Ride Super Shuttle, Earn Miles

Super Shuttle is a door to door shared van service to and from various airports.

All vans in the Super Shuttle fleet are bright blue and very noticeable.

You can earn United miles for each trip booked at Super Shuttle's website. Currently, you can earn 50 miles for each one-way trip (100 miles per round-trip). For those choosing private sedan service, the earning rate jumps to 150 for each one-way trip (300 round-trip). The sedan service looks like this:

Here are the niddy gritty details:

Important part within the terms is that miles are only earn on "airport transfers only."

You can also earn Southwest, US Airways, Delta and Frontier miles through Super Shuttle.

The cost of super shuttle depends on where you are being pick-up/drop-off. For instance, when I used Super Shuttle to IAD,  its cost $25 without tip.

On the other hand, I used Super Shuttle in San Diego and the cost was only $12.

The other variable that changes price is the number of passengers. As you can see above, the 1st Passenger costs $29, but the next passenger on the same reservation is only $10. Therefore, booking 2 people on one reservation drops the per person cost to $20.

The only downside is that you have very little control with Super Shuttle. They try to get you to the airport around 2 hours prior to your flight. Using them to get home, you are at the mercy of the drop-off list. I have been the last one on the drop-off list and arrived home 2 1/2 hours after boarding the van.

Super Shuttle is a great service if your luck is your favor!

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Newbie Debate: Best Airline & Best Hotel Chain

Chris and I disagree about many things. An interesting conversation brewed recently between the two of us and we were on opposite ends of the spectrum, to some degree. So, we decided to bring our, at times, heated conversation to the blogosphere.

Here are the two questions:

1)      What is the best US based airline for newbies?

2)      What is the best hotel chain for newbies?

When we use the term, “newbies,” we are talking about someone who has zero loyalty with any airline/hotel chain and they have never signed up for loyalty programs with airlines or hotels. A “newbie” is a virgin to loyalty travel.

 A few ground rules:

1)      Newbie lives in the Washington, DC Area

2)      She/he can fly out of DCA, BWI or IAD.

3)      Newbie has a good credit score, but no airline or hotel cards

4)      Has a job, but does not travel for it.

5)      Newbie is focused on overseas travel with a sprinkle of US base travel.

Over the next few days, Chris and I will lay out our arguments on why Newbie should pick our airline or hotel chain. Arguments will be laid out back to back based on the subject. For instance, today, I will argue for my airline and tomorrow, Chris will lay out his airline choice. Then we will move to hotels.

At the end, we hope you, our loyal readers (all five of you); will vote on who persuaded you the most too sign-up for their airline and hotel loyalty programs.

Let’s Get Ready To Rumble!!!

Important note: Chris and I may talk about the loyalty credit card for our particular airline and hotel in these posts. Credit card sign-up bonuses are an important part of the “game.” If we do decided to use credit card links, they will be public application links taken from the issuer's direct website. We do not earn income from you applying from the links. Similarly, please take an extra minute or two before applying for credit cards. If you do not pay your credit card balance off every month then you should stay away from this aspect of the game. Credit cards can lead to major long-term problems if not used correctly. I encourage you to read my post on Young People and the Chains of Credit Card Debt for more details.

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Follow us on Twitter @doit4thepoints! Have a question for us?

E-mail us at chris@doitforthepoints.com or jd@doitforthepoints.com

Getting to Baltimore-Washington International Airport

Baltimore-Washington International Airport is located about 40 miles to the north of Washington, D.C. and about 12 miles to the south of Baltimore. The distance to the airport can be huge and makes it a bit hard to get to even with a car, but often the fares are so much cheaper than flying out of National or Dulles that it could be worth it. But, I try to avoid going to BWI if I can.

If you have to get to BWI there are a few different options that you can use:

Driving 

Depending on the day this can be the best or worst option there is to get to BWI. I have seen it take 40 minutes to over two hours to get to BWI because of traffic. On the weekend, it usually isn't too bad and can take about 40 minutes from downtown DC or northern Virginia.

If you are driving you will need to take I-95 N out of Washington, D.C. and drive 20 miles until you get to I-195 which is the direct highway route to BWI.


Super Shuttle 

As with Dulles there is always the option to take a Super Shuttle from BWI, but this method is often hit or miss. You can get the price down to $15-20 one-way in a shared ride van, but they never seem to group people in a van that are going to the same place. I once ended up going to three different part of DC before my address which meant I arrived home past midnight after landing at BWI at 8:45.

I've heard similar stories when you are going to the airport, so if you choose this method make sure you give yourself plenty of time to get picked up and allow for a few other pick ups before going to the airport.

B30 Metro Bus 

The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) which operates the Metro system inWashington, D.C. operates a bus route to BWI from their Greenbelt Station, which is the end of the "Green" line on the Metro system. If you are in downtown DC you will want to board the Metro system and get on the green line and take it all the way to Greenbelt.

