It is time for the annual post How I Burned 2,027,816 Miles and Points in 2024. I am including some photos along with some advice and feedback as always of course. See you on Friday with the usual blog post featuring a collection of curated links along with my commentary, thank you for reading my blog. You can skip this post and return Friday if you are not into this hobby.
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Every year I do a post showing you how I spent my miles and points. Here are the posts from the previous years:
How I Burned 1.148,286 Miles and Points in 2023
How I Burned 1,636,135 Miles and Points in 2022
How I Burned 1,014,780 Miles and Points in 2021
This is How I Burned 587,026 Miles and Points in 2020
This is How I Burned 759,105 Miles and Points in 2019
This Is How I Burned 735,108 Miles and Points in 2018
This Is How I Burned 909,500 Miles and Points in 2017
This Is How I Burned 800,434 Miles And Points in 2016
This Is How I Burned 1,266,596 Miles and Points In 2015
This Is How I Burned 1,053,524 Miles and Points In 2014
I ended 2024 with the following in the bank:
4,282,111 miles/points
4 Hyatt Free Night Certs
1 Hilton Free Night Cert
Airline & Hotel Vouchers/Credits/Gift Cards: Southwest $161, United $469, United Travel Bank $400, Hilton GC’s $200
A few notes:
Everything noted in the spreadsheet below is as I book them, NOT when the travel actually occurred.
I ended the year with about 220k points less than what I had at the end of 2023. Which is crazy as I have really slowed down in my activity getting travel rewards credit cards for the Welcome Offers accompanied by fat Signup Bonuses AND doubled the burning pace from the recent past!
The big trip again was a return to Thailand and I managed to get our kids to visit us over Thanksgiving. We spent a lot of time in Bangkok and also checked out the beach town of Hua Hin and stayed long enough to rule it out as a future retirement destination. We will be returning to Thailand and checking out more places in the years ahead. After Thailand, our kids had enough of us and left us as we traveled on to visit my in laws in Malaysia. Stayed in several amazing Hyatt properties in this trip and I requalified for the World of Hyatt Globalist elite status.
I also managed trips to Greece again and some domestic trips to Dallas, Philadelphia, Chicago, Dallas, Huntington Beach, CA and of course New York City for family gatherings. I also helped my kids pull off many trips again this year and this is going to decrease going forward as they do not share their dad’s passion/addiction for this hobby. Which is perfectly fine.
I also intend to slow down and continue paring down programs I actively engage with and, you know, simplifying my life going forward. Of course the present state of continued devaluations and bank restrictions are contributing to this, it is what it is. One program I finally managed to deplete the points I had for several years was Choice Privileges, good riddance. I am stuck with about 175,000 British Airways Avios points and I really should make an effort to burn them and move on. I thought 2024 would be the year of burning American Airlines miles but only managed to burn just 37,500 miles. I sure tried but AA award availability has been horrific. And I think I am going to really focus on burning them first this year as we all expect the major AA devaluation to hit us any day now. Something which amazingly has not happened yet.
2025 travel plans are in flux at this point and non existent as we have embarked on a major kitchen remodeling project. Which is just not moving along and leaning towards canceling it all to free up the travel calendar instead of making it hostage to the super limited sub contractor availability (they are swamped!). Going forward will likely focus even more on bank transferable points and even try to do more cash back activities. Continue dealing with less programs and focus on a few selected ones, such as Air Canada Aeroplan, Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan and of course World of Hyatt and Hilton Honors. And relax on trying to make every trip free or minimize the cost. This is hard not because parting with my actual cash will hurt financially at all but because, you know, it is the whole point of this travel hacking addiction, the mental challenge of sticking it to the banks and airlines lol.
I would like to thank the US banks for assisting me in this hobby for over thirty years, without them it would not have been possible. Thank you for what you do and please continue! 🙂
Any questions please ask in the comments.
And a few photos from 2024:
To learn more about this hobby, check out my own Miles and Points Resources page.
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That’s a LOT of points/miles for someone allegedly slowing down!
Thanks for the update!
