Category Archives: Miles and Points

Getting To Madagascar With Airline Miles

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Madagascar is one of the most difficult places to get to using frequent flyer miles.  The gateway airport, Antananarivo Ivato Airport is only served by a handful of airlines.  You will most likely have to route through Paris or Nairobi if you want to use miles.  Otherwise, Madagascar will be one destination you have to actually purchase a revenue ticket.  All routes will have YQ fuel surcharges applied.  At least the destination is well worth it!

Ivato AirportSTAR ALLIANCE

This airport is not served by any Star Alliance airlines.  Some people may be confused because it can look like South African Airways flies there but this is not the case.  They code-share with Airlink on this route and Airlink is not a member of Star Alliance.

ONEWORLD

This airport is not served by any OneWorld airlines.

SKYTEAM

This airport is served by 2 Skyteam members:  Air France and Kenya Airways.  It is also possible to use Flying Blue miles on Air Mauritius segments by calling in.  Given Delta’s unreliability on their program, I used Flying Blue miles sourced from my USA based Amex PRG card to get us tickets on Kenya Airways TNR-NBO-ACC for our outbound flight.

Flying Blue generally charges 17,500 miles for inter-Africa flights (Madagascar is grouped with Africa) and they always add YQ so it depends on the route if it is worth it or not.  On our route to Ghana, it was well worth it as the base fare would have been over $750 per person!

FB TNR-ACC Kayak TNR-ACC Kayak TNR-ACC2On the Mauritius – Antananarivo route, you are better off to just purchase a ticket as you get very poor value for your miles.  The same 17,500 miles only saves you $179!

Kayak MRU-TNREXAMPLES OF OTHER FLYING BLUE REDEMPTIONS

LONDON – Beware the high APD on top of the YQ!

FB LHR-TNR

PARIS – Less APD but still high YQ

MRU FB1

Routes from the USA (JFK & LAX shown below) can be good, especially if you are using Amex MR points from a credit card!

FB JFK-TNR MRU FB2

AUSTRALIA – Aussies are out of luck with high mileage requirements, no credit cards that credit to Flying Blue and very high taxes.  If you are coming all the way from Australia, best to make Madagascar part of a larger African adventure such as I did.  I used United miles to get to Africa, then just the inter-African award as above.

The example below from Sydney routes via Jakarta and Paris!

FB SYD-TNR

 

Using Points To Stay In Mauritius

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Any way you look at it, Mauritius is not a cheap place to stay, even on points!  Only 4 hotel chains are represented here so you don’t have a lot of options.  If you have gotten hotel points via credit cards, these could be a great use of the points as cash rates are very high.  For the examples below, I did a quote for 1 night Saturday 9 May.

ACCOR LE CLUB

With Accor, every 2,000 points acquired results in €40 off your bill. If you have enough points your stay could be free, or simply pay the remaining balance using your credit card.  For the first hotel you would need 24,000 Le Club points and 12,000 points for the 2nd one.  You have to add taxes to the rates below.   MRU Sofitel

HILTON HONORS

There is only one Hilton property in Mauritius and if you can snag a capacity controlled cash&points award this can be a really good deal! MRU HiltonIHG REWARDS

The Intercontinental would be an excellent use of a Chase free night certificate!  They also have a new hotel near the airport which could be a good idea if you have an early flight out.  The traffic can be horrendous!

MRU IHGSPG

Cash & Points looks like a pretty good deal!

MRU SPGBOOK NON-CHAIN HOTEL & EARN MILES

If you don’t have enough hotel points or prefer to pay cash, there are lots of options on both Pointshound & Rocket Miles that allow you to earn in a wide choice of airline programs.  If you use the links I posted, you and I both get a bonus after you complete your first booking.  This is currently 1000 miles!

 

Getting To Mauritius With Frequent Flyer Miles

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Although most frequent flyer programs group Mauritius with Africa to determine it’s zone, there are far fewer options because not many airlines fly there.

IMG_4463 IMG_4464

STAR ALLIANCE

South African Airways is the only Star Alliance member to serve Mauritius so you will have to get to JNB, then connect to Mauritius.  Availability on this route isn’t the best and sometimes only available in business class so if you can only afford an economy ticket this won’t work for you.

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Assuming you can find availability, one way (double for RT) awards would cost:

NORTH AMERICA – MAURITIUS 40,000 Y    80,000 J

EUROPE – MAURITIUS                30,000 Y    55,000 J

AUSTRALIA – MAURITIUS            50,000 Y     75,000 J

Given the distances involved, it is much better to combine Mauritius with South Africa and have a better chance of finding those elusive seats!

