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Loyalty Programs

Going For AAdvantage Gold Status

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Going for AAdvantage Elite Status

American Airlines recently revamped their loyalty program for 2022 and beyond. The end result is that, for most people, AAdvantage® elite status is going to be much easier to obtain. Even though I liked the announced changes, I didn’t give much thought to actually trying to achieve elite status.

However, a series of recent events sparked my interest and I’ve decided to go for Gold — status that is! I’ll explain what led to my decision and how I intend to reach elite status, but first let’s review American Airlines’ new loyalty program.

Historically, achieving elite status required racking up a mix of Elite Qualifying Miles (EQMs), Elite Qualifying Dollars (EQDs) and Elite Qualifying Segments (EQSs), earned through flying with the airline and its partners. With the new simplified program, earning elite status is tied more to spending and not necessarily distance or segments flown. Instead of EQMs, EQDs and EQSs, status is now determined by Loyalty Points.

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Loyalty Points

Members earn Loyalty Points on American Airlines flights, when using AAdvantage credit cards and with AAdvantage partners.

  • Base members earn 5 Loyalty Points per dollar on paid tickets with American Airlines, its Oneworld partners and JetBlue (elites earn between 7 and 11 points depending on status level)
  • Credit card holders earn 1 Loyalty Point per dollar spent on AAdvantage credit cards (you won’t earn additional points for spending in bonus categories or from new card sign-up bonuses)
  • Loyalty Points can also be earned by:

As you can see, the new program really incentivizes loyalty beyond just flight activity. In fact, qualifying on flights alone is much more expensive in the new program.

New Program Calendar

AAdvantage elite status will be determined annually based on Loyalty Points earned between March 1 and February 28. The membership year, during which your status is valid, takes effect the date you qualify, or April 1 (whichever comes first) and will be valid through March 31.

Example: If you qualify for elite status on October 15, 2022, it will take effect that day and remain in effect until March 31, 2024.

Elite Status Requirements

The new elite status requirements are:

  • AAdvantage Gold: 40,000 Loyalty Points
  • AAdvantage Platinum: 75,000 Loyalty Points
  • AAdvantage Platinum Pro: 125,000 Loyalty Points
  • AAdvantage Executive Platinum: 200,000 Loyalty Points

Benefits of Gold Status

So what do I get if I achieve AAdvantage Gold elite status?

  • 40% status mileage bonus
  • Priority check-in and boarding
  • One free checked bag
  • Same-day standby priority
  • Priority phone line
  • Complimentary access to Preferred Seats at booking, if available
  • Complimentary access to Main Cabin Extra Seats at check-in, if available
  • Complimentary upgrades on American Airlines domestic and short-haul international flights, if available
  • 24-hour upgrade window
  • Automatic OneWorld Ruby status and additional elite benefits with Alaska Airlines and JetBlue

Earning extra miles on paid flights is nice, as is the free checked bag. However, the possibility for complimentary upgrades and access to better seats are the most exciting benefits. In the old days, those were the perks that only actual frequent flyers had acccess to. However, I now have a shot to earn that same status without having to do all the flying.

In practice, perks like the complimentary upgrades, could be hard to use given that Gold members are prioritized below all other elites. On the other hand, I’ll certainly be able to choose Preferred Seats at booking and have a decent chance at Main Cabin Extra Seats at check-in.

For information on the benefits of Platinum, Platinum Pro and Executive Platinum statuses, see the American Airlines’ status benefits page.

How I Intend to Reach Gold Status

American Airlines makes it easy to track your progress towards status right in your AAdvantage account.

Going into 2022, I owned the Citi AAdvantage MileUp℠ and CitiBusiness® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® cards. I didn’t use either card very much because they don’t have great bonus spending categories. For example, neither card offers bonus miles for spending on groceries or dining out, whereas the American Express Gold card earns 4x points in both categories. So for the most part, those cards sat in a drawer in my office.

That all changed, however, after a series of events got me thinking that going for elite status was completely achievable. Let’s look at these events one by one.

Citi Bonus Miles Offer

The first event was a bonus offer from Citi on my MileUp card where I could earn 5x miles on online purchases up to a maximum of 2,500 miles. I quickly gobbled up all 2,500 bonus miles. Of course those bonus miles didn’t count towards Loyalty Points, but the spending I made to earn them did.

In addition, since the spending had to be online, I started all purchases on the AAdvantage eShopping portal. Doing so earned me more Loyalty Points and started to make earning elite status seem possible.

