Category: travel

Mexico City 3 day Trip with Points

We visited Mexico City for a quick 3 day trip to catch the Monarch Butterfly migration.

Parking at the Airport: We used cheapairportparking.com to book 4 days of parking at VPNE parking near LAX. It includes a shuttle and was only $27 for 4 days. A trick is to buy a cheap refundable parking reservation. When you cancel it they will offer you additional credit if you refund as an account credit versus to your credit card. Afterwards, you can use the credit for your booking. Make sure to add a coupon code for additional savings.

Flight to Mexico City: We only had 3 days in Mexico City so we wanted to catch the midnight flight out of LAX so we can arrive in the morning. The price of the flight was only listed as $88 but we added the carry-on package. They also charge a significant tax for non-residents of Mexico, bringing the total to almost double the listed price. Despite booking two people on the same PNR, they did not seat us together so we also paid extra for a seat assignment.

Hotel in Mexico City: Although the Andaz Mexico City was an option was 42k points, we opted for a cheaper option on Expedia. It was only $184 after a personal Capital One Shopping offer of 16% back. The Apartamento Suites Londres 212 was basically an AirBnB studio that was very centrally located. Two of our tours started within a 7 minute walk of the hotel. The lobby was staffed 24 hours but they only spoke Spanish and they had no AC in the room. At the end, we were happy with the choice because of the convenient location. We arrived at the hotel at 6AM the first day and just left our luggage with the staff at the lobby and proceeded to breakfast, followed by the first tour.

GetYourGuide Frida Kahlo Tour + Xochimilco + Coyoacan Tour: The tour was originally priced at $162 for two people but we had 40.5% cashback from the Capital One Shopping Portal. We gathered at the meeting spot and took our tour buses between locations. Fortunately, we were able to sleep on the bus between locations since we arrived that morning from LAX. This was a full day tour and lasted until around 7PM.

GetYourGuide Teotihuacan Balloon Tour: The tour was originally priced at $336 for two people but we again used the cashback from the portal. We were picked up at the hotel and drove about an hour to the meeting area. There were hundreds of balloons that go up each morning and we were in a basket with 8 total people. We flew for roughly an hour and a half and got really close to the pyramids. Definitely a great experience and worth the price. Afterwards, we had breakfast in a restaurant in a cave and then proceeded to spend an hour on foot at the pyramids. We could have used about an hour more but we had to get back to the van.

GetYourGuide Monarch Butterfly Tour: The tour was originally priced at $234 for two people but we had the 40.5% cashback offer. We walked to the pickup spot and the van took about 4 hours to get there, including one rest halfway. The van was incredibly bumpy (I logged 10k steps each way just from the bumpiness of the ride). The El Rosario sanctuary was the highlight of the trip and we came at a good time to watch millions of monarch butterflies in the sanctuary.

Food and miscellanous: We ended up withdrawing 3500 pesos (About $180) and used all of it for food and miscellanous expenses. We used the Charles Schwab debit card which reimbursed our fees at the end of the month (about $6 reimbursement). Some highlights:

La Casa De Tono: Breakfast place close to our hotel. Really hit the spot when we first arrived. Only about $10 for two people. 9/10
Taqueria Los Coyos: A Bib Gourmand taco place. Really good tacos. Was only about $8 per person. 9/10
Terraza Los Pérez Carbón y Comal: Rooftop Restaurant with views across from cathedral. About $20/pp. 8/10
Taquería El Califa de León: Michelin star taco place. They really need better signage for the pickup vs order line. Worth a shot if you’re visiting but took us about an hour to order and wasn’t as good as the other taco place. About $15/pp. 8/10
Centurion Lounge Mexico City (terminal 1): Food is free for platinum card holders, plus tip. Pizza and tacos were great. 9/10
Centurion Lounge Mexico City (terminal 2): Only had the pizza here, and it seemed like it was microwaved. The lounge seemed fine otherwise. 7/10