ONEWORLD

The only OneWorld carrier serving Mauritius is British Airways so the best programs to look at are American AAdvantage for long-haul segments and British Airways Avios for short hops from JNB-MRU.

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Beware of transiting LHR enroute to Mauritius as the airport taxes can be extremely high.  Try to route on QR via DOH or EY via AUH to JNB, then pick up the JNB-MRU on BA.  Assuming you can find availability, one way (double for RT) awards would cost:

NORTH AMERICA – MAURITIUS 37,500 Y    62,500 J

EUROPE – MAURITIUS                30,000 Y    37,500 J

AUSTRALIA – MAURITIUS            37,500 Y     50,000 J

American currently offers the best deals on mileage awards to Africa but these rates are unlikely to hold once the merger with US Airways is completed so if Mauritius/Africa is on your bucket list, this is a good time to book your trip!

SKYTEAM

Air France is the only SkyTeam member serving Mauritius but you can use Delta (if anyone is still a member of Delta) to book these awards.  If you are using credit card points or transferring from SPG, then Flying Blue is your best bet.  All SkyTeam members charge YQ fuel surcharge on these tickets so you are better off using United or American for long haul awards.  Here’s a couple examples for a North American award and a European award.  Flying Blue won’t let you route from Australia via Europe to Mauritius.

MRU FB1 MRU FB2AIR MAURITIUS

Air Mauritius dominates the market. Here is a list of their destinations from MRU.

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They are a partner of Air France Flying Blue but they are not a member of SkyTeam.  If you want to use Flying Blue miles to book Air Mauritius you will have to call in.  I tried on the MRU-TNR (Antananarivo) route but the fuel surcharges were so high it would have been a total waste of SPG points which can be better utilized elsewhere.  If you are booking a cash ticket, then Air Mauritius does have a lot of options, keep an eye on their website for specials.

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Buy Avios For A Bargain $12.85 – $13.00 Per 1000 Block — If You Are Lucky!

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Anytime you book an award ticket with Avios, you will be offered 5 options for payment.  Each will have an Avios price which gradually decreases when you add more cash to the equation.  The cost of these extra Avios will vary with each flight you book.

When I was booking the flights from Jo-burg to Mauritius (JNB-MRU), I noticed there was a huge bargain if I paid more cash.

This flight operates with Euro-business so don’t bother booking business class.  If you are really lucky, you may even get an empty seat beside you in economy!

IMG_4459

Avios1

British Airways sells you blocks of 1000 Avios for between $28 – $35ish per block of 1000 depending on how many you buy.  This is NOT a good deal!  However if you do the math on the 5 options presented to you when you book an award ticket, you may see something like this.  Don’t worry that I have some greyed out options, this is only because I only have 6000 Avios in my account after last year’s burn-a-thon.

Avios2

As you can see, there are 3 really great options to buy Avios for between $12.85 – $13.00 for a block of 1000, less than half the normal price.  I basically got lucky on this route.  The options presented when I booked the JNB-PLZ-JNB segments only offered around $16.00 per block of 1000.  Each route will be different and you will have to do the math each time to see if you got a bargain.

If you need to stock up because you know you have more redemptions coming up and you can’t get free Avios from credit cards, this is the best way to go.  But don’t buy Avios on spec if you won’t be using them in the near future as they may devalue.  If you usually redeem for short-haul economy on flights that would otherwise be expensive to purchase such as the LAN intra South America routes, you can save a bundle by using these options!

Avios Devaluation Won’t Affect Most Eco-tourists

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I must admit to a bit of a panic when I woke up to a Feedly full of blog titles decrying the Avios devaluation.  I also got an email from Executive Club with the same information.  To make a long story short, it shouldn’t worry most eco-tourists.  The best use of Avios – short-haul economy class has been thankfully left alone.  The price has gone up on routes which are popular with many mainstream travelers, especially in business and first class.

Here is the old chart.

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And the new chart.

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They have introduced off-peak levels on British Airways flights.  This would have gotten me a good discount on the short-haul flights I booked on Comair last year.  Partner flights such as the ones I recommend for eco-tourists intra-South America and intra-Australia on Lan, Tam & Qantas respectively are still the same as before only now they are classified as “peak” since they are partners.

Bottom line:  If you earn miles from credit cards, not flying and redeem on short-haul economy, you have nothing to worry about!

15% Off Qantas & Jetstar Classic Award

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This was emailed to me by Qantas, good deal for those who have travel plans they can book at such short notice.

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For 7 days only, we’re offering 15% off Qantas and Jetstar Classic Award flights in Economy to all Australian domestic destinations and selected international destinations*.

Hurry, offer ends 25 January 2015 at 11:59pm (AEDT)! Just be sure to book your Classic Award seat (including any connecting domestic Australian flights) on Qantas or Jetstar operated flights with a QF or JQ flight number within the promotional periods to receive the discount.

