British Airways Avios Points: Great Value!

A lot of folks in the miles and points world gripe about British Airways and their miles program. Rightly so since they charge HUGE fuel charges on award tickets if you fly British Airways across the Atlantic or other long flights.

Today I was able to get great value from them for next to nothing. I have had an alert on a flight I wanted from American Airlines next weekend. Since they are a British Airways partner I was thinking of using my Avios points for the booking. For a LONG time space was not available on the flight I needed. Until this morning.

Expert Flyer sent me an alert saying the seats I needed opened up! Only 1 week in advance. That was a nice email to wake up too!

I jumped online and booked 2 one way tickets from Miami to Atlanta on the late night flight home on August 5. Thanks to only 9,000 Avios points and $5 I now have another 7 hours on Key West for my birthday weekend! That works out to an impressive 9.93 cents of value per Avios point used.

If I were to buy that same ticket today it would have been $447 per person. Only spending 9,000 Avios points (which are one of the easiest to get!) and $5 in taxes is a fantastic deal in my book. I get more valuable beach hours and no rushing back to Miami to catch my flight. That's a win.

This is a direct benefit of all my research, learning, and knowing all the tricks of the trade.

Review: Megabus in the USA

This past week I took Megabus for the first time. I admit my expectations were low as I have heard mixed things about them. Some people swear by it and others stay far away. I am somewhere in the middle myself.

The ticket I had cost $8 USD each way between Atlanta, GA and Charlotte, NC. The price certainly could not be beaten! I like the idea of wifi on the buses and it was non-stop. They also have a bathroom on board and power outlets so I can get some work done.

The reality was the wifi was almost non-existent. I ended up using the company 3G USB card which was spotty itself but not nearly as bad. For free we cannot complain though. My main gripe is the hard seats. I don't see myself spending more than 4-5 hours tops without getting soreness and cranky.

The service itself was fine. The drivers seem nice enough and they allow you to eat on the bus if you like. In a last minute pinch it will work if they go where you need to be. The bus stops in Atlanta and Charlotte were both well located. They also leave on time and tend to arrive early if you are not in rush hour traffic.

Would I do it again? Only if I was very strapped for cash or it was the only option left. I think it would be OK for a one way trip if you were flying back or taking some other transport. I certainly wouldn't make it my first choice!

Work Bonus!: Free trip to see Roger Waters / The Wall!

Sometimes you get to do cool things at the last minute. Today is no exception!

I am going to see Roger Waters do Pink Floyd's "The Wall" live in Charlotte, NC tomorrow night. I am staying the night and coming back Wednesday. The downside is I have to take megabus. I have never ridden them but am not a fun of buses. But for free I cannot complain!

It will be a short trip but I am OK with that. The boss is paying for it all and I am grateful. We had a good quarter and this is a reflection of that. I got really good seats and can check a small item off the bucket list. I also have never been to Charlotte so it will be a new place for me as well.

It's been a while since I have been to a good concert. I am excited!

Delta Booking Tip: Book on Mondays

Always books itineraries originating in the USA on Mondays. You have 24 hours to cancel it without penalty and a full refund regardless of the fare you booked.

The reason: Sale fares are released on Tuesdays. Here is an example scenario:

Today is Monday and you need a flight that is 3 or more weeks away from Atlanta to Los Angeles. Today's price is $400 round trip in economy. Not too bad! You book the ticket today.

Tomorrow you check the prices for your same flights again. Delta has loaded their weekly sale fares and you notice the the exact same flights in economy now price out at $320. You feel a little duped. But wait!

You are still within your 24 hour grace period. You can go online, cancel your original fights, and rebook at the new $320 price. A quick flight search and about 15 minutes of your time has just saved you $80!

I do this all the time for myself as well as work flights. You don't always end up finding lower fares but it does happen. There is 0 risk since you can cancel within 24 hours. If the price goes up then you got in at a good time. It's a win-win for air travel.

Fun Travel: Last Minute Tickets to "The Wall" by Roger Waters

My boss surprised me with tickets and expenses paid to go see Roger Waters perform "The Wall" in Charlotte, NC. I will be taking Megabus there and back (I'd rather fly but will take it for free!) and see it Tuesday July 10th. Lower level seats!

Apparently this is part of my quarterly bonus. We have been quite busy lately so I appreciate the extra fun trip and not getting docked time off. It will be a quick trip up and back. I can check a Pink Floyd show off the list!

Cheap Airfare, Groupon, and $25 gift card

The small wins add up!