Flight back Aeromexico via AA: We originally booked a 6AM AA flight award from MEX-PHX-LAX for 12k points per person. However, a day before, availability opened on AA for a 3PM direct flight for the same cost so we just cancelled the first one and rebooked for the later flight. It allowed us to wake up at a reasonable time and also enjoy a couple hours more in Mexico City. When we arrived at the airport, we spent an hour or so at the Centurion Lounge which offered a la carte meals that were quite good. We walked to the gate and they needed about 20 volunteers to change flight due to weight limitations. They offered $800 credit per person and offered to rebook us to the Aeromexico flight that was leaving just 3 hours later so we jumped on it. It took us about an hour to switch to the other terminal and get our new tickets from the Aeromexico counter. We were able to save about 30 minutes by using the skyteam priority line because of the Bilt status match to Air France/KLM. After clearing security, we went to the other Centurion lounge for awhile and then boarded the flight.

Totals: Our total cost for the trip was about $1800 for two people. Broken down it was flights: $774, Hotel: $184, Activities: $477, Food/Misc/Ubers: $371. They flights were pretty expensive because we had date/time restrictions. We also received $800 of AA vouchers per person for changing a flight by 3 hours. However, they were archaic paper vouchers that had some booking limitations and expire within a year.

Effect of Points: The points/miles hobby saved a couple hundred dollars for this trip and gave us lounge access. It allowed us to book refundable award flights, and change our flight to a better one at the last minute. We also received $280 cashback from the capital one shopping portal. There were points options for the hotel and flights, but they just did not make sense given the lower cash prices for acceptable alternatives.

Planning a Trip to Madison, WI with Points

We were planning to visit Madison, WI for about a week in November. We had fairly strict boundary conditions: We had to arrive on Monday, November 4th and leave on Saturday or Sunday.

Flight to MSN: The lowest priced option was to Uber to Ontario airport (about $60) and take a cheap Frontier flight to MSN. We looked at a variety of permutations (from all the Socal airports to Madison, Chicago, or Milwaukee) but it’s hard to beat $46 per person. I had diamond status on Frontier, which includes a carry-on, seating, and priority boarding. If we had no points we probably would have booked the same flight, but added the carry-on bundle for about $60.

Hotel in MSN: Our best option turned out to be booking direct with Choice Hotels at a Mainstay Suites for $516.38. There was also 10.5% cashback through a shopping portal. The points alternatives were Fairfield Inn and Suites (126k Marriott points), Hyatt Place (72k points), or Hilton Home2 Suites (180k points), none of which seem to be a wise use of points. There was also an interesting option with Marriott using 2 Amex offers for $140 off $350. The lowest rate would have been $590 after Amex Offers, but would have been a nonrefundable. In this case, points weren’t very useful.

Car Rental in MSN: We booked a refundable $30/day weekly rate. Presidential Circle status from Amex Platinum or the Venture X card may allow us to pick a larger car from the lot. I had about 800 Hertz points expiring this year, so this rental would earn enough points to get another free rental day. Without points, I would have booked the same rental, but wouldn’t have gained the free rental day.

Flight from MSN: We booked a Frontier flight back that would stop overnight in Las Vegas. We had to book each leg separately because Frontier doesn’t allow long layovers. Any alternatives would have been about $250 per person or 18.5k AA points.

Overnight in Vegas: This would allow us to do a mattress run at the Rio and use some of the dining credits from various offers (e.g. Fointainebeau status match). We had waived resort fees at the Rio and used some expiring Hertz points for a 1-day rental. With cash, we would have booked $40 Budget rental through Autoslash and stayed at the Excalibur or Luxor for roughly $58/night with resort fees.

Additional Flights: We had 2 people coming from PHX and their flights would have been $307 pp on American Airlines basic economy. We used Alaska points to book the exact same flights for 15k points + $36.20 per person. The points flight would be mostly refundable (minus the $25 partner booking fee) and include seat selection.

Totals: Our total expected cost for the 6 day trip for 4 people is: $1238 and 30000 Alaska Airlines points. Without points, it would have cost roughly $2000 for the entire trip. Although we used points for only 2 flights, we were able to use some elite status perks. The savings for this trip is mostly from the Alaska points on American flights, extra perks from Frontier Diamond, and Hyatt Globalist.

