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Miles & Points

Miles & Points September 3, 2016

Can NCAA D1 Football Players Earn Frequent Flier Miles?

University of Michigan — The Big House You may have heard that the Hawaii men’s football team will fly over 50,000 miles miles this season, which has already featured travel from Hawaii to Australia to Ann Arbor, Michigan for its first two football games.  50,000 miles is enough to earn a mid-tier elite status on the major airlines–Hawaiian Airlines only requires 40,000 miles for its top-tier Pualani Platinum status–but are NCAA athletes PERMITTED to earn frequent flier miles?  If so, do the universities PERMIT the students to earn miles?  One of these answers is easy and other is nuanced. NCAA Rules Despite a ban on…

Deal Alert, Miles & Points, The Traveling Millenial April 25, 2016

Enter to Win 90,000 United Miles (90 Winners) — United’s 90th Anniversary

[This photo was taken as I waited in a nearby park for the London Imperial War Museum to open.] Kudos to View From the Wing for Finding this Deal In celebration of it’s 90th anniversary, United Airlines is giving away 90,000 miles to 90 lucky winners.  Entry is simple, just fill out a short form (the screenshot is below).  You must enter by midnight (EST) on April 25st!  The winners will be notified on April 27th.  After entering the form, you’ll be directed to a pretty cool history of United Airlines. There are many awesome ways to use 90,000 United miles.  Here is a…

Miles & Points, strategy, The Traveling Millenial March 29, 2016

Best Credit Card Strategy for Couples (Beginner to Moderate)

Advertiser Disclosure:  some links to credit cards and other products on this website will earn an affiliate commission. Recently, two couples interested in traveling more asked me how they could use credit cards to maximize their miles and points earnings.  As I discuss in my Step 1: Strategy page, credit card spend is only one portion of a larger travel strategy.  You should not apply for a new credit card if you cannot pay it off in full every month (the monthly fees will negate any extra value that you would receive in points) or your credit score cannot withstand a…

Miles & Points, The Traveling Millenial, Verizon March 8, 2016

Verizon Points: How Much are My 150,000 Points Worth? (Part 1)

Update:  click here to read Part 2 after reading this article. I recently checked my Verizon points account and was astonished to learn that I had over 150,000 points!  If these points were American Airlines miles, I could fly round-trip to anywhere in the world that OneWorld alliance partners fly to.  I could also fly round-trip to Europe in business class or I could fly on the Ethiad A380-800 in First Class (complete with showers!).  These are all excellent uses for American miles. Unfortunately, Verizon points are not American miles and they cannot be transferred to American.  In fact, Verizon has no transfer…

Miles & Points, Starbucks, The Traveling Millenial March 8, 2016

Starbucks is Making it Rain (Before the Storm)

I recently posted about how you can acquire a Starbucks Gold card for about $50.  I followed my own advice and reached Gold status last month (the card is delivered 4-6 weeks after) which comes with pretty cool perks.  After every 12 purchases you get a free drink of any size and not to mention the occasional 25% off and other assorted coupons that arrive regularly in your inbox.  Since I typically buy a small coffee (~$2) and redeem my award for a very large frappuccino (~$6), the Starbucks Gold card was pretty valuable to me.  Almost predictably, Starbucks announced within…

American Airlines, Etihad, Miles & Points February 20, 2016

Etihad A380 First Class: How I Booked a $8,000 Plane Ticket For $46 and 90,000 Miles

Etihad A380-800 My friends and family are probably tired of hearing about American Airlines miles and each deal that needs to be taken advantage of, but I finally have something to show for my labors.  There are a handful of flights that I want to fly solely for the aircraft, and today I can check one off that list (well almost, I booked it which is the first step).  Next winter I booked a flight for $46 and 90,000 AAdvantage miles on the #1 aircraft on my list: First Class on Etihad’s A380-800.  A paid ticket on this flight would…

American Airlines, Miles & Points, The Traveling Millenial February 3, 2016

American Airlines Miles Sale – Should You Buy Miles?

If you have a frequent flier account with American Airlines (AAdvantage) you likely received an identical copy of the above promotion: you can buy American Airlines’s miles at a discount.  You may wonder whether this is a good deal.  No worries, so did I. In order for this deal to potentially be worthwhile, you should calculate the cost of the miles.  American normally charges 2.95 cents per miles, but the discount and bonus miles completely changes the equation.  I provided calculations below based on the base number of miles purchased (taxes included in the cost): 20,000 miles: you receive 27,000…