What is the best thing to do with 100K UR points?
Oct 22, 2014, 12:48 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: Berlin, Germany
Programs: topbonus, Flying Blue, Miles & More
Posts: 25
What is the best thing to do with 100K UR points?
I'm totally new to the frequent flier game, and I am looking for advice. I've been kinda lazily allowing my points to accrue over the last years, without really thinking about what I should do with them, and I have collected about 100K over the last 4,5 years.
The question is: what are my options to spend them to get the most out of my money?
Obviously booking through UR would be one option, but in terms of getting the most out of my points is it better that I book hotels, flights, cars?
Or maybe transferring the points to a different frequent flyer program and getting in on their deals? Say, Air France and then flying to Japan economy for 40000 points (seems like a good deal to me).
Anyhow, my perspective is (at least now) one of total ignorance, so if someone can point me in the right direction it'd be mighty appreciated,
thanks,
The question is: what are my options to spend them to get the most out of my money?
Obviously booking through UR would be one option, but in terms of getting the most out of my points is it better that I book hotels, flights, cars?
Or maybe transferring the points to a different frequent flyer program and getting in on their deals? Say, Air France and then flying to Japan economy for 40000 points (seems like a good deal to me).
Anyhow, my perspective is (at least now) one of total ignorance, so if someone can point me in the right direction it'd be mighty appreciated,
thanks,
Oct 22, 2014, 1:41 pm
#2
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: ONT/LAX
Programs: IHG Plat
Posts: 496
see this forum: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/chase...e-rewards-722/
Oct 22, 2014, 2:23 pm
#4
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: DFW,OVB (Russia)
Programs: AA HH Gold SPG Gold BA
Posts: 1,823
It highly depends where you are located, I may say BA since I'm based in DFW and fly AA , but you may find United more convenient and what have you.. Also, it's important to have at least one sapphire preferred or ink plus (ideally both) to take full advantage of UR points
Oct 22, 2014, 6:57 pm
#5
Join Date: Jun 2014
Location: IAH
Programs: UA GS, TK Gold
Posts: 304
What is the best thing to do with 100K UR points?
As others have pointed out, depends on your location. Since question is around 100k UR and " getting the most out of my money" I suggest looking at transfer and redemption for SQ premium cabin.
Oct 22, 2014, 9:48 pm
#6
Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: Coconut Creek, FL
Programs: AA Lifetime Platinum-2 MM Starwood Plat,Delta DM
Posts: 975
+1
It highly depends where you are located, I may say BA since I'm based in DFW and fly AA , but you may find United more convenient and what have you.. Also, it's important to have at least one sapphire preferred or ink plus (ideally both) to take full advantage of UR points
It highly depends where you are located, I may say BA since I'm based in DFW and fly AA , but you may find United more convenient and what have you.. Also, it's important to have at least one sapphire preferred or ink plus (ideally both) to take full advantage of UR points
Oct 22, 2014, 9:51 pm
#7
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: Not here; there!
Programs: AA Lifetime Gold
Posts: 29,584
Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry: BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.1030 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)
BA? They are sky high fuel surcharges which are outrageous.I would not pay those fees. Also United has stripped their program pretty good.
No BA surcharges for redemptions on AA/AS/US wholly within the Americas (North and South).
Originally Posted by robertw477
+1
It highly depends where you are located, I may say BA since I'm based in DFW and fly AA , but you may find United more convenient and what have you.. Also, it's important to have at least one sapphire preferred or ink plus (ideally both) to take full advantage of UR points
It highly depends where you are located, I may say BA since I'm based in DFW and fly AA , but you may find United more convenient and what have you.. Also, it's important to have at least one sapphire preferred or ink plus (ideally both) to take full advantage of UR points
Oct 23, 2014, 6:39 am
#8
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: DFW,OVB (Russia)
Programs: AA HH Gold SPG Gold BA
Posts: 1,823
This, and also short and medium range flights within other continents as well. (the BA program is also distance based, meaning the miles required for travel are calculated based on the distance between your origin and destination city)
Oct 23, 2014, 9:33 am
#9
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: Berlin, Germany
Programs: topbonus, Flying Blue, Miles & More
Posts: 25
Located in Berlin, Germany (Just updated my profile.... thanks LGA), so I guess a Euro airline would make more sense probably. And I did accrue this with my Sapphire card. Don't know if this changes things...
I guess for me from a location perspective the airlines that make the most sense are Lufthansa, Air France, KLM, Air Berlin.
But I was also wondering if flights are definitely the way to go, or if there are other interesting special deals??
Thanks for the links indelible.. now I got me some good reading at work for the next few days
I guess for me from a location perspective the airlines that make the most sense are Lufthansa, Air France, KLM, Air Berlin.
But I was also wondering if flights are definitely the way to go, or if there are other interesting special deals??
Thanks for the links indelible.. now I got me some good reading at work for the next few days
Oct 23, 2014, 10:42 am
#10
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: DFW,OVB (Russia)
Programs: AA HH Gold SPG Gold BA
Posts: 1,823
Located in Berlin, Germany (Just updated my profile.... thanks LGA), so I guess a Euro airline would make more sense probably. And I did accrue this with my Sapphire card. Don't know if this changes things...
I guess for me from a location perspective the airlines that make the most sense are Lufthansa, Air France, KLM, Air Berlin.
But I was also wondering if flights are definitely the way to go, or if there are other interesting special deals??
