Marathon Man

I have a friend who needs more miles. A newbie/non-FTer who JUST got a CC with the sign up bonus - half of what is needed for one of her RT award tickets, but a start none the less.

I need some help on how to help her get the rest of her miles--with relatively NORMAL means, if doable!

Ok so like many here, I know a few tricks to get miles and I often hum a little tune that sorta sums up the things I might do to make it happen if I need to spend time building up accounts with or without CCs:

Promos with cash back and gift cards of plastic
Bright shiny credit cards and charging like spastic
Making a spend with no attached strings
These are a few of my favorite things

Squareup Intuit Payanywhere and Amazon
Some of my ethical friends think what I do is so wrong
But in pour the points, miles cash back and more
I even learned how to do Staples rebates and rewards!

When the bank calls
When the bill's due
When deals die and it's sad
I simply remember my favorite things
And then I don't feel so bad


Now, maybe you don't hum THAT tune but you probably know what I mean. We at FT generally know what we are doing or can generally find a way to get them miles/points if so inclined.

But there are people out there, yes, friends of all of ours who live up the street or 'round the corner, who just DO NOT KNOW! (I know I know, I'm not supposed to talk with such people)

And when they want to get into miles, it's both elating to see someone "turn," but also eye-rolling because you know they are going to think it's all so easy and fast, etc...

Well, we have just such friends of our family and they, like us, have family overseas so they fly there muchly.

It's come to pass that due to things I have learned on sites like FT, etc, I have been able to bring my own family of 4 BOS-AMS usually flying on DL for 60k miles pp non-stop RT at least 4x per year for a while now. I usually use AS miles or DL miles to fly DL. When coins were big, I would fill the accounts from the credit cards of each. Now I'm running a bit low with DL miles but I know I could always rely on GCs or something even more creative like that to get more. It always evolves, as we know.

But this friend is not going to do all that--not now at least. What I need is to find ways to help them get miles and not with all the stuff we do necessarily. I suppose I could ease them into things over time, but it's a challenge for me, and those who know me know I would love to burst in with every trick in the book for my friends but probably overwhelm them in the process.

So this thread is to hear your ideas... simpler ones. Ones that make sense (not like the sometimes rambling madness of a marathon man). YOu can see by the nature of how I started this thread that I just cannot make it short and simple. That's why I come to you all.

NOTE: While some do not like DL, this is about what is, and what needs to fit/be for that family, who not only wants to fly them but probably has some miles on them anyway (although I am actually afraid to ask in case they have been the types of people to say something like, "Oh we didn't bother to sign up." I don't even wanna know that)

Here are the facts on my friends:

• family of 5
• could get more CCs
• have means (ie, they had been paying cash outright for all their flights)
• flies BOS-AMS (doesn't mind economy seating)
• prefers DL (again, for BOS, it is a non stop flight and awards are always doable)
• DL econ for that flight can very often be found at 60k pp with relative ease even at short notice (a month)
• husband - unknown what cards he has or would get
• wife - just told me today she got the DL Amex 30k card with the $500 spend. Ok that's half of one ticket. It's a start. Her chat with me is what got me starting this thread.

~I might tell them to get SPG 25k Amex's and refer 'em both and then they could, if so inclined, transfer the points to DL.

~I might point them to a better offer on that DL Amex and try to get the husband to get one. (btw the kids are 8, 15, 17 so no CCs yet)

But assuming for a moment that the wife just has 30k new DL miles now and nothing more, she's got stars in her eyes thinking she can one day get a free ticket, so how would YOU help her get 30k more DL? (Yah I know, I suppose this entire post could have said just that lol)

MM

benzemalyonnais

I take those flights twice a month or so now....they are a lot cheaper if you are booking them AMS-BOS instead of BOS-AMS.

DL miles are easy to get, if you are smart about it. Last year DL ran a promotion where sharing miles earned a 100% bonus. It's only 1 CPM to share, and there was a 30k max per transaction + 30$ fee. This meant that 30k miles turned into 60k for 330$. Do this until you've reached the promo's limit and you've done well.

That being said, do take a look at the AMS-BOS pricing, and compare all three options, KL, AF, and DL before making a purchase. There's DUS and BRU too which are close enough to AMS. I usually pay around 500$ for a RT, and I've paid $430 recently (albeit through CDG).

