Back a few years ago, when I was just getting into the miles and points game, I decided to overhaul my credit card collection, removing cards that were expensive and weren't great for everyday spending (like the old First USA United Airlines card) and adding new cards (like the SPG American Express).
What I didn't realize is I actually owned my old United Airlines card since the 90's, giving me 10+ years of on-time payment history. When I canceled the card, it didn't have much immediate effect on my score since it was still listed on my report. The real penalty came just about a month ago when the card's history actually fell off my credit report. Worse yet, the card fell off my report literally days before I applied to refinance my mortgage.
To give you an idea of the damage, my score on CreditKarma/TransUnion was at 772 prior to March, and it dropped to 732 a few days after the account fell off my report -- a total of 40 points. A month later, my score hasn't even started moving back up. Ouch!
Fortunately, the other credit reporting agencies didn't give me quite such a hit and my score was still sufficient to receive a good rate on my mortgage. On the flip side, I'm seriously worried about applying for additional cards in the near future.
Learn from my mistakes, and don't close your oldest account. If you want to get out of an annual fee on a card you don't use, ask your credit card company to switch you over to another no-annual-fee card under the same account. Typically, they're more than willing to do so.
Sunday, April 14, 2013
Monday, April 8, 2013
AviancaTaca Buy Miles 100% Bonus - Seriously, Go Buy Miles!
It's almost never a great deal to buy miles. Except now. It doesn't get much sweeter than this for outright buying premium class flights, and you can easily save $10,000+ per ticket.
AviancaTaca is a Star Alliance partner. Right now, they're selling miles for 1.5 cents per mile (regularly 3+ cents). To sweeten the deal, they offer cash+miles redemptions where you can buy up to 60% of the miles needed for 1.275 cents per mile. If you buy 40% of the miles you need, and pay the rest when you book your ticket, you can effectively get miles for 1.365 per mile.
Their award chart is good, with no fuel surcharges. They do charge some taxes plus a $25 booking fee if you're booking partner airlines.
To buy miles, visit Lifemiles.
Here's how it all plays out. As you can see, you can fly anywhere in the world in business class for under $2000:
Some restrictions to be aware of:
AviancaTaca is a Star Alliance partner. Right now, they're selling miles for 1.5 cents per mile (regularly 3+ cents). To sweeten the deal, they offer cash+miles redemptions where you can buy up to 60% of the miles needed for 1.275 cents per mile. If you buy 40% of the miles you need, and pay the rest when you book your ticket, you can effectively get miles for 1.365 per mile.
Their award chart is good, with no fuel surcharges. They do charge some taxes plus a $25 booking fee if you're booking partner airlines.
To buy miles, visit Lifemiles.
Here's how it all plays out. As you can see, you can fly anywhere in the world in business class for under $2000:
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| Prices w/ Buy Miles Promotion |
Some restrictions to be aware of:
- You must have been an AviancaTaca Lifemiles member before April 8 to get in on the promotion. If you're not already a member, sign up now so you can take advantage of the next promo.
- All of your travel must be in the same class of travel. Domestic first class counts as business class. No mixing.
- No stopovers greater than 8 hours.
Friday, April 5, 2013
Need FREE Rental Car Coverage in Ireland? Get the Chase Amtrak Card!
In a couple of months, we're going to be taking a week-long trip to Ireland with Mrs. TIL. This will be my second trip there, and I'm looking forward to being with my wife on her first trip.
If you've ever tried to rent a car in Ireland, you know it can be quite a hassle. Like a number of other countries (Costa Rica, I'm looking at you), Ireland has a few notoriously bad sections of road, and car rental companies that love to charge an insane rate for collision and damage coverage (CDW).
To make matters worse, most credit cards explicitly exclude coverage in Ireland. Visa is out. American Express is out. Even Amex's Platinum and "premium" rental car coverage excludes Ireland. From what I've read, only a few select World Mastercards provide coverage, and the common Mastercards hoisted by points and miles junkies (the Barclay's US Airways World Mastercard, for example) provide their own coverage that excludes Ireland.
