One of the things I really enjoy doing is responding to reader questions. Here’s your chance. I will my best to cover many of your questions. Some I may answer right away, others that I answer will take me a few weeks.
Please leave requests in the comments section.
As my boss once wrote making a similar request on his blog, “The only promise is that of weak monotonicity, namely that your mention won’t lower the chance of the topic being covered.” In other words, I won’t promise to cover everything, though I’ll read and ponder everything that’s written here in the comments.
I’d love to hear from you!
Hi
My daughter and her husband, along with their 3 littles ones, aged 4, 2, and 2 months, need to fly from Denver to Boston next July.
What advice/tips do you have for how to make things go smoothly for them?
Do you have any recommendations for websites to visit?
Thanks.
With all the mass consolidation of hotel and airlines in the past few years how do you feel this will impact the credit card company programs. Basically if awards are harder to get and redeem with reward levels rising greatly does that not lessen the value of a AA credit card, or some of the hotel cards? Also keeping in mind that consumers are aware of 2% cards like Citibank Double cash?
Hi Gary,
Thanks for all your knowledge!
I left this question in the comments of one of your older posts, so forgive me the double-dip. Do you know if there is a Corporate version of the AmEx PR Gold card? I’d love the ability to earn 3x on (company paid!) airfare, but I cannot find any info about it on the AmEx site. I’d imagine their not looking to offer outsized benefits for larger corporate spend, so I know it’s a long-shot, but I figured I’d ask anyway.
Thx,
-theBOAT
Hi Gary
Thank for doing this for your readers!
I have probably a very simple question. For some reason I can’t seem to figure it out on my own.
I have approximately 25,000 Aegean miles. I live in Hawaii. What are my best options to redeem these?
I don’t have any 2016 travel plans yet except for getting the most bang outta my devalued American miles (150,000)
Thank you!
Question (Topic: Preference) =
Would you rather fly Jet Airways or Air India Business Class from BOM to LHR, based on experience and reviews? Thanks.
@Anonymous I prefer Jet Airways seats
Hi Gary, many bloggers write about redemption of first and business class. While those are nice, usually 1-way is advertised. How to these people get back? Paid fare? Or points on economy?
I will ALWAYS take 2 free economy flights over 1 business as long as it’s 2:1 ration. Also, we are traveling two people so redeeming business is harder.
So, do people actually spend points for roundtrip business / first (huge amount), or pay one fare, or get back on economy?
thanks!
@Casey – Hawaii awards are oddly pricey with Aegean. But I would say India or South America at 110k roundtrip in business are pretty good and remember Aegean is now a Starwood transfer partner
http://viewfromthewing.com/2015/12/10/starwood-just-added-a-new-airline-transfer-partner/
@theBOAT – closest thing is Business Gold Rewards, bonus categories aren’t the same and benefits aren’t either. You choose your triple points category, airfare is one of those, the rest of the categories earn 2x.
We recently booked and pre-paid for 5 nights at a very expensive new resort on Puerto Vallarta, Mexico and booked it with Citi Executive MasterCard (arrival this Wed 12/30). Their website stated that their Grand Opening would be Dec 18th. We have friends that sent photos today and construction is not complete and told them that they had to relocate guests who were checking in yesterday to another hotel. These rooms are over $800 / night. If the resort is still not available when we arrive on Wed, do you know of any recourse that we might have?
Gary, would you do a special post on comments that you have received in the past? Perhaps like a mock awards ceremony — most interesting, most informative, most controversial, etc.? You inspire a cool community of readers and I would love to read your commentary on their contributions.
@robertw – I think 2% cash back cards are already better for unbonused spend than airline miles. I think the only hotel card worth its weight for unbonused spend is the Starwood card. Unquestionably devaluations hurt the value propositions of airline cards, I can tell you Chase was concerned about the United devaluation from a couple of years, as I understand it that’s why we got the United-only award chart for fewer miles (a concession from United to Chase).
Over time though the biggest change to mileage-earning cards is going to be competition from new payment technologies. As interchange fees get competed down it won’t make sense for banks to buy miles to incentivize transactions anymore.
@Dawn Hansen I’d recommend more of a family-specific blog like MommyPoints.com, I don’t know that I’m an expert in travel with young children 🙂
First off, thanks for doing this.
With the upcoming American devAAluation and generally decreased earnings, I was wondering who decides these things. You’ve mentioned Suzanne Rubin before as president of the AAdvantage program. While the changes will be as bad or worse than just about anyone expected, and the blogging community has expressed a lot of unhappiness with the upcoming changes, travel bloggers haven’t blamed Ms. Rubin herself. Does she make these decisions? Or is it a situation where she has whatever changes had been decided upon dropped upon her desk, and just gets to defend them to the travelling public? Maybe somewhere in the middle? I recall (earlier this year, I believe) her saying something to the effect of how with AA, a mile flown is a mile earned. With the upcoming changes, that’s nowhere near the truth. If she had her druthers, I presume she wouldn’t hurt her credibility by making wildly inconsistent statements, even months apart. What are your thoughts?
@kenny – generally the hotel will relocate you. you can certainly dispute the charge and book somewhere else if they won’t simply refund you.
I have a few hundred thousand AA miles, for which I have no use at the moment. Other than gifting them, should I be in a hurry to burn them?
@LG I have a lot of points. I definitely fly roundtrip 🙂 And I find premium cabin travel to be worthwhile. Though I understand not everyone has the same preferences I do, or the stash of points. I don’t think someone flying coach ought to be accumulating points through credit card spend for most itineraries, cash back is often better and then buy the tickets (although signup bonuses and category bonuses are still worth it)
@Christian – I’d say the major driver here is ultimately Scott Kirby as President of the airline, he certainly gets involved asking questions and holding the program accountable for its bottom line. And AAdvantage reports of up to Andrew Nocella, SVP Marketing. They don’t simply do as they wish.
