http://www.skyscanner.net/flights-from/uk/cheap-flights-from-united-kingdom.html

As someone pointed out, getting miles as rewards is often less lucrative than just accumulating cash back, so she could be losing money by choosing miles instead of other rewards. I would have liked a detailed comparison of her rewards cards as to how getting the airline voucher compared to just getting cash back and using that money to purchase a ticket instead. Potentially getting miles instead of cash justifies taking the trips more than might be warranted.

Another thing, having a friend move away is always really sad, and you always think that you’ll travel to see them often. I feel for Sierra. But it usually doesn’t work out that way. I suspect that Sierra does not end up actually flying to San Francisco several times a year, as time and money constraints, plus having a family, will likely make that unrealistic. She’s making these plans while the emotions are still really high.

I appreciate Sierra writing about her personal life and would encourage her to try some experiments and get some experience with some of her ideas and then write an analysis of what happened, rather than just telling us about her plans.

@Jay #14 – thanks for the warning about Points.com – I was about to check it out

Dee: I fly American (live in a hub city). They recently had promos for 100K miles. So DH and I each got one. Met the spend qualifications quickly (we put everything on CCs and pay off at the end of the month). Those miles were enough for first class tickets to Rome. Fully flat beds. I didn’t have a lot of flexibility, so I had to fly BA for part of it, which resulted in a little higher fees.

The good CC promos are out there for those who are responsible.

Even a policeman would tell you its dangerous and I live in Omaha of all places where crime is lower than in other states, but still it seems to me that no one should risk safety for the sake of frugality.

Sierra needs to read yesterday’s article on needs, wants and entitlements. 3 trips cross country to visit a friend when you’re in debt? Ridiculous. She’s probably in debt because she says “travel is a priority for me”-isn’t that entitlement?

I don’t like that Sierra encourages travel and cc rewards for someone in debt. WHY WOULD INTEREST RATES MATTER TO SOMEONE WHO PAYS OFF THEIR CARD EVERY MONTH? If you can’t pay off your cards every month you shouldn’t be traveling!

I know we all screw up on our budgets occasionally or are digging out of a financial situation caused by poor choices. It seems like Sierra should be setting a better example or be writing on a different blog.

What CC’s did you get such a good deal on? That sounds (almost) too good to be true!

1. Points.com to swap is an AWFUL AWFUL thing to do. The cost per mile is horrendous.

2. Airline credit cards will often waive the fee for the first year with a sign-up bonus and then if you call to cancel their retention department will waive it again….sometimes for many years.

3. I highly suggest checking out FlyerTalk. If you want to get serious about travel hacking, this is the place to go.

I just did two CC sign-ups and scored two first class tickets to Europe. Fully flat beds, lounge access, etc. Price on the website was a total of just around $40,000. Our cost: $700 in taxes & fees. Less than the crappy coach seats we were going to buy.

I have a credit card that gives the same $1=1 mile rewards as the author’s husband. However, 41,000 for a $200 voucher is not a good value. I currently have the United Airlines credit card and am a frequent flyer. My three most recent trips were a one way frequent flyer ticket (12,500 miles and $90 return: San Diego to Eugene, OR) a 25,000 round trip San Diego to Chicago, and last night I flew back on a $239 ticket to NY. This along with my credit card earned miles puts me over my 50,000 miles so I could get one ticket, or two “super saver awards” which are only available to those of a certain status on the airline.

By concentrating on one airline instead of saving $50 here and there on random airlines through discount sites, you are earning yourself awards through status as well (free checked baggage, free upgrades to economy plus, etc). I’m not too convinced that this article contains the best advice for frugal traveling.

Useful tips

1. Always buy your ticket on Tuesday during the workday
2. Try to buy 8 weeks in advance
3. Never buy from the same computer that you have window-shopped on. If the website sees your same internet address coming back and looking at the same fare, it will go up. Always look at home, then buy at work from a separate computer to get the original deal you were looking for.

Go to Bing Travel (http://bing.com/travel) and look under the “Flexible?” heading.

