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The Two Rewards Credit Cards I Like the Most

by Gary Leff on July 15, 2016

Jul 15 2016

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.

Lesser Known Rewards Cards You Should Know: the 5 Best Cards from Bank of America

by Gary Leff on July 15, 2016

Jul 15 2016

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?

Get the Citi Prestige Card Before the 50,000 Point Signup Bonus Offer Ends

by Gary Leff on July 12, 2016

Jul 12 2016

There’s reporting that the Citi Prestige Card is about to reduce its signup bonus next Tuesday. Now is the time to get the card if you’ve even been on the fence about it.

Review: Qatar Airways First Class Al Safwa Lounge, Doha Airport

by Gary Leff on July 9, 2016

Jul 09 2016

The Qatar Airways first class lounge in Doha is one of the strangest, most stunning, and most exclusive lounges in the world. Someone on my Facebook feed said it ‘looked like a museum’. Indeed, it actually has hundreds of years old pieces on display from Doha’s Museum of Islamic Art (!). There are some real quirks to it, though.

Review: How the W Doha Hotel Called Out My Blog (But Was Still a Great Platinum Experience)

by Gary Leff on July 8, 2016

Jul 08 2016

The W Doha hotel is a great property, much more in line with the Ws of Asia than the US. It’s gorgeous, with friendly staff, and they treat Platinums well.

Starwood Preferred Guest Platinum members regularly receive upgrades to suites here. The breakfast benefit is the hotel’s full Market restaurant buffet. And the property is one of only 2 W hotels I know of with a club lounge.

American Airlines Announces the Debut of the Boeing 787-9 and Premium Economy

by Gary Leff on July 7, 2016

Jul 07 2016

This morning American announced the launch date for their brand new Boeing 787-9 to go into international service. These are the first planes from a US airline with an international premium economy cabin.

Service will commence to Madrid and to Sao Paulo on November 4 with the following schedule. Dallas – Madrid is the inaugural international flight. These flights will be available for booking starting July 10.

Here’s what you want to know.

Spend Your American Express Membership Rewards Points at 1.5 Cents Apiece

by Gary Leff on July 5, 2016

Jul 05 2016

American Express is offering a 50% bonus on transfers to Plenti through December 31.

You earn points with Plenti partners. You can also spend your points (at 1 cent apiece in value) on those partners. A 50% bonus means getting 1.5 Plenti points per Membership Rewards points — valuing those Membership Rewards points at 1.5 cents each when redeemed to pay those bills.

Simple Ways (and an Advanced Way) to Limit Fuel Surcharges on Award Tickets

by Gary Leff on July 3, 2016

Jul 03 2016

Most non-U.S. frequent flyer program add fuel surcharges to award tickets, and some US programs add them to some redemptions. That means your ‘free’ ticket can wind up costing several hundred dollars — or more. Here’s an American AAdvantage award with a surcharge of over $1000. And that’s for one person traveling.

All things equal you want to minimize fuel surcharges when you can!

The Two Most Important Things to Do on a Quick Trip to Bangkok

by Gary Leff on July 2, 2016

Jul 02 2016

My favorite thing to do in Bangkok is eat. Last time I wrote about eating during the day in the Bangrak district.

While there’s fantastic restaurants in Bangkok, an increasing high end dining scene that’s surprisingly affordable, probably half what you’d pay for fine dining elsewhere, there’s really no replacement for hole in the wall eateries and street vendors. And most of the action comes out at night.

Review: St. Regis Bangkok

by Gary Leff on June 30, 2016

Jun 30 2016

Bangkok is city where it’s difficult for me to pick hotels. Most everything is above average. Even the Holiday Inn Bangkok, at Gaysorn Plaza, is attached to the Intercontinental and practically the same hotel.

On the other hand there are very few properties that are so good they’re clearly better than all the others. It’s not a city where I stick to Hyatt, either, because while the Grand Hyatt Erawan is fine I don’t find it special.

The St. Regis was priced extremely reasonably for my dates and although the hotel is known for being great with suite upgrades, I decided not to just chance it or use a Suite Night Award but to pay for the suite. Long odds, as reported by others, but I hoped for a further upgrade.