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Traveling cheaply and well using miles and points

Traveling cheaply and well using miles and points

Old Sep 12th 2012, 9:01 pm
  #31  
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Default Re: Traveling cheaply and well using miles and points

Originally Posted by coastieexpat
Here's a link to the offer, right now the bonus is 50,000 miles

https://www.britishairways.com/trave...s/public/en_us

You also get 10% off when booking a flight with BA.
Thanks!
tonrob in your opinion should i go for the 50k or wait in hope they might offer 100k again
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Old Sep 12th 2012, 10:53 pm
  #32  
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Default Re: Traveling cheaply and well using miles and points

Originally Posted by Adnams
Thanks!
tonrob in your opinion should i go for the 50k or wait in hope they might offer 100k again
It depends - why do you want the BA card and why do you want it now? What would you do with the miles? Depending on the answers there could be a number of contenders for the best card to choose, and the current BA card offer is at the lowest level it's been at since its introduction 3 years ago (it's been at 50,000 before - but never lower as far as I recall).

e.g. you live in the mid-west. The nearest place BA flies from would be Chicago? If you wanted the miles to fly to/from Europe have you considered the Chase United card? (At 50,000 miles also, it's the highest it's been at, and the fees involved in award bookings are much, much lower).
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Old Sep 13th 2012, 7:22 pm
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Default Re: Traveling cheaply and well using miles and points

tonrob - I have to thank you too. When you posted about the 100K points for a BA card, I signed up and got it.

I also have Amex miles - about 200K.

I'm not sure if you know the answer to this but... last year I booked a ticket on BA. (I travel only business class too and will save all year to purchase the ticket). Finally I had enough points that I transferred from Amex to BA. (from LAX to Heathrow)

I wanted to book on coach and get an upgrade to business with points. However I was told that I would have to wait a week before I travel to see if there is an upgrade available. I did not want to risk it since I always travel at the busiest time of the year so ended up buying business and upgrading to first the week before travel.

It sounds like you are able to upgrade immediately whilst booking the ticket - is that true? Or do you have to wait and call and so on.
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Old Sep 13th 2012, 11:47 pm
  #34  
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Default Re: Traveling cheaply and well using miles and points

Originally Posted by toopie28
tonrob - I have to thank you too. When you posted about the 100K points for a BA card, I signed up and got it.

I also have Amex miles - about 200K.

I'm not sure if you know the answer to this but... last year I booked a ticket on BA. (I travel only business class too and will save all year to purchase the ticket). Finally I had enough points that I transferred from Amex to BA. (from LAX to Heathrow)

I wanted to book on coach and get an upgrade to business with points. However I was told that I would have to wait a week before I travel to see if there is an upgrade available. I did not want to risk it since I always travel at the busiest time of the year so ended up buying business and upgrading to first the week before travel.

It sounds like you are able to upgrade immediately whilst booking the ticket - is that true? Or do you have to wait and call and so on.
You can only upgrade by one cabin using miles (Avios points), so:

Economy (World Traveler) to premium economy (World Traveler Plus)
World Traveler Plus to business (Club World)
Club World to First

You cannot 'skip' a cabin, so economy can never be upgraded to business on BA using miles. Unfortunately, BA staff (especially over the phone, and especially in the US) can seldom find their arse with both hands, so duff information is routinely given out.

You can book and upgrade using miles but, and here's the kicker, there needs to be availability in both the cabin you are upgrading from (even though in reality you will never use the seat) and the cabin you are upgrading to.

That said, this is one of the most profitable use of BA miles in my book so well worth doing if you can find availability. Try searching for dates where Club World is available using miles and then do a second search on a World Traveler Plus fare but upgrading using Avios.

It is possible to upgrade a cabin after booking if availability opens up, and upgrades using cash are sometimes available just prior to (and at) check-in - for less than normal Club World fares. BA does this in situations where the cabin you are booked in is oversold, and they would rather get people to pay to upgrade instead of having to upgrade someone for free.
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Old Sep 14th 2012, 7:12 pm
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Default Re: Traveling cheaply and well using miles and points

Okay, good to know - thanks!
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Old Sep 14th 2012, 7:45 pm
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Default Re: Traveling cheaply and well using miles and points

Mrs tonrob, the tonrobette and I are going to Florida next April to see the family. We intend to fly Southwest as they go direct from our local airport, and I recently applied for the Chase Southwest card (giving 50,000 points after $1,000 spend) for this reason. I received the points today.

As Southwest only releases blocks of dates for sale periodically, I saw that the outward dates can be booked right now but the return cannot. I decided to act quickly and book the outward journey now before the price went up (Southwest's scheme is revenue-based, so if the cash price of a ticket goes up then the number of points required for the booking goes up as well).

I booked us 3 seats from BDL-MCO on a non-stop flight at a good time in the middle of the day for 27,500 points and $7.50. There was no risk in doing this as, if something should go tits up somehow when they release the return dates, Southwest award tickets can be cancelled with no penalty, with all the points being refunded to my account instantly.

