Frequent Miler's latest team challenge, Million Mile Madness, is happening now! Follow us as Greg, Nick, and Stephen compete to earn 1 Million SAS miles by flying 15 airlines before November 23rd. Who will complete the challenge with the most Speed, Affordability, and Style?
As the sun shines on a beautiful Saturday in my part of the world, I can’t help but have thoughts drifting to the sound of a ukulele and daydreams of surf and sand. Whether you’re looking for the cheapest ways to the Hawaiian islands or how to house sit and sleep real cheap, this week’s Frequent Miler week in review around the web has what you’re hoping for. Read on for this weekend’s recap.
Cheapest Miles To Hawaii
What’s the cheapest way to get to Hawaii on points? If you said 12,500 Avios from the West Coast, you’re wrong. See this post from Drew at Travel is Free for the sweet spots you’re missing. While it’s true that paid tickets can often be a value to Hawaii, one can’t ignore the value on some of these options.
Curve adds 1% cashback to its cards – double-dip with your existing Visa and Mastercard rewards!
How to Buy and Use Round the World Tickets (RTW) in 2019
When I saw this headline from Extra Pack of Peanuts, I didn’t initially realize it would be about buying round-the-world tickets. Reading this reminded me about a time in my life, before miles-and-points, when I sought out info on this and considered the possibility of booking something like this. I’m glad I didn’t and instead discovered miles and points. At a little over 28K miles flown, The example itinerary in this post (quoted at a price of $2600-$3460) would fall into the ANA round-the-world chart at 120K miles (if it were bookable via Star Alliance carriers). You’d also be on the hook for fuel surcharges with some carriers, but the point is that this can be done better with points. Adjusting your stops a bit, you could actually fly around the world in business class for 115K points, so if you or someone you know would like to fly around the world, do some homework on how to leverage your points before you hand over a chunk of cash.
The Ultimate Guide to House Sitting Jobs: Part 2 | The Best Website and a Stellar Profile
House-sitting has always sounded interesting to me, though I’ve always been skeptical about how it works. This post from Screw the Average (be an outlier) digs in a bit, with mini-reviews of a ton of different sites and tips for how to get started doing it. I don’t love that Trusted Housesitters makes you create an account in order to view their example profile, but I think it’s cool that they included their own example of how to do it. I’m definitely not sure if this is worth it, but I may do some of my own research on this. That might sound strange to those who know I’m not a big fan of Airbnb, but this could be a great way to be more mobile if it pans out. Color me curious.
Chase Enforcing 90 Day Timeframe for Signup Bonus Requirement
While offer terms for new card bonuses typically indicate that you must meet the minimum spend requirement within 3 months / 90 days, Chase has in practice allowed 115 days for years (if you sent a secure message inquiring about the deadline to meet spend, Chase consistently responded with a date 115 days from approval). Doctor of Credit reports that Chase is no longer quoting that timeframe, but rather the 3 month / 90 days limit. Personally, I’ve never stretched it beyond 90 days nor would I ever suggest failing to meet the requirements as stated on the offer page (why give the bank a reason to deny the bonus?). If you’ve been stretching your luck, it might be time to stop.
That’s it for this week around the web. Check back soon for this week’s last chance deals.
Want to learn more about miles and points? Subscribe to email updates or check out our podcast on your favorite podcast platform.
[…] putting together, I don’t think I’ll have much use for hotel points anyway. And I even floated an idea in our week in review around the web about how to really cut down on accommodation […]
Hey Nick and/or Greg. How do I do a RTW ticket in business for 115K?
We don’t have a full guide written for this oh, but see number 5 in this post:
https://frequentmiler.com/stengths-membership-rewards-has-over-ultimate-rewards/
In short: ANA (Amex transfer partner) has a very interesting RTW chart.
Is there an easier way to check for Alaska availability on Krisflyer?
I’m not actually sure. I’d assume that any space you see available at AA.com would also be available to Singapore, though I’d call Singapore to verify before transferring (and keep in mind that transfers to Singapore typically take 12-24 hours from all of the transferable currencies, they aren’t instant).
I should add one thing to that! Keep in mind that Singapore’s max connection time on a domestic award is less than AA’s. I believe SIngapore won’t allow a connection of more than 4 hours. I’ve run into that with United itineraries before as flights from the East coast often run into an overnight layover on the West Coast and Singapore won’t let you book those to Hawaii because it’s a domestic award. I assume the same holds true for Alaska.