September 27, 2014

And The Surprise Destination (Part 1) is Bali!

I posted earlier this month how I really wanted to surprise my wife with the gift of travel for our 1 year anniversary and after checking in for our flight today, I could tell Andrea was surprised to find out we are going to Bali!

Her friends for months insisted we were only going to Thailand and while I could neither confirm nor deny those guesses, I was secretly glad no one mentioned Bali as a possible destination. Andrea finally found out where we were going when the attendant checking us in asked if we wanted our bags checked all the way to Bali. The surprise and happiness on her face when she heard Bali was the destination made the whole waiting game worth it. I booked this trip last November (before United’s devaluation) so its been a tough 10 months to hold this secret but I’m glad I did.

Using 140,000 United miles each (total cost in miles roundtrip) we are flying Asiana First Class (in their new suites) from JFK to Seoul which is about 14 hours. From there, we have a 2 hour layover followed by a Asiana Business Class flight from Seoul to Bali, which is about a 7 hour flight. Definitely a long day of travel (over 23 hours) but it will be worth it in end. We are staying at the Conrad Bali for 5 nights before heading to our next destination, which I’m keeping as a surprise.

My posts will be more sporadic over the next 10 days as we celebrate our 1 year anniversary but I suggest following me on Twitter and Instagram to see all the photos and adventures we embark on.

20140927-120919.jpg

20140927-121016.jpg

September 23, 2014

Delta Awards on Sale for Elites & Delta Credit Card Members…With Tons of Restrictions

Delta announced a quick promotion in which Delta elite members or those who hold a Delta credit card can enjoy a discount on certain award redemptions. However, there are a ton of restrictions with the biggest being all awards must be booked by tonight (11:59 EST). The discount is applicable on roundtrip saver awards and the discount ranges from 4,000 miles off to 10,000 miles off based on the award (see the chart below).

DeltaAwards

The downside to this promotion is there are a TON of restrictions so this promotion might not be very useful for some. Click here for a description of all restrictions but the major ones are:

  • Must be Elite Member or Delta Credit Card Holder
  • Travel Between October 22nd and February 28 but there are a ton of blackout dates around the holidays
  • Economy class awards only
  • Flights must solely be on Delta, not their partners
  • International flights must be booked 30 days in advance AND you must stay at least 7 days (this is big bummer)

If you can deal with these restricitons, then you should be able to book these awards online at Delta.com and the website should reflect the lower price.

 

September 22, 2014

Will OpenTable Dining Rewards Points Be Redeemable for Points & Miles?

A friend of mine passed along this email below inviting him to take a survey from OpenTable about their Rewards programs and possible new redemption options, including exchanging OpenTable points for miles or hotel points. Based on the language in the email, this survey was only sent to highly select members. He is a VIP OpenTable Member while I am not so that might explain why I did not get selected for the survey.

opentable

The survey asked a lot of questions regarding the structure of the existing Dining Rewards program. Currently, members can only redeem points for dining checks to use as money off a meal at a restaurant that uses OpenTable. For example, you can redeem 2,000 OpenTable points for a $20 OpenTable Dining Check that doesn’t expire if it was issued after 7/1/14. Other than redeeming a different amount of points for a different check amount, there are no other possible ways to use OpenTable Points at the moment.

The survey wanted to gauge how interested members would be in redeeming OpenTable points for other things. Nothing really caught my friend’s eye until the survey asked how interested he would be in converting his OpenTable points to miles or hotel points. He doesn’t recall the exact ratios and which programs but he remember the exchange ratio wasn’t too great. I might hazard a guess that maybe OpenTable could allow 2,000 OpenTable points to be exchanged for say 1,000 Delta SkyMiles, which is effectively buying the miles at 2 cents each (since that same 2,000 OpenTable points is worth $20 off your next meal). Of course this ratio and example is pure speculation.

The survey also indicated he wasn’t suppose to share this information so maybe this is nothing more than simple market research and OpenTable was simply gauging the interest level of members to use their points in other ways. Or this might be a new feature they roll out in the next few months – who knows?

I’ll mark this as developing and hopefully, something to lookout for in the next few months.

September 18, 2014

Point & Center: Bonus Miles for Flying to London, Activate Chase Freedom 5% Bonus for 4th Quarter & More…

Let’s take a quick look at some of the bigger promotions and deals in the points & miles world.

1) Activate Chase Freedom for the 4th Quarter – It is now time to activate the 5% cash back (or 5x miles if you have a Chase Sapphire Preferred or Ink Bold and transfer Freedom points to those cards) feature of the Chase Freedom for the 4th quarter categories. This quarter it should be very easy to earn the full 5% cash back on the maximum $1,500 in spending, as the categories are Amazon.com and Department stores. Amazon sells literally almost anything and you could always buy gift cards for future Amazon purchases. For others, department stores will be huge once the holiday season comes rolling around. Click here to activate the 5% cash back. 

ChaseFreedom4Q

2) Fly United or Air Canada to London and Earn Up to 35,000 Bonus Miles – This tidbit will be helpful for some of my co-workers (well at least the one person in my department who gets to fly to London) as you can earn up to 35,000 bonus miles by choosing to fly United or Air Canada to London. You must register for the promotion first here, and travel by December 12th.  The only downside to this promotion is you must book a certain fare class to qualify for the promotion (see terms & conditions), which won’t be the cheapest fare. However, if you are a business traveler, you most likely are booking a qualifying fare so this promotion could be quite valuable.

United35k

3) Combine 3 Offers From TravelPony to Save Big on Hotels – A relative new player to the field of online travel agencies, TravelPony is an online hotel reservation site with over 20,000 hotels worldwide, usually at prices cheaper then Orbitz, Expedia and the actual hotel’s website. This week they are celebrating their one year anniversary by promotion a different discount code each day. For example, some of the daily deals have been 8% off hotels and save $25 on a $250+ hotel reservation. You can check back daily for the latest deal on their website and if you signup via a friend referral you get $35 off your first reservation while the person that referred you gets $35 credit as well. If you want to signup and save $35, here is my referral link. Lastly, the third offer is to use code TPSAVINGS for an additional 10-45% off (varies by hotel). You can combine all 3 offers (new member, daily deal and TPSAVINGS code) for an awesome deal on a hotel room.

travelpony