September 9, 2015

Quick Deal: Save 20% on Virgin Atlantic Award Redemptions!

Virgin Atlantic is offering 20% off on all economy and premium economy award redemptions made from now until September 23, 2015. There is no restriction on the travel period as long as the award is booked by September 23, 2015. Unfortunately this promotion to use 20% fewer miles excludes Upper Class award bookings.

The good news about this sale is it brings the cost of a East Coast to London flight down to only 28,000 miles roundtrip for an economy booking. The bad news is the taxes and fees still add about $500 to this. If you value the miles at a penny each, this is like paying ~$780 for a roundtrip flight to London which is pretty good all things considered. The best deal might be a one way TO London which is only 14,000 miles + a manageable $134.60 in taxes/fees. The return is more costly due to the UK taxes.

Award Sale Prices

Here is a snapshot of the terms & conditions.

Not a bad deal though one with limited use. Anyone booking one of these?

September 9, 2015

My Experience Canceling Various Credit Cards & All The Retention Offers

One of the most important attributes to being a successful travel hacker is organization. I think it is one of the most under-discussed and overlooked skill needed to master this hobby of ours. Every month, I set aside several hours to do my “homework” and go through all my credit card accounts to ensure I haven’t been hit with fraudulent charges, missed any payments or have any annual fees currently due. I’ve been especially focusing on cards with annual fees as many cards are worth it in year one (especially since many annual fees are waived for year one) but not so much afterwards.

My goal this time around was to reduce the annual fees I am paying and going through my monthly homework, I identified 6 cards that could meet the chopping block. I thought it would be an interesting and informative post on how I came to the decision on each card and what (if any) retention offers were made. I think the offer made on my wife’s Ritz Carlton card was the most interesting but I’ll let my readers decide that.

RIP

Card 1: Citibank American Airlines Platinum Select – $95 annual fee

I opened this card two years ago to earn 50,000 miles + earn 10% back on AA award redemptions. The annual fee was waived for the first year and last year I accepted a retention offer for a $95 statement credit if I charged $95 to the card within 3 months of the annual fee. Now the annual fee was due yet again and I called to see what retention offers were available. I got the same offer as last year but I declined it this year – why? Well, within the past year my former Barclays US Airways MasterCard was converted to a Red AA Aviator card that offers the same main benefit of 10% back on AA award redemptions (along with other perks such as free checked bags, priority boarding etc). I didn’t need two cards with the same benefits so I chose to axe the Citibank version of the card to restart the 18 month clock to get the card again.

Card 2: Barclay Arrival Plus – $89 annual fee

This was my favorite cash back card until the recent changes made (increasing the minimum award redemptions from $25 to $100, only getting 5% points back, no Trip It Pro, etc.) caused me to rethink why I needed this card. I liked using the rewards from this card to buy Uber credits in $25 chunks since you could earn the 2,500 points required by spending only $1,250 (which wasn’t hard if you MS’ed). However, now in order to break even on the card with the $89 annual fee, I would need to spend a ton on this card each year for it to be a better value than a no annual fee 2% cash back card like the Fidelity American Express or the Citi Double Cash which just wasn’t going to happen. My retention offer was to downgrade to no annual fee 1% cashback version of the Arrival card but why would I chose to put any spend on that card when I have better 2% cash back alternatives available? I quickly dismissed the offer by stating exactly that and my card was closed moments later.

Cards 3/4: Chase Ritz Carlton Visa x2 – $395 annual fee

My wife and I both signed up for the 140,000 point offer on this card last year which was possibly one of my favorite signup bonuses from last year. We timed these applications right and for paying the $395 annual fee, we each got 140,000 points, $600 in airline gift cards ($300 annual airline credit which we were able to use 2x since it is a calendar year based), Marriott Gold status and 3 Ritz Club level upgrades. We enjoyed the perks in year one but for year two, there is no compelling reason to keep the card unless you are a frequent Ritz customer (which we aren’t). It is a card you never want to put spend on and since we already used the $300 annual airline credit this year, I didn’t see a reason to keep the card.

