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Points Guy Pointers

Which American Express 50% Transfer Bonus is Better: British Airways or Delta?

July 20, 2011

Until July 31, 2011, you can transfer your American Express Membership Rewards Points to British Airways for a 50% bonus (see my original post for more details). Delta also has a 50% bonus for first time transferees that includes a 25,000 elite mile bonus when you transfer 100,000 or more miles, which is valid until September [...]

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United 1K Status Challenge Information

July 15, 2011

This week I’ve been talking about airline status matches and challenges. While most airlines have published programs that generally prohibit top status matches/challenges, there are some current programs out there that will, like United’s 1k Challenge. I emailed [email protected] the following email: “Hello, I am a NYC based Delta Diamond and I am considering a [...]

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Airline Status Match and Challenge Information

July 14, 2011

A frequent flyer can mean a lot of revenue for an airline. Not only do frequent flyers often have the co-branded credit card, but they are often influential in bringing more business to the airline. What many frequent flyers don’t know, is that you can leverage your current elite status to get comped elite status [...]

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Reminder: Always Double Check Your Reservations Before Traveling (Especially With Hertz)

July 12, 2011

I have to admit, I am not the most organized traveler. I often don’t make reservations until the last minute and when I do, I rarely print out the confirmation. Perhaps I trust electronic travel booking way too much or I don’t like wasting paper – I never print confirmations (which has gotten me in [...]

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Mid Year Airline Elite Status Check-in: How Have You Fared So Far?

July 11, 2011

It’s that time of the year – where many frequent flyers access their alliances and debate whether to remain loyal to their airline or decide whether to switch to another airline. The reason why many people wait until after July 1 is that the airline will usually match/challenge your status until February 2 years later. [...]

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Sunday Reader Email Question: How Do I Book An Award Trip During a Peak Period?

July 10, 2011

TPG Reader Andrew writes: “What are your recommendations for the timing of high-demand award tickets? I’m looking for two business class seats from NYC to Buenos Aires on American or Lan thanks to the BA Visa miles. We want to leave the day after Christmas (2012) and return to NYC in mid-January. I know tickets [...]

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How to Maximize Priority Club Points and Save on Stays

July 2, 2011

As a new Intercontinental Royal Ambassador, I’ve been trying to figure out the ins and outs of the Priority Club and Ambassador programs so I can pay as little as possible for my stays and earn the maximum amount of points possible. While every hotel chain has its quirks, I’m finding that maximizing Priority Club [...]

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Maximizing Stopovers, Transfers and Open Jaw Ticketing on American Airlines Awards

June 30, 2011

This is the fourth installment in the series. See also Delta, British Airways and US Airways. To come: Continental, United and Air Canada. American Airlines was the first US legacy carrier to institute one-way awards and when that happened, they greatly scaled back the flexibility of awards when it came to stopovers. As the saying goes, as [...]

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Reminder – Join a Mileage or Points Dining Program

June 29, 2011

I’ve gotten a bunch of new credit cards recently (thanks to some amazing sign-up bonuses) and it dawned on me the other day that I hadn’t registered them all to a dining program. For those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about, Rewards Network is a company that will automatically give you miles [...]

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How to Use the ANA Award Tool to Search Star Alliance Award Availability

June 9, 2011

All Nippon Airways (ANA) is one of Japan’s premier airlines and a Star Alliance member. While many of you will never set foot on an ANA plane, you should be a member of their frequent flyer program, Mileage Club, because it allows you access to near perfect Star Alliance award availability. This means you can search [...]

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Maximizing Stopovers, Transfers and Open Jaw Ticketing on Delta Awards

June 6, 2011

(This post is focused on maximizing Delta awards. Future posts will focus on American, United/Continental, US Airways, Air Canada and British Airways. If you have any other suggestions, feel free to comment below or email me). There are a lot of things I love about using miles and points for travel. Beyond the fact that [...]

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Guest Blog Post: Tips for Flying With Toddlers

May 31, 2011

Today’s guest blog post is from my sister-in-law Danielle, who also happens to be The Points Guy membership liaison or as her occupation is listed on Facebook, “TPG Gal Friday.” Danielle is the mother to my beautiful goddaughter Keira and nephew Conor and the kids flew for the first time last weekend, so this post is [...]

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Delta.com Quirks and How to Work Around Them to Find Low Awards

May 30, 2011

I’m a big fan of Delta (I’m a Diamond and generally love their domestic upgrades, plane quality, route structure, etc), but it’s commonly known that Delta.com is broken. The award calendar prices trips out at erratic levels, though in my experience, it can be coaxed to reveal better results with a little bit of effort. [...]

