Both the racking up of miles and the finagling
around for award availability.
Not exact matches
A lot of people prefer the in - air product of Jet Blue over Southwest
for longer flights since it has tv's, free wifi, more leg room, business / first class «Mint» cabins, allows you to pick your seat, etc. but both airlines constantly rate among the best
for award availability, making them both solid choices
for getting
around the country, in terms of finding
award seats.
If you already have a lot of travel booked and can't make the most of the
award availability that's
around right now (and you're miles rich), then using miles
for upgrades may be a good idea — especially on routes like Dallas — Hong Kong.
The
award nights can not be booked online and in most cases you can't even check
award availability online (one of the many things I'm hoping Marriott takes cares of when it has time to get
around to it) so you'll have to call up the SPG customer care center
for all of that.
If you never travel, don't spend
around $ 800 a month or more in bonus categories, or don't want to deal with the hassle of finding
award availability, a cash back card may be right
for you.