New AA shopping portal promotion!

If you are looking to top off an American Airlines account or earn a nice bonus, take a look at Rocketmiles.com. The site is offering first time users a 3,000 mile bonus when you book a hotel. A quick look shows most $100 room per night hotels giving about 4,000 miles per booking. 
Be sure to read the fine print though:

To be eligible for this promotion, the hotel reservation must be booked on www.rocketmiles.com using this promotional link (www.rocketmiles.com/aa-3k-bonus) or using promo code "AADVANTAGE" on the Rocketmiles app by 11:59PM CT on 30 June 2017. Limited to first time customers and subject to investigation post-purchase. Limit one per customer. Limit one per stay. Promotional offer cannot be applied to existing bookings or retroactively applied to bookings not made using the link above. This promotional offer cannot be combined with any other offers, including a sign-up from referral bonus. Rocketmiles reserves the right to retract a bonus at any time if it detects technical errors, cancel/rebooking activity (defined by identical search criteria), or any deceptive behavior attempted to circumvent the limits expressed above, including multiple accounts. Please allow 2 weeks for bonus points to post in a qualifying member's account after hotel stay is completed and the qualifying member has met the stated conditions.

So it must be a new booking and you can't cancel and rebook in order to qualify. But if you are still looking for that perfect hotel room for this summer, this might be a good deal for you. 
I am just 4,000 miles short of a free flight on American so I may take advantage of this deal to put me over the top. 
If you need miles on another airline, Rocketmiles works with American, Southwest, United, Jet Blue, Alaska Airlines and more. 
Great way to earn extra airline miles on your hotel stays. 

US Likely To Expand Laptop Ban To Europe Today

Bad news if you are heading to Europe this summer like I am. The Department of Homeland Security is considering expanding the electronics ban on planes to certain cities in Europe. This would affect United, Delta and American Airlines.
An announcement is expected today after DHS meets with airline officials.
The ban is already in place for flights originating in 10 airports in the Middle East including United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.
The ban restricts electronic devices on board planes to just smart phones. Laptops, tablets, kindles must be packed in luggage and checked.
There is debate against expanding the ban due to concerns about putting so many lithium batteries in the cargo hold of a plane.
For families, this is devastating news. Many flights do not have entertainment systems anymore and instead ask you to use your own device to access the inflight system.
So how will we entertain the kids on the long flight to Europe? I guess it's back to the old ways of cards, games, snacks, walks and naps.
If you haven't booked your flight yet, consider flying through Canada.

Alaska Airlines Buy 1 Get 1 FREE

If you are a fan of Alaska Airlines, then you may want to get in on this new promotion. Apply for the Alaska Airlines Credit Card, spend $1,000 minimum spend. It comes with a bonus of 30,000 points plus a companion ticket that costs $0 instead of the regular $99.
For families, companion tickets are huge! I have the Southwest Airlines companion pass until 2018 and I used it to fly my daughter to the East Coast 3 times and my son to the East Coast once and to Northern California once.
It has saved me thousands of dollars!
So if Alaska Airlines flies somewhere that you want to go, this is a great way to leverage the spending and get almost free family travel.

Earn 3,000 Jet Blue Miles When You Join Amazon Prime

If you fly Jet Blue or want to fly Jet Blue and you are NOT an Amazon Prime member, you might want to join now. Jet Blue will give you 3,000 miles valued at $42 in flights on Jet Blue when you join Amazon Prime. Prime costs $99 a year so with the bonus, the cost is decreased to $55 almost half price.
Lots of benefits to Amazon Prime including FREE 2-day shipping, FREE streaming music and video, storage and more.
Personally, I use cash back portals for most of my shopping, but I turn Amazon Prime on and off depending on the time of year. On during the holidays for gifts, off January. But for half off, I would be very tempted to to take this offer.
Use this link to access the offer, I do not get any benefit, this link is just for your convenience. You must join Jet Blue True Blue club to access the offer.
By the way, if you join True Blue, book a flight and fly by 4/16/2017, Jet Blue will give you a bonus 5,000 miles. A quick check shows that 20,000 Jet Blue miles equals about $290 dollars.

