How much airline points do you have?

[QuarterMillionMan]

And do you use airline credit cards to accumulate points? Me no credit card but Southwest I have a 1 way short segment and JetBlue the same. Points don’t expire with these Airlines.

[QuarterMillionMan]

I stand correct with Southwest points must be earned within 24 months.

[Like2Plan]

I stand correct with Southwest points must be earned within 24 months.

Just to add one more fine point: you can have points older than 24 months, but to keep from losing your points you must have earned at least 1 “qualifying” point within the last 24 months.

Link to SWA

https://www.southwest.com/html/rapidrewards/promotions/rr-points-keep-active.html

[corn18]

I’m sitting on 625,000 delta points. All earned through work travel. My work Amex also earns me airline points.

[disneysteve]

We don't fly often, typically once every 2-3 years, so I pay almost no attention to the frequent flyer miles. I have used some to get magazines over the years.

Now hotel points are a different story. That's my game. I currently have 305,000 Marriott points as well as smaller amounts with a few other chains. We get free stays pretty regularly. The last free night we redeemed was last month on our way home from Florida. And we have a Marriott credit card to maximize our earnings.

[QuarterMillionMan]

I'm familiar with airline points as in Corn's example such as 35,000 to 50,000 might get a free coach flight or 100,000 might get a free first class flight but I'm not familiar with Disneysteve's hotel points. How many points might it take for a free room? I understand peak season will require a lot more points but in general.

[disneysteve]

I'm familiar with airline points as in Corn's example such as 35,000 to 50,000 might get a free coach flight or 100,000 might get a free first class flight but I'm not familiar with Disneysteve's hotel points. How many points might it take for a free room?

Free nights with Marriott start at 10,000 points. That would be for a lower end hotel (Fairfield Inn) in a non-touristy area, like on the outskirts of town for example. Most of the places we tend to stay are either 15,000 or 20,000 points/night. So we've got enough points for about 15 or so nights. More desirable, higher end hotels or those in the heart of town or close to major tourist attractions require more points. For example, the Marriott we stayed in in Louisville a few months ago is 30,000 points/night. The Marriott Marquis in Times Square is 45,000/night.

One perk to the Marriott program is that if you redeem points for a 4-night stay the 5th night is free. So at 20K/night, 5 nights would only be 80K so essentially 16K/night. They also run various bonus promos from time to time like if you stay twice in a set period you get extra points for the 2nd stay or something like that. We've gotten a few dozen free nights over the years with the Marriott program.

[MooseBucks]

Free nights with Marriott start at 10,000 points. That would be for a lower end hotel (Fairfield Inn) in a non-touristy area, like on the outskirts of town for example. Most of the places we tend to stay are either 15,000 or 20,000 points/night. So we've got enough points for about 15 or so nights. More desirable, higher end hotels or those in the heart of town or close to major tourist attractions require more points. For example, the Marriott we stayed in in Louisville a few months ago is 30,000 points/night. The Marriott Marquis in Times Square is 45,000/night.

One perk to the Marriott program is that if you redeem points for a 4-night stay the 5th night is free. So at 20K/night, 5 nights would only be 80K so essentially 16K/night. They also run various bonus promos from time to time like if you stay twice in a set period you get extra points for the 2nd stay or something like that. We've gotten a few dozen free nights over the years with the Marriott program.

Any idea what is happening with Starwood/Marriott merger? I have 185k Starwood points which is good for many more Starwood nights than the value of the Marriott points?

In terms of airline points my wife and combined have about 500k. Mostly with BA and AA.

I used to have the Starwood card and used it for everything when Amex didn't want to credit back the fee and I realized I had enough points for 30+ free nights I canceled it and moved to a cash back card.

[disneysteve]

Any idea what is happening with Starwood/Marriott merger? I have 185k Starwood points which is good for many more Starwood nights than the value of the Marriott points?

As I understand it, the programs are currently linked but not fully merged. I think you can transfer points between the two somehow. I haven't really looked into the details as we are mainly Marriott users. I suspect that at some point, they're going to combine it all into one program. I'm hoping we don't lose much in the process.

[Gailete]

No airline points and I have no intention on ever getting on an airplane again, after the horrendous trip we took for our son's wedding to save me the 5+ hour car trip.

Let's just say the airlines got a very nasty letter from me and the credit card company that I paid for the tickets with instantly gave me my money back when I told the CSR (who lived in the city we were alledgedly flying to lived in) what had happened.