Frequent Miler on the Air Greg Davis-Kean

(00:00) Intro: There are a multitude of ways to fly to Hawaii using miles and points (and even many ways to get a deal on cash tickets). On this week's show, we discuss ways to fly to Hawaii from around the US from as few as 10K or 13.5K points each way.
(01:06) New FM intro
(03:22) Card Talk: Sonesta World Mastercard
https://frequentmiler.com/sonesta/
 -Card Details
-What are points worth?
(16:00) What crazy thing . . . did Marriott and Starbucks do this week? https://frequentmiler.com/link-marriott-starbucks-accounts-to-occasionally-earn-double-stars-minimal-bonus-points/
(19:51) Mattress running the numbers: Wyndham Rewards Hotel Pass https://frequentmiler.com/wyndham-rewards-selling-30-night-hotel-pass/
(27:48) Award Talk
(27:55) New Reasonable Redemption Value for Hotel Points https://frequentmiler.com/what-are-hyatt-points-worth/
(30:29) Aeroplan promotion with Miles4Migrants) https://frequentmiler.com/earn-7500-aeroplan-points-with-a-100-miles4migrants-donation/
(34:19) 15% transfer bonus from Citi to Cathay Pacific Asia Miles https://frequentmiler.com/citi-thankyou-offering-15-transfer-bonus-to-cathay-pacific-asia-miles/
(27:03) Enterprise Rent-A-Car Status Match https://frequentmiler.com/enterprise-status-match-giving-status-through-february-2026-match-from-hotel-airline-car-rental-programs/
(30:29) Amex referral bonuses now as high as 45,000 points for targeted cardholders https://frequentmiler.com/amex-referral-bonuses-now-as-high-as-45000-points-per-referral-up-to-100k-per-year-per-card/
(42:44) Main Event: Best Ways to fly to Hawaii https://frequentmiler.com/best-ways-to-fly-to-hawaii-from-the-us-mainland/
(43:04) Cash deals
(43:30) Delta companion certificates
(44:55) Alaska Companion Fare
(46:13) Southwest Companion Pass
(47:32) Vacation packages
(49:15) Award deals: Economy
(49:24) United flights via Turkish Miles & Smiles for 10K each way
(50:48) Finnair Avios for American Airlines (15K) or Alaska Airlines (13.5K)
(52:52) Alaska Mileage Plan for Alaska from 15K
(53:35) Singapore Krisflyer for central/Western US to Hawaii (13-14K)
(54:33) Using Alaska miles to fly AA for 17.5K from Dallas and west coast
(55:32) Use United to fly United from 11.1K from the west coast
(56:42) Aeroplan for 12.5K from the west coast to Hawaii on United
(58:00) Qatar Avios for 13K one way from the west coast
(59:00) Flying Blue for Delta from 18K
(59:16) Virgin Atlantic for Hawaiian Airlines for 20K each way from the west coast
(1:00:16) JetBlue for Hawaiian Airlines for 20K each way from the west coast (1:00:48) American Airlines miles for AA from 20K each way
(1:01:39) Southwest Airlines when cash fares are cheap
(1:02:00) "First class" flights to Hawaii with miles
(1:02:57) Turkish miles for United: 15K miles each way
(1:05:35) Finnair Avios for American Airlines" 38K miles each way
(1:07:00) Alaska Miles for Alaska from 40K miles each way
(1:07:21) Hawaiian miles to fly Hawaiian: 40K one way or upgrade from 25K. Possibly more availability with status or as a cardholder.
(1:09:25) Virgin Atlantic miles to fly Hawaiian: 40K one way from the west coast
(1:09:48) Alaska Mileage Plan for American Airlines: 35K one-way from as far east as Dallas
(1:10:10) Air Canada Aeroplan for United for 25K from the west coast
(1:10:50) Qatar Airways Avios for American or Alaska for 38,750 Avios from the west coast
(1:11:50) Example for how to find award availability
(1:19:33) Question of the Week: Is reselling a good low-energy way to generate points?
Music credit: Annie Yoder

(00:00) The Wall Street Journal reported friction in the relationship between Wells Fargo & Bilt. What was reported and what do we make of the details? Find out in this episode of Coffee Break.
(01:16) What the Wall Street Journal Article says
(02:01) Digging into article details a bit about the Bilt / Wells Fargo relationship (06:34) Fraud and Money Laundering Concerns
(09:44) The Wells Fargo and Bilt response
(10:34) WSJ article key points quick summary
(11:12) Our take about what this all means
Visit frequentmiler.com/subscribe to get updated on in-depth points and miles content like this, and don’t forget to like and follow us on social media..
Music Credit – Beach Walk by Unicorn Heads

