The Real Reason I Collect Miles and Points

My sister and daughter at Herald Sqaure in NYC
My daughter and sister at Herald Sqaure in NYC

My sister lives in Helena, Montana (HLN) the capital of the Big Sky State.  The population of Helena is less than 30,000 people.

The airport there is really tiny.  Long-term parking is $15 per week; you leave your payment in the drop box when you exit.

There are only about six flights per day out of HLN.  The flights are not only scarce, they are also expensive.

My sister wanted to come east for our Mom’s 90th birthday and our Uncle’s 95th, so I offered to buy her a ticket.

Well there was no way she was going to let me buy a ticket.

But she would allow me to pay for her ticket with frequent flyer miles — miles that I had accrued largely through credit card sign-up bonuses.

That’s the reason I collect miles and points!

Extreme Travel Hacking for the Sandwich Generation

When I attended my first frequent flyer meet-up a few years ago, one of the old timers informed me that frequent flier miles should not be used for domestic flights.  Excuse me?

I was told that I could get a much higher value if I redeemed points for international first class travel.

Over the past several years, I have redeemed hundreds of thousands of miles for flights — and all of these flights were economy class domestic travel.

Most people think of family travel as traveling with children.  Our family travel is traveling to see family, or flying family members in for a visit.  To me, that is maximizing the value of frequent flyer miles!

I don’t care whether I have to spend 25,000 miles or 50,000 miles for a roundtrip ticket.  The “point” is that we use the miles to get where we need to go.  

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What are Your Frequent Flyer Pet Peeves?

Frequent Flyer Pet Peeves Survey
What’s the worst thing about frequent flyer programs?

Frequent Business Traveler and FlyerTalk are running a survey on the most annoying aspects of frequent flyer programs.

With input from frequent flyers, the survey sponsors have complied a list of pet peeves with the award redemption process.  

They ask you to rank order your most annoying award redemption problems.

This survey caught my attention because one of my biggest pet peeves is that many mainstream miles and points bloggers do not tell the full story about frequent flyer programs.

I started Fishing4Deals to provide objective information about the pros and cons of various programs.

My number one concern with the award redemption process is that low-level award tickets are often unavailable when I want to fly.

As Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagen said:

I always thought that the way these agreements worked were that if I flew a certain number of miles on your plan, I was going to get a free ticket.  If I knew that it was really up to you to give me the free ticket . . . I don’t think that I’d be spending all this time in the air on your planes. You know, I’d find another company that actually gave me the free ticket.

To rank your top pet peeves, head over to the survey site by November 30, 2014.

What are your biggest frustrations?  Is this survey on target?

Click here to compare current rewards credit card offers.

The Culture Flyer — Half Price Show Tickets in Baltimore

Culture Fly: Half Price Events in Baltimore
Culture Fly: Half Price Events in Baltimore

New York has TKTS.  Washington has TicketPlace. And Baltimore has Culture Fly.

Every Thursday, the Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance sends out the Culture Flyer — a guide to free and half price performances and events for the coming week.

You won’t find tickets to the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra or to traveling Broadway shows here.

But there are plenty of offers for free and half-price theater and dance events, art openings, concerts, and other fun stuff.

If you are interested in the offbeat and the avant-guard, Baltimore definitely beats straight-laced Washington, DC!

Culture Fly: Half Price Events in Baltimore
Culture Flyer: Weekly Newsletter

For example, this week the Culture Flyer features:

  • Rocky Horror Show at Spotlighters Theatre
  • Cabaret Macabre by Happenstance Theater
  • Bay Street Brassworks Concert
  • 3-D Printing Lab for Teens

and dozens of other discounted offerings.

You can find the Culture Fly calendar online, or you can sign up to receive weekly emails of the Culture Flyer newsletter.

 

How Secure are Mail Orders from Gift Card Mall?

How Secure are Your Purchases from Gift Card Mall?
How Secure are Your Purchases from Gift Card Mall?

Gift Card Mall is an online vendor of various gift cards.  They sell directly, via Ebay, and they service other sellers such as office supply stores.

To enhance security, Gift Card Mall typically mails the card in one envelope, and an “activation code” in a separate envelope.  The activation code is needed to register your card online, or to use the card to make purchases.

In theory, this practice makes sense.  If someone steals a gift card from your mailbox, they will not be able to use it without the activation code.

How Secure are Mail Orders from Gift Card Mall?

Recently, I purchased a gift card from Staples. The card arrived promptly in a plain envelope from Gift Card Mall.

However, when I tried to register the card, I was informed that the card had not been activated.

After several days, I still had not received the activation code.

I called Gift Card Mall in inquire about what to do.  The customer service rep asked me for some identifying information, such as my street address, and the order number.  This information was sufficient to validate the gift card.

