Two weeks ago I headed out to Seattle to visit my parents. (Hi mom - thanks for being at least one page view on the blog :) ) We had a great visit and perfect weather, 70s and clear unlike the swamp that is DC.
During our visit I was talking to my parents about the latest travel project Kelsey and I have going on. I think they are a bit skeptical of the hobby, but have seen the plans slowly come together into great trips for a little bit of money. In an effort to get them started in earning points and miles I figured the best thing to do was to see what they were working with.
In various travels I know that my parents have signed up for frequent flyer and hotel programs, but we had no idea if they even had points to use!
I signed them up with AwardWallet, which if you have not used I would highly recommend, which is a great program to track your frequent flyer, hotel, car and retail programs.
The real challenge came when they brought out their frequent flyer information....which was really just a binder full of papers and old cards. I found a few cards that I think will be of great use, Northwest and Continental :p, so I had to tease them a bit about that.
But once all of their information was entered, I was shocked to see what was in the account!
Between the two of them they had close to 27,000 United miles and are very close to a free roundtrip on Frontier.
On the hotel front, they are in even better position! They have 50,000 points with Hilton and 57,000 with Marriott. Even better, my dad is a Platinum Member with Marriott.
Signing them up for AwardWallet excited them, they knew that they had lots of points that can be used on trip in the future and it will make traveling a little easier....and a little less costly. So....even if you are starting from scratch, or helping others start from scratch in the miles and points hobby....make sure you check to see what they already have. They may farther along to low cost travel than you realize!
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