mrsbundleby

I am a younger traveler trying to decide which airline and hotel to add to the top of my loyalty list. I have the Sapphire Reserve, which I use in conjunction with my freedom unlimited and my husbands Freedom. My husband spends a lot (and makes a lot), so it is crazy how much points he gets! Which he then sends to me, so we can make travel plans.


What airlines and hotels get you the most out of your ultimate rewards points? Do the 1-for-1 airlines/hotels make the top of the list for you? Is it better to go with them?

For reference, I typically travel from DC to Orlando, NYC, Dallas, and Syracuse most often. Internationally Ireland and the UK. This whole points thing is just very overwhelming.

mia

Welcome to Flyertalk.

1. On domestic flights do you typically fly in economy or first class?

2. On transatlantic flights do you typically fly non-stop? In which cabin: economy, premium economy, business, first?

3. When you travel out of the USA do you prefer to stay in USA-branded business hotels or in some other type of accommodation?

Polytonic

When it comes to flying, this can be fairly airport dependent. If you live in the city, getting to BWI to fly Southwest is probably impractical compared to say, the $5 metro fare to DCA where you might fly American instead. Don't forget to factor in parking/transit cost, transit time, etc.

roberto99

I'm most loyal to ANA (to/from Japan).

Lufthansa group to/from EU, Cathay Pacific to/from Hong Kong, too.

I avoid the domestic airlines now!

I'm very happy with mu CSR card.

mia

None of these are UR transfer partners. It might help mrsbundleby if you explain which program you use for flights operated by each of these.

WheelsFirst

You need to do a lot of research to figure out what works best for you, experiment with the cost of award flights for various airlines that you can transfer chase points to and compare those to just buying the flight with chase points. If you want a quick answer I'd say Southwest, Hyatt, and United are a good place to start as they are easy to figure out and usually offer a pretty good return on chase points.

mrsbundleby

1. Economy

2. Yes, non-stop in economy but if I find flights that are a good deal in business class i don't mind that.

3. I've usually stayed in US branded hotels overseas

FlyingChuck

Hotels: I've only found Hyatt worthwhile. All programs transfer 1:1 but Hyatt tops out at 30k points for the top tier hotels vs 60k+ for the other programs.

Flights: Lots of useful transfer partners. awardhacker.com is a good place to start to find out how many miles are required by each program for a specific itin. Watch out for fees tho... you wouldn't want to fly to London on BA.

uppereastsider

I've used my UR points to top off my Hyatt account for rewards (generally for the Andaz Amsterdam), but I find the single best use of my UR miles is for United. I have been able to redeem for Lufthansa first class and United business class a few times between Europe and NA via my United miles.

I also redeemed my United miles for a first class non stop from NA to Tokyo on ANA

I also think there's a sweet spot for transferring to Singapore Air to get on the JFK to Frankfurt flight in business class

matrixwalker2012

I stick with AA mostly and complement it with OneWorld premium fares. All purchased through my corporate travel agent (great deals!). For hotels, I also hold Amex Hilton Surpass and Chase IHG cards, so I will stay with both Hilton and IHG hotels mostly. The IHG card I don't even bother to use for my IHG stays as I get more points value from my CSR card. For Hiltons though, I prefer using Amex Surpass, as 12X Hilton points are hard to beat, even with a value of 0.5 cents/point.

tmiw

I don't really have loyalty to anyone but Marriott, and even then I only manage to re-up my Silver Elite status with actual stays every year. I imagine if I traveled more than I do it'd be a different story.

Typically I fly Southwest for shorter flights and whatever is the least expensive for farther ones. And if I fly internationally I try to use points to get into business class when possible, which UR seems to enable fairly well for me so far.

JHake10

I'm in technology consulting and based out of SFO. So I'm loyal to United (which happens to be a CSR partner) and Marriott/SPG (again a CSR partner, but not a good transfer value).

Since I fly United so much for work I get a decent amount of points (typically fly mid-tier coach fares). I also rack up the Marriott points.

When redeeming my Chase UR points, I want to travel in international premium cabins. I normally transfer to Singapore or Korean Airlines to book one way to/from my destination. I then use my United miles to book the other direction. All these programs let you book one ways when flying on their own metal (UA can even be partners). This way I never completely deplete any single currency.

I even have the AMEX Platinum which provides 5x on airfare (aka 5x Singapore points).

Tip: UA MP has a devaluation coming up on Nov 1. A sweet spot currently is Southeast Asia to Australia in First for 40K miles one way. I booked HKG-BKK-SYD in Thai First for Sept 2018 at this rate. Book now!

mrsbundleby

Based on the responses I am thinking of keeping AA for business travel, and use United for personal travel. Additionally, Hilton for business travel and Hyatt for personal travel.


Is it OK generally to choose 2 different companies to stay loyal to?

mia

This very much depends on your personal objectives and the amount you travel. All major airlines have programs which recognize their most frequent flyers with elite status. If you fly ~25,000 miles per year that's typically just enough to earn the lowest level status with one airline. If you fly ~50,000 miles per year that might be enough to earn the lowest status with two airlines, or a mid-tier with one. You need to research the status requirements and perqs at both AA and UA to see if you value either of them.

The other consideration is the ability to combine miles earned by flying with miles earned by spending. You will be able to combine Ultimate Rewards points with United miles, but not with AA miles.

There are parallel considerations for hotel chains. UR points complement Hyatt, but not Hilton.

Diplomatico

You will generally end up with greater benefits by concentrating your business with one airline and one hotel chain, as you will generate higher levels of status by doing so. Higher status level = better perks.

Splitting your business will generally lessen the benefits you will receive from each company as you are generating less business for those companies. Lower status level = fewer perks.