Airfare Deal for China

[calypso726]

This thread is super interesting. I haven't ever looked into ways to maximize my miles, but over the last 2 years, I've seen my travel increase exponentially, with no signs of slowing down. This definitely has me thinking about how to start earning more miles beyond just flying all the time. I'm hopefully going to be buying a house soon, so starting small will be important, but this thread (and a couple others I've read since reading this one) have me realizing I'm definitely not using the system to its advantage. Thanks for all the great info!

I'll be honest, I'm the opposite of most and am a flight procrastinator. It was pure dumb luck that I found a flight 2 weeks ago for my upcoming trip to Europe this fall for $775 multi-city round trip. I swear the ABD Air Concierge I worked with to book it (I found the flights and gave her the info to book) was jumping up and down for me.

The blogs I have found most helpful are Million Mile Secrets, Frequent Miler, View From the Wing, One Mile at a Time, and Mommy Points. Hope this helps.

 

[tgeorge]

This thread is super interesting. I haven't ever looked into ways to maximize my miles, but over the last 2 years, I've seen my travel increase exponentially, with no signs of slowing down. This definitely has me thinking about how to start earning more miles beyond just flying all the time. I'm hopefully going to be buying a house soon, so starting small will be important, but this thread (and a couple others I've read since reading this one) have me realizing I'm definitely not using the system to its advantage. Thanks for all the great info!

I'll be honest, I'm the opposite of most and am a flight procrastinator. It was pure dumb luck that I found a flight 2 weeks ago for my upcoming trip to Europe this fall for $775 multi-city round trip. I swear the ABD Air Concierge I worked with to book it (I found the flights and gave her the info to book) was jumping up and down for me.

If your travels are increasing it is definitely worth looking into. I've read a lot of blogs,books, etc and I actually find it quite fun. I'm always trying to find ways to get increase the miles (or points since we do like driving the Jeep out to Colorado and staying for free is a definite advantage) I earn. You will definitely get benefit from it.

Calypso has listed a bunch of great blogs. Another blog I like is Nomadic Matt. He actually wrote a book that I bought. The fun part is he updates it frequently and sends out the updates (it is an electronic book). It is nice to have the constant updates since things can change or new ways to get more miles discovered. So, it was a nice addition to blogs.

Even the people at Target know not to ask me about the RED card anymore because I want the miles. Come to think of it, I may have two problems. Travel hacking and Target

 

[tgeorge]

Yeah, manufactured spend isn't what it used to be. I will max out what I can though shopping portals and the like. You're A380 comment made me think of a recent conversation with DH:

Him- I'd like to fly in first on Etihad's A380.
Me - But, we're not going to Abu Dhabi.
Him - Well we could and then we could fly on Eithad.
Me - Who are you?

My best travel hack for ABD involves a Chase Ink card, a Target sore card and online account and a Disney Vacation Savings account. You purchase Target gift cards with the Ink card online at Staples and get 5 UR points/$ which can be transferred to United, British Airways etc. The go online to your Target account and make sure your Target store card is set as the default payment to trigger 5% off for purchases with the Target cc. Load your Target gift cards on to your online Target account so you can use the as payment. Start adding Disney gift cards to your cart and will get 5% off each one for having the store card set as your payment method. Right before purchase though, edit the payment from Target store card to the Target gift cards. The 5% discount will remain and you pay with the Target gift cards. Then when you receive Disney the gift cards load them on to your DVA. You use the DVA to pay for your ABD and earn an additional 2% back in Disney gift cards.

I've read about the Disney GC through Target and upload to DVA. I thought about it,but I didn't want to not get miles. So, I'll buy the GC at Target and then upload them. But, that is a genius plan. I have the Chase Sapphire,but not the Ink. I don't think I get the same UR through Staples. I'll have to look now. Or, better yet, just get an Ink Card. ;-)

I'm not going to lie, those flights on Ethiad (and Emirates for that matter) look amazing. I'm sure you guys could make something work!