@Steve that one probably deserves a post
I realize you can get 10,000 eqm with $40k spend on the AA branded Citi Exeutive card. Are there still eqm opportunities on AA with the Barclay card or other AA branded cards?
For award flights out of a non gateway airport, will the award cover transportation on a partner to the international gateway? For example, I live in a secondary city. If I were to transfer points to Air Canada’s Aeroplan program, could I include flights from my city to Chicago on United, then continue with a foreign airline on the same award?
Hi Gary, Thanks for all your advice and willingness to help the newbies. My husband and I are booked on a cruises to/from Sydney and trying to get to Sydney in late Feb, 2017. I realize it is too early to book any award air tickets, but I am trying to plan ahead. We have approx. 175k AA miles in each of our accounts and then about 200k total chase ultimate rewards points. How can we maximize and travel business class to and from the US to Sydney. DFW would probably be the closest US airport. I have been reading that Quantas award travel is very difficult to find. We are flexible on dates we can travel because we are both retired.
Gary, you’ve written before about using ANA miles to book flights on Philippine Airlines, and I know that Flying Blue can book flights on Ukrainian. Are there other airlines that fly internationally from the US, can be booked with transferrable points, and have award inventory which can only be searched by an agent over the phone (cannot be searched online in any way)?
@pamlet – trying Qantas when the schedule opens, especially the Brisbane flight from Los Angeles, could be one route. 200k Chase points won’t get 2 roundtrip business class tickets, but it could do one way, and transit via Asia may be possible as well.
@Christian – generally speaking yes [some programs charge separately for each flight]. In the example of transferring points to Aeroplan you can include multiple airlines on a single award ticket, like United domestic Houston to connect to an international flight on Air China.
@Erk – the Barclays Aviator Silver card (you cannot apply directly for it, but can upgrade from Red) offers 5k eqm’s after $20k in spend and another 10k eqm’s after $40k in spend within a year. You can double dip and get both.
What is the deal with the Citigold 50k promo? I have talked to personal bankers online and they have said that unless one is targeted, the code will not work. But reps on Citi chat have said the opposite.
There have also been a lot of comments on reddit and other blogger websites about the only selection criterion being one having a Citi AAdvantage card, but the bankers have confirmed otherwise. What should I do?
@brteacher Hainan Airlines is an Alaska partner, awards will be bookable early 2016, not sure whether they will put Hainan Airlines space online or not. You can transfer points from Wyndham directly to the airline’s program as well. That’s the first that comes to mind although sure there are others.
My wife and I are planning to fly from US to New Zealand Business or First next fall Sept/ Oct
Not finding much availability, we have a lot of United miles 400,000 or so
What would you recommend ??
With airlines have load levels over 80%, why is there so much discussion about busy holiday travel? The number of passengers cannot increase by that much from the near capacity levels the airlines enjoy on a weekly basis. Is it due to infrequent travelers who take longer at check in and security?.
Thanks for all of your advice – Any thoughts on how to get to Buenos Ares (eze) from the east coast on a business saver fare for 3? It seems nobody releases any business class awards- was thinking maybe LAN but none of their awards show any availability anymore – Copa out of BOS doesn’t have lie flats – think it’s worth burning 110 miles Each on Aa? Looking a year out..
Thanks!
Hi Gary, I am flying to LAX on a reward ticket before departing on my big flight over to AKL via Air NZ on an economy ticket. My dilemma is that I have a 7 hour layover. I’d like to be able to use One of the lounges to pass my time. I don’t mind paying for a day pass if possible. Are the lounges after security checkpoint? How many hours before my flight can I check in? What do I do with my luggage before that? And am I even eligible to use any of the lounges without status? Thanks
I would like to take my parents (81 and 78 years old but very active) on about a 4-6 day trip to DBX/AUH specifically on Emirates F and Etihad First Apartments. They’ve never flown either airline, nor been to the middle east, so this would truly be a very special and literally once in a lifetime experience for them. We were thinking possibly March time frame, but can be flexible on dates or time of year. They’re in Indiana and I’m in Texas and my understanding is we’ll need to go through JFK for EY FA. It looks like EK F availability is good throughout the year booking through Alaska, but I can’t find even one single EY FIrst Apartment “Guest” seat available anywhere for all of 2016! I suspect getting 3 seats would be challenging, but even if I could get 2 and had to buy the 3rd I’d be willing to do so. Is there any option other than fully paying for 3 First Apartments you can suggest (such as buying EY business and upgrade to FA using miles….or…..??). Thanks!
I would be interested in learning more about:
Sharing the same credit card across the family. My family of 5 all uses a Chase Sapphire — i..e. additional cards under my account. Chase doesn’t break out charges per user/card — so it sometimes be painful to see who made a charge. When I asked Chase about this — they suggested getting the InkPlus Business card — and then each card would have a separate number — however, some of the benefits on the InkPlus are different (i.e. rental car coverage only when on “business”)
Are there other cards where the additional cardholders would get unique numbers?
And also — the most painful thing to do is change credit card numbers when your card expires or gets frauded — and you have to go and update 20-30 sites with your stored credit card information. Is there a way to create a virtual credit card number and just change the “binding” — i.e. decision on which actual credit card to use?
Robert…you said:
“Sharing the same credit card across the family. My family of 5 all uses a Chase Sapphire — i..e. additional cards under my account. Chase doesn’t break out charges per user/card — so it sometimes be painful to see who made a charge.”
