Don’t know what Loyalty Points are? – click here for details

Pros of BookAAHotels

20-30% Loyalty Point Bonus

AAdvantage recently added “Loyalty Point Rewards” to the program – click here for details.

One of those rewards kicks in at 60,000 Loyalty Points – a 20% LP bonus on BookAAHotels earning. (and a few other partners) Another reward kicks in at 100,000 Loyalty Points – a 30% LP bonus on BookAAHotels earning.

For 6 months after crossing those thresholds, you receive 20/30% more Loyalty Points. The bonus should also apply to the transaction that pushes you over the threshold. (i.e. a hotel stay that takes you from 40,000 LPs to 65,000 LPs would earn the 20% bonus on the entire 25,000 LPs earned) It is worth highlighting that you do NOT receive any additional redeemable miles.

In any event, you receive the bonus Loyalty Points when you book with BookAAHotels but NOT when you book with Rocketmiles.

“Double Boost”

When booking hotels with Rocketmiles or BookAAHotels, you are allowed to pay more to earn more. This is often called “boosting”. The price of these boosted miles can change from time to time – at the moment they are costing $65 for 3,000 miles –> 2.16 cents per mile. Most importantly, these additional miles also count as Loyalty Points.

With Rocketmiles, you are typically allowed one boost of 3,000 miles per night. With BookAAHotels you are allowed two – one at the initial room selection stage and another at the confirmation stage. Because boosted miles are relatively cheap, the more you can “boost” per hotel stay, the better…

Pros of Rocketmiles

More Hotels Available

With BookAAHotels, only a relatively small number of hotels allow you to earn AA miles. Frustratingly, this can change from search to search, even in the same location for the same dates.

With Rocketmiles, EVERY hotel shown will earn you some miles. Some more. Some less. But you will definitely have more hotels to choose from. This is especially relevant internationally, where you might want to stay at a small boutique hotel instead of a major chain hotel.

Book for Someone Else

Sometimes a family member or friend asks for your help to find a hotel room. They don’t really care about miles or points – anything they earn might end up orphaned and expire unused.

With Rocketmiles, you can make hotel bookings on behalf of others, and receive the AA miles in your own account.

Better Booking Experience

Rocketmiles is generally considered to have a better website experience. You can sort your search based on miles earned, total cost, etc.

Of course, that doesn´’t stop you from searching on Rocketmiles and then cross-checking against BookAAHotels before confirming your booking.

Nuances

Rocketmiles stays post to your AAdvantage account based on the check-out date. BookAAHotels post to your AAdvantage account based on the check-in date.

This quirk will be most relevant in late February / early March, if you are attempting to squeeze in a few more Loyalty Points before a new qualification period begins. (or want to get a head start on the next year)

Bottom Line

With both BookAAHotels and Rocketmiles, you will NOT receive points or elite stay credit, as you are making a third party booking. You might occasionally convince the hotel to provide certain elite benefits. Ultimately, however, you are choosing to earn AA miles and elite status credit instead of hotel points / elite status credit.

There are pros and cons to using BookAAHotels and Rocketmiles. Make your choice based on the differences outlined above…

What do you think about BookAAHotels and Rocketmiles? Let us know in the comments section…

The post Rocketmiles vs. BookAAHotels for Loyalty Point Collectors appeared first on InsideFlyer.

“TURKISH AIRLINES IS LOOKING FOR A BRAND NEW PROJECT TO LAUNCH ON ITS 90TH ANNIVERSARY!

Turkish Airlines, connecting the most countries in the world, is organizing a special idea contest for the 90th anniversary of its
establishment.

By participating in the 90th Anniversary Idea Contest, you can submit your innovative ideas that enhance flight experience and earn 300,000 Miles!”

What are the details?

