Tag Archives: miles and more

Loyalty Programs: Account Statuses (July 2012)

Posted on July 25, 2012 | 10 Comments

Back in May 2011, I published an insight in my loyalty program statuses including the number of points and miles earned.  More than a year has passed since then, so it’s time for an update:

HOTEL LOYALTY PROGRAMS

1) PRIORITY CLUB

  • Membership Level: Platinum Royal Ambassador
  • Expiration date: Jan 2014 (Platinum) Feb 2013 (Royal Ambassador)
  • Qualifying nights in 2012: 11
  • Number of points: 117,574
  • Points earned in 2012: 77,545

How did I earn these points?
Obviously by resting my head for 11 nights on qualifying rates at IHG properties in the first 6 months of 2012, but more importantly, by signing up for every possible Priority Club Promotion (check FrequentFlyerBonuses.com and FlyerTalk.com for more details)  I also made some changes to my London 2012 Olympic Games reservations.  I cancelled my 7 nights at Hotel Indigo London Paddington reimbursing me 175K points.  I retained my two night booking at Hotel Indigo London Tower Hill for the opening weekend and added one extra night at Radisson Blu Edwardian Mercer Street using Club Carlson points.  This shortened my London 2012 Olympics trip to 3 nights instead of 9, but allowed me to use some of the points to book my upcoming French Polynesia trip.
Where did I spent points?
Past stays:
30K points for two nights at City Ocean View room at Holiday Inn Pattaya
25K points for one night at King Suite at Crowne Plaza Changi Singapore
5K points for one night at Crowne Plaza Venice East-Quarto d’Altino
Upcoming stays:
60K points for two nights at InterContintal Resort Tahiti
150K points for five nights at InterContinental Bora Bora Resort & Thalasso Spa
90K points for three nights at InterContinental Moorea Resort & Spa
Video: Intercontinental Bora Bora Resort & Thalasso Spa

2) HYATT GOLD PASSPORT

  • Membership Level: Diamond
  • Expiration date: Feb 2013
  • Suite Upgrade Award vouchers left: 4
  • Qualifying nights in 2012: 0
  • Number of points: 40,820
  • Points earned in 2012: 452

How did I earn these points?
I only stayed once at Hyatt this year and it was on points.  During award stays you only earn points on food & beverage charges, in my case 452 points.
Where did I spent points?
30K points for two nights at Club View King room at Grand Hyatt Seoul

3) HILTON HHONORS

  • Membership Level: Gold
  • Expiration date: Mar 2013
  • Qualifying nights in 2012: 6
  • Number of points: 3,066
  • Points earned in 2012: 9,236

How did I earn these points?
Stays at Hilton Millennium Bangkok and Hilton London Tower Bridge.  Interesting detail:  I didn’t stay a single night at Hilton properties in 2011, still I managed to achieve Hilton HHonors Gold status for free.  I posted this opportunity several times on my twitter feed, make sure you don’t miss it next time, follow me on twitter! 
Where did I spent points?
170K points for four nights at Ocean View Pool Villa at Conrad Koh Samui
Note: 153,435K points were bought for this stay, read the blog post for all details.

4) STARWOOD PREFERRED GUEST (SPG)

  • Membership Level: Preferred Guest
  • Expiration date: N/A
  • Qualifying nights in 2012: 4
  • Number of points: 2,524
  • Points earned in 2012: 4,040

How did I earn these points?
Stays at Honeymoon Suite at Sheraton Seoul D Cube City and Caroline Astor Suite at St. Regis Bangkok
Where did I spent points?
3K points for one night at Four Points by Sheraton Barcelona Diagonal

5) Club CArlson

  • Membership Level: Silver
  • Expiration date: Feb 2013
  • Qualifying nights in 2012: 3
  • Number of points: 64,214*
  • Points earned in 2012: 108,722*

