In my post about the best mileage earning credit cards, reader Stan commented: Gary, Great blog. I check it every day. I was wondering what your take is on Membership Rewards. Is it worth using? I recently tried converting Starwood points to United (the 2:1 conversion was a killer, but I didn’t have a choice) and the 3-week wait took too long for me to make my trip work. I understand that MR offers instant conversion — are there downsides I need to worry about? Stan, first as another reader observed in the comments you can get around the poor conversion rate (2:1) of Starwood points into United miles by moving the Starwood points to Continental, then to Amtrak, and on to United. You can only do this for 20,000 Starwood points (once each year)…
About Gary Leff
Finding the Best Deal on Gas
I’ve previously mentioned GasBuddy as a website that tracks gas prices, helping you find the best deal in your area. I just came across another similar site called Gas Price Watch. Hope it saves you some money!
Best Mileage Earning Credit Cards
It’s been almost a year since I’ve updated this advice, so I thought I’d start from scratch. How to Decide on the Best Card Let me say up front that there isn’t one card that is best for everyone (although I’ll suggest below that a card can come pretty close). The truth is that the best card for you depends on what your award goals are. After all, different airlines fly to different places and offer awards at different point levels. Want to go from the United States to Australia, for instance? United awards are generally less expensive. But if you happen to live in Mexico your options for redeeming United miles are pretty limited. Another thing to consider is whether you pay your card off each month. Many of the mileage earning cards have…
Making the most of eBay Anything Points
It’s a beautiful day in Northern Virginia, 87 degrees as I write this, and I just down at the pool …. explaining to a friend how to get eBay points for Priceline bids, and how to convert those points to American Airlines miles — as I’ve written about in pieces here on View from the Wing.Admittedly my obsessions for miles and points has reached problem-status if my poolside conversation turns to Priceline and alternative currencies like eBay points.Having just had the conversation, though, I decided to pull it all together for my readers along with a couple of other offers and spell it out as explicitly as I can. Apologies to all who have seen it before. Create an eBay Anything Points account. Click either “Start Earning Now” or “Set Up Points Account.” Make all…
The Amex Black Card
Snopes.com has a good piece on the infamous “Black Card,” American Express Centurion, which carries a $2500 annual fee (long-time cardholders are gradfathered at the old $1000 rate) and comes with airline and hotel status.Perhaps the most interesting revelation in the piece, aside from learning that Amex concierges got an aspiring actress an audition with a soap opera, is that the card actually originated out of an urban legend. Rumors abounded that the famous and super-wealthy had a card like this, and that’s what gave American Express the idea to offer it. “There had been rumors going around that we had this ultra-exclusive black card for elite customers,” says Doug Smith, director of American Express Europe. “It wasn’t true, but we decided to capitalize on the idea anyway. So far we’ve had a customer buy…
Cash Back and Miles For Online Shopping
I got my first rebate check from Ebates, a website which provides cash back on internet purchases at a wide variety of online merchants. FatCash is another such service. It’s always useful to check these out. Most of time cash back deals can’t be combined with mileage earning (such as from United’s Mileage Plus Mall or Northwest’s Worldperks Mall) so you have to choose which is more valuable for any given purchase. The December issue of Inside Flyer contained a nice overview of mileage earning online malls. Sometimes, however, mileage earning and cash back can be combined. 1-800-Flowers awards miles by having you enter a promotion code and your frequent flyer account at the end of a transaction. So clicking through a rebate or mileage mall link will let you double-dip. (1-800-Flowers returns a 6%…
Triple Miles from Philly and Other USAirways Star Alliance Bonuses
In an attempt to leverage its frequent flyer program to defend its presence in Philadelphia, USAirways is offering triple miles between that city and 22 destinations. Registration is required.USAirways is also offering lots of bonuses for flying specific routes on its Star Alliance partners.Route-specific bonuses include bonuses for flying Austrian Airlines to Vienna (specific fares only), from 5,000 to 50,000 miles for flying United from Dulles to Zurich (on all fares except S, L, and T), and from 5,000 to 50,000 miles for flying United from Chicago to Osaka (looks like all fares earn something).USAirways is also offering carrier-specific double miles on Asiana, bmi to Heathrow, Singapore, Thai, and Varig. These are all restricted to specific fare classes and require registration.
Self-defense in the skies
In an era where most onboard knives are still plastic, it remains possible for passengers to defend themselves in the event terrorists attempt to takeover a plane. That’s the message of a new book, Never Again: A Self-Defense Guide for the Flying Public. (Hat tip to Bob Poole.) David Grimes offers a review. Some of the self-defense techniques discussed in the book include elbow chops, punches to the throat, lip pulls and kicks to the groin. If the bad guy is still breathing after that punishment, you can whack him in the head with a soda can, which the authors describe as an “effective short-range missile.” And, proving that I was wrong all along about the usefulness of neckwear, a tie is said to make an excellent wrist restraint. Even the TSA doesn’t seem to…
Private Screeners Are At Least As Good If Not Better Than TSA Screeners
Bob Poole compares TSA screeners to private contractors and finds both lacking: April saw the release of three reports comparing the performance of TSA screeners and those employed by TSA-managed contractors at the five pilot program airports (now known as the PP5): San Francisco, Kansas City, Rochester, Jackson Hole, and Tupelo. Weighing in were Bearing Point (under contract to TSA), the Inspector General’s Office of the Dept. of Homeland Security, and the General Accounting Office. There was some good news, for those who fought to have this option included in the law that federalized screening. All three studies found that the PP5 screening was as good as or better than TSA screening. And all five of the PP5 airports want to continue going that route. The bad news, from the classified versions of the reports,…
Continental Says So Long to Ellington Field
The Dallas Morning News carries a eulogy for Continental’s Ellington Field service which ends September 7th. This airport on the south side of Houston offered service to Continental’s hub at Houston Intercontinental, providing convenient checkin and free parking to many in addition to 500 frequent flyer miles for each segment. In a similar vein I miss United’s Baltimore-Washington Dulles service which ceased September 6, 2001. Atlantic Coast flew Jetstream 32 aircraft several times a day for this roughly 38 mile flight, giving me an extra segment credit and extra miles each way in addition to generally a lower ticket price.