This sounds like a fun idea (and potentially a very useful one for the airline!), but you’re probably wondering what your chances of actually winning something are. I’ve taken a look at the terms and conditions, and I think there’s a reasonable chance InsideFlyer readers might be in the mix for a prize – if you play smartly…

There are 90 prizes in total and the competition is split into 5 different categories:

1. Flight Experience (Catering, Inflight products, Inflight entertainment system, Comfort, Additional services)
2. Airport Experience (Transportation, Ticketing, Check-in, Baggage, Lounges, Boarding, Information)
3. Sales, Communications & Winning Experiences (Website, Sales offices, Mobile application, Call center, Agencies, Social media, Advertisements, Miles&Smiles, Corporate Club, JetGenç, Shop&Miles)
4. Organizational Development & Innovation (Business processes, Organization, Efficiency and profitability, Education and employment, Innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem, New business model opportunities, Cooperation opportunities, Digitalization)
5. Sustainability & Social Responsibility (Waste management, Environmentally friendly products, Carbon emissions, Social responsibility)

There will be 18 winning submissions for each category, with the prize distribution as follows – for each category:

• 1st prize: 300,000 Miles
• 2nd prize: 250,000 Miles
• 3rd prize: 200,000 Miles
• 4th prize: 150,000 Miles
•  5th prize: 120,000 Miles
• 6th-18th prize: 60,000 Miles

All ideas will be evaluated by a jury consisting of Turkish Airlines’ teams of experts in the competition categories. So, to be clear, winners are not selected by random chance – they are chosen and ranked by a panel which decides which ideas are the best.

I’m sure InsideFlyer readers would have plenty of excellent suggestions about improving the flight and airport experience, but I also imagine Turkish will receive a lot of submissions for those categories.

I’m confident they will receive far fewer submissions for the other categories (particularly 3 and 4), and would be surprised if at least some readers can’t suggest something that ends up being judged in the top 18 ideas for those categories…

Note that the competition ends on 31st March 2023. The terms indicate that you can submit multiple ideas across different categories.

Bottom line

If Turkish takes the suggestions they receive seriously, this could be a clever and low cost way of generating some great ideas for improvement. There are an awful lot of smart travellers out there who will be able to highlight weaknesses and offer solutions.

Even if Turkish doesn’t do much with the feedback, you might still find it fun to play ‘Airline CEO’ for a bit and potentially win a chunk of miles!

The post Give Turkish Airlines Some Advice And Earn Up To 300,000 Free Miles… appeared first on InsideFlyer.

Starting with your second stay, you will earn 3,000 bonus points for every two nights (they don’t need to be consecutive) until May 26th. Remember that with Hyatt, reward nights still count for these sort of bonuses. You can earn a maximum of 45,000 bonus points during the promotion.

If you have a World of Hyatt credit card, you might also be able to earn an additional 500 points for every 2 nights, depending on where you are staying.

Bottom line

If you are heading to Europe, Africa or the Middle East, you could combine the Bonus Journeys promotion with this one offering 1,000 bonus points per night (capped at 10,000 total) and you would effectively be earning 5,000 points for every two nights (from your second stay). That’s not a bad return at all in the current market, though do watch out for the caps.

Terms

You must be a member of World of Hyatt in good standing and register for the promotion between February 21 (8:00 a.m. CT) and April 30, 2023 (11:59 p.m. CT), to participate. To join World of Hyatt, visit hyatt.com/join, and to register for the promotion, visit hyatt.com/bonusjourneys. Only Eligible Nights completed after registration and between March 20 and May 26, 2023 (“Promotion Period”) will count towards this promotion. Eligible Nights must be on stays completed during the Promotion Period. 

3,000 Bonus Points: Beginning on your second eligible stay after registration and during the Promotion Period, you will receive 3,000 Bonus Points for every 2 Eligible Nights at participating Hyatt hotels and resorts worldwide, participating MGM Rewards destinations, Small Luxury Hotels of the World (“SLH”) properties, and Lindblad Expeditions. A maximum of 45,000 Bonus Points may be earned under this promotion.  

The post Hyatt’s Latest Bonus Points Promotion Is Now Live – Registration Required appeared first on InsideFlyer.

Hacking Hyatt Status from Scratch

Step 1 – Obtain Trial Explorist Status

If you are approaching things from the perspective of an American Airlines elite member, you can now apply for the Hyatt status challenge. During 90 days, you will enjoy Explorist status.

During those 90 days, you simply need to apply for a tier match with MGM Rewards. It might not appear to have been processed correctly, but your MGM Rewards account should be upgraded to Gold status within a day or two.

Step 2 – BEFORE January 31, 2023

MGM Rewards status expires on February 1st of each year. Therefore, at some point AFTER your Hyatt status has dropped below Explorist level (assuming you don’t do the challenge’s 10 nights required to retain Explorist status) and BEFORE your MGM Gold status expires, you can apply for a tier match in the opposite direction…

Your Hyatt account should be updated to Explorist status until February 29, 2024. (especially if you do the tier match in January 2023)

Step 3 – Repeat Tier Match

At some point on or after February 1st, 2023 your MGM Rewards status will drop below Gold status. A few mouse clicks later and you should be able to use your Hyatt status to upgrade your MGM Rewards account back up to Gold status, this time valid until February 1, 2024.

