Travel Itinerary: Three Days in Maui

February 11, 2018March 4, 2025by milesforplaces4 Comments

Maui was the first of two islands my wife and I visited during this trip to Hawaii. The second island we visited was Kauai, which you can read about here. Our last trip to Hawaii (Feb 2019) covered The Big Island, and if you are interested in reading about our time there, you can do so here. Maui, also known as the Valley Isle, is the second largest island in Hawaii and has endless beauty. Our three days didn’t cover everything, but it covered most of the main attractions. We had seven days in Hawaii (the first day was more like a half day), three of which we spent in Maui and four in Kauai. The question a lot of people ask is if 3 days is enough to see most of the main sights in Maui. It was enough for us for two reasons: First, we woke up at dawn and started our day early. This is absolutely crucial. It’ll be difficult if you’re not in your car by 8 a.m. daily. The weather was the second thing out of our control, but it worked in our favor. We had sunshine all 3 days, and that’s just us gambling on great weather for 3 days and getting lucky. Ideally, you want to have one or two extra days as a buffer for rain.

How We Got There

You’ll probably notice a trend with just about every itinerary I post. We rarely use cash to reach our destination, and this trip was no different. Remember that my wife and I have schedules that mostly allow us to take these trips during peak travel season. This trip to Hawaii happened to be during the last 9 days of December, which is high season in Hawaii. Likewise, the number of miles airlines require to get to Hawaii is double that of most cities. United usually charges 22.5k miles a person one-way to get to Maui. That redemption rate from Chicago, Newark, and D.C. was 45k miles per person one-way. Fortunately, Denver still had the saver award redemption at 22.5k miles, so we decided to spend two days there (we had never visited Denver) and depart to Maui from Denver International Airport.

Arrival

Even though this was technically our first day, we arrived too late to do anything significant. Our flight to Maui arrived at 4:35 p.m., and by the time we deplaned, got our bags, and picked up our rental car, it was close to 5:45pm. At this point, we only had about 15 minutes of daylight left. We checked into our hotel, the Napili Shores by Outrigger, ate an early dinner, and decided to sleep at 8pm. The next day was going to be very long.

Day One: Haleakala National Park & Papawai Scenic Lookout

If you’re visiting Maui, you simply can’t leave without witnessing the sunrise at Haleakala National Park. It can’t be replicated elsewhere, and it’s magical. The ideal day is when a layer of clouds below you allows the sun to rise above that layer. Sometimes, it can get cloudy enough that there is little to no visibility, and that’s the type of day you want to avoid. Your best bet is to keep an eye on the weather. You must pay $25 per car at the entrance and make a reservation for $1.50 if you go there at sunrise. The ticket for the sunrise is valid for three days and can be purchased up to 60 days in advance. My wife and I got there 2 hours before sunrise to ensure a good parking spot. You should aim to get there no later than an hour before sunrise, or the desirable parking spots and viewing areas will fill up quickly. It’s a relatively slow 45-minute with steep curves and hairpin turns after hairpin turns. It requires your full attention, and if you’re the type that gets distracted by a cell phone easily while driving, turn it off until you’re at the top. If you run into fog, it can get a little challenging, but fortunately for us, it was clear all the way through during our drive to the top.

*View of the sunrise at Haleakala National Park*

A few important things to keep in mind. When you’re at the viewpoint, you are at an elevation of about 10,000 feet. Not only is it cold, it is very windy! You will need a warm jacket and ear covers, or it won’t be pleasant. The air is obviously much thinner, so If you’re sensitive to elevation or have had trouble breathing in elevation before, please reconsider. Once you’re done with the sunrise, you can stop at other viewpoints on the way down. There are fantastic picture opportunities of the surrounding craters and landscape.

HaleakalaCraters — View of the craters from one of the scenic lookouts on the way down

Papawai Scenic Lookout

On our way back to Lahaina, we decided to stop at the Papawai Scenic Lookout. Locals recommended this spot as a great place to watch whales from the land. During the winter months, mother humpback whales will birth their calves and teach them essential behaviors in the waters of Maui. It took a little patience, but it paid off, and we got a show of a lifetime. About 15 minutes after arriving, we noticed a water mist sprayed about a quarter mile offshore. And there it was, a baby humpback whale under the watchful eye of its mother practicing breaching behaviors. At first, the calf needed some support to breach halfway.

HalfBreach — *This was as far as the calf could go the first few times.*

After about eight attempts to get halfway up, it completely breached the water. I kept my camera in rapid-fire mode and was fortunate to capture a memorable moment.

The lookout provides excellent photo opportunities even if you don’t see whales.