How to get to Fiji and New Zealand.....cheap!

A client asked me this week if I could help her get to Fiji and New Zealand in October. My first response, of course, was "why did you wait so long to plan?" Remember the #1 rule of almostfreefamilytravel is to plan early. Airlines open reservations 330 days before the travel date and that's the best time to use your miles because you have the best options available.
But let's work with what we have. My friend has 53,000 American Airlines miles available.
So we start the research by asking basic questions:
1. Who flies to Fiji and New Zealand? Fiji Airways and New Zealand Airline
2. Are the airlines partners with American? Fiji Airways is a partner
3. How many miles is an airline ticket to Fiji and New Zealand? Economy tickets are 40,000 each way
4. Are there any seats available on the flights? Yes!!! Woohoo
5. Does the airline offer a stopover in Fiji? Yes, Fiji Airways appears to offer stopovers on the way to Auckland.
6. Since my friend has limited miles, whats the cost of a one way ticket? One way tickets cost the same as round trip. Oh no, this puts a wrench in our plan.
7. Can we use miles for a ticket from Fiji to Auckland? Yes, one way is 17,500 miles.
8. 53,000 miles would get us 3 one way tickets, so how much does it cost to buy 17,000 miles to purchase the last one way ticket? American just started a 40% off promotion so it's around $500 for 17,000 miles, I'm not a fan of buying miles, but in this case, it may be worth it depending on the price of the one way. Or you could buy the one way ticket or you could spend 35,000 miles for 1 round trip and then buy the other for $600.
8. How much does it cost to buy a plane ticket from San Diego to Fiji? $899 per person round trip

So the best plan from this research would be to buy 2 round trip tickets on your Barclays Arrival Plus credit card which would get you close to the minimum spend of $3,000 and then return you $500 cash back on the plane tickets. Use 35,000 miles for 1 round trip Fiji to Auckland. Then either use miles for one way ticket Fiji to Auckland and buy the other one way OR buy 17,000 miles to purchase the second round trip for miles. Just depends on the rates when you are ready to buy. Anything you buy, charge to the Barclays card to help you reach your minimum spend.
This is how we do it on short notice! With a little more advance planning, my friend could have purchased all these flights with miles and that's how we do almostfreefamilytravel.

Alaska Airlines 30K plus $100 credit bonus offer

Alaska Airlines launched a new offer this morning you might want to check out. The offer is 30,000 miles for a $1,000 minimum spend and $100 statement credit. Which is nice, but they sweeten the deal and give you a free companion on your next flight if you fly in the first year. Usually they give you a $99 companion pass, but they are waiving the $99 and now you only pay taxes and fees.
To access this deal, log into Alaskaair.com and make a dummy reservation. When the payment page comes up, you should see this offer. If you joined the Alaska Air loyalty program in April, you will be rewarded with an additional 5,000 points if you fly by September 30, 2017.
Alaska Airlines is a partner with more than a dozen different airlines including American Airlines so you have a lot of different ways to use the miles. Their website is also a great search tool.

Hilton Honors Surpass Card 100,000 Bonus Offer

If you have never had this Surpass American Express credit card from Hilton, this might be something you want to jump on. 100,000 Hilton points sounds like a lot, but if you start checking out Hilton hotels and point values, you may find they don't go very far. But it depends how you use them. I got 100,000 Hilton points in a bonus offer a few years ago and here's how I have spent my points so far:

1. 20,000 points - 1 night at the Hilton Downtown Quito, Ecuador
2. 10,000 points - 2 nights at the Hilton Krakow Poland
3. 10,000 points - 1 night at the Hilton Warsaw Poland

And I still have 60,000 points left. A lot of Hilton hotels will run you 30,000-50,000 points per night, but there are some hotels out there in the sweet spot.
So the Surpass card has a $3,000 minimum spend and a $75 annual fee which is not waived. 

There is a free version of this card as well called the American Express Hilton Honors. Spend $2,000 in the first 3 months and you get 80,000 bonus points. So if you don't need the extra 20,000 points, this might be a better card for you and you can save paying the annual fee.

The secret to this card is planning. Where do you want to go and does this card make sense for you. It's all about almost free family travel.