Category Archives: Miles and Points

Down To One Last Hotel Program

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Although technically I have accounts with about 8 hotel chain programs, they have all fallen by the wayside as being not worth the effort.  I really hate being limited to a chain hotel’s offering in any given location and prefer being able to choose from a wide variety of hotels.  For this reason, I have been concentrating on programs like Rocketmiles & Pointshound which earn airline miles and jump on social media games that offer free points in programs such as Expedia & Orbitz.  We each gained $100 vouchers in Expedia over a mistake they made with a promo back in March, then more recently we each gained $110 in Orbucks during the August-Sept photo competition in which Orbucks were given out for uploading summer themed photos (I wish they would do this every year)!  I’ve put these to good use for next year’s trip to Ecuador, Colombia & the Caribbean.

Club Carlson ditched the bogo free award night so I ditched their program after using up all existing points for next year’s trip.  So now it’s down to one program – IHG Rewards.  The main attraction here is the benefits from the Chase IHG Rewards credit card.  The $49 annual fee gets us a free night at any IHG hotel worldwide and I have gotten some amazing usage out of this at places like Intercontinental JNB Airport, Intercontinental Moorea, and have the Intercontinental San Juan booked for next year.  There always seems to be at least one place where I can use the certificate, usually at an airport hotel so the card is excellent value!  Knock wood, I hope this benefit never goes away!

Woolworth’s Relents & Brings Back Qantas Points

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As we all know, nothing beats free airline miles for doing what you have to do anyways and everyone has to buy groceries!  After a huge devaluation that got rid of Qantas points for the unexciting Woolworth’s dollars it seems that the furor on social media has got Woolies to bring back Qantas points as an option.  We have to wait until January so I’ll still be shopping mostly at Coles until the new program is in place but I’ll be happy to have 2 supermarkets now that give me free miles!

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Convert your Woolworths Rewards to Qantas Points

In the coming months, we’ll be contacting you about how to ‘opt-in’ to automatically convert your Woolworths Dollars into Qantas Points. You’ll get 870 Qantas Points for every 10 Woolworths Dollars.

Get bonus Qantas Points in the meantime

In the meantime, Woolworths will be in touch with great offers and the choice to earn bonus Qantas Points. Just keep an eye out for the offers in your inbox from January 2016 and choose Qantas Points.

Don’t forget to look out for the orange ticket products when you shop at Woolworths and BWS – and scan your Woolworths Rewards card at the checkout.

The more you shop, the faster you’ll fly..

 

Using Singapore Krisflyer Miles

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Singapore Airlines (one of my recommended programs) has prepared some nice how-to videos on how to book a flight with Krisflyer miles.  There are 2 options – redeeming an award or using miles + cash.  If you want to use Krisflyer for partner awards, you have to call them as these aren’t bookable online.

REDEEMING AN AWARD

Keep an eye on the taxes & surcharges.   Business class is a better value if you have to pay taxes anyway.

MILES PLUS CASH

If I didn’t have enough to book the award, I would have only used the 20k that were expiring as this isn’t the best use of miles.

Me – A Typical Female Airline Miles User?

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I had to laugh at this article.  Men may be from Mars but they have very definite attitudes on how to use – or should I say NOT use airline miles.  According to the article (written by a man), men don’t like to spend their miles, they value the status more than the redeemable miles and they take big pride in having a huge number of miles in their accounts.

Women, on the other hand, adopt a smarter, more pragmatic approach, which usually involves setting a mileage goal for a future free trip, and cashing in the instant it’s reached. These behaviors, he told me, are so entrenched that the airlines’ programs all but rely on them for viability: were men to adopt the same tactic and flood the system with those gigantic unspent balances, many programs would implode.

Well that’s me in a nutshell.  I do save for specific goals, I track my progress on a spreadsheet and once I get enough miles (and enough cash for non-miles/points expenses) I cash them in and start all over again!

