Travel - mileage, cards, expirations, etc.

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psteinx
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Travel - mileage, cards, expirations, etc.

Post by psteinx »

I have not played the mileage/cards/etc games much, and mostly when I did, it was years ago. Our travel has been light for the last 10+ years.

But youngest kid goes to college in <2 years, freeing wife and I up to travel more. Oldest kid will likely be located on the west coast (we're midwest), so we'll have some domestic travel to see her, and probably some leisure travel domestically and internationally.

One reason I've paid little attention to mileage has been concerns (valid, based on past experiences), that miles would expire unused.

* Do airlines still expire out miles earned by actually flying and/or via other programs?
* If I focus on gaining miles with one or two airlines or CC programs, how much of a hassle is it to use those internationally? i.e. Do the airlines have enough partners that I could easily get myself and my wife to London, Rome, Lisbon, Peru, Tokyo, depending on our travel whims, at a cost (in miles), not much worse than the cheapest cash-bought tickets?
* I get 1.5-2.0% back, on general use credit cards. And it's *cash*. Spend for anything, minimal hassle. I understand there are varying levels of aggression with which folks play CC games. Assuming rather modest effort by me, but perhaps switching focus to mileage/point accumulation, what's a realistic earn rate on CCs that are travel aimed?
* Other than CC signups + regular spending, mileage for actually flying, and maybe hotel rooms, are there other easy ways to accumulate travel points/miles? Again, I'd want something that doesn't expire and doesn't require "maintenance" to stay unexpired.
pizzy
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Re: Travel - mileage, cards, expirations, etc.

Post by pizzy »

psteinx wrote: Mon Oct 18, 2021 12:51 pm I have not played the mileage/cards/etc games much, and mostly when I did, it was years ago. Our travel has been light for the last 10+ years.

But youngest kid goes to college in <2 years, freeing wife and I up to travel more. Oldest kid will likely be located on the west coast (we're midwest), so we'll have some domestic travel to see her, and probably some leisure travel domestically and internationally.

One reason I've paid little attention to mileage has been concerns (valid, based on past experiences), that miles would expire unused.

* Do airlines still expire out miles earned by actually flying and/or via other programs?
* If I focus on gaining miles with one or two airlines or CC programs, how much of a hassle is it to use those internationally? i.e. Do the airlines have enough partners that I could easily get myself and my wife to London, Rome, Lisbon, Peru, Tokyo, depending on our travel whims, at a cost (in miles), not much worse than the cheapest cash-bought tickets?
* I get 1.5-2.0% back, on general use credit cards. And it's *cash*. Spend for anything, minimal hassle. I understand there are varying levels of aggression with which folks play CC games. Assuming rather modest effort by me, but perhaps switching focus to mileage/point accumulation, what's a realistic earn rate on CCs that are travel aimed?
* Other than CC signups + regular spending, mileage for actually flying, and maybe hotel rooms, are there other easy ways to accumulate travel points/miles? Again, I'd want something that doesn't expire and doesn't require "maintenance" to stay unexpired.
Within the realm of "modest effort"...

The key is the volume of new credit card sign ups and sign up bonuses (SUB) which they offer. SUBs usually pay out in the 10%-20% range of minimum spend required.

The rest of the earning potential (the 2x, 3x, butt in seat miles, etc.) is equivalent to picking up pennies on the ground.
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ResearchMed
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Re: Travel - mileage, cards, expirations, etc.

Post by ResearchMed »

psteinx wrote: Mon Oct 18, 2021 12:51 pm I have not played the mileage/cards/etc games much, and mostly when I did, it was years ago. Our travel has been light for the last 10+ years.

But youngest kid goes to college in <2 years, freeing wife and I up to travel more. Oldest kid will likely be located on the west coast (we're midwest), so we'll have some domestic travel to see her, and probably some leisure travel domestically and internationally.

One reason I've paid little attention to mileage has been concerns (valid, based on past experiences), that miles would expire unused.

* Do airlines still expire out miles earned by actually flying and/or via other programs?

RM: This may depend upon program. IF the program also allows points to be accumulated by spending and charging on an associated charge card, then usually (but double check) using the card, even for a small purchase, every X months (depends upon program) keeps the clock ticking.

* If I focus on gaining miles with one or two airlines or CC programs, how much of a hassle is it to use those internationally? i.e. Do the airlines have enough partners that I could easily get myself and my wife to London, Rome, Lisbon, Peru, Tokyo, depending on our travel whims, at a cost (in miles), not much worse than the cheapest cash-bought tickets?

