Category Archives: Miles and Points

Shop Small Returns To Australia This Month

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Last year, the Aussie Shop Small promo ran in November which is the usual time for the similar promo in the USA.  This year, it’s coming a few months earlier.

Shop Small Australia

You can register Amex cards issued by Amex, the NAB, ANZ, CBA & Westpac,.

It’s not quite as generous as last year where you got $10 for spending $20 so this year I won’t be going out of my way to hunt down eligible shops as the only useful one near me is a pharmacy.  Still $5 is $5 so I will def use my various Amexes at shops near me if possible!

Amex still doesn’t have the popularity here as it does in the USA and not many small shops accept it but I wish they would as typical Aussie Amex cards offer double the usual points a co-branded Visa or Mastercard would.

Help us support local businesses this August and get up to $50 credit*.

Register your American Express® Card and spend $20 or more in a single eligible transaction at up to ten different participating small business locations between 1 and 31 August 2014, and get a $5 credit for each purchase per location.
Don’t miss out – this offer is limited to the first 50,000 Cards to register.
*T&C’s apply.

I do have a minimum spend to make on my new ANZ Visa & Amex combo for 50,000 Qantas points………………..if the cards ever get here!  I’ve been approved but apparently there is a delay in shipping them out as the promo is so popular!

IHG Pointbreaks Through 30 Sept Unveiled, Some Good Ones For Eco-tourists

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Last time they were so bad, I was calling them “Disa-Pointbreaks“!   The new list which is valid from July 28- September 30th has much better options for eco-travelers.  For those new to the program, PointBreaks properties are Reward Nights for only 5,000 points per night.  Bookings will be open on 28 July.  Unfortunately, it seems Oceania has been left out in the cold – pun intended since it is winter Down Under!  The entire list can be found here, but I’ll point out a few that may be of use to those traveling to Central & South America.  Remember, don’t go crazy booking multiple nights at these city based hotels, you just need a night before and after a flight, what you really want is to be out in the bush where the birds are!

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I have stayed at the Crowne Plaza Belem, it’s a good gateway to the Amazon region of Brazil.  There is a plaza within walking distance where you can see Jenday Conures and White-winged Parakeets, you can also take a river cruise to Parrot Island to see 100’s of Orange-winged Amazons.  Manaus is also an excellent gateway to the Amazon.

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Another travel blogger, Weekend Blitz has created a very handy Google map to show where the concentrations of Pointbreaks are.  Click on the image to see the map full sized and be able to zoom in on locations.

Notice poor Oceania left out in the cold!

Finally, ANZ Offers Aussies A Credit Card Deal Like Americans Get

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This post is for my Australian readers, especially those who have been looking with envy at the lucrative credit cards Americans can get with Chase, Citibank, Amex and more!  It’s very rare to find an offer where the annual fee is waived!  Minimum spend is $1500 in 3 months so pretty easy even if we can’t manufacture spend here!

*Not affiliate links, they go right to Qantas website.

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I applied and got a “more information required” message so no instant approval but my details are well within the criteria for the basic card.

What can you do with 50,000 Qantas Frequent Flyer points?  Use the “where can I go” tool!  Please note the taxes and fees, some of which are YQ fuel surcharges.

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Changes In Avianca And Star Alliance Ticket Redemption

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At least they are giving 3 months advance notice!  I have another post on best uses of Lifemiles for eco-tourists.  I still think they are best used on their own metal for intra-Peru or intra-Central America.  The figures below are for round-trip tickets, one ways are half the amount.

