Category: Trip Reports

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.

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.

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.
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
I was also looking for other offers at local casinos
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 Paid	Realistic Replacement	Realistic Price
Flight: AA SNA-ACY	9k points + $5.60	AA: SNA-ACY	$188
Car Rental PHL-BWI: Hertz	~$93 after offers	Hertz	$133
Hotel: Caesar’s Palace AC	Comp + $7.5	Generic AC Hotel	$140
Car Rental BWI-BWI: Hertz	~$82 after offers	Hertz	$120
Hotel: Hyatt Place BWI	4.5k points	Generic Airport Hotel	$110
Hotel: Courtyard Marriott	35K FNA	Generic Airport Hotel	$110
Flight AA BWI-SNA	11.5k points + $5.60	Spirit 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.

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 Paid	Realistic Replacement	Realistic Price
Flight: Alaska SNA-PDX	15k points + taxes	Alaska: SNA-PDX	$300
Car Rental: Hertz via Amex Plat	$28	Hertz	$45
Hotel: Hyatt Centric	12k points	Courtyard by Marriott	$300
Train: Coastal Starlight	28.5k Amtrak Points	Coastal Starlight	$790
Lyft: BUR to SNA	$100	Lyft: 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.

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.

Trip Report: Rio Las Vegas as Hyatt Globalist

Beginning March 1st 2024, the Rio in Las Vegas was bookable through Hyatt. For globalists, you get:

Waived Resort fees (saves $45+/night)
Free breakfast at Hash House A Go Go, for 2 adults and 2 children
Elite Qualifying Nights
Upgrade to a renovated room in the Ipanema Tower

I arrived on 3/4 and tried to do mobile check-in (both on phone and at the kiosk) but they both failed. I manually checked into my room after waiting about 5 minutes in line. I was told that globalists could do elite/VIP checkin but there wasn’t a dedicated line for it. They provided 2 waters at check-in. The resort fees seem to be manually removed at check-in so it seems like ghost stays aren’t an option. I also asked about upgrades but I believe they consider the renovated room as an upgrade and didn’t want to push it.

The room itself was surprisingly nice given the price point. The renovated rooms are about the same level as NYNY or Park MGM, but much larger. They have an empty refrigerator, which is a nice change compared to strip hotels. Even though the hotel is huge, everything seemed centrally located in relation to the Ipanema tower. The front desk, gym, and restaurants were all within 5 minutes walk from my hotel room door.

I ordered 2 entries for $54 for takeout from the bar at Hash House and charged it to the room. They were efficient and took only about 20 mins to get my order ready. The portions were large enough that I could probably make 4 meals out of it.

My only hiccup with the hotel came when going to the fitness center. I called the front desk to confirm that the fitness center opened at 5AM. I went down at 6AM but they were still closed. I asked the front desk what the hours were and they said 7AM. However, they still weren’t open at 8AM.

I stayed from 3/4-3/8 (4 nights). My total for the 4 nights should be $36 + $40 + $24 + $24 = $124. In return, I get 4000 points from bonus journeys, an additional 750 points from Hyatt spending, and card points. I was able to book the points plus rates before they were removed so I should be receiving an additional 5000 points. So $124 for a total of about 10000 points and 4 EQN. Oddly enough, the bill for my first day said I had earned 2 EQNs but will see if they post.

In the future, weekday nights at the Rio should be around $24 per night for Globalists. Currently, Hyatt Bonus Journeys offers 1000 points per night until April 30th. There is also a new hotel promotion April 1-June 30 where nights earn an extra 500 points.

In theory, if you’re local to Vegas or visit often, you can get 60 night globalists for:

March: 17 days at $24/night, earn 17k points from Bonus Journeys, 4k from spend.

April: 14 nights at $24/night, earn 4k points from Bonus Journeys, 7k from New hotel bonus, 3360 from spend. April is the month where both promos stack.

May: 8 nights at $24/night, 4k from new hotel bonus, 1320 from spend.

June: 21 nights at $39/night, 10.5k from new hotel bonus, 8190 from spend. The June nights are more expensive, but may potentially go down (or up).

