Like everything else in this world, the value of what you own is determined by the value of what you can trade it for. Paper money has no intrinsic value, but the home you can purchase with it does. The same is true of your frequent flyer miles. The value is not in the miles themselves, it is in the free tickets you can exchange those miles for.
How do I Calculate the Value of my Miles?
It’s easy. Just look at how much the plane ticket costs, and divide that number by the amount of miles you would need to get the same ticket for free. If you could pay $400 for a ticket, or use 25,000 frequent flyer miles, then the value per mile is $400/25,000 = $.016, or 1.6 cents per mile.
Don’t forget the Taxes and Fees!
Most “free” tickets aren’t totally free. For US flights you usually have to pay the TSA security fee of $5 – $10. On international flights you usually have to pay international airport fees, and often times you’ll need to pay a booking fee for booking over the phone. Make sure you subtract those fees from the cost of the ticket before dividing by the number of frequent flyer points. For example: Say you could pay $1,100 for an international ticket or you could use 50,000 frequent flyer miles and pay $100 in taxes and fees. Your value per point is ($1,100-$100)/50,000 = $.02, or 2 cents per point. Because you still have to pay the $100, your miles don’t contribute any value to offset that charge.
What is the Average Value Per Mile?
The potential value of the miles can range from less than one penny per point, to over 15 cents per point depending on how you use them. The below examples for United Airlines will give you an idea of how the value can fluctuate. I booked these tickets 11 months in advance using the least possible required mileage.
New York to D.C. = A $175 economy ticket required a Standard Award of 50,000 miles for a paltry value of .34 cents. In general using any major airline awards for short haul flights will get you terrible value. You either want to save up your miles for longer and more expensive flights, or use a regional airline like Southwest or jetBlue in order to get decent value for your miles on shorter routes.
Los Angeles to New York = A $515 economy ticket required a Standard Award of 50,000 miles for a value of 1.02 cents. A $1,975 business class ticket was available for a Saver Award of 50,000 miles for a value of 3.94 cents per mile. It’s not uncommon for business Saver Awards to be available even if economy Saver Awards are sold out. Make sure to check this on your award flights and you could end up flying business for the same amount as coach!
Chicago to Paris = Only Standard Awards were available in each class of service. The $2,500 coach ticket for 110,000 miles came out to 2.16 cents; the $5,700 business class ticket for 210,000 miles equaled 2.66 cents; and the $11,500 first class ticket for 270,000 miles came out to 4.22 cents after all the fees were deducted.
Those are all popular United routes so most of the Saver Tickets weren’t available. By contrast, if you have AMEX points you could transfer 119,000 into Singapore Airlines and get a $15,500 first class ticket Saver Award from Los Angeles to Tokyo at a whopping value of $12.81 cents per miles.
What Should I be Trying For?
Now that you know you can get up to $.15 per mile for international first class, you still may not want to. After all, it requires a lot of miles that you could use flying economy to a lot more places. There are basically two rules of thumb for the right point value:
Rule #1: Never get less than a Penny Per Point
This is what the airlines want you to pay. They will offer you one penny per point all day long to try and get your points back. They’ll even let you shop online and spend the money with a partner so long as they only have to pay you one penny per point. The bottom line is, you can always get a penny per point, so at least make sure you’re doing better than that. I personally won’t use miles for less than 2 pennies per point.
Rule #2: Get more than you pay for the Miles
Before you start to pay for miles, make sure you know what value you will use them for. The most common form of paying for miles is with an airline credit card. You may not think you’re buying miles with these credit cards, but you most certainly are. These credit cards almost always charge an annual fee, and they have higher interest rates. If you carry a balance on these cards you will never get any value. After all, a 15% APR will even wipe out the value of a first class international ticket. Therefore you should only get an airline card if you can pay it off every month.
Another form of buying miles is choosing to pay an additional fee for the “convenience” of using your credit card. For example, the US Government will allow you to pay your taxes with your credit card but there is a 2.49% fee. If you have an airline credit card, you could essentially use this to buy miles for 2.49 cents each. This is a great deal if you intend to use them on first class tickets valued at great then 2.5 cents. But it is a total waste of money if you’re flying domestic for 2 cents per mile. The same is true when the airlines offer to sell you additional miles. Be smart and do the math. Never pay more than you’ll be able to get back!
Monday, January 10, 2011
The 60,000 Mile Emergency Fund
I often read the advice of personal finance writers like Suze Orman, Liz Pullam Weston, and Robert Kiyosaki. Although their insights and approaches differ vastly, the one thing they all agree on is the importance of saving an emergency fund. In finance terms, the emergency fund is there in case you lose your job, or the car breaks down or the refrigerator stops working.
If you happen to have family and friends scattered across the US, then you should also be saving a secondary emergency fund of 60,000 frequent flyer miles. The four major US Airlines, (United/Continental, Delta, US Airways, and American) all offer unrestricted economy class tickets anywhere in United States for 60,000 miles. “Unrestricted” means that if there is a seat on the plane, you can have it for 60,000 miles. (On American and United you only need 50,000 miles)
Imagine how handy this could come in if a loved one were seriously injured or passed away. The airlines are not nearly as generous with bereavement fares as they used to be. Even for happy news, such as the birth of a child or a sudden engagement, these tickets can save you huge money.
The airlines are raising prices, and last minute fares are where they sting travelers the most. A last minute cross-country ticket can easily cost over $1,500. That’s more than a new fridge or most car repair bills! In order to protect yourself from this potentially crippling financial situation, you’ll need a 60,000 mile air bag.
If you happen to have family and friends scattered across the US, then you should also be saving a secondary emergency fund of 60,000 frequent flyer miles. The four major US Airlines, (United/Continental, Delta, US Airways, and American) all offer unrestricted economy class tickets anywhere in United States for 60,000 miles. “Unrestricted” means that if there is a seat on the plane, you can have it for 60,000 miles. (On American and United you only need 50,000 miles)
Imagine how handy this could come in if a loved one were seriously injured or passed away. The airlines are not nearly as generous with bereavement fares as they used to be. Even for happy news, such as the birth of a child or a sudden engagement, these tickets can save you huge money.
The airlines are raising prices, and last minute fares are where they sting travelers the most. A last minute cross-country ticket can easily cost over $1,500. That’s more than a new fridge or most car repair bills! In order to protect yourself from this potentially crippling financial situation, you’ll need a 60,000 mile air bag.
New Southwest vs. Old Southwest Rapid Rewards
In my previous post, Who Will Luv the New Southwest Rapid Rewards Program?, I went through the basics of the new program. In this article, I will use more specific examples to paint an apples-to-apples comparison of the new program value vs. the old program value.
