PointsHoarder

Did you know that there are only three ways to earn points? Reading a thread on MilePoint a couple weeks ago, that was one of the views presented. As Gary has listed, the three ways to accumulate miles/points are thru' your own spend (both personal and any business owned), reimbursement of business travel expenses (if you have any) charged to your personal cards and CC churn. Imagine my surprise when I presented the suggestion that actually getting on a plane and flying somewhere might be a way to earn points, only to find out that's not considered reasonable by many. Apparently I've been doing it wrong all these years. That's just one of the topics we discuss in this episode of PointsHoarder. Also on the agenda, some big news from oneworld with Malaysian Airlines joining the alliance. Good news on the redemption front, especially with first class inventory on their A380s and decent regional coverage and Kangaroo Route options. Not so great when it comes to earning points on discounted fares though. We talk about TAM and their reasonably limited award inventory. The good news, however, is that it isn't quite as limited as I initially thought; I actually have another post about that with the raw data here. Finally, a bit more on the 787 grounding and out outlook on its chances of getting back up in the air anytime soon. Both Fozz and I are supposed to be on the inaugural DEN-NRT flight and that isn't looking too promising these days. Show notes: Malaysian Airlines Joins OneWorld - Mileage Accrual The 787s are still grounded, but Boeing is looking to run some test flights; uncertainty over the Denver-Tokyo inaugural TAM's Award Availability - Limited seats, but it could be worse Only 3 Ways to earn miles You can subscribe to the podcast in iTunes or to the podcast feed.

We're baaaaack! Sorry we missed an episode cycle a couple weeks ago; it turns out that coordinating a recording from Burma, Bali and the USA was just too much, even for us. But we're back and diving head first back in to the PointsHoarder world for 2013 with a great new episode, recorded live from Budapest, Hungary. In this week's episode we've got our take on the new American Airlines livery, some more thoughts on the Delta/Virgin Atlantic deal (Fozz felt left out missing the discussion last time) and we discuss the changes to Starwood's Cash & Points award chart and what that devaluation might mean to you. We also take on Delta's MQD's, the new spend requirement which is part of their Medallion elite program starting in 2014 for the 2015 program year. We also share some stories about why we were all in Budapest to record the episode and the fun to be had with points, lines, upgrades, weather and crazy itineraries for what should have just been a simple trip to Europe. Alas, only one of us did it the easy way. And one of us used Ryanair as part of the adventure. Can you guess which did which before listening?? Also, we'd like to thank our friend and producer, Rolo. He stepped in with some quick facts to keep us from giving you false information. Enjoy the show! Show notes: American Airlines has a new livery Delta, Virgin Atlantic tie up Medallion Qualifying Dollars for 2014/2015 SPG Cash & Points redemption rates changing Good food and beer in Bratislava, Slovakia You can subscribe to the podcast in iTunes or to the podcast feed.

