Stephen and I have been acting as judges for the incredibly fun and fast-paced Flying by the seat of our Points Challenge, which just wrapped up tonight! If you’d like a refresher of how we scored Stage 1, check out this post, or check out this post for a refresher on Stage 2.
You can watch the full livestream below or read this post for a quick summary about how our final judging session went. As a reminder, this time all contestants were trying to reach Kuala Lumpur!
Check out our four livestreams from this challenge:
- revealing the domestic convergence destination here
- reveal the international divergence destinations here
- reveal the final international convergence destination here.
- revealing the final scores (and the winner) here!
Greg’s Stage 3 trip summary
Greg had another fun and comfortable travel day, and paid:
- 75K Qatar Avios + $195.33 EUR ($210.97) for Qatar Business Class ZAG to DOH, and Malaysia Airlines Business Class A350 DOH to KUL
- 5K Hyatt points for the Hyatt Regency in Doha
- $27.71 after $200 FHR rebate for Mandarin Oriental Kuala Lumpur and he’ll get a $100 property credit.
For the above itinerary, Greg got 3 points for flight value as well as 3 points for flight experience. Then, he also got 3 points for hotel value and 3 points for hotel experience as well.
Greg’s exploration challenge was:
- This is a vacation, you’re supposed to be relaxing! (Find an activity that helps you all restore some energy.)
Greg chose a fish spa which was hilariously un-relaxing because the fish were huge and everyone was ticklish, (not to mention Nick hates fish.) He earned 2 points out of a possible 3 because the activity didn’t look relaxing at all…but he gained 1 bonus point for how hilarious the footage of this visit was. He then also gained 1 bonus point for a hilarious miles-and-points-themed guided meditation he led at the top of the Batu Caves.
Greg’s Total for Stage 3: 16 points
Nick’s Stage 3 trip summary
Nick arrived just by the skin of his teeth yet agin. He paid:
- 20K Aeroplan + $78.30 for RAK-FRA Discover business
- 78K LifeMiles + ? in taxes (not a ton, but it was his wife’s account so he hasn’t gotten the specifics yet) for FRA-BKK. This was 68K Amex + 15% transfer bonus
- $127.07 for cash ticket BKK-KUL.
- 23,000 IHG points for the InterContinental Kuala Lumpur. Since he has InterContinental ambassador status, he got guaranteed 4:00 p.m. late checkout as well as a food and beverage credit of up to $20, though it is apparently only good for $10 at that location.
For the above itinerary, Nick got 1 point for flight value and 1 point for flight experience. He then got 3 points for hotel value and 2 points for hotel experience.
His trip was noteworthy in a few ways:
- Because his wife helped him so generously with so many calls for his flight bookings, he earned 1 bonus point.
Nick’s exploration challenge was:
- This is a vacation, you’re not supposed to be relaxing! (Find an activity that gets everyone’s blood pumping.)
Nick took everyone to the world famous Batu Caves which requires a lot of physical exertion just to climb the many many stairs up to the caves. He earned 3 points out of a possible 3 for this activity.
Nick’s Total for Stage 3: 11 points
Tim’s Stage 3 trip summary
Tim had a mostly enjoyable day of travel, and paid:
- 80,000 Aeroplan points + $175 for ZRH – VIE – BKK in Austrian Business class and
BKK – KUL – in Thai Airways economy - ~$37.71 after $200 FHR rebate for Mandarin Oriental Kuala Lumpur and he’ll get a $100 property credit.
For the above itinerary, Tim got 2 points for flight value and 2 points for flight experience. He scored 3 points for hotel value. His very posh experience at the Mandarin Oriental won him 3 points for hotel experience.
Tim’s exploration challenge was:
- This isn’t JUST a vacation! (Find an activity that makes use of your brains!)
He took everyone to a durian tasting. Not only did this highlight a local delicacy in an informational way, he also had some fun interactions with locals, earning him 1 bonus point in addition to his 3 points out of 3 possible points for the activity itself.
Tim’s Total for Stage 3: 14 points
Tim wins Flying by the Seat of our Points…by the seat of his points! (One single point to be exact.)
Congratulations Tim! Even though you’ve never lost a Frequent Miler Annual Challenge before, this is also your first win as well! You did a fabulous job highlighting each destination you visited and traveling in style without breaking the bank.
For more thorough recaps from each journey, read the individual journal posts here!
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