You might be surprised, then, to hear that the one card in my entire stack of points cards that does provide coverage in Ireland is the Amtrak Guest Rewards Mastercard. Yes, that wonderful no-annual-fee, rarely promoted, low budget card that everyone in the travel community seems to overlook. Of course, the Amtrak card is also the key to some incredible hotel redemptions, but that's not what we're talking about today.
If you're traveling to a country like Ireland or Costa Rica, it's always a good idea to get a letter of coverage prior to your travels. For MasterCard, you can simply call 1-800-MC-ASSIST and they'll email you a letter within a few minutes of your call. Here's the one I received a few days ago:
If you don't already have this card, the best way to find the current bonus offer is to create an account and sign in to the Amtrak Guest Rewards website. Look at the bottom of the page and you'll find an ad for the card. Currently, the bonus is 12,000 points. I've seen up to 38,000, but 12k is still a pretty good bonus for a no-annual-fee card.
This little card continues to amaze me, and it blows my mind that its benefits often exceed even those of Chase's flagship Sapphire Preferred. If you're planning a trip to Ireland, be sure to pick one up!
For your card's full terms and conditions be sure to call 1-800-MC-ASSIST. The agent told me that benefits vary from card to card (and state to state?).
If you've ever tried to rent a car in Ireland, you know it can be quite a hassle. Like a number of other countries (Costa Rica, I'm looking at you), Ireland has a few notoriously bad sections of road, and car rental companies that love to charge an insane rate for collision and damage coverage (CDW).
To make matters worse, most credit cards explicitly exclude coverage in Ireland. Visa is out. American Express is out. Even Amex's Platinum and "premium" rental car coverage excludes Ireland. From what I've read, only a few select World Mastercards provide coverage, and the common Mastercards hoisted by points and miles junkies (the Barclay's US Airways World Mastercard, for example) provide their own coverage that excludes Ireland.
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| I love this card! |
You might be surprised, then, to hear that the one card in my entire stack of points cards that does provide coverage in Ireland is the Amtrak Guest Rewards Mastercard. Yes, that wonderful no-annual-fee, rarely promoted, low budget card that everyone in the travel community seems to overlook. Of course, the Amtrak card is also the key to some incredible hotel redemptions, but that's not what we're talking about today.
If you're traveling to a country like Ireland or Costa Rica, it's always a good idea to get a letter of coverage prior to your travels. For MasterCard, you can simply call 1-800-MC-ASSIST and they'll email you a letter within a few minutes of your call. Here's the one I received a few days ago:
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| Yes, it covers rentals in Ireland! |
If you don't already have this card, the best way to find the current bonus offer is to create an account and sign in to the Amtrak Guest Rewards website. Look at the bottom of the page and you'll find an ad for the card. Currently, the bonus is 12,000 points. I've seen up to 38,000, but 12k is still a pretty good bonus for a no-annual-fee card.
This little card continues to amaze me, and it blows my mind that its benefits often exceed even those of Chase's flagship Sapphire Preferred. If you're planning a trip to Ireland, be sure to pick one up!
For your card's full terms and conditions be sure to call 1-800-MC-ASSIST. The agent told me that benefits vary from card to card (and state to state?).
Sunday, March 31, 2013
Fly Round-Trip Almost Anywhere in North America for $550!
In this article I'll describe how to fly United or US Airways to/from almost anywhere in the continental USA, Mexico, Guatemala Belize, Honduras, Canada, or the Western Caribbean for $550 plus airport taxes.
ANA's Wonderful Award Chart
Last week, I discussed ways to fly domestically for under 25,000 miles. Hidden in that article, I mentioned ANA's lucrative distance-based award chart, and the fact that they have stopped assessing fuel surcharges on award flights operated by United and US Airways. ANA is fantastic in that they allow up to 4 stopovers (outside of your country of origin) and all of your legs are added together to calculate total mileage.
