frequent flyer programs?

[LiveFreeorDie]

I know for elite status for United you earn the miles regardless of fare code (not sure about booking through expedia though) and there is no restriction for segments...i.e. a few flights to Asia gets you the status, I did that a lot. I only use orbitz or expedia to find out the cheapest fares anyway and then go book from the airline's website. You generally always get the same fair with less conditions, at least that has been my experience. United also gives you 20k or 25k miles when you sign up for the United Mileage plus visa. You can just check their website for the latest deal. Nowadays you can use your card to buy everything, Starbucks, fast food, gas, groceries, bar tabs, cell phone bill, some utility bills, sometimes even your car payment. As long as you pay it off each month there is no finance charge. Only if you roll the balance over do you get whacked.

As for upgrades...when I was traveling for work a lot, I had so many miles that I started using them for upgrades on the long flights. Also, once you hit an elite level, you earn double miles when you fly so you can use some miles for upgrades and still build your balance.

[pinknic38]

Originally Posted by LiveFreeorDie

I only use orbitz or expedia to find out the cheapest fares anyway and then go book from the airline's website.

not sure if you've ever tried kayak.com but it searches both expedia and orbitz and all the other search engines and airline carriers out there and you can filter your search results by which airline alliance you're with. it's kind of fabulous, I'm not going to lie.

[joe7f]

Btw Nicole a hearty for that link. I have been using that for a while and it is perfect. Unlike a lot of travel websites, you can do the +/- 3 day trick for international flights. I am on that thing constantly :D

--Joey

[pinknic38]

Originally Posted by joe7f

Btw Nicole a hearty for that link. I have been using that for a while and it is perfect. Unlike a lot of travel websites, you can do the +/- 3 day trick for international flights. I am on that thing constantly :D

--Joey

My boss showed it to me like last Jan and I've been using it ever since. There's no need to look anywhere cos it searches everything. I mean, if you're flying within Europe then of course you wanna try Ryan Air or skyscanner.com also (although I found all my flights within EU on kayak for cheapest) but still an excellent site.

And the +/- 3 day thing is so amazing and when it shows you your results, you can see the different days of the week and howmuch more or less it is to fly on those days. GAH-lorious!

[shineonyou]

I'm so glad my dad forced me to get a milage credit card. I don't fly any airline consistently, so I probably wouldn't have signed up for any plans otherwise. But because he used to travel a lot for business he's racked up tons of miles. Plus he has a bunch of miles that he doesn't need and can use to get me tickets. Happy days!

Because of the sign up bonus on my United visa I already have enough miles for a flight between two desitinations in North America. I think we spend more in a year than we realize. I recently put a flight with another airline on my milage credit card. Instead of putting it on my debit card, that's an extra 500 miles for my ff account.