RM: We have used American Airlines AAdvantage miles and American Express awards points to go to Europe (several locations, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, NZ, and Australia... for starters! And we have NEVER used the AA points for travel on American Airlines itself. AA and Amex have two mostly different partner networks (find the networks, etc., with Google: "Amex airline partners" or such).
Each program usually has quite a few partners, and at least for our two programs, there is very little overlap. Hence... MANY different airlines available to us.
However, availability of awards tickets can vary a lot.

The "awards cost" vs "cash cost" can vary with a variety of things, such as amount of advance notice/purchase, class of service, and airline selected. It takes some studying to get started IF you want to get the best use of the awards, in which case the "value" can be considerable.

NOTE: The "value" vs. cash depends a LOT on how the awards are used. Best "value" is for premium classes (business or first), and best quality is usually on the top international carriers.
The "dollar value" will be most relevant IF you would have paid cash for a business class seat if you didn't use awards. Otherwise, it may not be such a "good deal", but everyone has their own priorities and preferences.
What you want to do is make sure that the 'value' when used for ticketing is at least as good as if you got cash back (e.g., at 2 cents per point) and paid cash instead.


* I get 1.5-2.0% back, on general use credit cards. And it's *cash*. Spend for anything, minimal hassle. I understand there are varying levels of aggression with which folks play CC games. Assuming rather modest effort by me, but perhaps switching focus to mileage/point accumulation, what's a realistic earn rate on CCs that are travel aimed?

RM: That depends upon route, airline, and class of service.

* Other than CC signups + regular spending, mileage for actually flying, and maybe hotel rooms, are there other easy ways to accumulate travel points/miles? Again, I'd want something that doesn't expire and doesn't require "maintenance" to stay unexpired.

RM: We get almost zero points for "miles flown", because any long haul flights are using awards. :happy
Most of our points have been from "charging everything possible" - and yes, paying off the statements in full every month.
Next best are those occasional big bonuses. I just opened a Chase Sapphire Reserve card, for the 100k points. I'm not even sure what we'll use them for, but their partners include some airlines we do use for international travel.
Correction: We USED TO USE, and hope to do so again, eventually... :annoyed

To keep awards from expiring, either use the cards, at least one per "famiy" (e.g., Amex Plat, Gold points get combined) OR put a small recurring automated charge on each card that isn't frequently used.

We use a service to help us get the actual awards tickets. The first time I tried, for F on JAL, I had great success: 2 F seats to Tokyo, first try. Ha! Then I tried the return, and... zippo.
www.FlyerTalk.com has a sub-forum on these services. Just read the reviews; they apparently aren't all equal.
These services have software that can help identify alternate routings and carriers that might not otherwise occur to you (or at least not to us), plus the familiarity of the service reps.
It can cost a couple of hundred dollars, but for the comfort of flights that would otherwise have cost into 5 figures each (sometimes; mid to high 4 figures, frequently), it's well worth the relatively slight extra cost.
For help with domestic economy awards tickets, probably *not*.

Note also that FT isn't as newbie-friendly as BH. Just ignore "those" posts!

RM

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Shallowpockets
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Re: Travel - mileage, cards, expirations, etc.

Post by Shallowpockets »

A recent perspective.
I have a Costco card and my rewards so far this year are $209 in regard to about $6900 spent. Not only at Costco, but anywhere I have used it. It has been my primary used card this year.
If I had used my United card and spent that amount I would have 6900 miles. It takes 30,000 miles one way to fly United to Europe.
It would take me 4.3 years to earn enough miles on United to fly one way.
Now, that same 4.3 years would get me money on my Costco card of 4.3 X $209 = $897.
Go figure.

It is possible to earn more than 1 mile per one dollar on United.
Best way people play CC is with the offers of bonus miles like 50,000 miles.
I have enough miles to pay RT on my AA card to fly to Europe. However the fees/fuel surcharges above and beyond the “free” trip amounted to almost $400.
Go figure.

Not all who chase CC points and miles will encounter the same. Airlines are different in that fees regard, and what class you are flying to earn the miles.
A true case of, your mileage may vary.

However, cash back is something in hand you can spend as you like. CC miles are varying and you have jump through the hoops to even see what you can do with them.
For the average joe, CC miles are OK. The posts you will see here must mostly be for people using miles and points they have accumulated from business travel.
You can earn those miles, but spending them, not so much.
bob60014
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Re: Travel - mileage, cards, expirations, etc.

