Over 7 Million Votes Cast: the Programs Frequent Flyers Consider Best May Surprise You

freddie awards
Apr 28 2019

On Thursday night I had the pleasure to co-host the Freddie Awards, the major awards program in airline, hotel, and credit card loyalty. Over 7 million votes were cast by program members to determine which programs around the world are delivering value to members that they appreciate most.

It’s a night to celebrate what’s good in loyalty, and to honor what the members think.

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Pay Bills With Mastercard, Earn Miles, for Just a 1.5% Fee

check
Apr 28 2019

Plastiq.com is a service that will charge your credit card and mail checks on your behalf. (With some vendors they also make electronic ACH payments.)

Their usual fee for this is 2.5%. It’s worth it to incur that fee if you’re earning a signup bonus with the credit card charges, or you’re meeting a spending threshold for a bonus.

Right now Mastercard payments are costing just 1.5%, and you can even pay a residential mortgage with a Mastercard.

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American Airlines: Bonusing Executives for a Job Well Done

american airlines logo
Apr 27 2019

American Airlines CEO Doug Parker explained a year and a half ago that executive bonuses were determined by their ability to hit these profit figures, earning partial bonuses at $3 billion, and more at the $5 billion and $7 billion levels.

So what happened to executive bonuses when the airline failed to meet this goal for 2018? No one received bonuses, just as the CEO promised. Executives received bonuses.

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