Despite signing up two weeks early, I will still be getting the 60k Ultimate Rewards sign up bonus. What are the magic steps I took to get 10k extra Ultimate Rewards, which I value around $200?

Chase has the best customer service of any bank in my opinion. One example of that is a well-documented willingness to match people to the best offer on a credit card if the person applied for an inferior offer.

I applied for the 50k bonus Ultimate Rewards after $5k in spending in the first three months version of the Ink Bold a few weeks ago. This week, the terms of the offer are identical except the sign up bonus is 60k Ultimate Rewards.

My immediate reaction was to log in to my chase.com account and send a Secure Message to Chase asking if they would offer me 10k more Ultimate Rewards to match my offer to the current offer.

I kept my secure message brief and polite:

I recently opened a Chase Ink Bold for my business, and then today I saw that the offer on the card had been increased to 60k Ultimate Rewards after $5k in purchases–10k more than my offer. I was wondering if I could be matched to the better offer as a gesture of goodwill. Thanks so much!

Scott Grimmer

Upon submission, I was promised a response within four hours, even though my message was sent on Sunday at 5 AM. About four hours later, I got a response that said the inquiry was under review, and I’d hear back in 3-5 business days.

Two days later (today), I heard back that Chase would offer me an extra 10k Ultimate Rewards to match my offer to the current offer. The email said to meet my minimum spending requirement–working on it!–and then reply by secure message requesting the 10k bonus points.

I was very happy to receive the great news from Chase, but I wasn’t surprised. Rookie Alli and her sister both had their 30k United card offers matched to 50k offers in this exact way, so Chase appears to be very generous in allowing customers to match to the best offer.

Have you ever used a Secure Message request successfully?

Am I the only one with “bad timing” who opened a Chase Ink Bold or Ink Plus in the last few weeks?

Tahsir–the Bengali Miles Guru–just booked himself a pretty sweet trip to combine Singapore Business Class with Cathay Pacific First Class to head around the world and sample a few Asian cities.

Introducing: The most ridiculous trip around the world in 6 days!

Recently, Avianca Lifemiles ran a promotion that allowed people to get a 100% bonus on points purchased. By doing so, I was able to snag a one way business class ticket on Singapore Airlines for around $850. I impulsively bought the ticket when I found some space on Singapore Airlines flight from Houston-Singapore by way of Moscow. The rest of the trip was decided 2 months later and it went something like this.

Houston-Moscow-Singapore on Singapore Airlines Business Class

A few hours in Singapore

Singapore-Bangkok-Phuket in Singapore Airlines/Thai Airways Business Class

2 days in Phuket

Phuket-Hong Kong-Los Angeles & Free Oneway later on to Cabo San Lucas in Cathay & American Airlines First Class

Cost:

62,500 Avianca Lifemiles (the price has now gone up)

17,500 United Miles (cash tickets were around $500 for the SIN-BKK-HKT portion)

67,500 AA Miles

This route is optimized for time and value. I have flown Cathay Pacific before but in Business Class. I’m really looking forward to first class because I’ve only ever heard rave reviews.

My excitement comes from being able to fly Singapore Business Class. They have an amazing cabin and crew. Personally, I believe that the difference between the seat in Business and First Class on Singapore Airlines is incremental. The service might differ but the seat is almost the same!

I’m also excited to revisit Phuket. I went there once as a child and remember how clear and beautiful the water was. It should be nice to go back and rent some see-through rafts!

Throughout the trip, I added some overnight layovers so I could explore Bangkok and Hong Kong. I really enjoyed both on a trip I took two months ago! I can never get enough of major Asian cities because they’re so lively all the time!

This trip also enables me to use the new and updated Wing lounge in Hong Kong! Everyone is raving (My Former Math Teacher) about the Cabanas, which look pretty amazing to me.

Here’s an infographic showing stats about my upcoming trip!

Today is the second day of the second week of five weeks of discounted travel packages sponsored by the US Travel Association and American Express called Daily Getaways.

Every weekday at 1 PM ET, a discounted travel package or packages will go on sale and will usually sell out in a few minutes. Some of the offers will be awesome; some will be duds.

Today’s deal is discounted hotel stays from various Omni Hotels and Resorts across the country.

The pool at the Onmi Tucson.

How can you get in on the deal?

All Daily Getaways packages are discounted. And you get an additional 10% off each sale price by paying with an American Express, so that’s a no-brainer, and I’ll always quote prices after the American Express discount.

Prices range from $162 for a two night stay (checking in on Friday or Saturday) in various cities, including Austin, Charlottesville, and Jacksonville, to $337.50 for two nights at their Premier locations, such as their properties in San Francisco, Hilton Head, and Chicago. Quantities of the four available packages range from 10 to 49, so these deals will sell out in moments!

For the $238.50 Omni NY Berkshire package: “Within 5 business days following purchase, you’ll receive a certificate in the form of an e-mail with a unique promotion code to use when booking your stay. Certificate will be sent to the e-mail address provided at time of purchase. Please check your email settings to ensure the certificate does not go to junk mail. Certificate expires December 30, 2013.”

I priced out a random weekend in November at the San Francisco Omni. For a two person, two night stay at their property, they are charging $255/night. Daily Getaways is offering this for $337.50 for two nights — a 34% discount on the normal price.

