My United loyalty started when I lived in Wyoming, with a teensy airport that had commuter flights that partnered with United. Back in the day, it was much more difficult to book flights on unconnected airlines, so we ended up flying United.

I stuck with United, more or less, across the years as they consistently had service where I needed to go. Including Wyoming. But as I traveled to Wyoming less and less, I realized my loyalty was habit rather than function. Plus, I’m still feeling the nostalgia for the amazing McDonald’s happy meals, complete with awesome airline-themed toys, they used to serve. Those were the days.

The straw that broke the camel’s back was the US Air and American merger. Living in DC, and flying frequently out of DCA, we almost always were on US Air, so it’s switch from Star Alliance to OneWorld made me really reconsider our Star Alliance loyalty.

While flying based on “which carrier I like better” is nice in theory, I’ve had SO many problems over the years on SO many different carriers, that I really am not convinced one is OMGsomuchworse than all the rest. So there is no reason to favor a specific domestic carrier based on quality alone.

Yup, most legacy American carriers are inferior to their international counterparts. I can’t change that, and I can’t fly international carriers all of the time. [However, if you tell me to fly Southwest/AirTran (which I suggest you do not), I will tell you our horror story with them that made me hate them (mainly AirTran) forever.] Anyhoo…

Fast forward to 2015, when United changes mileage accrual to a revenue based system. Barf. Cringe. Gag. Sorry United, but my loyalty to you has come to a close.

But I don’t think I’m all about OneWorld, either. Sure, US Air is awesome for domestic flights from DCA. But I’m not ready to be totally loyal to a single alliance again. Maybe ever.  I mean, seriously…what’s the point? I can’t ever seem to fly enough on a single airline to get meaningful status, particularly as the lowest rung of airline status is pretty (pretty? who am I kidding…) totally useless these days anyway. Particularly out of DCA.

So I’m a free agent. I’m ready to be lured by cushy credit card offers for 80,000 miles and lounge passes. I’m ready to hop on the cheapest flights I can find, and know that my credit card offers me early boarding regardless of fare class or status. I’m ready to go with convenience rather than some nostalgic feeling of silly loyalty. I’m ready to fly on airlines where I can actually redeem those miles I’ve earned for good flights, hopefully in business class (not 10 leggers with sh*tty connection times).

Bye bye, loyalty. Hello, flexibility.

Are you still loyal to a single alliance, particularly if you fly <50,000 miles a year?

I need to be honest, I was feeling way to lazy for a flashback photo Friday post today, but I promise to have one next week. Plus, I’m hoping to get around to an extra post on something DC-related this weekend.

I might not spend a lot of time trying to earn every last mile here or there, but I do try to be strategic about the acquisition and de-acquisition of credit cards, both in terms of potential impact to credit as well as miles/points earned. This year, my major points haul was the Amex Platinum Card. I received a targeted offer for 100,000 points, with an incredibly reasonable minimum spend requirement. Despite the $450 annual fee, I couldn’t turn it down.

First off, those 100,000 points are definitely worth more than $450, in and of themselves. Not like I would buy that many points outright, but still. Second, the card comes with a free Priority Pass Select membership. Unfortunately many airport lounges have started to exclude themselves from the “Select” part of Priority Pass, but since we are headed to Asia I’m hoping it will be nice to have in Tokyo and Bangkok. It also provides access to Delta lounges and Centurion lounges domestically, though I’m not sure if I’ll be able to take advantage of the latter. Third, it offers a $200 rebate on airline fees, for things like seats, drinks, change fees, etc., which we promptly used up to buy bulkhead seats on the 14 hour flight from the US to Japan. That’s an expense we would have incurred anyway, so the reimbursement was icing on the cake.  Fourth, it offers a reimbursement if you apply for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck.

It also has a ton of fringe benefits, like good car rental insurance, purchase protection, and free Boingo wifi that also make the card worth it–at least for the first year, when I received the 100,000 points.

But what about retaining the card past the first year for another $450?  There are lots of arguments online for–and against–if you want to Google.  But for us, a “normal” couple who takes about 12 trips a year, here is what plays against renewing the Amex Platinum:

1. I rarely fly Delta domestically, and there aren’t very many Centurion lounges (and none where I frequently fly) so that lounge benefit isn’t worth much to me, particularly as I only take a handful of domestic trips a year. Now if it had United lounges…we’d be talking.

2. The “full” priority pass–I value lounge access when traveling internationally quite highly–is still less than $450.

3. Amex isn’t a “sure thing” to be accepted internationally. In fact, three of the last four establishments I’ve wanted to use it at in Washington DC said “no Amex”.  Considering I usually have no cash in my wallet, not a fan of this and it limits its usefulness to me.

4. I have other cards that provide benefits like car rental insurance (though their purchase protection is far inferior). We buy trip insurance–for the big trips–anyway, for things like protection against delays and medical coverage, so while secondary coverage is nice, it’s not a necessity.

5. $450 is a lot of money. That’s a plane ticket (or more likely a vet bill for the dog). A good chunk of that–the airline reimbursement–is definitely a great benefit I will miss, though.  Add the priority pass and you’re already up to $300, at least. So it’s really that extra $150 that’s tipping the scale in favor of cancellation…

6. It doesn’t provide early boarding, which many co-branded airline cards do. I HATE boarding late. With a passion.

While I’m enjoying the benefits of the Amex Platinum card this year, I’m pretty sure I’ll be shopping for a new card with a new sign-up bonus in 2015. That said, I will probably hang on to an Amex card so I can keep redeeming my Membership Rewards Points without issue; it just isn’t going to be the Platinum card.

