I like to think that I value my time more than collecting miles.
That means that I don’t mileage run (take flights just to earn elite qualifying miles for status or redeemable miles for award travel). I also factor in my time when evaluating miles and points deals, which explains my preference for earning miles and points by churning credit cards.
But a recent conversation with Emily had me thinking if that was really true.
Emily was booking business travel to Washington, DC and called me to run her hotel and flights by me. Here’s how the conversation went:
Emily: Hi hon! Just wanted to run my DC trip by you.
Daraius (thinking): Great! I wonder how many miles and points we can squeeze out of this trip!
Daraius: Sure! What have you got planned?
Emily: I want to fly on Frontier airlines to Washington Reagan airport. And…
Daraius (thinking): Frontier airlines? Why on earth would she do that? We probably have only 2,000 or 3,000 miles with Frontier, which I’m guessing we earned by signing up for frequent flyer accounts or for signing up for email from Frontier.
What are we going to do with an extra 2,000 Frontier miles? I’d much rather her fly United or US Air and earn miles which are more useful to us.
Daraius: (interrupting)..but honey, doesn’t United have a direct (emphasizing direct) flight to Washington, Dulles? Isn’t that what you took last time? And what about US Air?
Emily: Frontier flies directly to Washington Reagan and that’s closer to my hotel. US Air has a stop over and takes more time.
Daraius (thinking): So what if it is further from the hotel. The longer cab ride means more miles for us because she’s going to get double points by paying for it with her Chase Sapphire Preferred!
And the stopover will also get us more miles!
Daraius: Isn’t it more expensive to fly into Reagan?!
Emily: Actually, they are both about the same.
Daraius (thinking): She’s probably right. Saving time matters more than earning miles on United or US Air. And I can always top off the Frontier account with a credit card application.
Daraius: But…Ok, honey, that makes sense. Why don’t you book it if you’re sure you want to fly Frontier.
What would I do?
I was reflecting on this conversation later on, and was wondering what I would have done.
Would I have taken the direct flight on Frontier to Washington Reagan airport and saved time since the hotel was closer, but earned miles on an airline which I’m unlikely to fly often.
Or would I have taken the flight to Washington Dulles airport and earned miles in my preferred airline and had a longer ride to the hotel (also earning more miles)?
I’d like to think that my rational self would have prevailed since 2,000 miles is clearly not worth sacrificing a lot of time for, but the conversation above leaves me unsure. I don’t believe (looks sheepish) that I was hoping that my wife would waste 1 or 2 hours over a measly 2,000 miles!
All I can say is that I’m glad I’m able to talk things through with Emily and see how some of my instincts to earn miles and points can be a huge waste of time and counter productive. This is not the first time she’s stopped me from doing silly things!
What would you do, wise readers? Vote in the poll below!
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I have earned and redeemed millions of airline miles and hotel points to travel the world for free. Now I'm blogging to help more people do the same! 
Sometimes ppl want to earn miles that they end up actually losing but think they got a great deal out of it. If she took the longer flight, you lose time and waste money on a cab for measly few UR points that add up to pennies in return when you redeem. The value of flight miles you earn was lost when you paid for the cab.
Save the time and energy and work an extra hour (if paid by hr) and get more $ back.
1st consideration: stretch the budget. I want CHEAP flights!
2nd consideration: I have 2 small kids and haven’t taken a flight without them in 5 years. They’re good little travelers, but I know not to push it. Getting there is what’s important.
Finding the balance is the trick!
You are SOOOOOO obviously a newlywed!
Seriously, you chose well. A couple of years ago, we were returning from Athens via Zurich after a wonderful cruise. Since we were flying Swiss (First!) and I had some free Hyatt nights, we went thru an enormous amt of work to change flights and spend two nights in Zurich at the Park Hyatt. Neither of us were dying to (we’d been there before) but I merely wanted to make the most of my nights. In the end, we were tired, the weather was lousy and we confronted the fact that sometimes there are more important things than miles!
How about just designating the Frontier miles to your favorite airline instead of Frontier?
I would have gone for the real miles. However, you made the right choice. Sometimes all the effort is not worth it and the wives are the ones that remind us so.
