Frontier Elite Status

Despite being a budget carrier, Frontier has a strong elite program. I had elite status with Frontier in 2023 via a status match through statusmatcher.com. I believe I paid $99 to match to top tier Frontier status for 2023. They have offered very generous status match promotions in 2023 as well.

An overlooked benefit of Frontier Diamond status is that every flight purchased through their website is fully refundable up until about 24 hours before the schedule flight time. By setting a google alert, this allows you to purchase the flight at the lowest price possible. Outside of Southwest, I don’t believe any other carrier offers refundability on all fares, even with elite status. And unlike Southwest, Frontier flight prices fluctuate wildly so it’s often possible to get flights for a couple cents plus taxes and fees.

New to 2024, Frontier’s elite program allows you to cancel flights up to 7 days before departure at any elite level. Since Frontier’s prices generally increase closer to departure, this benefit could be just as good as full refundability.

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.

True cents per point value

I would argue that the true cents per point value should be calculated not just versus the quoted sticker price, but also the price of any acceptable alternatives. When someone brags about getting a great deal using cents per point, I hardly ever see comparisons with similar products. For instance, if they can book a flight for 30k points with a retail value of $900, they might think they’re getting a great deal at 3 cents per point. However, if there’s another flight with acceptable schedule for $400, the actual value of the redemption is much lower.

This is particularly true for traveling to other countries. Western brands often cost more than local ones. For example, spending 12k points for a $360 Hyatt hotel room might not be as good a deal as paying $120 for a similar local hotel. Similarly, American Airlines flights to South America might have good value in points, but they are usually twice as expensive as the local airlines.

Redemptions with great CPP are often very restrictive and only available on certain dates. If you apply the same level of flexibility when booking with cash, the CPP value is often very low. If I’m willing to plan my trip around a cheap award flight, I should be equally willing to plan my trip around a cheap cash flight.

The takeaway is that the cents per point value quoted is often not as a great as it seems. When you compare to other alternatives, the actual value is often much lower.

myVegas: myVIP levels and myVIP points

What is the myVIP program?

Separate from loyalty points, you can get myVIP points through daily play and by purchasing on most apps. It is intended to give incentives and rewards to the most active and highest paying players.

What is myVIP Status good for?

Higher myVIP levels will get you marginally more chips, priority support and, access tournaments, and a personal host at tier 7. At tier 7, you can ask your host for some sold-out rewards or to convert your LP into freeplay. You may also receive some gifts from your host.

Without spending any money, the highest you can get is myVIP level 5, which nets you priority support and access to special tournaments. The tournaments may be worth participating in because the pool of players is smaller and your odds of winning is higher than a general tournament.

How do you earn myVIP points?

You can earn myVIP points by collecting hourly/daily bonuses. The ways to earn myVIP points are:

Pop Slots (60/day)
myVegas (30/day) and 5 every 2 hours.
myVegas Classic (30/day)
Konami Slots (30/day) and 5 every 2 hours.
Bellagio Poker (15/day)

So you can earn 175/day by logging in once in each of these apps, up to 285 day if you collect every 2 hours.

You can also earn myVIP points by making purchases in most games at the rate of 80 points per dollar spent. The only game that isn’t linked to the myVIP system is Tetris and all the other games seem to earn 80 points per dollar.

How do you earn myVIP status?

The chart showing earning requirements is a bit misleading. For example, you don’t need only 5500 points to get to tier 5. Once you get to a tier 4, you need an additional 5500 points to get to tier 5. So to get to tier 5 you need to earn 5500+1600+300+75=7475 points. Once you reach tier 5, you can maintain tier 5 by earning 7400 points (tier 4 + tier 5 requirement). Or you have 45 days to earn 22k points to get to tier 6.

At a rate of 285/day, you can get 12k+ points per 45 days so you can realistically keep tier 5 forever since it only requires 7400 points to maintain. To get to tier 6 from tier 5, you will need to spend about $125 on top of daily bonuses. To get to tier 7 from tier 6, you would need to spend at least $550 in addition to the daily bonuses.

Trip Report: 15 hours in Las Vegas

Drove to SNA airport and parked at main street parking. It is $14/day and is perfect for very short trips. They also have free level 1 car charging, which gets about 60-70 miles per 24 hours. You have to provide your own charger.

