Spirit Airlines announced its revamped loyalty program, Free Spirit. One of the new features is sharing points among eight other travelers. Here’s how to pool points with Spirit Airlines. If you are considering booking travel or signing up for a new...
JetBlue’s TrueBlue Redemption Sweet Spot
JetBlue’s loyalty program, TrueBlue has a redemption sweet spot and I am looking forward to utilizing it but it may not be everyone’s top choice. If you are considering booking travel or signing up for a new credit card please click...
Hilton’s Status Promotion So Valuable, De-Values Credit Credit
Hilton has introduced a status promotion that’s so valuable, it makes their extremely valuable credit card less so. Here’s why. If you are considering booking travel or signing up for a new credit card please click here. Both support LiveAndLetsFly.com. If you...
Why Aren’t More Airlines Discounting Awards?
With flight loads down a minimum of 50% even after schedule reductions, why aren’t airlines discounting frequent flyer awards? If you are considering booking travel or signing up for a new credit card please click here. Both support LiveAndLetsFly.com. If you haven’t followed us...
American Airlines Pushes Credit Cards Then Closes Accounts
American Airlines has begun to excommunicate members for signing up for their credit card offers. But what’s the whole story and do they have the right to do it? If you are considering booking travel or signing up for a new...
Truth: Airline Miles Bridge Gap Between Rich And Poor
Our friend and syndicated columnist Christopher Elliott is out with his latest column, once again waging class warfare on the divide between economy class and the premium cabins. As usual, he couldn’t be more wrong. The Contention: First Class Is Unnecessarily Nice...
Bonvoyed: Deceptive Redemption Prices Frustrate, Annoy
Marriott’s new Bonvoy program has not been the success CEO Arne Sorenson has suggested it is. Bonvoy’s award redemption nights don’t just deceive members, they also frustrate and annoy them. If you are considering booking travel or signing up for a...
Why Don’t You Earn Points on Missed Non-Refundable Reservations
Prepaid and non-refundable hotel stays and flights don’t mind keeping your money when you can’t make the trip, but why do they withhold the points too? If you are considering booking travel or signing up for a new credit card please click here. Both...
Who’s Excited About IHG Promotions? Nobody, Apparently
The purpose of offering a promotion is to gain interaction, drive incremental sales, and engage a customer base. But when your promotion is so bad that customers don’t respond, why run one at all? If you are considering booking travel or signing...
Banks Should Let You Switch Credit Card Products
I have more than my fair share of credit cards, a hazard of the miles and points game. As I mature in this hobby, I have found that some banks don’t let customers switch credit card products but should. ...
Banks May Force United, Others To Change Loyalty Programs
Airlines are dependent on banks to buy award miles with exclusive credit card deals but at least one relationship (Chase and United Airlines) is struggling. Could this be the moment that airlines reverse course? If you are considering booking travel or signing...
Should You Be Worried About Your LifeMiles? They Don’t Think So
LifeMiles, the loyalty program from Colombian carrier, Avianca issued an email this week to reassure members that their miles are safe. But are your LifeMiles safe? I’m not so sure and, clearly, neither is Avianca. If you are considering booking travel or signing...
Iberia Bungled My Avios Balance, Risk It or Leave It?
As part of Iberia’s excellent Avios promotion, I earned 90,000 Avios for less than $400. However, despite following the promotion, I have a negative balance and a booked trip. I can’t decide if I should leave it negative or...
The Power of Points Is Freedom, Not Just Savings
The true power of miles and points is not in saving travelers money, but in offering them freedom. On a recent trip, we made a change in plans and decided on a whim to visit the Cayman Islands for...
Reasons to Embrace Hyatt’s Category 8 Redemptions
The party line for travel bloggers and point enthusiasts is that any potential devaluation is a bad thing, but I am not so sure that in Hyatt’s case it’s true. I have some reasons to embrace Hyatt’s coming Category...
Affordable: A Year In Bali On Points
Hotel and airline loyalty programs offer beautiful destinations for little to nothing out of pocket. They also offer some destinations for very few points, but rarely do the two converge. In the case of Bali, however, they do. Here’s...
Hidden In Plain Sight: Hyatt Globalists Points Worth More
As a World of Hyatt Globalist, I have been missing a value enhancement to my World of Hyatt points that were hiding in plain sight. The following corrects that notion. If you are considering booking travel or signing up for a...
Counterpoint: Turning Chase’s JetBlue “Lemon” Into Lemonade
Matthew wrote a piece discussing the removal of Chase Ulitmate Rewards partner Korean Air SkyPass and the addition of JetBlue TrueBlue was the equivalent of a car dealer selling a “lemon.” I emphatically disagree, and here’s why I am...
All The Hotel Points In The World Can’t Beat This Airbnb
We fell in love with Mérida, Mexico before we even landed. With several million hotel points we could have had our pick from just about anywhere, so why did we spend money on an Airbnb when we could have...
The Beguiling and Sometimes Accurate Freddie Awards
My wife and I recently attended the 2018 Freddies Awards for loyalty programs. The winners and losers were both predictable and confounding depending on the award. Some made perfect sense while others left the room gasping. Which ones made...