How did I earn these points?
Stays at Radisson Suites Bangkok Sukhumvit, Park Plaza Soi 18 Sukhumvit Bangkok and Park Inn Leuven.  Check my Club Carlson post for more details.
* Points from my Park Inn Leuven still need to post (including 44K bonus)
Where did I spent points?
50K points for one night at Radisson Blu Edwardian Mercer Street Hotel (Opening weekend London 2012 Olympics)

6) LE CLUB ACCOR

  • Membership Level: Platinum
  • Expiration date: Oct 2012
  • Qualifying nights in 2012: 1
  • Number of points: 1,676
  • Points earned in 2012: 452

How did I earn these points?
One night stay at Novotel Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport.
Interesting detail:  I acquired free Le Club Accor Platinum status using a simple sign-up link.  I posted this opportunity several times on my twitter feed, make sure you don’t miss it next time, follow me on twitter! 
Where did I spent points?
No Le Club Accor points spent in 2012.  Le Club points have a very low value, you need a minimum of 4K points to convert them to 2000 airline miles or 2K points for a €40 discount voucher (which can only be used to lower roomrates, not on F&B)  In general, this loyalty program is really weak,  with platinum benefits rarely honored.  The only really positive experience I had as A Club Gold member was at Sofitel Paris La Defense back in 2010.

AIRLINE LOYALTY PROGRAMS

1) MILES AND MORE (LUfthansa)

  • Membership Level: Senator – Star Alliance Gold
  • Expiration date: 02/14
  • Number of Award miles: 346,564
  • Number of Status miles earned in 2012: 59,093
  • Number of eVouchers: 2

How did I earn these miles?
I earned more than 280,000 miles in the past year.
150K miles were ‘butt-in-seat’ miles (by taking flights)
32K bonus miles for business flight to Rio de Janeiro
75K miles were earned using the Brussels Airlines American Express cards.
23K miles were earned from various sources like hotel stays, shopping, etc…
On what did I spent miles?
70K miles to upgrade GIG-FRA from Business Class to new Lufthansa First Class

2) MILEAGEPLUS (UNITED)

  • Membership Level: MileagePlus member
  • Expiration date: N/A
  • Number of Award miles: 521
  • Number of Status miles earned in 2012: 0
  • Number of Award miles earned in 2012: 61,200

How did I earn these miles?
I bought 98,000 Wyndham Rewards points for $308 (€237,85) during the yearly U.S. Travel Association “Daily Getaways” campaign and converted them to 39,200 United Mileage Plus miles.  I also bought 20,000 Mileage Plus miles for $451 (€347,86) via a facebook 40% discount sale.
Finally, during an award reservation, I was 1479 miles short, so I had to buy a set of 2000 Mileage Plus miles for $70 (€58,47).
Conclusion, in total I bought 61,200 United Mileage Plus miles for €644,18
On what did I spent miles?
70K miles on an itinerary including Singapore Airlines First Class & Business Class + Air New Zealand Business and Economy Class.  More details to follow! :)

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Earning miles with Credit Cards in Belgium

Posted on June 23, 2012 | 23 Comments


Brussels Airlines American Express has a limited time offer: double sign-up bonus for friend referrals.  To receive a personalized sign-up link for this offer, please complete the form below.

  • Classic American Express card (€60 per year)
    Sign-up bonus: 3000 miles (normally 1500)
  • Premium American Express card (€120 per year)
    Sign-up bonus: 6000 miles (normally 3000)
  • Pay your cellphone bill with American Express
    Extra bonus: 2000 miles (one time)

Earning airline miles is not limited to flying, you can earn miles with almost anything these days.  One of the easiest ways to earn extra miles is signing up for a credit card.  You will receive a number of miles just for signing up for the card and you will get 1 or 1,5 miles per euro spent.  American Express also provides a bonus when you spend a certain amount in one year.  Unfortunately, the number of credit cards earning airline miles is very limited in Belgium.  Still,  they can offer you a great opportunity to travel the world in luxury on a budget.  For Belgian citizens, the credit card offers are limited to one program, Miles and More of the Lufthansa group.  Miles of this program can be used to book (and upgrade) flights on any Star Alliance carrier.