Dear 2012: So long, and thanks for all the incredible experiences! This week's episode is a (relatively) quick trip down memory lane for the PointsHoarder crew. We're talking about a few quick news pieces (Air China is going to fly to Houston and Virgin America is going to fly to Newark) but that's not the real focus of the show. Instead we decided to take a look back at 2012 and recount some of the high points of the year, both from a personal and points-world perspective. Both Stephan and I got to fly our longest flights ever, for example, in 2012. And there were a few great deals, mistake fares and other promotions which made the year rather memorable. In some cases the deals which weren't honored became bigger stories than those which were. Not so sure that's a good thing, particularly in light of the United 4-miler deal, but that's what we saw. Alliances grew and shrank, a few airlines went out of business and some came quite close. There were new aircraft, new routes and new elite levels. There were new union contracts, bankruptcy court rulings and some pretty incredible fare wars launched. All in all, a tremendous year. Give the episode a listen to run it through in just over a half hour. And check out the stats for all three of us (interestingly, on three different services), too: Fozz on FlightDiary Stephan on FlightMemory Seth on OpenFlights Show Notes: January: I visited four countries in four days on a one-way award ticket and I took a shower in the sky February: Malev shuts down in bankruptcy March: Singapore Air opened up partner award seats on nearly all their flights so I flew Newark-Singapore AirBerlin joins oneworld Virgin America added partners United integrated their PSS post-merger to a single platform; it sortof went ok April: AirTran and Southwest points became fungible The Istanbul fare wars started May: Lawsuit filed over United's Million Miler Lifetime benefits United's Denver-Tokyo service announced, including the mistake fare PointsHoarder launched, probably the biggest news of the year! RGN fares became popular, including DoT enforcement and the honoring of the fares, at least in round one June: Lufthansa puts the 747-8i into service and I was on board Hawaiian Airlines launches JFK - Honolulu and United launches Honolulu-Dulles Copa and Avianca/Taca join Star Alliance For the second time in 2012 Singapore Air award inventory is wide open to partners July: Both Virgin America and JetBlue announce Elite Levels in their programs The infamous United 4 Miler mistake award rate is exposed, then mostly canceled, creating one of the uglier scenes in mistake fare history that I can recall August: Aerolineas Argintina joins SkyTeam United 787 service announced American Airlines and their pilots see a contract tossed, setting the stage for the mess which will be the early Fall operational issues El Al puts up a Tel Aviv mistake fare which is honored September: United Expert mode disappeared and reappeared United's first 787 is delivered Southwest international flights contracts signed with FAs Air Canada's revised Altitude elite program details released October: UA adjusts the 787 schedules for the first of many times Alitalia "free" flights with JYP 25000 coupons; some honored Global alliance shakeup with middle-east carriers, including the Emirate-Qantas deal (this actually happened in September, not October) and Qatar indicating they'll join oneworld. November: UA actually flies the 787 Hawaiian Air cuts the Virgin Atlantic award opportunity Hipmunk supports ITA (we talked about it, too!) December: Delta buys 49% of Virgin Atlantic Virgin America to serve Newark, and United responded Long Beach opens a new terminal Pilot contracts signed by American and United

Welcome to episode 17 of the PointsHoarder podcast. This time around we're talking a lot about hotels. Why? Because three major chains all made changes to their policies in the past few weeks. Hilton, Hyatt and Priority Club all changed their rules, either related to qualifying for status or the benefits received. Most folks would consider them "enhancements" to the programs, though Stephan tries to convince us that they might be good changes. I'm not buying it. We also spend some time talking about American Airlines, their newly inked and ratified deal with their pilots and the relative stability of American versus US Airways outside of a merger. At the time of the recording we had no idea that JetBlue would take our suggestion and go after US Air in their Philly hub; the new Philly-Boston service was just announced that this morning. Show Notes Updated Hilton Honors Elite Status qualification rates Hyatt Platinum Extras going away Priority Club elite status changes AA/US - Merger Talks American reaches an agreement with pilots You can subscribe to the podcast in iTunes or to the podcast feed.

So, who is to blame when a deal dies? That debate is all the rage these days and it seems that the discussions quickly lead to rage, at least amongst some participants. There's money to be made - LOTS of money - from credit card sign-ups and many bloggers are big in that space these days. But are they to blame for deals ending abruptly? After all, if they kill a deal then they stop making money because the deal they're "selling" is dead. It is an interesting situation and one that we take a rather calmer approach to discussing. Also on this week's episode, how to combine ITA's search query syntax with the flight search site hipmunk.com to build a better mileage run. Plus new routes and delayed aircraft deliveries. Good stuff all around. Show Notes: Are Credit Card Bloggers ruining the world? (via FlyerTalk and an older - but still active - thread on MilePoint) United Airlines pushing out flights on the 787 (via Wandering Aramean) American Airlines delaying 77W into service due to issues with the first class seats (via APEX Magazine) Maximizing mileage run bookings via Hipmunk and ITA codes (via Wandering Aramean) Alaska Airlines introducing SAN-BOS/LIH JetBlue introducing ANC-SEA and JFK-ABQ You can subscribe to the podcast in iTunes or to the podcast feed.