Total: $1755 and you receive 60k points, a Cat4 Award ($150), 2x2k Next stay award, 3xGOH award ($150), 5x SUA award ($250), and a Cat7 Award ($350). The total value of the milestone rewards is roughly $900. The values are estimated from certain websites. You would also get breakfast (with plenty of leftovers) every day, as well as a place to stay off-strip.

I don’t know how long this will last. It seems like they are losing money for each stay, especially if people take full advantage of the breakfast benefit.

Since the MGM/Hyatt partnership ended, I didn’t have a reasonable way to attain Globalist status but this was even better than expected. This would actually be perfect since I prefer to stay off-strip and I travel to Vegas monthly anyways.

Trip Report: 2 day Bay Area Trip

Flight: Frontier from ONT-SFO, 40000 points and $22.40 in taxes and fees. Parked at self-parking lot 5. In hindsight, since we were departing from terminal 2, it might have been smarter to park at at the $20/day lot since it was closer. Ate some food from the Aspire lounge and boarded the mostly empty flight.

Rental: $90 Rented from Hertz at SFO for $120 before the $90 off $360 Amex Offer. Smooth experience, picked a Camry with about 8000 miles from the PC lot. Gas ended up being $17.

Hotel: $184 for one night at the Fairfield Inn and Suites Oyster Point and one night at AC hotels Oyster Point. We saved on parking since there was plentiful street parking right outside the Fairfield Inn. We earned a 35k cert from the two stays, as well as $120 back from Amex Offers.

Food: $230 on various restaurant options. Ended up being roughly $13 per meal per person. Got some cheap and amazing food from a Chinatown bakery. Also ate at a place that happened to take inKind. Spent $16 for taxes and tip at a priority pass restaurant. In hindsight, it might have been faster and cheaper to just eat at the Amex lounge.

Parking: $73 Airport parking at ONT and used parking meters around the city.

	Price Paid	Realistic Replacement	Realistic Price
Flight: ONT-SFO	40000 points + taxes	Southwest: LAX-SJC	$318
Car Rental: Hertz	$117	Fox Car Rental	$110
Hotel	$184 but received 35k cert	Castle Inn SF	$173
Food	$230
Parking	$73
Misc/Activities	$32

Realistically, I estimate points and travel hacking reduced the cost of the trip by $300. The flight was paid with points which I value at 0.5 cents per point, but I earned at a much lower rate through a Frontier promotion. The flight times were perfect as well, giving us the maximum amount of time in the bay area. The alternative was to leave from LAX to SJC, which would add 2 or 3 hours in travel time. Amex offers and a Marriott promo basically ended up netting us a free 35k cert versus the alternative. The car rental through Hertz probably saved us 2 hours versus going to an offsite alternative.

Total cost: $631 and 40k Frontier Points at 0.5 cents/point = $831, but received a 35k Marriott cert

Trip Report: Vegas Trip

Flew out to Las Vegas with some expiring credits I had with Frontier. Not a full flight and we left and arrived on time. They closed the gate exactly at T-15 minutes because, supposedly we would have to wait an hour if we missed our landing slot at LAS.

Rented a car via Hertz – they had about 6 Mustangs and a Mini in the Presidential Circle Lot and a couple sedans in the gold lot. I chose the Camry with 5000 miles. Pro-tip: you can drive a Toyota for about 50 miles before the fuel gauge goes below full.

Stayed at the Four Queens hotel because I had a vegas.com $100 off code and they don’t charge resort fees. It’s a very basic hotel but has free parking for guests and is right in the middle of Downtown Las Vegas.

Walked around various Downtown LV hotels and used about $250 worth of freeplay/sign up offers/Las Vegas advisor offers but only returned about $190.

Ended up doing the status match at Fontainebleau to their gold status from Diamond Elite. There was a line of about 10 people and many seemed to be signing up or doing status matches.

I left Downtown LV at 11:08 for a flight that was scheduled at 12:43. Drove to the rental car center, hopped into the shuttle as it was about to leave, and arrived at the departure gate at 12:05, leaving about 15 minutes for the Priority Pass lounge in the E gates. They upped their food game a bit. They had rice, mashed potatoes, pulled pork sandwiches, shredded chicken, broccoli, and a salad bar. Previously they only had the sandwiches.

