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I recently started traveling 60-80% for work. I've gotten about 25/30 segments to gold on AA flying out of MCO since October. I foresee a lot of MCO to MIA travel in 2016, should I stay with AA? I've been told it's better to fly into FLL, but in my corporate booking app, I only ever see MCO-FLL flown by UA (operated by Silver -which I've never heard anything good about). I hate flying into MIA. If I make the switch to UA, they've got clubs in MCO and FLL though and my company will let me expense a yearly club pass. I am also in a SPG (gold)/Hilton (diamond) conundrum. I try to book Westins/Ws/sheratons when I can, but if I can't, I'll take hiltons and rack up points (last 2 night stay in Hilton Scottsdale gave me 13k points for some reason). I booked a Loews in Hollywood for next month because I couldn't get either of the higher tier SPG/HH properties under the spend cap. Any suggestions on which is better at platinum/diamond status, which I will easily reach next year? This thread has been really helpful.
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Dec 23, 2015 05:55
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Mackieman posted:Yes, you should stay with AA. Silver Airways is a small operator doing business as United Express; they have a fleet of Saab 340 aircraft that aren't the best and get canceled easily during lovely weather. Spirit also flies MCO-FLL but woe unto thee if you have something remotely approaching a strict schedule. AA into MIA is your only real option here for business travel. Thanks for confirming my thoughts. It'll be AA and SPG from here on out! Is it worth trying to contact AA to try and bump status up to gold? I have 6 AA segments booked in January, probably with a bunch more to come. If so, who do I contact? SPG would not status match me to platinum despite being HH diamond and IHG spire elite.
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Dec 23, 2015 15:27
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ObsidianBeast posted:I can't talk to most of your post, but do most people use their corporate booking apps to actually book travel? Every one I've ever used has been anywhere from annoying to completely unusable, so I always just book my travel on my own then expense the tickets. I'm sure some HR folks would force you into using the app, but in my experience it's worth trying to just expense it after you've bought it on your own. FWIW I generally work at smaller companies so I can just say "no, I'm booking on my own" and it ends up fine, I'm betting larger companies don't like that. Curious what other experiences are out there. I'd like to do it myself, but have been told that I have to book through the system with my corporate card. The airfare does seem to be cheaper than I thought would be normal. In the system, the routings I want aren't always possible even though I know they exist, but it's pretty user friendly otherwise and it's not created any kind of errors (yet). I can't complain too much because there doesn't seem to be the nitpicky nonsense that some of you've complained about, ie I can book whatever I want as long as it's under the cap (I think airfare has to be below $1000 for one visit) e: there's about 14,000 people in my company, many do not travel, but I suppose we're large enough to warrant mandated corporate travel bookings. Cacafuego fucked around with this message at 19:09 on Dec 23, 2015 |
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Dec 23, 2015 19:05
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I booked an award flight from CLE to PHL on Sunday night that was cancelled due to the storm. Luckily the airport Sheraton had rooms so I got one for 4,000 SPG points and took the morning flight.
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Dec 30, 2015 02:51
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I don't know what all the complaints about hertz are for. I've not had a problem with them as presidents circle or whatever their top tier is (although we have a Corp contract to get cars with less than 15k miles). I think I had 16 rentals from 10/15-12/15 and swapped out the Chrysler 200 every time I got one. I'm not paying for the gas, so I didn't care that I had to take a jeep instead once. Caveat though, I'm usually dealing with bigger airports/ I've got 4500 hertz points which is good for more than a week rental (2750 points), or they transfer to other programs (600:500 for AA, or 600:1200 for southwest if you fly them). I also get 500 United miles for every rental. I think I've gotten 6k-7k United miles in the last couple months only from rentals.
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Jan 5, 2016 00:07
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There's a thread on FT saying that there's a new AA elite status challenge. First, can I do this if I don't already have status with an airline? Second, is it worth spending $200 of my own money on a platinum challenge (for 12,500 EQMs)? I added them up and I'll have at least 7300 miles flown in this month alone on AA. Many more to come over the next 3 months, so I should hit the 12,500 easily. e: could I select AA on my Amex PRG card and get $100 of the $200 refunded for this year's airline reimbursement?
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Jan 5, 2016 04:25
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air- posted:I'm sure you're aware that the challenges were to be axed this year, I'd do it. $200 is nothing especially if you end up with international travel that puts you through HKG. Lounge access there is on another level. Yeah, I'd read that. I may do it. HKG I doubt, but I do have J award tickets on Qatar MIA-AUH and DXB-FCO this year and then a return on AA from MXP-MCO.
