Tagging Miles

Chase Ultimate Rewards adds 2 new partners!

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I’m a huge fan of Chase Ultimate Rewards, so it was great to see a note from Chase in my e-mail about adding yet more transfer partners!

Chase Ultimate Rewards adds 2 new partners!

Chase Ultimate Rewards adds 2 new partners!

The particularly exciting thing about this is that Iberia usually has fewer fuel surcharges on premium cabin awards! There is a way to transfer between Avios accounts, but if you’re able to just transfer points directly, it becomes a time saver.

http://travelisfree.com/2017/01/08/5-tips-before-you-use-your-british-airways-avios/

I’m not particularly familiar with Aer Lingus’ AerClub, but looking at the award chart, it seems to be cheaper than the British Airways chart by just a bit. First you’ve got to consider the distances (in order to make the award chart make sense):

Aer Lingus AerClub

Now understanding Aer Lingus AerClub’s zones, take a look at the redemption costs:

Aer Lingus AerClub

I couldn’t find a one to one match, as the BA flight I could find included a connection in London, but if AerClub prices out based on total mileage of the itinerary, rather than on a per segment itinerary, then this could be a helpful option.

Wrapping Up – Chase Ultimate Rewards new partners

Overall, I’m not sure that this action necessarily changes the game for Chase Ultimate Rewards. They are logical partners to add given the Avios tie up and strong co-brand card relationship Chase has with British Airways. Does it make the program more attractive? Definitely. For me, this makes me want to spend some more time looking to see if there are any discriminators that make AerClub more attractive than say, Iberia. On the whole, this is a good news story.

Have you redeemed with Aer Lingus’ AerClub? Should this be a bigger deal?

Will the Southwest Companion Pass continue to live?

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I saw an interesting conversation on Twitter last night about the Southwest Companion Pass, which I think is the best deal going in North America Travel. You can read more about Southwest’s Rapid Rewards program as well.

FrequentMiler shared his 2018 Predictions (something I’ve yet to put pen to paper myself on) and one thing that the twittersphere felt was missing was a discussion on the Southwest Companion Pass. See below:

Southwest Companion Pass

Southwest Companion Pass

My Thoughts on the Southwest Companion Pass

Last year Southwest killed the “Marriott Hotel + Air Package” transfer miles/points as counting toward the Southwest Companion Pass.  You can read more about that from FrequentMiler, I also shared my thoughts on Southwest’s change on the Marriott Hotel + Air package too.  Needless to say, the deal worked until March of 2018. I personally jumped on it, and hopefully many of you did. 

Every year there is discussion as to whether the Southwest Companion Pass will continue to persevere. I think the entire travel hacking community agrees – it is the single best value in travel hacking. Even I, who prefers to fly in international first class, agree that it is the best deal in travel hacking. Besides, Southwest isn’t that bad! The Southwest Companion Pass combined with being able to redeem points for the companion pass holder (who must “pay” for the flight), is about as good as it gets for North American travel that Southwest serves. 

Southwest Companion Pass longevity

Much like the FrequentMiler team – I see this one as continuing on. I say this for a few reasons:

  • Chase has made it tougher to game the system for the Companion Pass via Credit Cards
  • Southwest is not always the cheapest, but because they’ve trained their customers to go directly to Southwest.com – that doesn’t impact them as much.
  • Using the Companion pass still means spending money–or points–with Southwest – which cultivates loyalty.

I’ll be the first to admit that Southwest is not the most fun to fly. Whether you have the new seat or the old seat, you are still flying economy. But to be fair, you can get an adult beverage, and if your laptop or tablet is small enough, you can still get work done:

Southwest New Seat

As an added bonus, you can also watch all the live TV–based on NY stations–that you want for free as long as you’re on a wi-fi enabled aircraft.

Wrapping Up – the Southwest Companion Pass

Is the Southwest Companion Pass the best deal in travel? I would argue it is. However, Southwest in partnership with Chase has made it just hard enough to get, that I suspect the best deal in travel is safe, at least for another year. Don’t get me wrong, there are still a handful of ways to obtain the Southwest Companion Pass… heck, a few years ago, my wife and I obtained it from reselling. Shopping Portals continue to be your friend. But realize that it is a lot of spending in order to get there. At this point, if you’re unable to maximize points through Chase Credit Card signup bonuses, you may have to balance spending via shopping portals with actual Southwest Airlines flying.

Do you think the Southwest Companion Pass will live through 2018?

Were you targeted for United Mile Play Bonus Miles?

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Seemingly completely out of nowhere, I saw an e-mail this afternoon stating “Your exclusive Mile Play offer is waiting”

United Mile Play Invitation

United Mile Play Invitation

Here I am thinking its going to be some game, or convoluted multi-tier promotion like American AAdvantage put out last month.