Look at the property you’d want to stay at to determine if one of the packages is a good deal for your hotel on your dates, and make sure that you plan to stay by December 30, 2013 when the certificates expire.

Purchasing the Packages

To maximize your chances of getting in on the deal, I recommend using a site like whattimeisit.com to figure out the official time. This year’s sales have all started on time to the second. Keep refreshing for the best chance.

This is what happens if you try to purchase something where all quantities are already in someone’s cart.

This doesn’t mean the deal is sold out. If someone doesn’t complete his purchase, that quantity will immediately become available for someone else. Keep checking until the dreaded “Sold Out” appears.

I will be by my computer at 1 PM EST / 10 AM PST / 7 AM HST / (2 PM in Buenos Aires) to check out how these deals are selling. Do you plan to buy them? Post your successful or failed attempt in the comments, so we can gauge how quick you had to be to snag a deal.

Daily Getaways home page

Daily Getaways Help

Daily Getaways FAQ

Full Terms and Conditions for Two Nights at Omni Premier Hotels and Resorts for $337.50:

• This offer can be redeemed for a two (2) consecutive night stay valid for a Friday or Saturday check-in.

• Certificate applies to room and room tax only for two (2) consecutive nights. Guest is responsible for all other charges, incidentals, and gratuity.

• Certificate is valid for a standard room (single or double occupancy).

• This offer is only valid at the following locations: The Omni Chicago Hotel, The Omni San Francisco Hotel, The Omni La Mansion del Rio (San Antonio), The Omni Shoreham Hotel (Washington, D.C.), The Omni San Diego Hotel, The Omni Parker House (Boston), The Omni Los Angeles Hotel, The Omni Orlando Resort at ChampionsGate, The Omni Bedford Springs Resort (in the Cumberland Mountains of South Central Pennsylvania), The Omni Mount Washington Resort (Bretton Woods, New Hampshire), The Omni Amelia Island Plantation (Florida), and The Omni Hilton Head Oceanfront Resort (Hilton Head, SC)

• Subject to availability. Blackout dates apply and vary by property.

• Additional nights will be available at the prevailing rate.

• Cannot be combined with any other discounts or special offers.

• The certificate is non-transferable and is not redeemable for cash.

• Certificate expires December 30, 2013.

• All sales are final.

1. Singapore Suites Class
2. Cathay Pacific First Class
3. Lufthansa First Class out of Frankfurt to access the First Class Terminal
4. the Island Hopper
5. Etihad First Class

The first three are surprisingly easy and cheap to piece together into one short trip around the world. I’ve been working on a few permutations for fun that I’ll share in this post.

The main reason I haven’t flown any of these ultra-lux products before is that all the travel in my life has been focused on the destination, not on the accommodation, and East Asia hasn’t yet hit the top of my list.

While I still want most of my travel going forward to focus on the destination, I’ve decided to treat myself to a few more luxury trips with miles after I enjoyed Emirates First Class so much. Plus East Asia has worked its way near the top of my list, since Asia is the place I’ve spent the least time.

I want to combine Singapore Suites Class, Cathay Pacific First Class, and Lufthansa First Class out of Frankfurt into one trip.

Singapore Suites

First class on Singapore A380s is called Suites Class. Tahsir flew Singapore Suites Class this year. What makes me want to fly it?

A fully enclosed suite, over-the-top service, and the ability to combine two seats/beds into one double bed!

Singapore Suites Class is impossible to get with United miles or US Airways miles, but it is pretty widely available to people with Singapore miles. Unfortunately Singapore awards will have fuel surcharges, though they are not crippling.

Cathay Pacific First Class

Cathay Pacific First Class has a reputation for being a consistently excellent First Class, possibly the best in the world. I know everyone’s flown it, but my two transpacific routes in my lifetime were direct flights to and from Australia, so I haven’t had a chance.

I’m especially interested in flying the newest iteration of the First Class, about to be rolled out across the 777 fleet.

Cathay Pacific First Class is widely available on some routes, and on other routes, it’s scarce. But if you have enough flexibility, booking Cathay Pacific First Class is no problem.

Lufthansa First Class

Lufthansa First Class gets high marks, and I am very interested in flying it. Furthermore I want to fly it out of Frankfurt to enjoy access to the First Class Terminal Tahsir visited this year.

Ride to the plane from the First Class Terminal

Lufthansa First Class is widely available to people with United miles less than 15 days before departure. Before 15 days before departure, you’d need Lufthansa miles.

Combining All Three

There are a lot of options to combine all three onto one itinerary. You can fly around the world to the east or west with as few as three segments or several more. You can start in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, New York, or connect to one of those cities.

You have two options between the US and Europe:

• An A380 serves Singapore’s New York-JFK to Frankfurt route (which is half of its Singapore <-> Frankfurt <-> New York route, each half is bookable or you can book the whole thing)
• Lufthansa has tons of routes from Frankfurt to North America. The most useful for this exercise are to New York-JFK, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Vancouver, which are cities that either Singapore or Cathay Pacific also serve.