Then, on January 25th (“When To Walk Away From A Bad Mortgage”), an article by Sierra appeared which drew significant criticism from many sources. A lot of these comments were able morality, which is beside the point. What I’m really concerned about is this, as summarized by JD in comment #149:

“After reading all of these comments, my biggest concern is that those in the know seem to think that Sierra’s article is sloppy with the facts. That’s a problem. A few commenters have pointed out that mortgage adjustments aren’t as easy as Sierra makes them sound. Lizzy (#109) is particularly harsh in her criticisms. I wish Sierra were reading the comments so she could respond to them!”

Sierra did respond, but mostly to the moral comments, and did not respond to the technical issues with her article.

In today’s article, she admits that she never searches for deals, and then writes this article on how to find the best ones. Is this a reliable article? I can’t tell. I think I’d look elsewhere if I wanted to find reliable information about this subject.

I have enjoyed learning along with JD even as he makes — and admits — his errors in personal finance. To err is human, after all. But to me it seems like Ms. Black is making gross errors in judgment without acknowledging or even recognizing them at all. I just can’t take any of her research or writing seriously — it just seems too superficial.

(I’m so sorry to hear about the rough month you’ve been having.)

After reading your post, I think that I’m going to have to put in a little more research into finding the right price for my flight.

Ellen had a guest talking about airfaire a few weeks ago. He said that buying 3 months out is the sweet spot. When fares are listed a year ahead of time, the are originally listed for as much as the airline thinks they can get. When seats are still available 6 months before the flight, they start dropping the price. It generally hits buttom at about 3 months and starts to rise again after that.

The guest also recommended Bing to track airfaires. Bing tracks price trends for flights, letting you know if the price is going up or down.

I started funneling all spending that I could to the card, and paid the balance in full so I didn’t suffer from the higher interest rate. I also typically spent enough that the annual fee was waived. But I figured out pretty quickly that I wouldn’t be getting a free flight to South Africa anytime soon.

After opening some different rewards cards as well, I discovered that taking my rewards as cash is actually more profitable. For instance, if your husband needs 41,000 points at 3 points on the dollar for a $200 flight, he’s earning 1.4% back on his money. I was only earning 1 or 2 points per dollar spent, and needed roughly the same number of points for the same priced flight, so my earnings were often less than 1% – a standard cash back rate. Once I opened the Fidelity American Express 2% rewards card there was never any reason for me to work for miles again. The same spending that would earn your husband 41,000 points would earn me $275.

I don’t often fly Jet Blue, but at 8 reward points that deal might well be worth it. I haven’t ever found anything on an airline I’d use that earned me more than 2 points per dollar spent, and the flights those points afforded have always been valued at less than simply taking 2% on each dollar spent, so I stick to cash rewards!

What’s my secret? I work frequent flyer programs to the max, and I’m not a frequent flyer. My “go to” credit card is my Starwood Preferred Guest American Express card, and Starwood points go a long way in Asia. Most of our hotel stays were on Cash and Points rates where we paid on average $43/night (plus points copays, usually around 2000 points/night). And these are for 5-star accommodations. We ended up staying at some local places along the way and paid cash for some nights where I might have used points because the rates were really reasonable.

Coming down the pipeline:
Sign-up bonuses from two Citibank American Airlines credit cards — 200,000 points, enough for two round trip business class tickets back to Asia. Also, two 50k sign-up bonuses with United/Continental’s cards, good for two economy tickets to Europe. If we go once every two years, we won’t have to pay for airfare for our international vacations for the next few years.

Granted, it’s easier for us because we take one big vacation every so often, so for us, one big deal every couple of years makes a HUGE difference, whereas Sierra is looking at buying multiple domestic tickets per year, and one deal just isn’t that much. (That said, 200,000 American points is enough for 8 domestic round trip tickets…)

My wife and I just recently moved as well! We saved quite a lot of money by selling our furniture and renting a much smaller truck. Once we need furniture again, we’ll probably buy it used.