Whoops wrong traveler thread.

I have been doing the points game thing in earnest for about 4-5 months now. You can go and check back on my questions on Hung Wei Lo's great thread from around that time. I was definitely a novice, and now I've entered an intermediate level of expertise, I would like to think.

I am currently (after five months of concerted attention to what I call the "red pill travel" opportunities afforded by the points game) sitting in a first class lounge called The Wing, at Hong Kong. Its the Cathay Pacific lounge (CX) and while the lounge is good, the airline's premium class service, which I'm flying non-stop to LAX from Hong Kong, was rated the best in the world. The lounge is nothing to sneeze at.

Cathay rated world's best airline for fourth time by Skytrax

So I'll post a bunch of pics of the before and the after of the travel, and give a sense of how it costs. Yes, its braggadocio, but don't lose in that the fact that in five months, I situated myself from flying economy or at best, premium economy (or ghetto business on Philippines Airlines- admittedly not so bad and I'll do it again soon) to flying first class on the number one carrier.

"How did I do that" is the important question, as it makes it replicable for you. I'll tell you that I bought points during several different promotions, both those of US Airways and American, to provide options for booking. I also have collected points on a Starwood AMEX and have been earning points by providing my British Airways number for paid flights on OneWorld airlines. This gave me some options, and ultimately I booked with my purchased Aadvantage miles and will use the rest of the earned and purchased miles for other trips. I bought 80K AA miles during the last promotion, at around 2c/mile (around 1600). I used 67,500 to book a first class flight on CX from HKG to LAX, and another connecting flight on AS (Alaska, also a top quality airline partnered with American) from LAX to Salt Lake City (SLC), also in first class. The second flight added no cost, at its within North America, and flights on partners from HKG (or elsewhere in Asia 2) to North America, one way, cost 67,500 plus a tiny amount of tax (maybe 50USD) and if you book within 21 days of departure, a late booking fee of 75USD. (FYI, HKG for American is in the same region as Bangkok, Manila, Jakarta and other popular Southeast Asia destinations, and LAX and NYC are the same cost to get to any of them as well).

Doing the math, I used 67500/80000 of my miles purchased for 1600USD (so 1350 USD there, not counting the bonuses I got from spending on my credit card (lets say 1600 *.02 or 32 USD very conservatively), plus 75 USD plus 50USD in tax to get a first class ticket one way from HKG to SLC. So we're looking at paying 1475 to get these two first class tickets.

Looking at it a different way, which is a good way to consider it as well in general, I used 67500 to get this ticket. Based on the below costs of a comparable ticket, I bought tickets at 2 cents/mile and used them at almost 20c/mile (see below, 13227USD/67500miles). I'm not saying I would otherwise pay that in cash, but its another metric to consider (and of course, makes the points I earned from buying the miles worth far more than the 32USD I assigned to them (arguably by a factor of almost 10, if I used those miles similarly to the ones I just burned on this ticket.

To give a sense of the implicit value of the process I went through to get these, the basis for comparison (and these prices are fairly typical, but of course there is some up and down) are this Cathay fare (13227 USD), and this other premium (not first) class fare with EVA (4118), a fine airline. You'll note that the Cathay fare is first class partially, and the EVA fare's long leg is business and not first, a substantial difference in price in favor of my ticket.







Apart from money, one other thing I needed other than know-how to get a first class ticket was flexibility. CX ticket availability to non-CX award partners is limited and shows availability very often 11 months out, fills up, and then they release more seats seven days before departure. You have to wait to grab them as a person cashing in points from a partner airline. I'll point out that business class is easier to come by, but not the same experience. I'll also point out that flying alone makes it way easier to find a ticket - finding two is much harder but possible if you are flexible and persevere, and more than two is exponentially harder.

OK, some travel porn....




This is one choice of breakfast served in the lounge by menu, there is also a well - appointed buffet. Not even on the flight yet, and the in flight food is supposed to be better, as its prepared only for ticketed first class, and not for
One World Gold Status lounge crashers (of which I hope to be one soon ).


