MilesBuzz! - Building Frequent-Flier Miles [USA>NORWAY initially]

Hi All,

As a "Miles Newbie" - I am interested in building Frequent-Flier Miles. I am starting from scratch. I do not currently have any Frequent-Flier Miles and am not a part of a specific reward program yet. I would like to get organized as to how to accumulate points. Are you able to recommend a summary of strategies to accumulate frequent-flier miles? Is there an online guide that provides a process outline or a ‘how to’ guide?

Obviously, I have heard of Steve Belkin’s strategy of hiring the Thai farmers, etc. Though, I would like to learn a bit more about strategies? I may be willing to fly every weekend to accumulate frequent-flier miles (if the payout is greater than the costs). Though, it would be helpful to learn the basics first, as well as the costs associated with amassing points.

Any helpful reference guides or beginner advice that you can offer is greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Welcome to FT.

Where are you from (your hub airports)?

do you want miles just for reward flights or elite status?

Try to provide a bit more detail about your aspirations.

Most common practice is to start learning about Credit Card signup offers.

They have risks but if done right they can be extremely profitable.

Especially once you start to use the online shopping portals to stack your miles, like the Ultimate Rewards Mall.

The way I started was just be reading as many threads as I possibly could before my eyes would start to bleed.

You can start at the Credit Card Offers (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/milesbuzz/1177334-special-credit-card-offers-master-thread.html) to get a better understanding of how they work.

I would also head to specific sub forums of the programs you are interested in.

If you are not based in USA the credit card side of things will not be anywhere near as lucrative as it could be.

If elite status is your thing you should try to do mileage runs and get creative with your flying patterns.

...Obviously, I have heard of Steve Belkin’s strategy of hiring the Thai farmers, etc...

Say what? I haven't.

Do you have good credit? If yes, this is where you must start. Study Milesbuzz and credit card programs for more info.

Well, you have certainly come to the right place for info. I suggest you start by taking a couple of hours reading everything on my website below, starting with the credit cards and finance sections. Should take a couple of hours, giving you a very good view of most all of the ways to accumulate free or cheap miles. My How to Begin section might be useful to you.

After that, stay tuned to this forum for the latest.

Caution: This stuff is very addictive.

Yes, all you have to do is look at some of the blogs of the posters on flyertalk for some great getting started guides.

Unless you fly a lot on one airline, you will amass miles with many programs, which isn't a bad thing because it helps you when searching for an award ticket.

The top earning oppurtunties are: Credit Cards, Brokerage accounts, checking accounts, bonuses on flights or other purchases, and just plain spending.
In September, US airways will hopefully have their Grand Slam promotion, allowing you to gain 100,000 miles without needing to fly at all.

Say what? I haven't.

Though someone else may be able to give you a better explanation, I'll give you the basic idea of the "Thai Farmer Project."

TG had some mileage promo a few years back where you accrued bonus reddemable miles based on segments - the more flights you took, the more bonus miles you earned. In short, it was so lucrative that one guy paid local Thai farmers their daily wage (which as we all know, isn't much), to get on and off planes. All they did for several days (maybe even weeks?) was fly BKK-HKT-BKK. Of course, by the end, each of these guys' FF accounts had huge numbers of miles which they had no clue how to use. Long story short, though he had to pay their daily wages and their continued flights to/from HKT, the result was a huge positive gain.

Anyone else with more info or a link care to elaborate?

Anyone else with more info or a link care to elaborate?

Sure:

http://www.executivetravelmagazine.com/articles/obsessed-with-frequent-flier-miles

Steve Belkin was in trouble with the law. It was 2001, and agents from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration wanted to know why he’d hired 20 Thai farmers to fly four times a day, every day, for six weeks straight between the cities of Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai, only 80 miles apart in the infamous Golden Triangle, a hotbed for heroin smuggling. Sufficiently scared, Belkin showed them his spreadsheet—it was all part of a plan, he explained, to earn five million frequent-flier miles. For only $8 per round trip, his employees were racking up miles he then processed legally through Air Canada, a fellow Star Alliance carrier that recognized his staff as “super elites,” earning fistfuls of free business-class tickets to take them anywhere in the world. When he was finished, his inquisitor had just one question: Would you hire an extra person to earn miles for me? “Because he was tired of flying back and forth to the States in coach,” Belkin says today, laughing. “He wanted to ride up front.”

Don’t we all? The perfectly legal scheme lasted two years, adding millions of miles to Belkin’s lifetime haul of 27 million. At that point, Air Canada had caught on, closing the loophole. Belkin emphasizes that the Baht Run, as it came to be known, wasn’t his idea. “I’m just the guy who scaled it up,” he says. “Where this really all started was FlyerTalk.”

Thanks for all the great responses! To help clarify some of my goals:

I am based in Columbus, Ohio.

I am motivated by earning miles for free/cheap flights. (At this point, elite status is not my motivation).

Regarding aspirations, I would like to earn enough miles to take my wife on a vacation 1-2 times per year. If I have an initial goal of earning enough mails to take her to Norway, what airline program should I start using to gain points? (i.e. Star Alliance, British Airways, Southwest, US airways, etc)?

As I don’t want to lower my credit score, I’m not sure I am comfortable with Credit Card signup offers yet. Should I do mileage runs? With the cost of all those flights, where is the break-even in this scenario?

Thanks again!

There are sometimes good fares out of Columbus (CMH). Recently UA had CMH-LAS $240-260 RT all taxes included. You could route through Washington Dulles (IAD) for extra miles. Sometimes you can use the multi-city feature on an airline website to build a double connection via two hubs, such as CMH-IAD-SFO-LAS, for about the same fare.

Another way to rack up miles is to sign up for shopping/dining partners. On an airline website click on "partners" or "ways to earn miles" button, give them some info, and you're on your way. Usually it's a meager 1-5 miles per dollar spent. Sometimes you can get decent deals like 30 miles per dollar on flowers. These miles count for award reception but not for status.

If your goal is Norway you should choose an airline whose alliance has European partners, i.e. not Southwest. Star Alliance includes UA and US Airways. You only need to sign up with one to start earning miles on both. Star has an extensive network including Lufthansa, Scandinavian, and Swiss. Skyteam has Air France, KLM and Alitalia. Oneworld has BA, Iberia, Air Berlin and Finnair.

Certain airlines are more generous with their award availability. Having a large network of partners helps. If there are no awards on your airline, there might be availability on one of their partners.

Also there are travel podcasts about racking up points, snagging upgrades, and mileage runs.

Thanks for your response! Regarding your mileage run example, where is the break-even point?

If I spend the $260 for that RT example, does that provide me with more than $260 worth of redeemable miles for my next flight?

… say I do that RT 10 times (costing $2,600) – would that yield more than $2,600 worth of redeemable miles for my next flight?

Thanks for helping me understand the mileage run break-even (profitability) potential!