Greg and Nick have been consumed with last-minute travel the last week and a half so it's great timing for them to summarize 10 important tips for last-minute award travel.
(01:17) - Standing ovation for the annual challenge! (Mailbag)
(06:43) - Annual Challenge recap and overview
Watch the Stage 1 recap video here: https://youtu.be/bMt_NfuuINI?feature=shared
Watch the Stage 2 recap video here: https://youtu.be/gyJPtTZN1EE?feature=shared
Watch the Stage 3 recap video here: https://youtu.be/HTmEAicB3dw?feature=shared
(34:15) - Curve overview (Card Talk)
Find out more here: https://www.curve.com/en-us
(37:56) - Hilton SLH integrated testing phase (Award Talk)
(40:26) - Preferred Hotels / Choice devaluation (55K to 87K) (Award Talk)
(42:34) - Aero plan credit card & elite members status match to iPrefer Titanium (before June 28) (Award Talk)
(44:18) - Book Oman Air w/ Flying Blue miles (Award Talk)
(44:30) - Book El Al with Virgin points (Award Talk)
(44:51) - Points Path adds support for Air Canada & Alaska Airlines (Award Talk)
Main Event: Top 10 Tips for Last Minute Award Travel (47:00) - General advice
(52:38) - Great awards often open last minute (ex: Lufthansa first)
(57:16) - Diversify. Having different types of points and miles helps.
(58:28) - Become adept at award search tools. Huge time saver.
(1:00:26) - Don’t rely entirely on award search tools. They don’t catch everything (no Virgin Atlantic on a couple, no BA / QR Avios, didn’t see LifeMiles for my redemption, etc)
(1:03:41) - Consider keeping stashes in programs you use often. This only applies if you have a lot of points and miles, but it could help avoid a failed transfer.
(1:05:27) - Watch out for transfer times
(1:08:10) - Get a good VPN. I wonder if some of my problems could have been averted if I’d used one all along.
(1:11:22) - Know that Aeroplan’s contact center isn’t 24/7. This can be a big pain when you’re overseas.
(1:12:37) - Beware the phantom menace. Tons of Swiss space that isn’t real.
(1:17:02) - Have some tricks up your sleeve. This could alternatively be called "persistence pays off". Don’t give up right away. Examples include searching Avianca’s site multiple ways, forcing a stopover with Aeroplan to get a flight to show up, booking a refundable something as a backup, etc.
(1:20:10) - How do you go about finding activities while you travel? (Question of the Week)
Visit https://frequentmiler.com/subscribe/ to get updated on in-depth points and miles content like this, and don’t forget to like and follow us on social media.
Music Credit – “Ocean Deep” by Annie Yoder

Greg and Nick are busy returning home from a jam-packed week competing in our 2024 annual team challenge "Flying by the Seat of our Points". For this coffee break episode, we've highlighted a portion of the final livestream from Kuala Lumpur where the team reflects on the highlights (and lowlights) of their individual journeys.
You can find out all kinds of details about this challenge here: https://frequentmiler.com/2024-annual-challenge/

This episode is a little different because Greg and Nick are busy competing with eachother for the Flying by the Seat of our Points Challenge!
If unfamiliar, every year we put together a team travel challenge designed to force us to reach challenging and entertaining goals with our points and miles, and showcase what can be done with these tools. It's a fun way to stretch the limits of points and miles and show you all what that actually looks like.
For this year's annual challenge, Stephen and I have given Greg, Nick, and Tim surprise destination assignments for a travel challenge testing our team's last-minute travel booking skills. The first "domestic convergence" destination was revealed on Monday night during a live checkin on YouTube where the contestants learned of a domestic location they'd need to reach by Wednesday 6pm local time, when we had another live checkin to reveal another series of surprise destinations. By the time this challenge wraps up, we'll have had 4 live checkins.
For this podcast episode you'll watch and listen to a summary of the first two checkins, the Monday night reveal of our domestic launch point, and the Wednesday night reveal of each contestant's individual international assignments. You'll also hear our contestants review the booking decisions they made to meet their first assignment, and you'll hear stephen and i break down our scoring decisions. This recap will bring you up to speed so you can head over to our YouTube and catch the third live checkin which will have just wrapped up by the time this podcast goes live, and will tell our contestans of their final destination assignment. 
Check out this link for more! https://frequentmiler.com/2024-annual-challenge/
 

(00:00) - You know that sinking feeling when you know things are going wrong? With a brand new travel challenge just launched last night, we've got our past travel challenge snafus in mind.
Coffee Break: Our worst travel challenge moments (02:53) - 40K to Far Away
Learn more about the 2019 40K to Far Away Challenge here.
(03:09) - Greg: Train breaks. Bus breaks
Read Greg's story about his South African misadventures here.
(06:18) - Nick: Asleep on bus, can’t enter Bangkok, bike ride to nowhere
Read about Nick's misadventures during 40K to Far Away here.
(11:20) - 3 Cards, 3 Continents
Read more about the 2022 3 Cards, 3 Continents Challenge here.
(11:46) - Nick: Canyoneering
(12:48) - Greg: Air Canada married segment problem, then wouldn’t let me check in
Read more about Greg's married segment problem here.
(16:22) - Party of 5
Read more about the Party of 5 Challenge here.
(16:52) -Greg (and Nick): Santiago, arriving at the Ritz w/out a backpack
Visit here to get updated on in-depth points and miles content like this, and don’t forget to like and follow us on social media. You’ll find all other Frequent Miler on the Air episodes here.
Music Credit – Beach Walk by Unicorn Heads