Took the Frontier flight to LAS, it was on time and was a smooth experience. I had Diamond status from a status match in 2023 and I gained Diamond organically for 2024 from 100 segments. The elite membership gives incredible value. I netted around 1600 miles from this flight.

I actually bought flight tickets for effectively $13 round trip from the vegas.com $100 promo. They offered a $100 promo code for any purchase, and it was possible to make a purchase for as low as $13. You can add your frequent flier number after booking to get most elite benefits.

After landing, I went to the lounge for a quick bite and took the shuttle from terminal 3 to the car rental center. I had Hertz Presidential status from the Venture X card and I grabbed a car from the Gold lot since I booked class B (class C or above would allow a choice from the Prez Circle lot). In the gold lot there were mostly sedans, a Mini, a mustang, and some SUVs.

Drove to downtown Las Vegas and grabbed some freeplay and dinner. I did a mobile check-in and headed to Excalibur/Luxor to get some more freeplay (through myVegas) and gambled a little. Overall I had $225 in freeplay but did poorly and only made $165 from it from video poker.

Returned the car around 6:00AM and was in the Amex lounge in about 30 minutes. Had breakfast and the mostly empty flight left at 7:50AM.

Total Cost:

Airport Parking: $14
Flight: $13
Car Rental: $35
Hotel: $22
“Gambling” (gain): +$165

Total Cost: $-81

Hopper app for discount travel

Hopper is a travel app that allows you to book flights, hotels, rental cars, and airBNB style homes. Hopper routinely (or use to) offers amazing discounts during their sales, depending on the city. For example, right now they have

$250 off Azores Airlines
$75 off Azores Hotels
$75 off flights to the Azores
25% off hotels in Germany
20% off Fontainebleu Las Vegas
$200 off hotels in the Cayman Islands
$150 off hotels in Saudi Arabia

In the past they’ve offered

$30 off flights to a particular city
$100 off flights to the Cayman Islands
$20 off car rentals

Unique to Hopper is that many of these promotions have no minimum spending requirement. So a cheap flight to and from, say, Las Vegas, can potentially be free. I’ve seen many cases where you can book totally free hotels, free flights, and very cheap car rentals when booking through Hopper.

It seems that Hopper has been having funding issues so I don’t know how long the promotions will last. It seems that the promotions have been less generous lately, which isn’t surprising because they were literally giving money away.

Hopper has a partnership with Capital One Travel, and incredible discounts have been offered in the past through their portal.

Paths to MGM Gold Status

Now that the Hyatt and MGM partnership has ended, getting MGM gold status is significantly harder and more expensive. So far, I’ve found the following ways to get MGM gold status:

Earn MGM Gold Status via gambling. This requires 75k tier credits, or 2 days with 20k points per day with their accelerator. At an estimated 8 points per theoretical dollar, it would cost around $5000 to get status this way.
Folio spend counts towards MGM status at a rate of 4 credits per dollar. This works with the tier accelerator and will require $5000 of spend for two days to get gold status.
Bets on the betMGM sportsbook rewards TC, around 20 TC per $100 wagered on even bets. It will take $375k in bets and if the typical hold on an even bet is around 5%, this would cost roughly $20k.
You can spend $37500 on the MGM rewards card at grocery stores or gas stations to earn 75k points. For most, this method requires manufactured spending. Since you’re sacrificing a higher earning rate at grocery stores, this costs around $1200.
Loading the betMGM app through the MGM rewards card earns 1 TC per dollar. In some states, this isn’t coded as a cash advance. It may be possible to arbitrage with other betting sites to minimize risk. However, they are very strict and any suspicious activity (like repeatedly depositing and withdrawing) will get you shut down.
You can status match from other casinos. For example, Caesar’s diamond elite will match to platinum for 3 months but it is once per lifetime.
MGM has a partnership with Royal Caribbean Cruises and their Emerald status matches to MGM Gold. Emerald status requires 55 nights with Royal Caribbean. However, Emerald is a lifetime status and should net you MGM Gold as long as their partnership remains. Even comped cruises count towards the night requirements, but there are still taxes and gratuities. You can also get additional nights by paying the solo supplement or by booking a suite. At a bare minimum of $50 per night, this method requires at least $2750 spend and a lot of free time. addendum: myVegas sometimes offers free cruises, and your out of pocket would be around $35 per night for double occupancy.