Hipmunk notes that a RT flight from CMH to AES (Norway) is about $1000.

Is there a way to spend about $500 on mileage runs tickets that will yield enough redeemable miles for the $1000 ticket to Norway?

Thanks!

As I don’t want to lower my credit score, I’m not sure I am comfortable with Credit Card signup offers yet.

If you're conservative with credit card offers (apply for 1 card at a time every 6 months or less) it will probably not lower your credit score, and may even increase your score over the long term.

Of course, there are plenty of other reasons to stay away from credit card offers.


Hipmunk notes that a RT flight from CMH to AES (Norway) is about $1000.

Is there a way to spend about $500 on mileage runs tickets that will yield enough redeemable miles for the $1000 ticket to Norway?

I'm not really too familiar with mileage running, but I doubt it. I would guess that the only way to make mileage running for redeemable miles viable is if you plan on redeeming in premium cabins.

Your questions are all based on ifs. MR is a systematic way of earning points on dollar/time spent. Most airline requires you to fly certain miles to achieve bonus miles. Study the bonus and status structures on 3 alliances first. Experienced MRunners will earn between 3 to 5 miles per actual miles flown by taking advantage of credit card, promotions, and coupons.

Hipmunk notes that a RT flight from CMH to AES (Norway) is about $1000.

Is there a way to spend about $500 on mileage runs tickets that will yield enough redeemable miles for the $1000 ticket to Norway?

Thanks!

That is extremely unlikely. Mileage programs were originally designed as incentive programs, whereby you earned miles when you took paid flights that you could redeem for free flights. No business will run an incentive program, under normal conditions, whereby your incentive is worth more than you spend. This is not always the case, as the Thai example illustrates, but that is rare. If you want to accumulate miles exclusively by flying, nearly all of the time you will have to spend more than what you will get back in rewards.

Many people on FT travel for business - they have to fly, and they try to maximize the incentive for this required spending. Over the years, mileage programs expanded so that you can earn miles by activities other than flying. At the present time, the most lucrative rewards come from signing up from credit cards. If you want to accumulate miles that are worth more than you spend, you will almost always need to utilize some of the other options that are so well discussed by pgary and other bloggers.

I see. Thank you all for the details/background.

As I do not fly often for business, it sounds like mileage runs are not the way to go for me. It sounds like I need to learn about the credit card sign-up scenarios and methods other than flying to earn points.

Thanks again!

I see. Thank you all for the details/background.

As I do not fly often for business, it sounds like mileage runs are not the way to go for me. It sounds like I need to learn about the credit card sign-up scenarios and methods other than flying to earn points.

Thanks again!

Just so we're clear. You do know that miles earned from a paid flight is NOT miles that you can directly travel in the future right? If you earn 2000 miles from a paid flight, that doesn't mean you can fly 2000 miles for free to anywhere.

1. Scour this website (http://www.flyertalk.com/). It has the best advice with some of the best, nicest people that will help you learn all the tricks.
a. Learn the language, the nuances.

2. Determine where it is that you want to go and on which carrier.
a. Focus your current travel on the airline you want to claim an award on, and their partners. Even if it costs a few buck more than another carrier.
b. Get the credit cards that best build up miles with 2.a
c. Look for bonus miles through car rentals, flowers, online shopping
d. Buy dollar coins through the US Mint....oh. Wait. That doesn't work anymore.:( But still, be alert for the next best hot offer.

3. Cash in your miles!


And welcome to FT!

The Miles Is the Goal (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDgFAFQGZbI)

Youtube. Ryan Bingham. Classic.

Hipmunk notes that a RT flight from CMH to AES (Norway) is about $1000.

Is there a way to spend about $500 on mileage runs tickets that will yield enough redeemable miles for the $1000 ticket to Norway?
No. You seem to misunderstand what mileage runs are about. They are not about earning normal miles. They are only about earning status.

You seem to be talking about earning and redeeming 4 round trips per year (2 per person). Even in economy, that will require about 200k miles. That's a challenge to do repeatedly, unless you have high credit card spend "naturally". (A lot of the techniques for getting lots of miles involve signing up for credit cards, but with most airlines you have to wait quite a while before you can repeat that, maybe more time than you would have based on your schedule.

And keep in mind that miles are not just automatically always redeemable at the "saver" level. And it takes twice (2x) as many miles to be able to use them "any time" you want. (Thus 400k miles total for 2 people 2 trips to Europe a year!)

Btw, will you need hotels in Norway? If so, do you do hotel stays here? The best return on inveestment for hotels I can think of is Choice's frequent "stay 2 times" (in cheap suburban US motels) and earn enough points for 1/2 of a night at $200++/night hotels in Norway. So 4 1-night stays at $70ish a night in the US (Comfort/Quality/Sleep etc), if you need most of those "naturally", will give you a free night at really nice hotels in Norway, including some out on the fjords (Eidsfjord and Sogndal are two I've used for fjord-oriented trips). But it's hard to earn more than a couple such nights (once) from the Choice credit card. It's only from cheap hotel stays that it's practical to do this, but only if you need hotel stays in the US and can simply "steer" those there (and "hotel hop" if needed to turn them all into 1-night stays).

If you always want to fly into Oslo (and do the rest of your travel on the ground one way or another), then you can use a variety of airlines in a variety of alliances. However, if you want to fly direct into various smaller Norwegian cities, only Star Alliance (because of SAS) will get you to many of them, and only SkyTeam (because of KLM) will get you to Bergen and maybe one other on the west coast. oneworld does not fly anywhere in Norway (that you can sanely connect to from the US) other than Oslo.

Question #1
For anything you do ask yourself, "Can I get miles from it?"

you will find that a lot of your decisions about where your money/time go gets based on the results to question #1 when you are on the hunt for frequent flier miles.

Travel
* Which carriers will I fly, what routing and are there promotions.
* Which credit card will get me the most miles.
* What hotel chains do I stay at and what are the promotions/matching
* Rental cars - what are the offers for miles

Shopping
* Shop from the carriers or credit card websites to find bonus mile offers.

Credit card:
* Some of the best bang for the buck promotions but don't just sign up for the first one you see but understand why you are signing up and is it the best offer for the card out there.

misc:
-everything elese comes down to miles even pudding http://www.flyertalk.com/pudding.htm

Hipmunk notes that a RT flight from CMH to AES (Norway) is about $1000.

Is there a way to spend about $500 on mileage runs tickets that will yield enough redeemable miles for the $1000 ticket to Norway?

Thanks!

A good mileage run will be <4CPM for status miles and less than 2 CPM for Redeemable miles. Based on that, if you spent $500 you'd be targeting getting 25000 redeemable miles for that $500.

US Air is apparently 35000 miles R/T based on http://www.usairways.com/en-US/dividendmiles/usemiles/awardchart.html, but only for off-peak travel.

So, even if you did max out at around 2CPM cost for the mileage run, you would still come up short of having a single round-trip to Europe in economy.

