How do Frequent Flier Miles Work?

Posted on October 3, 2011 by Brad Christensen

I am always amazed when I begin to discuss the concept of exploiting credit card offers to build huge piles frequent flier miles and travel for free.  Unfortunately, far too many people haven’t even looked into the programs.  This was painfully obvious in a recent conversation with someone who had traveled to China and neglected to enroll in the FF program, thereby abandoning some 17,000 miles to the netherworlds of lost frequent flier miles that we wanderlusters like to pretend doesn’t exist.  That’s like walking past a Benjamin and not even stooping to pick it up!

To begin with, “miles” is probably a misnomer.  People start to think that you can travel a mile per frequent flier mile.  That’s not how it works… as good as they are, they’re not that good.  You generally accrue miles at that rate, though having status and applying for bonus programs can often get you higher rates of accrual.

With most frequent flier mile programs, you’ll need at least 25,000 miles to take a domestic flight – regardless of how many miles the flight is.  Thus, if you see a credit card offer that generously kicks off 75,000, miles – like the AA Citi AAdvantage deal that people are still grabbing -essentially that could be 3 domestic flights.  If you figure that each of those is worth about $400… you’ll get the equivalent of $1200 in FF benefits for signing up for a single card.  If that sounds too good to be true, think about it in these terms – on AA, you can fly to Central America or even northern South America for 30,000 miles.  Those flights are generally around $600, so figure that you get 2.5 out of your 75k, and the FF mile benefit is closer to $1500.

A simple way to think of it, though it doesn’t always remain true, is that it takes roughly 25k+ for a domestic flight, roughly 35k+ for a Central America flight, 50k+ for a flight to Europe or South America, and closer to 100k for Africa, Asia, and Australia.

The number of miles required for specific flights varies widely by availability, time of year, origin and destination, but I always try to maximize my usage be using the “saver” mile options and using the least amount possible for a given route.

For instance, when I go to Honduras here soon, I’ll be flying Delta.  I opted for Delta because I was able to fly into Tegucigalpa, and out of San Pedro Sula and still use the minimum (35,000) number of miles.  It means an overnight layover in Atlanta, but it actually works out for me, though, because it enables me to catch the Boise State vs. Fresno State game before departing ESPN’s broadcast area for the world of SCUBA diving and Mayan Ruins.

Normally the “mile-pricing” is as dynamic as the pricing on various flights.  FF miles are a bonus program that allow airlines to reward faithful customers and fill flights that might otherwise run a little low, so, as with everything, there’s a premium when demand is high.  Also, they were not all created equal, so it’s nice to have a few different options when looking to book FF mile flights.  Sometimes AA might want 40k miles for a flight that you could get on United for 25k.

There are also special promotions which allow you to travel specific routes for reduced mileage.  Check out these recent posts:

No matter how you slice it, FF miles offer an amazing opportunity.  Don’t let them go to waste.

If you’re spending at least $2k a month for your business, check out this card.

American Express Business Gold Rewards Card. Bonus up to 50,000 Membership Rewards points

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Currency and Travel Quiz

Posted on October 2, 2011 by wpengine

Where was this picture taken and what currency do they use there?

If you would like to send in a picture that we can use for the currency and travel quiz, please email it to Sheldonchristensen at gmail dot com.

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Learn to Scuba Dive!

Posted on September 30, 2011 by Brad Christensen

You, my fellow wanderlusters, know me well.  You know that I don’t make any decisions without carefully weighing the cost.  When Nicole and I decided to get SCUBA certified a few years ago, we looked into doing it locally.  It was going to cost $250 per person for a 10 week course.  We’d go once per week for a couple hours.  To finalize our certification, we’d need to go down to Park City, UT and do a few dives – a trip that would cost us another $300 by the time we drove down and stayed overnight.  Combine that with the cost and the hassle of getting a babysitter every week, and the decision was clear.

Incidentally, about this time we found flights to Belize for somewhere in the neighborhood of $230 RT.  We planned a Belize trip that would take us to the Mayan ruins of Tikal, to the Jungle of Belize, and then leave us 4 days to get SCUBA certified on Caye Caulker with Frenchies Dive Shop.  At that point, we could take the full PADI course for $300 a person.  They’ve raised the price to $350 since then, but I’d tell you that it’s worth every bit of it.

Instead of learning in a pool, we learned in the crystal blue waters of Belize.  We did our practice dives in the shallow water, and our first full dives in Frenchies holes, where we saw lobster, eels, shrimp, and an abundance of fish.  In the evenings, we studied our dive instruction books, laid out on the beach and worry-free.  Caye Caulker has exactly that kind of feel.

