Tagging Miles

Citi’s new rule, Chase’s new site, Ultamate Rewards.

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The Weekly News Roundup is a collection of headlines from around the internet that caught the attention of the Tagging Miles team. Content on these blogs do not necessarily reflect the positions of Tagging Miles, and should not be considered endorsements. Have a great story we should read? Contact us now and let us know.

Miles, Points, Credit Cards:

Industry:

  • American Aadvantage has a new leader. However, Stefan purports, based on the levels down, that frequent flyers are just not terribly important to airlines. Or at least their frequent flyer programs.

Tagging Miles:

What is left In North America post-British Airways 4,500 avios award?

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roadstocompanionpass

Last week, I asserted that British Airways taking award the 4,500 Avios point award in North America was not the end of the world.

I may have been shortsighted. For my  personal travel patterns, this change sucks, but it isn’t the end of the world for me. But, my travel patterns aren’t yours.

Reader Jessica rightly stated that for some, this can be a big hit. I still personally believe that no award chart change or devaluation should be the end of the world, as, your mileage account is not your retirement account (believe me the past few months have seen the market issue big hits in that regard!). That said, Jessica makes a very valid point, in that this change will hurt some-perhaps many-more than others.

So what alternatives exist?

For those who can and do Manufacture Spend, hopefully you weren’t hurt by the demise of RedBird, but as long as you can still MS, then you just scale up (unless of course your chosen method can’t scale further), then you need to open the aperture. The Saverocity Forums level 2 have great options here.

For those that don’t MS as much

Credit card sign ups, I don’t often advocate them, but right now the Chase British Airways card has a 50k offer after $2k spend, and if you can do more, $20k spend will get you a total of 100k Avios points. That’s a lot of spending, but it is even more points. Even at 7,500 points per award, that at least extends your options.

Look at other programs

American Airlines AAdvantage saver awards, I think are 12.5k for contiguous North America.

Southwest, as reader Horace commented, could be an option. You can also get 2 Chase Southwest cards for 106k points after meeting minimum spend and spending another $4k doesn’t seem all that hard for organic spend. Just make sure you don’t earn the bonuses until January, then you get 2 years with a Companion Pass.

As an aside, last year, I got a Southwest Companion Pass without a single credit card application, but that isn’t for everyone.

You could open the aperture even more, let’s say you like Ultimate Rewards Points (and don’t we all love getting 5x points!), well they transfer to United Airlines Mileage Plus for 10-12.5k Saver in the contiguous North America. Or transfer to Singapore Airlines’ KrisFlyer, for again 12.5k saver awards.

Wrapping Up

So while British Airways takes away a great award, there a handful of other “cheap” options, none as inexpensive as the 4,500 avios point award. That doesn’t take away the sting of British Airways’s decision to remove the 4,500 avios point award. But hopefully these alternatives at least show where the proverbial goal posts now stand.

Cheap Flights to Brazil, a great deal and why I may pass

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Courtesy of www.gcmap.com

Courtesy of www.gcmap.com

I think most folks know by now, there are super cheap flights to Brazil, as low as $450. That’s a pretty good deal, especially if you already have a visa (which if you don’t, is another ~$160).

For those folks looking for mileage runs, it can be as low as 3.8 cents per mile. Pretty impressive, right?

So why am I passing on Brazil this time

As I laid out in my status update earlier this week I’m trying to requalify for American AAdvantage Executive Platinum status via Elite Qualifying Points. Through this strategy, I thought I’d be able to fly comfortably (or, as @Saianel says: as a Diva), and achieve a better balance of vacation runs (as opposed to mileage runs), with vacation awards (like my recent flight on the Etihad A380 in the Apartments).

To jump on this kind of ticket, it would ultimately increase my average cost per Elite Qualifying Point (EQP), because I’d only be earning .5 or at most 1 EQP per mile flown, whereas if I can find a cheap business class flight, I would earn a minimum of 2 Elite Qualifying Points flown. Add to it, that I’ve got nearly 50,000 EQPs but only ~32k Elite Qualifying Miles.

Wrapping up

While I decided pretty quickly that I would pass this opportunity up, someone who has decided to dive in head first, is Kat who writes Will Run for Miles. Definitely offer her any suggestions you have for Iguazu Falls, Brazil! 
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