Category Archives: Miles and Points

Getting To Namibia With Airline Miles

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Most frequent flier programs place Namibia into the Africa (southern) zone.   Most people will arrive here via JNB in South Africa and then get a flight from JNB to WDH.  Namibia does have some interesting direct flight options such as Qatar Airways via DOH, an excellent use of AA miles!  I already have a blog with my recommendations for which programs to join if you are new to the world of miles and points.

The major gateway city for Namibia is Windhoek (WDH).    Once you have been in the miles and points game for awhile, you will get a feel for which airline to use where but if you are just starting out Wikipedia will show you all the airlines that fly into Windhoek.  Since it is a small list I can even fit it all into one screen shot!

ONE WORLD OPTIONS

Comair (British Airways subsidiary) flies from JNB.

Qatar Airways flies from DOH.

STAR ALLIANCE OPTIONS

Ethiopian flies from Addis Ababa

South African flies from JNB.

SKYTEAM OPTIONS

KLM flies from AMS.

NON-ALLIANCE OPTIONS

Air Namibia is the national airline but they don’t partner with anyone so it’s a cash basis only.

HOW MANY MILES WILL IT COST?

Every airline member of the 3 main alliances has it’s own frequent flier program. Examples are in my East Africa post.

AVIOS (BA OR IB)

Many people like to combine South Africa with Namibia if they have the time and money.  In this case, Avios can be a great bargain priced at 10,000 Avios but keep an eye on the fuel surcharges as they can sometimes make the redemption a bad deal.

Avios

 

The SPG-AA 30% Bonus Promo Is Back Through 15 Oct 2017

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This is a good deal, especially for Aussies who have no other way to earn AA miles.  The SPG promo comes around every year about this time and I have made excellent use of it in the past.

40,000 Amex MR = 20,000 SPG

September 1, 2017 at 12:01 a.m. Central Time through October 15, 2017 at 11:59 p.m. Central Time.

(1) During the Program Period, American Airlines AAdvantage® and Starwood Preferred Guest® program members (each, a “Member”) that convert Starpoints® to AAdvantage® miles will earn 20% additional AAdvantage® miles on each conversion (“Conversion(s)”).

(2) For every 100,000 AAdvantage® miles a Member receives from Conversions during the Program Period, the Member will receive an additional 10,000 AAdvantage® miles.

(3) For every 20,000 Starpoints® converted to AAdvantage® miles within the same Conversion, SPG® will automatically add another 5,000 AAdvantage® miles. The 20% bonus referenced in #1 above will apply after this addition. Thus, converting 20,000 Starpoints® in a single Conversion would result in the Member receiving 30,000 AAdvantage® miles.

SEE FULL T&CS HERE 

I will be sitting this one out this year as I don’t have a need for AA miles within the next couple years and they could devalue before then so I prefer to keep building my Amex MR account for the time being.

Targeted Qantas Promo – 15-30% Bonus Points On Credit Card Transfers

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If you have ever transferred points from a credit card to Qantas, you are probably targeted for this special bonus.  If you don’t see it in your email, check your spam.

The reason I am not putting a link up is because it is a targeted offer.  If you didn’t get an email, the offer won’t work for you – this time.  However, if you make a small transfer of 1000 points, it will put you on “the list” for future promos.  If you are in the USA, Citibank Thank You Points transfer to Qantas.  If you are in Australia, numerous credit cards transfer to Qantas.  Please see full T&Cs below.

Getting To Zambia With Airline Miles

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Most frequent flier programs place Zambia into the Africa zone. You can find some generic recommendations on how to get to East Africa here.  You can also fly to South Africa and then get a flight from JNB to LUN. I already have a blog with my recommendations for which programs to join if you are new to the world of miles and points.

The major gateway city for Zambia is Lusaka (LUN).  There are also international flights to Livingstone (LVI).  Once you have been in the miles and points game for awhile, you will get a feel for which airline to use where but if you are just starting out Wikipedia will show you all the airlines that fly into  Lusaka and Livingstone.