It was a much better experience than 10 weeks of frantic scurrying at home – we learned in a beautiful and serene setting, with the realities of salt water and currents already present.  Our instructor was pheonmenal and patient with Nicole when she refused to take her mask off underwater… she went through with it eventually, but not without a lot of coaxing.

If you’re considering learning to SCUBA dive, and I urge it with all of the compelling force I can muster, do it in a setting where you’ll appreciate it and enjoy the learning process. If you’re going to Belize, check out the friendly folks at Frenchies.

Thanks for wanderlusting with us.

 

 

 

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First Time Using Starpoints

Posted on September 28, 2011 by wpengine

Very comfy bed!!

When I started doing research for my trip to North Carolina I noticed that there weren’t any Starwood hotels in the Eastern part of the state. I was a little discouraged when I found this out, but then I just decided that I would either use Priceline, Hotwire, or Expedia.

I hadn’t really planned the trip out completely besides my arrival date, departure date, and the first two days doing work. The rest of the days were wide open. When I started looking around I realized that other states weren’t too far apart. I’m used to the Western United States where the states are much larger. I realized that I hadn’t even considered looking for Starwood hotels in other states.

Charleston Aloft Airport

I hopped on their website and I found that they had a couple of great hotels in the Charleston, South Carolina area that were category 2 hotels. A category 2 hotel according to Starwood uses 4000 Starpoints on a weekday, but only 3000 Starpoints for a weekend. It just so happened that I had a couple of weekend nights that were open on my trip. I decided to make the trip from Jacksonville, NC to Charleston in one day and that way I could enjoy some of South Carolina as well.

Booking Process

The booking process was very simple.  I didn’t have to call anyone, or go through a million hoops to reserve the room.  I just signed into their website and voila!  I did it a day before my check in, which was really nice.  It was great to make a last minute booking without paying some lame “late booking fee.”

The hotels that were available were the Sheraton Airport Hotel and the Aloft Airport Hotel. I’ve never even seen an Aloft hotel, and it appeared nice from the pictures, so I made the jump and reserved the room. After all, I need to use up some of my Starpoints that I’ve accumulated. After all is said and done I will have accumulated 100,000 Starpoints within a nine month timeframe!! Burning a measly 6000 is nothing.

Huge Savings!!

Sweet Bathroom

I figure that the Starpoints saved me over $200 for both nights. I was excited to learn that you don’t even have to pay sales tax for the room!  This was a big bonus.  South Carolina has a gnarly 8.something % sales tax. Ouch!! (It is 11% if you are going out to eat).  I’ve found that the Starwood Preferred Guest card can be even more valuable than the airliner credit cards.  I’m beginning to understand why the Frugal Travel Guy likes this card so much.  I really think might be worth keeping and paying the annual fee year after year.

I can’t wait to use a few more points on my next adventure or next weekend getaway to the Salt Lake Sheraton.

Get one too

Right now they have lowered the spending requirement on the Starwood Preferred Guest card.  Get it now and earn up to 25,000 as a bonus!

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How to Scalp a Ticket on the Cheap

Posted on September 27, 2011 by Brad Christensen

I live in a small town where the extent of our local sporting events consists of pioneer league baseball and high school football games.  So, whenever I travel, I like to take the opportunity to indulge in the Americana of an historic ballpark, feel raucous energy of a football stadium, or marvel at thuggish artistry in a basketball arena.

In the past few years, I’ve seen NBA, MLB and NFL games – all on scalped tickets – paying as little as $5 a ticket, but never more than $15.  Don’t let my experience taint you into feeling like you’re not getting a good deal… it’s not like I’ve been scalping lower bowl Lakers vs. Celtics tickets for $5.  That kind of thing just isn’t going to happen.  But if what you’re after is just the experience, and you’re not afraid to gamble on being able to get in, my strategies just might work for you, too.

Let me also say that I have attended many events which have been billed as “sold-out” to which there were an abundance of tickets available.  I can’t guarantee that will always be the case, but let me put it to you like this:  I know people who bought $20 tickets from scalpers to “upgrade” their seats from the $150 tickets they bought months before the 2010 Fiesta Bowl.

But, before we get too carried away, I’ve got to throw out a disclaimer of caution… people do get scammed.  On a recent trip to Georgia, I had someone trying to sling me fake tickets.  I knew for three reasons: the quality of the ink was poor, the hologram was different from the other tickets I had seen, and the seller was far too anxious to sell them to me quickly and without drawing any attention.  Be careful and realize that risk and reward come hand-in-hand.

There are a few immutable laws of scalping.