The retention offer on this card was interesting though it was only offered it on my wife’s card and not mine. If she spent $5,000 in 3 months, she would earn 5,000 bonus points (yawn) AND a free night certificate for any 1-4 Ritz Carlton (say what?!?). I quickly debated the value of this and while I think this offer is definitely worthwhile for some, I passed. We’d still be paying $395 for this free night and there aren’t any Ritz Carlton stays planned for the next year so I was worried I wouldn’t be able to use the free night. I do recognize that if I had a use for the free night, I should have taken the offer as I could wait till January came around, used the annual $300 airline credit since it would be reset (though it has gotten a LOT harder to buy airline gift cards to use this credit) and then cancel the card in early 2016 to earn a pro rata annual fee rebate (if Chase does that, I’m not sure). This was the best retention I received on any card and one that should be seriously considered if you don’t have concerns over using the free night and/or using the $300 airline credit.

Cards 5/6: US Bank Club Carlson Visa x2 – $75 annual fee

I’ll make this one quick and easy. Basically, US Bank destroyed the value of these cards when they took away the last night free when using points. It really was an offer too good to be true – if done right, every 2nd night was free! Well, once the program was gutted a few months back, these cards were useless to me. My wife and I both cancelled them and cited the loss of the last night free on award stays as the reason. Neither of us got any retention offer, bonus points or offers for a free night like others I know were offered. Should I have HUCA’ed? You bet but if I’m being honest I want nothing to do with US Bank and/or Club Carlson so I was more than happy to cancel the cards without trying to get a retention offer. I don’t recommend doing this but in this case, I really just didn’t care.

Even after cancelling all these cards, my wife and I still have 36 different cards open between us. Over the next few months, I’m sure we will be cancelling more of them as I am really evaluating if a credit card’s annual fee makes it worth keeping. If this post turns out to be popular or readers request it, I’ll write a similar summary post when I do my next round of cancellations and retention offers.

September 3, 2015

JetBlue Award Flight Pricing Quirks – When the Cheapest Fare Isn’t the Cheapest Amount of Points

As many of you know JetBlue’s frequent flyer program, TrueBlue, doesn’t operate like many of the traditional award programs where a flight is a fixed amount of points irregardless of the cash price. Instead with TrueBlue and other programs like Southwest Rapid Rewards and Virgin America Elevate, the amount of points for the flight correlates to the current cash selling price of the flight. Generally, this means a cheaper fare should require fewer points but while looking at some JetBlue flights, this isn’t always the case. Let’s take a look at some strange discrepancies I found.

Recently JetBlue announced new service between JFK and Palm Springs starting in January 2016 with introductory fares starting at $99 – a fantastic price for a transcontinental flight. I thought this would be a great way to escape the cold NY winters so I decided to see if the fares lined up to make a long weekend possible. I search both cash and point options for a weekend in March and came across the following:

Noitce anything strange? The cheapest cash option should be the Blue fare which it is as that doesn’t include a checked bag so that makes perfect sense. Now take a look at the point options for the same flight – interestingly, the higher fare Blue Plus is the cheapest option on points. Basically JetBlue is offering me a 400 point discount to have the option to check a bag for free. In other words, I would be paying more points for the option to pay to check a bag. That doesn’t make any sense!

Here is an even more drastic example on a flight to the Dominican Republic where the difference is 1,900 points. By using points on the Blue Plus fare, this results in a value of 2.9 cents per TrueBlue point which is phenomenal.

I’m not entirely sure what is going on but my guess is this relates to an IT issue when JetBlue offers a sale or special promotion on certain routes. Let this post serve as a good reminder to look at all fare options, even if you don’t want/need the option to check the bag. This isn’t too widespread as I didn’t notice this pricing quirk on other flights I searched but this is interesting to be sure.

August 31, 2015

Roundup Of Various Offers/Promotions Expiring Today (8/31) & Tomorrow (9/1)

There is a fair amount of offers and promotions expiring on either 8/31 or 9/1 and I thought a quick post summarizing them all in one spot would be helpful. Here is what you need to know about the expiring offers:

1. Extra 20% Bonus for Starwood Transfers to American Airlines – Expires 8/31 – The standard deal is if you transfer Starpoints in 20,000 point increments to American Airlines, you would receive 25,000 miles. However you can receive 30,000 miles if you initiate the transfer today due to the 20% bonus being offer. This promotion has already been extended once and I wouldn’t bank on it happening again. If you are short on AA miles, this is a great way to top off your account for an award.

