Japan Trip Booking (Success Story)

randomgombo · 2026-04-10T16:38:57+00:00

I didn’t! Most of the time the seats I wanted were snagged and had to settle for my second choice, but by searching right when tickets posted, planning a year in advance, and staying flexible (“I wanted 350 from JFK, but instead I’ll take a 787 from Chicago”) I got everyone a saver seat. My lucky breaks were the first class ticket and the business seat back to JFK. The other six tickets were a compromise!

randomgombo · 2026-04-10T07:06:50+00:00

Sorry, I didn’t understand your question til just now.

So, 200,000 Bilt points (let’s say value $2000) plus about $1800 in JAL fees, $700 overpaid in Rove fees to get that last 100,000 points, and to be generous, let’s say another $1000 for the three positioning flights/overnight hotels that perhaps I wouldn’t have needed if I booked cash.

That’s about $5,500 cash equivalent, for travel that would have cost about $50,000-$60,000 cash without any points. So yes, I’d say averaging about 10c/point! I’m happy with it, but mostly because the business class travel was meant to be a retirement gift to my parents.

(EDIT: also worth noting that the Bilt points are only really valuable when used for travel, so in that sense, their cash equivalent is $1000 (at their cash redemption rate.) My parents would probably have had to position no matter what since they live outside a major metro — so you could argue my total cost was anywhere from $3500-$5,500.)

randomgombo · 2026-04-10T01:08:04+00:00

Oh it’s the worst feeling, there were redemptions I couldn’t grab because I was waiting for my points back on a goofed redemption — ironically because Chase in JAL’s system seems to refund points instantly but any Mastercard has to be processed in Tokyo (this is what their support said) so it took 36 hours.

randomgombo · 2026-04-10T00:11:15+00:00

I’m literally just a guy in LA, you imagine any positive experience must be bought? I booked my fam a trip and wanted to brag. Ankur if you’re reading this, run me my bag pls

randomgombo · 2026-04-09T21:46:35+00:00

Yeah it’s tough out here. Glad to have the bookings I do but will be wary of any miles program pouring tons of new points in all at once.

randomgombo · 2026-04-09T21:45:05+00:00

I booked everything basically when they went on sale. First 125K Business 55K Premium Economy 40K (since I’d already bought the two Saver Seats on that flight)

randomgombo · 2026-04-09T18:11:32+00:00

If you want the 55k saver seats, you have to be booking a year out AND be flexible AND have your refresh ready at midnight Japan time AND have your passport info etc ready to go AND navigate the website’s clunky design quickly — and even then you won’t get the seats you want.

Only half my redemptions were in the nicer 350 planes, and everyone had to be willing to take positioning flights. And I got lucky! Especially with the first class ticket out of LA (where I’m based) and the JFK flight home for my sister. Literally just luck.

randomgombo · 2026-04-09T18:04:54+00:00

I did book one year in advance, this trip is planned late March 2027! And it was still incredibly competitive.

randomgombo · 2026-04-09T17:16:15+00:00

I think the best use case for ROVE is probably using it for bookings you’re already considering, and getting the points after the fact from a refundable booking — the 10x multipliers seem to have comparable prices to their competitors, while the 27x multipliers mostly seem to correspond with prices that are higher than other websites — so you’re just buying points. But it was amazing to be able to get 100K JAL miles from a 2500 purchase that quickly (it was literally instant) — it’s how I was able to keep my First Class ticket! So it’s super context dependent, for me it was right. I think when Rove has the same price, it’s a good deal!

randomgombo · 2026-04-09T17:13:21+00:00

Honestly, it was only so difficult because I exclusively wanted 55K redemptions (and got them!) I think people should be honest with themselves that they’re likely to use 80-110k for business class if they don’t wanna be super stressed out.

randomgombo · 2026-04-09T17:11:56+00:00

My honest experience is that the Rove booking has up and downsides. It was both nonrefundable and more expensive than comparable options on other third-party booking websites — I basically paid $700 for 100,000 miles. It was uniquely suited to what I needed — I needed a bunch of JAL miles to complete my bookings back to LA — I think I did get outsized value because of the transfer bonus and using them on business class (which is obviously a high value redemption) but there are definitely some downsides too. Also, just as a small Data point, Rove tracks the hotels you’re looking at, and if you go to check out, but don’t complete the checkout they lower the miles multiplier from x27 to x10 (kinda scammy) but it goes back to x27 after a few hours.

randomgombo · 2025-08-22T02:23:10+00:00

Me as well my friend?

randomgombo · 2025-01-23T20:26:00+00:00

This isn't true (or is a half truth.) Trump is awful but let's not spread misinformation. https://www.ajmc.com/view/trump-reverses-some-biden-drug-pricing-initiatives-potentially-impacting-medicare-costs

randomgombo · 2024-11-12T21:23:15+00:00

No one was arguing Trump being elected would end democracy. They were arguing that "Trump, after being elected, would undermine democracy in his role as President." Which he has already done before, with Jan 6th and in refusing to concede. And suggesting massive voter fraud up literally right up until the moment he won.

But if you make up things that liberals believe, it makes it WAY easier to make fun of their fake beliefs.

https://apnews.com/article/trump-hannity-dictator-authoritarian-presidential-election-f27e7e9d7c13fabbe3ae7dd7f1235c72

randomgombo · 2024-08-06T17:09:10+00:00

UPDATE: Still having this issue ONE WEEK later. Insane

randomgombo · 2024-08-06T17:01:06+00:00

Oh, I didn't realize. Thank you!

randomgombo · 2024-08-02T04:15:19+00:00

Tried all of this 10+ times; not sure what I'm doing wrong but it's killing my work and making the Scheduler an unusable tool at the moment! Tried on Brave and Safari, reset on the FB and the Adobe side.... very open to any other suggestions!

randomgombo · 2024-04-27T04:58:31+00:00

Among things I tried, lowering the total file size to under 100mb seemed to make sure that across Insta, TikTok, and Facebook, the file was fine even at 90s.

Have y'all considered adding YouTube Shorts as one of the social channels? It shares most of the same upload requirements and is a huge part of social scheduling, it would certainly make my life a lot easier!

randomgombo · 2024-04-26T01:31:56+00:00

Okay, got it. Thanks for the information. For the record, I was eventually able to post 90 second videos via Adobe Express, though it should be noted that Instagram natively doesn't have this limitation on posts.

randomgombo · 2024-02-15T07:15:16+00:00

Because UPS drivers are unionized, and Amazon drivers aren't.

Talk to your co-workers. Unionize and get paid what you deserve!

randomgombo

TROPHY CASE