In fact, I read once that if you want to test a business idea, present it to a woman. If she find it convenient and achievable without effort, it is a good idea. Same situation here. We are here for the miles but life has more things to consider.
I think the answer is, it depends. If she is trying to achieve status on US or United, then that should be the choice. If status is not relevant or this one trip won’t make a difference, then Frontier was the right choice. Clearly there are times when convenience, can and should win out over collection of miles/points. But that is a hard decision for many of us when this obsession is our hobby. One tends to put extra time into one’s hobby.
Sometimes you can earn miles with one airline while flying another. I don’t have a Frontier account so I can’t check but I always earn Hawaiian miles when flying Delta, for example, since Hawaiian miles are more valuable to me. Perhaps Frontier will allow you to earn miles with one of their partners, that are more valuable to you?
The trick is not to waste time. I try to prep in advance for my mileage runs so that I’ll have work to do on the plane. Personally I would have flown United and brought along a book I was meaning to read for the cab ride to DC. Even without United status, the redeemable miles are worth more from United than Frontier.
I’d take the US Airways direct flight to Reagan. It has the best scheduling and the miles/eqms could go toward US or UA/CO. They are EMB 170s with 1×2 first class that is wide open on the morning and evening flights.
The Frontier flights tend to leave DC too early in the day (mid-afternoon). I think US Air has the direct return around 7:00 p.m.
I would definitely save the time over the miles. However, Frontier usually has great deals from my home airport, so I am lucky there.
I’d take the 2k miles plus the longer cab ride any day of the week. Especially on a biz trip. I wouldn’t necessarily do it on vacation, but if I spend time during a work day traveling, I’d do it. And charging the cab ride (& getting double points) to work, that’s just gravy. I love when i can get points and miles via work. I think of it as a fringe benefit of the job.
You didn’t mention how, or whether, Elite status (on UA, US, etc) might play into it. Frankly that’s often more of a driver for me than RDMs when it comes to direct/connection/convenience choices like this.
In the tradeoff between the extra time, what else would Emily be doing with the extra couple hours? What I mean is, is it a choice between working some extra billable hours by arriving sooner and more directly…. or just wanting to arrive sooner, relax at the hotel, etc.?
I guess there are other criteria – is the schedule such that in IRROPs Frontier will have sufficient backup routes to get here there in time? Sometimes the budget airlines are great “if” all goes well but maybe only have two flights a day for example. Also what are the business impacts if, for example, she has to overnight enroute due to weather or mechanical issues? (Here again is where having status can sometimes help if things come up during travel.)
Of course, except for certain situations & airports, I actually LIKE to spend time in the air and enjoy messing around at a layover airport – so my opinion is probably skewed a bit anyway.
From a previous post I assumed you were in the KC area. I based my advice on that. Not sure why US Airways would be a layover unless your outbound is on the weekend and you don’t want to fly in the evening.
I see it was mentioned already, but for me, elite status plays into it…so I would definitely consider United in that situation. Also, if all these expenses are reimbursed (taxi, flights, etc.), and the company doesn’t care if you pick the cheapest or not, I would be more inclined to take my preferred airline…however, if I had to pay for a cab from IAD to DCA on my own dime, I might think twice (or use other options, like the 5A bus).
@Mike – You’re right! Sometimes we focus too much on the miles and points!
@Robyn – I can only imagine how much harder it would be with kids. Much better to have short trips then, right!
@Steve Schwartz – Rookie mistakes, huh?! I think I may have made the same decision as you – to use the nights instead of letting them go to waste. But always worth remembering that there are something worth more than miles and points!
@Anita & @KateFromCA – Good point, and I often do that with other airlines in alliances. But Frontier is not part of an alliance, and only has code share flights with Great Lakes. So we had to collect the miles with Frontier!
@Jorge – It is always nice to have the wife’s balanced perspective!
@Jim – Great point! No, she doesn’t fly frequently enough to care about status. But that wold certainly be a big factor if she did.
@Scottrick – You’re a pro at this, aren’t you!
@jr – She did fly from KC, but there was weekend travel. She also found the US Air flight more inconvenient for her schedule, but that would have been better than the United flight to Dulles.