Timely post, I feel your pain. For the past year I also had everyone on my Chase Sapphire card, and it was I who paid the price in posting the transactions to keeps tabs on who did what. As much as I enjoyed their contributing to my points, I finally said enuf! Now only I have the Chase Sapphire card, everyone else has been transferred to Cap1 with separate account numbers so I can easily track. Happy to give up the points in exchange of not having the headache of who’s on first. Why Chase Sapphire won’t give separate numbers is beyond me, but ending 2015, I finally said “enuf” and decided to make my life easy…
What happened to all the Air Berlin award flights on American Airlines and British Air?
Hey Gary,
Its showing 65k on delta’s sight for one way to maui from Detroit for First class but it does state its lowest fare. Or it says 130k lowest fare in the calendar mode for round trip. Does that mean I can still book it for 45k roundtrip first class from Korean Air? Or does the lowest fare for First need to be lowest fare of 40 to 50k per one way. Thanks for your help and all that you do! Love your blog and read it multiple times a day!
Why is there basically no saver award space on AA international flights, even 10 or 11 months out.
Happy Holidays Gary! My husband is short 4200 miles to reach Platinum on AA so we’re paying the $699 to boost his status. He has the CSP, Hyatt, Citi AA and Arrivals+. Any advice on which card will earn him the most points. Wasn’t sure if the purchase would code as travel. Thanks 🙂
Gary, can you do (or direct me to) a post that explains how to best take advantage of all the earning opportunities available when renting cars? I never get cash back portals to work when using corporate rates but I’m not sure how to use special airline offers in conjunction with getting rental credits (if that’s even possible).
Hi Gary,
Thanks for all of your wisdom. Can you please contact someone at AAdvantage and ask them why they aren’t releasing a single Saaver Award in J for MIA to UVF, MIA to BGI, and many other MIA Caribbean flights are only available a month out?
Thanks!
Hi Gary,
My wife and I are adopting a baby boy from China in early-mid 2016. We will be traveling with our girls, so traveling as a party of 4. I have 600k AA miles and am wanting to fly business or first. Our issue is that we will know our certain travel dates only 3-4 weeks ahead of time. What is your advice for booking so close to travel. Would you go on a AA metal or a partner such as Cathay?
Gary:
I am retired and have 16,500 Marriott Points which can be used for one night at a Level 5 property . Last time I stayed at a Marriott was 2003. Since the points are about to expire in February only logical choice is to buy 1000 points for $12.50 or move them. What’s my best option? Thanks.
Between my husband and I we have over 200k Amex points. We need to book 3 one-way business class tickets TYO-OGG for July 2016. What is the best value for our points? Hawaiian has great customer service, but their flight leaves HND at 11:55pm and they only have foot rests, not even angle flat. Would enjoy Korean or JAL, but Amex doesn’t transfer directly and I am not sure what airline to transfer to to get on those flights. Also, when should we start looking for award seats on JAL or Korean? So many questions! Sorry. Thank you so much for your help!
Given that elite status often benefits employees on work travel, what should the tenets be for a corporate travel policy, and should the policy differentiate between annual/semi-annual travelers and weekly/monthly travelers in terms of flexibility and discretion?
I have 2 questions that I haven’t seen addressed
1. Is there a good way to use miles for premium cabin flying when you are connecting to a cruise that is paid for far in advance so you have limited arrival and departure windows?
2. Given the limited number of premium seats frequently available, what is a good strategy for a family of 3? I ask because until a certain age, I would be hesitant to seat my daughter alone, plus it seems worse when trying to work around the constraint above.
@Gary
Alternate reality: people are only allowed 1 credit card at a time, there are no other loyalty restrictions.
Which card would you pick?
Would you focus on cashack, points, benefits, insurance?
How would you go about leveraging that card for your business trips and vacation plans?
What would parts of travel would you be willing to compromise?
I have a trip planned to Vietnam in June with 1 F ticket & 3 J tickets on CX using AA miles- booked the trip in August. Recently found out that wife is pregnant and won’t be able to do trip in June. Any idea if AA would let me push back more than a year from original booking without fee? Or suggestions to get new tickets for March/April? (I figure that’s going to be very tough with pending AA changes.) Thanks!
If AA goes revenue based then I was thinking I’d go to Alaska who I fly some and wouldn’t mind putting Delta and AA miles there if I can get full credit, as I could use them to fly to Hawaii and on some AA award flights they offer. They also have no close-in booking fee and make it easy to get status. As of now Alaska says they plan to give us full mileage credit on those airlines, but do AA and DA have a say in this and how do you think that will go? What are the drawbacks to this alternative?
Gary:
Recently booked an around the world trip with AAdvantage miles. Most flights are perfect, but there are a couple that I am hoping to find better award and rebook. I know I can change date/routing as long as origin and destination remain the same. Can I also change carrier? For example, have BA booked (using AAdvantage miles, booked through AA) in first from MAD to LAX. If something more direct opens up on AA or Iberia, can I change carriers?
And what is the best way to find a better routing? Pay for an expert flyer account and set up alerts?
Hi Gary. Here is my conundrum. As a Hyatt platinum looking to score a nice room in Sydney at the PH, should I do points and cash to use upgrade certs for a suite or just use straight points. Also do you earn Hyatt points for the cash portion of points and cash and if booking points and cash in a non US country can the cash copayment be different than what hyatts chart says, e.g., PH Sydney says AUS$333 plus 15k versus US$300 for cat 7
My bad. I am actually Hyatt Diamond
I’m putting together a trip to Hawaii and am looking book hotels, specifically the Grand Wailea. Can I make a regular reservation to lock in availability and then apply my free night certificates once I earn them? I realize I’ll need to pay a deposit upfront.
