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

[Rick Blaine]

40 minutes ago, wdogg said:

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. 

Was your Bosley branch in San Francisco?

[Luv2Phuket]

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?

Most bloggers will place a variety of “values” on them, but those values tend to vary from blogger to blogger.


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[Little Evil]

7 hours ago, Rick Blaine said:

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?

The way programs work differently from each other in terms of earnings and redemptions makes it kind of impossible to place a systematic formula for valuation that is uniform across all programs. However, as Luv2Phuket mentioned, a lot of bloggers subjectively place value on miles per their own experience. Some of these are fair guides. 

Most airline miles/points hover in the 1.5 to 2 cent per range. It gets more abstract when discussing credit card points, where the range is wider at 1 to 2.5 cents per because of the number of options for transfer can make them more valuable to most (or less valuable if the only option is to use them via the credit card's own portals). The Points Guy does a monthly round up of his valuations:

https://thepointsguy.com/guide/monthly-valuations/

 

 

Edited May 21, 2020 by Little Evil

[Luv2Phuket]

I'm not sure if I am using the values posted by The Points Guy or another blogger, but the values that I found from somewhere (not sure) for the various accounts that I hold are set out below. 

EVA did not have an identified value with whomever I was using, but I would be VERY surprised if it had a higher "value" than Alaska. Also, Korean's "value" should have plummeted recently due to a substantial devaluation. United may have dropped for the same reason, as well.

American Advantage  .014

United Mileage Plus  .013

Aeroplan  .015

Alaska  .018

ANA  .014

British Air  .015

Delta  .012

Hawaiian  .009

Korean Air  .017

Southwest  .015

JetBlue  .013

Singapore KrisFlyer  .013

AsiaMiles  .013

Virgin Atlantic  .015

hotels

Hilton  .006

Hyatt  .017

IHG  .005

Marriott Bonvoy  .008

 

 

[LeoTex]

Airline	Frequent Flyer Program	Average Value of One Mile	Compared to Average (%)
American Airlines	AAdvantage	1.0 cents	-30%
Delta	SkyMiles	1.3 cents	0%
JetBlue	TrueBlue	1.6 cents	30%
Southwest Airlines	Rapid Rewards	1.5 cents	20%
United Airlines	MileagePlus	1.1 cents	-20%
Average Of the big 3 American carry, My Delta miles are worth the most		1.3 cents

[Luv2Phuket]

55 minutes ago, LeoTex said:

Airline	Frequent Flyer Program	Average Value of One Mile	Compared to Average (%)
American Airlines	AAdvantage	1.0 cents	-30%
Delta	SkyMiles	1.3 cents	0%
JetBlue	TrueBlue	1.6 cents	30%
Southwest Airlines	Rapid Rewards	1.5 cents	20%
United Airlines	MileagePlus	1.1 cents	-20%
Average Of the big 3 American carry, My Delta miles are worth the most		1.3 cents

That's very interesting, as I have always seen Delta listed as the lowest, with some giving them the moniker "SkyPesos"

[LeoTex]

1 minute ago, Luv2Phuket said:

That's very interesting, as I have always seen Delta listed as the lowest, with some giving them the moniker "SkyPesos"

I was a little surprised also until I found the chart.

I buy Premium Select ticket and then use miles to upgrade to business/first.

My non used ticket for what would have been my April/Songkran trips cost me about $1,400 R/T. I used 45,000 miles each way at .013c each = $585.

Considering that the business/first ticket would have been around $8,000 R/T, I got a whole lot more value out of my miles.

 

LeoTex

[wdogg]

21 hours ago, Rick Blaine said:

Was your Bosley branch in San Francisco?

This was west LA.  If you're getting $19 per 1000 miles I would say that's pretty good. 

They don't run the crazy credit card mileage promos like they used to!

[Little Evil]

On 20/05/2020 at 12:03, Luv2Phuket said:

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.