When you get to Greenbelt you will want to exit the station and look for the bus shelter that has a sign for the B30 bus (there will usually be fellow travelers waiting so look for the suitcases).

The bus leaves generally every 40 minutes and takes 30-40 minutes depending on traffic. The cost is $6.00 one-way.

The Marc Train 

If you are traveling to BWI on a weekday the best option you have is to take the MARC train which is a commuter train system that ferries commuters from suburban Maryland into Washington, D.C. and Baltimore.

The Penn Line, which leaves from Union Station in Washington, D.C. has a stop at the BWI Train Station which will get you to the airport. To take the train you will need to take the Metro system from downtown DC to Union Station on the Red Line. From there you will want to enter Union Station and look for signs to the MARC trains. To buy a ticket you will want to find an AMTRAK Self-Ticket Machine and say you want to buy a new ticket. Now this is where you have to be really really really careful. The machine will gladly sell you an AMTRAK ticket for an AMTRAK train that stops at the BWI Train Station, but that ticket can run $20 or more. When using the Self-Ticket machine look for an option to purchase a MARC ticket and then punch in your destination as BWI Station. The ticket should cost you $6.00 and will allow you to board ANY MARC train on the Penn line, so you can then find the next train that stops at BWI Train Station and board. The ride will take about 20-30 minutes depending on how many other stops there are.

When you exit the train at the BWI Train Station you will need to go straight toward a parking garage and stop once you have crossed the bus/taxi lane into the station. There will be a bus stop at this point to the main terminal at BWI which comes every 5-10 minutes.

NOTE: The MARC train DOES NOT run on the weekend, so don't try this on a Saturday or Sunday unless you want to shell out the money for an AMTRAK train.

Hope this helps you the next time you are weighing your options on which DC airport to fly into.

Review: Radisson Suites Buena Park, California

As I mentioned the other day this weekend was my first ever mileage run from Washington to Los Angeles. We decided that if we only had one day in southern California around the holidays we would do what any sensible person would and what every winning Superbowl MVP does....go to Disneyland.

With our final destination in mind we started to look for hotels in the Disney area that would be a good match. We booked out trip in October and at that time Club Carlson was offering a stay one night get one night promotion at Radisson's in the United States as long as you booked before October 31, 2012 and stayed before December 31, 2012. So my first choice for a hotel was obviously a Radisson close to Disney. In comes the Radisson Suites Buena Park. I was able to find the AAA rate at $98.00 for both nights and Kelsey and I both booked a night so we would get two free nights in return. We've already used one of those free nights to save us $350 on Christmas Eve in New York City (More on that later).

The hotel is situated just a 10 minute drive or so from Disneyland is also down the street from Knott's Berry Farms if you are interested in going to another theme park. The best part of the hotel is that they offer a free shuttle to Disneyland! That and, as the name would indicate, all of the rooms are suites so I was really excited to see the property.

We landed at around 8:30 pm and picked up our SuperShuttle to the hotel. We crammed in with 8 other people and a baby (Kind of a good sitcom name), which I have never seen before. Luckily we were the second group dropped off at the hotel at around 10:15 pm.

The hotel is a little dated on the outside, looks like a classic old "motel" that would have sprung up around the time that Disney became popular. But the inside is very new and updated with a classic kind of Spanish style of architecture. The assistant manager who was at the front desk quickly helped us and asked us what we were in town for and recognized our Club Carlson Gold Status and thanked us for our loyalty. This is the first time at a Club Carlson property that I have been thanked for loyalty and actually recognized as a member with status. I don't meant that as a "don't you know who I am" moment, just as a shocking thing as most other hotels go out of their way to mention it, but Club Carlson never had. This asst. manager was so awesome and told us about the property, scheduled us on the shuttle to Disneyland for 8:30 the next morning (Make sure you reserve your shuttle to and from the park the night before, you can always change it the next day, but they do fill up) and he said that he had upgraded us to a Business King Suite on the top floor. (Whoooooo).

The hotel is situated around an open air courtyard with a pool and small conference center/restaurant in the middle so we had to walk around to the backside of the hotel to get to our room on the fourth floor. Below there are a few pictures of the grounds I took the next morning

Corridor By Our Room 

Trees Around the Middle of the Hotel 

Conference Center/Restaurant 

The room was a big two-room suite with a front sitting room that featured a couch (which I suspect had a pull-out, but I did not look), a chair, a dining room table and a wet bar. Unfourtinately we were out so early the next day at Disney and didn't get back until past 11:00 pm that we didn't get to enjoy the sitting area.

TV In the Sitting Area 

Sitting Area

Wet Bar and Passage to the Bedroom

Table and chairs/Wet Bar

The bathroom was on the way to the bedroom in the back. It was a large sliding door, which I don't particularly like because it tends to be very loud and not provide much sound blocking if someone is in the bathroom, but not a huge deal. It had a simple shower, nothing special.

