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Long Haul Business Class for under $2K (Long Post)


Little Evil

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US Air is doing the buy 50-get-50 promo again. 100K miles - $1800. You still need 20K more for rt Biz from the States though & they don't do one ways. Best combined with a credit card sign up - 40K.

Thanks for posting this. I need some miles after my current trip. EVA is great by the way. Will post some pics after my trip.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I've been M-I-A for most of this month due to trips to Thailand (brutal - as covered in other threads, I ended up in the hospital for an appendectomy) and Hong Kong/Macau (great, but VERY expensive), so I wanted to bump this thread with an update about a few significant recent developments:

 

 - now that the US Air/AA merger is set to go through, it appears that US Air will leave Star Alliance on March 1, 2014 and will join Oneworld about a month later.  While I was originally happy about the AA merger, because it will combine my 2 biggest accounts (US Air and AA), Star Alliance has MANY more options for travel between the US and Thailand, including EVA's excellent business class highlighted above.  If you're looking at a trip in 2014 and want to use US Air miles, you need to get it booked by the end of February (given how far in advance flights can be booked, that would accommodate trips through January 2015)  

 

 - Re Star Alliance, VERY bad news for mileage junkie BMs like me: United has announced a massive devaluation of their miles by GREATLY increasing the number of miles required for RT business and first class seats between the U.S. and Asia on Star Alliance carriers -- currently, to use United miles on a Star Alliance partner (EVA, ANA, Thai, Asiana) it is 60,000 miles each way for business class (so 120k RT) and 70,000 miles each way for first class (so 140k RT).  As of February 1, 2014, the required miles will jump to 80,000 miles each way for business class (so 160k RT) and an absurd 130,000 miles each way for first class (so 260k RT).  For a RT award ticket, that is an increase of 40,000 miles for business class and 120,000 miles for first class (almost doubling the "cost" of a first class ticket).  For me, first class travel on Star Alliance using United miles ceases to become an option as of February 1 -- that sucks because Thai first class ground service at BKK is legendary.  The good news is that you have a little advance warning, so, if you're looking to book using United miles, be sure to book the trip before January 31, 2014 (again, this would accommodate trips that take place long after that date, so long as they are booked by January 31.

 

 - On the subject of Oneworld, I recently stumbled upon a blog post that detailed how Cathay business and first class seating can be wide open as you get close to the travel date.  Generally, Cathay opens up VERY few seats -- if you don't book them 11 months out when they first open up, you're typically out of luck.  I have called 11 months out and found seats already unavailable.  As the travel date gets close (about 2 weeks out), however, they open up a LOT of unsold seats.  For example, on my trip to Hong Kong this past week, I booked a ticket with US Air thru Star Alliance that was a less-than-favorable schedule.  About a week out from my departure date, I was able to snag a non-stop on Cathay that I wanted, then got a great non-stop return a few days later.  I DID have to pay $150 to have the 90,000 US Air miles put back into my account, but the flights were so much shorter and convenient that it was well worth it.  The "trick" to searching late availability Cathay flights is actually through British Airways Avios system, as it shows award availability of Oneworld partners, including Cathay.  I think my future strategy will either be to wait and book my ticket at the last minute OR to book using Star Alliance (assuming I have enough miles now that United has gutted their award chart) and then pay to have the miles re-deposited and switch to Cathay if something better opens up late.  With the second option, I "waste" $150, but, if nothing good opens up, at least I still have my trip.

 

Hope this info helps!

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thanks footy, glad you're back in one piece!

 

bummed about the new united deal, and will be flying home from trip #5 on Jan 31st...

 

should have close to 120K miles by then,  not sure what I will do ....

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Does < $3K count ? Found this on FT:

LAX to BKK on MH Business for $2876.60

MH has a fall sale with some reasonably decent fares for US to Asia. The best deal seems to be LAX to BKK for $2876.60 all-in roundtrip. Books into Z on fare basis ZBT3MUS. SFO to BKK is about $100 more ... intra-US segments book into Y on AA, Z on UA, or A/I on DL. Good fares are available to SIN and other Asian cities as well. Travel between 06JAN14 and 31MAY14. Sample routing:

1 MH 93Z 24JAN F LAXKUL SS1 240P 415A 26JAN S /DCMH /E
2 MH 784Z 26JAN S KULBKK SS1 910A 1015A /DCMH /E
3 MH 797Z 27JAN M BKKKUL SS1 620A 930A /DCMH /E
4 MH 92Z 27JAN M KULLAX SS1 1050A 1240P /DCMH /E

Tickets must be issued by 02DEC13. No min stay, 3 month max stay

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I'm back with more news....

