And we’re off! It’s the first full day of Flying by the Seat of our Points travel and I have a busy one on tap: first class for one to Santa Barbara, followed by a road trip down the California Coast full of good food and great beaches.
Next Live Check In: Wednesday, June 5th at 9PM ET via YouTube Livestream. (Check out our Monday night livestream revealing the domestic convergence destination here and subscribe to our YouTube channel for notifications! Follow us on Instagram, YouTube, and this blog to keep up with all the action, and to see who will win this last-minute travel challenge.
June 5th, 2024 (stage 1, day 2)
First Class and a train down the Coast
When I heard that LAX was our first Flying by the Seat of our Points destination, I knew that I would have to think creatively to compete with the fancy-pants transcontinental awards that Nick and Greg would likely be booking.
My immediate thought was to use it as an opportunity to take a trip on the Pacific Surfliner, a marvelous coastal Amtrak train that operates between Santa Barbara and San Diego.
Checking the train’s schedule, I saw that there were departures from both San Diego and Santa Barbara (SBA) that would get me into LA with over an hour to get to the hotel, so I began looking to see which of the them had the best redemption options using miles. I was especially intrigued by SBA, as I knew that Alaska had a nonstop flight from Seattle on the E-175, a regional aircraft that has a 1-2 business class seating arrangement, meaning that there are two seats on one side of the plane and and one seat on the other. That solo aisle/window seat is probably my favorite domestic first class that’s not lie-flat, because it gives you tons of room, direct aisle access and your own window. It’s 6’3″ bliss.
Checking availability through both AwardTool and PointsYeah, I didn’t immediately find any options that were terribly inspiring to San Diego. Everything was expensive, had lengthy connecting itineraries, or both. Santa Barbara was another story. That non-stop flight from Seattle that I was hoping for was insanely priced on Alaska…65K for first class. Economy seats were “only” 15K, and given the amount of available first class seats, I was fairly confident that I could get an upgrade…but I really wanted my flight to be cheaper than Nick and Greg’s, so I needed it to be less than 15K.
Luckily, both search tools also saw that same Alaska flight on Iberia, and at a price of only 11,000 Avios. However, I didn’t want to actually book the ticket using Iberia, as its partner awards are non-cancellable and non-refundable and I wasn’t 100% certain that I’d be put on the first class upgrade list on Alaska if I was flying on an Avios award. Probably 95% of the Alaska reps you talk to will tell you that you don’t get elite status when flying on a partner award, but I’ve found that’s often incorrect.
Neither tool found the Alaska flight using British Airways Avios, but I knew that it should theoretically be there, so I went to the website. Sure enough, it was:
I jumped on the booking, knowing that if I had to cancel, I could do so up to 24 hours before departure and only be out $5.60 in fees.
Now, it was time to see if I get my Alaska 100K status associated with the ticket – which I thought would get me a confirmed upgrade to first class. Unfortunately, tickets booked with BA Avios automatically add your BA Executive Club number, and there’s no way to change it online. However, there’s a bizarre workaround where you can access Avios bookings via certain other oneworld airlines’ websites and then change your number. Finnair.com is one of those sites, so I went there, selected “manage booking,” and from there I was able to change the frequent flyer number from BA to Alaska:
But did all that work?
After I exited the ticket, went to my Alaska account and saw the flight was listed there, along with my 100K status and an automatic upgrade to premium class!
About an hour later, as I hoped, I got an e-mail that I had been upgraded to first. Eureka!
I selected my seat, ordered what I wanted for breakfast and was on my way. I thought that I was completely set: I had a great first class award for only 11,000 Avios and a business seat on the Pacific Surfliner for 2,000 Amtrak points…and it was barely 90 minutes after finding out where we were going. Easy-peasy, right?
Not. So. Fast.
This is why we can’t have nice things
Right after I booked my flight, Stephen e-mailed us the location of the hotel that we were meeting at today and it was almost an hour’s drive from the train station. And I’d be arriving at 4:48. In rush hour.
