The Master Travel Redemptions Thread

[hyschmied]

Has anyone ever booked a rental car through a card site? I was surprised to find much lower prices through Citi TYP and also Chase UR. Usually I use carrental.com or kayak or Hotwire and find the cheapest rate. I need a week rental and chase ur is cheaper by almost $100.

I might even use the points to pay. Some will argue that it's a poor redemption but I like to earn and burn. I can earn more easy enough.

Just wondered if anyone has done car rentals?

[cv91915]

Has anyone ever booked a rental car through a card site? I was surprised to find much lower prices through Citi TYP and also Chase UR. Usually I use carrental.com or kayak or Hotwire and find the cheapest rate. I need a week rental and chase ur is cheaper by almost $100.

I might even use the points to pay. Some will argue that it's a poor redemption but I like to earn and burn. I can earn more easy enough.

Just wondered if anyone has done car rentals?

 

I don't rent cars for personal use very often, but when I have I've generally found the best rates at CostcoTravel.com.

 

For one-way rentals I always glom onto my employer's Avis or Hertz contract because it's impossible to beat. Avis charges nothing extra, and Hertz tacks on a per-mile-driven charge, but even that is still far less than you'd pay as a random individual on a one-way rental.

[hyschmied]

I checked directly with Hertz just because of the "status" that came with my Platinum card but still higher than through Chase. I was surprised.

I'll check through CostcoTravel.

 

Thanks

[BDK]

Has anyone ever booked a rental car through a card site? I was surprised to find much lower prices through Citi TYP and also Chase UR. Usually I use carrental.com or kayak or Hotwire and find the cheapest rate. I need a week rental and chase ur is cheaper by almost $100.

I might even use the points to pay. Some will argue that it's a poor redemption but I like to earn and burn. I can earn more easy enough.

Just wondered if anyone has done car rentals?

Yes, I've booked thru Citi TYP. Got a helluva good rate, and burned off some excess points as well!

[Guest]

For rental cars, I used a website called AutoSlash a few weeks ago for a two day full size rental. I had booked the reservation directly on Hertz a while back. I found out about AutoSlash, entered the Hertz reservation number, and it emailed me with a few hours with the exact same car class, time, etc for $25 less than the original reservation, a savings of about 30%.

 

This was at a very small airport where the taxes occupied a good portion of the overall rate as well. It was a good option for me. And, I tend to just pay for rental cars, versus paying with points, because the redemption rates for the ones I need using UR or TY points are atrocious at best. Glad to hear that's not always the case.

[Zobelle]

I love BA Avios. So much. Just booked $300 flight for 4500 avios for 6.7cpp redemption value.

[hyschmied]

Thanks for the rental car help guys. I went ahead and booked a week rental through Citi TYP. It was 225.00 which was $75 less than next lowest price I found. I went ahead and burned 18,000 of my wife's points on it. I'm happy.

[pwd847]

5

I love BA Avios. So much. Just booked $300 flight for 4500 avios for 6.7cpp redemption value.

Care to mention the specifics?

 

I'll assume AA. What route?

[Zobelle]

DFW to COS

[mizliz1011]

I love BA Avios. So much. Just booked $300 flight for 4500 avios for 6.7cpp redemption value.

what website do you use to find your flights?

[pwd847]

 

I love BA Avios. So much. Just booked $300 flight for 4500 avios for 6.7cpp redemption value.

what website do you use to find your flights?

 

I use AA.com. I think that is what most people use.

[Cappy]

 

 

 

 

I love BA Avios. So much. Just booked $300 flight for 4500 avios for 6.7cpp redemption value.

what website do you use to find your flights?

I use AA.com. I think that is what most people use.

IMO,I would check the BA Avios Redeem page to check for availability for reward flights. Just because there are flights available, doesn't mean you can use the miles

[pwd847]

 

 

 

I love BA Avios. So much. Just booked $300 flight for 4500 avios for 6.7cpp redemption value.

what website do you use to find your flights?

I use AA.com. I think that is what most people use.

IMO,I would check the BA Avios Redeem page to check for availability for reward flights. Just because there are flights available, doesn't mean you can use the miles

 

Yes, good point. I use AA.com to find what I want, and then follow up with BA.com to make the booking and verify the availabililty.

[cv91915]

July/August:

 

Roundtrip airfare to Milan in First Class purchased with 125,000 American Airlines miles earned from signup bonuses and credit card spending. My spouse is attending a conference in Milan and I'm flying in at the tail end to spend a week in and around Italy, and then we're hitting Barcelona and Amsterdam.

 

I'm flying from LAX because the only routes available from San Diego on the dates I wanted to go were through London on British Airways, which would have cost ~$600 in fees, or in coach.