Brussels Airlines offers four Miles and More credit cards: the Classic MasterCard, Premium MasterCard, Classic American Express and Premium American Express.  I signed-up for the Brussels Airlines Classic American Express Card in 2008 and switched to the Premium Amex card last year earning me a total of more than 100,000 miles!  The key to earning the maximum amount of miles is to pay as much as possible with your credit card.  Pay all your bills and purchases (both online and offline) with your credit card, every euro counts!  Shopping (including groceries), dining, gas, electronics, hotels, airline tickets, … almost everything!  Some payments might even result in an extra bonus.  Example:  Paying your cellphone bill with your Brussels Airlines American Express card gets you 2000 bonus miles!
The yearly fee also contains a number of insurances:
Classic American Express (€60 per year):
Travel accident insurance
Baggage insurance
Wallet or purse theft insurance
Purchase Protection
Premium American Express (€120 per year):
Travel accident and inconvenience insurance
Trip cancellation insurance
Extended Baggage insurance
Wallet or purse theft insurance
Purchase Protection

So how much are those miles worth?
It all depends on what you spend them.  In my opinion, only long-haul Business Class and First Class flights are worth spending miles on.  These allow you to maximize the value of your miles as Business Class flights easily cost +€2000 and First Class flights +€8000.  Of course airline loyalty programs will do everything to make you spend your miles on less valuable options e.g. use miles to buy goodies in their online shop, book hotel nights or rent a car.  You really don’t want to do that!  Miles and More is currently selling miles with a 20% bonus, which is still way too expensive, but it gives you an idea how they value the miles.

As you notice, 6000 miles are sold for €135.  That’s more than the yearly fee of the Brussels Airlines Premium American Express card which comes with 6000 sign-up miles!  Same for the sign-up bonus of the Brussels Airlines Classic American Express card, those 3000 miles are sold for €85 (+600 miles bonus).

How do I maximize the number of miles earned?
I would recommend to sign-up for the Brussels Airlines Premium American Express card now to get the 6000 miles.  Complete the form to pay your cellphone bill with the card and earn an additional 2000 miles.  Next year, you cancel the Premium card and switch to the Classic card.  You will earn the sign-up bonus again (this time for the Classic card, which is at least 1500 miles if there’s no promotion) and you’ll earn another 2000 miles when you register to have your cellphone bills paid with the Classic card.  That’s at least 11,500 miles in one year, just by signing up for these cards!

I’m not yet a Miles and More member, where do I sign-up?
You can enroll at the Miles and More website.

To receive a sign-up link with a double welcome bonus, please complete the form below.


Full disclosure: By signing up for a Brussels Airlines American Express card using a personalized link, I will receive bonus miles (friend referral program).  Thank you for supporting my travel blog and enjoy your sign-up bonus!

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Extended weekend in the Algarve (Portugal)

Posted on March 25, 2012 | 7 Comments


Pic: Porto Bay Falesia, Albufeira, Algarve, Portugal (Mar 2012)

