You can no longer buy Vanilla Reload cards with a credit card at CVS. That was the simple way to load Bluebird. Buy the Vanilla Reloads with a credit card, put the funds on Bluebird, transfer the funds back to your bank account. It was the lazy way to earn miles with a single trip to the store, with the rest of the work done at the computer, sitting on your couch. Vanilla Reload cards cost $3.95 per $500. But you can still accomplish the same thing, with the same $1000 per day load limit, with two store trips and a cost of $4.95 per $500. Buy a $500 OneVanilla Prepaid Visa for $4.95. CVS still lets you pay for these with a credit card (you can also substitute a $200 PIN-enabled card from an…
Monthly Archives
Monthly Archives for April 2014.
Citibank Hilton 50,000 Point Offer: New Link Found, Alive Until May 31
While the link that I had for Citibank’s 50,000 point bonus for the Hilton Visa Signature card expired yesterday, reader Phil emails to let me know that there’s another link that will not expire until May 31. It can be found at the top (in the Wiki) of this Flyertalk.com post. One person on the thread reports that Citibank initially didn’t have an indication that they were entitled not just to 50,000 points after spending $1,000 in the first four months but also to a $50 statement credit after you spend $50 or more on your first hotel stay within the Hilton HHonors Portfolio during the first six months of cardmembership. Although it appears that’s gotten straightened out. For the folks in the comments yesterday disappointed because the link I had for this offer was…
American Really Took Away Main Cabin Extra From Bottom-Tier Elites This Time
A month ago I reported that American planned to eliminate confirmed-at-booking access to extra legroom economy seats for first-tier elites effective March 17. Only March 17 came and went and several American AAdvantage Gold members and similar tier elites shared with me that they were still able to book Main Cabin Extra seats. American it seems actually took away the benefit as of April 16th. As an Executive Platinum I continue to have access to these extra legroom seats at booking, so I don’t have an easy way to confirm that the change has been implemented, but it’s what they’re telling travel agents. American launched extra legroom seats in coach two years ago. (Of course 10 years ago they offered ‘More Room Throughout Coach’ – extra legroom throughout the whole cabin.) United removed the ability…
50% Off IHG Rewards Club Redemptions in Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean
Starting this Sunday and for bookings made by May 3, for travel between May 1 and June 12, 11 hotels in Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean will be available to redeem for half the usual number of points. Here are the properties that are supposed to offer 50% off redemptions: InterContinental® Presidente Ixtapa Resort, Mexico InterContinental® Playa Bonita Resort & Spa, Panama InterContinental® Presidente Cozumel Resort Spa, Mexico Crowne Plaza® hotel Acapulco, Mexico Holiday Inn Resort® Aruba Holiday Inn Resort® Grand Cayman Holiday Inn Resort® Acapulco, Mexico Holiday Inn Resort® Los Cabos All Inclusive, Mexico Holiday Inn Resort® Puerto Vallarta, Mexico Holiday Inn® hotel Cancun Arenas, Mexico Holiday Inn Express® hotel Playa del Carmen, Mexico This is, of course, low season — when most people don’t want to be there. But I’ve always been…
My Confession, Last Chance for Bonuses, Airbnb Illegal, & Hilton Discounts (Bits ‘n Pieces for April 18, 2014)
News and notes from around the interweb: Today is the last day for the 50,000 Hilton HHonors point signup bonus plus $50 statement credit offer for a Hilton HHonors Visa Signature. More details here. The AAA breakfast rate can get you a full breakfast at Hyatt while at hotels with a Regency Club Diamond members only get the club’s offerings. Of course, you can do better still often times at higher-end properties with American Express Fine Hotels and Resorts (for Platinum and Centurion cardholders), Virtuoso rates, and even Visa Signature Hotels bookings. Belgium bans airbnb. This after banning Uber. Brussels is not a friend of travel, or of innovation, it seems. If there’s an American Express card you’ve had before but are considering picking back up again, do it this month because there are new…
How Is It Even POSSIBLE That I Don’t Have Hilton Gold Status?
In 2013 (and in prior years) I was a Hilton HHonors Diamond member by virtue of spending $40,000 on their premium co-brand credit card. I had somehow internalized that Hilton offers their elites soft landings. I figured I would be a Gold in 2014 without any spending or credit card membership. I was recently downgraded to Silver. Here’s why I care. In general the smaller hotel chains are more rewarding. I love Hyatt Gold Passport and I think that Starwood Preferred Guest is pretty good too (albeit somewhat ungenerous with earning for in-hotel spend). But they aren’t everywhere and so I need another program — like Marriott, Hilton, or IHG Rewards Club. Of those, Hilton offers the most generous and easy to reach mid-tier status level as a ‘backup’ to receive decent treatment on those…
Spirit Airlines On Why Its Good to Have Customers Who Think You’re Bad
I thought this was a fantastic articulation of Spirit’s business model. Anyone who flies Spirit should understand what they’re getting. I love that they exist, they represent an option in air transportation that’s different. It isn’t for me but I believe it’s great to have options. What’s never good is buying something without being presented with an easy way to understand how the product may be different than what you’re expecting. I find that Spirit does a really good job on its website making clear what fees you’re paying, and what fees you’ll pay later unless you follow a very defined set of behaviors. Of course if you book Spirit tickets through another channel you won’t get that same level of expectations-setting. Here’s Spirit CEO Ben Baldanza’s response to their having the highest rate of…
IHG Rewards 500 Point Survey
I love loyalty program surveys. At least I love ones that: Don’t take very long Offer insight into the strategic thinking that a program is going through So I always at least try to start surveys, though sometimes I give up along the way. I used to play all the time with e-Rewards, opinionplace, e-miles, and the other survey programs but for those the rewards were never worth the time. I liked having a stash of points with e-Rewards and e-miles that I could transfer on demand to generate partner activity in a mileage account when there was a bonus for doing so, but even those offers have been fewer and farther between. But at least that provided some leverage. The straight-up earning for time is weak. That said, I’ll check out surveys done directly…
American Reducing the Value of Its Miles: And Why That’s a Good Thing
This has nothing to do with American’s elimination of stopovers at North American gateway cities and distance-based oneworld awards> I’m not talking about American making changes that reduce how we value their miles. I’m talking about changes to how they value miles when reporting prizes for tax purposes. There was a story in 2005 that garnered significant attention about a man who turned down a prize offering him 12 roundtrip coack tickets for two to anywhere American flew. He won American’s ‘We Know Why You Fly’ contest. I always found that to be one of the creepiest ad campaigns, in a pre-Snowden and before the NSA was cool kind of way. The man turned down the prize because American reported that each ticket would be worth $2200, and so his tax liability was going to…
Starwood Offering Double and Triple Points from May Through July
Starwood’s new promotion, Earn Away, Get Away, is double points for three months — with stays that include a Sunday night earning triple points (stays in the Middle East that include a Saturday night will earn triple points instead). Registration is required by June 30, but there’s no reason not to register now — just in case — even if you don’t expect to make any eligible stays during the promotion period. Perhaps you’re like me: I often find that I don’t know where my future self is going to stay… Here’s the list of non-participating hotels, which is to say that Starwood Preferred Guest isn’t picking up the whole cost of this promotion out of its own marketing budget and so hotels had to be solicited to sign on and had to be willing…
