Keep Alaska Air Miles from Expiring with FandangoNOW purchase

If you are inactive with your Alaska Miles account for a 2 year period then you can lose your account and your airline miles.    If you don't use the airline frequently then you can pile up some miles only to have them wiped out due to this.     I actually lost some miles not long ago,.   In my case Alaska was nice enough to reinstate the account for me but I doubt that they'd do it again.   

One way to keep your miles in an infrequently  used mileage plan is to find other cheap or trivial methods to generate miles for free or low cost and use that just frequently enough to remain active and delay the expiration.    On Alaska airlines you can get miles with their 'Mileage Plan Shopping' by making purchases with a variety of retailers. 

FandangoNow is one of the retailers in the Alaska shopping portal.    They have items you can purchase instantly for a couple dollars.   

Go to : mileageplanshopping.com and log in with your Alaska account.
Then search their portal to find the FandangoNow and follow its link there clicking the green 'Shop Now' button and you will be redirected to the FandangoNow site

Buy anything there worth >$1 and you're done.
Now just wait.   It doesn't credit to Alaska miles instantly and you'll have to give it maybe a couple weeks.   So don't wait until the last minute.

FandangoNow has various movies you can rent but the good stuff is usually $5 or $6.    If you want to see one of those movies anyway and need the miles credit then maybe thats not a bad deal.    There are also single episodes of TV shows for $2-3.    Or if you don't have any need for a movie rental or show you can always just find a $1.99 item to buy just to get the 2 miles credit and keep your Alaska miles active.

The Mileage Plan Shopping site says:

"While most transactions will appear within 5 business days, some transactions may take up to 15 
days in order to appear in the list above."

I made a $2.99 purchase on Sept. 24th.   I got my miles on the Alaska site on October 4th.

On the Mileage Plan site it posted the item there on October 1st. I got an email from Mileage Plan Shopping on October 3rd saying that I'd earned 3 miles by shopping.   Then October 4th  on the Alaska site it showed up with the 3 miles credited in my Mileage Plan account.

Altogether it took 10 calendar days from the purchase until it showed in my Alaska activity.

I'd recommend putting an item on your calendar to remind you that the miles are expiring 3-4 weeks in advance so you've go some time to go make a purchase and get the miles credited.

--This article may contain referral links which pay this site a commission for purchases made at the sites.

Buy IGH Points 50% off

IGH points has a deal right now to buy their points 50% off.   The prices at the 50% rate works out to getting points for about 6¢ in bulk.



 15k for $90 = 0.6c per point

25k for $150 = .6c

50k for $293 = 0.586c

100k for $565 = 0.565c




This could be a useful deal for someone to add points to top off their account or if they want to simply buy point to use to book rooms at a discounted rate.   According to the points site  the points don't expire and there are NO blackout dates.     Also when you book with the points you can get a flexible fare that can be cancelled up until the day before the trip.    This benefit alone makes the points a reasonable deal for me personally as I sometimes want to book trips over the winter but I might need to cancel them if the weather is too bad.   Usually you have to pay a premium for the flexible room rates.



In the city my Dad lives hotels go for 25k points and would cost $138 to $179 including taxes out of pocket.   The cheaper rate is for nonrefundable queen and  the $179 is for a fully refundable king room.    So buying 25k for $150 would save you $29 on that refundable king room.     Not a fabulous deal but might be worth doing for me.


If you get the 100k for $565 points then you can use the points for 2 nights in a 50k hotel room.

Some of the 50k hotel rooms are pretty pricey.  
InterContinental New York Times Square

Can run $576 per night with taxes.    You can get 2 nights for $565 by buying the points. Thats about half price and a pretty good deal if you're looking at a specific location thats pricey.

On the other end of the spectrum they have the cheap rooms for 5k at select locations.   You can buy points to stay in those locations for about $30 per night all in.   Thats hard to beat.   But the locations with 5k rooms are pretty limited and generally smaller remote cities.  But if you're really itching to spend a week in Fallon, NV or Abilene TX then this could be the deal for you.


You can also sign up for their credit card and get 70k bonus points after spending $1000 in 3 months.   MyMoneyBlog talks about that in their article Chase IHG Rewards Club Select Credit Card Review: What Does 70,000 Points Get You?

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Free Vegas Stuff by Playing MyVegas Slots app

For a while now I've played the game MyVegas Slots on FaceAndroid app for MyVegas Slots is on Google Play.  Its just a simple time killing slot machine game.   Every time I play slots I end up losing all my money in varying speeds, so I prefer to play it on a free game like a Facebook or Android app.    An extra reason to play MyVegas Slots is that you can earn Loyalty points that can be redeemed for actual Vegas services or goods.    I just had a run of good luck this afternoon and piled up around 2500 Loyalty points and got over the 10k point threshold which gets me into the territory of some rewards that are actually meaningful.

It has taken me a while of playing the game to hit the point that my loyalty points are actually worth some more meaningful rewards.   But if you've got some time to kill and like playing slots games then why not?     You can get some meaningful rewards once you hit the 5000 to 10,000 point level but free rooms seem to start around 15k points.   With the free rooms they don't list all the terms an I suspect that you have to pay taxes and fees which can be substantial.

Here are some example rewards you can earn with loyalty points :

1500 points = companion ticket for Cirque Du Soleil Zarkana show= $80
4500 points = 2 for 1 breakfast buffet at Excalibur = $17.99
5000 points = $15 credit at The Mirage Pantry Noon-6AM = $15
6000  points = Las Vegas Monorail 1 day pass = $12 (sold out)
11000 points =  Las Vegas Monorail 2 day pass = $22
11,500 points = Lunch at Mandalay Bay Bayside Buffet = $21.99
15,000 points = midweek room comp at Excalibur = $28-78 (taxes/ fees probably extra)
21,000 points = lunch or breakfast for 2 people at Feast Buffet at Palace Station = $13.98
21,500 points =  Las Vegas Monorail 5 day pass = $43
52,500 points = midweek room at The Mirage = $68-$324  (lots of black out dates and you might owe $29 resort fee)

I should point out that the value of some of the rewards may be a little dubious.   For example there are a lot of 2-for-1 deals or companion ticket deals in the cheaper rewards.   Its not hard to find coupons or discounts for 2-for-1 type discounts in Vegas so cashing out loyalty points for that might not really be a great deal if you can just get the same discount for free elsewhere. 

