Really like your content and how you present the information. Vary informative and I feel as though I can trust your judgement with these topics. Usually I find a channel like this and they haven't posted in years. Its awesome to be seeing this stuff in the present. Please keep up the hard work and don't get burnt out.
Good tips, we learned the hard way not to hang on to points too long...we had about 88K Delta skymiles points years ago and once we reached 90K we could get a free ticket to Europe....then Delta changed the requirements and upped it to 120K miles needed....so, we just used them recently to fly domestically for a trip for about 60K miles each.....your point to not worry too much on the value always and to USE THE MILES really hit home, thanks!
Most rewards programs aren’t worth squat. It takes forever to earn anything and then the redemption value isn’t worth much at all. Especially given your time to try and do all this. I think you’re finding a needle in a haystack. You make it sound easier than it really is. How long did it take your the find that one particular flight? You don’t tell us that.
I've been using credit card and loyalty points for years. This video was great since I had learned new information with the partner transfer tips you provided. Well done! Thanks so much! P.S. I'm amazed at you both braving that flight with your 9 month old. We were scared on a short 3 hr flight. Kudos to you!
Ha, I’m flattered. I’d never say never, but the points world is changing all the time. A book might be outdated before it hits the shelves! Who knows, maybe someday. Thanks, Kim!
You leave out a few things like converting Marriott Points to miles - which is giving up 3 points for 1 flight mile with all airlines, I think. Also when you show, at the end of this video, a business class flight to Vienna for X amount of points…u are only showing the points required to fly one way not round trip. Correct?
Planning on taking my first European trip soon. Would you recommend booking multi stops together or single one way tickets for each country? I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed with booking the tickets.
Great video and perfect timing! We've been considering a Germany/Austria trip next summer and have been looking at our points and the cost of airfare and hotels (and their points values). Question: We have enough Delta points to pay for my ticket (on Delta) and enough Chase Ultimate Rewards points to buy my wife's ticket on KLM or Air France (Delta alliance partners). We have found a couple of options where she can buy through KLM and be on the exact same flight (both ways). Any tips, guidance or gotchas that we need to be mindful of? (like...what are the chances that flights change before next June/ July? How far in advance will we need to make the purchases? And will it be hard for us to find seats together?) I love your channel and look forward to your feedback. Thank you!
Not sure if you have made your travel plans yet, but wanted to share my experience in case it helps in any small way. My family and I were flying domesticlly to Seattle for a June cruise. We booked at about this time of year (December-ish) for the following June. We had three bookings on the same one-way return flight. Mom paid for her flight with her credit card. My son's flight was on a different booking with my transferred points to him. My daughter and I were booked with cash on a third booking. Our flight was cancelled during the spring prior to the trip. When the airline changed our flights, my son was changed to a different flight than my rest of us. Because the airline made the change, we were able to move my son to our flight without any increase in cost. I know nothing about international flights in regard to changes in schedules, how often they occur, and a passenger's options when changes do happen. But it seems that domestic flights change relatively often. All this to say that you are right to research what happens with two different bookings on the same flight. I hope you find great fares and have a great trip!
I just get blown away at you young people advertising using points in miles…… And how much are you paying an interest on the credit card? Or how much of your mortgage are you not paying? And how much you having to spend to fly To earn Miles. Unless you were very very rich, or you have a business that flies you all over the place, this is not a practical choice. Don’t mean to sound like a ball Buster, I’m 63 and I’m blown away by all these young people, your age and traveling Business Class all the time, unless you were frequent flyer traveling for business the average Joe is not gonna be able to afford what you’re doing.
We experienced no issues that time - but it IS something to watch out for. I'm also not afraid to call and ask - people are typically empathetic to husband/wife wanting to sit together, and in our case, we had a lap child so they made it happen. Not a guarantee AT ALL and your mileage may vary.