You have all three options between Europe and Asia:

• Singapore serves Singapore <-> Frankfurt, London, Zurich, and Paris with A380s, though not every flight to those destinations, so check carefully
• Cathay serves Hong Kong <-> Frankfurt, London, Paris, and Milan with planes with First Class
• Lufthansa flies from Frankfurt to Hong Kong (with a 747-8!) and Singapore (with an A380!) and tons more cities in Asia

You have two options between Asia and North America:

• Singapore flies its Singapore <-> Los Angeles (via NRT) and New York <-> Singapore (via FRA). The flights are so long that they have a stop en route, and you can book either half of the flight instead of the whole thing to save miles or make routing better.
• Cathay Pacific flies Hong Kong <-> Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, New York, and Vancouver

Possible Routings

There are a lot of ways to cram Singapore Suites Class, Cathay First Class, and Lufthansa First Class out of Frankfurt onto one trip.

Three Takeoffs

There is only one way to do the trip with only three takeoffs: New York to Frankfurt to Hong Kong to New York, flying Singapore, Lufthansa, and Cathay Pacific in that order. I think this is also the shortest amount of flying possible to meet the goals.

In addition this would be the cheapest routing in miles.

New York to Frankfurt would give you just under eight hours in a Singapore Suite for only 57,375 miles and $218.50. (The weird amount of miles is because Singapore gives a 15% miles discount for all awards booked online.)

Frankfurt to Hong Kong would cost 80,000 United miles + $181.20 including a $75 fee for booking the award within 21 days of departure, which you’d have to do since United only gets access to Lufthansa First Class space 15 days before departure. If you have status, the $75 fee is reduced or eliminated.

Cathay Pacific First Class from Hong Kong to New York-JFK would cost 67,500 American miles plus about $58 including a $25 phone ticketing fee since Cathay Pacific awards are not bookable online.

In total, the goals could be accomplished for 80k United, 67.5k American, 58k Membership Rewards, and $458.

Singapore Suites and First

I strongly prefer to travel west because I’m a night owl, so it’s easier for me to adjust heading west. Plus traveling west on this itinerary would mean more flying time, which I would prefer since this trip would be all about the flying.

There are several options flying west. One I’ll highlight includes testing out Singapore Suites Class and its “normal” First Class on the 777.

This award would begin in Los Angeles and fly the direct Cathay Pacific flight from Los Angeles to Hong Kong for 67,500 American Airlines miles and $27.50.

Then you would fly Hong Kong to Singapore in First Class on a 777. After a brief layover in Singapore, you would continue from Singapore to Europe in Suites Class on an A380. On the map above, I have the flight into Paris, but it could go to London, Frankfurt, or Zurich just as easily. The total cost of the Singapore award would be 104,125 miles plus about $272.

The last leg from Paris or Frankfurt to Los Angeles would be 67,500 United miles plus about $200 out of pocket.

The total cost of going west on this route would be 105k Membership Rewards, 67,500 United miles, 67,500 American miles, and $500. The big difference here is the surge in the amount of Membership Rewards required for the trip compared to the last option. In return, you’ll get to try Singapore First Class for 3hr45min in addition to five extra hours in Suites Class.

Chicago West

The Singapore Suites and First award was more expensive than it had to be to meet the stated goals of this exercise because it flew Hong Kong to Singapore in Singapore First Class, which added to the number of Singapore miles needed.

We can cut costs by including Hong Kong to Singapore in Cathay Pacific business class for no extra miles on our Cathay Pacific awards.

Under this scenario, Chicago to Hong Kong to Singapore is 67,500 American Airlines miles and $50 with Chicago to Hong Kong in Cathay Pacific First Class. Singapore to Frankfurt is 91,375 Singapore miles and $247. Frankfurt to Chicago in Lufthansa First Class is 67,500 United miles and $200.

Add it up and removing the extra leg in Singapore First Class and replacing it with Cathay Pacific (regional) Business Class saves 13,000 Membership Rewards, but otherwise basically costs the same as the last award from Los Angeles West. Total cost: 92,000 Membership Rewards, 67,500 American miles, 67,500 United miles, and about $500.

Singapore Transpacific at a Discount

Remember how that Los Angeles to Singapore flight has an intermediate stop in Tokyo? If we get off there, we can save 19,000 Singapore miles. The route can continue in Cathay Pacific First Class from Tokyo to Hong Kong to Frankfurt. Finally we can return in Lufthansa First Class from Frankfurt to Los Angeles.

This award would cost 75k Membership Rewards, 70k American Airlines miles, 67,500 United miles, and about $400 because the Singapore flight only has about a $140 surcharge.

Which is Best?

I decided to make a chart of the four options for easy comparison.

• Each of the four trips in this post are listed by the name I gave them.
• MR: Membership Rewards needed assuming you have zero Singapore KrisFlyer miles at the moment
• AA: American Airlines miles needed
• United: United miles needed
• value: I assigned a value of 1.87 cents to Membership Rewards, 1.77 cents to American Airlines miles, and 1.81 cents to United miles then I added the cash component (taxes and fuel surcharges) of each trip to figure out the total amount of “value” you have to spend in cash and miles to fly the trip
• miles in first: The number of miles you get to fly in First Class (or Suites Class)
• miles per $ of value spent: The number of miles you get to fly in First Class (or Suites Class) for each dollar of value you expend. (Hat tip to reader Ryan L. for emailing me a similar metric.)

If you value your miles at exactly the same rate that I value them on my Mile Value Leaderboard, and you value every hour of Singapore Suites, Singapore First, Cathay First, and Lufthansa First equally, then the last column would tell you the highest value award. A bigger number of miles flown per $ of value spent is better.

Of course, everyone should value their miles slightly differently based on a lot of personal factors and tastes, and more importantly not every mile flown in First Class has the same value.

