[Norberto]

No award flights don’t earn miles, unfortunately.

You also can’t earn frequent flyer miles if you don’t fly, meaning you can’t buy a ticket for someone and put your frequent flyer number in, and someone else actually flies.

[Norberto]

Honestly it depends on which planes they are using.

If they are using 777 or 787, those are pretty bad, even though they are lie flat. Can see review below.

Expect the service to be horrendous compared to US, EU, and Middle Eastern Carriers.

If the price is right and it is the newer planes, then I would fly Air India (only if there were no other better options)

https://onemileatatime.com/air-india-business-class-787-review/

onemileatatime.com

Review: Air India Business Class 787 Frankfurt To Delhi

Is Air India as bad as everyone says? Here's my experience flying their 787 business class in terms of the seats, entertainment, amenities, food, drinks, and more.

[Norberto]

Call Hyatt they can let you know of two rooms are available and what the points total will be, I’ve called many times.

I will say that there a specific number you have to call to talk with someone in the all inclusive division.

General World Of Hyatt support is not super helpful with this.

I stayed at Secrets and had quite the run around when I needed to call.

So be patient and ask for the direct number (rather than transferring) for the people you need to talk to.

Good luck!

[Norberto]

I have flown United many times and have never been checked for personal item.

However, if you are flying United Basic Economy, they won’t let you check-in online so you have to go to the counter and then they will check to see if you have a carry on (but that is different from a personal item).

[Norberto]

They say wait 2 weeks and then file a missing miles request.

I had a recent experience where I used my AA number on Iberia and they never posted.

AA denied my missing miles request because they were allegedly posted to a partner but they weren’t.

Iberia eventually credited them to Iberia after I filed a missing miles request with Iberia but I never did get them to AA.

Just a caution.

[Norberto]

Use the lookup tool in the Award Wallet app!

It will tell you which card gets the highest bonus.

[Norberto]

The value of trackers depends on the size of the “network” of other devices that detect your tag and report it’s location back to you.

The bigger your network, the more likely that one of those devices in your network will be close enough to your tag to detect it.

For AirTag, the network is all iPhones.

If you do a rough calculation by searching online, estimates say that there are between 1.3 and 1.5 billion iPhones worldwide.

For Tile, the network is the number of devices with the Tile app installed.

Again, searching online estimates around 300k total (iPhone and Android) devices with the Tile app installed.

For Samsung, I’m not personally familiar with the way that Samsung tags connect to phones but an online search estimates about 250 million Samsung phones worldwide.

Based only on these numbers, the Apple network would be six times larger than the Samsung network and 5000 times larger than the Tile network.

Again, these numbers are only from a quick search and I did not come up with them scientifically.

You could calculate your own estimates as you wish.

Also, I’m not trying to make any statements about which tags are better based on companies throwing their weight around, stomping on the little guy, Apple vs. Android, or any other subjective matters.

All I’m trying to estimate is the number of devices in the network that are looking for your tag.

Also, other factors that would affect the size of the network include devices that are too old to detect the tags, devices that are offline or have Bluetooth disabled, and the distribution of devices in the geographical regions where you travel (eg. brand popularity varies by country/region).

However, for “knockoffs” the size of the network is likely to be one (only you) and will have very little or even no benefit if your suitcase is lost on the other side of the world.

In that case, even if the knockoff is cheaper, the money that you did spend on it would probably be a complete waste.

Personally, I use both AirTag and Tile in my checked suitcase.

I was a Tile customer for years before AirTag existed and I think they are an innovative company.

I also like knowing that if one tracker doesn’t work then I can check the other one.

[Norberto]

Yes but I would call before transferring.

Transfer while on the phone.

[Norberto]

Yes, First Class passengers connecting in business class, have access.

I was just there yesterday in AUH and had a 13 hour layover.

My boarding pass had both my First Class and Business Class flights on there.

The first time I entered the private First Class dining area (for dinner), there was no issue.

The following morning when I went back for breakfast and there was a new check-in lady (who wasn’t familiar with the policies), she wouldn’t let me in because I was in business.

I had to explain to her that the plane didn’t have 3 cabins and then she had to go speak with the manager, and it got resolved.

[Norberto]

Nope.

I just flew BER-LHR-ORD on British Airways.

Once you land at Terminal 3, you will need to clear security again at LHR and then take the train to Terminal 5.

All this is a minimum of 1 hour.

If your flight is delayed on the inbound or gets stuck in a holding pattern at LHR, then you will be screwed.

[Norberto]

Capital One Lounge is in International Terminal D, right next to American Airlines Flagship lounge.

[Norberto]

Alaska first class seat is relatively uncomfortable IMO.

All other things being equal, go with the lie-flats

[Norberto]

Yes, you can request a new flight at midnight tonight.

In fact, if seats are available they can confirm the change if you booked Wanna Get Away Plus.

Same day standby for Wanna Get Away but you can always upgrade to Wanna Get Away Plus if it’s a reasonable cost as well for the confirmed same day change.

[Norberto]

I paid off my balance as soon as I hit the minimum spend and got my free night certificates days later.

It was even before my statement’s end date.

[Norberto]

Ok, so I can pay for my package to the travel agent with Disney gift cards?

My one and only trip, I used gift cards to pay for all my charges to the hotel room at WDW.

This time for Disneyland I am staying at a good neighbor’s place so I didn’t think that would apply.

Since it is a package, can I pay for the tickets part with gift cards?

I do have the Chase Ink Cash so that would be good!