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

[Little Evil]

1 hour ago, Luv2Phuket said:

United has pulled award charts as part of an expected devaluation:

https://viewfromthewing.com/wow-united-mileageplus-devalues-partner-award-travel/

Blog notes that Asiana biz class has gone up from 80,000 to 88,00 miles each way.

I ended up cashing out almost all of my United miles for OW on ANA on my trip to Pattaya in February. I actually paid over 90,000 United miles for that flight.

I think we're looking at big devaluations across the board. As mentioned above, Alaska is expected to finally stop their absurdly cheap (by comparison) redemption rates in connection with joining oneworld and expanding their AA relationship. Delta is already reputed to have redemption rates so bad and difficult to book they are called SkyPesos (don't use them, so can't speak to it), and I'm sure American will gouge us at the first possible opportunity. I think Korean's new/terrible rates have now kicked in, too.

Frequent flier accounts have been nice moneymakers for airlines, but not much the members can do when those miles are devalued, except grin and bear it....and try to accumulate more miles to cover the new award redemption rates!  555

I'm worried that Covid is going to give everyone a reason, or rather excuse, to randomly and arbitrarily devalue their programs whether they were planning to or not. 

[Luv2Phuket]

1 hour ago, Little Evil said:

I'm worried that Covid is going to give everyone a reason, or rather excuse, to randomly and arbitrarily devalue their programs whether they were planning to or not. 

Even worse, I think they are selling boatloads of miles to credit card providers -- as well as directly to customers (like that Alaska 60% bonus) -- to raise cash with the full intention of devaluing those miles asap.

I don't think that Citi, Chase or AMEX cares very much what 100,000 miles will get you. They just want to be able to advertise "100,000 bonus miles!"

[Luv2Phuket]

HUGE "news day" across the credit providers:

Chase offering 5X points for grocery purchasers on many of their cards (3X on some others, including my Hyatt and IHG cards):

https://onemileatatime.com/chase-cards-5x-points-groceries/

Citi relaxing it's $250 annual travel credit and opening it up to be applied to restaurant and supermarket spend:

https://onemileatatime.com/citi-makes-travel-credit-more-flexible-extends-bonus-spending-period/

AMEX offering a variety of monthly credits and other benefits across ots cards to make up for travel perks that cannot currently be used:

https://onemileatatime.com/new-amex-card-perks/

As mentioned above, my AMEX Platinum was on the chopping block. Despite bloggers touting the "$320 in credits," I wouldn't get that much. Fist, the only streaming services I currently subscribe to are ESPN+ and Sirius radio. Both are annual subscriptions that already have renewed. I am doing a trial run of Netflix, but think I'll cancel before I actually start getting charged. Presumably, I could keep Netflix and re-subscribe to DAZN on a monthly basis, but doing so just to get the monthly credit(s) doesn't seem especially efficient.

The $160 in mobile phone credits is appealing, BUT, even if I cancel my Platinum, I am keeping my AMEX Green (to preserve my MR!). I would still be able to get the $10 credit there. That would be $80 in credits instead of $160, but the annual fee is FAR less and largely offset by the annual $100 CLEAR credit.

Current issues/questions for me:

I get 5X UR for putting my mobile phone on my Chase Ink. Based on a $45/mo bill (just switched to Spectrum, cutting my bill by about 65%), am I better off getting $10 for the credit on AMEX Green + 45 MRs OR 225 UR?  It basically comes down to $10 or 180 UR (given the MRs I will get).

I think the $10 credit is a no-brainer. Valuing UR at 2 cents each, the 180 additional points are only worth about $3.60. Plus, I use URs primarily on United, and their recent devaluation means they are worth less to me.

Next issue is that my Hilton Aspire is now drawing 12 Honors points per USD spent at grocers vs my Citi Prestige, which now may apply the $250 travel credit to purchases. Which to use?

Setting aside the damn Vons GCs I purchased at a 20% discount via Amazon (they can wait for now), I think my plan is to use my Citi Prestige first, perhaps using it to buy Visa GCs. Even eating the $5.95 fee, that could net me the $250 credit pretty quickly. I will then shift to my Hilton Aspire for the limited period in which I get 12X Honors points (May through July) and using it only for actual grocery purchases.  I got ENOUGH damn GCs that I don't need to be pre-loading MORE money on that front, setting aside one that I can effectively get for free using the Prestige credit! 555 

That Hilton Aspire also needs to be my "go to" card for restaurants from June through August to try to take advantage of the $250 resort credit being applied to them (I typically use it in Pattaya every year and had planned to use it next February - goes on renewal date, so my credit runs April to March, not January to December).

Will these changes/perks have any impact on your spending patterns and/or decisions re card retention?

