Advice re: Frequent Flier miles and usage?

[smiles33]

Can some of the more seasoned travelers share your frequent flier mileage strategies? I tried to wade into the Flyertalk forum but it's a bit overwhelming and they have separate forums for each airline. I think my questions are more about maximizing value as we don't rack up miles via business travel. I travel for business on Southwest 2-3/year and our family only travels by air 1-2/year. Thus, many times our miles just expire (e.g., we take a trip to Maui on Alaska Airlines because the price was right, but then the next trip is on Hawaiian since they had a cheaper flight, so those Alaska miles expired). There's no way we will travel enough to gain status on any one airline.

We do put almost everything on credit cards, with the full balance paid off monthly, so we rack up a lot of Chase points (which I've used for booking flights through the Chase portal or transferred into United miles when I did a mileage upgrade on a trip to Asia).

1. Do you try to only book on one airline even if it's slightly more expensive? Do you try to stay within one "network" (like Star Alliance which includes United, Air Canada, and Singapore Air)?

2. If you stay within one network, how do you decide which airline should get "credit" for your miles?

3. How do you maximize your credit card usage to get points? Is it worth getting a card just so the miles don't expire? Isn't there an issue with having too many credit cards?

4. I have about 180K United miles because I wasn't able to get off the waitlist to upgrade our flights to Italy last year. They expire in 2020. How would you suggest we best use them? I looked for Singapore, which is our plan for Feb. 2020, but they don't have good options for using miles to get to Singapore (e.g., can't upgrade if you use miles for the Economy tickets and I don't want to be stuck in economy for 17 hours, no option for miles to get into Premium Economy, and there's a waitlist if you want to use miles to try and upgrade to Business). if I deposit more Chase points (like 1,000 points), does the expiration date extend further because new activity has happened?

Thanks in advance!

[♥ms.pacman♥]

I have Gold status on AA. In my case it’s easier bc I am in DFW so most of the time American Airlines has cheapest flight anywhere (at least domestically- I rarely do overseas travel). I have some miles on United too but not much as it only gets used once a year if that

I honestly though wouldn’t bother keeping track of miles on multiple airlines. THe blackout dates and the number of miles u need for certain dates is just ridiculous. Especially with school age kids where u tend to be limited to peak season travel

Also - on the expiry - for some airlines u don’t actually have to fly to consider “active “ - in the past DH has purchased a magazine (online) to keep the miles so they don’t expire.

ETA; I totally agree with sticking to one airline to get status and associated perks. I am so spoiled now that I have gold which is nothing these days but way better than nothing I maybe travel once a month but have TSA precheck plus gold status so free checked bags plus priority boarding, same day standby etc which are all invaluable to me now. It is worth it to me to have it all on one airline just to get the perks. This is one of the many reasons I won’t fly Spirit airlines or Frontier or whatever even though they may be cheap for certain flights - they totally nickel and dime you and it’s not worth it IMO

[Zansu]

I stick to one airline (AA) because I have status, which makes traveling slightly more pleasant. Free bags, better seats, early boarding, etc. I fly WN (Southwest) occasionally.

If I fly partner airlines, I credit my miles to AA because I redeem awards on AA. You will get to an award faster if all of your miles are credited to one airline. I have random miles on most of the airlines.

I have the Chase Sapphire Reserve card and the AA Citibank card. All restaurant and travel spending, other than purchase of AA flights, goes on Chase. The good part about redeeming Chase Ultimate Rewards is that the flights earn miles (most airline awards do not). If Citibank runs a promo, I will put the targeted purchases on the AA card.

To use your miles, you need a tool like Expert Flyer. I've paid for it for years, and it is worth every penny. For family trips, I'm coordinating awards in coach and business, plus purchased fares, from multiple cities (our vacations are always complicated). Expert Flyer allows you to see when awards are available.

I'm not a United flier, so I can't help with specific suggestions. I keep my United miles alive by occasionally purchasing through the United shopping portal. IME, transferring points/miles into you FF account is an activity and will extend the life of your points.

FlyerTalk is an invaluable resource. Look at the stickies on the top of the pages for the newbie threads.

[frugalmom]

We have the same amount of United Miles and were saving them for a trip for next year. There just came out some really bad news on their mileage program. Basically now points are not going to be worth as much.

https://thepointsguy.com/news/united...g-award-chart/


https://thepointsguy.com/guide/unite...ed-new-prices/

[Globetrotter]

Southwest has a very user-friendly rewards program. DH travels frequently on Southwest so we get several frequent flights a year, including east coast travel from California. It’s very easy to book And even change timings at the last minute without any fees, so for that reason it’s been a great asset for us. Unfortunately, long-distance flights usually involve a layover, though I have found flights that just stop in one place where you don’t have to get off During the layover because the plane continues on to the destination. DH is usually an A-list preferred, which means he gets additional benefits Like 100% earning bonus!, but that does require very frequent travel.