Hi Gary,
I am expecting to have sign up bonus credited to my AAdvantage account in mid January. This will bring my balance to 100k miles. I want definitely to book an award ticket before devaluation and most likely use your award booking service to get maximum value out of these miles. My intention is to fly long-haul in First class to Australia or New Zealand (the best would be First Apartment – EY – 60000 miles) and Business class back (EY or QR – 45000 miles). But the availability for example on EY to SYD (A380) is apparently very limited though. I am based in Europe (Vienna) but flying out of Middle East region (AA) is not a problem. Would you consider this to be the best use of my miles with such preferences (excluding flights to US)? Thank you
The Internet in general has slowly evolved into a place where the reader can in many senses be understood as a product, whose attention, behaviors, and clicks are harvested and resold to an industry of advertisers and data-merchants. The points-blog space is among the most transparent instances of this, with in most cases , the existence of commercial relationships with credit-card issuers, and sales commission links clearly identified.
However – it would be very interesting to know more about how these relationships work. While not asking that you reveal the particulars of any specific commercial relationship, it would be incredibly enlightening if you’d peel back the veil a bit more, and explain in concrete (if general terms) about how your readers’ actions [clicks, purchases, reading habits, credit-card applications (and/or approvals), their use (or not) of ad-blockers, etc) are monetized by points blogs like this one. How large (or small) are these referrals? Is it cents, or dollars, or hundreds of dollars? What other ways is readership data mobilized for analysis? Are those analyses monetized as well?
I’ve become more and more curious about it because of the existence of Portals like TopCashBack, which offer significant rebates to consumers for their clicks. If they can regularly afford to pay 5-15% of retail purchases in CashBack, it suggests that the scale of the information-mining economy is mind-mindbogglingly huge. This also explains why there are now so many travel-bloggers vying for a piece of what must be a lucrative pie. As the grist in this mill, I’m honestly interested to know more about how it all works.
Thanks for whatever frank light you can shine on this.
[Previously asked September 5, 2015 at 3:23 am, but never addressed: http://viewfromthewing.com/2015/09/04/ask-me-anything/comment-page-1/%5D
Gary, do you have any insight or thoughts as to why DL threw Korean Air out of earning SkyMiles MQM’s when a SkyMiles member flies KE? (I have a theory based on my living in Atlanta. KE used to always undercut DL’s pricing in Business Class to Asia from Atlanta. However, DL’s other alliance partners (AF and KLM) — going to Europe from Atlanta, charge the same price as DL — because of their price fixing scheme and immunity from anti-trust laws. But KE didn’t seem to want to play the price fixing game with DL going west to Asia. I don’t know if DL and KE have an alliance with anti-trust immunity. My theory is that DL punished KE – and DL customers choosing to fly KE – for not playing the price fixing game and undercutting DL’s prices to Asia by not giving MQM’s if a DL customer chooses to fly KE over DL.)
@Don in ATL – close, I understand Korean wasn’t interested in an immunized joint venture with Delta [or they couldn’t move it forward/agree on terms] and so this was Delta’s version of playing hard ball.
@G-flyer I offered to answer travel questions, not meta questions or personal financial questions 🙂 But in general:
* Shopping portals are paid a commission by the stores you buy from, and they rebate a portion of that commission to you. That incentivizes to use them rather than competing sites or no sites. They take a small sliver of a commission version none of a larger commission.
* Ad blocking is a challenge to this already-declining model, though any given reader blocking ads is irrelevant because 1000 views is $1 or $6, so a handful of views is meaningless.
* There’s a big business in referrals, in most cases bigger ticket items pay more [and products that generate bigger revenue over time than one-off pay more].
* In general internet display ad pricing is falling and falling quickly because of an abundance of pages to advertise on relative to demand for advertising. So if sites are predominantly Google Ads there’s not much money there, a million impressions might generate $1000 per ad at the high end. If there are premium, direct sold campaigns then it can be $6000 or $8000.
* I do virtually no data analysis, and my data certainly isn’t sold. I also write all my own posts, and this isn’t a full time job for me. Virtually all of the successful blogs employ multiple people, I just have chosen not to do this.
@Basil – the Park Hyatt Sydney is one of a handful where Diamond Suite Upgrades don’t apply. They don’t have many suites. You want a deluxe room with view of the Opera House, and they generally do assign those to Diamonds when they can. I didn’t have one on my first visit (though I checked in very early and they were full) but did on my second.
@Hepworth in general changing airline means a change fee. Expert Flyer is great for monitoring award availability on the airlines it supports, otherwise you’re probably just searching manually every few days..
@greg – the details on mileage awards for partner travel are determined bilaterally, so yes the partner has a say, and alaska no longer awards full mileage on discount delta fares for instance so i have to assume the same will happen to with american once AA goes revenue-based. on the other hand for some reason singapore airlines has still been able to offer full mileage credit on united, eventually that seems likely to change.
@Nic The rule is a year from date of issue though I have heard of folks pushing travel out farther without a redeposit fee. I wouldn’t count on it though. If you can travel last minute (within a week or 3 days of travel) you’ll have a good shot at cathay availability in march/april
@Vinhsynd – lots of folks will disagree with me on this but I would choose Chase Sapphire Preferred.
* Double points on travel and dining are perfect for me (and folks who travel a lot, who travel for work and can use their own card, etc). It’s what I spend the most on.
* Great transfer partners… all 3 alliances, United for Star so no fuel surcharges, Korean for Skyteam so great pricing for Europe business class (80k roundtrip) and access to first class awards on Korean, plus Singapore which means access to their premium cabin seats. And the best value hotel transfer partner of any of the transferrable points currencies in Hyatt.