At night, we walked around Lahaina Town and stumbled upon one of the best ice cream shaves we ever had. It’s called Ululani’s Hawaiian Ice Shave, and they have over 50 flavors. I had the ‘Haleakala,’ a coconut, leche, and condensed milk mix. I wish I had taken a picture to post here, but I guarantee you’ll find whatever you want.

Day Two: Road to Hana

Along with Haleakala National Park, the Road to Hana is another excursion you simply cannot leave Maui without experiencing. It has black sand beaches, waterfalls, bamboo forests, flower gardens, and breathtaking ocean views, and it was one of the highlights of our stay in Hawaii. The Road to Hana from start to finish is about 52 miles. It is a journey that will take most of the day if you factor in the time you will stop at various stopping points. There are over 600 hairpin turns and 54 bridges (46 of which are one-lane), and you will have to concentrate while driving as the roads can get very narrow at certain points. My wife and I had a rental car, so if there were certain stop points we liked better, we could spend more time. You can take a tour bus, but then you’re on their time. If you are driving there, fill up your tank before you start. The last town before starting this journey is Paia, and the gas prices there are high. You’re better off filling up in Kahului. There no gas stations between Paia and Hana. If you are driving yourself, I highly recommend downloading Gypsy Guide – Road to Hana on your iPhone or Android.

It cost me $5, the best $5 I have ever spent on a narration app. The app will recommend which points of interest are worth stopping for, which don’t require much time, and which should be skipped altogether. It felt like we had an actual person with us, and the app even told us about approaching food shacks and cafes. The great thing about this app is that it worked even when we lost data connectivity. On the way back, the app tells you more about the cultural significance of different points in Maui. These are the places we stopped in chronological order:

1. Garden of Eden Arboretum

This is one of the only points of interest on the Road to Hana, where you have to pay to get in since it is privately owned. The cost is $15 for adults, $5 for children, and infants are free. They do offer student and AAA discounts. My wife and I found it worth it, and you can budget about 30 minutes here. They have numerous native and indigenous plants, many of which you might have never seen, and they also offer some great photo opportunities. The garden also has a smaller waterfall, and you’ll see peacocks on the premises.

2. Waikamoi Ridge Trail

This was a hike that really stimulated your senses. The best thing about this trail? There are mango trees all around, and it smells like heaven. They also have one of my favorite trees, the rainbow eucalyptus tree, which looks like the bark has been colored by a pastel. The trail can get extremely muddy, so if you’re wearing flip-flops or don’t want to get your shoes destroyed, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to skip this and spend more time at Twin Falls (which we skipped).

*This fruit looks like pineapple, but it is not.*

3. Halfway to Hana Stand

They’re known for their banana nut bread, which is delicious. I wouldn’t recommend stopping here if it wasn’t worth the hype. It won’t take long, and you can park on the side of the road.

4. Upper Waikani Falls

There is only room for a couple of cars on the side of the road to see this trio of waterfalls, but they are undoubtedly beautiful and worth stopping at if parking is available.

4. Nahiku Market Place

Two words: fish tacos. This was the perfect place to have lunch. The fish tacos were super fresh and delicious. I wish I had a picture, but I inhaled them before realizing I’d forgotten.

5. Wai’anapanapa State Park

This is one of the places where you absolutely have to stop. It is a beautiful black sand beach with an abundance of volcanic rock. There is also a cave that takes you to the waters, where you can go for a swim. The waves are powerful, so keep that in mind. We spent a solid hour here and honestly wished we could have spent more. As of 2022, you must reserve a time to visit this beach.

*There’s a story behind this cave, but I won’t ruin it. Download the app above, and it will tell you all about it*

6. Wailua Falls

Another point of interest that you should definitely stop by is that you can park on the side of the road and walk down to the base of the falls. I even saw a few people swimming near the base who seemed comfortable doing so. I don’t know how deep it is, so please be cautious if you go in the water. It’s a beautiful waterfall and probably the largest one on The Road to Hana.

7. Oheo Gulch (7 Sacred Pools)

This was our last stop on The Road to Hana. Unfortunately, due to mudslides, access to these pools was closed during our visit to Maui. We could see some of the falls from the trail, but no one was allowed to swim at the base. Oheo Gulch is located 15 minutes past the town of Hana. Here are significant details to keep in mind. If you go beyond this point in your rental car and if something terrible were to occur, your insurance becomes void! Even your credit card coverage would be voided. The road beyond this point is mostly gravel and dirt; the major rental companies have written this out explicitly in the contract agreement. Many tourists will risk it because some beautiful sites exist beyond Oheo Gulch. But even something as minuscule as a flight tire means you’re alone.