From October 15th, 2014, redemption fares for flights with Avianca will change, which include reductions and increases, as shown in the following table:

 

Origin Destination Miles1 from October 15th, 2014
Miami Central America
28.000
Florida Central America
The Caribbean
25.000
Mexico
30.000
South America
40.000
Europe
80.000
Colombia3
Ecuador		 Venezuela
Peru
30.000
Orlando Bogota and Medellin
33.000
Washington Bogota
37.000
New York Medellin
Dallas
Newark
New York
Washington		 Chicago
Houston
Toronto		 Colombia
35.000
Central America4
The Caribbean
30.000
Ecuador
35.000
Europe
80.000
Dallas
Newark
New York
Washington		 Chicago
Houston
Toronto		 Mexico
30.000
Dallas
Newark
New York		 Washington
Chicago
Houston		 Peru
Venezuela
35.000
Toronto
Dallas
Newark
New York		 Washington
Chicago
Houston		 Buenos Aires
Montevideo
Santiago de Chile
45.000
Asuncion
Brasilia
Rio de Janeiro
Sao Paulo		 Porto Alegre
La Paz
Santa Cruz
Toronto South America
Los Angeles Bogota
38.000
Lima
37.000
Los Angeles and  San Francisco Central America and The Caribbean
35.000
Colombia
Ecuador		 Peru
Venezuela
35.000
Mexico
40.000
Europe
80.000
South America
45.000
Mexico Central America
The Caribbean
Colombia2
25.000
Peru
27.000
Ecuador
28.000
Venezuela
30.000
Asuncion
Buenos Aires
Montevideo
Santiago de Chile		 Brasilia
Rio de Janeiro
Sao Paulo
Porto Alegre
La Paz
Santa Cruz
45.000
Miami
Orlando
Fort Lauderdale
30.000
Dallas
Newark
Washington		 Houston
New York
Chicago
Toronto
Los Angeles
San Francisco
40.000
Europe
80.000

1 The amount of miles represent round trip tickets
2 Except Mexico to Bogota, Medellin or Cali, from 28.000 miles
3 Except Orlando – Bogota / Medellin, from 33.000 miles
4 Except Houston-El Salvador, from 35.000 miles; Dallas/Washington/New York / Toronto, – El Salvador, from 36.000 miles

 

Flights with Star Alliance member airlines

As for changes in air ticket redemption with Star Alliance member airlines, these include increases up to 13.000 miles in Economy Class and up to 26.000 miles in Business Class. Both cases apply for roundtrip flights from North America.

For roundtrip flights from Mexico, there will be reductions up to 15.000 miles and increases up to 14.000 miles in Economy Class, also reductions up to 20.000 miles and increases up to 28.000 miles in Business class.

To be sure that our members have the opportunity to understand all changes before these take place, all modifications will be effective from October 15th, 2014.

Terms and Conditions

  • The table shown above is illustrative only; its intention is to summarize the amount of miles that will be required per region for the X class in economy cabin. The amount of miles required for a ticket redemption is calculated based on a specific origin and destination and could not match with the amount of miles shown on the table above, it could be higher.
  • The amount of miles required could vary depending on the date, route and redemption product.
  • To know the exact amount of required miles for each origin and destination, it will be necessary to consult the amount through the redemption system athttps://www.lifemiles.com/eng/use/red/dynredpar.aspx after October 15th, 2014.
  • The amounts listed by the redemption system shall prevail over those shown on the table above.
  • LifeMiles is a trademark of LifeMiles Corp.
  • LifeMiles Terms and Conditions apply and can be found at www.lifemiles.com.

Air India Officially Joins Star Alliance

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Air India has finally joined Star Alliance!

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This is great news for eco-travelers as India has some amazing places to see birds in the wild!  I’ve been to Coorg, Kerala, Wayanad (accessible from Bangalore) and Bharatpur near Jaipur, Agra & Delhi.  You will also have more flight options to Sri Lanka using Star Alliance partners where more beautiful endemic birds await!  See my guide on getting to India and Central Asia for more information on how many miles you need.

The domestic route possibilities are very interesting, especially when you consider how large India is and how difficult it is for a foreigner to book train tickets without an Indian mobile phone!  These routes haven’t been loaded into United’s booking engine yet so I can’t wait to see what they price out at!