Nik, I enjoy and appreciate your videos, but I don't understand how this works out. I just priced a single United round trip business seat from Chicago to Vienna for 6 days in late Nov to early Dec, and one flight was 88k miles and all the others were 155k. I can't imagine your family has any new cards with 60k welcome bonuses with all the traveling you do, and even if you had two of them, you had to pay $8k in three months to get the 120k welcome miles and you're still well short for the two United business seats. If you don't have the welcome miles, who spends $310k (or a little less with bonus categories) on their credit cards to earn two 155k miles seats for one trip to Europe? Is that really travel hacking, to spend hundreds of thousands for one "free" trip? Sorry, but am I missing something about the whole travel/card hacking paradigm? Thanks!
Hey Gary, be sure to check out video 1 in this series, where I break down the best ways to earn points. The points I used to book this trip came PRIMARILY through credit card welcome bonuses, but we also had points from spending, and some existing airline miles mixed in as well. Believe it or not, we do still sign up for new cards. And, I probably wouldn't book the 155K point flights (not a great value). "Is that really travel hacking, to spend hundreds of thousands for one "free" trip?" Short answer, No. If it's spending you're already doing, then why not also get a free trip out of it? But, that's not the main way we're able to travel and I wouldn't consider it a 'hack'. If you're interested in discussing more, shoot me an email (on our about page) or fill out this free credit card consultation form: awaytogether.com/free-credit-card-consultation/ I'm happy to explain in further detail.
Get free personalized credit card offers from CardMatch here: milevalue.com/cardmatch/?aff=at
Really like your content and how you present the information. Vary informative and I feel as though I can trust your judgement with these topics. Usually I find a channel like this and they haven't posted in years. Its awesome to be seeing this stuff in the present. Please keep up the hard work and don't get burnt out.
Good tips, we learned the hard way not to hang on to points too long...we had about 88K Delta skymiles points years ago and once we reached 90K we could get a free ticket to Europe....then Delta changed the requirements and upped it to 120K miles needed....so, we just used them recently to fly domestically for a trip for about 60K miles each.....your point to not worry too much on the value always and to USE THE MILES really hit home, thanks!
Thank you so much. I tend to get overwhelmed with redeeming points, you made it so clear to understand. Love your videos!
One of the best travel videos for planning my upcoming trip to Athens! Thanks a million!
I was in Vienna for all of June this summer. It was great! Enjoy!
Really great Nik, practical and helpful. Needed to hear that there is no perfect redemption, just what works for you at the time.
Most rewards programs aren’t worth squat. It takes forever to earn anything and then the redemption value isn’t worth much at all. Especially given your time to try and do all this.
I think you’re finding a needle in a haystack.
You make it sound easier than it really is. How long did it take your the find that one particular flight?
You don’t tell us that.
I've been using credit card and loyalty points for years. This video was great since I had learned new information with the partner transfer tips you provided. Well done! Thanks so much! P.S. I'm amazed at you both braving that flight with your 9 month old. We were scared on a short 3 hr flight. Kudos to you!
While I thoroughly enjoy the videos, have you ever thought of writing a book on this topic? You’re a wealth of knowledge on these perks!
Ha, I’m flattered. I’d never say never, but the points world is changing all the time. A book might be outdated before it hits the shelves! Who knows, maybe someday. Thanks, Kim!
Very helpful, thanks!
You leave out a few things like converting Marriott Points to miles - which is giving up 3 points for 1 flight mile with all airlines, I think. Also when you show, at the end of this video, a business class flight to Vienna for X amount of points…u are only showing the points required to fly one way not round trip. Correct?
Great video. wondering...do you have any videos or suggestions on buying insurance when using points, and how does that actually work?
Planning on taking my first European trip soon. Would you recommend booking multi stops together or single one way tickets for each country? I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed with booking the tickets.
Thumbs up 👍 Away
I saw your searches in the video is a one-way flight. Does the redemption technique work better this way or the same to book a roundtrip?
Great video and perfect timing! We've been considering a Germany/Austria trip next summer and have been looking at our points and the cost of airfare and hotels (and their points values).
Question: We have enough Delta points to pay for my ticket (on Delta) and enough Chase Ultimate Rewards points to buy my wife's ticket on KLM or Air France (Delta alliance partners). We have found a couple of options where she can buy through KLM and be on the exact same flight (both ways). Any tips, guidance or gotchas that we need to be mindful of? (like...what are the chances that flights change before next June/ July? How far in advance will we need to make the purchases? And will it be hard for us to find seats together?) I love your channel and look forward to your feedback. Thank you!