Not in response to status, EQD's or EQM's, but Barclays has a targeted Aviator promotion for 3X miles on all purchases. Got an email today, and remembered you mentioned having one of those cards. Fine print says it is limited to a measly 2,500 total points, but I'll take freebies if they want to hand them out. 

This is something that has to be activated though, so if you do get the email, you have to turn it on. 

[Luv2Phuket]

1 hour ago, Little Evil said:

Not in response to status, EQD's or EQM's, but Barclays has a targeted Aviator promotion for 3X miles on all purchases. Got an email today, and remembered you mentioned having one of those cards. Fine print says it is limited to a measly 2,500 total points, but I'll take freebies if they want to hand them out. 

This is something that has to be activated though, so if you do get the email, you have to turn it on. 

Crap! I didn't get that one.

The shitty offer that I got (back in March) was to spend $2900/mo in March, April and May, and get 5,000 bonus miles.  That's not even 2X!  5555

I already was putting a $2,500+ charge on it each month, so it was only minimal spend to get the bonus. Starting next month, I am moving that $2,500 monthly charge to my Hilton AMEX to score a free night.

EDIT:

I just got it and signed up right away!

Unfortunately, I had a big charge the other day (annual professional liability policy) that hit too soon, but my monthly $2,.500 charge should easily max this bonus out right away (charges don't switch to my Hilton AMEX until next month).

I just saw a blog, and I think it is essentially 2 bonus points per USD spent, so $1,250 spend will max it out (netting you 3,750 AA miles).

Between my earlier (shitty) offer for March, April and May and this one, I should net 7,500 bonus AA miles. While not a HUGE amount, that is damn close to covering the 10,000 miles I used to book a one-way Internet special flight over Christmas (and more than covers it factoring in the underlying spend).

On the subject of AA miles, I saw THIS ominous blog today:  https://thepointsguy.com/news/future-of-american-award-charts/

[Rick Blaine]

On 22/05/2020 at 13:03, wdogg said:

This was west LA.  If you're getting $19 per 1000 miles I would say that's pretty good. 

They don't run the crazy credit card mileage promos like they used to!

I didn't mean to be obtuse in my post.     The $19 per thousand miles was a decade ago when I moved to Thailand.     I've no idea  its value today.

My points were all travel based as I never signed up for CC  miles with anyone.

EVA was actually the one to place a value on their earned mileage points.

I always chose their Super Economy seats but since I needed more luggage room moving here, the miles (@$19 per/1000) got me into Business with a few thousand left over that eventually expired as did 75K of them one time earlier.

I don't even know if EVA had many alliances or CC partners during the early 2000's.

 

 

 

Edited May 23, 2020 by Rick Blaine
keyboard stroke

[Luv2Phuket]

EVA has only 2 credit partners of whom I am aware - Citi TY and CapOne.


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[Luv2Phuket]

On the subject of valuations, I am 99.9% sure that I have been using ThePointsGuy's valuations, so sorry if my post above was duplicative.

Because I have mild OCD and want to do anything BUT the work that is sitting on my desk, I just updated my "miles and points" chart for first time in 3 months. 

I was disappointed that my overall total has fallen below 2 million, but, since my last calculation, I have redeemed for Cathay first using Alaska (70,000 miles) and SQ business (95,000 miles), as well as a bunch of hotel nights. I will be back above 2 million once my B of A Alaska charges and bonus hit.

For shits and grins, I moved the totals to an Excel spreadsheet and calculated their "value" using TPG's April 20, 2020 valuations. Don;t want to be a whiner, but I was a little disappointed in the $22,500 (USD) total.

My other "project" for the day was cashing out some e-Reward points.

Going back to the discussion above about US Air's Grand Slam, I think that's what got me to sign up for e-Rewards way back when.  The "return" on your time is HORRENDOUS, but it's a way to kill some time when I am bored, and I had racked up over $100 USD in reward "points."