@Mary Alice – I’d like to think that I would, too! But…
@Cindy – Spoken like a true veteran! If you’re going to travel for work, may as well squeeze out the most miles and points!
@Ryan – Agreed. Emily doesn’t need status because she flies infrequently for work. The trade off is arriving with enough time to prep for the next day at work, so a premium on getting to the hotel quickly. But you raise some good points as well – particularly about missing the flight.
@Frequent Flyer Collector - You’re right. Elite status definitely plays a huge role!
Im flying frontier next month and picked to earn AA miles.
@Anita – How did you do that?
I think the total distance and quality of the airline would also be a factor in my decision. For example, I’d rather fly with Delta JFK-LAX with stops in ATL or even SLC since both the flights will have personal tv sets, instead of flying AA which mostly has horrible planes!
If all else equal though I think the 2000 miles would only make a difference if they were able to push you to elite status on an airline. Otherwise, fly direct and, as you said, start collecting miles with them too!
P.S. Just used your link to apply for the Chase Preferred Card (instantly approved). Looking forward to it!
While it’s tempting to go for the extra miles, the distance of Dulles from DC is a pain. When I lived in DC, I refused to fly out of Dulles because it was so far even though I had a car. Depending on when your flight arrives or departs you’ll be looking at a 45 minute drive and possibly an hour on top of that if you’re in traffic. Security also takes longer at Dulles than Reagan. The one time I flew out of Dulles I think it took me 2-3 minutes just to walk (no stopping or waiting) through the first class queue.
Deciding point for me: Regan has direct access to the subway – thus usually no cab at all. Dulles is a real pain to get to anywhere from itl
Also, Frontier miles can be transferred to hotel points, something that seems to be of interest to you.
When did you and Emily get married? This is the first time I’ve noticed you call her your wife!
I booked my flight on Frontier via Expedia. When I looked at My Itinerary after booking, it gave me the option to Update Frequent Flyer number for each of us traveling. I selected AA and put in my number. I wonder if this is really going to earn me AA miles, or if it is an artifact of booking through Expedia? I just assumed if it was on the list, I could earn miles for my flight. I’ll check and get back to you.
Anita
@NYbart – Emily & I are very grateful to you for using our link! Thanks so much! Now I’ve got to figure out how to use AA miles!
@Brian – Ya know, that’s exactly what Emily told me the last time she flew to Dulles! She said that Dulles was more crowded and out-of-the way than Reagan.
@Gary Steiger - Good point on the subway which saves some money for sure! I’ll look into the hotel point conversion.
@Heather – We’re newlyweds now! We got married in December.
@Anita – I don’t think that will work.
I’d check your Frontier reservation online at the Frontier website and see which frequent flyer number is linked to your reservation!
Of course, at the end of the day, the right answer is what she likes the best – remember the old saying, If mama ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy!
I’m probably going to side with Emily here – Reagan IS much more convenient to DC, and time is very valuable.
It all boils down to what brings you the greatest satisfaction: a time savings of an hour or 2000 miles. It’s one of my favorite economic concepts (utility). I almost always lean toward maximizing time at my destination – it’s why I’ll switch airlines to get nonstops, why I’ll pay more for a specific flight, or why I choose to fly into a certain airport. Of course, all of my travel is leisure-based, so I’m always anxious to get started with vacation!
@Ryan – That’s very true! Happy wife, happy life!
@New Girl in the Air - I’m the same way when I travel on vacation! I’d rather get more time at the destination, than traveling. When we went to Brazil during Carnival last year we flew in coach because there weren’t any seats on the flight in business or coach. We arrived on the day of Carnival and had a great time there.
Good call Emily. In my limited experience, and it has been a few years, Dulles is the worst airport in America and should be avoided at all costs. After you land, you need to walk close to a mile and wait for the creepy dulles shuttle just to get to the cab stand to exit the airport. Plus, cab fare from Dulles to downtown Washington is about $75 and that ride can be an hour if there is traffic. If it’s a business trip, cost may not matter, but it’s nice to be able to walk from your gate at DCA to the metro in about 10 minutes and hop on for a couple of dollars. So making a connection to route to Dulles really adds about 3 to 4 hours: the extra time in the air, the hour at the transfer airport, the hour exiting Dulles, and the hour in the cab. And that is if everything is on schedule.
