Monthly Archives

Monthly Archives for May 2015.

Important Updates on Funding Financial Accounts and Buying Visa Gift Cards Online With Credit Card

by Gary Leff

May 13 2015

Earlier in the week I wrote about a credit union that will sell you $500 Visa gift cards for $3.95 and take a credit card for the transaction. When you open an account with this credit union you can make an initial deposit charged to a credit card for up to $1500. The credit union confirmed they treat this as a purchase. Any given credit card company may code it differently, but my transaction with a Chase card showed up as a sale and earned points. Some followups and updates worth sharing: You need to make sure you make yourself eligible to join the credit union. If you aren’t an employee of an eligible federal agency, a resident of Washington DC, etc. don’t say that you are. Anyone can join via a $20 membership in…

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What Will Happen to US Airways Companion Certificates This Fall When There Are No More US Airways Flights

by Gary Leff

May 13 2015

US Airways credit card-issued companion certificates are still around, requiring travel to be completed by the end of the year. But with the American-US Airways merger progressing, there aren’t expected to *be* any US Airways flights during the last 10 weeks or so of the year. What will happen to these certificates?

The truth is that the final details haven’t been worked out yet, though it’s clear they’ll be honored. Nonetheless, after talking with American, it seems pretty clear how this will work.

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The New Gold Rush: As Airlines Move Headlong Into Cuba Service, is its Potential Overhyped?

by Gary Leff

May 13 2015

The Christian Science Monitor covers JetBlue’s desire to expand into Cuba now that many legal restrictions on doing business have been lifted, and US citizens can go with a wink and a nod. It’s got a good start – the low-cost carrier will begin weekly flights from New York to Havana in July, and it operates two routes out of Tampa and Fort Lauderdale, Fla., in partnership with a Cuban charter operator. …JetBlue wants to be ready to expand beyond the weekly flights. The ‘Cuba boom’ may be a bit overhyped — some might think that Cuba is just a Caribbean destination that doesn’t yet have the infrastructure to support many visitors — but proximity to the US and precisely that it doesn’t yet have this infrastructure is what makes it an exciting destination for…

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Open Letter to Fellow Passenger Goes Viral Thanks to Feet That Smelled Like ‘Anus of Satan’

by Gary Leff

May 13 2015

Via the UK’s Independent, a woman on an Air Asia flight from Singapore to Sydney wrote a letter to the passenger in 15A. What I had initially thought to be a routine flight turned out to be a once in a lifetime experience – and it was all because of you. …Despite my common economy seat, you offered me a full back massage by repeatedly kicking the back of chair. To date, I have yet to regain full mobility of the lower half of my body. But since I am single, I suppose I don’t have much use for it anyway. I did not pay for the in-flight entertainment package and I was worried that I might get bored. But my concerns were unnecessary. You were talking so loudly, as if your friend was seated…

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It’s Time for United and Southwest to Start Negotiating New Credit Card Deals With Banks. What Will That Mean for Frequent Flyers?

by Gary Leff

credit cards
May 12 2015

The Southwest and United card deals with Chase are coming up soon. These relationships are getting very expensive for the banks, Delta-Amex is a $2 billion deal.. and that renegotiation left American Express paying more and getting less. What will consumers likely see as more banks bid for relationships with these two major airlines?

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