MGM Pearl Status for life for watching a 30 minute video

One of the lesser known paths to MGM status is via status match with Celebrity Cruises. Classic members (2-149 Club Points) get matched to MGM Pearl. You get points by sailing with Celebrity Cruises, typically 1 Club Point per night sailed. And unlike most loyalty programs, cruise loyalty programs count the number of nights during your lifetime, which means your status is permanent.

In addition to getting Club Points for sailing, you can get Club Points outside of the cruise. By signing up for the the Captain’s Club (free to join), you get invited to surveys or webinars to earn Power Up Points. Each 10 Power Up Points convert to 1 Club Point. Since Classic status only requires 2 Club Points, just one activity is enough to get you Classic status for life. Unfortunately, they only send these offers out once or twice a year.

For example, on 9/18/24, a webinar link was sent out that is worth 30 Power Up Points = 3 Club Points, or enough for Classic status for life. The webinar link seemed to be unique but is good for up to 5 viewers.

So the play here is:

  1. Sign up for Celebrity Cruises Captain’s Club.
  2. Wait until they send out a survey or webinar OR ask someone who received a link to add you as a viewer. Each link seems to be valid for up to 5 people.
  3. Get 30 Power Up Points, which are automatically converted to 3 Club Points, netting you Classic Status
  4. Match Classic Status to MGM Pearl (should work for a lifetime, as long as the match stays in place)

Of course, you can also get Pearl status for signing up for the MGM Rewards Mastercard (no annual fee). The credit card also gives you priority line access, which Pearl status doesn’t on it’s own.

American Airlines Instant Status Pass from Hyatt

Some Hyatt members received a promotional offer to get Instant Status from American Airlines. For Globalists, they instantly match to Platinum Pro for 4 months. They also get the ability to extend or upgrade status by meeting Loyalty Point thresholds every 4 months.

If you don’t plan to chase status, it makes sense just to sign up if you have an American flight in the next 4 months. It gives you Platinum Pro for 4 months. You get better seats, upgrades, checked bags, and free same day confirmed changes. Then just don’t meet the requirements and let it expire.

My Status Match Promotion from American Airlines.
The AA promotions website lets you track the status match progress.

Versus no status match, I would have to spend more 67k more LP, but would be Executive Platinum for 26 months.
Versus no status match, I would have to spend more 67k more LP, but would be Executive Platinum for 26 months instead of 16 months.

I was planning to go for AA Executive Platinum next year anyways. I would be Platinum until 2026 from 2024 activity. My original plan was to start earning LP on March 1st 2025, earn as fast as possible, and get status for 2 years. I estimate I would earn about 25k LP a month for 10 months. So I would be Platinum for 5 months, Platinum Pro for 3 months, and Executive Platinum for 16 months.

The status match divides the 200k LP requirement for Executive Platinum into phases. You have to earn 67k in each phase. So if I were to do the status match, I would have to earn 67k in phase 1, from 9/2/24-1/1/25. My phase 2 is from 1/2-5/1 but I would try to earn as much as possible from 3/1-5/1 so that it would count towards the next earning year. I would then try to earn 67k in phase 3. I would already have 134k LP in the 2025 year by completing phase 2 and 3. It would be 66k more to get EXP until 3/2027 and 116k more to get the milestone rewards. I would be Platinum for 4 months and EXP for 26 months.

Basically, it comes down to earning 67k extra LP from 9/2-1/1/25 just to get EXP for 10 more months. Is it worth it? I think the only reason it makes sense is because I would organically earn about 20k LP during this time period. This means just 47k more LP to earn EXP for 10 months. It would also mean hit the 30% LP boost milestone, which would increase my LP earn in March/April/May.

The Instant Status Pass offers are designed to change consumer behavior. There is a reason they’re never offered at the beginning of the status year. If they offered them at the start of the status year, you would get a full 2 years of status by completing the challenge. By offering them at the middle of the year, it divides your LP earn into two status years. It encourages more LP earn in the 2nd year because you’re already close to the next status level.