I’ve flown Frontier to and from DCA myself and it worked out perfectly fine. (at the time I was collecting Frontier points, although I wouldn’t recommend collecting their points to others because they have very peculiar flight schedules that make flight transfers through Denver very difficult. So even though they may fly to where you want to go, there is a good chance they won’t route you there. Also, they were having lots of financial problems back then and they canceled the nonstop I was hoping to take from Sacramento to Guadalajara and sold the plane because they needed the cash.)
I have several thoughts:
1) isn’t your home airport MCI, and isn’t MCI a focus city of F9? You should get to know F9 – they are quite honestly fantastic.
2) since Emily isn’t focused on status, I would hands down choose the more convenient option over the “preferred program” option. Why? a) diversification – if you’re anything like me, you probably have a surplus of “just in case” miles in your primary program…and a MUCH easier time accruing miles in your primary program…however, there are times when another program is the ONLY option or the only good option, and you’ll be really glad you had the option at all – I’m not going to research it, but I’m certain there is some destination, or some feature of the F9 program that US can’t match – what about a 1 way return award from some rural western destination? b)it’s more convenient (duh)
Lastly…I’d like to address the glaring logical fallacy in your post that no one has picked on yet – seriously? “Daraius (thinking): So what if it is further from the hotel. The longer cab ride means more miles for us because she’s going to get double points by paying for it with her Chase Sapphire Preferred!” – So, I’ll give you 150 Chase Sapphire Preferred points for $75 any day…and buy part of a plane ticket with the $75…The cost of transport from Dulles into the city is INCREDIBLE compared to the cost of metro from DCA…not to mention the additional time and convenience…and money spent for the sake of earning double points is money thrown away! The sweet spot we’re all looking for is double points on purchases we have to make anyway…not extra purchases for the purpose of earning double points! But…I hope much of america keeps this logic. Their holding and paying the annual fee on an airline card to earn a modest amount of miles annually is what keeps the cc companies offering huge signup bonuses…so don’t tell them that many of them that in most cases they are losing money and “the man” is coming out ahead on them…
Oh…I just read again that this is for business travel. If someone else is paying the cab fare, then one could argue go for it, earn the double points through chase, and take your preferred carrier. While it’s not the best stewardship of your client/employer’s resources, most of them won’t argue against taking your preferred carrier (or whatever other logic you use), and many business travelers would do the same (many wouldn’t even analyze the situation…or look into all the options).
If, on the other hand, the expense is going to be incurred by Emily as either a personal or business (tax deductible) expense, my commentary still stands….
Daraius, I think the equation changes a bit depending on who you are and how often you fly. In Emily’s case, she probably made the right call because just having the miles wouldn’t be worth that extra inconvenience. In the case of, say, a frequent flyer though, it might make more sense to connect and travel on “your” airline — besides the fact that you might need those miles or segments at the end of the year to requalify for status anyway, it’s also comforting to know that in the case of irregular operations, that you will have an easier time getting where you need to be vs. being grouped in with everyone else. Also, if you have status and are on “real jet” routes, I’d generally prefer to connect and be in the air longer and be in first class for both segments than be in coach on an unfamiliar airline.
I’ll regularly book connections or worse times so I can stay on United for those reasons, but book solely based on price and convenience when booking trips for my girlfriend.
You can always use the points as the transfer partner for a hit with US Airways during the Grand Slam – horrible exchange rate, but you still get a hit!
You’re dead right! I checked with Expedia about whether my Frontier booking would earn American Airlines miles. They didn’t know and suggested I call American Airlines. The AA rep chuckled and said, no, but they sure make it seem like you will. So now I’m earning Frontier miles for my flight. I alreaady have a small number of Frontier miles and now I’ll have an even bigger pile. Hopefully as Katherine suggests, I will have enough next year to use as a Grand Slam hit.
@zzd – Looks like Emily made the right choice!
@ANC RED-EYE – You’re right – Frontier does have a fair bit of service to Kansas City! But we rarely pay for tickets (mostly award resumptions) so won’t have a good shot at accumulating enough for a ticket. Yeah, we have miles in lots of programs because it gives you a lot of options like you point out.
