American Airlines E170 – First Class

I booked this flight about two months prior to flying and the first class cabin was completely empty when I booked, so the likelihood of receiving a complimentary upgrade was high as a result of my Platinum elite status.  The E170 has 12 first class seats.  Sure enough, my upgrade cleared 72 hours prior to departure.  If only I knew the fun was just beginning….I previously wrote how I was stuck in ORD until 3 am on Christmas waiting for this flight and that American compensated me with 8,000 redeemable miles as a result.  Needless to say, when it arrived, this was…


Cheap round-trip fares to Iceland – $397 on Icelandair!!!

[Deals like this tend to expire quickly so this article may be out of date after December 31, 2015] The nice part of this deal is that Icelandair, not WOW, is offering the discounted fare to Iceland.  I flew on WOW in September and was satisfied with my $450 round-trip ticket to Europe; however, given the chance to travel again, I would pay the extra money to fly on another airline.  Icelandair allows you to earn miles with Alaska Airlines (a great frequent flier program) and you get 2 free checked bags and a carry on (although I have no idea…


Stranded in ORD (Chicago) Until 3am on Christmas: Part 2

I previously wrote about the unfortunate start to my Christmas vacation when my flight from Chicago to Detroit was delayed until 3 a.m. on Christmas.  That was a bummer but I certainly did not have it as bad as the folks who wanted to fly to Little Rock-their flight was canceled around 1 a.m. ORD’s holiday decorations were pretty awesome. In the last post, I mentioned that the Exec. Plat. member who sat next to me at the gate received 4,000 redeemable miles from American Airlines as compensation for the delayed flight.  This morning I called American Airlines with the goal of also…


Want a Starbucks Gold Card and Airline Miles? Yes.

Groupon’s discounted Starbucks gift card and CardCash’s additional 5% discount got me thinking, can a person game the Starbucks rewards program similar to how we game the airline frequent flier programs?  Not quite, but we can get close. Starbucks Gold card requirements You need 30 stars. You get one star for each purchase made with a registered Starbucks gift card. You get additional stars for making purchases on the Starbucks website or by buying certain Starbucks merchandise.  If you buy stuff on the website, don’t forget to use a shopping portal first. You can only earn two stars per day. Get a…


Cheap round trip fares to China – $560 economy, $1,360 business!

[Deals like this tend to expire quickly so this article may be out of date after December 30, 2015] Thanks to One Mile at a Time and Brian Sumers for the heads up. Hainan Airlines is selling round-trip business class tickets to China for a great deal!  If I wasn’t so busy this spring I’d definitely take advantage of it.  You should purchase the ticket with the Citi Prestige or the Chase Sapphire Preferred credit cards to maximize your points.  In addition, Hainan Airlines partners with Alaska Airlines so you can credit your flight to the Alaska frequent flier program (which…


DCA Admirals Club – on Christmas Eve.

The DCA Admirals Club is located right above the C terminal security line so I was able to assess how lucky I was to have TSA PreCheck.  Before I go any further, I have to mention that this Admirals Club has the best complimentary beer of any of the Admirals Clubs that I’ve attended so far–a local lager.  Wahoooo, that was pretty exciting.  It sure beats Bud, Bud Light, and Miller Light.  The complimentary internet was also surprisingly quick with an average download speed of 8.85 Mbps and an average upload speed of 6.34 Mbps, but it’s important to note…


Stranded in ORD until 3a on Christmas

Since I didn’t know my work schedule over the holidays, I booked a fairly late flight from Washington DC to Detroit.  To American Airlines’s credit, they notified me fairly early in the day that there would be a delay.  The plane flew a round-trip flight between Chicago and San Antonio before it arrived in Detroit.  The flight to San Antonio got a late start so that delayed all subsequent flights.  Unfortunately for me, American drastically underestimated the delay.  I considered Home Alone-ing it by road tripping to Detroit, but I couldn’t find a rental car in Chicago around 10p.  Also my credit card wouldn’t…


Why I’m Glad That I Have TSA PreCheck

The DCA Terminal C TSA PreCheck line is to the far left and is wide open.  The other security lines had a 30+ minute wait.  This photo was taken from the DCA Admirals Lounge. My Citi Prestige credit card comes with a $100 global entry which posts as a statement credit after you pay the $100 global entry fee with your Citi Prestige card.  Global Entry is a program that reduces that amount of time it takes you to pass through U.S. Customs when you reenter the U.S. and it also comes with TSA PreCheck eligibility: I was impressed with how…


Your 2016 New Year’s Resolution Should Include Travel for These 3 Reasons

As 2015 winds down, this is the perfect time to consider your travel plans for 2016.  Here are 3 reasons that you should include travel in your 2016 New Year’s resolution: 1 – There are significant advantages to planning in advance: I always tell folks (and write about this in my Step 1: Strategy post) to plan their travel for the upcoming year in advance.  Strategic planning will allow you to accumulate redeemable miles toward a fantastic trip and will you give you a shot at reaching elite status with an airline.  Elite status on some airlines comes with free checked…


Why does this millennial have an AARP membership card?

Whenever I tell folks that I have an AARP membership card, the first response I usually hear is, “don’t you have to be a senior citizen to sign up?”  The answer is no, young folks can sign up too.  I signed up because I wanted to take advantage of the AARP discount on British Airways flights, which can be a significant discount.  AARP members get tons of other cool discounts, but I’m mainly interested in the cheap flights.  Memberships cost $16 per year (for one year) and the price drops if you sign up for longer memberships. You can sign…