Category Archives: Membership Rewards

Anatomy of an Award: Membership Rewards to Argentina

Posted on April 2, 2013 by | 8 Comments

I recently booked a family of four an economy award from Miami to Buenos Aires with their Membership Rewards. It was an interesting award that I think demonstrates the complexities and fun of booking with American Express points.

I won’t talk about that award specifically, but I’ll use it as a jumping off point for discussion since it illustrates a typical Memberhip Rewards situation. Imagine you have a family of four trying for an economy roundtrip from Miami to Buenos Aires for two weeks in October with 300k Membership Rewards.

Membership Rewards are awesome because they can be transferred to any of the three airline alliances, so you can use them to book on almost any airline in the world.

But Membership Rewards are frustrating because they transfer to programs with which you may be unfamiliar like ANA or programs with major drawbacks like British Airways’ fuel surcharges.

I would approach an award like this looking first at the flying options, then at the transfer options. I know if I could find award space, I can probably find a transfer partner with access to that space. And if I find several ways to get to Buenos Aires, I cancompare the transfer options to see which is the best deal with Membership Rewards.

From checking the Buenos Aires international airport’s (EZE) wikipedia page, I know there are direct flights to/from Miami on American, LAN, and Aerolineas Argentinas. Of course, United and Delta also fly to Buenos Aires from their hubs.

Aerolineas Argentinas

Aerolineas Argentinas is the state-owned flag carrier of Argentina. I haven’t heard too many kind words about it, but it does have a direct flight from Miami to Buenos Aires. The best way to search for the space is on ExpertFlyer.

ExpertFlyer only displays economy award space on the airline. The space that Aerolineas’ SkyTeam partners like Delta have access to is T class space.

Aerolineas Argentinas flies twice daily between Miami and Buenos Aires–its only US route–once in the morning and one redeye. Up to seven seats are widely available on each!

The return is also wide open.

This was a promising start!

American

American has direct flights from Miami to Buenos Aires also. The best place to check for space on those flights is aa.com.

I can look at the whole month of October in just a few seconds with AA’s awesome calendar view. Unfortunately there is no MileSAAver outbound space–the low-miles-price space open to partners– in October, though there is some space on return flights.

Outbound: No Saver Space

Return: Some Saver Space

LAN

LAN is another oneworld airline with direct flights from Miami to Buenos Aires. I go to ba.com to check for LAN space to Buenos Aires, since aa.com doesn’t display LAN space.

I ca’t find any LAN space on ba.com, though it did pick up the same American Airlines space I’d seen on aa.com.

ba.com not finding any LAN space

…but it did find the same space on American Airlines

Delta

Yes, it seemed like a complete longshot that Delta would have space for four from Miami to Atlanta to Buenos Aires at the low-miles-price because Delta has putrid availability to South America, but I checked anyway.

Green shows low-miles-price itineraries. There actually are some returns possible.

While oneway tickets with Delta miles are a huge mistake since Delta charges the roundtrip price for all awards even oneways, I kept the returns in mind because AMEX has some transfer partners like Flying Blue that can be used to book oneway Delta awards reasonably.

United, TACA, Copa

The final place I checked was united.com to see what United, Copa, or TACA award space there was that I could snag with a transfer to a Star Alliance partner.

Green and yellow days have an award with four economy seats.

I found a few more possible awards to add to the bounty.

Search Results

I found space in both direction on Aerolineas Argentinas’ two daily flights. I found space in both directions on connecting United and Copa (via Panama) flights. I found return space on American Airlines and Delta, but no outbound space. I found no space on LAN.

Transfer Options

Delta

We can transfer Membership Rewards to Delta to book the Aerolineas Argentinas space and/or the Delta space. Delta charges 60,000 miles roundtrip to Argentina in economy class whether you fly it or one of its SkyTeam partners like Aerolineas Argentinas.

Although Delta does charge fuel surcharges for awards on a lot of its partners, it does not collect fuel surcharges on Aerolineas redemptions.

That means a transfer to Delta would mean the transfer of 240,000 Membership Rewards to 240,000 Delta miles. American Express charges $7 per 10,000 miles transferred to US-based airlines, with a maximum charge of $99, This transfer would incur that $99 charge. The award itself would have government taxes of around $75 per person, meaning a total cost of 240,000 Membership Rewards and approximately $400 for four people.

In return for that outlay, the family could get direct flights in each direction or could sub a one-stop itinerary on Delta on the return if they really didn’t want to fly Aerolineas Argentinas.

Flying Blue

Air France’s frequent flyer program, Flying Blue, is not always the best option because it levies heavy surcharges on several partners. But it doesn’t levy surcharges on Delta or Aerolineas Argentinas. And it’s price from the US to Argentina is 25,000 miles each way.

I’m not sure why the taxes collected exceed those collected by Delta by $15 per person, but that’s a minor concern. Flying Blue costs 25,000 miles each way, and it can be used to book oneways, which is a far better deal than Delta’s 60k miles roundtrip, which is the price whether you book oneways or roundtrips.

That means for 200k Membership Rewards and $360, a family of four could get on the same flights as with Delta miles: Delta and Aerolineas Argentinas flights.

British Airways

We can transfer Membership Rewards to British Airways Avios, but that would only enable booking the return leg in this case. Avios can be used to book American or LAN flights. We found only space on American, and only on the return.

The good news is that it’s only 25,000 Avios from Buenos Aires to Miami.

That means the return would be 100k Membership Rewards and $300.

ANA

I recently sang the praises of All Nippon Airways as a Membership Rewards transfer partner. ANA has a distance based award chart. You add up the distance of all the segments and see how many miles that trip will cost. Here is the economy chart.

Miami to Houston to Buenos Aires roundtrip is just over 12,000 miles. That works out 60,000 ANA miles (60,000 Membership Rewards) roundtrip. That’s not fantastic or awful.

But Miami to Panama to Buenos Aires is under 9,000 miles, meaning it is only 43,000 ANA miles roundtrip. That’s the lowest miles total we’ve seen.

image from gcmap.com

In neither case would there be fuel surcharges. ANA never charges fuel surcharges on United or US Airways flights, and Copa doesn’t collect fuel surcharges on this routing.

No fuel surcharges on Copa from Miami to Buenos Aires, so ANA won’t collect any.

That means ANA miles used to fly Copa would be 172k Membership Rewards and about $480 in taxes.

Transfer Options Summary

To summarize:

  • All the options here receive 1:1 transfers from Membership Rewards and incur only government taxes–no fuel surcharges.
  • Transferring to Delta is a bad idea. Why pay 60k Membership Rewards for a roundtrip when the same flights are 25k each way via Flying Blue? Total: 240k + $400
  • ANA is the cheapest option overall at 43k roundtrip if we route through Panama on Copa. Total: 172k + $480
  • British Airways and Flying Blue are the cheapest direct options at 25k each way. Total: 200k + $300

If you really value direct flights, take the Aerolineas Argentinas flight one direction for 25k Flying Blue miles and return on the American Airlines flight for 25k Avios.

If you really value the cheapest flights or want a free stopover in Panama, look for Copa flights for 43k ANA miles.

Recap

Membership Rewards have awesome versatility, which also means it’s more work to figure out the best deal. For a simple Miami to Buenos Aires roundtrip, all three alliances are possibilities.

Because some transfer partners have region-based charts, some have distance-based charts, some charge fuel surcharges sometimes, and some never do, you have to investigate every option for the best deal.

For Buenos Aires to Miami roundtrip, the best deals are with ANA miles on Copa to take advantage of the distance-based chart of a combination of Flying Blue miles and Avios to take advantage of their partners’ direct flights.

