American Airlines flies to a myriad of Caribbean Islands
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20,000 Amex Membership Rewards “Weekend Jet Setting” Giveaway!

ByThe Miles Professor

It’s already getting cold in New York and I am taking my first trip of the fall to escape to warm weather. I am heading to Tampa to speak at Frequent Traveler University and our own Samba for Miles is joining me for the trip! Even though I’ll be visiting her in Los Angeles two weeks later, she just couldn’t wait that long to see me. Only joking… who could pass up a chance to hang out with the miles addicts like us?

I will be giving a talk titled “Weekend Jet Setting: Maximizing Miles and Points to the Caribbean, Hawaii and North America.” In my talk, I am going to cover different ways to maximize our miles and points for quick trips around North America. This will cover distance-based award charts such as British Airways, adding free one-way trips onto our international itineraries and making the most of fixed-value and cashback points.

20,000 Amex Membership Rewards Points Giveaway

In the meantime, I will be running a giveaway of 20,000 Amex Membership Rewards points. There will be FOUR winners of 5,000 points each and you can choose any American Express Membership rewards airline partner to collect your miles. In addition, since American Express Membership Rewards points can also be redeemed as cash back for 1 cent each, you can also choose a $50 gift card to any merchant I can order online (though I really do think 5,000 points transferred to miles is far more valuable!). Four winners will be drawn at 8 pm on Tuesday after my return.

Certain American Express Membership Rewards point earning credit cards have the ability for their points to be transferred to a myriad of airline partners. Cards with this feature are:

For an explanation of how to transfer points to airline partners, you can check out my post:  How to Transfer American Express Membership Rewards To Airline Miles.

Lynn Canyon Park in Vancouver
Last year, I took a long weekend trip to Vancouver

Weekend Jet Setting With Miles and Points

One of my favorite transfer partners of American Express Membership Rewards is British Airways. They have a distance based award chart allowing us to redeem as few as 4,500 miles for flights under 650 miles. Best of all, these miles can be redeemed on American Airlines flights. Florida residents will love these miles as Miami is a haven for using British Airways miles with so many Caribbean islands nearby.

My posts on using British Airways miles for weekend jet setting:

Playa del Carmen, Playa del Secreto
Flying direct to the beach is often cheaper with British Airways miles…

Here are some more posts and tricks to maximize your miles and points for North American destinations. I’ll be talking about all these various tricks this weekend:

Sunset in Acadia National Park
I took a trip to Acadia National Park over July 4th weekend this year!

Four Ways to Win

There are four ways to win in my giveaway:

  1. Leave a comment on this post below with your favorite post on The Miles Professor or your favorite North America getaway destination. If you tell me your favorite posts, this will also be great in helping me decide what kind of content to focus on in the future… a win win for everyone!
  2. Follow TheMilesProfessor on Twitter. Then either (a) tweet me with hashtag #TMPAmex5K with your favorite North America getaway destination or (b) retweet my post about the giveaway.
  3. Like The Miles Professor Page on Facebook. The either (a) comment on my contest post with your favorite North America getaway destination or (b) share my post about the giveaway from Facebook to enter.
  4. Add The Miles Professor on Google+ and share my post about the giveaway from Google+. (As I have the fewest followers on Google+, this is probably the easiest way to win).

Each of four winners will be selected at random. You can also enter more than one way and win multiple times (if luck is particularly on your side on Tuesday!). Four winners will be drawn at 8 pm on Tuesday after my return.

And if you are at the Tampa Frequent Traveler University conference, come say hi to us!

117 Comments

  1. My favorite post is “How to Add Free One-Way Trips On United Airlines Awards.” I used it to book the following several months ago: IAH-IST-FRU with the return FRU-IST-IAH. I just got back from FRU….. that’s Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. Trekking there was great. I am resting up for the addon flight you helped me also book: Houston to Honolulu in late October. That addon only cost me an additional $2.50. I used Avios points for the return to Houston. Still can’t believe this is possible. Never would have been possible had I not read your blog. Thanks for the clear, concise explanation in the post…….. my favorite.

