Category Archives: Airline Award Booking

Why Some Airline Award Programs & Elite Status WILL Change

Posted on April 30, 2013 by | 18 Comments

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It has been very clear for about the last 3 years that the US airlines’ (think American Airlines, United, US Air, and Delta) generosity with their frequent flyer programs will have to change (and become less generous).  I’m pretty sure that US frequent flyer programs will be quite different in the next 3 to 5 years if not sooner.

I’m not the only one predicting this change.  Miles and points guru, Steve Belkin, has been saying this for a long time (often to an unreceptive audience at miles and points conferences).

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Planes, Trains, and Automobiles Panel

Continue reading →

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Posted in Airline Award Booking, Airlines

How to See Where Your American Airlines Miles Can Take You

Posted on March 20, 2013 by | 23 Comments

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American Airlines launched a new award map which makes it somewhat easier to see where your American Airlines miles can take you.

American Airlines Award Map

American Airlines Award Map

This award map will NOT show you award flights on ALL American Airlines partner airlines, but only a select few partners such as Air Berlin, Alaska Air, British Airways, Hawaiian Air, Finnair, OpenSkies & Qantas.  However, American Airline has ~XX partner airlines, so the award map isn’t that useful. Continue reading →

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Posted in American Airlines, oneworld

News You Can Use – $10 or 600 Virgin America Points, Hyatt Spring Promotion Registration & 25% Bonus on British Airways Avios

Posted on February 18, 2013 by | 6 Comments

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1.   $10 or 600 Free Virgin America Points

Million Mile Secrets reader Jordan works for MOGL which offers Virgin America points or 10% cash back for dining at certain restaurants.

He is offering a $10 credit, which you can convert to 600 Virgin America points (up to February 28, 2013) or 300 points after that, if you use “jordanramos” as the referral code when you sign-up for MOGL.

Virgin America MOGL

$10 or 600 Virgin America Points

MOGL will also donate a meal to Feeding America, so it doesn’t hurt to sign-up. Continue reading →

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Posted in British Airways, Hyatt, Uncategorized, VIrgin America

Points Envy Delivers 2013 State of the Points World Address

Posted on February 17, 2013 by | 6 Comments

Note: This post is satire and you shouldn’t follow any of Points Envy’s suggestions, nor should you break the law.  Any resemblance to the truth is purely coincidental.

Also note: The following is a transcript of Points Envy’s 2013 State of the Points World Address, delivered February 14 at our local JPMorgan Chase branch.

Mr. Morgan-Chase, Mrs. Teller, fellow points fiends and miles junkies:

More than forty years ago, a man employed by Western Direct Marketing, a small advertising firm looking for a way to build customer loyalty for its client United Airlines, had a vision that would forever change the world of travel.  Relying on his G-d-given creativity and breakfast whiskeys, he had the revolutionary idea of rewarding customers in direct proportion to the number of miles they flew.

Over time this idea spread to other airlines and even to hotels.  As customers started building accounts with the new rewards they received for traveling, banks saw an opportunity to reward their customers with the same luscious non-currency in return for the customer accumulating debt.  And so reward credit cards were born, working with modern loyalty programs to comprise what we righteous points fiends refer to endearingly as “The Game.” Continue reading →

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Posted in Airline Award Booking, Airlines, Blog History, Credit Cards, Credit Cards, Hotels, Mile and Point Resources, Philosophy

News You Can Use – Southwest Fare Sale, Hyatt Spring Promotion, Starwood Points for Delta Flights, 20,000 Points for Canadian American Express, 100% Bonus on Transferring Avianca Miles & 500 Delta Miles for WilliamPaid

Posted on February 7, 2013 by | 9 Comments

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1.   Southwest Fare Sale.   Deals We Like reports that Southwest has a fare sale with flights ranging from $49 to $149 for a 1-way flight.  And don’t forget to register for double points on Southwest via this link as well!

You have to purchase your ticket by Thursday (today) February 7, 2013, 11:59 pm Pacific Time for travel between April 3 through June 8, 2013.

Hyatt Summer 2013 Promotion

Southwest Fare Sale

Southwest has a revenue based frequent flyer program, so a fare sale means that both cash AND award bookings using points will cost less!

  • $49 or 2,280 points for flights up to 500 miles
  • $89 or 4,680 points for flights 501 miles to 1,300 miles
  • $119 or 6,480 points for flights 1,001 miles to 1,500 miles
  • $149 or 8,280 points for flights more than 1,501 miles Continue reading →

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Posted in American Express, Avianca, Avianca, Hyatt, Southwest, Starwood (SPG)

Mother-In-Law’s First Trip to India: Introduction & Planning

Posted on February 6, 2013 by | 61 Comments

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Emily’s mom, Connie, wanted to visit India to visit my family, so we used our miles and points to take her with us in December.  She has briefly visited Canada and a resort in Mexico before, so India was going to be very different.  Emily’s step-dad doesn’t like traveling and didn’t want to come – even in First Class! – so Connie brought along her childhood friend Judi instead.  They’ve been friends for almost 55 years!