How's your check in experience.





They do try to make travel a little difficult by confronting you with some choices...



As you can see, I booked the day before, which gave me the opportunity to get the direct (not connecting through Tokyo) First Class ticket I wanted (so I could fly CX the whole way, perhaps I'll try Japan Air on connect next time), but cost me $75. I couldn't have found a ticket like this most likely 21 days out, and I'm fine with the incremental cost to fly First Class.

I'll post more tickets from my journey. I'm not even boarded yet, but already this has been a great experience.

Hope this can inspire you to consider taking the plunge to learn more about this and travel red pill, arbitraging your way around the world.

The sheep sit in the back.

Any idea what to do with Aeromexico Club Premier points?

What's the best way to hack them for a trip? They're part of skyteam.

I got 23K points, 30 needed for a US-Mex trip and a hotel comes around 16K a night on average. I've tried going on points.com but they're not exchangeable for anything.

Credit card

Looks like you can get their visa or transfer from Membership Rewards (AMEX), you could top off your miles through a purchase and perhaps you can fly them on a good priced fare and top off your miles that way. I don't know much about their program (even though I joined as some point).

Here's more on best uses for their points which start to be usable at 2500 points (though that may be for magazine subscriptions or something, I don't know).
Uses for Club Premier Points

Don't make a habit of trading points on points.com. Usually a terrible value, even if you have orphaned point balances.

There doesn't appear to be a lot of discussion of best uses for club premier miles (more about using Delta miles to book AM flights)....though perhaps this will provide some help.

Uses for Club Premier Miles

Quote: (09-17-2014 10:44 PM)Cattle Rustler Wrote:  

Any idea what to do with Aeromexico Club Premier points?

What's the best way to hack them for a trip? They're part of skyteam.

I got 23K points, 30 needed for a US-Mex trip and a hotel comes around 16K a night on average. I've tried going on points.com but they're not exchangeable for anything.

More travel porn from CX 884 First Class HKG to LAX.

Accommodations the size of a small NYC apt bedroom.









Really is enough seating for two.


I have no idea.


Amuse bouche starter (foie gras) and Krug champagne.


Zegna Amenity case.

With the flat screen and the free 1st class pajamas (retail over 100 USD for the jammies.)






Caviar and more Krug to start.




Lobster main course, passed on the turf part of the surf and turf.

Book a business or first class trip on AA/US from US TO Europe and earn at least an extra 20k in miles.

Check out the site for details

This is a good post and relevant to a lot of points players who want to hit Europe soon.
How to Book a Roundtrip to Europe for 30,000 US Airways Miles http://milevalue.com/how-to-book-a-round...ways-miles

Shows how you can open a single credit card with an 89 dollar fee and go to Europe economy roundtrip. Maybe requires around 690 credit score.

Global,
Thank you for the on going awesome posts here! Very much appreciated!
That first class cabin with Cathay is sweet! How many points on average for that first class with them?

With the price of a one way from YYZ to HKG being pretty much the same with AC and Cathay, looks like I won't be flying with AC on that flight!

Quote: (09-24-2014 03:52 PM)Global Entry Wrote:  

This is a good post and relevant to a lot of points players who want to hit Europe soon.
How to Book a Roundtrip to Europe for 30,000 US Airways Miles http://milevalue.com/how-to-book-a-round...ways-miles

Shows how you can open a single credit card with an 89 dollar fee and go to Europe economy roundtrip. Maybe requires around 690 credit score.

I received a targeted offer for a bonus of 15k miles on this card if I spend $750 on it each month for Nov, Dec, and Jan. That's some low hanging fruit there. Gets me a little less than 1/3 of the way home from Asia in J on JAL or Cathay.

I'm surprised Amsterdam hasn't been brushed upon yet. If it has then sorry, but I did a search and didn't find anything.

