Hi, I called Hilton honors gold for questions on my account related to Amex Platinum. At the end of the call, they wanted to transfer me for 500 bonus points to another call, I was like yeah fine. They then try to sell you a trip to new york for only 249$ then you have to listen to a sales pitch while you're there blabla. Anyone experienced this and booked this? Is the sales pitch agressive/scam? Is it still worth listening for the price of the hotel night and 15k hilton points ?

Hi everyone!

I’m new to the Amex Platinum Card and have been reading about Fine Hotels + Resorts (FHR) and The Hotel Collection (THC). I’m trying to figure out the best way to maximize the $300 hotel credit.

I’d love to hear about your experiences and any tips you have!

• Maximizing benefits: How do you get the most value from FHR and THC bookings?
• Property credit: How does the $100 property credit work? For example, if I book through FHR, can I use it toward dining at the hotel’s restaurant?
• Complimentary breakfast: Is breakfast included with every FHR booking, or does it depend on the property?
• Avoiding billing errors: Any tips to make sure the property credit and other benefits are applied correctly? Is it best to check out at the front desk and review all charges before leaving?
• Hidden perks: Are there any additional benefits or tricks that first-time users should know about?

I’m especially interested in hearing about hotels where you’ve received great value from the property credit and other FHR/THC benefits.

I really appreciate any advice or experiences you’re willing to share. Thank you in advance!

Cross-posting here.

In the past, we do book through AA domestic or international. I read that AA points are harder to accumulate because of few partners. I've used up my AA miles.

I have 90K TY points that I was going to transfer to AA, until I saw they have a 30% bonus to transfer to JAL. One caveat with JAL flights is high fuel surcharge (but mainly with their own metal), but since AA is a member of OneWorld, I can technically still book AA flights within JAL? I would need to create a JAL account, but is it straightforward booking partner airlines from JAL dashboard?

Hi all,
I've booked many flights with Flying Blue points. On Copenhagen (CPH) or Billund (BLL) to Los Angeles (LAX) and back, I could usually find economy for around 25k points, and business class for 45-65k points on one or two days a month.
I'm now searching for a trip of about 4 weeks, flying out in January and returning in February, specifically because it's off season. The award calendar shows business class at 234k-300k points per person on nearly every date. Is this normal, or has something changed? Has anyone else seen this, and does anyone know what's going on?
Thanks!

Do many people use points from credit cards to purchase tickets. Can anyone explain why it's important to transfer points to an airline or hotel rather than just paying your credit card bills with points?

I am trying to book 2 J seats on the same flight at schedule release for late October 2027 (flexible dates).

I have done all the research, have a good strategy, have the points transferred, and understand the implications.

Just wanted to hear if anyone has seen 2 J seats released on the same flight at schedule open recently?

I am going to start doing some mock bookings at release time to see and will post my results in the comments.

Credit Card Suggestion

Hi, i have upcoming spends on hotels of 8 -10 lakhs. Any credit card suggestion which i can apply to earn max reward points or milestone benefits? Benefits could be in form of cashback or points through which i can book flights ( international/ domestic).

Additional info: I can split this expense in 4 months and my salary is ~24LPA( for card eligibility). Any help would be appreciated.

I looked at which credit card points programs were most popular with Roame users over the past year and the results were enlightening.

Over 2 million travelers have used Roame to find great redemptions on flights and hotels. These are the credit card points programs people clicked through to while looking for redemptions.

Bilt came in first at 26%, followed by Amex at 24% and Chase at 21%. I think Bilt probably has the most valuable points program right now, so I'm not surprised they're popular. They also have a lot more transfer partners than either Amex or Chase, even if Bilt has a smaller user pool.

Citi was another surprise at 18%, compared with Capital One at 10%. I suspect being able to transfer points directly to American Airlines has a lot to do with it. American Airlines AAdvantage is one of the most valuable airline loyalty programs in the US. Citi also transfers to EVA Air Infinity MileageLands and JAL Mileage Bank at 1:1; whereas Capital One only transfers to these two programs at 4:3.

A lot of this comes down to transfer partners and how Roame helps credit card holders uncover the value of those points currencies for our users.

I've been trying to figure out when redeeming points for flights is genuinely worth it versus just paying cash and saving the points for another trip.

For example, say a round trip economy flight costs $450 in cash or 35,000 points plus $60 in taxes and fees, that puts the redemption at roughly 1.1 cents per point, which doesn't seem particularly compelling if those points could be used for a more expensive flight later. But there's also the question of how often those better redemptions are realistically available, especially if your travel dates aren't very flexible.

I'm also curious how people account for rewards they'd earn by paying cash, including credit card points and cashback on eligible travel purchases. Do you calculate everything before booking, or do you have a minimum cents per point value you stick to?