To really make progress towards tickets you'd want to find credit card with big signup bonus.

1 Million in 1 Year! This looks remarkable: http://millionmilesecrets.com/2012/01/30/churn-credit-cards/

Has anyone else achieved 1 Million in 1 Year with that same method?

It sounds like a lot when you look at it, but he's got 270k Hilton points in there, which really inflates the number.

Of course I don't blame him for counting everything and anything he can... the name 865thousandmilesecrets.com doesn't really roll off the tongue.

I've put together a small beginners guide to earning miles if you are interested.

Of course I don't blame him for counting everything and anything he can... the name 865thousandmilesecrets.com doesn't really roll off the tongue.

Ha, this was worth the laugh or maybe it was 865.019 milesecret.com

Many people on FT travel for business - they have to fly, and they try to maximize the incentive for this required spending.

This is just generalization. Some MRs just fly when there are really cheap flights worth while for earning miles on the weekends.

Has anyone else achieved 1 Million in 1 Year with that same method?

And again, the question is not whether they've done it once. Doing it once in 2011 was a lot easier than doing it once in 2009 or doing it once now, but furthermore many of the things are "one time only".

And furthermore, it's not hard to get a 1 million whatevers (mix of points and miles) if you're after bragging rights, but many ways of doing so you end up with lots of uncombinable points. Which may great if you're flying solo and can use up 25k here, 50k there. But it doesn't necessarily work as well in your case where you want to do trips as a couple a couple times a year every year.

For that, you need to figure out repeatable things, and things that pool enough miles in one airline for the actual flights you need. You don't necessarily need to fly the same airline each trip, but you presumably want your wife to fly on the same plane as you (instead of you flying airline A and your wife flying airline B)?

And again, the question is not whether they've done it once. Doing it once in 2011 was a lot easier than doing it once in 2009 or doing it once now, but furthermore many of the things are "one time only".

And furthermore, it's not hard to get a 1 million whatevers (mix of points and miles) if you're after bragging rights, but many ways of doing so you end up with lots of uncombinable points. Which may great if you're flying solo and can use up 25k here, 50k there. But it doesn't necessarily work as well in your case where you want to do trips as a couple a couple times a year every year.

For that, you need to figure out repeatable things, and things that pool enough miles in one airline for the actual flights you need. You don't necessarily need to fly the same airline each trip, but you presumably want your wife to fly on the same plane as you (instead of you flying airline A and your wife flying airline B)?

Just to add to this, when planning to use credit card signup bonuses for traveling as a couple, it really makes the whole project a lot more feasible if BOTH people are signing up for cards. One person who signs up for the Citi AA card has 50k points, enough for one coach round-trip to Europe. OK, great, how does the other person get there?

Thank you for all the comments and insights!

It sounds like my wife and I should map out a trip (airline/class), and where we want to stay (brand/nights/room type), and work backwards to earn the relevant miles and points.

However, it looks like there are no major hotel chains in western Norway where points will apply. Say we want to see Geiranger (one of Norway's most visited tourist sites). Any recommendations on how to earn points for that trip?

Or, do flight/hotel points only work for major/populated metropolitan cities? (Paris, Rome, London, etc)?

Thanks again!

Too bad you came late to the party for the mint fun and games! Ah, the good old days of hauling millions of dollars around town and meeting the SO at the airport and having to put her luggage in the back seat since the trunk was stuffed with presidential dollars on their way to the bank.

PM me as the fun and games live on! Norway is special to me as the SO made me fly back early from Oslo instead of going on to Copenhagen right before that Iceland volcano closed all the northern European airspace. As it was we got stuck together for a week in Paris, rather than just me hanging out for a week by myself in Oslo.

I see. Thank you all for the details/background.

As I do not fly often for business, it sounds like mileage runs are not the way to go for me. It sounds like I need to learn about the credit card sign-up scenarios and methods other than flying to earn points.

Thanks again!

Thank you for all the comments and insights!

It sounds like my wife and I should map out a trip (airline/class), and where we want to stay (brand/nights/room type), and work backwards to earn the relevant miles and points.

However, it looks like there are no major hotel chains in western Norway where points will apply. Say we want to see Geiranger (one of Norway's most visited tourist sites). Any recommendations on how to earn points for that trip?

Or, do flight/hotel points only work for major/populated metropolitan cities? (Paris, Rome, London, etc)?

Thanks again!

The nearest major Norwegian city to Geiranger is Ålesund, which is 67 miles away. There are buses and ferries between the two places. Carlson hotels has several hotels in Norway, including the Radisson Blu Hotel in Ålesund. So you might start by trying to earn hotel points with Club Carlson, which includes Radisson, Country Inn and Suites, Park Inn, and Park Plaza hotels.

Thanks for the information on Alesund. It looks like they also have these 4 hotels:

Best Western Baronen Hotell
Quality Hotel Waterfront
First Hotel Atlantica
Sunde Fjord Hotel

http://www.fjordtours.com/en/destinations/cities-and-places/alesund/#hotels

Given those options, what would be the best program to earn hotel points for?

Also, if we want to fly in to Alesund, would airline should we try to earn miles on?

However, it looks like there are no major hotel chains in western Norway where points will apply. Say we want to see Geiranger (one of Norway's most visited tourist sites). Any recommendations on how to earn points for that trip?
Ah, Geirganger! That's why I'm putting that one off for a while, because there there's nothing on points, so I have save up real money.

But if you're doing multiple trips, do you need to go there first?

I've done trips to other beutiful fjord areas, being based at Choice hotels in Sogndal and Eidsfjord. And I had a rental car, so it was easy, for example, to get to other nearby fjords.

In other locations, there are Best Westerns.

But as I pointed earlier, Choice points are way easier to earn on actual stays in the US (during their frequent "stay 2 times earn 8000 points" promos) and redeem (16k/night almost always) in Norway, than to earn from a credit card.

And I value Choice over Best Western, because BW points are not easy to earn either on stays (way poorer promos than Choice generally) nor credit card.

So that's the thing: Staying on points along the western fjords is possible on some of the fjords, but not on others, but getting those points is only easy if you "naturally" have need for cheap suburban stays (that you can make one-night stays) in the US in the two years before your trip (since Choice points expire two to three years after they're earned).

You can see some of the fjords on day boat cruises from Bergen, and/or the Norway In A Nutshell tour also from Bergen, and in Bergen there at least the other choice of Club Carlson (Radissson SAS hotel). But Club Carlson doesn't yet have a credit card, and their get great "stay 1 get 1" types of promos just ended.

But Gieranger is quite far from the nearest points hotels, and I would want to actually stay close to it. So that's one exception, where no matter which hotels you have points with, it doesn't help (on the nights you're in Geiranger, but of course if part of your journey is elsewhere, there may points hotels for there).