I had the pleasure of taking a trip earlier this year (End of may into June / two weeks).
I flew out of Boston into the Amsterdam. Roundtrip tickets were 900 bucks. I think this is the easiest way to gain entry into Europe (Flying into England MIGHT be cheaper, but I had no desire to go there).

Not only that but arriving in a place like Amsterdam as the first stop I feel was a great way to basically "get things started". I'll spare everyone the details of almost getting robbed in front of a coffeeshop 1 hour after landing, or the fact that my best friend that I went there with passed out in the middle of the street in the red light district, (of course it was in front of hundreds of people) because of lack of sleep and too much drinking/smoking.

The point I'm trying to make is after that first day in a place like Amsterdam (and if you have a rough one like me, that first nervous dry heave/puke session in your hostel), you really "center" yourself in terms of being safe, smart, and pragmatic but also having a blast at the same time. It gives you a kind of "Alright, that's over, time to get down to business". It's invigorating.

I would strongly recommend just buying the roundtrip ticket that's it if you have more than two weeks to mess around with. I only had two weeks (Fuck you corporate america) and wanted to see a lot of places, so I planned my flights, but "going with the flow" and deciding to leave places randomly I feel like would make the entire experience a lot more "freer", instead of wasting entire days traveling losing sleep etc (basically slowing you down).

Vp it depends which partner you use. For American it's 67500. Slightly less on us airways bUT you need to do a roundtrip.

I'd track flights on hipmunk and wait to get your best price. But indeed cathay sale for Roundtrip is attractive.

Quote: (09-24-2014 04:47 PM)Vacancier Permanent Wrote:  

Global,
Thank you for the on going awesome posts here! Very much appreciated!
That first class cabin with Cathay is sweet! How many points on average for that first class with them?

With the price of a one way from YYZ to HKG being pretty much the same with AC and Cathay, looks like I won't be flying with AC on that flight!

Quote: (09-24-2014 06:53 PM)MaleDefined Wrote:  

Quote: (09-24-2014 03:52 PM)Global Entry Wrote:  

This is a good post and relevant to a lot of points players who want to hit Europe soon.
How to Book a Roundtrip to Europe for 30,000 US Airways Miles http://milevalue.com/how-to-book-a-round...ways-miles

Shows how you can open a single credit card with an 89 dollar fee and go to Europe economy roundtrip. Maybe requires around 690 credit score.

I received a targeted offer for a bonus of 15k miles on this card if I spend $750 on it each month for Nov, Dec, and Jan. That's some low hanging fruit there. Gets me a little less than 1/3 of the way home from Asia in J on JAL or Cathay.

That's a pretty low spend. Is it for a new card ? I got 40000 on one spend for baeclay us airways card. What cardwas this and did you already have it.

The new IHG Pointbreaks list is out:

https://www.ihg.com/rewardsclub/us/en/re...ointbreaks

Some RVF hotspots are on there, including Bogota - which has the Crowne Plaza on the list.

I wrote a while back about how these rooms can be had for $35/night.

Another good option for LATAM travelers is Monterrey which is a Holiday Inn in the rich area with good bars. I'll be using the Helsinki property for work (can't beat $35/night in Finland) but it would be equally useful for gaming.

Global Entry, I think I got a better value than you, though of course it's subjective. First of all, your flight wasn't worth $13500, because absolutely nobody pays that. That price tag is just for show. Ten years ago there were businesses who paid that, but nowadays even CEOs won't get that because they don't want to give the impression to underlings that the corporation can blow money. 90%+ of the people who fly transcontinental F or J do it on miles or upgrades. The few who may pay are the random person who wants to fly his elderly mother in comfort, or some tool who is going all out for his honeymoon.

Anyway, my deal for 65000 was the following: RIO->NYC->LAX->NRT->JKT->BKK->HKG->PEK->NYC

3 day layover in LA, 3 weeks in Jakarta (where I am currently), 3 days in Bangkok, 2 weeks in Hong Kong.