ONE WORLD OPTIONS

LUSAKA:  No One World airlines fly here.

LIVINGSTONE:  Comair (British Airways subsidiary) flies from JNB.

STAR ALLIANCE OPTIONS

LUSAKA:  Ethiopian flies from Addis Ababa and South African flies from JNB.

LIVINGSTONE:  Ethiopian flies from Addis Ababa and South African flies from JNB.

SKYTEAM OPTIONS

LUSAKA & LIVINGSTONE:  Kenya Airways serves both airports from Nairobi.

NON-ALLIANCE OPTIONS

Emirates serves LUSAKA from their hub in Dubai with connections world wide.

HOW MANY MILES WILL IT COST?

Every airline member of the 3 main alliances has it’s own frequent flier program. Examples are in my East Africa post.

IHG Pointbreaks Through 31 Oct 2017 – Good Options In South America

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The quarterly PointBreak list is out and valid for bookings between 31 July and 31 October for a mere 5000 IHG points.  As usual, domestic USA hotels dominate but for eco-tourists, there are some good options in South America.

ENTIRE LIST

LINK TO BOOKING PAGE

Due to the limited availability, each member may only book two PointBreaks® Reward Nights reservations per hotel during the special offer time period. Offer and participating hotels are subject to change at any time, valid for booking through Oct 31, 2017. All other Reward Night terms and conditions apply. To view participating properties, simply click one of the regions below.

Please note that Reward Nights booked through PointBreaks® may not be sold or used for commercial gains. Doing so is a program violation and may result in the freezing of your account, the forfeiture of all point transfers, rewards, vouchers, or merchandise issued pursuant to point redemptions and any accrued points or miles in your account, as well as cancellation of the account and your future participation in the Program.

MY RECOMMENDATIONS

HOLIDAY INN GUAYAQUIL AIRPORT – We stayed here in 2016 so I have a detailed review.  Good option for convenience to the airport and a good staging point for birding in Cerro Blanco Reserve.

HOLIDAY INN MANAUS – You may be passing through Manaus on the way to an Amazon adventure or making day trips to Adolpho Ducke Reserve to the north.

HOLIDAY INN EXPRESS BELEM ANANINDEUA – Another staging point for the Amazon River in Brazil, also check out the Parrot Island to see 1000’s of Orange-winged Amazon Parrots!

HOLIDAY INN EXPRESS PUERTO MONTT – Gateway to Patagonia and Chiloe Island which are good birding areas.

 

Mid-year Assessment, Mileage Accounts Decimated But It’s All Good

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Well I did it!  Next year’s trip to Bolivia and Brazil is officially booked and my USA based airline miles accounts are pretty much wiped out.  This is the culmination of what I had been working towards, after all what good are miles sitting in cyberspace?  You need to use them and enjoy them!  So where did I end up?

Brisbane-Santa Cruz, Bolivia:  Used AA miles on QF & LA taking my account down to a measly 25,000 although I do have the Barclay’s Aaviator card with the annual 10,000 mile annual bonus so this account will slowly rebuild.

Santa Cruz-Sao Paulo-Fortaleza:  Used Flying Blue miles for the Gol connecting flights, account is wiped out.

Sao Paulo-Auckland:  Used British Airways Avios sourced from Ultimate Rewards, only had enough to get as far as Auckland.  BA charges a higher amount if you use 2 or more partner airlines so I had to use Latam all the way and Sydney would have put us into a higher bracket.  BA account now under 1000 miles.

Auckland-Brisbane:  Used United (husband) & Singapore (me) small balances for this short segment.  First time we have been on 2 separate PNRs but I got seats assigned in the same row (window & aisle) so no worries!  Both accounts down to less than 500 orphaned miles.

All flights are in Y, I expected that J wouldn’t be available (it wasn’t) and that was all I could afford miles-wise.

SO WHAT NEXT?

