9 awesome credit card perks you might not know about
Many credit cards have terrific perks that make them worth keeping despite their annual fees. A couple of examples that come to mind are the IHG card’s annual free night certificate that can be...
Top 10 shortcuts to earning SPG points
Less than two weeks ago, in the post “Top 7 shortcuts to earning Alaska Mileage Plan miles,” I asserted that Alaska Airlines’ Mileage Plan miles may be the most valuable airline miles remaining. Then,...
Barclaycard JetBlue offers are live and worth a look
JetBlue credit cards from Barclaycard are now available to new applicants. The new Barclaycard JetBlue cards come in three flavors:
JetBlue Plus Card: 30,000 points after $1K spend; $99 annual fee
JetBlue Business Card:...
Shortcuts to earning and renewing Marriott elite status
High level Marriott elite status is good, but not great. Gold membership (which you get with 50 qualifying nights per year) offers a 25% point bonus on stays, free breakfast or lounge access at...
Hyatt points + cash: No upgrades for the Diamond-less
Quick Summary: Hyatt Points + Cash stays can be upgraded with Diamond Suite Upgrade certificates, but cannot be upgraded with points.
Oops. Yesterday’s post about the Hyatt Carmel Highlands was initially full of errors. In...
Hilton 70K, 75K, and 85K offers in perspective
Update: This offer was valid at the time of publication, but has since expired. Please click here to see the best offers currently available.
Most hotel chains get in bed with a single credit card...
Round trip to Australia starting at 50,000 points
Two days ago, we published a Quick Deal (found here) regarding discounted flights to Sydney Australia from select US cities: Atlanta, Detroit, Salt Lake City, and Minneapolis. Select economy flights on AA and Qantas...
My final AA mileage run involved actual running. Here’s the story.
In the recent post, “How I screwed up my end of year AA mileage run,” I told the story of what I thought would be my last mileage run. I had calculated my last...
How I screwed up my end of year AA mileage run
Flight deals, especially the really great ones, rarely last long. Once a great deal is publicized, it’s a race against the clock to find and book the deal before its too late. Often, I...
How to upgrade AA coach to business class, in advance
One of the best features of the American Airlines AAdvantage program, in my opinion, is that they allow upgrades from coach to business class, or business class to first class on all fares. This...
To and from Santiago Chile, my favorite Diamond upgrade ever, and a weird Centurion...
On October 8th, my wife and I were discussing options for Thanksgiving week travel. She and my son would be free from work and school as of Monday afternoon before Thanksgiving. Maybe we should...
Hyatt Diamond status: the first benefit of the Marriott SPG merger
Early last week, Marriott announced its acquisition of Starwood Hotels and Resorts. And, even though Marriott says that they will preserve the best of both loyalty programs, I’m not too optimistic. Mergers like these...
Hey Marriott: Here’s how to keep SPG loyalists loyal
Yesterday, Marriott announced its acquisition of Starwood Hotels and Resorts. The transaction is expected to close “mid 2016”, but we have no information yet about how or when the loyalty programs will merge. My...
My crazy route to Vegas. Am I done with mileage running?
The majority of this post was written while flying the final leg of my latest mileage run. Last year, I decided to seek top tier American Airlines status by signing up for the US...
