Hey,

My wife and I recently decided to do a lot more traveling with our kids. I found this forum and signed up just to learn how to maximize my miles with CO out of EWR.

I have to say I am blown away by this whole subculture I've discovered. I've been reading about the mileage runs, status, upgrades and everything else on here. (MrHalliday, I read and loved your "Confessions" piece)

Well, I'm in. I've been so bitten by the bug from reading this forum, and I'm ready to head off anywhere to get started. This will be our new hobby.

Some of the threads on here are a bit advanced for me right now with the jargon and references. Is there one area where I can begin reading to learn basic strategies and information?

And thanks so much for my new passion.

Andrew

You don't specify what type of "basic strategies & information" you're looking for... If its solely on how to maximize miles on CO, I'd suggest reading the CO forum most frequently.

There's a glossary of terms commonly found on FT located here:
http://www.flyertalk.com/glossary/

There's also a lookup of IATA airport codes found here:
http://www.flyertalk.com/acl/

Good luck.

The basic strategy is actually pretty easy, IMO. Buy tickets when they are cheap and see the world.

There are very few destinations in the world that I would not actually want to go so if a cheap fare comes up that I can reasonably find dates that work for me, I book it. I didn't go in to the year explicitly planning on having trips booked to Belgium/Luxembourg/London, Peru, Panama, Rome, Belize and Denmark/Norway. But the fares came along for those destinations and I jumped at each one.

For me the biggest mileage earner other than flying is the use of credit cards that give miles. If you are committed to CO, you probably already have a CO Chase Mastercard. But if you don't, check around and see what the best options are for sign-up bonus miles. There are several different cards that Chase offers and you can often get more than one. Your wife can probably also get one and get the sign-up bonus miles as well. I find it is worth it for both partners to have a card, since different special bonus earning opportunities are offered by the card depending on spending patterns.

You probably already read this thread, but just in case you didn't -

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/miles...-chase-cc.html

I would suggest spending a few hours reading all of the pages of my website below. That would put you well on your way towards obtaining a zillion free or very cheap miles.

Then, on my What's New page, sign up to receive an email every time I change that page, to keep up with what I consider to be the worthwhile offers.

I do try very hard to avoid jargon and acronyms both on my website and in my posts. I think some people are just showing off when they use that stuff, rather than trying to communicate with a large audience. Some actually believe that it is appropriate to use "WN" instead of "Southwest Airlines", and airport codes instead of city names, for examples. I really don't think these posters believe that all who read their posts have all airline and airport codes memorized, or that all of us are old enough to remember that Southwest Airlines was a merger of Western Airlines and a few others. They have motivations other than clear communication, I suspect.

Welcome to Flyertalk.

You know, not so many years back I was in the same boat, and really there's just so much to learn. The best way to go IMO is to start at the sticky posts at the top of the forums that interest you, and just dig in.

The sticky posts (posts that stay at the top of each forum) are generally well maintained and contain a huge wealth of information.

Over time the jargon will start to make more sense, you'll gain a lot of insight into the business and generally get better at discovering and optimizing your travel situations.

There's no "right" way to start, just let your curiosity lead you. Today you might think "I want a business class ticket on American Airlines from Los Angeles to London connecting in Chicago" and not long from now you'll be thinking "AA LAX-ORD-LHR in J/D/I" or some variation thereof, all the while calculating CPMs in your head based on your memorization of the route mileage, the fare basis, and your AAdvantage tier bonus.

It's an art as much as it is a science. Just remember to have fun while you're doing it. That's what it's all about for me, anyway.

Welcome!

I was in the same boat about four weeks ago.. having been a frequent flyer and 'lurker' for a long time I took the plunge!

FT rocks.... lots to learn. A good variety of advice here - it will help you maximise the value of your travels!

Good luck :-)

Welcome!

Agree with the poster who said look for the inexpensive deals and be open to new cities. You never know where you might end up...

The world really is smaller with FT!

Just buy a ticket and go!

Really, forget about getting it just right from the very beginning. Get some experience by buying the cheapest tickets you can find (with CO or Skyteam of course) and getting on some planes!

The rest will come in time.

Thanks for the great responses. I have a ton of questions but each day I answer more. I still have a great deal of reading to do.

Jerry, I did get the credit card back in November. That alone has so far given me about 30K miles.

PGary, I started on your website last night. I'm going to read more to night. Great stuff.

BK Guy, great suggestion. I didn't realize there was that much info in the sticky threads.

Everyone else, thanks for responding with tips and encouragment. I will keep an open mind to new places. My wife and I are in the process of re-tooling how I take my vacation time each year so as to save more days for surpirse trips. It's always exciting to find a new passion. Thanks again.

Definitely read pgary's website, freefrequentflyermiles.com. It's a little broader than FT, but also well-categorized.

Mike

Mrs. gre and I have somewhat flexible work schedules (very flexible with advance notice). So, I spend more hours than I'd care to admit studying UA prices and when I find something I can't pass up I quickly call the Mrs. and ask, "Do you want to go to Hong Kong/Florence/Buenos Aires in 3 months (or sometimes next week)?"

FT is really the best source. As for strategy, I suggest you do what I do:

1. I try to bank my miles in one airline's program. (AA, but your home airport and where you travel will influence your decision. Then try to fly that airline and its partners whenever possible.)

2. Nevertheless, I wouldn't pay an unlimited premium for AA miles. If AA wanted $1400 for a ticket that somebody else was offering for $900, I'd fly the latter. Have some rule about how much premium you are willing to pay.

3. For the above reason, I have also joined other programs (one from each major alliance, plus SW, plus an airline in India that I fly often). If I must fly another airline, I like to get miles even if not in my favorite AA account.

4. Get a credit card that earns miles for my primary program. There will be an annual fee and somewhat higher interest (so don't carry any balance here).

5. Keep looking at other miles-earning opportunities: cell phones, isp's, shopping, banks, hotels, etc.

6. Try to get elite status in your primary program. That way you earn extra bonus miles, besides other benefits.

7. To maximize miles/dollar, learn how to look for cheapest fares.

8. If you are comfortable with being and looking really insane, then start doing pure "mileage runs (MR)", ie, flying with no purpose other than earning miles. Mind you, if you do anything in your destination city other than perhaps using the rest-room, the purists here will refuse to let you call it a "MR".

9. Keep participating in FT forums. They will help you with all of the above.

Good luck, and welcome to FT!

I agree, tons of useful information. If only the What's New page included hyperlinks and ceased the JavaScript redirect. @:-)

Re-iterating what others have said, strategy rule #1 is to grab the rock-bottom deal (or even the mistake fare, if you're really lucky) and then figure out the reason to go there.

Realize that a lot of the best-value mile-earning trips on your own dime might be driven by unknowable factors like fare-sale patterns or even fare mistakes. Fare mistakes have been responsible for trips to places like Barbados, Acapulco and Rome for me in recent years. Fare sales are driven by competition and may favor the same group of cities.

Used to be there were also occasionally some eye-popping mileage sales. My all-time faves included 20K RT to Dusseldorf, 25K to Hong Kong, and 40K to Bangkok.

Which gets to rule #2...Be prepared to hear old-timers tell you how things used to be a lot better and how you're working a lot harder now for less bennies. You got in at least 10 years too late. Oh, well, better late than never.