Things like straight cash credits, monorail tickets, room comps and free buffet meals have more direct value.    Free buffet meals seem like good deals to me.   But even there you have to check the value, it seems that the 2 person buffet deal at Palace Station is only worth about $14 but costs 21,000 loyalty points but you can get a Mandalay Buffet for just 11,500 points that normally costs $22.   So spend 23,000 loyalty points on two of those and you get two buffets that are valued at $44.  

Note:  I am not getting any commissions or compensation for this article and there aren't any referral links here. 


Addendum added April 8th:   I wanted to update this to add some points.

Do not buy chips in the MyVegas game.   The game frequently prompts you to buy chips and if it isn't obvious, that is not a good deal.   The idea here is to get stuff for FREE not pay for chips.
You're not going to make a lot of free bonuses playing this game and it will take time to build up chips.  I played for a few months before I hit enough points to get a decent reward. 
If you like playing slots games like this then this might be a fun way to get some free Vegas stuff.  Otherwise I'd recommend spending your time elsewhere.
I play on Facebook and the android app works differently.  I tried the app but it didn't work well on my phone.
You can use the auto spin method and let the game play multiple spins while you're busy doing something else, that helps move things along.
You'll do best if you play a few minutes a day and make sure to cash in all your free chips from your buildings.  

Update May 7th:   After about 6 more weeks of playing the game pretty regular I"m now up to 40k points.     I usually have the game playing in a separate browser window while I'm doing other things and then just use autospin and check once in a while to click ok.
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How Much Does It Cost To Fly In Private Jets?

I've never really seen the need for huge personal wealth, but I am envious of flying in private jets.   Not that I spend my days and nights crying over it but it does seem like it would be pretty enjoyable to fly in a private jet.    Its one of the things I'd think about doing if I were to win the lottery or otherwise fall into vast wealth.

But how much does it really cost?

From what I gather it costs in the ballpark of $5000 or more per hour to fly in a small private jet.   

Thats basically the entry level prices for private jets.   So that means a short 1 hour flight from Los Angeles to Las Vegas in a small jet will cost  in the ballpark of $5k.   And when I say a small jet I mean small.  Those small jets only seat a few people and the headroom means adults have to stoop when they are not seated.   They might only carry a few bags worth of luggage.   Medium size and larger gets will cost more.




A couple sites have search engines / calculators that will give estimated prices for flights : 

How Much Does It Cost to Charter a Private Aircraft? at the SherapReport

How much does a private flight cost from PrivateFly

I tested both on a short 1 hr flight round trip (2 hr total) and got quotes of about $10k for the trip in a small jet.   Those rates are for charter flights.  

You can also buy hours in bulk from operators like NetJet and others.

Private Jets for Everyone? from Travel and Leisure pointed to a few different companies that sell basically pre-paid private jet accounts with typically 20 or 25 for ~$110-130k or roughly $5k per hour.  

Clearly spending $5000 for a 1 hour flight is not frugal.   But its not as awful if you consider that you can fit 4 or more people in that plane.   Lets say you've got a family of 4 and you're flying round trip for that 1 hour distance.   That comes to $2500 per person.   Flying first class for such a journey would probably run you $500 a seat.   Of course you can fly economy for $200 or so.      Probably the most frugal option to fly in style is to get the economy tickets then upgrade to first class using miles.

I'm a far cry from being able to afford to fly via private jets.  So please share this story with 50 million of your friends so this blog can become super successful then I can sell out for multi millions.

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Virtually All Vegas Casino Resorts Charge Daily Resort Fees of $10-25

I wrote Beware Las Vegas Resort Fees about how Vegas hotels charge resort fees a few years ago.


At the time not all hotels had resort fees.   In fact if my memory is right it seems that a good number of the major casinos did not.   But that has changed.   Vegas.com has a handy list of all the resort fees.

Now its pretty much a given that a Vegas hotel casino will have a resort fee.   

The charges range from $10 to $25 typically.    There are a handful of casinos that do charge less than $10.   Silver Nugget is only $5.      The average fee is about $17.   The only major casinos that don't charge a fee are Four Queens and Fremont.

A selection of major hotels and their fees are :
Bellagio, Ceasars Palace, MGM Grand, Palms, Treasure Island, Venetian = $25
Tropicana, Ballys, Hard Rock, Luxor, Monte Carlo, New York, NY, Rio = $20-22
Circus Circus, Stratosphere, Riviera, Excalibur, Harrahs, LVH = $14.50 - $18


Fees have gone up a lot in the past few years.   I don't have a full record from 2010 but in my previous article I did capture a few examples.   Comparing those hotels from 2010 and today we can see the average has more than doubled :

	2010	2014
Excalibur	$10.00	$18.00
Riviera	$0.00	$15.00
Stratosphere	$7.50	$14.99
Tropicana	$8.00	$19.99

One annoying part about these fees is that they are not included in the booking price of the hotels when you shop for rates.  For example if you search on Orbitz you'll get a list of hotels and prices.  But the resort fee isn't shown there and you have to click on the 'see details' button for each hotel to actually get the resort fee totals.    For example I just did a random search for later in April and Riviera came up at just $15 a night.  What a bargain!      And only when you go to the 'book room' option do they point out the $15 resort fee which doubles the cost.


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Get a Free Flight With Airline Miles Credit Cards

One good way to cash in a promotional bonus from a credit card is to get a card affiliated with an airlines mileage program.   I've had one or two of these cards in years past and they can be a good deal if you have a good use for the miles.   I looked up and compared the credit cards offered through five of the major airlines.  United, Southwest, Alaska, Delta and American

Each card gives you 25,000 or 30,000 in miles.   Most will require you to spend $1000 in the first 3 months and then waive the annual fee in the first year.  Alaskas card is different in those respects and gives you the 25k miles up front but does not waive the $75 annual fee.    The Delta card is an American Express card, AA is Mastercard  and the others are through Visa.

	United	Southwest	Alaska	Delta	AA
miles	30,000	25,000	25,000	30,000	30,000
annual fee	0/$95	0/$99	$75	0/$95	0/$95
spend	$1,000	$1,000		$1,000	$1,000
time	3 month	3 month		3month	3 month
extras	1 free bag	n/a	$118 companion tick	$50 bonus	1 free bag

What are the points worth?