Day Three: Napili Bay

Maui has plenty of amazing beaches where you can spend your day. You can even go beach hopping and taste almost all of them. Since our hotel was at Napili Bay, we decided to spend the day on the beach. This was an excellent spot for snorkeling and seeing marine wildlife. I saw plenty of colorful fish and was lucky enough to see a few sea turtles, one of which was getting by with a missing flipper. You can see the video below.

*You can see me snorkeling in the distance with the island of Moloka’i in the background.*

If you are in the Lahaina area, I recommend stopping by Gazebo Restaurant for breakfast. Their white chocolate macadamia nut pancakes with homemade whipped cream were terrific, and they were also very generous with their portions.

So, this was Maui for us in a nutshell. We wish we could have stayed longer, but that meant subtracting a day from Kauai. We felt pretty satisfied with our three days here (excluding travel) and thought we accomplished almost everything we wanted to achieve. If you continue reading about Kauai or the Big Island, scroll to the top of this page, and you will find the links. Thank you for reading.

Airlines, Reviews

Review: American Airlines First Class Albany to Chicago

February 7, 2018by milesforplacesLeave a Comment

It had been a while since I used an award redemption for a first class ticket on a domestic route. I wasn’t really left with much of a choice since I needed to get home to Chicago and I had the following options if I wanted to book with American Airlines:

Spend $381 for a one-way ticket in economy
Spend $511 for a one-way ticket in first class
Use 25k American Advantage miles to book in economy
Use 12.5k British Airways Avios (transferrable from Chase or AMEX) to book in first class

Given the options above, using British Airways Avios to book first class on this flight was a no-brainer. Had economy tickets been available for redemption using B.A., it would have only cost 7.5k miles. For whatever reason, American didn’t make economy seats available to British Airways. Still, this is a great redemption and one which I’m getting greater than 4 cents per point. As I’ve mentioned before, this is one of the sweet spots when using BA to book on American.

My flight was on an Embraer-175 regional jet operated by Envoy Air, one of American Airlines’ regional partners. Generally speaking, people will roll their eyes when they hear their flight is on a regional jet as opposed to a mainline aircraft. This is especially true when flying in economy. In a surprising twist, I found the first class cabin to be more comfortable in the E-175 relative to a Boeing 737 or Airbus A320/321. One big advantage with the E-175 if you’re flying solo is the left side of the plane in first class is configured with only a single seat. You get to look out the window and not have to worry about asking people to move if you have to use the lavatory. The right side of the plane has the traditional two adjacent seats.

The seat was spacious and comfortable and since I was fortunate enough to have seat 1A, I had more leg room than I needed to stretch out.

There are only a few routes such as Dallas to Chicago where American Airlines will serve a full dinner on their regional jets for flights under 900 miles. Since we were under that threshold, I was served a snack box with hummus, pita chips, and Fannie May chocolate (Chicago folks are familiar with this).

The hummus and pita chips were decent, certainly better than the normal mini-pretzel bag served in economy. The flight attendants came by multiple times during the two-hour flight to ask if I wanted anything to drink so they were certainly attentive. If you’re a T-Mobile customer, don’t forget that you get an hour of free wifi on American Airlines when flying within the U.S. and Canada. You are also able to text throughout the flight for free by turning on your wifi calling.

American Airlines serves 3-course meals on all first-class flights over 900 miles. They have certain routes under 900 miles where they will still serve a 3-course meal in first class.

If you find yourself booking between Chicago and any of the cities above, you would get enhanced value with the 12.5k Avios redemption for first class because dinner is included. Since BA has a distance based award chart, you can travel as far 1,150 miles from your departure city to get the 12.5k redemption in first class.

Featured image via UPGRD.com

Credit Cards, Credit Cards & Miles, Miles & Points

Chase Ultimate Rewards: Transfer Partners to Avoid

January 29, 2018January 29, 2018by milesforplacesLeave a Comment

One of my friends asked me a pretty good question regarding Ultimate Rewards point transfers into partner programs: Which one should he avoid? While I’ve gone through many of the transfer partners that provide excellent value, I haven’t really addressed the transfer partners or scenarios that provide poor value and thus should be avoided. There are also certain situations where even a good frequent flyer program won’t provide good value if you transfer Ultimate Rewards points into the program. At the very least, you want to get a value of 1.25 cents per point if you’re using the Chase Sapphire Preferred (CSP) and 1.5 cents per point if you’re using the Chase Sapphire Reserve (CSR). How did I arrive at those numbers? If you book through Chase’s UR portal, that’s how much value you would get. For example, by booking a flight using the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal, a ticket worth $150 will require 10,000 UR points if you have the CSR. $150/10,000 = 1.5 cents per points. That same ticket would require 12,000 UR points if you have the CSP $150/12,000 = 1.25 cents per point. Here is what you should do to ensure you get the best value using your points: Make a comparison of the number of UR points required if you were to book through the Chase portal, the number of points required if you were to book through the hotel or frequent flyer program, and the dollar amount required if you were to pay with cash. For certain programs, the answer will be obvious and you will get a clear idea of what not to do. For others, there might be a tie and you won’t come out on the losing end either way. Let’s take a look at some transfer partners and see what type of value they might provide…