My primary options were 2,000 Alaska, AA or United miles, 4,000 IHG points or, the one I chose, 7,000 Hilton Honors points.

Looking back, Alaska was probably the better choice, but, using TPG's valuations, 2,000 Alaska miles would be worth $36, while 7,000 Honors points should be worth $42. Hilton appears to be one of the few programs on e-Rewards that gives you more value as you scale up.

[Luv2Phuket]

On the subject of points valuations, I changed my November reservation when I saw that the rates at the InterContinental had dropped to the lowest I have seen.

I was previously booked for 3 nights on a paid basis at 4,960 baht/nt (with breakfast for 2 included), followed by 4 nights on IHG points (but IHG cc gets me 4th night free).

When I checked the rates today, they had dropped to 3,400 baht/nt for those 1st 3 nights, and were around 3,600/nt for the rest of the stay (all with breakfast for 2 included).

HUGE key is that the rate is NOT pre-paid -- no deposit was required and it can be canceled without any penalty up until the day before my arrival.

Doing some rough calculations, I determined that paying for all 7 nights was the better "value."

With the 4th night free, I was looking at 105,000 IHG points for the 4 nights, or 26,250/night, BUT I also get 10% of the points refunded via a 2nd IHG cc, so that takes it down to 23,625 points/night.  At a "value" of .005 per IHG point, that works out to a nightly rate of a little over $118 USD, which is usually very hard to beat.

The amount that I am saving from the $118 frankly might not have been enough to lead me to come out of pocket, but there were 2 more wrinkles that pushed me over the edge:
 - points stays do not get the free breakfast. Although not a huge deal to me, it is an additional benefit to be factored in. While I would not pay for their breakfast on a daily basis, if I'm getting it for free, I try it take advantage of it every day.
 - my guaranteed upgrade as an IHG Ambassador does not apply on points stays.  The hotel has accommodated me and let me stay in the same room throughout my stay in the past (upgraded based on my first few paid nights), but they generally hit me for a nightly fee to do so - usually about 1500 baht/nt. While well worth it to me, that's 1,500 that I "save" by not using points. Taking that 1,500 off of the already low rates, it seemed to be a no brainer to just pay for the entirety of my stay.

My fingers remain firmly crossed that this trip comes to fruition!

 

[Luv2Phuket]

My bonus miles on my B of A Alaska card hit today - I barely overshot the target!  Factoring in 1,000 miles transferred in from E-Rewards, I am at around 50,800.

Worried about devaluation, as well as a big drop-off in service on Cathay, which is my primary redemption vehicle for Alaska miles.

E-Rewards screwed up and gave me way too many points for a recent telephonic survey, so I quickly cashed them out for miles (1,000 Alaska; 500 Southwest - I am blocked from Hilton redemptions for another 45 days or so).

Tax payment day is coming up, and that will clear out my AMEX Hilton spend requirement.

[bgtp]

Nice targeted offer from American Express for their High-Yield Savings Account. I'm always trying to earn what I can on my uninvested cash. After a couple of years with better than nothing yields on CD's and even my Fidelity sweep account, rates are heading back to near zero (my Fidelity sweep account for my uninvested cash now yields a whopping 0.01%). This savings account offers an APR of 1.15% and depending how much you value the Membership Rewards, the bonus could earn the equivalent of a couple of percent in three months time. Sure it's not much, but still a good place to park any extra cash you might have on hand taking the bonus into account. I wasn't targeted myself, but you guys may want to look out for it. 

I always loved earning points for savings as opposed to spending. It was like a win-win situation. I miss the mileage bonuses Fidelity used to have for up to 50K miles per year. Although now that I'm retired, it's a moot point. But back when I was working, they were a great incentive in getting me to work hard and save.

