Started traveling again for work and found out one of the best free upgrade deals I have seen. If you are going to be staying at Marriott regularly you can call the rewards center and ask for the platinum challenge. If you stay 18 nights in 90 days they give you platinum status for the remainder of the year and the next year. Normally it takes 75 nights to get platinum and when you start the challenge they make you platinum right away (you just lose it after the 90 days if you dont hit 18 nights). Unlike the airline status challenges, you don't have to pay to do it (American Airlines challenges cost up to $200 or so).

Anyone else have some tips like this they have discovered?

6/12/2012 11:17:25 PM

i read several travel blogs & use their tips to constantly maximize my rewards strategy for airline & hotel stuff

http://www.flyertalk.com is one of the best, most comprehensive but it takes a long time to understand what is going on. i've been reading for years & i'm barely starting to catch on. some of the things people do are straight up insane.

i read the following:

http://boardingarea.com/blogs/aadvantagegeek/
http://www.frugaltravelguy.com/
http://millionmilesecrets.com/
http://boardingarea.com/blogs/onemileatatime/
http://rewardingenuity.com/
http://www.theman1000.com/
http://thepointsguy.com/
http://boardingarea.com/blogs/viewfromthewing/

6/12/2012 11:38:38 PM

Yeah I have read some of those and it amazes me how people will do things like take tons of connecting flights for the points. If I can get direct I will take it, screw points, I would rather get home. Also, being in Dallas I basically don't have a choice other than AA and with their credit card I get automatic priority access so getting status isn't as important. Thought about doing the gold or platinum challenge for that but doubt it would be worth the cost since I already get priority which lets me check a bag free, take the shorter security line, and board early so I can make sure I have space for my bag.

6/12/2012 11:56:04 PM

i did some of the craziness. i bought coins from the mint, i also did the double browser trick for the AA card before they shut that gravy train down. ended up scoring 150,000 miles on AA for nothing.

mostly i use the tricks to bank miles without an incredible amount of effort. ends up making the flights for my vacations free so i go to sweet places

i'm in houston so i know how to feel with the airline thing, i pretty much fly united exclusively but they have pretty decent rates, except to minneapolis, for some reason shit seems to be $500 all the time no matter what

6/13/2012 12:08:53 AM

^^I missed both of those trains. There's another gravy train rolling right now but it's too big of a grey area for me to feel ok about it

Starwood has a similar challenge to Marriott but it's 15 nights (I believe) in 90 days. They also have a pick one of three offers going on right now. So I'm getting like 6x points for each night. Go for the additional points versus the platinum amenity once you get status. Also, ask for their green option. Basically they e-mail you your receipt for an additional ~500 points.

Roll-over credit card points to hotel/airline miles. If you do airline miles, go for the highest conversion rate. Then call up your frequent flyer airline and tell them you'd like to transfer those points or you're leaving. Sign up for the ~30k miles + credit card and spend like $1500 in 6 months or something.

If you're staying the weekend, make separate bookings for each week to get maximum booking/green/amenity points.

The following seems obvious but make sure you're booking at your cap to maximize points.

Once another sweet sign-up deal comes along for hotel programs, move your account to your spouse/signficant other. Then start a new one. Once it's built up, roll the points over into one account.

When your flight is oversold and they need people to switch, go sidebar with the flight personnel and push up the offering amount. Typically it starts at 200-300, but most of the big guys are allowed to go up to 500-600 for most domestic flights. A few of those add up a lot quicker than miles.

Seen my Raleigh apartment less than 20 days in 2012

[Edited on June 13, 2012 at 12:14 AM. Reason : .]