 

US Air is doing their 100% bonus on shared/transferred miles again for a very limited time -- think it is Dec. 2 (tomorrow -- do NOT do it today!) through Dec. 8.

 

As I explained in post #109 above, this is a way for 2 people to get 50,000 US Air miles for $567.50:

 - Person A "shares" 50,000 US Air miles to Person B, paying the $567.50.  Person B's account gets credited 100,000 miles (the 50k + the 50k bonus)

 - Person B then "shares" 50,000 miles BACK to Person A, paying the $567.50.  Person A's account gets credited 100,000 miles

Effectively, both individual's accounts go up by 50,000 miles with each paying $567.50 (a little over 1.1 cents a mile).

 

As before, each account can only receive 50,000 bonus miles MAX and both accounts must have been open more than 12 days.  

 

There is no limit to the number of transfers you can make back and forth, although each transaction incurs a fee of 1 cent per mile + a processing fee of $30 and a "tax recovery charge" of 7.5%.  As such, multiple transfers will incur the $30 processing fee which may drive the net cost up to a little more than 1.1 cents per mile, but it would allow someone with, say, 25,000 miles to do two separate transfers and eventually get both accounts up to 50,000 miles each.

 

For example, as I noted in post #109, if you have over 25,000 miles in your account and access to a dormant account (like the one I set up for my Mom), you can share 25,000 miles with that account, which nets it 50,000 miles.  Cost is $283.75.  You then share the entire 50k back into your account for another $567.50, gaining 100,000 miles.  Net result is your account increases by 75,000 miles for around $850.  In my opinion, the problem with sending 50,000 to the dormant account is that it would leave 50,000 miles in that account (and you would have paid $283.75 more for those miles).  By doing the 25,000, you max out what comes back while keeping the balance low in that dormant account.

 

Another example: let's say BM X has 15,000 US Air miles and BM Y has 5,000 US Air miles.  

 - BM X could transfer his full 15,000 miles to BM Y, who would get 30,000 miles in his account (15,000 bonus miles).  

 - BM Y could them transfer the full 35,000 miles in his account back to BM X, who would get 70,000 miles, including the 35,000 bonus miles

 - BM X then transfers ANOTHER 35,000 miles back to BM Y, who gets 70,000 miles, including the 35,000 bonus miles (taking him to the max 50,000 miles)

 - BM Y then transfers 15,000 miles back to BM X, who gets 30,000, including 15,000 more bonus miles (taking him to the max of 50,000 bonus miles).

In the end, BM X ends up with 65,000 US Air miles in his account and BM Y ends up with 55,000 -- both have added exactly 50,000 miles.  The fact that it took 2 extra transactions on each side increases the total cost by around $30 each (the processing fee for each of the two additional transactions), but you're still getting 50,000 US Air miles for around $600.

 

I am waiting to hear back from the same friend that I did this with the last time, using the full 50,000 miles.  You need to have confidence that the person you are doing it with isn't gonna "take the miles and run," but this is a great deal if you know someone with a US Air account that you can work with.  

 

It sounds a LOT more complex than it is, so let me know -- either by post or PM -- if you have any specific questions or want me to to walk through how it would work once you find someone with whom you can "share" this deal.

 

As I noted in the post above, US Air will be leaving Star Alliance early next year, so this may be a way to either top off an account and book a RT to BKK before they bail from Star Alliance OR wait until you can transfer the miles to an AA account and use them on Oneworld (where you can book one way tickets -- US Air only allows RT bookings)

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I'm back with more news....

 

US Air is doing their 100% bonus on shared/transferred miles again for a very limited time -- think it is Dec. 2 (tomorrow -- do NOT do it today!) through Dec. 8.

 

As I explained in post #109 above, this is a way for 2 people to get 50,000 US Air miles for $567.50:

 - Person A "shares" 50,000 US Air miles to Person B, paying the $567.50.  Person B's account gets credited 100,000 miles (the 50k + the 50k bonus)

 - Person B then "shares" 50,000 miles BACK to Person A, paying the $567.50.  Person A's account gets credited 100,000 miles

Effectively, both individual's accounts go up by 50,000 miles with each paying $567.50 (a little over 1.1 cents a mile).