United :  A roundtrip saver flight in the continental USA is 20-25k points. 
Southwest : They do not have a fixed amount for a flight but the points cost depends on the flight and has a rough relationship to the dollar value.   Points are worth around 1-1.7¢ of airfare each.    I can book a couple short flights for the 25k points.
Alaska :   A roundtrip continental USA flight is 25k /40k. 
Delta : The cheapest saver flights for continental USA are 12.5k points each way, so minimum spend for a flight is 25k.  From what little I've seen of it Delta points seems harder to use.
AA : roundtrip flights  start at 25k

So generally the miles bonuses are worth a round trip in the USA.    However how much thats actually worth to you depends on where you want to fly and how much tickets usually cost.      For example looking at Alaska flight costs for me range from $138 to $385 if comparing major city destinations on Farecompare.com    But they have more limited destinations.   Looking at United I see costs ranging from $130 all the way up to $1300.  However that $1300 ticket is pretty extreme and more typical costly tickets are in the $600 range.    If you live in a bigger city the tickets are not going to be worth as much.   If you live in a more remote city like Bismark, ND then tickets could easily be worth $700.

Annual fees

A big downside to all these cards are the annual fees that kick in at least in the second year.   Paying $75-99 a year is generally not worthwhile unless one of the perks of the card justifies it.   Free bags on United alone might pay for their annual fee and the $118 companion ticket on Alaska might justify their $75 fee.    Most people are likely better off cancelling the ticket within a year to avoid these fees.

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Keep Alaska Air Miles From Expiring for 49¢

UPDATE :   I don't think the 49¢ cent trick worked.    I would test a purchase of $1 or more to see.  Anything of at least $1 should give a mile.

I've accumulated a lot of miles with Alaska Airlines over the years.   But I haven't flown with Alaska lately and the last activity on my account was in June 2012.   After 24 months Alaska miles will go inactive so I only have a bit over 4 months to earn some more miles before they are inactivated.   If the account goes inactive you have to pay a fee to reinstate your miles.  In fact the Alaska Miles Benefits Q&A  says that the fee is $75.

You can earn miles by shopping at various online merchants at the Mileage Plan Shopping  site.   I figured if I make a cheap purchase through a merchant then I could get a mile or two and keep my miles active.   I've used this trick before with my United miles.     I talked about that a while ago in Two Tricks to Keep United Miles from Expiring.  with United I made a 99¢ purchase at Newegg and got myself 1 mile which kept my account active.

I figured I'd try the same trick with Alaska.   I searched Newegg and found a 49¢ item for a Max Payne 3 online game code.   I don't actually want the game code and in fact have no intention of doing anything with it.   But I picked it since it was cheap and the purchase is immediate plus it won't waste anyones time and money by shipping me something I really don't want.     I went ahead and bought the item.     They say that miles are usually credited to your account 3-5 days after the purchase but it can take up to 45 days.    I hoped that an online purchase like this would be fast.  

Follow up :    It took about 4 weeks for the credit to appear on my United account.
2nd Follow up:   When Alaska credited my account I got 50 miles.    Looks like they incorrectly counted the 49¢ as $49.99.   Then they removed the 50 mile credit a few days later.    I'm still waiting...

2nd follow up :    I still only have the +50 and -50 records.   It doesn't appear this worked.
I tried a 2nd 49 cent purchase and did not see any activity.   I'm thinking that they don't credit a full mile for 49 cents and probably round cents to the dollar?   

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1000 United miles and 500 AA miles

Couple articles from MyMoneyBlog have ways to get some free airline miles :

1000 Free United Airlines Miles from Bckstgr.com
You have to sign up for Bckstgr then link to Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare to get all 1000.   If you don't want to link to services then you can get 400 miles for simply signing up.

and
 
500 Free American Airlines Miles
Just like them on Facebook and do a survey.

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What Does Bus Fare Cost?

The other day I mentioned that I don't take the bus myself simply because it would take too long to get to work.   But for a lot of people taking the bus or other mass transit can be a great way to save money.    The cost of mass transit varies from city to city.

I found this document that lists single adult fare rates for a variety transit systems.   If you skim through that you can get an idea of how prices vary.   I also then looked up the websites for several cities to see how their prices for single fares and monthly passes compared.

Here is a table of some of the larger cities in the USA as well as a handful of other good size cities, the link to the transit website is in the name of the city :

	single	monthly
New York City	$2.25	$104
Los Angeles	$1.50	$75
Chicago	$2.25	$86
Houston	$1.25	n/a
Philadelphia	$2.00	$83
Phoenix	$1.75	$55
San Antonio	$1.10	$30
San Diego	$2.25	$72
Dallas	$1.75	$65
San Jose	$2.00	$70
Arlington TX	$1.50	$50
Wichita	$1.75	$90
Minneapolis	$1.75	$59

Generally the costs fall within a certain range.  Typical single basic fare ride tickets are in the $1.10 to $2.25 range.      The median is $1.75 and the average is $1.78.   The basic fare can be for a shorter ride and mass transit programs often charge a higher fare for longer rides.   I did not record the higher fare rates but they typically run closer to $3 per trip.   That would be the kind of ride that takes you all the way across town in a larger city. 


For a monthly pass the median is $71 and the average is $70.  If you take the bus frequently like a daily commute to work then a monthly pass will easily pay for itself.

Bottom Line:   The bus typically costs around $1.75 per ride and $70 for a monthly pass, give or take.

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How Airline and Hotel Travel Fees Can Add Up

I was just daydreaming about a trip to Vegas.   So I browsed over to the travel site Orbitz to see what a trip to Vegas might run.  Just some Internet based 'window shopping'. 

I found the following air + 3 nights hotel rate for the Vdara:

This is a pretty good deal for a nice 5 star hotel.   Plus theres a free buffet!

I then scrolled down the page and noticed the following :

Thats interesting.  I haven't flown on Spirit Airlines before.   Apparently they charge for either checked bags or carry-on bags.   $25 doesn't seem like much.  But that fee is charged each way so you'd be paying $25 x 2 for a round trip.   For two people thats $50 each or $100 in bag fees for two people round trip.

