Traveling Business Class internationally on the cheap

Recently I was shopping around for flights to Taiwan for some time off. My research found the cheapest economy prices from NYC to be around $1400 roundtrip. This is a pretty standard rate for NYC to TPE in economy. The airline was Korean Air, which is Skyteam and doesn't help me get miles/status on the airlines I fly, which are mainly Oneworld and Star Alliance. So I looked at my other options.

Redeeming miles on American Airlines was my first option, because I have several hundred thousand points from Citi AAdvantage card bonues - unfortunately, none of the international availability was online so I had to call in. Typically you can get a roundtrip economy flight to Asia for 50k-65k miles under MilesAAver, but only the AAnytime Economy awards were available for 110k miles. That would value my miles at 1.27c/mi, which is way less than you can redeem them for.

Second option was converting my Chase Ultimate Rewards points from my Chase Sapphire card and Chase Ink Bold into United miles and getting an award ticket there. This was viable, as there was a good amount of availability for 65k economy roundtrip. Good backup option.

The last option was TavaAvianca Lifemiles. They're a member of Star Alliance so they have good availability with United, Thai Airways, and Singapore Airlines. Their award program is one of the best for a few reasons. They frequently run a promotion of getting 100% bonus miles when purchasing miles - normally $30 for 1000 miles, and after the promo $30 for 2000 miles. That's approximately 1.5c per mile.

Their second perk is the ability to buy award tickets with cash and miles. If you have 40% of the required miles, you can purchase the remaining miles for $12.75 per 1000 miles. So for a roundtrip business class ticket to Asia (120k miles), this cost me approximately $1650. And a roundtrip business class ticket to Europe could cost you even less than that.

So in the end, I paid $1650 for a roundtrip business class flight to Asia, only $250 more than the cheapest economy ticket.  Kayak listed the cheapest business class ticket for $4700!

Tip: Sign up for a Lifemiles account now, since they sometimes only allow those with accounts opened prior to the promotion announcement to participate!

Maximizing points from miscellaneous travel expenses

When you travel a lot, the obvious ways to save money and/or earn points are on the flight and the hotel. But there are ways to get points from all the miscellaneous expenses as well.

Rental cars: if you need to rent a car, going directly to the rental company's website will earn you nothing. But clicking through the Ultimate Rewards Mall will get you an extra 3x UR points for booking at Avis and 2x UR points through Hotwire.

Booking hotels: Most of the time, I use my Starwood Preferred Guest points to pay for hotels, but if there isn't one nearby or with low availability, I have to pay for hotels sometimes. Shopping hotels.com through Ultimate Rewards nets you a bonus 4X for every dollar you spend.. a $200 hotel nets you 1000 Ultimate Rewards points!  Of course, you should check American Express Travel also, to compare who's offering more points for spend.

Taxis and transport: Little costs like this add up over time. A $15 taxi here, $7 metro fare there. Use a card like the Chase Sapphire Preferred card, and you'll get 2X bonus points for these types of charges.

Make every charge count. Rather than using cash when you're traveling for anything, put everything on a card, and earn points while you're at it!

My Ultimate Rewards Cyber Monday score!

Black Friday came and went without much fanfare this year with regards to purchases. I spent time with family and didn't care to line up in the cold or at night to get a few dollars off a select few items. I made a few purchases through the Ultimate Rewards shopping mall to take advantage of the bonus point offers, and scored a decent amount of points.

Come Sunday night, the Ultimate Rewards shopping mall dropped their Cyber Monday bombshell: using points, you could make purchases at "25% off". Supposedly, you could buy a $100 for 7500 UR points (with the valuation of each point at 1 cent per point). Sifting through their offerings, it turns out that they had items at a significantly higher discount! I purchased an $1899 retail Samsung 59in 3D 1080p Plasma TV for 57k UR points, or 70% off! Even if you value UR points at 2.14 cents each, which many do, it still came out to getting a $1899 item for $1219.

It seems that Chase is really pushing the Ultimate Rewards with great redemptions and promotions. I believe we'll see some healthy competition between American Express's Membership Rewards and Chase's Ultimate Rewards in the coming months!

Making the most of Black Friday and Cyber Monday

Black Friday is a chaotic time for shoppers, trying to find the sporadic good deals in the haystack of mediocre deals. I recommend Slickdeals for that. But beyond finding the best deal, there are ways to make the most of your shopping.

First, decide which credit card you want to use for your spending.

If I'm buying electronics that I think I'll keep for more than a year, I will usually put it on either my Premier Rewards Gold or Starwood Preferred Guest American Express card. American Express has a very customer-friendly one year of Extended Warranty that is automatically added to all purchases. Additionally, you get 90 days of Purchase Protection against theft and accidental damage. So instead of spending that extra $200 on an extended warranty for your laptop or LED TV, put it on your AMEX.

If you're doing shopping in a department store, I recommend using a card like the Chase Freedom card, which for Q4 2011 is giving 5 points per dollar for dining, department stores, charitable organizations, and movie theaters. Additionally, if you have a Chase Checking account, you'll get a 10% bonus on points and an extra 10 points per transaction!  If you get a great deal for a suit for $200, you'll get more than 1100 UR points, worth about $22.



Second, decide how you want to shop. While there are probably some good deals in brick & mortar stores, that requires a lot of effort, elbowing through crowds, and waiting in lines at early hours. I'll probably do the majority of my shopping online. That way, I can earn points or cashback by using shopping portals.

A good resource to see what kind of cashback you can get for any online store is evreward. You type in whatever site you plan on shopping from, whether it be Macy's, Barnes & Noble, or Best Buy. It will provide a comparison of various cashback links, often between 5-15%, for just clicking through their link. These cashback links are separate and in addition to any cashback that you get from your credit card!  So if you find a cashback link for 8% and you use a Chase Freedom card, you will get 8% + 5% back!


The second online resource I plan to use is the Ultimate Rewards Shopping Mall. Before shopping at any online store, I check to see what the UR Mall is offering for that store. Yesterday, they offered 20 bonus Ultimate Rewards points per dollar spent, which is essentially 20% cashback!  Best Buy will be offering 10 bonus points per dollar spent, so if you buy a MacBook Air for $1000, you'll get 11,000 UR points, worth about $220.



Main takeaways: bring several credit cards when doing your shopping, and choose wisely when deciding which one to use. Try to do some of the shopping online, avoiding hassle and benefiting from additional cashback from shopping portals!