|
Aximus posted:Hello everyone! It's almost certainly better to get a flexible ticket class. When you book directly on the operator's website it usually tells you if the ticket is flexible or not -- usually some small-ish fee ($50) plus the difference in fare, if any (never refunded if cheaper). Some operators will even change any class of ticket for the small-ish fee + fare difference, and most non-LLCs will change for fee+fare if you have any sort of frequent flyer status with them. I'm not sure if there's any way to know which carriers will do this and at what surchage, you might have to actually click through like five different carriers' websites to see the exact T&C and how much FLEX costs. Google Flights is great but I don't think it lets you specify that you want a flex ticket. If you decide you want to buy a one-way trans-Atlantic ticket, then it can be a good idea to use a real physical travel agent. Some of the trans-Atlantic LLCs do sell one-way tickets, like I think Norwegian Air Shuttle does, but San Antonio isn't serviced by any of them. All of the legacy carriers, AFAIK, price one-ways at nearly the same cost as a round-trip.
|
#
?
Feb 11, 2020 09:49
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 11, 2024 21:18 |
|
|
I have 150k in Chase Ultimate Rewards points, and I'm trying to make a list of travel options for how I could use those points. However, finding pages like this seems very challenging. With all of the travel sites out there, there must be one that has made and updates a big spreadsheet with redemption options for each of the airline loyalty programs, right? ...Right? edit: vvv Thanks! I'll look into that one. surf rock fucked around with this message at 16:30 on Feb 15, 2020 |
|
#
?
Feb 12, 2020 05:01
|
|
|
They're out there. Award Nexus is fine.
|
|
#
?
Feb 13, 2020 22:50
|
|
|
surf rock posted:I have 150k in Chase Ultimate Rewards points, and I'm trying to make a list of travel options for how I could use those points. However, finding pages like this seems very challenging. Best value I've found for Chase points is using them to stay free in very nice Hyatts in major cities internationally. For example, the Hyatt Centric Ginza in Tokyo is a great property @ 25,000 points per night. Similarly, if you like all-inclusives, apparently the Hyatt Zilara Cancun is a great value at 25,000 points per night for an adults-only all-inclusive or the Hyatt Ziva Cancun for the family-friendly edition at the same cost. If you have a CSR you can find some really good deals on hotels through the Chase portal as well. Edit: Spent a bit more time looking for flight stuff for you too; https://thepointsguy.com/guide/sweet-spots-chase-ultimate-rewards/ has some good stuff. One of the best deals in there that I've taken advantage of once is the roundtrip business class US-Japan on ANA. Nur_Neerg fucked around with this message at 01:00 on Feb 19, 2020 |
|
#
?
Feb 18, 2020 18:20
|
|
|
Trying to buy a reasonable pair of one-way tickets from Raleigh to anywhere in Portugal for May 29th. One way because i found a GREAT price on a return ticket from the azores, where we'll be staying at the end of our trip. Is there anything I can do to help me find cheaper than what Google Flights has?
|
|
#
?
Feb 20, 2020 00:10
|
|
|
theflyingorc posted:Trying to buy a reasonable pair of one-way tickets from Raleigh to anywhere in Portugal for May 29th. One way because i found a GREAT price on a return ticket from the azores, where we'll be staying at the end of our trip. Is there anything I can do to help me find cheaper than what Google Flights has? Not unless you’re lucky on SecretFlying. You could try a traditional travel agent if those exist near where you live, I’ve done that twice and they saved like 20% on what I found myself, although this was pre-Google flights both times. How many carriers even do international one-way tickets that aren’t priced the same as round trips? I think maybe Icelandic, Norwegian Air Shuttle? It’s worth looking at round trips from Charlotte-Portugal and then back to say, NYC, as this can often be cheaper than buying a one way. Or even an open jaw like Charlotte-Lisbon ; Oslo-NYC. No easy way to find the cheapest price, it requires a lot of playing with dates and cities. Some cheap European cities are Zürich, Oslo, and Copenhagen, and if it’s included in how airlines determine whether you’re on a round trip on an open jaw, also Reykjavík. Oddly, IME as a rule of thumb, the more expensive the city the cheaper the airline tickets in Europe. Like Zürich is almost always a cheaper airport than Milan or Munich. E: and if you do find that it’ll usually only be like 10-20% cheaper than the one way. I’ve only done that once successfully, saved $500 on a $1500 ticket with "hidden city ticketing" is the keyword. Saladman fucked around with this message at 15:35 on Feb 20, 2020 |
|
#
?