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Posted in AAdvantage, Aerolineas Argentinas, Air France, American Express, ANA, Avios, Award Booking, Best Of, Delta, ExpertFlyer, Flying Blue, LAN, Membership Rewards

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Spring Break 2013! A Proposed 26,000 Mile Journey

Posted on March 24, 2013 by | 25 Comments

As many of you may know, I am a college student by day and the amusing, yet mystical, Bengali Miles Guru by night. After traveling almost 100,000 miles since January, I knew that my upcoming spring break trip would have to be amazing. It would also have to help me attain my 12 months, 12 countries goal.

After giving it some thought, the best idea was to include my friends into the crazy trip I’m about to embark on.

Introduction:

I didn’t know where to go but naturally, I thought that maybe it should be Europe since I just flew to Asia a month ago. I set my sights on a Eurotrip themed adventure! I knew that it would have to be awesome and that my friends would have to be amused as well. I finally settled on this proposed route plan:

Los Angeles-Frankfurt

1 night in Frankfurt (Hotwire a Hotel)

Drive to Amsterdam

2 nights in Amsterdam (Radisson Blu Amsterdam)

Drive to Paris

2 nights in Paris (Radisson Blu Champs Elysees & Radisson Blu Le Dokhan’s Hotel)

Drive back to Frankfurt and visit cities a long the way.

Frankfurt- Los Angeles

Last time I drove in Germany, we somehow got this car:

The hotels alone were an absolute wonder to book. In Frankfurt & Amsterdam, I resorted to Hotwire and was able to get great rates that were sub $100 per night! The best feeling was going to hotels.com and seeing that the Radisson Blu Amsterdam was $296 on the nights I wanted to go. I got the same hotel on Hotwire for $86 plus tax!

In Paris, I elected to use my Club Carlson points to book two nights at two different hotels since we have a lot of people going. I was able to use the free bonus night stay that comes with the Club Carlson card and for 100,000 points, I got 2 rooms in Paris for 2 nights each (4 nights total for the price of 2)

In Paris, the hotel prices were about 330-430 Euros/Night depending on the hotels so I think I got great value from those points! (2.1 Cents)

It proved to be a stellar trip but I yearned for more, and that’s exactly what I got.

After booking my friends on a LAX-ATL-FRA-ORD-LAX flight (in Business Class because, you know, college students need to travel in style) for 100,000 miles, I looked into my own flights. Sure, I was going to all these cool places with my friends but I also wanted to make a great Trip Report out of it. I also wanted to get the most value out of my mile. ;)  

I sat down and thought about other routes till I could think no more. I came up with this masterpiece:

Los Angeles-Frankfurt in Lufthansa Business Class (A330) Part of US Airways 90K US-Europe-Asia

My parents modeling the Lufthansa Business Class seats

Paris-Kuala Lumpur  in Malaysian First Class (A380) 105,000 Amex-British Air Points

Kuala Lumpur-Bangkok in Lufthansa First Class (Yes, it’s not wrong) United 70K First Class Award. Picture could change based on flight availability.

Bangkok-Hong Kong in Thai First Class (A380) United 70K First Class Award

Hong Kong-Frankfurt (Lufthansa 747-8i 70K United Award)

Frankfurt-Los Angeles (Lufthansa First Class 70K Award)

My Proposed Trip

To make things more complicated, I used a 90k US Airways redemption to go US-Europe-Asia. I scheduled Europe-Asia as a later trip in September so technically, I end in Europe for now. I then transferred some Membership Rewards to get myself on the Malaysian Airlines A380 from Paris-KUL. I was never supposed to come back to Europe from Malaysia but I realized my flight wouldn’t make it in time to take a free ticket I had from Singapore-Los Angeles. That’s when I dipped into my United Miles to book a return from Asia-Los Angeles.

The Total Costs:

90,000 US Airways miles & $200 in Taxes

105,000 American Express Membership Rewards & $1,000 in Taxes

70,000 United miles & 100 in Taxes

The best part of this trip is that I get to test out a bunch of new products and hopefully report them back to you guys!

Some interesting tidbits about this trip include:

Kuala Lumpur – Bangkok is actually operated by Lufthansa. It is part of their Bangkok – Frankfurt flight so it goes KUL-BKK-FRA.

Overall, this trip should be fun for me and terrifying for my mom who will probably be worrying a little too much.

By flying this route, I’ll be at 4 different A380 First Class cabins in less than 3 months of each other! I’ve already flown Lufthansa & Singapore! Adding Malaysian & Thai to the mix will only leave me with Emirates, Korean Air, Air France, China Southern, & Qantas. I am most interested in flying Emirates and China Southern’ A380s in the future!

If you don’t see me on one of these flights in the upcoming days, you’ll surely see me at FTU DC in a few weeks! Hope to meet you all! You can also follow this trip on Instagram with the hashtag #flywithbmg.

Also, if you like what you see, use our Award Booking Service to build a trip like this! We’ve helped tons of people book trips of a lifetime!

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Posted in American Express, Anatomy of an Award, Avios, Award Booking, BengaliMilesGuru, Malaysia Airlines, Membership Rewards, Star Alliance, Travel Style, Trip Report, Uncategorized, United

Get the Most Out of Your American Express Platinum Card

Posted on March 18, 2013 by | 21 Comments

The American Express Platinum cards come with annual fees of at least $450 (unless you use the link the Bengali Miles Guru found.) But they also come with a litany of valuable benefits worth more than $450.

Unfortunately none of those benefits are automatic. In order to get the most out of the card, you need to spend a little time signing up for each one.

All American Express Platinum cards receive the following benefits. The three main ones to consider are:

The Platinum Card from American Express (personal) with 25k Membership Rewards after $2,000 in purchases in the first three months.

The Business Platinum Card from American Express OPEN (business) with 25k Membership Rewards after $5,000 in purchases in the first three months.

The Platinum Card from American Express Exclusively for Mercedes-Benz (personal) with 50k Membership Rewards after $1,000 in purchases in the first three months.

The Mercedes-Benz Platinum and “regular” personal Platinum are considered different cards, so you can get one then the other. The Business Platinum is one of the best current business card offers from American Express and pairs well with a personal AMEX card during app-o-ramas.

$500 in Free Statement Credits

$200 ($400) Airline Fee Credits

Platinum cards come with a $200 airline fee credit each calendar year. That means in almost everyone’s first year of holding a Platinum card, you can get $400 worth of airline fees credited back to your card.

For instance, I got my Mercedes-Benz Platinum (personal) card in February 2013, so I will take advantage of this benefit in 2013 and January 2014 for $400 in statement credits.

The airline fee credit is supposed to be for fees likes change fees, cancellation fees, and bag fees. The fee credit is not supposed to apply to ticket purchases, miles purchases, or gift card purchases.

But American Express’s computers decides whether a certain purchase qualifies for a fee credit, and in the experience of thousands of people, certain airline gift card purchases will result in a statement credit. That makes this benefit like getting $400 in free flights, which almost completely offsets the annual fee in one swoop.

In order to get the $200 airline fee credit, you have to choose a single airline on which you will receive credits for fees incurred. I decided to designate American Airlines as my airline to receive fee credits in hopes of purchasing gift cards that I can then use to book flights on AA. Designating your airline is as simple as picking up the phone and calling the 800-number on the back of your Platinum card.

I called the number and had to listen to a menu of options. Rather than doing this, simply press “0″ in order to speak to an operator. I told the woman who answered the phone that I was calling in order to designate an airline for my fee credits, and she put me down for American. She did say that it can take time for the fees to be credited back to your account, and to feel free to call back if I had a fee that I wanted to dispute.

I plan on buying two $100 American Airlines gift certificates soon and two more in January 2014. The latest reports on FlyerTalk are that these purchases are generating a corresponding credit within two weeks. Where should I go with me $400 in free AA flights?