My conclusions were quite shocking. The new program will be at least 60% more valuable to people that regularly book and redeem Anytime Fares. If you book Anytime Fares and later redeem them for Wanna Get Away Fares, the new program can be over 250% more valuable.
However, for people that regularly book and redeem Wanna Get Away Fares, the program is now at least 20% less valuable. If you book a lot of Wanna Get Away Fares to redeem later for anytime fares, the program value plummets over 60% in most cases.
(Click here to run your own numbers using our custom Southwest Rewards Calculator)
In order to make this a clear comparison, we will assume the following:
Scenario #1: Book and Redeem Wanna Get Away Fares - A 20% Drop in Value
Let’s say you book eight, $140 Wanna Get Away tickets, and later redeem them for another $140 Wanna Get Away ticket.
Under the old system you would have spent $1,120 in order to redeem a $140 Standard Reward. Under the new system you’ll earn 6 points for every dollar you spend on Wanna Get Away fares, totaling 6,720 points. When redeeming points for a Wanna Get Away fare you trade in 60 points for every $1, so 6,720 divided by 60 = only $112. Therefore, in the new system you lose $28 in value, which is 20% off of the old programs $140 value.
This is the same no matter the numbers you use. A $500 ticket would cost $4,000 after 8 roundtrips. That $4,000 times 6 points = 24,000 points. The 24,000 points divided by 60 = $400 in the new program. This is 20% less than the $500 you would have gotten in the old Southwest program.
Scenario 2: Book Wanna Get Away Fares and Redeem Anytime Fares - A 66% Drop in Value
Let’s say you book sixteen, $140 Wanna Get Away Fares to later redeem for a $400 Anytime fare.
Under the old system you would’ve spent $2,240 to redeem a $400 Freedom Award ticket. Under the new system that $2,240 gets multiplied by 6 and turns into 13,440 points. It requires 100 points to redeem $1 for Anytime Fares, which means you have $134.40 you can spend on Anytime fares. That is $265.60 less purchasing power than you had in the old program, which is a 66% drop in value.
Scenario #3: Book and Redeem Anytime Fares - A 60% Increase in Value
Let’s say you book sixteen, $400 Anytime tickets to later redeem for another $400 Anytime ticket.
Under the old system you would have spent $6,400 in order to redeem a $400 Freedom Award. Under the new system you’ll earn 10 points for every dollar you spend on Anytime fares, totaling 64,000 points. You can then cash those in for an Anytime Fare at the rate of 100 points for $1 which gives you $640. This is a 60% increase in value over the $400 ticket.
Scenario #4: Book Anytime Awards and Redeem Wanna Get Away Fares - A 280% Increase in Value
Let’s say you book eight, $400 Anytime tickets to later redeem for a Wanna Get Away Fare that costs $140.
Under the old system you would’ve spent $3,200 for a Standard Reward worth $140. Under the new system you’ll earn 32,000 points, which then divided by 60 gives you $533 that you can spend on Wanna Get Away Fares. That’s almost 3 times the amount of buying power from the old program.
Remember, this assumes that the Wanna Get Away Fare is 35% of the Anytime Fare. If it was only 25%, you would be making 4 times more money, and even if it was half the cost of the Anytime ticket you would still be making over 150%.
For A- List Members (who receive a 25% point bonus) the Chart Looks Like This:
For A-List Preferred Members (who receive a 100% point bonus) the Chart Looks Like This:
Conclusion
After going through these examples, the results are pretty clear to me. The new Southwest Airlines does NOT want to reward you for purchasing Wanna Get Away Fares. The days of buying 8 short round-trips in order to cash in for a free cross country flight are now gone. The new program is designed to cater to business travelers that pay for the more expensive Anytime fares. If you're one of those people, you should be thrilled with the increased awards and flexibility offered by the new Rapid Rewards Program. However, if you only fly Southwest when you can buy a low-priced Wanna Get Away Fare, then you will receive less value from the new program.
For more information on how the new program works, you can visit my previous blog here.
My conclusions were quite shocking. The new program will be at least 60% more valuable to people that regularly book and redeem Anytime Fares. If you book Anytime Fares and later redeem them for Wanna Get Away Fares, the new program can be over 250% more valuable.
However, for people that regularly book and redeem Wanna Get Away Fares, the program is now at least 20% less valuable. If you book a lot of Wanna Get Away Fares to redeem later for anytime fares, the program value plummets over 60% in most cases.
(Click here to run your own numbers using our custom Southwest Rewards Calculator)
In order to make this a clear comparison, we will assume the following:
- All of the Round-Trips you take are identical in cost
- Wanna Get Away Fares are priced at approximately 35% the cost of an Anytime Fare. (This is a pretty good rule of thumb)
- When you book your award, you book a trip that is identical in cost to the trips that you took to earn the award.
- 8 Round-Trip tickets under the old system will qualify you for any Wanna Get Away Fare, but will not qualify you for Anytime Fares
- 16 Round-Trip tickets under the old system will qualify you for Anytime Fares
| New RR Benefit | Old RR Benefit | Money Difference | New Program Value | |
| Book 8 RT WGA Fares Redeem 1 RT WGA Fare | $112 | $140 | - $28 | - 20% |
| Book 16 RT WGA Fares Redeem 1 RT Anytime Fare | $134 | $400 | - $266 | - 66% |
| Book 16 RT Anytime Fares Redeem 1 RT Anytime Fare | $640 | $400 | $240 | + 60% |
| Book 8 RT Anytime Fares Redeem 1 RT WGA Fare | $533 | $140 | $393 | + 280% |
Scenario #1: Book and Redeem Wanna Get Away Fares - A 20% Drop in Value
Let’s say you book eight, $140 Wanna Get Away tickets, and later redeem them for another $140 Wanna Get Away ticket.
Under the old system you would have spent $1,120 in order to redeem a $140 Standard Reward. Under the new system you’ll earn 6 points for every dollar you spend on Wanna Get Away fares, totaling 6,720 points. When redeeming points for a Wanna Get Away fare you trade in 60 points for every $1, so 6,720 divided by 60 = only $112. Therefore, in the new system you lose $28 in value, which is 20% off of the old programs $140 value.
This is the same no matter the numbers you use. A $500 ticket would cost $4,000 after 8 roundtrips. That $4,000 times 6 points = 24,000 points. The 24,000 points divided by 60 = $400 in the new program. This is 20% less than the $500 you would have gotten in the old Southwest program.
Scenario 2: Book Wanna Get Away Fares and Redeem Anytime Fares - A 66% Drop in Value
Let’s say you book sixteen, $140 Wanna Get Away Fares to later redeem for a $400 Anytime fare.