AAdvantage eShopping

AAdvantage eShopping mall
This is my starting place for all online shopping.

The AAdvantage eShopping site offers bonus miles for purchases made online at a variety of retailers. For example, the site might offer 5 miles per dollar spent at Nike.com. To get the bonus, you need to begin on the shopping portal and click over to Nike.com. The site records your visit, and once Nike confirms the purchase, you receive 5 miles for every dollar spent. Those bonus miles also earn Loyalty Points, so in this example a $100 purchase earns 500 Loyalty Points. Additionally, paying with an AAdvantage credit card nets another 100 Loyalty Points for a total of 600 points.

Earning 5 miles per dollar is pretty good, but there are some merchants that offer flat bonus amounts, and those can be even more lucrative. I earned 1,200 miles and Loyalty Points by subscribing to Discovery+. Make sure to read the fine print on every offer, but in this case, I only had to subscribe for one month at a total cost of $4.99. Earning 1,200 miles/Loyalty Points on a $4.99 purchase is like getting 240 miles/points per dollar!

Examples of some of the big time offers on the AAdvantage eShopping portal.

You can even search and sort on merchants by earn rate to find ones that give you the biggest bang for your buck.

SimplyMiles

Example of a current offer on SimplyMiles.

Around the same time that I received the Citi bonus miles offer, I noticed that American’s SimplyMiles had many interesting offers available. As an added bonus, many of those offers where at merchants where I intended to shop at anyways. Even better, most offers could be redeemed multiple times. I was able to earn 465 miles on an Uber ride, 465 miles on Uber Eats and 465 miles filling up my car at BP, all multiple times.

The best offer I’ve used so far was for Wine.com where I earned 1,400 miles on the purchase of 8 wines, all for $118. My MileUp card had an offer for $30 off a $100 purchase, so my net purchase was only $88, or $11 a bottle.

Simply Miles is easy to use. First you register an account and link your AAdvantage Mastercard(s), then activate your personalized offers and finally, complete your purchase using a registered card.

The best part is that all of the miles earned translate to Loyalty Points, and it’s not based on the actual spending amount. The Uber offer for 465 miles was good on any Uber ride, no matter the amount spent.

Increased Credit Card Offers

At the same time, I’d been tracking prices on an American Airlines flight I needed to book. Since I knew I’d be making a large purchase on American Airlines soon, I looked into ways to maximize the miles earned. I ran across a terrific offer on the AAdvantage Aviator Business Mastercard from Barclays. The offer was a whopping 80,000 bonus miles after spending $2,000 in the first 3 months. Plus the annual fee is waived for the first year. While the sign-up bonus doesn’t count towards Loyalty Points, the spending needed to earn it did.

Soon after earning the sign-up bonus on my new Aviator card, Citi announced an all-time best sign-up bonus of 75,000 miles on the Citi AAdvantage Platinum Select card after spending $3,500 in the first 3 months. Even though I had just finished earning the sign-up bonus on my Barclays card, I couldn’t resist applying for this one as well. The spending I’ll make to earn this sign-up bonus will give me more Loyalty Points.

NRG Energy

At this point, I was all in on going for Gold status and looking for a way to earn a large chunk of Loyalty Points to get me over the hump. I receive emails all the time from both American Airlines and United Airlines about earning miles from a partnership with NRG Energy. I’ve looked into these offers before but found a lot of bad feedback about NRG Energy online. So, until now, I’ve never pulled the trigger.

The deal is for 12,500 miles/Loyalty Points, which I’ll receive after completing 2 months of continuous service with NRG Energy. The complaints I found on the Internet are mainly around a “bait and switch” game that the company plays. The initial energy supply rate is less than the supply rate from your current utility, but it’s only fixed for the first 3 months. After that time, the rate is variable and can go up as much as 30%.

People who don’t read the fine print are likely surprised and obviously upset when this occurs. But I’ve read the fine print, and after 3 months, I will cancel my NRG service and return to my utility. I’ll get the Loyalty Points I’m after and won’t be burned by rising rates!

Update: After 2 months of continuous service with NRG Energy, I received the 12,500 bonus miles I was expecting. However I didn’t get any Loyalty Points! As it turns out, I missed the fine print (exactly what I was bragging about above). In reading the FAQs on the American Airlines website, it says you’ll receive Loyalty Points on “base” miles earned from eligible partners. It also states that “bonus” miles earned from special promotions will not earn Loyalty Points.