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Maximizing Amex Post 10: Car Rental Benefits

May 26, 2011

This is another installment in my Maximizing Amex series where I examine the benefits of American Express cards and Amex’s Membership Rewards Program. The articles include; Post 1: Understanding the Card Offering. Post 2: Understanding Membership Rewards. Post 3: Understanding Transfer Bonuses. Post 4: Platinum Card Review. Post 5: SkyTeam Transfer Partners. Post 6: Oneworld Transfer Partners. Post 7: Star Alliance Transfer [...]

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Understanding How Credit Card Travel Rewards Work

May 23, 2011

This is the first post of a new series designed to help beginners understand the points and miles world. I’ve created a new category “Beginners Series”, with that hopes that if someone stumbles upon this site, they’ll be able to read through post on fundamentals so everything else makes a bit more sense. If you [...]

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Getting Points and Miles for Wedding, Graduation and Other Gifts

May 22, 2011

Wedding and graduation season has officially begun, which means many of us will take substantial hits to our wallets as we shell out for gifts, travel and other assorted costs. In fact, my sister got married yesterday in sunny St. Augustine, so I am well aware of the costs, especially for a destination wedding. I’m [...]

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Maximizing Amex Post 8: Understanding Emergency Travel Assistance and Travel Accident Insurance

May 17, 2011

This is another installment in my Maximizing Amex series where I examine the benefits of American Express cards and Amex’s Membership Rewards Program. The articles include; Post 1: Understanding the Card Offering. Post 2: Understanding Membership Rewards. Post 3: Understanding Transfer Bonuses. Post 4: Platinum Card Review. Post 5: SkyTeam Transfer Partners. Post 6: Oneworld Transfer Partners. Post 7: Star Alliance Transfer [...]

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How Do You Stay Healthy When Traveling?

May 12, 2011

This past weekend I had a really interesting conversation with one of my travel writer friends (who jetsets the globe more than almost anyone I know) about staying healthy when traveling. He swore by using a Neti pot to relieve sinus congestion, which helps him avoid colds when traveling. I laughed at the notion, but [...]

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October Frequent Flyer Seminar in Chicago

May 4, 2011

I’m pleased to announce that I’ve been asked to be a presenter at the 2011 Chicago Seminars, which is a grassroots organized conference on maximizing frequent miles and points. My session will be “Maximizing American Express – Choosing the right card and getting maximum value out of Membership Rewards”. I’ll be covering all of the [...]

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Flying Blue 50% Off Promo Awards Announced and a Guide on How to Book Them

May 3, 2011

I find Flying Blue (the frequent flyer program of Air France, KLM, and some other Skyteam carriers) to be generous with award availability. They even run “50% off” promo awards all year long, which means you can fly roundtrip from certain North American cities to Europe and beyond for as low as 25,000 in coach and [...]

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How to Use British Airways Miles: Post 10, Using Qantas.com to Find Oneworld Award Availability

May 2, 2011

Update: The current sign-up bonus offer for the British Airways Visa is 50,000 Avios. 25,000 upon first use, and another 25,000 when you spend $2,500 within 90 days. This is the final installment of my series on maximizing British Airways miles. Since so many of you got in on the super-lucrative 100,000 mile BA Visa sign-up [...]

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How to Use British Airways Miles: Post 9, Leveraging Miles and Cash Redemptions

April 27, 2011

Update: The current sign-up bonus offer for the British Airways Visa is 50,000 Avios. 25,000 upon first use, and another 25,000 when you spend $2,500 within 90 days. This is the ninth installment of my series on maximizing British Airways miles. Since so many of you got in on the super-lucrative 100,000 mile BA Visa sign-up [...]

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Maximizing Amex Post 5: SkyTeam Transfer Partners

April 26, 2011

This is another installment in my Maximizing Amex series where I examine the benefits of American Express cards and Amex’s Membership Rewards Program. The articles include; Post 1: Understanding the Card Offering. Post 2: Understanding Membership Rewards. Post 3: Understanding Transfer Bonuses. Post 4: Platinum Card Review. Post 5: SkyTeam Transfer Partners. Post 6: Oneworld Transfer Partners. Post 7: Star Alliance Transfer [...]

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Maximizing Amex Post 4: Platinum Card Review

April 25, 2011

This is another installment in my Maximizing Amex series where I examine the benefits of American Express cards and Amex’s Membership Rewards Program. The articles include; Post 1: Understanding the Card Offering. Post 2: Understanding Membership Rewards. Post 3: Understanding Transfer Bonuses. Post 4: Platinum Card Review. Post 5: SkyTeam Transfer Partners. Post 6: Oneworld Transfer Partners. Post 7: Star Alliance Transfer [...]

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