Post by bob60014 »

Head over to the FlyerTalk airline and credit card forums for in depth info. You'll likely find that many of the airline mile program benefits/values are being reduced. For some, cash back may be the better option.
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Re: Travel - mileage, cards, expirations, etc.

Post by Jags4186 »

psteinx wrote: Mon Oct 18, 2021 12:51 pm * Do airlines still expire out miles earned by actually flying and/or via other programs?
Miles expire with most programs. Usually earning new miles is enough to reset the clock. COVID has caused most programs to extended expiration.
psteinx wrote: Mon Oct 18, 2021 12:51 pm * If I focus on gaining miles with one or two airlines or CC programs, how much of a hassle is it to use those internationally? i.e. Do the airlines have enough partners that I could easily get myself and my wife to London, Rome, Lisbon, Peru, Tokyo, depending on our travel whims, at a cost (in miles), not much worse than the cheapest cash-bought tickets?
You should focus on cards with transferable currency: American Express, Chase, Citi, or Capital One. You should get several cards from whichever bank you choose to maximize signup bonuses, and maximize return on spend. In my opinion, no one hands out more points and more opportunities to earn points without signing up for new cards than American Express. American Express also has in my opinion the strongest transfer partners, especially for international air travel.

Chase has the most valuable transfer partner — Hyatt. One Hyatt point is on average worth more than one point in any other program.

For the most part, you should look to earn on average at least 3 points per $1 spent. If you spend $40,000/yr on credit cards that’s 120,000 points which is generally enough for two round trip flights US/Europe in economy. There are numerous bonus opportunities and promotions available, at least with AMEX.
psteinx wrote: Mon Oct 18, 2021 12:51 pm * I get 1.5-2.0% back, on general use credit cards. And it's *cash*. Spend for anything, minimal hassle. I understand there are varying levels of aggression with which folks play CC games. Assuming rather modest effort by me, but perhaps switching focus to mileage/point accumulation, what's a realistic earn rate on CCs that are travel aimed?
2% cashback is dead minimum you should be earning on any spend — with various bank programs and focusing on cash you can earn up to 10% back per $1 spent. Always keep that in mind - if you choose to earn rewards points/miles you forgoing earning cash. In that sense, you’re always buying miles. Make sure you’re getting enough incremental value to warrant the effort.
psteinx wrote: Mon Oct 18, 2021 12:51 pm * Other than CC signups + regular spending, mileage for actually flying, and maybe hotel rooms, are there other easy ways to accumulate travel points/miles? Again, I'd want something that doesn't expire and doesn't require "maintenance" to stay unexpired.
The easiest way to earn miles is to call your bank and ask for retention bonuses for keeping their card. For example, I called American Express yesterday and they offered me 20,000 points to keep my Gold Card for an additional year. I happily accepted.
fuddbogle
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Re: Travel - mileage, cards, expirations, etc.

Post by fuddbogle »

Delta, Southwest and United miles do not expire. However Southwest miles won't get you to Europe.

Chase UR points transfer to United and Southwest (and others that expire). Amex MR transfer to Delta (and others that expire) although not always at a great rate to Delta. Nothing really transfers to American other than a terrible transfer rate from Marriott.

If you can target into a location or two, that should help narrow down what you need to learn/understand about which CC's would work best and how they would work to your advantage.
THY4373
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Re: Travel - mileage, cards, expirations, etc.

Post by THY4373 »

fuddbogle wrote: Mon Oct 18, 2021 2:59 pm Nothing really transfers to American other than a terrible transfer rate from Marriott.
Not quite true at least until mid-November if a recall right, Citi TYPs temporarily transfer 1:1 to AA. Personally I wouldn't do this speculatively or if I was I'd wait to the last minute as AA has been telegraphing a devaluation of their program for about a year and the rumor is that it is imminent. Obviously this doesn't help OP a whole lot unless he/she is already sitting on a stack of TY points.
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Re: Travel - mileage, cards, expirations, etc.

Post by secondcor521 »

psteinx wrote: Mon Oct 18, 2021 12:51 pm I have not played the mileage/cards/etc games much, and mostly when I did, it was years ago. Our travel has been light for the last 10+ years.

But youngest kid goes to college in <2 years, freeing wife and I up to travel more. Oldest kid will likely be located on the west coast (we're midwest), so we'll have some domestic travel to see her, and probably some leisure travel domestically and internationally.

One reason I've paid little attention to mileage has been concerns (valid, based on past experiences), that miles would expire unused.

