Author Archive for: travelabstract

Maximizing the Best Travel Credit Card Bonus Offers

Had a great day at the Executive Travel Summit and meeting everybody there. We had a great discussion about the future on points as a currency and the inner workings of hotel loyalty programs.

I was also introduced to a great charity aggregation and donation team called Kula. They turn unused or unwanted reward points into donations to your favorite charity. They have a massive database of 1000s of charitable and non profit organizations to choose from.

It was all good fun and I know this weekend’s FT University will bring even more misadventures and memories.

Maximize Best Travel Credit Cards

You can find all the best deals on my Best Travel Credit Card page and more airline credit cards on my Best Airline Credit Card.

It is always a good idea to dictate your own award future. Research, research, and more research. This is the best way to Maximize Travel Credit Cards and not have huge balances in programs you will never use.
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Sunday Funday: Superbowl and Faking Daily Spend

Suuuuuuuuper Bowl: How did the NY Giants make it this far? I have no idea. They…

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LDR’s and OneWorld Alliance in South America

LDR: My girlfriend is currently studying Industrial Engineering and she is finishing…

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How to Get Cheap Flights: A Frequent Flyer Programs Redemption Story

In today’s post I present a redemption option that would help you answer “Where should i go with all of those airmiles?”

We will go through the process of selecting a frequent flyer program; choosing a destination and redeeming miles for the trip.

Let’s see what itinerary we can build today.

Mileage Balance:

Today we will be using the 100,000 AAdvantage miles we earned from the nifty Citicard AA Visa/Amex double browser trick.

This opens up the oneworld alliance to use at our discretion. Airlines and their country are:

  • American Airlines (US)
  • British Airways (UK)
  • Cathay Pacific (Hong Kong)
  • Finnair (Finland)
  • Iberia (Spain)
  • Japan Airlines (Japan)
  • Malev (Hungary)
  • LAN Airlines (Chile)
  • Qantas (Australia)
  • Royal Jordanian (Jordan)
  • S7 Airlines (Russia)

Each airline also has their own network of affiliates that I did not include but you can redeem award travel on them as well.

Destination Unkown:

Where should we go?

I am really looking for a change of pace. Something completely different than what I find living in the U.S…

Beijing? Ok lets go to Beijing.

But how should we get there. Should you go direct or what?

I say we go all out and build a monster trip for minimum miles. Ready?Beijing Budget Travel Tips

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Why Using a Different Miles Program Can Change Your Trip Rewards Value

Venice Budget Travel Tips

Venice by Boat

Once you find the award ticket at the low rate you think you got it all. But if you don’t have the right frequent flyer program associated with the booking it can significantly decrease its value.

Back Story:

So about three weeks ago I redeemed 12,500 BA Avios points for EZE (Buenos Aires) JFK (New York City) one way  economy milesAAver award on American Airlines metal.

While completing the AA reservation it asks you to input your BA Avios Member number. While normally this wouldn’t be a big deal for me, this time it was.

My girlfriend is the passenger on this flight and last August she completed the AAdvantage Platinum challenge. Since this flight is on AA metal, having her Platinum status with AA be recognized increases the value of this low-level award.

As one of the perks of AA Platinum status is free access to Preferred Plus seating at the time of booking. Without access to Preferred Plus seating she was automatically seated in row 37, with it she moved to row 22. Now there are no extra amenities or goodies offered for different parts of economy but the quality of the seats locations are huge.

Another factor is the Boeing 777-200 configuration in economy class of 2-5-2. By having Platinum status she was able to avoid a seat in the dreaded middle row and also get her pick of an aisle or window in either “2″ row.

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