For as long as the tier match program is running – and as long as MGM and Hyatt have slightly different status expiration dates – you should be able to repeat this process indefinitely…

Hanging onto Hyatt Status

If you currently enjoy Globalist or Explorist status with World of Hyatt, that status will expire on February 28, 2023.

During the month of February 2023, you simply must remember to apply for a tier match with MGM Rewards BEFORE your Hyatt status expires at the end of the month.

After your Hyatt status has dropped to Discoverist status (or worse) on March 1, 2023, you can simply tier match your MGM Gold status back to Hyatt Explorist status – which would be valid until February 29, 2024.

Bottom Line

Even though Hyatt’s Explorist status is not nearly as valuable as Globalist status, you can still receive a 2pm late checkout and 20% bonus points – useful things to have…

You don’t need to start the process with American or Hyatt status either. MGM Rewards will tier match from competing casino loyalty programs as well…

The post Hyatt Elite Status Expiring Soon? Don’t Forget to Do This Before the end of February appeared first on InsideFlyer.

Iberia Plus offers prices in euros, pounds sterling or US dollars. Paying in dollars is a terrible deal, so you would certainly prefer to pay in euros or British pounds… (with a zero commission credit card of course).

How to Pay in Euros or British Pounds

Iberia’s Terms & Conditions state that you will be charged in the currency where your account is located. (this now matches the British Airways Executive Club policy)

As a result, you must update your Iberia Plus profile to have a postal address in Spain or the United Kingdom. (you can use the address of a friend or a hotel without any issues)

That said, the Iberia Plus website is totally broken – at least for me…

It is worth highlighting that some Iberia Plus promotions – especially 50% off reward flights – are sometimes restricted to Spanish residents. Even more reason to register your Iberia Plus account to a Spanish postal address…  (unless you hold an Iberia Plus co-branded credit card, in which case you must maintain your account’s address in the US)

Bottom Line

The price of Avios gets gradually cheaper the more you buy. The cheapest price tends to settle around the 1.2 euro cent level, which is slightly more than 1.25 cents per Avios. You do need to buy 150,000+ Avios to get that price though. For smaller top ups, you shouldn’t pay much more than 1.5 cents per Avios.

However, you shouldn’t bother buying Avios if you must pay in dollars…

The post Receive a 50% Bonus When Buying Avios from Iberia Plus appeared first on InsideFlyer.

In general, members are being offered the opportunity to buy one additional level of status from the one you are currently on track to earn / retain.

For example, if you are currently on track to becoming a Gold member in 2023-2024, then you would be offered the chance to buy Platinum status…

It is worth highlighting that I am currently a Platinum Pro member. I have received an offer for Platinum status, which is actually a downgrade.  As a result, these offers are based on your expected status for next year, not to maintain or upgrade your current status.

Why These Offers are Terrible

Everybody’s offer is individualized.  Moreover, it changes over time – the cost typically decreases as you get closer to the number of Loyalty Points needed for the next level of elite status.

It is obvious, however, that your typical InsideFlyer reader is NOT the target market for these offers.  It doesn’t really matter whether your target is $1,449 for Platinum status or $4,100 for Executive Platinum status. The only people who should be considering these offers are people who spend roughly 5 minutes a month thinking about their level of elite status.

Everybody else can read this article about acquiring Loyalty Points cheaply – click here.

Taking my personal offer, I need 42,000 Loyalty Points to reach Platinum status for next year.  This would cost me just over $1,000 by booking no-show hotel stays via Rocketmiles.

AND, and this is a big AND…  I would also add 42,000 miles to my balance of redeemable miles by booking those no-show hotel stays.  So, not only would I earn Platinum status more cheaply, but I would pick up enough miles for a free flight or two…

Bottom Line

If you receive an email from American Airlines offering you the chance to “lock in your 2023 status”, ignore it…  (or read it and enjoy a quick laugh)  It isn’t for you… you can buy your preferred level of 2023 status far more cost-efficiently.  (click here to read how)

The post Why American’s Buy-Up Status Offers are Terrible appeared first on InsideFlyer.

