December 30, 2014

Fidelity 50,000 Delta SkyMiles Offer Extended + Earn 50,000 American or United Miles with Fidelity

One way to earn miles that isn’t discussed too frequently is opening a Fidelity brokerage account and funding it with a set amount of money. Currently, you could earn miles in one of three programs – United, American and Delta. All of these programs have existed for several years now and while the Delta offer was set to expire on 12/31/14, it has recently been renewed until December 31, 2015 while the offers for American and United are valid until March 31, 2015 and April 30, 2015 respectively. Based on the amount you deposit, you could earn 15,000, 25,000 or 50,000 miles in those programs (the offers are the same for each program).

Fidelity

For those who aren’t aware of the history of these offers, it used to be very easy to hit the minimum deposit amount needed for the miles as you could cycle money in and out until you hit the $100,000 deposit figure for the maximum miles. I used to do this in $10k increments years ago but unfortunately Fidelity got smart and cracked down on that practice.

This program is now slightly less useful for some of you as you need a large amount of funds to move into Fidelity. If you have investments with other banks or investment firms, you could consider moving them to Fidelity to take advantage of the current offers. As always, evaluate the fees, the type of investments and all other trading related or investment related items Fidelity offers compared to your existing bank or investment firm before deciding about switching – those matter much more then 25,000 or 50,000 miles.

If you are interested in taking advantage of one of the three offers (I would choose the United or American offer before Delta personally), here is a good summary of what you need to know.

  • Must open a new non-retirement brokerage account OR fund an existing one with new money. Per the terms & conditions “Net new assets means external new money in minus money out, including distributions and transfers, during the qualification period.”
  • Account must be funded within 60 days of registering for this offer
  • You are allowed to take advantage of this offer once every 12 months
  • Funds must remain the account for at least 9 months
  • There is no language stating you actually have to make any sort of trades or transactions. You could just park the money here but instead you should buy an FDIC insured certificate of deposit (CD) for no fees to earn a little interest.
  • You can only register for one of these three offers at a time (no double or triple dipping)
  • I have never been issued a 1099 for the value of the miles

Links to Register:

Delta Airlines Offer

American Airlines Offer

United Airlines Offer

Due to the deposit requirements, these offers aren’t for everyone. But if you can meet the requirements are you taking advantage of these offers? If so, which one?

December 29, 2014

Travel Hacking Year End Checklist: Here is What You Need to Do Before January 1st

Year end is here and as such, there are several calendar year opportunities that you want to make sure you’ve taken advantage of before Thursday. Additionally, there are some limited time opportunities that may not be around much longer, so I’ve included those items below as well.

The clock is ticking...

The clock is ticking…

Here is a list of items you want to make sure you’ve taken care of before the clock strikes midnight on December 31st.

1. Spend the $200 American Express Platinum Airline Credit – Each calendar year, Amex Platinum cardholders (both personal and business) get a $200 airline credit to spend toward fees on a specified airline. You must first select the airline here and if you made a selection last year, it is automatically carried forward for 2014 (you can change this selection once a year in January). Even though the official language regarding this credit is meant to cover baggage fees, lounge passes etc., I always buy gift cards to make sure I fulfill this $200 credit, since I wouldn’t complete it on fees alone. Buying $50 Delta e-gift cards or $100 American Airlines gift cards does the trick. 

2. Spend the $300 Ritz Carlton Credit Card Travel Credit – Similar to the Amex Platinum above, the Ritz Carlton credit card offers $300 annually in travel credit for baggage fees, lounge passes, seat upgrades and other fees, but with two key differences: 1) The $300 credit can cover multiple charges from different airlines and 2) You have to call in to request reimbursement. This second part makes it a little trickier to use this credit for gift cards since they aren’t technically eligible for reimbursement and by having a person manually review every charge (as compared to the Amex Platinum where the credit is automatically generated) it is harder to get reimbursed for gift cards. There are two good threads that have some reports on people getting reimbursed for gift cards here and here. It seems buying gift cards in denominations of stated fees, such as pet fees and checked baggage fees have been working if you are willing to fudge the truth on what the charge is actually for if the agent asks. This is a YMMV scenario.

