Disclaimer: Let me start by saying this will be a long post. This is an updated version of the post I made a couple years ago. Since we have this neat new forum, I will update this post as time goes on and we can have it as a future reference moving forward. I want you to understand how I started using my current system to accumulating miles and points and how I have found a way for it to be quite successful for me and my wife. This has become a hobby for me. There's some investment (time and financial) to be made, but the outcomes can be (and should always be) far more rewarding than the overall investments in the process.
In April 2012, we were about to spend $11,000 on the final payment for our wedding. I decided to talk to my close friend, Howie, about what plan of action I should take to get the biggest return for spending money (in our checking account) already earmarked for the wedding. Howie is a writer for a travel blog - www.frugaltravelguy.com - which takes the approach of using credit card signup bonuses to travel in a frugal manner (e.g. - how to fly and stay in Hawaii for 5 nights for $200 or less out of pocket). My buddy has been featured on NBC's Today show and CNN.com for his antics in this arena. NBC actually funded one of his mileage runs (from Savannah to Istanbul and back by way of many stops in between) to capture what these miles and points fanatics do to earn miles, points, and status. To begin 2014, he finished up 6 separate "mileage runs" from Savannah to Beijing over a 2 month period (127,000 flown miles for $2,500 out of pocket). I'm nowhere near his fanaticism, but I feel like I have learned a lot of tricks from one of the best in this particular area of the travel industry. I have found my "happy place" where I am comfortable and, most importantly, my wife is okay with what I/we have to do to earn enough miles and points to travel almost anywhere we want to go.
For the real world wedding example mentioned above, we both applied for a Chase Sapphire Preferred and I applied for a Chase Ink Bold business charge card. At the time, the minimum spend bonuses for these cards kicked in at $3,000 for the CSPs and $5,000 for the Ink, so our $11,000 charged to the cards resulted in us receiving an immediate 161,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points (50,000 bonus for each card plus actual spend). I paid the cards off immediately. This kind of tactic - earning points in an efficient and smart manner - is cornerstone for how we receive miles and points. If you only use a debit card or cash to buy everything, you’re doing it wrong. If you only have one rewards credit card and use it for all of your purchases, you’re doing it wrong. If you ignore these types of schemes because you have a couple kids and don’t think it applies to you, you’re doing it wrong.
Miles, Points, and Our Recent Trips
After booking quite a few trips over the past couple years, we currently have the following miles, points, and status (and we rarely, if ever, travel for business):
- Platinum status with Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG)
- 64,013 Delta SkyMiles
- 392,489 American AAdvantage miles
- 113,064 Starwood SPG points
- 69,051 Hyatt Gold Passport points
- 82,542 Chase Ultimate Rewards points
In December 2013, we took a 3-week trip to Los Angeles, Australia (Port Douglas and Sydney) and New Zealand (Queenstown, Auckland, and Rotorua). In May 2014, we took an unplanned 5-day trip to Costa Rica (Papagayo). In July/August 2014, we took a 2.5-week trip to Europe (London, Paris, Venice, and Rome). In May 2015, we took a 12-day trip to Greece (Athens, Crete, and Santorini) in May 2015. All of these were booked primarily through the use of miles and points, although sometimes I will choose other options if they make more financial sense (and yes, miles and points hold a monetary value in my applied calculations).
With that said and as this is intended to share my experiences with this hobby, here are some things I've learned over the past couple years since I was first introduced to "miles and points" during the U.S. Mint scheme and what it means to have "elite status" at a top-notch hotel chain.
1 mile or point in one program is not worth the same as 1 mile or point in another program.
As an example, we were once looking to book a trip to Punta Mita, Mexico and I compared the miles redemption between American Airlines and Delta Airlines. At the time, if I used AA, it would have cost me 35,000 AAdvantage miles round-trip per person. The flight routed from Atlanta (ATL) to Dallas (DFW) to Puerto Vallarta (PVR) and took 6 hours total (2 hours per leg with a slight layover at DFW). If I used DL, it would have cost me 55,000 SkyMiles round-trip per person. That flight routed from ATL to Los Angeles (LAX) to PVR and took 11 hours total (4 hours and 1.5 hours with a 6-hour layover at LAX). While it is difficult for me to stomach not using Delta (since we live in Newnan, Georgia and Delta “owns” Atlanta), the above example shows just how great other airlines can be compared to Delta.
Here are two personal examples from 2014 comparing United and American to Delta to show you how completely devalued their program had become (although I admittedly have not really compared these since United devalued their program and Delta changed their program):
Example 1: For our trip to Europe in July/August 2014, we flew international business class from Atlanta to London (via Toronto in first) on Air Canada then business class from Rome to Atlanta (via Charlotte in first) on US Airways. This was booked for 100,000 MileagePlus miles each. For the same trip on Delta, it would have cost me 155,000 SkyMiles each for economy and between 162,500 and 212,000 SkyMiles each for business.