$100 Global Entry Fee Credit

Platinum card holders are entitled to a $100 statement credit when they pay the $100 Global Entry enrollment fee with their Platinum cards.

Having Global Entry allows you to skip the immigrations and customs queues when arriving in the US. Instead of spending time in line and talking to an agent, you tap a few buttons at a kiosk and get to the curb in a few minutes. Global Entry membership is valid for 5 years. Scott raves about it. And having Global Entry also lets you skip immigration queues in Australia and New Zealand.

There are two steps involved in obtaining Global entry: an application and an interview.

First, you need to fill out the online application.  To do this as efficiently as possible, make sure you have on hand: Proof of Citizenship documents (I just used my passport); your driver’s license, if you have one; and both your address and work histories for the past five years. The online application process took me about 30 minutes to complete.

If you have never registered with GOES (the Global Online Entry System), you will be prompted to register when you click the online application link above.

Once you are registered with GOES, log in to the system. You will see that you are not a member of any programs. Click “Enroll in a New Program” to begin your Global Entry application.

Select the link that allows you to start the application for the trusted traveler program.

From here, you will have to fill out a variety of personal information. There are 16 categories of information.

Fill out all the sections and submit your application. You will be prompted to pay the $100 application fee–make sure you use your new Platinum AMEX to pay this in order to have the fee credited back to you!

Unfortunately, the GOES system doesn’t email you when your application is approved or denied. I set a reminder in my calendar to check on the status of my application in a week. Once your application is approved, you can use the GOES system to schedule your in-person interview, which will take place at any airport that participates in the Global Entry program.

Free Lounge Access

You can get free lounge access at US Airways Clubs, American Airlines Admirals Clubs, and Delta Sky Clubs by showing your American Express Platinum Card and boarding pass–no set up required! I took advantage on a recent trip from Los Angeles to Buenos Aires, enjoying drinks, a comfortable place to sit, and free wifi at the American Airlines lounges along the way.

You can get even better lounge coverage–especially internationally–by signing up for a free Priority Pass Select membership to complement the automatic free lounge access.

Priority Pass Select

Priority Pass is the world’s largest independent airport lounge access program. Platinum Card holders get free Priority Pass Select membership, which entitles them to free access to hundreds of lounges worldwide (everything on the list except United Clubs).

Signing up for Priority Pass Select is easy. I did it on the same call as setting up my airline fee credits. After designating AA as my airline to receive fee credits on, I asked the agent if she could enroll me in the Priority Pass Select program. It literally took her 10 seconds to enroll me. I received my shiny black and gold Priority Pass card in the mail only 5 days after I called.

This card has to be shown and swiped at participating Priority Pass Select lounges. I downloaded the app on my phone, so I can search for participating lounges by airport while I travel.

There’s more information about this benefit here.

Starwood Preferred Guest Gold Status

Platinum Card holders are entitled to free Gold status in the Starwood Preferred Guest program. Gold status will entitle me to late checkout, free internet, and other benefits on any stays at a Sheraton, W, Westin, Four Points, and other hotel brands.

Not only did I not have Starwood Preferred Guest Status, but I wasn’t even enrolled in the Starwood Preferred Guest program when I called AMEX to set up my Platinum benefits. After enrolling in Priority Pass, I asked the agent about getting SPG Gold, expecting that I would have to go online and dig around in order to do this. I was pleased when she simply transferred me to a Starwood agent. Since I did not already have an account with Starwood, the agent took down my information and promptly enrolled me.

I got an email from SPG with my account number, and when I set up my account online, I had Gold status.

I expect to get the Starwood Preferred Guest American Express on my next app-o-rama, so having Gold status for the stays I take with those points will be a real plus.

Recap

The American Express Platinum cards come with big annual fees, but even bigger benefits. The benefits require a little bit of work to set up: a phone call, some gift card purchases, and a Global Entry application. But setting up and enjoying your benefits is easy–even for a Rookie.

Call American Express at the number on the back of your AMEX card:

  1. Designate an airline to receive your $200 annual (calendar year) airline fee credit.
  2. Ask to be enrolled in Priority Pass Select.
  3. Ask to be given Gold status in Starwood Preferred Guest (and enrolled in SPG if necessary). You will be transferred to SPG.

Buy gift cards with your AMEX Platinum on the airline you designated that will be reimbursed by the airline fee credit. Then use those gift cards for free flights.

Apply for Global Entry, paying the fee with your AMEX Platinum. Then enjoy plane-to-curb times under ten minutes on international flights.

There are even more benefits of holding a Platinum Card–many more than would fit here, and most of little use for the majority of people. For a complete list including benefits at Neiman Marcus, Equinox Fitness Clubs, car rental agencies, and more, see here.

Bonus

For me, a ten minute phone call was the easier way to enroll in these benefits. If you prefer not to speak to an agent, you can enroll for most benefits online here.

Application Links

The Platinum Card from American Express (personal) with 25k Membership Rewards after $2,000 in purchases in the first three months.

The Business Platinum Card from American Express OPEN (business) with 25k Membership Rewards after $5,000 in purchases in the first three months.

The Platinum Card from American Express Exclusively for Mercedes-Benz (personal) with 50k Membership Rewards after $1,000 in purchases in the first three months.

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Posted in American Express, Best Of, Membership Rewards

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How to Use the ANA Search Tool for Awards with United Miles

Posted on March 13, 2013 by | 11 Comments

Yesterday I warned about the drawbacks of searching United.com for Star Alliance award availability  Sometimes, United.com will display phantom award space. Seats will show as available but in reality they simply aren’t there.

The best way to confirm Star Alliance award space is using the All Nippon Airways (ANA) search tool. ANA’s tool is trickier to use, but it’s the most reliable.

Unfortunately, ANA restricts members from searching Star Alliance availability unless they have miles in their account. This is presumably to curb the usage of the search engine by people who have United or US Airways miles but want to search ANA. ANA wants their site to be used by loyal ANA frequent flyers.

Fortunately, there is a trick to using the ANA search tool without any miles in your account! If you haven’t already, the first thing you need to do is sign up for a ANA Mileage Club account here. Though this page looks like a credit card application (no annual fee!) simply click “Apply Here” at the bottom of the screen.

After filling in your pertinent information, you will be assigned a Mileage Club frequent flyer number and a password. You can now click on the “Mileage Club” button at the top of the screen.

You will then be taken to the main ANA frequent flyer page. Click “For Details” on the Using Miles tab.

Once on the Using Miles page, you should click “Partner Flight Awards.”

You will be taken to page with the handy ANA distance-based mileage chart and their routing rules. From here, click the small tab “Application & Ticketing” near the top of the screen.

You are given the option of phoning the ANA call center to book your award or simply searching using their online tool. We want to search online, so click the “members-only function” to reach the search query page.

You will be asked to log in to your account before continuing. Enter your ANA number and your password before hitting continue.

We have finally reached the award search page! To skip the previous steps, it might be handy to bookmark the search page for future queries.

Though we arrived at the award search page, notice that the Star Alliance Partner search is grayed out. I don’t have any miles in my account. Luckily there is a work around. Click “ANA International Flight Awards” to search for award seats on ANA-metal only.

You have to start with a dummy search because you can only search ANA operated flights.

The route you enter doesn’t matter just as long as it’s served by ANA. I always enter Los Angeles <-> Tokyo-Haneda (feel free to choose a different ANA route) and select the number of seats I want. The dates don’t matter either as you can change them later. After entering the airport codes and number of passengers, I then hit “Next” to look for award space.

You will see plenty of options on the next screen. After all, ANA serves Los Angeles to Tokyo with several nonstops. They are immaterial, though. You need to scroll down to the bottom of the screen and click “Use Star Alliance Member Airlines.”

