[Global Entry]

You're better off positioning through a cheap flight to HK on a cheaper airline and then using them. It isn't worth blowing too many avios on the portion, as there are cheap options avail (HK express) and then using the avios for onward travel. I'm not sure how many destinations fly to Hanoi, but HK obviously connects to everywhere, and Hanoi isn't a hub for any OneWorld Carriers. You can connect to KL, which has Malaysian airlines, and Qatar flies out of some Viet cities, perhaps Sri Lankan also has flights. Check on Google ITA

(08-25-2014 08:02 PM)MaleDefined Wrote:  

I ran all sorts of flight combos last night. I have no clue how I'm going to spend these things. Flight times/connections just work really poorly for me out of my airport.

[Global Entry]

This was posted on View From the Wing - there's also a twitter post from BA saying that they're not planning to do anything right at the moment, kind of a soft denial. Anyway, its still up in the air (pun intended) whether BA will devalue like Iberia. The post below claims the Iberia didn't devalue, they just published the chart they already had and never published for three years. Its an argument against wholesale burning of every Avios you've collected on BA. If I had a lot, I'd still likely use them, but given that I've less than 15,000 right now, I'm not going to worry too much about it. Ill worry after September 9 when I have 40,000 or more again. If they devalue before then, I may end up crediting some of my flights to American Airlines, staying with BA silver and fucking off trying to get BA Gold status (first class lounges as opposed to Biz Class lounges, and a status soft landing - meaning even if I don't fly next year, I'd still be BA silver the following year).

(08-25-2014 04:16 AM)Global Entry Wrote:  

ALERT:

Iberia has drastically devalued its award chart. Flights that were available for 4,500 Avios are now 19,500 Avios. Really the worst devaluation seen on an airline in a long time.

You're saying, I don't live in Spain, why do i care? Well, you might, if you're like me and you stock up on British Airways Avios. BA and Iberia are co-owned by the same company, and some pundits are expecting a similar, drastic devaluation by BA in the next few days. Basically, think of 100 dollars all of a sudden being worth 33 dollars. If you've Avios which you've been saving for short flights, its very possible that BA is going to follow suit and slam their award chart. No guarantees, and we'll see what happens.

Hedge this: Book tickets you're considering flying with your BA Avios now. Since Iberia did in their award chart with no warning, its quite possible (I fucking hope not) that BA shortly does the same thing (I just spent all the time getting myself into position to be BA gold).

Anyway, earn and burn is even more urgent, potentially, with BA flyers. I fortunately spent a bunch of miles just recently to get to Malaysia and back from Singapore, but now I know I'm gonna burn some more flying HKG- BKK on Thursday (if I can). Problem is I have a long itinerary booked on OneWorld to get my BA Gold (BKK-AMM-CDG-LHR-JFK and back), and now those miles could be subject to ridiculous deval. If I plug em into AA or US Airways, then I won't get gold.

[Menace]

Global, I got all those miles we talked about. 111K now. What's the best way to buy award biz using AA miles? Just call them directly, or use some site?Is there a way to check for award space?

[TheBulldozer]

Japan airlines and British Airways are the most commonly used sites to search for partner award flights. Personally I prefer BA but I'm in the minority. Once you find the flight you'll have to call AA and book over the phone. Unless you have status you'll have to pay the $35 phone booking charge. Sometimes even the agents you call won't see the space/flight you're referring to. If so, call back 5 minutes later with a different agent.

[Global Entry]

I actually like using BA as well, though its rumored that recently, BA hasn't been showing AA flights available for awards. It may be a temporary technical glitch, so I'd consider searching AA itself for AA flights, not BA. For other airlines, BA provides a good search engine and should show most places you can use your AA miles on OneWorld. Of course, it doesn't show the partners that AA has that BA doesn't have, such as Alaska, Hawaii, Jet Blue and Etihad. AA has one of the longest lists of award partners, and its important to be aware of the other ones, to be successful in the miles game. As a side note, Alaska, to me, is a key program, and any miles player should have a Mileage Plan account. The partner list is superlative and spans the various major award alliances. Its an excellent place to deposit miles.