You can’t take them with you, they depreciate over time so use your miles wisely and enjoy your travels!

See full article on Conde Nast Traveler.

Convert Your Points To Etihad & Get 25% Bonus Guest Miles

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From now until the end of December, Etihad is offering a 25% bonus when you convert points from partners such as credit cards, hotels and shopping programs to Etihad Guest Miles.

That’s 25% more towards that upgrade, free flight or a special something from their Reward Shop. To convert your points, call your bank, hotel or loyalty program’s customer service centre or visit their website. Click here to see the full list of programmes and more details on how to convert your points.

Aussies will be especially pleased that Flybuys is listed under the Retail tab so for this next month you will get 5000 Etihad for every block of 10,000 Flybuys.

Complete T&C’s

I recently did a complete review of the Etihad Guest Program but I do want to remind you that Etihad has a hard expiration date 2 years after miles are earned.  You CANNOT extend the expiration by any means so don’t transfer your partner points unless you are sure you will be using them before Dec 2017.  This means that I can’t participate this time as I don’t have a use for them within these 2 years but it’s a great deal otherwise so I hope they offer this deal at least once a year!

Single Worst Devaluation: Australia – Sri Lanka……& What You Can Do About It

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One thing that seems to have escaped most other travel/miles/points bloggers regarding the American Airlines devaluation is that Sri Lanka has shifted to the Middle East/Subcontinent category as of 22 March 2016.  Although redemptions from the USA to this region and the Asia 2 region are now equal in cost, there is a HUGE difference for Australians!

Sri Lanka miles1Previously it had been in the Asia 2 category which made the beautiful eco-tourism destination of Sri Lanka a much cheaper award with AA miles – 25k in economy and 35k in business increasing a mere 5k to 30k economy and 40k business.  Look at it now – a whopping 42.5k in economy and 80k in business class!  It’s more than doubled in cost!

Sri Lanka miles2Sri Lanka has some of the best birding in the world, see my reports on Kithulgala and Sinharaja.  So what can we do to get there at a more reasonable rate?

United Airlines is now a better option than American.  Most Aussies will fly via BKK on Thai as Singapore rarely releases J seats for partner awards.  However most Australians can’t get United miles unless they buy them during a “buy miles promo”.

Sri Lanka miles360k miles would cost me $1050 USD, that’s $1488 AUD at today’s rate!  Ouch!

Sri Lanka miles7So what about Singapore Airlines?  Most Aussies can earn them easily enough from credit cards.  It’s still going to cost over 60k miles & fuel surcharge of $472 AUD in business class.  Better than both options so far!

Sri Lanka miles6But can we do better and still get to Sri Lanka in a lie flat bed?  Enter Air Asia.  Better known as a low cost carrier, they still provide pretty good service.  We flew them in Y last year from Surat Thani to Kuala Lumpur.  Check out the prices from the Gold Coast (nearest airport to Brisbane they serve) to Sri Lanka.  Economy is dirt cheap and premium flatbed is still excellent value!

Sri Lanka miles4You don’t have to spend miles and you are only paying $371 AUD more to travel in a lie flat bed.  So it all comes down to whether you would rather save 61,000 SQ miles (or use your credit card points elsewhere that doesn’t have fuel surcharges) or would you rather spend an extra $371 AUD for this?

Sri Lanka miles5BOTTOM LINE

If you want to go to Sri Lanka on American Airlines miles, book it before 22 March 2016!!  Otherwise, I think it’s time to get better acquainted with Air Asia!

Australians Suffer Double Whammy With New American Airlines Devaluations

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Right on the heels of the prospective Marriott-Starwood merger that will probably see the end of Aussies’ only transfer route to American Airlines, AA (one of my Top 8 recommended programs) has now advised their new award chart which affects awards booked on/after 22 March 2016 – and it ain’t pretty!

In a nutshell:  Not only will American Airlines miles be harder to get,  the ones you already have are being devalued!