Pic: Sundeck at Porto Bay Falesia, Algarve, Portugal (Mar 2012)
Since a few weeks, Brussels Airlines is running a promo called Flyday.  Every Friday they offer three destinations at €99 for take-off over any of the 4 following weekends.  The booking class is b.flex economy (H) which means you can use the premium check-in desks and security fastlane at the airport.  B.flex passengers are seated in the front part of the cabin and served complimentary food & drinks.  The €99 return trip in B.flex earns 2500 status miles (Miles & More) instead of the usual 250 status miles in B.light economy.  A great offer, but availability is very limited.  On Feb 24, Faro was one of the three destinations on offer, an opportunity I used to book a trip to the Portuguese Algarve (March 17-20).  With the flight booked, I started looking for hotel and immediately noticed how cheap hotels are in the Algarve.  The combination of low season and Portuguese economic downturn makes it a very affordable destination.  After my excellent stay at Porto Bay Rio de Janeiro in December, Porto Bay Falesia was my preferred option.  Possible alternative (but almost twice as expensive) was Sheraton Algarve.  With a Tripadvisor rank of 3 out of 160 hotels in Albufeira and a room rate of €46 per night (Garden View – incl. breakfast), making the choice for Porto Bay Falesia was easy. 
Tips: Try to get upgraded to a ‘Sea View’ room on a higher floor, use discount codes ‘facebook’ or ‘twitter’ on PortoBay.com to get a 5% discount and sign-up for the Porto Bay Prestige Club card (several benefits starting from your 2nd stay incl. 10% discount on hotel Food&Beverages)
With flight and hotel booked, local transportation was next.  You definitely want to have a rental car to cruise along the Algarve coast.  My three day rental of a Mazda 2 at Sixt was €38 (via ebookers.be), I declined the €45 damage waiver fee.  Consumed fuel (Unleaded 95 * €1,80/L * €49 total) was more expensive than the car rental fee!

Pic: Praia Porto de Mos, Lagos, Algarve, Portugal (Mar 2012)
As you can see in the pictures, I was lucky with the weather.  Most memorable experience was the hike from Praia Porto de Mos to Praia da Luz.  Incredible views from the top of the cliffs.  If you want to see more pictures and details of this trip, check my twitter timeline from March 17 – 20.

Pic: Cliffs near Praia da Luz, Lagos, Algarve, Portugal (Mar 2012)
Also worth to mention, the new Living lounge at Faro airport (FAO).  Spacious and clean with a good selection of complimentary drinks.  Ideal to escape the holiday makers chaos in the departure terminal.  Access for Star Alliance Gold members.

Pic: New ‘Living’ Faro Airport lounge, Portugal (Mar 2012)

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Upcoming Lufthansa Business Class trip to Seoul

Posted on February 19, 2012 | 2 Comments


Pic: Brussels-Munich-Seoul-Munich-Frankfurt-Brussels in Lufthansa C Class

Pic: Bart and South Korean School kids in Seoul (May 2008)
Back in November, Lufthansa was running an incredible sale on Business Class flights.  On 11-11-11, Business Class fares to several destinations (e.g. New York, Dubai, Singapore, Seoul,…) were only €1111.  As I was enjoying the Plantation Bay Resort in Lapu Lapu (Philippines) on 11/11/11, I postponed booking my ticket to the evening, which was noon time in Germany.  By then, the Singapore A380 business class seats were already sold out.  As destinations like New York and Dubai only made half the status miles compared to Seoul, I booked the latter.

Pic: Miles and More Mileage Accrual for my Lufthansa Business Class flights
To maximize my mileage accrual, I added an extra leg MUC-FRA on my return instead of the direct MUC-BRU flight.  The layover between ICN-MUC and MUC-FRA will only 35 minutes, so I’m not sure if I’m going to make it.  The extra leg added €38, but should earn me 1500 status miles (+ Senator bonus) in exchange.  My €1156 (includes €7,50 credit card fee) Lufthansa Business class round trip to Seoul (Feb 25 – Mar 4, booking Class Z) should earn me 30661 status miles.

For my first 5 nights in Seoul, I’ve booked a studio apartment in the Itaewon district.  I used Airbnb, a rapid growing global network of accommodations offered by locals, to make the booking.  It’s a cheap alternative to hotels, especially in big cities.  The studio apartment was +- €30/night + a €15 Airbnb booking fee.  With a €30 Airbnb coupon code I lowered the bill to €137 for five nights!  Unfortunately, the €30 coupon code is no longer valid, but if you sign-up with my Airbnb referral link, you’ll get $25 credit for your first Airbnb stay.  By the way, if you want to be up-to-date with all the latest travel coupon codes, discounts, error fares, promos and deals, make sure to follow me on twitter.  For my last two nights in Seoul, I booked the Grand Hyatt using Gold Passport points.  I’ll have a separate blog post on the Grand Hyatt Seoul after my stay.

