The best milage sign-up bonus for a credit card. Ever.

[DangerMouse]

One thing I have found with frequent flyer flights, is often it is the first leg that causes the problem. For example, when we lived in San Diego, if I tried to get a FF flight from SD to Australia on Qantas there would never be any availability. However, for those same days could always get availability on the LAX to Australia leg. Even though the flight from SD to LAX would have a Qantas flight number, it was a codeshare with American and they never seem to have availability on that leg.

Other thing I have found is it is often the class of travel. Normally I will find seats in economy or first but nothing in business.

Oddly enough, for us, we can find flights to Asia from West Coast but can never get flights we want to South America.

 

[FUEGO]

I have read about that strategy - that is, book a cheap domestic ticket to the Cathay/Qantas/other hub, then book the reward ticket from the hub to your ultimate destination.

 

[DangerMouse]

I often found the first leg would be so inconvenient if you were able to get the FF booking. For example, Qantas would leave LAX at 11.30 p.m. but the FF flight would leave SD at 2.00 p.m. which is ridiculous as they would have flights going empty every hour.

If you do book your ticket separately make sure you leave plenty of room for the connection and try and do it on the same airline that your FF flight is with.

 

[jimnjana]

Hmm, there are a bunch of flights from LAX (my home airport) to HKG, or are you saying that you had trouble finding award tickets for that? In fact, I know people who are flying to HKG using Cathay next month.

I had an unnerving call with Chase about 10 mins back. I received my card in the mail and called to activate it, the CSR activated it and congratulated me on "30000 miles". I informed him that I should have been awarded 50K and he told me that offer ended Dec 11th. We went back and forth and eventually he said he wasn't sure I signed up for this card using the 50K web link around Jan 9th, when it was working so who knows! If I only get 30K, I'm canceling the card right away. We'll see what happens, I'm going to make my first purchase tomorrow.

Hmmm, when I called, I specifically asked for the 50/50 card and the guy said wait a second, and came back on the phone and said yes... that is correct and he also said it several times during the discussion. Hope I'm not in the same boat.

 

[FUEGO]

A tip for others looking at potential itineraries. I think one of the reasons I was having a hard time finding available flights using rewards points was that I was looking really far out (like September 2010) thinking availability would be best really far out. Apparently, just looking at some example cities, the availability around March-April seems to be the best (2-3 months out), then tapers off further out. I think it is something to do with them releasing more seats as the flight date gets closer, after they know how full the flights will really be during that time. Yield management. Hard to do accurately 9 months ahead of time. I had always heard it was easiest to book FF tickets way out, but that may not necessarily be true.

 

[WanderALot]

Hmmm, when I called, I specifically asked for the 50/50 card and the guy said wait a second, and came back on the phone and said yes... that is correct and he also said it several times during the discussion. Hope I'm not in the same boat.

Yeah, I'm not worried. It looks like it was just that one uninformed CSR since I got an introductory email from Chase with my name on it that said 50k miles will be deposited into my account.

BTW, I think you were stating earlier that you wanted to get a second card to get more miles? FYI, the terms of service of the card states that the 50K award is only for first time card holders.

 

[jimnjana]

Yeah, I'm not worried. It looks like it was just that one uninformed CSR since I got an introductory email from Chase with my name on it that said 50k miles will be deposited into my account.

BTW, I think you were stating earlier that you wanted to get a second card to get more miles? FYI, the terms of service of the card states that the 50K award is only for first time card holders.

Thanks. The more I thought about it, the more I figured I wouldn't bother with another one.

 

[WanderALot]

My 100K miles just got deposited about 2 weeks back and DW had 50K deposited 1 week ago. We haven't spent 2K yet on her account, so we have another 50K coming.

So we got busy and got LAX->MVD and SCL->LAX in June for 3 people for 120K miles + $150 in taxes! This has saved us around $3K in this trip alone. Incredible deal, especially since we still have another 80K miles left!

In case anyone is wondering, we are flying into Montevideo (MVD) instead of Buenos Aires (EZE) to save on the Argentina $130/per person reciprocity fee. The idea is that we will travel east from Buenos Aires to Santiago before flying home.

 

[FUEGO]

My 100K miles just got deposited about 2 weeks back and DW had 50K deposited 1 week ago. We haven't spent 2K yet on her account, so we have another 50K coming.