  2. My favorite post is how to see multiple caribbean destinations on AA. I also use your caribbean hotel guide quite often instead of going to each hotel’s respective site to see what is offered. Keep up the good work!

  8. Northern California in March. You get everything, from the bay and all that San Francisco has to offer, right on up to the complete season snowpack for skiing in the Sierra Nevada’s and around Lake Tahoe. And oh, by the way, on some sunny days, you don’t even need to wear a jacket while skiing in the awesome spring skiing conditions!

  11. I liked your post about getting two nights at the Conrad Hilton in Tokyo by using Starwood points. I love Japan, and the analysis of different hotels available in Tokyo was interesting. I also love flying to Hawaii to visit my grandfather and Seattle to visit my sister.

  12. Favorite N.American getaway would have to be Chicago!! I’m channeling all 20,000 points!!

  16. As Florida residents we really like your blogs on using British Airways miles with the multitude of Caribbean islands nearby. Living in Tampa and being 4 hours from MIA it opens many options up we had not even considered. We will be at FTU this weekend.

  18. Loved your post about maximizing usage of american airlines miles and adding free one way from the gateway city. I wish I had known about this in the past. You’re doing a great job. All the best for FTU!!

  19. Hi TMP! =)

    My favorite post was/still is “How to Add Free One-Way Trips On United Air­lines Awards”. That was how I first got linked onto your blog and the rest is history! I love the way you write because you make it sound so easy to understand. I also love the fact that your blog is written from the viewpoint of a female. You also helped me book my first United award which led to my first visit to Europe. You’ve also given me inspiration for my next trip to Milan! I hope you keep up the good work and continue writing and helping us newbies out there =) Thanks TMP! You rock =)

  26. I have only recently found the Miles Professor and found it to be the very best of its type for the lover of miles and points. It is the most clearly written, takes you by the hand and walks you through the steps needed to get the most bang for your miles / points. My favorite post is how to add free one way trips on American Airlines rewards. Now, I get a free one way business class trip to Hawaii after laying over in Chicago for 6 months, at the end of my trip to Asia. Who knew??? Without this post, wouldn’t have happened. Even the AA reservationist was unaware. Love the Miles Professor!!

  27. I liked your posts about planning your trip to Milan and Zurich. Also like the collection of posts about island getaways on British Airways.

    Thanks for the chance to win the points!

  38. First off, I can’t find your Google+ post detailing the giveaway. Your most recent posts are regarding British Airways and Southwest Devaluations on 9/24.

    Secondly, thought I’d weigh in on my favorite posts by saying my favorite posts was your detailing how to use British Airways Avios for American Airlines flights. You set yourself apart so well by detailing real-life examples of the process rather than just generally explaining it like so many others do.

    Also, as a father of a toddler and husband to an aspiring traveler, I’d love to see a few posts from that perspective, perhaps giving some strategies for flying a family of 3, 4, or more to various destinations. For instance, it doesn’t seem terribly challenging to find an award seat for 1 person to Honolulu, but seems like the strategy of everything that we do (miles collecting, points accumulation, vanilla reloads, credit card spend) needs tweaking when you’re trying to fly more than just yourself.

  39. My favorite post is How to Add Free One-Way Trips on Amer­i­can Air­lines Awards and also the one on the same topic about United Airlines, thanks for the help!

  40. My favorite North America trip was my recent one to Southeast Alaska with Un-Cruise. Small ship (70 passengers max) not going port to port. Instead, it anchors nightly in small bays and fjords surrounded by forest and meadows, towering cliffs, waterfalls, and near the bases of massive glaciers. Then it offers everyone the opportunity to kayak, stand up paddleboard or hike or take small skiff tours of the area.

    If you choose to take this or any other Un-Cruise adventure, mention my name, Gary Steiger and the fact that I was on Juneau -Ketchikan – Juneau 14 day cruise departing August 24, 2013, to get a $150 discount.

  43. I love Vancouver and your post on how to maximize points using British Airways helped us get there with only 12500 points with almost no tax!

  45. I like all your posts about the caribbean…a favorite (and hitherto expensive) destination for me and my family, but once we get to Bora Bora, all future MR points will be converted to Avios using the excellent savings you describe. Thanks so much!

