Archive for the ‘Capital One’ Category

30,000 Delta Miles No First Year Fee

Anyone who joined or lurked on Flyertalk after August 1, 2001 is banned from Flyertalk. They never saw any of the info, as Flyertalk closed it’s doors to new members and lurkers that day. It became a closed, exclusive community. (Wow am I lucky. I joined in July of 2001.) Everybody else is shut out and none of you got free travel from the information on Flyertalk. The veterans who joined Flyertalk before August 2001 shut you out. NO more newbies. 95 percent of you don’t have the information that has allowed you to see the world.

What would our fictional community of then 15,000 members have missed by closing our doors to the additional 340,000 “newbies” who have joined since then? We would have missed the contributions of the 2200% increase in membership.

The Mint deal would still be going on. Anthonyanthony, the original poster, joined in 2000, so that deal would have lived and still been going on. Most — 95 percent of you — wouldn’t know about it, and the volume of activity would be so little that we would have a perpetual miles machine. Sorry, closed community. If you joined after August 2001, you can’t play.

Gary from the View from the Wing blog posted his 10 best Mistake Fares last week, all of which were after 2001. Were they found by you newbies? Probably more than half were.

There would be no Lucky9876coins (join date Dec. 2004), Raffles Longhaul sorry (another newbie, (2008), thepointsguy, millionmilesecrets, Tassojunior, hobo13, arizona guy, and the list goes on and on. All have made valuable contributions, but because the existing members as of August 1, 2001, didn’t allow new members, “no deals for you.”

My point is that the timeline for all of us is different. To Beaubo, I’m a newbie. And to the guys and gals that joined in 2010, the newcomers this year (2011) are newbies. But we all need the contributions from the newbies, however new they are. They soon become the seasoned veterans and help those who follow behind them.

I do agree with the naysayers in one respect. Newbies who want the info handed to them on a silver platter are not contributing to the community. When I started, if you didn’t show evidence that you had tried to research the topic, the old timers back then blew you off. My point here — and it has drawn some controversy — is: Don’t hand it to them on a silver platter. I commented on bloggers in the past, that I thought they went too far on several occasions by handing it out on a step by step silver platter. I agree with the naysayers: If we just give it away, it will get screwed up by the non-involved “takers.” Am I guilty of giving too much away? I probably have been, but I try to reserve “the process” to an email or PM with somebody who has shown some initiative.

And those who think we do this just for the publicity and profit are sadly mistaken. I posted info for three years before ever receiving a credit card referral. Gary Leff blogged for almost 10 years before he did. Now all the bloggers are receiving referrals. I just happened to “get it” before the other guys. Should I try to invoke the rule “sorry, no referrals for you newbies to referrals”? Of course not. I have no right to do so, anymore than we do to keep out “newbies.”


Now back to reality. The Flyertalk, Milepoint, blogging and travel hacking community is re-opened to all again. No cut-off date for membership. Welcome to everyone. But don’t expect the info to be handed to you. Be willing to do your own research and then give back to the community. I’m confident the “newbie” who joins today will provide us all with information in the future.

The past has proven that point to be true.

50,000 Thank You Points, $2,500 minimum spend !

• Two airline tickets on American Airlines from CLE-MIE. Used points from the 75,000 offers that both my husband and I got earlier this year w/ the Citi AAdvantage card.
• One night hotel stay at the Sheraton Miami Airport hotel. Used 4000 SPG points. Thanks for the Starwood AMEX cards we opened.
• Three nights at the Hyatt Key West resort and spa. Used our free nights for opening the Hyatt card.
• Car rental through autoslash.com. I booked this several months ago. They’ve found a cheaper rate three times! We are getting an intermediate size car. Went from $185 then down to $177, now down to $135 just today! That is $22 per day, plus all of the taxes! We are splitting this with another couple so it will cost us less than $70 and gas of course.

Jessica H.

the impromptu Beijing DO, photo by Andrew Ingersoll

I pulled the trigger on a mileage run to China. It is a four-day affair with two days in Beijing and upgraded to business class with my last two EVIPS on American. I’m taking the trip for the sole purpose of meeting the Executive Platinum Challenge offered to those on the OneWorld MegaDO. If I earn 20,000 EQM’s between October 9, 2011, and January 13, 2012, American will match my 1K status with United to their top tier and I earn eight system-wide upgrades good on any fare. Oh Yeah!

Dave (Bikeguy) gave me the final push on doing this trip. With our retired lifestyle and the flexibility it affords us, we can do four overseas trips in business class at coach prices on American. Remember, their upgrades are good on any fare class. Thanks, Dave.

I never obsessed so long and hard on a promo as I did on this one. I just got my ExpertFlyer membership, after all these years, and got a hands-on learning experience looking for “C” class upgrades. It took me forever to find something I wanted. I had a reader and friend offer me extra upgrades he had so I could do it in two trips instead of one. Remember, I gave the Points Guy two of my upgrades so he could do the same thing. I looked into Frankfort, Madrid, Barcelona, Paris, Tokyo, London, and Shanghai. I like international premium cabins for mileage running and over-nighting is the best way to earn EQMs. If I can sleep six to eight hours on a flight at 500 miles per hour, I’m racking them up while dreaming away.

