Until 21 December, Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan is offering an up to 50% bonus when purchasing miles, so log in your account to see if you can access the offer. Continue reading…
Buy Alaska miles at their best price (again)
What has happened to award availability for Cathay Pacific flights over the past two months?
Historically, access to Cathay Pacific awards was extremely generous, however, since changes made to the Asia Miles program in June 2018, availability of their cheapest Saver awards has tightened on many routes, likely due to the introduction of the third type of award fare, where previously there was just two. Continue reading…
Flight Deal: fly to South America from $1065 return with LATAM and Qantas
Taking advantage of Qantas and LATAM’s nonstop services between Sydney/Melbourne and Santiago, you can get cheap fares to a traditionally expensive destination across a wide range of dates, plus pick up more than enough points for a domestic award flight. Continue reading…
Alaska Airlines First Class overview
Qantas partner Alaska Airlines is the fifth-largest airline in the US. It generally ranks towards the top of US airlines in terms of customer satisfaction and its loyalty program Mileage Plan is more often than not the winner in annual rankings. Continue reading…
When do frequent flyer programs release award space for redemptions?
You’ve been busy building up your points balance and eyeing a redemption, so when can you get first dibs on an award seat? Continue reading…
Update: Alaska loosens restriction on Cathay Pacific and Japan Airlines First Class redemptions
Whilst Alaska’s frequent flyer program remains a favourite of advanced points enthusiasts, this policy change makes it harder to secure premium cabin redemptions within Asia on three quality airlines. Continue reading…
A guide to Qantas flights from Australia to Japan
Yesterday, Qantas announced that after almost 20 years of ceasing to operate the route, they will fly from their main hub in Sydney to Japan’s second largest city for the northern winter.
The seasonal service will operate three times a week from 14 December 2017 until 24 March 2018.
Osaka is a handy gateway to not only exploring the city and neighbouring Kobe themselves but also for catching the shinkansen to Hiroshima, Kyoto and the skifields. Continue reading…
Flight Deal: fly direct to South America for under $1200 return and earn enough points for a domestic Qantas flight
Taking advantage of Qantas and LATAM’s nonstop services between Sydney/Melbourne and Santiago, you can get cheap fares to a traditionally expensive destination across a wide range of dates, plus pick up a free domestic flight (as long as you credit your miles correctly – our pick would be to Alaska Airlines.)
Travellers in Brisbane and Adelaide can connect in Sydney, Melbourne or Auckland for $50+ more. Continue reading…
Qantas 737 Domestic and Trans-Tasman Business Class overview
Many people understandably wouldn’t choose to redeem points for domestic business travel on shorter flights – but if your travel preferences see you wanting the Business Class experience, and you have points to use, then why not?! Continue reading…
Alaska Airlines MileagePlan increases prices of Emirates redemptions with no notice – a solid program for buying miles for premium flights now can’t be trusted
Alaska’s MileagePlan is one of a few frequent flyer programs that we can use to buy frequent flyer miles at competitive enough rates to redeem them immediately for Business or First Class flights at great value.
There’s a full guide to buying Mileage Plan miles here, and they have run (and I have promoted) a 40% bonus offer which ends imminently.
However, they just broke one of the cardinal rules of operating a trustworthy loyalty program – making changes to a key part of the program with no notice. Continue reading…
How to buy miles and points to redeem for cheap domestic Business Class travel on Qantas and Virgin Australia
When it comes to flying in Australia, does it make sense to buy miles and redeem tickets on Virgin or Qantas Business Class?
In this guide, we compare three programs, Virgin America’s Elevate, Alaska Mileage Plan and American Airlines’ AAdvantage.
Elevate allows you to redeem fights on Virgin Australia, whilst Alaska Mileage Plan and the AAdvantage programs allow you to redeem flights on Qantas. Continue reading…
Getting started – which frequent flyer programs should you join?
I often get asked ‘where to start’ with loyalty programs and frequent flyer points, and over the coming weeks I’ll be running a series of posts which aim to cover off some absolute basics.
This one is a quick reference of all the various programs that are worth signing up for – the quick answer to ‘which programs should I sign up for’ is ‘as many as you can be bothered to’. All are free to join.
For the more expert of you that know this already – good for you! Everyone has to start somewhere, so when you get asked the inevitable questions, point them this way. Continue reading…