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ICYMI: Book Garuda Indonesia Awards tix for 10% the price
I’m pretty sure Garuda Indonesia broke the internet yesterday in a way that was only surpassed by Kim Kardashian and her assets circa 2015. They announced 90% off award tickets – YES, that means you could book Garuda Indonesia awards tix for 10% the price!!!! The hobbyist community rejoiced…for a minute, or an hour, or until we all realized how flipping ridiculous it was to redeem miles for these tickets. Miles was in the midst of arranging a celebration at LIV in Miami to rival the “ace of spades” Heat celebration…
OMAAT broke the story yesterday and it was off to the horse race.
Was it real? Yes. Was it a mistake? No. Have people kinda, sorta, maybe so, booked a ticket? Yes. But it is REAAAAAAAL SKETCH.
From London or Amsterdam to Jakarta is 190,000 Points. With this promotion it’s just 19k. WOW!
You can transfer Thank You points to Garuda or buy the points for $.03 per point. Both of these methods aren’t instantaneous and the Citi transfer can take up to 2 weeks. 2 weeks is beyond the promo period. Oy Vey! Buying points is hard too. You can’t even do it online! You need a facsimile machine. Miles got out the abacus and a blackboard just in case that was needed too.
Miles, I know you’re excited about Garuda First class for just 19k Thank You points, but we can’t afford this!!!!
Sometimes he thinks he’s rich just because he flies like wealth.
Matthew, at Live and Let’s fly laid it out very well. I’ll recap here.
- Get an account at Garudamiles.com
- Make sure that there is award space – these special tickets are not avail online
- You need to then call (62 21 2351 9999 ) to reserve the space ( which the miles don’t have be in the account. You can buy them, but sounds like a real palava)
- You have to visit a Garuda Office to get it ticketed. WHAT?! That is ridiculous. In fact, there are only 4 offices in the the whole of the U.S. : Chicago, Los Angeles, Houston, and New York.
Rapid Travel Chai wrote a hilarious article about this frenzy. Kudos, sir, kudos.
Basically everyone has written about this crazy promo. If only it were easy to book online… Miles and I are probably going to sit this one out. Had this been a couple weeks ago we could have just walked right into the Los Angeles office ( 10 mins away from our office) and asked what’s up. We probably would have ticketed a couple seats on a random route just to have the option, but now…We’re trying to put our heads together and figure out if it’s worth the risk or the effort. If you end up getting a great deal, please let us know – we’d love to hear about it!
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
60k Points after $4k spend in 3 months
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 60k points after $4k spend in 3 months
- Worth $750 in Chase Travel℠ and way more if you maximize transfer partners
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2024
- $95 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex℠and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.