kirax2
Aug 13, 08, 7:19 am
Hi folks. I'm new around here, and while I'm excited about what I'm reading, I'm frankly a little overwhelmed. Several times now I've gotten excited about a deal mentioned in a thread, only to realize several pages later that the thread is over a year old and the deal already expired!
There are so many knowledgeable people here that I thought I'd mention my situation and see if anyone has any advice.
My family and I are strictly leisure flyers. I have a husband and a four-year-old daughter. My husband and I were both Japanese majors and we try to get to Japan every year or two, if possible. Before my daughter was born, we used to get cheap standby Business class tickets from a pilot friend that works for UA. We always managed to get seats, but sometimes it was a near thing. When our daughter was born, I knew we couldn't fly standby anymore. Being stranded with my husband would have been one thing, being stranded with a baby would be something else entirely. Plus, our work schedules are a little tighter than they used to be.
We live in San Diego, and generally fly LAX - NRT on UA when we go. The thing is, we got kind of spoiled by being able to fly Business class in the old days, and haven't been willing to give that up. So I've used FF miles to get our tickets, through various combinations like United MP credit card bonuses (my husband and I each have a MP Platinum Visa), graduation bonuses, miles accumulated through cc spending, and outright purchased miles. I also try to accumulate hotel points where and whenever possible.
We also make a trip to Baltimore every other year or so, SAN - BWI, to visit my mother. And when we can, we visit my grandfather in LIH, Hawaii. That's about the sum of our airline travel these days. Eventually we'd like to plan a trip to Israel to visit my husband's family, but that's probably still a few years out.
When we visit my mom we stay with her, and there's a little condo we rent in Lihue that's practically across the street from the airport, so we don't get many hotel points on those stays. When we go to Japan, we like to visit Tokyo, Osaka, and usually one other city we haven't been to before (last year it was Yokohama, for WorldCon). In Tokyo we've always stayed at the Crowne Plaza Metropolitan in Ikebukuro. I have a Priority Club card and we earn a free night every once in awhile, but it seems to me that the point return kind of sucks for the most part with PC. On the other hand, the locale is very familiar and comfortable to us now. It's close to the train station, we know where to buy food, etc. In Osaka we've always stayed somewhere different. Next time we're going to try the Hilton in the heart of Umeda. We passed it on our way to and from various places last time, and it seems ideally located for shopping and close to the train station.
1. I'm seriously considering switching loyalty from UA to AA. Our platinum Visas net us many miles a year, but they also have really high annual fees. I put everything I can on them and pay them off every month. On one I might earn 1000-2000 points per month, and on the other I generally get 500-1000 points per month. Since each card costs $140.00 per year, we're out of pocket $280.00 for the miles we receive. The "companion certificates" we get for these cards have been utterly useless for us, unfortunately. The cards would be renewed in January and February, so I'm thinking about switching at the end of the year. The AA citibank Mastercard's fees are only $85.00/year in comparison, and I would get the sign-up bonus, whatever that is right now (25,000 miles? Can I do better?), and the first year would be free. I'm also excited about the prospect of *all* the miles I earn/buy/receive going towards the MM club. Even if it takes us years to accumulate them, I would absolutely love to have elite status whenever we flew, with all the perks - such as they are - that entails. UA is Star Alliance, which includes the Japanese airline ANA, but AA is partners with JAL, the other major Japanese airline, so I suspect number and availability of flights would be about the same. On the other hand, the miles for many of my purchases are doubled or tripled with the MP Visa, and I don't think they are with the AA MC. Also, a business class ticket from LAX-NRT costs more miles on AA than UA, 100,000 as opposed to 90,000.
2. How do you guys accumulate miles for your kids? It's been relatively easy to get miles for my husband and I through credit card bonuses/purchases, but I don't think I'm allowed to apply for a credit card in my daughter's name - am I? As I said, I pay off everything every month, so I would be building good credit for her if I did get a card in her name, but I don't think it's legal. Or is it?
3. Any recommendations for good hotels/loyalty programs in Japan? Any city. Right now I'm looking into HH and SPG, and I'm interested in how I can accrue points for them, particularly HH, but any suggestions are welcome.
My husband and I each have just over 90,000 miles in our UA accounts right now (partly from miles purchased last year) and our daughter has about 52,000 miles. We'd like to fly to Japan one last time on UA in business class next spring, say around mid-March. My husband and I have enough miles to get our tickets, but our daughter does not.
So, in sum: For the immediate future, I'm interested in ways to get miles for my daughter's UA account in order to get a Business class ticket to Japan in the spring. We'll be staying at a PC hotel in Tokyo (we have just enough PC points for 1 free night there) and a HH hotel in Osaka (we have just enough points for 2 free nights there right now). We're also interested in accruing more points towards free nights with PC and HH for this reason. We may also stop in Kobe or Hamamatsu, possibly somewhere else; we haven't decided yet.
For the distant future, I'm wondering if switching loyalty to AA is worth it, and considering trying SPG as my hotel loyalty program of choice, vs. HH and PC.