For instance, I want to fly each of these products for a solid eight hours. More would be better, but eight will give me a good taste of the product, so anything over eight is gravy that I value a lot less than the first eight hours.

For this reason and similar reasons, even after looking at the miles flown per dollar column, my top two choices would be Three Takeoffs for its simplicity and fewest miles used and Singapore Transpacific at a Discount for its westward direction and nearly equal amount of time in each cabin.

Getting the Miles

As I’ve hinted, the best way to get the Singapore KrisFlyer miles needed for this award is through its transfer partners: Membership Rewards and SPG Starpoints. Both points transfer 1:1 to Singapore miles, with SPG points enjoying their standard 5k mile bonus for every 20k points transferred.

The two best cards to earn Singapore miles are both Membership Rewards earning cards because of their higher sign up bonuses.

• Mercedes-Benz American Express Platinum with 50k Membership Rewards after spending $3k in three months. This card has a $475 annual fee, but I think the benefits far outweigh the fee if used correctly.
• Business Gold Card from American Express Open with 50k Membership Rewards after spending $5k in three months. The $175 annual fee is waived the first year.

The best way to earn American Airlines miles are the current 86,000 mile combo of the personal and business card.

• Citi® Platinum Select® / AAdvantage® World MasterCard® with 40,000 American Airlines miles after spending $3k in three months. The $95 annual fee is waived the first year.
• Citi Business AAdvantage Card with 40,000 American Airlines miles after spending $3k in three months. The $95 annual fee is waived the first year.

The best way to earn United miles is a United MileagePlus Explorer Card from your local branch and an Ink Bold.

• There is a MileagePlus Explorer Card offer for 50k United miles after $2k in spending in three months at Chase bank branches according to multiple sources.
• The Ink Bold (business charge card) with 60k bonus Ultimate Rewards after spending $5k in the first three months. The $95 annual fee is waived the first year. Ultimate Rewards transfer 1:1 to United miles.

Booking the Awards

The way I plan to book the awards is to find the Cathay Pacific and Singapore awards that fit together well in my desired time frame. The Lufthansa award will be booked with United miles in the last 15 days before departure, so I’ll give myself several days of flexibility for that segment and check in advance that it is a route that commonly releases Lufthansa award space.

I’ll search Cathay Pacific award space on ba.com and then call AA at 800-882-8880 to book the space I find.

I’ll search and book Singapore award space on singapore.com.

I’ll search the Lufthansa route I’m considering now and book the award space in the last 15 days by searching and booking at united.com.

Recap

I want to combine three First Class experiences on a Singapore A380, on a Cathay Pacific 777, and at the Lufthansa First Class Terminal into one incredible trip. I’ve analyzed all the options, and I’m ready to book whatever fits my schedule better and has the award space. The number of miles needed to do the same trip is available to anyone who opens a few credit cards or has miles sitting around from flying.

Every weekday at 1 PM ET, a discounted travel package or packages will go on sale and will usually sell out in a few minutes. Some of the offers will be awesome; some will be duds.

Today’s deal is discounted hotel-dinner-show packages from various MGM Resorts hotels on the Las Vegas Strip.

How can you get in on the deal?

All Daily Getaways packages are discounted. And you get an additional 10% off each sale price by paying with an American Express, so that’s a no-brainer, and I’ll always quote prices after the American Express discount.

Prices range from $300.50 for a two night package at New York-New York to $1,390.50 for a two night package in the SKYLOFTS at MGM Grand. Quantities range from 20 for the cheaper packages to six for the more expensive packages, so these deals will sell out in moments!

These deals are similar to the deals last week sold by Caesars Entertainment, MGM’s main rival in Vegas. I bought the cheapest package during that sale, so I’ll be sitting this one out. Today’s deals are better for people who enjoy fancy dinners, shows, and understand that the resort fees are not included in the packages.

For the New York-New York package: “Within 7 to 10 business days of purchase, you will receive a certificate via U.S. Mail to the shipping address provided at purchase. This certificate will include contact information for whom to call for help in arranging all the details of your stay. The New York-New York will arrange all package components for you (room, dinner and show tickets).”

Stays must be completed by 12/28/13.

The New York-New York $300.50 package includes two nights in a Spa Suite, which are going for about $500 on a random weekend this October.

The package also include a $150 credit for dinner for two at Gallagher’s Steakhouse and two tickets to Zumanity (the racy Cirque du Soleil show).

The package does not include $45 in resort fees, transportation to/from the airport, or airfare.

I think most people who like Vegas would easily get double the value of the $300 cost.

The pricier packages are also a great deal if you have the money. Here’s Mommy Points’ write up on her Mirage package that she bought during last year’s Daily Getaways.

Purchasing the Packages

To maximize your chances of getting in on the deal, I recommend using a site like whattimeisit.com to figure out the official time. This year’s sales have all started on time to the second. Keep refreshing for the best chance.

This is what happens if you try to purchase something where all quantities are already in someone’s cart.

This doesn’t mean the deal is sold out. If someone doesn’t complete his purchase, that quantity will immediately become available for someone else. Keep checking until the dreaded “Sold Out” appears.

I will be by my computer at 1 PM EST / 10 AM PST / 7 AM HST / (2 PM in Buenos Aires) to check out how these deals are selling. Do you plan to buy them? Post your successful or failed attempt in the comments, so we can gauge how quick you had to be to snag a card.

