
The State of Frequent Flyer Miles - whatami
http://viewfromthewing.boardingarea.com/2016/01/10/the-state-of-the-hobby-frequent-flyer-miles-in-2016/
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saryant
He's right. It's a never-ending game in which the rules can change out from
underneath you.

In the last four years I've earned and redeemed just over 2 million points.
When I started you could still churn Amex cards, United's award chart was
deliciously cheap and Hilton was practically giving away points. All of that
is dead.

But it's still a lot of fun. I actually just got off the phone with Singapore
Airlines—transferred points over from Citi (earned through churning) and
redeemed for a first class ticket in their A380 Suite from Singapore to Los
Angeles with a stopover in Tokyo.

Then I called Hyatt and booked a free night at the Park Hyatt Saigon with a
free night certificate I received from Chase.

That said, it's gotten much harder in the four years I've been playing. I
started my senior year in college, churning Chase cards to fly to Southeast
Asia after graduation. Back then awards were cheaper and more plentiful.
United had yet to devalue their award chart.

Now we're on the cusp of American's devaluation (so I just booked the Etihad
A380 Apartment for later this year to burn off the rest of those miles),
Starwood will likely be gutted after the Marriott acquisition and churning is
getting riskier. Last week Amex killed off manufactured spending through their
prepaid products and Chase is getting increasingly skittish.

I keep plugging away at it. So long as the banks, airlines and hotels keep
making it possible to earn lots of points on the cheap, I'll keep playing.

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nugget
After many years in the hamster wheel I came to realize that the best loyalty
currency is the US dollar.

~~~
jrockway
Same. If you want a guaranteed seat in business class, it's quite simple: book
a seat in business class.

~~~
malchow
Back when I was negotiating my first car purchase -- and had a fair amount of
savings to play with -- I telephoned my father to talk through the buy/lease
model I had constructed in Excel. My dad, highly numerate, a car enthusiast,
and a pretty good financial optimizer, had one response:

Just buy a car you can afford.

What he meant was that I should negotiate the purchase price and then write a
check. No games. If I felt uncomfortable paying a price, I needed a cheaper
car, not a different strategy for buying it.

Good advice, I thought. I suspect it applies to travel, too.

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tehwebguy
Woah, 31 points on HN. Anyone else here in on this game?

Just booked EY First Apts and SQ First Suites for later this year on miles.

~~~
JamilD
I'm surprised there are so many people in on this game on HN. This isn't the
first time an article about FFPs has been on the front page.

I wonder if there's any traits about engineers or programmers that creates an
affinity for this sort of stuff? I guess a certain degree of obsessiveness is
necessary if you're into mileage running and churning

~~~
fluxquanta
Any advice on where to start?

I've been debating whether or not I could make it worthwhile. My primary
motivation is to travel to Japan from New York in business class or better
(because I'm tall), but the cash price just seems too crazy. My credit is
excellent, but I just can't seem to take the plunge on a reward program.

~~~
thatoneguy
I've been to Japan a bunch of times via credit card miles and my system is
something like this:

1) Get the Delta AmEx & blow through all spending rewards as fast as possible
at the beginning of the year.

2) Switch to AmEx Platinum charge card for the rest of the year.

3) Churn a new Visa every year or whenever I see a sweet sign-up bonus.

~~~
fluxquanta
I was actually already leaning toward the Delta Amex as a first step. Thanks.

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distances
Are the various mile awards a global thing, or just in the US? I don't recall
seeing any award programs outside of actually buying flights here in Europe,
but then again I haven't been looking.

~~~
eitally
I've been platinum on Delta for a few years running and it's absolutely
beneficial. 3 free checked bags, priority boarding, free economy+ (which
includes free food & drinks on longer domestic flights), and automatic
upgrades where available. I get upgraded about 75% of the time.

If you have status you get used to it and don't really realize how nice some
of the perks are until you fly on an airline where you don't and end up
feeling nickel & dimed to death, herded everywhere like cattle.

<edit> I misread "global" as "good" and answered the wrong question. They're
global. This is why the alliances have their separate award levels. Here's an
example: [https://www.oneworld.com/ffp/my-oneworld-tier-
status](https://www.oneworld.com/ffp/my-oneworld-tier-status)

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dawhizkid
I've been in the game for 3 years. I'd estimate I redeemed $40k worth of free
travel last year between flights and hotels, including First Class on JAL to
Tokyo and Suites on SQ to Singapore. Most underrated part of points is that
they are earned and redeemed tax free IMO.