That flight is good (in row 10 or 29).

saacman5033

Only 1?

Ding ding ding, we have a winner. Doesn't get much simpler than that.

Exactly my thoughts while I was reading! Entertaining read though

Marathon Man

all great tips! thanks!

Yes I had also seen in the past that the reverse direction was often cheaper. Although I have never paid for a flight because it's always miles for me.

Both of us --her family and ours--have to drive a good hour and a half or longer north to get to family homes, so flying into other cities can be added tiredness. CDG is ok in some cases though. (my family and I are actually trying UA/LH in the summer and will connect AMS-FRA-BOS to see how that goes) so connections are not out of the question, but often times you want to make them destinations as well. She said one time they flew through Rome to see Italy on the trip as well. But like I said, they are paying cash all the time 9or some not so great or non-rewards earning CC). I do not know all their methods but to me, that would only be good if your employer is paying you back!

lol yes I made it this way both on purpose and because I have no choice haha

I do not know what other CCs they have or would consider. I will ask though... and I will try to refrain, but hey, that's why I posted this. To suggest sane answers and not just my answers (which are sane to a savvy FTer but insane to the layperson) Na'imean?

blahter

Here's a question you might want to ask her: Are they willing to travel separately?

I haven't looked at Y availability in ages, but I'm assuming finding 5 award seats(even in Y) on the same flight at the low rate is pretty difficult.

Marathon Man

they have gone separately before, yes.

I can tell you that on many occasions using miles I have found 4 seats with ease.

I will also tell you that while the low and desirable Y rate is 60k miles pp, sometimes in higher season it's 75k. And since non stop is a factor there have been occasions when my family and I would pay it. But sometimes not everyone has to pay that much. Sometimes if you book in certain ways, it's still 60k for one or two people. In fact one neat little trick I discovered with DL sometimes goes like this:

Begin to select flights for one or two travelers and it could show up at the lower rate. Come back and try to do it for 3 or 4 and it suddenly wants 75k for everyone for the same flight! So what I have done is to go back and just set up the one or two on one rec loc and then set up the others on a different one. So now even if some have to pay 75k miles, not everybody does.

This gets a bit tricky when flying with children, as was a recent case where my wife took both kids and I stayed at home. We were able to get her ticket at 60k on a separate locator and then go back and set up tickets for the kids on their own. But because the airline wants them to be with adults, we had to not make them children in the system. A bit of a date change. Then a little phone call to the airline to fix a typo before ticketing, and all was well. Not sure if this would always work. And of course THIS is the kind of thing I do not think my friend would be at all inclined to dive into.

birdseye

If your friend is happy with one or two free tickets, paying for the rest, she should be able to achieve that without too many complications with redemption.

SPG Amex and PRG are the obvious suspects, plus the business versions of each card if desired (but the Delta Gold Business has the lowest minimum spend). Present the best offer details and links, explain how the points transfer, and suggest that she have her husband apply for them too. Which cards and when should be up to her, some people are nervous about the idea of tracking multiple new accounts that may need to be cancelled after a year, plus you don't know how many Amex accounts they already have. Start with the SPG referral and then send a email with her other options. An SPG card will get her the other half of the ticket. Two Amexes for her husband would get another free ticket. Getting more free tickets will take more time and determination.

Marathon Man

I agree with you and others who mention spg.

I will generate the referrals to them both and try to explain it the same way.

Yes, if they see they can get a couple miles tickets that might help, and then it will also maybe make them get more into this game!

I think they can do the spends, but yes, I am not sure what CCs they have or how they feel about having stacks of new cards here and there like many here do.

I'll have to look deeper into PRG and other options that may provide MR points as I personally never dealt with MR anything. Yet.

Thanks!
MM

JPG3392

I believe that American offers award flights from the US to Europe during the off-season for 40,000 miles. High fees are associated with travel through London, but flying on Iberia (a partner of American) from BOS to AMS with a change in Madrid might be an attractive possibility at cretain times of year.

Marathon Man

Indeed they do, but I personally would pay an extra 20k miles any day to avoid LHR. Then again that's just me, and while everybody likes to save miles/money, there are times when one needs to consider convenience over cost. And, we have little kids (4+5 1/2) so it really matters to NOT connect--especially at one of the world's biggest airports with some of the biggest lines. Not sure about our friends though. I will ask them so thank you for this reminder on the subject! If they were into the AA itineraries and have no miles with them, they could always 'work with someone like me' on how to obtain AA awards in exchange for DL awards down the lilne.