Feb 20, 2020 15:31
|
|
|
I bought 2 tickets to fly from ORD to HNL on United Airlines 03/13-03/18. It was booked through CostCo Travel, but I have the option through United.com to upgrade the seats. It's a very pricey upgrade though for additional legroom - but for a 9-hr nonstop flight it may be worth it. There is an enigmatic "PROMO CODE" box on the checkout screen to purchase the upgraded seats. None of the codes I've found online have worked so far. Anyone potentially have a hookup here?
|
|
#
?
Feb 25, 2020 19:32
|
|
|
Saladman posted:Not unless you’re lucky on SecretFlying. You could try a traditional travel agent if those exist near where you live, I’ve done that twice and they saved like 20% on what I found myself, although this was pre-Google flights both times.
|
|
#
?
Feb 25, 2020 19:58
|
|
|
EVG posted:I bought 2 tickets to fly from ORD to HNL on United Airlines 03/13-03/18. It was booked through CostCo Travel, but I have the option through United.com to upgrade the seats. It's a very pricey upgrade though for additional legroom - but for a 9-hr nonstop flight it may be worth it. Related - Is row 39 the best option here? It's exit row and we'd not have any seat neighbors, but it's also right by the bathrooms. We're talking for 2 x 9 hour flights, and $150/seat per flight ($600 total) to upgrade to these seats (otherwise we'd be in the middle of a 4-across, or in a 3-across with no extra legroom, depending on which flight.)
|
|
#
?
Feb 26, 2020 17:59
|
|
|
EVG posted:Related - Is row 39 the best option here? It's exit row and we'd not have any seat neighbors, but it's also right by the bathrooms. We're talking for 2 x 9 hour flights, and $150/seat per flight ($600 total) to upgrade to these seats (otherwise we'd be in the middle of a 4-across, or in a 3-across with no extra legroom, depending on which flight.) That is a ton of money to spend to sit next to the noisy, busy, and likely smelly toilets. Exit rows also get incredibly cold on long flights, so unless you're taller than like 6'2'' I definitely wouldn't prioritize legroom, although YMMV. I'm 5'9'' so a non-freezing normal seat is preferable to a freezing exitrow. Sometimes there are non-freezing bulkhead seats, which are nice, but this particular plane doesn't seem to have that configuration. Also: normally when you check-in online, you can just pick your seats at that time for free. If you REALLY don't want to do that and you really want two and only two seats together, why don't you pay to reserve row 40//row 48-49-50-51? They get the same thing you want but at like $100 instead of $600. But really I'd just check-in IMMEDIATELY when it opens up, usually 23 hours, try to get those seats for free. There are 10 such pairs so your likelihood to get one on that particular plane is pretty high, and if it really matters to you for some reason to not sit next to a third person, then you can pay. There are also some ways to game the login system to often get empty seats next to you (on planes that aren't full). Like normally I select seats 3-4 hours in advance of the check-in deadline, and then select two non-adjacent seats in a 3 seat configuration towards the back of the plane. About half the time we get an empty middle seat doing this, and 45% of the time we just say "oops" and ask the third person to switch with one of us for whatever their aisle-vs-window preference is. The other 5% of the time we're both stuck with two separate middle seats. Anyway, moral of the story is: don't pay $600 to sit next to a public toilet Saladman fucked around with this message at 21:48 on Feb 26, 2020 |
|
#
?
Feb 26, 2020 20:22
|
|
|
I wouldn't pay $600 to sit next to stinky airline toilets where you can hear every sound.
|
|
#
?
Feb 26, 2020 20:26
|
|
|
Yeah, definitely don't sit next to the toilets. Not only that, but that part of the plane you will have literally every idiot under the sun who wants to stretch their legs coming over and doing it right next to you and trust me, it will be a lot more people than you expect.
|
|
#
?