Assuming the return flights end up being roughly the same price as the outward, the remaining points from my Chase card application will cover 2 of the 3 seats we need. I'll buy the remaining seat using a "free" $200 Southwest gift card I bought earlier in the year - the cost having been reimbursed by AMEX under the "airline fee reimbursement" feature of their Platinum card.

So, with (almost) free flights taken care of, the next step in our cunning plan will be to try to get free hotels and car rental (or at least as close to free as we can manage!)
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Old Sep 14th 2012, 8:58 pm
  #37  
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Default Re: Traveling cheaply and well using miles and points

Originally Posted by tonrob
It depends - why do you want the BA card and why do you want it now? What would you do with the miles? Depending on the answers there could be a number of contenders for the best card to choose, and the current BA card offer is at the lowest level it's been at since its introduction 3 years ago (it's been at 50,000 before - but never lower as far as I recall).

e.g. you live in the mid-west. The nearest place BA flies from would be Chicago? If you wanted the miles to fly to/from Europe have you considered the Chase United card? (At 50,000 miles also, it's the highest it's been at, and the fees involved in award bookings are much, much lower).
Erm I just wanted them to have them. In a slightly OCD hoarding type way.
I see that United miles via a chase card make much more sense for my locale, although I hate flying on US domiciled airlines as they are pants generally.
We have about 180,000 on our delta / amex card. Cant remember if United is in same group will have to google it.
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Old Sep 15th 2012, 12:21 am
  #38  
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Default Re: Traveling cheaply and well using miles and points

Originally Posted by Adnams
Erm I just wanted them to have them. In a slightly OCD hoarding type way.
I see that United miles via a chase card make much more sense for my locale, although I hate flying on US domiciled airlines as they are pants generally.
We have about 180,000 on our delta / amex card. Cant remember if United is in same group will have to google it.
I'd normally shy away from diversifying too much to begin with, but 180,000 with Delta sounds good if that is enough Delta miles for you to do something useful with (otherwise I'd focus on getting more of those).

United can be crap to fly with, to be sure, but United are a member of Star Alliance, and they have a pretty good award programme, with no fuel surcharges and a functioning website (which many airlines, including BA, lack).

I used 67,500 United miles (and $77.50) to fly Lufthansa First Class from Seattle to Frankfurt in July, and jolly nice it was too. BA would have charged 75,000 miles and $500 for an equivalent journey.

Not dissing BA - I love them and have more miles with them than any other airline - my questions were just to get to the bottom of what your needs are and therefore what card was best to get next, given there are so many good ones out there.

I'd consider flexible programmes such as AMEX Membership Rewards and Chase Ultimate Rewards, both of which earn points that can be transferred instantly into BA as well as other airlines and hotel chains. Flexibility is the key to getting the most out of your miles, so you can transfer to the programme that has availability on the dates that you need.
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Old Sep 16th 2012, 1:10 am
  #39  
 
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Default Re: Traveling cheaply and well using miles and points

Just applied for and got a Chase Sapphire Prefered with 40,000 bonus points for spending $3k in three months. Will transfer the points to my United account. Will probably use this as my main card because of the flexibity of points transfer.
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Old Sep 16th 2012, 6:08 am
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Default Re: Traveling cheaply and well using miles and points

Well done !

I have found this site really helpful in tracking most your rewards programmes https://awardwallet.com/

Quick question Tonrob.

We ( 2 pax ) want to travel from SFO to Kauii from Jan 9th to Jan 17th, I have looked on BA and I can go AA via LAX for 34,000 BA Avios/miles in economy plus $24.00, I am BA silver so I should have lounge access also.

Is there a better way to do this ? Perhaps Alaska ?

Cheers

Last edited by coastieexpat; Sep 16th 2012 at 6:10 am.
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Old Sep 16th 2012, 7:37 am
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Default Re: Traveling cheaply and well using miles and points

tonrob, personal question, you know what your credit score is or how it has been affected?
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Old Sep 16th 2012, 7:38 am
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Default Re: Traveling cheaply and well using miles and points

Love flyer miles, we saved $3000 on our trip to Alaska this summer!
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Old Sep 17th 2012, 2:12 am
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Talking Re: Traveling cheaply and well using miles and points

Cough, Cough - I wish to register a complaint (in my John Cleese Parrot Sketch Voice)

Travelling is spelt with 2 Ls, and not the American Version as displayed in the Title of this Thread.

Bitch Session Over!


Jim.
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Old Sep 17th 2012, 3:34 am
  #44  
 
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Default Re: Traveling cheaply and well using miles and points

Just because there isn't a FF scheme for traveling in your bus, there is no need to get uppity
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Old Sep 17th 2012, 9:54 pm
  #45  
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Default Re: Traveling cheaply and well using miles and points

Just booked 2 tickets from San Francisco to Kauai , ( via Los Angeles ).

Cost...... $54.00 + 68,000 Avios ( BA miles )

Also got a good deal via Travelzoo for 4 nights at really nice Marriot hotel for $100 per night, ( half price ).

Total Airfare and Hotel.... $227.00 each.

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