Free Flights to Africa

@StickFlicker AZ thank you for taking the time to share this...........learned something. I'm gonna refocus on miles as per your suggestion. @migrabill I think you need an assistant........I am ready to serve....FWB

Jason Miller said:

So essentially we are paying for your free flight ;-)

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No. I don't work for the government. Private contractor that won a government contract. They (CACI) pay for my flight.

migrabill said:

No. I don't work for the government. Private contractor that won a government contract. They (CACI) pay for my flight.

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A government contractor works for the government right?

Anyway, it wasn't meant as an attack, hence the winking face... Good for you!

Jason Miller said:

A government contractor works for the government right?

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Not really…

CACI, his employer, sells services … the govt buys them…

He works for CACI… the govt is CACI’s customer..

Sorta like my relationship with Tonya at whataburger… Tonya works for whataburger… I love whataburger.. so I buy them no matter the price… I’m whataburger customer (loyal) lol…

FWIW, I run a mid market govt services firm… we do indeed pass through contract related travel costs to the govt… we buy the tickets.. and then we invoice the govt for the price of those tickets… (not really any different than any other consulting firm would do with commercial customers)…

What’s different is we are bound by a litany of federal regulations and can only procure travel a certain way, under certain guidelines and requirements (which often drive travel cost up…)… such as the Fly America Act.. where we are forced to use US carriers for international travel.. even if the price is higher, the route is longer, etc…

So, for instance, if I were traveling to South Africa from Dallas on business related to a government contract, I can use Delta as an option.. even though I’ve got to go to Atlanta and have a layover before departing for my final destination.. and the ticket price is a full 30% higher than Qatar or Emirates.. and Qatar would have gotten me there 2 hours earlier…

The govt is happy to spend more tax dollars on air travel to ensure US carriers get the business…

/endthreadhijack

Do those of you traveling on rewards points usually travel with firearms? Ran into any issues?

I had initially used points to book my first trip, then read some bad stories about flying with firearms and getting hosed. To be on the safe side I had my reward points returned and just paid outright for the same flight. Alaska Points/ MVP has always been pretty good for me, though it seems like things may be changing.

I always fly on reward points and always take my guns.

I do like my Amex Reserve card for miles. I like that Delta changed to more of a spend oriented goal to go towards status. I was already putting all of our company expenses on my card so it benefited me greatly. I just hate their newer trends on award flight redemption rates. I also have a business Amex Platinum card that I use quite a bit too but not nearly as much as the Reserve Card. I like that it can transfer to a bunch of different airlines, both Qatar and Emirates being ones that work great for Africa travel.

The other cards mentioned are also great, I personally like the Chase Sapphire reserve because it allows for Priority Pass lounge access and restaurant access but there were reports today that they are removing the restaurant access in a fe wmonths. This is great especially for Africa as I was shocked how many lounges there are and even in tiny airports like East London and Victoria Falls. The Amex Plat also has Priority Pass access but not restaurant access like the Chase card. Chase has been lagging behind in in revamping their reserve card but I suspect that this will come with the changes to the restaurant access. Essentially they become one of a bunch of cards with similar rewards now and nothing makes them stand out of the crowd.

With this removal, I think the Amex Plat card is as good if not slightly better now but we will see if Chase adds any additional value to compensate for the loss. My guess is they won't as this has been the theme for shrinkflation for rewards cards. There's quite a few good options for sure and if anyone is in a Delta hub city like I am, it would certainly not be the end of the world to have one of the co-branded cards like the Reserve card over the other options to help with travel but you will certainly need to shop for low award ticket travel dates. That might make you feel trapped with Delta though.

Mike B., I agree I also used to also like the Sapphire Reserve card, but I just couldn't justify the ridiculously high annual fee, anymore, after that last fee increase. And for those that are wanting to get into the points game for the first time, the Sapphire cards are paying near all-time lows for their sign-up bonuses, so definitely not the best time to sign-up for one of them. In 2022, the Sapphire Preferred offered 100,000 miles, several times, but now it never really goes above 60,000, not enough for me to go back to it. I switched to this Capital One card for lounge access as well as other flexible travel and multiple airline transfers availability. By listing my adult kids as additional card holders (free), they can also use all the Priority Pass lounges and take guests on their own travels, without me needing to be there. They're given their own membership at no cost! No other credit card does that to my knowledge.)

It has a nice sign-up bonus, and the entire annual fee can be rebated back after your first travel booking through their portal and a sign-up for Global Entry, and you'll still have over $790 to spend on travel after the fee has been fully rebated. It offers great point transfer bonuses to partner airlines and hotels throughout the year. I'm waiting for the next 30% bonus when transferring to Virgin, which is about due based on the last time they offered it. You can book Delta flights with Virgin miles, and they have a fixed instead of flexible awards chart, which is rare these days. I used this card to pay for airport hotel stay in Johannesburg last year, and my flight from Jburg to Kimberly (rebated toward my annual fee), then when I came home I could credit all the miles I had accumulated toward my actual safari cost, since it normally codes as travel. With enough points on this one, you could potentially pay for your flight(s) AND the entire hunt! This is a good card for those going on trips in the near future that don't have time to earn enough points for a free flight. You could apply the $300 annual flight credit to the flight itself, then apply the $750 intro offer and any more points you collect to the costs of the safari, as long as it is properly coded on the concession's credit card processor as a travel expense. I use the Delta card to earn my flight, and this card to pay for any additional flights, hotels and safari costs.
Capital One Application

I usually accumulate enough miles each year for a pair of international business tickets with Chase Sapphire Reserve.

