Loyalty Program Consultants?
 

Hi Everyone,

I apologize if this has been asked before - I did try to search first, but perhaps I wasn't looking in the right spot.

I have been a longtime lurker on flyertalk and have always been fascinated by the wealth of knowledge here. Like others, I am massively overwhelmed by all the various programs and best ways to maximize the benefits of the various programs. I realize I am leaving a tremendous amount on the table by not working these programs correctly. I have spent days and days reading threads thinking I'm on the right track only to notice another thread or program that looks even more intriguing. Consequently, I'm ashamed to say I haven't made any changes because I don't feel like I have a decent grasp of it all.

Does anyone offer a service where, for a fee, they can work with you to analyze your spending and travel habits, and then figure out which programs (airline, hotel, car, credit cards) would be the best for your patterns? I just feel like I need an expert to guide me in the right direction, and then I could concentrate on educating myself on those programs. Does such a thing exist?

Thanks!

Randy Petersen occasionaly profiles a person in his Insideflyer magazine.

You should check out his online site... and then send in your spending and other details... to see if you get a "mileage and points makeover".

Welcome to Flyer Talk CAKhoury :)

Sure - lots of FTers willing to help advise you for free.

You'll need to provide some information like where do you travel (and from where), what classes of travel (first business expensive economy or cheap economy), and how often. Most programs have earning on a wide range of non-flying activity (hotels, credit cards and rental cars in particular). What are you wanting out of a program the most - status benefits, upgrades or awards? How are you likely to use your accumulated mileage - what kind of trips?

I will check out the insideflyer site, thanks for the tip!

Where would be the best place on here to post my spending/traveling habits for advice on how to consolidate/maximize benefits? Is this the right board?

I definitely would appreciate any help anyone is willing to give.

Welcome to Flyertalk!

MilesBuzz is the normal place for such inquiries.

Remember that FlyerTalk helps those that help themselves; doing your own research and asking for clarifications will get you better answers than just a flat out "which is the best program" request.

Yup, and the more info you can provide the better the quality of advice. There is a lot of variation between programs and what might suit someone will not suit others.

OK, here goes. Let me know if I missed anything that will help. I appreciate anyone taking the time to read this. I genuinely don't want anyone to do the work for me, I would just love a push in the right direction.

Flights
We live in Miami, FL. We generally fly about 12 to 15 times a year, mostly in the US, maybe one flight a year to Dubai, and one flight a year to Canada. If the dollar/euro rate ever comes down, then maybe one flight to Europe :) We almost always fly economy. We always upgrade for a fee when offered the choice when checking in, but I doubt I would use miles to upgrade domestically. Internationally, I try to use miles to upgrade to business class.

I have been trying to make American our main airline, since they have a hub in Miami, and I read on here that you should stick to one airline and try to build up your status and miles. As much as I try to stick to AA, I occasionally book a low-cost airline from Ft. Lauderdale when we are going on a trip with a high probability of changing the return date since the change fees are a lot more reasonable than the mainstream airlines. We will also occasionally fly Delta or US Airways if they have a direct flight when AA does not.

I currently have gold status on AA, but my husband does not. It is expiring and I have been offered to pay a fee to renew for another year (is it worthwhile for me?) Since my travel is usually pretty flexible, I can usually get decent prices for all domestic travel, so I usually try to use FF miles towards international travel. I like the idea of being able to use the Admiral's Clubs when flying. However, I did notice that the Platinum Amex now gives you lounge access to AA. The airports we most often fly to are CLT, LGA, and LAS.

I am part of a household account on British Airways that has close to 500,000 miles in it. I always try to use them, but have yet to able to get a ticket for MIA/LHR/DXB. I also like to fly Emirates, who have a pretty flexible FF program that allows me to buy an economy ticket and use my father's FF miles to upgrade.

Credit Cards
We currently have the Gold Rewards Plus Amex that has about 260,000 membership rewards points on it. I have read on here that either the Hilton Hhonors or SPG Amex are the best. I am also interested in the Platinum amex (for the lounge access and FHR). Also I took a look at the Costco Amex. We probably spend about 60K on the cards annually, but I could definitely put more of our household expenses (utilities, mortgage) on the card to generate more points if that makes sense. I've read a lot of the threads in the Amex forum, but I keep swaying back and forth between which is the best card for us.

Hotels
Here's where I know I'm making the biggest mistake. We don't really stay at one particular brand of hotel, though we most often stay at Hhonors hotels. 95% of our hotel stays are leisure, and probably 60% of them are last-minute. We like flying to somewhere, renting a car, and going wherever we feel like - so generally I just find a hotel the same day. I've signed up with a million hotel programs, but we don't stay at any one of them to really make an impact. I know so many of the hotels and airlines have partnerships. Is it best to apply my hotel points to my AA account? Or are the hotel points worth more redeeming for a free stay? If I tried to concentrate on one hotel loyalty program, I would most likely save them up and use them for a luxury hotel stay.

Car Rental
We usually rent a car when we travel. We use Hertz 85% of the time. They also have a loyalty program. Is it best to apply these as well to AA FF? Or are they more valuable towards free/reduced car rentals?


