The Frequent Traveller Thread - Perks, points, and deals for beginners and experts - Printable Version

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The Frequent Traveller Thread - Perks, points, and deals for beginners and experts - Global Entry - 10-28-2014

Well Accor figured out they fucked up and ended this promotion early. I was going to use it in sz and collect my bonus aeroplane miles but oh well. Sheraton is doing a 3000 points spg promotion which with bonus and upgrade and free breakfast is almost as good if not better.

Quote: (10-21-2014 12:15 AM)Global Entry Wrote:  

This is a ridiculous good arb.

2700 Accor brand hotels are offering a bonus of 5,000 AeroMiles (Air Canada) per stay. Some Accord hotels in Asia, like the Ibis Phuket, cost less than $30 dollars per night. Here's a link to a discussion...here.

At a conservative valuation of 1.4 cents per mile, that means each stay is worth 70 USD. If you fly premium, and AeroPlan has some good partners and a pretty good chart, then its worth more than that.

Stay at a hotel in Phuket, pay 28 dollars and get 70 back. I'd basically spend one night in each hotel in the area. I bet Bangkok has three or four Accor hotels just by itself.

I'm wrong, 22 came up in the search. 22 Hotels. One in Nana is 36 USD per night and another in Sathorn is 31 per night (midweek stays). Do both, pay 67 plus taxes, and bank 140 USD in miles.

I wish I was in BKK right now. I'd be switching hotels every other day and gaming the shit out of this. There is a Novotel Shenzhen for 71 USD a night, and I'll need a hotel anyway, I'll have to consider this as an option. Hard for me to pass up platinum benefits at the Four Points SZ or Sheraton, but free breakfast in China vs. 5K miles...

Edit: I just created my Accor Hotels loyalty account. Took 30 seconds.

Quote: (10-25-2014 11:29 PM)Skips Steps Wrote:  

Quote: (07-01-2014 03:09 PM)clever alias Wrote:  

quite a few black (african and AA) did well in china, more with the russian models than chinese though

True. I was in Cathay's Lounge in HK and one of the prettiest white women I have ever seen--a 6ft tall Czech model--was with a black British Nigerian. He was very well dressed and upon further conversation I learned that his family owned a hotel chain in China.

I used to live in Bangkok and knew quite a few EE's on the model circuit and they often dated black industry types in China.

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The Frequent Traveller Thread - Perks, points, and deals for beginners and experts - TheBulldozer - 10-29-2014

The American/USAir merger details are coming out and it looks good. No changes to the awards chart and no shift to the revenue based model! In fact, looking at the quotes about the next steps of the merger it seems like American is in fact proud of their commitment to their existing FF program. Give the customer what they want. What a simple idea!

Here's a great post on how to grab a quick 90k miles for $89. Remember folks, that is a roundtrip to Asia with one way in business if you use AA's partner award chart!

http://viewfromthewing.boardingarea.com/...es-89-can/

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The Frequent Traveller Thread - Perks, points, and deals for beginners and experts - elcidcampeador - 10-29-2014

I can't imagine they wouldn't honor it if you've signed up in advance.

Another example of what happens when a blogger writes about something from FT that is a good deal. It is now on every blog I've seen, from Flyertea, to the German ones, to the Polish ones. This definitely happened because people started calling and asking questions and they saw how much money they stood to lose on the promotion.

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The Frequent Traveller Thread - Perks, points, and deals for beginners and experts - Global Entry - 10-29-2014

There's been no indication that they aren't honoring the deal if it was booked before it was shut down, just that they closed the opportunity prematurely. I was about to use it = sucks for me. Aeroplan is decent currency when you can avoid big fuel surcharges (locally around Asia on Singapore and on Brussels Air transatlantic both seem ok).

I cannot complain about the flyer talk conversations, as if it weren't for the bloggers, I wouldn't know about this deal (I wasn't an Accor Hotels member). I do take a big issue with people contacting the company and asking how this can be too good to be true. We learned not to do that from grade school when our teachers made a mistake in our favor, didn't we?

Quote: (10-29-2014 08:46 AM)elcidcampeador Wrote:  

I can't imagine they wouldn't honor it if you've signed up in advance.

Another example of what happens when a blogger writes about something from FT that is a good deal. It is now on every blog I've seen, from Flyertea, to the German ones, to the Polish ones. This definitely happened because people started calling and asking questions and they saw how much money they stood to lose on the promotion.