Now if you don't pay attention to the fine print above you may show up to the airport with two carry on bags and end up paying $45 each or an extra $90.   If you want to save some money you'll check your bags on the return trip and only spend $25 each or another $50.   In total thats an extra $140 for your bags.

Scroll a little further down the page at Orbitz and you see that there is also a resort fee for the Adara hotel :

When you check into the hotel they should tell you about the resort fee.  For the Aria hotel the fee is $20 per night and its also taxable.   If you stay 3 nights then thats $60 total plus the 12% hotel tax rate for another $7.20 or $67.20.

Between the airline bag fees and the hotel resort fee you're paying an extra $140 + $67.20 or $207.20 in fees.    What started out as a $341  per person trip or $682 total is actually going to cost you $888.20.   This is 30% more in fees.

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Airline Bereavement Fares

When a loved one who lives far away passes may want to take a trip to attend the funeral.   However air fares purchased with short notice are often very expensive fares.   For this reason airlines have traditionally offered special 'bereavement' fares that offer discounted rates for people traveling to attend the funeral of a family member.  

Recently my wife and I had to attend a funeral half way across the country.   We made use of a bereavement fare from American Airlines and it cut about 33% off the cost of our tickets.   The tickets would have cost around $750 normally if I'd purchased them via online brokers but the bereavement rate fares were only about $500.

The policies for bereavement fares differ depending on the airline.   Generally they allow certain family members of the deceased to get a discount ticket.  The airline may also require some information or proof about the deceased such name, address and phone number of a funeral home.

The bereavement fare rate may or may not be the cheapest fare.   Some of the airlines offer a rate that is 50% off the full fare rate.   That may be better or worse than the discount fares.   Make sure to check the discount rates first so you know what you'd pay otherwise before booking a bereavement fare rate.

Many airlines no longer offer bereavement fares but some still do.

Airlines that offer Bereavement Fares

American Airlines - call for reservations and pricing
Continental - online booking with discounts of 5% off for fares under $500, 10% for fares up to $1000 and 20% for fares $1,000 or more
Delta Air - call for reservations and pricing
United - call for reservations 10% off any published fare within 6 days of travel.

Airlines that do NOT offer bereavement fares

As far as I can find these airlines have no bereavement rates:
AirTran, Alaska, Frontier,  Jetblue, Southwest, US Airways

This list is not meant to cover all airlines of course and the policies may change over time.  

Is Flying First Class Worth The Cost?

No.  Flying first class is not 'worth' the extra cost.   I guess I'll have to elaborate or this article will be way too short.


The other day Consumerism Commentary wrote about their Traveling First Class for the First Time.  Coincidentally I have also recently flown first class for the first time.



On a recent trip my wife decided to splurge by upgrading to first class on one flight segment on our return flight.   The flight in question was a short one hour trip.  When we checked in the automated self service checkin computer pitched the upgrade.     The cost of the upgrade was $45 per seat.   With two seats it cost $90 total.  However we were checking a bag and the bag was free for 1st class versus paying $25 fee to check it for coach.  We actually spent $65 more than checking the bag and flying coach so it was $32.50 extra per seat to upgrade.   I figured if I was ever going to fly first class spending $65 to do so wasn't a bad way to experience it.

I think I can say as a fact without getting much argument that fist class is nicer than coach.   The seats are comfy and there was more leg space.  It was nice.   They also pamper you a little bit.   You have a single flight attendant serving a few people and you get real glassware and silverware for the food.  The experience overall was nice and fun.   I wouldn't say it was worth the extra $65, but it was a splurge so we enjoyed it.

After that flight I was curious myself if paying more for first class tickets might be worth it as a splurge.   I did some quick searching to compare the costs between coach fare and first class on both domestic and international an example trips.

International flight
flying time :30 hours for 1 stop versus 18 hours for nonstop

Coach : $835 for one stop or $1,028 for nonstop
First : $10,392 for one stop and $13,156 for nonstop

Domestic flight
flying time : 7 hours for 1 stop and 5 hours for non stop


Coach : $196 for 1 stop and $231 for nonstop
First : $633 for 1 stop or $765 for nonstop

The cost of a first class fare is anywhere from 200% more up to 1200% more than the coach fares.   This is a huge markup.    One argument for first class I've heard is that its much more worth it for the longer international flights.   I certainly would enjoy a comfy first class journey as opposed to a crampt coach flight for a long 8 hour flight overseas.   However those international first class fares are over $10,000 more expensive than the coach fares.  You could buy a car for that much money.  

Free food, free booze, Free bags

One benefit of first class flight is that you get some free stuff that you'd have to pay for in coach.   My wife and I avoided the $25 checked bag fee by upgrading.  If we'd eaten meals or drank any booze then that would have been free too.  Generally I'd estimate that this could save you up to $100 roundtrip if you check bags and eat meals.   That helps offset some of the cost of first class but alone is not going to make up for much of the added cost.

Generally flying first class is just a luxury.   I can't see any way that I could justify spending 3 to 13 times as much for this luxury.

Two Tricks to Keep United Miles from Expiring

A few weeks ago I got a letter in the mail from United saying that my miles would expire within a few months.   The mailer had an insert with a way to cash in some of my miles for magazine subscriptions.   I didn't want any magazines and I didn't want my miles to go to waste either.   I went to the United airlines site and looked through the options on redeeming miles but they didn't have anything I really wanted to use my miles for.  I found and used two ways to keep my United miles from expiring and both were fairly easy and low cost.

Success!

  I've talked about ways to keep miles from expiring before. These two tricks are a little more specific and unique to United miles.

Trick #1 ) Get a restaurant reservation.     In the United Miles Plus shopping* system you can reserve a table at a restaurant and get 60 miles for doing so.   They use the OpenTable reservation system to do the reservations.   Of  course I wouldn't go out to a fancy dinner only to keep my miles from expiring.   It just happened that I had plans to have dinner with a friend at a restaurant that was in the reservation system.  I would have eaten there anyway so making the reservation didn't cost me anything nor cause me to go spend money I wouldn't have.

