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Traveling cheaply and well using miles and points

Traveling cheaply and well using miles and points

Old Jan 21st 2013, 4:22 pm
  #226  
 
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Default Re: Traveling cheaply and well using miles and points

Originally Posted by RICH
I am clueless. I am planning to visit UK in May 2013 for a week or so. On Kayak I see flights for $1000 +/- $100.
Would say that is a pretty reasonable price for how things have been going. We are going back in May from the west coast to Manchester and the economy fare has bee fluctuating between $950 to $1400. Delta in the last few months seem to have been changing their fares 2 or 3 times a week.

Kayak is as good as any, not always the cheapest but close to the cheapest when they are not the cheapest. They don't sell themselves just search the various sites where you can buy and link you to them. In fact found a business class fare on Delta via Kayak cheaper than buying economy on United, and upgrading it with miles and money.
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Old Jan 22nd 2013, 10:44 am
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Exclamation AMEX Gold Business - 75,000 points sign-up bonus

Apply by 28th January and spend $10,000 within first 4 months. No annual fee in first year, then $175 (but I'd cancel before that becomes due).

They've had some 'flash' deals like this in the past which have lasted only a day - you've got almost a week to act on this one.

Membership Rewards points transfer 1:1 to the likes of BA, Virgin Atlantic, Delta, Singapore Airlines and more - sometimes with limited time transfer bonuses (e.g. current one of 30% to BA, but has also been as high as 50% for BA and 67% for Delta).

Not eligible if you have held an AMEX business version of their Green, Gold or Platinum cards within the last 12 months, which unfortunately rules out Mrs tonrob and I, otherwise we'd have been all over this.

Especially handy if you've got a (personal) Platinum card you's like to cancel having already received your 2013 $200 airline "fee" credit - getting this card approved before you cancel your Platinum means that you get to keep all of your MR points alive in your account (you must maintain at least one MR-earning card in order to keep your MR points going, otherwise you'd need to transfer them all out now to avoid losing them or else keep your Platinum card going which costs you in fees).
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Old Jan 22nd 2013, 11:56 pm
  #228  
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Default Re: Traveling cheaply and well using miles and points

Originally Posted by lansbury
Would say that is a pretty reasonable price for how things have been going. We are going back in May from the west coast to Manchester and the economy fare has bee fluctuating between $950 to $1400. Delta in the last few months seem to have been changing their fares 2 or 3 times a week.

Kayak is as good as any, not always the cheapest but close to the cheapest when they are not the cheapest. They don't sell themselves just search the various sites where you can buy and link you to them. In fact found a business class fare on Delta via Kayak cheaper than buying economy on United, and upgrading it with miles and money.
Thanks Lansbury (& Tonrob). I will certainly do more research, just glad to know I am not missing anything crucial, and the price is in the ballpark.
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Old Jan 23rd 2013, 4:58 pm
  #229  
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Default Re: Traveling cheaply and well using miles and points

Is this a good deal? I received what seems to be a targeted United MileagePlus Explorer card offer. Deal is $0 for the first year, then $95, 50,000 miles after spending $1000 in first three months.

As a Cardmember, your benefits include:

• First standard checked bag free on United-operated flights for you and a companion when you purchase your tickets with your Card.

• Priority boarding on United-operated flights.

• Two one-time United ClubSM passes each year.

• 50,000 bonus miles after you spend $1,000 in your first three months as a Cardmember.

• 5,000 bonus miles after you add an authorized user and make a purchase with your Card, both within three months of opening your account.

• 10,000 bonus miles after you spend $25,000 on the Card during a calendar year.

• Two miles per $1 spent on United tickets purchased from the airline and one mile per $1 spent on all other purchases.

• Use your miles to book any seat, any time — no limitations, restrictions or blackout dates. If seats are available for sale on United-operated flights, Cardmembers can use miles to book an award ticket at the Standard Award level.

• Your miles won't expire as long as you're a Cardmember.
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Old Jan 23rd 2013, 7:25 pm
  #230  
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Default Re: Traveling cheaply and well using miles and points

Originally Posted by seawaternow
Is this a good deal? I received what seems to be a targeted United MileagePlus Explorer card offer. Deal is $0 for the first year, then $95, 50,000 miles after spending $1000 in first three months.

As a Cardmember, your benefits include:

• First standard checked bag free on United-operated flights for you and a companion when you purchase your tickets with your Card.

• Priority boarding on United-operated flights.

• Two one-time United ClubSM passes each year.

• 50,000 bonus miles after you spend $1,000 in your first three months as a Cardmember.

• 5,000 bonus miles after you add an authorized user and make a purchase with your Card, both within three months of opening your account.

• 10,000 bonus miles after you spend $25,000 on the Card during a calendar year.

• Two miles per $1 spent on United tickets purchased from the airline and one mile per $1 spent on all other purchases.

• Use your miles to book any seat, any time — no limitations, restrictions or blackout dates. If seats are available for sale on United-operated flights, Cardmembers can use miles to book an award ticket at the Standard Award level.

• Your miles won't expire as long as you're a Cardmember.
It's pretty much as good as the United deal gets - and I think it's worth doing if the benefits are of use to you. It's not targeted - it's a publicly-available deal open to all. There is a slightly better deal in which you also get a $50 statement credit, and this FatWallet thread explains how you can try to get it.

This wouldn't be a card I'd keep longer than 11 months (due to the annual fee) unless I thought the free bag thing would be a bigger benefit to me.