What I was instead met with was surprisingly simple! 

United Mile Play

Book and take a single trip in United Economy where the purchased fare is at least $275, and I can get 8,100 bonus miles. Travel must be completed by 12 January 2018.

If I were to take that at face value, that’d be earning 1,925 miles on the base fare (5x + 2x as a Premier Silver, courtesy of Marriott Platinum status), and 8,100 bonus miles – nearly 30x miles if you can find the right fare!

Mile Play Terms and Conditions

If there’s one thing I’ve learned, you must always read the terms and conditions. These are not actually too bad, again, surprisingly. 

Qualifying trip requirements include:

  • Trip (as defined below) booking must be made after registration.
  • All flight activity for applicable Trip must be complete on or prior to January 12, 2018.
  • Each Trip must have a fare (as defined below) equal to or greater than $275.
  • The final fare for the Trip will be used to determine satisfaction of offer requirements, including itinerary changes that result in an increase or decrease to the fare and paid upgrades that result in an increase to the fare.

Now the key here though is what is the definition of a “fare”? United states:

  • For this promotion, only dollars spent on the “fare” on eligible flights operated by United® and United Express® will qualify toward meeting spending milestones. Certain specialty tickets, including but not limited to unpublished, consolidator/bulk, group, tour and opaque fares, will not be counted towards spending milestones. Dollars spent on tickets purchased for flights operated by Star Alliance™ member airline or a United MileagePlus® partner airline with tickets issued by United (ticket number starting with “016”) will not qualify for this offer. The “fare” is the base fare of the ticket plus carrier-imposed surcharges, excluding any government-imposed taxes and surcharges. For tickets purchased in a currency other than U.S. dollars, we will convert the purchase to U.S. dollars using an industry standard exchange rate.Please note that the price displayed when purchasing a ticket on united.com includes up to a 7.5% U.S. Federal Transportation Tax on the base amount of the fare on itineraries wholly within the United States. This tax also applies to certain itineraries between the United States and Canada or Mexico.

That blue part is the important part here. In other words, this isn’t $275 out of pocket. This is $275 after excluding government-imposed taxes and surcharges like the US September 11th Security Fee ($11.20). How does this translate to how much you actually have to pay? Take a look at this $322.40 fare from Washington, DC to Orlando, FL:

United Mile Play

This fare for example looks like it misses that $275 minimum. Looking at Fare 1 and Fare 2, they total $273.49. All the rest of that $322.40? Its still money out of your pocket, but it doesn’t necessarily count for the promotion. 

Bottom Line

Overall, I love seeing nice, simple promotions like this. Find a $275 fare (after excluding any government imposed taxes), on United or United Express operated aircraft, and get yourself 8,100 miles. I’m not sure whether I’ll be able to do this one myself, but, it does have me looking to see what United can do for me between now and 12 January!

Did you get an invitation to play the United Mile Play promotion?

Receive points for Last Week’s Southwest Reservation System Issue

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I’m not sure how widely known last week’s Southwest Reservation System Issue was, but I did happen to see random mentions about it on twitter. Thinking back to the flight my wife and I took on Sunday where folks were saving seats rows away with their bags, I do recall the A List section of the boarding line seemed pretty thin. My wife even commented that she got a worse boarding number than me with no status (hah!), and when she boarded between A and B, that her A List status didn’t even show. Luckily the gate agent was amenable.

Last Week’s Southwest Reservation System Issue

The Points Guy reported that Southwest had an issue with their reservation system: 

“As a result, A-List and A-List Preferred members have had to manually check in 24 hours in advance of their flight, resulting in B and C boarding positions. Southwest has since sent out an email to its elite members”

Even worse, it appears that status has been removed from future reservations as well. So, check your reservations!

Points for Last Week’s Southwest Reservation System Issue

As I mentioned, my wife experienced this issue. At the time, we didn’t really know that it was so widespread. Just figured with Southwest’s Reservation System Upgrade that there was some gremlin. Learning that it was more widespread, we probably should have called and asked nicely for something. But we didn’t — only so much time in the day. 

Much to my wife’s surprise, last night she received the below e-mail, coming with it, 1,500 Rapid Rewards points that count toward status!

Southwest Reservation System Issue

Its not a lot of points, but it is certainly a nice tangible gesture. 

Did you experience any issues with Southwest last weekend? Did you receive a similar e-mail? 

How long does it take to transfer Citi Thank You Points to Etihad Guest?

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One of the things that I am always surprised with is how long it takes to transfer points between programs. I totally get it that IT is hard, but, seriously, this isn’t rocket science. So when I submitted a request to transfer Citi Thank You Points to Etihad Guest a few weeks ago, I was being overly optimistic to hope to book a trip a few days later.

You see, I’m spoiled. I’m used to transferring Chase Ultimate Rewards Points to Hyatt or United, where it is instantaneous. 