Feb 26, 2020 22:06
|
|
|
Nothing quite like staring at every person's sweaty rear end at eye level for hours on end
|
|
#
?
Feb 26, 2020 23:20
|
|
|
Is there a general rule for how easy/hard/expensive it is for trying to upgrade classes at check-in? I'm flying to Bangkok in April (with a long layover at Incheon on the way and a shorter one on the way back) and I'd love to be able to bump up to premium economy or business one or both ways. I looked at the upgrade when I was purchasing tickets, and it would have nearly doubled my trip price. Is it a matter of going up to the airline desk at the gate and being really polite and asking nicely and seeing what, if anything, they'll do? I'm flying Delta operated by Korean Air both ways.
|
|
#
?
Feb 27, 2020 19:07
|
|
|
ExplodingChef posted:Is there a general rule for how easy/hard/expensive it is for trying to upgrade classes at check-in? Not sure about Delta/Korean but a fair number of airlines have "bids" that you can put in to say how much you're willing to pay for a class upgrade, and then they decide last minute (24 h in advance? can't recall) whether or not they accept your bid. There's a minimum allowed bid IME, offhand I want to say like around 30% of the original "buy it now" price. Swiss and probably all of Lutfhansa do it like this, so for like a flight from Zurich to LAX, normally this is around $500 per flight segment for an economy ticket and around $3000 per segment for a business class ticket. So if you buy the economy class ticket, you can then bid say, $1000 per flight segment and see if they upgrade you. If you get it, then cool you just got a business class seat for half-price. If not, then you've lost nothing and given Lufthansa Group a bit of data to figure out how they game customers a little bit better. I've only bid once, out of curiosity, at the minimum bid and I didn't get. I have gotten upgraded to business twice for free on long-haul flights randomly without even asking, but I guess this will start to no longer happen once they figure out how to game seat-price bidding perfectly.
|
|
#
?
Feb 27, 2020 22:51
|
|
|
Saladman posted:I have gotten upgraded to business twice for free on long-haul flights randomly without even asking, but I guess this will start to no longer happen once they figure out how to game seat-price bidding perfectly. This also happens waayyyyyyyyyyy more depending on your FF status; whenever we fly with tickets booked through me, a person who has a shitload of points, we magically tend to get the free upgrade, but I've never gotten a free upgrade without asking for tickets booked through my husband's aeroplan account which he rarely uses.
|
|
#
?
Feb 27, 2020 23:17
|
|
|
cheese eats mouse posted:I wouldn't pay $600 to sit next to stinky airline toilets where you can hear every sound. HookShot posted:Yeah, definitely don't sit next to the toilets. Not only that, but that part of the plane you will have literally every idiot under the sun who wants to stretch their legs coming over and doing it right next to you and trust me, it will be a lot more people than you expect. Yeah you’re all right. We got some extended legroom spots instead for a bit cheaper. Thanks!
|
|
#
?
Feb 28, 2020 16:46
|
|
|
A lot of the higher end travel cards have an $X travel incidentals per year credit, I think mine is like $150, these kinds of upgrade bids qualify Generally I just spend my incidental money on beer, but this is another way to use it
|
|
#
?
Feb 29, 2020 07:12
|
|
|
Mackieman posted:Norwegian isn't bad, but their long haul operations aren't going particularly well financially (see: https://paxex.aero/2019/11/norwegian-tatl-cuts-stockholm-copenhagen/) so there is some level of risk that the flight you book may not actually operate by the time Labor Day comes around. There's no guarantee one way or the other, but globally there are going to be ongoing financial impacts due to everything going on in China so less profitable routes are going to get cut by lots of airlines. As an example, South African announced cuts last week to most of their long haul routes including the one I wanted from GRU to JNB.
|
|
#
?
Mar 16, 2020 17:25
|
|
|
Golbez posted:Considering that Norwegian was the first airline to substantially cut things, you are drat good at this, Mackie. Thanks for the help!!  I've got a Norwegian flight over Thanksgiving LGW-BGN. I give it one chance in three of operating.
|
|
#
?