By the way, in case you're not aware, eating out is tremendously expensive out in the fjords in most places. So either figure out how to "picnic" a lot, or budget what you would pay for a hotel in a less expensive place for just the meals! (The budget options are often limited to pizza places, especially Eidsfjord is a tiny town with few options. Sogndal is a bit bigger with a bit more options, especially if you're willing to pay cash instead of by credit card.) Also, eat big breakfasts (since the breakfast buffets are huge and free at most hotels).

And, driving around, you pay a lot of tolls (every time you cross a fjord on a boat, every time you go through a longer tunnel, etc).

So while points erasing hotel cost will knock a big chunk out of the cost, it's not like there's few costs left after that.

Regarding which airline you should stick with Star Alliance if you want a ticket all the way to Ålesund. However, Air travel in Norway is not that expensive (unlike everything else) so you get a r/t from OSL at 150$ if you book early enough, 40$ oh which is taxes that has to be paid anyhow.

The nearest major Norwegian city to Geiranger is Ålesund, which is 67 miles away. There are buses and ferries between the two places. Carlson hotels has several hotels in Norway, including the Radisson Blu Hotel in Ålesund. So you might start by trying to earn hotel points with Club Carlson, which includes Radisson, Country Inn and Suites, Park Inn, and Park Plaza hotels.

Thanks for the information on Alesund. It looks like they also have these 4 hotels:

Best Western Baronen Hotell
Quality Hotel Waterfront
First Hotel Atlantica
Sunde Fjord Hotel

http://www.fjordtours.com/en/destinations/cities-and-places/alesund/#hotels

Given those options, what would be the best program to earn hotel points for?

Also, if we want to fly in to Alesund, would airline should we try to earn miles on?
Let me caution you about thinking that Alesund is necessarily the solution for Gieranger. 67 miles is an eternity out on the fjords! I said there are no points hotels near Gieranger, because I don't consider commuting several hours each way to be a solution for a place I want to spend a few days at. There are ways to see Geiranger on points only if you want to pop in for a couple hours then pop out.

(Ignore "67 miles". Find out how long the bus takes from Alesund to Gierganer. Then add it a fudge factor if you're driving for being unfamiliar with the roads. Buses rarely can take the most direct routes, btw, because they need to travel on wider roads, of which there are relatively few.)

I've driven twice out in the fjords, once renting in Bergen (where btw the rental places are all closed much of the weekend!), once renting in Oslo. 67 miles is a breeze near Oslo where roads are flat and straight and can accomodate two cars in both directions for the whole stretch, but the roads out in the fjords are windy and slow and except for a very few of them they include stretches where the road can't accomoate two vehicles in both directions at the same time at every point, and there are turnouts you have to use (and may even have to back up!) if you meet someone going the other way! You can't imagine how different this driving experience is from any driving in the US (or even most of continental Europe) until you've actually done it. (And you meet all these Europeans out on these supernarrow roads who came with their RVs, and that makes it just worse!)

Anyway, as I predicted from my above post, Alesund has only two points hotels, Best Western (the program is by the same name) and Quality Hotel (in the Choice program). The Quality Hotel is undoubtely 16k points per night, which you can earn in 4 cheap suburban one-night stays at Comfort/Quality/Sleep/etc hotels in the US through Aug 17. (You have to hotel hop between two different hotels if you want consecutive nights. And watch out for the "lower end" Choice brands like Rodeway which don't earn the bonus except on pairs of two-night stays! Ie, you need twice as many nights in those brands as at Comfort/Quality/Sleep.) The Best Western hotel is probably more points, and it's way harder to earn those points. And Club Carlson had a great promo where you could earn close to 200k on 3 or 4 stays, but it's basically over now.

If you have a Diners Club card, or I think also an Amex Membership Rewards card, you can transfer to Choice or Best Western. But you can't apply for a Diners Club US card currently, and you can't churn Amex MR cards, so it's hard to get points through those cards any quicker (unless you've had one of those cards for a long time and built up a lot of points without redeeming them, perhaps, but even that that's only a one-time solution).

Regarding which airline you should stick with Star Alliance if you want a ticket all the way to Ålesund. However, Air travel in Norway is not that expensive (unlike everything else) so you get a r/t from OSL at 150$ if you book early enough, 40$ oh which is taxes that has to be paid anyhow.

I would agree with Star Alliance. Although my primary airline is AA, I collect UA in large part for the times I want to fly directly into Western Norway.

While you may be able to get cheap flights from OSL, I would not recommend taking those flights hours after arriving in OSL. You want to pad greatly for connections. (I've had several overseas flights which were delayed many hours, a full day, or even in one case two full days, even though I started out on my first flight on time!)

If you do the whole trip on Star Alliance, you'll be "protected" for missed connections. But if you purchase your own cheap connecting flight, you are resonbile for your own missed connections.

(SkyTeam can get you as far as Bergen, and maybe one other city on the western coast, but it doesn't get you into nearly as many cities nor on as flexible a schedule as Star Alliance. Star Alliance has intra-Norway flights, while SkyTeam relies on CityHopper service by KLM from AMS.)

You can see some of the fjords on day boat cruises from Bergen, and/or the Norway In A Nutshell tour also from Bergen, and in Bergen there at least the other choice of Club Carlson (Radissson SAS hotel). But Club Carlson doesn't yet have a credit card, and their get great "stay 1 get 1" types of promos just ended.

Not entirely correct. Registration is still open for the Ultimate Night Giveaway (15,000 bonus points) at Park Plaza Hotels and Resorts for stays through August 28, 2012. Register at www.parkplazaultimatenightgiveaway.com. For the other three brands, I expect we will again see a "stay 1 get 1" promo again in 2013. They had a similar promo in 2011 as well as 2012.

Also, Club Carlson has signed a US Bank Visa card agreement and a cobranded credit card is expected to debut in the last quarter of 2012.

Anyway, as I predicted from my above post, Alesund has only two points hotels, Best Western (the program is by the same name) and Quality Hotel (in the Choice program). The Quality Hotel is undoubtely 16k points per night, which you can earn in 4 cheap suburban one-night stays at Comfort/Quality/Sleep/etc hotels in the US through Aug 17.

No, there are THREE points hotels in Ålesund - you forgot about the Radisson Blu.

But Club Carlson doesn't yet have a credit card, and their get great "stay 1 get 1" types of promos just ended.

Not entirely correct. Registration is still open for the Ultimate Night Giveaway (15,000 bonus points) at Park Plaza Hotels and Resorts for stays through August 28, 2012. Register at www.parkplazaultimatenightgiveaway.com. For the other three brands, I expect we will again see a "stay 1 get 1" promo again in 2013. They had a similar promo in 2011 as well as 2012.

Also, Club Carlson has signed a US Bank Visa card agreement and a cobranded credit card is expected to debut in the last quarter of 2012.