Congratulations, as you have gone through the backdoor and can now search all Star Alliance partners. The search screen is nearly identical to the ANA-only screen. You should delete the “LAX” and “HND” airport codes before beginning your real search. Also change the third drop down (below “Select Region” and “Select Country”) back to “Select Airport.” If you don’t, your new search will likely yield an error message.

Can I plug in my city pairs and expect ANA to come up with good itineraries?

No. Searching Kansas City <-> Mumbai likely won’t yield anything usable. You should search segment by segment.

How do I search multiple segments?

Click the blue button “Flight Search” to add segments to your query.

This seems tedious. Any shortcuts?

Searching united.com is faster but can sometimes display false positives as we detailed yesterday. United’s site is a great place to get ideas while confirming them using ANA’s tool.

I never fly ANA, what’s the best way to deposit miles in my account to lift the Star Alliance search restriction?

American Express Membership Rewards transfer to ANA at a 1:1 ratio. Note that the minimum transfer amount is 1,000, and it usually takes around 48 hours for the miles to post to your Mileage Club account.

ANA is also a transfer partner of Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) points. Regular SPG members with no status must transfer a minimum of 2,500 points. Gold members  have a 1,500 point transfer minimum, and Platinum members have no restrictions. They can transfer 1 mile.

I value my Membership Rewards highly, do ANA miles have any value?

Absolutely! Scott detailed ANA’s great distance-based award chart in his post, How to Save Thousands of Miles Booking United Flights: Use Membership Rewards on ANA.

Though ANA assesses fuel surcharges on all Star Alliance partner flights except United and US Airways, their chart has some great sweet spots that allow for low mileage redemptions.

Recap

ANA’s search tool is the final word on Star Alliance availability. If united.com displays the space but you don’t see it on ANA’s site, the award isn’t bookable.

ANA restricts Star Alliance partner award searches to its own frequent flyers with a mileage balance. Luckily there is a work around that lets you bypass this requirement, though it takes a few extra steps.

If you don’t have the patience, simply utilize ANA’s two primary transfer partners American Express Membership Rewards and SPG Starpoints. Having a balance will ensure the Star Alliance search restriction is lifted.

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Posted in ANA, Membership Rewards, Star Alliance

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Free Oneway Principles on ANA Awards

Posted on March 8, 2013 by | 37 Comments

Update at 9:31 AM ET on 3/8/13. Disregard most of this post. Commentor Angel pointed out trouble getting ANA to price this, and I found the problem. ANA rule: “The departure airport and the final destination on the itinerary may differ, but must be in the same country.” I’ll try to figure out a way to salvage some of this idea.

Yesterday I was effusive about the fact that ANA–a Japanese airlines most of us have never flown–stopped charging fuel surcharges on United and US Airways flights booked with ANA miles. I called it the deal of the month on twitter.

The value comes from ANA’s awesome distance based chart and the fact that it is a Membership Rewards transfer partner.

But I wanted to give some tips to get insane value out of ANA awards using free oneway principles.

The key principle of all free oneways is a stopover at your home airport. By stopping over at your home airport, you can get 1.5 trips out of what the airline thinks is only one trip. (And if the airline thinks it’s one trip, it only charges you for one trip.)

ANA has stopover rules that are liberal and strict at once. The liberal part is that you can have four stopovers on one award! But you can’t have any stopovers in your country of origin, you can only have two in Europe, and holes in your itinerary count as a stopover at both cities!

(The example ANA’s site gives is Tokyo to Frankfurt to Munich, returning after an open jaw from Frankfurt to Tokyo. The open jaw between Frankfurt and Munich counts as a stop in both, so you can’t get a stopover in Frankfurt en route from Tokyo to Munich.)

So how can we apply the free oneway principle of a stopover at our home airport when ANA prohibits stopovers in the country of origin? Easy. Add half of a trip on to the beginning of our main award, thus changing our country of origin.

Let me give an easy example. If you live in Newark and want to fly roundtrip in business class to Paris on United with ANA miles, you’d already get a great deal. The roundtrip is 7,298 miles, so the award would cost 68,000 ANA miles.

This is of course, a steep discount on how many miles United or US Airways would charge–100,000.

But here’s where my trick of adding a prior leg comes in. Add in a oneway from Lima to Newark four months before, and you’ve got the return half of a second trip on the same award. (How do you get to Lima? One way award, cash ticket, walk.)

Now the distance of the award increases substantially to 10,929 miles.

But that’s only one band higher up on the chart, so the mileage price only increases to 85,000. This is remarkable since Lima to Newark–in flat bed business class–is only adding 17,000 miles!

Of course, I can hardly say I’ve maximized the itinerary. You can take two stops in Europe after all.

Here’s a possibility: add Lima to Newark onto an award from Newark to London to Istanbul to Newark with stops in London and Istanbul.

This award traverses 13,690 miles, which is another band higher up. It would cost only 90,000 ANA miles total in business class! (Note that London to Istanbul would be on Turkish Airlines, so you would be on the hook for a modest fuel surcharge for flying a carrier other than United and US Airways intra-Europe.)

There’s nothing special about living in Newark or having every section of the trip be direct. Imagine you want to add the return half of trip to Santiago onto a trip to Tokyo, and you live in Los Angeles. Let’s even throw in a free stopover in Hawaii on the way to Japan.

That 17,850 mile trip would cost only 105,000 ANA miles in business class, which is spectacular since LAX to Tokyo roundtrip is 120,000 United miles and Santiago to LAX would be another 50,000 miles.

That means using Membership Rewards transferred to ANA miles saves 65,000 points!

So far all my examples presuppose a major international hub for United as your home airport. We’re not all so lucky. Living at a hub helps because it means fewer flights, and every flight adds to the cost of an ANA award.

But you don’t have to live at a United or US Airways hub to maximize ANA awards. I’ll give an example for the home airport of Medford, Oregon, which only features two United flights–to Denver and San Francisco.

This award has a return from Sydney to Medford, then a roundtrip to London.

Normally in business class Sydney to Medford would be 67,500, and a roundtrip from Medford to Londond would be 100,000 more. But instead of 167,500 United miles, this itinerary would cost 115,000 ANA miles.

Can you put the oneway after the roundtrip?

No. Imagine reversing the first example. Newark to Paris roundtrip then Newark to Lima. You’ve stopped over in Newark, which is in the origin country. ANA prohibits stopovers in the origin country.

Are these free oneways?

No, the oneways are all adding a bit to the miles price since they are increasing the number of miles flown on the award. There are probably free oneway opportunities to Mexico or the Caribbean. Post them in the comments.

Is this a big deal?

Yes! I already had Membership Rewards worth more than United miles. Now they may be worth more than Ultimate Rewards! If that sounds crazy, let me explain.

United has a great business class bed and releases a great amount of award space. It has a route map that covers most of the places I want to go. Using the techniques in this post, you can use about 1/3 fewer Membership Rewards to book United business itineraries than the number of Ultimate Rewards it would take.

My Plan

I’m going to open the The Business Platinum Card with a 25,000 Membership Rewards sign up bonus to pad my Membership Rewards balance.

I’ve already had the Mercedes-Benz personal Platinum, and the “regular” personal Platinum has a sign up bonus that’s below where I’ve often seen it in the past.

Recap

Booking 1.5 trips with the half trip first unlocks incredible savings on ANA awards that fly United or US Airways.

Full ANA Award Rules

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Posted in American Express, ANA, Award Booking, Best Of, Free Oneway, Membership Rewards, United, US Airways

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How to Save Thousands of Miles Booking United Flights: Use Membership Rewards on ANA

Posted on March 7, 2013 by | 27 Comments

American Express Membership Rewards are valuable because of their ability to be transferred to dozens of partners. But they have a glaring weakness: they don’t have a top-tier Star Alliance transfer partner–US Airways or United.

