Lombardi's_kid_brother Posted February 4, 2016 Share Posted February 4, 2016 For the past year and a half, I've been traveling 3 to 4 times per month for my job. My airlines I stick to are Southwest and United. I tend to stay only in Marriott or Hilton brands. From what I can tell, Southwest is easily the most generous of the airlines with this and all it takes is standing in line for 20 minutes and wrestling with a fat guy over a window seat. After a good 18 months of this, I can fly my wife and kids to Detroit on Southwest on a weekday if I book far enough in advance. And I can stay for one night in a suburban Marriott. I don't have enough points with United or Hilton to do anything. In fact, I think I have fewer United miles now than I did a year ago for reasons that are not clear to me. I also think I can upgrade from a Ford Fusion to a minivan with no additional charge at Avis. I don't really use a credit card in my personal life so I'm not sure if there would be any advantage to using a credit card, but I can't imagine the interest payments are remotely worth a free ticket to Amarillo. Does anyone else have a better experience with this? I know when I tell people how much I travel, the first thing they ask is how many free vacations I've gotten out of it. I hope that by the end of the year, I can afford five SW tickets to Newark and maybe one night in, like, a Courtyard in Paramus. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xameil Posted February 4, 2016 Share Posted February 4, 2016 Your United miles changed because of how they calculate it now. Most airlines changed how they calculate FF miles due to people using travel sites like orbitz, or Travelocity. The airlines are now moving to a system where miles are based on ticket price as well as miles to calculate FF status. Forgot to add...current priority level being taken into consideration. United silver is a 5x multiplier, gold 7x, platinum 9x (I think. It could be 7,9,11) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ixcuincle Posted February 4, 2016 Share Posted February 4, 2016 The capital one airline miles are legit because Jennifer garner is ****ing hot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
No Excuses Posted February 4, 2016 Share Posted February 4, 2016 If you are using your card for travel perks, then the best one I've found is the American Express Blue Sky Preferred. I book all my flights and hotel stays with it. But I also use it as my main form of payment every month. In the 18months I've had it, I've gotten a free ticket to Italy out of it. Also paid off my hotel stay in Amsterdam for four nights with it. My airline expense fees like checking bags or wifi are also comped by AmEx. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xameil Posted February 4, 2016 Share Posted February 4, 2016 Oh...and another thing (at least for united) you can get miles by booking hotels and car rentals on the United website. You can also get miles by using the credit card that you have registered with United at a restaurant they have partnerships with Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Evil Genius Posted February 4, 2016 Share Posted February 4, 2016 We fly Alaskan almost every year for vacation. So it made sense for us to get an Alaskan card and get the companion fare once a year for $120 or so out the door (really it's $200 if you factor in the annual fee for the card). If you don't leave a balance each month, any credit card makes sense. As for mileage programs..I always sign up to whatever off airline I am flying (if I don't already have one) and as long as they free, really the worst thing you can get out of most of them is free magazines so that your miles don't expire after 18 months. ...and really the biggest scam is the baggage fees that airlines have placed on customers. They prove that by complimentary bag checks on overhead luggage when flights are packed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kilmer17 Posted February 4, 2016 Share Posted February 4, 2016 http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/ Good site for all things related to miles, points etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RFKFedEx Posted February 4, 2016 Share Posted February 4, 2016 I just accept the fact that I'll probably be on a 6:00am departure or midnight arrival any time I want to use mine. The desirable, mid-day flights are always hard to get. Edit: and oh ya, small markets are even more difficult. 100 mile flights are usually tougher to lock in than trips of a 1000 miles or more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Posted February 4, 2016 Share Posted February 4, 2016 I dunno. I've got to think that "discount shopper" cards are pretty close. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RFKFedEx Posted February 4, 2016 Share Posted February 4, 2016 coupon books available for Purchase are up there too. Restaurant.com's coupons seemingly had more restrictions and roadblocks than airline miles. And the food usually sucked bc the restaurants were struggling to a point where they had to offer coupons. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TD_washingtonredskins Posted February 4, 2016 Share Posted February 4, 2016 The capital one airline miles are legit because Jennifer garner is ****ing hot. What's in your wallet, ixcuincle? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chipwhich Posted February 4, 2016 Share Posted February 4, 2016 There is no better points website than this. http://thepointsguy.