Daily Getaways home page

Daily Getaways Help

Daily Getaways FAQ

New York-New York package terms:

• At least one (1) person in the party must be twenty-one (21) years of age or older to redeem this package. Any minors must be accompanied by a parent or guardian.

• Accommodations include two (2) consecutive nights in a Spa Suite (double occupancy). Room and tax included. Guest is responsible for $18.00 plus tax daily resort fee and any other incidental charges.

• Two (2) Tickets to Zumanity™ by Cirque du Soleil™ are available subject to the show’s performance schedule. Zumanity™ is not playing on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Seating is reserved in the optimal viewing rows reserved for VIPs, excludes love seats. Attendees to this show must be 18 years of age or older.

• Dinner for two (2) at Gallagher’s Steakhouse. A maximum credit of $150 can be used towards food and all beverages during one visit. Excludes gratuity. Any amount exceeding $150 is the responsibility of the guest.

• Offer available through December 28, 2013. Subject to availability.

• This offer is non-transferable and not redeemable for cash.

• There are no substitutions for any element within this package.

• All sales are final.

These are two of my absolute favorite cards. I’ve gotten the Ink Bold for two of my businesses and the Ink Plus for one, earning about 200,000 Ultimate Rewards in the process that I’ve used to book Rookie Alli on her first flat bed business class experience, my United Global First flight to Australia to see the Aussie Open, and my upcoming trip in Thai First Class on an A380 with an hourlong massage on the ground.

What’s the full deal, how can you use 60k Ultimate Rewards, and what has my experience been with the Ink Bold and Plus?

For a limited time only the Ink Bold and Ink Plus are each offering 60k bonus Ultimate Rewards after spending $5k in three months on the card. Everything else about the offers that have been around for months is the same.

• The cards earn 5 Ultimate Rewards per dollar at office supply stores and on cable TV, landline, cell phone, and internet bills up to $50k per year
• The cards earns 2 Ultimate Rewards per dollar at gas stations and on hotels booked directly through a hotel up to $50k per year
• The cards earns 1 Ultimate Reward per dollar on everything else
• There is no annual fee for the first 12 months of having the card, then $95 thereafter

The difference between the Ink Bold and Ink Plus is that the Ink Bold is a charge card and the Ink Plus is a credit card.

Charge cards like the Ink Bold have to be paid off in full each month and have a flexible spending limit that Chase explains this way in the Bold’s terms:

There is no pre-set limit on your account. Instead, we determine a flexible spending limit for your account, whereby each individual charge is evaluated based on the spending and payment patterns on the account, your other relationships with us, information from credit reports obtained from credit bureaus including you experience with other creditors, and our understanding of your resources.

Credit cards like the Ink Plus have a fixed spending limit that you can’t exceed, but they don’t have to be paid off in full each month. Of course I would never carry a balance–especially not on a rewards card–because the interest costs would far exceed any benefits of the card.

But the difference between a charge card and a credit card could be significant to you given your circumstances, so you can get either or both for the same business.

My experience with Inks started last year when I got an Ink Bold for one of my businesses. I really enjoyed the 5x category bonuses, since I do a lot of shopping at office supply stores, and I think everyone feels like they pay too much for cable, internet, and phone!

After about six months, I decided to get the Ink Plus for the same business because I valued the knowledge of a pre-set spending limit and the ability to pay over time if necessary for my business. My application was not immediately approved online, so I called Chase at 800-453-9719 to see if the application could be processed more quickly. The agent was cordial and worked with me to get the card approved, understanding why I wanted both cards for the same business.

The main questions I remember being asked related to my business’s revenues and expenses.

Fast forward to a few weeks ago, and I decided to get the Ink Bold for a new business. Of course, with more than one business I need to keep expenses separate, and the Ink Bold is my favorite business card for a new and growing business. Again I didn’t receive an instant approval online and again I got a friendly, helpful agent when I called Chase at 800-453-9719 who approved my new Ink Bold.

How Can You Use the Ultimate Rewards

First of all, don’t transfer the Ultimate Rewards as soon as you earn them. A big part of the value of Ultimate Rewards is that there are a ton of ways to redeem them. You want to keep your options open until you are ready to redeem the Ultimate Rewards, so keep them in your credit card account until you’re ready for one of these redemption options:

1. You can redeem the miles toward cash tickets at a rate of 1 Ultimate Reward = 1.25 cents.

I don’t like this redemption because I think Ultimate Rewards are worth way more than 1.25 cents. The strengths of this redemption are that you can redeem for any seat, any time, and you will earn miles on the flown ticket, since it is a paid ticket from the airline’s perspective even though you don’t have to spend money out of pocket.

Let’s call this the base line redemption. Never transfer Ultimate Rewards to a hotel or airline partner where you’ll get less than 1.25 cents of value per Ultimate Reward.

2. You can transfer Ultimate Rewards to United, British Airways, Southwest, Hyatt, Virgin Atlantic, Korean, Amtrak, Priority Club, Ritz-Carlton, and Marriott.

United

My most common transfer partner is United. The 65,000 Ultimate Rewards one would earn from meeting the minimum spending requirement would be enough miles for First Class from Asia to Europe like the Thai First Class I’ll be flying in a few months.