Membership Rewards can be transferred to Singapore, which is great because this is the only way to get into Singapore business or first class.

Membership Rewards can also be transferred to Aeroplan and ANA. The problem with all three is that they charge massive surcharges on Star Alliance award tickets, making our “free” ticket cost several hundred dollars–even in economy.

That’s the main reason I called US Airways and United the top-tier Star Alliance partners; neither charges surcharges on awards booked with their miles. Both charge just the miles and the government taxes and fees.

But as recently reported by Dan’s Deals, ANA is no longer charging fuel surcharges on United or US Airways flights. This is huge news for a few reasons:

  • ANA has an award chart with some incredible values.
  • ANA is a Membership Rewards transfer partner. With all the great Membership Rewards earning cards’ sign up bonuses lately, many of us are flush with Membership Rewards.
  • United and US Airways fly a lot of convenient routes for Americans. If ANA had to pick two partners on which they wouldn’t charge surcharges, these are ideal.
  • United and US Airways both have world-class business class beds. (United business review.)

What You Need to Know to Take Advantage of the Deal

The deal involves booking with ANA miles. That means you need an ANA account. (Sign up for one here.)

Don’t transfer your Membership Rewards yet. You can do that after you find space. You don’t want to transfer them and then not find space. ANA miles expire after 36 months regardless of activity.

This deal involves flying United or US Airways flights. The best place to search for award space on those airlines regardless of the type of miles you’ll be using to book the award (in this case ANA miles) is united.com. Here is a basic post on how to search on united.com.

On united.com, you must find Saver award space for it to be bookable with ANA miles. Saver space shows up as a blue button on united.com.

For instance, in the above screen shot of a flight from San Francisco to Sydney on December 2, 2013, there is Saver space in business class, but not in economy or first. ANA miles could only book this flight in business class.

If you find flights with Saver space on united.com, write down the flight date, time, and number to book it on ANA.com.

ANA award bookings cannot be made oneway. You have to book roundtrip awards. If you really only want a oneway, Dan has screen shots of what to do. Book your oneway award and any short hop other oneway on United or US Airways together as a “roundtrip.” Make sure the short dummy leg “return” is the second flight. If you make it the first flight, you will have the whole itinerary cancelled when you don’t show up for the dummy leg.

The mileage needed for your ANA award booking is based on the award’s distance. This is one of the key sources of value. Use the Great Circle Mapper (as explained here) to add up the distances of all segments of your itinerary and check its cost here.

Here are some sample itineraries to show you the incredible value of ANA awards. Remember that ANA and United would charge the exact same government taxes. US Airways would charge those plus a $50 award processing fee.

The best deals are from the east coast to Europe, but there is a discount to every continent.

Of course I cherry-picked this list. Adding connecting flights from your home airport may drive up the price.

In general this deal is best for those who live in United or US Airways cities with international flights: Newark, Dulles, Chicago, Denver, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Honolulu, Philadelphia, and Charlotte.

When you find the award space you want, initiate the Membership Rewards transfer, which will take at least two days.

When you book, you will not pay any close-in fees like United and US Airways charge ($75 within 21 days of departure.)

If you want to change your date, you can do that for free.

If you want to change anything else, you have to cancel. There is no cash cost to cancel, but you lose 3,000 miles. This beats the US Airways and United cancellation fee of $150 per ticket.

Open jaws are permitted. Double open jaws are permitted. Sticking two unrelated segments together and never planning to fly the second one in an attempt to get a oneway pricing is permitted. (See the Dan’s Deals post for examples of this.)

Recap

Now that ANA no longer charges fuel surcharges on awards that fly on US Airways or United, we have an incredible new use for Membership Rewards and a way cheaper way to get onto United and US Airways flights.

This deal is great for those with a mountain of Membership Rewards and who live at an airport with direct international flights on United or US Airways. People who don’t live at such an airport may get a slightly worse deal because the distance-based ANA chart adds up the distance of all segments.

The deal is best if you want to fly from the east coast to Europe.

Pad your Membership Rewards balance with:

American Express Mercedes-Benz Platinum (personal) with 50k Membership Rewards after spending $1k in three months. $475 annual fee.

American Express Platinum (business) with 25k Membership Rewards after spending $5k in three months. $450 annual fee.

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Posted in American Express, ANA, Membership Rewards, United, US Airways

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Fantasy Becomes Reality: Singapore Suites From Singapore to Los Angeles

Posted on February 23, 2013 by | 10 Comments

Pack your bags folks. Today, we’re going on one of the most coveted First Class products out there. It’s so luxurious that it’s not even called First Class.

Singapore Airlines Suites were introduced in 2008 exclusively on their flagship A380-800. Ever since then, people have been hoarding their points for a chance to fly this room in the sky. For years, Singapore Suites could only be booked by using KrisFlyer points at an astounding 1 million miles roundtrip!

At the end of 2012, Singapore released their Suites product to saver availability on KrisFlyer. By doing so, the price of a roundtrip went to 180,000 points. Although that is still a lot of points, I’m here to show and tell you why it’s worth every point.

Singapore Changi Airport

I landed from Malaysia in Singapore’s Changi International Airport Terminal 1 on AirAsia. After landing, I cleared immigration and got my bags from the carousel. Tip: If you fly AirAsia, they have strict carry on rules and will often make you check in a bag. If you check in a bag, you have to clear immigration in Singapore so for people who don’t have valid entry into Singapore watch out.

I was fine with exiting the terminal because I wanted to experience the First Class check-in. Singapore A380′s and most flights on intercontinental routes fly out of Terminal 3. I got to Terminal 3 and immediately realized that I made a huge mistake. It was midnight and my flight was at 9AM. The First Class counters were closed and now I was stuck with no boarding pass and no way to enter the departures hall or lounge. I quickly ran through the entire check-in area and found a staff counter open. They were more than happy to check me in!

I proceeded to the security checkpoint/immigration queue. After clearing immigration, the time read 1AM. I made my way to the KrisFlyer Lounge and was greeted by a very friendly lounge employee. She looked at my boarding pass and told me that I was welcome to use the First Class section of the lounge but that the Private Room wouldn’t be open till 5:30AM. I opted to sit around the First Class lounge for a little while and then started walking around the airport.

A deserted T3

Singapore Changi is by far the BEST airport in the world. The amount of things to do is truly amazing:

  • Butterfly Garden (T3)
  • Cactus Garden (T1)
  • Swimming Pool (T1)
  • Fish Spa (T1)
  • Koi Pond (T2)
  • Snooze Lounges (All Terminals)
  • Variety of Shops (All Terminals)
  • Free Movie Theaters (All Terminals)
  • Singapore’s largest slide (After Immigration T3)
  • Cascading Waterfalls (T3)
  • Free Internet Kiosks & Free Internet (All Terminals)
  • Brick Toast (Best Toast Ever! T3,T2)

The lounge situation is even better in Singapore as Priority Pass cardholders get access to the Cathay Pacific DNATA lounge in T1. They also get access to:

  • Ambassador Transit Lounge (T2, T3)
  • Rainforest Lounge (T1)
  • The Green Market (Gross, Don’t Go. T2)
  • The Skyview Lounge (Cathay Pacific T1)

I spent most of my time sampling the lounges and I think the best priority pass lounge is Skyview. They have the best food options and the most space.

It was now 6AM and I started to walk to the KrisFlyer Lounge in T3. I came up the escalator and was immediately greeted by another friendly lounge agent. After taking a look at my boarding pass, she said “May I escort you to the Private Room?” I followed her past what seemed to be 50-60 people in the First Class lounge. She took me through the automatic sliding double doors and into the confines of the Private Room.