The hitch is that all this identifying information was contained in the enclosure that came with the gift card.

So if someone had stolen the envelope, they would have all the information needed to activate the card, sans an activation code.  Here’s a link to report any suspected mail theft to the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.

Is mail theft something that you worry about, or am I just being paranoid?

A Scammer in the Ukraine Hacked My Chase Ink Card

How to Avoid Credit Card Fraud
Protect Yourself from Credit Card Fraud

You can never be too careful.  The other day I was checking my credit card accounts online, when I noticed an unfamiliar charge for $440. This was very strange, because the charge appeared on a closed account!  (A couple of months ago, Chase had closed my MasterCard Ink Plus card and swapped it for a Visa Ink Plus.)

I called Chase bank, and we determined that the charge for a car rental in the Ukraine was indeed fraudulent.  I was assured by the customer service rep that I would not be liable for the charge and that the account would in fact be permanently closed.

A week later, the Ukrainian car rental charge appeared on my statement.  I called again, and this time I was referred to the fraud department, and then to the investigations department, to rectify the situation.  Again, I was told that account would be closed and that I would not be responsible for the fraudulent charge.

The Gigantic JP Morgan Chase Hack

Chase told me that this fraudulent charge had nothing to do with the hackers that broke into JP Morgan Chase’s computer systems and stole more than 80 million customers’ personal information, including their names, emails, physical addresses and phone numbers.   According to the bank, hackers didn’t manage to steal usernames, passwords, account numbers or Social Security numbers.  This was not very reassuring!

Guard Against Credit Card Fraud

Here’s a word for the wise:  check your online statements frequently and be on the lookout for unfamiliar charges.  This is especially true if your credit card bills are on automatic pay.

Here’s an article from the Federal Trade Commission on what you can do to protect against credit card fraud.

Has your credit card account ever been compromised?  How did you handle it?  Please share in the comments.

Click here to compare current rewards credit card offers.

Can I Interest You in a Free Glass of Sparkling Wine, or Perhaps Free Dessert?

MasterCard Concierge App
MasterCard Concierge App, Free on iTunes

If you have a World or World Elite U.S. Mastercard, you may be interested in the new MasterCard Concierge app available for free on iTunes.

The App is your key to finding special offers and discounts at restaurants at select locations in the U.S. and Canada.

Most of the restaurants included to date are fancy steak houses or expensive French bistros, but there are also Japanese, Mediterranean, and Middle Eastern offerings.

MasterCard Concierge App
MasterCard Concierge App

The typical offer is for a free glass of sparkling wine or a free dessert to accompany your meal.

You’re not going to get rich off these offers.

But the Concierge app may come in handy some day if you find yourself headed to a participating restaurant in a big city like Miami, Los Angeles, New York, Washington DC, Chicago, San Francisco, Montreal, or Las Vegas.

You must call or email the MasterCard Concierge to access the offers.

Credit Cards Eligible for the MasterCard Concierge Program

Examples of cards that may be eligible include the Barclaycard Arrival and Arrival Plus, as well as the The US Airways® Premier World MasterCard® and the The Hawaiian Airlines® World Elite MasterCard®.   

The US Airways® Premier World MasterCard® is currently offering  40,000 bonus miles after your first purchase and payment of the $89 annual fee.

This is a pretty good deal for accruing U.S. Airways Dividend Miles, because there is no minimum spend requirement to worry about.  40,000 Dividend Miles could come in handy with the American/USAir merger underway, and the upcoming merger of their frequent flyer programs.  I got this card for that very reason.

The Hawaiian Airlines® World Elite MasterCard® offers 35,000 bonus miles when you spend $1,000 on purchases in the first 90 days.

 

 

Hidden City Ticketing — Revealed

SKIPlagged App: Free on iTunes
SKIPlagged App: Free on iTunes

Airfares often defy logic.

Why is a ticket from Washington DC to Salt Lake City more expensive than a ticket from Washington, DC to Las Vegas — with a stop in Salt Lake City?

How can you search for so-called “hidden city” or “throwaway”tickets?

Well, there’s an app for that!

SKIPlagged Finds Cheapest Airfares via Throwaway Ticketing

Skiplagged
HNL to LAX

Skiplagged, available for free in the iTunes store (and also available for Android phones), identifies the lowest available fares for a route.

It takes the guess work out of what city you should use as the final destination when searching for throwaway fares.

Here’s an example, illustrated by screen shots from the Skiplagged app.

Lets say you wanted to fly one-way from Honolulu (HNL) to Los Angeles (LAX) on  October 14.

Skiplagged
HNL to OAK via LAX

There is a nonstop flight on Delta Airlines for $394.

If you run the search on Skiplagged, you see that the same flight continues on to Oakland (OAK) for a total fare of just $207.

That’s quite a difference!

