liasaun1
Level 2 Member
Hi! I'm getting married in May of 2016. After the wedding, we'll be taking a 1 week trip to Hawaii in June (because we got offered a free place to stay with a car for the whole week, so it seemed worthwhile) and then after we return, we'll be quitting our jobs and flying off to South America for 6 months of aimless adventuring. It's one of those "once in a lifetime" things that we felt was necessary to do before we bought a house, had kids, and became tied down the the rest of our lives....
Anyway, I'm trying to help offset the costs of not working for at least a year (we've got more travel planned after our South America trip too! Less flying, though). I've been slowly accumulating what I can to help pay for Hawaii + South America, but I need to up my game and I'd like some advice. I'll be flying from SFO/OAK for Hawaii, and from SFO --> SJU to start South America (I have family in Puerto Rico), so then SJU to ... somewhere... in south america.
My plan was to use Alaska Airlines for Hawaii, so I'll be getting another one of those, I think, if they're still churnable.
Then for South America, I think I want as many Avios as I can get my hands on .... what about LAN? I've been eyeing the LANPass visa... Does anyone know if it's possible to book award travel sort of last minute with LAN or Avios, or do I need to do that now when I have lots of time to spare?
I also need to decide who to transfer SPG to ... LAN, Alaska, or British Airways/Avios??
Here's what I've got currently, points-wise:
AA 71K (I want to use this for SFO > SJU, 60k for 1st class for my fiance & I)
Southwest 38k
Delta 21k
Alaska 25k
Chase UR 12k
IHG 26k
Starwood 21k
Avios 52k
And the cards I currently hold & when I opened them:
Amex Blue Preferred - March '13
Chase Sapphire Preferred - June '13
Mileage Plus Explorer - Feb '15
Discover IT - I have 2, one from this year & one from last year
Alaska Airlines Visa Signature® card - August '15
Starwood Preferred - August '15
British Airways - August '15
Barclay AAdvantage - Feb '15
Chase Southwest - Plus - sometime in 2015 I think
Fairmont Hotel (Chase) - Nov '15
Cards I've gotten & closed:
Citi Aadvantage Premium Select Closed 5/15
Chase Southwest - Premier Closed 9/2014
Anyway, I'm trying to help offset the costs of not working for at least a year (we've got more travel planned after our South America trip too! Less flying, though). I've been slowly accumulating what I can to help pay for Hawaii + South America, but I need to up my game and I'd like some advice. I'll be flying from SFO/OAK for Hawaii, and from SFO --> SJU to start South America (I have family in Puerto Rico), so then SJU to ... somewhere... in south america.
My plan was to use Alaska Airlines for Hawaii, so I'll be getting another one of those, I think, if they're still churnable.
Then for South America, I think I want as many Avios as I can get my hands on .... what about LAN? I've been eyeing the LANPass visa... Does anyone know if it's possible to book award travel sort of last minute with LAN or Avios, or do I need to do that now when I have lots of time to spare?
I also need to decide who to transfer SPG to ... LAN, Alaska, or British Airways/Avios??
Here's what I've got currently, points-wise:
AA 71K (I want to use this for SFO > SJU, 60k for 1st class for my fiance & I)
Southwest 38k
Delta 21k
Alaska 25k
Chase UR 12k
IHG 26k
Starwood 21k
Avios 52k
And the cards I currently hold & when I opened them:
Amex Blue Preferred - March '13
Chase Sapphire Preferred - June '13
Mileage Plus Explorer - Feb '15
Discover IT - I have 2, one from this year & one from last year
Alaska Airlines Visa Signature® card - August '15
Starwood Preferred - August '15
British Airways - August '15
Barclay AAdvantage - Feb '15
Chase Southwest - Plus - sometime in 2015 I think
Fairmont Hotel (Chase) - Nov '15
Cards I've gotten & closed:
Citi Aadvantage Premium Select Closed 5/15
Chase Southwest - Premier Closed 9/2014