rpjs

Just got an email from Chase saying that the 10% off offer on all BA flights bought with the Chase British Airways Visa Signature card has been extended to the end of 2015. Flights must be bought and completed by December 31st 2015. Book at www.ba.com/chase10 and use code CARDOFFERU.

coastieexpat

This is the one reason I kept hold of the card for so long. It's a shame it is only valid One Way though, from the US to Europe.

William_JP

Thank you for the great thread!

I'm new to frequent flyer points accumulations system, but this is quickly becoming an obsession I often fly internationally (most used destination - UK to US) and all over US, and cutting some expenses is well appreciated.

I've been introduced to that service recently, which promotes itself as being helpful at managing your flyer points more efficiently: flyingfirst.com.au. Do you guys have any experience with this group yet?

tonrob

Hi, and welcome.

There are a lot of award-booking services out there. I have not yet encountered this one.

rpjs

Hmm, don't think so. I'll be heading Blightywards again soon and priced up some flights with the offer the other day and as last year got 10% off the whole trip.

tonrob

I think he meant only round trips originating in the US rather than round trips originating in the UK.

rpjs

Ah, makes sense.

In related news, the BA Executive Club has just announced some changes to the Avios programme which will have a deleterious effect on many, perhaps most BAEC members. The thread on Flyertalk has reached nearly 40 pages already!

GeoffM

One thing that struck me from the news:
Well yes - fewer people will be able to redeem anything so of course availability will go up!

tonrob

It's a bugger, but unfortunately periodic devaluations are a fact of life in this game, and it's been 3 years since BA's last one. Just highlights the smart move is to earn your miles via methods other than flying - hence this thread! Luckily BA miles are especially easy to acquire en-masse.

tonrob

Myself:

Chase Ritz Carlton - 140K points after $3K spend in 3 months. $300 airline incidentals credit. Points can be credited to Marriott Rewards instead. $395 annual fee.
Citi Thank You Premier - 20K points after $2K spend in 3 months in 1st year, then 30K after $3K spend in 3 months in 2nd year. Points transferable to airline programs at 1.25x or redeemed directly for airfare at 1:$1. Annual fee $125.
Barclays Arrival+ - 40K points after $3K spend in 3 months. 40K points worth $440 in statement credits against travel spend. Already have this card, so this would be my second one.
Wells Fargo Rewards - 5x points on supermarket and pharmacy spending (no limit) for first 6 months. Points can be converted to cashback or spent on travel. No annual fee.
AMEX Everyday Preferred - 15K Membership Rewards points after $1K spend in 3 months. $95 annual fee. Not a great sign-up bonus but allows me to keep my points alive when canceling my Business Gold Rewards card this month (to avoid the heftier annual fee on that one).

Mrs tonrob:

Chase Ritz Carlton (as above).
Barclays Arrival+ (as above).
Citi Thank You Premier (as above).
AMEX Jet Blue - 20K points after spending $1K in 3 months. Just because we're running out if AMEX cards to apply for. $40 annual fee from 2nd year on.

All approved instantly apart from the Chase ones where we had to call to move credit limits about first.

tonrob

The Points Guy covers here.

In line with other recent airline devaluations, those who earn miles by actually flying are hit hardest, while those who obtain miles via other means (credit card offers, shopping portals and the like) can "simply" rack up more.

g1ant

I got stiffed on the Wells Fargo because I had an old CC with them in my sock drawer that I keep because its my oldest card.
The 5% is only for "new" customers. Arse...

My new apps this month have been
another US Airways
another Citi Exec
Citi 1+1 cashback
Chase British Airways (churn after 2 years)

tonrob

I have Diamond status with Hilton. While I stay with them fairly often, it's not often enough to gain Diamond status - instead I got this by spending $40K on their AMEX Hilton credit card last year.

Anyway I came upon the following most curious offer while reading a tweet made by The Point Guy last night. Targeted 100K for some Diamond members simply by clicking a link to an offer page and then signing in. Very odd indeed - never seen anything quite like that before. Gave it a go and hey-presto - was awarded 100K points which credited to my account within about 5 minutes. Also included was an offer for double points on weekday stays and triple on weekend, between now and the end of April. Sufficient to make me consider switching an upcoming week from IHG.

The Points Guy, on the offer.

tonrob

Regular readers may recall that for the last 3 summers I've packed Mrs tonrob and the Sproutlet off to Germany for several weeks to stay with the in-laws, and during that time I've gone to visit them but taken in some not-exactly-straightforward routings, trying some new airlines, fancy service and visiting new places along the way - all the time burning miles and points, keeping out-of-pocket costs as close to zero as possible.

In 2012 I traveled in an Amtrak sleeper all the way over to Seattle before catching Lufthansa first class to Frankfurt. We left the Sproutlet with the in-laws and caught the train to enjoy a few nights in the Park Hyatt in Hamburg. Travel home to Boston was Lufthansa business class.

In 2013 I was feeling a bit more adventurous, so after traveling to Frankfurt on United first class from Newark and doing a side-trip sans Sproutlet to Porto (Lufthansa economy - shock horror - and staying at the Intercontinental for 4 nights), my journey home consisted of Thai first class via Bangkok to Tokyo, 4 nights at the Conrad and then ANA first class suites back to JFK.

Last year it was BA first class to Heathrow and then onto Frankfurt, with a side-trip to Prague (again, Lufthansa economy, but then 4 nights at the Mandarin Oriental to recover). Journey home was Lufthansa first class to Seoul, Asiana business to Beijing then 4 nights at the Hilton Beijing Wangfujing. Then Cathay business to Kong Kong, a night at the Intercontinental Kowloon and then 15 hours of luxury in Cathay first to JFK.

Now it's 2015, and having just booked the pair of them to Germany again my thoughts are turning to this year's jaunt. As always, searching for award availability is a bit of a jigsaw puzzle, but helped greatly by the fact that over the years I've diversified my miles and points earning across many programmes. I'm also keen to try out some airlines premium cabins that I've not done before. Some seats are easier to grab than others, and to this end I've just booked Singapore suites first class on their A380 from Singapore to JFK (21 hours including Frankfurt stop) for a whopping 192,000 AMEX Membership Rewards points and US$400 in taxes (the latter being mostly covered by the $300 airline fee reimbursement on my recently-acquired Chase Ritz-Carlton card).

It's a very high number of points to pay for the flight, but this was the only way I was going to get to try Singapore's amazing fully-enclosed suites, and to be honest the points I'm using have been hanging around for at least a couple of years without my finding another use for them.

Singapore Suites review.




So now I need to construct the rest of my itinerary, which loosely has me traveling from Frankfurt to Siem Riep, Cambodia (to visit Angkor Wat), maybe via Bangkok (Thai first on A380) or maybe Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia first on A380 from Heathrow), or maybe somewhere else depending on what turns up over the next few days/weeks. I'm also looking for something fresh to do on the way to Frankfurt (BA A380 ex-Philly?) but haven't decided yet.

As always, I'll come back and write more here, with my intent being to show what's possible when it comes to spending the miles and points that you've worked so hard to earn.

Bob

No thoughts to a detour going south America and over to Malaysia that way?