Future New York City Trip with Points

We were planning to visit NYC for about a week sometime later in the year. This is one of the instances where points didn’t really save much money, but did elevate the trip.

We wanted to leave at night from LAX and arrive in the morning in New York on specific days, which limited our flight and hotel options.

Flight to NYC: I had 4 Move to Mint certificates from the Jetblue/Delta Status match so Jetblue was really the only choice with points. There was also a 25% off promotion, which brought the flight down to $130.

If I didn’t have points, I would have booked Jetblue Basic, which would have cost $30 less per person.

Hotel in NYC: With points, the first option was the Hyatt Regency Jersey City, at 18000 points per night. I applied a suite upgrade to the Hudson River Suite. Another option was to get a suite at Hyatt House Jersey City for $131 + 6k points per night. There was also a double point promotion at Hyatt Houses at the time. Either choice would include breakfast and would have early check-in (if available) and late-checkout. The Regency room and breakfast should be nicer, so we opted for the HR option.

Without points, we would have booked the Doubletree at Fort Lee, which was $689 through id90travel. It wouldn’t have a view of NYC, wouldn’t have breakfast, would be a less nice room, and would be less convenient to public transportation.

GoCity Explorer Pass: The explorer pass includes touristy options like the Empire State Building and Statue of Liberty. It’s available as a Hyatt Find Experience so we opted for the $150 and $300 find credit as a 50 and 70 night milestones on Hyatt. I would value them at roughly 50% of face value, so $350 find credit cost me roughly $175.

Without points, I would have purchased the passes from Groupon with a gift card and cashback portal for roughly $147 per person.

Flight from NYC: We booked a Jetblue Blue fare for $168 per person and used move to mint certificates. It was originally $204 but the price dropped.

Without points, we would have just booked the blue basic option for $153 per person.

Other expenses: We would have paid less for food since breakfast is provided at the Hyatt hotels. Other than that, the other expenses should be the same with or without points.

Totals: Our total expected cost for the trip for two people is: 90000 Hyatt Points, $1304, and 4x Move to Mint Certificates that was free from the Delta status match last year.

Without points, we would have paid about $2117. In this case, points didn’t really save us much money at all, but gave us a more luxurious experience. We would have lie-flat seats both ways and better accommodations that were closer to public transportation.

The sticker price for all the options would be some nonsensical number that has no bearing on reality since we would never pay that amount. The personal value of the trip (the amount I would have paid out of pocket) was around $2700. We would have paid $100 more for mint each way and about $300 more for the better hotel with breakfast. So we got a trip that we value at $2700 for $1304 and 90000 Hyatt Points.

Atlantic City Trip with Points

I wanted to head to Atlantic City and the surrounding areas to take advantage of a couple offers that I had available.

  1. I had an offer for $125 freeplay and 12.5k rewards points from Caesar’s Atlantic City from the casino play that netted me Diamond Elite status.
  2. I planned to status match to Ocean’s Prime for the free MSC cruise, and 2 nights at Resorts World with $100 dining and $100 freeplay credit
  3. I was also looking for other offers at local casinos
  4. I wanted to scout out the real money gambling sites that are only accessible from specific states.

The plan was to fly SNA-PHL, take a one-way rental to BWI, stay 2 nights in Maryland, and fly out of BWI.

Price PaidRealistic ReplacementRealistic Price
Flight: AA SNA-ACY9k points + $5.60AA: SNA-ACY$188
Car Rental PHL-BWI: Hertz~$93 after offersHertz$133
Hotel: Caesar’s Palace ACComp + $7.5Generic AC Hotel$140
Car Rental BWI-BWI: Hertz~$82 after offersHertz$120
Hotel: Hyatt Place BWI4.5k pointsGeneric Airport Hotel$110
Hotel: Courtyard Marriott35K FNAGeneric Airport Hotel$110
Flight AA BWI-SNA11.5k points + $5.60Spirit BWI-SNA$120

Flight to: I had Alaska 75k status from a status match and booked the American Airlines rewards flights with the AS number. I was able to select Main Cabin Extra at time of booking and was placed on the waitlist for business. I was the last person to be upgraded on the leg from SNA-CLT, and was upgraded at about 48 hours prior for the leg from CLT-PHL. I had actually booked a 16.5k business class saver reward for a separate itinerary months in advance but cancelled it once I saw that I was #1 on the waitlist (and also had the whole exit row to myself even if I didn’t get upgraded). Since no flights fly directly to ACY outside of Spirit, a realistic replacement for this flight would cost $188.

