- Related posts:
Some guys are great at recording all of their trips and the value of each mile burned. I’m not that precise, but I went back several years, tracked down my flights taken, and posted them on DDF for 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018.
In 2018 I burned through some 3,023,450 miles and points. As my family grows I find it easier to burn through miles quicker than ever.
Don’t cry for my miles though, I’m still sitting on 8 figures of unredeemed miles and they’re not earning any interest just sitting there. If you have them, then use them!Ā Learn more about earning miles from credit cards in these posts, about the Chase Quinfecta here, and see our AMEX Business Cards page here.
2018 flying map and routes:
Here’s how I burned them:
January:Ā
- 5 round-trip awards on JetBlue from Cleveland to Fort Lauderdale: 16,000 JetBlue points.
- 5 “even more space” round-trip upgradesĀ on JetBlue from Cleveland to Fort Lauderdale: 5,800 JetBlue points.
View this post on Instagram
It’s the JetBlue complementary #Kosher meal for Mosaic members in coach 😂
May:
- 5 round-trip businessĀ saver awards on United from Cleveland to Tel Aviv via Newark: 750,000 United miles.
- 3 nights at the Ritz Carlton Herzliya: 3 Ritz credit card signup nights.
- 5 nights in 2 rooms at the Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem: 760,000 Hilton points
https://www.instagram.com/p/BjFX5EHn2vK/
https://www.instagram.com/p/BjNo11JnIym/
June:
- 1 one-wayĀ coach saver award on Delta from Cleveland to JFK:Ā 13,000 Delta miles
- 1 one-wayĀ coach saver award on United from Newark to Cleveland:Ā 10,000 United miles
July:
- 3 one-way saver award on Delta from JFK to Cleveland for JJ and his family: 39,000 Delta miles.
August:
- 5 round-trip awards on JetBlue from Cleveland to Fort Lauderdale: 58,500 JetBlue points.
- 5 “even more space” round-trip upgradesĀ on JetBlue from Cleveland to Fort Lauderdale: 5,800 JetBlue points.
- 1 one-way saver award on United from Cleveland to Boston: 10,000 United miles.
- 1 one-way award on JetBlue from Boston to Cleveland: 8,600Ā JetBlue points.
- 1 Marriott Category 9, 5 Night Travel Package: 345,000 Marriott points.
- 1 Marriott Tier 4-5, 7 Night Travel Package:Ā 540,000 Marriott points.
- OK, so technically I haven’t used these yet, but I’m still bitter over how Marriott handled these.
September:
- 5 one-way saver awards on American from Cleveland to LaGuardia: 30,000 Iberia points.
- 5 one-way saver awards on United from Newark to Cleveland: 50,000 United miles.
Waiting out a delay on American:
October:
- 1 metal cutout from a United 747-400:Ā 230,000 United miles (Though United refunded 50K of these miles after I pointed out that the size of the sign wasn’t close to the advertised size)
December:
- 1 one-way business class saverĀ award from Cleveland to Buenos Aires via Miami on American:Ā 51,750 AA miles (after 10% credit card refund)
- 2 nights at the Park Hyatt Buenos Aires:Ā 40,000 Hyatt points
- 1 one-wayĀ business class saverĀ award from Buenos Aires to Cleveland via Houston on United: 60,000 United miles
https://www.instagram.com/p/BroZG-6HeCc/
https://www.instagram.com/p/Br1M1ArHV4W/
How did you do in 2018? Hit the comments belowĀ and make your own map to post on DDF.
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122 Comments On "Here’s How I Burned 3,023,450 Miles In 2018, How Did You Stack Up?"
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amazing adventures!
Thanks
How do you rack up 750k miles?
Credit cards š
credit cards give miles when you spend money though
Nope, there are plenty of ways to spend money without spending money.
tell me some tricks I’d love to get miles
YE what Iāve been wondering or a while and I would love a clear cut answers or a class on it
I just got the Chase Sapphire Reserve (to my already existing Chase Freedom). Can you provide some tips on how you are accruing these points, without seemingly spending so much money?
Wow that’s amazing
Now post how you earned them….
Where’s the miles sold for the Antarctica trip?
I organized the trip so I wouldn’t have to š
Waiting for update #3
Dan,
Can we know how much $$ you spent on travel 2018
As close to $0 as I can get it to.
U can buy food with points?
Hence as close to. Though food at home also isn’t free.
Is it more worth it to use more points and pay less tax for a flight or use less points and pay more tax?
How did u become United global services?
Any way that you currently know of to get united GS (besides for earning it)
Simple. It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.
Every GS member can give an additional card to 1 person per year. That card is only valid for one year. GS members who fly 4mil lifetime miles get GS for life (expires when the member does)
Cool! wheres the rest if the Antarctica trip report?