IHG

I’m going to use IHG hotels, the least valuable of all transfer partners in my opinion, as the first example. Ultimate Rewards points can be transferred into IHG on a 1:1 transfer ratio in increments of 1,000. Among the brands that are under the IHG umbrella are Holiday Inn, Intercontinental, Indigo, Kimpton, and Candlewood Suites. Let’s say you wanted to stay in Downtown Chicago between June 29th and July 1st at the Intercontinental Hotel on Michigan Avenue….

This would cost $233 a night. If you were to book as a CSR card holder straight through the Ultimate Rewards portal…..

A good redemption of just over 16k points a night. This is a value of 1.5 cents per point and the litmus test you should use if you’re a CSR card holder booking through Chase. Last but not least, let’s see how many points you would have to transfer into IHG’s program from Chase if you were to use their loyalty program to book this hotel:

A ridiculous 50,000 points per night, meaning you’d have to transfer a total of 150k UR points for 3 nights. If you’re reading this, please don’t ever transfer 150,000 Ultimate Rewards points to make a booking like this in which you’re getting absolutely ripped off. If you do the math, $233/50,000 = 0.4 cents per point. You read that right. You’re getting less than a penny per point value if you transfer 150,000 UR points to book 3 nights at the Intercontinental Chicago on Michigan Avenue when the cash price is $233 per night. It’s unfortunate but these types of redemptions are the norm when using IHG points to book hotel stays. This particular redemption is so bad, you would be better off exchanging 69,900 UR points for $699 cash and then using the cash to book the 3 nights at the hotel. For this scenario, we would book straight through the Chase portal at just over 16k points per night. The only scenario you should consider transferring Ultimate Rewards points into IHG is if you need to top off your account and you’re just 5k or fewer points away from getting an award night at a higher redemption level. For example, if you’re at 29k IHG points and 30k would get you an award night, go ahead and transfer that 1k from Chase. The more you need to transfer, the more you’re losing value.

Marriott

Another transfer partner which provides terrible value when transferring points from Chase Ultimate Rewards is Marriott. Ultimate Rewards points can be transferred into Marriott on a 1:1 ratio in increments of 1,000. Don’t get me wrong, they have a very nice portfolio of properties which include upscale brands such J.W. Marriott and Ritz Carlton. But when you’re redeeming points, it’s all about getting maximum value and getting the most for your redemptions. Let’s say you wanted to stay in the Miami area from March 29th-March 31st in a location close to the airport:

The TownPlace Suites would cost $175/night or a ridiculous 50k Marriott points per night for a total of 150k points. This redemption is even worse than the one we saw above. Please do not, and I repeat do not transfer 150,000 UR points for this type of redemption. $175/50,000 = 0.35 cents per point redemption (lol). To put it into perspective, 60k UR points when transferred into United can get you a round-trip ticket to Europe. 60k UR points when transferred into FlyingBlue can get you two round-trip tickets to Hawaii. If you were to book straight from the Chase portal…..

A far more palatable redemption of nearly 12k per night, giving you the baseline value of 1.5 cents per point if you were a CSR credit card holder. If you carried the CSP instead, your redemption would require approximately 14,300 points per night for a value of 1.2 cents per point. In this scenario just like the one above, booking directly from the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal rather than transferring points into Marriott is the way to go.

Hyatt

On the opposite end of the spectrum, I’m going to use Hyatt, one of my favorite transfer partners and one that provides excellent value as an example. Let’s say you wanted to make a booking at the Hyatt Place in Downtown Chicago between June 29th-July 1st. Here is the cash price you would have to pay per night: At the very minimum, $531 per night (!!).

If you were to book straight through the Chase Portal as a Chase Sapphire Reserve card holder:

At the very minimum, you’re spending 26,509 points per night. This gives you a redemption rate of 1.5 cents per point, the value you would get when booking through Chase as a CSR card holder. And finally, let’s see how many Hyatt Points would be required to make this booking…..

We have our clear winner. For 12k Hyatt points per night, you can find yourself in a room that would cost you $531 per night were you to pay with cash. If you do the math, $531/12,000 = 4.4 cents per point. This would qualify as a fantastic redemption and one where it would be a no-brainer to transfer your points from Chase UR into Hyatt. Prior to transferring into Hyatt, make yourself a World of Hyatt account on their website. This is free and you will get an account number which you will need to link with Chase in their Ultimate Rewards Transfer Portal. Below is just a simple schematic showing you where to go to transfer UR points.