[Luv2Phuket]

Quick follow-up:

ALWAYS check the T&C and whether credits run January to December or based on card year!

The Citi Prestige $250 travel credit runs January 1 to December 31, and I got my $250 credit on January 17. 

Thank God I checked that before I dropped $250 on another damn Visa GC!  5555

[HimBadMan]

@Luv2Phuket.   Was bored so applied and was just approved for the Alaska Airlines Visa.  40K bonus miles, with $100 statement credit.   After my initial spend will have enough for a Biz Class Ticket. (As long as shit doesn't change). And I'll use the statement credit for the taxes on my award ticket. 

Also I hit my spend on my united card and the 75K miles posted to my account.    I'm going to cancel the card tomorrow to get my annual fee of $450 back.    Since I won't have a need for *A lounges this year the $450 is a waste.    I'm curious to see of they will remove my 75k bonus miles from my account though.    Its an interesting experiment.   

[Just Browsing]

14 minutes ago, HimBadMan said:

@Luv2Phuket.   Was bored so applied and was just approved for the Alaska Airlines Visa.  40K bonus miles, with $100 statement credit.   After my initial spend will have enough for a Biz Class Ticket. (As long as shit doesn't change). And I'll use the statement credit for the taxes on my award ticket. 

Also I hit my spend on my united card and the 75K miles posted to my account.    I'm going to cancel the card tomorrow to get my annual fee of $450 back.    Since I won't have a need for *A lounges this year the $450 is a waste.    I'm curious to see of they will remove my 75k bonus miles from my account though.    Its an interesting experiment.   

CIti cancelled my Prestige Card (was supposed to re-apply when I stopped working for them but as they took the annual fee 3 weeks after I left I thought I'd sorted it out) and I tried to claim the annual fee back, but couldn't as I'd already transferred the Thank You points across to SIA Airmiles.

I did make them reinstate the card so I could use the 45,000+ TY points that were still in the account (Oh & pay the s$980 outstanding balance which they expected me to walk into a branch in Singapore to pay... all whilst living in Thailand with no-fly bans in both countries) 

Not sure whether my Priority Pass membership is still valid (Citi are less than useless at answering questions) & am not sure if I'll get to check before the end of the year.

 

Looking for a new UK based Credit Card that gives a good mileage bonus & access to lounge, was thinking of the Barclays Card as I already have accounts with them & not sure how I would get on with opening up new accounts / cards whilst living in Thailand

 

    

 

 

 

 

[Luv2Phuket]

Citi is VERY restrictive re use of TY points. I have read that you have something like 60-90 days after closing an account to use the points. Keeping an existing TY account will NOT preserve them.


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[Luv2Phuket]

In addition to Alaska's "highest I have seen" 60% bonus, more airlines joining the list offering big bonuses/discounts on purchased miles:

 - Aeroplan selling miles at a penny each (great deal for Star Alliance flights) - https://onemileatatime.com/buy-aeroplan-miles/

 - BA offering 50%-75% bonus - https://onemileatatime.com/buy-avios-promo/

 - United offering a 100% bonus - https://onemileatatime.com/united-buy-miles-promo/

 - American selling at as low as 1.79 cents per mile - https://onemileatatime.com/buy-american-miles/

I am currently trying to conserve money/cut spending, and I am flush with miles/points, so I doubt that I will jump on any of these.

The one that intrigued me the most was the Aeroplan offer....until I read THIS in another blog:

While Aeroplan adds fuel surcharges to redemptions on some carriers, you’ll primarily just want to avoid Asiana, Austrian, Lufthansa and Thai.

Also, looking at the comments, people expect the Aeroplan offer to go quickly....VERY quickly!

I can't help but think that all of these discounts are going to turn out to be "pump and dumps" - the airlines will raise much-needed cash now by selling miles, then "thank" those who purchased by devaluing the miles and requiring more miles for just about any/every award.

That said, if it's going to be 100k each way to fly business class to Asia, better to get those miles for as close to a penny a point now while you can! 

If I wasn't trying to keep as much pf my money as possible in the bank and didn't have well over 2 million miles/points/transferable program points, I would probably try to score at least the Aeroplan offer. As things currently stand, though, I am going to sit tight for now.

 

[Luv2Phuket]

Despite having little interest in it, curiosity led me to check the Aeroplan offer this morning.

As everyone expected, the 115% bonus offer (which was limited to 10 million miles) went quickly, but the 90% offer was still alive.

I tried to "price it," but had not logged into my Aeroplan account for too long and had to go through the process of resetting my password. By the time I was finally logged in, they were down to the 65% bonus offer, which was a firm "no go" for me.