Now that the 2018 trip is safely booked, I have discovered to my shock that I don’t need the US based accounts anymore.  For the next 3 years, all trips are easily covered with miles/points earned through Aussie shopping programs (Coles-Velocity & Woolworths-Qantas) and use of my Aussie Amex 3x on grocery store shopping.

2019 – We will use Velocity and Qantas points to do some Pacific Island hopping with birding of course.  I have all the miles & points required already!

2020 – We will use a combination of Singapore, Velocity & Qantas for birding in Indonesia (with some domestic flights paid in cash).  I have about half the points required, will easily get them all by year’s end via shopping at Coles & Woolies.  For now the plan is to fly in Y but maybe I can get enough shopping points to upgrade at least the BNE-SIN segment.

2021 – I’m eyeing a Papua New Guinea Cruise which can combine birding and a bit of luxury.  Princess often has discounts on this cruise which sails from Brisbane.  No flights this year, except maybe domestic Australia.

2022 – The Last Hurrah!  I have 4 years to get as many as possible:  Amex Membership Rewards, Qantas & Velocity for one last mega-trip to South America.  This is so far ahead of the game I can’t even be sure miles and points programs won’t be obsolete.  Worst case scenario would be using the Amex points to pay for tickets on the Amex travel portal.

So I have come to the surprising realization that I no longer need the USA credit cards or mileage programs.  I have lost all interest in United due to devaluations and the routing restrictions.  If I have any Ultimate Rewards left, I will send them to BA as I can always use them for Qantas or Latam and I can keep the account alive with the shopping portal.  I’ll be cancelling the USA credit cards with annual fees when they next come due but will keep the AAviator for the annual AA 10k bonus well worth a $89 fee and the IHG card whose $49 fee gives us a free night in any of their hotels and platinum status.

It’s kind of hard and bittersweet to cut the USA programs loose as I have gotten some incredible flights out of them over the past 10 years but the Aussie game has been steadily improving and I find I can easily get what I need simply by strategic grocery shopping!

Getting To Ethiopia With Airline Miles

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Most frequent flier programs place Ethiopia into the Africa zone. You can find some generic recommendations on how to get to East Africa here. I already have a blog with my recommendations for which programs to join if you are new to the world of miles and points.

The major gateway city for Ethiopia is Addis Ababa. Once you have been in the miles and points game for awhile, you will get a feel for which airline to use where but if you are just starting out Wikipedia will show you all the airlines that fly into Addis Ababa.

ONE WORLD OPTIONS

The only One World member serving Addis Ababa is Qatar Airways via Doha. You can reach Doha from anywhere in the world where Qatar flies to.

STAR ALLIANCE OPTIONS

Ethiopia’s national carrier, Ethiopian Airlines is a member of Star Alliance so you can get just about anywhere in Africa via Addis Ababa.  If you are only connecting, even on a miles award ticket and you have an overnight connection, Ethiopian Airlines will give you a free Visa and accommodation with meals.

Other Star Alliance carriers serving Addis Ababa include Egypt Air via Cairo, Lufthansa via Frankfurt and Turkish Airlines via Istanbul.

From Europe you can use Egypt Air via Cairo, Ethiopian Airlines, Lufthansa via Frankfurt or Turkish Airlines via Istanbul.

From Australia and New Zealand there are no direct flights, you need to get to Singapore or Bangkok, then you can pick up Egypt Air, Ethiopian Airlines or Turkish Airlines.

SKYTEAM OPTIONS

From North America you can use Kenya Airways via Europe.

From Europe once again Kenya Airways via Nairobi is the only option.

From Australia Skyteam isn’t the best option unless you travel via Dubai and pick up Kenya Airways from there.

NON-ALLIANCE OPTIONS

Emirates serves Addis Ababa from their hub in Dubai with connections world wide.

HOW MANY MILES WILL IT COST?

Every airline member of the 3 main alliances has it’s own frequent flier program. Examples are in my East Africa post.