My Progress (updated monthly)

Once I’ve achieved Gold Elite status, I’ll report back on how I’ve be able to use it and whether it’s been worth it. Even if I don’t end up getting much out of having the status, at least I’ll have settled my curiosity about it.

Goal Achieved: Even without receiving any Loyalty Points from NRG Energy, I was able to achieve Gold Status in mid-September.

CategoryLoyalty Points
Online Shopping (AAdvantage eShopping)30,868
Everyday Spending20,996
Simply Miles12,665
Flights3,873
Surveys (Miles for Opinions)3,411
Partners/Dining3,194
TOTAL75,007

Finally, pursuing airline status was really fun for me. I thoroughly enjoyed hunting for deals and offers, especially when they aligned with my everyday spending habits. Have you ever had status with an airline? Let me know if you though it was or wasn’t worth it.

Hotel del Coronado

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The Hotel del Coronado has all the ingredients for a vacation to remember. From perfect weather and rich history to luxury accommodations enhanced by recent renovations, this resort exceeds expectations. Last month, Annie and I travelled west to stay three nights at the hotel, which is located on Coronado Island near San Diego.

Hotel del Coronado

Historically, we’ve tended to opt for less relaxing vacations in big cities, but this time, we just wanted to unwind. As an added bonus, our good friends from Orange County came down to hang out for a few days. While the entire island is cute with lots of great restaurants, shopping, beaches and multi-million dollar homes to admire, you could just as easily spend all your time at the resort.

For all that, what really makes the hotel special, is the outstanding customer service. The staff is friendly and attentive, and they go out of their way to make sure guests have a memorable stay. The hotel is also pet-friendly, which is a plus for those traveling with furry friends.

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Booking

When I booked the hotel earlier this year, the cheapest rooms were going for $500 per night. Now when I search for rooms for the summer or fall, I see them going for a minimum of $800 or $900! So I was extremely excited to book the hotel for free and get $250 to spend on food and drinks. My Hilton Honors Aspire® Card is what made all of that possible. I booked the room using three free night certificates earned from the card, which saved me almost $2,000. In addition, another perk of the Hilton Aspire card is $250 in annual statement credits for incidentals charged to the card at participating Hilton resorts. During our stay, we charged everything bought at the resort to the room and just a few days after returning home, the $250 credit had already been applied.

Even if you don’t have free night certificates to use, I’d still recommend experiencing this place even for just a few nights. With the financials out of the way, let’s dive into the resort specifics.

History

When it opened in 1888, the Hotel del Coronado was the single largest resort hotel in the world. It’s hosted presidents, royalty, and celebrities and has been featured in numerous movies and books. The 1958 classic “Some Like It Hot” starring Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, and Jack Lemmon, was shot there.

They have a complimentary museum to discover the behind-the-scenes history of the hotel and also offer several historic tours of the grounds, which can be booked for a small fee. Designated a National Historic Landmark in 1977, this beach resort is a San Diego area icon.

Even though the hotel has so much history, the vast majority is either brand new or newly renovated. The $400M Master Plan renovation is a multi-year, multi-phase plan that when complete, will have touched every aspect of the property. That project started only three short years ago, so as you walk around the resort grounds, everything looks new and clean.

Location

Coronado Island is located just over the bridge from San Diego. This small, tree-lined beach haven is really a peninsula connected to the mainland by a narrow strip of land named the Silver Strand. The hotel sits on the southeast part of Coronado right on the Pacific Ocean. It’s also walking distance to everything that Coronado Island has to offer, so having a car is not necessary.

The hotel itself is a true resort spread out across immaculate grounds. There are four different guestroom buildings (with a fifth on the way), multiple restaurants and bars, a pool and easy access to the beach. The guestrooms are located in one of the following buildings:

  • The Victorian – the site of the original guest rooms and connected to the Lobby, Front Porch and Ballroom
  • The Beach Village – an exclusive, gated beach community offering private check-in, pools, and VIP amenities
  • The Cabanas – spacious contemporary guestrooms with luxurious bathrooms with walk-in showers, and balconies or ground-floor covered terraces with lounge seating and fire features
  • The Views – upscale, contemporary rooms and suites located just steps from the sand; ground-level rooms feature luxurious outdoor terraces with fire pits while higher floors have stunning, nearly invisible glass balconies
  • Shore House at The Del® – scheduled to open in the fall of 2022, this new resort experience will feature 1-, 2- and 3-bedrooom seaside residences located within the storied resort

Map of the Resort

Lobby

The renovation of the Del’s Victorian lobby was completed in 2019. The original woodwork was carefully hand-stripped and stained its original color and the Victorian elements were returned. The lobby is really stunning and the painstaking work that went into bringing it back to its naturally beauty is very apparent.