Most members seem to have received the 100% bonus offer. The bonus applies to purchases of 5,000 points or more. However, for the best deal you will want to buy at least 26,000 points (pre-bonus).

The regular price of IHG points is 1 cent each, whenever you buy at least 26,000 points in a single transaction. The annual limit is 150,000 points (so 300,000 doubled), although the annual limit is usually increased late in the year.

As a result, you can buy 52,000-300,000 points today and pay 0.5 cents per point.

Is it Worth It?

I certainly would NOT recommend that you buy points speculatively. However, I do like to keep a reasonable balance of IHG points handy, if only because their award pricing algorithm sometimes comes up with excellent bargains… 

It’s not as easy as it was years ago – but you can definitely find many hotels where you will save money by buying points at the 0.5 cent price, instead of simply paying the cash price. This is especially true if you hold the IHG Rewards Club Premier card from Chase, where you get the 4th night free when booking award stays using points. And with IHG One Rewards seemingly planning to offer regular discounts on award stays, you definitely want to have enough points in your account to take advantage.

Of course, you also need to take into account the fact that you can earn substantial number of points on paid stays, especially when a good promotion is running.

Don’t Forget Cashback

If you are a member of Topcashback, you are hopefully aware that you can earn cashback on points purchases processed by Points.com. (including IHG of course)

An extra 2.1% discount is certainly worth the extra click.

Not a Member of Topcashback Yet?

If you are not yet a member of Topcashback, you can earn an additional $15. Simply sign up using this referral link – http://www.topcashback.com/join-us/inside-flyer/ref/craigsowerby – and earn $10 of cashback.

It’s really quite simple to earn $10 of cashback. You would have to buy $480 worth of IHG points to pick up $10 of cashback. Alternatively there are many hotel chains available where a single hotel stay will generate that much cashback. But between the $15 new member bonus and the $10 standard cashback, you’d be looking at $25 back in your pocket in no time!

The post You Can Buy IHG Points With a 100% Bonus Again appeared first on InsideFlyer.

One of the major attractions of the airline alliance system is that you can earn your status with one airline, yet enjoy the benefits while flying another. So, you might be a regular traveller on United or Lufthansa or Avianca, but decide to credit your flights to Miles + Bonus for the easiest route to Star Alliance Gold…

The standard benefits for Star Alliance Gold members are:

• Airport lounge access
• Priority boarding
• Priority check-in at Business Class desks
• Fast track security
• Extra baggage allowance
• Priority baggage handling

Qualification

Reaching Gold status with Miles + Bonus – equivalent to Star Alliance Gold – is a two-stage process.

First, you must earn Silver status. Silver status can be reached via two different methods:

• Earn 24,000 Tier miles on ANY Star Alliance airline
• Earn 12,000 Tier miles on any Star Alliance airline AS LONG AS you have flown TWICE on Aegean or Olympic Air

You have a rolling 12-months to collect the required number of miles.

Once you reach Silver status, a new 12-month period will immediately begin. To upgrade your status to Gold, you must:

• Earn 48,000 Tier miles on ANY Star Alliance airline
• Earn 24,000 Tier miles on any Star Alliance airline AS LONG AS you have flown FOUR times on Aegean or Olympic Air

Renewal

Once you reach Gold status, your 12-month renewal period begins immediately. To retain your Gold status, you are required to complete:

• 24,000 Tier miles on ANY Star Alliance airline
• 12,000 Tier miles on any Star Alliance airline AS LONG AS you have flown FOUR times on Aegean or Olympic Air

What is Changing?

Starting on June 1, 2023, the mileage needed will change – but only for those who do NOT fly 2/4 times on Aegean or Olympic Air.

• Silver will require 35,000 Tier miles on any Star Alliance airline – both for earning and for renewing
• Gold will require 70,000 Tier miles on any Star Alliance airline – both for earning and renewing

Bottom Line

The easiest way of earning and retaining Star Alliance Gold status has essentially involved an annual trip to Greece. For Europeans (and especially Greek residents), this is relatively easy to organize.

But if you are based in North America and have held Gold status since the early days of easy qualification, you are now likely to lose your elite status unless you can plan an annual trip to Greece. which would allow you to continue re-qualifying with only 12,000 Tier miles per year.

Are you a Miles + Bonus elite status member? Let us know your thoughts of this change in the comments section…

The post Aegean Miles + Bonus Makes it Harder to Earn Elite Status (for Some) appeared first on InsideFlyer.