Well, there's only one Park Plaza in all of North America (Bloomington MN, near MSP), and if you're nowhere near, I doubt that the 15k is worth a special long distance trip to there just for 15k. (Even for the way bigger original bonus it was pushing it for some people. I'm one of those registered for the bigger original bonus while that was possible, but I will end up not going because it's not practical for me to create a trip to MSP -- from LAX -- by August just the points. Would be easier to just do more Avis 3+ day rentals for 9k CC points a pop through Sep 30!)

I already "forced" a Yosemite (driving) trip to stay at the only Park Inn on the West Coast (in Fresno CA).

And there's still time for 4Q 2012 to start and progress (and that was just an estimate back in February). I didn't say there would never be a CC credit card, I just said there isn't one now. And since there isn't one now, and we don't have solid details of it yet either, we don't know how useful it will be for getting points (ocmpared to their hotel stay and car rental promos, and compared to cards for other hotel programs).

No, there are THREE points hotels in Ålesund - you forgot about the Radisson Blu.

I was going by the OP's list of 4 hotels. I later saw the post which mentioned the Radisson Blu (which the OP for some reason had not spotted) and added the mention of Club Carlson to my reply, but I forgot to update the paragraph you quoted.

Everyone – thank you for all your great comments and feedback! To summarize and reiterate the question:

My wife and I would like to visit Alesund & Geiranger in Norway. While there are no points hotels in Geiranger, it would be great to earn the points to cover the flights to Alesund, the hotel in Alesund, and the rental car for the week.

So to summarize, are these your correct recommendations to focus on to visit Alesund:

Airline: Star Alliance to fly all the way to Alesund

Hotel options:

- Club Carlson (for the Radisson Blu Hotel)
- Choice program (for the Quality Hotel Waterfront)
- Best Western (for the Best Western Baronen Hotell)


Have I missed anything?

Also, what program should I focus on for the rental car points?

I greatly appreciate all of your help!

Also, what program should I focus on for the rental car points?

I'm not sure that getting a rental car on points is a practical plan. Usually it's a poor earn-to-burn ratio value, and if you do it the straightforward way (using the car rental points for car rentals) it doesn't cover half the stuff (taxes, insurance, etc).

Each airline program has ways to book hotels & rental cards for points (though the redemptoin value is way lower than redeeming for flights).

Also, before you go any further, look up the car rental companies in the city you're flying into, and what days/hours they operate. Bergen is bad enough (where if you fly in on a weekend you may not be able to rent a car when you get off the plane), and I'd expect Alesund to be at least as tight with rental office hours. While you don't need to reserve you rental car before you reserve your flight or hotels, you do need to know this to either plan your flight so that it arrives when a rental car office is open, or so that you know to (and how to) go to a hotel for the first night without a rental car, and then pick up a rental car the second day. (The latter is how I dealt with it in Bergen; I took the airport bus to the city, walked to my hotel, the next morning checked out of the hotel, walked back to the airport bus stop, took the airport bus back to the airport, and then picked up the rental car at the airport.)

You may be able to drop off of a car when a rental place is closed (though double check on that), but you certainly can't pick up a car then!

Indeed - car rental office hours vary greatly once your travel outside the US. As do gas station hours in some places, especially in smaller towns. Also, you are more likely to run into stick shift vehicles and sometimes funky parking passes. While I have driven in 4 Baltic states, I tend to make more use of trains and buses. For some reason, people seem to like to play the game of Froggers on roads up there, so you have to keep alert, especially at night.

I'm not sure that getting a rental car on points is a practical plan. Usually it's a poor earn-to-burn ratio value, and if you do it the straightforward way (using the car rental points for car rentals) it doesn't cover half the stuff (taxes, insurance, etc).

Each airline program has ways to book hotels & rental cards for points (though the redemptoin value is way lower than redeeming for flights).

Also, before you go any further, look up the car rental companies in the city you're flying into, and what days/hours they operate. Bergen is bad enough (where if you fly in on a weekend you may not be able to rent a car when you get off the plane), and I'd expect Alesund to be at least as tight with rental office hours. While you don't need to reserve you rental car before you reserve your flight or hotels, you do need to know this to either plan your flight so that it arrives when a rental car office is open, or so that you know to (and how to) go to a hotel for the first night without a rental car, and then pick up a rental car the second day. (The latter is how I dealt with it in Bergen; I took the airport bus to the city, walked to my hotel, the next morning checked out of the hotel, walked back to the airport bus stop, took the airport bus back to the airport, and then picked up the rental car at the airport.)

You may be able to drop off of a car when a rental place is closed (though double check on that), but you certainly can't pick up a car then!

Thank you for your response and thoughts around the rental car.

Regarding the airline and hotel details to visit Alesund that I summarized, are they correct:

Airline: Star Alliance to fly all the way to Alesund

Hotel options:

- Club Carlson (for the Radisson Blu Hotel)
- Choice program (for the Quality Hotel Waterfront)
- Best Western (for the Best Western Baronen Hotell)


Have I missed anything?

Thanks again!

Thank you for your response and thoughts around the rental car.

Regarding the airline and hotel details to visit Alesund that I summarized, are they correct:

Airline: Star Alliance to fly all the way to Alesund

Hotel options:

- Club Carlson (for the Radisson Blu Hotel)
- Choice program (for the Quality Hotel Waterfront)
- Best Western (for the Best Western Baronen Hotell)


Have I missed anything?

Thanks again!
Yes, the airline and hotel stuff seems correct. (On the airline side, also, do check whether they fly daily to Alesund and if so whether each day on a schedule which makes sense with connecions from the US.)

Btw, one thing to keep in mind about Choice: If you don't have elite status, you cannot book a Choice redemption more than 60 days out IRRC. (As a Choice Diamond, which requires 40 stays annually, I get 100 days out booking.) So although Choice points are the easist to earn, there's slighly more risk (assuming you are booking the flight out further than that) that they won't work for you on the particular dates you choose to fly. (And btw, you can't earn Choice points in Norway on paid stays, ou can only burn them on reward stays.)

I'll also throw out that in the same general (coastal, not fjord) part of Norway is Molde, where there is at the very least another Choice hotel. I was thinking (wihtout having planned a specific trip to that area yet) that I mght check that area out on the same trip, given that I would have more free nights there, and I seem to recall that there seemed to be stuff of interest different in Molde than Alesund. But I can't recall specifics.

I also seem to recall there might be a Best Western somewhere between Alesund and Gieranger. Do a wide radius search on www.bestwesetern.com (in fact, do so for each hotel program). That may or may not make sense as a stop one way on your trip between Alesund and Gieranger (or vice versa), you'll have to research it with your own interests in mind.

(I myself travel to all sorts of places all the time, and such I try to keep more than enough points in a variety of programs all the time, and if one hotel in one program is filled up I go to a secondary program. So it's hard for me to know exactly what I would do if I didn't have any points to begin with, and had no status anywhere, and was trying to save only for one specific trip. All this works for me because I "naturally" have need for 100+ cheap suburban nighs in the US a year, and can "steer" those to whatever program earns me the most points, but also use it to "balance" my "more than enough" points in multiple programs.)