The food selection in the Private Room is actually really diverse. They have everything from Eggs Benedict to Roti Prata’s. (Singaporean-Indian dish)

I was quite surprised to see how many people were in the Private Room. There were families with kids and a bunch of business men. The place looked like it had about 20 people. The waiter quickly came to my seating area to take my order. I looked at the menu but wasn’t too hungry so I decided to forego the meals. There were a lot of people, so I didn’t take a lot of pictures.

The Private Room

About 30 minutes before departure, I was approached by the ground staff who told me it was time to board. The security check in Singapore is done individually at each gate and so I advise you to go through security about 30 minutes before. Once through security, I made my way towards the placard labeled Suites.

Singapore Airlines SQ 12

Singapore-Los Angeles (Stop in Tokyo)

Airbus A380

Suites Cabin 1A,2c,2D

As I walked through the jetway, I couldn’t help but smile. Here I was, finally flying  in Suites. As I entered, I was greeted by the Leading Steward and Stewardess and then I saw this:

I was still drooling when I took my seat and the purser immediately came to me asking for a pre-departure drink. She already had champagne in her hand and I think she expected me to order that but I don’t drink, so I ordered an Iced Milo. If many of you don’t know, Iced Milo is the best thing to happen since…mankind. It’s Asia’s version of Yoohoo or Chocolate Milk but tastes 10 times better.

While boarding was underway for the rear of the cabin, I snapped up a few more pictures.

The purser came around and handed us our amenity kits, pajamas and slippers.

Givenchy Pajamas (pronounced jee-von-she)

Kiehls Amenity Kit

As boarding wrapped up and the doors closed, the captain came on air to tell us that the flight time to Tokyo would be 6 hours and 15 minutes. SQ 12 stops in Tokyo for fuel before continuing onto Los Angeles. My original plan was to stay awake on the flight from SIN-NRT and sleep NRT-LAX.

That didn’t work out as I fell asleep 3 hours into the SIN-NRT flight. I was originally seated in seat 1A but I changed mid-air into 2C so the flight attendant could make me a double bed. For those not familiar with Singapore Suites layout, the two middle seats can be turned into a double bed. This is usually reserved for couples but the flight was only 5/12 full in First, and the purser came to me and asked if I wanted a double bed made.

Before I slept, I had to take advantage of the meal service. I had pre-ordered my meal from the Singapore Airlines website and it had consisted of

Lunch: King Prawns with Rice

I apologize in advance as I didn’t take pictures of the menu.

The first course was a delicious chicken satay.

Chicken Satay

Then, bread and soup followed.

Bread.

Soup.

That was followed by Salad & Cold Noodles

Salad.

Cold Noodles

Then, there was the main course.

Main Course: King Prawns with Rice

After the main course, I was too full for dessert so I opted out till an hour before landing.

It was now time to sleep and my bed was soon made. To make things better, an Iced Milo and bottled water were placed on my bedside!

Although the suites become a double bed in the middle, there is a partition that doesn’t get covered up. It is extremely uncomfortable but I was able to use the Givenchy blankets to pad the partition.

It’s important to note that the seat doesn’t become a bed, but it flips over and a mattress pad is placed on it to make the bed. It is very comfortable and the supplied down comforters are the best I’ve ever used on a plane. 

The Suites offer private closing doors and window shades. The shades have an opening on the bottom and top, so you aren’t completely out of view. I was told from a source that they were made like this to make sure passengers don’t get too comfortable with their partner.

Window Open

Window Closed

I slept for a good 2 hours and was woken up by the purser for my dessert.

The Suite

We landed in Tokyo for a fuel stop and had to leave the plane while it was cleaned and checked by security. An hour later, we boarded the plane. I was so surprised to see that at my seat, there was an Iced Milo waiting in my cup holder. It seems as though the previous flight crew made a note to the new crew about my beverage choice. It’s small things like this that made the flight so memorable for me. The doors closed and we were at the gate for about an hour due to the fact that our plane had to be de-iced. I didn’t mind. I was hoping to get as much time on board.

After a long wait and taxi towards the runway, we took off towards Los Angeles. Dinner service started almost immediately and so I decided to watch a movie. The entertainment/media set on Singapore Airlines is the best in the world I’ve seen. There were a total of 246 movies and over 500 different shows to watch. The interface is very easy to use but doesn’t include the tailcam that is usually included in A380′s. I chose to watch Madea’s Witness Protection which was hilarious.

For dinner, I had pre-ordered Lobster Thermidor.

The first course was the same Chicken Satay as before. The second course was salad and after the salad, I decided to skip to my main course.

Lobster Thermidor

At this point, I was way too tired to do anything else so I requested that my bed be made. I went to the bathroom and took a few pictures there.

I came out of the bathroom to hang up my clothes on the side of my suite. Many people don’t notice it because it blends in, but every suite has it’s own closet.

My double bed was made again but now, the lighting made it look a whole lot better!

Window looking in

Double Bed

The Suite even has recessed lights!

Two TVs and Two Beds!

Despite trying to finish my essay that was due an hour after I landed, I fell asleep. I woke up about 3 hours out of L.A and started doing some work. As soon as I turned my light on to find my laptop, a steward came by and offered me a hot towel and something to drink. This is in contrast to the previous flights I took on Lufthansa where we had to call the steward over after we woke up. It’s not a big deal but again, it’s the small things that made this memorable.

Breakfast was served about an hour and a half out of Los Angeles. I previously ordered the Japanese light meal but changed my mind when I saw waffles on the menu.

Mixed Fruits

Waffle with Chocolate Covered Bananas

With 45 minutes left, I walked around the plane a little and snapped up some more pictures.

We landed and so came an end to the most amazing flight of my life. Singapore Suites is as good as it gets. For now, nothing is better. The service, attention to detail, food and hard product is what makes this airline one of the best. Be it Economy, Business, or Suites, Singapore Airlines will not disappoint. This was definitely worth all 91,375 points.

Previously: how to transfer Membership Rewards to KrisFlyer miles and how to book Singapore Airlines online.

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Posted in BengaliMilesGuru, Membership Rewards, Singapore, Star Alliance, Trip Report

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Rookie Alli’s First Cards: Execution

Posted on February 21, 2013 by | 21 Comments

Previously: Rookie Alli’s First Cards: Picking the Cards

Execution

My first cards couldn’t have been easier! While I did hit a couple of snags, none were very serious, and I am treating them as learning experiences. I applied for all five card in one day and was able to fit in the applications and any needed calls to the credit card companies around the other things I had to do that day: a kickball game and some flip cup.

I started with the Frontier card at 10:11 AM and was instantly approved online.

I even got to pick which Frontier mascot I wanted on my card. I went with Foxy Brown.

Excited after this positive start, I moved on to the United MileagePlus Explorer card. Again, instant approval! I’d been at this for 20 minutes and was two-for-two on these applications.

…Except that I had clicked the Submit button without adding a second cardholder to the account. That click was a 5,000 mile rookie mistake.

Chase lets you add an authorized user to the card and earn 5,000 extra miles upon first purchase.

On the application, I just skipped over the section because it wasn’t very noticeable.

I might be able to salvage those points, though. I’ll send a secure message to Chase and see if they will let me add a user for 5,000 miles. I’ll report back.

Disappointed about the United blunder, I moved on to the Discover it™. This is where I encountered my second snag of the day. I filled out my personal information, checked the Terms and Conditions box, and was redirected back to the original application page. Not letting this computer glitch deter me from my mission, I again filled out my info, checked the box, and… nothing.

A quick phone call to Discover informed me that they were having system wide technical issues, their staff was slammed, and could I please call back later? I called again that evening at 8:00 PM, concerned with the fact that I may have submitted two applications or maybe none at all. The agent told me that I had indeed submitted two, and that the first was instantly approved but the second was pending further review. I asked her to shut down the second application, which she did. Success!