6/13/2012 12:12:00 AM

i love when im able to give up my seat for a voucher

once the offer was for $500 for a flight to phoenix years ago. i rarely see it that high. it was bad timing, i couldn't take it. i was flying to a bachelorette party & was one of the last girls arriving. the part bus was picking me up at the airport so i couldn't take advantage

one other time i saw the $500 offer, i almost missed it. i was on united & had been upgraded to first class on the way to minneapolis. the plane was tiny & first class was like 4 seats. the gate area was super crowded & i didn't know they were boarding until toward the end. i got on the plane & took my seat in 1A. right after i sat down the gate attendant came on the plane to beg someone to take the $500 voucher and the next flight to minneapolis.... in 90min. i shot out of my seat & took the offer.

turns out, my seat ended up going to a girl who was going to miss her sisters rehearsal dinner. she was so grateful & nice & i could afford to wait 90min for a $500 voucher. i told her to enjoy the flight, she was getting a first class seat.

once the gate agent finished boarding the flight, he started rebooking my ticket. it was a young, straight male so i decided to flirt a little bit to see what else i could get. i mentioned that i gave up a first class seat, were there any spare drink vouchers lying around that he could hook me up with for the flight? ended up giving me 6 vouchers & a meal voucher worth $20. i barely had time to use it before i had to be back in the gate area for boarding.

/words

6/13/2012 12:20:54 AM

I wish I had boobs for traveling perks

6/13/2012 7:37:07 AM

What's the current gravy train you speak of?

And yeah, I use my boobs to get stuff sometimes. I won't be young forever, gotta cash in while I can

6/13/2012 9:39:41 PM

Meh it's more of an internal gravy train within our company. Basically you can buy/sell stuff for a 25% profit while earning points.

^You fly American? What routes typically? Wonder if you've been creepin on me on any flights

[Edited on June 13, 2012 at 10:21 PM. Reason : .]

6/13/2012 10:11:28 PM

Pro tip: No matter how fast and efficient you are, including taking priority access lines, the TSA will fuck you over 95% of the time.

6/13/2012 10:30:41 PM

I've very likely not on the same flights as you. I've flown AA to Peoria & Back from Santiago by way of Philly That's about it

Needless to say I have a ton of AA miles to burn on vacations still!

6/14/2012 11:24:53 PM

^what are your tips for continuing to earn AA miles quickly after the AA Advantage 2 browser trick?

6/15/2012 6:56:28 AM

Don't have one. I mostly accumulate miles through credit card sign ups

6/15/2012 10:49:21 PM

TTT, B.

11/2/2012 3:40:57 PM

bump

11/2/2012 3:41:12 PM

double fist bump for the double bump...speaking of double...

Just got the "Double Miles, With our Thanks" e-mail. Started 11/1. Too bad my business class trip to asia was last in October


http://www.theflightdeal.com/2012/11/02/american-double-status-miles-for-elite-members-for-travel-from-nov-1st-dec-31st-2012/

[Edited on November 2, 2012 at 3:44 PM. Reason : guess we'll have to find a way to go back before year-end ]

11/2/2012 3:43:24 PM

Nice thanks! I am going to be flying every week starting a week from Monday through the rest of that promotion all with AA so that is perfect for me. Maybe I will finally hit platinum status, had to get gold on segments because my trips were such low miles (not that I complained about a short flight). And yes I know about the challenge but didn't wanna drop $240 just to get platinum.

11/2/2012 5:00:53 PM

Your best chance of survival is to sit within 5 rows of an exit, preferably in the back. Count the chairs so that you can find the exit in the dark smoke. Keep your shoes on and remain vigilant during the take off and landing. Gloves and a respirator would help you survive the hot, toxic blaze, but these will probably arouse suspicion and be seized. The emergency seating position is bullshit and you'll probably just break your back and knees on the seat in front of you. If you can find a plane with the rear-facing Freedom Economy Seats they might be preferable, assuming the seat itself can take the impact without ripping out of the floor(the manufacturer makes no such claim) and the carry-on baggage doesn't hit you in the face.

11/2/2012 5:16:23 PM

^^tell me about it...I've been flying to NYC every week since the beg of the year and am just about to hit platinum based on segments

^exit row is free for any status on AA. Extra legroom and I'll be the first one out the emergency exit, dead or alive

11/2/2012 8:17:06 PM

My wife travels all the time for work and she fucking loves Mariott, last time we were in NYC we got upgraded to a suite that was worth 4 times our room rate per night just because it wasn't booked.