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If you live in India and want to learn about possible credit card deals specific to Indians, Live From A Lounge can help you.  The blogger lives in Mumbai and is familiar with the Indian frequent flier mile scene.

Getting To French Polynesia (Tahiti) With Miles

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The first thing you need to deal with is that flights into PPT, the international airport of Tahiti, French Polynesia are very limited.  Coming from Australia, our only options were through Auckland.  People coming from North America can connect through LAX and Honolulu and people coming from Europe could connect through Paris.

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STAR ALLIANCE

Air New Zealand is the only Star Alliance airline serving Tahtiti.  You can get an idea of availability on United’s site.  I couldn’t find anything until Feb 2015 and economy class only.

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For the last year, NZ has not been releasing any seats at all between Brisbane and Auckland so even if I could have snagged a couple of rare AKL-PPT seats I would have had to pay extra to get us to Auckland.  I didn’t like that option!  Air New Zealand used to be more generous with award seats, in 2011 I redeemed business class to Rarotonga but these awards are a thing of the past.

ONE WORLD ALLIANCE

LAN is the only OneWorld member flying to Tahiti so unlikely to be of use to people reading this blog, especially since AA no longer offers RTW mileage awards.

SKYTEAM ALLIANCE

Air France is the only Skyteam member that serves Tahiti.  From Paris, one way awards start at 40,000 miles economy and fuel surcharge varies.

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From the USA, rock bottom ex-LAX seems to be 30,000 miles with 146 EUR fuel surcharge.

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The real challenge is trying to get connecting flights on Delta to LAX to hook up with your AIr France flight to Tahiti.  I tried a few random dates in late 2014 and mid 2015 using flexible dates and couldn’t find anything to use as a screenshot example.

AIR TAHITI NUI

Air Tahiti Nui serves Auckland and LAX and is a partner of both American AAdvantage and Delta’s Skymiles.  For Americans, you will face the same problem trying to get low-level award space on Delta from your home airport to LAX and Delta charges a fuel surcharge.  AAdvantage has better availability for domestic USA awards to LAX.

For Aussies, you will fly on Qantas from Brisbane, Sydney or Melbourne to Auckland, then transfer to Air Tahiti Nui.  Award space was pretty good as long as you avoid holidays.  You can see Qantas award space easily using AA’s tool.

Sometimes Air Tahiti Nui availability can be searched using the Flightstats tool.

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If the systems are hooking up, you can see the fare buckets still available.  This is what it will look like using the more easily searched AKL-BNE route.  Ecomony seats are W class, business seats are I class.  More information and photos of the cabins can be found on Flyertalk.  Business seats are not lie-flat and it’s only a 4.5 hour flight so in most cases economy will be sufficient.

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HAWAIIAN AIRLINES

One last option is Hawaiian Airlines.  If you are a member of their program, you can redeem online at these award levels.

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Otherwise, Hawaiian Airlines partners with many other frequent flyer programs such as United Airlines, American Airlines, US Airways, Alaskan Airlines, ANA, Korean and Virgin Australia so you may be able to use their miles to construct an award Mainland USA – HNL-PPT.

SUMMARY

In summary, getting to Tahiti using miles is one of the most challenging awards you will ever book so you do need to plan well in advance and research your airlines and award levels.  I found the easiest option for availability to be on American’s AAdvantage program but as usual, your miles may vary!

 

Convert Your Starpoints Into AAdvantage Or US Dividend Miles – Earn 20% Bonus Miles

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This is one of the best ways especially for Australian Amex MR card holders to get miles in American AAdvantage.  Most Aussies can’t get the more lucrative AA & US credit cards so have to resort to the Amex MR transfers to SPG, then on to the US based program.

And now US Airways has jumped on the bandwagon so you have 2 choices.

