Biggest wins from using this site this year

[DrAndyC]

This site has been fantastic:

I now have many friends with the Wizard Clear Advantage Card. I wouldn't travel without it. Another few favourites:

The JASA's have been a great find. 180SC and 35000pts/$130 was a steal. (although initially having to interpret the hint of flying between two cities where you can sometimes see snow on the mountains was a challenge - although I worked it out)!

J fares on LAN to NZ and QF Brisbane-Nadi

HHonors fast track bonuses. Updates on Hotel rewards programmes.

Amex MR and Qantas card bonuses. The 50000pt sign up offer for the QF card was great.

Info on sales (eg: recent Athens fares).

And not to mention it is a great resource for asking for help...i had a question re: plane interlining which was answered promptly and efficiently...

A great resource...and a great little community. I will be increasing my membership

 

[harvyk]

For me the biggest win was meeting up with fellow members in PER a month ago for drinks and dinner...

And whilst I haven't been able to take one yet (although I have told a friend about them who I believe has now booked a couple of tickets), the SYD-AKL LAN J flights...

 

[jdlover23]

learning all the mileage and staus run tips ad tricks have been golden, have yet to meet anyone from the site but will start posting upcoming flights to guest ppl into QP

 

[cove]

Yes getting together in Perth was really good fun and we recommend you try it in your city because you will never know what you don't know.
A chance comment and you can use it for years and share the ideas with us.
The best part is we all want to travel and you may hear something that causes you to take a further look into going some place on the globe.

 

[Logan^]

The info on the KF Westpac CC has been excellent, although my spend is not as high as other users I reckon my holiday next year will be almost paid for with points which is great.

Also the creative routings, I will need to utilise those more often, in particular getting to Bangkok etc.

Great resource imo, so much information.

 

[drron]

Well today marks the 8th anniversary since I signed up to AFF.Although I travelled a lot I certainly wasn't getting as much out of it as I should.Both mrsdrron and I were in QFF and golden wings.I joined as a life QP in the early nineties.I signed mrsdrron up to life Golden Wings.
I had signed up as a life member in the Sheraton club international.Apparently that was only binding of me so 2002 saw me ditch Sheraton and go with Hilton getting Diamond that year-as a result of some crafty mattress runs suggested over on FT.
My flying loyalty though has been driven by what I have learnt here on AFF.Thanks to Dave Noble,Serfty and NM with their depth of knowledge.It was Lindsay Wilson though who sold me on Aadvantage and I haven't looked back.Then it was posts by QF009 and others that gave me the inspiration to get mrsdrron to WP and back into Flounges.
Many of my trips have been inspired by others TRs.My Amazon trip was inspired by Tiki.Other TRs are stored for future use.
This year I guess the best tip has been the ATO by credit card-more AA miles from that.
Only met a handful with an inglorious display on the golf course.Hopefully later this year will put a few more faces to names in the BNE get together in October.
Until then keep up all your good work.

 

[Mal]

For me the biggest win was meeting up with fellow members in PER a month ago for drinks and dinner...

What a lot of people don't realise is that many people here have knowledge, tips and tricks that extends way past what they're willing to post publicly.

Meeting up with people is a way of gleaning some of those extra gems... and ask obscure questions that somehow they manage to answer relatively easily (most of the time!).

AFF has a wealth of collective knowledge. Not all of it is written on this forum.

 

[Sprucegoose]

The T-80 and T-7 hours tips for seat selection and check in have been great.

.

Hell I missed the T-7 stuff - what is that all about?

 

[medhead]

Hell I missed the T-7 stuff - what is that all about?

I can't exactly remember if it is T-7 or 8 but it is possible to get a better seat by checkin again within the 7 to 8 hours timeframe of your flight.

Generally this lets me move a couple of rows further forward. (bearing in mind that I generally only pick an aisle seat) However, recently this has let me get into 4C on a 737 with previous attempts getting me no closer that row 9.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Best deal of the year? Easily the US Airways (star alliance) miles offers. Pay less than economy and fly biz or first on TG/LH/LX/OZ/SQ! Plenty of availability even at short notice.

 

[markh]

Booked a CX Business Class (I) Fare TPE-HKG-CNS return this year for about 1/3 the price of a business class fare from AUS, thanks to a lot of information from this site !!

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Best deal of the year? Easily the US Airways (star alliance) miles offers. Pay less than economy and fly biz or first on TG/LH/LX/OZ/SQ! Plenty of availability even at short notice.

Is there a thread on AFF or FT re this?

I met Myron from AVL (Asheville NC) at Ozfest7 in ADL who was talking about paying USD550.00 & getting enough ff points on US Air for a first class round trip ticket which could be redeemed on Air NZ either AKL/LON or LAX/LON return.

It also had something to do with transferring to a partners f/flyer account to receive bonus points left, right & centre as the USA is infamous for.

Anyone else actually done this?

Cheers

Oz

 

[mhen]

Ozbeachbabe

US Air has had various promotions over the past year giving bonus miles on the purchase, sharing or gifting of miles. The current opportunity is 100% on buying or gifting up to 50K miles (ends 31 July but accounts need to be open for 12 days before purchase).

Double bonus for purchased miles (Yet Another Round: June-July 2010) - FlyerTalk Forums

I purchased miles in March, shared miles in May and will be gifted some miles before the end of the month. I have also redeemed for a *A F award but not yet flown. The cost of the F award (miles purchases and taxes) was about the same as a Y ticket (but of course being an award I was more limited in choice of carrier, routing and flight times than if I had purchased a ticket).

The main downsides are that they might go bellyup, or change the program, or some airline partners may block premium awards. There has also been talk of accounts being closed for supposed abuse of conditions. Purchase or gifting is straight forward and limited to the specified amount but the sharing led to people doing some complicated sharing chains.

 

[k_sheep]

Mine is more just having answers to my silly questions about places I've never been yet!