Welcome to episode 15 of the PointsHoarder podcast. This week we're exploring an award type that none of us know anything about. OK, maybe that is a bit dramatic, but we're talking about the oneworld distance-based award charts and how there are some very interesting options available, assuming you're willing to put in a bit of time planning the trip. Distance-based award charts aren't generally something I look at fondly but the oneworld version has the added bonus of not limiting ocean crossings meaning you can get a few return trips out of a single award with big savings to be had. We also talk about a new airline starting up service and some fun routes flown by airlines in regions where you might not think they'd be operating. There is a lot of interest in the Air France Caribbean milk run routes, among others. And United announced that they'll be making upgrade certs earned for elite status valid a bit longer starting this coming year. Length: 32 minutes Show Notes Here's a map of the award we spent the first half of the show discussing: Here are some threads discussing the awards on MilePoint and FlyerTalk. And here are the award charts from AA and Cathay for this award (it was Cathay, not Qantas where it is definitely also possible when you listen to the show). Elite Airways launching service in 2013 (it is a CRJ-200, not an ERJ-145; even worse) Air France Caribbean Milk Run You can subscribe to the podcast in iTunes or to the podcast feed.

Episode 14 of the PointsHoarder podcast is now up! In this episode Fozz takes the helm and walks us through the announcement that Alitalia will honor (some of) the mistake fares they issued, Singapore Airlines canceling the two longest non-stop routes in the world, American adding new (and old) routes, Turkish cutting their economy plus product, Qatar announcing new routes, and recent trips taken by both Fozz and Seth. We did have some technical issues in recording this episode and we apologize for some of the popping you may hear. We were also a tad bit late publishing this episode due to Hurricane Sandy. Length: 39 minutes Show Notes Alitalia to Honor Mistake Fares (With Limits) (ABC Travel) SQ Canceling Two Longest Routes to U.S. (Yahoo! News) American Airlines Announces New Routes (Business Traveller) Turkish Airlines Apparently Cutting Comfort Class Premium Economy (The Wandering Aramean) Qatar Announces a Host of New Routes to U.S. (USA Today) You can subscribe to the podcast in iTunes or to the podcast feed

Welcome to episode 13 of the PointsHoarder podcast. We've got a lot of news to cover in this edition. At the time of the recording I thought it was mostly good news. Listening to it again as I went through the editing there seems to be a bit more depressing than I had originally remembered. We've got new alliance members and partnerships starting up and a few more mistakes/"sales" being shut down. New routes (and almost a new hub) from Delta and some trouble with keeping planes flying safely. Length: 36 minutes Show Notes Qatar joins OneWorld (oneworld) Air France/KLM/Etihad/Air Berlin partnerships (USA Today) Delta's new Asia hub in Seattle (Delta, ATW Online) SWISS Canceling RGN tickets (Upgrd) United 787 Schedule Changes (Wandering Aramean) American / Loose Seats / Soda (Cranky Flier) You can subscribe to the podcast in iTunes or to the podcast feed.

Episode 11 of the PointsHoarder podcast focuses on open-jaws and stopovers on reward trips and a few news stories making their way around the internet, including United's turning off of "expert mode", Delta telling AwardWallet to bug off and Frontier taking the low road when it comes to 3rd party bookings. One note, in editing this show we used a different method so we're interested in knowing how it sounded to the listeners. If you have any issues, please let us know. Length: 39 minutes Show Notes Frontier denying some perks and charging higher fees for 3rd party bookings (Frommers) United Expert Mode Changes (FlyerTalk) - Also, since this show has been recorded, new features have been announced by United, including the return of Expert Mode. Delta Sends Cease & Desist to AwardWallet (TechCrunch) You can subscribe to the podcast in iTunes or to the podcast feed.

In Episode 10 of the PointsHoarder podcast Seth and Stephan record in an airport lounge. Why? Because we can. Plus, we were wrapping up a whirlwind weekend mileage run trip to south east Asia and we had a few hours left until our flight was ready to leave. Listen in to get some thoughts on great dining options in Singapore and other things to do there, some of which were actually interesting (much to my surprise). Length: 31 minutes Show Notes Update on the new Berlin airport opening (in German) All about RouteHappy and the nifty Infographic they released recently More US/AA merger news Some dining options in Singapore (more coming soon, I hope) You can subscribe to the podcast in iTunes or to the podcast feed.

