Today we’ll hear a few more stories from SAS Millionaires, we’ll discuss the rumored increase in annual fee and couponization of yet another popular premium card, talk about where you can move abroad with your dog, and more.
They became millionaires – in frequent flyer points
Hopefully you’re not tired of hearing SAS Eurobonus Millionaire stories yet because CNN just came out with a piece that highlights two particular travelers, one who was already a frequent flyer enthusiast (and reader of Head for Points) and one who was not. I laughed when Barry (one of the featured travelers) came to the same conclusion our own Nick had about economy flying. He commented “The best tip for sleeping on a plane is simply being exhausted”. It’s nice to know that our team weren’t the only ones totally exhausted by all that economy class flying.
[Rumor] Chase Sapphire Reserve To Increase Annual Fee To $795, New Benefits
We’ve talked before about our distaste for the “couponization” of premium credit cards. (We dislike the trend enough to invent a word for it, in fact.) A lot of you have also expressed distaste for this trend too. Unfortunately (but not surprisingly), there are now rumors floating about that the Chase Sapphire Reserve card may raise the annual fee to $795 and add new coupon-ish benefits. The rumored changes listed in this post include things like StubHub credits, DoorDash credits, Lyft credits, etc. (Note that we assume when the article states “$300 Dining credit via Sapphire Reserve Tables $250/semi-annual”, we think they might have meant “$150/semi-annual”.) In a recent podcast episode about this couponization trend, we referenced the Chase Sapphire Reserve card as a possible card to go this route, though it wasn’t our top pick.
Woman Rides Rollercoaster Through Smoky Mountains, Then the Bears Appear
It’s bear season in the Smoky Mountains! One spring we had 16 bear sitings in a single camping weekend in the Smokies. Luckily all these sitings were either from a safe distance away or from our vehicle. I’m not sure whether this particular visitor’s siting counts as either of those, as she came in very close contact with two black bears while riding a little mountain roller coaster in Gatlinburg. She had no control over the rollercoaster’s scarily slow crawl up the mountain as it passed the onlooking bears. The advised approach to black bear encounters (unlike grizzly bear encounters) is to stand your ground, make loud noises, and make yourself look big and threatening. Creeping along in a little rollercoaster car might check the “make noise” box at least. Luckily, these bears left her alone and returned to the woods.
5 visa-free paradises Americans can move to tomorrow (and bring the dog)
Ever thought about living abroad and bringing your dog along? I’ve never seriously considered living abroad in a singular location, but the two places that did pique my interest in at least a hypothetical sense were Mexico and Georgia. Both of these spots are included in this article as countries with very relaxed visas for Americans as well as fairly relaxed requirements for bringing in a dog. And folks have probably also heard me rave about Albania as well, which has also made this list.
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Apparently, in the original Reddit post (which was purportedly by a Chase employee and is now deleted), the 1.5cpp portal redemption rate is being removed as a benefit and the authorized user fee will be $195 per year (a la Amex Platinum). Hmmm.
For me I think the increase fee on the CSR, if true, will have me canceling it late this year when the AF comes due.
The Amex hoops to jump through I’ve done to success (net about 200-300 above AF) but one is enough.
I need to check how long it has been since I’ve had the CSP but probably at least a few years and more than that since I’ve had the signup bonus so I’ll likely downgrade the CSR to some Freedom product and then later get the CSP.
I like my FF trips but not too often and I have about 500K pts on CSR that I need to use over the next couple of years. I can move them to the Freedom Unlimited I believe.