I think that's everything. Thank you again for any tips or suggestions you may have. I've spent a lot of time reading the forums here, and have no problem spending a lot more time reading and researching - I just feel like many of you are light years ahead of me, and I would really appreciate any nudges into the right direction!

I'll leave the flight analysis to someone else, but for credit cards, I would strongly consider the Starwood Amex (20k points would transfer to 25k AA miles, if you want, which would further transfer to 50k Hilton.) Many people think that SPG points are more valuable when used for their hotels, but they are very versatile nonetheless. You may also consider an AA credit card, for those places that don't take AmEx.

For hotels, I'd say Hilton is a good 1st choice program, as they have many brands and locations. I also use SPG and Marriott occasionally, depending on price, location and availability. Stick to earning hotel points, not miles for your stays - they add up quicker than you might think!

Thanks for the reply about the Amex! I've read a lot about the the SPG points versus the Membership Rewards points, and the consensus seemed to be that SPG was the more valuable.

Another thing I meant to clarify was that when I refer to "we", I'm referring to my husband and myself. I really wish more loyalty programs would have household accounts like BA (though fat lot of good that's done me :)). FF Airline programs are pretty straightforward since you each get credited with your own flight, but hotel and car programs are a little more tricky since you only get credit for one program despite the both of you staying. Since we travel together 80% of the time, and my husband travels a little bit more than I do solo, I have been putting all of our joint stays/rentals in his programs. If I ever stay solo, then perhaps it would be better to credit my points directly to the airline program since I definitely would not build up enough points in my own name?

Just on the Credit Card front... if you are staying in Hilton branded hotels "most of the time" then I would suggest the HH Amex. The points to $ spent ratio is quite good. Details here.

HH Gold level is earned once you spend $20k on your HH Amex. You will have HH Silver as long as you have the card..

Check out the HH forum for more info.


It can be overwhelming, but don't give up. It is so rewarding when you are able to make use of all those points and miles. :)

Wirelessly posted (probably driving while typing: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.0) BlackBerry8830/4.2.2 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/105)

You have over 750k worth of credit card miles and are purchasing y tickets and hoping to upgrade? I would use these miles on c tickets to dxb or at least to europe then y to dxb. As far as elite status, unless you chabge your flying habits, 10-15 trips is not very elite. Check out the AA platinum challenge sticky in the aa forum for an easy elite option. As far as hotels go, you can easily buy $600 worth of priority club points and redeem them at their point saver properties. This works out to prepaying for 6 x $50 hotel room nights and getting pc platinum for free. As for your car rentals, I would open a bmi account (4500 or 9000 free miles see bmi forum) and then credit your hertz rerntals there as their miles never expire. Alternatively, open a vs account and credit 1000-2000 miles per rental with more partner options.

In order to play this game, you will have to change your travel patterns somewhat, but not your entire life.

Thanks for the replies. I will take a closer look at all the suggested programs and read the related forums. I definitely would prefer using miles for c tickets to dxb, I just can never seem to find availability on BA, despite having the most flexible plans. I know I don't fly enough to really achieve elite status, but I want to focus my spending habits on the right programs so that if/when that changes, I will be in a good position to benefit from it.

Thanks again!

It's easy to fly more.
If you choose an airline without a hub at your local airport, you'll have to change planes to go most anywhere. More flights = more miles. Often, these trips will also be cheaper, as people are prepared to pay extra for nonstop flights.
Obviously it will mean more time on the road plus more opportunity for things to go wrong when delays happen. Is that worth it for the extra miles? It depends on you.
For example, I live about 220 miles from LHR. For most of my flights, I can either drive there (3.5 hours) and fly direct on BA or I can fly Skyteam via PRG/AMS/CDG from an airport that's under an hour's drive/train ride from home.
For me, the opportunity to amass an awful lot of miles and get to the desired elite tier without any status runs makes the decision a no brainer (even before factoring in the problems with LHR). If I lived in West London, that decision would have been harder to make.

Interesting point, graraps, I had never thought it that way. Though having to fly from LHR definitely puts a different point on it! Though my home airport isn't much better (MIA) :)

you can redeem membership rewards from amex plat and cent for E0 tickets. they will have JFK/EWR-STN-DXB in july. providing a 3rd flatbed option in addition to VS (also possible via membership rewards) and BA. value is pretty great too.

VS has their own terminal now at LHR too.

so maybe use BA for stuff like new CX J (maybe stopover in Asia on the way to DXB) instead of BA.

(Asia and South America are 2 of the best places where the dollar is strong)

id definitely suggest getting a starwood card, considering theyre basically free, and would also suggest considering starwood hotels first when choosing between chains with frequent guest programs.

marriott is the only frequent guest program that comes anywhere near starwood in terms of earning miles from stays.

see the amex forum and perhaps luxury hotels as well for more information on plat benefits like FHR. there is also the new domestic companion ticket program. (said to be best one so far, even with its weaknesses)

-upgrade to amex plat
-E0/VS to DXB
-get starwood amex

~consider using BA for new CX J (flatbed)
~consider starwood hotels

one other thing with starwood hotels, there are quite a few that are FHR. also the most options in terms of redeeming awards at luxury properties. although marriott also has ritz carlton awards.