Supply and Demand

The fact is that there will be more open seats, and therefore cheaper seats at baseball and basketball games because there are more of them.  There will obviously also be cheaper seats at games that are against lower-profile opponents and at odd times.

Don’t Appear Overzealous

If you show up to Energy Solutions Arena decked out from head to toe in your Utah Jazz gear, any amateur scalper is going to have his way with you.  As much as you might want to support your team, that goes against you when you’re trying to scalp a cheap ticket.  You’re better off incognito.

Tickets are Timed to Self-Destruct

A $20 ticket becomes a $10 ticket in the second inning.  The inherent value of the scalper’s stash of tickets starts to drop parabolically the moment that the game begins.  I love to hear the national anthem, too, but I can skip it it will get me 50% off.

Have Cash

There’s no substitute for exact change.  You don’t want to mock an incapacity to pay and then roll out a stack of hunneys.  I like to have an idea of what I want to pay and keep it ready in my pocket.  Even better is to have plan B in your other pocket.  For example, if you’re wanting to pay $10 each for 2 tickets, keep a twenty in one pocket so you can bare it at the right time.  Keep a ten in the other pocket in case you have to sweeten the pot.

Now that we have those down, I’ll share my three strategies in the context that I discovered them.

How to Scalp a Ticket

1. Meeting Pablo

I was in Orlando for a work conference and fortuitously happened to be there on the night a shuttle was set to launch from Kennedy Space Center.  I had just gotten onto the freeway en route to the coast when a readerboard informed me that the launch had been scuttled due to some kind of leak.  I whipped out my iPhone (what kind of world would it be without them?) and found that the Orlando Magic were playing the Chicago Bulls.  I veered off and made my way to the stadium.  For some reason this strategy was revealed to me as I made my way towards the Amway Center.  I could see where the scalpers were gathered, and grinned to myself as I crossed the street with my plan already hatched.  When I got to the corner, I looked at my watch to check the time.  One of the scalpers asked me if I needed a ticket.  I said, “are you Pablo?”  The guy said, “No, why? Who’s Pablo.”

I said, “He told me to meet him here and he’s going to give me a ticket for $5.”  The scalper scoffed and I just stood there scanning the people walking towards the arena.  By this time the game had started and I could tell he was getting antsy about the stack of tickets he still had.  He said he’d give me one for $10, which I would have normally taken, but at this point it was a game. I said, “No, I’ll wait… he’ll be here soon.”  Not even two more minutes passed before he said, “Hey, look, I’ll sell you this one for $5.”  Of course it was in the nosebleed section.  I said I’d feel bad if I didn’t buy it from Pablo because I’d set up to meet him, and that the ticket he was going to sell me was closer down on the second level.  At this point he was just scrapping and he pulled out another single that was about 10 rows up on the second level.  I mocked feeling bad for my imaginary friend Pablo and swapped him for a Lincoln.  Deal done.

2. Headed to the Movie

I was in Boston and just a short metro ride away from Fenway Park.  I wasn’t going to miss the chance to visit such a historic place, much less when a Red Sox victory would ensure their place in the play-offs.  But we weren’t going to tell any of that to the many scalpers that were anxiously slinging tickets just outside the “no-scalping zone” near the field.  My co-worker and I came up with the idea of pretending we weren’t really interested in the game, so when the scalpers started bugging us, we told them we were headed to a movie.  Of course they came back with something to the effect of, “How are you going to a movie while the Red Sox are playing.”  We explained that we weren’t really fans and weren’t all that interested unless we could get the tickets for the same price as a movie.  The scalpers acted pissed (that’s part of the deal) and said they couldn’t sell them that cheap, so we went walking on our way.  We weren’t even ten steps away when he conceded and sold them to us for $10 each.  This was actually my first scalping experience, and I was so nervous about being scammed that we made him accompany us to the entrance and paid once our tickets and been scanned.

3. Knowing the Market

I was in Tampa with a couple of friends and the Bucs were playing the Seahawks on a Sunday night game.  It just happened that on the same night, the Tampa Bay Rays were playing the Red Sox in the semi-finals, so we knew that there were a lot of empty seats at Raymond James Stadium.  I figured the fact that we had an odd number (3) of us, it would either help or hurt our chances of getting a screaming deal.  While normally the strategy is to get the scalper to give you a price, we just went into the deal feeling like we’d  be willing to pay $15 for tickets, given our knowledge of the situation.  This scalper was the friendliest I’ve ever encountered.  He genuinely seemed excited about helping us out and it didn’t take much threatening and coercion. He took our price and gave us tickets for 3 seats in row H (the 8th row) in the corner, near the endzone – amazing seats for about half of the game.