Mar 17, 2020 13:52
|
|
|
Mackieman posted:
... BGN in Sakha, Russia?
|
|
#
?
Mar 17, 2020 15:41
|
|
|
Golbez posted:... BGN in Sakha, Russia? BGO, I dum.
|
|
#
?
Mar 17, 2020 18:20
|
|
|
Dang this thread got really quiet fast. Used to have at least two to three posts every week.
|
|
#
?
May 12, 2020 08:23
|
|
|
;____________________;
|
|
#
?
May 12, 2020 10:40
|
|
|
Ain't nowhere to go, bub. Also when we can travel again, it will be a completely different world as none of the old rules will apply. No idea what any of that is going to look like yet except to say I have no faith that any of it will be positive for the consumer.
|
|
#
?
May 12, 2020 16:05
|
|
|
flights are real cheap right now
|
|
#
?
May 13, 2020 09:48
|
|
|
So...we still can't go anywhere (or shouldn't be) for those of us based in the US, but the OP is pretty long in the tooth (considering US Airways isn't a thing anymore) so I'm going to work on cleaning that up and representing the way the world works today.
Beef Of Ages fucked around with this message at 21:43 on Dec 7, 2020 |
|
#
?
Dec 7, 2020 20:46
|
|
|
I'm preparing to fly to Europe to travel around as cheaply as possible as soon as it's safe and responsible, probably 6-8 or so months if we're lucky. While I'll probably be backpacking and doing the hostel thing most of the time, it'll be nice to have the option to splurge on a nice hotel for a night here and there. I already have an account with Navy fed, so I'm looking at their credit card options. I have incredibly good credit due to parents helping me build it when I was in college plus being pretty frugal while using credit for everything as an adult, so if there are much better programs outside of Navy fed please let me know! Navy fed is ideal though since I can very easily check all my credit in one place to avoid making an error and getting charged interest. I will probably also be flying around the US a few times as well before that, and since my only choices at the airports I most frequently will use are United (lol) and Delta, so really I have once choice. I think I've averaged about 3 hours of delays per United flight. While churning points can be a dangerous game my debt to savings ratio has always been very low and I think I've gotten enough of a handle on managing my finances that I won't make a mistake that would cost me more than I get. I'm looking at these two cards: https://www.navyfederal.org/loans-cards/credit-cards.html Navy Federal More Rewards American Express Card Visa Signature Flagship Rewards It's difficult to find exact information but it seems like the Visa card is most flexible, and visa is more common in Europe. However, the Amex card gives up to a 10% discount on delta as well as discounts on car rentals and such, so that may end up being better. Any thoughts? I'm pretty new to this, so let me know if I'm being dumb. Maybe use the Amex for gas and groceries and put my rent and book all my travel stuff that isn't directly accessed through the amex on the visa? Butter Activities fucked around with this message at 04:11 on Mar 8, 2021 |
|
#
?
Mar 8, 2021 04:07
|
|
|
I dunno if Amex has any presence whatsoever in Germany, for example. Visa and Master/Maestro, yes, but Amex, ehhhhh. If you're planning to use it while on the ground at shops and any random hostel you might feel like suddenly staying in, Mastercard all the way. If you can make all of your bookings in advance and online (which can be a bit of a lame way to backpack travel IMO) you MIGHT have luck with the big hotel names taking Amex, but I wouldn't do it that way personally. E: if you get both cards, then yes, Amex for everything large/big name you can plan in advance. Master for everything else/while you're on the ground.
|
|
#
?
Mar 8, 2021 15:06
|
|
|
American Express is not very widely supported in Europe, since it's pretty expensive for vendors to offer.
|
|
#
?
Mar 8, 2021 16:42
|
|
|
Oh I mean more like while I’m here, to get points I can use for flights and such. Are there any good cards that offer points or deals, at a minimum for delta, ideally also partnered airlines? I figure I’ll be using the visa or just figuring out something when I get there for actual day to day in Europe, I’ve heard that visa worked most places there. Back when I lived there for a few months I used cash for everything so I don’t actually remember much about what credit the merchants take. Basically the idea is that I put rent and bills on these cards while I wait for the lockdowns to ease up and hopefully cover a huge chunk of my flights there, maybe even have some kind of hotel chain rewards or something
|
|
#
?