Caesar’s Diamond Elite Status

Caesar’s Diamond elite and diamond plus have significant benefits over base diamond. Many people have Caesar’s Diamond status from the Wyndham Business card. The benefits include waived resort fees, $100 celebration dinner annually, and free parking.

Diamond Plus adds:

Free $30 per month sports bet online when you bet $100 the previous month
Four free drink coupons per day in Vegas
Five free nights stays (1 night per 5k tier points earned, up to 7 nights)

Diamond Elite adds:

Free $75 per month sports bet online when you bet $100 the previous month
$600 air fare credit to Las Vegas per year
Better tier matches with other casinos
Seven free night stays (1 night per 5k tier points earned, up to 7 nights)

Diamond elite allows you to match to MGM platinum for 3 months, which can match Atlantic City hotels for free cruises and Vegas stays.

Earning Diamond Plus and Diamond Elite

Earning Diamond Plus and Diamond Elite requires 25k or 75k tier points, respectively. The fastest way to earn this without excessive gambling is during the 10X tier point multipliers that occur regularly in Reno and Laughlin. It takes less than $25000 coin in video poker to earn diamond plus during a 10X multiplier day. It takes about $65000 coin in to earn diamond elite with the diamond in a day bonus. With a 0.75% expected loss, it’s possible to earn Diamond plus for around $200 expected loss, and diamond elite for about $500 expected loss.

The value in Diamond Elite

In exchange for $500 expected loss, you get significant value. I assume that you have status for 20 months. In the 2023-2024 loyalty year, I’ve received:

$75/month sports betting bonus, extra on birthday month. These are free bets and are worth about $30 each. ($660 value)
Free $600 airfare to Vegas each calendar year
Comped room offers in Vegas, including 2 weekend nights in a suite and 3 comp nights during EDC weekend
Comped rooms with roughly $50 Freeplay and resort credit per night in Reno and Laughlin
Seven codes for free nights in Las Vegas
Ability to match to MGM platinum for 3 months
$50 uber voucher

There are probably other benefits that I’ve missed or haven’t taken advantage of. Obviously, it would be wise not to abuse this because they can stop your offers at any time. Also, it is more likely than not that you lose more than $500 unless you get a royal or multiple 4 of a kinds.

myVegas: FAQ

When do rewards refresh?

See my post about spending rewards.

When are room calendars updated?

Room calendars have historically been released less than a month before the current room calendars expire.

Can you post the current room calendars?

See this link.

Can two people get rooms and go for a longer stay?

Yes, as long as there is availability. You can ask to stay in the same room at check-in. You may have to go to the check-in desk twice.

How many myVegas freeplays can you redeem per paid stay?

Just one. It used to be multiple but they changed it in 2023. You can still redeem mykonami freeplays, even without staying.

What counts as a paid room for the $100 myVegas freeplay?

Any stay where you checked-in and have 3 or more paid nights in the stay. You can have comped days but there must be 3 or more paid nights. Third party bookings are eligible. Rates that are only resort fees or room upgrades are not.

An award I wanted disappeared, what happened?

Either the partnership ended, the reward is no longer being offered, or the reward is being refreshed. Every couple months, many rewards (rooms, freeplay, etc) disappear and a new batch reappears after a couple days.

Should I spend money on the game?

Spending money opens up a 4th, 5th or 6th reward slot. The 4th slot opens around $100, 5th slot around $300, 6th slot around $700. Spending money on some games may allow you to earn LP faster, or temporarily remove some loyalty caps. It also raises your myVIP level, which makes you eligible for some tournaments and, if you’re high enough, better customer service and a host.

myVegas: Room Availability Calendar Jan 2024 – Jun 2024

Here is the current room availability calendar as of 1/23/24. Availability will change as people book rooms. One day and two day comp room availability is usually the same. There is no weekend availability, but some of the free rooms are valued at $300+ per night.

Bellagio