The Victorian lobby at the Del

The lobby is also home to several shops including The Signature Shop and Est. 1888. where you can shop for traditional hotel souvenirs and travel necessities, all the way to luxury apparel and accessories.

Check-in

After waiting in line for 5 to 10 minutes, we approached the desk to check in. Our reservation was in The Victorian building, where the original guestrooms are located. Those rooms are fairly small and aren’t scheduled for renovation until 2023. As a Hilton Diamond member, I made sure to ask if there was any available room upgrades. I was hoping to score a room with a balcony and just maybe get an ocean view. However, the hotel did even better!

The staff was welcoming and gave us a room upgrade!

Instead they moved us to newly renovated The Cabanas building, located by The Del’s brand new glistening pool. The only room available in The Cabanas had two queens instead of a king, but we liked the idea of being in a bigger, newly renovated room. Rooms in this building can go for hundreds of dollars more than a standard room in the main building.

The Room

The Cabanas has spacious contemporary rooms with a beachy, coastal vibe. The building has its own little lobby and sitting area but I never saw anyone hanging out there. The hallway carpet transports you to the ocean and the interior of the building is full of ocean blues, sunshine gold, and warm sand tones.

The Cabanas lobby and ocean blue hallway carpeting.

The room was large and the calming, beachy vibe from the hallway continued inside.

Since the building was newly renovated, there were no signs of wear and tear and the room was clean and pleasant. It also contained your standard comforts of a desk, smart TV and plenty of outlets and USB ports.

The newly renovated rooms are clean and comfortable.

Our room had a balcony overlooking the pool, but the sound proofing was very good. When inside the room, we weren’t bothered by noise even when the pool area was busy.

A nice place to relax and have a drink.

The view from our balcony looked down over the pool area. The pictures below, from top to bottom, are of the Sun Deck restaurant and bar, The Cabanas pool and the view of the Ballroom in the main building.

The Sun Deck restaurant and bar overlooks the pool area on one side and the ocean on the other.
The Cabanas Pool
The big Ballroom overlooks the pool area and is a popular place to have weddings and other events.

Some ground floor rooms in The Cabanas have covered terraces with lounge seating and fire pits.

These oceanfront Cabanas rooms have covered terraces with lounge seating and fire pits.

The Bathroom

The luxurious bathroom felt new and clean with a walk-in shower and separate toilet area. The color scheme of ocean blues continued in here, as did the calming vibe.

My only gripe with the bathroom is that it would’ve been nice to have a larger vanity with double sinks. It can be tricky if two people want to use the mirror or sink at the same time. Otherwise, the bathroom is still very functional and the hotel did a good job utilizing the available space.

The vanity, while small, is handsome and functional.
The walk-in shower was bright and clean.

Hotel Amenities

The Pool

As one of the recently renovated areas of the resort, the pool is gorgeous and inviting. It features new lounge furniture, a hot tub, and a “stadium seating” lounge deck with direct access to the Sun Deck for easy food and beverage access. If you’d rather not leave the pool area, friendly wait staff will gladly take and deliver food and drink orders.

There’s just one pool, which is used by guests staying in The Victorian, The Cabanas and The Views. When we first arrived I thought the pool area might be too small to accommodate all those people. But unlike at some resorts, we had no trouble finding seats no matter the time of day. For an additional fee, you can reserve one of twelve luxury cabanas for the day.

Note: Guest staying in The Beach Village have their own private main pool as well as other more secluded plunge pools and jacuzzis scattered through that section of the property.

For an extra fee, you can spend the day in one of 12 covered cabanas.

