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This week around the web we have some tips for how to get through to a customer service agent, a potentially decent use of Singapore miles if they are about to expire unused, a credit card concierge battle, and more. Read on for the Frequent Miler week in review around the web.
Battle of the Credit Card Concierge Services… Finding Toilet Paper Edition
The battle of the bowl. The commode companion championship. The toilet (paper) bowl. Lee from Bald thoughts pits credit card concierges against one another to see who wipes the floor with the competition.
Updated: KrisFlyer miles expiring? 12 ways to save them from the scrapheap
This post from Mainly Miles covers options to consider if you have Singapore KrisFlyer miles expiring, and there was one use in there that looked potentially attractive to me in converting them for dining rewards with Shangri-la. Don’t get me wrong, I’d rather be using Singapore miles to book valuable award tickets, but with an uncertain travel future and a hard 3-year cancellation policy that isn’t reset by activity, it could be a good option to keep in mind. I wasn’t aware of the (much worse but still better than nothing) ability to give up half of the miles and maybe get 3 more years out of them (I didn’t look into whether this could be done for someone living in the US, but interesting nonetheless).
How I Got Around Bank of America Telling Me There Was No One To Take My Call
Getting through to customer service for anything has been a nightmare lately, but Mark at Miles to Memories has a great tip that may work at least for those trying to get through to Bank of America: try starting with their chat / virtual assistant. This might be a decent workaround with other banks as well.
The Critical Points: Impatience could be our next worst problem
The point of Richard Kerr’s Critical Points column is always to offer a contrarian opinion. Sure enough, I’ve found myself disagreeing with him — strongly in some cases — more than once before. But this week, I totally agree. I’ll add to his points about the rush to know what’s up with elite status that by pressuring these programs for answers, I think we all got less than we may have with a little patience. It’s not as though elite status is influencing any imminent travel plans and I think that solutions announced in June would have had 0% chance of being less generous and at least some chance of being more generous once we had a better idea as to a timeline on a return to “normalcy”. I just don’t see much benefit in knowing now versus knowing next month or the month after and there is at least a non-zero chance that we might have seen something better given more time.
THE DOWNSIDE OF BUYING DISCOUNTED DISNEY GIFT CARDS FOR TRIPS
Miles for Family brings up a point I hadn’t much considered: the predicament of having purchased your vacation using discounted gift cards. While that generally seems like a great way to save money, and indeed one of the only ways to save money on a Disney trip, I can imagine the conundrum in which this has left some families who may have bought expensive Disney trips using thousands in gift cards. Sure, they’ll have the money back on gift cards, but without a clear idea as to when a future trip could happen and a difficult economy, I can imagine that some wish they could get a refund. I guess this may affect how I approach this kind of thing in the future as I wouldn’t probably mind being stuck with hundreds in Disney gift cards for a while but would likely feel much differently about thousands.
That’s it for this week around the web. Check back soon for this week’s last chance deals.
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