Thanks for the links indelible.. now I got me some good reading at work for the next few days
I guess for me from a location perspective the airlines that make the most sense are Lufthansa, Air France, KLM, Air Berlin.
But I was also wondering if flights are definitely the way to go, or if there are other interesting special deals??
Thanks for the links indelible.. now I got me some good reading at work for the next few days
BA is still your friend then. you can book Air berlin flights with Avios. Also the nice thing with them is, AB does NOT charge Fuel surcharges on paid flights across their ENTIRE worldwide network. What that means for you is , NO FUEL surcharges when booking award tickets through BA to ANY Air Berlin destination worldwide
Oct 23, 2014, 6:40 pm
#11
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: CVG
Programs: Hyatt Giraffe
Posts: 1,664
The guys above are all wrong. The best thing to do with 100K UR points is to send me to Hawaii, hands down!
My UR all go to Hyatt/UA. Singapore Air is a potential 3rd. BA is not a bad option for domestic flights but !#% AA has gotten terrible about their availability.
My UR all go to Hyatt/UA. Singapore Air is a potential 3rd. BA is not a bad option for domestic flights but !#% AA has gotten terrible about their availability.
Oct 23, 2014, 8:55 pm
#12
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: DFW,OVB (Russia)
Programs: AA HH Gold SPG Gold BA
Posts: 1,823
Forgive me but your post is totally out of context
This guy is based in Berlin Germany, the home base of Air Berlin.
Anyway, what's good for you isn't always so for others
PS
that's the point, BA is good for short/medium haul flights
Because, we want to avoid fuel surcharges, we advised to avoid long haul flight bookings using avios points.
And, what does any of this have to do with AA availability, since for him it would be considered long haul and incur huge fuel surcharges which we all want to avoid?
Last edited by rgAAFT; Oct 23, 2014 at 9:05 pm
Oct 24, 2014, 6:39 am
#13
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: Berlin, Germany
Programs: topbonus, Flying Blue, Miles & More
Posts: 25
BA is still your friend then. you can book Air berlin flights with Avios. Also the nice thing with them is, AB does NOT charge Fuel surcharges on paid flights across their ENTIRE worldwide network. What that means for you is , NO FUEL surcharges when booking award tickets through BA to ANY Air Berlin destination worldwide
Let me ask one more question then, although I guess it's obvious to you guys (humor me?). I'm assuming that there are advantages to being a part of BA frequent flyer program as opposed to me transferring these points to Air Berlin directly (even though I already have a card). What are these advantages? And why is everyone so nuts about BA?
Oct 24, 2014, 7:24 am
#14
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: DFW,OVB (Russia)
Programs: AA HH Gold SPG Gold BA
Posts: 1,823
Main reason is that BA is the oneworld airline Alliance transfer partner to Chase Ultimate Rewards
The way airline alliances work is, you can earn or redeem the miles earned in any frequent flyer account to redeem for travel on ANY alliance member airline
While you could just redeem those points at 1 cent each through UR travel, this is a relatively bad rate, when you consider that you could transfer those same points to BA, book through them often the exact same flight through them for often alol less which then results in a lot more value per UR point than one cent
And No as you can see there is no way to transfer points directly to AB (this is the workaround,so to speak)
hope that helps
PS to get a sense of what award availability is like and how many points you'll need to transfer to get the flights you want,
check out this direct link
https://www.britishairways.com/trave...n_type=STD_RED
The way airline alliances work is, you can earn or redeem the miles earned in any frequent flyer account to redeem for travel on ANY alliance member airline
While you could just redeem those points at 1 cent each through UR travel, this is a relatively bad rate, when you consider that you could transfer those same points to BA, book through them often the exact same flight through them for often alol less which then results in a lot more value per UR point than one cent
And No as you can see there is no way to transfer points directly to AB (this is the workaround,so to speak)
hope that helps
PS to get a sense of what award availability is like and how many points you'll need to transfer to get the flights you want,
check out this direct link
https://www.britishairways.com/trave...n_type=STD_RED
Last edited by rgAAFT; Oct 24, 2014 at 7:33 am
Oct 25, 2014, 4:54 am
#15
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: Berlin, Germany
Programs: topbonus, Flying Blue, Miles & More
Posts: 25
Main reason is that BA is the oneworld airline Alliance transfer partner to Chase Ultimate Rewards
The way airline alliances work is, you can earn or redeem the miles earned in any frequent flyer account to redeem for travel on ANY alliance member airline
While you could just redeem those points at 1 cent each through UR travel, this is a relatively bad rate, when you consider that you could transfer those same points to BA, book through them often the exact same flight through them for often alol less which then results in a lot more value per UR point than one cent
And No as you can see there is no way to transfer points directly to AB (this is the workaround,so to speak)
hope that helps
PS to get a sense of what award availability is like and how many points you'll need to transfer to get the flights you want,
check out this direct link
https://www.britishairways.com/trave...n_type=STD_RED
The way airline alliances work is, you can earn or redeem the miles earned in any frequent flyer account to redeem for travel on ANY alliance member airline
While you could just redeem those points at 1 cent each through UR travel, this is a relatively bad rate, when you consider that you could transfer those same points to BA, book through them often the exact same flight through them for often alol less which then results in a lot more value per UR point than one cent
And No as you can see there is no way to transfer points directly to AB (this is the workaround,so to speak)
hope that helps
PS to get a sense of what award availability is like and how many points you'll need to transfer to get the flights you want,
check out this direct link
https://www.britishairways.com/trave...n_type=STD_RED