In hindsight, the delay probably did me a huge favor. One "reader comment" in the blog jumped out at me: Aeroplan had previously announced that it is going to issue a new award chart sometime next month. I think it goes without saying that it will be (another) devaluation, so no interest in buying miles from them until the dust settles.

FWIW, the 115% bonus was available on 10 million miles and the 90% bonus was on the next 100 million miles. Since they are into the 65% bonus, that means Aeroplan just sold 110 million miles this morning, picking up roughly 1.75 million Canadian dollars.

[Little Evil]

That Amex streaming credit applies almost instantly, not at statement close, which is a nice piece of mind. When I found out about it, I signed up for Disney+/Hulu/ESPN package for $12.99.  A day after this first charge posted, the Amex online account management showed a credit right after the posted purchase.  I already have Netflix, but couldn't justify both Netflix and this service until this credit became available.  Just note guys, this only lasts this year.  

On a separate note, saw a targeted offer today on my business Amex account for 5X points at Amazon, but limited to up to 2k points.  Still worth it considering I'm eventually going to spend that on Amazon. 

[Luv2Phuket]

1 hour ago, Little Evil said:

That Amex streaming credit applies almost instantly, not at statement close, which is a nice piece of mind. When I found out about it, I signed up for Disney+/Hulu/ESPN package for $12.99.  A day after this first charge posted, the Amex online account management showed a credit right after the posted purchase.  I already have Netflix, but couldn't justify both Netflix and this service until this credit became available.  Just note guys, this only lasts this year.  

On a separate note, saw a targeted offer today on my business Amex account for 5X points at Amazon, but limited to up to 2k points.  Still worth it considering I'm eventually going to spend that on Amazon. 

I'm currently working on a similar AMEX bonus MR offer through Amazon now. In the past, I have tried to max it out asap, but this time I am just running all Amazon charges through that AMEX and will see where I stand right before it ends. That said, since I'm looking at dropping that card next month, I need to check in on it asap.

I'm also considering dropping another $325 on my Amazon Gift Card balance to hit an AA minimum spend.

TERRIBLE return -- only 5,000 AA miles for $2,900 spend each month in March, April and May -- but I was already putting a $2,580 monthly charge on it, so it worked out to 5,000 miles for about $325 in spend for each of those months.  My problem now is that all of the new bonuses and credits are making it difficult for me to find almost any "available" spend!  5555  My Amazon GC is always a fallback when I am in that situation.

[HimBadMan]

With the airline and hotel industry selling miles by the 100s of millions to banks and to consumers, its only a matter of time award charts will devalue.

It's just like money.  When there is too much of it, it causes inflation.   We will see a huge devalue soon.  I would suggest burn if you can, holding miles is always the worst decision anyone can make.  And only buy miles if it allows you to redeem..

[HimBadMan]

I'm seriously considering buying Marriott gift cards at 20% off.   Thinking of buying a $500 card for $400.

Has anyone pulled the tigger on this deal?

[Luv2Phuket]

3 hours ago, HimBadMan said:

I'm seriously considering buying Marriott gift cards at 20% off.   Thinking of buying a $500 card for $400.

Has anyone pulled the tigger on this deal?

I have not.  I'm in "cash preservation mode" at the present time (especially with some tax payments coming due).

If the Pattaya Marriott had not become an AVANI (bastards!  555), I would have been much more interested.

I'm still debating renewing a credit card that carries an annual free Marriott night. Annual fee is $125, I have another Marriott card that nets me a free night for a $99 annual fee. I think I am keeping both.

Doing the math, a 35,000 point room at $125 annual fee works out to .003/point. Most bloggers value Marriott at .008, so I;m coming out ahead there. Also, the rooms I tend to get cost a LOT more than $125 (recent redemptions were Sheraton and St Regis in Bangkok).

[HimBadMan]

@Luv2Phuket.  Did you see the news about Qatar and changing desitnations up to 5000 miles with no fees??     If i read that right.  If for some reason our Qatar Nov flights are in jeopardy it can be changed.      I may book another flight if the price is right.      Not only can they be changed, if you if u request a voucher they will give you an extra 10%.   

I need to read it a bit more carefully but seems like I can move my nov trip to Dec for free if needed. Or of thailand is closed I can als for a voucher and get 10% more for travel in 2021..

 

Edited May 14, 2020 by HimBadMan

[Luv2Phuket]

3 hours ago, HimBadMan said:

@Luv2Phuket.  Did you see the news about Qatar and changing desitnations up to 5000 miles with no fees??     If i read that right.  If for some reason our Qatar Nov flights are in jeopardy it can be changed.      I may book another flight if the price is right.      Not only can they be changed, if you if u request a voucher they will give you an extra 10%.   