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elessar78 Posted February 4, 2016 Share Posted February 4, 2016 I don't play the points/miles game on anything. If they have a program, it benefits them (most likely more) than it benefits me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chipwhich Posted February 4, 2016 Share Posted February 4, 2016 I don't play the points/miles game on anything. If they have a program, it benefits them (most likely more) than it benefits me. There isn't anything to "play" and for most things the "benefit" is for you to frequent them. I travel a lot. I am a Marriott Rewards member. It costs me nothing other than the hotel room which I would have to get for all travel. I am now a Platinum Member. I get usually free bottles of water and a snack on my stay. I now have enough points to get more than a free weeks stay at some very exclusive Marriott resorts. It's not a game. I knew I would travel a lot. I picked a hotel chain I liked. And I loaded up all my points in one spot so I can at some point take my family away for free. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RFKFedEx Posted February 4, 2016 Share Posted February 4, 2016 Sorry, we don't have any seats for your 25k points of credit, but miraculously we do have 50k seats available, for an additional fee of course. At that point you might as well pay for the ticket of your choice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoony Posted February 4, 2016 Share Posted February 4, 2016 Airline miles really only work when you rack up a lot of international travel and easy to west coast trips You can fly from DC to Nashville and spend 6 hours going through security and layovers etc.. Only to realize you flew 800 miles. Which is jack **** Do that kind of flying three or four times a month and you will be completely miserable and have nothing to show for it. Trust me I've been there It's also fun when you have to select lowest fare every time and you end up always flying a different airline Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoony Posted February 4, 2016 Share Posted February 4, 2016 Hotel points are different. In the early 2000s when I was traveling to Baltimore every single week I signed up for IHG rewards. There was a Holiday Inn Select in Timonium that I basically lived in for a year or so At the time IHG was doing all kinds of double points promos. I think I had close to 500000 points at one time. I know that every single time I checked in anywhere the receptionist would just kind of stare at me like it was a mistake. Cashed a lot in. I still think I have 100k points or so I haven't checked in years I switched to Hilton and became a diamond member, and now I'm Marriott and I don't travel Nearly like I used to but I think I have around 150k points. Of all the points programs Marriott is by far the worst. But, I have to stay in Marriotts so whatever guess it's better than nothing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Major Harris Posted February 4, 2016 Share Posted February 4, 2016 bigger scams? praxis test scores insurance student loans Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kilmer17 Posted February 4, 2016 Share Posted February 4, 2016 Marriott's point system is fine for using Marriott. Not much else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MintHillSkinsFan Posted February 4, 2016 Share Posted February 4, 2016 I have the Southwest Rapid Rewards Visa. I pay all my monthly bills with it and pay it off at the end of the month so I don't accrue interest charges. Doing this, I get $2,000-4,000 points per month and have been able to take 2 free flights per year for myself and my girlfriend. Sadly, I can't pay my mortgage with a credit card or that number would go WAY up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
techboy Posted February 4, 2016 Share Posted February 4, 2016 http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/ Good site for all things related to miles, points etc. There is no better points website than this. http://thepointsguy.com/ Those blogs are both pretty good, but if you're really serious about it, the best site is actually http://www.flyertalk.com/. Most of the blogosphere pulls most of their information from flyertalk's forums anyway. Frequent flyer miles can be tricky to use, but also quite rewarding. My wife and I have flown to Europe in Business class close to 20 times over the past 15 or so years, for nothing more than taxes and fees, all because of frequent flyer miles. We don't even fly paid flights. I don't really see them as a scam, but the level of work necessary to get value could well be more than many people are willing to put in. Which is good, because that's why I can squeeze so much value. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pjfootballer Posted February 4, 2016 Share Posted February 4, 2016 Pet insurance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lombardi's_kid_brother Posted February 4, 2016 Author Share Posted February 4, 2016 It really does seem like everything is geared towards getting you to use a branded credit card more than actually frequenting flights. And Zoony, I have a 1.5 hour flight to West Texas and a 1 hour flight to Dallas once a month. So, yes, I know the joy of 3 hours in an airport to go 400 miles. (I've driven the Dallas trip and flown it and keep going back and forth on which is the best choice). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
No Excuses Posted February 4, 2016 Share Posted February 4, 2016 Well if you are tied to using one specific brand then it makes sense to go with their branded card I assume. But if you aren't tied to a brand, you're probably better of going through a travel centric card from AmEx or Capital One. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DCSaints_fan Posted February 4, 2016 Share Posted February 4, 2016 It really does seem like everything is geared towards getting you to use a branded credit card more than actually frequenting flights. And Zoony, I have a 1.5 hour flight to West Texas and a 1 hour flight to Dallas once a month. So, yes, I know the joy of 3 hours in an airport to go 400 miles. (I've driven the Dallas trip and flown it and keep going back and forth on which is the best choice). Why not bus? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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