was literally just delivered Singapore hadn’t done the full upload of its entertainment system yet. There are (8) 777 aircraft on order with this new interior. They haven’t announced anything about retrofitting existing 777s, but they have announced it as the product for Singapore’s new Airbus A350s on order. This first aircraft is being sent to fly Singapore – London.…
United Wants to Be the Friendly Skies Again — Without People That Are Actually Friendly
United’s Twitter account sent me a direct message yesterday flagging the New York Times piece about their new advertising campaign that was supposed to harken back to the classic slogan “fly the friendly skies.” The campaign, though, doesn’t actually speak the iconic phrase and words appear only briefly on screen — it doesn’t talk about its people being friendly. It talks about its features being friendly. It has lots of flights, and that’s friendly. United is now telling travelers it is everything from “legroom friendly” and “online friendly” to “shut-eye friendly” and “EWR friendly,” which refers to the hub of Continental Airlines at Newark Liberty International Airport, which United inherited when the two airlines merged in 2010 to create the world’s largest carrier in terms of passenger traffic. That’s a crucial distinction, because nobody would…
Understanding Korean Air First Class Awards Using Chase Points
Reader Carberrie asks, Korean Air miles booking process! I know Korean miles are a good option for those of us with Ultimate Rewards points seeking transpacific F. However, I just know that the availability is great but the booking process is a pain in the butt. What I don’t know is how bad is it, and is the pain worth it? Korean is one of the really undervalued transfer partners of Chase Ultimate Rewards. Transfer to Korean Air, the transfers are usually instantaneous. Here’s the award chart. They offer one-way awards at half the cost of a roundtrip. From the US to Hong Kong via Seoul in first class is 80,000 points. They do add fuel surcharges which vary by destination, though Asia is usually less costly than Europe. The key here is that first…