Agree with you that this is a terrible idea for personal travel and your commentary is spot on, but could be ok for business travel given the company’s policy on flights and travel (preferred carrier, flight timing etc.)
@EggSS4- I suspect that there are a lot of people like you who have different patterns of booking business travel vs. personal travel.
@Katherine - Thanks for that idea! Sounds like an easy hit.
@Anita – Thanks for checking and updating us!
Don’t forget Frontier is an AmEx transfer partner so you could topoff to get a nonstop MCI-HOU.
Darius, my brain would be thinking the same thoughts as you were! Yesterday on my way home from Baton Rouge, LA (via ATL), I was dreaming of either getting bumped due to overbooked flights or upgrades to first class…. (I was upgraded on the BTR-ATL leg, but not the second leg…). Never mind churning credit cards, I think someone has been churning my brain!!
Thanks to everyone who commented! I had no idea this topic would drive such discussion. I wanted to take the Frontier flight because it was direct, Reagan was close to my hotel, and to my friend’s apartment (who I was staying with over the weekend). It was so convenient for her to drop me off yesterday that I never regretted flying out of Dulles, even for 2,000 miles.
i applied and got the chase SP card one week ago and have spent over 2600 and just $400 to go. i checked my account online and shows due date of march, 5th, if i complete the total $3k spend this week. Do I get the 50k bonus points after my due date or 6-8 weeks from the day I complete the 3k spending?
Should I call to change the due date ?
what can i do to get my bonus points posted sooner?
thanks
@MJLouise - I don’t have any MR points, but nice to know that’s an option because I’m thinking of getting an AMEX MR card this year.
@Kathy - I’ve dreamed of getting bumped many times!
@Emily –
@jimmy – Your points will post when the statement in which you’ve completed the minimum spending is generated. Look for the “next statement” date online.
i dont see closing date i just see due date of march 5th, what date should i change to?
I live in Northern Virginia and only fly from Dulles if I’m traveling internationally. Reagan is just so much more convenient to everything and usually the prices are comparable. The downside is that Frontier is in Reagan’s A terminal, which is pretty dingy and only has one sit-down restaurant and no club lounge.
I personally take a direct flight whenever I can. Plus you forgot to factor in the cookies on Frontier!
@Rachel - Ha! I’ll take cookies over peanuts any day of the week!
@jimmy – If this is your 1st statement, just call Chase and ask them when your statement closes. You’ll get the points a few days later (assuming you completed the minimum spending)
The cookies were divine!! They tasted fresh out of the oven. It was my first time flying Frontier and it was such a nice surprise.
I also liked their back to front boarding system. It makes so much sense and boarding was a breeze.
I just wanted to thank you for this blog Darius. I read this…what are these, “articles?” a couple of days ago and it was still rolling around in the back of my mind when I was trying to make reservations for a business trip today. I was planning to get a Southwest RT ticket from KC to Minneapolis to build points towards Companion Pass and A-List despite there being no direct flights on SW and direct flights being available through other airlines. The more I thought about it, the more I thought about how much sense your policy of not doing “mileage runs” and other time-wasters just to get a few extra points made.
Long story short, I went with the direct flight. I’ll get better sleep before my meeting, am less likely to put my co-workers out with a different schedule, and will be less travel-weary all-around as well. Just wanted to say thanks and I thought you might enjoy a real-life example of how your blog can make a difference even beyond the sharing of mile and point bargains.
@ilovetocount – Thanks for your kind words and for sharing the story! I enjoyed reading it and glad you did what made the most sense for you (and your co-workers).
Regarding Dulles, it is inconvenient, but there are several options (as long as you don’t have an extremely early or late flight):
1) There’s the 5A bus which runs from L’enfant Plaza through Rosslyn and Tysons (and I think Herndon too) to Dulles
2) I think there is a shuttle that goes from West Falls Church too, not 100% sure on that one
Also, regarding security lines…yea they are terrible. However, there is a “secret” checkpoint at Dulles where the wait is usually no more than 10 minues, that I definitely recommend you look up if you are flying through there…