Ask TaggingMiles Archives

The Basics of Searching for Award Space

December 7, 2016 By Trevor 1 Comment

It is very easy to get into intermediate and expert territory when it comes to finding award space and booking awards. That can sometimes be intimidating. This is my attempt at boiling down the very basics of searching for award space

I’ll start with a couple of assumptions:

You know where you want to go, at least roughly.
You have sufficient miles.
I’ll use Chicago, O’Hare to Bali, Indonesia (a nice aspirational destination) as the example.

Basics of Searching for Award Space: Step 1 – Know what airlines fly to your destination

Identify the airlines that fly to your desired destination. You’d be amazed at how many times I decide to go to a particular place, only to find out that while I wanted to fly on a particular airline (or miles), they prove to be difficult because either (a) the partner airline that flies charges fuel surcharges, or (b) no partner airlines release space, or (c) no partner airlines fly to that particular airport / city (like Star Alliance abandoning Cambodia)

To identify what airlines fly to your desired destination, I recommend using OpenFlights, which I’ve written about before, but be aware that it may not make the distinction between seasonal and regular flights (or what specific days an airline flies).

Below, you can see, for example, all of the routes that you can take to get to Denpasar-Bali, Indonesia:

Routes to/from Denpasar-Bali, Indonesia, courtesy of OpenFlights.org

Basics of Searching for Award Space: Step 2 – Know what airlines fly from home (or close by)

You’re probably noticing the trend here. I always recommend that you break your award search into each leg. The key to any award travel search is to break a trip up into its component pieces, assuming you cannot fly non-stop. Then I usually search for the over water portion first. Now this logic may not necessarily work when booking on some airline sites, like United’s new routing rules and engine. But for the most part, you’ll notice that overwater flights are the hardest to find.

So for getting from Chicago to Indonesia, you will for the most part be looking for TransPacific (TPAC) flights.

Trans Pacific (TPAC) options via gcmap.com

The exception, of course is United, which might come up with an option via Europe.

United via Europe Option

Your chosen airline or alliance will limit your options—unless you have plenty of miles in various transferrable currencies).

Basics of Searching for Award Space: Step 3 – Connecting the Dots

So now you know how you can get from Chicago to Asia, and you know what options you can connect onward to Denpasar-Bali, Indonesia.

The most logical option, if you have the flexibility, would be to focus on those one-stop itineraries, which would be:

Chicago to Denpasar with different alliances: Blue: OneWorld, Red: Star Alliance, Gold: SkyTeam

Now, logically that’s easiest to work with. If you have to work with connections, well, now you start to run up against the risk of agents telling you that what you want is a multiple award trip. That would be leaning more toward an intermediate level. So, we’ll go ahead and leave things here.

Please, share your questions – how can I improve this first level basics of searching for awards?

Questions When Applying for Business Credit Cards

August 30, 2015 By Trevor 6 Comments

From Ask Tagging Miles from Mark,which is a very relevant question:

Hi Trevor,
I haven’t really seen comprehensive coverage on applying for business credit cards. Say, I have a business (which I do, though it’s a DBA and not a corporation). When applying for a business credit card for this business, I must tie it to my personal credit file.
So, can more than one person apply for the same or different business credit card for the same business? Myself and my wife, for instance, both applying for Ink Plus for the same business. I’m guessing no, but haven’t been able to find a definite answer.
Or how about me applying for a Chase business card and my wife for an AMEX, but for the same business?
How do banks verify that the business you put down an application is real? Is there a national registry they check with?
Can a bank I’m applying to see how many other business credit cards the business already has, like with personal credit cards?
If this stuff has already been covered, my apologies — if you could just point me in the right direction, I’d be very grateful.

So, the first part of the question: I have to clarify my assumption, that if Mark has a business that is a DBA (Doing Business As), and not a corporation, that it is likely a sole-proprietorship.

Going on that assumption, in my experience, I see no reason why more than one person cannot apply for the same or different business card. But you must remember, that without a Tax Identification Number (TIN), each person applying is essentially putting their Social Security Number (SSN) in for the reference, and thus somewhat linking the business to their own personal identity. Now, I know for a fact that if you do have a TIN, multiple folks can apply for the same credit card for the same business. How do I know this? Because my wife and I both have Ink Plus credit cards, that were applied for, using the same TIN and business name.