I need to read it a bit more carefully but seems like I can move my nov trip to Dec for free if needed. Or of thailand is closed I can als for a voucher and get 10% more for travel in 2021..

 

I did see that announcement, but don't know if it will influence me to book another flight at this juncture.  At a minimum, it gives me some comfort that I won't be totally screwed if the November flights falls through.

Funny thing is, I booked it to help me make Platinum this year. Well, that already is a done deal (AA extended everyone).  Along those lines, I'm now thinking it would benefit me if I could/did push it back to next year and looked into award travel for November (which has little to no risk besides re-deposit fees).

EDIT:

I was just reading this blog on it - https://onemileatatime.com/qatar-airways-booking-policy/ - and noticed the following option:

You can swap your ticket for Qmiles, with each USD worth of airfare getting you 100 Qmiles, so that’s a rate of one cent per mile

While that was somewhat interesting, I went to their website and RT Biz class from LAX to BKK would be 352,000 miles (according to their mileage calculator)

Also, my "airfare" was just over $1,100 - surcharges and taxes ran it up to over $2,550. I don;t know if I would get 255,000 miles or 110,000 miles.

In any event, based on mileage requirements, it looks like a bad deal regardless.

 

 

[Canuckdave]

Was able to snag a Cathay first class award JFK - HKG (F) - BKK (J) for arrival April 11 in time for Songkran next year via Alaska Airlines :) 70,000 miles.  

Now I can hope some sense of normalcy returns and I can make the trip without restrictions :)

[Luv2Phuket]

6 minutes ago, Canuckdave said:

Was able to snag a Cathay first class award JFK - HKG (F) - BKK (J) for arrival April 11 in time for Songkran next year via Alaska Airlines 70,000 miles.  

Now I can hope some sense of normalcy returns and I can make the trip without restrictions

That may be the first time anyone has used "Songkran" and "normalcy" in the same post!  5555

I got Cathay first booked in February, so I, too, hope we are traveling then. Hell, I am hoping that it is LONG before then!

[bgtp]

I just canceled Cathay first for July

[Luv2Phuket]

Interesting blog on how frequent flier programs will/should react to COVID-19:

https://thepointsguy.com/guide/airline-loyalty-programs-coronavirus/

I freakin' LOVED the old US Air Grand Slam promotion! I did all kinds of shit just to get miles, including driving to one of the car rental places at LAX, parking MY car in their lot, renting a subcompact car for like $20, driving it around the block and then turning it back in!  That pushed me over a bonus threshold that earned me a ton of miles!  5555

If co-branded credit cards could push me farther or all the way to status, that would be huge. Right now my 2 AA Aviator cards (personal Silver and a business card) get me some EQDs and EQMs, but they barely make a dent in what I need to earn.

[Little Evil]

7 minutes ago, Luv2Phuket said:

Interesting blog on how frequent flier programs will/should react to COVID-19:

https://thepointsguy.com/guide/airline-loyalty-programs-coronavirus/

I freakin' LOVED the old US Air Grand Slam promotion! I did all kinds of shit just to get miles, including driving to one of the car rental places at LAX, parking MY car in their lot, renting a subcompact car for like $20, driving it around the block and then turning it back in!  That pushed me over a bonus threshold that earned me a ton of miles!  5555

If co-branded credit cards could push me farther or all the way to status, that would be huge. Right now my 2 AA Aviator cards (personal Silver and a business card) get me some EQDs and EQMs, but they barely make a dent in what I need to earn.

The Grand Slam was like a miles junkie scavenger hunt. Those were find times. 

[Luv2Phuket]

19 minutes ago, Little Evil said:

The Grand Slam was like a miles junkie scavenger hunt. 

Greatest. Description. EVER!  5555

[Luv2Phuket]

I just decided to push my February 2021 return flight from BKK to LAX on SQ back a few days. I was scheduled to fly back on a Tuesday (my traditional travel day), but I found availability on the exact same flights on Thursday, so thought I'd extend my trip 2 days (especially since my November trip could be in danger).

I don't know if this has to do with the current loosening of flight change fees, but the total change fees and/or miles required? ZERO.

[wdogg]

Oh man, this was probably back around 2007 or so but I booked an appointment with Bosley for a free consultation only to discover I had a receding hairline 555.  It was actually a good promo and you earned something like 25k miles.   I wasn't the only one since the guy asked me if I was only there for the miles promo. 

The other classic one from 10 years ago that we were doing was to buy boxes of rolled $1 coins from the United States Mint website  and turn around to deposit them in a bank.  Of course you're paying for this with your airline card. 

Edited May 21, 2020 by wdogg

[Rick Blaine]

I once found out each  1000  flight miles on  EVA  was valued at $19.

Anybody know what the general  value  is of 1000 miles for various airlines?