Airlines have a large allotment of seats that they don't release until 24 hours before take off, so it is best to change your seats as close to 24 hours before takeoff as possible. This goes for both mileage and purchased tickets.

I got emergency exit seats on every segment thus far. My legroom (I'm tall) was far more than what business class people had. From LA->NRT and NRT->JKT, I flew All Nippon Airlines which is comparable to Cathay (Cathay still better though), and my meal on one flight was a sashimi appetizer with grilled salmon and on the other was some thai/indonesian beef dish with peanut sauce that was pretty good.

I'm not trying to liken my flight experience with yours because there would be no comparison. But my experience was certainly tolerable and not what you'd call "cattle class." You're also making an apples to oranges comparison in comparing your experience on a 5* Asian airline to the shitty standard set by US airlines. Because you wouldn't be eating caviar in F on American Airlines, and may not even get the quality of food I got in Economy on an Asian airline.

Using miles to book roundtrips is a far better value than one-ways, because roundtrips give you free stopovers and open jaws, which with some creativity can garner you a round the world flight at the cost of a flight to Europe. My example would be considered an "illegal booking" as it doesn't at all conform to its ticket rules, but the bottom line is I ended up with 4 stopovers on what's supposed to be a roundtrip flight. On AA/UA for example, a one-way award ticket can only have 4 segments max, but a roundtrip can have 10 segments, and if you're good at bullshitting a supervisor to get an override you can have as many as 16. Huge difference in value.

Your point is better made in contrasting Asian/Middle Eastern airlines with American/European airlines. People who are redeeming award tickets with US based mileage programs should always seek to book with partner airlines in the East. Never fly American/United/Air Canada to Asia on a mileage ticket. Before booking a mileage ticket to Europe, see if there is availability on Turkish Airlines.

I think J and F class is more or less used for business. And actually many J seats are 'business' people. Personally, I only book J or F award seats if I have to be somewhere specifically for business purposes on a specific date. This is why it's good to keep a wide variety of miles across many airline parters. Not only will you find value points across different award charts, but you have enough options to book an award seat in case one airline doesn't have remaining award seats. For example, I have a decent bank of Avios for short haul, AA miles for One World J seats on Cathay and JAL to Asia, and Kris miles for Singapore due to their outstanding product and wide availability.

If I am on short haul, or on holiday most times I'll fly PE or E and bank the miles, buying a full fare seat that will give me 100% of the miles and on rare occasions give me an op up.

Awesome redemptions guys! I'm glad the community is seeing the value of points and miles to get where you're going in style and comfort. That reminds me that should do some trip reports on my summer vacation. Turkish, SWISS, and EVA were all top notch J redemptions and Turkish's lounge in IST was unfuckingbelievable. EVA serves Dom Perignon in J (they don't have a "first" class) and if I wasn't sick as a dog coming home from Bangkok I probably would have had a lot more.

It's probably also worth noting that those first and business class seats are actually sold for cash and not miles most of the time. With airlines cutting flights and thus capacity in order to fly fuller planes, the number of available people that are able to and want to buy those classes of tickets goes up per plane, which then subsidizes the rest of the cattle class seats in back so the airline can compete on price back there.

HungWeiLo, great to have you back as you were the inspiration for my miles pursuit and this whole thread. Please give those reviews....would be great to have that comparison.

Balls, I have to admit I don't really know what you're saying. You can't compare F to economy, or Asian airlines (for the most part) to domestic US ones.

Cid, I was just about to post those too, thanks for throwing those up there. With recent sales of IHG points, those are really and truly available to game for $35 a nite. Nites sell out fairly quickly on those properties though, so google "Buy IHG points cheaP" and you'll find several bloggers instructions on how to do that. Act fast.

Anyone have a line on the best website for rental cars?

Also, for short flights like one-way NYC to Toronto, or Toronto to Philly, is it better to use miles or just buy a commuter flight?