Trick #2 ) Buy something for $1.     There are many shops on the United shopping site.   Some of the shops have free shipping and cheap items.   I arbitrarily chose Newegg.com since I'm familiar with them and I buy computer stuff there on occasion.    I searched Newegg and  I was able to find a roll of electric tape to buy with free shipping that was just 99¢.     Buying that item for 99¢ got me 1 mile which extended the expiration of my miles.    I don't really need electric tape so I'm kind of wasting a dollar on it but one dollar is worth spending to keep from losing 11,000 miles.     I don't see electric tape there anymore but someone is selling many Magic the Gathering cards for 99¢ with free shipping.   I was initially worried that only spending 99¢ wouldn't get me a mile, but they rounded it up and I got credit for one mile.

One thing to watch out for is that the miles earned through the shopping site might take several weeks to hit your account.   You need to do this well in advance of the expiration date for your miles to make sure it works.   The United website says that it can take several weeks for the miles to be credited to your account.   For me it took around 2-3 weeks to see the credits.

It would be best to plan to use these tricks in advance.  If you dine out at a restaurant in the OpenTable system with any regularity then simply remembering to use the United site to make your reservation 1-2 times a year would keep your miles from expiring.   Or if you do online shopping at any of the stores in the United shopping site then you can use their site to start your online shopping and get miles that way.   This way you can incorporate some free United miles in your normal activities and not cause any unnecessary or unplanned spending.

* Unfortunately as I write this today and yesterday I have not been able to get to United Plus shopping website.  It looks like the server is down.  I assume that is just a temporary problem and hopefully its fixed by the time you read this.

Finding the Rough Dollar Value of Airline Miles

Right now you can get a United airlines mileage card that promises "up to" 40,000 free bonus United miles.   If you qualify and buy enough in the year then you can get 40,000 miles.   Thats a lot of miles.   In my mind I first though, "hmm that should be enough to fly to Europe and save like $1000".   So my first impression is that the bonus miles offered are worth roughly $1000 in airline tickets. 

But what are those miles really worth?   It depends on what the cost of the airline tickets are, where you fly and how many miles it costs to get the ticket in question.   I decided to do some quick searches to get a rough idea of the value of airline miles for a couple airlines.

I searched for flights from the West coast to Dublin.   One stop was about $927 whereas two stop flights was only $3 cheaper at $924.  Of course I'd pay an extra $3 to avoid a stop.  United flights only had options with 2 stops and the miles were 30,000 each way for 60,000 miles total.  This makes the exchange of United miles versus cash to 60,000 miles = $924 cash.  Therefore 1 mile = 1.54¢

Looking at a flight to Atlanta from the West coast next I find that  with a bit of flexibility on dates that 37,500 United miles can get me a flight.   If I'm not flexible then it would cost 50,000.   Buying a ticket would be about $375 and shopping around for dates would only save maybe $10 as far as I saw.   If I'm flexible with my dates then 37,500 United miles = $375 but if I'm not flexible then 50,000 miles = $375.   Therefore flexibility means 1 mile = 1¢ but inflexible causes 1 mile = 0.75¢.

I can find a flight to Vegas for 25,000 United miles without too much hunting.    On Orbitz the flights start around $160.    This exchange makes the miles = 0.64¢.

So from my quick sample of 3 cities I get rough value for the United miles  as follows:

United Miles 
International = 1.54¢
Cross Country = 0.75¢ or 1¢
Local = 0.64¢

I did similar searches for Alaska Air as well.  The miles were fairly similar for flights to Las Vegas or Atlanta.   The flight to Dublin was harder to find and cost much more for some flights.


Alaska Miles 
International = 1¢ to 1.54¢
Cross Country = 0.93¢ or 1¢
Local = 0.64¢

I picked United and Alaska to do my quick searches since I have the most miles with those airlines.   If you've got a lot of miles with a specific airline then you might want to do a couple quick searches to check out availability for flights to cities you commonly fly to or would like to fly to.  That will give you an idea what your miles are worth.   If you're ever considering signing up for an airline miles rewards credit card like the United card I mentioned at the start, then you should definitely figure out how much the miles are worth and how easy it is to get the flights you'd want.

Bottom Line : The dollar value of airline miles will vary and depend on where you fly.   For my quick searches I found values from 0.64¢ to 1.54¢ per mile.

Summary of Travel Related Articles

Now would be a good time to start planning a summer vacation.  I've written quite a bit about travel over the years.   Take look back at some of those articles for some good travel related money saving ideas.

General Travel Frugal Tips

First of all you can use some basic ideas to save money on your transportation and lodging :

Planes,Trains, Buses and Cars - Picking How to Get There- Save money on getting there and back by picking the 'best' option.
Save money on car rental by changing rental location - You can cut your rental car costs by using this trick.
Using Hotwire and Betterbidding.com for good hotel rates and eBates and Hotwire.com or Hotel.com for 2-3% off hotels - These are a couple ways to shave some cost off of your hotel costs.
 
Milking The Most out of Miles

Don't pass up free airline miles and hotel points.   If you travel much those free rewards can add up over time.

Consolidate your airline miles and hotel points - Its better to have all your points on as few as systems as possible rather than having small amounts of points across several companies.
How airline loyalty can pay off - Sticking to certain providers might make sense.

Sign up for Mileage card and get free airfare- Using a mileage credit card can get you a free trip.
Should I cash in airline miles sooner or save them - Consider when to use the miles to maximize the benefit.
Cheap ways to delay expiration of airline miles - Keep your miles from dying or expiring.
Ways to use small amounts of airline miles- Finally if you can't use the miles for travel then you might get some other benefit out of them

Vegas Baby!

I lost count of how many times I've been to Vegas.  Its at least a dozen times I'm sure.   I learned a few things in my multiple trips and some of my experience there can help save you money.

A few frugal learnings from Vegas vacation
Beware Las Vegas Resort Fees - If you're booking a hotel in Vegas you need to know about this so you don't get caught with that surprise $120 extra bill for the resort fee you didn't notice when you booked the room.
Saving Money in Vegas series: Ground transportation, Hotels, Food, Entertainment - This is a series of sub topics covering different costs in Vegas and how you can save money in each category.

Miscellaneous Travel : GPS good, Timeshare bad

GPS navigation for your car saves time and money  - I really like my GPS unit.   I think its a great buy and it can be helpful on vacation trips too. I may be stretching it to try and claim they are money savers, but hey if they save time thats good enough.
Buying a timeshare is not a good idea - Frankly I think that timeshares are a horrible rip off.   