 

As before, each account can only receive 50,000 bonus miles MAX and both accounts must have been open more than 12 days.  

 

There is no limit to the number of transfers you can make back and forth, although each transaction incurs a fee of 1 cent per mile + a processing fee of $30 and a "tax recovery charge" of 7.5%.  As such, multiple transfers will incur the $30 processing fee which may drive the net cost up to a little more than 1.1 cents per mile, but it would allow someone with, say, 25,000 miles to do two separate transfers and eventually get both accounts up to 50,000 miles each.

 

For example, as I noted in post #109, if you have over 25,000 miles in your account and access to a dormant account (like the one I set up for my Mom), you can share 25,000 miles with that account, which nets it 50,000 miles.  Cost is $283.75.  You then share the entire 50k back into your account for another $567.50, gaining 100,000 miles.  Net result is your account increases by 75,000 miles for around $850.  In my opinion, the problem with sending 50,000 to the dormant account is that it would leave 50,000 miles in that account (and you would have paid $283.75 more for those miles).  By doing the 25,000, you max out what comes back while keeping the balance low in that dormant account.

 

Another example: let's say BM X has 15,000 US Air miles and BM Y has 5,000 US Air miles.  

 - BM X could transfer his full 15,000 miles to BM Y, who would get 30,000 miles in his account (15,000 bonus miles).  

 - BM Y could them transfer the full 35,000 miles in his account back to BM X, who would get 70,000 miles, including the 35,000 bonus miles

 - BM X then transfers ANOTHER 35,000 miles back to BM Y, who gets 70,000 miles, including the 35,000 bonus miles (taking him to the max 50,000 miles)

 - BM Y then transfers 15,000 miles back to BM X, who gets 30,000, including 15,000 more bonus miles (taking him to the max of 50,000 bonus miles).

In the end, BM X ends up with 65,000 US Air miles in his account and BM Y ends up with 55,000 -- both have added exactly 50,000 miles.  The fact that it took 2 extra transactions on each side increases the total cost by around $30 each (the processing fee for each of the two additional transactions), but you're still getting 50,000 US Air miles for around $600.

 

I am waiting to hear back from the same friend that I did this with the last time, using the full 50,000 miles.  You need to have confidence that the person you are doing it with isn't gonna "take the miles and run," but this is a great deal if you know someone with a US Air account that you can work with.  

 

It sounds a LOT more complex than it is, so let me know -- either by post or PM -- if you have any specific questions or want me to to walk through how it would work once you find someone with whom you can "share" this deal.

 

As I noted in the post above, US Air will be leaving Star Alliance early next year, so this may be a way to either top off an account and book a RT to BKK before they bail from Star Alliance OR wait until you can transfer the miles to an AA account and use them on Oneworld (where you can book one way tickets -- US Air only allows RT bookings)

If you buddy doesn't want to swap, I might be interested FPJM.

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Sorry - need to correct some misinformation from my post above - 

 

This time, the bonus is tiered, so that you have to transfer 30,000-50,000 miles to get the 100% bonus.  As a result, my 15,000/5,000 example was inaccurate and it would take more transactions (and you would incur more $30 processing fees) to complete it.  Frankly, I'm not smart enough to break down exactly how it would shake out, but here is the tiered chart on how many miles you get for each transfer:

 

USAirways-Share-Miles-Promotion1.png

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

As US Air prepares for the merger with AA, they appear to be offering opportunity after opportunity to load up on Dividend Air miles -- now the (up to) 100% bonus on purchased miles is back for 5 days.  Here's a blog entry discussing it:

 

http://boardingarea.com/viewfromthewing/2013/12/15/100-bonus-buying-us-airways-miles-cheapest-way-buy-american-airlines-miles/#comments

 

The effective price is 1.88 cents per mile, so it's not near as good as the "share" miles bonus that was offered earlier this month (where effective price was around 1.1 cents per mile).  50,000 miles will cost you $1,750 + a $30 transaction fee + 7% taxes.  Then again, as noted in the OP of this thread, that's almost enough for a RT business class ticket from North America to BKK (and more than enough to Hong Kong, assuming you can find availability through Star Alliance). 