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Jan 5, 2016 05:10
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Mackieman posted:J awards will get you lounge access, I believe. They do on UA, and I believe AA is the same way. So does the status really matter in this case? Yeah, I had checked. Status won't matter then I think as I got the ok to expense an admirals club membership yesterday, so I'll have lounge accesses anyway.
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Jan 6, 2016 13:07
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My flight to DFW was delayed 2 hrs today. I consoled myself by buying an admirals club membership. I've never been in an airport lounge before, so all the complaints are lost on me and at least now, they're all good to me. E: I wore a hoodie and jeans, not upholding the social contract 
Cacafuego fucked around with this message at 03:07 on Jan 7, 2016 |
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Jan 7, 2016 02:51
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My ORD-CLT leg was cancelled tomorrow (originally ORD-CLT-MCO), AA thought a good idea would be to put me ORD-LAX-MCO a full 24 hours later. Corporate travel department got me ORD-ATL-MCO on DL after an hour on hold, but I'm only getting in an hour later than normal so no worries. I was sort of looking forward to another night in Chicago (and another $75 per diem and adding to my AA platinum challenge) Is everyone in this thread a consultant/in IT of some kind staying put in a hotel for work M-Th? Or is it more diverse? Based on what I've read in here, my company is pretty lenient with travel stuff.
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Jan 22, 2016 03:52
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I'm a clinical trial monitor, travel usually M-R, but I typically only spend 1 night per city and move on to the next, unless there is a lot of work to do at a site, or I'm linking close sites together.
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Jan 22, 2016 20:19
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ch3cooh posted:Since I live in Dallas I went with Qatar since I get OneWorld points and it's a much less complicated route. My first rotation starts in about 2 weeks. I'll post a review of the lounge in Doha when I get back. Please do, I'll be using it in April
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Jan 30, 2016 18:44
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How do you calculate AA EQMs? I've got 5749 miles flown in January, all Y fares, but only 6321 EQMs. Shouldn't all Y fares be 1.5xmiles flown? And shouldn't EQMs just be based on BIS miles? I've got to be calculating something wrong, but can't figure out what it is.
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Feb 4, 2016 15:50
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FunOne posted:Not coach, but actual Y class tickets? It'll show Y class in the mileage log no matter what if you booked into coach. The new EQM system bonuses up more expensive fare codes, but I've already had it screw up and miss one of mine. Call and have them correct it if there is a legitimate error. They also announced that they straight up miscalculated sub 500 mile flight bonus EQMs and will be manually fixing that over the new few months. I believe they're actual class Y tickets, yeah. When I book them in the system, it says fare: Y and a portion of my AA log looks like this:  Those are Y codes, correct? Is it calculating from 1/1/2016? I haven't seen a page where they detail how you got the EQM's that you have, so I can't check their math.
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Feb 4, 2016 16:43
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Ahh ok, that's where my confusion is. Thanks for the info. When I book it in my corp system, it says "Y", but maybe that's the cabin of service. If that is the case, I don't know where I got the extra 572 EQMs. But that makes it easier to figure things out.
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Feb 4, 2016 17:42
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Zaepho posted:If you can find it (and really try to do so), make time to check out at least something you're interested in in the city/area you're headed to. I learned this one after a few years but now when I get booked a project in a new city, Breweries are the first thing I look up. It really makes travel less of a chore and keeps you happier and therefore the customer happier if there is SOMETHING you can be excited about traveling to. This is the one piece of advice my current manager (who is no longer a traveler) told me. Don't get stuck in the hotel (business permitting, of course) and get out and either see or do something. When I was in LA and Arizona, I went hiking and try to do that anywhere I go. I also use Yelp and try to go to a place that has local beers on draft. E: argh, my flight was delayed today, first for an hour, then for an additional 30 minutes and then another 45 on top of that. They claim it's due to maintenance as the weather is fine. It's seriously screwing my schedule. Is there any compensation they offer for >2 hr delays for maintenance? I know there's no compensation for weather related stuff aside from "we'll get you on the next available flight." Cacafuego fucked around with this message at 21:37 on Feb 16, 2016 |
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Feb 16, 2016 20:29
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Arzakon posted:In the US? Maybe they'll throw some miles at you if you complain to customer service. Yeah, US. It ended up being a 5 hour delay, then cancelled. Luckily my corp travel dept got me the last seat on a flight going to the same place. I'll file a complaint and see what they say.
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Feb 17, 2016 02:13
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How do I get a receipt for southwest wifi access? I want to expense it, but I haven't gotten an emailed receipt and I can't find it in my rapid rewards account.
