Monthly Archives

Monthly Archives for July 2016.

4th Night Free on Hotel Stays — And $50 Amazon Gift Cards — From Citi Prestige?

by Gary Leff

Jul 14 2016

You’d think it’d be enough that there would be such a great signup bonus (apparently changing on Tuesday — so get the card now), triple points on air and hotel spend, lounge access, and a free golf benefit. Add on an airfare credit, global entry credit, strong travel protections, and fourth night free on hotel bookings and you’ve got a pretty unbeatable package. But the Citi Prestige Card seems to be in a surprise and delight mood. As TedG relayed in the comments, Citi sent him a $50 Amazon gift card as a thank you for using the 4th night free hotel benefit. Wait… they are thanking him for taking a full rebate on the 4th night of a hotel stay? And Ted reports this is the second time he’s gotten a $50 Amazon gift…

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Flash Sale: Buy Up to 144,000 Hilton Points at Just $0.0056 Apiece

by Gary Leff

Jul 14 2016

For four days only — through July 18 — is offering a bonus of 80% on purchased points.

Hilton will let you buy up to 80,000 points per year, plus bonuses. The pricing here amounts to $0.0055555 per point. I value Hilton points at $0.004, since I can pretty much always get half a cent in value at least from Hilton points and I have a preference for holding cash.

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American Finally Lets You See How Many Qualifying Miles You Earn for Each Flight

by Gary Leff

Jul 14 2016

One of the more annoying things about American AAdvantage for elite frequent flyers has been that they show you an elite qualifying miles total for the year but have not shown you any kind of breakdown at all.

When you took a flight and it posted to your account you would see the redeemable miles earned for that flight, but not the elite qualifying miles. So you had no idea if they were posting correctly or not. In fact, for a time earlier this year they weren’t.

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Yesterday American AAdvantage Updated its Terms and Conditions for Revenue-Based Earning

by Gary Leff

Jul 13 2016

Back in November American announced that they would mimic Delta and United with mileage-earning for flights based on cost of your ticket instead of miles flown in “late 2016.” That was subsequently revised in future communications to be ‘the second half’ of 2016.

Those changes actually go into effect with travel (not tickets purchased) August 1. And yesterday American AAdvantage updated its terms and conditions to reflect this.

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American Reveals How Much More Money They’ll Make With a New Credit Card Deal

by Gary Leff

Jul 13 2016

Yesterday American Airlines announced a new credit card deal where both Citibank and Barclaycard would continue offering AAdvantage credit cards — and signing up new accounts.

In April American Airlines President Scott Kirby said he expected a big credit card renewal along the lines of deals by Delta and United over the last year and a half. He got it. But he may not have gotten everything he’d hoped.

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Review: Etihad Preclearance US Premium Lounge, Abu Dhabi

by Gary Leff

Jul 13 2016

All U.S.-bound flights departing Abu Dhabi require check-in at least 2 hours in advance. I already had my boarding pass, but I still wound up heading over a couple hours before our rescheduled departure.

An hour and 15 minutes before departure I made my way down to the US preclearance facility. You have to go through security screening again, and then clear U.S. immigration. And you’re required to present yourself at the Customs and Immigration facility no less than 60 minutes prior to flight.

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