Make your move on Marriott, baby steps, and getting your free bag

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This week at Frequent Miler, we looked at the Marriotts on which you should make your move — either to book before you can’t or to hurry and book as soon as you can. We also talked about the baby steps of planning for a child’s future and how to make sure you get that free bag you’re entitled to with your United credit card. All that and more to follow in our Frequent Miler week in review.

Book these category 5 Marriott hotels before it’s too late

JW Marriott Phu Quoc Emerald Bay Marriott Rewards Sweet Spot
The clock is ticking. Many of the best places to use your Marriott Category 1-5 free night certificates are bumping up in category and out of reach. These are the ones to book before you can’t (March 6th). As fate would have it, I have a certificate expiring March 13th — which I likely won’t have time to use at one of these properties before they change over, and which means that I’ll have a shiny new certificate just in time to be too late to book these for later in the schedule. Hopefully you’ve got a better opportunity to take advantage of these!

Card art gone wrong: Where is the name of my card?

a paintbrush in a paint bucket

When it comes to card art, I’m not a real picky guy: I’d like my card to be roughly rectangular and have a stripe on the back. I couldn’t care less if the numbers are on the front or back or are raised or flat or the card is metal or plastic or titanium. But is it too much to ask to get the name of the card printed on there somewhere? Apparently the answer is yes….

Baby Rey has arrived, but is preparing for departure

a man holding a baby

As a newly minted parent, I am having the time of my life. As someone who waited until later than many to start a family, I thought I had the age, wisdom, and perspective to know what parenthood would be like. When people told me that “kids change your life”, I thought I got it. I didn’t. I do now, and I couldn’t be more excited about it. With any adventure, at least half the fun is planning how it might work out. In this post, I talk about some of the plans I’m making for my son — from college savings to how I can help him start an IRA and what kind of photo I need for his first passport. Like most parents, I hope to set my son up to be a couple steps ahead of me by the time he’s my age — and this post is where I’m starting.

Best new to category 5 Marriott hotels

a living room with a chandelier and chairs

Well, that new certificate of mine that’s on the way won’t go to waste. Looking over the list, there’s a clear winner to me: Calling Baton Rouge! Hopefully I can find a weekend to make it happen. Funny story — about 15 years ago, I was playing around on a website called FindYourSpot.com (no longer active) where you could fill out a survey about yourself and your interests and it would give you cities that would be a good match. Five of my top 10 cities were in Louisiana. I’ve only been to New Orleans since, so Baton Rouge is up next!

My first Avianca LifeMiles redemption: easy as….

a cartoon character holding a question mark

 

Avianca is a popular Star Alliance program at least in part due to the fact that they often sell miles very cheaply. However, I recently made my first redemption with LifeMiles. It was pretty easy for the post part, but there were some interesting quirks (both good and bad). Read on to find out what they were/

How to get free checked bags on United flights booked with partner miles

a person sitting next to a suitcase

Count this as one of those silly little things I should have known but didn’t. I think this piece of info is potentially very valuable given the excellent redemption rates on in-region flights with Avianca. I’ll have to try this the next time I need to make a domestic reservation on United.


That’s it for this week at Frequent Miler. Check back soon for our week in review around the web and this week’s last chance deals.

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