That’s right, folks, it’s time for another update on the wonderful world of travel hacking. In the back of my mind, I’m always planning our next awesome (almost) free trip, and that wouldn’t be possible without the use of points and miles. Let’s have a little look-see at just where I am at the moment:
You’ll notice that my HHonors balance has jumped up to 198,755, while my AA balance has dropped to a measly 5,949. There’s a perfectly logical explanation for this – I promise!
I heard that the ability to transfer AA miles to HHonors points would be going away soon, so I thought about the AA miles I had. I had a little over 50k total, but what would I use them for? Do I really need AA miles on hand? What would I use AA flights for? Let’s look at my knowledge of domestic flights.
What airlines do I enjoy?
I’ve flown Delta, US Airways, Continental, AA, and Southwest domestically. I’ve flown Delta internationally (twice). My preference for domestic airlines is as follows:
- Southwest
- Continental
- AA
- Delta
- US Airways
So I don’t hate AA more than all the others, but they’re not at the top of my list. My wife and I flew AA from our wedding to our honeymoon and back home – and it was meh. The service was better than Delta, and the planes were better than US, but it was nothing to write home about. We both love Southwest, and they usually have very low prices, so why save up AA miles (when I’m focusing elsewhere for the mega-big numbers)?
Dumping AA
So I decided to dump my AA miles. For domestic flights, we’ve sworn off of Delta, and we’re basically sticking to Southwest only. I’m saving CO/UA miles for the “big trip,” and I have quite a few BA miles for another nice hop across the pond, so I have no use for AA. I transferred them (at a rate of 3 to 5) to my HHonors account.
I was hit with a $30 fee, but I find it worth it. My HHonors account is now up to 198,755, as you saw before, which is getting quite large. I will soon be churning another HHonors card (on top of my AMEX), which will give me a nice 40k points per churn. Along with almost all of my regular spend, this will boost my HHonors account up into the stratosphere.
Finding a use for Delta SkyPesos
Magazine subscriptions. “The Economist” was 2,100 SkyPesos, and “Entrepreneur” was 600 SkyPesos. Nice! I wanted to order more, but I probably won’t be able to read more than those two, so I’ll wait until the subscriptions run out and get something else with my remaining SkyPesos account.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred Goldmine
I’m getting quite close to my initial $3,000 necessary spend for my 50k points, which will be converted at 1:1 into Continental miles, which will then be transferred to United. My United balance will then be astronomical, ready for two F seats to a faraway place…
That’s it for now!
That’s all I’ve got. How’s your travel hacking going?