When you click on your point balance, this will be the first page you see. Bring the cursor to “use points” and click on “transfer to travel partners”

Click on World Of Hyatt and transfer the total number of points you would need. Since Hyatt requires 12k points per night for our redemption and we searched for 3 nights, we would transfer a total of 36k UR points into Hyatt. The cash price for those 3 nights would have been nearly $1,600. The only downside of Hyatt is it’s relatively small footprint. They only have about 750 properties worldwide so finding a location where you can take advantage of this value can be challenging, particularly if you’re looking at international destinations.

Airline Transfers

Generally speaking, transferring to the frequent flyer program of Chase’s airline partners provides very good to excellent value. A prime example of this would be transferring to British Airways Avios for domestic flights on American Airlines or transferring to FlyingBlue, the frequent flyer program of KLM/Air France for a round-trip ticket to Hawaii on Delta Airlines. However, there are certain situations where you’re better off booking a ticket by redeeming UR points through the Chase portal or using cash rather than transferring the points into a frequent flyer account to book a ticket. For this example, I’ll use a round-trip ticket from Chicago (ORD) to New York City (LGA) from April 28th-May 1st.

Pretty good price for a round-trip ticket between Chicago and NYC. Keep in mind, these are economy seats, not basic economy which can be had for $129 round-trip but with limitations such as no carry-on bags and no advanced seat assignments. Now if you wanted to use United miles for this trip…..

25k miles for a round-trip itinerary. How much value would you get if you transferred 25k UR points into United? $169/25,000 = 0.67 cents per point. This would be a terrible way to use UR points since you’re getting less than a cent worth of value per point. If you were to hold a Chase Sapphire Reserve and you booked through the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal, your redemption would require…..

Just 11,240 UR points for a round-trip ticket. You would save yourself nearly 14,000 points, or enough for possibly another round-trip ticket by using Chase’s portal versus transferring into United. If you had the Chase Sapphire Preferred, your redemption would be about 13,500 UR points, a significant number of UR points saved.

Recap

Prior to transferring into a program, evaluate whether you’re getting at least 1.5 cents per point if you’re a Chase Sapphire Reserve holder or 1.25 cents per point if you’re a Chase Sapphire Preferred holder. This is done by taking the cash price/the points required by the loyalty program.This should always be your litmus test prior to transferring. If you’re value matches or exceeds those numbers, transfer the points into the loyalty program. If not, then book directly through the Chase portal. The wildcard is if you happen to have status with a hotel chain. From my experience, hotels won’t extend status benefits if you don’t make the reservation through their own website or toll-free number. What what I do? I would still forego the benefits for IHG and Marriott if it means I’m going to get killed on the redemption when transferring UR points into either of those two brands. A free breakfast or room upgrade is not worth sacrificing a round-trip ticket to Europe, South America, or two round-trip tickets to Hawaii. If you want to read about the transfer partners that can provide tremendous value, you can read that here and here.

Airport Lounges, Reviews, Uncategorized

Lounge Reviews: Centurion Lounges at Miami International Airport and Buenos Aires Ezeiza International Airport

January 2, 2018January 2, 2018by milesforplacesLeave a Comment

Over the last 10 days, I was fortunate to transit through two airports that feature a Centurion Lounge. You can read about the Centurion Lounge at Miami International Airport right here and the Centurion Lounge at Buenos Aires Ezeiza International Airport right here.

Airport Lounges, Reviews, Uncategorized, USA

Lounge Review: Centurion Lounge Miami International Airport

January 1, 2018June 30, 2024by milesforplaces2 Comments

Prior to my flight to Buenos Aires, Argentina, I had some free time at Miami International Airport. I had heard many great things about the Centurion Lounge at MIA, so as an AMEX Platinum cardholder, I figured I might as well give it a visit.

This lounge can be found on the fourth floor of the north terminal near gate D12. If you have been to the Centurion Lounge in Dallas, this one offers some of the same services and amenities. It’s roomy, and there is plenty of space available. First thing I did (like I do at every lounge), I surveyed the food offerings. Since many people were in front and behind me, I didn’t want to act like a first timer and take pics (I’m really sorry). But the offerings were lamb, Indian-style chickpeas or chole, salad, brown rice, and apple crumble for the dessert. I sampled everything but the lamb and found everything to be delicious. Again, I wish I took pictures and perhaps next time I won’t care whether people are around me. The espresso machine had various offerings such as latte, cappuccino, espresso, etc.

If you are more of a tea person, they also have you covered.