Of course, you will have to search for a return ticket, and compare the results with the cost of a round-trip ticket.

Travel Hacking 101:  The Do’s and Don’ts of Throwaway Tickets

Be aware that throwaway ticketing violates most airlines’ Terms of Service (except perhaps Southwest Airlines).

You risk being kicked out of the frequent flyer program, having your miles confiscated, and even being banned from the airline.

It’s not against the law, but it is a very risky practice.

Some experts offer these cautionary notes:

  • Good for one-way tickets only
  • Don’t check bags
  • Don’t use your frequent flyer number

The makers of the Skiplagged app suggest several sources for more information:

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This Cash Rewards Credit Card Pays 5% on Gas, Groceries, Restaurants, & Utilities

TD Bank Cash Rewards Credit Card
TD Bank Cash Rewards Credit Card – $200 cash back and no annual fee

Travel rewards credit cards are great, but a card that pays five percent cash back on some of the biggest expense categories  in my budget is hard to beat!

As a TD Bank customer, I received an offer in the mail for the new TD Cash Rewards credit card.

The offer for this no annual fee card was for $200 cash back after spending $500 within ninety days of opening the account.

The publicly available offer is for a $100 statement credit after spending $500.

The card normally pays 1x points on all purchases, but for the first six billing cycles, TD Bank is offering 5x points for these categories of spending:  

  • Utilities, including:  water, electric, landline, cell phone, and cable
  • Restaurants
  • Gas
  • Groceries

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Enter Now for Chance to See British Airways Airbus A380 Inaugural Flight into Dulles

Discover Dulles BA Airbus Inauqural Flight
Discover Dulles British Airlines Airbus Inaugural Flight

The British Airways Airbus A380 is making its inaugural flight from London Heathrow into Dulles International Airport (IAD) on October 2, 1014.

38 lucky people will invited to view the landing and get a behind the scenes tour of the Ramp Control Towers and Operations at IAD.

I attended one of these “Discover Dulles” events this summer and it was lots of fun!

Click here to enter the contest for a chance to be a part of this historical event.

Contest entries opened Friday, September 26, 2014 and will close on Tuesday, September 30, 2014 at 12:00 am (Eastern Time).

Participants will be randomly selected and notified via email by on September 30.

Hat Tip to Trevor at Tagging Miles.

Does 60x Club Carlson Points Make You Swoon?

Club Carlson's Weekdays Triple Points Offer
Club Carlson’s Weekdays Triple Points Offer

I recently enjoyed a fabulous award stay at the Radisson Martinique on Broadway in New York City.

As a Club Carlson credit card holder, I was eligible for the stay one night, get one night free deal on award stays, so the cost of my two-night stay was 50,000 Club Carlson points.

I enjoyed the hotel so much that I am looking for ways to replenish my points account!

Stacking Club Carlson Promos

Club Carlson is always running a bunch of promo offers and special rates.  Each offer applies to a select list of hotels and you need to read the fine print to make sure you qualify.  Sometimes, it is possible to stack promos, so that your earn bonus points on several offers with the same reservation.

The tricky thing is that the special offer may not always be the best rate.

Club Carlson is currently running a 3,000 point bonus if you book your stay using their mobile app through November 16, 2014.  This is good for up to three bookings, for a total of potentially 9,000 points.

Club Carlson is also running a promo for 7,500 American Advantage points if you book two stays at participating Radisson Hotels.

You can combine these offers with the “Business Time Triple Points” offer to boost your points earnings.

Would you rather earn 3x times points (equivalent to 60x points for cardholders) or get 30 percent off your stay?

You really have to play around with the promo codes and look at all the rates options and offers to find the best deal.

Sometimes, the most advantageous rate of all may be the old, reliable AAA discount.

60x Gold Points on Weekday Stays

You can earn triple Club Carlson points when you stay at select Radisson Hotels and Country Inns & Suites on weekdays.

Try using the promo code BIZTIME3 for Sunday through Thursday nights at participating hotels now through November 30, 2014.

With this promo code, you can earn 40 Bonus Gold Points® per dollar spent on room nights. These bonus Points are in addition to the standard 20 Gold Points per dollar spent on eligible stays, for a total of 6o Gold Points per dollar.

There is a long list of properties in the U.S. and in some Latin American Countries that are participating in this promotion.

Stay Two Nights, Get Third Night Free on Weekends

Club Carlson's Weekend Extender
Club Carlson’s Weekend Extender Promo — Stay two nights, get third night free

If you are traveling on the weekend, be sure to check if your hotel may be eligible for Club Carlson’s Weekend Extender promotion.  You pay for two nights but you stay for three!

Book your three day weekend using the promo code  WEEKENDX for extended weekend stays at participating hotels now through November 30, 2014.  The stay must include a combination of either a Friday and Saturday night, or a Saturday and Sunday night.

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