* It’s a Visa for acceptance and no foreign currency transaction fees. Also good insurance [I like primary collision damage, and trip delay coverage that only requires a portion of a ticket being charged to the card]
So for me it’s the best one card solution especially for someone interested in premium cabin award travel.
@Tmichael – more constraints make booking awards harder (3 seats vs 2, fixed dates) but certainly possible depending on dates and destinations, i often write about routes that have tons of availability even in first.
@Nick – elite status can be a benefit to the company, making it easier for passengers to get reaccommodated quickly in the event of irregular ops (highly important for business travelers) and saving the company money on checked bags (for folks on longer trips, or trade shows etc). I think a company that asks a lot of travel of someone ought to be more flexible with that person’s travel. It’ll take less of a toll on them and the company will better retain talented employees and get more value over time from them by not burning them out.
@Brenda Vogeltanz – for Korean you can transfer to Delta and avoid fuel surcharges as well as book online but don’t make the transfer unless you see availability on the delta website. for JAL you can book online with British Airways. Amex transfers to both.
@Steve T – extend the expiration of your points and use the free night when you’re ready
@Kyroadrunner – good news is that close-in availability tends to be best but 4 passengers on the same flights can be tough. would you split up 2 + 2? Always go with American’s partners in Asia over flying American.
@Rob P – it’s absurd, and there’s an internal discussion and disagreement at AA over the philosophy here
@Stacy purchase should code as American, so double points on travel, I would value the Sapphire Preferred points the most
@Jonathan – you need the lowest award bucket, not the lowest fare available in a given calendar month. So.. unfortunately no. Delta I think is a bit misleading in their terminology, they call an award the lowest price when it’s only the lowest available out of very high pricing and not the lowest.
@JeffK – Etihad First Apartment availability is good last minute/day before. Otherwise award space from other gateways in ‘regular’ first is good in advance. Emirates availability from Houston is good until the flight is downgraded to a 777, also look at Dallas and New York.
@Richard – are you asking about lounge access in Auckland? If so the Emporer Lounge is pay-in. https://www.aucklandairport.co.nz/AirportInformation/International-terminal/Emperor-Lounge.aspx
@Andrew 80%->100% is a 25% increase, and once a year travelers do take longer. Plus people bring more stuff.
@Jerry flying via Asia, New Zealand availability is tough tough tough, book the best thing you can find now and be willing to pay a change fee to improve the award as more availability opens
Do you know of any way to search and track prices for specific flights in a specific class on a specific airline on exact dates? I keep thinking this will come around but I can never find a way. For instance, I’d like to watch the price of a ticket on AA flight 50 DFW LHR on their 77W in biz class….
@Andy
I use Google Flights to track prices exactly the way you are asking. The only hick-up I’ve run into is when there is a schedule change / flight # change since Google can’t (won’t?) merge the records.
i want to book a trip with AA but with a honeymoon coming up in 2016, this other trip I have in mind will not take place til late 2017 due to vacation time issues at work. Could I book the trip now using the lower mileage chart, then just pay a change fee to change the dates later on when my time frame is available? I am considering Australia or somewhere in the Pacific (Fiji, NZ, etc) so the upcoming mileage chart changes are huge. I think I’d rather pay the current point price then pay a change fee, but when I pay the change fee, will they require more miles to meet at that the time current mile chart pricing?
I’m looking to purchase 2 roundtrip flights from NY to Australia – with the goal being to fly from NY to SFO (with a long layover to get a day or 2 of sightseeing in there), then direct to Sydney, Sydney to Perth, and then Perth back up to NY. I want us to do at least one leg of the trip (SFO to SYD) on business class, though the whole thing would be great. I’ve got the Sapphire Preferred and recently applied for the United Explorer Card as it seems like, with my Sapphire Preferred card, United is my best choice for an airline. I should have enough points to pull this off if I can get Saver seats roundtrip. If not, we’ll have to settle for business class one way and economy for the other. Our travel dates are fairly flexible and we’re looking to go away in early 2017 (Feb-April time frame.) Any advice for securing the Business Class saver seats both ways? I think I need to jump on buying the tickets as soon as those flights open up but I can’t find information on when those seats will be released.
This is my first time trying to book a major trip using only points and I’m enjoying figuring out the process but there’s a lot to juggle! Any advice would be appreciated!
Gary, do you have any strategy thoughts about the loss of the Chase Sapphire 7% annual dividend? We’ve been using our two Chase cards for daily spend but I’m pondering a switch to either my AMEX Premier or both our AMEX Everyday cards going forward.
Thanks for doing the Q&A!
Can my wife use my United Mileage Plus number when applying for the Chase United card? It would certainly simplify using our miles if they were all in one account….
Hi Gary,
I am confused about the ability to churn some bonus cards.. Specifically Chase Sapphire Preferred, Barclay Arrival and Southwest airlines.. Does the time period one needs to wait start after you have been approved for the previous card, received the bonus, last activity on the previous card or after the card has been closed.. I don’t want to ruin my credit by having a hard pull and being denied. and my credit now is 800..