How Long Does it Take to Transfer Citi Thank You Points to Etihad Guest?

Of course, before making the transfer to Etihad Guest, I did some research. On Twitter, I learned that it could take 5-6 days, however, @Roar-Singh stated that he thought it was every Monday or Tuesday. Was there a lead time to be “queued” for Monday or Tuesday. 

Transfer Citi Thank You Points to Etihad Guest

Both Lucky and The Points Guy further confirmed that it could take as many as 6 days. I was hoping for quicker, but, it was good to have a baseline for how long I should expect it to take. I already had it in my mind that there was a chance they might not make it in time to book my desired award on Royal Air Maroc.

I initially put in the transfer on 22 July, it was a Saturday evening. I saw the points were in fact taken out of my Thank You Points account on the same day. I then started religiously checking my account every single day for the next 2 weeks. Every day, hoping to see the points show up.

It was not until I received an e-mail on 7 August that the points showed up in my Etihad Guest account. 16 days later! 

Finally, I had 88,000 Etihad Guest miles in my account.

Transfer Citi Thank You Points to Etihad Guest

Wrapping Up

I think the bottom line here, is that not all points transfers can be quick. Upon further research, I found that there was also a known issue with transferring Citi Thank You Points to Flying Blue nearly the same time. Overall though, treat this as a cautionary tale – transfer your points early if you know what you want. 

Have you tried to transfer Citi Thank You Points to Etihad Guest? Share your experience in the comments.

Are Skytrax Awards Perception over Reality?

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The latest Skytrax Airline awards were announced at the Paris Air Show, and I have to say, I’m left wondering whether Skytrax Awards are perception over reality. Don’t get me wrong, I agreed with most of Skytrax perceptions with regard to airports. 

Skytrax Awards Background

Skytrax Awards are largely revered within the industry. Traveling around Asia this past weekend, I heard it mentioned a couple of times on Bangkok Airways, which received an award for the best Regional Airline, and Thai had advertisements for the best Worlds Best Economy Class.

Skytrax Awards

It is admittedly kind of a big deal when 19.87M votes are cast, but I am still left wondering whether this is a perception thing over reality. 

Qatar Airways Wins Skytrax Award for Best Business Class

For me, this is where the rubber meets the road. I have flown Qatar on the 787 and the 777-300ER. Flying from Washington’s Dulles International Airport, we are serviced by the 777-300ER, so that’s the experience I most commonly associate with Qatar.

Lucky believes Qatar Airways to be deserving of the Skytrax awards and to have the best business class. I’ve shared my opinion of the best business class product in the past.

I totally get that Lucky is basing Qatar’s best Business Class based on the 787, A350 and A380 hard products, however, according to Wikipedia 57 aircraft across those three aircraft types (in fact, most of them, 30 are 787s!). The fact remains though that the seats flown on their 26 A330s, 4 A340’s, 9 777-200LR, and 34 777-300ER’s are a far inferior, 2-2-2 business class configuration. So more than half of Qatar’s fleet has an industry trailing hard product. 

Final Thoughts on Skytrax Awards

Specific to Qatar, I truly question whether this is really a perception over reality. Realize that the ballots were all cast well before the first 777 flew with the new QSuites. I totally get that Qatar provides a very good soft product, but how can an airline that has less than half of their fleet with a solid hard product, be the number one business class product? 

 

Buy Alaska Miles at 2 cents per point!

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I am not often an advocate of buying miles, but there are times when it makes sense to buy miles. This promotion may be a good time to at least consider whether its a good time to buy miles. 

Buy Alaska Miles at 2 cents per point

Right now Magazines.com is running a promotion where you can earn 50 miles per dollar when you shop through the Alaska MileagePlan Mall. You can also earn United miles through the MileagePlus mall, but, lets be honest, we’d all rather buy Alaska miles given some of the better options on their award chart and partners.

Buy Alaska Miles

You’ll see above that according to Cashback Monitor Alaska Mileage Plan is paying 50 miles per dollar for Magazines.com. If we dig a little bit deeper, we’ll also see that 50 miles per dollar is in fact the best that we’ve seen:

Buy Alaska Miles

Alternative options to Buy Alaska Miles

Alaska also has a targeted promotion right now where you can buy miles and get as much as 50% more:

Buy Alaska Miles

Of course the devil is in the details. You see, in order to get that 50% bonus, you have to be buying more than 50,000 miles:

Buy Alaska Miles

There is also a “Tax Recovery Fee” which can get pricey! 

The cool thing is that if you do buy 60,000 miles, you’ll get 90,000 miles and pay $0.0197 per mile which is inclusive of a $123.75 Tax Recovery Fee! Put a different way, you will pay 1.97 cents per point, a 3 hundredths of a cent savings over buying via Magazines.com. 