 

[tgeorge]

http://m.nzherald.co.nz/travel/news/article.cfm?c_id=7&objectid=11598631

@calypso726 .... your husband's wish may come true after all. I remembered reading this on Nomadic Matt's site. Stellar deal on flight to Australia

 

[calypso726]

If your travels are increasing it is definitely worth looking into. I've read a lot of blogs,books, etc and I actually find it quite fun. I'm always trying to find ways to get increase the miles (or points since we do like driving the Jeep out to Colorado and staying for free is a definite advantage) I earn. You will definitely get benefit from it.

Calypso has listed a bunch of great blogs. Another blog I like is Nomadic Matt. He actually wrote a book that I bought. The fun part is he updates it frequently and sends out the updates (it is an electronic book). It is nice to have the constant updates since things can change or new ways to get more miles discovered. So, it was a nice addition to blogs.

Even the people at Target know not to ask me about the RED card anymore because I want the miles. Come to think of it, I may have two problems. Travel hacking and Target

Thanks for the tip about Nomadic Matt. I will add him to my list of blogs. You're not the only one with two problems. Mine are travel hacking and Disney

I've read about the Disney GC through Target and upload to DVA. I thought about it,but I didn't want to not get miles. So, I'll buy the GC at Target and then upload them. But, that is a genius plan. I have the Chase Sapphire,but not the Ink. I don't think I get the same UR through Staples. I'll have to look now. Or, better yet, just get an Ink Card. ;-)

I'm not going to lie, those flights on Ethiad (and Emirates for that matter) look amazing. I'm sure you guys could make something work!

I did the Raise/Target GC/Disney gift card/DVA once to pay our DVC dues. Afterwards I wanted to kick myself. We saved over $900 but I would have rather had the 40K UR points. So this is my happy medium. I'll get my 40K UR points and save about $500. MMS blog has a great tutorial for how to apply for a Chase business card. I found this helpful for those of us who have a "business" and need to define our "business" in very generously creative terms.

http://m.nzherald.co.nz/travel/news/article.cfm?c_id=7&objectid=11598631

@calypso726 .... your husband's wish may come true after all. I remembered reading this on Nomadic Matt's site. Stellar deal on flight to Australia

Oooh! Thanks for that! We've been to Australia and DH has always wanted to go back. We met a handful of families on the Danube River cruise that have done the Australia ABD and they all raved about it. So, now Australia is on the ABD list. Ugh, I need to win Powerball or something.

 

[tgeorge]

Yeah, I read about the raise/target/Disney/DVA thing on the cruise portion of the DISboards before our Fantasy cruise last April. But, that seemed like way too much work and I wouldn't get as many miles

Hahaha, I guess we all have our 'problems'. My husband thinks I have a Disney problem, but I told him that I'm really not that bad. When I almost bought into DVC on our cruise, he may have been on to something.

Oh, Australia is definitely on our list since that is the one place DH actually wants to go to. He just needs to save enough PTO in order for us to do it. So, I'm hoping for 2020 or 2021. But, that's what I'm saving a lot of miles for. If I'm flying half way around the world, I'm going to be comfortable.

Yeah, I like reading some of Nomadic Matt's blogs. He's more of a budget traveler and stays at hostels, but he always flies in business or first. He is definitely an enigma. I'm not at all interested in staying in a hostel, but I'm almost 40, so I feel those days are far behind me

Definitely going to look into the Chase Ink. Thanks for the info.

And, now back to China Airfare. Sorry OP. I feel I've hijacked your thread.

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

Y
Sorry OP. I feel I've hijacked your thread.

No, this is all good, and I think I opened it anyway so I hijacked my own thread

 

[tgeorge]

No, this is all good, and I think I opened it anyway so I hijacked my own thread

I think that is allowed ;-)

It has been a great topic though and it seems like it has been very helpful all around.

I forget this board isn't like Cruise Critic. Wow, people there get bent out of shape so quicky instead of just enjoying what people have to say about a topic.

 

[sayhello]

FYI, some of you probably already know this, but for those who don't, I heard that Target has closed this loophole and no longer allows you to buy Disney Gift Cards with Target Gift Cards. The transactions are being canceled. Apparently enough people were doing it that they caught on.

Sayhello