Thanks so much for your valuable post.. would really appreciate some clarity on this particular issue
Maxine
Hi Gary, Question about the SW credit card and companion pass please. I am trying to ensure that I don’t miss the 50,000 point bonus for spending $2000 on the card in the first 3 months but was also trying to get the $2000 spend to count toward the 110,000 needed for the companion pass. The closing date of my next statement is Sunday, Jan. 3rd. That is statement number 3 for me but not actually 90 days/3 months since the first statement period was was only 2 and 1/2 to 3 weeks long. I am worried about not missing the timeframe to receive the 50,000 points; getting the 50,000 points to post in 2016 so they count toward the companion pass; and having the $2000 spend count toward the companion pass–all with the holiday weekend and a statement closing date of 1/3/16. Is it the transaction or posting date that impacts whether the $2000 is considered 2015 or 2016 spend toward the companion pass? When would you charge the $2000? I hope this makes sense. Thank you.
Gary,
I was looking at the Wikipedia page for Memphis Int’l Airport and I see that passenger numbers have dropped from 10+ million in 2010 to about 3.5 million for 2014. Any idea what explains the massive decline? Did FedEx muscle out passenger activities?
Gary, I have an award ticket in Biz class on United for LAX-SYD and was wondering how to go about getting it changed to a 1st class ticket. Right now there’s no saver space available although there’s been 6 empty seats since I booked the original ticket. I read somewhere that you can call in and pay the $200 change fee and give them the extra 10k miles and be put on a waitlist for the seat. Is that really true? I don’t want to go through the hassle and sound like an idiot if this is something that is not possible. The flight is coming up on Jan. 19th and I wonder if you think they will open up a saver seat or not and if there’s a way to be notified if and when a 1st class seat opens up. Thanks in advance.
@Ben L — Delta no longer operates a hub there…
Hi Gary,
I’ll be going to Nicaragua in April from San Francisco. Looking at flights from SFO to MGA and trying to decide between AeroMexico and American Airlines since both are partners with Alaska Airlines. (I currently have MVP status with Alaska Airlines and I want to get MVP Gold in 2016.) Which airline would you pick? Also, how can I tell what ‘class of service’ my ticket is in prior to purchasing? Thank you!
Thanks for this opportunity Gary—love the blog!
Here’s my question–my wife and I live in Europe (US citizens working abroad) and have been trying to book Air Berlin awards to/from the US West Coast (we found out about the new non-stop routes thanks to you!) using AAdvantage. I can’t seem to find any availability…..ever. What gives?
Any tips on how to make these awards show up? I’ve called AA several times and got the “maybe award space will open up in the future” line…..we might be inclined to wait until closer to our (flexible) departure–but given the great United availability from Europe, I’m more inclined just to book FRA-SFO/SJC direct….but darn it, Air Berlin would be a nice change. Any ideas?
Thanks!
Thanks Gary for all that you do. I put about $1 million per year on credit card charges. Right now I put almost everything on a Wells Fargo card, primarily because my credit limit is $150,000. Thanks to u, I’ve gotten 8 more cards this year and easily met all the spending requirements. Unfortunately Wells has no transfer partners but the points are great for travel. 100,000 points equals a $2,000 plane ticket. It helped me get Diamond on DL and EXP on AA. But there are no bonus categories like for travel or dining. Am I losing out? Recommendations?
Hi Gary!
My husband and I live in Detroit and have relatives in Vienna, Austria. We have enough Chase points or AA miles to fly business class. We also have BA miles and the Chase option for a second free ticket but I have difficulty finding a ticket that way. We only have about 50,000 Amex points each so I’m not sure if that will help to fly Delta. We’re thinking of going next fall or maybe at Christmas but have a lot of flexiblilty with days/times. How can I best use these points to fly to Vienna at little or no cost? Thanks for teaching me so much about the world of points and flying, by the way! It is so helpful!
Donna
Hi Gary – I’m interested in taking my family of 5 to Hawaii or Mexico. I’ve got points at most airline and hotel programs and confused on finding the best values. I’m pretty good at finding the best value on airlines but could use your expertise on hotels. Can you suggest a nice family hotel in Mexico and Hawaii (nice beach!) that would be a decent value for points? Thanks Gary! Cheers, Rob
Gary: RE EY’s chauffeur service: In an EY destination where the service is offered, (1) Is it available both inbound and outbound?; (2) is it available with a ticket in C as well as F?; (3) can it be to/from ANYWHERE (e.g., airport to hotel or vice versa; airport to home or vice versa)?; (4) is it provided for those on AA award tickets? Are there important limitations/restrictions/qualifications of which a user should be aware? In your experience, is the service reliable?
Thanks for sharing your knowledge…
@Scott B – inbound and outbound, business and first. anywhere to anywhere within their designated ranges (eg anywhere in UAE when arriving/departing AUH). It is provided on AA award tickets. I have found it reliable.
@Rich I think you could do better but to know exactly what is best would need to know what you spend on and what your reward goals are
We (2 of us) would lke to fly Bus class from SF to Australia in the next year or 2. I am accumulating American miles. I have about 228000 miles so far ( Ineed at least 250k,right?). I looked on the American website for practice and as far out as it goes, they have absolutely no bus class availability. Am I doing something wrong? Should I be looking at the Quantas website? Should I be looking at flights from LA. Should I check other cities besides Sydney?
Gary, You have mentioned the Venture Card in the past. Could you be more specific? I thought we were doing the right thing by getting it!!?? Was it a mistake?
Thanks very much.
@Cynthia Kelley – I only recommended getting it a long time ago, 2011? When the card was offering 100k points. It’s got a strong rate of return, but not the best, and isn’t helpful for premium cabin rewards. Think of it as a 2% rebate card (which is good) but that restricts you to travel rather than cash. Citi Double Cash and Fidelity Investment Rewards are generally better. But if you want to redeem for international premium cabins you need airline miles, preferably from a bank program that transfers to your choice of airlines..
Thanks for your reply. I will try to use the miles that I have, domestically to get rid of them and then get rid of the card and get something that is better to use to fly internationally.
