Tag: travel

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.

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 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.

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-DFW	20k 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-SNA	12.5k Alaska points	N/A	$203 (1.6 cpp)
Hyatt Place Dallas/Colinas	5000 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.

Easirent Rental Car experience at LAS

I rented a car from Easirent for $27 per day, which was reduced to $2 after using credits, through the Hopper app. The next lowest price was three times higher, so I figured why not.

It was early in the morning and I was first in line. It took about 10 minutes to pick up my car because they required an unusual amount of documentation. They required:

ID and credit card
Proof of insurance with declaration page
If you don’t have comprehensive insurance, you need to buy their insurance or
Show that you have primary Collision Damage Waiver (CDW) through your credit card, which requires showing that the credit card was used for the rental car purchase, and the benefits guide for the credit card
A confirmation of an outbound flight – if you don’t have one then you will considered a local rental

For some reason the CS person insisted that it must be primary CDW, even though secondary should work just as well. The local rental restrictions are severe: a cap of 150 miles/day, and you have to show documentation matching the driver license address. Of course, you can bypass this if you buy a refundable outbound ticket.

They gave me a relatively new Nissan sedan with 9000 miles, but with only 25% left in the tank (55 miles). It needed an oil change and wiper fluid replacement but otherwise ran fine. I would strongly recommend recording the car before and after pickup in case you’re charged for any damage.

The return was pretty smooth but there was an additional 15 minute wait for the shuttle. There was also a long line for pickups at 1PM (roughly 10 people), and 3 people working the counter, or roughly a 40 minute wait.

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

Frontier Airline’s new reward program, how are points calculated?

Frontier changed their reward program so it rewards points and tier credits based on revenue, as opposed to distance flown. You earn 10-20x points per $1 spent, depending on tier status. This lowers the earning rate drastically for many of their flights that are mostly taxes and fees.

For the above flights, with two segments for 24.98 each, I earned a grand total of 192 miles. As a Diamond member, I should get 20x points per dollar, so apparently $9.60 of the $49.96 above was not taxes/fees. The only part of the $49.96 fare that was eligible to earn points was the $2 base fare (not listed) and the $7.60 CIC fee. Under the old program, these flights earned 500 miles each way, but now only earn 96.

The takeways are:

the only part of the price that earns points is the base fare + the CIC fee.
Booking through a 3rd party adds a $5 per segment Electronic Commerce Charge that isn’t eligible for points.

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.