Also last week, one of my colleagues asked me if she could get a cheap spring break trip from the midwest United States to a sunny destination, but she didn't have any miles or points to spend. As you can imagine, cheap spring break trips to sunny destinations aren't easy to find. As a matter of fact, I couldn't find much of anything published for under $700. So, I started to think about options for purchasing miles and redeeming for trips.
Buying Membership Rewards
To make this all work, you need to have an American Express credit card that accrues Membership Rewards. This includes the Premier Rewards Gold card, the Platinum card, and a number of others.
Although few people know about it, American Express Membership Rewards actually sells points, in conjunction with any redemption, at a rate of $25 per 1000 points. You can find information about purchasing points and the limits associated with each card on their site. Although I typically wouldn't recommend purchasing points for 2.5 cents each, in some cases (like this) it actually makes sense. For example, when BA was offering a 50% bonus a few months ago, you could effectively buy BA miles for under 2 cents each.
Tying it All Together
So, let's tie this all together. First of all, ANA's partner award chart "sweet spot" is for trips that come in at less than 4000 miles. In other words, your total round trip, including all connections, must be 4000 miles or less.
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| ANA award chart. |
From Chicago, that basically covers the entire continental USA, Mexico, Guatemala Belize, Honduras, most of Canada, and most of the Western Caribbean. In other cities, your covered destinations may vary. See the map below:
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| 2000 mile radius around Chicago (data courtesy of Google Maps and gmaps-radius). |
Now, it's just a matter of planning your trip, finding award availability on United's site, buying 22k miles per ticket (at $25 per 1000 = $550) and redeeming your award ticket. Boom - a flight from/to just about anywhere for $550.
I'll walk you through step by step.
1. Search united.com for United or US Airways "saver" award flights to your dream destination.
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| Grand Rapids to Grand Cayman |
2. You can verify mileage at gcmap.com.
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| Mileage Verification |
3. Now go confirm availability at ANA. You'll need an ANA Mileage Club account to do this, and at least a couple hundred miles in your account to use their Star Alliance Search. If you don't have any miles in your account, you can transfer 1000 miles from Membership Rewards to start.
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| ANA search - it's easiest to search segment-by-segment. |
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| ANA check-out screen confirming 22,000 miles. Note the overnight layover and multiple airlines. |
4. Purchase and transfer Membership Rewards points to ANA. This takes about 24 hours.
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| Membership rewards typically transfer 1:1 to ANA. |
5. Enjoy your trip!
If you already have membership rewards, you can also use 22,000 points to purchase your trip. Just to give you an idea of value, my example trip listed retails at $585 on Kayak. Especially after taxes and with such a minor price difference, I'd probably just buy the tickets outright. However, there are many times when it's far cheaper to buy trips using Membership Rewards and ANA than to pay retail.
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| Retail price. |
Sunday, March 24, 2013
Domestic Economy Tickets for Under 25k? Yes!
For years, 25,000 miles has been the standard for US domestic award tickets. However, some new "sweet spots" in airline award charts are slowly moving that number down. Here are some frequent flyer programs to consider:
British Airways
Domestic American Airlines round trips start at just 9,000 miles for non-stop flights that are less than 650 miles each way. For 15,000 miles, you can fly up to 1,151 miles each way. For 20,000 miles, you can fly up to 2,000 miles each way. Flights with stops require combining the above amounts. For example, if one connection is 500 miles and the other is 1,000 miles, you could redeem 24,000 miles for a round trip.
You can transfer to BA from both Ultimate Rewards and Membership Rewards. BA also doesn't charge close-in award fees or fuel surcharges for AA flights, so they're great for last minute trips!
Frontier
Frontier is one of the final domestic hold-outs still offering domestic round trips for 20,000 miles, no strings attached. You need to fly through Denver, though, and their destinations are limited.
ANA
ANA offers domestic flights on United (and, for a while, US Airways) for 20,000 ANA miles as long as the combined mileage for your round-trip flights is under 2,000 miles. You can fly up to 4,000 miles for 22,000 ANA miles.
