Originally Posted by
RetiredSFOATC
Hello Talkers. After several years as MVP, I finally got to Gold for 2020. I'm familiar with the drill as a "plain" MVP, what to look/ask for, what I don't have chance for, etc. And I have certainly read Alaska's page on Gold benefits, which, while helpful, doesn't always apply to "real world" situations. So - my questions: For those of you who have been or are currently Gold, what benefits of this status do you use and appreciate most? What tricks of the trade have you learned that would help newbies like me? From the little I have gleaned so far, it appears that SDCs are really popular. Ditto the change fee waivers (am I reading correctly that it makes sense to book something when it's only a glint in my eye, regardless of fare, knowing that I can change down the road at no cost if a better fare becomes available?).
Any suggestions, specific or general, from you experienced veterans will be greatly appreciated, including re-direction to a thread that discusses this in some detail (I looked, but couldn't find...).
1. Congrats!
2. Yes, SDCs. For flights with many options I like to book the cheapest flight of the day and SDC to the most convenient flight of the day. Don't forget to include co-terminals in your search! Eg, SJC-LAX is often dirt cheap, while SFO-SNA is pricy. Check the fare rules for a full list of co-terminals.
3a. General flexibility. I managed to score a cheap round trip to OGG this coming weekend. But hotel prices were through the roof (Valentine's day friday; presidents day Monday): over $1000/night everywhere I looked on Maui. No problem... I kept looking for hotels every day and yesterday someone cancelled a standard room at Hyatt, which I was able to book with points. If that hadn't popped up I would have just cancelled the flight for no fee on Friday night.
3b. General flexibility; award edition. You can build trips with stopovers 1 segment at a time as the segments become available. Same with round trips (eg KE awards). Similarly, I booked a first class trip to Tokyo, even though I couldn't find a return. A month later I found a return I liked (using a different mileage program). If I had never found a good return, I just would have cancelled the outbound.
4. No real strategy here but the 100% mileage bonus is huge!