Not sure if you have made your travel plans yet, but wanted to share my experience in case it helps in any small way. My family and I were flying domesticlly to Seattle for a June cruise. We booked at about this time of year (December-ish) for the following June. We had three bookings on the same one-way return flight. Mom paid for her flight with her credit card. My son's flight was on a different booking with my transferred points to him. My daughter and I were booked with cash on a third booking. Our flight was cancelled during the spring prior to the trip. When the airline changed our flights, my son was changed to a different flight than my rest of us. Because the airline made the change, we were able to move my son to our flight without any increase in cost. I know nothing about international flights in regard to changes in schedules, how often they occur, and a passenger's options when changes do happen. But it seems that domestic flights change relatively often. All this to say that you are right to research what happens with two different bookings on the same flight. I hope you find great fares and have a great trip!
Is there a better airline alliance over another? One word compared to Staralliance ?
I just get blown away at you young people advertising using points in miles…… And how much are you paying an interest on the credit card? Or how much of your mortgage are you not paying? And how much you having to spend to fly
To earn
Miles. Unless you were very very rich, or you have a business that flies you all over the place, this is not a practical choice. Don’t mean to sound like a ball Buster, I’m 63 and I’m blown away by all these young people, your age and traveling Business Class all the time, unless you were frequent flyer traveling for business the average Joe is not gonna be able to afford what you’re doing.
So how did you know to plug in the city of Vienna?
Intriguing how you booked using United site and the Avianca site. Any issues with getting seats together when you do that?
We experienced no issues that time - but it IS something to watch out for. I'm also not afraid to call and ask - people are typically empathetic to husband/wife wanting to sit together, and in our case, we had a lap child so they made it happen. Not a guarantee AT ALL and your mileage may vary.
I couldn’t find the link for calculating point value. What was it?
bit.ly/redemptioncalc
I had to request access for the redemption calculator. Is this normal?
Hmm that's strange - this link should enable you to automatically make a copy. bit.ly/redemptioncalc
Nik, I enjoy and appreciate your videos, but I don't understand how this works out. I just priced a single United round trip business seat from Chicago to Vienna for 6 days in late Nov to early Dec, and one flight was 88k miles and all the others were 155k. I can't imagine your family has any new cards with 60k welcome bonuses with all the traveling you do, and even if you had two of them, you had to pay $8k in three months to get the 120k welcome miles and you're still well short for the two United business seats. If you don't have the welcome miles, who spends $310k (or a little less with bonus categories) on their credit cards to earn two 155k miles seats for one trip to Europe? Is that really travel hacking, to spend hundreds of thousands for one "free" trip? Sorry, but am I missing something about the whole travel/card hacking paradigm? Thanks!
Hey Gary, be sure to check out video 1 in this series, where I break down the best ways to earn points. The points I used to book this trip came PRIMARILY through credit card welcome bonuses, but we also had points from spending, and some existing airline miles mixed in as well. Believe it or not, we do still sign up for new cards. And, I probably wouldn't book the 155K point flights (not a great value). "Is that really travel hacking, to spend hundreds of thousands for one "free" trip?" Short answer, No. If it's spending you're already doing, then why not also get a free trip out of it? But, that's not the main way we're able to travel and I wouldn't consider it a 'hack'. If you're interested in discussing more, shoot me an email (on our about page) or fill out this free credit card consultation form: awaytogether.com/free-credit-card-consultation/ I'm happy to explain in further detail.
Huh 🤨
Sorry my friend, you are covering too much in a single video. If I hadn’t already learned a bunch this, I would have been lost.
You’re just slow
You do understand that learning is subjective right….
We get it, you aren’t that smart.
Really! Have you ever tried the pause button? Did you see he went the extra step to provide a chapter index in description?
Pretty sure he's not your friend.
Boring boring.
Been there done that.
Where is seat.areo, you did not mention it to see seat award availability
Good luck I travel a lots scam 👎👎