ANA does not charge fuel surcharges for flights on United, and you can transfer points to ANA from Membership Rewards.
Aeroplan
Shorter-distance domestic itineraries (including between the US and Canada) are often priced at 15k, but you need to fly only Air Canada to get the discount. They often charge outrageous fuel surcharges.
United
Short flights (under 700 miles each way) are priced at 20,000 miles for a round trip. No strings attached.
AA
If you're a Citi AAdvantage card holder, don't overlook AA's Reduced Mileage Awards, which offer round trips to select destinations for only 17,500 miles! The only downside is you need to call to book, and you'll invariably incur a telephone booking fee.
US Airways
If you have their credit card and book a trip using only US Airways operated flights, you'll get domestic round trips for 20,000 miles.
LCCs
Spirit, AirTran, Southwest, and other low cost carriers typically offer redemptions based on the price of the ticket. There are definitely times when you can fly for under 25k miles (or equivalent).
Starwood
It's probably worth noting that Starwood transfers to airlines come with a 5k bonus for every 20k points transferred, so you can effectively get round trips on any airline for 20k or under.
Summary of Round Trip Prices by Alliance
Star Alliance: 15k on Aeroplan, 20k on ANA, 20k on United, 20k on US Airways (with credit card).
Oneworld: 9k on BA, 17.5k on AA (with credit card).
None: 20k on Frontier, various amounts on LCCs.
British Airways
Domestic American Airlines round trips start at just 9,000 miles for non-stop flights that are less than 650 miles each way. For 15,000 miles, you can fly up to 1,151 miles each way. For 20,000 miles, you can fly up to 2,000 miles each way. Flights with stops require combining the above amounts. For example, if one connection is 500 miles and the other is 1,000 miles, you could redeem 24,000 miles for a round trip.
You can transfer to BA from both Ultimate Rewards and Membership Rewards. BA also doesn't charge close-in award fees or fuel surcharges for AA flights, so they're great for last minute trips!
Frontier
Frontier is one of the final domestic hold-outs still offering domestic round trips for 20,000 miles, no strings attached. You need to fly through Denver, though, and their destinations are limited.
ANA
ANA offers domestic flights on United (and, for a while, US Airways) for 20,000 ANA miles as long as the combined mileage for your round-trip flights is under 2,000 miles. You can fly up to 4,000 miles for 22,000 ANA miles.
ANA does not charge fuel surcharges for flights on United, and you can transfer points to ANA from Membership Rewards.
Aeroplan
Shorter-distance domestic itineraries (including between the US and Canada) are often priced at 15k, but you need to fly only Air Canada to get the discount. They often charge outrageous fuel surcharges.
United
Short flights (under 700 miles each way) are priced at 20,000 miles for a round trip. No strings attached.
AA
If you're a Citi AAdvantage card holder, don't overlook AA's Reduced Mileage Awards, which offer round trips to select destinations for only 17,500 miles! The only downside is you need to call to book, and you'll invariably incur a telephone booking fee.
US Airways
If you have their credit card and book a trip using only US Airways operated flights, you'll get domestic round trips for 20,000 miles.
LCCs
Spirit, AirTran, Southwest, and other low cost carriers typically offer redemptions based on the price of the ticket. There are definitely times when you can fly for under 25k miles (or equivalent).
Starwood
It's probably worth noting that Starwood transfers to airlines come with a 5k bonus for every 20k points transferred, so you can effectively get round trips on any airline for 20k or under.
Summary of Round Trip Prices by Alliance
Star Alliance: 15k on Aeroplan, 20k on ANA, 20k on United, 20k on US Airways (with credit card).
Oneworld: 9k on BA, 17.5k on AA (with credit card).
None: 20k on Frontier, various amounts on LCCs.
Monday, March 4, 2013
Malaysia Airlines Redemption: Two Wrong Websites Don't Make a Right
I'm working on a complex itinerary to Borneo for this coming August, and decided to book a business class leg on Malaysia Airlines. For those of you who don't know, Malaysia Airlines just became a OneWorld partner, meaning award flights are now bookable with American AAdvantage miles.