Mighty darned impressive, sir! Did some trip planning and more today. Might just be gone longer than originally planned. Make this next trip the best even if last big trip. Great photos too! I am very glad you made so much good travel happen not just for you but the whole family!
Thanks guys for taking the time to comment, it means a lot. Sometimes I wonder if anyone cards. Last week I lost 2 Instagram followers and 1 email subscriber. And had one of the weakest blog traffic weeks. The blog has not seen a $1 revenue in more than 2 weeks. Just 4 credit card sales since November, the cc ax is coming. On top of all that, the Lions broke our hearts and then the Trump freakshow has started, only 1,459 days left #ohshit.
Son is telling me to redesign the blog for more traffic. And I am like, I ain’t got time for dat.
Something has to give…
Developing
Just like it has for the past 12 years, sad lol.
And the phucking polar vortex is on here, brrrrrrr
I really enjoy seeing this end of year summary and seeing where all the points go. Looks like a good year! I managed to burn about 900k in 2024, which is about as much as I ever have. But I’m not redeeming for 4 people.
It still pains me to see a Hampton Inn for 50k/night.
I feel the same pain while I click away from seeing those numbers for Hamton Inns…every time!
Yeah, I thought I would be done by now carrying the kids…It’s going to happen, those Chase points from Inks are ending lol.
Thanks again George for doing this. It truly makes my day better to read your blog. I often forget to be grateful so I thought I’d say something when I remember to.
Would you stay at the Hyatt Place in Bangkok for a week or more again? Was there much to do in the immediate area?
Why is the Hyatt Regency in Thessaloniki your favorite Hyatt? As with my questions about Bangkok I’m kind of scouting places and if there are things that make a hotel or destination particularly appealing then I’ll take a closer look. As an example I’d vaguely thought about going to Hua Hin but the muddy water makes a beach stay a lot less appealing to me so you already helped me out at least once this post.
I have to admit that I’m very impressed you managed to accumulate 1.8 million points and miles while actively trying to slow down. I’m not sure I got that many (I don’t keep track because I’m a slacker) and I did try.
Thanks for the kinds words and the support Christian. As you know, we are all different so my tastes may not be the same as yours. Or anyone else’s. So, never forget that around here…Having said that, yes I absolutely will stay at the Hyatt Place in Soi 24 again while it remains a Cat 1 property because, you know, I love deals. If it moves up to Cat 2 I would try the new HP in Soi 1 🙂 The area around the HP I stayed last year is great. I think it is much better than the Hyatt Regency area which is right in the middle of nightlife, I mean, you walk out and there are working ladies all day/night long! So, the HP in Soi 24 area has everything, some local feel and only 1 BTS stop away from Asok/Nana main tourist area. It has great massage places, three luxury malls within walking distance, 2 711s across the street pretty much, a nice park…and I can go on and on. If I ever moved to Bangkok this is the area I will primarily look to move to.
The Thessaloniki Hyatt because I always stay there when I land from the US(via Frankfurt or soon to be via Istanbul) and I am tired and it is the perfect place to crash. And then right before I leave for the US to relax finally…Every time I am amazed thinking if every Greek company was run as great as this establishment Greece would be like Singapore. Great facilities, great lounge, huge rooms, amazing pools and gym and the best food imho. Also, still a great deal on points 🙂
Hua Hin water is not muddy all the time I think. It is a great place to go for a weekend if you lived in Bangkok imho. But to live there was a sure no no for us. A week to unwind? Yes.
It was a great Chase year with the Inks. That has definitely stopped so I am going south of 4Million for sure this year.
George, I also stayed at HR on our recent Thai sojourn and loved it. Great property, fabulous rooms, clean and well laid out. Club lounge could be your undoing. If one chose to, they could eat all their meals on site for free if they had club access. They allow brekky in either the lounge or restaurant, have food during 1-4 for lunch or whatever you call it during those hours and then lounge during the evening had plentiful food. When lounge was full they allowed excess to go to the restaurant and eat and the food portions were massive and all freeee. Personally I prefer Erawan area but not GH. I like PH location but not the price but remember Andaz is opening this year so will be interested in what that prices at.