3. Book Hyatt My Elite Rate & Book via Hyatt Mobile App- I’ve covered this before but Hyatt is ending the My Elite Rate in 2015. If you have any known paid stays upcoming in 2015, you might want to lock in the My Elite Rate now and if you see it go cheaper or your plans change, you could always cancel as most My Elite Rates are cancelable up until a few days before the stay. In addition, the ability to earn 1,000 bonus points if you book a stay via the Hyatt mobile app is ending on 12/31.

4. Maximize Chase Freedom 4th Quarter 5% Bonus – The Chase Freedom Q4 5% Bonus is Amazon.com, Zappos.com and select Department stores. In these categories you will earn 5% cash back up to $1,500 in spend in these categories.  I’m a big Amazon shopper so I will always stock up on Amazon gift cards when the 5% bonus is active on the Freedom card to make sure I hit the $1,500 in spend. You could take a similar approach for department stores or Zappos by buying gift cards for future purchases.

5. Apply for the US Airways MasterCard  – I’m technically cheating on this one since I believe this offer will be around after 12/31 but now is a great time to apply for the US Airways MasterCard. This card is going away at some point in early 2015 (maybe January 18th?) and this is the final call to earn a signup bonus on this card. The current offers are 50,000 miles after first purchase that is valid for everyone and an offer targeted for Preferred Members that offers the same 50,000 miles + 10,000 miles upon renewal. I’ve heard several reports that if you apply for the offer meant for Preferred members but you aren’t a Preferred member and you do not get automatically approved, Barclays will no longer approve you for this offer if you call the reconsideration line. In that case, I recommend going for the standard 50,000 offer and remember there is a refer a friend offer ongoing.

6. Earn 500 Free Points from Virgin America – This is a pretty easy 500 points for a minute of work but this offer expires on 12/31. Here is the link to the offer as well as my write-up on the offer.

7. Check Your American Express Offers – Many good deals expire on 12/31/14 including $10 off Uber, $15 off Toys R Us, and others. If you didn’t register for some of these offers earlier, they may not appear in your account now and others were more targeted. However, for the ones you do have, check to see if any expiring 12/31 offers are worth taking advantage of.

8. Try to Earn 1,000 Free Hilton HHonors Points – Hilton HHonors is running a targeted promotion that gives users 1,000 free HHonors points for updating your email address. I wasn’t targeted as I got a message indicating they had my email address on file. This offer expires on 12/31 so I think its worth a minute of your time to see if your account is eligible for a free 1,000 points.

9. Take 10% off Hyatt Stays with Hyatt Gift Cards – I’ve discussed this deal previously and while the expiration date for this promotion isn’t known, it is widely assumed to be 12/31/14.

I’m sure I missed something here. What else are you doing before year end? Thanks to PointChaser for inspiration of this post.

December 25, 2014

AMAZING DEAL ALERT: Flights to Abu Dhabi, Hong Kong, India, South Africa or Seychelles for $187 to $700 ROUNDTRIP

Update: Dead – these always go quick!

Talk about a Christmas present, there is a massive mistake fare going on right now on Etihad Airways. You can fly from NY to Abu Dhabi for $187 roundtrip, NY to Hong Kong for $328, Chicago to Mumbai for $325 and more! This deal could die any minute so book quickly and use the 24 hour free cancellation from Priceline.

Here are the quick details:
1. Search on Google Flights for dates. Weekdays from Jan-March and Sept- Nov have the best availability.
2. Book on Priceline using the dates found via Google Flights. You can try clicking the link to Orbitz as well.
3. IMPORTANT: The price might appear higher at first on Orbitz – Click through to the next page before you purchase. You should see the lower price (this is why you start with Google Flights to find the dates with lowest price). Reports are Priceline is working better for this.
4. Orbitz offers free cancellation until 10pm the following day. Priceline offers free cancellation until 11:29pm the following day. Book soon as this will not last!!