I won't pretend to be an expert, but the tool Expert Flyer, which I think we discussed, Menace, is also something you should consider familiarizing yourself with. It allows you to search OneWorld, SkyTeam and some other award space availability, in a good deal of detail. Its a subscription based too, but relatively reasonable and it has a free trial program I believe.

Finally, the other option is to pay an award booking service associated with one of the travel blogs, with Award Wallet, or otherwise, 100-150USD to book an award for you. They'll only charge you if they successfully book your award, so its a low-risk proposition. You'll give them the parameters you want for your trip, your mileage balances, etc. and they book the trip for you (like a travel agency). Prices tend to be non-negotiable, but for a professional person, 100-150 isn't really a terrible number, especially if they find you awards you couldn't otherwise find, especially those without fuel charges. If its a complex award with stopovers, open jaw, etc., and many segments, it may make sense to engage an award booker.

(08-26-2014 07:54 AM)Menace Wrote:  

Global, I got all those miles we talked about. 111K now. What's the best way to buy award biz using AA miles? Just call them directly, or use some site?Is there a way to check for award space?

(08-26-2014 08:59 AM)MaleDefined Wrote:  

Japan airlines and British Airways are the most commonly used sites to search for partner award flights. Personally I prefer BA but I'm in the minority. Once you find the flight you'll have to call AA and book over the phone. Unless you have status you'll have to pay the $35 phone booking charge. Sometimes even the agents you call won't see the space/flight you're referring to. If so, call back 5 minutes later with a different agent.

[Global Entry]

I've wanted to write a little more about Mileage Plan, which is a terrific frequent flyer plan under Alaska Airlines.

It tends to have good deals, good promotions, they provide a good product in the air, and they have a really good cross-section of partnerships that span the globe. I'd mentioned them a few times previously, but I'd encourage all of the mileage players to get a Mileage Plan account and to plan on making some deposits to it.

Here are some current deals their offering domestically, just by way of reference.



And here are the partners....



For the less initiated, thats quite a great list with Asian stalwarts Korea and Cathay, American and Delta for North America, Emirates for Mid-East (and frankly much more), and Air France and KLM for Europe. Its really a great mix, allowing for a lot of usage and a lot of opportunity to get around the globe. And all of the partners can be booked online other than Cathay and LAN, which I absolutely love.

As you can see, they're also offering a 40 percent purchase bonus on buying miles, but there are better ways to get those miles perhaps than purchasing (through the Alaska Airlines credit cards or an SPG Amex transfer at 1.25 MP miles per point (in lumps of 20000))

One negative is you cannot mix partners on awards. So if you book Cathay, you cannot book, say Emirates, on the same award journey. But since you can book one way awards, that's not too much of a killer. And they allow stopovers on one way awards, so you can book a free one way ticket (for example, if you wanted to fly from LA to HKG, you could book on Delta (I believe). But you could, if you wanted, book from another US city, through LA as your stopover (stopping over where you live is the typical way to get a free oneway) and then eventually travel on to HKG). Hence the first leg is a free oneway, so if you flew to that city in cash or points otherwise, you're trip back would be part of the Alaska award. One way free (or included).


The strongest redemption options for Mileage Plan seem to be Cathay, Qantas and Emirates.

One way redemptions in biz class on Cathay to Asia - 50,000 miles, Africa/India/Mid-East 62500 mile and australia, an amazing 60,000 miles. These are really strong values. Keep in mind that you get a stopover with each of those awards, meaning you can fly from the US to Hong Kong, have a stopover, and then continue to Africa, India, or the Middle East, all while paying 62500 (70000) miles in biz (first) class.

On Emirates, the costs are higher. but you're talking about true glitz, with onboard showers (yes, showers), a bar (funny for a mideast airline) and room service phones. First for US to India/ME is 90K, Asia, 100K, Europ, 100K and Africa 100K, knock off around 25 percent for biz class. With the free stopover though, you could fly say LA to Dubai, as your stopover, then to HKG, for 100K one way in first class. That, my fellow gamers is true balling.

For Qantas, if you can find an award, the rates are better than American's rates for Qantas, at 55000 (70,000) one way biz (first) class. And you can get a stopover in New Zealand on your way to and from Australia, which you cannot do on American (only a stopover in a US city is permitted, big whoop).