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Feb 27, 2016 22:39
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I completed my AA plat challenge and babby got his first automatic upgrade to 1st class. It's only a 40 minute flight, but I ain't complaining! When booking flights now, what economy seats do I have access to at no extra cost? I'm excited that getting out of the plane sooner may mean no more running from gate to gate.
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Mar 6, 2016 17:24
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Midjack posted:Their lovely broken airplane because they don't spend money on maintaining their fleet means they owe you. Whether that's for the cost of alternative travel or just some miles is up to how you turn the screws but you're in the right to demand. This was a while back, but I sent a polite email complaint to AAdvantage about my 5+ hour maintenance delay and subsequent cancellation. They recently deposited 10k AA miles into my account. Not a bad trade off considering I was in the CLT admirals club the whole time and ended up on a different flight anyway. Thanks for the advice!
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Mar 14, 2016 21:40
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A maintenance delay (again) will force me to miss my connection in CLT, putting me on a later flight to MCO. It wouldn't be so bad, but I had been upgraded to F on that flight and now I'm stuck on a later flight in economy  1st world problems! E: never mind, got upgraded on the next flight, all is right with the world again, haha Cacafuego fucked around with this message at 22:00 on Mar 30, 2016 |
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Mar 30, 2016 21:42
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I'm flying back to the US from Milan MXP next month. How early should I get to the airport ? As an admirals club member and AA platinum, can I access the BA lounge at MXP? E: flying AA out of MXP to MIA Cacafuego fucked around with this message at 14:49 on Apr 7, 2016 |
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Apr 7, 2016 01:32
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sellouts posted:What I meant was more that you travel to cities with spg properties. Although 150/night may be tough. 150/night in SPG is tough, unless you want to stay at four points. The westins, W's, sheratons, le meridiens I book for work are usually all >$200/night. Although I think I did book the Westin Richmond for like $159/ night 3 or 4 times.
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Apr 11, 2016 12:52
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Is there any reason not to use the E terminal premium club in MIA? I'm in here on a Qatar business ticket, but the desk agent told me as an Admirals club member I can use it. There's a much better spread than the D terminal AC's.
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Apr 25, 2016 22:19
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DJCobol posted:Only upside: TimmyHo everywhere. I could stand in the parking lot of one, and see like 3 more. Am I crazy for being surprised that there are Tim Hortons everywhere in Abu Dhabi/Dubai? I recently got back from there and Italy courtesy of Qatar's business class, which was fantastic by the way. Best use of work accumulated mileage.
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May 12, 2016 04:46
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Nifty posted:When did they change it? What is it now? Different Homewoods have different quality dinners. That was my favorite thing about traveling. I stayed at one in little rock Tuesday and it was meatball subs. They were pretty bad, but free dinner.
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May 12, 2016 11:25
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taco show posted:Some hotels will provide them too, like the Denver Downtown Aloft. It's also next to a strip club. The W in Fort Lauderdale provides condoms, unused of course
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May 13, 2016 18:51
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smackfu posted:Does anyone have travel policies where they do not reimburse breakfast if the hotel provides it? My company does this, in a way. They will reduce per diem if any/all meals are provided for a day, but it's all on the honor system. Apparently it's something they put in place relatively recently (but before I got here) and the old timers I've talked to just laughed at it and collectively said what amounts to "maybe they can get you newbies to do that, but as far as I'm concerned I never have any meals provided". The only time I'll ever tell them that my meals were provided are meetings providing meals that I'm attending with management that approve my expense reports, or if my manager pays for my meal.
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May 15, 2016 17:40
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ScooterMcTiny posted:Thanks for the advice. Did some googling and found out I'm eligible for the SPG Platinum challenge (18 nights in 90 days), which I should hit pretty easily with some heavy travel the next couple months. Yeah, just call them and ask or email SPG. If you miss it once, just ask them to do it again, there's no penalty or waiting period if you miss it.
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May 27, 2016 11:36
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Double post! Use this link to doctorofcredit to see if your United Mileage Plus account is eligible for bonus miles for just buying/flying United. My offer was 6,000 bonus miles for $500 spent on United, 9,000 additional bonus miles for $1,000 and 15,000 for $2,000 for a total of 30,000 bonus miles. Easy to make with work flights
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May 30, 2016 00:56
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I'm platinum on AA and I'm getting upgrades at least 50% of my <500mi flights, but probably more like 75%. Although, I tend to fly at non-peak times out of MCO. I don't normally fly at 5am, but I did last week, MCO-MIA. I got upgraded to F at t-72 and the FA came around pre-flight with a tray of OJ, cranberry juice, water and a load of the little liquor bottles at 4:30am.