[Luv2Phuket]

Not really travel-related, but since we frequently discuss credit cards and points offers, I thought this was worth mentioning - 20% discount (up to $30) on Amazon purchase of you link your Citi TY account and use 1 point (.01):

https://thepointsguy.com/news/amazon-citi-discount/?utm_content=8B43B320-B0C0-11EA-A58D-2C044844363C&utm_medium=social&utm_term=editorial&tw=1&utm_campaign=thepointsguy&utm_source=twitter

It is the same as prior offers from AMEX, and the blog has a link not only so you can link your TY account, but also to see if you are eligible for the offer.

I've been looking for something interesting to read, so snagged 2 books, but I also went with my standard "20% off if using points" purchase and got yet another gift card I can use at Vons. Maybe not the best idea, as I'm starting to get a collection of them!  5555 

Because my Hilton AMEX is giving me 12 Honors points per USD spent, that's my go to for grocery purchases until that offer ends. Once it does, I have like 3 or 4 of these Von's gift cards that I can start using (all obtained with 20% off offers, so it's like knocking 20% off of my grocery tab in exchange for prepaying).

In any event, my purchases ended up coming in at $149.99, so I got the full $30 discount.

[sulu]

Good grief L2P. 

With all this points researching, swapping, etc, how on earth do you have time to run your business ?!?!?! 

Or POST about it here for that matter !!!  

[Little Evil]

19 hours ago, bgtp said:

Nice targeted offer from American Express for their High-Yield Savings Account. I'm always trying to earn what I can on my uninvested cash. After a couple of years with better than nothing yields on CD's and even my Fidelity sweep account, rates are heading back to near zero (my Fidelity sweep account for my uninvested cash now yields a whopping 0.01%). This savings account offers an APR of 1.15% and depending how much you value the Membership Rewards, the bonus could earn the equivalent of a couple of percent in three months time. Sure it's not much, but still a good place to park any extra cash you might have on hand taking the bonus into account. I wasn't targeted myself, but you guys may want to look out for it. 

I always loved earning points for savings as opposed to spending. It was like a win-win situation. I miss the mileage bonuses Fidelity used to have for up to 50K miles per year. Although now that I'm retired, it's a moot point. But back when I was working, they were a great incentive in getting me to work hard and save.

Man, things have tanked in the financial world. Last time I looked at this product like a year or so ago, it was at 1.2%, and that was still a pass because 1.65% was achievable elsewhere.  But good post because right now, this is actually competitive and possibly convenient for those with Amex relations already. I will put it out there though that Citi has a 1.35% high yield right now. I actually thought sweeps were typically returning higher than what you mentioned, but I have little experience with those. 

On the up shot, I'm finally within 5% of my pre-corona investment net worth, so things are finally starting to look up (knock on wood).  Now if only I had the foresight to have purchased ZOOM stock before Coronavirus was a thing. "ZOOM" is the stock symbol for a Chinese penny stock company that has nothing to do with Zoom Teleconferencing ("ZM"). They shot up 14500% when people thought their stock symbol was for Zoom. 555.  I would have retired early!

[bgtp]

55 minutes ago, Little Evil said:

Man, things have tanked in the financial world. Last time I looked at this product like a year or so ago, it was at 1.2%, and that was still a pass because 1.65% was achievable elsewhere.  But good post because right now, this is actually competitive and possibly convenient for those with Amex relations already. I will put it out there though that Citi has a 1.35% high yield right now. I actually thought sweeps were typically returning higher than what you mentioned, but I have little experience with those. 

On the up shot, I'm finally within 5% of my pre-corona investment net worth, so things are finally starting to look up (knock on wood).  Now if only I had the foresight to have purchased ZOOM stock before Coronavirus was a thing. "ZOOM" is the stock symbol for a Chinese penny stock company that has nothing to do with Zoom Teleconferencing ("ZM"). They shot up 14500% when people thought their stock symbol was for Zoom. 555.  I would have retired early!