How can I book?

  • Check below to see our wide range of destinations on sale.
  • Log in to Your Account.
  • Select the ‘Search Qantas and Partner Classic Awards’ option when searching for your flight. Your 15% discount will be applied where the full itinerary only contains Qantas (QF) or Jetstar (JQ) flights (including domestic transfers) within the promotional period. If a booking is made on partner airlines, no discount will apply for the entire itinerary.
  • Book your Qantas or Jetstar Classic Award flight online before 11:59 (AEDT) on 25 January 2015.

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Out Of The Sock Drawer – Barclay’s Finally Axes Forex Fees

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What a pleasant surprise to find this email!

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Just 2 months ago this card was on the chopping block as I didn’t want to pay the $89 annual fee.  Otherwise the benefits to this card are pretty good and the US miles will soon become AA miles. I have an older version that gives 10,000 anniversary miles and now I will get 10% of miles redeemed (up to 10,000 annually) as a rebate.  On top of all that, I got them to give me a statement credit for the annual fee!  The only thing holding me back from using this card more often is the forex fee but now that is gone!

I will still give preference to cards that have category bonuses such as Chase Ink & Freedom (this quarter is grocery stores!) but for non-bonused spend, this card will be going back into my wallet.

If you want to apply within the next 2 days, I can refer you as per below.  Please comment below and ask for a referral.  I will need your real email address but no one can see it but me.  50,000 points will get you a free trip to Central or South America!

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Bargain Flights Around Southern Africa With Avios

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If you are heading to South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Zambia or Mauritius, Avios are your best friend!  British Airway’s subsidiary, Comair has a good network in the region.

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Use GC Mapper to find out the mileage on each route.

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Use the Avios Award Chart to see how many Avios for each segment.  In the example above, you can see that Jo-burg to Durban, Port Elizabeth, Victoria Falls and Harare are in the 1st zone and cost 4500 Avios.  Jo-burg to Windhoek or Cape Town cost 7500 Avios and Mauritius costs 10,000 Avios.  All flights are easily booked online.

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A Major Weedout Of Hotel Programs

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If you saw yesterday’s post about the Radisson Blu in Port Elizabeth, you got a general idea of how having the right credit card can save you lots of money on accomodation.  Mainstream travelers who mostly visit cities have a huge advantage over eco-tourists because they tend to stay in one city for a couple days at least.  Maximizing the Club Carlson Visa assumes you want to stay in one hotel for at least 2 days.  There are a few places around the world where there are good birding sites within a short drive of a Club Carlson property so you can take advantage of the freebies and not waste your time in a city when you would rather be in a rainforest lodge.  The example of Port Elizabeth with the day trip to Birds of Eden is one such example, Panama City is another and I really saved a bundle in Tahiti when we had to wait 2 days for the next flight to Rimatara to see the beautiful Rimatara Lorikeets.  We also made good use of the “get one night free” during our travels in Israel & Europe before we went to Tenerife for the World Parrot Conference at Loro Parque.

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WHY DID I HAVE ALL THESE HOTEL POINTS ANYWAY?

Although I am by nature a “free agent” and prefer to choose hotels by location and convenience, not because of loyalty to one chain; between 2009-2011 I found myself a member of just about every hotel program in the book.  Why?  Because I wanted “hits” in the US Airways Grand Slam promo.  This was the cheapest way to get a large number of miles with very little extra cost over what I would normally pay for something.  I did direct a lot of our discretionary stays to these programs to get these “hits”.

Fast forward to 2012.  Everyone in the miles & points community was expecting Grand Slam to happen again in the usual time of Sept-Nov.  We painstakingly did surveys, played Facebook games and did Foursquare “check-ins” to get free hotel points.   Well guess what?  2012 came and went and no Grand Slam.  2013 came and went, still no Grand Slam.  And now US and AA are merging so there won’t ever be a Grand Slam again.  I had all these hotel points and had to do something with them.

Since we usually stay in small eco-lodges in remote locations, we have very little use for hotel points other than what has been mentioned above.  Mostly we use them at airports before or after a flight.  After several devaluations were announced, I knew I had to spend these points asap before they were totally worthless.

2014 was my year for massive burning of hotel points.  100,000’s of Club Carlson were used as above.  100,000’s of IHG Rewards were burned in French Polynesia, Israel & Africa (actually this includes the annual Chase free night certificate).  I used E-Rewards to top up Hilton just enough to get us 2 free nights in Mauritius and used Choice for one night pre-cruise at the Comfort Inn Diana in Venice, then sent the remaining points to United Airlines.  Now here I am at the end of 2014 and the only hotel points I have left are about 25k in Club Carlson, 30k in IHG and about 12k in La Quinta from the Facebook game last year.