I was tracking the business class seats for the first leg from SNA-CLT. There were about 8 seats available until around 48 hours before the flight. At some point, all but 4 seats were assigned (presumably free upgrades). Seems like 2 more seats were taken at T-24 hours (possibly paid upgrades?). By the time the waitlist was visible (T-12 hours), only 1 slot was available.

Car Rental: I booked a 1-way rental from PHL to BWI and added Hertz Platepass for $25.99 since the tolls would be around $25 anyways. In addition, I booked with 15% back at Rakuten, had an Amex offer for $40 off $150, would get 3500 Hertz points after 3 rentals, and had Presidential Circle status from the Amex Platinum. On top of the 3500 Hertz points, I would get another 300 points after spending roughly $300, which would be enough for 4 free-ish rentals .

Hotel in Atlantic City: This was free with comps, with no resort fee from Diamond Status. An alternative hotel would be any of the nearly casino hotels for roughly $100 plus resort fees.

Car Rental BWI: I dropped off the one-way rental and picked up 2-day rental from Hertz with the same offers as above. It was $120 before offers and $82 out of pocket after offers.

Hotel #1 BWI: I used 6500 points for a peak night at Hyatt Place BWI. It’s one of the rare category 1s in North America and definitely shows it’s age. I would also receive 2000 points from Hyatt milestone rewards so the net would be 4.5k points. I checked in early at 11:30AM and checked out late at 4PM from globalist status. The cash price of this hotel (or an equivalent hotel nearby) would be roughly $110 after taxes/fees.

Hotel #2 BWI: I had an expiring Marriott 35k Free Night Award. It wasn’t a great redemption but I just wanted to burn the award. I had a 2PM check-out from Marriott Gold status from Amex Platinum.

Flight out: I originally booked a terrible itinerary but a bunch of award flights dropped in price about a week before the trip. The original options were on AA and left at 7AM or required 2 stops and an overnight at DFW or PHX. If I didn’t have points I would probably have booked a Spirit flight for around $110 and paid for an upgrade through seatbid.

Miscellaneous: I used the Centurion lounges in CTL and PHL, Minute Suites at CTL, Club Lounge in BWI, and ate a meal at Harbor Grille in BWI. The first 4 visits were courtesy of the Amex platinum while the Priority Pass restaurant visit came from the Altitude Reserve. Harbor Grille doesn’t allow take-out on Priority Pass but doesn’t charge taxes on Priority Pass so the only amount owed for me was the tip.

The total for the trip was 20.5k AA Points, 4.5k Hyatt Points, a Marriot 35k FNA, and $194 out of pocket, not including food/drinks/gas. I would also get enough points for 2 days of rentals. Without points, this trip would have cost around $921. I was also upgraded to business for 5 hours in the air, selected preferred seats for the other 5 hours, enjoyed early check-in/late checkout at the hotels, and was able to use some sort of lounge benefit 5 times. Everything was also completely refundable since they were booked with points. Even though the sticker price for these ancillary benefits may be high, I would personally only value them at ~$200, putting the total value of the trip at ~$1100.

On paper, many of these redemptions aren’t really spectacular. I would estimate the market value for the Hyatt and AA points to be around 1.6 cents per point, and the Marriot 35k FNA to be worth about $150. By that calculation, I spent about $744 worth of points instead of paying $1100 in cash. However, I can obtain these points at way less than market value and have plenty of points to burn.

Stacking Hertz Offers for Discount Car Rentals

Usually, car rentals are the hardest part of a trip to get outsized value with points. Right now, until June 30th 2024, there’s some interesting offers for Hertz rentals that can be stacked.