  46. My favorite post is about the distance based awards to the Caribbean using Avios points. Since I’m from the NY area, I booked a trip to St Martin for 20k Avios points.

  47. I love going to LA for a long weekend! So much different than the Northeast, it seems like I really “got away!”

  50. San Francisco has it all – AND easy access to the wine country AND Lake Tahoe. Oh golly – now you have me CRAVING some San Francisco!!!

  55. I was giving up on BA with their high fuel surcharges until reading your extensive posts on using BA points for domestic/Carib trips. Keep up the good work!

  64. My favorite post is the one about using 4500 Avios for Carribean destinations. Have a fun trip!

  67. My new favorite post is Amer­i­can Air­lines: From Caribbean in Win­ter + to Europe in Sum­mer for 20,000 Amer­i­can Air­lines miles TOTAL.

  72. My fave North America destination is also my fave two-hours-from-home staycation spot – San Francisco. Beautiful, and so much to see ‘n do.

  74. My favorite post is: British Airways Miles to the Caribbean: As Few As 4,500 Miles Each Way!

    I love learning about other ways to redeem miles in programs that I’m not familiar with! Especially when I can use them! :)

  77. My favorite post is how to add free one way trips on Amer­i­can Air­lines rewards. I mean holly molly this redefines the word fringe benefits.

  79. Your posts on “free” one-way award travel opened my eyes to some interesting possibilities. It happens my next booked “big” award flight is already making maximum use of United stopover and open jaws rules (DEN->YYZ->CDG->DUS->KEF ARN->ORD->DEN) I’ll be sure to be attentive to getting as much as possible with that free one-way the next time it makes sense.

  83. I read all of your posts. I started on collecting miles recently. Your posts are more like tutorials and they teach each technique step by step. Also, I think you mostly cover only the most valuable and efficient cards .

  84. My favorite post was when I learned how to book free one ways to AA awards and save miles to Europe . Because of this I was able to book a trip to central America in spring 2014, as well as save AA miles to europe in summer!

  85. My favorite getaway in North America is always Hawaii. Does that count as North America? If not, I would have to say San Diego. The weather is great all year round, the beach is terrfic and the people are so freindly.

  86. My favorite North American destination is San Diego, CA. I also like your presentation on distanced based travel.

  87. My favorite post is -“How to Add Free One-Way Trips On United Air­lines Awards”. I was completely unaware of this feature and now planning to use this concept in my future trips.

  88. My favorite post “How to Add Free One-Way Trips On United Airlines Awards”

    For 25k miles I was able to book PVG-ICN-SIN-BKK-PEK-PVG with OZ, SQ, CA all coach class.

    Thank you!

  91. I dont have one specific post that I like particularly, cuz ALL of your posts talking about leveraging certain airline’s award redemption quirks and how to stretch out the miles to do more with are AWESOME! Other blogs I read dont cover this much, or briefly tough on it! I love how you dig a little deeper into it and even provide great examples. IMO these are your strongest posts and you should keep it up! BONUS: (for me) I live in FL so I can easily benefit from all of the amazing deals to the Caribbean. :) See you in Aruba sometime!

  95. San Francisco is my favorite getaway city. Lots of things to do, and when urban life gets overwhelming, nature is so close.

  96. My favorite post is “How to Transfer American Express Membership Rewards To Airline Miles” as it helped me to navigate the program offerings. And my favorite North American getaway destination is San Francisco!

  97. I like best the posts on best ways of booking award travel, such as your recent one on checking award space on American to many Caribbean destinations at once.

  98. I like the post “How to Add Free One-Way Trips on Amer­i­can Air­lines Awards”. This can be very useful with my next international award booking!

  99. My favorite North American getaway is Chicago. There is always so much going on and it is a great food city!

  104. My favorite getaway is Mexico City. It’s a little pricey to get there, but so economical and fun once you get there!

  106. Your post on Chase Ultimate Rewards shopping portal opened my eyes to the opportunities to earn even more UR points. Chase Sapphire is a new card for me, and I didn’t even realize there was a shopping portal. Thank you!

  116. My favorite post (and ftu Tampa discussion) was on using BA miles for short trips to the Carribbean!

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