By Owner Rentals : Refundable or Non-refundable? ... Depends

I read Budgeting in the Fun Stuff written by Crystal, (good blog check it out).   She recently wrote an article  Please Comment on this Bad Experience with a Vacation Rental. Crystal is talking about a bad experience that Sandy from First Gen American had with a vacation rental home.  [edit : removed references to dead links] Sandy had rented a property on VBRO and had to cancel due to bad weather.   The owner of the property refused to refund her money.   The rental contract apparently doesn't allow for refunds, but Sandy thinks she was scammed.

 I read all about Sandy and her unfortunate $1200 loss.   At first it seemed like a rip off.   But then I thought that it really depends on the policy.   I wouldn't expect a refund from Hotwire since their hotel reservations are explicitly nonrefundable.    But if I got a standard reservation with a Holiday Inn Express directly and they wouldn't refund me then I'd be quite upset.   It all depends on the system and what the normal expectations are.   That all brought me to wonder:   What IS the cancellation and refund policy for vacation rentals  on VBRO?

I dug around the help section on VBRO to find out what their policy was.  Getting a straight answer on this was a lot harder than I expected.    First of all it was harder than I thought to even get a detailed answer to "what is VBRO?" or "what does VBRO do?"

They have a button/tab at the top of their page named "Rental Guarantee".   I click on that figuring that it will explain what VBRO's guarantee is.   But its just a link to buy vacation insurance.   No real help there.
 The "About VBRO" link should tell me more.   There isn't too much there either.   At least they have a basic description of what VBRO is:  "We provide an online space for homeowners to advertise their vacation properties and make it easy for travelers to search 150,000+ rentals in over 100 countries worldwide."

I wandered into their help section.   Finally on this help page I found the following at the bottom:

Note: You may want to consider the HomeAway HomeAway Carefree Guarantee, as well as a signed lease agreement with the owner/manager. See "Protecting yourself while renting "by-owner" http://www.vrbo.com/global/protect_yourself.htm for more details.

OK.   I then visit that last link to see what they recommend for "Protecting yourself while renting"
That page is mostly about how you should protect yourself from fraud on their site from property owners who misrepresent themselves or are outright scammers.   

They do say this :

7. Prior to sending any money to an owner or providing a credit card number, ALWAYS request and receive a completed rental agreement or contract. Be sure it specifies the dates you will be staying in the property, the cost of the rental, any deposits, taxes, cleaning fees, and the cancellation and refund policies.  Without a signed rental agreement DO NOT consider the rental to be yours. If you do and something unforeseen happens, you may have little recourse in getting your funds returned. If an owner prefers not to use a contract or written agreement, find one that will.

Ok, now thats more on target.    I then follow that link on  cancellation and refund policies.

The page on cancellation and refund policies has this to say:

...you will usually need to make a full or partial payment upfront in order to hold the property.

Normally this is not a problem, BUT if you have to cancel your trip (especially at the last minute), you should know that you may forfeit a portion or all of your rental fees. There are ways to protect yourself however - FIRST:  Make sure you know what the cancellation policies are for the property you are renting. SECOND: Consider purchasing Trip Cancellation Insurance for added protection.

and finally :

If you have to cancel your vacation rental trip, are you eligible for a refund? It depends on the cancellation/refund policy of the property that you are renting and how much notice you are able to give.

So the clear cut question & answer would be :

Question: What is the refund and cancellation policy at VBRO?   
Answer: It depends.

Its really your responsibility as a renter to make sure you get a rental agreement from the property owner and then read it before you give them your money.

VBRO is very much like eBay in the kind of service they provide.    VBRO is a medium for people to advertise their stuff.   Like eBay, VBRO does not have any real direct control over the property owners. 

Bottom Line:    If you're renting on VBRO then you need to be extra careful that you understand all the policies and get everything in writing and keep an eye out for scammers.  Don't expect VBRO to act like a big hotel company or a travel agent, they're more like the classified ads.

Should I Cash in Airline Miles Sonner or Save Them?

I currently have a little over 47,000 miles with Alaska Airlines right now.    A few years ago you could get a roundtrip ticket on Alaska for 20,000 miles but they have since increased the cost to 25,000 miles.   I should have probably used my miles sooner than now.  I figured I should decide on a plan to use the miles rather than hang on to them forever.

Theres a few options I've though of for using the miles:

1) I could use 20,000 of those miles to get $200 off of a reservation to some place like Las Vegas.   Thats about 1¢ return per mile. 

2) If I save up a few thousand more miles and hit the 50,000 level then I can get 2 round trip tickets to a destination in the continental US.   Tickets to visit my wife's family in the midwest would cost us $300 to $400 each.   That would be $600 to $800 total for 50,000 miles.   Thats 1.2¢  to 1.6¢ per mile return.t

3) We could go to Hawaii for 45,000 each ticket or 90,000 total.    Roundtrip to Hawaii is about $420 a ticket.   Two tickets is $840 so for 90,000 miles that would be just 0.93¢ per mile.

4) We could save up even more and get tickets to Europe.   Europe is 65,000 per ticket round trip so that would be 130,000 total for my wife and I.   Using Farecompare maps I can see that I could get tickets to Europe for as low as  $600.   Two tickets would cost us around $1200 so for 130,000 miles that would be a rate of 0.92¢ per mile.


With current costs the #3 and #4 options of going to Hawaii or Europe would not  be beneficial.   I'd have to save up a ton more miles and then the value per mile would be lower.

#1 and #2 options are the preferable choices.   If we save up a few thousand more miles then we could potentially get 1.2-1.6¢ per mile total.  

Option #1 is an easy way to get guaranteed value out of the miles and not have to wait longer to accumulate more miles.   However option #1 only has a 1¢ per mile return.    Option #2 would give a better return on my miles depending on choice of destination and the cost of tickets.

I could also buy 3 thousand more miles for a cost of about $83.    Then if I found a flight we wanted to take we could get 2 tickets using 50,000 miles.    This would be worth it if the price of the tickets were more than $553.   That would give us a return of over 1¢ per mile on the 47,000 miles we've got now.   Simply flying to Vegas would cost us over $500 so that wouldn't be too hard to do.

Bottom Line:  It would be best for me to cash in the points for a domestic flight of some sort.   Waiting for a expensive trip to Europe or Hawaii wouldn't pay off.