11/2/2012 9:15:49 PM

I'm hitting Diamond on Delta based on segments this year (140+). I just relocated to Chicago in June, but have continued flying them since I was about 5000 miles or 10 segments short of re-upping on Platinum. Since then, I'm averaging 2 cities a week and anywhere from 3 to 8 segments, which is pretty ridiculous. I'm hoping United would match the Diamond status, but getting United flights for me in Chicago is hard, because my employer has preferred contracts with Delta/American. This is a pain when the United flight is cheaper than American and have to fly them. I avoid O'Hare like the plague though and fly out of Midway, in my opinion a much safer bet if you're flying into/out of Chicago for business/pleasure. Not sure how worth it getting Diamond really was as I am upgraded on 95% of my flights to first class. Also sad when TSA agents start recognizing you (worse than the usual ticket counter people!!!).

If you can rent from National they have the best car rental deal going right now. 2 - 2 day rentals, get a free day. It used to be any 2 rentals, but jerks like me took full advantage of it. I would return the car every night to an airport if I was close. I racked up about 15 free days last year doing this in a 3 month window. Those helped when I was moving and now that I sold my car when in Chicago I do whatever I can for free days.

Never be afraid to ask for an upgrade too at a hotel. I do it all the time and get some good ones. At the Hilton Manhattan East where I stayed a lot earlier in the year, they'd upgrade me to the top floor with balcony for my same rate. Over Valentine's day they gave me a room with hot tub, balcony, 2 rooms, etc which in Manhattan is like the Taj Mahal. Definitely made for a great weekend with then-girlfriend-now fiancee!

I've also learned that security in all airports suck. Some more so than others. St Louis is the worst though above any and all. It's slow as hell and only has 2 TSA agents checking IDs for several hundred people on the Thursday rush hour period.

Last tip of mine, book flights on Tuesday/Wednesday if possible, these are typically the cheapest days in the week to book flights that I've seen and what I'll normally do. If you don't mind cutting your vacation a day short (fly back on a Saturday instead of Sunday) you can cut your flight in half. Trip to England for work was 800 dollars cheaper flying out on Saturday versus Sunday.

/words Travel sucks, but you can make the most of it, definitely read the blogs that NCSUWolfy posted.

11/2/2012 10:12:28 PM

I use United most of the time, but then I went to ATL and Delta only had the direct flight. Actually got to upgrade my seat going to and back, much more leg room, wasnt bad. I have heard alot of complaining about Delta customer service but I didnt have an issue.

[Edited on November 3, 2012 at 12:37 PM. Reason : I like direct flights.]

11/3/2012 12:36:56 PM

Hotel lounges. Go to them

Im krallum and i approved this message

11/4/2012 9:45:17 AM

http://www.aa.com/viewPromotionDetails.do?fN=EURO100K.xml&_locale=en_US

Just got the 15k bonus for my trip through EU. As long as I hit my 4th trip by 1/31 I'm looking at a total of 150k bonus

11/7/2012 1:30:54 PM

If anyone is heading up to NYC - this is a pretty decent hotel too


http://www.sheratonnewyork.com/earnmore

7/2/2013 3:29:39 PM

What's a good site for maximizing miles for a multi city domestic trip?
I'll pay a few bucks if I have to. Delta is making this annoying as fuck.
I'll be traveling Nov 27 -> Nov 30 -> Dec 3
RDU PHL LAS RDU = 70,000 delta pts
I also debated flying the last leg from LAS -> RDU via Southwest, however
RDU -> PHL -> LAS == 100,000 delta pts

7/31/2013 2:36:39 PM

Highly recommend http://www.schwab.com/public/schwab/banking_lending/checking_account for overseas travel. No fees, no minimum balance, and unlimited ATM reimbursement.

9/9/2014 11:01:38 AM

If you stuff your underwear in your shoe, it saves a lot of packing room.


Just a little tip from me to you.

9/10/2014 6:18:15 PM

^^Or I just use my credit cards with no foreign transaction fees. No way I'm using a debit card traveling internationally. Plus you don't earn any points. I get mad points traveling for work and being able to use my own personal credit cards.

-- Also I'm having to switch to United now from Delta flying out of Denver. I've got platinum on Delta and only silver on United (United gave me silver because I have platinum at Marriott - kinda cool).

