Weekend Blitz

We booked our United MileagePlus award ticket appx 6 months in advance so, to say the very least, we were VERY eager and ready to take our trip. So, we originally had 2 flights on Air Canada booked, both of which were very carefully picked and planned:

So, when I got a call just a few hours before our departure from Charleston-CHS to New York-JFK that our flight for the next day from LGA –> YUL had already been canceled (nearly 24 hours in advance), I knew we had a problem. A winter [...]

The Priority Club PointBreaks list has been updated through July 31, 2014! Below is a list of all of the hotels that IGH/PriorityClub Rewards is offering for just 5,000 pts a night. Don’t forget that you can buy 5,000 points for just $35, which basically allows you to book any of the rooms below for just $35/night:

Check our tutorial on how to book rooms for $35 / night

When you’re ready to book (note, booking starts Tuesday May 27): Click here to go to the PointsBreaks site (the new IHG site)

Sample prices below are based on a 1 night stay from June 8 – June 9, 2014.

Hyatt Midtown Atlanta – Hyatt Category 3 125 10th St NE, Atlanta, GA 30309 Award Redemption: 12,000 pts or 6,000 pts + $75 Normal rate: Varies b/t $179-$239 average around $219 + tax Hyatt Gold Passport Points return: 1.7 cents points – 2.7 cent/point = below average – average return

I booked a Standard King room about a week out using a corporate rate. The rate was appx 40% less than the standard daily rate at the time. In addition to the favorable rate, Hyatt was running a promo which gives 1,500 bonus points for Atlanta stays using the “ATL15” promo code. I think this promo has since expired.

We arrived at [...]

To me, one of the most fun parts of planning a nice trip is researching really awesome First Class cabins and nice resorts that we can fly on/stay in for cheap or free.

Before planning our honeymoon, I strategically signed up for 2x Chase cards a few months prior to booking that yielded me 100,000 bonus points so, those points (combined with the other points we had been patiently earning and hoarding over the last few years) came out to just enough for two round-trip tickets in First Class using United MileagePlus miles. The total points we used to book were 280,000 miles, 140k each. As a side note, United has massively devalued their currency and now the same trip would cost [...]

Here’s a great opportunity for reduced price Amtrak travel!

Amtrak is running a special promo that gives you a 50% bonus on purchased points until June 30, 2014. Typically, the number of points that you’re allowed to purchase for yourself or receive as a gift from another member is 10,000 per calendar year but, because this is a 50% bonus on purchased points, you can buy up to 10k points for $275 and will get 15k points:

This is a great deal, especially for those who don’t have a card like the Chase Sapphire Preferred or Chase Ink Plus/Bold that earn Chase Ultimate Rewards points that can be transferred to Amtrak. [...]

My sister, Elizabeth, is studying abroad in Argentina this semester and we just finished up booking a trip to visit her soon. I needed to book 2 tickets, one for me and one for McCown, and wanted to use either Delta SkyMiles or United MileagePlus miles. I really preferred to burn my Delta SkyMiles first, given their impending devaluation/restructuring in 2015:

I quickly ruled out United– they’re down to only 1 daily flight from the U.S. to Buenos Aires-EZE out of Houston-IAH and the award availability is pathetic, even in economy. The only other choice is to connect in Panama City-PTY using their Star Alliance partner, Copa Airlines, but that got pretty [...]

American Airlines is currently running 2 contests that could earn your some serious miles… if you win, of course:

1. American Airlines Buy Miles Sweepstakes – 1x prize of 500,000 AAdvantage miles

Don’t miss out on Marriott Reward’s Summer 2014 promo “Marriott Rewards Getaway Bonus”:

My targeted offer

The Deal

You’ll have to login to your Marriott account and head to the MegaBonus page to see your personalized offer. Here are a few of the offers you may get, all running from June 1 to August 31:

We’d been stockpiling United miles for months and had finally saved enough for 2x round-trip tickets in first class, a cost of 140k miles each. After some painstaking (but exciting) mapping, routing and time on the phone with United award booking representatives, our itinerary ended up looking like this:

By using United award miles, we were able to take advantage of their routing rules to have 1 free stopover, 1 free open-jaw and 2 long connections that allowed us enough time to explore the city (aka 2 more free stopovers).  It looked like this:

How did I just learn about this one?!

So, Club Carlson (Radisson, Country Inn, Park Plaza etc…) is offering a signup bonus of 85,000 points for getting their “Club Carlson Premier Rewards Visa Signature Card.” Their reward chart looks a little something like this:

…Which means that 85,000 Gold Points will get you nearly 10 free nights at any Category 1 Club Carlson property (85,000 / 9,000 = 9.4 nights). But, wait, that’s not even the best part: Club Carlson credit card holders get an added benefit “Bonus Award Night – When you redeem Gold Points for 2 or more consecutive Award Nights, your last night is free.” [...]