Hunting for value, giving it all to Google, a slice of paradise and more

Do you have a lot of Emirates Skywards miles? Of course you do — since they are an Amex transfer partner, Capital One transfer partner, and now a Chase transfer partner, watch this week’s Frequent Miler on the Air broadcast where we discuss the scenarios in which you could score a win with Emirates. Also: have we given too much to Google? What new offer has us excited? Those answers and a pop quiz in the video/audio below.

FM on the Air Podcast

For those who would rather listen during the morning commute or while you’re working, the audio of our weekly Facebook Live broadcast is also available for download as a podcast on all of your favorite services:

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Note: If you’re not seeing the latest episode available for podcast download just yet, check back shortly for the update.

On to our weekend recap of the week’s top stories:

The hunt for great values

Searching for Emirates sweet spots with non-flight awards

I wouldn’t have expected to find any value here at all, but Greg uncovers one decent sweet spot: using Emirates miles for sports events / VIP packages. See the first reader comment for an example of how Emirates could get you in the door to some events that would otherwise be hard to access.

Searching for Emirates sweet spots with partner airline awards

Emirates has long been an Amex transfer partner, so when it was announced that they are the latest Chase transfer partner, I didn’t give it much thought. I’d kind of assumed that if there were any sweet spots worth noting, they would be widely known already. However, I was wrong: Greg points out a sweet spot to Australia that opens up a routing option that isn’t possible with many programs as well as one where Emirates is potentially as good as Alaska. These are great nuggets to keep in mind for a rainy day.

Ideas for awesome Delta Vacations

I’ll admit that I was entirely out to lunch on the Delta vacation package deal. I don’t have a stash of Delta miles and have things in mind for my Membership Rewards that involve greater than 2c per mile redemptions, so I mostly ignored this deal (that is now dead). However, when I read through this post about some awesome vacation ideas, I had to admit that Greg found some great examples of how to leverage this deal nicely if you have the miles and found the right destination.

In our opinions

On my mind (Google edition)

When you explain it “out loud” like this, Greg’s reliance on Google here sounds kind of scary. While I’d say that I have at times valued my privacy what I perceived to be more than others, I think at this point I’ve fully given in to the exchange of privacy for convenience, so I’m less concerned about that angle. And those invested in the Apple ecosystem take being “all-in” for granted, so I don’t mind Greg’s surrender here from the standpoint that Google makes his life “better” (easier / more convenient / etc). But I couldn’t deal with Fi as my primary phone service and I’d take Amazon Prime Video and/or Netflix over YouTube TV since I’m not much of a TV guy, anyway – though, truth be told, I haven’t watched a full movie or TV episode in one sitting in more than a year, so who am I to judge?

Conrad Bora Bora vs St. Regis Bora Bora: Which was better?

I was really surprised that the St. Regis won. When you see my upcoming post on what the Conrad did for us, I think it’s even more surprising that I said the St. Regis came out on top. There’s no doubt that the Conrad is in better condition and the rooms are more luxurious; I’d gladly return. But I wouldn’t return if I weren’t also going to spend a few nights at the St. Regis.

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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