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Jun 7, 2016 19:22
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DL - 2,000 MQM, 4 MQS, $444 MQD UN - 4943 PQM, 5 PQS, $928 PQD (5 addt'l segments booked through September) AA - 25,666 EQM, 41 EQS (16 addt'l segments booked through July) Will requal for AA plat at least for next year. Hilton - 6 nights, won't requal for diamond, which I had gotten as a status match from spire elite. SPG - 33 nights, 18 stays (5 addit'l stays through July), will qual for platinum soon. Hertz - president's circle from my employer, 19 rentals (7 addt'l booked through July). I would've qual'ed for SPG platinum in April through a challenge and likely for AA Explat this year, but the one study that monopolized my time got cancelled so I've been at home for 2 months. I was getting cabin fever, but I'm back on the road again!
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Jun 28, 2016 02:47
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fyallm posted:It is like some hipster ikea owned hotel chain. It really is weird,l It is, but I've never had a bad stay at an aloft. Half the time, they give me the go green points and a $5 voucher, so they're good in my book. The internet always works well compared to embassy suites/any Hilton property, where it never works at all. I get GSA per diem too, so usually about $59-$64/night, but I try to minimize what I spend and the rest is profit. I clear an extra $800-$1000/ month from not indulging on the road. Unfortunately, that all goes to pay my ridiculous student loan debt
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Jul 14, 2016 19:34
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Cacafuego posted:My offer was 6,000 bonus miles for $500 spent on United, 9,000 additional bonus miles for $1,000 and 15,000 for $2,000 for a total of 30,000 bonus miles. Easy to make with work flights For those that signed up and received a United bonus offer a couple months ago, the miles have started to post. I hit the first bonus level after spending (and flying) $500 worth of United flights and was surprised they deposited the 6,000 bonus miles into my MP account already. I thought I was going to have to wait until November to get them. I've gotten too used to being pampered with status on AA that I'm finding it difficult to book my flights on United because the only options my employer will pay for end up being in the last row of the plane in the middle seat. Still, I won't turn down 30,000 bonus miles, so I guess I'll suffer at the back of the bus. Does United status match at all?
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Jul 28, 2016 14:24
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Is it a new thing to announce that the airplane bathrooms "won't work" until we reach 16,000ft? Someone asked why, they said when we pass 16k ft, the seat belt light goes off and you can use the bathroom. AA flight to DFW, 1st time I've heard that.
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Aug 7, 2016 22:25
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I don't know if it was targeted, but I got an SPG promo email to earn 3,000 SPG points for 3/6/9 stays through 11/15. I'll probably have 15 just through September, so an easy extra 9,000 points. I also status matched with United to premier gold (from AA plat) and will blow through the 12500 PQMs to get it. I thought it mentioned if I hit >18000 PQMs I would get premier platinum, but wasn't sure if that was only for people matching from exec plat. If not, I'll blow through the 18k miles to get it.
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Aug 10, 2016 20:51
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How do upgrades work on United? I am AA plat and status matched to united premier gold. With AA, <500mi upgrades are complimentary (if space is available, based on status and time of booking) and >500mi requires multiple 500mi upgrades. I'm on my 2nd flight with United tonight IAH-MCO and was upgraded already. It's >900mi I believe. Does United just give upgrades to anyone based on status regardless of mileage? I'm reading something about fare classes, but how do I know what fare class my corporate travel agency books? If my wife is on the same reservation as I am, do we share the same status for upgrades?
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Aug 16, 2016 19:15
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I'm scheduled to fly back into central Florida on Thursday, just in time to pass through the tropical storm. This is my first time flying into (or being scheduled to fly into) a big storm system. Do they typically cancel flights going into the area? Attempt to fly around it? Or do they do the delay-delay-delay-cancel thing, meaning I'll have to sit at LAX all day waiting to find out?
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Aug 30, 2016 14:17
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Flew back home DEN-MCO through the hurricane in United 1st. Had several drinks worrying about the upcoming turbulence they kept warning us about. I've flown through worse turbulence in clear skies. I remember flying into a cloud about an hour before landing and not getting out of it until we were on approach to land, but honestly can't remember there being any turbulence. It was weird. That flight put me over the 2nd tier in my United rewards bonus category, so I got an extra 9,000 miles for it. Also, since I've used hertz I've been getting 500 United miles per rental and now that I'm United premier gold, I get an additional 500 miles, so 1000 miles per rental, which equates to a nice 30-50k extra United miles a year.
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Sep 2, 2016 16:13
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Mackieman posted:Those things are almost always terrible deals. It's much better to transfer the points to one of the other programs and redeem directly. This is a good point and could be said for any card rewards program. Transferring out to another program will always be a better deal. I tried to explain that to my friend, but I don't think he understood.
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Sep 10, 2016 17:35
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