ANA SFC credit card

[TJKansai]

Most of the airlines and hotel chains sell miles and points. At certain times of the year they have sales, and you can get the miles and points cheaper.

Depending on the program, it can make sense to buy miles in order to get an award ticket, especially if you want a business or first class ticket, or you want to book at short notice, or you want to fly an unusual route.

It can be frustrating to try to book with miles though, so that is something else to take into consideration. But if you understand the system you can save a lot of money by playing the miles&points game.

All true, though sometimes rather than actually saving, I am just upgrading my experience .

[TJKansai]

I had to do some extra flights to top it up (on top of an unusually 'good' year with a couple of international trips. I think I flew to Osaka four times in one day (to get the birthday bonus fares). I had the same flight attendants, which made them think I was a lunatic. "Do you like flying?" one of them asked me in a pitying way

I got SFC one year and JGC the next. I wouldn't do it now, but I was really into miles and points at the time.

8 extra flights in one day is a lot, but I guess ¥80,000 or so isn't too bad.
If I had more international flights on ANA in a single year I might go for it, but that is very unlikely.

[RetireJapan]

Most of the airlines and hotel chains sell miles and points. At certain times of the year they have sales, and you can get the miles and points cheaper.

Depending on the program, it can make sense to buy miles in order to get an award ticket, especially if you want a business or first class ticket, or you want to book at short notice, or you want to fly an unusual route.

It can be frustrating to try to book with miles though, so that is something else to take into consideration. But if you understand the system you can save a lot of money by playing the miles&points game.

All true, though sometimes rather than actually saving, I am just upgrading my experience .

Absolutely. The most effective use of miles&points is not to travel for less money, it is to travel in more luxury for the same money. Now that I am old, I find nice flights and hotels to be worth more than they were when I was younger

[AreTheyTheLemmings?]

Thanks for those replies RJ and TJKansai.

I didn't realise you could buy miles; I thought accuing them via credit card purchases was the only method. Also, I tend to studiously ignore the emails from Saison, but I'll start reading them now to see if I can spot any deals.

[TJKansai]

Absolutely. The most effective use of miles&points is not to travel for less money, it is to travel in more luxury for the same money. Now that I am old, I find nice flights and hotels to be worth more than they were when I was younger

While I don't consider myself "old ," my body is not as flexible as it once was, and I too appreciate the comforts of better seats and hotels. I am still too frugal to spend much "real money" on these upgrades, but points (earned, or purchased at a discount) make it more palatable.

A big influence on our spending is my wife, and we no longer aim for 1-2 star places. Traveling with my sons is a different story, as I don't want to spoil them. That said they have experienced J class a few times where there were no economy awards to be had.

[TJKansai]

Thanks for those replies RJ and TJKansai.

I didn't realise you could buy miles; I thought accuing them via credit card purchases was the only method. Also, I tend to studiously ignore the emails from Saison, but I'll start reading them now to see if I can spot any deals.

Having a lot of points allows you flexibility in finding flights or rooms with availability. The downside is the number of miles/points is always changing (going up), so there is devaluation. Recently "dynamic pricing" is the all the rage, and whereas awards use to be based on categories, they are now based on market price, which makes finding great deals much harder.

This blogger probably does the best job in giving point values (which change with devaluations/reduced availability).

One more "deal" for US card owners is free anniversary hotel nights. For the cost of the annual fee $50-$100 you can get a free award night at a hotel that would normally charge $150-$300 for the same room. Chains such as Hyatt, Marriott and IHG all have these. These usually expire in 12 months, and they only make sense IF you enjoy getting out of town

For people who don't travel or want to invest the time in figuring all this out, a cashback card or the Rakuten ecosystem makes things easier. In Japan Costco's fee-free Orico gives 1% back on all purchases (and 2% at Costco).

If you can get a US-based card, then there are a number of cash-back options (Discover is one). In addition, AMEX and Chase can be great as they have certain cards which allow transfers to many different hotel/airline partners, but that is a rabbit hole too deep to get into here.

[RetireJapan]

A big influence on our spending is my wife, and we no longer aim for 1-2 star places. Traveling with my sons is a different story, as I don't want to spoil them. That said they have experienced J class a few times where there were no economy awards to be had.

That's a very good point. I will book business award seats for my wife and I, but not for our kids/grandkids. They can fly economy until they earn/figure out how to upgrade themselves