65k Ultimate Rewards is also enough miles for a roundtrip in economy from the US to all of:

• East Asia, basically everywhere in Asia except the Indian Subcontinent and a few ‘stans
• South America, 40k for Peru and north or 60k to the south
• Europe
• Hawaii, Central America, Caribbean, and Mexico

Or add 2,500 more Ultimate Rewards to your account somehow and 67,500 United miles gets you a First Class flight on Lufthansa between the US and Europe or a business class flight from the US to Europe.

The main reasons why most of my Ultimate Rewards go to United are the ability to book one way awards, the competitive award chart, the lack of any fuel surcharges on any partners, and the fact that United and its partners release the most and best award space.

British Airways

It’s bad to have a million British Airways Avios and zero other miles because there are a lot of awards for which Avios are a poor choice. But it’s equally bad to have zero Avios because Avios are an awesome complement to your other miles.

Avios are the best points from the west coast to Hawaii at only 25,000 Avios roundtrip on American and Alaska’s routes. Avios are the best on short, nonstop American Airlines flights in the US too. Any flight under 651 miles in distance costs only 4,500 Avios even if the retail price is $300.

The 65,000 Ultimate Rewards from spending $5k on the card in the first three months would be enough for five one way flights from the west coast to Hawaii or 14 between Chicago and Charlottesville, VA.

Southwest

Your points will get about 1.69 cents of value if transferred to Southwest because all Southwest awards cost 60 times the base fare in points. That means a $100 base fare would cost only 6,000 points as an award.

Virgin Atlantic

Currently you can fly from the east coast to London for 13k Virgin Atlantic miles + $97 or San Francisco to London for 17.5k miles + $97. More here.

Hyatt

Hyatt has six categories. Bottom tier hotels cost 5,000 points, so 65,000 points is 13 free nights. Top tier hotels cost 22,000 points, so three nights in a $1,000-a-night hotel is 66,000 points.

If you know you want free nights at the most expensive Hyatts in the world, you may prefer the Hyatt Card, which earns two free nights at Hyatts worldwide after $1k in spending in three months. That card has a $75 annual fee that is not waived.

Amtrak

Rick and Howie used Ultimate Rewards to take an awesome train trip that looks like great value from a subjective and objective point of view.

The Value of the Transfers

I usually get at least two cents of value from my transfers, using my formula for value. I consider one Ultimate Reward more valuable than one mile or point in any of Ultimate Rewards’ transfer partner’s accounts. (ie 1 Ultimate Reward is worth more than 1 United mile.)

The reason is simple: Ultimate Rewards are transferable, so they can be used for very high value redemptions in frequent flyer programs across all three alliances. Also Ultimate Rewards can be transferred to an account when you’re just a few thousand miles short of an award when you might ordinarily have to buy the miles from the airline at an exorbitant rate like 3.5 cents per mile.

The Bottom Line

The bottom line is that the Ink Bold and Ink Plus were already my two favorite business cards because of their sign up bonuses, category bonuses, and transfer partners. That was with a 50,000 Ultimate Reward bonus. For the next week, they have a 60,000 Ultimate Reward bonus.

These cards are not for everyone. They aren’t for you if you spend more money when you pay with a credit card than when you pay with cash. They aren’t for you if you don’t pay your cards in full each month. They aren’t for you if you can’t meet the minimum spending requirement. They aren’t for you if you want to fly Singapore Suites Class.

If you’re going to fly Lufthansa First Class, you might as well fly the newest Lufthansa planes, right?

Check out Tahsir’s trip report of Lufthansa First Class, which is enough to make me jealous, though note that neither the A380 nor the 747-8 have the seat-plus-bed design.

Lufthansa releases a lot of business class space to Europe all the time, so people with United and US Airways miles often have a transatlantic business class option. Unfortunately all Lufthansa business class seats are angled lie flat except the seats on the 747-8, making them the best (and only fully flat) business class beds in the fleet.

Lufthansa First Class space is only bookable with United miles within 15 days of departure. The good news is that Lufthansa is pretty generous about opening up First Class seats as award seats if they go unsold. If you fly Lufthansa First Class out of Frankfurt, you get access to the First Class Terminal and get driven to your plane in a Mercedes.

The A380 and 747-8 are two of the three newest double-decker super jumbo jets (the 787 being the other.) Because they’re the newest, they have the best in flight entertainment set ups, storage space, newest fixtures, advances in pressurization, and fuel usage.

Next Week

So are you ready to fly Lufthansa business or first class next week on one of these birds? If so, you’ll want to check out the Frankfurt-Miami-Frankfurt and Frankfurt-Houston-Frankfurt routes.

Frankfurt to Miami

Today, there is a first class seat on a Lufthansa 747-8 from Frankfurt to Miami.

First Class Terminal plus First Class from FRA-MIA on a 747-8

In fact, there are premium seats most of this week on the route.

Tomorrow, there is space in flat bed business and first class on the route.

Note that in addition to the 50k United miles for business or 67.5k for first one way, there are also taxes and fees of $198.70 on the redemption if you don’t have United status. People with status will reduce or eliminate the $75 fee for booking within 21 days of departure.

Keep an eye on the aircraft listed for the date you book. Some days are operated by the 747-400 instead of the 747-8. June 18 has a seat in business class on the 747-400, which does not have fully flat beds in business class.

Miami to Frankfurt

If you want to fly to Europe on the route, there is also first class space on a 747-8 today! Note that flights from the US to Germany only have $2.50 in taxes plus the close in booking fee.

