It is not as easy as it seems - we earned enough rewards to travel, but it just happens they are not for places where we want to go.
First of all, we mostly travel internationally, and most rewards are domestic.
We have:
1 transferrable no blackout dates United airlines ticket to anywhere in continental US.
I should probably sell it on ebay, since, domestically we only plan to go to Florida this year, and tickets NY - Miami are one of the cheapest ones. Tickets for middle-of-nowhere places are pricey, so many one of those travellers will be willing to pay more for it.
enough AA points for 2 tickets to most of US and Central America.
But not enough to Argentina, so I just had to spend almost $1,800 for those.
(I guess we'll go to Bay Islands, Honduras for a week in February)
enough Amtrak points for 2 tickets to DC or Boston. There are chinatown busses going there every day, so we would feel guilty cashing in this reward. And those cities not on the top of my list.
Enough Asia miles for a ticket to Florida or Bermuda. (for 1 person)
Enough Marriott points for 5 nights at category 7, such as Marriott in the center of Paris or Rome (but those are very difficult to book for good months, such as May or September. They are always booked.
So, we have a bunch of rewards, but ended up paying for the tickets ourselves. It is not so easy.
Trying to use rewards to travel - not easy
October 1st, 2007 at 07:45 pm
October 1st, 2007 at 09:47 pm 1191275274
October 1st, 2007 at 09:51 pm 1191275466
I'd suggest that you find a reward that works for you and focus on that. It might be cashback, which works for everyone, and just forget about the other clubs and rewards.
October 1st, 2007 at 10:20 pm 1191277242
big chunk of this is business travel - and so there is no choice. Choosing anything other than the cheapest option would be like cheating the company.
Right now we have 130,000 marriott points that were earned in 1 year.
Amtrak comes from business travel as well.
UA ticket is from voluntarily giving up a seat on an overbooked flight.
We also have some miles on other airlines, not enough to get anything - as they are from business travel (going on cheapest or most direct available flights)
Only AA miles are from personal credit card, and Asia miles from personal travel. So it is not like we did not think these things through... We keep track. But our choices are limited.
October 2nd, 2007 at 02:37 am 1191292674
Either way, I think it only pays if you earn them with business travel. I remember spending about $40k one year with Sheraton while on business...
October 2nd, 2007 at 04:45 pm 1191343529
And at least with American Airlines, they're really restrictive about expirations. I think I'll need to convert my daughter's miles to points.com because she doesn't have enough for a flight and her miles expire soon.
Such a bait and switch pain!
October 2nd, 2007 at 05:19 pm 1191345552
Stein - Why do you say that? All of the free stays I mentioned we earned from personal travel and, primarily, from use of the Marriott Rewards Visa card. Buying things we would be buying anyway, we've earned lots of free travel. We earn about 3,000 points/month on the card.