 

Barcelona - Five nights at the Le Meridien, paid with 64,000 Starwood points accumulated from 2014 household spending on the card.

 

SPG redemptions offer a fifth night at no additional cost. We had already planned to split nine nights between Barcelona and Amsterdam, and with no viable SPG hotel option in Amsterdam for our trip we decided to make Barcelona our five-night destination because of the availability of this hotel.

 

Amsterdam - Two nights at the Art'Otel, paid with 70,000 Club Carlson points, earned from the sign-up bonus on the US Bank Club Carlson Visa.

 

This reservation will be our last practical opportunity to use the "final night free" redemption benefit that's currently available to every Club Carlson Visa holder on every Club Carlson redemption. On 6/1 this benefit will be limited to one free night per year upon payment of the annual fee, plus $10,000 in spending on the Visa, and then only on US properties, most of which suck.

 

Amsterdam - Two nights at the Andaz, paid with two free night certificates, which were part of the sign-up bonus for the Chase Hyatt Visa.

 

Hyatt only has two properties in Amsterdam (and one is at the airport), and this one showed no availability on hyatt.com using the certificates, however rooms of every type were available for paid reservations, and rooms were also available using Hyatt points. I called the reservations number and they were able to book the nights I needed using my certificates.

 

What does “free” travel cost?

 

Here are some highlights from our recent three-week trip, which included a tour of Italy, followed by stays in Barcelona and Amsterdam, before returning by train to Milan for our flights back to the U.S.

 

The trip followed a conference that my spouse attended in Milan, which is why you see expenses listed which were reimbursed. If this had been a 100% personal trip, in all likelihood we would have done reward redemptions for these paid expenses.

 

Since this was a long trip, we chose to outsource a lot of the planning and sightseeing logistics. I don’t have any significant regrets, but you may choose to approach your vacation differently.

 

I’ve included more detail here than I’d originally intended so you can formulate your own estimates for a trip you may have in mind.

 

Highlights:

 

· Trip was 22 days/21 Nights, 2 Travelers

o Costs avoided (mainly airfare, hotel stays): $10,847.87*

 

o Out-of-pocket personal expenses (meals, tours, entrance fees, souvenirs, trains, taxis, rental cars, paid flights, paid hotel stays, etc.): $6,028.25

 

· Air Travel and Lodging Summary

 

o Airfare to/from Milan

§ Retail value of my ticket (paid with AA miles): $5,718.00*

§ Retail value of spouse’s ticket (reimbursed by employer): $1,650.60

o Travel within Europe

§ Out of pocket (details below)

o Lodging

§ 9 of the nights were covered with points/certificates (retail value: $2, 877.14, or an average of $319.68 per night)*

§ 3 of the nights were paid by my spouse’s employer ($440.13, or $146.71 per night)

§ 4 of the nights were included in the cost of our Italy tour

§ The other 5 nights were paid hotel stays (average of $134.37/night)

 

o Three Lounge Visits (NCE, AMS and MXP) were covered by Priority Pass (benefit of Citi Prestige) (retail value, $27 per person per visit, or $162* total). I also visited the Flagship Lounge at both LAX and JFK, and the Admirals Club at JFK on the way back, as a benefit of the Prestige. I'm not valuing those visits separately since I have and will be maintaining Admirals Club access one way or the other for other regular travel purposes.

* For your own planning purposes, substitute any values that make sense to you, based travel costs you believe are reasonable.

 

Significant Out-of-Pocket Expense Categories:

 

· Tours and day trips ($1,636.68)

 

o 5 days/4 nights – Italy: $772.80

o Day trip from Milan to Swiss Alps/St. Moritz: $295.30

o One-day Barcelona tour and 72-hour Amsterdam card: $452.04

o Half-day Montserrat visit from Barcelona: $116.54

· Paid air and train tickets within Europe ($717.17)

 

o Airfare NCE-BCN: $96.02

o Airfare BCN-AMS: $281.20

o Train Amsterdam-Milan: $339.95

· Paid hotel stays ($670.85)

 

The remainder (~$3,000, or about $135+ per day) is comprised of cash expenditures and smaller credit card charges for meals, entrance fees, taxis/airport transportation, souvenirs, mobile phone charges, etc.

Edited August 23, 2015 by cv91915

[mizliz1011]

cv, I can only aspire to your level of organization. WOW...

[TheScholar]

 

 

I love BA Avios. So much. Just booked $300 flight for 4500 avios for 6.7cpp redemption value.

what website do you use to find your flights?

I usually just use the BA site to look up availability - but I read this article last night that has some interesting information about the limitations of the BA tool - for example, when there are many flights per day, it only lists the first X number. The article is aimed at finding hidden AA availability, but it's still a good read:

 

http://milecards.com/1588422869/how-to-use-the-british-airways-website-to-find-aadvantage-awards-that-are-hidden/

 

Keep in mind that Avios can also be a strong value for even longer flights sometimes, too - especially, say, a flight that isn't super long but travels between two different regions. Good value can be found on several routes - not just the 4500 mile ones.