Under the old system you would’ve spent $2,240 to redeem a $400 Freedom Award ticket. Under the new system that $2,240 gets multiplied by 6 and turns into 13,440 points. It requires 100 points to redeem $1 for Anytime Fares, which means you have $134.40 you can spend on Anytime fares. That is $265.60 less purchasing power than you had in the old program, which is a 66% drop in value.
Scenario #3: Book and Redeem Anytime Fares - A 60% Increase in Value
Let’s say you book sixteen, $400 Anytime tickets to later redeem for another $400 Anytime ticket.
Under the old system you would have spent $6,400 in order to redeem a $400 Freedom Award. Under the new system you’ll earn 10 points for every dollar you spend on Anytime fares, totaling 64,000 points. You can then cash those in for an Anytime Fare at the rate of 100 points for $1 which gives you $640. This is a 60% increase in value over the $400 ticket.
Scenario #4: Book Anytime Awards and Redeem Wanna Get Away Fares - A 280% Increase in Value
Let’s say you book eight, $400 Anytime tickets to later redeem for a Wanna Get Away Fare that costs $140.
Under the old system you would’ve spent $3,200 for a Standard Reward worth $140. Under the new system you’ll earn 32,000 points, which then divided by 60 gives you $533 that you can spend on Wanna Get Away Fares. That’s almost 3 times the amount of buying power from the old program.
Remember, this assumes that the Wanna Get Away Fare is 35% of the Anytime Fare. If it was only 25%, you would be making 4 times more money, and even if it was half the cost of the Anytime ticket you would still be making over 150%.
For A- List Members (who receive a 25% point bonus) the Chart Looks Like This:
New RR Benefit | Old RR Benefit | Money Difference | New Program Value | |
| Book 8 RT WGA Fares Redeem 1 RT WGA Fare | $140 | $140 | $0 | 0% |
| Book 16 RT WGA Fares Redeem 1 RT Anytime Fare | $168 | $400 | - $232 | - 58% |
| Book 16 RT Anytime Fares Redeem 1 RT Anytime Fare | $800 | $400 | $400 | + 100% |
| Book 8 RT Anytime Fares Redeem 1 RT WGA Fare | $667 | $140 | $527 | + 376% |
New RR Benefit | Old RR Benefit | Money Difference | New Program Value | |
| Book 8 RT WGA Fares Redeem 1 RT WGA Fare | $224 | $140 | $84 | + 60% |
| Book 16 RT WGA Fares Redeem 1 RT Anytime Fare | $269 | $400 | - $131 | - 33% |
| Book 16 RT Anytime Fares Redeem 1 RT Anytime Fare | $1,280 | $400 | $800 | + 220% |
| Book 8 RT Anytime Fares Redeem 1 RT WGA Fare | $1,067 | $140 | $927 | + 662% |
Conclusion
After going through these examples, the results are pretty clear to me. The new Southwest Airlines does NOT want to reward you for purchasing Wanna Get Away Fares. The days of buying 8 short round-trips in order to cash in for a free cross country flight are now gone. The new program is designed to cater to business travelers that pay for the more expensive Anytime fares. If you're one of those people, you should be thrilled with the increased awards and flexibility offered by the new Rapid Rewards Program. However, if you only fly Southwest when you can buy a low-priced Wanna Get Away Fare, then you will receive less value from the new program.
For more information on how the new program works, you can visit my previous blog here.
5 Keys to Booking Award Travel
I know you’re fed up. You’re sitting on 25,000, or 100,000 or 1 Million frequent flyer miles and you just can’t figure out how to use them to see the Statue of Liberty, the Pyramids of Giza, the Sydney Opera House, or the Great Wall of China. Every time you look online, the award seats are booked and you’re about ready to throw in the towel.
The good news is that I’m here to help. I’ve used frequent flyer miles to see every one of those places, and most of the time I’ve flown first class. Over the last five years I’ve used over 2 Million frequent flyer miles to visit six continents on tickets that would’ve cost me over $150,000 if I had actually paid for the flights. Here’s how I book my travel, every single time:
#1 Know Who Your Partners Are
Every major US Airline has international partners, and you can use your miles on them in the same way you can on your flagship airline. For my honeymoon I used 125,000 Continental Miles (each) to book first class tickets around Europe and the Middle East valued at over $15,000 per ticket. The routing goes from San Diego to Washington D.C. on United Airlines, D.C. to London on Virgin Atlantic, and London to Jordan on bmi airlines. On the way back it’s Lufthansa from Venice to D.C., and then back from D.C. on United. I used all of those Continental miles, and I’m not on a single Continental Airlines flight! Partners are what make the redemption world go around.
#2 Look at the Partner Route Maps
Once you have your destination picked out, you need to know which partner airlines fly there. Every airline has a route-map published somewhere on the web (I’ve compiled them all for you at milesjunky.com) which points out all of the airline hubs, and which cities they fly to from those hubs. Sure, it would be nice to get that direct flight to Europe on United, but that flight is often fully booked. Instead you could take Air Canada through Toronto and make it their almost as easily.
Once you know the route maps of the partner airlines, you can simply connect the dots to anywhere in the world you want to go. This will be especially important for the next two steps.
#3 Always Call the Airline
If you’re trying to book an award ticket online, you are not getting all of the partner options. You’re probably not even getting half of the options. It’s that simple. Many of the partner airlines run on completely different booking systems that are not integrated within the website of your mileage provider. Therefore you’re only getting the parent airlines inventory and maybe a couple of partners, which is why you can’t seem to book any flights. When you call in you’ll be able to check every option, and if your desired flight is also available online you can always book it yourself to avoid any fees.
#4 Tell the Phone Attendant What You Want
You’d be surprised by how many phone attendants don’t understand the frequent flyer programs any better than you do. They are good at pulling information together, but YOU need to tell them what information to pull. Now that you know your partners, and you know the routes that they fly, it’s up to YOU to be the director here. Mention the different route’s that you’ve researched, and if you’re really diligent (like me) you can even tell them the exact flight numbers and dates that you’d like to book. At that point the attendant simply plugs in your inputs and tells you the availability. If you feel as if the attendant isn’t being helpful, just hang up and redial for a new person. We all do it!
#5 Plan At Least 6 Months Ahead and Be Flexible
From six weeks out to at least six months out is “no man’s land” when it comes to most award seats. No matter how many options you uncover in your partner research, reward seats still have limited availability and they book up fast. Deciding in January that you’d like to see Paris in the spring is not going to cut it. Most flight calendar’s open up 331 days before take-off, and if you’re looking for premium flights you’ll want to book that far in advance. As long as you’re somewhat flexible with your flight times and partner routings, you should be able to find something in the six to ten months range. Otherwise, you’ll be left to see what award seats are released in the weeks leading up to the flight, which are impossible to bank on.