Still waiting for the of the Antarctica trip report
Looking forward to the rest of your Antarctica trip report
Ben, I think you missed the boat. We are all here as friends of Dan and we enjoy hearing his thoughts and opinions on whatever it may be. Besides the fact that itās his website so itās outrageous for you to say what he can and canāt post. I think you need to figure yourself out and be more positive and happy for others and that will help you be more successful in your own life.
Bless you, Ahmad. I pray for you, Ben.
Thanks Dan
Can you recommend any place in Miami that provides shabbos Meals?
Kosher Kingdom makes amazing prepared Shabbos food.
Kosh and Backyard BBQ host Shabbos meals.
Prime 41 in tower 41 also does shabbos meals
Dan, what was the name of that platter from backyard BBQ? I looked at their menu but nothing jumprled out to me. Also, do you have a post somewhere woth your miami/ft Lauderdale/boca restaurant recommendations? Thanks!
Ask my friend Mendel, who is the head chef there, for the DansDeals BBQ platter š
Amazing stuff.
“3 one-way saver award on Delta from JFK to Cleveland for JJ and his family: 39,000 United miles”
Hmmmm
Wow! Amazing trips, good for you! Question: How come the first time you did 5 round trips to FLL it was 16k but the second time it was way more than triple at 58.5k?
JetBlue has deals occasionally…
Was a great sale.
Hey dan wanna adopt me?
Dan, you aren’t fair to me. I’m pregnant, and viewing your pictures of delicious food is pure torture!!! I want it all now!!!!
Iād think pictures of raw sushi and alcoholic beverages would be rough for a pregnant woman
Time for a babymoon?
Love the picture with Stephen Harper! He was just on the ship coincidentally or he booked with you? You knew he’d be aboard before you were there? Any security detail? Would love to hear about it:)
Completely coincidental to the kosher trip. We found out he was on board when we walked into the general briefing room and there he was. Of course a fellow Canadian recognized him :). No security detail. He was very friendly and generous with his time for picture taking. Otherwise kept to himself.
Bookmarked….
Dan, curious if you track the $ value of each point redeemed for each trip. Wonder if you consistently do better than 2 cents per point… Or would have been better to get 2 percent back with capital one purchases and use the cash to pay for the travel/hotels.
Great question
It’s significantly higher than 2% back.
Also with a Chase Bifecta-Quinfecta strategy you earn way more than 2% everywhere.
Do u have a post how u earned 8 digits of points @dan
He follows the advice he gives us on this site. He maximizes his Freedom bonus points on several cards, uses gift cards bought on his Ink card at office supply stores, etc.
If you always fly with points how do you keep your elite status on the airlines?
Me among many other readers are blocked from Instagram through the web filter, Can you please attach the photos directly on your post, like you attached the 1 photo of your precious kids sitting in airport?
+100
+1
Me too
3 nights at the Ritz Carlton Herzliya: 3 Ritz credit card signup nights.
3 kids in one room? and are you able to transfer the category 9 or category 5 attached marriott certs to a current tier 1-3?
Got upgraded to a suite and was able to cancel the 2nd room.
how many uber accounts do you have? do you have tons of coupons in them? j
Enough to last for quite a while š
The 750K UA points Erev Yom Tov is something that only @dan can do. Being GS isn’t opening 4 more seats on Saver. So before anyone gets ideas (as all other awards here are easily replicated- this years at least), remember ur only getting UA saver to TLV on limited random days, never close to a Yom Tov. @Dan, how did u get 5 seats open?
Plan C š
If u won’t share don’t brag. This shouldn’t be a playground, just my honest 2 cents. Rather write you paid 1.8MM points than do this.
You think I should have lied? I stated a fact, seemed pretty simple to me.
There’s zero point in sharing the info online, it would be dead in minutes. Been there, done that.
does plan b still work? does it work at any time of year? meaning, what are the prerequisites?
Sure.
which phone # is best to try on these days? ( the web callback link in your old post is not active…)
Burned over 1.5mil points this year, all for coach class tix (I did give away one ticket to tlv to someone else in business.) Just writing to thank Dan. Read the info regularly and try to put it to good use.
Nice!
Fantastic Dan. Beautiful places and an even more beautiful Family. Blessed is right.
Thanks š
Dan
Since you save so many people so much money each year, you should have a charity site on your website that people can thank you by giving charity to a few different charities that you feel are worthwhile. I would be happy to make a donation.
Gaiva!
Dan, tell me how many points you gifted to people in need for emergency travel – lo aleinu!
Ram chap, how about you reveal it first? I personally gave about 2% (two %) of my salary. Letās see your non judgement response
More than 10% of the income from DD goes to charity.
