Kite Surfing off Kauai’s South Coast, photo by Andrew Ingersoll

Rookie Travel Tips Friday!
with Shannon

Last week’s winning tip comes from an anonymous reader in response to my question about what the Rookie needs to know in order to keep from contaminating the scene and to stay in good standing with the veterans. If you have any do’s and don’ts for the novice, submit them under comments or shoot us an email.

” The novices don’t try to be subtle about the miles/points accumulation game, or about the mistake fares/room rates. For example, they would call the airline/hotel to verify the mistake fares/room rates, thereby alerting the airline/hotel to their mistake and killing the lower rates. Another thing they do is try to accumulate in the shortest time span and be blatant about it instead of keeping it at a moderate level and making it a long term thing, thereby benefiting many. Greed and stupidity hurts everyone.” — Anonymous

If you haven’t signed up for TripAlertz, Here is my link. Enjoy!

The Platinum Card

Sometime in the last two years, my husband signed up for the American Express(R) Premier Rewards Gold Card and started to accumulate some Membership Rewards points with American Express. We really didn’t pay much attention to them until recently as I started to learn about the Amex Membership Rewards (MR) points and their program. Last month my husband was offered The Platinum Card® from American Express as a targeted offer for 50,000 MR points after his first purchase. We took the offer. So I was assuming Amex had a 50,000 point offer out there for everyone, but apparently, as Rick taught me last week, they sometimes have “target” offers for different card holders, markets, etc. So our Gold card became a Platinum card and we got a nice chunk of points to go along with it. The card has an annual fee of $450, but when we looked at the card benefits in whole we felt like that annual fee was worth it.

Why This Card?

Bonus points: We got 50,000 of them, which, in the future, will be transferred into frequent flier miles when an airline is offering a bonus of 30-50%. So we will bank anywhere from 75,000-100,000 airline miles right off the top. The current offer is for 25,000 miles, which would become 37,500-50,000 airline miles or a round-trip domestic ticket and some change. If you were not offered the 50,000 points, try to call the card holder and ask about it. Maybe they will give it to you if you are interested and willing to sign up for this card. A phone call won’t hurt. You may be surprised by what they are willing to offer you if you want to play ball.

Lounge Access: Finally!!!!! I have waited patiently for this opportunity for a very long time. No, I don’t have status, but now, as far as the lounge is concerned, it doesn’t matter. Thank you to my husband for that! I am so excited, you have no idea! Okay well, if you enjoy lounge access regularly you know exactly what I’m talking about. I cannot wait. The day passes cost around $50, so a year’s worth of access whenever we travel is worth it to me.

Platinum Card Access: The card offers access into participating American Airlines Admirals Clubs, Delta Sky Clubs, and U.S. Airways Clubs, and Airspace Lounge in the Baltimore/Washington International Airport. You must present your I.D., Platinum Card, and a ticket dated for same-day travel to the desk agent. U.S. Airways clubs do not require a ticket to enter. Your spouse and children or up to two people traveling with you may enter as well.

New Priority Pass Select: You can also enroll for the Priority Pass Select and receive additional access into over 600 other lounges worldwide regardless of which carrier or class you are flying, and a guest may enter for $27. You simply enroll your card online under the card benefits and they send you the Priority Pass select card in the mail within two weeks. You need the Priority Pass Select Card and ticket to enter lounges. Enrollment is free.

Yearly $200 towards Airline Incidental  Credits: You must get onto the American Express Platinum Card Benefits web page and enroll in an airline in order to get credit. You can only choose one airline per year, so if you get the card before the end of 2011, you will get the 2011, $200, and then another $200 for 2012. After December 31, 2011, you can change your selected airline of choice. The incidental airline fees must be charged on the enrolled Amex card and cannot be a part of airline ticket changes. My strategy is to choose the airline we know we will be traveling with most or the one we will be taking the longest trip on and will have the opportunity to use the $200 on. You can chose from 11 airlines.

What can you use it for? Lounge access day passes for one thing, while with the Platinum card you will have access to hundreds of lounges, you don’t have access to them all. If the airport you are passing through does not offer access, day passes qualify towards the fees. Food and drink on the airplane, flight-change fees, baggage fees, pet-kennel fees, and phone rebooking fees all count. It will take two to four weeks for the credit to post. If it doesn’t, Amex recommends calling the number on the back of your card. Also the airline must submit the fee under the proper merchant code, so it won’t hurt to tell them what you are doing when you make the purchases just to be sure.

What can’t you use it for? Fees not charged by your airline of choice, like wireless Internet or other alliance airlines fees. Also upgrade charges do not qualify.

No Foreign Transaction Fees: Card issuers and banks that back credit cards tack on fees to every purchase made overseas. The fees are hidden in the terms and conditions of the card and if you can’t find them there you will have to call the card issuer and inquire. On average Master Cards and Visas charge 3% and American Express 2%. That can add up while spending abroad. This card eliminates those fees.

Hotels and Resorts: Call Platinum Travel services or book a hotel online through the Amex website and you will get room upgrades based on availability, 4 p.m. late check out, breakfast credits for two, and a resort specific perk. You can see the extra perks when you’re searching the specific hotels. Some I saw included $100 credits at any of the hotel/resort restaurants, $100 spa credits, a free round of golf, and some complimentary third and fourth nights. For example, we will be at the Four Seasons in Dallas, Texas, for a business conference in April. Booking and paying with the Amex Platinum, we will hopefully get the room upgrade, breakfast daily, and late check out. This resort also gives us an additional $100 to use at its restaurants and lounges. Plus, the trip is paid for by the business and we will get the perks and extra bonus points!

If you go to the “search hotels” section, you’ll find a special promotions section that lists a ton of hotels offering third and fourth nights free. So before you book a trip and pay for a hotel, check these out first. You could be missing out on a bunch of perks by not going through Amex to book.

The International Companion Ticket: You will receive a complementary companion ticket when you go through the Platinum Travel Service to book a qualifying business or first class flight with the Platinum Card and in the card holder’s name. You cannot book through another service/airline/website to be eligible.

If you need specific details, call the Platinum Travel Service at 1-800-443-7672 and speak with a representative to help make this deal work out in your favor. Also these are refundable tickets with no change fees or black out dates.There is no limit to the number of flights for which you can receive a companion ticket with this program. (You will not receive frequent flier miles for the companion ticket.)

Can you use Membership Reward Pay with Points for an international airline program itinerary? Yes, when you book your flights through Platinum Travel Service, you can use Membership Rewards points to pay for part or all of the ticket price. Simply call Platinum Travel Service at 1-800-443-7672. Terms and conditions apply; visit membershiprewards.com/terms for full details. (Taken directly from americanexpress.com)

Participating airlines: Aer Lingus, AeroMexico, Air Canada, Air France, Air New Zealand, Alitalia, Asiana Airlines, Austrian, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, China Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Emirates, Etihad Airways, Japan Airlines, Jet Airways, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, LAN, Lufthansa, Scandinavian Airlines, South African Airways, Swiss International Air Lines, Virgin Atlantic.

Your trip must originate and return to a U.S. gateway or some select Canadian gateways. The card holder and companion must travel the same itenerary.

20% Membership Rewards Travel Bonus: If you use Pay with Points to book travel, you get 20% of your MR points back. You get one point back for every five spent. You must use a minimum of 5000 points.

There are still more benefits to getting and using The Platinum Card® from American Express. I hope to explore more in future posts, but for now the perks stated above more than covered our $ 450 annual fee.

I’ll see you in the Lounge — finally!

- Shannon, The Rookie

The Platinum Card