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The Frequent Traveller Thread - Perks, points, and deals for beginners and experts - Global Entry - 10-29-2014

What 90 dollars and platinum SPG status gets you in Siem Reap (Angkor Wat)....free breakfast and an upgrade (3 nights out of four) to a 2br, 1 and a half bath suite. The SPG card, which is a great card regardless, also gets you to gold just for having it, so you have a shorter trip to Platinum.

Angkor Wat doesn't disappoint. My housekeeping skills between maid visits clearly do.

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The Frequent Traveller Thread - Perks, points, and deals for beginners and experts - Global Entry - 10-29-2014

(more)

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The Frequent Traveller Thread - Perks, points, and deals for beginners and experts - Global Entry - 11-01-2014

Unexpectedly hit Gold on BA now, and so my trip back to SLC begins in the Wing first class lounge, a nice surprise (not that I'm overwhelmed by this lounge for an international airline, but its pretty solid).

Wondering where to start throwing CX mileage now that BA is at Gold, as I can transfer miles to BA easily enough from CC spending, and I'd love to start working on status on another airline. Perhaps Alaska.

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The Frequent Traveller Thread - Perks, points, and deals for beginners and experts - Global Entry - 11-01-2014

Repost of Gary Leff's post on Credit Rating, thought it would be useful as a review.


Understanding Your Credit Score: And How It Can Be Worth Millions (of Miles)
2 View from the Wing by Gary Leff / 6d // keep unread // hide // preview

One of the most-asked questions about credit cards is how does it affect your credit score, and of course the implied followup, do you care? And it’s been awhile since I wrote a post on understanding your credit score.

I’ve signed up for scores of cards over many years and I still have an excellent credit score, it was nearly 800 FICO on the three major credit bureaus when I went to get my mortgage. In part because of signing up for more cards, rather than in spite of it.

I first discovered rewards credit cards in 1997. I signed up for a US Airways card, enticed by the bonus. I decided I didn’t want to pay an annual fee for a credit card back then. My income – and thus my spending – wasn’t very high. So I cancelled the card right away. They still let me keep the bonus, though, which I thought was really nice of them.

When I finally did the math and realized it made sense to earn rewards even with an annual fee I applied for that same card again, and they gave me the bonus again. I thought that was really nice of them. And I learned that if a bank liked me once they were quite likely to keep liking me.


The Key to a Understanding Your Credit Score and Improving It — and When it Matters Most

I didn’t know much about credit scores back then, I just knew that I was earning lots of miles for things other than flying. I paid my bills on time, and I wasn’t in search of tons of credit. And that meant I pretty much always got approved, and having requests for credit never hurt me.

The first two lessons.
The most important thing for a good credit score is paying your bills on time.
You care most about your credit score when seeking significant credit for things like a residential mortgage.
Avoid Credit Cards If You They Cause You to Spend More Money Than You Otherwise Would

For the most part the availability of credit cards hasn’t increased consumer spending — it’s shifted how that spending is financed. We don’t use layaway or store credit very much, for instance. And high interest (even higher than credit cards!) personal loans are far less common than they used to be.

But there are certainly folks who will spend more because they can. Or because it’s somehow deemed worth it to meet a card’s spending requirement. I want you to understand if you’re one of those people.

If you don’t pay your bills in full and on time, or if you’ll spend more just because you have a credit card, then you should stay away from rewards credit cards.

The key is to be honest and reflective with yourself. You need to be meta-rational. The most important question isn’t whether your credit score is high enough to get credit, but how you’ll behave once you get it.

As I wrote in “This Game is Not For You If..” the most important consideration when playing the miles and points game with financial products is:

Do you pay off your bills in full each month?
You must not spend more than you otherwise would because you’re using a credit card or justify extra spending “because you need it to get a signup bonus”
If you don’t or can’t pay your credit cards in full, then interest rates are far more important than the points or rebates you’ll earn. If you spend more when you get more credit you’ll be giving up more than you get.

So if your score goes up, you find yourself better-positioned to sign up for credit cards, focus on these two issues when deciding whether you should get cards even if you can.

Avoid Card Signups – And Other Requests for Credit – in Advance of Major Purchases

My general view is that if you satisfy these conditions, you still want to avoid cards if you plan to be in the mortgage market over the coming 1-2 years. In any case, a score of 760 or higher will generally qualify you for the best lending rates. Scores over 760 don’t make you meaningfully better off.

