Lessons learned (or, Making plans for 2012)

Old Nov 14, 2011, 11:45 am
  #61  
 
Join Date: Aug 2011
Posts: 66
Originally Posted by mikeef

ETA: For those of you who really want to thank Beltway, use him as a referral for the SPG Amex if you are at all thinking about getting it. I have it and it's my go-to card, particularly since 20K points equals 25K airline miles.
Awesome point - that card is on my list and will definitely use his link when I sign up - thanks for pointing that out.
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Old Nov 14, 2011, 1:01 pm
  #62  
 
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Originally Posted by mikeef
I'm guessing all the information is out there already and that the partners know exactly what is going on, not to mention US Airways. There's a trade-off to be made on their part, of course, which is a potential new customer versus the marketing cost of participating, since I don't know if US Airways is passing along part of the bill to them during the promo. Bloggers were likely more influential on the "accidental hits," i.e., I don't think AR trivia was meant to be a hit, but that's part of the price they pay.

I don't see an end to the program per se, since it's likely profitable for everyone involved in the end. But I do think that US continues to tighten up the rules.

Mike

ETA: For those of you who really want to thank Beltway, use him as a referral for the SPG Amex if you are at all thinking about getting it. I have it and it's my go-to card, particularly since 20K points equals 25K airline miles.
That's a good thought for beltway who put in a lot of effort that helped me understand the many options.

My concern about the publicity stems from the very limited nature of this promo. This is a promo that specifically seems designed with the FF public in mind. I saw no MSM-type advertising. I think many non-FT frequent flyers may have simply tossed the materials advertising this promo. Everything else advertising this promo seemed to be through the US website and the websites of most of its partners. I'm sure US and its partners have a target for the amount of participation on which they've based their assumptions about costs, etc.

Widespread publicity, such as an article in the Wall Street Journal or New York Times, would likely skew numbers for the entire promo in such a way that US and its partners would take a big hit that's not likely to be tweaked away the following year.

I don't want this promo to go away, believe me. On September 1, I stood at 0 US miles. At the end of this promo, and with 36 hits and a successful application for the Barclay's US card, I'll have 160K. Back in the 1980s and 90s when I regularly flew US out of ORF for work, I earned approximately 125K in total.

I am definitely a happy camper!
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Old Nov 14, 2011, 2:07 pm
  #63  
 
Join Date: Dec 2010
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My first GS as well. Another BIG thumbs up to Beltway for making my life so much easier as well as Silverhalide for the spreadsheet which really helped keep me sane. Although I'm still waiting on all my Wyndham Rewards no-shows to post and that damned Thanks Again hit, I'm pretty confident they'll come through which will mean 100,000 US miles. I couldn't resist the half price miles either and got the Mastercard for the hit and bonus miles, so I'm going from zero miles to about 240,000+ at less than a penny a mile. I for one will kinda miss constantly checking in to the GS Pomotion thread to see what's going on!
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Old Nov 14, 2011, 8:02 pm
  #64  
 
Join Date: Feb 2010
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Major thanks to beltway and rob_flies_ua for making this much easier for us. What would be really useful is knowing precisely how the partners determine the activity date and their posting schedule. It would reduce a lot of clutter in the threads and we can mostly concentrate on minimising costs. The data at gsscorecard.com could be used for this purpose.

I am not really happy with the bloggers messing up sharebuilder for all of us. How hard was it really to set up a one-time automatic investment? There are so many coupons available to offset the commission and you can invest any amount. $5 or more in one of Vanguard's ETFs would have been a good choice/advice. Instead of that, they went for the dramatic one whose sole purpose would be to increase traffic to their blogs.
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Old Nov 15, 2011, 12:55 am
  #65  
 
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I don't get the whole fuss over Sharebuilder and why people wouldn't have wanted to just fund the account and do the automatic trade. It was only $5--$1 for the stock and $4 commission. It was just plain greedy to expect Sharebuilder to fork out 2500 miles for nothing!
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Old Nov 15, 2011, 2:56 pm
  #66  
 
Join Date: Jan 2010
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This was my 2nd GS.
Last year I had 36 hits.
This year me and mom both hit 36 and a friend hit 20 (18 of which happened in the last 36 hours)

I would like to point out the use of Hyatt stays as last minute hits.
Because they can be credited after the fact you can avoid wasting a safety hit.
They first get credited to miles and then you can call and have them switched to miles. Even when I try to credit to miles they seem to post as points but it works to your advantage during the GS.
If all my hits come through I can use them for whatever other mileage promo is being offered.

I hope US continues this but I have my doubts. Every year people will jump on the bandwagon and eventually US will either eliminate or cut it. I see something similar to the Continental version where you have to book all hotels and cars through continental.com.
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Old Nov 15, 2011, 5:11 pm
  #67  
 
Join Date: Nov 2009
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Originally Posted by mikeef
ETA: For those of you who really want to thank Beltway, use him as a referral for the SPG Amex if you are at all thinking about getting it. I have it and it's my go-to card, particularly since 20K points equals 25K airline miles.