[Zobelle]

Yes I check AA first to see if its worth more for me to pay $$ for the flight than to use miles (and earn segment + rdm/eqm).

 

If cpp is over 2.2 then I use pts, unless the cost otherwise is prohibitive to current budget allotted, 1.6 cpp would be acceptable in this case.

[Cappy]

2cpp is huge when it's expensive flight to begin with...

 

My friend booked with 6cpp the other day.

 

What is the highest cpp redemption you've ever personally seen on BA?

[hyschmied]

Thanks for the above CV. I enjoy numbers like that. Sounds like an amazing trip.

[Rorer_714]

 

 

 

I love BA Avios. So much. Just booked $300 flight for 4500 avios for 6.7cpp redemption value.

what website do you use to find your flights?

I use AA.com. I think that is what most people use.

IMO,I would check the BA Avios Redeem page to check for availability for reward flights. Just because there are flights available, doesn't mean you can use the miles

 

Any saver award shown on AA can be booked with Avios.

[Cappy]

 

 

 

 

 

I love BA Avios. So much. Just booked $300 flight for 4500 avios for 6.7cpp redemption value.

what website do you use to find your flights?

I use AA.com. I think that is what most people use.

IMO,I would check the BA Avios Redeem page to check for availability for reward flights. Just because there are flights available, doesn't mean you can use the miles

Any saver award shown on AA can be booked with Avios.

Correct, but based on reward availability

[BDK]

 

 

 

 

 

I love BA Avios. So much. Just booked $300 flight for 4500 avios for 6.7cpp redemption value.

what website do you use to find your flights?

I use AA.com. I think that is what most people use.

IMO,I would check the BA Avios Redeem page to check for availability for reward flights. Just because there are flights available, doesn't mean you can use the miles

Any saver award shown on AA can be booked with Avios. +1

Correct, but based on reward availability

 

[Cappy]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I love BA Avios. So much. Just booked $300 flight for 4500 avios for 6.7cpp redemption value.

what website do you use to find your flights?

I use AA.com. I think that is what most people use.

IMO,I would check the BA Avios Redeem page to check for availability for reward flights. Just because there are flights available, doesn't mean you can use the miles

Any saver award shown on AA can be booked with Avios. +1

Correct, but based on reward availability

I.e if I were to see 10 flights available in one day with Saver Rewards from AA going from LGA-DFW and then I went on to the BA website to search and only found 2 flights BA listed for that same route/day, I can call up BA and ask them to book me on a flight that's not listed on the BA site?

[Rorer_714]

 

 

 

 

 

I love BA Avios. So much. Just booked $300 flight for 4500 avios for 6.7cpp redemption value.

what website do you use to find your flights?

I use AA.com. I think that is what most people use.

IMO,I would check the BA Avios Redeem page to check for availability for reward flights. Just because there are flights available, doesn't mean you can use the miles

Any saver award shown on AA can be booked with Avios.

Correct, but based on reward availability

 

It is based on AA's saver award and has nothing to do with BA. If AA shows saver award for the flight you are looking for it can be booked with BA.

 

I.e if I were to see 10 flights available in one day with Saver Rewards from AA going from LGA-DFW and then I went on to the BA website to search and only found 2 flights BA listed for that same route/day, I can call up BA and ask them to book me on a flight that's not listed on the BA site?

 

Correct.

 

ETA:Make sure they don't charge you a fee for booking over the phone. It is there screw up that flights are not showing up.

Edited August 23, 2015 by Rorer_714

[Cappy]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I love BA Avios. So much. Just booked $300 flight for 4500 avios for 6.7cpp redemption value.

what website do you use to find your flights?

I use AA.com. I think that is what most people use.

IMO,I would check the BA Avios Redeem page to check for availability for reward flights. Just because there are flights available, doesn't mean you can use the miles

Any saver award shown on AA can be booked with Avios.

Correct, but based on reward availability

It is based on AA's saver award and has nothing to do with BA. If AA shows saver award for the flight you are looking for it can be booked with BA.

I.e if I were to see 10 flights available in one day with Saver Rewards from AA going from LGA-DFW and then I went on to the BA website to search and only found 2 flights BA listed for that same route/day, I can call up BA and ask them to book me on a flight that's not listed on the BA site?

 

Correct.

 

ETA:Make sure they don't charge you a fee for booking over the phone. It is there screw up that flights are not showing up.

Thanks! You and BDK are the experts and some others

 

BA is the biggest PITA to get through via the phone....