After the agent confirmed our business class itinerary, I didn't look too hard at the details. But, this afternoon I decided to select seats and was surprised to find:
After the agent confirmed our business class itinerary, I didn't look too hard at the details. But, this afternoon I decided to select seats and was surprised to find:
- My email from American Airlines confirmed that I was in U class (business award inventory), but said ECONOMY next to the flight.
- American Airlines' website showed ECONOMY next to the flight.
- Malaysian Airlines' website showed an ECONOMY booking.
So, I called American to figure out what was going on. They confirmed that I was, indeed, booked in business. I asked to talk to a supervisor, and she finally booked me a business class seat to prove that I was booked in business class, and proceeded to follow up with aa.com, who confirmed it was a web bug.
Argh.
You'd think out of all the parties involved, at least one would get it right. However, this just stresses the importance of confirming your flight details and not making assumptions about anything -- especially on award tickets. And, don't assume the computers are right...
Monday, February 25, 2013
Disney on Points and Miles
I went out to lunch with an associate today, and we got to talking about my hobby (or perhaps addiction?). In most cases when I explain the trips I've taken using points and miles, the other person doesn't really know where they want to go or what they want to do, and they're unlikely to ever follow through with earning and redeeming points and miles for a trip. Although it sounds fun enough, they don't have enough interest to make it happen.
Today was a bit different, though. The guy I met for lunch really wanted to take his family of four to Disney. Nothing complicated, nothing fancy. Just get from Michigan to Orlando in relative comfort. First class if possible, but economy would be fine.
This is definitely possible, in some cases with a single well-timed credit card signup. In lieu of any mega-offers, two simultaneous signups (either by the same person or two) would definitely fund the trip. The only mega-offer currently out there is for the British Airways Visa, but it requires $20,000 in spend to get the 100,000 mile bonus.
1. Pick a Credit Card Signup Bonus
To narrow things down a bit, we're looking for a card that offers a nice signup bonus, preferably with no annual fee. For a typical domestic redemption, we're looking at about 25k per person, so we want to find a card that provides at least a 50,000 mile signup bonus (assuming two card signups).
Here are some of the options currently out there:
Another option is the BA Visa. The current bonus ends on February 27, but is good for up to 100,000 British Airways miles!
2. Find The Best Flight Redemptions
For the cards above, we're looking at redeeming miles using British Airways, Frontier, Delta, Aeroplan, United, or American. It's probably worth mentioning that just because points are redeemed with these airlines doesn't mean the flights need to be flown with these airlines. For example, British Airways miles can be redeemed for American Airlines flights; Aeroplan miles can be redeemed for United, Air Canada, and US Airways flights.
When redeeming awards, you must redeem miles according to the redemption airline's award chart, even if you're flying on a partner airline. For example, if you want to fly American Airlines from Chicago to Orlando using British Airways miles (which is possible, by the way), you would redeem according to British Airways' award chart.
Let's take a look at the possible redemptions in coach:
Chicago - Orlando Round Trip
Grand Rapids - Orlando Round Trip
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| Who doesn't like Disney? |
This is definitely possible, in some cases with a single well-timed credit card signup. In lieu of any mega-offers, two simultaneous signups (either by the same person or two) would definitely fund the trip. The only mega-offer currently out there is for the British Airways Visa, but it requires $20,000 in spend to get the 100,000 mile bonus.
1. Pick a Credit Card Signup Bonus
To narrow things down a bit, we're looking for a card that offers a nice signup bonus, preferably with no annual fee. For a typical domestic redemption, we're looking at about 25k per person, so we want to find a card that provides at least a 50,000 mile signup bonus (assuming two card signups).
Here are some of the options currently out there:
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| Current Amex Offer - 50k! |
- Amex Premier Rewards Gold Card - 50k signup bonus after $1000 spend. Transfers to British Airways (OneWorld alliance), Frontier, Delta (SkyTeam alliance), and Aeroplan (Star Alliance) for domestic flights, among others. No annual fee for the first year.