The fourth card I applied for was the Mercedes-Benz Platinum card. Once again, I was instantly approved and received an email telling me I’d have my card in 2-3 days.

I applied on Sunday, and received it on Tuesday. Considering it was a holiday weekend, a 48 hour turnaround was quite impressive! I’m already working on the Global Entry application.

The final application was for the Citi® Hilton HHonors™  Reserve Card card. This was the only card that I was not immediately approved for.

That was fine. I learned from applying for the Citi American Airlines cards in November about reconsideration calls since I was not immediately approved for the Citi American Airlines American Express. In my experience, a reconsideration call is no big deal, but I like to prep what I am going to say before picking up the phone.

I know it’s important to convey enthusiasm for the card’s partner (Hilton) and all the card’s benefits except the sign up bonus, so that the bank will think you are a profitable customer.

At a minimum, I was expecting some questions. But after the rep confirmed my identity, he put me on hold, came back, and said I had been approved for the card. Here is a video of the call. Most of the five minute call was spent goofing off on hold.

Recap

I applied, and was approved, for five rewards cards.

My haul? After a combined minimum spend of $5,250, I will have 35,000 Frontier miles, 35,000 United miles, 50,000 Membership Rewards, free Global Entry, $400 in airline-fee credits or gift cards, two free weekend nights at almost any Hilton across the globe, free lounge access at hundreds of airports, access to huge cashback opportunities from Discover, free breakfast and internet at Hiltons, and a credit card with a fox on it. ;)

  • Frontier Airlines World MasterCard for access to its incredible award chart
  • Chase United MileagePlus Explorer Visa for United miles with a low minimum spend
  • Discover it™ for access to its 5% cash back rotating categories and amazing cash back mall
  • Mercedes-Benz American Express Platinum for the points, lounge access, airline gift cards, and Global Entry despite the huge $475 annual fee
  • Citi® Hilton HHonors™  Reserve Card for two free nights at a Hilton I could normally only dream of

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Posted in American Express, Barclay's, Citi, Discover, Frontier, Hilton, Membership Rewards, United

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Rookie Alli’s First Cards: Picking the Cards

Posted on February 21, 2013 by | 25 Comments

Introducing Rookie Alli: Rookie Alli will be MileValue’s resident expert-rookie. She’ll write posts about getting started with miles and points from a beginner’s perspective. From the first cards and the first award booking to first class (hopefully), folks of all levels can learn from her triumphs and rookie mistakes.

Rookie Alli, scaring dogs since the ’80s

I just signed up for five cards and got 110,000 miles and points, two free hotel nights, $500 worth of statement credits, access to the best cash back mall, and a number of other perks.

Planning

Being new to the miles game, I currently only have two credit cards: the Citi AAdvantage Visa and American Express cards, which I applied for using the now-dead, two-browser trick in November. I met my minimum spends and collected my 105,000 American miles, and now I’m hooked.

Should I use the AA miles to go back to Hawaii?

Scott always says to wait 91 days between credit card applications, then apply for any cards you want the same day to maximize your approvals and rewards. After my 91 days passed, I was eager to see what my my next cards could be.

There were a couple of personal factors I kept in mind when deciding which cards I was going to include in my applications.

1. I wanted to keep my minimum spends relatively low, since I will be out of the country during part of the minimum spending period in countries where it is tough to use credit cards.

2. I have not hopped on the Bluebird/Vanilla train just yet, but I am comfortable using Amazon Payments to help meet minimum spends.

This goes along with my biggest piece of advice to fellow rookies: only dip your toes into the miles world to the extent you are comfortable. For instance, at first I was only comfortable getting two credit cards at a time. When I saw I could handle that, I decided I could handle more cards this time.

When I heard about Amazon Payments, I tested it out one month by sending $990 to a friend. I was comfortable with the results, so I continued using the service each month.

I signed up for a Bluebird card, but I have not activated it yet because I am still not comfortable with the idea.

3. I only wanted to apply for cards with an annual fee if I felt the card’s perks justified that fee.

I got into this game for free travel, so I don’t want to pay annual fees. But I am willing to pay an annual fee if I know I am getting way more in return than the fee costs.

4. I’m not ready for any business cards. I do probably have some small money-making activities that would qualify as businesses, but I’m not comfortable applying for business cards yet.

I know that most people can get business cards easily from reading How to be Approved for a Business Card, and that I am missing out on some of the best sign up bonuses, but business cards aren’t for me yet.

Using MileValue’s Best Offers and Best Practices, I ultimately decided to apply for five cards:

1.  Frontier Airlines World MasterCard

  • 25,000 bonus miles after first purchase
  • 10,000 bonus miles after spending $750 in the first 90 days for a total of 35,000 bonus miles
  • 10,000 mile one way awards within the USA
  • 15,000 mile one way awards to Mexico, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, and Jamaica
  • 5,000 mile discount on companion award tickets
  • 2x miles on Frontier purchases
  • $59 annual fee

This card was a no-brainer for me: miles after the first purchase, very low minimum spend to unlock the rest of the miles, and I’ve had really good experiences flying Frontier to and from Denver in college.

2.  Chase United MileagePlus Explorer Visa

  • 30,000 United miles after $1,000 in spending in the first three months
  • 5,000 extra United miles when you add another cardholder to the account
  • One free checked bag
  • Two United Club Passes
  • no annual fee the first year, then $95 thereafter

I wanted to earn some United miles because I know how valuable they can be, especially to Europe.

I know the Chase Sapphire Preferred offers a superior bonus of 40,000 Ultimate Rewards after spending $3,000 in three months, but I wanted to keep my minimum spend low.

3.  Discover it™

  • 5% cash back on the first $1,500 spent on categories that rotate each quarter
  • Opportunity to use the Discover online portal for 5-20% cash back at many retailers
  • 1% cash back on all other purchases
  • no annual fee

This might seem like a weird card to get because it has no sign up bonus. I got it because the card was an opportunity for me to earn a lot of cash back. This quarter’s 5% back category is restaurants and movies. I know I can maximize that category. Next quarter is home improvement stores, where I also spend a lot. Yes, really ;)

The other big thing is this card will allow me to access the ShopDiscover portal, which is one of the best portals out there. The portal offers 5-20% cash back at a lot of places I shop and routinely offers better deals than miles-earning portals. For instance, no one comes close to offering 5% cash back at Apple.

courtesy evreward.com

4.  Mercedes-Benz American Express Platinum

  • 50,000 Membership Rewards after spending $1,000 in three months
  • $100 credit for Global Entry signup
  • $200 calendar-year airline-fee credit
  • Free airport lounge access (American, US Airways, Delta, Priority Pass)
  • $475 annual fee, not waived in the first year

This was the only card I was hesitant to apply for. When I first saw that $475 annual fee (!) I immediately disregarded it as an option to include in my applications. I thought no perks could justify that fee, especially since the fee would appear on my first statement–before I could enjoy anything I was paying for.

However, when I thought a little deeper about it, I realized that this card actually offers a lot of good bonuses. Bill covered how those airline-fee credits can be used to buy gift cards which can then be used to purchase flights, the Global Entry voucher will save me hours of waiting-in-customs time this year (my sanity must be worth $475, right?), and I know I can easily find a use for 50,000 Membership Awards.

Since the airline-fee credits are a calendar year bonus, I can get 2 x $200 gift cards plus $100 for Global Entry, meaning $500 in statement credits.

I guess I can give it a year-long trial run. I’ll get $400 worth of flights, $100 worth of Global Entry, free lounge access, and nearly a $1,000 worth of points for my $475 fee.

