Updates From the World of Miles and Points - 4/13
Well, I predicted that my trip to Paris would cause a bit of a delay to the weekly updates, but I didn’t think it would be this bad. I am now almost 2 weeks behind and there is a lot to cover. I was originally going to split the updates up into two posts, but there are several contests and promos that I think you might want to take advantage of right away, so I am going to do one long post instead. That way you have everything in front of you and can do what you want with it. B Now that I am home and pretty much back on schedule, I am hoping that I can get my blog posting back on track too.
For those that are new to the blog, I am trying (but largely failing) to do these updates every Sunday to help catch you up with what is going on. There are often items that come up throughout the week that I donbt really think I should devote an entire post to, but still think you might want to know about. This is where I link to some of the other blogs that I read and respect so that you can get the whole story.
The past couple of weeks was somewhat of a circus for credit card bonus offers, especially those being offered by Chase. New offers appeared, bonuses were raised, bonuses were lowered, offers disappeared, links stopped working, and all of that was just for one card. Travis over at Extra Pack of Peanuts does a good job of summing it all up for us, though since his post I think at least the Freedom Card is being changed again. Check out what he wrote and try your luck to see if the bonus you are looking for is still really there when you apply. Details HERE.
Travis also wrapped up the Credit Card March Madness Tournament while I was out of town, crowning a winner that would not necessarily have been my pick. I won’t tell you the results, but you should head over to see for yourselves, especially if you are ready to sign up for a new credit card and can’t decide which one to get. Details HERE.
Hack My Trip provides some good information for us about mileage runs. I have never personally done a mileage run, but I know someday I will and I would like to know as much as I can about them when that time comes. Scott also tells us about a new reference for mileage running that will help out those new to the game. Details HERE.
The Frequent Miler tells us about another potentially free 2450 points from Staples this week. I got in on a couple of these deals in past weeks, but am holding off for now until I get some of the rebate checks in. Once that happens, I will probably jump right back in. Details HERE.
It can’t all be good news, so The Frequent Miler also gives us some important information about Chase canceling credit cards accounts. He also provides some tips and tricks you can use to make sure it doesn’t happen to you. Details HERE.
The Loyalty Traveler put out an update this week for his current hotel loyalty program promotions. I always make sure to check this list before I make a hotel reservation to make sure I am not missing out on any promos. He usually covers pretty much every promotion for all of the major hotel brands with loyalty programs, and there is rarely anything missing. Details HERE.
Ric also did a great job explaining the details of the Hilton HHonors category changes that are coming up on April 30th. He explains what the changes mean to us and breaks each list of category changes out by location, something that Hilton failed to do. I am linking to the post which details the hotels that are dropping a category, but if you scroll down to the bottom of his post, he has linked to all of the category increase posts that he did earlier in the week. Details HERE.
Online Travel Review let us know about what is sure to be a controversial new policy for Malaysia Airlines. They announced this week that children will not be allowed on the upper deck of their new A380 planes. This not only includes the upper classes, but the upper deck economy seats as well. It will be interesting to see what kind of backlash they take for this decision. I know it will make me less likely to travel with them, since I often take my kids along on trips. Details HERE.
Mommy Points has been doing a great job explaining the details of each day of the Daily Getaways promotion that is going on right now. You will have to follow her for every day’s postings, but I wanted to link to what many believe to be the best deal available so far this year. I didn’t participate in the Daily Getaways last year, but I already got in on the Priority Club deal this year and I am looking forward to this Wyndham deal as well. Details HERE.
It is an exciting and also scary day when a blogger leaves his or her day job to take on blogging full time, but something that many of us are hoping to do someday. Well, that time has come for Mommy Points, so lets all wish her the best of luck as she ventures full time into the world of miles, points, and family travel. Details HERE.
American Airlines and Citi announced a new set of improved benefits for Citi AAdvantage card holders. I was disappointed that these won’t apply to my business card, but my wife still has the personal card, so we will still be able to take advantage of the new benefits. It sure would have been nice to have the benefits apply to tickets that had already been booked, since they were announced two days before my AA flights to Paris and back, but I B guess I will just have to wait until the next flight. Head over to One Mile at a Time to see a breakdown of all the new benefits. Details HERE.
Lucky also tells us that Hyatt is offering a 90 day Platinum trial to anyone with a Visa Signature card. This offer is supposed to be good until May 11th, but offers like this have been known to be pulled early, so I wouldn’t wait too long to sign up if you want to get in on this free trial. Hopefully some of you have Hyatt stays coming up and this will make them a little bit nicer for you. Details HERE.
