Travel Hacking Discretion: Learning to Keep my Mouth Shut

Discussing the art of award travel with people who haven’t a clue about hotel points, airline miles, and maybe even how a credit card works is something I actively avoid. If someone is aware that of United Miles exist and “oh yeah, I think my brother has a United credit card,” then I know it will at least not be a catastrophe. But even still, certain things are left unsaid except in specific circles. Especially when they are some of the biggest wins.

I admittedly love talking about miles and points. Whether it is excitedly telling someone about booking great awards with United miles out of my cool local airport, or how much value I get out of Hyatt Globalist status, I can definitely drone on too long. So when someone shows an interest in award travel, I want to jump in. But you can jump in too far. Here are three times it is/was better to keep one’s mouth shut.

The Best Way to Fly to Hawaii

This one has come up multiple times. It’s been asked by several people and I’m always like, “well, erm, about that…you see…” The hesitation is about one thing: do I tell them that I use a credit card they’ve never heard of to earn points that transfer to an airline in Turkey to book flights from Arcata to Hawaii? The answer is almost always no. But I also feel like I’m lying if I completely skip over what I consider to be the best option. That’s what they asked, isn’t it?

So instead, I’ve often said, “this isn’t quite the best option, as the program with the best award price is complicated.” This is true. Then I’m free to talk about Avios.

Yes, I still direct people to British Airways Avios to fly Alaska Airlines, living here on the West Coast. Even though that means driving 5 hours to SFO for locals, this doesn’t phase them. Flying out of Arcata is a luxury for many unless they are already into miles and points. Instead, I’ll talk through booking these awards and suggest a couple better strategies (e.g. check flights out of OAK or SMF instead of SFO for ease and cost of parking).

If they already gravitate toward Southwest (and some people up here actually do), then I suggest that Southwest is a decent Hawaii option. Not a lie. It’s just not my option.

Premium Economy for Free? Try Business

Back in 2019 my daughter and I met a family from Northern Ireland on our trip to Buenos Aires and Uruguay. The five of them had flown British Airways to Buenos Aires Airport. Due to an aircraft switch, they received an op-up into premium economy. They sounded over the moon describing the seats for their overnight flight into Ezeiza.

We’d been talking travel, including award travel, as the father traveled a lot for work. But I decided I didn’t have the heart to tell them we’d just flown American Airlines business class overnight through Dallas for $5.60. It would have been an awful one-upping in the moment.

Airline Miles? Those Are a Scam

This assertion flew at me once after I said how much value I’ve gotten out of my airline miles. Talk about an easy indicator for discontinuing the conversation. Not gonna even bother trying to convince someone if this is what they lead with.

I mean, all it takes is a little openness and curiosity. My experience dabbling in miles and points started slowly, even with a decent amount of curiosity on the subject. Once I started learning in earnest, I was hooked. But some people don’t even want to get here. I’m not going to be able to convince you that airline miles aren’t a scam. More for me, I guess.

Final Thoughts

Things usually go one of two ways: talking about all the thing we’ve been able to do with miles and points is (or sounds like) bragging, or it will be so completely lost on the person that it isn’t worth getting into. These conversations will continue to crop up routinely. I’m always happy to help people. But it is critical that they want to be helped, which isn’t always the case, even if they say they do. Discretion is needed.

How do you deal with discussing miles and points with family, friends, and acquaintances?