RewardExpert - Blog - рage 15 of 118

One of the cool things about amassing a zillion frequent flyer miles is actually using them to fly in first class to destinations you previously never thought you’d visit.
Asia is especially enticing when you have frequent flyer miles because you can finally make that long-haul trip in the comfort of the first class cabin. Maybe you’ll jet off to Tokyo, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Seoul or Singapore. If you’ve got Asia aspirations, we’ll tell you what to look for and how to plan it to ensure a happy and romantic trip.

You’ve got your expensive boots and après-ski attire; the fur or leather-lined jacket is ready to go. It’s time for the world-famous Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. This year’s festivities take place January 19-29, and it’s time to plan out your mileage-earning and burning strategy for the big event.
If you’re headed to magical snow country, these seven tips could make a great festival guide.

Chase introduced some exciting new Ultimate Rewards credit cards last year, including the buzzworthy Sapphire Reserve, a new Ink business card and a second no-fee Freedom card. A few airlines got in the act last year, too. There’s a new and improved offering from Asiana Airlines, as well as a completely new lineup from Central America’s Avianca and an excellent opportunity for small business owners from Hawaiian Airlines.

American may not have been on the cusp of the inflight dining scene, but with its merger with US Airways, many changes were made for the better. American, unlike US Airways, operates both a business and first class cabin.

Last August, Chase made a big splash by introducing the Chase Sapphire Reserve, a brand new card with top-of-the-line benefits as well as an attractive 100,000-point signup bonus. As you may have heard, that signup bonus was recently lowered from 100,000 Ultimate Reward points to 50,000 as of March 12.

If you’re planning a trip to the South Pacific and want to fly into Papeete, Tahiti (PPT) in French Polynesia, your flight choices are pretty limited. It’s a long haul from the United States–Los Angeles to Papeete takes about 8.5 hours–so you’ll probably want to fly in business class. Let’s compare two airlines that can get you from Los Angeles to Papeete in style: AirFrance and Air Tahiti Nui.

Starwood Preferred Guest is an excellent reward program because of its incredible flexibility. It has more airline transfer partners than any other program, including American Express Membership Rewards, Chase Ultimate Rewards and Citi ThankYou. On top of that, some of those airlines partner only with SPG. In this post, we’ll look at why you should consider transferring your valuable Starpoints to two of those exclusive airline partners: American Airlines and Japan Airlines (JAL).

The new year is upon us and so are a variety of new frequent flyer and loyalty program changes. Here’s what you need to know to get the traveling year started off right especially if you’re one of American’s coveted Concierge Key members.

Alaska Airlines recently received permission from the Department of Justice to purchase Virgin America, meaning the takeover is officially happening. Now that Alaska is sure the deal will go through, they have announced more details on how the two airlines will operate going forward, what changes will be made to elite benefits, and how the mileage accrual and award tickets will work.

Act fast to redeem Virgin Atlantic miles before the upcoming devaluation, and Citi ThankYou points transfers to Virgin Atlantic might get you to that award even faster thanks to a new bonus offer.

Starwood Preferred Guest is a hotel loyalty program, but it’s different from other hotel programs. It allows members to transfer Starpoints to most of its 36 partner airlines at a 1:1 ratio. Plus, you’ll get a 5,000-mile bonus for every 20,000 Starpoints you transfer to a frequent flyer program.

Amtrak Guest Rewards is a solid frequent traveler program offering members decent redemption rates, particularly for last-minute bookings and peak travel. Program members can earn points through train travel or with one of Amtrak’s co-branded credit cards. Amtrak also has a few hotel transfer partners, including Hilton HHonors and Starwood Preferred Guest.

You’re probably already familiar with the three big credit card award programs: American Express Membership Rewards, Chase Ultimate Rewards and Citi ThankYou. They’re great because you can transfer the points you earn directly to frequent flyer programs. But there’s another very flexible program you should know about that also offers transfers to airlines partners: Starwood Preferred Guest.

One way to quickly build up a stash of frequent flyer miles is to take advantage of limited-time offers the airlines promote. Oftentimes, airlines like Avianca and banks like American Express will offer a bonus scheme when you transfer miles between accounts. That means you may earn a bonus when you transfer your miles to your husband’s account, or to a friend or child. Sometimes the deals aren’t worth it but when they are, you can leverage the promotion to earn plenty of free travel for yourself and potentially others. Let’s look at this method of earning loyalty currency.

I shared my recent story about an exciting flight from Paris to Doha in first class on Qatar Airway’s A380. While the ground experience was nothing special, everything changed once we boarded and shortly after taking off. After spending some time in the gorgeous on-board bar, it was time for dinner.
Once we returned to our seats, our flight attendant greeted us warmly and asked if we were ready for our meal. I told him we were, and he went to work right away.
Without hesitation, I’d ordered caviar to start. Who could resist this?

Flying in international first class can be quite an amazing experience. Booking these seats can be tough to do since more and more airlines are removing first class cabins from their planes and devaluations are increasing the costs of these premium seats. But given the opportunity, the experience of flying international first class is well worth the effort. Especially when you are celebrating an engagement.

There is a fantastic new way to give the gift of education to any friend or family member. And, it’s even a method to help you pay down your student loan while earning miles and points. Gift of College is a college savings registry of sorts.
You can purchase gift cards from the company that the recipient (or you) can use to pay off a student loan, or establish or contribute to his or her existing 529 plan. For miles and points enthusiasts, it finally paves the way to earn valuable loyalty currency just for paying off your loan or helping someone else afford college. Let’s look at how the program works.

Here’s the scoop on how to earn status on an alliance and not just an airline. The oneworld alliance may be smaller the other two major ones, but its 14 members (plus 21 affiliated members) can literally take you anywhere in the populated world.
If you regularly fly on Air Berlin, American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Qantas, Iberia, Finnair, Japan Airlines, LATAM Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, Qatar Airways, Royal Jordanian, S7 Airlines, or SriLankan Airlines, it’s a safe bet that you might benefit from oneworld tier status.

You may not be a New Year’s resolution type of person, but you’ll actually do yourself a disservice if you don’t make a few promises related to your travel hacking hobby. Earning miles and points that will help whisk you and your family around the globe in style isn’t easy, and it takes planning and organization.
Before you sing “Auld Lang Syne” at the dawn of the New Year, make a few resolutions that may help you get where you want to go in the next 12 months. Here are some resolutions shared by us at RewardExpert. You may want to commit to them as well.

Did you know you can get elite status on an alliance? Well you can. Here’s how to achieve it on SkyTeam. There are 20 member airlines that make up SkyTeam Alliance: Aeroflot, Aerolíneas Argentinas, AeroMéxico, AirEuropa, Air France, Alitalia, China Airlines, China Eastern, China Southern, Czech Airlines, Delta, Garuda Indonesia, Kenya Airways, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Korean Air, Middle East Airlines, Saudia, TAROM, Vietnam Airlines, and XIAMENAIR.