* Do airlines still expire out miles earned by actually flying and/or via other programs?
* If I focus on gaining miles with one or two airlines or CC programs, how much of a hassle is it to use those internationally? i.e. Do the airlines have enough partners that I could easily get myself and my wife to London, Rome, Lisbon, Peru, Tokyo, depending on our travel whims, at a cost (in miles), not much worse than the cheapest cash-bought tickets?
* I get 1.5-2.0% back, on general use credit cards. And it's *cash*. Spend for anything, minimal hassle. I understand there are varying levels of aggression with which folks play CC games. Assuming rather modest effort by me, but perhaps switching focus to mileage/point accumulation, what's a realistic earn rate on CCs that are travel aimed?
* Other than CC signups + regular spending, mileage for actually flying, and maybe hotel rooms, are there other easy ways to accumulate travel points/miles? Again, I'd want something that doesn't expire and doesn't require "maintenance" to stay unexpired.
You've gotten some good responses so far. I'll just add where I see missing pieces.

If you're OK traveling on Southwest, you might look into getting the SW Companion pass. If you get it in January of year X, it's good until December 31, X + 1, so almost two years of your companion flying essentially free as much as you want. If it's you and your wife flying domestically, that's probably a good value to visit your two kids.

It's a little bit of maintenance, but it's usually easy to keep airline miles from expiring. What I do is keep a list of all my reward programs and the expiration date of my miles or points. Then before they expire, I just make sure I have some activity on my account. Usually any activity counts, so adding a couple of miles by buying a burrito with my related credit card, or getting a magazine subscription, or using miles all reset the clock. And usually the clock is at least a year; sometimes it's 18 months or two years. And as noted, United, Delta, and SW don't ever expire.

Even though your miles may not *expire*, they may be *devalued*. Generally speaking, over time, the airlines are devaluing their miles by making you spend more miles for the same ticket, and also making it harder to earn miles.

Most major US airlines are part of an alliance, and you can use miles on partner flights. You can also join partner FF mileage programs and often get better redemptions. So for example, United is part of the Star Alliance, which includes Lufthansa. If you were flying from the US to Frankfurt, you could either use United Mileage Plus miles to book a flight that probably involves a Lufthansa plane, or you could use Lufthansa miles to book a flight that probably involves a United plane. Same thing, although often the Lufthansa booked flight is fewer miles (say 35K on Lufthansa vs. 60K on United).

If you're spending to earn miles, you're probably going to still only get 2% to 3% miles (so 2 or 3 miles per dollar spent) unless there is some special deal going on or maybe one of those quarterly rotating category deals.

I personally think sign up bonuses are one of the best ways to accumulate miles and points. I just opened 9 new credit cards last month and will get about $2,790 worth of points, cash, and miles. (I also opened five bank accounts for another $1,275.) If you are new to the CC SUB game, and especially if your wife is willing to do "two player mode" where she and you both get individual credit cards with individual signup bonuses, and if you haven't run the Chase gauntlet yet, you can probably do about four or five times as good as I can right now. But it requires some groundwork, reading, investigation, maintenance, and attention to detail.
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Re: Travel - mileage, cards, expirations, etc.

Post by whodidntante »

Miles? Meh. Beyond earning a credit card bonus now and then, miles earning cards don't have a place in my wallet. Plus I travel enough that I normally have plenty of miles to burn.

I always like a stockpile of Delta miles though, because they have fantastic unadvertised flash sales for miles. I've gotten some great deals, but it requires you to know what you want and to pounce while the deal lives on. If you have to check with a Nervous Nellie or Scaredy Sam before every trip, don't bother. At most, you're going to have time to confirm that someone wants to go to Japan in a certain month. Otherwise Delta miles are not great.
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Re: Travel - mileage, cards, expirations, etc.

Post by fuddbogle »

THY4373 wrote: Mon Oct 18, 2021 4:05 pm
fuddbogle wrote: Mon Oct 18, 2021 2:59 pm Nothing really transfers to American other than a terrible transfer rate from Marriott.
Not quite true at least until mid-November if a recall right, Citi TYPs temporarily transfer 1:1 to AA. Personally I wouldn't do this speculatively or if I was I'd wait to the last minute as AA has been telegraphing a devaluation of their program for about a year and the rumor is that it is imminent. Obviously this doesn't help OP a whole lot unless he/she is already sitting on a stack of TY points.
You're not going to be able to get a Citi card in that short of time frame. Put an SH on the iti and that's about how their credit card operations operate. It's far too late.
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Re: Travel - mileage, cards, expirations, etc.