This week I have scored:

• $180 round trip airfare to Chicago for my seminars in October
• $4 3-day Chicago Train pass (Groupon--Normally $14!)
• Free $25 AMEX gift card for meeting a $200 promotion.

This all helps me in the long run and allows me to travel more often. Love it!

My First Experience Booking US Airways Award Ticket

I called US Airways yesterday to book a ticket for my girlfriend to join me in Guatemala for a 2 week stint in November. I have read horror stories about their phone reps and was prepared for the worst. I had all the flights I wanted with open inventory that I found on Expert Flyer. I was prepared for a painful spoon-feeding call buried in ignorance.

I called up the reservations line, got through the annoying automated system, and spoke to "Dennis." He was friendly but immediately asked me where "GUA" airport was. "Here we go..." I thought to myself. Turned out to not be too bad. He said he had traveled to Central America before but never Guatemala.

I explained that I could not book this online and hence my call. He did some checking to confirm that United flights in fact had to be booked over the phone. I was prepared to pay the fees. Lucky for me he waived the $40 phone booking fee. Yay!

I ended up having to give him my dates and specific flight numbers. He was unable to locate them on his own but when I gave the info to him segment-by-segment it was not an issue. I spent a total of 20 minutes on the phone with "Dennis" and got every booked and done. Not great and not bad either. Maybe I was lucky?

This means that I have now burned most of my AA and US Air miles. This was by design due to expiration dates and now sped up since the potential merger between the two. Who knows what would come of that so may as well burn the miles for something I need now and watch to see what happens.

In the end I have success! Another cool trip for pennies on the dollar. I love miles.

Book One Way Delta Award Tickets...Sort Of

I recently discovered a way to book one way Delta award tickets at half the round trip price. There are a few caveats but it is possible. It involves using Air France/KLM's Flying Blue program. This is a roundabout way to do it but is a good value. I will outline the process here to make it as simple as I can:

1.  You will need the miles in your Flying Blue account. American Express Memebership Rewards is a transfer partner for them at 1:1. Starwood points can also be transferred to Flying Blue at 1:1.
2. You have to find low level award space on Delta. I suggest logging into Flying Blue and find your desired flights BEFORE transferring points to them. 
3. Book the flight you wish on Flying Blue for points + taxes and you are done!

The key here is that Flying Blue simply allowed one way awards on any of their own or partner flights. Delta also does but charges the round trip price anyway. Doing this can save a lot of miles in the future! This is our only option until Delta gets their act together and allows one way awards like the majority of their competition.

New Orleans Roundup

I had a great time in New Orleans. I couldn't ask for better weather as it was an average of 75 degrees, partly cloudy, and breezy in January! It was also nice to not have to worry about work for a few days and spend a good 30th birthday weekend with my girlfriend.

We spent a lot of our time eating the awesome food the city has to offer and hitting a few sites around the French Quarter. It is a fun place to wander around and people watch. It is some of my favorite architecture in the USA as well. We spent our evenings in the local dive bar in the French Quarter having cheap drinks and relaxing. A tough life!

Our flights were good for the most part. No upgrades cleared but what can I really expect as the lowest tier elite and $35 each way airfares? We had access to my company's GoGo wifi and it was a short flight. We did have a sudden dip in turbulence on approach to Atlanta but it was storming. Just another part of flying!

I have to say New Orleans is a city I don't tire of. I love the people, culture, and nightlife it has to offer. It is a relatively cheap city for the US also. I sometimes daydream about having a condo in the French Quarter as a place to get away. Maybe one day!

Long Weekend in New Orleans Tomorrow!

Tomorrow morning the girlfriend and I are flying down to New Orleans. Today is her 30th birthday. I booked this trip a while back when there was a fire sale on airfares. Delta matched and we got round trip tickets for $91 all-in per person. A great deal!

The weather down there looks great and should be in the mid-70's all weekend. I am looking forward to wandering the french quarter, eating their awesome food, and generally not thinking about work. It has been very busy here since returning from Asia and a quick break will help me out a lot.

It should also be a relatively cheap trip since most things in New Orleans are very reasonable. We are staying in a private room at the local hostel which I have stayed at several times before. It's a combination of 2 old houses and very well run. It's also a short trolley ride to downtown/french quarter and not far from a supermarket.

This will also my first flights of the year. I am aiming for Gold Medallion so I can get some more benefits and more miles. I have to save a lot of miles now since I am planning to go to the world cup in 2014 in business class. Getting a 100% flying bonus as Gold flyer will help that a lot!

New Points Churn complete!