LA metro ran to a stop that was only about 400 feet from the hotel, but Google told me that the trip would take just over an hour. If everything ran right on time, I’d get to the hotel 4 minutes before our livestream. If anything was delayed, which was highly likely given the combination of Amtrak and LA public transit, I’d get there after our livestream started and get a big DQ with no points for stage one.
I couldn’t risk it. It was time for plan B.
There was no other option to take the train from Santa Barbara that didn’t require me getting in the night before (a non-starter, since the grinch Stephen would penalize me for adding an unnecessary overnight to a two-hour flight. San Diego had a fine option for the train departure, but the flight redemptions were crap: there was no space on BA or Iberia and first class was nearly full on every flight I could find.
So I pivoted.
Looking at rental cars, I found a one-way option from Santa Barbara to LAX that I could book using 950 Hertz points. Perfect! Not only could I do a relaxed road trip down one of my favorite parts of the California coast, I also had my transportation to the hotel AND to the airport afterwards paid for (assuming, of course, that Hertz didn’t arrest me first).
I was finally good to go.
But what are you actually doing today?
I now what you’re probably thinking, “Enough already! Can you just get to what you’re doing for stage 1!”
Why yes, I can.
I’m currently writing this from seat 3A on my Alaska flight to Santa Barbara. Once I arrive, I’ll pick up my rental car…and that’s when the fun starts.
Carrie and Stephen gave us a fun mini-challenge: after landing, we have to eat a meal from the country that we think we’re going to next. Whoever’s guess is closest to their actual destination will receive 3 points for the challenge, whoever’s guess is second closest will get 2 points and whoever whiffs the worst will get 1 point for participating.
Thing is, I’m torn. Even more to the point, there’s a lot of great food between Santa Barbara and Los Angeles. So, I’m going to use this mini-challenge as an excuse to take us all on a food tour of the California Coast, hopefully with a beach walk (or two) thrown in. At each stop, I’ll explain which country/region the food that I’m having represents and the reasons why I think that might be where Carrie and Stephen are sending me. Those following along on Instagram will the see the action in real-time, but I’ll summarize what went down on tomorrow’s journal entry. On tonight’s livestream, before Carrie and Stephen announce our final destination, I’ll winnow down all the options to my final, winning guess.
Previous Journal Entries
June 4th, 2024: On the way to LA-LA Land (stage 1, day 1)
While LAX might seem like a great destination for a Seattle-based traveler, it’s deceptively tricky with some significant pitfalls. Nick and Greg have access to all sorts of lie-flat transcontinental space from the East Coast and Dallas, as well as several tranches of First Class, Capital One and Centurion Lounges between there and LA. Although they’re all the way across the country, I think it will actually be easier for them to get some sexy redemptions (especially Nick, who has access to some smaller airports that often get better deals than the big ones).
Seattle’s proximity to LAX means that I don’t have access to any of those lie-flat routes, without first going to Hawai’i, Denver or Dallas. The judges stated very clearly last night that over-complexity for its own sake won’t be tolerated: if we make a complex itinerary, it has to have an enjoyable reason behind it. For Nick and Greg, scheduling through Dallas to get AA First Class and a Capital One Lounge visit is sensible from where they’re starting. For me it’s waaaaay out of the way. Worse, many programs will price my awards from Seattle at the same level as Nick and Greg’s because they’re all domestic, so racking up a gaudy, high-value redemption for me will be a challenge indeed.
That said, I still think I have a chance to compete. I have a few ways that I’m thinking about how I might be able to wow the judges, and where I may be able to sneak an advantage in:
- I want whatever I book to be excellent value. My flight has to be cheap in miles and expensive in cash. Ideally, I’ll be able to leverage my status or one of my upgrade instruments to bling up an economy award, as opposed to paying full-price for business. I also will be looking to utilize a program with a distance-based chart to take advantage of my proximity to LA.
- My trip needs to be a journey. Nick and Greg undoubtedly have an advantage in flight selection, but I also have one in that I don’t necessarily have to spend as much time in the air. So, the time that I have, I need to use to create an adventure that brings some of the “panache” that Stephen and Carrie are looking for. At the end of the day, I want them to look at my day and say “that looked like fun,” not just, “he did a good job getting from A to B.”
