$20 Uber Credit for Existing Riders

Feb 02 2016

Visa is offering a $20 statement credit for your next Uber ride if you make a grocery purchase with your linked Visa by Sunday, February 7. Despite the marketing language, that purchase needs to be from Whole Foods.

Use that Visa for a purchase at Whole Foods by Sunday, and then take your next Uber ride by December 31, 2018.

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Details of the New Barclaycard Version of the JetBlue Personal and Business Credit Cards

Feb 02 2016

Barclaycard picked up the JetBlue co-brand from American Express. And they even bought Amex’s ‘back book’ meaning that existing American Express cardmembers get transitioned over to the new JetBlue Rewards MasterCard issued by Barclaycard.

A couple of weeks ago American Express sent notice of the transition to its cardmembers. JetBlue communicated last week. And Barclaycard is sending out information this week that may start hitting mailboxes by tomorrow. The card isn’t yet available for new signups, but we know what it offers now.

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There are 2 Reasons American is Introducing Free Snacks Back Into Economy

Feb 01 2016

Move over stroopwafels, American Arilines is bringing free snacks to coach and meals to Dallas – Hawaii flights.

This is part of the overall branding experience, a customer may rule out an airline price being equal on the basis of their brand experience or the carrier’s reputation. United added back snacks to economy. So we’re returning to an equilibrium where basic snacks are offered. But why? There’s really two reasons.

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Why Singapore Airlines is a Great Points Transfer Partner for Some of the World’s Greatest Awards

airline seats
Feb 01 2016

Singapore has long been one of my favorite transfer partners of American Express, and also for Starwood Preferred Guest Starpoints. Last year Chase added Singapore as a transfer partner. And then Citibank did as well. That means you can transfer points to Singapore Airlines from all the best major transferrable points currencies.

Singapore offers fantastic award availability in premium cabins for members using Krisflyer points. And there are some real sweet spots on their award chart that will make them an even better Star Alliance program than United for some US-based members.

There are real opportunities, that I’ll review — and two gotchas as well that I’ll warn you about.

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OFFICIAL: Changes You Can Make to an American AAdvantage Award After March 22 — and How to Lock in Current Pricing for Future Trips

Jan 31 2016

I’ve gotten several questions recently from readers wanting to know what changes they would be able to make to American AAdvantage awards after the award chart devaluation on March 22 without having to pay additional miles for their tickets.

I had a pretty good idea how this would work, but I went ahead and asked American.

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Delta Flight Attendants Got Into Fist Fight, Removed From Plane

Jan 31 2016

A week ago I wrote about a Delta flight from Los Angeles to Minneapolis that diverted to Salt Lake City due to ‘unruly crew’. After an 80 minute delay the flight continued to Minneapolis — apparently with replacements for 3 of the cabin crew. Delta then sent an apology note to customers for ‘team members’ who ‘did not display their best behavior.’

Now we know the rest of the story.

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British Airways Plane Landed Today on 3 Sets of Wheels — Instead of 5

Jan 30 2016

British Airways flight BA295 from London Heathrow to Chicago turned around two hours into flight declaring an emergency. It landed at Heathrow around 5:30pm local time. The captain told passengers there was a “technical fault” with the plane.

The ‘technical fault’ was landing on 3 sets of wheels instead of 5. Fire trucks responded. Passengers had to disembark in such a way as to not tip the plane.

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