1) Sign up for Hertz Gold Rewards (free) and you get 3500 points after 3 rentals. A free rental day on a non-blackout date is 950 points, so this is worth 3 rental days. If you spend $300 you will get a 4th rental day. The free points expire at the end of 2024.

2) Amex Offers has $40 back after $150 for Amex Platinum members as part of their 40 year anniversary promotion.

3) Rakuten currently has 15% cashback for Hertz Rentals.

I do a lot of 1 day rentals, and each rental day costs $55. So, after 3 rentals for $125 out of pocket, I should get 3 free rental days and 2500 Amex Rewards Points through Rakuten. That’s about $100 for 6 Rental days, which is as good as it gets for rental car deals.

Trip Report: Planning a 3 day Portland and Amtrak Coastal Starlight trip

The plan was to book a flight to Portland and take the Coastal Starlight Amtrak train down to Burbank.

Flight: Alaska airlines SNA-PDX. Was 7.5k points per person but google flights show it was $134 per person for the saver fare. The points booking is considered a main cabin fare (vs saver) so it is eligible for upgrades. We had to leave late at night so this was one of the only options. We also had a backup flight from Burbank airport early the next morning but that would require an hour long drive at 5AM.

Car Rental in Portland: Since we would arrive at around midnight, it made more sense just to take an uber to the hotel and then rent a car near the amtrak station the following morning. The uber should be around $30 and the car rental for a day only $28 with the Amex Platinum rate with 4 hour grace period. The other option was to do a one-way car rental from PDX and drop it off at the Hertz near the Amtrak station.

Hotel: The cash rates for hotels in the area were cheap ($100-150/night) but we opted for points because of free parking. The price for the Hyatt Centric was 8000 points/night versus a $150/night cash price. I would estimate any alternative within walking distance of the Amtrak Station, with parking, would be roughly $150/night, not including the globalist breakfast. For example, the Courtyard by Marriott was $254 total including taxes but did not include parking or breakfast.

Train: Paid 28536 points for a roomette on the Coastal Starlight from Portland Station to Burbank. The cash price would have been $570 with the companion certificate that comes with the Amtrak Credit card, or $790 for without the companion certificate. I earned the Amtrak points through the credit card sign up bonus. If I didn’t have the points, one option would be to reserve the Coach fare at $110 with companion certificate, then bid for an upgrade.

Burbank to home: Will either get a lyft ($100) or take a one-way car rental as backup ($71)

Price PaidRealistic ReplacementRealistic Price
Flight: Alaska SNA-PDX15k points + taxesAlaska: SNA-PDX$300
Car Rental: Hertz via Amex Plat$28Hertz$45
Hotel: Hyatt Centric12k pointsCourtyard by Marriott$300
Train: Coastal Starlight28.5k Amtrak PointsCoastal Starlight$790
Lyft: BUR to SNA$100Lyft: BUR-SNA$100

Realistically, I estimate points and travel hacking reduced the cost of the trip by about $700.

Total cost: $139, 15k AS points, 12k Hyatt points, 28.5k Amtrak points. I would value AS points at 0.75 cent and Hyatt/Amtrak points at 1.25 cents per point. These aren’t the realistic redemption values but the price I would pay for each point if I didn’t have a specific redemption in mind. This would put the price of the trip at roughly $760 for two people.

Realistic Cost of Replacements: $1535 assuming I pay cash for everything.

Day trip to see the 2024 total eclipse

I had a couple different itineraries available to see the 2024 eclipse on 4/8/2024. I planned to fly into DFW either the day of or day before, and leave the same day. Right before, I have a trip to Las Vegas, so I have the option to depart from either LAS or SNA.

The idea was to be in Dallas during the maximum of the eclipse and be in the air during at least some of the partial eclipse.

Outbound:

Option 1: LAS – DFW 1AM-5:39AM on Frontier for 20k points, the cash price was as low as $130. I would have an AA backup flight that arrives at 11:45AM for 17.5k points.

Option 2: SNA-DFW 4:27-9:22PM, $112 on Frontier. According to google flights price history, any other comparable flight was at least $190.