 

This blogger wasn't overly sold on it, especially with the ability to use US Air miles on Star Alliance somewhat in question at this time, but I may still take advantage of it to some extent, and it is a GREAT way to "top off" your account if you're a little short of a free flight.

 

Having read these travel blogs day in, day out, here are some of my uneducated thoughts:

 

I think that the writing is on the wall that a big "devaluation" of AA miles will be coming after they merge the AA and US Air frequent flier programs.  Most people see that as a reason NOT to load up your account.  I actually look at it from the OTHER side: if it's going to cost me 160,000 miles instead of 110,000 AA miles to get a RT business class ticket to BKK, then I want to find ways to get as many "cheap" miles as possible whenever I can!

 

That said, once US Air joins AA in Oneworld, it may be much more difficult to score RT tickets to Asia, as the only alliance members that I know of that are based in Asia are Cathay Pacific and JAL.  Cathay has INCREDIBLE service and I love to fly them, but you have to be prepared to either book the flight 11 months in advance (when it first opens up) OR wait until about 15 days before your trip (when Cathay releases unsold business and first class seats).  BA may be a possibility if you are on the East Coast and are okay going through Europe, but they hit you with astronomical taxes on award tickets.

 

Getting back to the current offer, I will probably take advantage of it (even if it is just to buy only 30,000 miles and get 60,000 in my account) because -- although I have a ton of US Air miles -- I know that I want to use them for future trips to BKK and each time I put those more miles into my account, I feel like I am that much closer to being back in Pattaya!  LOL  

 

Clearly NOT the most practical thought process in the World, but what do you expect from a Pattaya Addict?!?

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Don't forget Malaysia Airlines is in Oneworld, too and Qatar's another option for us east-coasters. I still haven't bought any Dividend miles, but I did get their credit card last month for the 35K sign-up bonus figuring that will eventually work its way into my AAdvantage account.

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Don't forget Malaysia Airlines is in Oneworld, too and Qatar's another option for us east-coasters. I still haven't bought any Dividend miles, but I did get their credit card last month for the 35K sign-up bonus figuring that will eventually work its way into my AAdvantage account.

 

I forgot about Qatar.  They have 1-stop service from IAH in Houston to BKK.  They are also always at the top of the "best airline" lists.

 

I need to get more info on Malaysia.

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Man, the more I read about this merger, the less I like it.  The thought of Cathay Pacific and Qatar sounds great, but between the devaluation of miles and the potential for booking issues with those two top tier airlines makes me nervous.  I wonder if it will be like trying to redeem on Singapore with Star Alliance (read:difficult, and sometimes impossible).  I will also have to retool my personal mileage accrual schedule, as right now I've gotten to the point that I'm fairly certain to hit my award flight mark at least once a year without having to sign up for a new credit card.  I don't think we'll see the 100% bonuses (buy or share) on AA.  I'm also uncertain of other avenues of mileage accrual.  I know AA has a dining program like US Air/United.  I'm also aware that E-Rewards has redemption through AA.  What I"m not aware of is if AA has a shopping portal or if my existing services (ie. electricity provider) will continue to send miles to a merged AA frequent flyer account per the terms of my original agreement with US Airways.

 

Overall, the title of this post, "Long Haul Business Class for Under $2k", might be a thing of the past. While it might still be possible with a credit card sign up, I have a feeling that one will no longer be able to just buy their way to business class for this rate anymore. My guess is that this deal will be closer to $3k post merger, which isn't exactly as brag-worthy, and certainly makes it a tougher decision between flying coach and business.  My last 4 flights to BKK have been business class, but on an economy budget, and I really, really (really) do not like the thought of going back now.  Anyone have any AA-One World tips on earning mileage without signing up for credit cards (not ready to churn)?

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AA has a shopping portal, but -- based on FlyerTalk -- there are complaint about how it is run.  I have used it before and don't think I had any issues getting my miles.

 

E-rewards and emiles are both options.  emiles seems to take FOREVER to accumulate 500 miles to transfer over, but that's because I'm too cheap to take advantage of their offers that would bump me up a lot quicker.

 

I'm a credit card churner, and, apparently, the Citi AA is one of the easiest cards to churn.  I think the card issuers might start cracking down -- I was turned down for the US Air biz card because they said I didn't use my personal card enough -- they said "use your personal card it a lot over the next 4 months and we'll reconsider."  I said "f*ck you - close the personal account!"  I need to close a lot more of my accounts, as I have an ABSURD number of open cards right now.