Wrapping Up

I would never advocate to purchase miles without having a use in mind. In fact, yesterday I just bought Alaska Miles for a very near term use in mind. All that said, sometimes there can be value in taking advantage of promotions. Just remember not to overwhelm your family or friends with magazines. You can, however, make real nice with your doctors and send some appropriate magazines to their offices. As an added bonus, you might have better reading material while you wait!

Will you be leveraging either of these opportunities to buy Alaska miles?

18 June is Southwest Airlines’ Birthday

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If you’re flying Southwest Airlines today, enjoy a drink on them in celebration of their birthday! 

Southwest Airlines’ Birthday

Southwest Airlines, Birthday

I just happened to be flying home from Austin this morning and noticed in the cocktail menu that 18 June is Southwest Airlines’ birthday and that is a good enough reason to have a free drink from the airline. This joins St. Patrick’s Day and I think Valentine’s day as free drink days. Thanksgiving may also be on the list along with the other majors of Christmas and New Years.

It still amazes me, how Southwest, a fairly no frills airline, still finds a way to do nice gestures for its passengers. I’d imagine these days of a free drink don’t really cost all that much, but the goodwill it engenders is something that many other airlines could definitely benefit from.

Are you flying Southwest today? Did you toast a free drink for Southwest Birthday?

 

Save 50% on Regional Southeast Asia Awards with SilkAir!

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I’ve found SilkAir and Singapore Airlines to be very helpful when finding regional flights in Southeast Asia. It’s allowed me to hop around Asia and include a stop in Singapore for many trips. . Right now, you can save 50% on Regional Southeast Asia Awards with SilkAir, which makes it even more of a bargain.

Singapore KrisFlyer SilkAir 50% Discount

Save 50% on Regional Southeast Asia Awards with SilkAir

It is important to note that this only applies to flights that are operated by SilkAir, Singapore’s regional carrier. SilkAir primarily operates narrow bodies, but they are comfortable for a sub 4-5 hour flight. I flew a SilkAir 737 from Phuket a few years ago and much enjoyed it.
SilkAir Seat, Save 50% on Regional Southeast Asia Awards with SilkAir

You can save 50% on Regional Southeast Asia Awards with SilkAir!

 
The terms of the promotion are pretty simple: Book between 12 June and 11 July, for flights 1 July through 31 October and choose from 53 destinations. 
 
This is for economy and business class awards. But, to be clear, they must be operated by SilkAir. 
 
To give you an idea of some of your options, here’s a snip from Singapore’s website:
 
Singapore KrisFlyer SilkAir 50% Discount

SilkAir Flights eligible for 50% Discount on Award

Singapore KrisFlyer SilkAir 50% Discount

SilkAir Flights eligible for 50% Discount on Award

 
As you can see, you can fly SilkAir to Myanmar, Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Laos. You can also fly to a number of cities in China, India, Sri Lanka, and even the Maldives! There are even more options for Economy class upgrades. 

Wrapping Up

This is an excellent opportunity if you will be flying to Southeast Asia. Its a great opportunity to nest these 50% award flights with a tough to find over-water flight. It also is an excellent opportunity to leverage if you want to hop around Southeast Asia or even fly up to parts of China or out to the Maldives. 

Will you be leveraging this amazing deal to save 50% on Regional Southeast Asia Awards with SilkAir?

Earn up to 10x United Miles with MileagePlus X App

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There’s a great promotion going on at the moment with the United MileagePlus X App, where you can earn up to 10x + 25% miles per dollar spent. It titled the Father’s Day Promotion, so I suspect it will be ending soon.

About the United MileagePlus X App

The United MileagePlus X App is a way for you to earn miles for purchases that you might make in store or online. You are essentially buying a gift card from the app, then using it either in store or online. There are drawbacks to this of course, you lose purchase protection, things may get awkward if you do a refund, and it is another step in making a purchase.

How to find the Father’s Day Promotion

Unfortunately, United didn’t make it easy to find the promotion. It takes a few taps to find it, but I’ll save you the time with this walkthrough:

First open the app and select the index button (the 3 horizontal lines) – then you’ll get this screen:

 United MileagePlus X App

Next select “Catalog” and scroll down a little to find “Father’s Day Promotion” 

United MileagePlus X App

Finally, click on “Father’s Day Promotion” and you’ll see the various options – the screenshot below is only a selection:

United MileagePlus X App

Wrapping Up

As you can see – there’s a great opportunity to pick up some additional United MileagePlus miles. There is an added benefit if you have a United credit card, because you will also get a 25% bonus on top of the x miles per dollar. I’ve already found myself accruing so many United Miles as we get closer to the end of the year, and its always fun to fly Lufthansa First Class home from the Christmas Markets. 

Do you have plans to leverage this great MileagePlus X App promotion? 

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