Weekend Blitz

As I wrote about here (How-to: Book US Airways Flights With British Airways Avios), US Airways officially joined the Oneworld Alliance about a month ago. Joining the ranks of American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, LAN etc…, US Airways is now eligible for bookings with Avios. This opens up lots of opportunities for maximizing short, non-stop flights out of US Airways’ hub cities: Charlotte-CLT, Philadelphia-PHL, Phoenix-PHX and Washington-Reagan-DCA.

First in this series was Charlotte, North Carolina-CLT, and now we have flights out of Philadelphia-PHL. There are easily 60+ million people that can reach Philadelphia International Airport in less [...]

Note: These are bookable now.. Don’t miss out on Flying Blue’s summer promo which allows you to book Air France/KLM awards for 25-50% less that normal in July & August 2014:

Award bookings on Air France/KLM routes have been reduced by 25-50% for travel between August 1 – September 30, 2014.

For those of us sitting in ‘Merica, we’ll be most interested in:

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. [...]

As a big thank you to all of our readers, we’re hosting a giveaway! We started this thing off a little over a year ago and have come a long way since then. From averaging around 500 visitors/month to now 10,000+ visitors/month, we’re very grateful for your continued support and daily viewing!!

We’re giving away a gift certificate for a free 1-night stay at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel & Suites Charleston – Historic District. …Because who doesn’t want to come to Charleston?! “Everybody Loves Charleston: Voted USA’s No. 1 City For Third Consecutive Year” by Condé Nast Traveler, so come on down and explore the [...]