Although that AMEX nominal interest rate is not the best out there for High Yield Savings, it is competitive. If you value Membership Rewards at one cent each, the additional MR bonus is really one percent over three months which corresponds to an APY of 4% in addition to the base APY of 1.15%. Some, like TPG, value MR points at two cents for which the bonus corresponds to an additional 8% APY. Of course, the bonus rate is only for the first $25K for the first three months. Still, I’d be all over it if I was targeted. I looked into Citi, but no bonus offer on their High Yield savings and you had to open an ‘Account Package’ which includes a checking account that I didn’t need.

I opened a Capital One High Yield Savings account recently that offered a one percent cash bonus for money kept three months, so essentially an additional 4% APY over the first three months. All three of my brokerage accounts (Fidelity, Merrill Edge and Chase You Invest) now give me 0.01% APY on the uninvested cash in my sweep account. So, no point keeping anything there.

[Luv2Phuket]

Yeah - the hook is the MR, along with the competitive rate.

Ally has dropped my rate a couple of times in the past few months and now may even be below AMEX 1.15 (or damn close to it!).

If I was targeted, I may consider moving some of my Ally funds there for 3 months.  Not sure. Liquidity is king right now!  5555

EDIT:

Just checked and my Ally accounts are only drawing 1.1% now. OUCH!

Unfortunately, I did not receive the targeted email for the AMEX MR bonus.

[Luv2Phuket]

7 hours ago, sulu said:

Good grief L2P. 

With all this points researching, swapping, etc, how on earth do you have time to run your business ?!?!?! 

Or POST about it here for that matter !!!  

That implies that I actually spend time working!  55555

I generally start each day by checking out 3 travel blogs (AFTER PA, of course! 555) while I eat breakfast....and slowly become "functional."

I am a much bigger fan of ThePointsGuy than I used to be. I tend to find more informative stuff there these days than I did before.

[Canuckdave]

I changed my flights next year just because of the great options available.  Would be a shame not to be able to use them if travel is still hindered. Travel booked for the end of April 2021/ May 2021 ...

YYZ-EWR (AC J) EWR-SIN-SYD (SQ J) - 80k Aeroplan (Very rare to get this availability)

SYD-HKG (CX J) -14 night stopover in Hong Kong - HKG-ORD (CX F) - 80k Alaska Miles -.ORD -YYZ (AC J) - 15k Aeroplan 

From Hong Kong I used BA avios to book to HKG-BKK-HKG (CX J) - 33k for 13 of those nights. 

Lots of flying but a treat for an aviation geek like me.

 

 

[Luv2Phuket]

Just found out that some friends will be in Bangkok the week that I arrive in February, so I changed my flights to get in a day earlier. I was still able to get Cathay first (but it was not available 2 days before).

I saw LOTS of availability in biz and even first around those dates.

Also, Cathay first and biz (as well as JAL biz) is showing on AA’s search engine (but I was using Alaska).


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[Luv2Phuket]

Going back the the original subject line of this thread, Alaska Airline's most lucrative offer is coming to a close soon - it's targeted, but most seem to get a 60% bonus for mile purchases of 40,000 or more.

https://onemileatatime.com/buy-alaska-miles/

Assuming your Alaska account is at 0 miles, you would need to buy 65,000 at $1,787.50, which nets you 104,000 Alaska miles, good for RT business class on Cathay, with 4,000 miles left over.  If you have at least 4,000 miles in your account, you can drop that to a 60,000 mile purchase for $1,650.00, netting you 96,000 Alaska miles.

I'm passing on it right now for a few reasons - cash is king for me these days; I am already sitting on 50,000 Alaska miles, my next 2 trips are already booked AND I am very concerned about the rumored devaluation of Alaska miles. Factor in "WTF is going on with Cathay concerns," and now is not a great time for me to buy more miles.

That said, there appears to a TON of availability for award travel early next year right now, so, if you have dates and flights in mind, this may be an excellent time to jump on it.

I ran a quick check to see of Cathay first was available for my February return, but there was no availability on my desired travel day (although there WAS the day before).