With My Favorite Loyalty Redemption Catalog: Now domestic Transcon First Class for just $1,365; Europe First Class for $1,820, Emirates First Class (otherwise $22k) for just $2,844; Asia First Class for $2,844, you name it…
My experience with loyalty programs started when I was nine.
It was when I discovered “Green Stamps” as I was rummaging through Grandma Lockhart’s closets. It was one of the many fun things to do at her house. Who cares where the Green Stamps came from, the economics behind their existence, or even how to spell their name!?
Grandma L was awesome in every way. What was hers was mine. And lo and behold she had a loyalty currency—which I knew nothing about and still don’t—that could be redeemed for all kinds of cool stuff in the “catalog of goodies,” including a trick bow-and-arrow set, which my brother and I would fight over for years.
What Grandma’s Loyalty Program Experience Taught Me
I talk about buying loyalty perks (miles/points) a lot. But if I didn’t, you could call me out for not practicing what I preach. Yeah, this is how I travel. What follows is the latest “sale” on buying points—with the rarest, highest-value currency in the world—for 35% off through March 16.
SPG Points On Sale Now
The basics: Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) points can be purchased anytime—up to 30,000 a year—at 3.5¢ each. Through March 16 you can buy them for 2.275¢. They do go on sale periodically, the last time in December.
SPG hotels’ points transferred to airlines miles: Given the 25% bonus when you transfer 25,000 SPG points at a time, during this sale you’re looking at the equivalent of 1.82¢ per airline mile.
The Starwood’s Rich Redemption Opportunities
Let me count the reasons (the top 11 anyway) and start out by just pointing out the sixth Leg Stretch Strategy—another one of FCF’s countless upgrade innovations, and one you can likely only find here. In short, with just 100,000 Japan Airlines miles—net-able for just 80,000 SPG points—you can get two round-trip Business Class tickets.
Know how much you can buy those points for right now, through March 16. Just $1,820! Two international Business Class tickets for $1,820! And that’s the tip of the SPG iceberg!
11 AWESOME StarPOINT Scores
Plus links below to a bevy more:
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17 Links to more ideas on the Value of SPG Points
If You Still Need Convincing
- 16 Ways American AAdvantage loyalists can upgrade to First Class to Europe for less than free
- Save up to 54% in First Class to Asia with All Nippon
- Save up to 46% in Business Class on Delta
- Save up to 33% in First Class on All Nippon
- Save up to 23% to Asia on Singapore Airlines Business Class
- Up to a 54% savings in First Class on Lufthansa
- 26 ways American AAdvantage loyalists can upgrade to Business Class to Europe for less than free
- First Class to Hong Kong on Cathay Pacific 24% off
- Europe upgrade buffet nets Business Class for less than coach
- First Class on British Airways for only 95,000 Starpoints
- 13 ways United MileagePlus loyalists can upgrade to Europe for free
- Cathay Pacific First Class for 125,000 Starpoints
- Nine ways to upgrade to Europe for less than free on SkyTeam airlines
- All Nippon’s ultimate mileage award ticket
- Part two: The ultimate Business Class mileage award with Japan Airlines
- Pay just 58,000 points on Iberia New York-Madrid
- Get First Class for less than Business to Europe
For Advanced SPG Power Players
BreakING Through the Annual BUY-Limit Barrier
As we covered last month, there are ways around annual purchase limits. Here’s how SPG works:
Buy points for you and your significant other, or all the people in your house, and transfer them into your account.
What no one will tell you: If you need even more points/miles, remember that most airline award tickets can be purchased as one-way flights. It’s a divide-and-conquer play that means you max out all the accounts you can at your address, then ask your mom / dad / beautician / paperboy / dog catcher / whomever to buy all the points using their address. Use your miles for a one-way ticket (if not round-trip). Use all the points you net through other people for your flights. A snap. More on all that jazz here.
For Advanced SPG Players:
Power Play #2
Look at the report from FCF’s November 2016 issue, which outlined the opportunities now available via the Starwood-Marriott merger. There you’ll find how to net—via this points sale—United miles + Ritz Carlton stays for peanuts, with Starpoints-to-Marriott Rewards points at a 1-to-3 rate. That means Marriott points can be bought for just 0.758¢ each.
More on the power that can yield savings here, including seven nights at the Ritz-Carlton Central Park FREE while getting United miles for just 3.1¢. Just use the family strategy outlined above and you can get 132,000 miles + a $5,600+ stay for just $4,095!
Thanks, Grandma
My dearest Grandma L passed in 2009 at 87 years young, but I hope one day to see her again, and then I’ll thank her for all that she taught me about lucrative loyalty programs and The Upgrade Mindset (and how it led to $455 premium one-way tickets abroad).
P.S. If you’re reading this after the sale ends (March 16) know that this approach is still amazingly lucrative, just a bit less so.