So we got busy and got LAX->MVD and SCL->LAX in June for 3 people for 120K miles + $150 in taxes! This has saved us around $3K in this trip alone. Incredible deal, especially since we still have another 80K miles left!

In case anyone is wondering, we are flying into Montevideo (MVD) instead of Buenos Aires (EZE) to save on the Argentina $130/per person reciprocity fee. The idea is that we will travel east from Buenos Aires to Santiago before flying home.

Awesome! I wish I would have saved my AA miles for our trip to Uruguay and Buenos Aires, and used the BA miles for that trip instead (AA miles are more versatile generally speaking).

I guess we lucked into flying into MVD and out of EZE, since we booked before the $131/person reciprocity fee was implemented, but traveled after it was implemented.

My trip report (in brief): Montevideo and Colonia did not impress. Prices were higher than I expected (roughly equivalent to US prices in general, maybe a little less). People were friendly. LOTS of mosquitoes in Montevideo and colonia - bring bug spray.

The argentine (or rioplatense)dialect of spanish left me a bit baffled. I'm a proficient speaker of Spanish, but of the mexican dialect. I often times thought these folks were speaking portuguese or something else to me, and I would have to ask them repeatedly to talk slower and repeat themselves. Same language issues in Uruguay and Buenos Aires. Also there are a number of differences in vocabulary that left me with some awful stares like I was speaking some foreign language (not spanish), even though it would have been perfectly valid in the US and Mexico.

I would minimize time in Uruguay and maximize time in Argentina and Chile if I could re-do my vacation.

Buenos Aires was a breath of fresh air. Very nice city in general. Extremely pretty and upscale in some parts, and really awesome architecture in many parts. There are slummy, unsafe parts, but in general it just seemed nicer than Uruguay. And cheaper! Maybe 20-40% cheaper I'd say.

For Buenos Aires hotels, check out the Best Western Monumental (also called Best Western Central) on Calle Junin. It is in the Congreso district, 2 blocks from the subway. We got it for a steal, now rooms are running $64 a night or so. It never showed up on the American search sites, but we used thomascook.com (a british site, affiliated w/ travelocity/expedia??), and booked there using a coupon. EXTREMELY nice hotel for the price, and a good location not too far from the downtown sites, but a little quieter (with cheaper restaurants and groceries nearby).

 

[WanderALot]

My trip report (in brief): Montevideo and Colonia did not impress. Prices were higher than I expected (roughly equivalent to US prices in general, maybe a little less). People were friendly. LOTS of mosquitoes in Montevideo and colonia - bring bug spray.

Thanks for the info Fuego. That's good to know. We were going to go to Colonia anyways so flying into MVD wasn't a big change. We won't be spending a lot of time in Uruguay; just 3 or 4 days. We have about 3.5 weeks total, so we plan on spending about 2 weeks in Argentina and a week in Chile.

The argentine (or rioplatense)dialect of spanish left me a bit baffled. I'm a proficient speaker of Spanish, but of the mexican dialect. I often times thought these folks were speaking portuguese or something else to me, and I would have to ask them repeatedly to talk slower and repeat themselves.

This worries me because DW and I were thinking about taking a short Spanish immersion course while we are in BA. DW is decent with Spanish (US/Mexican), but I'm terrible (with any dialect). Hopefully it won't be a waste while we are there.

Buenos Aires was a breath of fresh air. Very nice city in general. Extremely pretty and upscale in some parts, and really awesome architecture in many parts. There are slummy, unsafe parts, but in general it just seemed nicer than Uruguay. And cheaper! Maybe 20-40% cheaper I'd say.

Yeah, BA and Mendoza sound wonderful. Appreciate your tips. I might ping you for more help as we get closer!

 

[FUEGO]

Thanks for the info Fuego. That's good to know. We were going to go to Colonia anyways so flying into MVD wasn't a big change. We won't be spending a lot of time in Uruguay; just 3 or 4 days. We have about 3.5 weeks total, so we plan on spending about 2 weeks in Argentina and a week in Chile.

This worries me because DW and I were thinking about taking a short Spanish immersion course while we are in BA. DW is decent with Spanish (US/Mexican), but I'm terrible (with any dialect). Hopefully it won't be a waste while we are there.

Yeah, BA and Mendoza sound wonderful. Appreciate your tips. I might ping you for more help as we get closer!