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Lufthansa Miles and More – Senator

Posted on December 19, 2011 | 2 Comments


Pic: Senator Welcome Kit – Lufthansa Miles and More – Brussels Airlines

Pic: Miles and More Senator Card – Brussels Airlines – Star Alliance Gold

Pic: Lufthansa Miles and More – Senator Luggage tags (Dec 2011)
With my Lufthansa Business Class flight to Rio de Janeiro earlier this month,
I complete my challenge for Star Alliance Gold and unexpectedly enjoyed the new Lufthansa First Class.  Last week I received my Senator Welcome Package in the mail.  For the next two years (until 02/2014) I will enjoy the following benefits:

  • First Class Check-in: Even when flying economy class
  • Lounges: Access to all Star Alliance Gold lounges and the Lufthansa Senator Lounges
  • Priority Baggage Handling: Red luggage tag means bags are the first to be delivered to their destination
  • Increased Free Baggage Allowance: Increased by one piece or 20KG
  • Golf and Ski Bags: One golf bag and one ski bag free of charge
  • Waitlist Priority: If no more seats are available on your selected flight, as Senator you will enjoy higher waitlist priority.
  • Booking guarantee: If you reserve your flight in the highest-value booking class up to 48 hours before your journey, you will receive a booking in the travel class of your choice even on fully booked flights.
  • Upgrade vouchers: With initial appointment to Senator status and every time your Senator card is renewed, two electronic upgrade vouchers are credited to your account.  You can use these vouchers to travel in the next higher travel class.
  • Companion Award: Book an award for your travel companion for 50% fewer award miles.
  • Mileage Advances: If you don’t have enough miles for the award of your choice, you can overdraw your mileage account by up to 50,000 award miles.

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Lufthansa Welcome Lounge Frankfurt

Posted on November 14, 2011 | 4 Comments

Pic: Lufthansa Welcome Lounge at Frankfurt Airport (Nov 2011)

Pic: Staircase to Lufthansa Welcome Lounge Showers (Nov 2011)
Pic: Waiting Area of Lufthansa Welcome Lounge Showers (Nov 2011)
This morning I had the pleasure to enjoy a heavenly shower and breakfast at the Lufthansa Welcome Lounge at Frankfurt Airport (also know as Lufthansa Arrival Lounge) Entry conditions to the lounge are quite strict, see this Welcome Lounge Access Quick Reference Card.  As Lufthansa FTL (Frequent Traveller) arriving from Singapore (A380) I was granted access to the lounge along with +-40 other guests.  All 28 private bathrooms were occupied at 6.15am on Monday morning, but after 5 minutes of waiting I was assigned shower number 13.  All bathrooms have L’Occitane Luxury amenities and clean towels.  No extra’s like hair comb, toothbrush, dental kit, etc… so make sure the bring your own.  Not sure if there are larger bathrooms for HON Circle members, First Class guests and Senators, but they do get an extra which isn’t available for FTL members: free ironing service.  The bathrooms are located in the basement, on the entrance floor you’ll find lounge facilities similar to other Lufthansa Senator lounges offering hot and cold breakfast dishes incl. pancakes and eggs to order.  WiFi is free, as in all Lufthansa lounges since July 2011.
Pic: L’Occitane Luxury Amenities at Lufthansa Welcome Lounge (Nov 2011)

Pic: Private bathroom at Lufthansa Welcome Lounge Frankfurt (Nov 2011)

Pic: L’Occitane Bathroom Amenities at Lufthansa Welcome Lounge (Nov 2011)

Pic: Private Bathroom at Lufthansa Welcome Lounge Frankfurt (Nov 2011)

Pic: Shower of Private Bathroom at Lufthansa Welcome Lounge (Nov 2011)
 Video: Private Bathroom at Lufthansa Welcome Lounge Frankfurt (Nov 2011)

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