As I mentioned above, there is plenty of seating available. Many of them give you access to USB and plug outlets. The cushioned seats are very comfortable if you must stay there for a few hours.

If you want to sit near a window and airplane watch, there is there is plenty of room for that.

Shower availability is convenient for those who have arrived from a far away destination and want to freshen up before a connection.

You can even get a manicure and pedicure done in the lounge.

I love the family room aspect of the lounge. Keeps the kids busy while the adults can adult. I wish more lounges would do this.

This was my one major issue with this lounge. The internet speed is unacceptable for a brand that touts itself as business-friendly. Those are some dial-up caliber speeds that I encountered, and in my two hours at the lounge, the speed only got worse.

Final Thoughts

Overall, I’d rate this lounge a 4/5. It has just about all the comfort, food offerings, and amenities needed in a lounge. It’s also one of the few designed with kids in mind. If the slow Wi-Fi connectivity is addressed, this lounge would be a perfect 5.

Credit Cards, Credit Cards & Miles, Miles & Points, Uncategorized

Credit Card Review: American Express Platinum

September 30, 2017October 17, 2017by milesforplaces1 Comment

The AMEX Platinum currently has a 60k membership points bonus if you spend $5k within the first 3 months of opening the account. This card also has a steep annual fee of $550 (not waived the first year) so it’s not for everyone. The 60k points could easily net you $1,200 worth of travel and cover your annual fee for 2 years if you didn’t derive any other benefit the card offers. AMEX membership points can be transferred to a multitude of airlines and hotels. I received an upgrade offer from AMEX a few months back that offered 60k points and I jumped on it. I still rate the Chase Sapphire Reserve as the best among the premium credit cards. However, the AMEX Platinum might actually be of greater value for some of you. Here are some of the benefits you can get with the AMEX Platinum:

1) 60k bonus points after spending $5k over the first 3 months

AMEX Membership Rewards points have a lot of value because of the multitude of airlines and hotels they have as transfer partners. Among the airline partners: Delta, Etihad, Emirates, Singapore, British Airways, Iberia, Air France/KLM (via Flying Blue), etc. Hotel transfer partners include Starwood, Hilton, and Choice hotels.

2) Credit for Global Entry or TSA Pre-check

AMEX will reimburse you the $100 fee for Global Entry or $85 for TSA pre-check. If you are in a major metro area, Global Entry is the way to go since it automatically gives you TSA pre-check. I’ve had TSA pre-check for about a year now and saves you from the inconvenience of taking off your shoes, removing your laptop/electronics from your carry, and going through X-ray machines. Plain and simple, it saves a lot of time. Both of them are good for 5 years.

3. $200 in annual airline fee credits

For this benefit, you have to select a particular airline and you would get reimbursed for incidental fees such as checked bag fees, in-flight internet, and in-flight food purchases. It’s not nearly as valuable as Chase Sapphire Reserve’s $300 travel credit, which covers everything from airfare, hotels, tolls, parking fees, etc. However, there is a way to get around this if you desire credit towards airfare instead. If you use this card to purchase $200 worth of American Airlines gift cards from AA.com, AMEX will treat it as an incidental purchase and credit you back the $200. Here is a screen shot below:

It only took two days for them to reimburse me and I was able to put the gift cards to use a month later. I don’t think this trick works for any other airline. This was far more beneficial in my opinion since I don’t end up checking-in $200 worth of bags in any given year.

4. $200 Uber credit annually

This is a really nice perk that can really help offset the annual fee for those who find themselves using Uber on a regular basis. AMEX gives you $15 Uber credit for each month and in December, they give you an extra $20. Just link the AMEX card with your Uber account and use that as the method of payment.

5. Complimentary Boingo Hotspot

We still live in a world where many airports still don’t offer complimentary wifi access for more than a half hour. If you don’t find yourself transiting through one of these airports often, this perk may not be a huge deal. However, if you’re frequently traveling or connecting through airports such as Chicago’s O’Hare and Midway, NYC’s LaGuardia, JFK, and Newark, or LAX in Los Angeles, this might be of great value. These airports offer complimentary low speed wifi for 30-45 minutes. By the time your website is done loading, you have half the time left. This perk allows you to have complimentary access to Boingo’s higher speed internet, which would usually costs $7.95 per use.

6. Complimentary Access to AMEX Centurion Lounge

If you are a traveler that routinely transits through New York’s LaGuardia, Seattle-Tacoma, Miami, Dallas (DFW), Houston (Bush Intercontinental), San Francisco, Las Vegas, or Philadelphia, having Centurion lounge access is an awesome perk to have. You get complimentary drinks, snacks, meals, massages (DFW), really high speed wifi, and a place where you can unwind between flights or just get some work done. You can also bring two guests free of charge. To get an idea of what the Centurion Lounge is like, you can read my review of the lounges at LaGuardia and Dallas-Fort Worth right here and here.