Marathon Man

Based on what I see so far, I think the SPG route is the way to go for now... Although this could still evolve. I am going to consider handing my friend the following one page Word printout (in person not email lol) that hopefully explains it without making her head fall off. What do you all think? Does it do a good job or does it need more/less? I can tell you that they have no current flight plans so nothing is immediate...

*****************

Ok so you have gotten the Delta Gold Amex and you are on your way to earning miles.
The way this card will work is, once you spend the $500 and it posts to your Amex account and is paid, they will deposit 30k miles into your Delta account 6-8 weeks later.

Assuming you have other Delta miles, that’s not bad. I think your husband should get this card too for his DL account. The more miles you all have the better. It’s not that one can combine miles, but if everyone has a lot of their own, much can be done. More on that later.

Now you need more – and even if you could get just 1-2 mileage award tickets to Holland, that would save a lot for a family of 5. You could still buy the other tickets and have the airline do the seating so you are all together later on.

There are many alternative ways to earn miles but some of the easiest ways these days are to get credit card sign up bonuses like you just have done. But now you need even more cards.

Assuming your family’s credit is good (scores of 720 or greater) you should be able to get more with relative ease. And it will not have any negative impact so long as you, like me, just pay your bills in full on time all the time. (BTW, never pay for a credit score. There are ways to obtain it free but that’s for later).

What you need to do is to get cards that have points that can be transferred into miles, like the Starwood Amex personal and business card (SPG). An example of how this works with most major airlines is: Spend $2,247 on the card, get 2,247 SPG points. You can transfer them to DL and get 2,247 DL miles!

Not all cards work this way or this easily, but the SPG ones do. But wait, there’s more!

If one has 20,000 SPG points and transfers them to an airline, SPG sends over 5k more points!

When you sign up for the SPG card, the current sign up bonus is 25,000 points! You need to do a more robust spend. I have to look it up but I think it’s $5,000 in the first 4 months or something. However, this can easily be done (in both alternative ways and realistic ones – more on that later).

You guessed it: Your husband should get the SPG cards as well!
• So in the end, you both would have the DL card = 30k Dl miles each
• You both would have the SPG personal card = 25k SPG points each converts to 30k DL each
• Right there you both have 60k DL each minimum JUST for using new credit cards to spend in your life as you already do! (remember, everything you spend = a mile too)
• You both would have the SPG Business cards = 25k SPG points each converts to 30k DL each

The cool part is that if either my wife (or I) refer either of you/both of you to join SPG, we also get a bonus from Amex as well, so you’d be helping your fellow Dutch X-Pat lol.

SPG is a great card even if you don’t convert its points to DL miles. SPG is Sheraton, Westin and other great hotels. An example of how good it is: Westin Times Square, NY can be up to $400 a nite. But they want 12,000 points to stay there. That’s not bad! I can go into that later but it’s a better redemption rate than all the other chains like Hilton, etc, and SPG has no black outs! If you call and there’s a room, you can do it with points or cash or sometimes a combination of both. That trip to the Westin Maui we are considering is all on points. 12k per night, 12 nights. Only incidentals for costs. That’s it! So having this card—even if not for airline use—is a good move over all. We use ours to charge up EVERYTHING we do when Amex is accepted.

birdseye

Wow, I thought you were an expert in all things miles! MR can be very lucrative if you collect Delta miles, last year my husband and I were able to get 75,000 MR each through the personal PRG by bumping the bonus, then transferred to Delta with a 50% bonus. But I missed out on the Capital One deal you did so well on last year.

The good MR deals don't come around very often (they may be one day only deals), but they are worth your time when they do.

P.S. Your plan sounds fine to me. Two personal cards each is a good start, and if they want more later, she will let you know. If she turns out to be as crazy as us Flyertalk folks, you will find that out eventually.

Marathon Man

yes well I admit I know little about MR. Long story but there had been Amex issues in my world and while all is well, and I have 4 CCs with them, I did miss out on that recent one for 75k on sign up after a $10k spend. Oh well, it will come back I hope.

I did do well with C1 last year and so I guess I got that instead lol

I will check out MR things for my friends tho! thanks!