Bathroom

The bedroom had a nice king bed that was a SleepNumber bed which is a Radisson specialty. This may be great for some people, but I can never get over the feeling that I am sleeping on a giant air mattress when I sleep on these things! The bedroom had a closet and a nice sized TV as well.

King Bed

King Bed and Closet 

 The room was very nice and spacious, perfect for what we needed. The only complaint I have is the lighting system is based on a set of motion detectors through the suite. They are great to conserve energy and I am sure saves the hotel a boatload of money. But, they have one flaw, when you press the button to turn off the motion activated features for sleeping at night it also turns off the power to all of the outlets in the room. So our phones, which were plugged into the lamps at the bedside table, kept losing power in the middle of the night and didn't charge all the way. Would be great to see the plugs taken off the motion detection system if that is even possible.

After a good sleep we headed down to the restaurant for the free breakfast. I expected just a continental type breakfast but they actually had a really good spread! There was fresh fruit, yoghurt, cold cereal, oatmeal, scrambled eggs and potatoes. I heard someone say that at the grill in the back you could order an omelette and get assorted breakfast meats, but it would be extra, so I stuck to the free options which were very good for free. 

This property was very very nice. It had lots of personality and was in the perfect location for our Disney exploration. Also ever staff member we came into contact with went above and beyond to make sure we were having a good stay, giving us tips for Disney to beat the lines and making sure we didn't need anything. If you need a hotel for your Disney adventure.....use this one!

Lobby Decorated for the Holidays 

Thoughts on My First Mileage Run

First a little bit of back story....this weekend was my first mileage run, and it was AWESOME. I know it will not impress the veterans out there that do multiple segments all over the country, but I picked up BWI-LAX at $160 all in to get around 4,600 miles. I also got to spend a day at Disneyland, which was the first time I have ever been to a Disney property. It only took 24 years, but I had so so much fun! I'll have a full hotel review up in the coming days.

But...to the real point of my story. Today I came back to work after an awesome weekend and was talking about it with a few co-workers. Not one, not two, but four separate co-workers told me that they saw a story on tv or read a story on the internet about people that "do crazy things like fly just to get frequent flyer miles" and they immediately thought about me!

I told them that it was EXACTLY what I was doing this weekend, but I was no where near as awesome as those of you that go fly tens of thousands of miles in a weekend. They still looked at me like I was absolutely nuts and couldn't fathom why anyone would do that on purpose.

It really got me thinking how weird this hobby appears to those on the outside. I mean just a year ago I was in the same boat, I would have thought...why would anyone want to connect when they could fly direct? Why would you fly to just get the miles? What's the big deal about an airport lounge or a seat up front?

But this hobby really opened my eyes to the benefits of elite status and how it can be fun to just fly where the fare takes you! Without the idea of mileage running in my head I never would have found that great fare from The Flight Deal, which is now a site that I check furiously every day and can't wait to see a tweet from, I never would have been able to go on a trip with my gf and have one of the best days of my life running around Disneyland like a bunch of little kids and riding every ride in sight. This hobby isn't just something that gets us the seat up front, the free drink in the lounge or even the pajamas in first class. It's a hobby that allows the average Joe like me the opportunity to spend more time making memories with those that I love while exploring the world. Those extras....those are just the icing on the cake.

United Silver...What I didn't think was possible. Plus maximizing a mileage run and hotel promotions

Back when we started this blog I was just easing into the idea of trying for elite status on some airline next year, throwing this year out of the question because of time and work. But then I added a bit of work travel I was not expecting and an extra trip to the west coast and realized that I was only about 5,000 miles away from United Silver.

I know that some of the benefits can be obtained with the United Mileage Plus card, which I already have, but I was interested in some of the other possible benefits, including the possibility of upgrades (of course) though that is slim, priority screening and best of all the possibility of Economy Plus. 

My parents live in Seattle so at least a couple of times a year I make the trip from Seattle to DC and I always pay for Economy Plus to give me a little extra room on the ride over. If I could avoid paying those fees a couple of times a year it would really save me some money. 

So...for the past few weeks I have been looking for mileage runs to try to cross 25,000 miles on the year when The Flight Deal, which you have to follow on a regular basis for all things mileage run, posted a deal for BWI to LAX for $191 all in. I quickly booked two tickets for Kelsey and myself and now I when all of my travel is done I will be 500 miles short of 25,000 and will need one short run to help push me over. 

The best part is that while in LA Kelsey and I have each booked one night at the Radisson in Anaheim near Disney Land so that we can take advantage of the Radisson Stay One Get One promotion. We can use those earned free nights to book a night in December in New York City before we go to Europe and save another free night for another trip where a cheap hotel (read: free hotel) room is needed. 

The best way to get to your travel goals is to look at where you stand...what you want to do...and the best way to get there in as few steps as possible and for as little money as possible. :)