Staying at a lot of Westin's recently. I'm more for Marriott but the last few Westin's have been closer to our clients so I've started getting some SPG points.

Quote :

"Never be afraid to ask for an upgrade too at a hotel. I do it all the time and get some good ones. At the Hilton Manhattan East where I stayed a lot earlier in the year, they'd upgrade me to the top floor with balcony for my same rate. Over Valentine's day they gave me a room with hot tub, balcony, 2 rooms, etc which in Manhattan is like the Taj Mahal. Definitely made for a great weekend with then-girlfriend-now fiancee!"

Yeah platinum at Marriott gives me upgrades without asking. I usually ask anyway. Typically I find that the shorter stays give you the better upgrades because the rooms available any way.

Quote :

"I've also learned that security in all airports suck. Some more so than others. St Louis is the worst though above any and all. It's slow as hell and only has 2 TSA agents checking IDs for several hundred people on the Thursday rush hour period."

If you travel a lot you should be able to skip most of the lines with premium access. Although I'd just go ahead and get pre-check. I haven't gotten it yet but a lot of my co-workers have it.

Quote :

"Last tip of mine, book flights on Tuesday/Wednesday if possible, these are typically the cheapest days in the week to book flights that I've seen and what I'll normally do. If you don't mind cutting your vacation a day short (fly back on a Saturday instead of Sunday) you can cut your flight in half. Trip to England for work was 800 dollars cheaper flying out on Saturday versus Sunday."

Unfortunately I rarely have the benefit of booking when I want. Usually it's a 3-7 days from when my travel is. Charging to the client is nice though. I don't care how much the flight costs. Also flights over 3 hours we usually get business class internationally.

[Edited on September 10, 2014 at 6:46 PM. Reason : s]

9/10/2014 6:38:40 PM

Quote :

"Although I'd just go ahead and get pre-check. I haven't gotten it yet but a lot of my co-workers have it. "

If you travel internationally at all, go ahead and spring for Global Entry. It is a godsend when processing through passport control and customs. PLUS, you automatically get TSA PreCheck through GE. Can't beat it for $20/yr

Quote :

"Also flights over 3 hours we usually get business class internationally."

Must be nice. We have to be flying for more than 14 hours and working soon after arrival to even be eligible for Business Class.

9/10/2014 7:11:17 PM

Yeah I only get that sometimes. It's not my company's policy it's who we're partnered with on client engagements. They book flights a day before a meeting and prioritize the least flight time with no connections. I have to at least think about the cost of the flight.

Also nice user name. My current set of boots:




[Edited on September 10, 2014 at 7:22 PM. Reason : s]

9/10/2014 7:15:39 PM

So glad I don't need this thread anymore since my business travel is only a few times a year these days. This year I've been to Ireland, NYC, Toronto, and Montreal all for only a week each. I might go to Thailand in Nov though. I will say at DFW you really don't need global entry, they have a new setup where you just answer the customs questions on a terminal and it prints out a receipt, hand that to a guy at the exit and you either get further screening or like normal they let you go. I was in my car like 15 minutes after landing when I got back from Ireland. Canada is awesome having customs on the Canadian side.

One pro tip for international travel, especially with Canada, when they ask you what you are there for and you say business follow that up with internal meetings (unless you are a consultant or whatever). When I said I was there for what I was really there for I went though extra screening, internal meetings didn't move the needle though.

9/10/2014 7:30:21 PM

Haha I said that last trip to Toronto. I said 'software meeting'. That worked the first two times. The last time I got dragged into customs. Once I explained to them what I was doing I was fine but I had to stand in line and it probably took an additional 30 minutes.

9/10/2014 7:32:22 PM

Quote :

"Or I just use my credit cards with no foreign transaction fees. No way I'm using a debit card traveling internationally. Plus you don't earn any points. I get mad points traveling for work and being able to use my own personal credit cards."