Post by THY4373 »

fuddbogle wrote: Mon Oct 18, 2021 7:43 pm You're not going to be able to get a Citi card in that short of time frame. Put an SH on the iti and that's about how their credit card operations operate. It's far too late.
I agree that is why I stated: "Obviously this doesn't help OP a whole lot unless he/she is already sitting on a stack of TY points." I was just posting it because it might help somebody else who is reading this and doesn't keep up on developments in this space because in fact there is a decent transfer partner at the moment.
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Re: Travel - mileage, cards, expirations, etc.

Post by grabiner »

Miles do expire, but you can earn a small amount to keep them from expiring. When I fly United, earn American miles on my car rental, and earn Delta miles on my hotel, I keep all three alive. The airlines also have shopping portals; I have sometimes bought an ink cartridge on line to earn 30 American miles and keep American miles from expiring.

It isn't usually worth earning hotel points at multiple chains, because these will likely expire before you can use them for anything valuable; earn airline miles instead. However, if you have a reason to concentrate at one chain, you may want to earn points there, particularly since you may get elite status from just two long trips.
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Re: Travel - mileage, cards, expirations, etc.

Post by hachiko »

I get 2x MR/2x TYP minimum on any transaction.

Those allow me to transfer to enough airlines that I can go pretty much anywhere internationally with good redemption rates. I also have a ton of UA miles just sitting there from when I used to fly UA a long time ago (pre merger), for any excursionist trips.

The availability for international award trips for me has been pretty good. The difficult part isn't the availability, it's difficulty in being able to actually determine flights that have award availability. It also helps to know which airline miles are best to use for different flights. Often times you don't actually want to transfer cc points to the airline you actually want to fly, but you want to transfer to an airline in that alliance.

The value of the points also depends a lot on what cabin you're flying. In coach, you may get less than 1 cent per point. In business, the value can go up really quickly, especially when you start playing around with stopovers and open jaws. But the value to you may not be the price of the ticket. For me, I'm not going to fly 13 hours in coach. I just won't do it. But I also would never pay $10k for a plane flight. So the value on any given redemption is somewhere between the price for a coach ticket and $10k. I still try to get at least 3-4 cpp in value.
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Re: Travel - mileage, cards, expirations, etc.

Post by Wannaretireearly »

Dw and I signed up for BA credit cards. 100k points each.
Next should be Iberia? I think the goal is to accumulate with the one world alliance. Wary of the fees involved, but it’s a game, I guess…
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Re: Travel - mileage, cards, expirations, etc.

Post by eric321 »

Pick an airline that you'll likely fly and get their credit card. The airlines make money by selling points to credit card companies.

If you are Chicago based and going to LA or San Fran, United is a top choice. With the credit card, you get a free checked bag, lounge passes and priority boarding. All things that make that once a year trip better.

If you are Detroit or Minneapolis based, Delta is the hometown carrier. Their Amex cards give a great deal of benefits and you could spend your way to different tiers of status.

Also, look out for credit cards that offer a companion ticket for a fixed price (American via Barclay's, Alaska, delta). Great deal to get a lower price when the regular fares are expensive (watch out for blackout dates).

Avoid southwest,. Jet blue, spirit, frontier if you value international use of points.
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Re: Travel - mileage, cards, expirations, etc.

Post by grabiner »

eric321 wrote: Fri Oct 22, 2021 5:40 am Pick an airline that you'll likely fly and get their credit card. The airlines make money by selling points to credit card companies.

If you are Chicago based and going to LA or San Fran, United is a top choice. With the credit card, you get a free checked bag, lounge passes and priority boarding. All things that make that once a year trip better.
And at least with United, you also get better access to frequent-flyer tickets. When I try to use my United miles, I sometimes see tickets, "Exclusively available to you as a Chase United cardmember." (And I confirmed this because those flights were not listed when I forgot to log on first.) So the United card gives me miles which can be used on more flights because Washington is a hub, and also makes those miles easier to use.
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Re: Travel - mileage, cards, expirations, etc.

Post by hachiko »

grabiner wrote: Fri Oct 22, 2021 9:48 pm
eric321 wrote: Fri Oct 22, 2021 5:40 am Pick an airline that you'll likely fly and get their credit card. The airlines make money by selling points to credit card companies.