Today I applied for a few attractive points offers. In total I should get 30,000 Chase points, $500 from citibank, and 40,000 Hilton points (waiting approval on this one). They all have low spending requirements so it should be easy to meet. Only one of them has an annual fee which I will cancel before it is due next year.

This is certainly not as impressive as 2011 but it is a good start. I am trying to let my new account activity cool down so I don't get flagged by the various banks as being a greedy churner. I have read stories of people losing all of their points and relationship with the bank for doing it too much. Moderation is a key aspect of this game. Pick your battles and don't get carried away.

I also already have all the points I need this year to cover all of my travel until 2013. I of course will keep and eye out for great offers on certain cards. My goal this year is to learn more about hotel points and their programs so I can use those to my advantage also. Always learning new tricks is the key to maximizing points value!

How my points game pays off big!

I have been "churning" credit cards lately and have raked in a lot of points. I have used those points for lots of fun trips in premium airline seats that I could never afford to actually pay for! 2011 was a great point earning year for me. Here are some rough numbers of what I gained:

• United+Continental: ~115,000 miles
• Delta: ~100,000 miles
• British Airways: ~104,000 miles
• American Airlines: ~85,000 miles
• US Airways: ~41,000 miles
• Hilton: ~44,000 points
• Club Carlson: ~54,000 points
• Chase Sapphire: ~66,000 points
• AMEX Membership Rewards: 75,000 points

That is a lot of points! I didn't realize how much it truly was until I sat down and calculated my "earnings" from the relatively small amount of work. I have redeemed a lot of those points already since I use an "earn and burn" strategy so I am not as prone to devaluation. My girlfriend and I have some great memories from this hobby :]

It is only day 10 of 2012 and I am still on the prowl for more offers and bonuses. I am trying to piece together enough offers to have another worthy churn. I am being more selective so I don't get reg flagged by credit card companies by becoming too greedy. Pair that with the fact that I simply don't get enough time off to use them all!

I still have more travel goals in mind in the future that I need to build up some points for. I want to do the world cup in 2014 in Brazil and also would like to do Asia again possibly in 2013. I am hoping work travel can offset some of that but I will still need a good offer or two if I want to do those in business/first class.

As I do this more I learn all the neat little tricks to getting the most for my money/points so I can stretch them further. Admittedly my weak spot now is hotels since I rarely stay in pricey rooms for pleasure or work. I tend to prefer the mom and pop hotels, hostels, and guesthouses. They are much cheaper and more local. I need to utilize hotel points in a way that I can get more miles for travel.

It is all a constant game of earning, learning, and burning to what works best for me. Rules and programs change all of the time, mergers happen, and of course devaluations occur. Just have to adapt and make the best of it. It is a lot to keep track of but in the end the payoff is huge!

Final Easter Island flights booked!

Last night I did some digging around and found what I think is the most economically sound way of getting to and from Miami for our flights to Easter Island. I went back and forth a lot in my mind on whether to use all points, pay for the tickets outright, or do a little a both. I settled on doing both.

For the flight to Miami I used points to book first class one-way seats. It is American Airlines but they had the best availability and also required the fewest points. Both seats cost me a whopping $5 out of pocket. To get back home I bought one way flights on Delta from Fort Lauderdale. They were $100 each one-way. I also found there is a $5 train that goes from Miami airport to FLL airport. We also get a free day to spend in the area due to the long layover it created.

It is nice to have this last piece of the puzzle out of the way. I had to burn 27,000 points on domestic tickets which is not my preference but it saved us $700. And at least we are in first class confirmed in one direction. I am hoping for upgrades on our return flight but that will be pure luck. I am sure I will have plenty of domestic work travel in between to rack up more points on too. Sometimes I have to remind myself that points are also for redeeming not just earning!

US Airways Grand Slam Update

Things are going great!

I am getting more "hits" that I originally expected so it looks like I may be able to end up with 35,000 miles! This should cover one of the flights to Guatemala (or anywhere else in Central America) if that is where I decide to go next year.

This is a great promotion and I hope they keep it up for years to come. When I have more money to dedicate to travel I can see myself going all the way for the 100,000 miles. That works out to a very inexpensive business or first class flight to Asia!

I am currently up to 22,500 miles in my US Air account and am still on track for more!

More Work Travel and a weekend in New York!

On Oct 20th I am headed up to Hartford, CT for a work project. I will be there 2 days then head to New York City for the weekend. I have one quick thing to fix in Brooklyn on Sunday but other than that I can have fun in the Big Apple!

