The last couple of days made me think about my travel pattern. Nothing really big or bad happened, just small changes that I can see becoming a trend of the future. My beloved bmi was sold to IAG. I say beloved even though I never step on one of their planes. It was the easiest program to accumulate miles through hotel staying (1000 miles per night in Hilton, up to 3000 miles, plus many multiplier promos). It is also the easiest and most flexible program to redeem miles on (India call center or not). However, now my almost 80K miles sitting there have not so clear future. I would like to use them for Australia and New Zeeland trip planned for 2013 (enough for one way in business class), but by the time I’ll need to book it, who know what would happen to those miles. Most likely, they will become Avios which will be useless for long range travel, but could be useful for a short range hopes to Canada, as the pricing of those in real money is too high for my liking.
I am glad I’ve changed my strategy to obtain *G with A3 instead of bmi. I should be *G by March, as suddenly January and February became heavy travel months after a very slow year.
Then, Delta seemed to change their rules so that no stopovers are allowed on an award ticket. Following some MR Amex points transfer and my merged NWA and Delta account, I have some 140K miles sitting there. I was hoping to use it for a trip back home to Israel and with a stopover in Paris or Amsterdam. Now it seems to be impossible. Delta's miles are pretty much useless to begin with and with this devaluation they have become even more so.
I still have around 380K miles in UA/CO which I have found to be the best value for redemption for me. With 120K with Lufthansa and around 50K with US Airways I have plenty of miles on Star Alliance – which suits my travel patterns pretty well. In American about 75K miles are sitting as well. Another 80K of UR points could be converted if needed.
But all of that got me thinking. Things are going to get worse, not better. UA/CO will probably become less of a value post-merger. The utilization of miles for award travel will become much more difficult. In addition, in my personal life, I am in a different place then was I was when I’ve started the miles games just a few years ago.
So, my strategy for the future will include:
1. Get my *G with A3 and maintain it. It is the best deal around, and as I am not flying enough otherwise in any given year to even obtain the low status in any US based airline, it is the best option for me, even if it means that some flights on UA/CO will only occur 50% of the miles (blasphemy, I know).
2. Use my miles smart – on long range business or first class flights that otherwise will be out of reach.
3. Pay my way for domestic flights and suck it up in economy. Exception might be to use Avious (if bmi will go there) for short hopes to Canada.
4. Pay my way for business class travel to Europe and/or Israel, if the flight is too long. It is double the cost, but it is not as expensive as going to Australia or Asia. I wish I had the time to utilize RTW tickets – but that just not going to happen.
5. Burn my miles as soon as possible as their value only diminishes in time.
As for hotels, I really do like Hilton. However, I am tracking the premium reward problem. If it will prevent me from using the points where I want to, than another chain will get my business. I am waiting for Hyatt promo that would allow me to match easily before I’ll make any move.
While miles were great in my last phase in life, I think I am beginning to be in phase I will pay for premium travel if I need to go.
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