7. Complimentary Access to Priority Pass Lounges

Here is another valuable perk to have if you find yourself at airports that have lounges that are part of Priority Pass. Priority Pass has over 1,000 lounges at airports all over the world. There are even restaurants such as Timberline’s Steak and Grille (Denver International Airport) that are a part of Priority Pass. At Timberline’s, each guest gets $28 worth of credit towards food. So you and two guests can actually get $84 off an entire check.

8. Complimentary Access to Delta Sky Club (When Flying on Delta)

If you fly on Delta frequently, add this to the list of perks that comes with the Platinum Card. You would have access to Delta Sky Club lounges from coast to coast. Just show them your boarding pass and AMEX Platinum card and you’re in.

9. Gold Status for Hilton and Starwood Hotels

If you play your hand right, this benefit can cover the entire cost of an annual fee and then some. Having Hilton Gold status makes you eligible for free upgrades at any Hilton Hotel. You also get complimentary breakfast and high speed WiFi. A couple of months back, my wife and I took a trip to Maldives and stayed at the Conrad in Rangali Island. Hilton gave us a complimentary upgrade from a water villa to a retreat water villa during our 4 nights there. The value of our upgrade was over $500. This doesn’t even include the complimentary breakfast, lunch, and mocktails we enjoyed as Hilton Gold members. Add that to the value of the upgrade and we derived well over $700 worth of value simply by having Hilton Gold status. I haven’t put the status to use at any Starwood hotels just yet, but I’ll keep you posted if I do.

10. Earn 5X Membership Rewards Points on Flights Booked Directly with Airlines or via AMEX Travel

This is the highest earning credit card for booking flights. You also earn 5X the points for booking a hotel through AMEX Travel. For the flights, you can’t book it via Expedia, Priceline, Orbitz, or any other third party site. For the hotels, it has to be booked via AMEX travel. I’m really hoping in the future they just give you the 5X for all travel related purchases. Chase Sapphire Reserve gives you 3X Ultimate Reward points on anything travel related. It doesn’t matter if you booked on Expedia or directly from the hotel/airline.

If you are going to apply for the the card, do it during a time when you know you’ll be spending $5k over 3 months. Due to its exorbitant annual fee, this card isn’t a long term keeper for a leisure traveler who only travels once or twice a year or an individual who doesn’t travel for work. If you find yourself in a scenario where you can derive the benefits and perks routinely, this card can be extremely rewarding.

Credit Cards & Miles, Miles & Points

My Experience Redeeming British Airways Avios for a Flight on American Airlines

August 20, 2017August 20, 2017by milesforplaces1 Comment

Before I get into the tidbits of Avios redemption on American Airlines, I’ll share my recent experience with British Airways and how redeeming Avios on American Airlines rather than booking with American using its own AAdvantage miles saved me a huge headache. At a conference in Philadelphia two weeks ago, I arrived at the hotel and was asked to provide a drivers license or an ID and a credit card for incidentals. I opened my wallet and my credit card was there. I assumed I had my drivers license and looked behind a few cards but I could not find it (I left it in my scanner at home when I was making a copy 2 days prior). I went into all out panic mode and frantically started searching my pockets, book bag, and suitcase. I took out every single card from my wallet and nothing came up. I was the guy who booked the hotel rooms for 3 other friends and I’m thinking I might be the guy who might have screwed this whole thing up. I told the receptionist “uhhh I’m really really sorry but I don’t have my drivers license with me. I think I dropped it. The only thing I have is my school ID. Can you match that with my credit card and make that work?” The receptionist said they generally don’t allow it but since I was there for the conference, he’d let it slide. If you are some how reading this and you are that receptionist from the Double Tree near Phildelphia International Airport, God bless you and thank you again. Half the disaster averted. Now I realized I also had a flight from Philly to Albany two days later and not having my license would really make things difficult ( I arrived in Philly via Greyhound and they never checked for ID). I booked my flight using British Airways Avios on American Airlines for 7.5k Avios plus $5.60 in taxes. The cash price for this one way ticket was going for $422 (!). This gave me an excellent value of 5.6 cents per Avios. If I had booked the same flight using American Airlines miles, It would have cost me 7.5k AAdvantage miles PLUS an additional $80. If you book an award flight within 21 days of departure on American, you are subjected to an $80 “close in” fee. British Airways does not charge the same fee when using Avios to book on American. This allows you to make same day bookings (if seats are available) without losing value due to a surcharge. Since I didn’t have my license and didn’t want to deal with extra paperwork and questions from TSA trying to board my flight, I decided I would just ride back with a friend who had driven there. I called British Airways about 40 hours prior to departure and requested to cancel my flight. British Airways’ award cancellation policy is very customer friendly. As long as you cancel 24 hours or more prior to departure, they will credit your miles back without charging a fee to reinstate those miles. The only thing you would lose is the $5.60 in tax which is negligible in the grand scheme of things. Had I booked this flight using AAdvantage miles, American would have charged me $150 to cancel the flight and reinstate those miles.

