Are Your Miles Getting More Valuable Over Time?

During the week Quartz ran a story with a rather curious headline -- "The simple reason why your airline points always get more valuable."

Now, I don't think there's anyone that likes miles & points more than I do, but I have an "earn & burn" philosophy. Never think of miles as a long term investment. Instead earn them as quickly as you can and then redeem them as quickly as you can. Personally my approach is to never have more miles in an account than I can reasonably redeem within six months. That's why I like to diversify my miles as much as possible.

Can points get more valuable over time? Short term, yes. For example, sometimes an airline announces a new partnership which opens up a great redemption opportunity. For example, when Alaska Mileage Plan miles became redeemable on Emirates, I'd say that increased the value of those miles short term (go figure they're having issues now).

That being said, long term the value of a particular points currency almost invariably goes down (fortunately it also usually becomes easier to earn points over time, which sort of balances things out for the earner and burner).

The post Are Your Miles Getting More Valuable Over Time? appeared first on One Mile at a Time.

from One Mile at a Time http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2015/02/21/are-your-miles-getting-more-valuable-over-time/

Stop Marketing to “Millennials” or Any Other Generation

From time to time people ask my advice about marketing to Generation X or Millennials or any other group of people. When this happens, I always worry.One research firm offered me $250 for an hour-long consultation on this exact topic. I said no, partly because I don’t like to trade time for money, but also on the principle of “What would I say?” If forced to say something, I suppose I’d say that unless you’re selling diapers, it’s a bad idea to market to people based on what generation you think they belong to on account of their birth year.Instead, maybe you should think first about making something that matters. Then, stop putting people in boxes based on how you expect them to behave and what you think they want. You might be surprised at the results, and you might be a lot more successful. Cartoon: Tom Fishburne



from The Art of Non-Conformity http://chrisguillebeau.com/stop-marketing-to-millennials/

This Welsh town is a contest capital

There's such a thing as a Man vs Horse Marathon. No really.



from Matador Network » Matador Network http://matadornetwork.com/pulse/little-welsh-town-saved-becoming-britains-wacky-contest-capital/

Here’s The Plan to Bring Back SkyMall, and My Plan to Do It Better.

Via Miles Remaining, Scottevest founder Scott Jordan has a plan to revive SkyMall. Here’s the sordid tale that led to SkyMall’s bankruptcy My favorite SkyMall item Jordan’s observations are: Skymall is as much entertaining as selling It needs a strong content partner It needs to be fresh So he’s got a content partner and wants […]

The post Here’s The Plan to Bring Back SkyMall, and My Plan to Do It Better. appeared first on View from the Wing.

from View from the Wing http://viewfromthewing.boardingarea.com/2015/02/21/heres-plan-bring-back-skymall-plan-better/

Status Match To Etihad Guest Gold

Etihad Guest seems to frequently offer targeted status matches, though through March 15, 2015, they're offering a more widely available status match opportunity.

The status match opportunity is open to those with "gold cards" in other frequent flyer programs, aside from those that belong to the Etihad Airways group (Aer Lingus, airberlin, Air Serbia, Air Seychelles, Alitalia, Jet Airways). I'm not sure whether they're talking about "gold" tier equivalent (like top tier status in other programs), or any card which is simply "gold" (in which case American's lowest tier status would qualify).

The benefits of Etihad Gold aren't especially rich, at least compared to what we're used to in the US. The benefits are as follows:

The post Status Match To Etihad Guest Gold appeared first on One Mile at a Time.

from One Mile at a Time http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2015/02/21/status-match-to-etihad-guest-gold/

7 Common Excuses People Use to Avoid Family Travel

On the third Friday Saturday of every month, Cameron Wears from The Traveling Canucks is here to give us tips and advice on how to travel better with your kids. This is an often requested topic so I’m excited to have him on the team! Here is this month’s article. Before having kids, we didn’t spend much time thinking about what travel would be like with little ones. We knew having kids would be a big part of our future […]

The post 7 Common Excuses People Use to Avoid Family Travel appeared first on Nomadic Matt's Travel Site.

from Nomadic Matt's Travel Site http://www.nomadicmatt.com/travel-blogs/myths-family-travel/

I’m Now Applying For A 10 Year Chinese Visa!

Late last year, China began issuing 10 year visas for Americans.

In general, the whole visa process really frustrates me:

-- It involves lots of paperwork, which I'm not good at

-- It requires me to part ways with my passport for some amount of time, which makes me feel uneasy (I know I should get a second US passport at some point)

-- The end result is often me just choosing to travel somewhere that doesn't require a visa or that allows visas on arrival

The post I’m Now Applying For A 10 Year Chinese Visa! appeared first on One Mile at a Time.

from One Mile at a Time http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2015/02/21/im-now-applying-for-a-10-year-chinese-visa/

Giving Away All My Worldly Possessions

The next frequent flyer gathering I’ll attend in a small ‘FTU Advanced’ session in San Diego at the beginning of March. April’s Dallas event will be the only major Frequent Traveler University this year. Just a little window into my personal quirks. One of the things I do as I prepare for these is clean […]

The post Giving Away All My Worldly Possessions appeared first on View from the Wing.

from View from the Wing http://viewfromthewing.boardingarea.com/2015/02/21/giving-away-all-my-worldly-possessions/

Mini-guide to German slang

A German woman does not have a “nice rack"...she has “a lot of wood in front of her shack” (Ordentlich Holz vor der Hütte haben).



from Matador Network » Matador Network http://matadornetwork.com/life/mini-guide-german-slang/

In Transit Blog: A Festival to Celebrate New Zealand-China Ties

The Auckland Lantern Festival will highlight Chinese culture in New Zealand, and will include plays on the topic.

















from NYT > Travel http://rss.nytimes.com/c/34625/f/642561/s/43a0b12d/sc/10/l/0Lintransit0Bblogs0Bnytimes0N0C20A150C0A20C20A0Ca0Efestival0Eto0Ecelebrate0Enew0Ezealand0Echina0Eties0C0Dpartner0Frss0Gemc0Frss/story01.htm

Isabella in Mid-air

Trampoline Places I know these things are popping up in cities all over the place. They are a great idea — I wish I had them when I was a kid! This is kind of a cool concept – this idea that people take warehouses and turn them into inside-playgrounds for kids. It’s kind of […]



from Stuck in Customs http://www.stuckincustoms.com/2015/02/21/isabella-in-mid-air/

Let’s set the Wi-Fi free now!

from Elliott http://elliott.org/blog/lets-set-wi-fi-free-now/

Side Street in the Old City of Dubrovnik, Croatia

from Everything Everywhere Travel Blog http://everything-everywhere.com/2015/02/20/side-street-in-the-old-city-of-dubrovnik-croatia/

Passengers Checked Their Bags. Guess What Didn't Happen Next?

American Airlines says a "technical issue" led to its planes departing Miami -- without the hundreds of bags that passengers had checked.



from Travel Feedly http://www.ibtimes.com/american-airlines-strands-luggage-multiple-flights-miami-blames-technical-issue-1823612

Etihad Airways Offering Status Match to Their Gold Elite Level

Etihad Airways is offering to status match elites from other airlines to their Gold level. Status matches are of course common though increasingly airlines will only give you status for a limited period of time, if at all, until you first fly a certain amount with them. Etihad on the other hand offers straight-up status […]

The post Etihad Airways Offering Status Match to Their Gold Elite Level appeared first on View from the Wing.

from View from the Wing http://viewfromthewing.boardingarea.com/2015/02/20/etihad-airways-offering-status-match-to-their-gold-elite-level/