I hope everyone is having a great holiday and we wish you a very Happy New Year! Our resolutions are for more points, more upgrades and most importantly, for more travels to more cool destinations with friends and family. Before you start to celebrate, here are some cool things we curated off the frequent flyer interwebs this week that you may find interesting.
Advice of the week:
- The 8 best Delta SkyMiles award redemptions via View from the Wing. Got SkyMIles? Then read this post on how you can get the most value on SkyMiles award ticket redemptions. I have around 200K SkyMiles I really need to redeem as there are rumors that their program is going to change soon (and not for the better). Alaska Airlines redemption to SEA is interesting as you can get to Whistler, B.C. where the snow is tiptop this ski season. I didn’t think of that one. Asia awards are far more glamorous if you have both the points and the time. Hmmm…
- Insights from a credit card churn via Delta Points. What happens when you apply for four bonus points credit cards at the same time? For the folks at Delta Points it’s four approvals and 150,000+ frequent flyer miles and points with various providers. Delta Points says they apply for 10+ cards per year (I assume per person?), I personally do half that and typically only when the offer is 50,000+ but it’s always fun to read these stories.
- Thinking about a mileage award ticket to Europe this summer? Book it now! via MileValue. Summer award availability is out there, people, but it’s not going to last. Consider making a booking now if you want to score some saver availability. More tips inside this post.
- How to take advantage of “Fifth Freedom” Flights via Hack My Trip. Great post on how you can score some great premium cabin opportunities on 5th freedom flights with a larger lesson inside about how to use Google to easily find out who flies from where to where. What’s a 5th freedom flight? It’s a flight on a foreign airline that you can board in one country and travel to another country (e.g. LHR-LAX on Air New Zealand. While the flight continues on to New Zealand you can buy/redeem/fly just the LHR-LAX portion). Find out more here.
- Ins and Outs of the Chase Ultimate Rewards Shopping Portal via Mommy Points. I don’t think anyone understands how to earn points and miles for online shopping like Mommy Points does. Read her tips here.
News of the week:
- Skyteam can now take you to the Maldives via Korean Air via One Mile at a Time. Speaking of SkyMiles award redemptions, how about the Maldives? Skyteam partner Korean Air is launching new service from Seoul to the Maldives starts 03/09/13. Lucky shows you how you can get there.
- United blocks AwardWallet Access via The Points Guy. United joins Delta Air Lines and American Airlines in blocking access to AwardWallet to scrape mileage balance information. It’s a bummer and while I love AwardWallet you still have to do the legwork yourself to truly stay organized.
- Register for double your HHonors promotion at Hilton. Running 01/07/13 through 03/31/13 you can earn double points for eligible Hilton stays. Not the best deal, but not the worst either.
Program changes of the week:
- Aerolineas Argentinas will status match AA AAdvantage Elites via Hack My Trip. Skyteam partner Aerolineas Argentinas is running a status match for various programs including AA’s AAdvantage program. If you have Platinum or Executive Platinum status w/AA you can get Oro or Platino status on Aerolinas Argentinas (AR). Why does this matter if you don’t fly frequently in South America? It matters because you can use some of these elite benefits (priority boarding, preferred seats, free checked bag) when you are flying Delta. That’s interesting. I also found it interesting that status is on a rolling 12 month basis… could be interesting if the offer stands later into the year, I think.
Photo Credit: willamcho/flickr. Location: Singapore