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In a nutshell:

20,000 Starpoints = 20,000 AAdvantage/Dividend miles
Standard SPG bonus = 5,000 AAdvantage/Dividend miles
AAdvantage 20% mileage bonus = 5,000 AAdvantage/Dividend miles
Total = 30,000 AAdvantage/Dividend miles

Since 2 Amex = 1 SPG, 40,000 Aussie Amex MR = 20,000 SPG = 30,000 AAdvantage/Dividend.

Remember that these two programs are set to merge in 2015 and devaluations are expected so don’t convert unless you plan to redeem before then.  Otherwise it is best to keep you SPG miles in the flexible SPG program so you maintain a better choice of airlines

AAdvantage Full details and T&C’s

US Airways Full details and T&C’s

 

 

So Sad About Daily Getaways

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In past years, it was a ritual.  The hotel point packages went on sale 1pm East Coast USA time which meant I had to be up before 3am in Brisbane.  One year, we were on holiday in Rarotonga and I had to traipse down to reception where the internet was at some ridiculous hour 4 or 5am.  Competition was fierce and the best packages went within seconds!  My target was always Wyndham points which I would quickly transfer to either United, US Airways or American depending on my needs.  It was exasperating but fun to try to get the timing right to snag at least one package or maybe 2 if I was using the 2 browser method.  Then I would go on the Flyertalk thread and join the other in bragging about my successes……………..or commiserating about not being fast enough.

What a difference a devaluation makes!   While a few point packages have still been selling well such as Hyatt and Choice (the latter probably for Southwest Companion passes), the previously hot Wyndham packages are going begging.  IHG are also not selling, probably because of the lackluster Pointbreaks (Disa-Pointbreaks as I call them).  If anyone is interested, plenty of points up for grabs but unless you have worked out a good use for them, save your money and book hotels via Pointshound or Rocketmiles and earn your miles that way!

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3000 Bonus Miles For First Rocketmiles Booking

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Rocketmiles is a hotel booking engine much like Expedia or Travelocity except the big difference is that they give very generous bonuses of airline miles for booking a hotel.  There is a limited time offer ending 4 July if you use this link to join Rocketmiles and book a hotel.  Rocketmiles has a very generous referral program so if you use this link, I get 1000 miles.  You will then get a link of your own to share around!  Only one 3000 mile bonus per person.

These are the airlines you can choose from.

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T&Cs:  Qualifying Activity: To be eligible, the hotel reservation MUST BE BOOKED USING THIS PROMOTIONAL LINK (www.rocketmiles.com/bonus-3k) by 11:59PM CT on 4 July 2014. Strictly limited to first time customers of Rocketmiles. Limit one per customer. Limit one per stay. Promotional offer can not be combined with any other bonuses or offers. Rocketmiles reserves the right to retract a bonus at any time if it detects fraud, stacking of bonuses, technical errors, cancel/rebooking activity (defined by identical search criteria), or any deceptive behavior attempted to circumvent the limits expressed above, including multiple accounts. Rocketmiles reserves the right to change the terms of a promotion, or end a promotion, at any time. Rewards that can not be posted due to incorrect or incomplete information may become ineligible after 12 months of attempts with no customer response. See www.rocketmiles.com/terms for full terms, or call Rocketmiles concierges at 1-855-355-7625 with questions of eligibility or for any other assistance.

 

AA/US Mileage Accounts Merger Sometime In 2015

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I have news from email and social media with more news about the AA/US merger.

FROM AMERICAN:  Timeline confirmed for 2015.  No details about how the miles will be moved from US to AA or if it will be like the UA/CO merger where miles could be moved back and forth for a few months so you could choose which airline’s chart to use.  Full details as posted on Facebook.

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FROM US AIRWAYS:  Increased miles to redeem US/Canada premium cabin awards (which is probably not the priority for an eco-travel blog).  There is also some news for elites, please see details on US website.  US does have very attractive off-peak awards between the US and South America so if you have an award in mind it’s worth redeeming before 2015.

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