2. 80,000 Point Offer on the Chase Marriott Credit Card – Expires 8/31 – I haven’t posted separately about this offer because I’m not the biggest fan of Marriott but for those looking for Marriott points, the 80,000 point offer with the $85 annual fee expires today. To be honest, I think I actually prefer the 70,000 point offer as the annual fee is waived AND you get a free night at a category 1-4 hotel upon approval. Personally I’d skip this offer and wait for the 70k offer as mentioned.

3. Last Chance to Redeem American Airlines AAdvantage Miles for Travel on Hawaiian Airlines – Expires 8/31 – Starting on 9/1, you will no longer be able to book Hawaiian Airlines flights between the mainland US and Hawaii with AA miles. This is a bit of a bummer as you generally could find better award availability on Hawaiian than the legacy carriers and the in-flight experience on Hawaiian is a bit nicer with free meals and generally better service. One important item to note is you can include Hawaiian Airlines flights intra-island in Hawaii on an AA award still after 9/1. A routing of LAX-HNL (on American) followed by HNL-OGG (on Hawaiian) is still allowed.

4. 3,000 Miles for Playing a Single Round of Golf – Expires 9/1 – I posted about this last week but for a limited time you can earn 3,000 American Airlines miles for signing up and playing a single round of golf with Golfmiles. In order to receive this special promotion, you must signup via my referral link as I negotiated this offer for PointsCentric readers only – no other blogger or website has this offer. If you don’t signup by 9/1, you can still earn 2,500 miles in any program (not limited to AA) if you signup and book a round by 9/10.

5. $15 Off Your 1st Order of $50+ at Jet.com – Expires 9/1 – I was an early adopter of Jet.com before it was open to the public and I have found it very comparable to Amazon with similar (or lower) prices though with not as big a selection as Amazon. If you are new to Jet.com and spend $50+ on your first offer, you can take $15 off your order with promo code “4697F34“. Please note this is my referral code and I will earn $15 off my next purchase as well. This is the best public offer I am aware of – if you have a similar referral code, feel free to post it in the comments.

August 27, 2015

New Offer From GolfMiles – Earn 3,000 Miles for Playing a Single Round of Golf

Last month I broke the news to the points & miles world about Golfmiles, a website golfers could use to book tee times and earn thousands of miles for playing golf. I was able to my offer my readers an exclusive bonus of 1,500 miles at that time but I’m happy to report I have negotiated an even higher bonus mile offer of 2,500 miles. And if you choose to earn AA miles, this offer is increased to 3,000 miles! This is the highest ever bonus mile offer from Golfmiles and this is an exclusive offer for PointsCentric readers only. The AA offer is only valid through September 1st and after that time will drop down to 2,500 miles until September 10th.

This offer can be increased to 3,000 miles if you choose AA miles

In order to receive 3,000 miles with your first booking, you must do the following:

New customers must signup via my referral link here (full disclaimer: I do receive a small amount of miles for each person who signs up and completes a booking).
Choose to receive American Airlines AAdvantage miles as the miles earned. This offer is only valid if you choose AA miles
The first tee time must cost $30 or more

Note: The website will initially show 2,500 miles as your offer – I am working on having the landing page show the special AA offer. If you do not meet the above criteria, such as wanting to earn United miles or the tee time is less than $30, you would earn 2,500 miles.

I recommend reading my previous post about Golfmiles but their website aggregates local tee times at golf courses and awards an amount of miles each time you book a round of golf through them. I have generally seen the miles awarded per round range from 250-2,300 miles though with this signup bonus offer, you could earn 3,250 to 5,300 AA miles for one round of golf. The value of these miles could be worth more than the cost of your round of golf! You can also choose to earn a gift card to use towards future rounds of golf instead of miles.

Through my research, I found Golfmiles offered the same or even some lower prices than my local courses. I’ve had several readers book through them without any issues and they all earned thousands of miles for playing a round of golf they would have played anyway. I encourage you to give them a try with the knowledge that this offer is the best ever offer for Golfmiles. The public signup bonus is only 1,500 miles and no other blogger has a better current offer.

If you have any questions or concerns, please post them in the comments or email me at ralph@pointscentric.com and I can assist in having Golfmiles address it if I can’t answer it.