Thanks!

Regarding Star Alliance - as I will be focusing on earning points with Star Alliance (for Alesund), which specific airline program(s) (United Airlines, SAS Scandinavian, Air Canada, etc) should I sign up for and begin to focus on?

(Any personal preferences on the best airline program within Star Alliance to sign up for?)

Thanks again!

Forget bout foreign airlines - their award charts are expensive, and in the case of Air Canada, they charge a load of fuel surcharge on award travel, meaning your cash outlay in redeeming a flight is quite a lot higher than using, say, UA miles.

You really need to do some basic homework that is to visit each airline's site to read up the program rules in award redemption, especially in the area of award charts (how much would cost you for your Norway trip), the additional charges, such as the AC's fuel surcharge, AND the rules on changing your itinerary.

For example, US would cost you LESS miles than UA for the same trip - both are Star Alliance members - however it would cost you $150 to change ANYTHING on your US award versus a good part of changes on UA award is free.

Those are things you need to consider, on top of how easy you can accumulate miles, both via flying and via CC sign up bonuses and all other means.

Folks can give you some ideas but their situations may not be your own situation - so you really need to study the various programs and see which one would most fit your own needs in terms of the above, then decides where to concentrate your efforts.

As a rule of thumb though, US-based airlines would be a lot better than foreign airlines when it comes to earning miles and award travel.

Finally, it cannot be emphasized enough - even with mileage awards, point hotel stays, the cost for a trip to Norway is quite a bit higher than, say, a basic trip to Western Europe, and definitely much higher than a basic trip in US including the Hawaii and Alaska. So be prepared for that - you would need to have lots of cash on top of lots of miles and points to make this trip!

...Air Canada, they charge a load of fuel surcharge on award travel...

I believe there are about twenty airlines in Star Alliance. AC collects fuel surcharges only on these: AC LH NH OZ TG OS LO TP JP.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/air-canada-aeroplan/1343338-carriers-no-little-fuel-surcharges-award-travel.html

Thanks!

Regarding Star Alliance - as I will be focusing on earning points with Star Alliance (for Alesund), which specific airline program(s) (United Airlines, SAS Scandinavian, Air Canada, etc) should I sign up for and begin to focus on?

(Any personal preferences on the best airline program within Star Alliance to sign up for?)
Well, I second Happy's recommendation to focus on USA-based airlines if you're based in the USA. And one big reason that Happy didn't mention: Most foreign airlines, BA being one of the notable exceptions, have expiration policies that are horrid compared to US airlines -- no way to extend expiration no matter what you do -- plus tend to have fewer opportunties to earn miles in the USA than USA-based airlines.

Which leaves you two: UA and US.

Except maybe in two years it only leaves you one? US it trying hard to merge with someone, anyone, and apparently UA is not one of them. And if it's AA it ends up merging with, the combination will end up in OneWorld, not Star Alliance.

Now, for a trip next year, that's soon enough for that not to be final and all done. (Even if the decision is made around the turn of the year, redemptions would still likely be possible for a little while on Star Alliance after that.)

At any rate, I don't know a whole lot about collecting US miles.

Plus I just like UA better as an airline. (Most people who are into US miles are for redeeming them on other airlines, not US.) It's having merging issues right now, but that shouldn't affect what you're doing. (It most affects business people who are trying to fly the new merged UA day in and day out this year.)

To build up UA (Mileage Plus) miles, each of you (you and your wife) could apply for (perhaps in this order):

Chase Freedom card under the best offer you can find, and use it only for its rotating 5x categories. By itself, you can't transfer these points to UA, but read on.

Chase Sapphire Preferred card (annual fee), with hopefully 50k bonus points. It makes it possible to transfer these points as well as the points you earn on Freedom to UA 1 point to 1 mile.

UA Explorer card, with hopefully 50k bonus miles (maybe even a bit more sometimes?). Plus it gives you flying benefits, such as waived bags fees, priority boarding, a couple lounge passes, etc.

You haven't indicated (that I can remember) whether you want to fly coach or business class. The latter will cost you about 2x the miles the former will, all else being equal. 60k (maybe even 50k, I'm not sure) should be enough for coach class round trip to Europe "in season"; 100k should be enough for business class round trip to Europe (any season), but of course these are restricted seats so to make it work you've got to be flexible about dates and/or routing.

At any rate, these three cards, if both of you can get all 3, will get you more than enough for one business class round trip, and more than enough for two coach class round trips.

Then also sign up for Mileage Plus Dining (select restaurants which give you 3 miles/$ at first, then after 11 dines in a year 5 miles/$, sometimes bonuses on top of that), Mileage Plus Shopping, etc.

Someone else will have to chime in about how it could work for US.

Thank you for your comments, advice, and recommendations!

It sounds like I should avoid the foreign airlines within Star Alliance (due to expensive award charts, high fuel surcharge on award travel, bad expiration policies, and fewer opportunities to earn miles in the USA)

If my decision is between the USA-based airlines within Star Alliance (United Airlines & US Airways), from your experiences, do any of you have a strong preference between the two when it comes to earning miles and award travel (to Europe)?

Between United Airlines (Mileage Plus) & US Airways (Dividend Miles), who has better CC sign up bonus opportunities; Award redemption; & Itinerary change policies?

Any strong preferences between the two?

Thanks again!

Between United Airlines (Mileage Plus) & US Airways (Dividend Miles), who has better CC sign up bonus opportunities; Award redemption; & Itinerary change policies?


sdsearch already gave you the run down of getting UA miles. Multiple cards can funnel the earnings into UA program.
US has only one CC offer which you can readily search it on this forum.

Please go to UA and US website to study their change policy and the fees associated with it. The detailed information are right there and you should get yourself at least a basic go thru on such instead of relying others to tell you what is what... Why not go directly to the information source to get the information - at least it would avoid any inaccuracy that may rise when you are getting information the 2nd hand as what you are doing now regarding the program rules.

Plus I just like US better as an airline. (Most people who are into US miles are for redeeming them on other airlines, not US.) It's having merging issues right now, but that shouldn't affect what you're doing. (It most affects business people who are trying to fly the new merged UA day in and day out this year.)


I gather you mean UA instead of US. ;)

sdsearch already gave you the run down of getting UA miles. Multiple cards can funnel the earnings into UA program.
US has only one CC offer which you can readily search it on this forum.

Please go to UA and US website to study their change policy and the fees associated with it. The detailed information are right there and you should get yourself at least a basic go thru on such instead of relying others to tell you what is what... Why not go directly to the information source to get the information - at least it would avoid any inaccuracy that may rise when you are getting information the 2nd hand as what you are doing now regarding the program rules.

Agree, this post had some useful Norway-specific info but has now devolved into spoon-feeding.

