Earning and burning miles – The 2 things we do with this silly and wonderful currency. When it comes to burning (redeeming) miles, I’m far from the head of the class. With my insanely busy life, I don’t have much time to burn and have been called a hoarder. It’s a rare type of nerd who truly reaches the genius level at burning. I’ve only met 3 or 4 of them. For me, it’s just so boring to go the extra mile when booking a flight. I get a lot more excitement out of earning. Which brings me to today’s post…
Yes, some of these people burn better than the average Joe. They use less miles to go on better flights. They can save on airline surcharges and fees. They use their nerdy skills, including sometimes tacking free one-way flights onto an award. I get some emails from people who ask if I run an award booking service. The short answer? No. The longer answer? I don’t have the time, interest, or motivation to do that job.
In recent years, award booking services have gotten popular. These services charge money to book flights for customers. Like everything else in this game, it’s hard to separate the scams from the legit. Because of that, I’ve decided to share my recommendation…
Andrew at Shrewd Travel is one of the nerdiest mile nerds I’ve ever met. He’s always on a flight somewhere and actually loves all the tedious crap involved in booking great awards. I know him personally and only have good things to say about the guy. When I told him I was going to post this, I asked him not to pay me for referrals. I wanted the discount to go to my readers, and he agreed to a $50 savings. He’s available by phone (most of these services are not) and is easy to reach through email. His website is a work in progress but it has all of his contact information there. I hope this helps some of you! MileNerd out.
