Your Questions Answered
All of this week I am going to be answering reader’s questions. To ask a question yourself, feel free to leave a comment over on this original post.
Here are the previous posts from this round of questions:
- Will Sharing Restricted (Taxable) ThankYou Points with Another Account Remove the Restrictions?
- Q&A – My Thoughts on a Possible Chase UR Devaluation Given Recent Negative Changes & Multiple Staples Rewards Accounts
Question 1
Our first question comes from Tricia:
I would like to know when the 2 free nights certificate from the Chase Hyatt CC is dated. Is it dated from your approval date, or dated from when you meet the minimum spend requirement?
This is a great question, because timing is everything with these certificates since the stay has to happen by the expiration date. (Although you may be able to get a courtesy one month extension, but don’t count on it.)
As I wrote about earlier this year, I applied for the Hyatt credit card in order to get in on the 20% rebate that is going on. Because of that, I can share some data points on when the certificates post.
- My application date was February 17, 2015
- I met the spending requirement on the first statement which was dated March 8, 2015
- The free nights are set to expire on March 31, 2016
This actually meshes with my previous experience with this card as well. The certificates are issued in the month that you hit the minimum spend (when the statement prints) and expire at the end of the same month a year later. Which reminds me, I better get something booked soon! Thanks Tricia!
Question 2
Our second question comes from Jan W:
My husband and I plan to use American points to fly business or first class from East Coast to Taiwan this fall. I’ve done research about award flights with open jaws and stopovers, but I get the feeling things might have changed since these posts. What are the newest rules? We’d love to fly Cathay Pacific and hang out in Hong Kong a few days if it doesn’t cost additional points. Or any other airline/flight that allows us to visit another country. Thanks so very much!!
I am really glad you asked this question because a lot of the information on the web is outdated. American Airlines used to allow a stopover on an international award ticket in what was called an “International Gateway City”. This meant you could stop in the city from which you departed the country.
That wouldn’t have allowed you to stop in Hong Kong on an AAdvantage award, but would have allowed you to take a break in a U.S. city or even tack on a free one-way like I did when my wife and I went to Hawaii a couple of years ago.
Unfortunately American doesn’t allow stopovers at all. (They only allow long layovers of up to 24 hours.) Since their awards can be booked as one-ways, you can effectively have an openjaw, but that is it. With that said, if you want to hang out in Hong Kong, you can use miles to book an award ticket from Taiwan to Hong Kong and then book your Cathay flight back with American miles.
A Cheap Option
There are a ton of currencies you could use for that short flight (including cash), but one that I would consider is British Airways Avios. They are a transfer partner of Ultimate Rewards & Membership Rewards and the short flight from Taipei to Hong Kong only costs 4,500 Avios plus $22 per person.
So 9,000 points + $44 isn’t free, but Hong Kong is totally worth visiting and if you are already spending a ton of miles for first/business class to get to Asia, a few more won’t hurt to do what you want. I hope this helps! Hong Kong is my favorite city in the world and you won’t regret going there!
Conclusion
The remaining questions from the other day are pretty heavy, meaning they will take some time to answer. If you have any shorter questions or things you are looking to get answered, leave a comment here.
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Interesting about the Hyatt certificates, no wonder I was able to book in August despite getting the card in July. Does this mean that it could be combined with the annual one night award stay since they might overlap?
Juan
@Kate: If you have SkyMiles, availability is pretty good on China Airlines. They used to really lag EVA, but with the 777-300ER they’ve really stepped up their game in business class. For UA miles, ANA via Tokyo is a good option.
Like the suggestion about Taiwan. What would recommend for return from Taiwan. I understand EVA award availability is very sparse.
theres plenty of star alliance options for tw back to us, Eva ,United, Ana and Korean all have flights back to the us from tw. China airline is a skyteam but offers non stop.