A couple of weeks ago I wrote that American Express Platinum cards would still get you into US Airways and American lounges through the end of April. Platinum cards lost access a month ago. Citibank is now the sole issuer of cards that offer lounge access with the new American Airlines. And they’ve got – by far – the best credit card offer in the market with a 100,000 mile signup bonus for their Executive Card which bundles American and US Airways lounge access. This month they’re ready to tell you about this card in American and US Airways lounges. If you come in with a card that used to come with lounge access, they’ll give you a club pass (valid for a year). They’ve also given me plenty of miles and club passes to…
Act Fast: $600 Off Airfare to Israel
Norwegian booking site Wideroe has dirt cheap flights from many US cities to Tel Aviv, Israel. This is available from many cities like Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami, and Washington DC. When you go to their site, switch the currency to US dollars. I’m seeing prices between $499 and $750 roundtrip for travel on US Airways, depending on travel dates and the US city you start in. Even at their most expensive, I’m seeing real savings. For instance, Los Angeles – Tel Aviv roundtrip on US Airways in July appears to be running ~ $1700… but on Wideroe closer to $1000. Here’s the month of July for a 5-7 day trip: But here’s if you price such a trip at Wideroe. What’s going on is that Wideroe appears to be dropping the fuel surcharge out of…
The Consumer Advocate Who Wants Your Frequent Flyer Program to Get Worse
When Christopher Elliott loves your loyalty program, you know you’re doing something wrong. He loves Delta’s planned changes for 2015 to go revenue-based, even though he doesn’t seem to get that they take what he hates about loyalty programs in an even more extreme direction. The way I square this circle is that I actually think he: Hates the people who like and benefit from loyalty programs. Finds that writing provocative things generates traffic and kudos from his employers, even when those things are utterly non-sensical. The thrust of the over complaint of ‘Elliott-the-Populist’ is that frequent flyer programs reward some people and not other people. And those who benefit from the program reap unjustified benefits. To Elliott, it doesn’t matter that those are the most profitable customers that airline has. Those benefits must come…
American Made Another Change to Their Program On April 8th That They Didn’t Tell You About
Two weeks ago American AAdvantage made several changes to its program: Rolling out a new three-tier pricing model for AAnytime awards (paying extra miles when regular award seats aren’t available). Eliminating free stopovers on international awards at the North American gateway city Eliminating distance-based oneworld explorer awards Increasing the telephone booking fee from $25 to $35 (they still do not waive this fee for awards that cannot be booked online, and most airline partner awards cannot be). That’s stuff we knew about, or at least that American publicly acknowledged. There wasn’t a single web page with the changes that they made, and the email they sent out didn’t detail them either. It turns out though that there was another change made at the same time that’s gone mostly unreported on — and as far as…
Earn Miles for Online Searches, Unload Your Gift Cards for Free, and Earn Double Miles While You Save (Bits ‘n Pieces for April 22, 2014)
News and notes from around the interweb: You can load Amex Serve cards at Walmart using Visa/MasterCard gift cards. If you’re a US Airways elite, then today is the last day to use your miles to confirm a domestic upgrade without a co-pay. Judging from the traffic logs on this blog, no one uses Bing for search. So Microsoft has to pay you to. In fact Bing will let you earn frequent flyer miles for searches. You just need to give up your Google addiction. It’s not a lot of miles, but you can keep an account active.. Save 5% – 10% off Emirates tickets and earn double miles crediting those flights to Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan. (HT: @travelwithgrant) Which Hotel Chains Are Still Charging for Wifi and Why? You can join the 40,000+ people…
Can the TSA Make You Hide ‘Offensive Symbols’ When Going Through a Checkpoint?
The TSA wouldn’t allow a purse with a designs of guns on the side to be publicly viewable as a personal item when clearing the checkpoint at the Columbus, Ohio airport. ..TSA said it would “offend their travelers.” They made her put it in her carry on. ..She stood in the security line, but when she placed her purse on the conveyor belt, they stopped her. …“We are just going to ask you to keep your purse in your bag where it cannot be seen by other travelers. I know these are not ACTUAL guns, but they may offend some of the other people traveling.” I am not a lawyer let alone one specializing in free speech law. My initial impression, though, is that the Supreme Court’s Cohen v. California ruling would be clear on…
How to Get Cheap Custom Suits Made in Southeast Asia
I love getting custom-made suits done in Southeast Asia. I’ve done it multiple times in Thailand. Labor is cheap, skill level is high, and competition is intense. That translates into a great opportunity for consumers. But it isn’t the same opportunity that many think it is. Tailor shops will make clothes for you in whatever time you have. But if you don’t have 4-5 days you probably aren’t really getting custom-made. Suits aren’t being properly made for you in a day. Suits are cheap but they aren’t dirt cheap if you want quality. Don’t buy a suit with shirt and tie thrown in for $99. It’s going to be a $99 suit, and more or less wastes your time getting it and the opportunity foregone for something better. Expect to pay for quality — while…
Earn Double Points or Double Miles With Hilton HHonors: Which Should You Choose?
Last week Starwood announced their double and triple points promotion for May through July. (If you’re new to Starwood, sign up with free instant status.) Hilton is now out with their competing promo, Double Your HHonors. Hilton’s current promotion runs through April 30th. Like Starwood’s their new promotion runs May 1 through July 31. You have to choose between earning double points or double miles. And then you’ll want to have your ‘earning preference’ set accordingly. Of course, since Hilton killed points and fixed miles as an option, you are now either earning the standard 10 base points plus 5 points per dollar or the 10 base points and 1 mile per dollar. Under this promotion you can either earn a bonus equal to your base points earned (an extra 10 points per dollar) or…
How to Make Money While Loading Money onto Bluebird
Over the weekend I explained How to Use Bluebird in a Post-Vanilla World. It was a simple explanation of what card to buy, and how to put the funds onto your Bluebird, and then get the funds back into your bank account. No Vanilla Reloads required. It’s $1 more expensive than the Vanilla Reload approach was. But it requires more work since you need to go to Walmart to load the funds onto Bluebird, and there’s a $1000 per day limit so you have to go to Walmart each day you want to do it.. instead of sitting on your couch at home or desk at work. Lots of commenters — correctly — pointed out that the economics aren’t ideal for most (other than for Grant, at least). So here’s how you can do it…
The 2% Cash Rebate VISA, and What You Can Do With It…
I’ve written frequently about the Fidelity Investment Rewards American Express. It’s a no annual fee card that earns 2% back on all spending (that you deposit into a Fidelity investment account). There’s now even a $75 signup bonus after $500 spend within 60 days for the card. Over the weekend @TheMrPickles tweeted me that he prefers the Fidelity Investment Rewards Visa over the American Express. The Fidelity Visa is a no annual fee card that offers 2% cash back also — but only after spending $15,000 on the card in a year. Before that it’s just a 1.5% rebate card. That means you are giving up 0.5% on that first $15,000 spend ($75). The upside of course is that the card has greater acceptance as a Visa than it would as an American Express. I…
