It used to be that 100,000 mile flyers found themselves in first class nearly all the time, and even mid-tier frequent flyers found themselves in first class most of the time.
Here’s why upgrades have become harder to get — and what you can do about it.
I often write that in loyalty, I am not my rate or my fare. I am either a valuable customer or I am not, and the way I’m treated should be the same on every single trip — whether I’m on an expensive walkup ticket for work during the week or a cheap discount trip with family over the weekend.
My single favorite card for earning valuable rewards points is the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card and it currently has its best-ever public offer that lets you earn 50,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
But Citi Prestige earns even more points — triple, not double — than Sapphire Preferred on air and hotels. It doesn’t just earn double points on dining like Sapphire Preferred, but also ‘entertainment’ which is a broad category.
There are a lot of cards that don’t get featured, that may work in specific cases for many of my readers. One of the things I frequently get asked, there are so many great but there’s only so many cards that you’re going to get approved for from a single issuer in a given time span. What about Bank of America and other issuers?
A roundup of the most important stories of the day. I keep you up to date on the most interesting writings I find on other sites – the latest news and tips.
United and the US Attorneys Office for New Jersey have brought an end to the airline’s role in the corruption investigation of the Port Authority of New York-New Jersey which oversees the airline’s Newark hub and public transportation options surrounding it with a Non-Prosecution Agreement.
Here’s what the agreement says, and what it means.
According to a new House Homeland Security Committee report, however, almost 27,000 of TSA’s 55,000 employees have received misconduct reports in the last 3 years. Only 6% of complaints result in disciplinary action. Unsurprisingly then — with disciplinary procedures not a real deterrent — complaints are up nearly 30% since 2013.
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…
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.
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.
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