As far as Mark’s question about applying for a Chase Business Card, and his wife applying for an American Express? I see no issue with that, however, I’d recommend that based on Chase’s more recent changes, that whoever is applying for Chase Ultimate Rewards cards, they do so first, since the 5 credit card applications in 25 months (5/24) seems to result in many folks being decline. Of course, the real question may be, are Chase Ultimate Rewards cards worth foregoing other credit cards? I’d say no. Mark or his wife could still get a United Business card from Chase, and there are tons of opportunities from Citi and American Express.

As far as whether a bank you’re applying for see other business cards? From a casual search (on a casual Saturday night), I cannot see anything definitive. I would suspect that banks would be able to see that you are applying for credit from other banks, so I’d say yes. But, is that a problem? Other than Chase, I’d say no.

Overall though, I think Mark raises very reasonable questions, and I’m appreciative that he asked them. Hopefully this post answers those questions.

Are Chase Ultimate Rewards points worth foregoing credit card churning for 2 years?

August 18, 2015 By Trevor 12 Comments

Reader Harvson asks via Ask TaggingMiles :

I’ve been in this hobby for a few years now, but have dialed back flying and MSing because the former leaves me feeling guilty (as we’ve discussed) and working on the latter seems like a waste of time.
Most of my miles/points spending and saving comes through the credit card route.
I was recently denied my second CSP from Chase for too many new accounts; the first I had 2011-2013 (paid the ann. fee once), then downgraded to regular Sapphire and continued to use it for restaurants until cancelling it in 2014. Have about 35k UR points on the Freedom, and only other Chase card is a sock drawer-ed IHG.
At what point, for those who have been in the hobby for a while and have gone through multiple card products and issuers, does it make sense to forego 4+ applications over a 24-month period in order to prepare for a successful UR card (CSP/Freedom)? Does it ever make sense? (Note: I’ve shut down some outside consulting I did, so I no longer have a business.)

Harvson is right. The game is changing, banks are cracking down on churning.

I’ve written a bit about Chase’s disturbing change, that is, that they’re not approving folks for Ultimate Rewards cards (Ink Plus, Sapphire Preferred, even the Freedom), if they have more than 4 or 5 new accounts in the previous 2 years (roughly). Its a somewhat strict change that Chase has made, which doesn’t help, when added to American Express’ once in a lifetime policy, too.

But, I think his question is two parts.

1. Are Chase Ultimate Rewards cards worth foregoing others?

2. What may be a better option?

Are Chase Ultimate Rewards worth it?

Chase Ultimate Rewards are great, I find them to be very useful for transfer to Hyatt, United, Korean Air, or Singapore Airlines. The thing is though, Korean Air you can also transfer to, from SPG, and Singapore, well, you can transfer to them from any of the transferable points currencies (Thank You Points, Membership Rewards, SPG, I think even Diner’s Club). So that leaves Hyatt and United. If you’re not traveling a whole lot, will Hyatt or United points help? Not so sure.

What would he be giving up?

If you ignore American Express personal cards, given the lifetime bonus limitation, that leaves you with non-UR Chase cards (e.g. United, Marriott, British Airways, etc), Citi and Bank of America. Yes, there are others like USBank, which could be useful, but, I’m not the hugest fan of. But, you do have Citi, and Citi has been especially generous over the last 18-24 months. I think that’s a huge loss. Same thing with Bank of America and Alaska.

The Verdict

I love Ultimate Rewards points. I really do. Between my wife and I, I think we’ve got 3 freedoms and a good number of Inks, no Chase Sapphire Preferreds at the moment though, and I don’t see that changing. But, if I were in Harvson’s position, I would (1) maximize the quarterly 5x on the Freedom he does have, and (2) continue to pursue credit card sign-on bonuses from Citi and Bank of America. Why? Because I think he’ll get greater bang for the buck, and I have a suspicion that Chase will likely change the policy. Will it be in the next 24 months? I’m not sure. But I wouldn’t be surprised.

The one thing I haven’t talked at all about though, is goals. Everything I’ve offered is in the view that the goal is miles/points for travel. But not for a specific trip. Now, if Harvson is really looking to fly a particular airline, or to a location that isn’t well served, that could change the math. The challenge with that, is that a lot can change in 24 months.

What do you think? Are Ultimate Rewards Points worth foregoing churning for 2 years?