Mar 8, 2021 20:20
|
|
|
SMEGMA_MAIL posted:I'm preparing to fly to Europe to travel around as cheaply as possible as soon as it's safe and responsible, probably 6-8 or so months if we're lucky. While I'll probably be backpacking and doing the hostel thing most of the time, it'll be nice to have the option to splurge on a nice hotel for a night here and there. So there's a couple of things to unpack here. To start, where in Europe are you planning to go? Within Schengen and the Eurozone or farther afield? This is important from a financial perspective because credit card usage is not as ubiquitous in some areas of Europe as it is in others and within the US. Assuming you're planning to mostly be in the Eurozone It's likely much more important to have ready access to a debit card that carries low or no fees for cash withdrawals; some Schwab checking accounts have ATM withdrawal fee reimbursement that can be handy in cases like this. While Amex doesn't have as wide of a footprint in the EU as they do in the US, they're still widely accepted at places that are going to take credit cards in the first place, like nice hotels. Most if not all of the hostels you stay at will prefer cash over credit card anyway and in some cases will cut you a deal for using cash since they're not having to pay the transaction processing fees. As far as credit cards go, is there any particular reason why you need to stay with Navy Federal? There are more lucrative ways to earn Membership Rewards points if that's your ultimate goal; alternatively, Chase Ultimate Rewards points tend to be highly flexible and Citi isn't terrible either from a transfer partner standpoint. If your credit is that good, there shouldn't be anything standing in your way of opening a card account that is more specifically oriented to travel with benefits that you might be able to take advantage of. Again, this is all highly dependant on what you're trying to accomplish with this trip or with spending in advance to help fund the trip via points. I think you should more clearly articulate what you're planning on doing during this trip and why you're focused on credit cards when there are other financial realities that are in play.
|
|
#
?
Mar 8, 2021 21:04
|
|
|
I’m basically just trying to get cheap plane tickets. Maybe hotels, that’s a bonus. What I’m doing when I get there doesn’t have a ton to do though of course it’d be nice if they worked there or rewards programs carried over there. Mostly just plane tickets. I’ll check those cards out then.
|
|
#
?
Mar 8, 2021 21:13
|
|
|
SMEGMA_MAIL posted:I’m basically just trying to get cheap plane tickets. Maybe hotels, that’s a bonus. What I’m doing when I get there doesn’t have a ton to do though of course it’d be nice if they worked there or rewards programs carried over there. Ok, that helps. Chase and Citi are both going to be more lucrative from an earning standpoint but that is, as always, highly dependant upon your spending habits. I think both the Sapphire Reserve and Citi Premier cards have 60k sign up bonuses at the moment but I don't keep up with that world these days so your mileage will assuredly vary. Also keep in mind that cash is king, and that everything is up in the air as we start the process of exiting the pandemic. I'm of the opinion that airlines are going to temporarily try to jack fares through the roof to try to make up some of the massive piles of lost revenue they've had over the last year but other people (journalists who know a lot more than I do about this space) tend to disagree; we've both been wrong in the past so it's hard to tell you what the best strategy is at this point. Also keep in mind that award tickets can easily be 60k to 80k miles depending on the airline and currency you're trading in. Building up large caches of points requires dedicated spending to earn them in the appropriate bonus categories so you should consider if your spending habits enable what you're looking to do. For plane tickets, the best approach, and one that I'm taking, is to watch fares like a hawk. There's a bunch of stuff I'm looking to do later this year banking on things opening back up with vaccines and whatnot, but none of that is guaranteed and if the last year has taught us anything, it's that governments are very capable of loving up to a massive degree.
|
|
#
?