- Just because I can’t do lie-flat doesn’t mean I can’t do fancy. Even though I don’t have convenient access to lie-flat seats, that doesn’t mean that I can’t get something better than a standard 2 x 2 domestic recliner. I’m going to try and route myself in such a way that I can get 1-2 seating, where one seat is both the aisle and the window. It’s my favorite domestic first class seating that isn’t lie-flat, and I want to be able to show it off tomorrow.
- I don’t care about arriving at the hotel first. This feels like the cornucopia at the beginning of The Hunger Games…a distraction that actually ends up causing more problems than it solves. I’m not at all concerned with arriving at the hotel first. I’ve shared rooms with both Nick and Greg. One snores more than other (I’ll never say who), but I can deal with either one. That’s why the good lord made ear buds. If I have three hours that I can use to explore the destination and show the judges that I took a big, tasty bite out of Southern California, I’ll take it…and I’ll sleep just fine sharing a room with either of them afterwards (and, who knows, I may even be back on a plane tomorrow night, so it might be a non-issue).
I already ran into one snafu, where I thought I had the perfect trip worked out about an hour after our livestream ended last night, but then got the address of the hotel from Stephen and found out that it was further away than I realized, making it tough for me to get there in time. So, I’m back to square one. But, I’m confident that there’s still a killer trip out there waiting for me.
June 3rd 2024 (start of challenge)
How I’m NOT preparing for Flying by the Seat of our Points
A couple of weeks ago, Greg wrote the following in the intro to his challenge prep post:
In a team meeting, I suggested that we each post about how we’re preparing for the challenge. Nick and Tim stared back at me blankly. How does one prepare for a challenge like this?
I’ll admit, he’s right on. My stare was about as blank as could be (but that’s normal). However, what I was actually thinking was “should we prepare for a challenge like this?” We already have one big leg up on anyone who would have to do a similar trip to what we’re attempting here: we know that it’s going to happen. Our schedules are cleared, our families know what’s up and we’re aware of the general timeframe that we’ll be travelling. Given that, I thought it would be fun to try to, as much as possible, maintain the same conditions that existed for me at the exact moment we decided to do this challenge.
So, in the hopefully true spirit of “last minute travel,” I’ve tried as best I could to not do anything out of the ordinary to prepare in advance. This includes:
- I’ve not transferred or earned any points or miles with the purpose of using them in the challenge. What I have, I have. What I’ve gained, I’ve gained through normal activity, without trying to change my earning patterns to accommodate the challenge. Those rewards programs that have extended transfer times will be out of reach for me.
- I haven’t read Carrie and Stephen’s post about how they’re going to score the challenge. There are two reasons for this: 1) I don’t want to allow myself time to strategize beforehand and 2) I don’t want the scoring rules to affect how I think about my primary goal: booking the most luxurious flights and hotels at the best value that make the most sense logistically based on our destinations. Anybody who watches tonight’s livestream will come in knowing more about how the gamemasters will be judging us than I will.
- I’ve not spent any time poring over award charts or program rules in order to prepare for short-in booking. What I knew when we decided to do the challenge is what I know today…and let’s be honest, given my age, I might even know a little less!
- I haven’t done any research on routes, schedules, weather or destinations.
- I haven’t practiced booking short term awards nor done any searches to see if/which programs are releasing close-in award space currently.
- I haven’t purchased any accessories or tools for use on the challenge, nor have I changed my subscriptions on any award tool services.
Now, those who’ve already read Nick and Greg’s posts about what they’re doing to prepare will notice that my approach is a little different. Will my dedication to observing both the letter and the spirit of the challenge rules give me any additional brownie points in the eyes of either the British or West Virginian judges (Stephen and Carrie)?
Probably not. They’re a tough crowd.
However, I hope that it will make all this business just a teensy bit more fun.
Things I hope will help me during Flying by the Seat of our Points
One advantage that Greg, Nick and I have with last minute bookings is that all of us travel a lot…and we book more flights and hotels with points than the average Jan or Joe. As a result, we all have practices that we’ve developed over the years that will hopefully help us wow the judges this week. Here’s a few of mine:
- Travel light, pack well: It normally takes me under ten minutes to pack for a trip and I organize things so that I rarely have to worry about forgetting something day of (which I would undoubtedly do otherwise).