If you’re worried about booking that far in advance, don’t be. The fee for cancelling an award ticket and putting the miles back into your account is almost always less than $100 and sometimes totally free. I booked my first class award ticket to Australia 11 months in advance when I had no idea if my schedule would actually permit me to go on the trip. Once I put that “possible” vacation up on the calendar, a funny thing happened. I started planning for it and eventually made my schedule work around it. You should try the same. You could end up scoring the trip of a lifetime, and the downside is minimal!
Use www.MarsFrequentFlyer.com as Your Workbook (not compatible with all browsers yet)
MARS Frequent Flyer compiles every different Partner and Alliance for all of the US Airlines. Rather than jumping around to 15 different sites in order to book your award travel, we have aggregated all the information in one space. We even link in the credit cards that transfer into mileage programs. On each page you have one-click access to research route maps, frequent flyer booking engines, and general information such as the reward booking phone number for each airline.
Armed with this easy to use information, you should be able to start booking award tickets today. Stop waiting to use your frequent flyer miles. There’s a big world out there and the best way to see it is from the window of a free flight. Enjoy!
The good news is that I’m here to help. I’ve used frequent flyer miles to see every one of those places, and most of the time I’ve flown first class. Over the last five years I’ve used over 2 Million frequent flyer miles to visit six continents on tickets that would’ve cost me over $150,000 if I had actually paid for the flights. Here’s how I book my travel, every single time:
#1 Know Who Your Partners Are
Every major US Airline has international partners, and you can use your miles on them in the same way you can on your flagship airline. For my honeymoon I used 125,000 Continental Miles (each) to book first class tickets around Europe and the Middle East valued at over $15,000 per ticket. The routing goes from San Diego to Washington D.C. on United Airlines, D.C. to London on Virgin Atlantic, and London to Jordan on bmi airlines. On the way back it’s Lufthansa from Venice to D.C., and then back from D.C. on United. I used all of those Continental miles, and I’m not on a single Continental Airlines flight! Partners are what make the redemption world go around.
#2 Look at the Partner Route Maps
Once you have your destination picked out, you need to know which partner airlines fly there. Every airline has a route-map published somewhere on the web (I’ve compiled them all for you at milesjunky.com) which points out all of the airline hubs, and which cities they fly to from those hubs. Sure, it would be nice to get that direct flight to Europe on United, but that flight is often fully booked. Instead you could take Air Canada through Toronto and make it their almost as easily.
Once you know the route maps of the partner airlines, you can simply connect the dots to anywhere in the world you want to go. This will be especially important for the next two steps.
#3 Always Call the Airline
If you’re trying to book an award ticket online, you are not getting all of the partner options. You’re probably not even getting half of the options. It’s that simple. Many of the partner airlines run on completely different booking systems that are not integrated within the website of your mileage provider. Therefore you’re only getting the parent airlines inventory and maybe a couple of partners, which is why you can’t seem to book any flights. When you call in you’ll be able to check every option, and if your desired flight is also available online you can always book it yourself to avoid any fees.
#4 Tell the Phone Attendant What You Want
You’d be surprised by how many phone attendants don’t understand the frequent flyer programs any better than you do. They are good at pulling information together, but YOU need to tell them what information to pull. Now that you know your partners, and you know the routes that they fly, it’s up to YOU to be the director here. Mention the different route’s that you’ve researched, and if you’re really diligent (like me) you can even tell them the exact flight numbers and dates that you’d like to book. At that point the attendant simply plugs in your inputs and tells you the availability. If you feel as if the attendant isn’t being helpful, just hang up and redial for a new person. We all do it!
#5 Plan At Least 6 Months Ahead and Be Flexible
From six weeks out to at least six months out is “no man’s land” when it comes to most award seats. No matter how many options you uncover in your partner research, reward seats still have limited availability and they book up fast. Deciding in January that you’d like to see Paris in the spring is not going to cut it. Most flight calendar’s open up 331 days before take-off, and if you’re looking for premium flights you’ll want to book that far in advance. As long as you’re somewhat flexible with your flight times and partner routings, you should be able to find something in the six to ten months range. Otherwise, you’ll be left to see what award seats are released in the weeks leading up to the flight, which are impossible to bank on.
If you’re worried about booking that far in advance, don’t be. The fee for cancelling an award ticket and putting the miles back into your account is almost always less than $100 and sometimes totally free. I booked my first class award ticket to Australia 11 months in advance when I had no idea if my schedule would actually permit me to go on the trip. Once I put that “possible” vacation up on the calendar, a funny thing happened. I started planning for it and eventually made my schedule work around it. You should try the same. You could end up scoring the trip of a lifetime, and the downside is minimal!
Use www.MarsFrequentFlyer.com as Your Workbook (not compatible with all browsers yet)
MARS Frequent Flyer compiles every different Partner and Alliance for all of the US Airlines. Rather than jumping around to 15 different sites in order to book your award travel, we have aggregated all the information in one space. We even link in the credit cards that transfer into mileage programs. On each page you have one-click access to research route maps, frequent flyer booking engines, and general information such as the reward booking phone number for each airline.
Armed with this easy to use information, you should be able to start booking award tickets today. Stop waiting to use your frequent flyer miles. There’s a big world out there and the best way to see it is from the window of a free flight. Enjoy!
$150,000 in Free Travel and Counting
Anyway you cut it, $150,000 is a decent chunk of change. Most people won’t spend that much traveling in an entire lifetime. Then again, why should you be most people? The only thing better than actually having $150,000 to travel the world with, is not having that much money and still being able to travel the world for free. Here are just a few of my greatest scores using frequent flyer miles for free travel. If you stay diligent and start racking up the miles, you can takes trips like this as well.
$7,500 Round-Trip First Class from San Diego to Buenos Aires on American Airlines
I purchased 2 of these tickets for 120,000 miles each for a great value of over $.06 per mile. The way the seats are laid out, you can actually use the footrest as a temporary seat for your traveling companion. That way when they pull the dinner tray out, you can have a very nice dinner for two as if you were at a fancy restaurant. I took full advantage of this and proposed to my girlfriend right after desert. It was free champagne the rest of the way to Argentina!
$6,500 Round-Trip From LAX to Singapore in the All Business Class Plane on Singapore Airlines
I got this ticket by transferring my AMEX points into Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer miles. KrisFlyer gives you a 15% point discount on online bookings, so the tickets cost me 102,000 each instead of 120,000. Before taking this flight, I had never even heard of an All-Business class plane. It was amazing. The fully reclining seats are bigger than most first class seats and you’ve got a 17-inch screen in front of you. The service on Singapore is also second to none. There is a reason they are routinely named one of the world’s top airlines.