I keep accumulating miles and the price of tickets in miles keeps going up. I am not brand loyal though so I fly whatever makes sense, not the airline I prefer. Unfortunately that means I have miles with alaska, american, delta, and united, which if combined in one account would be better, but I don't live at a hub life DFW or Atlanta. For those individuals the choice is probably easier.

Tanks said:

I usually accumulate enough miles each year for a pair of international business tickets with Chase Sapphire Reserve.

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Fellow Wanderers,

I’m almost +1 with Tanks here.
“Almost” in that my wife and I don’t spend enough $$$ on our credit cards to earn the high number of miles required for YEARLY Business Class seats on International flights.
However, we do manage to do exactly that, about every 3 to 5 years, by means of our Alaska Airlines Visa Gold credit cards.
On that note, Alaska Airlines was 40+ years ago, a truly grand airline …… (well ok, they were “grand” by our feeble USA airline standards anyway).

Fast forward to now, AK Airlines has de-evolved into a frustrating seats-often-over-booked, cattle car type of company.
That said, we still manage to make it work for us, via being patient (and by composing entire paragraphs from nothing but swear words under our breath).

Despite getting bumped more often than what is remotely excusable, we manage to go fun places each winter, within the USA,
Mexico and Belize, most often on what Alaska Airlines (probably other carriers as well) refers to as “Companion Fare” tickets.
These are essentially a two tickets for one price.
The deal is not exactly a “buy one ticket and get one free” thing but, pretty close to that.

Anyway, for those of you who do not have credit cards with flight rewards or cash back rewards, I strongly encourage you to do some very thorough research into this and get cracking on whichever card or cards best suit your lifestyle.

As deteriorated as Alaska Airlines has become, nonetheless their credit card program still suits us just good enough for now.
Indeed it used to be way better.
But today, what’s left of their mileage awards program is still the one that we’re using to our advantage.

Again, we do an international flight for the two of us, in business class, about once every 3 to 5 years, on mileage awards, riding on various “partner company” airlines to AK Airlines.
And every year, we go somewhere in the USA, Mexico or Belize, typically via the “Companion Fare” feature of their awards program.
And as tedious as it is to book, rebook and then rebook again (due to cancelled flights and our seats repeatedly getting bumped, etc.), we stay at it and thereby manage to enjoy wandering far and wide, without having to pay a lot of ca$h money for our flights.

Life is short,
Don’t waste it staring at your television.

Cheers,
Velo Dog.

I think if you travel for work, or spend a lot on CC, points cards work very well. If you pick one airline, one hotel, one card. I’m sitting on 2+M Amex points, 2+M Marriott points, 1.8M United points, and 1.5M American points. I have two Amex platinum cards, one for work and one for home. Everything goes on those cards. Those balances are after my use of points for free travel.

Platinum cards are not cheap but incredibly popular because nearly every airport has a lounge Amex gets me into. And there is the International Airline Program. For years, if you bought one business class ticket, you got the second companion ticket for free. The card paid for itself in a single flight. They still offer great deals.

If you don’t travel for work often, get the cash back free cards for sure.

I use an Alaska Air card, which I’ve used award miles on partner airline (British Airways) 3 times in business/First to various African destinations. I’ve also used award miles from a United Airlines card to fly Polaris to Joberg. Honestly though, my employees/I all use these company cards with me benefitting in the form of about 20,000 miles/ month. My personal use of a mileage card is limited, so if it were not for my business- I’d not be able to fly with miles.

You want transferable credit card currency to maximize your transfer potential. AMEX, Chase, Capital One, BILT, etcetera can all be transferred to different airlines and used to book that airline and airline partner seats to your advantage. Then use services like point.me, roame.travel, pointsyeah.com, and seats.aero to find the best transfer redemptions.

Some are paid subscriptions, some are free. The key is checking regularly, and being flexible with your dates. A one day shift left or right can be a difference in 100,000 plus miles. Searching one way tickets there and back also makes a huge difference.

Point.me is paid, but absolutely worth it, and if you have AMEX Platimum you have access to it for free now (shows AMEX transfers only). I also use Roame.travel frequently and it is free with a paid premium option (broader search functions).

I use this strategy regularly, and used it this year to book three round trip Upper Class tickets on Virgin for 340,000 points. Purchase price for those tickets was $31k at time of booking. It did cost me $3800 in “fee” since the flight routes through London, but that’s still a savings of $27k out of pocket, and $3200 less than three round trip economy seats on Delta. Flights not touching British soil have significantly less out of pocket fees (usually $10 to a few hundred dollars).