I fully expect my next transfer from my SPG card to be to Alaska (or Singapore as I really want to fly Suites Class). If I go for value, there's no doubt I should drop the next 50,000 into my Mileage Plan account. Along side Life Miles, it seems to me that Alaska provides some of the best value out there for miles, and when you factor in the 25 percent bonus SPG gives for transferring in miles in blocks of 20,000, that means you're transferring 40,000 SPG points to get a one way ticket USA-Asia with a stopover. Fucking gold.

[BallsDeep]

40k SPG = 50k on any airline.

I just used 32k on United for a one way from the US to Asia. How is that a deal using Alaska? Are you referring to AA no longer allowing one way stopovers?

[Global Entry]

You get a bonus when you transfer SPG points in blocks of 20K. 25K are transferred instead, which makes it best, if at all possible to wait to transfer in exactly blocks of 20K (not bigger either, as you're cutting into the next block).

AA has limited stopover rules. So yes, I am referring to that - they do have some cities where they now permit a stopover, most of which are in the USA.

And the prices I'm quoting are for Biz Class to Asia. If you got to Asia one way biz class on United, thats awesome for 32K, regardless of the airline. Please let us know how you did it, and which metal (carrier) you flew.

(08-26-2014 08:11 PM)BallsDeep Wrote:  

40k SPG = 50k on any airline.

I just used 32k on United for a one way from the US to Asia. How is that a deal using Alaska? Are you referring to AA no longer allowing one way stopovers?

[BallsDeep]

I didn't realize you were referring to Biz. My 32k is economy.

BTW, AA no longer offers one ways with free stopovers. Are you saying that Alaska still does, and allows you to use anyone in the One World alliance? If so that will become my goto SPG transfer airline.

[Global Entry]

No. AA has recently release a list of exceptions for 18hr stopovers, if I am not mistaken. Not exactly exciting.

Alaska transfer partners are not any OneWorld partners. Just the ones in the graphic above, and they do allow stopovers even on One Ways.

[Global Entry]

This from EHD.com. Not a big deal, but free money...though remember you won't earn elite credits or points if you book through a site such as HotelEngine/Expedia/Hotels.com.

Another day, another fantastic deal. $25 Free Hotel Credit with HotelEngine.com Please credit http://ExtremeHotelDeals.com/freehotel if sharing. Do not wait, this will not last once word gets out.

Hotelengine.com is a new booking site offering $25 free credit just for signing up You must use the s sign-up link, otherwise you only get $5.

There is no minimum spend, no credit card or other booking fees. The site itself is well designed and fairly intuitive. Sadly, hotel options are currently limited to the United States. However, even if you live elsewhere it is still worth getting an account for when they expand. It is worth trying once just for the free cash, but may also be worthwhile for the 5%-10% back rewards they offer on all bookings.

[Global Entry]

The furor over this has died down, as it has emerged from the blogosphere that Iberia only published there chart, and it was always this bad. Hopefully, that means, for now, BA will not be following suit, because the charts were never aligned.

Article on BA regarding Iberia chart conformity

(08-25-2014 04:16 AM)Global Entry Wrote:  

ALERT:

Iberia has drastically devalued its award chart. Flights that were available for 4,500 Avios are now 19,500 Avios. Really the worst devaluation seen on an airline in a long time.

You're saying, I don't live in Spain, why do i care? Well, you might, if you're like me and you stock up on British Airways Avios. BA and Iberia are co-owned by the same company, and some pundits are expecting a similar, drastic devaluation by BA in the next few days. Basically, think of 100 dollars all of a sudden being worth 33 dollars. If you've Avios which you've been saving for short flights, its very possible that BA is going to follow suit and slam their award chart. No guarantees, and we'll see what happens.

Hedge this: Book tickets you're considering flying with your BA Avios now. Since Iberia did in their award chart with no warning, its quite possible (I fucking hope not) that BA shortly does the same thing (I just spent all the time getting myself into position to be BA gold).

Anyway, earn and burn is even more urgent, potentially, with BA flyers. I fortunately spent a bunch of miles just recently to get to Malaysia and back from Singapore, but now I know I'm gonna burn some more flying HKG- BKK on Thursday (if I can). Problem is I have a long itinerary booked on OneWorld to get my BA Gold (BKK-AMM-CDG-LHR-JFK and back), and now those miles could be subject to ridiculous deval. If I plug em into AA or US Airways, then I won't get gold.