PHLAvios — The cost of my flight had I used cash to pay for it. Prior to cancelling, I only used 7.5k Avios, which would have given me a value of 5.6 cents per Avios.

For many of the reasons highlighted above, Executive Club is one my favorite frequent flier programs for domestic travel. BA Executive Club is a transfer partner of Chase, AMEX, and SPG, so there are many ways to get Avios (British Airways’ frequent flier curency). I have never redeemed Avios for international flights on British Airways itself because BA charges a very hefty fuel surcharge on transatlantic award flights flown on their metal. I use Avios to book flights on BA’s OneWorld partner, American Airlines. British Airways utilizes a distance based award chart which means the number of Avios used depends on the distance you’re traveling. Zone 1 costs 7.5k Avios for a one way ticket (0-1,151 miles traveled), zone 2 costs 10k avios for a one way ticket (1,152-2000 miles traveled), and zone 3 costs 12.5k Avios for a one way ticket (2001-3000 miles traveled). When you book a saver award using American Airlines, domestic flights that are less than 500 miles require 7.5k AAdvantage miles. Anything more than that requires 12.5k at the saver level. I do want clarify that British Airways award availability on American Airlines isn’t a sure thing on any given date. Generally if American Airlines is showing saver award availability via their own program, there is a decent chance BA will have access to those as well. I have posted an example of a sample itinerary using both programs.

In this example, we’ll use a one way flight from Chicago (ORD) to Denver (DIA) on September 17th. Let’s start off with American Airlines:

We can see that there is MileSAAver availability from Chicago to Denver. A one way flight would cost 12.5 AAdvantage miles.

There is also discounted MileSAAver availability in business class for 25k AAdvantage miles.

Now let’s see how much the same flight would cost using British Airways Avios:

The same flight we saw above for 12.5k AAdantage miles in economy can be booked for 7.5k Avios. And if we want to book a seat in business class……..

This same flight costs 25k AAdvantage miles to book in business class. Booking with British Airways only costs 15k Avios for a business class ticket. When you take into consideration that booking just an economy seat using American costs 12.5k miles, an extra 2.5k Avios to bump up to business class is a tremendous value.

Another great use of Avios is for domestic award tickets on Alaska Airlines. Unfortunately, Alaska Airlines does not show up on British Airways’ website the way American does so you would have to call them to book. If they tell you that a phone booking would cost you a fee, kindly request them to waive it since booking an Alaska flight using Avios is not possible through their website.

Hotels, Reviews

Airbnb vs Hotels

July 24, 2017July 24, 2017by milesforplaces2 Comments

airBNB Even though Airbnb has been around since 2008, I never used it to book an accommodation until 2015. For those of you who have never used it, it is a website where homeowners rent out their houses, apartments, condos, cabins, even tree houses. There are filters that allow you choose what type of accommodation you’re looking for such as an entire place or a single room. I have used it seven times since and all but one of my stays were excellent. Five of those trips have been in Europe where I strongly believe booking Airbnb was the better option versus booking a hotel. During our trip to Prague, decent hotels were going for $140+ in desirable locations such as Old Town Square and Wenceslas Square. Nonetheless, there were many excellent apartments and condos near these locations that were listed on Airbnb. These accommodations were just a 5 minute walk away from Old Town Square or Wenceslas Square, which eliminated the need for taxis, Uber, etc. Including taxes and cleaning fees, our total for 3 nights came out to just $67/night. I’ve included pictures of the place we booked below.

There are a few things to keep in mind prior to booking an Airbnb:

1) Make sure the place you’re interested in has a minimum of five reviews that are spaced apart (I ignored this step once and ended up booking a place that had no reviews. This resulted in my one below average experience using an Airbnb.)

2) If the owner has not posted pictures of the interior, that’s a red flag and you should avoid it.

3) Try to book a place that is a short walking distance away from as many tourist attractions as possible. By doing this, you’re saving money avoiding taxis and Uber.

So whether you’re traveling somewhere where hotels might be pricey or if you’re traveling with multiple families and want to rent out an entire house on a beach, Airbnb is a great alternative to hotels. If you use my link here you will also get $40 off your booking of $75 or more. If you have used it before, feel free to share your experience in the comments section below. As always, thanks for reading.

– Shiraz