Requesting Credit Reduces Your Score.. Usually a Little Bit, and Just Temporarily

Getting a new card, or generally requesting credit (causing a ‘hard pull’ on your credit) will reduce your credit temporarily by a few points. If you are asking for credit you might need it.

Getting Approved for Credit Can Improve Your Score

Having more available credit can improve your credit. It pushes down your utilization ratio — the amount of total available credit you’re using in a given month.

If you spend $3000 on cards (even if you pay off the cards in full) in a month and have $5000 in credit, you’re using 60% of your available credit. If you spend the same amount but have $30,000 in available credit your utilization rate is just 10%. You have credit, don’t use it, and show how responsible you are with credit. That’s far more significant than how many cards you request.

I Try to Keep My Credit, Even When I Cancel Cards

When I cancel cards, I often try to retain the credit. Chase generally lets you move your available credit from one card (the one you’re going to get rid of before a fee hits) onto another card (that you’re keeping). American Express has frequently offered the ability to move around your credit between cards as well.

Cancelling a Card Can Reduce Your Score.. in 7 Years

I keep my oldest cards, and no fee cards generally, but even when you cancel a card it stays on your report until it ages off after 7 years — so cancelled cards can increase the average age of your accounts, one factor in your credit score. The more responsible with credit you are over long periods of time improves your score.

We Can Easily Become Too Obsessed With Scores and Inquiries

I admit I don’t even bother checking my credit anymore before I sign up for cards. I’m not doing 10 at a time. I’m not balancing my inquiries across the credit bureaus, there aren’t enough offers that I either haven’t had or can get again in the near term that I have that luxury. So I’m just balancing my card applications across banks. I’ll try to apply for one card from each of the co-branded issuing banks at a time, subject to decent offers being available

If you’re truly at a margin where an inquiry will trade off with another one you might make, if you’re signing up for literally scores of cards each year, then you may want to be more vigilant than I am.

The real hardcore folks will manage the inquiries on each credit bureau, there are forums over at Credit Boards where people list which bank runs credit through which bureau in each state. So if you have too many inquiries on one bureau you can apply only to banks that will pull your credit from another one.

I don’t really get rejected from cards, my credit is good, and I don’t have a major purchase like a house (or a refinance) on the horizon. So I don’t even monitor my credit score closely, I just do irregular housekeeping to make sure nothing is on my credit report that shouldn’t be by mistake.

The Most Important Thing to Worry About Is…

Pay your bills on time and don’t max out your credit and your credit scorewill generally reflect that, and you’ll be deemed a good enough credit risk to be able to get more credit.

Because what financial institutions are most concerned with is whether they’ll get their money back.

Resources:
You can get free copies of your credit report at annualcreditreport.com
You can get free true FICO scores with several Barclaycard credit cards. Other cards, like DiscoverIT, provide it as well and several other issuers are moving to begin providing scores too.
Credit Sesame and Credit Karma are two services that provide (FAKO, not the real FICO) credit scores and also free credit monitoring. Their business model is to provide credit card recommendations to you and earn referral credit, just like Mint.com.

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The Frequent Traveller Thread - Perks, points, and deals for beginners and experts - Global Entry - 11-02-2014

My CX flight is delayed more than 2hrs from HKG, to LAX. Its a negative, but gives a possibility of providing another example of how getting status (however you can) can make life on the road more relaxed, enjoyable.

(Proviso: The following details what we can call "Points Players Problems")

I'm connecting to a DL economy flight in LAX to connect to SLC, in economy (with a hopeful and doubtful upgrade to Biz on the short flight, due to Crossover Rewards status with Starwood Preferred as a Platinum - its the lowest tier of upgrade, though, below Delta Silver Medallion and the likelihood of getting it is probably less than 25 percent (depends on which connection I ultimately get).

Because I'm in the 1st Lounge, when they announced the initial delay (which has now worsened) I approached an agent and let them know I was connecting on a DL flight that wouldn't normally be protected because its not a OneWorld flight and was booked as a separate itinerary. However, they told me that CX would rebook my flight for me - great, so i wouldn't have to buy another connection or pay a change fee. That was good news, even if resulted in a longer wait at LAX.

A second delay just popped onto the screen, which assured that I would be missing my booked connection, and I just walked over to talk to another attendant, who agreed (1) that I'd miss the connection, (2) that she wasn't sure which connection I'd be able to make, and (3) that until the aircraft to LAX was actually here, it didn't make sense to rebook. She told me she'd contact the CX folks at LAX and let them know to rebook me on the soonest connection to SLC - which under the circumstances is the best she can do.