Dining

Sheerwater and Serẽa are high-end eateries offering fresh fish overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

There’s no shortage of wonderful dining options at the resort so you really never have to leave to get a great meal or snack. As with most resorts, however, prices are pretty steep. Luckily the food was very high quality and the convenience is hard to beat. Here are all the dining options available:

  • Sheerwater – popular eatery, serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner; will get a refreshed interior design and new concept in 2023
  • Serẽa – high end restaurant offering sustainable coastal cuisine for the ultimate sea-to-table experience 
  • Sun Deck – bar and grill offering craft cocktails, tasty bites, a brand new 360-degree bar, cozy fire pits and gorgeous front-row views of the setting sun
  • Beach + Taco Shack – located right on the beach, this “shack” serves tropical cocktails, beer, wine and Coronado Island’s best fish tacos
  • ENO Market & Pizzeria – the indoor market offers grab-and-go items plus coffees, fresh pastries, and sandwiches made to order; outside, the pizzeria offers a beautiful patio gazebo with casual tables perfect for sharing rustic pizzas and an Italian cocktail or glass of wine
  • Sundaes – gourmet gelato and hand-crafted paleta popsicles that you can dip, drizzle and sprinkle with endless topping and flavor combinations
  • Babcock & Story Bar – named for The Del’s visionary founders, the indoor/outdoor bar features the hotel’s original mahogany bar

Each night, we decided to leave the resort for dinner elsewhere on the island, so we didn’t experience all of these restaurants. Here’s my take on the ones we did try:

Sundaes

Sundaes has terrific gelato and lots of interesting paleta popsicle flavors.
Key Lime Paleta

Vacations and ice cream (or gelato in this case) seem to go hand in hand. We had gelato after dinner one night and tried paleta popsicles as an afternoon snack the next day. Paletas are a Mexican frozen treat made from fresh natural fruits or from rich creamy ingredients such as chocolate. Neither my wife nor I had ever had paletas before, so we were really interested to try them. She got a peanut butter chocolate paleta that had a Reese’s peanut butter cup frozen in the middle. I got a key lime pie paleta that had a fresh slice of lime frozen inside. Now that I’m home, I wish I had tried at least one more flavor as they were really quite good. The best way I can describe them are as a great combination of rich creaminess and refreshment.

Beach + Taco Shack

The Beach + Taco Shack might have long lines but the tacos are worth the wait.

Soon after dropping our stuff off in the hotel room, we headed straight to The Beach + Taco Shack for a late lunch. We met our visiting friends there and ordered several tacos and tropical cocktails. Before I get to the food and drinks, let me set the scene. The “shack” is located right on the beach and on Tuesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, there’s live music from 2pm to 5pm. We were there on a Saturday afternoon, so the band was playing, the weather was gorgeous and the crowds of people were totally enjoying themselves.

Have your tacos and tropical drinks right on the beach!

While they have a carne asada taco and a vegan option, we all chose the shrimp and “catch of the day” tacos. Each taco was $8 or $8.50 but they were huge and quite tasty. I thought the shrimp taco was outstanding!

We each ordered a tropical drink as well plus a huge drink to share called the “Party Wave”. This massive cocktail had two different rums, Blue Curaçao, Melon Liqueur, blended pineapple purée blended and was served in a fresh pineapple. It’s not really worth the high price tag but it certainly gets you in the right mood!

Sun Deck

The draw of the Sun Deck is its proximity to the pool area and its views of the ocean. Annie and I had drinks here one evening to enjoy the sunset before heading to dinner. The cool thing about the Sun Deck is the different experiences you can have there. There are big communal tables for having food, a 360-degree bar for drinking and watching a game and couches with cozy fire pits overlooking the ocean.

The setting makes for great people watching in addition to the spectacular scenery.

The Grounds

The grounds of the resort are immaculate and beautiful. Between the hotel restaurants and the beach is a big open area called The Windsor Lawn. During the first day of our stay, this area was filled with kids playing and people lounging. The other two days, it was used to host elaborate corporate functions.

The Windsor Lawn and spin class with a view!

On the northeast end of the property along Orange Avenue you’ll find one of the resort’s charming entrances. Everything at the resort is pretty including the flowers surrounding the hotel sign and the bubbling fountain. Past the Crown Fountain, is an “instagrammable” lighted pathway to the main grounds.

The Crown Fountain in the background.
An “Instagrammable”pathway.

Miscellaneous

Although we didn’t utilize either, the hotel does have a newly renovated spa and fitness center.

The Spa & Salon at The Del received an interior design refresh with new lounge areas for men and women, a Marilyn Monroe inspired Beauty Bar and fresh modern touches throughout the space.

The new state-of-the-art Fitness Center makes up a larger footprint with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the Beach Village pool and a central reception area with lockers. Guests have access to dedicated areas for cardio, stretching/yoga, and strength training.