$7,000 Round-Trip First Class from New York to London on Virgin Air
I cashed in 100,000 miles for this ticket for a nice value of $.07 per mile. I think everyone should take this flight at least once in their life. Virgin really is the coolest airline. The first class cabin has its own sit down bar and they offer massages mid-flight. Not to mention the lounge at London Heathrow is cooler than most country clubs. They actually call it the Clubhouse because it feels more like a member’s only club then an airline lounge. They’ve got a top shelf bar in one area, a fantastic restaurant, a hair salon, spa, pool table, and multi-screen monster TV in the den. All of the services are included for free. I actually got my haircut there during the layover. I’m thinking of booking a flight right after the Super Bowl just so I can hang out and watch the game there!
$20,000 Round-Trip First Class Tickets from LAX to Sydney on Qantas
This was the grand-daddy of all mileage deals and I challenge anybody out there to beat it. I snagged two of these tickets for 135,000 miles each at an incredible value of almost $.15 per mile. In order to get these tickets, I used Continental miles and called the day the calendar opened 331 days in advance. I think I called six days in a row before I could get the tickets, and I was flexible with my dates. Since then they’ve upped the mileage requirements for these tickets which is unfortunate because Qantas first class is the best I’ve ever had. They give you high end pajamas and make the beds as comfy as they are at home. If someone offered me to take that flight there and back without ever leaving the airport, I would do it just for fun.
Over $15,000 Miles for my Honeymoon on Assorted Star Alliance Airlines
I used 125,000 Continental miles each to book these two itineraries at another fantastic rate of over $.12 cents per mile. The ticket wouldn’t normally have been that expensive, but I specifically tried to work in another Virgin first class flight and I wanted to fly Lufthansa first class for the first time because I hear that it’s amazing. There were a lot of great lessons I learned when booking this multi-city itinerary, and I share them with you in the blog “12 Cents per Mile for my Honeymoon“.
$1,200 Round Trip Economy Class from Athens to Dubrovnik on Croatia Airlines
I throw this one in the mix because I got these tickets for just 25,000 Continental miles each. That’s almost $.05 cents per mile, which is unheard of for a coach class ticket within the United States. This just goes to show you that even if you fly Economy, you’re often better off using your miles with a partner airline.
$7,500 Round-Trip First Class from San Diego to Buenos Aires on American Airlines
I purchased 2 of these tickets for 120,000 miles each for a great value of over $.06 per mile. The way the seats are laid out, you can actually use the footrest as a temporary seat for your traveling companion. That way when they pull the dinner tray out, you can have a very nice dinner for two as if you were at a fancy restaurant. I took full advantage of this and proposed to my girlfriend right after desert. It was free champagne the rest of the way to Argentina!
$6,500 Round-Trip From LAX to Singapore in the All Business Class Plane on Singapore Airlines
I got this ticket by transferring my AMEX points into Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer miles. KrisFlyer gives you a 15% point discount on online bookings, so the tickets cost me 102,000 each instead of 120,000. Before taking this flight, I had never even heard of an All-Business class plane. It was amazing. The fully reclining seats are bigger than most first class seats and you’ve got a 17-inch screen in front of you. The service on Singapore is also second to none. There is a reason they are routinely named one of the world’s top airlines.
$7,000 Round-Trip First Class from New York to London on Virgin Air
I cashed in 100,000 miles for this ticket for a nice value of $.07 per mile. I think everyone should take this flight at least once in their life. Virgin really is the coolest airline. The first class cabin has its own sit down bar and they offer massages mid-flight. Not to mention the lounge at London Heathrow is cooler than most country clubs. They actually call it the Clubhouse because it feels more like a member’s only club then an airline lounge. They’ve got a top shelf bar in one area, a fantastic restaurant, a hair salon, spa, pool table, and multi-screen monster TV in the den. All of the services are included for free. I actually got my haircut there during the layover. I’m thinking of booking a flight right after the Super Bowl just so I can hang out and watch the game there!
$20,000 Round-Trip First Class Tickets from LAX to Sydney on Qantas
This was the grand-daddy of all mileage deals and I challenge anybody out there to beat it. I snagged two of these tickets for 135,000 miles each at an incredible value of almost $.15 per mile. In order to get these tickets, I used Continental miles and called the day the calendar opened 331 days in advance. I think I called six days in a row before I could get the tickets, and I was flexible with my dates. Since then they’ve upped the mileage requirements for these tickets which is unfortunate because Qantas first class is the best I’ve ever had. They give you high end pajamas and make the beds as comfy as they are at home. If someone offered me to take that flight there and back without ever leaving the airport, I would do it just for fun.
Over $15,000 Miles for my Honeymoon on Assorted Star Alliance Airlines
I used 125,000 Continental miles each to book these two itineraries at another fantastic rate of over $.12 cents per mile. The ticket wouldn’t normally have been that expensive, but I specifically tried to work in another Virgin first class flight and I wanted to fly Lufthansa first class for the first time because I hear that it’s amazing. There were a lot of great lessons I learned when booking this multi-city itinerary, and I share them with you in the blog “12 Cents per Mile for my Honeymoon“.
$1,200 Round Trip Economy Class from Athens to Dubrovnik on Croatia Airlines
I throw this one in the mix because I got these tickets for just 25,000 Continental miles each. That’s almost $.05 cents per mile, which is unheard of for a coach class ticket within the United States. This just goes to show you that even if you fly Economy, you’re often better off using your miles with a partner airline.
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Who Will Luv the New Southwest Rapid Rewards Program?
I admit it, like most Southwest flyer's I was completely up in arms when I heard about the new Rapid Rewards program. After all, just a few months ago I wrote about how much I loved the old program. Why on earth would our beloved Southwest trade in the most user friendly reward system in the industry for one that requires an Excel spreadsheet to figure out? The hard answer is that they did it to give greater rewards to the customers who pay higher fares and fly more often. See below as I walk you through the new program, compare it to the old program, and show you the winners and losers.
Earning Points
First of all, the Rapid Rewards Credits are a thing of the past. They’ll be around for the transition, which I’ll discuss later, but in the future they are gone. Now, you will earn “points” that are based directly on three very important factors: the cost of the ticket, the type of fare you buy, and your elite status.
Using Points
Now that you’ve broken out the calculator and figured out how many potential points you can earn, don’t put it away just yet. Redeeming your points requires some calculations as well. The good news is that when it comes to using points, everyone is considered equal. Here is how you cash in your points:
Cashing in Your Points in the New Southwest Rapid Rewards Program:
You can use your points as cash towards any ticket, but you do need to wait until you have enough for the entire ticket. The phone agents are still a little confused on this one. Some will tell you that you can purchase the difference, but what they mean is you can purchase points to make up the difference. Southwest will sell you a minimum of 2,000 points for $50, and then it's $25 per 1,000 points after that.