Except, it wasn't.

I booked a special rate to fly Premium Economy rountdtrip LAX - HKG for 2K total, which is 1400 USD less than the normal price I see/pay. Good deal. Well, the nice lady in the first class lounge, while trying to solve my problem, also, for my inconvenience (and perhaps because of my Emerald One World status via BAEC Gold), handed me a new boarding card with a business class seat, which is a nice jump from Premium Economy. Full flat seats, etc. and I won't be nearly as cracked out when I reach LAX as I would have been (not that PE is anywhere nearly as rough on me as coach). Anyway, so now its 2K USD for W in one direction, and J on the return (which is typically 3300 USD one way more or less).

I doubt I'd be getting the information and the easy access to the change (though it would have been available, perhaps I wouldn't have even known about it) and definitely not the upgrade, except for the status (for which I travelled around the world in August and early September on a pretty fun junket, regardless). The post detailing the tier run is below.

Quote: (09-11-2014 08:55 PM)Global Entry Wrote:  

Beginning this entry sitting at KLIA2 (the local/low budget version of Kuala Lumpur Int'l Airport, a train ride of 5 minutes award from the world class KLIA).

I'm waiting for the last leg of my journey that will take me from Bronze BAEC (British Air/OneWorld) to the brink of BAEC Gold. The impetus of the journey was a trip to the Toronto Film Festival for a legal client, and it allowed me to build in a tier run to go for the status.

A tier run is a trip that is undertaken to get tier points (some airlines call them segments) so that you obtain status on the desired airline. Its done by flying that airline and partners of that airline while crediting those flights to the airline in question (for me BA).

I wanted to give an example of a tier run so that you might have an idea what one is. Typically, at least for a BAEC tier run, you're trying to get better value than 5usd/TP (that is pay less than 5 USD for each tier point, and hopefully much less), but because I had an employer paying, i can stretch that a little bit, due to the fact that the primary purpose was business. But pure tier runners, who do these flights solely for the tier points, look at 3GPB (or 5USD/TP) as the limit. TP runs below 2GBP are solid, and below 1.5 GBP are golden. There are many more involved available on BA partners US and AA then there are. The point is to find the soft spot on any OneWold Airline and exploit it. The soft spots in asia tend to involve MH (Malaysian Airlines), RJ (Royal Jordanian) and UL (Sri Lankan). Not so much softness on BA, Cathay, Qantas and Finnair, who don't offer many discount routes.

So here's the challenge. (1) Get from 675TPs (my pre-trip position) to as close as possible to 1500 TP (Gold Status) and (2) also have 4 eligible flights (a second criteria even for gold status) by flying on BA (or Iberia) metal, and not just crediting miles from one world partners like Cathay Paciific (which I often do).

Remember, miles earned via credit cards do not count for status, thought they're great for booking award tickets and upgrading class of travel.

From HKIA, I set up the RooshV meet up in BKK and flew Sri Lankan Economy - 10 TPs. I could have flown biz and got 40 points and it wasn't crazy expensive, but I was traveling with my friend, and he's not in on the game.

Two days in BKK, then had my biz class flights (on my client) BKK-AMM-CDG - 280 TPs (140 each for biz class flights (J class) each more than 2000 miles). Always putting my BA account number in. By the way, these TPs have not posted yet - can't stress this enough, SAVE ALL TICKET STUBS/BOARDING PASSES until your account is properly credited for the mileage/segments/tier points you're due for your flight. Only then, after they post, thrown them away (and you might snap a quick digital photo of them regardless).

A few hours later, back to economy (I can hit this client in good faith up for only a certain amount of travel costs, and I agreed to waive my hourly rates while at the festival (after all, its mostly watching movies and going to events. I wanted to go, and being there is pretty much not heavy lifting, plus I got a trip to see the parents in NYC en route). So I decided to fly on a BA special which was from CDG to NYC roundtrip in economy for around 1250 USD. This roundtrip would get me my four eligible flights.

Economy CDG-LHR (first BA metal flight - 10 TPs as its a super save fare) followed by LHR-JFK (second BA Metal flight-35 points, another discounted economy fare). Then four days in NYC, a WestJet puddle jump to Toronto that isn't part of the tier run, and four days in the land of the Betas. Back on Air Canada, also not part of the tier run (but a good program to book miles too, and a decent airline). Now I'm in JFK again.