(08-26-2014 09:02 PM)BallsDeep Wrote:  

I didn't realize you were referring to Biz. My 32k is economy.

BTW, AA no longer offers one ways with free stopovers. Are you saying that Alaska still does, and allows you to use anyone in the One World alliance? If so that will become my goto SPG transfer airline.

[Global Entry]

Valuable discount for Asia folks from Singapore airlines little brother, silk.

http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2...yer-awards

[username]

Can someone pm me their uber refferal code, I want one of you to get credit.

[themilkman]

IWW1B for the uber code

[Global Entry]

I just registered for mid-tier Langham Hotel status for free. Not sure if the link will work for everyone, but here are the terms and conditions and the code. (from View From the Wing). It seems to have worked for me, though I haven't received my confirmation email yet (I did get an account number).

They've a bunch of five star type hotels around China, India, the US and Australia. I went to a New Years Eve Party in one in Shenzhen last year. In North America, looks like Boston, Toronto, Chicago, NY, and LA. London also has one.

Langham Hotels 1865 Voyager status normally requires 5 stays within 12 months.

Key benefits are:
complimentary room upgrade subject to room availability)
free internet access
6pm late checkout
welcome amenity
Use this link
https://1865.langhamhotels.com/enrolment.aspx
to go to the enrollment page. Then enter the invitation code 453826123 into the top box and click ‘enter’. Membership tier should change to ‘Voyager’.

The offer is valid through December 31, and status is scheduled to last for 12 months once you register. Status should get renewed with just two stays per year.

[Mentavious]

Just got an email about earning 100% miles if I buy 30k-50k through US air

Thank you G Entry!


So buying miles also will move me up in membership tiers,yes?

[Global Entry]

Repost the email (take out anything sensitive) and let me see it. Sounds like a targeted promotion for 100 percent bonus purchase, but lemme have a look. US Air does this quite often, and no, it will not give you higher status to buy or to use the miles, once purchased. But it will allow you to access premium class round trips at a far lower cost than if you booked them for cash.

(09-02-2014 09:25 AM)Mentavious Wrote:  

Just got an email about earning 100% miles if I buy 30k-50k through US air

Thank you G Entry!


So buying miles also will move me up in membership tiers,yes?

[Tail Gunner]

(09-02-2014 09:25 AM)Mentavious Wrote:  

Just got an email about earning 100% miles if I buy 30k-50k through US air

I did not receive the email, probably because I did not yet activate my US Airways card by making a first purchase or create a Dividend Miles account. I just created an account -- and the offer is there.

Damn. I wish that US Airways offered a one-way ticket option, because I would jump on this. There is an outside possibility that I might go offshore for good by February. So, I am ramping up preparations now, just in case everything goes right. I would hate to burn a RT business class ticket on a one-way flight.

Anyone know whether there is another major mileage program that offers both RT and one-way tickets in its mileage program, with service to Manilla?

[Tail Gunner]

(09-02-2014 09:40 AM)Global Entry Wrote:  

Repost the email (take out anything sensitive) and let me see it.

Quote:

Buying miles is the easy way to top off your account to get the award you want! Limited time offer! Buy miles from September 2nd until September 30th, 2014 and get up to a 100% bonus – up to 50,000 miles.

• 1,000-9,000 miles = 25% Bonus
• 10,000-19,000 miles = 50% Bonus
• 20,000-29,000 miles = 75% Bonus
• 30,000-50,000 miles = 100% Bonus

Offer available for purchases made between September 2nd,​ 00:00:01 PT and September 30, 2014, 23:59:59 PT. All purchases are non-refundable. Bonus miles will be awarded upon completion of the transaction. The maximum number of Buy and Gift Bonus miles that can be received by one member for this offer is 50,000 bonus miles. All miles purchased beyond this limit will not be eligible for a bonus. For Gift purchases, bonus will be awarded to the recipient. All transaction inquiries must be submitted to US Airways Dividend Miles within 90 days from end of promotion. Offer is subject to change. Offer cannot be combined with any other offer. Share transactions are not eligible for bonus. Only purchases made online are eligible for the bonus. Please note that Dividend Miles accounts less than 12 days old are not permitted to Buy, Share or Gift miles. For Gift and Share transactions, the recipient account must also be 12 days old. All US Airways Dividend Miles terms and conditions apply. Visit usairways.com/dividendmilesfor details.