Space is not quite as good east bound.

Frankfurt to Houston

Some Frankfurt to Houston flights are operated by a Lufthansa A380, but I didn’t see business or first class seats on the route in the next two weeks.

Houston to Frankfurt

The east bound route has more space with first class seats available tomorrow.

Overall there isn’t much space on the route, but if you keep checking, more A380 First Class space is sure to open in the next few weeks.

Getting on the Flights

To fly Lufthansa First Class, you’ll want to use United miles because United only charges 67,500 miles each way plus taxes and the close in booking fee with no fuel surcharges.

Right now the best cards to earn United miles are the:

• United MileagePlus Explorer Card: The standard offer is for 30,000 bonus miles after spending $1k in three months. If you go to a Chase branch, you are likely to find an offer for 50,000 miles after spending $2k in three months. Many versions of the offer allow you to add an authorized user for 5k more points.
• Chase Sapphire Preferred: 40,000 bonus Ultimate Rewards after spending $3k in three months.
• Chase Ink Bold: 50,000 bonus Ultimate Rewards after spending $5k in three months.
• Chase Ink Plus: 50,000 bonus Ultimate Rewards after spending $5k in three months.

Where You Live

Check the wikipedia pages for Frankfurt Airport and Munich Airport to see where Lufthansa flies in North America. Most of these routes see a lot of premium seats open up in the last few days and weeks before departure. United also opens up good award space for you to connect to the first class flight of your dream!

You can earn 1k to 10k Virgin Atlantic miles for referring people to the program. This is especially valuable since 13k Virgin Atlantic miles is enough for a one way flight from New York to London.

Membership Rewards is offering a 20% bonus on transfers to Hawaiian miles through June 27.

Points Hound has a 100k Hawaiian Miles giveaway running through June 21.

Million United Mile Giveaway from Wyndham

Sign up for the million United miles sweepstakes here. One sign up enters you into four drawings for a quarter million United miles on July 15, July 29, August 12, and August 26, 2013.

Virgin Atlantic Referral Program

Virgin Atlantic is offering up to 10k miles when you refer a friend to join its Flying Club and that member flies Virgin Atlantic. How much you earn depends on what cabin their first roundtrip flight is in.

Unless your friends are much richer than mine, you’d probably earn 2k miles since they’d fly economy. (Little Red class is economy on intra-UK flights.)

Virgin Atlantic miles can be transferred to Hilton at a 1 mile to 2 points rate, or 13k Virgin Atlantic miles + $97 can get you a one way award from the US to the UK.

Here’s my referral link if you aren’t a member of Virgin Atlantic yet.

The way the program is set up on the site is that you are given a chance to email friends with the referral offer here.

I emailed the offer to myself and clicked on it, then I copied the URL from my browser to get my referral link above.

If you do the same thing, feel free to post your referral link in the comments for others to use.

Full info on the promo here.

20% Transfer Bonus from Membership Rewards to Hawaiian Miles

If you make a Membership Rewards to Hawaiian Miles transfer between now and June 27, you’ll get 1,200 miles for every 1,000 points transferred automatically.

Hawaiian Miles are good for a few things:

• Flights to Hawaii: Hawaiian has good award space and flies from the cities listed on wikipedia to Honolulu and Maui. Hawaiian charges 20k/40k each way in economy/first. Hawaiian economy is awesome with free wine and a meal. Awards to Hawaii actually price at only 17.5k Hawaiian Miles each way for me, which I think is because I had (but cancelled) the Hawaiian Airlines credit card. Hawaiian mainly flies to the west coast, but it also operates a daily New York-JFK to Honolulu direct flight. (From the west coast, you can fly American or Alaska to Hawaii for 12.5k Avios each way.)
• Flights from Hawaii to Tahiti, Auckland, Asia, and more. Hawaiian has good award space on some interesting routes. The problem is that if you start on the mainland and connect in Hawaii, these cost a lot of miles because they charge the mainland to Hawaii plus Hawaii to next place separately.
• Here is the Hawaiian award chart.

Points Hound 100k Hawaiian Miles Sweespstakes

Points Hound is having a sweepstakes to give away up to 100k Hawaiian Miles. To enter:

• Follow Points Hound on Twitter. (Follow me while you’re at it!)
• Every time PointsHound tweets something with the hash tag #winhawaii, retweet the tweet to gain entry into the sweepstakes
• You may enter up to three times between now and June 21.
• At the end of the sweepstakes, one winner will be picked at random and will win between 25k and 100k Hawaiian Miles. The amount will be determined by this formula: 25k + (10 * total retweets during sweepstakes) with a maximum of 100k miles won if the sweepstakes attracts 7,500+ retweets.

Daily Getaways takes the weekends off. The next deal is Monday and is MGM’s answer to Caesars’ deals on Thursday. I am most looking forward to the Club Carlson points for 0.3 cents on Wednesday. Check back here next week (or sign up for the email list on the top left of this page) for full coverage of all the deals. End of Update.

Today is the fifth day of five weeks of discounted travel packages sponsored by the US Travel Association and American Express called Daily Getaways.

Every weekday at 1 PM ET, a discounted travel package or packages will go on sale and will sell out in a few minutes. Some of the offers will be awesome; some will be duds.

Today’s deal is discounted admission passes to all SeaWorld and Busch Gardens parks.