I got a message from BA when I checked my return to london offering an upgraded to Premium Economy for less than half of the normal cost. For 250 USD about, I got 90 TPs on the way from JFK back to LHR (instead of 35, an extra 60TPs for just 250USD, plus being more comfortable), and then the same 10 LHR to CDG. I've also just gotten my 3rd and 4th eligible flights and hit silver, so now I'm entitled to lounge access at any OneWorld airline. Makes waiting the five hours until my next flight easier. Unfortunately, I am flying out of the shit terminal 1 in CDG, and there is no One World lounge there. At least they have wifi.

Next leg is a Qatar (one world also) flight CDG-DOH-BAH which I flew economy. The reason I flew through Qatar is that I identified a flight in business from Qatar (DOH) to Sri Lanka (COL) and onward to Malaysia (KUL) getting me very close to home, for only 650USD. I did this using google flights, trying different potential hubs as destinations (hubs in the mid-East for OneWorld flights might include AMM, DOH, you can specify a hub and a class of service and then the map will show you how much on your chose day it is to go to almost any destination. I spotted KUL from DOH and grabbed it immediately, and then went on to figure out how to get to DOH from CGD).

As a result of all this investigation, I gutted out the economy flight to Qatar (the business flights to Qatar from CDG were 1500 USD plus and many also involved long stopovers in places requiring a travel visa (like Moscow) so I found a direct and flew in the cheap seats, still was around 500 USD. I flew to Bahrain because at this point, I was cracked out and wanted to sleep and there is no visa required for Americans in Bahrain. I got (I think) 35 or 45 total TPs for the flights to BAH. Got some sleep, walked around Bahrain in the 100 degree heat for a few hours in the afternoon, hung out with some chinese hookers in a bar Diggers in Bahrain (definitely could have shored, but chose not to) and went back to the airport. Took a first class Qatar flight for 40 minutes back to Doha (60TPs, for around 350USD) solely for the tier points. Full flat seat for 40 minutes wasn't much to talk about but I had two different very nice champagnes on board at least.

Then the easy part of the return begins, a wait in the brand spanking new Orix business class lounge in DOH for a few hours, and then with two flights on UL (Sri Lankan), both an empty biz class, with very good looking flight attendants (and I'm not partial to South Asian women). 140TP for the flight to Colombo, and then another 40 to Kuala Lumpur. Its unfortunate, but KUL isn't 2000 miles from Colombo, so I didn't get 140 for that leg. But since I waited and found a flight from the mideast to KUL one way in business for 650USD, I didn't care so much. Those flights were frankly fantastic and if I am flyign business, I'll now try to book into Sri Lankan, rather than avoid them. It even made me more curious about a holiday in Sri Lanka after a long talk with the purser.
****
I finally arrived in KL (I am writing this in two parts - I'm now back in SZ after a decants night sleep) and could have either chosen to use BA avios to book KUL-HKG, but business wasn't available (no lounge access for my 2.5 hr wait) and Air Asia had flights for 175 USD. I couldn't justify using 15,000 avios plus 50 USD cash to get a flight I could buy for 175- that would have been a very poor trade on points, which I try not to use unless I get at least 4c/avios. That would have been less than a penny per avios. I didn't realize, but Air Asia flew out of a different airport than the one I landed, so I actually had to clear immigration (Malaysia has super easy immigration though, no paperwork, just your passport) and take a train one stop for 35 Ringit (12 USD). I think ultimately it was the right choice. I'll get much higher value out of my avios on a trip to Phnom Penh or Jakarta then I would have for thsi flight. And its true, Air Asia has the hottest flight attendants i've seen in economy except for Cebu Air on a flight from Boracay to Manila (ouch).

Some flight porn... inspiration for you, or perhaps a chance to experience it vicariously, i greatly hope its the former...


Calling for more champers on the short flight from Manama, Bahrain back to Doha (1st Class).


The view from the general boarding lounge at Doha for my Sri Lankan flight, fortunately I was in a much quieter environment for most of the time, the Orix Lounge at Hamad Int'l Airport.

See what I mean?


Largely empty biz class, Doha to Colombo. Got a first class experience as a result (and the service was good to begin with).


Before takeoff on Sri Lankan.


Opening into a fully flat bed on their Airbus 340 Config.


Doting and pleasant (very) flight attendant.


Built in seat massage. Nice touch.


The meal for the first segment (DOH-COL).


The second flight was largely more of the same, and the lounge in Colombo, while not spacious, had a nice selection of food and fast wi-fi.

