The Fourth Of July is one of my favorite days of the year. I love summer, patriotism, and a sense of coming together. While the United States isn’t perfect, we’re far better off here than many other places across the globe.
Because this blog is centered around travel, points/miles, credit cards, airlines, and hotels, I figured today is a good time to discuss a topic that comes up occasionally.
Are you a “free agent” at all when it comes to traveling? Or are you extremely loyal to one airline or one hotel chain? For example, do you go out of your way to fly American, even though United might save you some time and/or money?
If a destination doesn’t have a Hyatt, do you find somewhere else to vacation? Or do you suck it up?
Our Family’s Loyalty
My family is still pretty loyal to Delta Air Lines because they’re the reigning airline in most cities we visit with some frequency (Fargo, Minneapolis-St. Paul, New York City). But we’re not shy about taking Southwest Airlines when that’s a better option. We can put up with pretty much anything for a couple of hours.
Plus, Southwest has a ton of flights from the Hollywood Burbank Airport, which is an absolute dream compared to Los Angeles International Airport in terms of traffic congestion and ease. It’s not fancy (there are no lounges) and I’m pretty sure the carpet has been there since it was built. 🙂 Now that Southwest flights can be booked with Chase Ultimate Rewards® points, we need to load up on even more of those.
Thanks to various credit cards, we have plenty of “free” nights at major hotel chains such as Marriott, IHG, and Hyatt. We’re not too picky. Whatever is the most affordable or has availability for us to redeem free nights generally works. (Hyatt Places offer great points redemptions, FYI.)
Because one of my clients almost always has me at MGM properties when I work in Vegas, I tend to book MGM Resorts hotels-casinos when I head there for fun. I’m more familiar with those (compared to Caesars) and also have a ton of MyVegas points I can redeem for free nights, food discounts, and more.
Let’s Hear from You!
How loyal to travel brands are you? Do you shop for the best price? Or pledge allegiance to one airline or hotel? Please tell us in the below Comments section. And have a great Fourth of July (if you celebrate)!
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I’m not fully free-agent; I just wear friendship bracelets instead of manacles.
I maintain high-level stay-based status with 2 hotel chains every year, and I’ve got card-holder-based status with another 2.
For airlines, I used to be exclusive with Delta prior to their loyalty program changes, botched rollout of said changes, and devaluation of Delta Reserve card perks coupled with increased annual fee. My interest in flying Delta fades as my redeemable miles dwindle and status expires at the end of the status year. Now, I go with the cheapest or most convenient across the 3 majors. United has a finger on my evaluation scale due to automatic United Premier Silver granted from Marriott Titanium Elite status.
“I just wear friendship bracelets instead of manacles.”
Well played.
I am loyal to Delta because of Sky pennies, generally on time flights and good service.
With a super-abundance of points in One World and Sky Team programs, we’re free to pick the airline for a given route. In that respect, we’re free agents.
For a particular destination, we pick a property because of the property itself and not because of the loyalty program. In that respect, we’re free agents. A few destinations happen to be Marriott. For the rest, we typically use luxury hotels not associated with the major loyalty programs (e.g., Four Seasons, Rosewood, LHW, etc.). By the way, Marriott’s new assigned Ambassador service is way better than the pre-COVID program.
I have been loyal to British Airways for over 20 years, but I recently led a mission trip to Kenya that was an absolute disaster from the get-go. Sadly, No one at BA or any other airline would take responsibility for us and our dilemma (which was partly, no, majorly) BA’s fault. Yes, I do have Gold Status with BA, but free agency looks good at this moment.
I just did a mileage run from JFK to CDG to NRT (TOKYO). I flew AF premium economy for a additional MQD earning opportunity. First of all, AF’s PE is a joke. It is nothing but a glorified economy in service and comfort, which makes this long haul trip really tiring. This made me start thinking whether these mileage run trips really worth it. I am already a 2M miler; so I get life time platinum status. I think most of us know that it is hard to achieve Diamond by just flying domestic on Main Cabin. I am now assessing whether I should just save the time and money and stop doing the mileage run trips for the purpose of earning MQD and use the money saved toward buying confirm 1st class tickets and the time on trips that are meaningful. Like I said… I am assessing!
ps. AF’s premium economy really S…K!