AirFjord, the general info you are looking for is in the archives, and as a newbie myself, I guarantee you will learn more by searching and reading than by just asking questions...


Cheers

Thank you for your responses and recommendations, which all are fully heeded and appreciated. I am fully immersed in researching the individual source websites and this archive. Thank you.

While some posters may personally not want to share their experiences (which is understandable), I’m sure it is noted that my question was/is:



...from your experiences, do any of you have a strong preference between the two...



I would welcome any “personal experience” comments on the topic. I’m sure it's widely understood that much can be gained from BOTH source research, as well as learning from previous customer experiences.

(Think about moving to a new city and needing to find a doctor/dentist. Would you rather look up a random dr. website and go without reference? Or, would it be helpful/comforting to also ask friends/locals who they recommend from experience?). I am simply doing both in order to gain certainty.

Thanks again for your positivity, support and recommendations. While I continue to search individual source websites and this archive, any/all “personal experience” comments are welcome.

Thank you for your responses and recommendations, which all are fully heeded and appreciated. I am fully immersed in researching the individual source websites and this archive. Thank you.

While some posters may personally not want to share their experiences (which is understandable), I’m sure it is noted that my question was/is:

I would welcome any “personal experience” comments on the topic. I’m sure it's widely understood that much can be gained from BOTH source research, as well as learning from previous customer experiences.

(Think about moving to a new city and needing to find a doctor/dentist. Would you rather look up a random dr. website and go without reference? Or, would it be helpful/comforting to also ask friends/locals who they recommend from experience?). I am simply doing both in order to gain certainty.

Thanks again for your positivity, support and recommendations. While I continue to search individual source websites and this archive, any/all “personal experience” comments are welcome.

You have been given the comparison on earnings already, and then you asked again - as one of your questions in the latest post.

The doctor/dentist example is simply a wrong analogy.

Program rules are fixed, inhuman, and are all black and while.

If you really want to learn more of each program - there is a UA forum and a US forum right on this site. You can spend time on those forums to read more.

People live in different locales all over the country, have totally different travel needs / patterns - how can you expect others to give you a "preference" between 2 airlines so you can get some insight when each person has his/hers own set of criteria which are totally individual?

We have already given you ENOUGH pointers for you to get going. Now it is time for you to put in some of your own efforts to deduce what would work the best for you.

We have already given you ENOUGH pointers ...



Thank you for your kind and friendly recommendations for further research and advice as to changes in my behavior. I will absolutely follow-up on the recommendation.

To repay such kindness, I have provided a few previous posts that I have come upon during my recommended research:

Be the change you want to see in the world.
Whenever you have truth, it must be given with love, or the message and the messenger will be rejected.
Keep your thoughts positive, because your thoughts become your words.
Keep your words positive, because your words become your behavior.
Keep your behavior positive, because your behavior become your habits.
Keep your habits positive, because your habits become your values.
Keep your values positive, because your values become your destiny.
An eye for an eye will make the whole world blind. (Gandhi)

The best things to give:
to your enemy is forgiveness;
to an opponent, tolerance;
to a friend, your heart;
to your child, a good example;
to a father, deference;
to your mother, conduct that will make her proud of you;
to yourself, respect;
to all men, charity. (Benjamin Franklin)

Happiness, like unhappiness, is a proactive choice (Covey)

Negativity is contagious … as is positivity. For the benefit of us all: choose wisely.

Regarding redeeming flights from CMH to AES (Alesund, Norway), Hipmunk suggests the following layover scenarios:

United: CMH - Newark - Oslo - AES
Air Canada: CMH - Toronto - Copenhagen - AES
SAS: CMH - Chicago - Copenhagen - AES
Swiss: CMH - Chicago - Zurich - Oslo - AES
Lufthansa: CMH - Chicago - Frankfurt am Main - Oslo - AES


Using points from United Airlines (Mileage Plus), will it matter which Star Alliance airline I choose? Regarding points transfers, award redemption, fuel charge, etc … will one option cost more points than another?

Thanks again!

Regarding redeeming flights from CMH to AES (Alesund, Norway), Hipmunk suggests the following layover scenarios:

United: CMH - Newark - Oslo - AES
Air Canada: CMH - Toronto - Copenhagen - AES
SAS: CMH - Chicago - Copenhagen - AES
Swiss: CMH - Chicago - Zurich - Oslo - AES
Lufthansa: CMH - Chicago - Frankfurt am Main - Oslo - AES


Using points from United Airlines (Mileage Plus), will it matter which Star Alliance airline I choose? Regarding points transfers, award redemption, fuel charge, etc … will one option cost more points than another?

Thanks again!

You can go to the UA website and run a search for actual travel availability by clicking the "Award Travel" option.

I wouldn't worry so much about the exact flights and options since they change all the time, but more the overall expected costs in points, etc.

By the way, when are you looking at doing this trip?

If you're planning on churning, remember that it usually takes several weeks (or more) for enrollment bonus miles to hit your account (After you've hit minimum spend requirements of course), then hope the availability is still there.

This might not be useful for you - but here's what I would do. Just worry about booking the airflights on miles and do the hotels on cash. This way you're not limited to staying in a more inconvenient city or in a specific hotel chain, especially since given hotel chain might not have award availability the dates you need.

I'm of the mentally that if a chain that I have status or points on is convenient and a good value, then awesome! and if not, no big deal, I'll stay somewhere else. I just wouldn't want you to spend the entire trip commuting back and forth to a town and lose that time to exploring the area. So basically: book with points/miles when it fits what you want to do. If it's a difficult trip to try to fit into the points/miles scheme, then use them on another and pony up real money.

Regarding redeeming flights from CMH to AES (Alesund, Norway), Hipmunk suggests the following layover scenarios:

United: CMH - Newark - Oslo - AES
Air Canada: CMH - Toronto - Copenhagen - AES
SAS: CMH - Chicago - Copenhagen - AES
Swiss: CMH - Chicago - Zurich - Oslo - AES
Lufthansa: CMH - Chicago - Frankfurt am Main - Oslo - AES


Using points from United Airlines (Mileage Plus), will it matter which Star Alliance airline I choose? Regarding points transfers, award redemption, fuel charge, etc … will one option cost more points than another?

Using miles from United Airlines, it's United Airlines that determines the mileage requirements. So you should be able to figure it all out on their website.

From a miles collecting perspective, it's irrelevant right now which one you'll choose. One might cost a bit more fuel charge or be easier for award redemption, but both of those can change a lot between now and when you're ready to book. And you'll be using the exact same miles to book in any of those cases.

The only difference is that, if you cannot find "saver" availability on any Star Alliance carrier (when it comes to redeem your miles), only a United Airlines "metal" routing (ie, flying United as far as possible) qualifies for "anytime" availablity (which cost double the miles). (You have to have "saver' availability for the last leg on SAS, but IME that's never the problem, it's getting across the Atlantic that's the problem and/or getting from CMH to the domestic hub that's the problem, if any.)