There are no blackout dates, no capacity restrictions, and your points will not expire as long as you have some kind of account activity every 24 months. The old program required you to earn a new ticket every 24 months, or you would start to lose your credits. This is a distinct advantage of the new program for people who only fly Southwest a few times a year.
The Old vs. The New – Who are the Biggest Winners and Losers?
(Click here to run your own numbers using our custom Southwest Rewards Calculator)
As you can imagine, it’s all those frequent business travelers booking the $400 fares where Southwest makes the majority of its money. Given that, it becomes pretty clear that Southwest completely flipped the program to give the biggest spenders superior benefits at the expense of the broader customer base.
I suppose I shouldn’t really be upset about it. After all, every other airline does it. They say it is good business to reward your highest revenue customers. But the thing that used to make Southwest so special was how it treated everybody the same. It didn’t matter if you were the CEO, or you washed the CEO’s car, you were still lined up right next to each other on a first come first serve basis. It’s kind of sad to see that era come to an end. But I guess change is inevitable, so here’s what you’ll need to know to get through the transition.
Transition
The new program takes effect on March 1, and there will be a transition period until December 31st. It’s a little tricky depending on what your status is, so I’ll break it down by Regular Folks, Current A-List and Companion Pass Holders, and Aspiring A-List and Companion Pass holders.
The direct link to Southwest for this information is: http://www.southwest.com/newRR.
What do you think of the new program? Let me know and don’t be shy…
Earning Points
First of all, the Rapid Rewards Credits are a thing of the past. They’ll be around for the transition, which I’ll discuss later, but in the future they are gone. Now, you will earn “points” that are based directly on three very important factors: the cost of the ticket, the type of fare you buy, and your elite status.
- Cost of the Ticket: Flight segments are no longer important, and miles don’t count for anything either. All of your points will be based directly on how much you spend on each ticket.
- Type of Fare: Southwest offers three different fare types:
- Wanna Get Away Fares: These are the least expensive fares and usually require advance booking. You will earn 6 points per dollar spent booking these tickets.
- Anytime Fares: These are full price tickets that are available anytime. You will earn 10 points per dollar spent booking these tickets.
- Business Select Fares. These are usually about 5-10% more expensive than the Anytime fares. Business Select allows you to board the plane early and have a free alcoholic beverage. You will earn 12 points per dollar spent on these fares.
- A-List Status: If you fly 25 segments or earn 35,000 points within one calendar year you will become part of the A-List. A-List members get a 25% point bonus on all bookings.
- A-List Preferred: If you fly 50 segments or earn 70,000 points within one calendar year, you will become a part of the A-List Preferred. A-List Preferred members get a 100% point bonus on every fare they book.
If You Are A… | ||||
Normal Person | A-List Member | A-List Preferred | ||
| And you book a… | ||||
| Wanna Get Away Fare | 6 Points per $1 | 7.5 Points per $1 | 12 Points per $1 | |
| Anytime Fare | 10 Points per $1 | 12.5 Points per $1 | 20 Points per $1 | |
Business Select Fare | 12 Points per $1 | 15 Points per $1 | 24 Points per $1 | |
Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards Visa Card – Last Chance for a Free Ticket
If you haven’t yet applied for the Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards Visa Card, you may want to consider it now. The card is still offering a FREE Standard Award Ticket after you make one purchase. The ticket will be valid for one year from the date of issue, just like the good old days! Also, when Southwest introduces its international flights and partners later in the year, only Southwest Credit Card holders will be eligible to use points for international flight awards.
If you haven’t yet applied for the Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards Visa Card, you may want to consider it now. The card is still offering a FREE Standard Award Ticket after you make one purchase. The ticket will be valid for one year from the date of issue, just like the good old days! Also, when Southwest introduces its international flights and partners later in the year, only Southwest Credit Card holders will be eligible to use points for international flight awards.
In the new program Southwest will offer a choice of two cards: the $69 Annual Fee Plus Card, and the $99 Annual Fee Premier Card. On both cards you will still get 2 points for every dollar you spend on Southwest flights, regardless of the fare class booked or your elite status. The Plus Card will give 3,000 bonus points per year and the Premier Card offers 6,000 bonus points per year. Points earned on either card will still count towards a Companion Pass, however, only the Premier Card allows you to earn points towards A-List Membership. With the Premier Card you'll earn 1,500 A-List Qualifying points for every $10,000 you spend, with a maximum of 15,000 A-List points per year. For more information on the credit card you can click here.
Using Points
Now that you’ve broken out the calculator and figured out how many potential points you can earn, don’t put it away just yet. Redeeming your points requires some calculations as well. The good news is that when it comes to using points, everyone is considered equal. Here is how you cash in your points:
Cashing in Your Points in the New Southwest Rapid Rewards Program:
If You Are A… | |||
Normal Person | A-List Member | A-List Preferred | |
| And you buy a… | |||
| Wanna Get Away Fare | 60 Rapid Rewards Points = $1 Off of the Fare | ||
| Anytime Fare | 100 Rapid Rewards Points = $1 Off of the Fare | ||
| Business Select Fare | 120 Rapid Rewards Points = $1 Off of the Fare | ||
You can use your points as cash towards any ticket, but you do need to wait until you have enough for the entire ticket. The phone agents are still a little confused on this one. Some will tell you that you can purchase the difference, but what they mean is you can purchase points to make up the difference. Southwest will sell you a minimum of 2,000 points for $50, and then it's $25 per 1,000 points after that.
There are no blackout dates, no capacity restrictions, and your points will not expire as long as you have some kind of account activity every 24 months. The old program required you to earn a new ticket every 24 months, or you would start to lose your credits. This is a distinct advantage of the new program for people who only fly Southwest a few times a year.
The Old vs. The New – Who are the Biggest Winners and Losers?
Biggest Loser: Non-Elite Short-Haul Flyers Booking Wanna Get Away Fares | |
Old Program In the old system these people were the biggest winners. You could fly 8 short-roundtrips from Dallas to Houston for $150 each and earn a free ticket anywhere Southwest flies. Let’s say that free ticket was worth $400. You would’ve spent $150 x 8 = $1,200 and gotten $400 back. That’s a 33% return. | New Program Now, that same $1,200 will earn you 7,200 points worth only $60-$120 depending on the type of ticket you redeem the points for. Now your return has gone from 33% down to 5-10%. Ouch! |
Biggest Winner: A-List Preferred Members who book Long-Haul Anytime Fares | |
Old Program In the old program these people were the biggest losers. If you flew cross country 8 times for $400 each way you would spend $3,200 before you could redeem a $400 ticket. That’s a 12.5% return. | New Program That $3,200 is going to net you 64,000 points worth between $533 - $1,066. Your return just went from 12.5% up to 17-33%. Finally you’re getting rewarded for those long expensive flights. |
(Click here to run your own numbers using our custom Southwest Rewards Calculator)
As you can imagine, it’s all those frequent business travelers booking the $400 fares where Southwest makes the majority of its money. Given that, it becomes pretty clear that Southwest completely flipped the program to give the biggest spenders superior benefits at the expense of the broader customer base.
