Me with a guest photobomb by Caitlin on the new American Airlines 777-300 in business class

So I am the other half of this dynamic duo, and after sitting around for a few weeks while Caitlin did all the hard work setting up the blog, I finally got around to writing up a post of my own.

Also an actuary by trade, I tend to lean towards the more technical aspects of booking and planning our trips. I’m also a self-proclaimed expert on travel programs and maximizing their value. I spent about 2 years, traveling around the country as a consultant, and racked up almost 200k BIS (butt-in-seat) miles in that short period of time. I was also able to learn some ins and outs of booking travel, navigating my way around foreign places, and most importantly how to make the most use of elite travel program status.

2013 Year in review, 125k miles, 118 segments, AA EXP status, and boy are my arms tired.

Some of my stats:

• American Airlines Executive Platinum Status (Oneworld Emerald)
• Starwood 75+ night Platinum
• Marriott Silver
• Hilton Gold

The programs listed above are the some of the ones I’m most familiar with, but there are tons of others and over time I’ll try to cover their pros and cons with a general strategy for how to use them to your benefit.

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