While we all collect miles/points to travel better or make a great redemption during peak travel times, lot of times we are faced with expiring miles in program which we do not frequent often. While some airlines miles never expire (for e.g. Delta Airlines Skymiles), and some programs miles/points expire only when there is no activity on the account within 12/18/24/36 months, there are quite a few programs where miles expire within certain time frame with no option to extend them free of cost beyond their expiration date

The good news is some of those programs which have hard expiration do provide alternative redemption options (although at poor value, but hey they are expiring anyways!!)). Let's look at some of these programs.

Turkish Miles & Smiles:
Turkish Airlines Miles expire 3 years after they are earned regardless of earning activity. The good news is that you can redeem your miles for Star Alliance Award ticket within a region for just 7500 miles one way. Alternatively if you have no plans on upcoming travel you could use the expiring miles for some shopping at Turkish shopandmiles website. While the value you will get for shopping will be terrible it is still better then expiring miles!!

Etihad Guest Miles:
Etihad Airways recently announced a change in policy for expiring miles but if you have miles expiring 12/31/2019 you better hurry up and use them as the new policy will not apply to those expiring miles. The good news is Etihad miles can be redeemed for Amazon gift card starting at just 800 miles for $5 USD. Alternatively you can also get a virtual visa reward card loaded with money to use at any of the U.S. online merchants with miles converted at $6.4 USD for every 1,000 miles redeemed.

Lufthansa Miles & More:
Lufthansa miles expire 36 months after they are earned (unless you are certain elite or have/use their credit card). The good news is they too have option to redeem the miles for gift cards although at a terrible value of ~$3.33 for every 1,000 miles redeemed. Also you need minimum of 3,000 miles in your account for gift card redemption. They do sometimes provide discount of 10% on the mileage cost for gift card redemption (by using promo code on redemption page, but you still need to have full miles available to add the redemption to the cart).  Here is the link for gift card redemption. 

Above are some of the examples where you can get some value of those expiring miles. There are other programs not listed here, but you can look the redemption page for them and hopefully find something to use your expiring miles for.

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IHG Rewards Club has current promotion where you earn 100% bonus points when you purchase more than 7,000 points. If you buy 26,000 or more points than the cost comes down to 0.5 cents/point. This promotion is valid till 12/30/2019. Also IHG has increased the purchase limit to 150,000 points for time being. Here is the link to the promo and you will need to be logged in to your rewards account to see the cost of purchase. 

IHG has a popular PointBreaks promo where you can stay at participating hotels for 5k, 10k or 15k points. The current PointBreaks promo expires on 01/31/2020. We have written about that promo here. The points purchased can provide great value if the location your have plans to visit have IHG hotels that participate in this promo. Do note that there are limited rooms available in PointBreaks promo and the list of hotels and availability dwindles towards the end of PointsBreaks promo period.

In general you can always buy IHG points for 0.6 cents/point if you have 5k points already available in your account. So buying at 0.5 cents/point is only useful if you have firm plans on using those points. Below are the terms of the 100% points purchase promo:

"Offer available for purchases made between 12:00 AM ET Nov 22, 2019 and 11:59 PM Dec 30, 2019 inclusive. This is an exclusive, non-transferable offer for intended recipient only and may not be forwarded. Bonus points will be awarded upon completion of the transaction. Bonus points will be awarded to the recipient of the points purchase. Offer is subject to change. Offer cannot be combined with any other offer.

Price includes all applicable fees. Purchased Points are not refundable and are applicable toward all IHG® Rewards Club awards. Members may purchase a maximum of 150,000 points per calendar year and receive as a gift a maximum of 150,000 points per calendar year. Please allow 72 hours for points to post and appear in the recipient's account. All other IHG® Rewards Club Terms and Conditions apply."

So hopefully you can utilize this promo to get discounted stay rather than paying the full cash rate. Note that IHG points expire after 12 months of inactivity, so again buy them only if you have firm plan to use them.

Happy Holidays!!

​Disclaimer: Some of the links used in the post may be referral links and earn referral to this site. We appreciate you supporting the website.

TURO is peer-to-peer car rental service platform. We have written about TURO in the past here. Since then TURO has been growing and has few updates which would be useful for renting.

• Available now in U.S.A, U.K, Canada and Germany.
• Allows free cancellation up to 24 hours before your trip.
• Turo Go remote unlocking - Allows to find, book and unlock the car at select locations. The list currently includes San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego and London as of now.

The other features of renting with TURO remains same such as option of delivery of vehicle to you such as to the airport. The good news is in expensive markets or during holidays TURO might be cheaper to rent than traditional car rental (caveat: The standard and premier insurance might be expensive options). Also similar to Airbnb Superhost, TURO features All-Star host who are more experienced, reliable and vetted for better service.

As of now if you are looking for renting during this holiday season you can stack below:

1. There is recent targeted American Express Offer for $45 credit for $150+ spend with TURO in one or more transactions. You will need to check your Amex credit card for this.
2. For your first rental you can go through cashback portal for potential $25 cashback (Note: It may not stack with any other promo codes).
3. TURO has scheduled few discount codes during December Holiday season. The one expiring on 12/08/2019 is "SWAGGYWAGGY" which takes off 20% up to $30 of total rental cost. (excluding fees and insurance cost). You can opt in for their emails to receive more of these codes.

So, if you are looking to rent a vehicle for this holiday season do keep TURO in your options for car rentals.

Disclaimer: Some of the links used in the post may be referral links and earn referral to this site. We appreciate you supporting the website.

​While the holiday season is upon us we will be looking to use the ride share more often to/from airports. Most U.S. cities have both Uber and Lyft so it would be wise to compare the prices before requesting one of them.

Of recent I have seen prices vary by about 15-20% for most of the rides with Lyft being cheaper than Uber for most ride types. Below is an example comparison of ride from San Francisco International Airport (SFO) to San Jose International (SJC).

As you can see from above all the different ride types is cheaper with Lyft compared to Uber. Since this fare if for one market it could be possible that other markets may sway towards Uber in price. 

Also do remember if you have "commuter benefits" card you can use a Lyft "shared" or Uber "pool" ride and make the payment with your commuter benefits card as per IRS allowance. You can also potentially purchase Uber gift cards at discounts from grocery stores etc,  or purchase discounted Lyft pass at Costco. So, enjoy your upcoming vacations while avoiding overpaying for your Uber/Lyft rides.

​Disclaimer: Some of the links used in the post may be referral links and earn referral to this site. We appreciate you supporting the website.