The resort is beautiful at night.

Bottom Line

This is definitely one of the best resorts I’ve ever stayed at. Yes, it’s pricey, but I would come here again even without any free night certificates. The resort grounds, the staff, the history, everything about it makes you feel good. The renovation so far as been top notch, making what’s old new again, while keeping the historic charm in tact. I highly recommend the Hotel del Coronado.

Trip Report Index

  1. Free Flights and Hotel in Coronado (San Diego)
  2. Hotel del Coronado, Curio Collection by Hilton

Postponing Hawaii Due to a Pandemic

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Postponing Hawaii Due to a Pandemic

Like many of my fellow travelers, the situation in the world right now has forced me to cancel vacation plans that I was very much looking forward to. This trip was going to be a big one, and one paid almost entirely with points and miles. For a few years now, I’ve been planning to celebrate my 5th wedding anniversary with Annie in Hawaii. Everything was booked — flights, hotel, rental car — $10,000 worth of travel booked for a mere $250!

I booked the entire trip in early February and less than two months later, the entire world had changed. While this trip was important to Annie and I, it obviously pales in comparison to the devastating impacts that COVID-19 has had on the world. I feel lucky that nobody in my family has gotten sick and that I’ve been able to continue to earn a living and work from home. That being said, it was still disappointing to finally come to terms that this trip would no longer occur.

Cancelling Our Anniversary Trip

Of course, cancelling the reservations wouldn’t be easy. My hotel reservations allowed cancellations up to 2 days prior to arrival, so I had no problems with those. However, I ran into some issues cancelling the car rental and airfare.

Car Rental

I rented the car through Hertz with 7,500 Hertz points. When I cancelled the reservation, they charged me a 25% redeposit fee, putting only 5,625 points back into my account. When the pandemic hit, Hertz announced they’d be waiving that redeposit fee since customers would be cancelling through no fault of their own. Of course, the execution of that policy change didn’t happen.

So I filled out a case on their website, and argued that I shouldn’t have been charged the redeposit fee. Within just a few days they responded by adding the missing points back into my account. However, only a few days afterward, Hertz filed for bankruptcy. So who knows if I’ll be able to use these points in the future, but for now, I’m happy to have them back.

Airfare

United Airlines was harder to work with and quite frustrating. During March and April, I was listening to news reports every day and reading articles to figure out the right time to cancel my flights. United’s website stressed that customers wishing to cancel flights more than 21 days in the future should wait, so that other customers with sooner flights could be prioritized. That made a lot of sense, so I waited. I also knew that if the airline cancels the flight, you will definitely not be charged a cancellation fee.

Then about a month from the date of our flight, and with Hawaii strictly enforcing a 14-day quarantine for arriving tourists, I decided it was time to cancel. I didn’t want to string it out any longer since there was a 0% chance we were going to Hawaii.

Grrrrrrr!

So I logged onto United’s website and saw a message that cancellation fees would be waived for those cancelling reservations more than 30 days in advance. That was very different than the previous messaging to come back once you were within 21 days from departure. And now, guess how many days it was to our flight? 29 days of course! Naturally, I was charged $125 per ticket to cancel the flight, which I went ahead with anyways.

Later that month, I called United’s customer care team. They were pretty easy to deal with on the phone and agreed to process a refund for $250. The entire call, with hold time, was around 45 minutes. Receiving the refund could take around 27 business days, for some odd reason, so this isn’t totally resolved just yet. So I’ll be watching my credit card statements to ensure they keep their word.

Bottom Line

So now we wait. I have no travel plans scheduled at all for the remainder of 2020 and there’s no guarantee that 2021 will look much better. However, I’m hopeful that we can try this again next spring. In the meantime, I pray that everyone stays safe and the scientists are able to get the world a vaccine as soon as possible.

Trip Report Index

  1. Introduction and Planning
  2. Using Points and Miles to get to Hawaii
  3. How a Flight Change Put 45,000 Miles Back in My United Account
  4. Postponing Hawaii Due to a Pandemic
  5. Flight from Chicago to Maui
  6. Grand Wailea Maui, A Waldorf Astoria Resort
  7. Activities in Maui
  8. Flight from Kahului to Honolulu
  9. Hyatt Regency Waikiki Beach Resort And Spa
  10. Activities in Honolulu
  11. Flight from Honolulu to Chicago