United Devaluation Takes Effect 1 Nov, 2017; Aussies Lose Asian Sweet Spot….But One Silver Lining

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Coming on the heels of last year’s United devaluation which saw the loss of being able to cherry pick your segments on an award to having to accept whatever routings the search engine spit out, we now get slammed again.  Loyalty Lobby has a comprehensive post on the changes that affect everyone.  Most of the Boarding Area bloggers have covered ex-USA devaluations to premium cabin awards so I am going to concentrate on the effects to Australian and eco-tourists.   In general, business and first class awards are up all over but even more so for awards from Australia and New Zealand.

The sweet spot between Australia and South-east Asia is disappearing.  Awards will be increasing from 17.5k to 25k for economy, business class goes up from 30k to a whopping 50k!  Given that most Aussies source United miles via the SPG/Marriott route or buy them during promos, this may no longer be viable when it is so much easier to get SQ Krisflyer miles via Amex cards.  I enjoyed the cheap trip to Asia in 2015 but this devaluation is pretty much killing my interest in United moving forward.

ONE SILVER LINING

The only good thing to come out of this devaluation is that SOME partner awards will be cheaper if they are less than 800 miles.  The full award chart is here.  None of the routings involve Australia but you will be able to get Air New Zealand domestic routes for 8000 miles as they all fit in the 800 mile zone.  The other routes will remain at 17.5 to Australia and 22.5 to the Pacific Islands.

 

If you want to hop around South-east Asia, the routes with the blue dots (for example) are under 800 miles and will cost 8000 UA miles.  The longer routes will cost 17.5k.

 

There are some bargains to be had in the bird-rich countries of Central and South America.  These sample routings on Copa (ex-Panama City PTY) and Avianca (ex-Bogota or Lima) that fall into the 800 mile zone will cost 8000 miles.  The longer routes will cost 10k for Central America and 12.5k for routes in North or Southern South America.

Africa is pretty much Star Alliance territory with Ethiopian (ex-ADD) and South African Airways (ex-JNB) offering destinations all over Africa.  In the next two images you can see which sample routes will cost 8000 miles (blue dots) and the longer sample routes that will be 17.5k United miles.  Regional flights within Africa can be very expensive so it’s worth considering these options.

Getting To Uganda With Airline Miles

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Most frequent flier programs place Uganda into the Africa zone.  You can find some generic recommendations on how to get to East Africa here.  I already have a blog with my recommendations for which programs to join if you are new to the world of miles and points.

The major gateway city for Uganda is Entebbe.     Once you have been in the miles and points game for awhile, you will get a feel for which airline to use where but if you are just starting out Wikipedia will show you all the airlines that fly into Entebbe.

ONE WORLD OPTIONS

The only One World member serving Entebbe is Qatar Airways via Doha.  You can reach Doha from anywhere in the world where Qatar flies to.

STAR ALLIANCE OPTIONS

From North America you can use Egypt Air via Cairo, Ethiopian Airlines via Addis Ababa, South African Airways via Johannesburg or Turkish Airlines via Istanbul.

From Europe you can use Egypt Air via Cairo, Ethiopian Airlines via Addis Ababa, South African Airways via Johannesburg (a bit out of the way but UA might allow it) or Turkish Airlines via Istanbul.

From Australia and New Zealand there are no direct flights, you need to get to Singapore or Bangkok, then you can pick up Egypt Air, Ethiopian Airlines or Turkish Airlines.

SKYTEAM OPTIONS

From North America you can use KLM or Kenya Airways via Europe.

From Europe KLM flies direct from Amsterdam with connection to most European cities or Kenya Airways.

From Australia Skyteam isn’t the best option unless you travel via Dubai and pick up Kenya Airways from there.

NON-ALLIANCE OPTIONS

Etihad and Emirates serve Entebbe from all over the world via their hubs in Abu Dhabi and Dubai respectively..

HOW MANY MILES WILL IT COST?

Every airline member of the 3 main alliances has it’s own frequent flier program.  Examples are in my East Africa post.