I go through a lot of United miles, not because I fly on United - instead I use them to book via United to fly on other Star Alliance carriers. United has very low taxes and fees and a pretty easy-to-use website for booking award tickets (most airlines don't). Mrs tonrob and I both have this card, but we acquired most of our United miles by converting from Chase Ultimate Rewards points (I've mentioned these in a bunch of posts before).
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Old Jan 23rd 2013, 7:32 pm
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Default Re: Traveling cheaply and well using miles and points

That is one of the better deals and Chase have been offering that for a long time on the United card. It comes down to do you fly United or does United go where you need to fly to/from. I normally fly United so get the benefits.
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Old Jan 23rd 2013, 8:30 pm
  #232  
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Default Re: Traveling cheaply and well using miles and points

Originally Posted by lansbury
That is one of the better deals and Chase have been offering that for a long time on the United card. It comes down to do you fly United or does United go where you need to fly to/from. I normally fly United so get the benefits.
Don't forget though they can be redeemed on all Star Alliance carriers, so:

US Airways
Air Canada
Lufthansa
Swiss
Thai
Air New Zealand
Austrian
ANA

...and many more. Some more useful than others, depending on where you fancy going. I have redeemed well over half a million United miles in recent years, yet I have not set foot on a United plane since 2002.
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Old Jan 24th 2013, 9:54 am
  #233  
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Default 2 deals with potential for trans-Atlantic flights

(Good for flights to other places too).

Virgin Atlantic has a 25% sale for using miles to book economy (only) travel (book by 5th Feb) as reported by The Points Guy. Mileage requirement as low as 26,250 (from NYC) but taxes, fees and fuel surcharges amount to a whopping $700. BA and Virgin (among a few other carriers) are renowned for the stupidly high "fuel surcharge" that they tack onto award travel, which is why I only ever redeem their miles for business (or first) class travel as only then do you get better value for the dollars shelled out.

In a complete contrast, View From the Wing reports that Japanese airline ANA have stopped imposing fuel surcharges for bookings made using their miles for travel on United. Here the mileage required would be - in business class for example - 63,000 round-trip NYC-LON with much lower fees. (It has to be said that United themselves don't impose fuel surcharges for tickets booked with their miles, and a round-trip ticket with them would cost 100,000 miles and $286).

I don't expect that many of you will have miles stashed away with ANA (I don't), but note that both ANA and Virgin Atlantic are 1:1 transfer partners with American Express Membership Rewards.
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Old Jan 25th 2013, 3:10 am
  #234  
 
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Default Re: Traveling cheaply and well using miles and points

Originally Posted by tonrob
Don't forget though they can be redeemed on all Star Alliance carriers, so:

US Airways
Air Canada
Lufthansa
Swiss
Thai
Air New Zealand
Austrian
ANA

...and many more. Some more useful than others, depending on where you fancy going. I have redeemed well over half a million United miles in recent years, yet I have not set foot on a United plane since 2002.
I was thinking in terms of the airline specific perks. Free bag, priority boarding, lounge passes.
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Old Jan 25th 2013, 2:11 pm
  #235  
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Default Re: Traveling cheaply and well using miles and points

Originally Posted by lansbury
I was thinking in terms of the airline specific perks. Free bag, priority boarding, lounge passes.
Good point. The card's good if you want those things, but it's not only good if you want those things. If you see what I mean.
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Old Jan 30th 2013, 4:45 pm
  #236  
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Old Feb 11th 2013, 5:38 pm
  #237  
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Default Mrs tonrob's latest credit card applications - 295,000 points

Mrs tonrob just did her latest round of credit card applications - here's what she went for and the results:

Chase Sapphire Preferred Visa
- 40,000 Ultimate Rewards points after spending $3,000 in 3 months. Also gives 7% points bonus on annual spending. Instant approval.

AMEX Hilton Honors
- 50,000 points after $750 spend in 3 months. Also free Gold status (giving access to reduced room award rates). Instant approval.

Citi Hilton Honors Visa - 50,000 points after $1,000 spend in 4 months. Instant approval.

US Bank Club Carlson Business Visa - 85,000 points (50K on first purchase, 35K after $2,500 spend in 90 days). Also gives last night free when making award bookings of 2+ nights. Instant approval.

Bank of Hawaii Hawaiian Airlines Visa - 35,000 points after spending $1,500 in 3 months. Deferred decision - will hear by mail within 30 days.

All in all a good points haul, I think. The Hawaiian miles can (and will) be converted to Hilton points at a ratio of 1:2 (so another 70,000 Hilton there) and also the free night per award booking with Club Carlson is quite valuable.

It had been 6 months (and 1 day) since her last credit enquiries, and her good score meant that we were confident going into this. We each usually wait just 3 months between rounds of applications, but to be honest there aren't many cards we've not had before so pickings were a bit slim for a while. The US Bank card was the latest to pop onto the scene, and this got us thinking about having another go. I'll likely do another round of applications myself sometime during March as it will be 3 months for me at that time.
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Old Feb 11th 2013, 6:14 pm
  #238  
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Default Re: Traveling cheaply and well using miles and points

$8750 spend in 3-4 months... doable I guess!
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Old Feb 11th 2013, 6:17 pm
  #239  
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Default Re: Traveling cheaply and well using miles and points

Originally Posted by GeoffM
$8750 spend in 3-4 months... doable I guess!
More easily than you might think! We don't use debit cards anymore so all of our everyday spending (groceries, going out, gas etc) goes towards that and earns miles and that's without getting clever and doing all the things that Tonrob does to efficiently spend that kind of amount.
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Old Feb 11th 2013, 7:16 pm
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Default Re: Traveling cheaply and well using miles and points

Originally Posted by Bink
More easily than you might think! We don't use debit cards anymore so all of our everyday spending (groceries, going out, gas etc) goes towards that and earns miles and that's without getting clever and doing all the things that Tonrob does to efficiently spend that kind of amount.
Yes, more the careful planning that Tonrob does than the amount as such! I'm struggling just with 3 credit cards to get the spend vs credit limit about right (and pay them off at the right time).
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