With Marriott Bonvoy, you can earn lifetime Silver, Gold and Platinum status.  A few lucky members were grandfathered into a Lifetime Titanium status when Marriott merged with Starwood Preferred Guest – this is no longer available.  (for now, perhaps…)

Because Silver and Gold offer few relevant benefits, most readers will be aiming for Lifetime Platinum status. Lifetime Platinum status with Marriott Bonvoy requires:

• 600 elite nights since you joined Marriott Bonvoy/Rewards and/or Starwood Preferred Guest
• 10 years of Platinum status or higher (Marriott Rewards’ Gold status earned pre-merger also qualifies as a Platinum year)

What Counts as a Platinum year?

To earn Platinum status with Marriott Bonvoy, you must earn 50 elite nights or more within the calendar year. (including credit card elite night credits)

As a result, every year where you earn 50+ elite nights will count as a “Platinum year”.

However, if you are a Platinum member on January 1st of the year and maintain it during the entire year, you will also pick up a Platinum year, irrespective of whether you actually earn 50 elite nights during the year.

I can confirm this personally because I earned a mere 8 elite nights in 2022, but in early 2023 I picked up my 10th and final Platinum year nonetheless because I held Platinum status throughout 2022. 

Does Having Lifetime Platinum Status Give me a Head Start on Titanium or Ambassador Status?

Unfortunately not. Lifetime status gives you the benefits of that tier, but you do not get any complimentary elite nights.

So, if you are interested in earning Choice Benefits and/or Titanium / Ambassador status, you will be starting from zero every year. (unless you have credit card elite nights)

What Happens When I Reach Lifetime Status?

Not much…  Although you will be able to access your lifetime stats via this special Marriott website.  Click here.

Amusingly, I have redeemed substantially more points than I have earned – a glitch resulting from the SPG merger. My four most-visited cities are also cities where I have lived – demonstrating that my Marriott and SPG experience has involved a lot of travel hacking, mattress running and staycationing to earn points and elite night credits…

Besides a graphic of your lifetime statistics, you can also order a special set of luggage tags.

Bottom Line

Now that I have earned lifetime Platinum status with Marriott Bonvoy, I find myself staying less and less at Marriott hotels. I stay at a Marriott when it is the best option, not because I am chasing elite night credits.

What about you?  Are you chasing lifetime status with Marriott Bonvoy? Or have you already reached it? What do your lifetime stats look like? Let us know in the comments section…

The post What do Your Marriott Lifetime Stats Look Like? appeared first on InsideFlyer.

What’s The Deal?

Hilton’s regular price is 1 US cent per point (which you should NEVER consider).

With a 100% bonus, that price would halve to 0.5 cents per point.

You can buy 80,000 points per year, with a 100% bonus bringing your total to 160,000 points.  (later on in the year Hilton will increase the limit…)

Should I Buy?

You might want to re-read an older article explaining when to pay a cash rate and when to redeem points.

The tricky part about analyzing whether to buy Hilton points… is that it is so easy to earn them from paid hotel stays, especially when a double or triple point promotion is running. If you combine such a promo with the Aspire co-branded credit card, you could earn up to 54 points per $ of pre-tax spend. And it’s really quite difficult to find situations where you are better off buying points, instead of paying the cash rate and earning those 54 points per $ of pre-tax spend.

It is also important to remember that Hilton reward stays INCLUDE any taxes and resort fees. So there is truly nothing extra to pay when redeeming Hilton points.  And members with elite status receive the fifth night free on longer award stays.

If You Do Buy Points, Don’t Forget Cashback

Regular readers will know that I regularly promote TopCashback because, among other reasons, you can earn some cashback on your points/miles purchases when they are processed by Points.com.

Not A Member of TopCashback Yet?

If you are not yet a member of TopCashback, you can earn an additional $10. Simply sign up using this referral link – http://www.topcashback.com/join-us/inside-flyer/ref/craigsowerby – and earn $10 of cashback.

It’s really quite simple to earn $10 of cashback. Buying $400 worth of Hilton points would get you there. Alternatively, the number of hotel chains available via TopCashback is impressive – Hilton, IHG, Marriott, Accor, Choice, Best Western, etc. – as well as the major Online Travel Agencies. So a single hotel stay will probably get you there…

The post The 100% Bonus on Hilton Honors Points is Back Again appeared first on InsideFlyer.