It also works out so that my girlfriend can come along for the New York portion of the trip. It will be a very inexpensive trip since my flights are covered and we used her miles for her flight. We only had to buy Amtrak tickets to New York from CT at $39 each. My New York hotel is from Hilton points. I only have to cover food and subway pass.

I am looking forward to a quick fun weekend before Asia. The weather should be pretty good in New York around that time and I can show my girlfriend some of the cool stuff in the city. I am also looking forward to some good dim sum, pizza, and hot dogs while I am there. I fly out of LaGuardia Sunday night and back into the office Monday!

Off to Niagara Falls/Rochester, NY!

I am off to Buffalo/Niagara today to see the falls and have a fun travel day off work. Saturday I have our quarterly meeting which will be more leisurely than most work days. I am also staying in my first 4 Star hotel (Hyatt Regency) in Rochester which is nice. Thanks Priceline!

Work is also paying for this trip so I just have some small incidental costs such as tolls and food to cover. Other than that we have a rental car, free hotel, and flights. I am going to check off my second of the "big three" water falls of the world: Niagara, Igauzu, and Victoria.

I went to Iguazu back in 2006 in Brazil/Argentina. Today is Niagara in US/Canada (both sides). I now need to plan Victoria Falls in Africa! That will most likely be sometime down the road as it can be difficult to get too. I would want to incorporate it into another longer trip if I could as well.

I could get used to these work + fun trips! It is nice when someone else pays for the expensive parts and all I have to do is have fun!

Work/Fun Travel This weekend: Niagara Falls/Rochester, NY

I have a work trip on Friday to fly up to Buffalo, NY. I will spend the day on the US and Canadian side of Niagara Falls then over to Rochester, NY for the night and a Saturday meeting. I will be home Saturday night.

Unlike most work trips I will get to see some of the country and take some (hopefully) great photos with my DSLR camera. I am a fan of waterfalls so this works out well for me. The free day Friday is in exchange for a Saturday meeting. Very fair since I am paying $0 out of pocket for this trip.

I am also staying in a 4 star Hyatt in Rochester thanks to priceline.com. Landed it for $70 for the night also on the company dime. This will be the highest star rated hotel I have stayed at to date. I am normally OK with just about any old hotel on my own dime. I'd rather save the money for food, sites, drinks, and more travel down the road than have a $400 per night room.

More Work/Fun Travel: Niagara Falls!

I just booked a trip for myself and coworkers to go to Buffalo/Rochester, NY Oct 7-8. We have an all day meeting on Oct 7 and a free day Oct. 8. I could not pass up a chance to see Niagara Falls for next to nothing!

From some quick and dirty Google searching I found that it is easy to navigate both the US and Canadian sides of the falls. I plan to do just that and take my nice Digital SLR camera with me. I just hope the weather holds!

Aside from the meeting it will be like a mini-mileage run. On the company dollar of course!

The best way to travel in SE Asia: word of mouth!

I have spent a lot of my vacation time in southeast Asia. I must admit I love the place and the prices are hard to beat. The beaches, especially in Thailand, are hard to beat in terms of quality. I just love sitting on the beach in a comfortable chair and a cold beer to relax with. It is a great escape of the rat race here in the USA and I can really "tune out" of all that stuff back home.

I find that even today I get my best recommendations and advice from other travelers on the road. I always seek out where others have stayed and what they did to add to or modify my own itinerary. I also make use of good travel forums such as FlyerTalk and Lonely Planet to get some of the same advice. Sometimes I get lucky and meet someone in the country that has been to where I planned to stay to get the real scoop.

I rarely book rooms in advance when going to Asia. There is no need. Tons of great guesthouses that are cheaper than international hotels by leaps and bounds. My average room cost in southeast Asia is around $10 per night. Combine that with miles award ticket flights and you see why I can afford to vacation for a month!

I always ask around for advice when I am traveling because other people probably know more about it than I do. Not all advice is sound but at least 98% of the time I found it valuable. It never hurts to ask as you get the most recent information. I find most of the info online is a year old (at least).

I got a mention on another Blog!

I submitted a personal success story for scoring bonus miles from credit cards and using it for free flights. All of my upcoming travel is the result of these bonus points for the most part. My story got published today on the Frugal Travel Guy blog.

Here is the link to the post.

It is nice to see my story getting out there to hopefully encourage others to do the same. This game of points will work into my long term travel plans so I can score cheap tickets to get to where I want to go. Miles are very valuable if you know how to use them correctly. This requires patience and the willingness to navigate sometimes trick redemption rules. I don't mind reading some rules to save a few thousand dollars!