In Episode 9 of the PointsHoarder Podcast the hosts, Stephan, Fozz, and Seth, discuss different reward booking tools, some of the different routing rules out there, and a random factoid on how to avoid the reciprocity fee in Argentina. Length: 35 minutes Show Notes Award Search Tools: KVS ExpertFlyer Wandering Aramean Travel Tools AwardNexus ANA (Star Alliance) Air France (SkyTeam Qantas (oneworld) Air Canada Aeroplan (Star Alliance) You can subscribe to the podcast in iTunes or to the podcast feed.

Episode 8 of the podcast is a look at the news with Seth and Stephan. We overcame a few technical issues with one host recording remotely in the Ukraine to talk about United's 787, JetBlue's Even More Space product, Amtrak moving to a fully electronic ticketing and boarding process, and more. Thank you again to Connor Carson Heim for our new intro and outro! Length: 37 minutes Show Notes United Reaches Tentative Agreement With Pilot Unions (Denver Post) United's First 787 (SeattlePi) JetBlue Doubles Number of "Even More Space" Seats (Wandering Aramean) Amtrak Moves to a Full Electronic Ticketing and Boarding Process (Wandering Aramean) United Goes Cash Free in their Airport Lounges (USA Today - The Wandering Aramean) You can subscribe to the podcast in iTunes or to the podcast feed.

In episode 7 of the PointsHoarder podcast we are discussing the ins and outs of US Airways' Dividend Miles and United's MileagePlus programs. We talk about the benefits and difficulties of redemptions within each program. A few news items are also discussed, after Stephan accidentally closes his notes file, including Asiana's announcement regarding their new first class product. Another big thank you to CC Heim for our new intro and outro! Length: 33 minutes Show Notes US Airways Dividend Miles United MileagePlus Asiana Introduces Premium First Class (Korean Herald) United, Continental Pilots Vote to Strike (Houston Business Journal) You can subscribe to the podcast in iTunes or to the podcast feed.

Welcome to Episode 6 of the PointsHoarder podcast where we're focusing on oneworld and redemption through the Avios program of British Airways and Iberia. Turns out that it doesn't completely suck. There's also some discussions on route cuts at Delta and United and a few other bits, too. A HUGE thanks to the awesome CCHeim for the great new intro and outro recordings. We almost sound cool now. :D Length: 36 minutes Show Notes Avios Redemption Calculator (Wandering Aramean) TAM makes it official: They’re leaving Star Alliance (Wandering Aramean) American Airlines adds Qantas as an online award redemption partner (Wandering Aramean) TSA PreCheck FAQ (TSA.gov) United cuts route to Paris in the fall (Houston Chronicle) Delta continues to trim hubs; Memphis on the chopping block this summer (Wandering Aramean) Memphis' mayor meets with Delta CEO after flights canceled (Atlanta Business Journal) You can subscribe to the podcast in iTunes or to the podcast feed. Also, one minor addition to the podcast that I forgot to mention in the original discussion: If at all possible, redeem Avios via Iberia rather than British Airways. You'll likely save a lot of cash on the fuel surcharge side of things.

At the encouragement of one of our listeners we decided to take on the world of IFE. With all the options out there available to us for travel with our hoards of points being able to pick which option is best can be hard. And IFE certainly plays in to the passenger experience. But just how much? Length: 36 minutes Show Notes Southwest Airlines admits inflight Internet problems left customers, employees “frustrated” (APEX Editor's Blog) VIDEO: Inside Panasonic Avionics’ new aircraft antenna manufacturing and testing facility (APEX Editor's Blog) Gogo to acquire additional wireless spectrum (Wandering Aramean) Cathay Pacific considers removing IFE units to save fuel (Ghetto IFE) Is IFE really all that important to passengers? (Wandering Aramean) Seat space versus in-flight entertainment (Sydney Morning Herald) JetBlue, now with Even More Power!?! (Wandering Aramean) You can subscribe to the podcast in iTunes or to the podcast feed. Also, a couple minor updates/corrections from the podcast that I've since been able to verify: Ka is the faster of the K satellite bands. Panasonic expects to ramp up to 50 units/month, not 40 as mentioned, by early 2013. Still going to be 2 years before they can clear the backlog.