Thanks for all your information. It sure is helpful. Cynthia
Hi Gary. Do you think it is better to apply for the citigold 50,000 AA miles or 50,000 Thank You points offer. I received an offer for the TY points but understand the AA offer is available to anyone.
Thanks for your advice.
@Gary – I prefer the AA miles offer, the thankyou points from the checking aren’t transferrable to miles
Gary –
What’s the best deal for purchasing gift cards for making the purchase requirements for the Citi AA card?
Thanks,
Nicholas
As of the last few days for myself (or last few weeks per FlyerTalk Etihad Thread), when checking my flight here in a few weeks on Etihad EY20 Wed. 1/6 LHR > AUH OR EY11 AUH>LHR Tues. 1/12 on the A380 which I booked as a surprise for my wife and I, Expert Flyer is showing equipment changes and unable to display the seat map…As worried as I am, after searching flyer talk and finding people having the same issues on other Etihad’s A380 flights such as AUH > SYD, I am hoping it is just a glitch and representatives don’t seem to know what is going on.
I know Etihad is notorious for changing aircrafts quite often but does anyone have any information on what is going on??? Also, if they change the aircraft how easy/how do I go about asking to have my wife and I switched to an A380 flight? (In regards to contacting Etihad and having them rebook us to a flight operated by an a380) We booked via AA miles and have some flexibility on days/times if need be. All I want is to fly first on the A380 :/ Any help and information would be greatly appreciated, thank you and happy holidays!
Levi
@Levi if your aircraft gets swapped for operational reasons you are sort of stuck unless there’s award space on the flight you want to change to, you are not guaranteed a particular aircraft.
A few countries have outlawed fuel surcharges. I’ve read that airlines are beginning to change the YQ definition to read “Carrier Surcharges” or some such. Are the renamed fuel surcharges still illegal?
@Christian carriers would be unwise to test it in places like Brazil. Although Brazil has bigger problems…
@Gary – Actually, I was thinking Manila. Just trying to be cheap as well by avoiding YQ.
As a newbie to all this, I’ve accumulated enough points to travel and lodge in Europe and Asia. Traveling on a tour to foreign lands would probably be more preferable but traveling on points is a very low cost way to go. What I want to know is; are there day tours in Europe and Asia that are offered in the English language that are easy to find?
Thanks for that general insight Gary… much appreciated. And thanks as well for your genuine enthusiasm – your blog is one of the few which doesn’t systematically make this reader feel suspicious of the writer’s intent.
Happy New Year to you.
how to keep ihg points from expiring
in a country with no ihg — so can not stay.
can not get an ihg credit caRD, BUT DO HAVE CREDIT CARDS
would like to keep cost low, thanks
Hi Gary. Thanks for the opportunity! I am planning to book Etihad flights with AA miles prior to the devaluation. If I call later (after the devaluation has happened) to change the dates (same routing), will AA have to reissue the tickets and charge more miles or will they be able to do the date change?
Thank you and thanks for your great blog!
Caroline
Hi Gary. Thanks for the opportunity! I am planning to book Etihad flights with AA miles prior to the devaluation. If I call later (after the devaluation has happened) to change the dates (same routing), will AA have to reissue the tickets and charge more miles or will they be able to do the date change?
Thank you and thanks for your great blog!
@Caroline a date change should be possible without a change fee or additional miles
Gary,
First off thanks for the opportunity to ask questions.
I have a question about Class Codes for Business flights. Would you explain or point me to some article that explains them?
I want to book flights next year (2016) to Palau (United,Oceania). I am wanting comfortable seats for the long flights so I am assuming this means Business class. I have am building UR miles that I will probably combine with my United miles so that means United or Star Alliance.
I am trying to understand the different Class Codes for Business enough to pick the flight. Sure I would love to have First Class service but I do not want to pay that many miles so I would be just happy with comfy seating and a real meal.
Can you help me out with what codes I should be looking for to get the conformable seating but keeping the cost down?
Thanks, Tom B.
Besides your own (of course), are there any good travel and/or miles and points blogs that you recommend?
@Chris the one I enjoy the most is “One Mile at a Time”
@Thomas Buechner – Star Alliance business class awards book into “I” inventory but you’re just going to want to do your award searches online without need for understanding class codes, eg using the Aeroplan website.
Hi Gary,
With the great changes going on with American award availability and that of other airlines, I’d very much welcome your thoughts on the best first class award deals with partner airlines (in terms of quality of seats and service) that are still often available (especially with the devaluation looming). For instance, Cathay Pacific used to often be available in first, but there’s little or no availability these days. In my limited searching for Tokyo-San Francisco the same seems to apply to JAL first (except for the late night HND-SFO flights with their limited meal service). So:
1. Primarily, any recommendations on what good value first class partner awards are still often available using AA miles?
2. If you have time, same question for business class partner awards and awards in first and business on AA itself.
3. If you have time, same question for United partner airlines in first and business class.
4. If you really have lots of time, same question for Delta business class partners.
Thanks for any help and happy holidays!
Hi Gary,
2 questions
1. I am flying to and from YUL airport. I have Global Entry. I know Canada also had Nexus which I do not have. As only a Global Entry member, will I get to use a special kiosk for immigration when arriving and departing YUL? Do I also get to use YULs Nexus line at security? Or do I only get Global Entry when going through US Preclearence in YUL?
2. I will be flying on an AA 767 in first class from MIA-LAS this spring. I know AA has their international business class seat as a hard product on their 767s standard. However will anything change about the soft product, meaning will I get the international pillow and blanket or just the standard domestic blanket? Will I get improved food service and the Samsung Galaxy Tablet? Or will it be the same soft product as the narrow bodies on that route with just the better hard product?