Miles are sold for $0.035 per mile plus a tax recovery charge of 7.5%. GST/HST will be charged to Canadian residents. Miles purchased through Buy, Share or Gift Miles do not count towards Dividend Miles Preferred status. All other Dividend Miles Terms and Conditions apply. Miles may be used based on award availability at the time of booking. Please note that Dividend Miles accounts less than 12 days old are not permitted to Buy, Share or Gift Miles. All purchases are non-refundable.

Quote:

US Airways is offering a targeted bonus of up to 100% additional miles when you buy miles through Seotember 30.

The offer is targeted, then you go to the buy miles page you have to enter your account information to see whether you’re being offered a bonus. (And there may be other, smaller, bonuses targeted to some accounts.)

At least I’m suggesting it’s targeted because of the requirement to verify your account information — although it does look like the details of the bonus is itself in the background, which suggests to me that the bonus may not vary although it’s possible some won’t be eligible.

If the offer is available to you, buying miles at a 100% bonus means buying them at a cost of 1.88 cents per mile.

US Airways is almost always selling miles on the cheap, which is to say at a price higher than I’m willing to pay but much lower than the ‘retail’ price that almost never prevails.

It’s like an Amazon discount percentage, or an Overstock one. Or a ‘supplemental sticker’ a car dealer might put on a car, that’s higher than the manufacturer’s suggested retail price.

Their 100% bonus on shared miles used to be one of the best deals out there. Even with a very large mileage balance with both US Airways and American AAdvantage I jump on buying miles at 1.1 cents apiece. Last month their transfer miles bonus got a bit more complicated and also more expensive.

Of course US Airways miles aren’t as cheap as they used to be or even as cheap as they used to be.

And you can’t get 90,000 mile Hong Kong awards in business class anymore. But now that those are 110,000 miles, you might as well go for first class which is just 120,000 miles roundtrip. Hard to argue first isn’t worth it, for just 5000 miles more each way.

Still, US Airways 100% bonus on purchased miles used to be a fantastic deal — when the miles were cheaper and the award chart was cheaper.

They run these offers all the time. (Sometimes structured a little too clever by half.)

And buying miles from US Airways is cheaper than buying the miles from American, even though US Airways miles should become American miles sometime next year.

It may be a strategically valuable play for some, but is not for me.

US Airways mileage purchases are processed by points.com which means they don’t show up as airfare, and thus don’t earn bonuses from credit cards like Chase Sapphire Preferred (double points) or American Express Premier Rewards Gold (triple points) that bonus airfare spend.

US Airways continues to sell miles for under 1.9 cents apiece, which is lower than American’s price even though the miles will eventually become AAdvantage miles.

http://viewfromthewing.boardingarea.com/...nt-page-1/

[Mentavious]

Yup

[Global Entry]

OK, so this is a sale of miles at 1.88c/mile including taxes. For a specific reward you have in mind for a premium class flight, i do think this is a pretty good deal, and I myself earlier this year persuaded my work to advance me the money to buy 50K plus 50K.

You're right, TG, that US Air is solely round trip awards. FOR NOW. That program will merge into the American program in the next six to nine months, and I imagine the US Air limits will disappear, not the AAdvanctage ones. We don't know for sure, but seems likely. That means the stopover rules will suck (per American) but you'll be able to book one way.

I believe Delta has service to the Phils, and as of Jan. 1, they're also going to allow one way awards.

PAL (Mahubay Miles) has alliances with the following airlines - I am not sure what the booking rules are for each partner, but if you've miles on one of these partners, its certainly possible that one-way award trips might be available. Whether they'd be a cost efficient usage of miles (Etihad and Emirates, and Cathay having somewhat expensive award programs, and at least with Cathay, not so many easily available transfer partners, I don't know about the other two). Its rumored that PAL is pursuing Oneworld.

Cathay Pacific
Emirates
Etihad Airways
Flydubai
Garuda Indonesia
Gulf Air
Malaysia Airlines
PAL Express (Affiliate)
Westjet

[Mentavious]

I flew to Mexico in late April on AA but I didn't include my acct# to receive my miles.