Example 2: For our trip to Australia and New Zealand in December 2013, we booked early enough to find availability on Virgin Australia through Delta. This allowed us to travel in business class for 150,000 SkyMiles each. The same itinerary on Delta metal was 165,000 SkyMiles each for economy and 305,000 SkyMiles each for business.
Also, take a look at the redemption rates for a top-tier hotel in the Hilton chain (50,000 HHonors points) compared to a top-tier hotel in the Starwood or Hyatt chains (30,000 SPG or Gold Passport points). There's no real comparison to the value of these respective points. There are other factors, such as purchase multipliers (e.g. - 2 points per dollar spent at a restaurant, etc.) and other promotions to consider, but Starwood and Hyatt tend to be considered the highest valued points in the hotel industry.
Using a mile or point for the sake of booking a free room is not the best use of a mile or point.
For example, a few months before our trip to Europe in 2014, I reviewed our itinerary to see if the value was worth the redemption. My original reservation for two nights at the Gritti Palace in Venice, Italy called for 70,000 SPG points. During the review, the standard room we booked was valued at $892/night. The value per point is 2.54 cents ($1,784 / 70,000 points). There was also a cash and points option, which was 15,000 points plus $275 each night. Reviewing this rate as it compares to a straight cash or straight points option is rather simple. You can take the standard rate ($892) and subtract the cash portion of the rate ($275) to come up with $617 to cover the points side of the equation ($617 / 15,000, or 4.11 cents per point). I then made a decision to switch our reservation to the cash and points option… and the 40,000 points that were returned were later used during our trip to Greece.
There are websites that will place a calculated value on various program miles and points, so use these a guide for what the "real value" of a point is worth. When it comes time for booking a reservation, use a calculator to see if booking a hotel on points is a smart use of those points. It also doesn’t hurt to periodically check to see if there is a better deal waiting to be snapped up.
Do not base your airline rewards programs on domestic travel.
Simply put, this is a massive waste of time, energy, money, and points. The best bang for your buck will come with an international redemption (as long as it is not on airlines who charge massive fuel surcharges, such as British Airways). Airlines like Southwest have very little international presence (and that is only because of their AirTran acquisition). Airlines like Delta are so completely devalued for international travel that we have all but dropped them completely. I would recommend focusing your attention on American in this area, assuming you have a desire to see the rest of the world.
NOTE: Southwest may be the exception to this rule due to low-value redemptions and ease of earning a ton of points in a relatively short period. I would focus on Southwest for domestic accrual and AA for international travel.
In April 2012, we were about to spend $11,000 on the final payment for our wedding. I decided to talk to my close friend, Howie, about what plan of action I should take to get the biggest return for spending money (in our checking account) already earmarked for the wedding. Howie is a writer for a travel blog - www.frugaltravelguy.com - which takes the approach of using credit card signup bonuses to travel in a frugal manner (e.g. - how to fly and stay in Hawaii for 5 nights for $200 or less out of pocket). My buddy has been featured on NBC's Today show and CNN.com for his antics in this arena. NBC actually funded one of his mileage runs (from Savannah to Istanbul and back by way of many stops in between) to capture what these miles and points fanatics do to earn miles, points, and status. To begin 2014, he finished up 6 separate "mileage runs" from Savannah to Beijing over a 2 month period (127,000 flown miles for $2,500 out of pocket). I'm nowhere near his fanaticism, but I feel like I have learned a lot of tricks from one of the best in this particular area of the travel industry. I have found my "happy place" where I am comfortable and, most importantly, my wife is okay with what I/we have to do to earn enough miles and points to travel almost anywhere we want to go.
For the real world wedding example mentioned above, we both applied for a Chase Sapphire Preferred and I applied for a Chase Ink Bold business charge card. At the time, the minimum spend bonuses for these cards kicked in at $3,000 for the CSPs and $5,000 for the Ink, so our $11,000 charged to the cards resulted in us receiving an immediate 161,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points (50,000 bonus for each card plus actual spend). I paid the cards off immediately. This kind of tactic - earning points in an efficient and smart manner - is cornerstone for how we receive miles and points. If you only use a debit card or cash to buy everything, you’re doing it wrong. If you only have one rewards credit card and use it for all of your purchases, you’re doing it wrong. If you ignore these types of schemes because you have a couple kids and don’t think it applies to you, you’re doing it wrong.