San Francisco Trip: an exercise in planning a trip with points

In the process of planning a quick 2 day weekend trip from Southern California (SNA, LGB, ONT, LAX) to Northern California (OAK, SFO, SJC). We have to leave after 2PM on Friday and return in the afternoon or evening on Sunday. Since it is a short trip, direct flights, flexibility, and time savings are ideal. We also plan to rent a car, so parking is a consideration when booking a hotel.

Flights

For most trips, I start with flights.

Do a google flights search to get an general idea on pricing between city pairs
Search on Southwest
Search directly on carriers where I have points. In this case, the cash price was low enough that I knew that most points redemptions wouldn’t make sense since most carriers are minimum 12k points round trip.

My options for the flights are:

Southwest: at least 16k points from LAX, 35k from SNA
From SNA: $312 round trip United
From LAX: $300 round trip Delta and Alaska
From ONT: $120 round trip Frontier, or 20k points

There are about a dozen airport pairs available between SoCal and NorCal. I looked at a variety of options, and the best seems to be ONT to SFO on Frontier with points. Since I have Frontier elite status, which includes refundability, the cash price is the lowest price in the past couple months with Discount Den. I could just set a Google alert and rebook if the price drops. The redemption was roughly 0.5 cents per point. Not ideal but I have an excess of Frontier points. The point options on other carriers were in the range of 30k per person. Even though ONT and LAX are each about an hour away for us, we would pay a premium not to deal with LAX traffic. There were round trip flights as low as $125 from LAX, but the time restrictions almost tripled the price. The car rental prices at each airport was roughly the same so that didn’t effect the decision.

Car Rental

OAK – Dollar at $67, Hertz at $97
SJC – Payless at $89, Hertz at $118
SFO – Hertz at $118, Fox at $80

Since I would be arriving from SFO, I chose Hertz because I have Presidential Circle status from the Venture X. I also had the $90 off $360 Hertz Amex Offer. Fox requires a 2nd shuttle and their customer service is inconsistent.

Hotels

Castle Inn via Agoda.com at $177, parking included
Hyatt Regency San Francisco SOMA, $340, offsite parking not included. Other Hyatts were around this price point
Grand Hyatt SF, 34k points, parking included with Globalist, Sticker (inflated) price: $535 + $170 valet + breakfast = $800
Marriots near Oyster Point, $300 with parking, but $120 off $300 Amex Offer and 35k free night promotion

Originally, the Grand Hyatt seemed like a good deal because it offered free parking, breakfast, and potential upgrades. However, I decided to save 34k points and booked the Castle Inn for $177 with free parking instead. Even though it’s a 2-star hotel and not as nice as the Grand Hyatt, it had great reviews and was an acceptable choice for us. While the Grand Hyatt would have been over 2 cents per point based on the regular prices, I wouldn’t have paid anywhere close to $800 for the stay. Considering the price of alternate hotels ($177), I maybe value the Grand Hyatt at $377.

But then I found some Marriott promotions changed my mind. I had a $120 off $300 offer on 3 of my Amex cards, and I was targeted for a free 35k certificate after 2 stays. So, I canceled the Castle Inn reservation and booked two nights at different Marriotts in South San Francisco for $318 total. After the Amex offers, it would be $198, I would get points, and I would also receive a 35k certificate.

Conclusion

Having points, elite status, and travel credit cards did open up extra possibilities for this trip. Without points and elite status, we would have spent:

Flight: Nonrefundable Frontier ONT-SFO flight, $300
Car Rental: Hertz SFO, $118
Hotel: Castle Inn via Agoda, $177
Parking: ONT airport, $54
Total: $649

With points and elite status, we would have spent:

Flight: Refundable Frontier ONT-SFO with perks, 40,000 Frontier points and $11.20
Car Rental: Hertz SFO after Amex Offer, $89
Hotel: Marriott, $198, but will receive 35k certificate
Parking: ONT airport, $54
Total: 40k Frontier Points and $352, but will receive 35k Marriot Cert

Since I value Frontier points at 0.5 cents each, and the 35k cert at around $150, I estimate we saved $250 on this trip. In addition, we do get perks like upgrades at Hertz, lounge/restaurant access at ONT/SFO, seat selection, carry-on, and priority boarding on Frontier, and increased points earn rate.