My total fare was $1267, which is, indeed, a chunk. But it pales in comparison to the value Katy and I will receive with those upgrades. And I’m in lay-flat, or close to lay-flat seats, for most of my journey.

Any type of meat on a stick awaits in Beijing, photo by Andrew

My Chinese visa from my June trip this year is still valid until April 2012 and the visa expediter got me a multiple entry visa, so no issues there.

I think with the intermediate US stops up to and back from Chicago, where the flight originates, I’ll earn about 16,000 EQM’s. I can knock out the remaining 4K on a short mileage run in the US.

Anybody want to join me for a few days in China in December? It’s a great fare and there is more upgrade space available. Another OneWorld MegaDO participant? Anyone?

Increase Delta Skymiles Bonus Now 30,000 Miles for $500 Minimum Spend No First Year Fee Click Through to See the 30,000 Miles Offer. Copy and Print it

My interview with ABC Nightline was a blast. After some preliminary duties at the hotel, I drove over to O’Hare Airport with segment producer Elizabeth, cameraman Bob, and sound guy Rene to meet John Donvan, the reporter. John is indeed a mileage-and-points guy and was as easy to talk with as any one of you. It is all a passion for us and John has the bug like all of you!

We were whisked through security by Steve, the supervisor of Global Services in Chicago, and wre joined also by a member of the United team downtown at headquarters. We shot segments in the United Club, walking the hallways of B concourse, the tunnel to C concourse, the Premier Access line and security line, and down by baggage claim.

The highlight segment for both of us was the time we spent in the first class cabin of a 747 headed to China, I think, before passenger boarding began. Everybody from United was very helpful. The camera guy, Bob, sound guy Rene, and producer Elizabeth understood more about “the game” after seeing the first suites seat on the 747. It is a terrific way to fly. I caught them talking to other attendees most of the afternoon and learning some of the tricks of the trade. The expected airing is sometime around Thanksgiving. I can’t wait to hear the stories that Nightline picked from our attendees to air.

The seminars themselves and interaction with all the attendees was such a positive experience for me. I watched people saving money within the first hour of the gang starting to arrive. Howie was the first I saw to receive a great tip. The initial estimate was that it would save him $4000+ per year on hotel rooms. I’m looking forward to that post and expect Howie will have it up tomorrow or next Tuesday.

We had great reactions to all the seminars. In particular, the moderated breakout sessions by airline or hotel program seemed really popular. How often do you get to sit and share your experiences and knowledge with like-minded people in your favorite program? Will modify it a little in the future with a better acoustics situation and the chance to jump from session to session.

We are learning and hope to further improve the program next year with some new speakers and fresh material. If you have a topic you’d like to see covered, speak up now as we are already working on next year. More to come on that.

On behalf of Win Schaefer and myself, thank you to all the volunteers, speakers, and sponsors for your effort and time. And thanks to all the attendees this year. Our proposed dates for next year are mid-September, and I’m guessing we will all be in one large hotel on the blue line closer to O’Hare.

“Occupy Wall Street” has gone world-wide, spreading across the U.S and other countries. It seems we have a division in the masses. No kidding. I’m not going to get political here, I promise, but we are seeing the same thing in credit card sign-ups as well.

Have you noticed the huge disparity in the minimum spends for new credit cards? They run from earning your sign-up bonus after the first purchase to a $10,000 in minimum spend with the last $5000 being required six months after you get the card. Ugh

What can we do about it? All we can do is tailor our multicard churns to include cards that have a total required minimum spend that we can reasonably deal with. The card issuers are holding all the cards, literally and figuratively. We must take into account our credit card spending ability within a specified time period. I’m all for the little guy and the newbie just starting out with churning. Or those that are concerned about messing with their credit. Let’s start them small.

To that end, let’s all take a minute to list the travel rewards cards with minimum spends of less than $1000 in the comments section today as a contest. The first person to list a given low minimum spend credit card will be eligible and only one card entry per individual. I’ll start and cheat by giving two. What the heck. It is my blog. Here are my examples of two low minimum spend cards:

Marriott Rewards® Premier Credit Card with first purchase qualifying for the 50K sign-up and no annual fee first year.

And Citi® Hilton HHonors™ Visa Signature® Card which requires a $1000 minimum spend within a four month time frame. No annual fee first year.

So add to the list with the card’s exact name, minimum spend, time limit to achieve the spend, link if you have it, and the first year fee. (no targeted offers please). We’ll then random-draw from the comments that first list a unique card with the above info. The prize: $200 in Marriott Gift cards.  Remember If you see the card already listed in the comments, don’t list it again. It won’t win the contest. First tipster only for each new entry

When we’re done, Howie will replace the Chicago Seminars tab on top of the blog and organize it by minimum spend amount, low to high. That should be helpful to everyone. And after we get all the low minimum spend cards, we can move to the middle tier; $1000 to $5000 minimum spend and have another reader contest.

Chase Ink Bold Card:  50,000 Ultimate Reward Points, 1st Year Fee Waived!