Frugal Travel Guy Handed His Hat be a Reader- Gently

Posted by Rick Tuesday, November 30, 2010, No Comments

I got all high and mighty last week when sent some info by a reader on the current Delta 75% transfer bonus.

My limited thinking looked only at the possibility of someone moving miles over to a party and then the party re transferring miles back. At the cost of 1 cent per mile transferred and the $30 processing fee, the math just didn’t work out for me as I value Skypesos under 1 cent each.

Your fellow frugal reader reminded me that all circumstances are not the same. Suppose two individuals each had 23,000 miles in their Skymiles accounts. Neither could get an award ticket, but, if one of the parties transferred their points into the other account with a 75% bonus, the combined account would now have 63,250 miles and enough for two tickets plus a significant amount towards a third ticket.

My point is that we all have different balances and philosophies on miles. The reason we are all here is to learn from one another. I’ll take our readers example to heart and again try to look at all the possibilities before giving a snap answer.

Thanks for the lesson.

Kris and Megan’s Gift Basket Fund is Full

Thanks to all that chipped in for their Holiday gift. We have reached our goal and Joshua will have the basket delivered to the branch from the “Delta People”

Last Day for this Offer

First Year Free, First Bag Free, Free Lounge Passes and $50 Statement Credit

Anonymous

Is't Tim a penny short for each transaction?
Anonymous

Ouch. Is't Tim a penny short on each $24.99 transaction? Or is the tax counted?
alohastephen

Offer Extended till the end of the year!
Anonymous

I had something happen very close to Mary's situation. When booking a trip to Hawaii on BA using American from TVC-HNL, I could see that flights from TVC-ORD and ORD-HNL had availabilty, but when I tried to put in TVC-HNL nothing was coming up. I called and got a nice agent who first said there were no flights, but then I explained how I could see the availability on the two different legs so he looked that up and pieced the flights together. He also did not charge for booking over the phone. It definitely pays off to call the agent if tickets are unavailable on the BA system because it seems like their online search engine isn't all that bright!
Anonymous

Having booked several times using BA miles on partner airlines (Iberia, AA, etc.), I've found their customer service agents to be some of the worst, uneducated in the industry.

Definitely use the BA booking site, ExpertFlyer, KVS Booking Tool, etc. to find the legs that are available and then keep trying with the agents and ask to add each leg individually (or eventually just call back).

I had an agent one time indicate that she could only get me back to DFW (not AUS) and could I book another flight or rent a car! I said, no – please ask your supervisor how you can book me all the way to AUS.
Anonymous

The terms of the AMEX deal say "You may only register one Card for this offer." Can someone explain why you think it is one card per account? Thanks
Anonymous

@alohastephen: What offer is being extended through '10?
Lawrence

The Amex web site says you can only register one card. Has anyone had anything post yet on multiple card purchases?
Anonymous

I just now called amex and attempted to register my other cards and was told no go.
FrugalTravelGuy

I would NOT have called. Just registered the cards and see what happens.

The game is played many ways.
Jim

Thanks for posting Mary's email. I've been getting very frustrated with my 100k BA miles I've been trying to use on AA since almost everytime I check the BA website I can't find availability. I did not see Rick's post on redeeming BA miles…does anyone have a link for it?

Also, couple quick questions…can I book Anytime Awards using BA miles on AA? From what Mary said, any milesaver award that shows up on AA.com is available from BA, I just may need to call, is that right?

Thanks!
Daniel

Hey Tim or Rick:
How can someone have 2 personal SPG cards? Id love to open another to get the bonus, but dont they check that you already have one? Also, as far as opening another busienss AMEX, is it as simple as opening one under a different business name? I can definitely use the 25k bonus points, so any adive would be appreciated!

Thanks!
Phil

So glad this got extended, read it on your blog on Monday and was so peeved I missed it! I see they have now tightened the multiple cards language. However it is worth noting it accepts non-Amex issued cards. My wife and I have cards issued by Amex, Citi and B of A so have registered all of them, using different emails for each one. I'd be stunned if Amex is able to add two and two together on these. That said I am somewhat skeptical the credit will work on the non-Amex issued ones. So I am of course only buying stuff I'd buy anyway, but with Christmas coming up we have plenty of gifts and wine to stock up on and plenty of nearby merchants who I am sure will be glad of the business
Tim in Alexandria

Hi Rick,

All 13 $25 Amex credits posted to my account last night as statement credits – it took only 48 hours.

Thanks,
Tim in Alexandria
Anonymous

Has anyone had success with getting the $25 statement credit on authorized user accounts on the same primary account? In other words, if I have one primary card and two authorized users on the account, and we all register the different card numbers and spend the money, would we get the $25 credit?
DMK

@ Anon calling Amex.

Rule #1: Never call!
Rule #2: See Rule #1!!!!!!!!!

Rick – did you see a $10 fee? I got this on my statement:

MEM RWDS SMALL BUSINESS LINKAGE FEE $10
Anonymous

I have 103k BA miles, but I'm not an experienced frequent flyer. I have a Brother who lives in Bangkok, Thailand (yes the water is a big headache for him), and would like to take my other Brother to visit him sometime in the next year. I would like to book it now before the change. What would be the best way to go about it? I have been playing witht the Quantas award site, but it keeps charging me 120k miles or more for 1 passenger.

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