 

My latest card foray was the Alaska Air card -- 50,000 mile bonus after $1000 minimum spend over 3 months.  Sounds like crap, but Alaska has an even better conversion rate with Cathay than AA, as it's only 50,000 Alaska miles for a one-way biz class ticket to Asia on Cathay.  Plus, they allow one-way tickets AND a stopover.  In essence, the bonus would allow me to book my return from BKK with a stopover for a few days in HKG/Macau!

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AA has a shopping portal, but -- based on FlyerTalk -- there are complaint about how it is run.  I have used it before and don't think I had any issues getting my miles.

 

E-rewards and emiles are both options.  emiles seems to take FOREVER to accumulate 500 miles to transfer over, but that's because I'm too cheap to take advantage of their offers that would bump me up a lot quicker.

 

I'm a credit card churner, and, apparently, the Citi AA is one of the easiest cards to churn.  I think the card issuers might start cracking down -- I was turned down for the US Air biz card because they said I didn't use my personal card enough -- they said "use your personal card it a lot over the next 4 months and we'll reconsider."  I said "f*ck you - close the personal account!"  I need to close a lot more of my accounts, as I have an ABSURD number of open cards right now.

 

My latest card foray was the Alaska Air card -- 50,000 mile bonus after $1000 minimum spend over 3 months.  Sounds like crap, but Alaska has an even better conversion rate with Cathay than AA, as it's only 50,000 Alaska miles for a one-way biz class ticket to Asia on Cathay.  Plus, they allow one-way tickets AND a stopover.  In essence, the bonus would allow me to book my return from BKK with a stopover for a few days in HKG/Macau!

 

Good to know that they have a shopping portal as well. Need to capitalize on holiday spending!  That's also interesting about Alaska Airlines with Cathay.  I have eyeballed Alaska Airlines in the past because of the BoA debit card, but I prefer to concentrate on one FF program instead of mixing it up with several. US Airways has historically been one of the more lucrative programs, but that's all about to come to an end. Case in point, AA also has a miles sale right now, but the max matching is 18k on a purchase of 60k for $1,650.00 (not including taxes).  That's like $.0224/mile vs US Airways $.0185/mile. We're talking pennies here, but when you get up to the 50-100k miles mark, that turns into hundreds of dollars difference.

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Here is a US/AA update email I just got. Check out the second to last bullet point:

 

 

An update on our alliances and codeshares We're excited to be a part of the new American and look forward to bringing you a stronger airline. In early 2014, we'll be entering into a codeshare agreement with American, which means that you'll be able to seamlessly book travel throughout the US Airways and American network. On March 31, 2014, we plan to join the oneworld® alliance, so you can look forward to mileage earning and redemption opportunities, reciprocal elite benefits and lounge access on oneworld carriers. Some of these benefits will be phased in as we work toward full integration. There are a few important changes to keep in mind for future travel:

 

bullet_manualListSpacing.png We'll be exiting Star Alliance on March 30, 2014. You'll be able to earn and redeem Dividend Miles on Star Alliance carriers until that date. Any existing reservations for travel on a codeshare flight with a Star Alliance partner after March 30, 2014 are safe, however, you'll be rebooked with a new flight number from the carrier operating the flight and you'll no longer earn Dividend Miles or receive Star Alliance Gold or Silver benefits.

 

bullet_manualListSpacing.png Since the legal close of our merger with American on December 9, 2013, we no longer offer codeshare flights for sale with United Airlines. When we exit Star Alliance on March 30, 2014, we will no longer offer codeshare flights for sale with Brussels Airlines, Lufthansa or SWISS. Any existing reservations are safe, but you will not earn Dividend Miles for flights on these carriers after March 30, 2014.

 

bullet_manualListSpacing.png We plan to continue relationships with the following airlines, so you can continue to earn and redeem Dividend Miles on these select partners even after we've exited Star Alliance: Aegean, Air China, Air New Zealand, Avianca, Ethiopian Airlines, Eva, Shenzhen Airlines, Singapore Airlines, South African Airways, TAM, TAP and Turkish Airways.

 

bullet_manualListSpacing.png US Airways customers with Star Alliance Gold status will no longer have access to Star Alliance lounges after March 30, 2014. You can learn more and stay up-to-date by visiting usairways.com/arriving.