If I call and ask do you think there is any chance that they will credit me my miles?

[Global Entry]

Each airline is different. I thought the general standards were 90 days or 6 months. Check the AAdvantage website and you should be able to get credit if you're within the time allotted. You may need documentary proof - always keep all boarding passes, tickets, etc. until your miles post to your account. Mistakes are frequent.

[Global Entry]

So there are a couple of miles purchase opportunities going on right now, including the US Airways one discussed above, the United one, and others for Avianca Miles and for Mileage Plan (Alaska) that I also mentioned above.

United's current promotion is kind of stupid in my opinion, in that the bonus depends not on anything you do, but on how many people overall purchase miles.???!?? WTF - who comes up with this stuff. Like I care.

Anyway, fully bonused miles under that plan are 1.88c/mile, the same cost as the fully bonused US Airways miles. However, since UA changed their award chart and steeply devalued their program, I don't think I'd say that UA and USA miles have equivalent value - US Airways miles are among the most valuable currency in the points game, albeit with the restriction of no one way tickets (for the moment). UA has certain specific uses, but I certainly wouldn't encourage any of you to spec-buy UA miles at this price. If you've already identified an award on UA or a partner, in a premium cabin, and its available, then maybe. Otherwise, no.


LifeMiles, LifeMiles..., I am a novice with this one, but I have to tell you, its one of the most intriguing and potentially valuable programs out there. (For this reason, I have a Lifemiles account, but its sadly empty). Unfortunately to many of you, you needed to have an account prior to September 2, 2014 to participate in this promotion.** With the bonus, the cost of the miles are 1.5c/mile, and LifeMiles has said this is the last time miles will be this cheap. After this, they're bouncing the cost to 1.65c/mile for promotions, still a good value but not THIS value. In addition, LifeMiles is changing its chart as of October 15 and not in a good way, so booking using these miles before the valuation would be the way to go, if you've somewhere to use them.

Some good things about LM -
They allow one-way awards at half the cost of a roundtrip
They don’t impose fuel surcharges on award redemptions
They have competitive redemption rates Life Miles Redemption Chart

As long as you have 40% of the miles needed for a redemption, you can purchase the remaining miles at the time you issue your ticket for as little as 1.56 cents per mile.

Avianca (and not points.com) processes purchases, so if you've a credit card that gives bonus points for travel spending, then you'll get the bonus. This is a pretty unique benefit in the points game.

Its not all roses, as they have a shitty call center (i haven't used it, I've just read) and you cannot book mixed class tickets, i.e., all biz, or all F, or all economy). Also, per the discussion before, they used to have a great chart, but devalued a lot of categories between 3 and 20 percent. Still if you figure you're buying miles for 1.5c/mile, even a 20 percent devaluation has you at 1.8c/mile and their Star Alliance award chart is still better than United's. So booking awards on Lufthansa, Thai, etc. Its kind of as if , now that US Air is OneWorld and not Star, LifeMiles is the budget way to acquire StarAlliance award tickets through miles purchase, though one with somewhat dwindling value. If you can buy and book before 10/15 though, you can get in under the wire on the old chart with the old prices.

I haven't decided if I am buying yet, but I do have a upcoming trip (maybe) to Argentina, and those miles would be useful.
****

I want to write something to clarify a little bit the whole buying points thing, as a few participants seem to have some questions on it. These rules generally hold across alliances.
If you buy miles, it DOES NOT help you obtain elite status.
If you earn miles on a credit card, it does not alone help you obtain elite status, though some cards give elite status bonuses to those who meet a specified minimum spend on the associated card (e.g., Delta Amex). But the points themselves alone do not.
If you book an award ticket, you will not earn miles or segments (towards elite status) on your award. However, if you buy a revenue ticket and then upgrade with miles (not always the best deal), you should get miles and segment credit based on the purchased class of ticket (but not the upgraded class).

**Not to beat a dead horse, but go ahead and register for LifeMiles, Alaska Mileage Plan, Iberia (and transfer some BAEC miles in, just 1000), Singapore, and the major US airlines. I don't want the gamers here missing future opportunities.