- For this one week trip, I’ll only bring two pairs of quick dry pants, one jacket (that I’ll be wearing), one pair of shoes (that I’ll be wearing) and one or two long-sleeve shirts. I tend to work out daily, so the bulk in my carry-on will be socks, underwear and undershirts that allow me to exercise and still live life as odor-free as possible.
- I have a travel toiletry kit that duplicates everything that I use at home in small bottles. I replenish it when I get back from a trip so that, when I need to leave, I just put the whole kit in my bag and know that I’m good to go.
- I do the same thing with power cords and try to have a duplicate of everything that I need, including a travel adapter, hanging out in my suitcase so that I’m not moving cords back-and-forth.
- I try to keep my carry-on electronics to a minimum: laptop with extra cord, Kindle, two sets of earbuds (because I lose them constantly), charging cable and a backup cellphone battery.
- I don’t need to waste time retrieving checked baggage. I’ll fit everything into a bag that I can take with me onboard almost all airlines.
- I always travel with my Schwab Investor Checking debit card, which waives ATM fees worldwide. This has the dual function of eliminating fees so I can carry less cash (by making smaller withdrawals) and also keeps any potential loss to a minimum should I fall victim to some sort of ATM scam/skim. I usually keep a couple hundred bucks in the account so that I automatically know there’s something in there when I arrive at a new destination (as there’s a four-day waiting period for deposits to be credited after they’re initiated – and I’m not transferring anything additional in advance for this trip because, you know, it’s last minute).
- I always have and bring some sort of prescription traveler’s sickness medication (ie, Cipro). I rarely need to use it, but on those occasions that I have, it’s been a lifesaver…and I won’t have time on this challenge to stop for a day or two because my tummy’s ruffled.
- Usefully diversify points and miles: As you’ll see from the inventory below, I always try to keep my points and miles spread around a variety of programs, keeping redeemable amounts in all the big hotel chains, domestic airlines and transferable currencies (and away from smaller, more obscure programs). This is mainly so I can book fast if I find an award I want and don’t have orphaned miles in programs I rarely use. I think that it will also be handy here, when both price and available inventory will likely be stretched.
- Note that I highlighted “redeemable” above. If you don’t earn a bunch of points/miles throughout the year, it will usually be better to concentrate them into usable amounts within fewer programs. That’s not my situation, so I want to spread everything out just a bit more.
- Use the tools I have: When it comes to being a walking, talking award chart, neither Greg nor I can hold a candle to our friend, Nick Reyes. Nick seemingly has photographic memory when it comes to these sorts of things, and can instantly recall the intra-Asia 500-1000 mile business award price for obscure programs at the drop of a fedora. That’s not me. There’s a reason that I write this stuff down. What I do have is award search tools that I know well and use often. These tools allow me to search multiple programs, alliances, regions and routes fairly quickly and with a high degree of accuracy. My favorites (that I will be using during the challenge) are:
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- Seats.aero – probably the search tool that I use the most often as it allows me to search broad swathes of program-specific availability incredibly quickly
- Pointsyeah and Awardtool – great for drilling down on specific routes over a shorter window of dates
- MaxMyPoint – excellent for hotel availability, with a good mix of search filters (see: Tools for finding impossible hotel awards)
- MaxFHR – the best that I’ve found to quickly look at Amex Fine Hotels and Resorts availability, filterable by price range
Ways that I’ll be challenged during Flying by the Seat of our Points
There’s a few things that will keep me on my toes (literally) over the next 7-8 days. Here’s a couple that I’ll need to negotiate; one by birth, one by choice.
- Sleep: As Greg noted in his prep post, Nick is made for these sorts of trips. Not only doesn’t he need much sleep to begin with, he has the uncanny ability to almost instantly fall asleep the moment he sits down in a plane, train, car, boat or ox cart. Greg does need a good amount of sleep each night to avoid turning into The Frequent Pumpkin, but he shares Nick’s gift of being able to sleep when opportunity strikes (as you can see here). Unfortunately, I’m the exact opposite. I have an occupationally inconvenient inability to fall asleep in any sort of upright position regardless of how tired I am. I can even struggle to sleep for a decent amount of time in lie-flat seats. Because of this, I know I’ll probably be tired after a couple of days. The primary way that I plan to combat this is to exercise daily and, like Greg, I’ll have some sleep aids with me in case I need them on flights or while jet-lagged in hotels.