I am going to focus on the award redeeming area since this blog doesn’t cater to business travelers and anyone who is concerned with earning status or crediting miles from paid tickets.  You can read all the details of the new program here.  My target audience is the average Joe/Jane who wants a free trip to someplace that has amazing birding and wants to get miles from their everyday spending on credit cards and sign-up bonuses.

This is the old chart which is in effect until 21 March 2016. I have highlighted the most popular long-haul redemptions for Aussie eco-tourists:  Central/South America & Africa.  I am leaving Asia out of the equation since there are easier options with low-cost carriers such as Air Asia.

AA old chartHere’s the new chart effective for flights booked on or after 22 March 2016.

AA 2016 chartAs you can see there is a modest increase on the Central/South America reg 1 in economy, somewhat worse increases on South America reg 2 and Africa in economy and huge 35-40% increases in business class to everywhere!  First class is even worse, though I have never really considered first as an option as long as I can get some sleep in a lie-flat business class seat.  Business class to Central/South America on the Qantas & Lan trans-Pacific flights are a moot point as they are rarer than hens’ teeth!

ONE SILVER LINING

Awards within the South Pacific region – mostly on Qantas and Fiji Airways are going down from 20,000 to 15,000 in economy so that can be good if you are looking at Fiji, Tahiti, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu & New Caledonia.  Australia – New Zealand is going up from 10,000 to 15,000.

ONLY AN OPTION UNTIL LATE 2016

If all your American Airline miles come from your Amex Membership Rewards points via SPG, I expect that option will end in late 2016 after Marriott acquires SPG.  It is widely expected that the Marriott Rewards program will swallow the SPG program.

MY ADVICE

If you are an Aussie who wants to go to Africa or Central/South America before early Feb 2017 you should transfer your Amex to SPG and on to AA before the new charts take effect.  Before you move your Amex points, check that the availability is there as you won’t be able to move them back to Amex.

15% Bonus When You Transfer To Velocity

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Velocity (one of my top 8 airline programs) is running their (usually) bi-annual bonus promotion where you get 15% extra when you transfer credit card points to Velocity such as Amex Membership Rewards.

Velocity bonus

Velocity Frequent Flyer offers you the ability to turn your existing credit card and charge card points into Velocity Points.

Transfer your credit or charge card points to your Velocity account between 1 and 30 November 2015 and receive 15% bonus Velocity Points*.

Breaking News – Marriott To Acquire Starwood

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You may be wondering why people reading an eco-tourism blog care about luxury hotel chain mergers?  In this case, it’s not about the hotels or the elite status.  It’s concern over what will happen to the highly valuable transfer to airline miles with the 5k bonus if you transfer 20k SPG that has me worried.

The deal is expected to close in mid-2016, the companies said.

Forewarned is forearmed.  Full story here.  Worst case scenario is that the SPG program goes away and is absorbed into Marriott Rewards and we lose the transfer option – at those rates anyway.

We have time so no need to rush into anything but if you have been counting on SPG to get the miles you need for a specific trip you may have to prioritize those miles.  I know just this year I had to use the SPG option to top up LAN for a one-off redemption to the Galapagos.

For Aussies (unless you are a dual citizen and can get USA credit cards), if SPG goes away, so does our chance to get miles in AAdvantage, British Airways and Flying Blue.  That’s just from my list of Top 8 Airline Miles programs.

Awards Between USA & New Zealand May Get Easier

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Now that both United and American Airlines have announced new routes to Auckland, hopefully award space will be easier to get.  The new schedules haven’t been loaded yet but I am keeping an eye out for them.

Currently Air New Zealand is the only airline on this route and they have been very stingy with award space.    If you are lucky, you may get economy but forget business class – and this is a 13 hour flight!  Both airlines will be flying Dreamliners which are known for their superb business class but unfortunately very cramped economy class.  The USD is still strong against the NZD & AUD so this is a very good time to plan a trip down under!

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AKL AAUA

AKL UA