The total tally for Tier Points seems to be coming in at 10+140+140+35+10+90+10+35+60+140+40= 710
Adding that to my pre-existing 680 brings me to 1390. One more flight this year premium economy to the West Coast, with a puddle jump from SFO to LAS, and I hit gold. Nice thing besides all the normals from One World for gold status is that even if I don't fly a single flight on OneWorld in 2015 (or otherwise qualify for Silver), I'll still be Silver with lounge access etc in 2016. Its called BA"s soft landing.

Total cash came in at around 160(to BKK)+1520 (One way RJ to CDG)+1220(BA RDT CDG JFK)+ 500 (one way Econ. QR to Manama)+360 (One way First to Doha) + 650 (Biz One way to KL on UL). 4410 for the 680 tier points, not below 5USD per TP but of course, I picked my destination based on a business need first. I also spent another 175 to get from KUL to HK and 89 USD to get a hotel in Manama (part of a reward thing for IHG, so that hotel will end up being free with the current promotion and the points I get back (google, "Into the Night" IHG promotion).

I'll also earn about (guessing) 20,000 avios, maybe a little less for all this flying (maybe 15,000, I haven't done the math). Valuing Avios conservatively at 2c per Avios, thats a rebate of 300 USD. And finally as a I booked it all on my SPG Amex, I'll get 4400 starwood points, which will ultimately equate to another 5500 points on one of 31 potential transfer partners. Again conservatively valuing them at 2c per point ( I often actualize closer to 5 cents per point, but I am being conservative) that's another 100 USD rebate for other travel. Taking that from the 4410, brings me right back to around 4000 USD for the avios, the status and the "enjoyment" of visiting many lounges and an overnight stay and an afternoon with Chinese hookers in a Bahrain bar.

I could have of course gotten there much quicker and a little cheaper by flying biz the normal way direct from HK, but I needed both the tier points and the eligible flights and that route wouldn't have gotten it done for me.

Incidentally a client asked on a call this morning if I could soon come to Vegas to work on closing a transaction. I told him sure.

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The Frequent Traveller Thread - Perks, points, and deals for beginners and experts - dodol - 11-02-2014

I recently acquired nearly 75k Marriott points through their Chase card, and I was delighted to find out there is a category 1 Marriott in Shanghai. (Courtyard Shanghai Puxi) I believe this is the one of the only category 1 hotels worth staying at. Most of the others are in small towns. This one is also has great reviews on TripAdvisor.

The result is I will spend 12 nights there and I only had to pay $25 to top up my points a little bit. I have already used the free night certificate at the Courtyard in Xujiahui, so that makes a total of 13 nights from this card.

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The Frequent Traveller Thread - Perks, points, and deals for beginners and experts - Mentavious - 11-12-2014

Looks like China and the US have agreed to extend visa validity terms from 1 to 10 years for short term business and leisure travelers

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The Frequent Traveller Thread - Perks, points, and deals for beginners and experts - Onto - 11-12-2014

Not sure if this helpful, but here is my recent experience redeeming Chase Ultimate rewards. I opened two Chase cards before my trip to the Phil so I accumulated about 124,000 points.

In Davao last week I decided last minute, and by that I mean at 11am I decided to leave Davao that very day. I had to pay for the ticket from Davao to Manila at the Davao airport, but I was able to "transfer" 40,000 points from my Chase rewards to United instantly and use them instantly to book a one-way economy ticket from Manila to Newark. I did have to pay about $100 for booking under 21 days, but that ticket would've cost about $2,000 at the time if it were not for the points!!

In the taxi to the airport I used my iPad and portable hotspot to book a room at the Hyatt in Manila that very night. The required 8,000 pts transferred to Hyatt instantly and was able to book a $220 room for the 8,000 pts and it was a nice room at the casino on the 30th floor. They got their money from me in the end but I had fun playing.

The experience using the Chase rewards website and transfer time of points to participating partners was excellent!

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The Frequent Traveller Thread - Perks, points, and deals for beginners and experts - Brodiaga - 11-15-2014

I have about 12K Qmiles (Qatar Airlines) which will expire soon. Is there any way to redeem or convert them if don't travel via Qatar or with this airline? The tickets with partner airlines (including AA, for example) start with 12.5K miles for a round trip short haul flight (up to 500 miles distance) which I don't think I'll need in the near future. In theory, I could transfer 500 SPG points to qmiles and then have enough to use Qmiles to buy a ticket with a partner airline, but I don't think it's worth it. Also, some people online complained about redemption fees/taxes which make it cheaper to buy a similar ticket for cash.