Miles, Points, and Our Recent Trips
After booking quite a few trips over the past couple years, we currently have the following miles, points, and status (and we rarely, if ever, travel for business):
- Platinum status with Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG)
- 64,013 Delta SkyMiles
- 392,489 American AAdvantage miles
- 113,064 Starwood SPG points
- 69,051 Hyatt Gold Passport points
- 82,542 Chase Ultimate Rewards points
In December 2013, we took a 3-week trip to Los Angeles, Australia (Port Douglas and Sydney) and New Zealand (Queenstown, Auckland, and Rotorua). In May 2014, we took an unplanned 5-day trip to Costa Rica (Papagayo). In July/August 2014, we took a 2.5-week trip to Europe (London, Paris, Venice, and Rome). In May 2015, we took a 12-day trip to Greece (Athens, Crete, and Santorini) in May 2015. All of these were booked primarily through the use of miles and points, although sometimes I will choose other options if they make more financial sense (and yes, miles and points hold a monetary value in my applied calculations).
With that said and as this is intended to share my experiences with this hobby, here are some things I've learned over the past couple years since I was first introduced to "miles and points" during the U.S. Mint scheme and what it means to have "elite status" at a top-notch hotel chain.
1 mile or point in one program is not worth the same as 1 mile or point in another program.
As an example, we were once looking to book a trip to Punta Mita, Mexico and I compared the miles redemption between American Airlines and Delta Airlines. At the time, if I used AA, it would have cost me 35,000 AAdvantage miles round-trip per person. The flight routed from Atlanta (ATL) to Dallas (DFW) to Puerto Vallarta (PVR) and took 6 hours total (2 hours per leg with a slight layover at DFW). If I used DL, it would have cost me 55,000 SkyMiles round-trip per person. That flight routed from ATL to Los Angeles (LAX) to PVR and took 11 hours total (4 hours and 1.5 hours with a 6-hour layover at LAX). While it is difficult for me to stomach not using Delta (since we live in Newnan, Georgia and Delta “owns” Atlanta), the above example shows just how great other airlines can be compared to Delta.
Here are two personal examples from 2014 comparing United and American to Delta to show you how completely devalued their program had become (although I admittedly have not really compared these since United devalued their program and Delta changed their program):
Example 1: For our trip to Europe in July/August 2014, we flew international business class from Atlanta to London (via Toronto in first) on Air Canada then business class from Rome to Atlanta (via Charlotte in first) on US Airways. This was booked for 100,000 MileagePlus miles each. For the same trip on Delta, it would have cost me 155,000 SkyMiles each for economy and between 162,500 and 212,000 SkyMiles each for business.
Example 2: For our trip to Australia and New Zealand in December 2013, we booked early enough to find availability on Virgin Australia through Delta. This allowed us to travel in business class for 150,000 SkyMiles each. The same itinerary on Delta metal was 165,000 SkyMiles each for economy and 305,000 SkyMiles each for business.
Also, take a look at the redemption rates for a top-tier hotel in the Hilton chain (50,000 HHonors points) compared to a top-tier hotel in the Starwood or Hyatt chains (30,000 SPG or Gold Passport points). There's no real comparison to the value of these respective points. There are other factors, such as purchase multipliers (e.g. - 2 points per dollar spent at a restaurant, etc.) and other promotions to consider, but Starwood and Hyatt tend to be considered the highest valued points in the hotel industry.
Using a mile or point for the sake of booking a free room is not the best use of a mile or point.
For example, a few months before our trip to Europe in 2014, I reviewed our itinerary to see if the value was worth the redemption. My original reservation for two nights at the Gritti Palace in Venice, Italy called for 70,000 SPG points. During the review, the standard room we booked was valued at $892/night. The value per point is 2.54 cents ($1,784 / 70,000 points). There was also a cash and points option, which was 15,000 points plus $275 each night. Reviewing this rate as it compares to a straight cash or straight points option is rather simple. You can take the standard rate ($892) and subtract the cash portion of the rate ($275) to come up with $617 to cover the points side of the equation ($617 / 15,000, or 4.11 cents per point). I then made a decision to switch our reservation to the cash and points option… and the 40,000 points that were returned were later used during our trip to Greece.
There are websites that will place a calculated value on various program miles and points, so use these a guide for what the "real value" of a point is worth. When it comes time for booking a reservation, use a calculator to see if booking a hotel on points is a smart use of those points. It also doesn’t hurt to periodically check to see if there is a better deal waiting to be snapped up.
Do not base your airline rewards programs on domestic travel.
Simply put, this is a massive waste of time, energy, money, and points. The best bang for your buck will come with an international redemption (as long as it is not on airlines who charge massive fuel surcharges, such as British Airways). Airlines like Southwest have very little international presence (and that is only because of their AirTran acquisition). Airlines like Delta are so completely devalued for international travel that we have all but dropped them completely. I would recommend focusing your attention on American in this area, assuming you have a desire to see the rest of the world.
NOTE: Southwest may be the exception to this rule due to low-value redemptions and ease of earning a ton of points in a relatively short period. I would focus on Southwest for domestic accrual and AA for international travel.