For option 1, I would probably just try and sleep at the minute suites at DFW. They usually allow back to back 1 hour bookings if you have multiple priority pass accounts.

For option 2, I would stay at the Hyatt Place Dallas/Las Colinas for 5000 points, which is a steal considering any other comparable hotel (of any brand) with airport shuttle would be at least $200/night. I could quote the cash price of this hotel ($890/night!), which would be a 17.8 cent per point, but that’s complete nonsense. As of today, none of the Hyatt hotels near DFW are taking points reservations and rates are at least $300/night.

Inbound:

I wanted to be in the air during the eclipse, so the flight needed to depart at 2-3PM from DFW. There were only a couple flights that fit this criteria.

Option 1: DFW-SNA on AA from 2:25PM-3:47PM for 18.5k points. Cash price was as low as $203. There was also a non-direct option with Spirit that was roughly $120 at one point.

Option 2: DFW-TUC-SNA on Alaska from 2:34PM-7:19PM for 12.5k points. The first leg is on AA and the second on Alaska. This route seemed to go in an out of availability and it no longer shows up on any search engine.

I’ll likely choose the 2nd option because it’s cheaper, leaves a bit later, and I would be able to use my Alaska 75k status.

The primary benefit of points/status for this trip is flexibility and free seat selection. I have status with American, Alaska, and Frontier, which allows me to select the window seat on all of the flights. It also allows me to cancel any of the trips without penalty if my plans change. If I opt for the hotel, Hyatt points would have saved me $200.

Having points didn’t really save me that much on flights. If I go with points flights for both directions, it would cost 20k Frontier points and 12.5k Alaska miles. The outbound flight was as low as $130, or 0.63 cpp. A comparable inbound flight would be roughly $120 on Spirit with seat selection (1 cpp), or $200 on AA (1.6 cpp).

Price“Retail Value”Comparable Value
Option 1: F9 LAS-DFW20k Frontier points$130 (0.6 cpp)$130 (0.6 cpp)
Option 2: F9 SNA-DFW$112$112$112
Option 1: AA DFW-SNA$203 (1 cpp)$203 (1 cpp)
Option 2: AS DFW-TUC-SNA12.5k Alaska pointsN/A$203 (1.6 cpp)
Hyatt Place Dallas/Colinas5000 Hyatt Points$887 (17.8 cpp)$200 (4 cpp)

In domestic economy, which a vast majority of people fly on, points may not provide as much value as one might expect. It’s easy to get 5-10cpp when you’re booking international business with inflated prices. Realistic redemption values are much lower if you’re flying domestic economy. It’s even lower if you consider other comparable alternatives, and not just the retail price of that specific flight.

Easirent Rental Car Experience at LAS, part 2

My flight arrived at 4:43PM, scheduled for 4:40PM. They had people with connections to Boise and Indiana, which seemed to be half the plane, deplane first so it took longer than usual. I understand this if the flight was late, but the flight arrive on time, and the connecting flights were leaving in 50 minutes from the same terminal. The gates were literally 100 feet apart.

After I deplaned, I walked to the rental car area and both shuttles were essentially waiting there so I arrived at the desk at 5:30PM. I was 4th in line and it took 45 minutes since there was only 1 person at the counter. Each person took a little over 10 minutes, partially because of all the excess documentation required.

What was incredibly frustrating (and possibly illegal) was that they only took two cards for car rental CDW: the Amex Platinum and Chase Sapphire Reserve. The Platinum card doesn’t even have primary CDW. I had booked the rental on Hopper an charged my Venture X Card, which has primary CDW.

They also seemed to have no idea how CDW works with credit cards. I presented the Platinum card as proof of insurance, but they would have allowed me to pay with my Venture X. The Platinum card requires the entire purchase to be made with the card to get CDW, so CDW would not have applied.

I have a feeling that this is a lawsuit waiting to happen. I had valid insurance through my credit card, but it was voided because some manager decided to only take 2 credit cards for CDW.

I called the customer service line to clarify and the agent, who seemed over it, very plainly said it was a money grab to get more people to purchase the insurance.