I researched the Qatar Airlines web site and some topics on Flyertalk, etc. and couldn't find anything about converting Qmiles to get hotel points or anything else. There is no way to shop using Qmiles either, except if you go to Qatar which I don't think I ever will. What can I do with these miles?

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The Frequent Traveller Thread - Perks, points, and deals for beginners and experts - Global Entry - 11-16-2014

Why is it not worth it to utilize the SPG points to get a free oneway ticket. You don't need to use the ticket, anyone can use it (family member, friend, whomever). You should check yourself on the cost of taxes and fuel surcharges, don't assume that what other people have indicated would apply to QR redemptions.

Seems if memory served you're living in NYC? Then you can go to Montreal one way (booking anytime in the next year, and have one way paid for)? That seems worthwhile. I doubt the fuel surcharges will be more than 50 USD, but again, I'd check.

Do their miles refresh if you earn more. Budget rent-a-car has a promotion where you can credit rentals to QR. If that refreshes the miles, then maybe you'll have more opportunity to use them in the future. They have some good fifth freedom flights around Asia (if memory serves, they have a flight from Hanoi to Bangkok, useful if you want to bounce around SE Asia).

Quote: (11-15-2014 03:14 PM)Brodiaga Wrote:  

I have about 12K Qmiles (Qatar Airlines) which will expire soon. Is there any way to redeem or convert them if don't travel via Qatar or with this airline? The tickets with partner airlines (including AA, for example) start with 12.5K miles for a round trip short haul flight (up to 500 miles distance) which I don't think I'll need in the near future. In theory, I could transfer 500 SPG points to qmiles and then have enough to use Qmiles to buy a ticket with a partner airline, but I don't think it's worth it. Also, some people online complained about redemption fees/taxes which make it cheaper to buy a similar ticket for cash.

I researched the Qatar Airlines web site and some topics on Flyertalk, etc. and couldn't find anything about converting Qmiles to get hotel points or anything else. There is no way to shop using Qmiles either, except if you go to Qatar which I don't think I ever will. What can I do with these miles?

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The Frequent Traveller Thread - Perks, points, and deals for beginners and experts - TheBulldozer - 11-17-2014

Yes, Qatar runs that fifth freedom flight HAN-BKK. Really affordable to rack up tier points on business if using your BA FF account.

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The Frequent Traveller Thread - Perks, points, and deals for beginners and experts - Cattle Rustler - 11-17-2014

Can someone explain 5th freedom in laymans terms?

I tried wikipedia but they don't have the "simple English" selection for the article

Thanks

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The Frequent Traveller Thread - Perks, points, and deals for beginners and experts - Global Entry - 11-17-2014

Fifth freedom flights are flights by a carrier between two different countries, neither of which is the carriers flag country. They often provide a way to try a carrier for a route that normally wouldn't be available or to fly long range equipment on a short haul flight because the airplane is completing the last leg of a longer route or beginning a longer route. Bigger equipment is typically more comfortable and better service at leaSt in a premium clasz and fifth freedom flights are often cheaper than j flights by non fifth freedom operators in the same route.

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The Frequent Traveller Thread - Perks, points, and deals for beginners and experts - Global Entry - 11-24-2014

Here are the IHG Points break hotels for the next quarter. Bookable for 5000 per night which is pretty good even if.the list of hotels isn't that inspiring. http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2...-now-live/

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The Frequent Traveller Thread - Perks, points, and deals for beginners and experts - elcidcampeador - 11-24-2014

A vote for the Crowne Plaza Helsinki - I just stayed there a week ago for a work trip and the location is excellent. I was paying something like 250E a night so that's a steal at 5k points/night. Of course, we all know how inspiring Scandinavian women can be, and they are still out and about even with the cold-ish weather.

Also the Crowne Plaza Beijing Lido is quite a nice hotel, although knowing the Chinese it's probably already sold out at the discounted points rate......

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The Frequent Traveller Thread - Perks, points, and deals for beginners and experts - TheBulldozer - 11-25-2014

Going to fly transpacific in J on Japan Airlines a couple of times in the next few months. Will get to try a variety of their business offerings, from 777 with newly outfitted Skysuite seats, to the 787 with apparently very lackluster quality.