- Avios: Confession time. My Avios programs are a mess. This is most likely because, when I set each individual program up, I probably used slightly different info in the registrations. What this means now is that I can’t transfer between any programs except for British Airways and Qatar. I was going to fix it months ago, but there was that whole not preparing thing. So I left it broken and won’t be able to consolidate Avios for the challenge and will need to rely on separate transfers if I want to use any of the Avios programs.
Inventory (Points, Certificates, Credits, Lounge Access)
Last Updated: 6/3/24
I feel pretty good about where I’m at with my points and miles balances currently. I’ve got a good chunk in each transferable currency, as well as in all of the major hotel programs – which should come in handy when it comes time to book lodging.
Transferable points
- Amex: ~1.5M points
- ~$150 in airline fee credits
- 2 $200 Fine Hotels and Resorts credits
- Centurion Lounge access
- Bilt: ~2K points
- Capital One: ~510K points
- $300 in travel credit
- Priority Pass access with restaurants
- Capital One Lounge access
- Plaza Premium Lounge access
- Chase: ~150K points
- Citi: ~350K points
Airlines
- Air Canada Aeroplan: ~32K points
- Alaska Mileage Plan: ~1.7M miles
- MVP 100K / oneworld Emerald
- International oneworld Business/First Class lounge access
- 4 Alaska lounge passes
- 12 MVP® Gold Guest Upgrades
- 2 one way AA international upgrades
- ~$900 in travel wallet (from Amex incidental fee credits)
- MVP 100K / oneworld Emerald
- American Airlines AAdvantage: ~850K miles
- Avianca LifeMiles ~14K miles
- Avios
- ~64K with British Airways
- ~50K with Iberia
- ~2K with Qatar
- Delta: ~390K miles
- Etihad: ~4K miles
- Hawaiian: ~3K miles
- JetBlue: ~16K miles
- Lufthansa: ~80K miles
- Southwest: ~175K points
- United Airlines MileagePlus: ~57K miles
- Premier Silver status
- TravelBank: $126
- Virgin Atlantic: ~45k points
Hotels
- Choice Privileges: ~45K points
- Hilton: ~1.1M points
- Diamond status
- 2 free night certs
- Hyatt: ~2.1M points
- Globalist status
- 2 free night category 1-4 cert
- 3 suite upgrade awards
- IHG: ~680K points
- Platinum status
- Marriott: ~500K points
- Titanium status
- 3 85K free night certs
- 2 Nightly Upgrade Awards
- Wyndham Rewards: ~315K points
- Diamond Elite status
Car Rental Programs
- ~2,600 Enterprise points
- ~2,800 Hertz points
Join Team Tim (Subscribe to this Post)
When the challenge begins, I’ll be updating this post regularly. This will be my daily journal where I’ll document my plans, successes, and failures as I go along. I’ll also welcome help. Once we find out where I need to get to, you may have ideas that you’d like to share with me. Perhaps you’ll know a particularly great sweet-spot award to get me there. Or maybe you’ll know a great hotel deal in the destination city. Or maybe you’ll have other advice for the destination city: how to get around, where to eat, etc. If you’re interested in helping me, then commenting at the bottom of this post is how to do it. Also, by subscribing to this post’s comments, you’ll get emailed whenever someone (including me) adds a comment.
Each of the contestants will have a post like this one where everyone is welcome to participate by making suggestions in the comments. You can pick a single team to join (Team Greg, Team Nick, or Team Tim) or, you can click back and forth and help us all. Either way, we’re eager to hear from you!
The post First Class for One and a California Food Tour (Tim’s Flying by the Seat of our Points Journal) appeared first on Frequent Miler. Frequent Miler may receive compensation from CHASE. American Express, Capital One, or other partners.