So if you have enough miles for an "anytime" award (and you actually want to use them that way), that would only be availbe on the first routing you choose. In any other case, all those routings and even more* might be possible, but which ones are possible can't be determined until you have miles in hand and the acceptable travel dates in your mind and are ready to book.

*By "even more" routings, I mean that you have to accept that while you may want to go straight from CPH (Copenhagen) to AES, and there is such a flight there, the avialability on a given day might only be CPH-OSL-AES. Or if you want to go straight from OSL (Olso) to AES, and there is such a flight there, the availability on a given might only be OSL-CPH-AES! Keep this in mind ahead of time, so you don't reject a "good" routing, if that's avialable for your best travel dates, in search of a "perfect" one which might not exist.

piratejo & sdsearch: Thank you for your kind response and thoughts on the topic. I greatly appreciate it!

Now that I’ve chosen an online miles manager tool, credit score monitoring tool, a specific points program, and list of minimum spending options – now it’s on to the cards. It seems like it’s time to dig into research around specific Cards to get in order to minimize minimum spend and maximize miles!

Even though card policies/program rules are fixed, and I am already doing the source websites research, are there any recommendations or card preferences from your personal experience?

As always, thank you for your kindness and support!

If Skyteam wasn't .... crappy, due to Delta and Air France, I would recommend KLM due to the frequencies to AMS from OSL. As far as *A like many others have mentioned, I would go with UA or SAS, both programs don't charge fuel surcharges and you can get direct SAS flights from EWR/ORD/IAD.

I mainly fly AMS/CDG-OSL or LHR-OSL. You can also do SN, BRU-OSL which I have done also.

Then again, if you want to earn points for lavish redemptions, you have many options with LH, so UA may be best for you. As LH flies FRA/MUC-OSL and there are many ways and airlines that fly to FRA/MUC.

I'm still hopelessly waiting for Delta to say they will introduce JFK-OSL already and ACTUALLY start the route.

If Skyteam wasn't .... crappy, due to Delta and Air France, I would recommend KLM due to the frequencies to AMS from OSL. As far as *A like many others have mentioned, I would go with UA or SAS, both programs don't charge fuel surcharges and you can get direct SAS flights from EWR/ORD/IAD.

I mainly fly AMS/CDG-OSL or LHR-OSL. You can also do SN, BRU-OSL which I have done also.
Have you not read this thread? It's about going to western Norway mostly (ie, fjord country). KLM will get you to one or two of the cities in western Norway (Bergen and maybe one other?), but only *A can get you to many cities beyond Oslo and Bergen.

THere are tons of ways to get to OSL if that's all you want, on any alliance. BA can get you there LHR-OSL, and I suspect other OW airlines can connect you there too. It's beyond OSL which is trickier.

It seems like it’s time to dig into research around specific Cards to get in order to minimize minimum spend and maximize miles!

Even though card policies/program rules are fixed, and I am already doing the source websites research, are there any recommendations or card preferences from your personal experience?
The cards vary by airline, so have you decided which airline(s) miles you want? And which cabin you prefer to fly in (keeping it mind the different miles costs for cifferent cabins)?

I already explained what I feel is the order I feel works best for UA above (in post 49). The fact you can't avoid is that each airline has a limited number of cards that work for it, and tends to have a relationship with a particular bank. That's why it's not a coincidence that all the cards that earn UA miles are from Chase. So you need to research (in the Credit Cards forum) aplying for Chase cards (and those specific cards), then in this forum (MilesBuzz!) as well as the Credit Cards forum figure out what the best offer for you is for each card. (Sometimes one offer may give slightly fewer miles for drastically less spend, and that may be better for you. That's why no one else can decide which offer works best for you.)

If you're going to collect both UA and US via credit cards, they use different banks, so that wouldn't therefore be "twice as hard".

sdsearch – thank you for your response. I will surely continue to research the other forums. (Your post 49 was very helpful!)

Have you not read this thread? It's about going to western Norway mostly (ie, fjord country). KLM will get you to one or two of the cities in western Norway (Bergen and maybe one other?), but only *A can get you to many cities beyond Oslo and Bergen.

THere are tons of ways to get to OSL if that's all you want, on any alliance. BA can get you there LHR-OSL, and I suspect other OW airlines can connect you there too. It's beyond OSL which is trickier.

Yes, KLM flies to TRF...which I have flown into a few times. That will get him close or he can fly into OSL and do a local hop.

Here is a pointer for you - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandefjord_Airport,_Torp

Have you not read this thread? It's about going to western Norway mostly (ie, fjord country). KLM will get you to one or two of the cities in western Norway (Bergen and maybe one other?), but only *A can get you to many cities beyond Oslo and Bergen.

THere are tons of ways to get to OSL if that's all you want, on any alliance. BA can get you there LHR-OSL, and I suspect other OW airlines can connect you there too. It's beyond OSL which is trickier.

Yes, KLM flies to TRF...which I have flown into a few times. That will get him close or he can fly into OSL and do a local hop.

Here is a pointer for you - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandefjord_Airport,_Torp
I do not even understand why you brought up TRF and this link. What in the world does it have to do with western Norway??? TRF is South of OSL, and thus more or less in the opposite direction of where he wants to go? It's at least as far from TRF to AES (where the OP wants to go) as from OSL to AES. So why in the world is the point of flying into TRF if you want to go to the west coast?

Like I said, KLM also flies to Bergen (BGO), which is at least on the correct coast (western), even if it's still hours of ground travel south of AES (Alesund).

You seem to be very unfamliar with western Norway to be bringing up TRF as a solution for it.

Two tips I haven't seen:

Keep an eye out for partner promotions of your preferred airline and a rental car company. These can be a lucrative way to earn miles if you're willing to adapt to the constraints of the promo. Just as an example - I'm not touting this one, and Star Alliance is your preferred alliance by now - but there's currently an Avis|American Airlines partner promotion that earns 3,000 redeemable AAdvantage miles per single day rental or 5,000 miles for a three-day rental. So, "adapting" in the best possible way in this case means going back to the rental car agency, returning the car and taking out another one (or the same one) daily. You can do them "back to back", unlike with the hotel chains. There have been others involving US Air or Delta that I know of.

And I prefer to fly award long hauls on airlines that have only coach and business class ("business first") because it costs business class miles for the best that they are offering. I do want, at a minimum, lie-flat seats.

Finally, you truly have an angel watching over you in this thread. Not only because he knows his stuff, but because he knows it for where you want to go. He's the second main reason why this thread has lasted this long.

Thanks again for your continued help with my Norway trip planning, CC's, and airline details. It has been a great help!

I have a question regarding completing minimum spending for credit card sign-up bonuses. (Here is the thread: CC minimum spending (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/credit-card-programs/1378559-cc-minimum-spending-question.html)).

Any input with that question is also greatly appreciated!