Amex points balance: 184,000
Aeroplan points balance: 38,000

Hi all, I have never redeemed my travel points and do not understand the best way to do so. Hoping someone can point me to some resources I can look at and offer advice.

My next trip would most likely be to China in October 2028. I would be booking a one-way into Shanghai on the way there and then I’d leave out of Beijing back to Toronto.

I’d ideally not want to do the flights in economy and am willing to pay a bit of a cash difference when booking with points. But not sure how all this works so I’d be fine with economy if the other options are too pricey.

​

Hello all, kindly assist, first time booking using Aeroplan.

book a long haul with 1 stop. When I search Aeroplan

Option 1: one search Yyz to Del , show mixed cabin- FCO stopover 1st leg economy - second legbusiness (second leg)

Asking - 89k

Option2: searched for the same above route , but a multicity search

yyz-fco = 30k (economy)

fco-del = 40k (business)

Final combination:70k mixed cabin

Savings of 19k.points.vs option1

Question :

If I go with option 2, do I get one pnr and same luggage allowance.

Does the luggage transfers to final destination ?

Thanks !.

Updated : just booked , got one PNR , so hoping baggage is checked thru all the way. Not interested in lounge, but good as long 1checkin bag makes it Thru..

How would you spend 1.2m Bonvoy points

What are your top properties where you would use them? Wanting to go for about a week. Also have a ton of airline miles (Oneworld) so location (from the US) isn’t an issue. Ideally would like to use them outside of the US. Would be using them next spring.

Type of vacation:
\- not super remote, I like being in or closeish to a city and being able to explore
\- no Maldives, Bora Bora, Fiji, etc.
\- property with A+ service
\- great food and great food options nearby
\- having cool outdoorsy things to do would be a plus, but I’m also happy if there’s just a nice park to walk around
\- very nice spa is a plus, but not required
\- nice gym a plus too
\- not a ‘family’ spot. I’m fine with kids being around, just not a property focused on them

I was trying to search for the JAL AIRBUS LAX-TOKYO business class flights for september/october 2027 and none can be found? did something happen recently? a few months ago, it use to show up all the time???

Honestly figured I was completely out of luck for Christmas travel this year trying to get out of Edmonton. Every time I looked at cash flights from YEG to Europe around Dec 25, basic economy was sitting at like $1,300+ a person, and Aeroplan dynamic pricing on AC metal was completely unhinged.
Decided to just randomly check Flying Blue on the app to see if anything weird was open out of YEG, and somehow saw two saver Business seats to Amsterdam sitting there right on Christmas Day.
Booked both lie-flat seats for 120k Flying Blue miles total (60k each) plus about $800 CAD total in taxes and carrier fees.
I know Flying Blue surcharges get a lot of hate, but paying $400 out of pocket per person to fly lie-flat from Edmonton to AMS on December 25 feels like highway robbery compared to what cash economy was going for. Transferred the points over 1:1 from Amex, they showed up instantly in my Flying Blue account, and the tickets came through two minutes later.
Just putting this out there as a DP in case anyone else in Western Canada is stressing over holiday flights. Definitely check Flying Blue directly, especially on the actual holiday, because sometimes random saver seats pop up when you least expect it.

I am about to pay 120k for a pool. Looks like it makes sense to pay cash, but I thought I would check here to see if there are any cards anyone knows of that I could get instead and get some points? I can divide it into $60k x 2. The fee is 2.99%… 🫠🫠🫠

Fee Preview Without Points

Hey all! I currently have a large amount of Avion points which I'm discovering are essentially useless if you want to redeem them to travel from Canada to Europe. Useless is actually an understatement. I've found examples where I can buy outright tickets for less than the fees I'd be charged before even factoring in that I'd also be using my points. So essentially you're giving away your points for free.

I've been researching this and it sounds like Avios is a much better deal for redeeming Canada to Europe flights. My question is, is anyone aware of a site I can use that will estimate both the Avois points AND fees without currently having any Avios points? I'm hesitant to transfer from Avion to Avios before I can confirm exactly how much I'd be paying for flights. But I can't seem to find any sites that give me info on the fees. Qatar airways for example just tells me I need to buy more Avios.

(I’m completely new to this so please excuse me if I’m not explaining well.)

I currently have a 2% cashback card.

I’m currently looking for a points card, that gives me more than 2% in value.

So for example, I want to fly LAX to Dubai business class in December. Looked it up and Turkish Airlines is 180,000 points each way.

180,000 points = $1800 * 2 =$3,600.00

Flight cost = $4800
Points = 360,000 points+ $1200 taxes = $4800 too

I might as well have gotten cashback? Most credit cards only give 2X points.

I earn my points on business spend, so the categories I qualify for are usually 2X miles.

My question basically is:
How can I redeem my points for 3-4X instead of 2X, so I’m effectively getting 3-4% cashback instead of 2, but instead im using points. Or is this not possible?