This week’s Frequent Miler on the Air broadcast finds Greg and I discuss the surprising StayCay to Far Away results (voting closes at 12pm on Saturday, May 23rd, so if you’re reading this in time head to this post and cast your vote), Iceland’s move to encourage tourists (including what we think about the prospect of traveling there this summer), our own itchy feet, a very promising tool for finding award seats, and more. Watch, listen, or read our Frequent Miler week in review. Note that this week’s video broadcast has been delayed. Check back later today to see us on Youtube or listen below.
FM on the Air Podcast
For those who would rather listen than watch, the audio of our weekly broadcast is available on all popular podcast platforms, including:
| iTunes | Google Play | Spotify |
You can even listen right here in this browser:
If you can’t find the podcast on your favorite podcast platform, send us a message and let us know what you’d like us to add.
This week at Frequent Miler:
In domestic US travel
Best Hyatt resorts for winter and spring break in the continental United States
Greg has published a number of previous posts about the best places to look if you’re searching for domestic destinations as travel opens back up. This post specifically looked at availability during the peak of peak times — the week between Christmas and New Year’s Eve and a typical spring break week — at some of the best Hyatt options for winter and spring to give you the relative value and availability in a number of popular spots.
Best ways to get to cities in the US and Canada using miles
Many Americans will likely be looking to stay domestic for a while as states ease restrictions and we all hope for a slow return to normalcy post-pandemic. If you’re looking to stay within the US and Canada, there are quite a few different sweet spots that can help you save miles on domestic flights and those within North America. This post summarizes your best bets to save miles.
How to book United flights with Turkish Miles & Smiles
Of course, the sweetest of the US domestic sweet spots is probably using Turkish miles. We originally published this post last year in the time after uncovering the huge Turkish Miles & Smiles sweet spot for domestic Star Alliance travel. However, I realized this week that several parts were out of date and so I have updated the post with those things that have changed (including a number of improvements to the process) and additional information we’ve gleaned in the meantime.
In credit card rewards
Top things to do for MORE miles
During a time when you may not be signing up for many new credit card welcome bonuses, what else can you do to increase your mileage balances? In this post, Greg lays out many of the other options for earning miles while we’re not flying.
Credit card changing fortunes (COVID-19 Edition)
I agree with Greg that it’s really interesting to see how the relative value of one credit card or another changes due to tweaks made to other credit cards. Greg last wrote a similar post just about 6 months ago and already there had been significant shifts on a number of cards that were trending downward as the year began and are now trending strongly upward. See Greg’s take on a number of cards and how they have been affected by the pandemic and corresponding issuer responses.
7 ways to increase credit card spend from home
If you’re looking for ways to meet minimum spending requirements or increase rewards without heading out of the house, this post Greg published a few months ago and then updated this week with new information may be relevant for you. While many issuers have extended the time frame to meet minimum spending requirements, you still may need some strategies to get you over the final hurdles and this post can help.
In foreign travel
Get to Europe using airline miles: Economy class edition
While many readers are primarily interested in using miles for luxury travel, there are also always readers who ask about the best deals in economy class. Whether because they are trying to fly an entire family, are traveling during times or on routes where premium cabin space is hard to find, or they just want to stretch their mileage as far as possible, I know that some folks tend to redeem for economy class seats. This guide gives you the best deals in economy class travel to Europe — which, surprisingly, can sometimes cost fewer miles than a domestic US ticket.
Iceland To Offer Free COVID-19 Tests For Tourists
If you’re considering international travel in the near-term, Iceland is offering a pretty interesting incentive: free COVID-19 tests on arrival for the first few weeks when travel opens up (after that, you’ll have to foot the bill for your arrival test). In Frequent Miler on the Air, Greg notes how this might make Icealand a safer travel destination than some parts of the US given that you’ll know everyone is getting tested. On the flip side, we both agree that travel during this time is unlikely to be pleasant. I wonder what will happen when someone from your flight tests positive: will they quarantine the whole flight? Just those passengers sitting near the infected traveler? There are just too many questions and is not enough upside for me to want to get out there traveling again yet.
The deal of the week
SeatSpy founders deals ending soon
SeatSpy has the potential to be awesome. It already is pretty amazing for the things it can do, but current functionality is probably limited for many US-based readers. However, it looks like SeatSpy is actively working to expand the tool in ways that could be awesome for US-based travelers, too. Until May 26th, they are offering special “Founders Pricing” for their paid membership tiers with the ability to lock in lifetime pricing now. The mid-tier subscription comes with a free 3-month trial — meaning that you can lock in cheaper pricing now and use it for 3 months for free to see where they go with it. That seems like a pretty low-risk proposition that could turn out to be a win. Even the top-tier subscription, which can be locked in at the current equivalent of about $3.67 per month, could be worth a gamble for a while and in the post I note that I’d be inclined to go that route. Let me be clear: there are no guarantees here that this will work out to be as good as we hope, but if they are able to successfully expand I certainly wouldn’t regret locking in a membership for a couple dollars a month.
That’s it for this week at Frequent Miler. Check back soon for this week in review around the web and our weekly 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.
I enjoy both your podcast as well as your Thursday Q&A sessions when I can play them back, as I’m guessing many FM followers do. I think you miss the main point of Jake’s request to make the Q&A available in podcast format: Make your audio content available where people like to consume it, and for many of us, that’s via podcast. For me the podcast format provides a lot more listening flexibility than having to listen to Q&A on YouTube. To me, Greg’s rational for not making it available via podcast format feels like saying something like “Greg & Nick’s daily blogs are available on all versions of the web site, but that doesn’t make sense for Stephen Pepper’s quick deals – of course they should only be available on the Mobile site when read on a phone.” Unless it takes a lot of work to have the Q&A sessions available also converted to podcast format, why not? Thanks, and keep up the great content & work.
Thanks Rich. I must not have been clear: I do agree with making the Ask Us Anything into a podcast. I just don’t want it merged into the same show as Frequent Miler on the Air. I want to make it its own show.
Excellent – thanks!
I like the informality of the AMA and worry that having it be a podcast could impact its spontaneity. Also, I feel like you guys are seem a bit more willing to talk about tricks in a less guarded way. It’s already preserved in YouTube. Making it a podcast could possibly threaten what makes AMA unique.
Thanks Larry. I don’t think we’ll be any more guarded if we turn it into a podcast. We won’t do anything differently except after the fact convert it into a MP3 and upload it to a podcast platform.
#ReaderFeedback:
I gotta say, that little rant that y’all did on this “pod” about revenue steadiness and the impact corona virus had on revenue was by far the hardest I’ve laughed at the podcast. Y’all kept going and going and it was gold. Keep up the podcasts, I love both of them and tune in every single week!
Haha, thanks!