Mar 8, 2021 21:26
|
|
|
SMEGMA_MAIL posted:I'm basically just trying to get cheap plane tickets. Maybe hotels, that's a bonus. What I'm doing when I get there doesn't have a ton to do though of course it'd be nice if they worked there or rewards programs carried over there. If your main goal is Delta miles, their partner cards are with Amex. I'm not certain the benefits are worth it unless you're flying often, but you can do your own math there. I've seen recommendations for Chase Sapphire Preferred (Visa) or Capital One Venture Rewards (also Visa) which earn miles that are transferrable to any airline. Some of those cards also give you a credit towards the application fee for TSA Global Entry if that's a consideration. As people have learned how to game miles (thepointsguy.com is a good resource) airlines have tightened up their reward structures, so it's unlikely that you'll be able to get free international flights on the reg unless you're getting reimbursed for business travel. On the other hand, if you're able to get decent benefits from a credit card that doesn't cost you more than you'd use anyway, go for it!
|
|
#
?
Mar 8, 2021 21:32
|
|
|
Updated comments in the OP; still tough to travel internationally for most. If you live in the US (or elsewhere that vaccines are widely available), go get a drat shot. For everyone else, I'm really sorry we handled this so shittly (again).
|
|
#
?
Apr 25, 2021 18:24
|
|
|
Mackieman posted:Updated comments in the OP; still tough to travel internationally for most. If you live in the US (or elsewhere that vaccines are widely available), go get a drat shot. For everyone else, I'm really sorry we handled this so shittly (again). I realize time is a pointless construct now, but it's 2021, contrary to what your update says 
|
|
#
?
Apr 26, 2021 04:16
|
|
|
HookShot posted:I realize time is a pointless construct now, but it's 2021, contrary to what your update says  Thanks, and really glad it's not 2020 again. poo poo was rear end.
|
|
#
?
Apr 26, 2021 12:47
|
|
|
Mackieman posted:For everyone else, I'm really sorry we handled this so shittly (again). I haven't heard anyone over here nor in the media say anything bad about the US's vaccine policy to date tbh. The UK yes. I'll only be pissed if the US suddenly starts to decrease its vaccine production (or lets vaccines expire) now that it is quickly closing in on the same saturation that Israel reached 2 months ago. The US had a raging epidemic and if it had been wholesale exporting vaccines it would probably be back in its January state right now; Biden 100% made the right calls so far. The EU hasn't really exported very many doses either, and basically none in the past month. It looks like out of the ~175m doses administered, only ~12m have been exported (counting the UK+Norway+Switzerland). India probably regrets exporting doses since it had thought it had gotten near herd immunity the old fashioned way, and like the EU, it has recently also banned/almost entirely banned vaccine exports. One of the main reasons why the UK is hammered on in the EU media, but not the US, is because AstraZeneca was delivering like literally 20-25% of the doses it said it would to the EU, while keeping UK delivery on 100% schedule. Pfizer and Moderna have kept on their shipment schedule pretty well AFAIK. Anyway, in related travel news, it looks likely that Americans will be able to travel to Europe for tourism this summer, maybe even by July: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/25/world/europe/american-travel-to-europe.html?referringSource=articleShare
|
|
#
?
Apr 26, 2021 17:24
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 11, 2024 21:18 |
|
|
Saladman posted:I haven't heard anyone over here nor in the media say anything bad about the US's vaccine policy to date tbh. The UK yes. I'll only be pissed if the US suddenly starts to decrease its vaccine production (or lets vaccines expire) now that it is quickly closing in on the same saturation that Israel reached 2 months ago. The US had a raging epidemic and if it had been wholesale exporting vaccines it would probably be back in its January state right now; Biden 100% made the right calls so far. The EU hasn't really exported very many doses either, and basically none in the past month. It looks like out of the ~175m doses administered, only ~12m have been exported (counting the UK+Norway+Switzerland). India probably regrets exporting doses since it had thought it had gotten near herd immunity the old fashioned way, and like the EU, it has recently also banned/almost entirely banned vaccine exports. My comments were mostly related to the previous presidential administration in the US, but I agree with the points you're making regarding what has happened since the middle of January. I'm hopeful that policies for vaccinated folks will start to clarify and solidify for fall and winter travel.
|
|
#
?
Apr 27, 2021 02:17
|
|