I'm sorry this is so long. It's 4 in the morning here, and I have a bad cold and can't sleep. Any advice or recommendations on these matters would be very much appreciated.
There are so many knowledgeable people here that I thought I'd mention my situation and see if anyone has any advice.
My family and I are strictly leisure flyers. I have a husband and a four-year-old daughter. My husband and I were both Japanese majors and we try to get to Japan every year or two, if possible. Before my daughter was born, we used to get cheap standby Business class tickets from a pilot friend that works for UA. We always managed to get seats, but sometimes it was a near thing. When our daughter was born, I knew we couldn't fly standby anymore. Being stranded with my husband would have been one thing, being stranded with a baby would be something else entirely. Plus, our work schedules are a little tighter than they used to be.
We live in San Diego, and generally fly LAX - NRT on UA when we go. The thing is, we got kind of spoiled by being able to fly Business class in the old days, and haven't been willing to give that up. So I've used FF miles to get our tickets, through various combinations like United MP credit card bonuses (my husband and I each have a MP Platinum Visa), graduation bonuses, miles accumulated through cc spending, and outright purchased miles. I also try to accumulate hotel points where and whenever possible.
We also make a trip to Baltimore every other year or so, SAN - BWI, to visit my mother. And when we can, we visit my grandfather in LIH, Hawaii. That's about the sum of our airline travel these days. Eventually we'd like to plan a trip to Israel to visit my husband's family, but that's probably still a few years out.
When we visit my mom we stay with her, and there's a little condo we rent in Lihue that's practically across the street from the airport, so we don't get many hotel points on those stays. When we go to Japan, we like to visit Tokyo, Osaka, and usually one other city we haven't been to before (last year it was Yokohama, for WorldCon). In Tokyo we've always stayed at the Crowne Plaza Metropolitan in Ikebukuro. I have a Priority Club card and we earn a free night every once in awhile, but it seems to me that the point return kind of sucks for the most part with PC. On the other hand, the locale is very familiar and comfortable to us now. It's close to the train station, we know where to buy food, etc. In Osaka we've always stayed somewhere different. Next time we're going to try the Hilton in the heart of Umeda. We passed it on our way to and from various places last time, and it seems ideally located for shopping and close to the train station.
1. I'm seriously considering switching loyalty from UA to AA. Our platinum Visas net us many miles a year, but they also have really high annual fees. I put everything I can on them and pay them off every month. On one I might earn 1000-2000 points per month, and on the other I generally get 500-1000 points per month. Since each card costs $140.00 per year, we're out of pocket $280.00 for the miles we receive. The "companion certificates" we get for these cards have been utterly useless for us, unfortunately. The cards would be renewed in January and February, so I'm thinking about switching at the end of the year. The AA citibank Mastercard's fees are only $85.00/year in comparison, and I would get the sign-up bonus, whatever that is right now (25,000 miles? Can I do better?), and the first year would be free. I'm also excited about the prospect of *all* the miles I earn/buy/receive going towards the MM club. Even if it takes us years to accumulate them, I would absolutely love to have elite status whenever we flew, with all the perks - such as they are - that entails. UA is Star Alliance, which includes the Japanese airline ANA, but AA is partners with JAL, the other major Japanese airline, so I suspect number and availability of flights would be about the same. On the other hand, the miles for many of my purchases are doubled or tripled with the MP Visa, and I don't think they are with the AA MC. Also, a business class ticket from LAX-NRT costs more miles on AA than UA, 100,000 as opposed to 90,000.
2. How do you guys accumulate miles for your kids? It's been relatively easy to get miles for my husband and I through credit card bonuses/purchases, but I don't think I'm allowed to apply for a credit card in my daughter's name - am I? As I said, I pay off everything every month, so I would be building good credit for her if I did get a card in her name, but I don't think it's legal. Or is it?
3. Any recommendations for good hotels/loyalty programs in Japan? Any city. Right now I'm looking into HH and SPG, and I'm interested in how I can accrue points for them, particularly HH, but any suggestions are welcome.
My husband and I each have just over 90,000 miles in our UA accounts right now (partly from miles purchased last year) and our daughter has about 52,000 miles. We'd like to fly to Japan one last time on UA in business class next spring, say around mid-March. My husband and I have enough miles to get our tickets, but our daughter does not.
So, in sum: For the immediate future, I'm interested in ways to get miles for my daughter's UA account in order to get a Business class ticket to Japan in the spring. We'll be staying at a PC hotel in Tokyo (we have just enough PC points for 1 free night there) and a HH hotel in Osaka (we have just enough points for 2 free nights there right now). We're also interested in accruing more points towards free nights with PC and HH for this reason. We may also stop in Kobe or Hamamatsu, possibly somewhere else; we haven't decided yet.
For the distant future, I'm wondering if switching loyalty to AA is worth it, and considering trying SPG as my hotel loyalty program of choice, vs. HH and PC.
I'm sorry this is so long. It's 4 in the morning here, and I have a bad cold and can't sleep. Any advice or recommendations on these matters would be very much appreciated.