Yes to that. I dare not do so now as I just received my new US mastercard for the 40k bonus (just in time for a hit!). However that's the next card in line for me. DH has the SPG card which is also our go to because of the extra 5K. So, beltway, you can expect a referral request in the not too distant future. Thank you, thank you. thank you.
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Old Nov 15, 2011, 5:12 pm
  #68  
 
Join Date: Mar 2010
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Originally Posted by Tiki
I don't get the whole fuss over Sharebuilder and why people wouldn't have wanted to just fund the account and do the automatic trade. It was only $5--$1 for the stock and $4 commission. It was just plain greedy to expect Sharebuilder to fork out 2500 miles for nothing!
Agree, and with a little planning, make a bit of money on top of it with wise investing. I get a 'free' trade for my birthday and will use that to top up my account with another investment. Remember, next year, for those who have two accounts... you will, according to the CSR, be allowed to open either a joint or custodial investment account and that will count as a hit.
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Old Nov 15, 2011, 7:14 pm
  #69  
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
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This is my first Grand Slam. I am Canadian. I don't know why, but I was surprised that my partner was more into it than me once I explained it to her. I just wish I hadn't started with 8 days before the promo ended. I could have got some cheaper (and free) hits. I basically had 0 DM and created an account too late to buy or share miles (or get the magazine credit on one account).

I have 8 hits posted already and when all is said and done, I should have enough for the 20 hits with a few safety hits. I am confident most of them will post, but I don't enjoy wondering about some of them (i.e. Shopping Mall).
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Old Nov 15, 2011, 8:21 pm
  #70  
 
Join Date: Mar 2011
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This was my first one and got 20 hits.

Could have gone for 32 hits but I already had 80K miles and was tied up with work so could not do the hotel/rental duo.

Next year I will see how it goes and may prepare myself better. ( emiles and erewards ready, hope they count).

Only foul I had was 1800flowers...but I still love the item I got.

Thanks to Beltway.

My 002

I did the Orange county to Hyatt Regency Irvine for 7.00 as a safety hit. It worked !
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Old Nov 15, 2011, 10:15 pm
  #71  
 
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: California
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This was my first time around. I feel I did pretty well, considering:
  • I really started taking it seriously around 10/18
  • I was determined to only spend money on things that were useful to me
  • I started this without having any USAir credit cards, hotel points to transfer, or needs for hotel stays/car rentals during the designated time period
My goal was 16 hits, and I ended up with 20. Funnily enough, I got the (coveted?) eRewards invitation a few days before the end, with a bonus for my first survey, which is why I decided to try to get to the next level.

Learned several things--ditto to everyone who mentioned planning ahead! I'm sure I can find a way to engineer some hotel stays, etc. I "need" during the appropriate period--or perhaps Mr. Fwoomp will be going somewhere. I'll definitely keep up with eMiles/eRewards during the year, too.

As far as whether or not the partners are getting anything out of this, one thing that I learned is that those Anna's cookies are really good! (In addition to being a reasonably priced and reliable hit.) I would buy those again, with or without the promo.

I also learned that it is possible to find items on SkyMall that are useful, in addition to battery-powered dog polishers.

Finally, thanks so much to Beltway and everyone else who posted. Being able to see what was and was not reliable, how long it took things to post, etc. was really helpful. (Oddly enough, OfficeMax, done late, was one of my first ones to post!)
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Old Nov 16, 2011, 12:47 pm
  #72  
 
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: Tampa, Florida USA
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I learned that playing the GS takes a lot of time.
I managed to reach 28 hits (hopefully) but I imagine over the course of 60 days I spent on average of 30 minutes a day. Filling out forms, correcting passwords, numerous emails and phone calls.
I think when people determine there miles per dollar, the time factor should be taken into account. If I spent 30 hours and I value my time at $20 an hour, that would be $600 worth of time spent on GS. I must admit I enjoyed it.
Thank you Beltway and all others who assisted.
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Old Nov 16, 2011, 1:22 pm
  #73  
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I decided early on to completely discount my time. GS fits nicely in the "hobby" category, thank you very much.

(Also, my wife told me I was crazy doing this unless I could say that with a straight face.)
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Old Nov 16, 2011, 1:28 pm
  #74  
 
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: continental Europe
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Set your initial aim high

I am based in continental Europe. Thanks to all of you for the great ideas and the well-good discussions. Appreciated that a lot.

" Aright Ill go for it doin4 hits" (should mention I didnt do GS2010).
Then "Nice. Works. ll go for another 4."
..."Hm. good deal, d be even better with the next 4, no rather 8!"
"I want more. 20 will be good, though."
"Stupid idea. Will do 24. Needinsafety hits now,too. At least two."
"Even more stupid. 2 more and get another bunch."
"What am I talkinabout!? 4 more for 20k. As a matter of course!"

"How could I have even thought of "Wont do GS 2011!"
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Old Nov 18, 2011, 8:44 am
  #75  
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Originally Posted by Bud Florida
I learned that playing the GS takes a lot of time.
I managed to reach 28 hits (hopefully) but I imagine over the course of 60 days I spent on average of 30 minutes a day. Filling out forms, correcting passwords, numerous emails and phone calls.
I think when people determine there miles per dollar, the time factor should be taken into account. If I spent 30 hours and I value my time at $20 an hour, that would be $600 worth of time spent on GS. I must admit I enjoyed it.
Thank you Beltway and all others who assisted.
I only spent maybe 3 incremental hours above and beyond what my normal activity.

- 1 hour devoted to eMiles.
- 1 hour devoted to extra clicking to buy 4 or 5 things I wouldn't have otherwise.
- 1 hour in the godforsaken Supershuttle From Hell from Newark to Manhattan. Yes, I'm convinced it was one full hour longer door-to-door than a taxi would have been. We didn't depart Newark until about 40 minutes later than I would have in a cab.

Lessons for next year:
- Just do the damn $10 Supershuttle no-show like every other Flyertalker here. @:-)
- Hit eMiles, one minute at a time, over the course of the next year. Have 500 miles primed at the GS '12 start.
- Forget about eRewards - just do a SPG trade like I did this year.

I was able to get a lot of hits through my normal car rentals and hotels. I didn't have to sink time into car swaps or extra hotel hops since I was going to max the hits anyway.
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