How can you get the deal?

All Daily Getaways packages are discounted. And you get an additional 10% off each sale price by paying with an American Express, so that’s a no-brainer, and I’ll always quote prices after the American Express discount.

Prices are $44.10 for single-day admission to any SeaWorld park and $40.50 for one single-day admission ticket to any Busch Gardens park. There are 1100 tickets available for SeaWorld and 1050 tickets available for Busch Gardens, with a maximum purchase of six each per person.

Online, SeaWorld San Diego charges $64 per admission, regardless if it is for a child or an adult. Busch Gardens charges $79 for an adult ticket and $71 for a child.

These are both fairly straight-forward deals, with each ticket granting you one single day admission for either an adult or a child to either any SeaWorld park (there are locations in San Diego and San Antonio) or any Busch Gardens (locations in Florida and Virginia), depending on which deal you select. The admission must be used by May 15, 2014 and there are no blackout dates.

The tickets you purchase will be mailed to the address provided during checkout in 7-10 days.

Purchasing the Packages

To maximize your chances of getting in on the deal, I recommend using a site like whattimeisit.com to figure out the official time. This week’s sales have all started on time to the second. Keep refreshing for the best chance.

This is what happens if you try to purchase something where all quantities are already in someone’s cart.

This doesn’t mean the deal is sold out. If someone doesn’t complete his purchase, that quantity will immediately become available for someone else. Keep checking until the dreaded “Sold Out” appears.

I will be by my computer at 1 PM EST / 10 AM PST / 7 AM HST / (2 PM in Buenos Aires) to check out how these two deals are selling. Do you plan to buy them? Post your successful or failed attempt in the comments, so we can gauge how quick you had to be to snag a card.

Daily Getaways home page

Daily Getaways Help

Daily Getaways FAQ

Busch Gardens Ticket Terms:

• One (1) single-day admission for an adult or child to your choice of either Busch Gardens, Florida or Busch Gardens, Virginia.

• Expires on May 15, 2014.

• Valid only during regular operating hours.

• Not valid for separate-ticketed events, such as Howl-O-Scream or Chiristmas Town.

• Parking is not included.

• Not valid for discounts on food or merchandise.

• No blackout dates.

• Tickets will be mailed via US Mail within 7 to 10 business days from the date of purchase to the shipping address provided at time of purchase. No exceptions.

Southwest is having one of its best sales of the year for travel August 26 to December 18 that ends today at 11:59 PM.

How to Take Advantage of the Sale if You Have Upcoming Travel Plans

That’s easy! Book your flight today. The sale price on flights is determined by the distance of each nonstop segment.

There aren’t many caveats to the sale either. You still get two free checked bags on all Southwest flights (and AirTran flights sold on southwest.com), you can fly every day except Friday and Sunday, and there are only a few blackout dates and cities.

The blackout dates are September 2 and November 26 through December 3. Lowest advertised fare not available to/from Dayton, OH; Washington (Reagan National), DC; New York (Newark); Philadelphia, PA; Washington (Dulles), DC; New York (LaGuardia); West Palm Beach, FL; San Juan, Puerto Rico; Fort Myers, FL; and Seattle, WA.

I was looking at booking a one way flight from Chicago to Los Angeles a few days after the Chicago Seminars end. Midway to LAX is exactly 1,750 miles, so it falls in the $129 band. As expected, most (but not all) nonstop flights are priced at $129 on the Tuesday I searched.

One nonstop flight–the 6:05 PM flight–is $159. Southwest does limit the quantity on the sale seats on each flight. Many of Southwest’s “1 stop, No Plane Change” flights are $133. And all the rest of the direct flights are $129.

One feature to keep in mind about Southwest’s loyalty program is that each point is worth a fixed value, so when Southwest has a paid-ticket sale, the price of award tickets drops also. Here are the same flights in points. (There would be a $2.5 tax of the direct award flights.)

I’m not sure where I’ll head from Los Angeles, so I ordinarily wouldn’t speculatively book a cash ticket with exorbitant change or cancellation fees yet. But Southwest will let you cancel cash tickets for a full refund in the form of Southwest credit good on future flights. Even better, a cancelled Southwest award will just mean that you get your points and taxes back.

So there’s no reason not to book now. If the price drops later (unlikely), you can just rebook and pocket the savings.

How to Take Advantage of the Sale if You Have A Southwest Flight Already Booked

If you already have a Southwest flight booked, search your flight’s price now. If it has dropped, you can cancel your old ticket and book the new one, pocketing the difference in the fare in the form of a future credit on Southwest.

How to Take Advantage of the Sale if You Are Loyal to Another Airline

The good news is that legacy carriers often match Southwest sales on certain routes, and this happening with this sale. (Too bad they don’t match two free checked bags during the sale…)

For instance, from Chicago to Los Angeles, United and American are both matching Southwest’s $129 fare, though Virgin America and Spirit aren’t. (Note also that Southwest’s flights leave Midway, and the other airlines fly from O’Hare.)

I have United Silver status, so it might make sense for me to book the flight on United instead of Southwest. If you have status or want status, check whether your preferred carrier is matching Southwest on your route.

Recap

Southwest is having a great sale for fall travel that ends today! Make sure you make your travel plans today to lock in these low, free-to-cancel fares with Southwest or take advantage of your carrier matching Southwest.

For full info on the promotion, see the promotion’s page on Southwest.