I suppose I shouldn’t really be upset about it. After all, every other airline does it. They say it is good business to reward your highest revenue customers. But the thing that used to make Southwest so special was how it treated everybody the same. It didn’t matter if you were the CEO, or you washed the CEO’s car, you were still lined up right next to each other on a first come first serve basis. It’s kind of sad to see that era come to an end. But I guess change is inevitable, so here’s what you’ll need to know to get through the transition.
Transition
The new program takes effect on March 1, and there will be a transition period until December 31st. It’s a little tricky depending on what your status is, so I’ll break it down by Regular Folks, Current A-List and Companion Pass Holders, and Aspiring A-List and Companion Pass holders.
- Regular Folks: Let’s say when March 1 rolls around you have 10 credits in your account. Those ten credits stay there and you start earning points. During the transition period, you can turn every 1,200 points you earn into 1 Old Rapid Rewards credit. This means that you’ll just need to earn 7,200 points (before any of the old credits start to expire) to convert into 6 old credits to complete your 16 credits and get a Standard Award. If you’ve already earned or booked an award, nothing changes. You can still use the old awards as usual.
- Current A-List and Companion Pass Holders – If you’re in the A-List then you’ll stay in the A-List and may even qualify for A-List Preferred. If you have a Companion Pass that expires after March 1, then you just scored big time because it will be extended until December 31.
- Aspiring A-List – A huge difference in the program is that now you have to earn A-List within a calendar year instead of any rolling 12-month period. This is a definite downgrade in the program. At least all of the flight segments you fly in January and February will still count towards 2012 A-List. Once March 1 rolls around, you can qualify under either the old program or the new program depending on what is easiest. For example: If you have 10 segments in Jan-Feb, you will only need 22 more segments from March – December 31 to qualify under the old 32 segments qualification rules. If you only flew 5 segments in Jan-Feb, then you can qualify under the easier new rules of 25 segments or 35,000 points between March 1 and December 31.
- Aspiring Companion Pass – The Companion Pass also now requires you to earn 100 credits or 110,000 points all within one calendar year instead of a rolling 12-month period. All of your Jan-Feb credits will count towards 2012 Companion Pass qualification. After March 1, every segment will continue to count as one credit, and every 1,200 points earned through partners will also count as one credit towards your goal of 100.
The direct link to Southwest for this information is: http://www.southwest.com/newRR.
What do you think of the new program? Let me know and don’t be shy…
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Award Redemption Availability: Comparing the Big Three
A recent IdeaWorks Study came out that ranks the major airlines according to their award seat availability. Of the major US Airlines, United ranked the highest at 68.6%, American was 57.9% and Delta finished at a terrible 12.9% just above the smaller US Airways at 10.7%. This study has lead many to believe that Delta’s SkyMiles have been devalued into SkyPesos, but that is not necessarily the case. This study is seriously flawed, and I’ll show you why.
First of all, what are they qualifying as an award seat? Did you know that award seats are available on every single non-sold out flight? You just need to pay the unrestricted mileage fee of 50,000 miles on United or American, or 60,000 miles on Delta or US Air and you can get an award seat on any plane, anywhere in the US as long as the flight isn’t sold out. If you’re booking a last minute holiday fare that would’ve cost you $1,500, these tickets can deliver great value.
The report doesn’t say so, but I assume they are only counting the 25,000 mile Saver Awards. If that is the case, then Delta and US Air would naturally fall to the bottom because they have a mult-tiered point structure as opposed to a two tier system like all of the other US airlines. On American and United, if the 25,000 mile seat isn’t available then you’ll have to pay 50,000 miles to get an award ticket. On Delta and US Air you may be able to get that ticket for 35,000, or 40,000, or 45,000 points. They offer less of the deep discount 25,000 mile tickets, but much more options overall. The IdeaWorks report doesn’t take that into account.
To get a clear view of how these programs work, let’s look at some specific examples. I have looked up how many miles it would take me to travel the same route, on the same days when flying economy in the United States on Delta, American, and United. The first flight I chose is LAX – JFK nonstop leaving Friday November 4th, 2011 and coming back Friday November 11, 2011. I chose these dates because they were 10 months out and should have maximum award availability. Here’s what I found:
American Airlines:
Here are my recommendations. If you only want to use 25,000 miles for a ticket, I would direct my mileage earning efforts with United and American. They will give you more opportunities within that threshold. If you tend to make later decisions and don’t mind coughing up some extra miles to cover a more expensive ticket, then Delta’s SkyMiles program is still compelling. Just make sure to save up your emergency fund quickly in whichever program you choose.
First of all, what are they qualifying as an award seat? Did you know that award seats are available on every single non-sold out flight? You just need to pay the unrestricted mileage fee of 50,000 miles on United or American, or 60,000 miles on Delta or US Air and you can get an award seat on any plane, anywhere in the US as long as the flight isn’t sold out. If you’re booking a last minute holiday fare that would’ve cost you $1,500, these tickets can deliver great value.
The report doesn’t say so, but I assume they are only counting the 25,000 mile Saver Awards. If that is the case, then Delta and US Air would naturally fall to the bottom because they have a mult-tiered point structure as opposed to a two tier system like all of the other US airlines. On American and United, if the 25,000 mile seat isn’t available then you’ll have to pay 50,000 miles to get an award ticket. On Delta and US Air you may be able to get that ticket for 35,000, or 40,000, or 45,000 points. They offer less of the deep discount 25,000 mile tickets, but much more options overall. The IdeaWorks report doesn’t take that into account.
To get a clear view of how these programs work, let’s look at some specific examples. I have looked up how many miles it would take me to travel the same route, on the same days when flying economy in the United States on Delta, American, and United. The first flight I chose is LAX – JFK nonstop leaving Friday November 4th, 2011 and coming back Friday November 11, 2011. I chose these dates because they were 10 months out and should have maximum award availability. Here’s what I found:
American Airlines:
- Award Type: American award tickets can be booked as one-way or round-trip tickets at two different mileage thresholds. Economy saver tickets require 25,000 miles round trip. Otherwise, you must use 50,000 miles round-trip for an unrestricted award.
- Availability: There were 11 nonstop flights from LAX to JFK and saver tickets were available on 8 of the 11 flights. On the return trip from JFK to LAX saver tickets were available on 7 of the 11 return flights.
- Conclusion: 15 of 22 flights = 68% Saver Award Availability.
