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I've been using a Delta SkyMiles credit card for several years. In February I finally had enough miles to cash in. I had enough for 2 confirmed seats to The Dominican Republic - pretty handy to get into the Caribbean in the middle of winter.
I was just wondering with availability getting tighter and so many ways to accumulate miles, are many nonrevs using frequent flyer miles as an alternative?
Please post here and tell us if you have.
What program are you using and what's the best method for accumulating?
Anyone using any non-airline type cards that have a point system that allow you to book on any carrier?
What about hotel programs? What's the quickest route to get a free hotel stay with a loyalty program?
I know a DL employee that uses an AA card because he can convert them all to a hotel program... can't remember which one.
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I've been with ITT Sheraton Club (now Starwood Preferred Guest) since the very early 90's. Back then, they were about the only one's to pay points for airline staff/travel industry rates, at least on a one for one basis. 10 stays within a year get's Gold level with some associated perks like late check-out (1600 - a real bargain for people like me when all flights back home to Oz from Northern Hemisphere are in the evenings) and more earnings power (3 points per $ spent). I'm more than happy with SPG/Starwood.
I used to be in Mileage Plus as it was relatively easy to get upgrades and the such. However, I now am in another Star partner scheme as you only require 35K miles in a year to earn Star Gold status with all it's perks like lounge access, extra baggage, upgrades etc.
I'm not using it that much for redemptions and the such, but in this day and age when you can find Poz space uber-cheap web type fares and use them rather than play nonrev lotto, then it's nice to have an account to put the miles into.
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I am saving my ff miles for a roundtrip to Tahiti since the miles never expire (that's the rule for this year) but I do belong to the Hilton Honors program and I am currently Silver and will be a Gold member by September. We get a 30% discount on the lowest fare (one of our nice perks) so I fly confirm most of the time and non-rev to Hawaii or Europe. Hilton often gives you an airline rate and you can earn points during your stay. You cannot earn points as an airline crew memeber.
I also save all my diet coke tops (red caps) and I redeem the tops on mycokerewards.com for Hilton Honors points. I also read e-mails on erewards.com and I have redeemed my rewards for Hilton Honors points and also for miles to deposit into my frequent flyer program.
My goal is to earn enough Hilton Honors points to stay 1 week free in a nice resort. Sounds like hard work but it's not.
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I have an Alaska account and I have the affiliated credit card because it is such a good deal for me. Not only do I accumulate miles from my credit card but I get a companion certificate every year (which I have yet to use http://www.nonrev.net/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif). One of our perks here at AS is that we get miles credited to our account if we meet all of our goals (quarterly with a bonus at the end of the year if we met every month during the year) so the miles build up fast. So what is the fastest way to earn miles? Work for Alaska! We could use the help here in rez.
I just used miles to fly on Delta last week because I had booked a house in Corolla, NC and didn't want to take a chance on nonrevving. 'Course, I booked the tickets in September to fly in May but still . . .I find myself using miles more and more for things I have to make sure I get to.
I am enrolled in several hotel programs and have used them in the past for free rooms when I am going somewhere expensive like DC. They take forever to build up enough points to use, though, so I tend to take years to redeem anything.
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With Hilton you get a big amount of bonus points when you sign up with their (free)HHonors Amex and Visa.
There is something called thank you rewards Citi banks they have free CC with bonus points it 1$ for 1 mile on major airlines.
I never cashed any points yet.
HHonors was not really useful for last minute booking when I was stuck at an airport bt it can help if you plan in advance.
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One word of advice. If you bought a ticket with skymiles, and realise you can get on the flight nonreving, DONT CANCEL THE TICKET AND NONREV. If you do and the airline finds out you will be fired on the spot! Happened to my mother's friend.
