Time to pour out my heart and get some stuff off my chest. Here we go:
- I’ve only flown first class once in my life. And to think I call myself a points-and-miles blogger… the shame! A few reasons for this. First, I didn’t really start getting into points and miles until after our second kid (we’re now up to four) was born, and I’m not about to splurge on upgrades so that we can deal with tantrums in a slightly bigger seat. Also, most of the trips we’ve done the last several years have involved relatively short flights, the sort where the benefits of first class aren’t as pronounced as on, say, a trans-Pacific flight. And finally, and most importantly: if I spend more miles on a higher class of service, I’ll have fewer miles left for travel. Maybe some of you manufacture so much spend this isn’t an issue, but not me. And it’s not just my wife and kids I’m flying, either: in the last few years I’ve flown a dozen members of my wife’s family both domestically and internationally. Points and miles make family reunions much more affordable. Bottom line: first class trips to the Maldives bring the ratings and the oohs and aahs, but you should figure out what your goals are and do what’s right for you.
- I’ve only stayed in a hotel twice this year, both of which were overnight trips. This is my lowest in a while. It’s mostly a function of the fact that I’ve only taken a week of vacation this year since I’m saving it all for a big trip at the end of the year. And the one week I took was a vacation to a beach house with my parents and siblings. On the positive side, my points balances have grown this year. There would have been three hotel trips so far this year except that on one occasion where we were going to stay at a Hyatt I’ve been wanting to try out in a nearby city, three kids came down with ear infections right before we were going to leave. Fortunately Hyatt waived the 24-hour rule for us.
- I’ve never bought any points or miles. Well, I did it once actually: I bought a few thousand from Club Carlson in October so I could redeem and get my points down to zero. I feel like I should since so many bloggers talk about all the points and miles you can buy and what great values they are. Am I missing out? I don’t think so.
- I do not currently have a HAWAIIAN AIRLINES® WORLD ELITE MASTERCARD®. I feel like I should, but I haven’t had one in a few years. Mrs. PFD and I got them back when you could still do 1-for-2 on Hilton Points, back before that one Hilton HHonors DDevaluation. And speaking of the HAWEMC, I really feel like I should put some SEO effort into becoming page one on Google for this card. Wouldn’t that be hilarious?
- I had never had a Chase Sapphire Preferred until this year. It’s the ne plus ultra of credit cards (side note: is ne plus ultra the ne plus ultra of French phrases to work into your writing?), but I don’t feel like I missed out. Inks and Freedoms have sufficed.
- I have never bought a money order at a Walmart ATM. Just not my thing. Different strokes for different folks. I’ve spent time at that ATM for other reasons, though.
- I have never, in my life, taken advantage of a First Friday. Thank goodness we don’t have to hear about that nonsense anymore!
I completely agree with this “if I spend more miles on a higher class of service, I’ll have fewer miles left for travel”.
I can get twice as many trips in coach to visit my family! Maybe this type of view is dependent on why you use points and miles (to connect family). This is also why I think flex perks can be fantastic.
Love it. Not everyone strives for champagne and over-the-water bungalows. I do Y saver tix to Europe for my family.
Thanks for “coming out” here. We’re all behind you — figuratively– since we’re all in business or first
You sound like you lack the requisite asshat narcissism to be a travel blogger. No Dom or Krug or hiring “interns” ?!?! Barbarism !!!! Please turn in your badge immediately …
I LOL’d.
Umm… Well I don’t even like first class anyway…. Yeah, that’s the ticket!
Yep, looking forward to some family Y trips to Europe when the kids are older.
Elaborate on the flex perks angle if you don’t mind?
Oh, I bet the interns are still there. Everyone has interns
Well, I’m way the heck older than you, and MY four kids are having kids. I DO fly up front, because I can, and because, at my age, the combination of jet lag and soreness from a long haul to Italy (most common destination–where Daughter lives) means I can’t enjoy the first few of the precious days I get there.
The other consideration is that, until both Husband and I are fully retired, we can only travel, realistically, a small handful of times in a year. If we make three, that’s pushing it. So, if sign up bonuses and MS mean that we have the miles, I definitely would prefer to burn them rather than worry about how quickly the next devaluation is coming.
If I were you, though, I’d be doing exactly what you are doing: spending the miles to get myself, my spouse and kids, and the other relatives together as much as possible.
I was very excited that Off Peak Europe mostly survived the devaluation.
For shame…FOR SHAME.
In all seriousness – so if you got a CSP this year, did you have < 5 applications over the last two years, or did you somehow circumvent that rule?
I got lucky and applied a few weeks before the policy changed.
After 2 years of collecting I’ve only flown once in Business (and coincidentally ended up earning ~6k alaska miles on one of the legs on an award flight). I got into this with dreams of SIngapore suites and cathay first, but have found my southwest companion pass to be so much more practical. It’s just hard to get the time away to justify dropping 150k miles on a roundtrip to asia. I’m pretty content flying in coach as long as the flight is under 4 hours…
Flexperks are tiered redemptions with a sweet spot for under $400 tix (20k points). Go to $401 and you move up a tier and your redemption rate is very mediocre.
That said, $400 is a common domestic fare, so if you are flying domestic coach its a great card to have since you can use the 2X category on Grocery and drive nearly 4% yields (nearly 6% on charity). You also earn miles on the flight and you get $25 per award ticket to offset incidentals (make your purchase on a travel day and call in to request relief).
Target counts as grocery which was awesome back in the Amex for Target days. Also, spend $24K per year and they gave you enough points to redeem against the annual fee. I ginned up about 150K between AFT spend and the Olympic promo that moved the standard sign up bonus from 20K to ~30K. Its been basically mothballed since the Redbird fiasco.
In my history I still haven’t gotten the CSP, only purchase a nominal amount of hotel points (CC & SPG) to avoid expiration, flew once in first (honeymoon, from work miles ages ago), and haven’t gotten a Hawaiian card in a long time.