Originally Posted by
rufflesinc
Further more, a biz seat is usually only twice that of a Y seat in miles. But the difference can be 3 or 4 times for hotels.
Originally Posted by
rufflesinc
20k is a "huge chunk"? That's peanuts compared to how much an intl F redemption costs.
Why do you "need" a suite? Most hotels (even HIex) have two beds per room and a pool. If you want breakfast, hop in your rental and drive 2 mins to a local diner. What's the deal with the umbrella??
I buy a couple at walmart when I arrive and return them on the way back to the airport.
Oh and on flights to Europe, do you
really eat that stuff UA serves instead of getting a full six or seven hours?
Really? (brought to you again, by seth and amy). Eat in the lounge or woof down a snack down and sleep till landing. Besides, why ruin a vacation with a terrible neckache from sitting in Y?
OK, first off let's set some things straight. Do you realize that different programs are scaled differently?!?! What matters is how hard 20K SPG is to obtain and replace. It would take mid-tier elite SPG member $6,500+ in hotel stays to earn 20K points. It would take mid-tier elite flyer (flying $500 transcons) exactly that much money to earn enough miles for an int'l business award.
Also, in places like NY, HKG, SYD, and TYO, the difference for hotels is NOT 3x or 4x, if they are in the same location. It's at best 2x.
What's funny is your example for a Holiday Inn. You are just proving my point I made earlier: In smaller cities, HIs are perfectly nice. But in ritzier locations, they can be crap. So if you ask why ruin a vacation with a bad night's sleep enroute, I ask why keep ruining every night while you are there? Also, nice try with the 5K redemption; we both know that Pointbreaks are exceptions, not the rule.
I don't see why I need to explain why you would need a suite or certain amenities. In some situations you do. On the other hand, I could say I sleep the same in Y as in C, so I don't understand why you 'need' a flat bed, but if you need it, I would have to take you for your word, wouldn't I?
RE: umbrella. You apparently don't understand figurative speech, even once someone has explained it you. So my point is that there is a million reasons to have a conveniently located hotel, if you want to go back to your room for a moment for whatever reason.
The Walmart trick is cheap and abusing the system, so no thank you. You also keep talking about flying intl'l First, so where the heck are you going to do that trick outside of the U.S.?!?! It only works here. More importantly, I don't go on vacation to waste time. Good luck staying in the suburbs Bankgkok or taking the "safe, clean, and reliable" public transportation in Rio, Lima or Joburg.
Paying 120K miles to fly business can make sense. But to do it so that you arrive only to commute from the boonies and to run errands in your destination or stopover city, that is insane! I do that at home, not on vacation when my time is precious.
In fact, that's how I look at the points game. I get to stay in more convenient places and fly better for the amount of cash I would have paid for the 'budget' option anyway. It's not free, it's a free upgrade.