- Chase United Mileage Explorer Card - 55k signup bonus after $1000 spend and adding an authorized user. No annual fee for the first year.
- Chase British Airways Visa - 50k signup bonus after $1000 spend, 75k after $10000, 100k (!) after $20000. $95 annual fee not waived.
- Citi American Airlines Card (Visa or Amex) - 50k signup bonus after $3000 spend, $150 statement credit for first AA purchase, and two free Admiral's Club passes. No annual fee for the first year.
Another option is the BA Visa. The current bonus ends on February 27, but is good for up to 100,000 British Airways miles!
2. Find The Best Flight Redemptions
For the cards above, we're looking at redeeming miles using British Airways, Frontier, Delta, Aeroplan, United, or American. It's probably worth mentioning that just because points are redeemed with these airlines doesn't mean the flights need to be flown with these airlines. For example, British Airways miles can be redeemed for American Airlines flights; Aeroplan miles can be redeemed for United, Air Canada, and US Airways flights.
When redeeming awards, you must redeem miles according to the redemption airline's award chart, even if you're flying on a partner airline. For example, if you want to fly American Airlines from Chicago to Orlando using British Airways miles (which is possible, by the way), you would redeem according to British Airways' award chart.
Let's take a look at the possible redemptions in coach:
Chicago - Orlando Round Trip
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| One-Way Distance-Based Award Chart for British Airways |
- 15,000 British Airways (flying on American Airlines)
- 20,000 Frontier (flying on Frontier)
- 25,000 Delta (flying on Delta)
- 25,000 Aeroplan (flying on United, Air Canada, or US Airways)
- 25,000 United (flying on United, Air Canada, or US Airways)
- 25,000 American (flying on American Airlines)
Grand Rapids - Orlando Round Trip
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| One-Way Distance-Based Award Chart for British Airways |
- 24,000 British Airways (flying on American Airlines)
- 20,000 Frontier (flying on Frontier)
- 25,000 Delta (flying on Delta)
- 25,000 Aeroplan (flying on United, Air Canada, or US Airways)
- 25,000 United (flying on United, Air Canada, or US Airways)
- 25,000 American (flying on American Airlines)
British Airways direct from Chicago is definitely a sweet spot! At only 15k for a round trip, my associate could fly his family to and from Orlando and still have miles left over for two more flights. Frontier is also a bit cheaper than others, but requires connecting in Denver. Frontier's availability for redemption is also quite limited.
For redemptions, I'd probably look at using British Airways miles if possible, but fall back to other airlines if necessary. Assuming my associate signs up for the Premier Rewards Gold Card, he can take advantage of different transfers and options based on availability.
3. Book Hotels
Without a large stash of hotel points, I'd look at a few different options:
- Transfer from American Express to Hotel Points.
- Use Priceline, Hotwire, or LastMinuteTravel to score a cheap hotel.
- Best Rate Guarantees
Unfortunately, American Express hotel transfers are rarely a great deal. Points can be funneled through Virgin America to Hilton, but Hilton's upcoming award chart devaluation would make any good Orlando properties cost-prohibitive. Priceline, Hotwire, LastMinuteTravel and Best Rate Guarantees can all be very lucrative in Orlando.
4. Rent a Car
Orlando car rentals are crazy cheap, especially when booked through Priceline or Hotwire.
5. Find Cheap Disney Tickets
Haha, just kidding. But I do recommend checking out Sea World or the Disney water parks while in Orlando. Blizzard Beach is a blast in the summer!
6. Put it All Together!
- Apply for a couple of cards that provide British Airways miles. I recommend the Amex Premier Rewards Gold card and/or the Chase BA Visa.
- Spend $1000 on each card within the first few months (time period for minimum spend varies).
- Once the miles post (after your first statement, usually), book four tickets on American Airlines to Orlando. Use British Airways miles to book the flights.
- Book a cheap hotel and car.
- Enjoy!
- After a year, cancel or keep the cards. Remember, annual fees can usually be negotiated.
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