DH and I collected American miles for several years, including his frequent business travel and points racked up for hotel stays etc. but after years of saving, all we could get was four flights to the East Coast and We had to fly on Christmas Day. There were always too many blackout dates to make it useful, as those dates would coincide with school holidays, and if we were to use miles for those days, we would end up Using a lot more.

It’s Probably a good idea to get a credit card that’s affiliated With the airline. My brother has one and they never pay baggage fees, which is handy. They use their miles for upgrades rather than booking tickets. I get overwhelmed with the option so I’ve never committed to one.

As someone else stated, you don’t have to fly to keep the account active. You can usually trigger activity by earning miles with shopping or using the miles to buy a gift card or something like that.

[frugalmom]

Yes, if you transfer Chase points to United it keeps the miles from expiring .

Here are other ways.

https://thepointsguy.com/guide/keep-...from-expiring/

[smiles33]

Thanks everyone! This is really helpful. This makes so much more sense. I'm thinking I will switch our upcoming September flight (on Singapore Air in the Star Alliance network) to credit our United account to keep those miles alive. We are more likely to use miles to upgrade to Premium Economy or Business than try to get a free flight, as those free flights are very difficult to get and our dates are rigid.

Since we don't plan to fly international again after Feb. 2020 (and we mostly use Southwest), I don't think I'm going to get the United credit card. I just want to try to use the miles we do have for an upgrade to Premium Economy or Business. But before I do this, I'll head to Flyertalk to ask the Singapore Air experts if I can use United miles to upgrade on Singapore Air.

[frugalmom]

It sounds like you can do the upgrade on that flight.


Upgrading on Partner Airlines
MileagePlus members can request upgrades on United partner Star Alliance airlines from economy to business or first class (on 2 class planes) and business class to first class depending on the partner airline’s seat availability.

United has 26 Star Alliance partners who participate in mileage upgrades, and upgrades for most partner airlines may be requested up to 331 days before departure for up to 4 travelers on the same reservation.

To request a Star Alliance upgrade with miles, you must first book your ticket, access the reservation on United.com, then request the upgrade under redeem upgrade as you would with a normal United reservation.

For complete rules, terms, and conditions for upgrades on Star Alliance partner airlines, visit the United Airlines website.


taken from
https://upgradedpoints.com/how-to-up...nited-airlines

[frugalmom]

It sounds like you can do the upgrade on that flight.


Upgrading on Partner Airlines
MileagePlus members can request upgrades on United partner Star Alliance airlines from economy to business or first class (on 2 class planes) and business class to first class depending on the partner airline’s seat availability.

United has 26 Star Alliance partners who participate in mileage upgrades, and upgrades for most partner airlines may be requested up to 331 days before departure for up to 4 travelers on the same reservation.

To request a Star Alliance upgrade with miles, you must first book your ticket, access the reservation on United.com, then request the upgrade under redeem upgrade as you would with a normal United reservation.

For complete rules, terms, and conditions for upgrades on Star Alliance partner airlines, visit the United Airlines website.


taken from
https://upgradedpoints.com/how-to-up...nited-airlines

[hwin708]

I fly a lot and use points a lot for personal international travel, because I really don't like flying long haul economy, and international first/business prices are offensive to my soul lol.

I only stick with a single airline for business. For personal travel, I go with whatever flight works best. My local airport is large, but it is not a hub, so I usually end up with a layover for most international travel. No way I am picking a 6 hour layover in order to stay with my airline of choice. Personally, I only find airline status to really be worth it at the highest tiers. The lower tier status rarely has upgrades available, and the perks are all things you could easily get with a $95/year credit card. And for international travel, there is a HUGE difference in terms of what is the best partner airline to fly depending on location, not to mention awards availability for that destination. I wouldn't want to be locked into United miles for Australia, for instance, because I would want a Qantas flight. Whereas I prefer to have United miles when I am booking last minute to Europe. So unless you are flying enough to hit platinum, don't bother sticking with one airline

The easiest way, by far, to rack up miles is with credit card sign-up bonuses. I usually open a couple of new cards a year. I have great credit, and pay off my cards immediately, so this works fine for me. Obviously, it is not a good plan for someone trying to pay off credit card debt. The cards usually come with some kind of spending minimum (i.e. spend $2,000 in the first 3 months to earn 50,000 miles), which I hit easily and quickly. Some waive the fee for the first year, so there is literally no cost for this at all, and you just have to make a note to cancel the card before the fee is due the next year (I never remember, and always just cancel when the fee hits the bill and they refund it). Some cards have a fee, which is minimal in comparison to the value of the miles.

In regards to airline miles expiring, you just have to do SOMETHING with your miles to keep them from expiring for another year. That includes simply earning miles, as few as a single mile. I shop online a lot, so this is super easy for me. Most airlines have shopping portals similar to ebates. Just click through their shopping portal before making a purchase, and earn miles for your purchase. And now your miles are safe for another year.