What Not To Do In 5 Major Cities

Yahoo Travel ran an article titled "What Not To Do In... "

Here are the things they recommend that you do NOT do in five major tourist cities.

In Los Angeles Don't...Bother with Venice or Santa Monica Beaches or Shell Out for Star Maps

In London Don't...Hop on a sightseeing bus or Visit Madame Tussauds
In Paris Don't...Spend all day at the Louvre or Musée d'Orsay or Seek out bohemian ambience on the Left Bank
In Las Vegas Don't...Use the Casino ATMs or Arrive at the Airport 30 Minutes Before Your Flight
In New York City Don't ... Take a twilight carriage ride in Central Park and Eat at a restaurant in Times Square

I'm not familiar with most of these things.  I've been to LA, London and Las Vegas.   I definitely agree that Venice beach is not worth the time.   My wife and I went there and it was a total waste.   Parking nearby is a giant hassle and very expensive to pay for.   The beach itself is extremely over crowded with little useful attractions.   The two items for Las Vegas are very true.  Casino ATMs are very over priced and the Las Vegas airport can be one of the busiest and slowest to get through.

Living on a Cruise Ship : Is it Practical?

Wandering around the web I saw someone suggest the idea of living full time on a cruise ship during retirement.   Sounds like a neat idea.   Pay the cruise ship a flat amount and get your accommodations and meals all included.   They even have doctors on the ships.     OK so its a neat idea. But is it feasible?  Is it practical?   I decided to look into the idea a bit more.

Yes people have done it
Turns out that Snopes.com the urban myth debunk/verification site actually addressed the topic.   There has been an email floating around talking about people retiring to a cruise ship full time instead of a retirement home.      They verified it as true at least for one person.   A woman named Bea Muller who was 86 at the time had been living full time on the QE2.   Her costs were $5,000 a month at the time they say.   A later report said that the same woman was looking for a home when the QE2 was retired.

Is it practical?  

I found an article about a physician who said they looked at the cost comparison of living on a cruise ship versus assisted living and decided the costs were fairly equivalent.   But they don't go into real specifics on how they figured the costs for either.   Frankly that doesn't do much to convince me.  

An article on the Dallas News titled  Love to cruise? You can live on a ship discussed the topic and they did a pretty good job.   They cite 12 month costs of in the range of $75,000 to almost $180,00.
They say: "If you sailed on the Azamara Quest from Feb. 1, 2008, through Jan. 31, 2009, an inside cabin would start at $75,000; a verandah cabin at $105,000." and "A Celebrity cruise averages $125 per person, per day for an inside stateroom, or about $45,625 per person for someone who books a yearlong stay." and for Cunard liners "an outside Britannia cabin would start at $108,296 per person. For a Princess Grill Cabin: $179,884 per person"

So all the reports I'm finding talk about costs in the $60,000 to $180,000 range.   I wouldn't consider those prices 'practical'.

I did some shopping myself to see how easily you could book lower priced cruises back to back.  I just searched on Travelocity myself. 

Here is my example itinerary with costs:

Nov 4-19: I first found a Norwegian cruise on Nov. 4th departing Miami and going to Los Angeles for a 15 day trip.  The cruise was $1,298 for two people with a senior citizen and repeat customer discount.  Taxes and fees are $637 for a total of $1,935.

Nov 19 : I was not able to find a cruise leaving on the 19th.  However Norwegian had a 1 day cruise for the 19th going 'nowhere'.   So you could book that overnight stay on their ship.  Total cost for 2 with taxes / fees : $245

Nov 20- Dec 5th : On the 20th Norwegian cruises made a return trip from L.A. back to Miami for another 15 day journey.   This time the trip was $1,298 but the fees and taxes were $709 for a total of $2,007 for two seniors.

Dec 5 - 18 : Another trip from Miami back to L.A.  Cost $1,208 + taxes and fees $595 for total $1,804.

Dec 18-25 : Now the trips from Miami to L.A. and back seem to end.  The only trips I can find out of L.A. are trips down to Mexico and back to L.A.   A 7 day trip would be $1178 + tax/fee $158 = $1337.

Dec 25- Jan 1 : Another week trip down to Mexico and back to L.A. Cost $1592 + tax/fee $158 = $1751

I could go on like this finding trips back and forth.    But I think this is a good enough example.   The cheapest route I got was 15 days for $1,804.   So best case I would be paying $3,600 for a month of cruise ship travel.  

Adding up 2 months of my example:
Nov 4 to Jan 1 = $1,935 + $245 + $2,007 + $1,804 + $1,337 + $1,751 = $9,079 
That means that for 2 months I am paying about $9,000 for two people.   Or roughly $4,500 per month or $54,000 a year.

Sample of costs over various months
I did a quick search for cruises in various months to see what the cheapest cruises ($ / day) are for each month.   Again I just looked at Travelocity. The taxes and fees tend to run about 50% of the nightly cost.   So if I take the average of the cheaper nightly rates and multiply by 1.5 to add taxes/fees then multiply by 30 I can approximate the average monthly costs.

March : $38 to $47 = $3,825 / month
April : $43 to $54 = $4,365 / month
May : $46 to $52 = $4,410 / month
June : $62 to $68 = $5,850 / month
July : $86 to $90 = $7,920 / month
August : $59 to $60 = $5,355

6 month average $5,288/ month
12 month average total $63,450

Adding in the variations form month to month over 6 month period and assuming thats demonstrative of 12 months I can guesstimate the annual costs.   The total cost for two people to take cruises non stop works out to approximately $63,450 per year.    Thats just a ballpark estimate of course, actual rates will vary depending on the circumstances and theres nothing to lock in a price long term.   $63,450 is a pretty large sum of money and not something that is feasible for most people to pay.


Wait a second, we haven't  paid for everything

When you go on a cruise you get food and your room included.  But there are other costs you have to consider.    Each cruise line will vary on the details and some will charge for some things and other services may be free.   The exact charges will depend on the cruise line.   I'm going to just look at Norwegian as an example.   (not picking on them, just a random example)   Other cruise lines may be more or less for any given service.

Tipping
You are also generally expected to tip the staff.   It is common for cruise companies to add the tips as a 'service charge'.  Norwegian says in their FAQ : "Onboard Service Charges are additional. A charge of $12 per person per day will automatically be added to your onboard account."