MAKING THE DECISION – WHO STAYS AND WHO GOES

Looking to 2015 and beyond, I now need to assess which hotel programs (if any) I will keep.  I also need to know which hotel credit cards to get rid of.  To do this, I used two maps made by Drew at Travel is Free.  One for Club Carlson and one for IHG.

1. IHG is a keeper for the long run.  The $49 for the card which gets a free night certificate is easily worth it.  In any given year, we would need at least one stay at an airport hotel and IHG serves this market well.  They have properties at most of the gateway cities we would be transiting to get to eco-lodges.

2.  La Quinta is easy, there is one near my Mom’s house so I know what to do with them.

3.  Hilton, Marriott, Hyatt, Choice, Best Western & Wyndham are either zeroed out or have a few orphaned points (less than 1000) and we won’t be needing any of these chains for the foreseeable future.

4.  SPG is more valuable for airline transfers into otherwise difficult programs such as Flying Blue.  I have the credit card because of the bonus but never use it because they have no category bonuses and they charge forex fees.  Plus I can use my Aussie Amex to transfer into SPG so this card can go, but I will keep my SPG account active.

5.  My Club Carlson Visa also comes up for renewal next month – $50 since I only have the basic card (silver status) not the more expensive one that gets gold status.  Using Drew’s maps, I can easily see that the only places I want to go to that have Club Carlson properties are Puerto Rico and Trinidad.  I can see spending 2 nights at the Puerto Rico one as it is within easy driving distance of El Yunque National Forest and the value of 2 nights is easily more than the $50 fee.  This trip is planned for mid 2016 so will be bookable in Oct this year.  In Trinidad, a trip planned for 2018, I would much prefer to stay at the Asa Wright Centre’s Lodge for the superb birding, even though it costs more than paying the card fee for 2 more years would cost.  So the verdict is keep this card one more year, then cancel it.

SO WHERE WILL I BE BOOKING HOTELS?

By the end of next year, I will be down to only one program – IHG for the annual Chase certificate.  SPG doesn’t count as it will be used for airline miles, not hotels.  The best thing for me to do moving forward is use the hotel booking engines that GIVE airline miles, not COST hotel points.  No more being stuck at inconvenient locations just to get a free night!  On the plus side, many eco-lodges also can be booked with these engines.

POINTSHOUND – I use it for AA or Flying Blue miles.  Has a wider variety of hotels than Rocketmiles and cheaper options.  Using my referral link gets us both 250-1000 miles depending on what promo they are running.

ROCKETMILES – larger miles payouts but limited selection and sometimes hotels cost more so check carefully.  Good for United or Flying Blue miles.  Using my referral link gets us both a 1000 miles bonus.

HOTELS.COM – used if I would rather get 10 nights for one free night (value is average expenditure for the 10 paid nights).  For example if we have 5 nights at a $150 hotel, 3 nights at a $50 hotel and 2 nights at a $100 hotel the total we spent for the 10 nights is $1100.  The average for the 10 nights is $110 so that is the maximum value of my free night.  It’s best to get as close as possible to that maximum value as you don’t get any left over value.  If you choose a $125 hotel you pay the difference of $15.  If you choose a $95 hotel, you forfeit the balance of the free night value of $15.  You can always maximize by booking a larger/better room or a bed & breakfast rate.  Sometimes they have good 5x bonuses in the Chase Ultimate Rewards Mall or Shop with Chase as they call it now.  I haven’t seen a referral program for this company.

BOTTOM LINE

Having a good idea of where you want to travel in the next few years or even having a bucket list of ALL the places you want to go if you either get the miles or win the lottery helps you make wise choices in which hotel programs (if any) to participate in.

 

 

Pointshound Special – 1000 Bonus Airline Miles Any Booking In 2015

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I love when these specials come up!  Pointshound is running a special in which existing members can refer new members and BOTH of us get 1000 bonus when you complete your first hotel stay anytime in 2015!

From 2015 onwards, I will be concentrating more on earning airline miles for hotel bookings.  I am just finding hotel programs too limiting and most times they don’t even have properties where I want to stay.  I have booked small eco-lodges on Pointshound before and I like being able to choose from a wide variety even in gateway cities rather than being stuck with 1 or 2 choices in a hotel program.

Choose from a wide variety of airline miles and other loyalty programs.

Choose your program!

Promotional offer cannot be combined with any other bonuses or offers. Bonus valid on a new user’s first booking only. New user must sign up using unique referral link by December 31, 2014 and first booking must be made by December 31, 2015.