Articles tagged with: Loyalty Program
Hotel Credit Cards, Hotel Points »
In continuation to my ever popular post on 10 Reasons why Starwood is the Best Loyalty Program, here are 10 more reasons:
Ability to book Airline Award tickets even when award inventory is not available. Airlines treat tickets booked via Starwood as revenue tickets and not award tickets.
Earn airline miles on award tickets booked via Starwood. As I mentioned above, airlines treat these as regular revenue tickets.
Ability to book one-way airline award tickets.
They did not raise their redemption rates like Hilton did in 2010!
Award hotel stays are actually free! There are …
Airline Miles, Credit Cards »
Why do I have to pay for my ‘Free’ Award Ticket?
One unique feature about the Free awards airlines give is that they are not really ‘Free’. While Hotels give absolutely free stays when they give awards, airlines charge you when redeeming Airline Miles.
The cost of redeeming miles should be taken into consideration when one is planning to redeem miles for free awards.
Here are a few:
Taxes:
Yes, Uncle Sam and all the other uncles, aunts and second cousins twice removed, who represent governments all around the world; want their cut when you …
Airline Miles, Economics of Airline Miles »
In the first three parts of this series on the Economics of Airline Miles I discussed: The Value of Airline Miles (Part I), The Value of Elite Status (Part II) and How to Maximize Airline Miles Earnings (Part III). In this fourth part of this ongoing series, I will go into the topic of how to effectively redeem your airline miles. Once you have earned all the miles by focussing your earnings, the eventual goal is to redeem these miles for rewards and awards from the airlines.
Remember, at the end …
Airline Miles, Airlines »
Airline miles you earn are an asset. They represent a reward owed to you by the airline whose program you have earned the miles on. If that airline goes thru a merger, acquisition or bankruptcy, it can adversely affect the value of or even existence of all your hard earned miles. This article takes a look at airline mergers, acquisitions and bankruptcies and how they can affect your airline miles.
In today’s turbulent economic times, we are seeing the airline industry go thru serious consolidation. Just in the US, Frontier Airlines …
Airline Miles, Airlines »
Southwest, AirTran, JetBlue, Ryan Air (Europe), IndiGo (India) – these are all low cost airlines that are focussed on giving cheap airfares with no frills. One of the frills they do not offer is a decent Frequent Flyer program. In some cases there is no program at all. I hence do not fly them. As I mentioned in my article on Maximizing Airline Mile earnings (Part 3 in my series on Economics of Airline Miles), if you have a goal to maximize the airline miles you earn, you should only …
Airline Credit Cards, Airline Miles »
How to get Airline Miles for Free?
I have written multiple articles that deal with earning miles by flying. These include – How to Maximize Airline Miles and How to Maximize Status Miles. If I look at all the miles I have earned over the years, more miles actually come from non-flying activities than I have earned by putting myself on a plane. Here are some ways to get miles without flying or without spending any money other than what you were going to spend anyway:
Get a Credit Card:
Probably the easiest …
Airline Credit Cards, Airline Miles, Elite Status »
How to Maximize Elite Status Miles
In my last article I talked about How to Maximize your Airline Miles. But as I discussed in my article on the Value of Elite status, while earning award miles is great, earning status miles and hence qualifying for different Elite levels is where all the real returns begin. I also talked about the how and what of Elite status in detail in another article. In this article I shall cover some tips and techniques that can help you maximize your Elite Status Miles and …
Airline Credit Cards, Airline Miles, Economics of Airline Miles »
How to Maximize Airline Mile Earnings
In my previous articles in the series ‘Economics of Airline Miles’ I covered the Value of Airline Miles in part 1 and the Value of Elite Status in part 2. Continuing in the series, in this article I will discuss practical tips on how to maximize the airline miles you earn. As I mentioned in part 1 of this series, your airline miles are an asset. Treat your collection of airline mile accounts like a portfolio. To borrow a quote from the greatest portfolio owner …
Airline Miles, Elite Status »
In my last article – The Value of Elite Status, I discussed why you should have a goal to be an Elite on the airline program you earn miles on. I discussed the benefits airlines offer to their Elite Customers. This article was Part 2 of my series on the Economics of Airline Miles. In Part 1 I talked about the value of Airline Miles. In this article, I am taking a break from that series to do an in-depth description of what Elite Status is and how you qualify …
Airline Miles, Economics of Airline Miles, Elite Status »
The Value of Elite Status
As I mentioned in part 1 of this series on the ‘Economics of Airline Miles – The Value of Airline Miles‘, to me the most valuable miles I earn are status miles (EQM). That does not mean that award miles (RDM) are unimportant to me, but earning Elite Status is a critical goal. If I earn Elite status, earning award miles will become easier too, as I will talk about in this post. The benefits of Elite Status are tremendous and worth a lot to you …
