tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10690613.post8858683070890728297..comments2023-09-29T08:25:34.726-05:00Comments on Jim Thomason's "The Business of People": Using Travel Company Loyalty ProgramsAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12327900069847576688noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10690613.post-83440811206762449212013-10-06T08:55:16.965-05:002013-10-06T08:55:16.965-05:00Update on airline rewards. In booking vacation tr...Update on airline rewards. In booking vacation trips American Airlines requires 12,500 miles per segment for back-of-the-plane seating and restricted flight times, usually very early morning or very late evening flights. For anytime tickets it is 25,000 per segment. This means a roundtrip free ticket is 25-50,000 points. conversely, Southwest is charging 5-9,000 per segment or about 14-15,000 points. By checking in early using my SWA iPhone app I should get a high boarding number and thus good seats. This is part of my decision to start using Southwest's Rapid Rewards Visa for all my travel instead of AMEX: I will get more SWA points, which in turn will go farther.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12327900069847576688noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10690613.post-84453830705303700732013-10-06T08:51:51.698-05:002013-10-06T08:51:51.698-05:00Update on AMEX: I decided to redeem my 70,000+ AM...Update on AMEX: I decided to redeem my 70,000+ AMEX points for vacation coming up in a few weeks. I discovered that the exchange rate of points to dollars is 10,000 points = $100. So my 70,000 points accumulated over 10 months is worth $700. Meanwhile I have been paying 18% interest and, due to the volume of my travel, maintaining a $10-12,000 balance. Most likely I have paid interest far in excess of the rewards that I'll get. This is a big disappointment and I am switching over to Southwest Rapid Rewards Visa for my travel. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12327900069847576688noreply@blogger.com