Thanks to this thread and similar, I've earned 100,000 miles in the last 6 months, so mad props to my boys here.

Anyone knows if it is possible to get a reasonably priced one way ticket from somewhere in Europe to Hong Kong (or Macau or Shenzhen)? I would accept to fly low cost if needed or make stop over(s), perhaps by buying more than one ticket to make the complete route.

You're welcome. Id get some of your points from credit card spend transferred to British Airways Avios and use their distance based chart to get award tickets on American or US Airways for 4500 miles or so. The absolute best way.

Quote: (09-30-2014 03:28 PM)Stun Wrote:  

Anyone have a line on the best website for rental cars?

Also, for short flights like one-way NYC to Toronto, or Toronto to Philly, is it better to use miles or just buy a commuter flight?


Thanks to this thread and similar, I've earned 100,000 miles in the last 6 months, so mad props to my boys here.

Set up a search from your city and other nearby cities on Hipmunk.com if its just for economy, set up a search and let it run. It will send you frequent updates. Macau tends to be a good destination as its a gambling center and flights arriving there are cheap (as they want you to come and lose).

Quote: (09-30-2014 05:22 PM)Cheetah Wrote:  

Anyone knows if it is possible to get a reasonably priced one way ticket from somewhere in Europe to Hong Kong (or Macau or Shenzhen)? I would accept to fly low cost if needed or make stop over(s), perhaps by buying more than one ticket to make the complete route.

Is there an easy way to get about 10K Marriott points other than buying them or opening a Marriott credit card?

I have points with United, AA, Qatar, JetBlue, also Wyndham and Starwood hotel points. Haven't found a way to transfer them to Marriott. Those that provide that option offer very bad transfer rate.

Noob question:

Is there any sort of benefit that I earn from airline membership programs if I make just one intercontinental return trip per year? What about two? At what amount of travel are you generally able to "cash in" for the most basic stuff?

They have other credit card transfer partners, not just their own branded credit card. You could transfer points from another card such as a Chase Ultimate Rewards card. There is also a good Ritz Carlton offer out there right now (well, two actually) and its the same program as Marriot. What might be more useful is to tell us why you want 10K Marriot points and maybe we can find a way to achieve a comparable result.

Quote: (09-30-2014 10:37 PM)Brodiaga Wrote:  

Is there an easy way to get about 10K Marriott points other than buying them or opening a Marriott credit card?

I have points with United, AA, Qatar, JetBlue, also Wyndham and Starwood hotel points. Haven't found a way to transfer them to Marriott. Those that provide that option offer very bad transfer rate.

Quote: (10-01-2014 04:12 AM)Handsome Creepy Eel Wrote:  

Noob question:

Is there any sort of benefit that I earn from airline membership programs if I make just one intercontinental return trip per year? What about two? At what amount of travel are you generally able to "cash in" for the most basic stuff?

Not really, but you're actually kind of asking the wrong question. The question is, what do you do that you can use to earn miles that will give you benefits. Don't think of the flights anymore as the primary method to earn points/status/whatever. They aren't. Your spending (even manufactured spending) (manufactured spending) and your obtaining credit card deals that give up sign up bonuses and rewards without spending are now the premium way to achieve these benefits. Glad you found this thread and don't worry about being new to it. In my experience, it only takes a few months to learn some tricks that can benefit you very significantly given your circumstances (even if those circumstances include fairly limited funds). Hardest thing to overcome is very bad credit.

Quote: (09-30-2014 09:34 PM)Global Entry Wrote:  

You're welcome. Id get some of your points from credit card spend transferred to British Airways Avios and use their distance based chart to get award tickets on American or US Airways for 4500 miles or so. The absolute best way.

That sounds like a great deal. I am finding Citi TY points wants 8200 points for that trip and AAdvantage wants 25000

I checked Avios site and there seems to be a few ways to transfer miles, but not seeing anything to transfer from Citi or American.