Additionally, I did use miles for special cases like that in 2018, but I did not include them in this accounting for obvious reasons. Charity is personal and writing about it defeats the purpose IMHO.
so why did you say that you booked cleveland tickets for jj and his family??
That wasn’t charity.
Dan, more than what you write is how you write. I read your site first thing in the morning and the writings always have a positive & relaxing effect. It feels like like having a live discussion with a you. I’m a little older than you and I see that you have an incredible gift of inspiring people in a very unusual way. That’s a real Shliach in my book. Keep it up!
Thanks, that’s exactly what I aim for š
+1000000
+1
Dan-you gotta convince these restaurants to open in the LAND!
CLE has done pretty well in 2018 for new restaurants.
Also want to add that I took the Resolute cruise just after Dan and friends. We spoke to a head staff member we befriended and they told us in all honesty that they really enjoyed your group!
That’s wonderful to hear, thanks so much for sharing!
I’d love to hear more about your experience. Would you consider writing a trip report on DDF (https://forums.dansdeals.com)?
Great post and pictures! Appreciate you sharing. Happy New Year!
Thanks, and to you and yours as well!
H Dan, I love this post!!!
I just have one question…as some whoās into this cc game, but doesnāt have a place to spend a ton of money, to rank up so much points, what can I do to make more points???
Nope, there are plenty of ways to spend money without spending money.
Like??
Pls share only afew of the ways. thanks
Buying Groups.
everyone is doing it.
You canāt amass so much points by buying a computer and a iPad and beats earphones etc. (this is not how you can make 100,000 points a month)
+1 plus there is abit of risk with buying groups that they won’t pay you back because they’ll be broke
Dan thanks for sharing. The Haters will always hate…ignore them.
Thanks for the trip notes and airline deals…once you have a great “hock” to fly business there is no going back to coach!
Any thoughts about running a seminar for Tzdaka? My schedule didnt work out when you did the last round?
Think about it Obi Dan Kanobi?
Great Write up Dan!!
I second that! would love another seminar in Lkwd. Missed the last one.
I burned 1.4 mil this year! Took me a while to get comfortable with earn and burn!! Want to take this opportunity to thank you for changing my quality of life!!!
Awesome!
Love the family pics! You have very cute kids!
Thanks š
You keep saying with ccs that “there are plenty of ways to spend money without spending money”. If some of us more naive ones can’t figure out this cryptic statement, can anything be leaked to us?? Please!
Buy gift cards to liquidate, buy items to resell, buy items for buying groups, etc.
Dan how are you able to pay for an even more legroom upgrade with trueblue points?
Need to be Mosaic.
Dan is the end near? See WSJ article….
https://www.wsj.com/articles/rewards-credit-cards-gained-a-fanatic-followingnow-banks-are-pulling-back-11546365926?emailToken=e9ae3f4bc6a627f1c902569578f917c3E0ox+AEHPJKlWlEeXYaMS6qGhTJZmPWtUhjBSxOxQgqQE/0PVWARKWA6R52Kp7ePl5uW4AkdtuC3NkQa+A/81dXLsawGIW50oFVN4d54fL/Qf2ar9220WnKpBx3uMg2FZJ1Tzsak8n0IMPPYIMeMzw%3D%3D&reflink=article_email_share
The good times are long gone, but these things come and go based on the economy.
Burned 500k miles, traveled to 13 countries & 30 cities, some multiple times, almost all of it in business.
Dan, Iāll never forgive you for spoiling me š 5 years ago Iād jump on a coach price mistake, and as of this year I donāt even consider business price mistakes because of miles.
2018 was amazing, maybe 2019 should be the year that profiles are implemented in the DDMS comment section? It is probably a long shot, but maybe it can be linked (or manually verified) with forums and/or Facebook profiles. It is nice and respectable that you let many distasteful comments through as it shows your ārealnessā, but at the end of the day they are just that – distasteful.
Awesome!
And not a bad idea. Just not sure if that will ever be a requirement to comment. But perhaps I should just moderate those comments?
I donāt know, I can definitely see the hard choice between letting these comments through or censoring them, but here are two thoughts: 1. Iām sure that 99% of people come on this site because they love it and as a result donāt want to see negativity around. 2. Free speech is a great concept as long as itās tied to a person.
@dan how do you keep your elite status if you only fly with award tickets?
I want to book a united ticket for next week. Besides for the $5 tax fee, i also have a $75 fee for booking a week close to the flight, does anyone know how to get rid of it?
āIām still sitting on 8 figures of unredeemed milesā
100 million miles??? WOW!
Try that math again
”buy gift cards to liquidate”. If you buy a gift card of lets say Staples of $100 for $90, how do you get rid of the gift card?