Crack the code of airline and hotel loyalty programs to earn enough points and miles for award airfare and accommodation.
Valentine’s Day is tomorrow, but it’s not too late to get something shipped overnight. Chocolate and flowers are a safe bet for your special someone, but this year give a gift that your frequent flyer will really love. It’s okay to throw in some candy and flowers too!
After my stay on Koh Samui, I took Cathay Pacific to get home to New York. The airlines six-seat first class cabin comes complete with gourmet food, top-shelf drinks, and over-the-top service. The carrier gives the word pampering a new meaning. Its first class service always ranks high on surveys that rank those kind of things.
I flew Bangkok Airways to my second stop in Thailand: Koh Samui. It’s the country’s second-biggest island and a major tourist destination. It’s served by Samui International Airport (USM), a facility dominated by Bangkok Airways.
After Siem Reap on the first leg of my Southeast Asia trip, my next hop was to Bangkok. Just like the next two stopovers (Koh Samui and Phuket) it was a flight on Bangkok Air, which has the best economy class of all airlines I’ve ever flown.
Most people go to Siem Reap in Cambodia to see the temples of Angkor Wat–the largest religious monument in the world. The Buddhist temple complex draws half the visitors that come to the country.
There are two traits needed  if you want to excel at booking free airline award tickets and hotel rooms on points. The first is the knack for planning in advance sometimes up to an entire year. The second trait is the opposite: the flexibility to take advantage of spur-of-the-moment opportunities like booking a trip at the last minute within weeks or even days of departure.
London and Paris are two of the most popular European cities and so close it is very easy to visit both in one trip. They have history, architecture, and nightlife to offer tourists. And they have another thing in common. They are very accessible from several frequent flyer programs.
With temperatures hitting record lows, you might be wishing you had a Caribbean island getaway planned. You may be lamenting that you missed out, but you haven’t yet. There are still plenty of seats on flights to Caribbean islands that you can snag with your miles.
Do you know where you’re going on vacation this year? Now is the time to start planning!
I just got a free one-way ticket to Cancun in first class. I paid zero for it in cash or miles. I just used an airline stopover rule in an unorthodox way. It’s perfectly legit.
As an avid collector of miles and points, it won’t take long before you notice something: frequent program devaluations. Changes to award rates happen occasionally in some programs and all too often in others. You’ve got to be aware of what’s going on in the loyalty travel market so you can best utilize the miles and points you’ve earned.
Among travel hackers, elite status is a badge of honor. For business travelers, it’s a reward for miles logged and a key to sanity via upgrades and special treatment.
If your imagination were the only limit, where would you go?
A secluded island getaway with private access to a crystal clear lagoon from your glass-bottom villa floating over the warm tropical water?
I love to travel on miles and points. I’ve been fortunate enough to find great values and visit places I wouldn’t be able to afford were it not for frequent flyer and hotel loyalty programs.
I want to tell you a little secret about the airline industry.
About booking flights in particular.
Shhhh…come closer.
The best time to book flights is not when the inventory first loads!
I know, it’s so counterintuitive you don’t believe me.
It’s no secret that credit card sign-up bonuses are the fastest and easiest ways to earn miles and points. However, opening up a dozen credit card accounts is fraught with problems if you’re not organized. Playing the points and miles game is only a good idea if you have excellent credit (730 or higher), you pay off your credit card balances monthly, never miss a payment and are organized enough to keep track of annual card renewal dates.
My husband is an academic, which means he’s invited to conferences in truly awesome places all the time.
Skiing in the Sierra Nevada Mountains in Spain coupled with a tour of Alhambra in Grenada, the tapas capital, anyone? A week in Tenerife in the Canary Islands? Or perhaps culture capitals like Barcelona, Budapest, and Beijing?
Ever since American Airlines has come out of bankruptcy, they can’t stop talking about the new American. New planes! New amenities! And now: a host of new routes, hubs, and aircraft courtesy of the American Airlines-US Airways merger.
This is the ideal time of year to donate to your favorite charities. The holidays are upon us and it’s natural to give thanks for all we have and to want to help those who are less fortunate. Many nonprofits could really use an infusion of goodwill as the year comes to an end.
With Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday behind us, you just can’t hide. It’s time to do your holiday shopping. For miles and points hounds, picking up stocking stuffers and more expensive gifts offers a lucrative opportunity to earn rewards.
