Miles and Points

Delta Amex Credit Card 45K Mile Sign-up Bonus

Every once in a while, a terrific offer pops up on CreditCards.com — such as the amazing one-day offer earlier this year for 100K Amex Membership Reward Points.  I did not get in on that offer, because, frankly, a $450 annual fee is way out of my league.

Now there is a new, special offer available from CreditCards.com for the Gold Delta SkyMiles Amex credit card with a 45,000 mile signup bonus.  This is a better offer than the publicly  available offers on the American Express or the Delta websites.  Hat tip to View from the Wing.

The offer is available exclusively via CreditCards.com’s “Offers Matched for You” option (found at the top of the left sidebar on their website.)  To access the offer, you need to enter your name and address in the form on the CardMatch page.  The form asks for a social security number, but you can leave that field blank.  This offer is likely targeted at people with excellent credit.  Filling out the inquiry form constitutes a soft pull which is not recorded on your credit report.

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Choice Privileges Goes Upscale . . . Huh?

I am not a hotel snob.   Aside from spending as little as possible — my personal priorities are:

  • safety
  • location
  • non-smoking
  • room with a view
  • clean
  • free wifi
  • comfortable bed
  • indoor pool
  • recreational amenities
  • business center with printer
  • free coffee or breakfast

In that order.

When I bid on Priceline, I like to get a 4 star hotel for a 2 star price.  But if none is available, sure, I will bid on a 2.5 star hotel, or a 2 star hotel, and sometimes I will be pleasantly surprised.

What I really enjoy when traveling though, are unique, special, quirky, or historic properties.  We’ve stayed in the teepee motel on Route 66, and the caboose hotel in Dunsmuir, California.

When nothing was available on Priceline in chi chi Laguna Beach, California, we ended up in a 2 star Best Western, a bit inland in San Capistrano.  It wasn’t fancy, but the swimming pool was surrounded by fuchsia and coral bougainvillea, and we spent a delightful morning visiting the historic Mission at San Capistrano — a real gem.

Mission at San Juan Capistrano
Mission at San Juan Capistrano
1921 Postcard, Library of Congress

To be perfectly honest, I have never given the Choice Privileges program or their rewards credit card a second glance.

The hotels in this chain are just not very exciting.  Think Rodeway Inn, Econolodge, Quality Inn, and Clarion.  Comfort Inn and Suites is about as good as it gets.

Think again.  

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Holding My Breath on SPG Points Transfer to Delta

Have you ever experienced points and miles angst?

I almost hit the panic button recently when trying to book a flight home for our daughter.

The Scenario

Delta Airlines runs a nonstop route to Reagan National Airport (DCA) which is optimal for our travel needs.  I am trying to spend down our modest stash of Delta Skymiles because our travel priorities will be changing come September.

I have 11,000 Skymiles in my account.

The preferred roundtrip flight was available for 40,000 miles.

I have some Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) Starpoints available, which can be transferred to Delta Skymiles.  For each 20,000 Starpoints you transfer to Delta, SPG gives you a 5,000 point bonus.   25,000 additional Skymiles, still wasn’t enough to book the trip.  I’d need to move 24,000 Starpoints over to Delta to cash in.  (11K Skymiles + 20K Starpoints + 5K bonus points + 4K Starpoints = 40k points needed for a ticket).

This left me with 13,000 Starwood points — enough for 1-night stay at a mid-range hotel.  As a mentioned in an earlier post,   I am considering whether to retain or to close my Amex Starwood credit card.

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A Sneak Peek into the AMEX Retention Department

I opened a boatload of travel rewards credit cards in 2012 — and now it’s time to pay the piper.  For many rewards cards, the annual fee is waived the first year, but the fee is due in full on the one year anniversary.American Express Credit Cards

I read about retention bonuses, and wanted to give it a try.  If you call the number on the back of your card to say that you are considering canceling  — because you are concerned about the annual fee coming due –the bank may offer you a variety of incentives to keep you as a customer.  If you tell them you want to cancel the card because you no longer need it — they will probably just cancel it without offering any retention incentive.

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Eight Reasons Why I Stopped Applying for Travel Rewards Credit Cards

I am stepping off the credit card application merry-go-round — for the time being.

Here are 8 reasons why:

1.  I am still holding unspent gift cards.  I acquired a number of gift cards to meet the  minimum spend requirements for the Chase Ink Plus rewards credit card  I opened last year.  These include  ITunes, Starbucks, Amazon, and  Trader Joes gift cards.  I have about $500 of credits on these various cards that I want to spend down before incurring another minimum spend requirement.

2. I need to give my credit score a break.  My credit score took a hit from numerous credit inquiries and from lowering the average age of my accounts.  A hiatus from credit card applications will allow my accounts to mature and give my credit rating a chance to recover.

3.  I can meet my immediate travel needs with points/miles already in hand.  My family has lots of travel planned for this summer, but with 180,000 points/miles in the bank, I should be able to finance about half a dozen cross-country flights.  At a recent Frequent Flyer University conference, the advice from the experts was to use your miles to protect against program devaluations.

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The Best Deal I Ever Got… was a $50 Flight Home from Europe

Yup.  Amsterdam to Boston on … gosh was it Pan Am, or TWA, or some other airline that doesn’t exist any more?  They were promoting their new route with an inaugural fare of just $50.

It was 1978 and I had graduated from college and was bumming around Europe on an Interail Pass.  I started in London (thanks to Freddie Laker) and over a period of five months had made my way down to Greece and was heading back North.  I was backpacking and staying in youth hostels and having a great time.

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“Barclaycard Arrival” Targeted Credit Card Offer — $450 in Free Travel, or Not?

Free money
© Andres Rodriguez | Dreamstime Stock Photos

Spoiler Alert:  The best rewards credit card offers are not hyped in the blogosphere.

This is the story of how I learned to sit back and wait for the superior targeted credit card offers to roll in.

In a typical week, my husband and I receive a dozen offers in the mail for new credit cards.  The banks even try to induce our kid to apply for credit cards on a regular basis.  My usual habit is to toss out these envelopes without opening them.

That is, until I learned how lucrative sign up bonuses could be.

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