New York – Abu Dhabi: $187
New York – Johannesburg: $291
New York – Manilla: $306
New York – Hong Kong: $328
New York – Mumbai: $313
New York – New Delhi: $346

Chicago – Abu Dhabi: $220
Chicago – Mumbai: $332
Chicago – New Delhi: $360
Chicago – Johannesburg: $418

Washington – Abu Dhabi: $231
Washington – Mumbai: $325
Washington – New Delhi: $360
Washington – Manilla: $394

Dallas – Mumbai: $325
Dallas – Abu Dhabi: $328
Dallas – New Delhi: $360

For more info and dates, check out the following blogs who have posted about this deal.

1) The Flight Deal

2) Dans Deals

3) Secretly Flying

December 24, 2014

Point & Center: Hyatt & Starwood Hotels Now Offer Free Internet, Bonus $50 for Buying Hyatt Gift Cards, & The Hyatt Diamond Challenge Returns!

This Point & Center update is heavy on Hyatt news from the past week, so let’s get to it!

1) Free Internet at Hyatt & Starwood Hotels – Following the lead of Marriott, Hyatt and Starwood hotels both separately announced they will begin to offer free internet to all guests! For Hyatt, free internet will begin in February 2015 for all guests while elite guests (Platinum & higher) will be entitled to a faster, premium internet for free.

Starwood will work a little differently and more resemble the Marriott model in which in order to receive the free internet, you must book through Starwood directly via their website, the individual hotel’s website or their mobile app. Any stay booked on travel agency websites (Hotels.com, Orbitz, Priceline etc.) will not entitle the guest to free internet. Elite members will receive a faster internet for free, similar to Hyatt.

2) Bonus $50 Gift Card for Buying Hyatt E-Gift Cards – Similar to the promotion earlier this month, Hyatt is running a special promotion that expires TODAY (12/24) that by using code SANTA14, you can earn an extra, free $50 bonus gift card when purchasing $500 or more of e-gift cards ONLY. If you order a $500 e-gift card exactly, this $50 bonus gift card represents a 10% bonus. If you rather take 10% off the purchase of gift cards, you can use promo code GPGIFT14. Since these are Hyatt E-Gift cards, there is no waiting time involved to receive these certificates. Remember to use an American Express Business Open Card to save an additional 5% (in the form of a statement credit).

Use PromoCode SANTA14

Use PromoCode SANTA14

3) The Hyatt Diamond Challenge is Returning! – This is possibly the most exciting news to me as per One Mile at a Time, the Hyatt Diamond Challenge will be returning sometime in early 2015! For those who don’t know the Hyatt Diamond Challenge allowed you to status match to top tier Diamond status at Hyatt if you had at least mid-tier status at competing hotel chains, such as Hilton, Starwood etc., Hyatt would give you temporary Diamond status for 60 days, along with 4 suite upgrade certificates, and if you stayed 12 nights in that 60 day period, you could keep Diamond status for the next year. While nothing has officially been announced from Hyatt, this time for the challenge it appears anyone could be eligible and no prior status at other hotels will be required!

Hyatt Diamond status provides you with free breakfast, free upgrades (when available), guaranteed 4pm late checkout, free internet and 30% bonus points so what a lot of people did (including myself) was enroll in a Diamond Challenge right before a long stay at Hyatt hotels. I did my challenge last year for a 6 night stay at the Andaz Maui and for a 4 night stay at the Park Hyatt Paris. With breakfast costing $44 a person at the Andaz Maui and 49 EUR (~$61 USD) a person at the Park Hyatt Paris, doing the Diamond Challenge saved me over $1,000 in breakfast costs!  I definitely maximized my Diamond Challenge even though I did not complete the challenge since some of those nights were award nights. Here is to hoping I can re-register for the Diamond Challenge this year for stays at the Andaz Maui (yes again as this is my new favorite hotel) and the Park Hyatt Maldives.

Lastly, posts might be less frequent over the next few days with the holidays. Happy Holidays to all!