Dude, that was my exact thought except almost nowhere in Munich took ccs. Only the hotel and super touristy spots took my cc. The nice bar off the beaten path, Dachau, mini mart in the main metro terminal, and a few other places only took cash or 'local cards'

9/10/2014 10:56:41 PM

I worked in Madrid for 2 weeks and almost everywhere I went took my Chase CC. Even the small "off the beaten bath" took CC's. Spain is in a recession too. I mean I still got cash but I typically like to use only CC's as it's much easier to expense because I just attach my CC statement to my expense form. Also when I travel for work it's usually 12-16 hours of work and barely any time to relax. When I do relax I'm going to a nice ass restaurant that I'm not paying for and that certainly takes CCs.

9/11/2014 12:25:39 AM

Quote :

"Haha I said that last trip to Toronto. I said 'software meeting'. That worked the first two times. The last time I got dragged into customs. Once I explained to them what I was doing I was fine but I had to stand in line and it probably took an additional 30 minutes. "

One guy I was traveling with for one of my weeks in Toronto has a twin brother that is banned from entry into Canada and so they really have him the third degree. We were waiting almost an hour for him. Customs sucks.

9/11/2014 8:41:00 AM

One of my co-workers work phone number was some how the same as someone on their watch list so he missed his flight and got stuck in customs for almost 2 hours. He was French French which didn't make it any better. lol.

9/11/2014 11:10:47 AM

Just sat in line at customs for an hour getting into Toronto. I'm totally signing up for Global Entry asap. Pain in the ass.

9/16/2014 6:47:27 PM

Yeah, got mine in Charlotte two weeks and and customs took about 30 seconds.

9/16/2014 8:22:18 PM

Yeah going to do that. What does everyone do for hotspots traveling internationally? I usually need open internet at a clients site and more often than not their guest wifi blocks most of our email, messaging, and VPN access so I've started experimenting with different hotspot solutions. Currently using this hotspot from this company called XCOMGlobal. Works pretty well. Just keep it on 24/7 and have my phone hooked to it and been using Google Hangouts for all my texting/calling. No international charges on my phone.

9/17/2014 9:48:08 AM

i always buy a local SIM wherever i go and either put it in a hotspot if i'm going to be there for a few days - if it's a quick visit then i just tether to my phone

9/17/2014 10:53:04 AM

Yeah that's the other option. Getting an unlocked hot spot and just using local sims. I find this service a little easier though. They mail you the hotspot right before your trip and you mail it back afterwards. Pretty seamless.

Also not going to tether on my phone on AT&T. It's like $60 for 300MB or something crazy like that. Would prefer unlimited data so I wasn't checking my data cap every hour.

9/17/2014 10:56:04 AM

One of my bosses travels internationally a lot and got a Tmobile plan that had unlimited data (and maybe voice?) internationally. I don't know all the details but he said for the price is can't be beat. Not sure if you could use that for tethering though since I think you would be at max 3G service.

9/17/2014 11:06:31 AM

Yeah so for that it kind of sucks. The "free international data roaming" is capped at 128kbps. A few co workers who have it said it's barely usable and you can't officially tether. Even if you unofficially tethered (jailbreak / root / etc) it would still be really slow. To get usable internet abroad with t mobile you have to pay similar prices per MB as ATT and Verizon so it's not really worth it.

9/17/2014 11:34:58 AM

"local SIM wherever"

9/17/2014 11:43:33 AM

If you are thinking of getting global entry apply NOW! The schedule is booked until early November at least in CLT. So i'm not going to get to take advantage of the program when I fly back from Germany mid October the day of my sister's wedding rehearsal. Hopefully customs goes smoothly or my mom will be pissed!!!!

9/17/2014 1:01:10 PM

Slots will open up but they are usually taken within 5 minutes.

9/17/2014 1:30:24 PM

Wish the list of countries it helps you get into was a little better. It's like Mexico, Canada, and maybe South Korea? lol.

9/17/2014 3:04:09 PM

Germany just asked if I was there for business or pleasure and gave my passport a stamp
Didn't have to do anything for France

9/17/2014 3:17:54 PM

No like getting to skip all the lines. What we're discussing with Global Entry. Doesn't matter what you're there for. You just get to skip all the lines and go to the little machine.

9/17/2014 3:33:13 PM