Edited by Little Evil
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Here is a US/AA update email I just got. Check out the second to last bullet point:

 

 

An update on our alliances and codeshares We're excited to be a part of the new American and look forward to bringing you a stronger airline. In early 2014, we'll be entering into a codeshare agreement with American, which means that you'll be able to seamlessly book travel throughout the US Airways and American network. On March 31, 2014, we plan to join the oneworld® alliance, so you can look forward to mileage earning and redemption opportunities, reciprocal elite benefits and lounge access on oneworld carriers. Some of these benefits will be phased in as we work toward full integration. There are a few important changes to keep in mind for future travel:

 

bullet_manualListSpacing.png We'll be exiting Star Alliance on March 30, 2014. You'll be able to earn and redeem Dividend Miles on Star Alliance carriers until that date. Any existing reservations for travel on a codeshare flight with a Star Alliance partner after March 30, 2014 are safe, however, you'll be rebooked with a new flight number from the carrier operating the flight and you'll no longer earn Dividend Miles or receive Star Alliance Gold or Silver benefits.

 

bullet_manualListSpacing.png Since the legal close of our merger with American on December 9, 2013, we no longer offer codeshare flights for sale with United Airlines. When we exit Star Alliance on March 30, 2014, we will no longer offer codeshare flights for sale with Brussels Airlines, Lufthansa or SWISS. Any existing reservations are safe, but you will not earn Dividend Miles for flights on these carriers after March 30, 2014.

 

bullet_manualListSpacing.pngWe plan to continue relationships with the following airlines, so you can continue to earn and redeem Dividend Miles on these select partners even after we've exited Star Alliance: Aegean, Air China, Air New Zealand, Avianca, Ethiopian Airlines, Eva, Shenzhen Airlines, Singapore Airlines, South African Airways, TAM, TAP and Turkish Airways.

 

bullet_manualListSpacing.png US Airways customers with Star Alliance Gold status will no longer have access to Star Alliance lounges after March 30, 2014. You can learn more and stay up-to-date by visiting usairways.com/arriving.

 

 

If it remains possible to book on EVA (and Air China) after the merger, that would be FANTASTIC!  The merger with AA, essentially, would then allow award travel on Cathay, EVA, JAL, Air China, Malaysia and Qatar from the US to BKK.  Singapore has an unmatched reputation, but I have heard award travel is next-to-impossible to book with them.  

 

Cathay and EVA are my 2 favorite airlines for award to BKK -- great business class seating and excellent flight times.

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If it remains possible to book on EVA (and Air China) after the merger, that would be FANTASTIC!  The merger with AA, essentially, would then allow award travel on Cathay, EVA, JAL, Air China, Malaysia and Qatar from the US to BKK.  Singapore has an unmatched reputation, but I have heard award travel is next-to-impossible to book with them.  

 

Cathay and EVA are my 2 favorite airlines for award to BKK -- great business class seating and excellent flight times.

 

I've be ecstatic about EVA as well. I also noticed the email mentioned Singapore, despite the fact that Singapore was blocked for all of 2013 from US Airways for business/first class award.

 

The big question from this update email is if that means US Airways or the merged US/AA.  From what I understand, the merged airlines will maintain separate FF programs through March 2015, at which point they will consolidate.  At least that was one rumor. While you might be able to shuffled miles between the two, I'm assuming this email update only pertains to US Airways Dividend miles and not AA miles. The significance being that the merged company picks and chooses when they discuss partners and code shares as a unified company and other times they specify one FF program. That could mean that the EVA program many only continue while there is a Dividend Miles program. OR, I could be totally wrong and reading into this too much. The whole thing is kind of confusing.  

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What's wrong with churning ? My credit rating actually went up when I was churning like a muthafuckah ! Rocketmiles is giving a 5000 mile bonus right now on 3 night stays for the next few days. Should be able to pick up a quick 10K no problem. By my estimation that's worth about $200 (at least). Works w/about a dozen airline programs (including AA). Their prices are all right, but hotels in Thailand seem a little limited though. Still plenty of good options. PM me for a referral.

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What's wrong with churning ? My credit rating actually went up when I was churning like a muthafuckah ! Rocketmiles is giving a 5000 mile bonus right now on 3 night stays for the next few days. Should be able to pick up a quick 10K no problem. By my estimation that's worth about $200 (at least). Works w/about a dozen airline programs (including AA). Their prices are all right, but hotels in Thailand seem a little limited though. Still plenty of good options. PM me for a referral.

