Originally Posted by reckless31abandon
Hi,
Being new to this whole FFP thing and all, I have a dilemma and would love some advice. I don't travel much, (will be doing a bit more) but I have accumulated 8,952 miles on WorldPerks so far. In a month, I will be traveling from Den to KC, MO, and want to maximize the miles I earn.
(Also have 500 in Frontier, and 2 credits with SW -I live in Colorado)
The way it looks, with promos from United (online booking & check-in, and double miles for new MP members) I could earn a couple thousand flying with them, which seems to be almost too good to pass up ( and they seem to be consistently cheaper than NW). NW doesn't have much in promos right now that would help me, and I'm trying to find a good reason to stick with them, other than the fact that I have a bunch of miles sitting there that I can't seem to do anything with.
However, I am most likely to fly UA, Frontier or SW, since they seem to have consistenly low fares.
I also may stay in a hotel for 2 nights, and would need a rental car...
I would appreciate any advice that would point me in the right direction!
Thanks!
Keep in mind the different expiration policies.
SW credits expire two years (2x365 days) from when they're earned, and if you haven't gotten to 16.0 credits by that time, they're lost. (Well, any points that are older than 2 years are lost, at least, evaluated daily.)
However, in some situations, for example rental cars, or Hampton Inn or Candlewood Suites hotels among others, 0.5 credits per rental (Hertz, Budget, or Dollar) or hotel stay can be BY FAR the best earning around (at least on short rentals/stays), because for all other domestic airlines most rental outfits only give 50 miles per day and Hampton only gives 100 miles per stay and Candlewood only 1 mile per dollar charged now. (For a 2-night stay at an "affordable" hotel, consider a 500-mile-per-stay hotel such as most other than Hampton in the Hilton HHonors family.)
So if you're going to participate in SW RR, you need to do some planning, so that you don't end up wasting a bunch of earned credits.
With other airlines, you have to have SOME activity (ANYTHING that either puts miles into or takes miles out of your account) at least once every two (Frontier) or three (UA, NW, etc) years, or you lose everything you accumulated there, so pay attention to that. Activity can be as little as charging a few bucks of gas to a no-fee Frontier card or eating at a NW Dining for Miles or UA MileagePlus Dining restaurant once in a while. So AS LONG as you keep good track of it and plan a little, it's not that hard to keep those miles alive (as long as Northwest stays alive
).
And keep in mind that if you are traveling fairly short distances, partner earnings from car rentals and hotels can be very signficant. And the promos for different hotel chains vary widely and change every couple months and which one is best for which program for what lenght of stays at which price paid flip flops constantly. (Frontier, tho, has fairly few partners compared to the other airlines you mention.)