Daraius over at Million Mile Secrets tells us the story of how Barclays rejected him on his attempt to get a second US Airways credit card. I had no problem getting approved for a second card after a call to the reconsideration department, but his story just serves to remind us that as with most things regarding credit card apps, YMMV. Details HERE.
The Points Guy gave us a good overview of how to combine the different Chase products to get the most points for your dollar. I am half way to having this system set up for myself. I am currently missing the Freedom Card and the checking account, but I expect to fix that by the end of the summer. If you can make this work for you, it is a great opportunity to earn a lot of extra points. Details HERE.
View From The Wing announced that from now until June 30th, you can access MilePoint from the sky for free using GOGO Inflight Internet. I was looking forward to using some GOGO coupons that I won in a MilePoint raffle on my trip to Paris, but none of our 4 planes were wifi equipped. I can’t wait until all planes have this service. Details HERE.
Gary also reminds us about a few programs that he has recently written about that are still delivering the goods. Take a look and maybe you can get some free elite status or other great benefits. Details HERE.
Now we will move on to the contest and giveaway portion of our updates. There are a few this week that you should know about, all relating to the Frequent Traveler University and associated events taking place the 26-29 of April in New Jersey.
If you want to go to the Frequent Traveler University but haven’t purchased your ticket yet, you should know that there are less than 20 tickets left. You are in luck, however, because Mommy Points is giving away one of the last 20 tickets to one of her readers. I already have my ticket and would love to see some of my readers there, so if you can make it to New Jersey for the event, make sure to enter this contest right away. It ends tonight at midnight. Details HERE.
Before the Frequent Traveler University, during the day on Friday, April 27th, The Randy Petersen Travel Executive Summit will be taking place. Tickets are $99 with all proceeds going to charity and it includes lunch as well as the day’s presentations. I actually got an offer for a half price ticket from the organizers so I bought mine a few days ago, and I look forward to attending. If you haven’t got a ticket yet or if you don’t want to spend an additional $99, Million Mile Secrets is giving away 3 tickets to the event. There are three ways to enter and this contest ends on Saturday at midnight, so you will need to enter soon for this one as well. Details HERE.
The Freddie Awards is probably the toughest ticket to get because you can’t just buy your way in. As far as I know, there is no way to purchase a ticket to this event on Thursday, April 26th. Luckily, The Points Guy is presenting one of the awards and managed to get a table for his readers. He has 4 seats left to give away and is also giving you 3 ways to enter the contest. The is no mention of when this contest ends, so if you want to go, I would enter right away. Details HERE.
Finally, we come to the amusing/interesting section of our updates. I try to end each week with something humorous or a little bit odd to keep all of you smiling. This week we have two.
Lucky from One Mile at a Time tells us all how to take advantage of American Airlines AAdvanage Aluminum status. I didn’t have the opportunity to try this on my flights last week, but I would be interested to hear if it works for any of you. Details HERE.
Watching planes take off and land can be entertaining for both children and adults, but you should always make sure you do it from a safe distance. Jared from Online Travel Review shares with us a video of a woman literally being blown over by a plane’s engines. Details HERE.
Well, hopefully this has all of you caught up with everything that I let slide for the past two weeks. In addition to this post, I have also been working on a new logo for the blog and our new Facebook page today. Hopefully you will be able to see both of those within the next week or so. In the meantime, happy travels and do your best to get out and experience more, spend less, and travel the world.
Jeff, thanks once again for the right up. Regarding the Chase deals, and what is still active from my post:
The Chase Freedom 20k link is active and working. That is the best deal for the Freedom card that I know of right now, unfortunately.
The 50k link for the Chase Ink Bold does work, but instead of requiring you to spend $5,000 in 3 months, you now need to spend $10,000 (yikes!)
The Chase Sapphire offer is now down to 40k all across the board, so the 50k link in the writeup is no longer working.
Those are the best deals I could currently find for each card. It was a wild week, and good for people who were able to jump on some of the offers (I wasn’t), but now that all the bumped bonuses have been pulled, its looking somewhat bleak. Let’s hope that turns around!
As for Credit Card March Madness, I NEVER would have envisioned the SPG beating out the Chase Sapphire at the end. Maybe a backlash against Chase’s recent shenanigans? I still can’t figure out how it happened, but thats why I ran the tournament: to find out the opinions of others!