$12 a day is the kind of charge you might accept in stride for a 5 day cruise.   Its not fun having extra fees but another $120 on top of your $2,000 cruise doesn't cause most people to throw out the idea.  Its one of those additional 'extra' costs added in at the end like the $1-$5 extra fee many hotels like to charge for the pleasure of helping them pay for their electricity bill or the luxury of having a working phone.

But over a year $12 a day adds up to a LOT.   $12 a day for 2 people = $8,760 a year.

Laundry:  Oh, you want clean clothes?    That will be extra.  Norwegian apparently used to have self service laundry so you could do your own laundry but they apparently got rid of that.   Now you either have to pay them to wash your clothes if you want it done.    I found a discussion of the topic online in a message board.  One person said: 'I have found the laundry prices onboard to be comparable to what a hotel would charge for the same service' which is what I figured.   Hotel rates for laundry are expensive.   But another person mentioned that hey do have specials on the ships for $25 / bag full of laundry.   Thats cheaper than hotel prices but still quite expensive.    Ok say you do one bag a week at $25 / week.   That equals $100 / month or $1,200 a year for laundry.

Ship board doctor:   Yes there is a doctor on the ship.  But no they are not free.   Norwegians FAQ says:
"A physician and nurse are on each ship to provide medical care and services at customary charges."   No telling if "customary charges" means average rates or super duper expensive.   Do they take insurance?   Who knows.  The cost of shipboard medical care would be a very big question mark for anyone.    And furthermore the quality of the medical care could be questionable.   Apparently there is virtually no regulation of medical care on ships and no assurance that the doctor is a trained M.D. from a reputable school.

Internet:   They do have internet on  the ship for Norwegian, but it is not free.  In fact its really expensive.    The fees for internet are : Pay as you go for 75¢ per minute or 250 minutes for $100.   


Fuel supplements :   Right now Norwegian does not charge extra for a  fuel supplement.   But they might.
"The Company reserves the right to re-instate the fuel supplement for all guests should the price of light sweet crude oil according to the NYMEX (New York Mercantile Exchange Index) increase above $65 per barrel."

Other charges:   If you want beverages, entertainment, shore excursions or anything else then they'll all cost you extra and it won't be cheap.

Is it cheaper for a single person?

No.   Cruise prices are cited on a per person double occupancy basis.  If you travel alone then you are taking up a stateroom by just one person.   The price for a single person will be higher than the cost for two people sharing a room.


Bottom line:   You can feasibly live on a cruise ship by booking back to back cruises non stop.   However this is not a cheap way to live and you should expect costs to exceed $60,000 a year for two people.

You do NOT NEED to Take Annual Family Vacations

When I as a kid growing up we did not take family vacations every year.   What vacations we did take were all by car and mostly to nearby states.   I don't think we took any vacation at all half the years I grew up.   I never thought this was abnormal and I never felt I was being "cheated" by not getting to go on vacations. We didn't go to a Disney theme park until I was in my late teens.   There were 3 specific vacations we took while I was growing up that were specifically memorable including the Disney trip.  Any other vacations we took were camping trips or the like that I don't really remember specifically.

 My family didn't have a lot of money growing up.   As a kid I knew we were not rich but I didn't think we were poor.  I thought we were somewhere in the middle.  Sometimes I wanted more toys or a new bike or wish my family had a fancier house or nicer cars.   But I don't ever recall wishing my parents would take me on vacations.   I never yearned for travel or vacations as a child.   I don't think most children naturally desire to travel far from home nor expect it.  

I think that outside influences cause people to feel vacations are necessary.  Kids may see marketing by Disney or other theme parks and get the idea that they "need" to go on a vacation to such a destination.   But if we bought our kids every thing they saw on a commercial that they wanted then they'd have every toy known to man.  Parents see their peers and others going on vacations and feel it is the expected norm and then decide it is something they ought to do.   And of course parents may want to take vacations themselves for the enjoyment of it.   If we bought everything we wanted we'd all be broke.

A combination of parental want and perceived needs of the child can be used to justify expensive vacations.    I think that some parents take their own desires for a fun vacation and then using the rationale that their kids 'need' it to justify an unwarranted luxury expense.    If you were broke and single and wanted to go to Las Vegas would you spend that money?   If you did it would clearly be a frivolous expenditure.   But if you're married with kids and want to go on a vacation then you may feel it is 'justified' since the kids need it as a normal part of growing up and you don't want them to go without the normal things you think kids should have yadda yadda yadda.  

Younger children do not remember vacations or don't remember much of them.   I vaguely remember a trip to San Francisco as a very young child and about all I really remember was riding the San Francisco cable car and buying  cable car toy.     I have a vague recollection of going to Montana at some point when I was young and all I recall of the trip is that it was muddy.   My wife went to Disneyland when she was 2-3 years old and she doesn't remember the trip at all.   Her relatives remember the trip and they have some pictures to prove it.   I hope our parents didn't spend a lot of money for those vacations as I am only left with two notable memories and my wife doesn't recall her trip at all.   In my opinion, I would say that taking a child on a vacation when they are under 7 years old is basically a waste of money cause they probably won't remember anything about the trip.

Travel spending adds up

Source: Bundle.com

If you look into the data on spending at Bundle.com under the 'everybody's money' section you can find out how much different demographic groups spend on travel expenses.   The image on the left is from the Bundle site.  : Married families with kids making $20,000 to $40,000 per year spend an average of $46 per month on travel expenses.    Thats annual average spending of $552.   That may not sound like a lot of money but if you're a family with kids making under $40,000 then your basic expenses are relatively high for your income level and $552 a year is a large amount.    Sending on travel and vacations can have a significant impact of a family, especially families with lower income levels.

Vacation spending is a luxury and not a 'need' at all.  It is not abusing your children if you don't take them to Disney World every few years.   In fact your children do not 'need' to go on any vacations at all.   Vacations are a luxury expense that should fall very low on your spending priorities.    Of course vacations are fun and I'm sure most people enjoy taking them.   It is natural that people 'want' to take vacations.  If you can afford it then that is great, I think you should enjoy a nice family vacation now and then.   But if your family has cash problems or is having a hard time saving for basic things then spending money on a vacation is an unnecessary luxury.   You should not feel obligated to take annual family vacations and doing so should not be prioritized over spending on basic needs or saving money for your retirement.