Colonia was very tourist trappy in the old historic part. I'm very glad we opted not to stay overnight and instead just spent a few hours there. We actually went back to the bus station and sat inside there for an hour or two waiting on the ferry terminal to open up for our SeacatColonia ferry to BA, since the bus terminal was mosquito free and relatively cool and out of the sun. Psst bring sunscreen and bug spray.

If you have almost a month for the 3 countries, you may want to take it a little slower than us (we only had 1 wk).

About the language, a class would help a lot. If you or your DW plan on relying on speaking and comprehending Spanish much, it may help to prep some at home first. I didn't at all other than learning a little about the "vos" verb form and the fact that they use it instead of "tu" (both mean "you", or second person singular).

It was strange because after a day out exploring the town, I started getting frustrated that I had forgotten all the Spanish I ever knew. I just couldn't hardly understand anyone. Then we turned on the tv in our hotel, and started watching NCIS Los Angeles. It was dubbed in Mexican Spanish, and I understood 95% of it probably. That's when I knew it was just the dialect and not my language skills getting rusty.

I have heard that the rest of Argentina outside of BA are even more affordable than BA. We didn't really get out of the greater BA area though unfortunately.

 

[nphx]

Well.. now that BA has me a a customer with the 100k miles... i needed to make a trip to Scotland. As a ba card holder you can get $50 kickback by starting from a link on your Chase account. BUT thats quickly returned when they shake you down for $30 a pop on seat assignment if you want it prior to i think 24 hours of your departure. What a cr$ppy policy.

 

[DangerMouse]

Has anyone been following the BA strike action? Makes me concerned about holding any points in case they do go under. We have enough to make a trip to Argentina, but just don't really have the time to go.

nphx, I think you are taking the glass is half empty view. You have been able to earn a free trip to Europe for very little money spent on your behalf. Why not enjoy that instead of focussing on having to pay $30 if you want a seat assignment? Then again, does it matter if you don't have the seat assignment because you will still get onboard?

 

[nphx]

oh.. not a free ticket that started the rant... on a purchased ticket that is about $200 over competitor options (selected because of connection times)... After completing a purchase it was revealed that there is a fee for each segment to get a seat assignment.

 

[DangerMouse]

nphyx, sorry I misunderstood. However, don't let it put a sour taste in your mouth. You are about to have a fabulous holiday, and my experience of travelling is seat selection is just the first of many disappointments in the journey. Think of the hassle of checking in, security, piss poor onboard service, crappy airline meals and the $30 seat selection will soon be the highlight of your trip.

Best way of keeping abreast of these charges is checking in on Flyers Talk as the fee has been long discussed.

Where are you going?

 

[nphx]

Scotland - on buisness but have planned 2.5 days and penciled in a car(not sure if i need it) ... deciding what to do from Glasgow. Flyertalk reminded me of the $50 booking credit but i had to give it right back to ensure an aisle seat.

British airways has been fine when i used my AA miles to travel on them. This is the first time i used them as a consumer.

 

[WanderALot]

Has anyone been following the BA strike action? Makes me concerned about holding any points in case they do go under. We have enough to make a trip to Argentina, but just don't really have the time to go.

I haven't followed it too closely since I don't plan on flying on BA anytime soon.

I'm wasn't as worried about the validity of the miles as I am about miles inflation with so many people getting 100K miles (look at the size of the threads on FatWallet, FlyerTalk etc). When we booked the tickets, there were only 5 seats available on several of the legs of the flights. This was a little surprising to me since I can't see it being a very popular route.

 

[two4theroad]

BA reservations tutoring

I was glad to get the miles when I signed up for the cards. I have a reservation already. I am wondering if one of you experienced BA flyers knows of a website that covers all the ins and outs, tricks and procedures for checking for seats, saving on mileage with routing, the rules for using their miles with the partners, etc. I have googled for one but have not found a good one yet.
Thanks,
2fer

 

[FUEGO]

I was glad to get the miles when I signed up for the cards. I have a reservation already. I am wondering if one of you experienced BA flyers knows of a website that covers all the ins and outs, tricks and procedures for checking for seats, saving on mileage with routing, the rules for using their miles with the partners, etc. I have googled for one but have not found a good one yet.
Thanks,
2fer

I would suggest flyertalk.com in general. I think they have a forum for BA specifically, and probably a sticky thread/faq that might answer some questions. Read and search around a bit, then post questions if you don't see your answer.