Share Your Award Redemption Stories for Our New Weekly Series
For the past few years, I've helped TPG curate the ongoing series of reader success and mistake stories. It's been a treat to read about your triumphs and blunders, and the feedback we've received shows that, for better or worse, the lessons learned in those posts are a great asset to TPG readers. To that end, we're adding another reader-powered series that will focus on the finer details of award travel, and we'd love to hear from you!
The new Award Redemption of the Week may have some overlap with your success and mistake stories, but there will be a few key distinctions. First, while we love hearing about maximizing credit card benefits and qualifying for elite status, these posts will be tightly focused on how you redeem your points and miles. We want to know things like how you settled on your itinerary, why you chose to book through one loyalty program over another, whether you used tools like ExpertFlyer or SeatGuru to aid your search, and what the whole experience was like from your perspective. In short, we want the full monty.
Second, don't worry too much about whether the award you booked should be considered "good" or "bad." The idea isn't only to showcase redemptions that offer amazing value, but also to provide insight into every facet of the booking process from the planning stage to the final confirmation. We'll emphasize stories that highlight specific and repeatable strategies, especially those that may be underutilized by the award travel community at large. Whether your tale is one of resounding success, abject failure or something in between, we'll give praise where it's due and offer suggestions where another approach might have been more fruitful.
To take part, please email your own award redemption stories to info@thepointsguy.com, and put "Award Redemption Story" in the subject line. Be sure to include information about how you earned your rewards, a timeline of when you planned and booked your trip, and details like dates and flight numbers (don't worry, we won't share sensitive information publicly). Feel free to include screenshots of your itinerary as needed. Finally, tell us what you learned, and what you hope other readers will take away from your story. If your submission is published, we’ll send you a gift to jump-start your next adventure.
As always, we wish you safe and happy travels, and we look forward to hearing from you!
