I’ve gotten some pretty terrible IHG offers from IHG’s various “Accelerate” promotions (including one that required me to stay at a hotel brand with only 2 locations).
But their new Q3 Accelerate offer is actually… kind of OK (but couldn’t they come up with a different name for it? Even the URL is bland lol).
It’s not worth moving a minor mountain for or anything, but it seems I can stay at an IHG for 2 nights in September 2016 and earn an extra 35,000 IHG points.
Also see:
I’ll never forget the thrill and uncertainty of booking my first award ticket. I thought I’d show up to the airport and be turned away for not paying (or something like that). Can a flight really cost ~$11 when you book with… points?
That was a few years ago. But there’s still something so novel about booking award trips. Some of them are planned in advance, like my upcoming trip to Hawaii. And some are aspirational or in the future, like the Brussels Airlines flights I booked with Etihad miles.
Love the high desert!
Long story short, I needed to spend a couple of days in New Mexico to get some work done there. Looking at my upcoming weekends:
4 weekends = a month of plans. I started poking around and realized, holy crap, I’m gonna book this trip for next weekend!
Also see:
Holy crap, it worked – I’m going to Belgium!
I’m coming for ya, Brussels!
I found a ton of Business Class award seats between NYC and Brussels on Brussels Airlines in May and June 2017 (with a few dates in April and July available, too).
On Saturday, I transferred 37,000 Citi ThankYou points to Etihad Guest in hopes the space would remain. I checked this morning – no miles. But when I checked a few hours later, they were there!
I fired up United.com to hunt for dates:
Nearly every day in May and June 2017 still has availability
Tips: Tick “Show only nonstop flight availability” to isolate Brussels award space. And use “NYC” as the search if you want to see flights from both EWR and JFK.
Once I found the dates I wanted, I called Etihad Guest at 877-690-0767 with a pair of crossed fingers.
Also see:
When last we parted, all was happy and good. Flights for 4 people were booked to Honolulu. Then life, as it does, got in the way.
Jay went back to New York for a too-good-to-pass-up film job. That’s right – I am now in Dallas alone. *cue torrential tears*
That was a whole other wrenching experience, but it also had consequences for this planned trip.
“So no Hawaii trip?” “I can’t.” Crap.
No Honolulu for you?
I called Connexions Loyalty (the travel agency Citi uses to book flights with ThankYou points) to ask if I could transfer the ticket to my little brother. I knew it would be a long shot, but worth trying.
The best they could do was cancel the ticket and give Jay the credit – no transferring, no name-changing. Oh, and there would be a $200 fee to redeem the credit. That stung, but at least part of the ticket will be put toward eventual travel.
By the time this all shook out, I accumulated more Citi ThankYou points. And continue to earn 30,000 to 40,000 ThankYou points per month.
Then I thought, why not take my little brother anyway?
Also see:
Next month, I’m headed to Honolulu with my Mom, stepdad, and little brother. I’d been throwing around the idea of a family vacation for a while.
I haven’t been back to Hawaii since 2013.
I enjoyed my time at the Hilton Hawaiian Village so much, I swore I’d go back someday. And now that I’m all Hilton-y and have Diamond elite status, I thought my Mom would absolutely love staying here with me. So I wanted to treat her to a trip.
Nothing quite like a Hawaiian sunset
But first, to get there.
I just so happened to be casually looking for JFK-BRU Business Class award space on Brussels Airlines because that’s what Saturday mornings are for, right?
Space is open nearly every day in May and June 2017 in Business Class to AND from Brussels
I was able to find a Business Class award seat on the JFK or EWR to BRU route nearly every day in May and June 2017 (with a few dates in March and April, too).
The reason I’ve had my eye on this award is because Citi ThankYou points transfer 1:1 to Etihad Guest miles. And Etihad has a very generous award chart on this particular route.
37K round-trip in Business Class? Yes, plz!
A round-trip ticket in Business Class costs just 36,620 Etihad Guest miles. Of course, you have to transfer in increments of 1,000, so realistically this will cost 37,000 Citi ThankYou points. Which is a steal.
Look for SAVER award space
United would charge 70K miles each way, or 140,000 miles, round-trip. So you’ll save a huge number of points by booking through Etihad instead.
So here’s an idea I’ve been tossing around.
It absolutely burns me up that I’m still dealing with student loan debt. And it should. Mr. Money Mustache said it best:
YOUR DEBT IS NOT SOMETHING YOU “WORK ON”. IT IS A HUGE, FLAMING EMERGENCY!!!
I’ve put off paying down this debt because there have been other opportunities to earn more: I bought a house, maxed out my IRA, started Airbnbs, and now I’m looking at buying a duplex in the DFW area.
All of these things either appreciate or earn more than the interest I pay on my student loans.
But I’ll be damned if carrying that balance doesn’t give me a red rump.
Also see:
Update: The old 50K offer is still available! I’d apply sooner rather than later if you want it. It also says you’ll get AA lounge access still.
Update: Peeps on Reddit are reporting the 2 cent valuation, too. Who knows if Citi will honor this – it does seem like a careless typo after all, which is honestly inexcusable for a bank of their size.
Welp, the dreaded changes to Citi Prestige are in:
I’m guessing they had to axe the AA lounge access because of upcoming arrangements between Citi and Barclays with AA cards. That is fine. They could’ve been much worse.
Also see:
I made a test payment to my student loan company through Plastiq and earned 3X Citi ThankYou points with the Citi AT&T Access More card.
I’ve written how easy it is to boost your ThankYou points balance by paying rent and mortgages via Plastiq with that card.
Literally the devil
And now, there’s another way to earn Citi ThankYou points if you need to make student loan payments.
It’s here – Amazon Prime Day. I was excited to see what Amazon would do today (July 12th, 2016) after the disappointing selection last year.
Prime Day is here, and it’s worth it this year
It looks good – there are many worthwhile deals for items like TVs, tablets, portable readers, clothes, even cleaning supplies.
Discounts are around 25%, with some items even more reduced. So it might be worth it to stock up – or at least see if something catches your eye today.
Peeps on Reddit posted about using Hilton points for “experiences” like:
It’s very similar to SPG Moments both in theory and application.
Use your Hilton points for lots of experiences via their online auction platform
There are lots of events on there. They’re not extremely overpriced and might be appealing to some.
I wouldn’t say like, sign-up for a Hilton card to bid on these. But if you are flush with Hilton points, it could be worth a look to see if anything strikes your fancy.
Or, “Why I’m Flying Delta Again”
In my quest to credit partner flights to earn elite status on Alaska Airlines, I’ve been focused on flying coach with American. That’s because ALL AA economy flights get 100% credit with Mileage Plan.
Welcome indeed
If economy is your preference, American is by far better than Delta – if your end goal is to earn status or redeemable miles with Alaska.
But, if you fly Business or First, Delta wins hands-down. And, it might even be worth it to fly Delta anyway.
Let’s take a look.
Hello and welcome to Out and Out! My name is Harlan – I’m a points and miles enthusiast who loves to travel. I am interested in personal finance, the power of positive thinking, and the extraordinary journeys that make life worth living.