5. Citi® Hilton HHonors™  Reserve Card

• Earn 2 weekend night certificates good at select hotels and resorts within the Hilton HHonors portfolio after $2,500 in eligible purchases within 4 months of account opening*
• Earn 10 HHonors Bonus Points per $1 spent on hotel stays within the Hilton HHonors portfolio*
• Earn 5 HHonors Bonus Points per $1 spent on airline and car rental purchases*
• Earn 3 HHonors Bonus Points per $1 spent on all other eligible purchases*
• Enjoy the benefits of HHonors Gold status as long as you are a cardmember*
• No foreign transaction fees on purchases*
• Travel with ease and enjoy global acceptance with your Citi chip credit card
• Earn an anniversary bonus of 1 weekend night certificate at select hotels and resorts within the Hilton HHonors portfolio each cardmembership year with qualifying purchases*

This one was tough because it had a large minimum spend and an annual fee. I went with it, though because I want two free nights at a super fancy hotel that I could otherwise never afford.

I’m channeling my inner Hepburn by picturing myself drinking champagne and eating macaroons in Paris

Recap

I chose five cards to apply for:

  • Frontier Airlines World MasterCard for access to its incredible award chart
  • Chase United MileagePlus Explorer Visa for United miles with a low minimum spend
  • Discover it™ for access to its 5% cash back rotating categories and amazing cash back mall
  • Mercedes-Benz American Express Platinum for the points, lounge access, airline gift cards, and Global Entry despite the huge $475 annual fee
  • Citi® Hilton HHonors™  Reserve Card for two free nights at a Hilton I could normally only dream of

Concluded in Rookie Alli’s First Cards: Execution

 

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Posted in American Express, Barclay's, Citi, Discover, Frontier, Hilton, Membership Rewards, United

Free First Class Next Month: Transferable Points Program Basics

Posted on February 3, 2013 by | 8 Comments

This is the eleventh post in a monthlong series that started here. Each post will take about two minutes to read and may include an action item that takes the reader another two minutes to complete. I am writing this for an audience of people who know nothing about frequent flier miles, and my goal is that by the end, you know enough to fly for free anywhere you want to go. Previously An Easy Way to Meet Multiple Minimum Spends at Once.

Transferable points programs are loyalty programs, usually run by banks, that allow a person to earn points that can be transferred to several different airline or hotel programs. The three most important programs are American Express Membership Rewards (MR), Chase Ultimate Rewards (UR), and Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) Starpoints.

First I’ll describe the basics of those three programs, then I’ll talk about how to make the most of your transferable points.

American Express Membership Rewards

American Express Platinum, Gold, Green, Centurion, and Corporate cards earn Membership Rewards points.

Points are transferable to dozens of air and hotel loyalty programs including Delta (1 MR to 1 SkyMile), British Airways (1 MR to 1 Avios), Singapore Airlines (1 MR to 1 KrisFlyer miles), and SPG (3 MR to 1 Starpoint)

There are near constant transfer bonuses, which temporarily improve the transfer ratios of certain programs.

Membership Rewards can be frustrating if you want premium international travel because Delta has the worst award space of major US carrier, and the other airline transfer programs charge huge surcharges on redemptions.

There are ways around these frustrations, depending on where you want to go. Tahsir and I are in the process of publishing a series on Membership Rewards transfer options, so you can better understand your options. The first post was about transferring to Singapore Airlines.

Your Membership Rewards can be transferred to anyone’s loyalty account. This is why when I sometimes do giveaways on Twitter, I give away Membership Rewards that I transfer to the program of choice of the winner.

Chase Ultimate Rewards

The Sapphire Preferred, Ink Bold, Freedom, and other Sapphires and Inks earn Ultimate Rewards.

Points earned on the Sapphire Preferred, Ink Bold, and Ink Plus are transferable to several air and hotel loyalty programs including United, Southwest, British Airways, and Hyatt–all at a 1:1 ratio.

Points earned on the Freedom and other Sapphires and Inks are not transferable to those loyalty programs, but they are transferable to your other Ultimate Rewards accounts. So you could transfer your Ultimate Rewards from Freedom to your Sapphire Preferred, and then from there to United.

Chase has not gotten into the transfer bonus game yet.

Ultimate Rewards can be combined among your Chase accounts and your spouse’s. You can also send the points to your airline or hotel accounts or your spouse’s. But Chase prohibits sending points to anyone else and has shut down accounts for transfers that don’t comply with Chase’s rules.

SPG Starpoints

Starwood Hotels’ loyalty program is a much-loved transfer program. Many hotel loyalty programs let you transfer your points to airlines, like many airlines let you transfer your miles to hotels. However, it is almost always a bad deal. By contrast, SPG points transfer to airlines at a good rate, so it is an outlier.

The SPG AMEX card earns 10,000 Starpoints on first purchase and 15,000 more after $5k spending in the first six months.

A complete list of airline transfer partners is here. Notable 1:1 transfer partners include American, British, Delta, US Airways, Alaska, and Hawaiian.

And the reason everyone loves SPG points is that you can do better than 1:1 on airline transfers.

For every 20,000 Starpoints you transfer, you get a bonus 5,000 miles in the transfer partner’s miles. Example: If you transfer 20,000 Starpoints to American, you receive 25,000 AAdvantage miles. Thus if you transfer in exactly 20,000 Starpoint increments, all the 1:1 transfer partners are really 1:1.25 transfer partners!

Starpoints can be transferred to anyone’s loyalty accounts.

Now that you know about the big three, let’s talk about how to get maximum value from transferable points programs.

1. Keep you points in the transferable points program until you have an award in mind, then transfer. Holding on to your points in the transferable programs retains your option value: you can still transfer them to any of the partners. Once you transfer, that option value is destroyed, so don’t transfer until you have an award in mind. Membership Rewards and Ultimate Rewards make following this easy because points transfer instantly to most partners. Starpoints do not transfer instantly, so you have to transfer with some anticipation, but still you should hold those as Starpoints as long as you can before transferring.

The one exception to this hold-the-points approach is if you close your last Ultimate Rewards or Membership Rewards earning card. The points disappear in that case, so send them out first.

(This is not a worry with the SPG AMEX and Starpoints because those points are in your SPG hotel account. Nor is this a worry with airline cards like the Citi American Airlines Visa because your AA miles are in your AA account.)

2. Make sure the award you plan to book with your transferred points is worth more than your other transfer options. For instance, you can transfer UR points to United and Southwest. Checking the Mile Value Leaderboard, we see that a Southwest Rapid Rewards point is worth 1.69 cents. If you’re transferring to United for an award worth less than 1.69 cpm, and you should check that at the Mile Value Calculator, you’re probably making a mistake and could get more value from a transfer to Southwest.

3. Make sure the award you plan to book with your transferred points is worth more than your other non-transfer options. For instance, your other best option with Starpoints is hotel stays. Many people report getting several cents per point from using their Starpoints for hotel awards using the Cash & Points option–even after its recent devaluation.

4. The best use of a transferable program is often topping up an account that is just short of an award. If you’ve got 85,000 United miles and want to book a roundtrip business class ticket to Europe, your miles are practically useless. Transferring in 15,000 UR points to reach 100,000 provides immense value, taking you from having no ticket to having the business class ticket in hand.

And this is often the best way to think about the transferable-points programs. Don’t get the Ink Bold thinking it’s 50,000 more United miles or 50,000 Southwest points. Instead pursue strategies to get huge amounts of United and Southwest miles other ways, and use your 50,000 UR points when you’re just short of the miles needed for an award in one of its partner programs.

I love transferable points programs for their flexibility and immense value. They should be a key component of any miles enthusiast’s strategy for exploiting frequent flier miles.

Continue to Category Bonuses.

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