Mother-in-Law's First Trip to India

Connie, Emily, and Judi by the Taj Mahal

Trip Report Index

In this post, I’ll explain how Emily, her mom Connie, and her mom’s friend Judi and I visited India using miles & points.  We went to 5 cities in 2 weeks:  Bombay, Pune, Goa, Delhi & Agra.  Later, I’ll post a more detailed account of the different airline, hotel, food, transport, and activity options so you can plan a trip to India.

Keep in mind that the chart below covers only the cost for hotels and airfare, and not for dining, activities and other travel expenses.  And we stayed with family in Bombay and Pune, so we didn’t have to pay for hotels there! Continue reading →

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Posted in American Airlines, British Airways, British Airways, Chase, Club Carlson, Hyatt, United Airlines

6 Tips For Using An Award Booking Service

Posted on January 16, 2013 by | 22 Comments

[An anonymous Million Mile Secret reader tried out many of the major award booking services in yesterday's post and shares ways to make the most of an award booking service.]

It seems to me in the world of travel there are three phases: the planning process, the getting there process, and the being there process.  For me, the planning process can sometimes be the most daunting.  It’s fun and exciting to acquire all the miles and points and pick my dream destinations.

And then comes booking the award tickets.  Exciting, though often oh-so-frustrating.  If you’re like me, there are times when you’ve considered using an award booking service.  You want help booking the tickets, planning a great itinerary, and choosing the best aircrafts and class of service.  In other words, you want a great value for the miles you’ve accumulated.  Who wouldn’t?

After personally using various award booking services, here’s my list of 6 must-know tips.  I’ve had very varied experiences using these services and I want you to benefit from what I’ve learned.  I want you to get the best possible value and have the smoothest experience when you hire award booking services.

6 Tips For Using Award Booking Services

1.  Your Preferences.  It clearly helps to have specific destinations in mind as well as approximate dates.  However, I’d suggest having a back-up plan both for destination and dates.  Knowing what’s most important helps, too.  For instance, are non-stop flights more important than class of service? Continue reading →

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Posted in Award Booking Services

Award Booking Services

Posted on January 15, 2013 by | 51 Comments

[Disclosure:  I receive nothing for the links to the award booking services in this post.]

Using An Award Booking Service

Earning miles and points is really easy.

But using the miles and points to book trips can be time consuming and tricky!

Not all airlines make it as easy as Southwest to redeem miles or points for award seats.  Most airlines have different types of award seats which cost different amounts of miles, different award routing rules, and different alliance and non-alliance partners with whom you can book award seats.

There are ways to search for airline availability on partner airlines by using tools such as ExpertFlyer, AwardNexus, the ANA website, the KVS tool, or my guide to booking awards with American Airlines miles.  But it takes time to figure out how to use them.   And then you have to actually call the airline and feed them the flights segment by segment and have them book the award for you.

Award Booking Services

It Can Take Hours to Research and Book This!

All this can take hours to complete.

I love the thrill of piecing together my awards, setting ExpertFlyer alerts and calling the airlines, but not everyone does!  And it can be frustrating when you can’t use the miles to get to the places you want to go.

USING Award Booking Services

But you don’t always have to book your own award tickets!

An award booking service usually charges ~$100 to $150 per ticket when they successfully book for you.  This fee includes presenting you with options and calling the airlines to book the flights. Continue reading →

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Posted in Award Booking Services

British Airways Charges Fuel Surcharges for Flights From Brazil…And How to Avoid Them!

Posted on December 20, 2012 by | 27 Comments

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I wrote earlier that British Airways wasn’t charging their high fuel surcharges – ~$200 in coach and ~$400 in business/first class per long distance segment.  This is a great way to use Avios points for multi-continent trips and avoid paying the high fuel surcharges.

Million Mile Secrets reader Charlie commented that he was charged fuel surcharges on British Airways award tickets from Brazil to Europe.

It looks like that BA is starting charging higher taxes even on flight from Brazil. Have you noticed the change?

So I performed a test search for a one-way coach award from Rio De Janeiro in Brazil to London on British Airways

British Airways did charge $209 in fuel surcharges on the award ticket from Brazil to London in addition to a $37 International Embarkation Tax from Brazil.

$209 in Fuel Surcharges With a US Address

Continue reading →

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Posted in British Airways

News You Can Use – 25% Discount on British Airways Avios Redemptions, Buy Delta Elite Miles & 30% Alaska Air Discount

Posted on November 16, 2012 by | 10 Comments

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 1.   25% Discount on British Airways Avios Redemptions.  One Mile at a Time writes that up to November 19, 2012, British Airways is offering 25% off on the amount of Avios points needed for a redemption.  Unfortunately, this discount doesn’t apply to the high fuel surcharges (~$400 per long-haul segment to Europe).

This means that it costs 45,000 Avios for a 1-way First Class award from New York to London instead of the regular 60,000 points.  The discount is also valid for bookings made with the British Airways Travel Together ticket which you earn after spending $30,000 within 1 calendar year. Continue reading →

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Posted in Alaska Airlines, American Express, British Airways, British Airways, Delta Skymiles