If you are Chicago based and going to LA or San Fran, United is a top choice. With the credit card, you get a free checked bag, lounge passes and priority boarding. All things that make that once a year trip better.
And at least with United, you also get better access to frequent-flyer tickets. When I try to use my United miles, I sometimes see tickets, "Exclusively available to you as a Chase United cardmember." (And I confirmed this because those flights were not listed when I forgot to log on first.) So the United card gives me miles which can be used on more flights because Washington is a hub, and also makes those miles easier to use.
The expanded availability is also available to all UA elites including silver.
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Re: Travel - mileage, cards, expirations, etc.

Post by grabiner »

hachiko wrote: Fri Oct 22, 2021 11:10 pm
grabiner wrote: Fri Oct 22, 2021 9:48 pm
eric321 wrote: Fri Oct 22, 2021 5:40 am Pick an airline that you'll likely fly and get their credit card. The airlines make money by selling points to credit card companies.

If you are Chicago based and going to LA or San Fran, United is a top choice. With the credit card, you get a free checked bag, lounge passes and priority boarding. All things that make that once a year trip better.
And at least with United, you also get better access to frequent-flyer tickets. When I try to use my United miles, I sometimes see tickets, "Exclusively available to you as a Chase United cardmember." (And I confirmed this because those flights were not listed when I forgot to log on first.) So the United card gives me miles which can be used on more flights because Washington is a hub, and also makes those miles easier to use.
The expanded availability is also available to all UA elites including silver.
I assumed that was true; thanks for the confirmation. I have never flown enough in a year to make elite on any airline, but two round trips per year on United is enough for the saved fee on a checked bag to be more than the annual fee on the card.
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Re: Travel - mileage, cards, expirations, etc.

Post by skierincolorado »

For domestic flights, the SW companion pass is the best deal on the market by far. I've had $14,000 in free flights in 6 years for from almost zero effort. I don't even use the cards for regular spend. I just buy money orders with them, toss the cards, and keep the 130,000 points and companion pass. Companion flies free for 2 years.
Kiter
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Re: Travel - mileage, cards, expirations, etc.

Post by Kiter »

Use of shopping portals can get you 2-12x the miles for a dollar purchase. Use opinion miles for United ,no purchase needed to start the the calender over for expiration. Use miles for Mags for WSJ plus others .Dining programs with ANY CC with renew your miles for a coffee , Bogleheads do not buy fancy Frappuccino's
Kiter
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Re: Travel - mileage, cards, expirations, etc.

Post by Kiter »

American is also with Opinion miles .
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Re: Travel - mileage, cards, expirations, etc.

Post by chemocean »

Within the last week, SW just offered their annual end of year sign-up bonus that expires Dec 7,2021 for Chase SW Reward Card . This year you get 100,000 SW points from Chase. 50,000 points for charging $2000 to the new card the first three months and 50,000 for charging $12,000 for the first 12 months. You earn a companion ticket at 125,000 points for a calendar year. As said above, SW miles do not expire.
A couple of points:

1) As with all Chase cards, you will not qualify for any Chase card if you opened five new cards within the last 24 months.
2) 24 months must have elapsed since you received any sign up bonus from SW. This is usually the second bonus for a previous card.
3) Make sure that you don't CHARGE (not statement date) on the new card $2000 before Jan 1, 2022 or the first 50,000 points will be credited in this calendar year and can't be used for to qualify for next years companion ticket that will expire on Dec, 31, 2023.
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Re: Travel - mileage, cards, expirations, etc.

Post by THY4373 »

skierincolorado wrote: Sat Oct 23, 2021 3:04 pm For domestic flights, the SW companion pass is the best deal on the market by far.
It is hard to make blanket statements like this. It can be a very good deal if you can really use it and it works for you (which if you have got $14k of value out of it, it clearly does). For me I am a solo traveler the vast majority of the the time and SW doesn't really serve my market that well if I want to go anywhere other than Midway or Atlanta, I am looking at two or three flights to get there. I can usually find cheap saver (or better) awards on one of the legacy carriers that are direct (at least to other east coast and some mid-west destinations). As always in the travel awards game what is best depends on many factors.
Last edited by THY4373 on Sun Oct 24, 2021 6:36 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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daleddm
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Re: Travel - mileage, cards, expirations, etc.

Post by daleddm »

Some of the hobbiest / bloggers that do a lot of this (use of miles and points) will assist with booking services, which I used once and have consulted a few other times. Their doing this more or less full time means they know some of the odd routings and relationships among the various carriers, sweet spots in the alliances, etc. On a first international booking with miles we used one for a trip to Greece and they found availability in first and business all the way on carriers I wouldn't have thought of using (all Star Alliance), and the hundred dollars or so I paid at the time for their service was worth it not only in getting the seats but in learning something about the process.
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