 

 

 

Nothing wrong with churning credit cards, provided that the person doing it has a strong grasp on potential outcomes to their credit report. On the up side, adding credit can help out your credit report, as it only increases the total available credit and lowers your utilization. This is a good thing, particularly if your new cards carry higher limits than ones that are being closed. Also, if you only have one or two revolving accounts, adding more accounts that you religiously pay off is also a good thing.  

 

On the flip side of the coin, closing old accounts can be a negative. Part of a credit score is history, so if you have an old account that you have solid payment history, you might not want to close it.  That is your established base, and if you remove it, you may not have much else to go by if you only have one or two cards. Then one has to consider the hard pulls on your account for each credit card application. Depending on how often your churn, they can add up. Those are self healing with time, but something to consider as then could collectively drop your score 10-20 points for a quarter to half a year, depending on how many you have in one period. I guess the bottom line is that it varies with each person's situation and existing credit score. I don't recommend churning for anyone below a 670 credit score, as there is a slight chance of getting caught up in a negative loop that is hard to get out of. It is definitely possible, even with that credit score of slightly lower, but not recommended unless you really know the game already.

 

For me, I've just come to a point where I have a hard time clearing multiple initial spends at the same time. My job picks up a great deal of my living expenses, and I just don't need anything right now.  If I had to clear $2-3k on initial spends, per card, I really have no idea what I would use it on.  My fear is that I'd end up buying crap that I don't need just to cover the spend, and then be paying that down for months. If I could leverage that credit towards something I needed, then no issues. I just don't want to spend just to spend. I really can't complain though, as like I said, I get most of my living expenses covered. Also, I utilize my work credit card for double dipping miles/points all the time buying supplies through the shopping portal. You'd be amazed how much even printer ink can rack up in a year.  

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Money cards & gift cards. You can actually make money using rebaters like Topcashback.

 

If I'm able to loop that cash back into my bank account somehow, that might work. I haven't message around with that technique yet, so I don't know the ins/outs yet. My concern is that I just don't have expenses.  Maybe a few hundred a month, but not enough to cover $2-3k spends within a small time period. Alternatively, I was looking a the Bluebird/Amex hack a while back. That seems to leverage the money cards back into a bank account. Is that what you were talking about?

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I still have a stack of Visa gift cards that I purchased to hit minimum spend, and I'll probably go get a couple more soon.  Basically, you're paying the $500 up front, plus the service charge on the card of $5.95 to "extend" your minimum spend period out as far as you want.  It is "wasting" the service fee per card, though.

 

I haven't been able to get a grasp on how the whole "cash back on gift card reloads" thing works.  I have a Bluebird and I tried a Vanilla reload, but I must have done something wrong because the Vanilla reload seemed like a rip-off to me.

 

Here's a blog post that may be helpful on ways to hot minimum spend that you may not have considered:

http://millionmilesecrets.com/2011/07/20/40-powerful-ways-to-complete-your-credit-card-minimum-spending-requirements/

 

My current "waste" to hit as minimum spend is paying my rent via credit card with William Paid.  They hit me for 2.5%, so it isn't cheap, but it gets me over the minimum spend quickly without leaving me a bigger pile of gift cards.

 

Check out peer-to-peer lending.  That's another thing I was considering, as you can fund your account via credit card deposit.  

 

Finally, Amazon Payments may work for you.  I think you can send $1000 a month to someone for "goods and services" (do NOT select "cash advance") free of charge.  Here's a link on Amazon Payments that may be helpful: 

http://www.welltraveledmile.com/how-to-use-amazon-payments-to-meet-minimum-spends-and-earn-more-points/#axzz2nkXjp0Ke

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I still have a stack of Visa gift cards that I purchased to hit minimum spend, and I'll probably go get a couple more soon.  Basically, you're paying the $500 up front, plus the service charge on the card of $5.95 to "extend" your minimum spend period out as far as you want.  It is "wasting" the service fee per card, though.

 

I haven't been able to get a grasp on how the whole "cash back on gift card reloads" thing works.  I have a Bluebird and I tried a Vanilla reload, but I must have done something wrong because the Vanilla reload seemed like a rip-off to me.