Using AA miles to go to SEA in J on partner airlines for 55k miles is perhaps the best deal in the entire miles redemption game.

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The Frequent Traveller Thread - Perks, points, and deals for beginners and experts - Menace - 11-25-2014

I flew JAL to Tokyo on 787 (business) using AA miles. It was fine, but nothing special. 787 is a very quiet plane though.

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The Frequent Traveller Thread - Perks, points, and deals for beginners and experts - Global Entry - 11-25-2014

Best deal in the entire miles redemption game is a pretty big claim, MD. Its a good one, to be sure, but best in the game, that's gonna require a discussion.

Have you looked at the free one-way trips that one can do between Hawaii and Central america using Star Alliance points on United? (through Singapore Air).

Personally, I think I'd rather pay a few extra miles and fly Cathay than JA, but JA is no slouch. You should also look at this....new from ANA.

Check it out. ANA article from the Points Guy

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The Frequent Traveller Thread - Perks, points, and deals for beginners and experts - elcidcampeador - 11-25-2014

Quote: (11-25-2014 01:54 PM)Global Entry Wrote:  

Best deal in the entire miles redemption game is a pretty big claim, MD. Its a good one, to be sure, but best in the game, that's gonna require a discussion.

Have you looked at the free one-way trips that one can do between Hawaii and Central america using Star Alliance points on United? (through Singapore Air).

Personally, I think I'd rather pay a few extra miles and fly Cathay than JA, but JA is no slouch. You should also look at this....new from ANA.

Check it out. ANA article from the Points Guy

The best analysis is here: From Travelisfree TPG writers generally don't come up with anything original

Of course, there are the fuel surcharge issues with NH redemptions, but that doesn't bother me too much. Sometimes though it's quite annoying.

I feel like I'm getting a pretty awesome deal with my US miles for 30k flying DEL-HKG (stop)-CGK-KUL-DEL in business class on an upcoming redemption. Pretty much all TATL length flights (minus CGK-KUL) and I'm going to even get reimbursed by my client.

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The Frequent Traveller Thread - Perks, points, and deals for beginners and experts - Global Entry - 11-25-2014

I feel like all the major bloggers follow a couple of originators...and then plug the credit card deals. Definitely Gary Leff is one of them - I haven't followed Travelisfree though I know about it. Cid, which bloggers are worth the RSS feed traffic in your opinion. I follow too many, so there is of course a lot of redundancy. It of course depends what you prioritize. I do care (too much) about room upgrades, lounge access and even free breakfast on non-work travel.

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The Frequent Traveller Thread - Perks, points, and deals for beginners and experts - elcidcampeador - 11-25-2014

Quote: (11-25-2014 03:38 PM)Global Entry Wrote:  

I feel like all the major bloggers follow a couple of originators...and then plug the credit card deals. Definitely Gary Leff is one of them - I haven't followed Travelisfree though I know about it. Cid, which bloggers are worth the RSS feed traffic in your opinion. I follow too many, so there is of course a lot of redundancy. It of course depends what you prioritize. I do care (too much) about room upgrades, lounge access and even free breakfast on non-work travel.

I think travelisfree is the only decent blog out there that doesn't push credit cards and has quality info. The ones like VFTW and OMAAT are OK, but are increasingly tricky. I like to read OMAATs trip reports, but they are essentially useless since all of the products have been reviewed at airliners.net already. What bothers me is that they never tell you how to find award availability. Ever. I don't need the help, but the readers do...especially after getting that 'awesome credit card deal'. I also feel that they never ever look for a deal on hotels because they are enamored with Hyatt and SPG. Flyertalk will always be the best resource out there.

The bloggers all use SPG and Hyatt because they are best for the things you mentioned above. I like IHG (because I can just buy the pointbreaks nights for 35$/each, it's practically cheaper than rent) and Hilton (because of Points+$ which makes most stays that I couldn't justify full price for more affordable). Money trumps loyalty with hotels IMO, and I like to parlay the frequent Orbitz/Cheaptickets 20% off coupons into stays when I want a serviced apartment (the codes won't work on most US-branded properties).

The best trick for getting lounge access internationally is the Turkish *Gold match. That's a charm when flying around in Y, especially with all the partners. Used it in Helsinki, Milan, Copenhagen, Zurich lounges just the other week. I'm starting to get over upgrades (and I'm in my 20's) already, and really care more about being able to cut the lines and get a lounge when I want it. The TK program is actually decent enough that it might be worth putting miles into it to keep the status.

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