I am a relative amateur when it comes to this kind of thing, but I’ve had some success. For more ideas from someone far more experienced, visit The Ultimate Fan.

Nothing pains us more at WorldWanderlusting.com, than hearing “I’d love to travel, I just can’t afford it.”  We write about inexpensive ways for people to get to places they had only dreamed of.  Follow us on Facebook or check out these other great posts:

Keep wanderlusting with us.

Posted in Travel Tricks | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Travel Location and Currency Quiz

Posted on September 25, 2011 by Brad Christensen

 

 

 

 

Ok, wanderlusters, you know the drill – Where was this photo taken and what currency is used there?  Some 237 steps on a man-made bridge take visitors to a small church which, in some form or another, has graced the peak of this tiny offshore island since the 10th Century.  If you need another hint, the name of this location is “Castle Rock” in the local language.”

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My Baby Max’s First Trip

Posted on September 23, 2011 by wpengine

The moment before the flight was a little tense for me as I prepared for my first redeye with my newborn son.  I felt like everyone was giving me the “death stare” as I boarded the plane.  I’m sure that they were all thinking, “This guy brought his kid?  Now I’m not going to sleep at all!”  I even purchased some earplugs in case the people around us had to listen to a crying baby.

Sleepy Max and Dad

I took every precaution possible by bringing along his binky, preparing with some tylenol for children, and the earplugs.  My main purpose was to have him sleep on my lap and to make sure that he took his binky during the takeoff.  I figured if I helped him by putting the binky in his mouth it would help him to pop his ears.  Either this kid is an angel, or his ears popped just fine.  (I’m pretty sure it is both) He did just fine and slept through both of the flights without a problem.

Mission accomplished!  I feel like bringing him along for this trip has been great.  He has been eating fine, flying fine, and very tolerant of long trips in the car.  We definitely had to recuperate by sleeping in the airport during our layovers, and crashing very early at our hotel, but it has been great.

I love this picture of Max

His first trip to the ocean was captured perfectly with a camera. I was really excited to bring him there because I felt like it would be fun to swim with him in the ocean.  I guess that I didn’t suspect that he would be so disappointed at the temperature of the ocean.  He cried for a few minutes after having just his feet in the water.  I guess that I’ll have to wait to swim with him in the ocean until he gets a little bit older.

My car rental was a bit of a bummer.  I had searched online at Priceline, Hotwire, and Expedia, but all of the responses seemed disappointing to me.  Priceline wanted me to bid basically at the same price that Expedia was offering.  I wasn’t willing to do that because Priceline still has charges that would get passed along to me and it might have even made the costs higher than the ones on Expedia.  I decided to show up at the airport and attempt to rent a vehicle in person to see if the rates were any better.  Luckily at National I was able to rent that car for $40 less than the online price.

I know that the airport was a little smaller, and I’m not sure if that had something to do with the reason that Priceline.com wouldn’t budge on their prices for car rentals.  Last time I was able to get a rental for a much more reasonable rate on Priceline.com, so I’m thinking it was the smaller location.

Our hotel in Jacksonville was tough to do.  I notice that everyone who was bidding on Priceline.com was getting the Days Inn or the Ramada from betterbidding.com.  These hotels had horrible reviews about the carpets and the bedspreads.  These are two of the most important items in a hotel room for me.  I decided to do some shopping like we all used to have to do before the Internet.  I dropped into a few different hotels and everyone wanted $110-140 per night.  I couldn’t believe it.  The other thing that was incredible is that all of the hotels were full.

I decided to check one last hotel and found a great one.  It is called America’s Best Value Inn, and it was only $83 per night, which was about $17 cheaper than the next cheapest option.  This hotel has recently been remodeled and it has new carpet and a new bedspread.  I also found that the shower was rather clean, which is also important to me.  I realize that this hotel isn’t a Marriott, but if it saves me $70 for the two nights, and that is worth it to me.

I realize that I’m not accruing a lot of new points on this trip because I’m staying in hotel chains that don’t accrue points very well.  At this point I only have points with Starwood, and there aren’t any Starwood Hotels in this area.  Next time I’ll be more prepared by having some Hilton and Marriott points so I don’t have to pay for those hotels in the future.  That is the power of having multiple accounts with many hotel companies.

We don’t have the rest of our trip planned out, but I am eying the Aloft Airport hotel, which is in North Charleston.  It is a Starwood property and it would only cost me 3000 Starpoints.  I’m pretty sure that we will hit that up for Sunday night.  I guess I’ll let you know as we decide.

Posted in Car Rentals, Fun Travel Stories, Hotels, Starwood Preferred Guest | Tagged , | 1 Comment