 

Here's a blog post that may be helpful on ways to hot minimum spend that you may not have considered:

http://millionmilesecrets.com/2011/07/20/40-powerful-ways-to-complete-your-credit-card-minimum-spending-requirements/

 

My current "waste" to hit as minimum spend is paying my rent via credit card with William Paid.  They hit me for 2.5%, so it isn't cheap, but it gets me over the minimum spend quickly without leaving me a bigger pile of gift cards.

 

Check out peer-to-peer lending.  That's another thing I was considering, as you can fund your account via credit card deposit.  

 

Finally, Amazon Payments may work for you.  I think you can send $1000 a month to someone for "goods and services" (do NOT select "cash advance") free of charge.  Here's a link on Amazon Payments that may be helpful: 

http://www.welltraveledmile.com/how-to-use-amazon-payments-to-meet-minimum-spends-and-earn-more-points/#axzz2nkXjp0Ke

 

Good tips. I was also thinking about possibly getting a card to buy US Airways miles for the last promotion, but I don't know if the timing will work out. AA also has a promotion right now, although not as good as the US Airways one. 30% bonus on 60k miles plus an additional 20% limited time promotion. So 50% bonus for a total of 90k miles for about $.02 cents/mile. Just about 10k miles less than the US Airways promotion for approximately the same price.  

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I still have a stack of Visa gift cards that I purchased to hit minimum spend, and I'll probably go get a couple more soon.  Basically, you're paying the $500 up front, plus the service charge on the card of $5.95 to "extend" your minimum spend period out as far as you want.  It is "wasting" the service fee per card, though.

 

I haven't been able to get a grasp on how the whole "cash back on gift card reloads" thing works.  I have a Bluebird and I tried a Vanilla reload, but I must have done something wrong because the Vanilla reload seemed like a rip-off to me.

 

Here's a blog post that may be helpful on ways to hot minimum spend that you may not have considered:

http://millionmilesecrets.com/2011/07/20/40-powerful-ways-to-complete-your-credit-card-minimum-spending-requirements/

 

My current "waste" to hit as minimum spend is paying my rent via credit card with William Paid.  They hit me for 2.5%, so it isn't cheap, but it gets me over the minimum spend quickly without leaving me a bigger pile of gift cards.

 

Check out peer-to-peer lending.  That's another thing I was considering, as you can fund your account via credit card deposit.  

 

Finally, Amazon Payments may work for you.  I think you can send $1000 a month to someone for "goods and services" (do NOT select "cash advance") free of charge.  Here's a link on Amazon Payments that may be helpful: 

http://www.welltraveledmile.com/how-to-use-amazon-payments-to-meet-minimum-spends-and-earn-more-points/#axzz2nkXjp0Ke

 

I use Bluebird on a regular basis to supplement the points balance and meet minimum spends, and it is fairly straightforward. Right off the bat, you could pay your rent directly from the Bluebird account (they will mail a check to the address you specify), which would cost you much less than you are paying now. Specifically, now you are paying 2.5%, but with Vanilla Reloads, that cost drops to only 0.79% (each Vanilla Reload costs USD 3.95 per USD 500 denomination).

I look at Bluebird as basically buying miles at around 0.79 cents per mile, which is still less than US Airways has ever sold them for. The gift card loading is more complex, and you need a Walmart as well as one of the Ink cards to really make it work profitably, given that the Visa/Mastercard gift cards carry high activation fees. However, if you buy the highest denomination gift cards (USD200) at the office supply store (Staples etc) with an Ink card, that gets you 5 points per dollar, so that way you are buying miles at 0.69 cents per point (each gift card has a USD 6.95 activation fee). Then you have to go to Walmart and load the Bluebird card with the gift cards using them as debit cards. It is considerably more effort and footwork that the Vanilla Reloads, and on top of that I really hate Walmart with a passion, so I don't do it as much.

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No expenses ? Do you live in a Cave, forage for wild berries, & trap small mammals ? Check out 'manufactured spending' on FlyerTalk. Buying the US miles would get you over the hump almost by itself (whoops too late). I just bought 30K (60). I had 100  that were about to expire, so this should insulate me against the devaluation. Going to go for the Alaska deal right now. I never went for the US Mint deal (pain in the ass), but I used to do $3k/month in Traveler Checks. That still works w/some cards like PenFed & USAA I'm told.

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