Yeah, the HR is great, loved my stay there in Nov 2023. And yes I spent a lot of time in the lounge. The only con about the lounge is that it is on the small size. If it had never gone up 1 category it would be a no brainer. Never stayed at the GH, will check out it one day. Not sure about the PH though. Will see about the Andaz, I am not a huge fan of the brand but my wife really likes them. Don’t forget the new HR at BKK, story coming at 11. I mean, in tomorrow’s Friday blog post.
Nice review of your 2024 activities. Cutting down on the programs and cards is a smart idea. We took that step a few years ago and intend to be even more brutal before the end of 2025. Not having to see an entry for AA or United in my points spreadsheet makes me happy. However with 4 million in the bank it’s going to be a long time before you are done with points.
Started working at it today, booked a 3 night trip to Boston and them Alaska Airlines miles came through again (flying AA). Burning three free night certs at Fairmont Copley, Hilton Boston Plaza and Hyatt Regency Boston Harbor. The last hurrah before the tax season starts. And the simplification will continue…it’s just not easy you know 🙂
Calibrating…
I will respond later to the comments.
Daughter calls “Dad I am going to a conference, all paid. I am going to book me on Alaska Airlines to get started on the elite status promo, I got that. But for hotels I only have two options, a Marriott and an independent hotel. Do I have a Marriott number?”.
TBB/Dad: Oh yes you do, here it is 🙂
Also, first award booking is in the books for us. Going to Boston this weekend lol.
Alaska Airines miles flying on AA to the rescue again (the alternative was Spirit or over $500 on Delta and Jet Blue). Two RT tickets at just 30k miles. Three nights booked, all Free baby:
Fairmont Copley
HIlton Boston Park Plaza
Hyatt Regency Boston Harbor
Je suis TBB and I hack travel for freeeeeeee.
Looking for the two three things to do/visit in Boston. And one or two top places to eat.
Hi new reader! Found u on milesfeed. I also thought advice is to not book airfare thru the amex/chase portals, but instead transfer the points out to the airline programs. You seem to have many times this year, wondering why and if you’ve ever run into issues doing so. Thanks!
That is correct actually and I personally avoid the bank travel portals. In general. But almost every one of these involved my daughter’s trips. I got her to be searching on Google Flights and most of them were great low fare deals that it just made sense to go ahead and use the bank points. The one big Capital One redemption I did was mine because I just found this amazing weird fare on JetBlue flying JetBlue and then Qatar Airways to Bangkok and also used my $300 travel credit…I just wanted to make it completely free and I had accumulated enough points. And I got tired of trying to find any award availability with airlines, it is not getting easier our there lately. I have warned my daughter that things can turn to shit in case of disruptions and so far it has not happened yet. And welcome here.
Makes complete sense! Thanks!
Up early to put even more time on the blog…while:
Not even one blog has linked to my last post in how to burn over 2 Million miles/points per year. Not even from the numerous backlinks I have shared to these blogs for years. Yet, they take every opportunity to help their brothers and sisters in Boarding Area and never miss an opportunity to kiss VFTW’s ass, who in a major travel thought leading manner just posted these gems in the last day:
“Bodycam Footage Captures Drunken Mother-Daughter Karens Melting Down At Four Seasons, Blames George Soros For Arrest”
“Passenger Forced Off Spirit Airlines Over Hoodie: The Dress Code Noone Knew Existed”
This blog’s only revenue in more than 2 weeks has been 3 Coffees from blog reader EE, thank you.
I need to reevaluate my blog future. Post coming tomorrow is probably the longest ever and with tax season coming blogging away here and not even covering the blog’s costs is, well, demoralizing. And it has been like this for a while you know. Anyway, I feel better now while I try to stay off the news. Trump shitcoin anyone? WTF! Only 1.457 days left lol.
What a great year you had. I’m just back from the Huntington Beach Hyatt Regency myself – nice property and great breakfast (followed by three nights and three more breakfasts at the new Thompson Palm Springs). Travel (and eat) on!
Thanks for the comment. I think I had a good year.
New blog post today, go there and read how I plan to eat in Boston 🙂