- Award Type: United award tickets are the same as American. You can book one-way awards and they have two tiers of 25,000 miles for a round-trip saver ticket and 50,000 miles for an unrestricted ticket.
- Availability: Out of 6 nonstop flights both ways, United had saver tickets available on 5 of the outbound flights and all 6 of the return flights.
- Conclusion: 11 of 12 flights = 92% Saver Award Availability.
- Award Type: Delta has a multi-tiered system where the best saver awards are also 25,000 miles. If saver tickets aren’t available then awards can be booked at different values up to a maximum unrestricted ticket value of 60,000 miles. However, with Delta you cannot book one way tickets, which means you need saver fares to be available for both the outbound and the return trip in order to get the discount.
- Availability: Delta had saver availability on 2 of the 7 outbound flights, and 3 of the 7 return tickets.
- Conclusion: Since you can’t do one way tickets, only 2 out of 7 = 29% Saver Award Availability.
- American: You can get to Miami on a one-way saver ticket, but there are no saver tickets on the return, so you’ll pay a total of 37,500 miles.
- United: There are no saver seats available either way so the ticket costs 50,000 miles.
- Delta: There are no saver tickets, but one flight combination is available for 32,500 miles, and 4 other flight combinations are available for 42,500 miles.
Here are my recommendations. If you only want to use 25,000 miles for a ticket, I would direct my mileage earning efforts with United and American. They will give you more opportunities within that threshold. If you tend to make later decisions and don’t mind coughing up some extra miles to cover a more expensive ticket, then Delta’s SkyMiles program is still compelling. Just make sure to save up your emergency fund quickly in whichever program you choose.
Saturday, January 1, 2011
12 Cents Per Mile for My Honeymoon
I booked my honeymoon tickets on August 16th, 2010. For each ticket, I used 125,000 Continental OnePass miles and paid $114.32 in taxes and fees. After subtracting out the taxes and choosing the lowest comparable fare options, I ended up getting $15,471 worth of tickets at 12.37 cents per mile. I scored these fantastic tickets by implementing the 5 Keys to Booking Award Travel.
Things to Learn From My Booking:
1. Never Book One Way Without First Checking Round-Trip - Notice that on half of the six flights booked, the one-way ticket is SIGNIFICANTLY more expensive than the round-trip ticket. If you need to fly one-way and are purchasing tickets, make sure not to fall into this trap. If the round-trip is cheaper, just book the flight and no-show the return leg of the trip.
2. Always Book Early - Notice I booked over 9 months in advance. That’s how I scored first class tickets on Virgin Atlantic and Lufthansa at Saver Fares. Those seats are amazing.
3. Domestic Travel is Devalued – Notice that the only two legs of the trip which did NOT have first class available for the Saver Fare are the flights on United within the continental United States. The US based airlines are cutting back on their domestic Saver Fares along most popular routes, even when you book 8-11 months in advance. You can get much better value by booking with an international partner airline. Just recently I used another 25,000 Continental miles to book an economy round-trip flight on Croatia Airlines from Athens to Dubrovnik. That ticket would’ve cost $1,254, netting me a fantastic 5 cents per mile! You’ll never get that value flying economy in the US.
4. Online vs. Phone - Always try both. I initially searched online through Continental’s website and was shocked to see how well they are integrated with their Star Alliance partners. I was able to pull up flights on Virgin, Lufthansa, United, and even Aegean Air. However, there was a glitch when I tried to book, so I called in. When I called in the Continental representative pulled up even more options for me. However, it was interesting that she couldn’t pull up the Virgin leg unless she did a separate search at my request. This is a great example of why you first do your own homework and then call in. You will find things online that the agent won’t, and the agent will find things that you can’t see online. If you end up booking through the phone, make sure you tell them that the website wasn’t working properly so you don’t get charged the phone booking fee.
5. The Option Value of Points – I’m a Gold Elite on Continental, so if my fiancée wises up and leaves me, it will only cost me $25 per ticket to cancel the reservation and put these miles back in my account. They even refund the $114 in taxes. Without elite status it would cost me $100. That is a small price to pay for the option of taking a trip worth more than $15,000. If you’re sitting on a lot of points and aren’t sure when you’ll get time to use them, go ahead and book a trip out there 10 months in advance. If you can’t make it, you’ll pay a small fee to get the points back. However, once it’s on the calendar you’ll probably find a way to make the flight and give yourself a well-earned vacation.
Things to Learn From My Booking:
1. Never Book One Way Without First Checking Round-Trip - Notice that on half of the six flights booked, the one-way ticket is SIGNIFICANTLY more expensive than the round-trip ticket. If you need to fly one-way and are purchasing tickets, make sure not to fall into this trap. If the round-trip is cheaper, just book the flight and no-show the return leg of the trip.
2. Always Book Early - Notice I booked over 9 months in advance. That’s how I scored first class tickets on Virgin Atlantic and Lufthansa at Saver Fares. Those seats are amazing.
3. Domestic Travel is Devalued – Notice that the only two legs of the trip which did NOT have first class available for the Saver Fare are the flights on United within the continental United States. The US based airlines are cutting back on their domestic Saver Fares along most popular routes, even when you book 8-11 months in advance. You can get much better value by booking with an international partner airline. Just recently I used another 25,000 Continental miles to book an economy round-trip flight on Croatia Airlines from Athens to Dubrovnik. That ticket would’ve cost $1,254, netting me a fantastic 5 cents per mile! You’ll never get that value flying economy in the US.
4. Online vs. Phone - Always try both. I initially searched online through Continental’s website and was shocked to see how well they are integrated with their Star Alliance partners. I was able to pull up flights on Virgin, Lufthansa, United, and even Aegean Air. However, there was a glitch when I tried to book, so I called in. When I called in the Continental representative pulled up even more options for me. However, it was interesting that she couldn’t pull up the Virgin leg unless she did a separate search at my request. This is a great example of why you first do your own homework and then call in. You will find things online that the agent won’t, and the agent will find things that you can’t see online. If you end up booking through the phone, make sure you tell them that the website wasn’t working properly so you don’t get charged the phone booking fee.
5. The Option Value of Points – I’m a Gold Elite on Continental, so if my fiancée wises up and leaves me, it will only cost me $25 per ticket to cancel the reservation and put these miles back in my account. They even refund the $114 in taxes. Without elite status it would cost me $100. That is a small price to pay for the option of taking a trip worth more than $15,000. If you’re sitting on a lot of points and aren’t sure when you’ll get time to use them, go ahead and book a trip out there 10 months in advance. If you can’t make it, you’ll pay a small fee to get the points back. However, once it’s on the calendar you’ll probably find a way to make the flight and give yourself a well-earned vacation.
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