Whenever people find out about my involvement in this “hobby”, one of the first questions that comes up is, “what credit card should I get?”, or some variant of that. And really, my advice to almost everyone is that they should just focus on cashback credit cards. 2% cashback is probably a better value for…
In 2017, I flew 99,238 miles, which is the first time since 2012 that I haven’t crossed the 100k miles mark. Surprisingly, in spite of using miles for many of my long-haul trips, I somehow qualified for American Airlines Platinum status (thanks mostly to the Qatar business class fare out of Vietnam). This isn’t really…
2016 has been a great year, but relatively quieter for me in the travel department. I only flew 106,505 butt-in-seat miles, and I’ve stopped chasing status on airlines. While Alaska maintains an interesting loyalty program, many of the ways I (ab)used the other frequent flyer programs are no longer that accessible, which drastically changes the value proposition…
You know it’s bad when even mainstream media outlets like the New York Times are writing about a credit card and the buzz it’s generating. (In full disclosure, I applied and was approved for a Chase Sapphire Reserve card) All I’ll say right now is that you should get on the gravy train while it…
I’m currently staying at the Danna Langkawi, a hotel that–at least according to its Trip Advisor reviews–should have outstanding customer service. I haven’t had what I consider an outstanding experience so far, which has made me think a bit about what I think makes service good vs great vs outstanding. First, there’s a matter of…
I’ve got a trip to Southeast Asia planned for later this summer, and I was planning on flying Qatar’s and Etihad’s A380s in first class on the way back. I’d fly BKK-DOH-AUH-JFK, giving me a chance to hit up Qatar’s and Etihad’s new first class lounges as well. But Qatar keeps changing the aircraft for…
2015 was a year of big changes for me: I quit my job, moved across the country, and started the next chapter of my life. Because of these changes, my travel patterns changed pretty drastically, but I still had the opportunity to travel quite a bit. I flew 137,179 miles this year, although over 80%…
Let’s take a hypothetical example. Imagine that there’s a hotel that retails for $500 a night. Alternatively, you can pay 15k points a night to cover the cost. These points are flexible points and could otherwise be redeemed at a minimum value of 1 cent per point as a statement credit. Now, let’s also say…
Apparently, one of my posts has consistently reappeared on the BoardingArea front page over the past couple of months. First, let me say that I have no direct control over what appears on the BoardingArea front page. My blog is not even a BoardingArea blog (I am a lesser Prior2Boarding blog), so the only times…
The SPG Amex card has long been a staple in the travel hacking world. People love their SPG points, as well as their Starwood status. SPG points are one of the hardest points currencies to accrue given that you can only earn points either by staying in hotels or earning 1x on the credit card,…