Thank you in advanced for looking at these questions. I enjoy reading your blog!
Is there any way to get into the Star alliance lounge at TBIT without special status? Will a United free day pass coupon work? Is there a particular credit card you’d recommend that will also give me entry status? I have a long layover at LAX before flying to New Zealand.
@richard buy a refundable international business class ticket, use the lounge and refund? 🙂
@ted – global entry gets you through the us immigration formalities more quickly only. soft product will be domestic.
@Steve – some Cathay space may be available when schedule opens, and it becomes available if unsold close to departure.
JAL first class is a very good product.
Etihad first class is very available and one of the world’s best products.
Qantas first is tough but occasionally does open, I flew it a year ago Sydney – Los Angeles and have a booking for a few months from now DFW-SYD-DFW
British Airways first isn’t fantastic, entails fuel surcharges, but is very available.
With United miles you’ll find that Asiana awards in first can be done Los Angeles – Seoul and JFK – Seoul. ANA awards are easier than they once were. And Lufthansa awards open up within two weeks of travel. Thai first class between Europe and Bangkok is also quite doable.
One of the most available first class awards is Korean, but even though they are Skyteam you can’t use Delta miles for first class.
Business class is a whole different discussion…
Great summary, Gary. Thanks!
Hi Gary, I received your great news of Etihad releasing award 1st class from AUH–>JFK for AA redemption. It shows availability so I called AA to book the open seat under Guest First. The AA rep said there is no availability on any of the dates even though it comes up as there are. Is this phantom space showing up or is there a work-around some way? Thank you!
@Casey you need to call the Australian number (though some people report success with UK) in order to book. American appears unable to see much Etihad first class award space, I believe there are ‘point of sale’ restrictions in place on Etihad’s side that block the US calls centers from booking.
Hi Gary,
I would like to take part on a inaugural flight in the future. What is the best way to look up inaugural flights which are being planned by airlines? Thank you
@Flip – what kind of inaugural flight are you after?
– a new route?
– a new aircraft type?
– a new aircraft type for a particular airline?
Depending on what you’re looking for I can offer advice.
Here are my reports from the American 787 inaugural:
http://viewfromthewing.com/2015/05/08/trip-report-yesterdays-american-airlines-inaugural-boeing-787-flights/
The American Airbus A321T (premium) inaugural:
http://viewfromthewing.com/2014/01/08/americans-inaugural-airbus-a321-flight-fantastic-product-coast-coast/
The launch party for EVA Air’s Houston inaugural:
http://viewfromthewing.com/2015/06/21/inaugural-launch-party-star-alliance-member-eva-air-hello-kitty-houston-taipei/
American’s Austin- Miami inaugural:
http://viewfromthewing.com/2015/03/07/flying-an-american-airlines-inaugural-the-speeches-were-cancelled-but-the-breakfast-tacos-free-flowing/
@Gary
In regards to what kind of inaugural flights I am interested in – most exciting would be the first commercial flight of a new aircraft type (e.g. B787 on All Nippon, A350 Qatar,…) followed by new aircraft type for the particular airline. Is any of those expected/planned in foreseeable future?
Thank you
Filip
@Filip well Singapore gets the first Boeing 787-10 in 2018. The 777X (777-8 and 777-9) starts rolling out in 2018 also based on current schedule, if memory serves Etihad is launch customer. I’m not as up on the schedules for Airbus.
Prices to Hawaii are fixed high from LAX, but AK discounts them from San Diego with full mileage. So others will match or better AK from SAN by making you connect in LA, SFO or PHX. I’m willing to do this in one direction for an overnight layover in PHX, but want to throw away my return LAX-SAN. What’s the possibility this will cause my mileage or acct.to be penalized?
What is your opinion regarding the current “purchase miles” promo from American/Advantage that expires 1/4/16? Value?
@Kathy best price we’ve seen on the AAdvantage side, I’d only do it to top off an account or if i could hold an award for 5 days and then buy the miles
Hello Gary,
I’m interested in using Citi Thank You points to purchase an economy ticket to Australia. I know the TU points ticket looks like a revenue ticket to AA and earns points, but if I am EXP with American, can I use a systemwide upgrade to bump my economy ticket to a business class ticket?
I wasn’t sure if there was some other qualifier that identify a TU point purchase as as ‘Award’ to AA, thus making it ineligible for systemwide upgrades.
Thanks in Advance,
Hi Gary,
loyalty program of which airline from Star Alliance would you recommend to use for collecting miles/points? Thank you
@Filip – do you mean which Star Alliance frequent flyer program is the best to accumulate points with? It depends. United and Avianca mean no fuel surcharges. I really like Asiana’s award chart. But need to know where you’re based, what your reward goals are, etc. as well as what you fly [e.g. Singapore currently gives 1 mile per mile flown on United regardless of fare] to offer a good opinion.
I have a complicated routing coming up later this year, but have enough points. Do you have a booking service or can recommend one?
The Big 3 US airlines consistently offer saver awards on partner metal at times they are not offering it on their own metal, e.g. BA or VS to London, TP to Lisbon. Are you able to explain why this is economically advantageous to the US carrier?
@jerry rothstein saver awards on an airline’s own metal will be cheaper than buying saver awards on a partner.
however saver awards on a partner are cheaper than extra miles awards on an airline’s own metal.
generally the partner determines when saver award space is available, there are only a few cases where an airline blocks that space.
and the frequent flyer program determines redemption levels and pays for redemptions but an airline’s revenue management decides what inventory to make available on a given flight.
a redemption that trades off with a paid ticket is the most expensive indeed.