Guess who's into the miles & points game!!! (I never imagined this!!!)

Guess who’s the New “Kid” on the Block as regards miles and points? Not the missus, and certainly not the kiddo (though he’s had his fair share of travel – mostly in premium cabins – so far).

It’s actually dad! Pushing 65, and as someone who isn’t aware of (and didn’t really care about) rewards programs, I didn’t expect him to be involved in the game. He’s never made a booking for anything, online – heck, he’s never ever made ANY transaction online. As a matter of fact, he bought himself an iPad a few months back, and honestly didn’t think he was going to use it. But one of the first things he did was to set up a Gmail account (yes, you read that right!), and then somehow got his JetPrivilege account mapped to that email id. Then, a few months back, I’d booked him some hotel rooms, and he now has a small pile of HHonors points too. Even then, I didn’t’ expect him to be actively involved in the miles and points thingy.

Earlier today, however, I was chatting with him, and mentioned the 50% bonus on the Citibank Premier Miles card that I had posted about earlier. Imagine my shock, when he said he had registered for the offer a week back! Mind you, the offer is valid effective 1 August, and most people got their mailers only on the 2nd. So now I’ve been tasked with setting up an AwardWallet account for him, and also linking him on to various FFPs and other loyalty programs. He loves to travel, and its mostly alone or with friends. Talking to him, I realized he’s sitting on a fairly large pile of JP miles – which could well take him RTW in the front cabins (!!!), and also Citibank PremierMiles. Now, he's not actively seeking mileage or mattress run opportunities - that's for sure. But at least he takes an interest, which I think is great!

Next task – getting him complimentary or short-cut statuses, so he can enjoy a little extra on his trips and stays. Sad, that the HHonors Visa Infinite complimentary Gold offer is no longer alive – any suggestions for this? But nonetheless, I’m very excited that someone in the family is taking an involved in this, and not squandering away their earning opportunities.

Do you know someone who has taken an interest in the Game at a rather late stage in their lives?


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Review: Le Meridien Etoile, Paris

Image
I checked out of the Hyatt Regency Paris Etoile yesterday morning, and checked into the Le Meridien Etoile, just around the corner from the Hyatt, in the evening after a day's sightseeing. Hyatt was kind enough to hold my bags for the duration of the day (which is a surprise in today's world of terror threats), and I'm grateful to them for that. The Le Meridien has standard and chic rooms as two of their base category rooms. As I mentioned in the introduction post, I booked a chic room on an award. Here's a review of the hotel and room, but not breakfast (that didn't come with the room, and we planned to head to the airport a little early in any case). Index of posts Bonjour Paris: Introduction and summary of posts Review: Chennai to Colombo on Sri Lankan A320 regional business class Review: Serendib Lounge, CMB airport Review: Colombo to Paris on Sri Lankan A330-200 international business class Review: Hyatt Regency Paris Etoile Review: Le Meridien Etoile, Paris Re...
Read more

Hotel review: Holiday Inn Singapore Atrium

Image
As part of my recent business visit to Singapore, I spent an extra night there just so I could catch up with friends, some of whom I haven't met in over a decade. And because I needed one more stay to qualify for the bonus under IHG's Accelerate 2016 promotion , and also simultaneously earn a few more IHG Rewards Club bonus points under the Book Direct promotion, I decided I was going to spend the extra night at an IHG hotel. Luckily for me, just hours before my flight to Singapore, I was able to get a rate of SG$150++ a night, which is a fantastic rate for Singapore, especially for a booking as late as mine was. However, I had received mixed reviews when I sought inputs from my Singapore-based friends, and so I decided that I would have a dekko at this myself. I had already been in touch with the hotel (even before my booking was done), to check if they were able to offer me early check in (official check in time is 3 pm, and my flight was to land at 9 am). They said they...
Read more

The week that was - 23 October 2016

Image
Hello from Paris, where my business-and-vacation trip is coming to a close. Vinay is in KUL on work, an Sam has been largely incommunicado. And I've had a fabulous week in Paris, the weather being fantastic (coming here from a rather long Indian summer)!!! Meanwhile, here's a round up of the week that was - a summary of posts on this blog as also other things travel, aviation, points and miles that we found interesting.Hope you had a great week, and here's wishing you the very best in the next one! Paris trip reports Here are the reports I've published so far, from my Paris visit. Bonjour Paris: Introduction and summary of posts Review: Chennai to Colombo on Sri Lankan A320 regional business class Review: Serendib Lounge, Colombo airport Review: Colombo to Paris on Sri Lankan A330-200 international business class Review: Hyatt Regency Paris Etoile Review: Le Meridien Etoile, Paris Airline news and offers Here's how your travel to, from or via Mumbai could be affect...
Read more