Now, the next decision is how to use those 100,000 miles…

1. Never book a ticket with miles if the ticket is under $350. Sure, if money is tight for some reason, this might appeal to you. But I’m a huge proponent of spending within your means, so I’m sticking to this one. There isn’t a reason to book a ticket with miles if the ticket is less than $350.  Let’s say a domestic ticket is 25,000 miles round-trip (at best).  That’s 1.4 cents per mile: not theworstever, but you could do a lot better. I typically don’t even look at miles options unless the ticket is $500+, and even then, I weigh the options carefully.

2. Always keep one credit card open that accrues miles/points. We put nearly all our expenses on a credit card. In fact, it’s a weird day if I have cash in my wallet.  So having one of these open does 2 things: first, it provides free checked bags (that we never use), and early boarding (can’t live without), in addition to other perks.  Second, we are constantly accruing some miles with just regular spending.  Ideally, this card should not have foreign transaction fees so you can use it overseas.  If you typically fly one airline or frequent one hotel chain, check out their cards first as you will likely earn more when you spend on that brand.

3. Jump on the credit card offers worth 60,000 miles/points or more, once yearly (or more, if you are comfortable doing so). I do not play credit card roulette very much, but I do watch for the wonderful targeted offers.  DH does the same (well did, he had some jacka$$ steal his identity this year, so he’s been benched temporarily).  This means that each year, we should have no less than 60,000 miles or points, and often much much more, which is enough for a round trip or multi-night stay.  Last year’s deal was a targeted offer from Marriott, this year’s was a targeted offer from Amex. Depending on the usefulness of the card, and the annual fee, I assess cost/value at the end of the first cardholder year. I try not to cancel more than one card at a time, since it can impact your credit score when there is significantly less credit available.

4. Don’t sacrifice good connections and shorter travel time for “free” flights. Since we work full-time, we value our vacation time really highly. Sitting in an airport for 10 hours to fly for free isn’t worth it, when that day could be spent exploring our destination. Sure, there are times with international connections that layovers are not avoidable.  But I don’t use miles if the tickets aren’t pretty close (itinerary-wise) to what I would book if I was paying. The more stops, the more opportunities for mechanical problems, lost luggage, tornadoes, strikes, crews who stopped at McDonald’s instead of heading straight for the plane (all true stories…). And when you have limited time, missed connections are not what you want to deal with. Just pay for the flight and avoid the misery.

5. Follow the professionals, and ask for help if needed. There are many of them, but I typically use ThePointsGuy.com; there are lots, so shop around and find one you like. Check in to see if there are any good deals, great redemption offers, or weird things going on. Furthermore, stay on top of program changes.  When airlines increase the number of miles needed for a round-trip to Asia by 30%, that’s going to impact you. Same with hotels shifting the categories of properties: a category/level 3 property shifting to a 5 may increase the number of points you need by 10-20,000 per night. Pay attention, and you can often jump in front and book before the increase.  Most of them (the professionals) are also willing to help you out if you have a specific question, which is a resource you shouldn’t ignore.

6. Plan in advance. I’m a planner at heart, so this seems totally obvious to me. This is particularly true if you are booking more than one ticket with specific dates.  Many airlines don’t open lots of miles seats (particularly the “saver” redemptions), so look in advance and keep looking (or use a paid service, if that’s your perogative…I’m too lazy/cheap for that). You might get lucky, you might not. But at least try to do it more than a month ahead of time (and definitely avoid the last minute booking fees that many airlines charge).  Sometimes you don’t get lucky and there is only one seat.  But it’s ok! Even if only one of you flies on miles, you’ve still saved money and spent half of what you would have for 2 tickets.

7. Save miles/points for big or expensive trips and destinations. For example, plane tickets to Australia cost a bunch o’ cheerios and that’s a long flight–same usually applies to South & East Africa. You might consider stockpiling miles to get those places, perhaps in business class. Similarly with hotels in many cities in Europe–super expensive.  Save your points to use where a hotel costs $400 a night (or $300 or $200) in Europe rather than $89 in Latin America.  Sure, there are times where it might make sense to redeem otherwise (for example, certificates that expire), but we try to stick to this guideline.

Now the hardest part…deciding where you want to go to use the miles you’ve earned!

We are headed to Bhutan (via Thailand) in early September 2014.  But the planning saga stretches all the way back to November 2013.  While I love to plan, and plan ahead, this was way way ahead.I decided to start planning for Bhutan while finishing the planning for our destination wedding–that probably was a sort-of-bad idea.  Planning overload.  I might as well have permanently adhesived my laptop to myself. But there were a few good reasons we really needed to start planning in advance:

1. Rooms book fast during the high season in Bhutan.
2. We were pretty sure we wanted specific hotels that have very few rooms.
3. We were trying to use miles for nearly all of the trip.

When I say “nearly all” the trip–we wanted to use miles for 3/4 legs:  on the way there, I was going to pay for a ticket to earn miles (if it was reasonable), DH was flying on miles from his account.  On the return, we were going to use miles for both of us from my account.

I’m sure that someone out there has a far easier way to do this with a nifty app, a ninja, something?

Thus started the wonderful “I’m so frustrated that I’m sweating like I’m already in Bangkok” cycle.  It goes something like this:
1. Look at miles tickets for DH from Dulles (IAD)-Bangkok (BKK).
2. Look at cost of one-way ticket for me IAD-BKK.
3. Look at other miles tickets for DH from IAD-BKK, as the same paid one-way was too expensive.
4. Realize one of you was on an ANA flight while the other was on a United flight leaving three minutes later. Return to start.
5. Look at miles tickets Chiang Mai (CNX)-IAD (we ended up with CNX-Reagan (DCA) which is even better for us).
6. Contact hotel to check on availability for these dates.
7. Hear that those dates are not available.
8. Repeat steps 1-7 with new dates (this happened more than once).
9. Realize that the great one-way fare you found 3 days ago is gone.  Return to start.