Author Archives: Grant

About Grant

Grant is an expert in frequent flyer miles, hotel loyalty points, credit card rewards, and cash back deals. He also has a pretty cool travel blog. Find him on Twitter @travelwithgrant.

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Before Closing Wells Fargo Propel World AMEX Credit Card, Get $100 Airline Reimbursement

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Good afternoon everyone.  During last week’s rundown of credit cards who charged me an annual fee in March, I wrote about my Wells Fargo Propel World American Express Credit Card.  In that post, I mentioned that this credit card has a $175 annual fee and I could not figure out how Wells Fargo could justify charging $175 for this credit card.  I also reminded myself that this credit card offers a $100 airline reimbursement credit each cardmember year.  And since the annual fee posted on April 2, I figured I was in a new cardmember year.  I then used this credit card to buy a $100 Southwest Airlines egift card.  A few days later, I received the following email regarding the $100 airline reimbursement.

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How Quickly Does Hilton Diamond Elite Status Appear After Getting Approved for AMEX Hilton Honors Aspire Credit Card?

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Good morning everyone, I hope you had a great weekend.  Last week, I did a credit card App-O-Rama and applied for the American Express Hilton Honors Aspire Credit Card.  The credit card has a $450 annual fee, but comes with a 100,000 Hilton points sign up bonus ($4,000 spend in 3 months), Hilton Diamond Elite Status, $250 airline travel credit, $250 Hilton resort credit, 1 free weekend night certificate and a few other benefits (read Doctor of Credit’s full review).  It sounds like a great deal, at least for the first year, so I applied for the credit card.

Unfortunately, my application went pending and I decided to wait for a call or letter in the mail from American Express.  I felt pretty confident that I could get approved for this credit card because I had an existing American Express SPG Business Credit Card and an American Express Hilton Honors Ascend Credit Card that I could use for leverage to get approved for the American Express Hilton Honors Aspire Credit Card.  Luckily, I didn’t have to wait long to hear from American Express…

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New Southwest Airlines Flight Rebooking Process (Updated April 2018)

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Good morning everyone, I hope your weekend is going well.  On Friday, I was looking at my existing Southwest Airlines reservations and found a flight that went down by $45.  My weekly routine is to check all my existing Southwest Airlines flights every Tuesday morning – that is when Southwest Airlines sends out emails regarding airfare sales.  During my most recent flight rebooking, I noticed that the rebooking process got a (much needed) face lift.  Southwest Airlines is doing some Spring cleaning, because they recently updated their (previously broken) gift card balance checker.  For reference, here is what the old rebooking process looked like.  To get started, click on the Change / Cancel tab on the homepage, then enter your confirmation number, first name, last name, and click the Search button.

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Poll: Would you Spend 450,000 Hyatt Points for a South African Safari Package?

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Good morning everyone, I hope your weekend is going well.  I received this screenshot from a reader who participated in a Hyatt survey.  For this survey, Hyatt wanted to know if you would redeem 450,000 Hyatt points for a 5 night South African safari package ($3,500 retail value per person).  Personally, I do not have 450,000 Hyatt points or 450,000 Chase Ultimate Reward Points, so this option is totally out of my league, but let’s give this redemption a look.  $3,500 / 450,000 points = 0.78 cents per point, which is pretty low for Hyatt points.  Also, 450,000 Hyatt points could get you 15 nights at top tier category 7 hotels (30,000 Hyatt points per night) or 18 nights at category 6 hotels (25,000 Hyatt points per night).  You could also get 90 nights at a budget category 1 hotel (only 5,000 Hyatt points per night).

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Keep, Cancel or Convert? US Bank FlexPerks Gold ($85 Annual Fee) & Wells Fargo Propel World Elite ($175 Annual Fee)

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Good morning everyone, I hope you enjoyed reading about my credit card decisions surrounding keeping, closing, or converting my credit cards after the annual fees post.  Check out my thoughts on my Chase Sapphire Reserve and Chase Ink Plus Business credit cards; my American Express Hilton Ascend and SPG Business credit cards; my Bank of America Alaska Airlines Business and Citi AT&T Access More credit cards.  As a reminder, here are all the credit cards and their annual fees.  In today’s post, I am going to cover both the US Bank FlexPerks Gold American Express Credit Card and the Wells Fargo Propel World Elite American Express Credit Card.  Are they worth keeping, should I close them, or should I convert them to another credit card?

  • Chase Sapphire Reserve – $450 (posted 4/1)
  • Chase Ink Plus Business – $95 (posted 4/1)
  • American Express Hilton Ascend – $95 (posted 4/3)
  • American Express SPG Business – $95 (posted 4/6)
  • Bank of America Alaska Airlines Business – $75 (posted 4/2)
  • Citi AT&T Access More – $95 (posted 4/4)
  • US Bank FlexPerks Gold – $85 (posted 4/3)
  • Wells Fargo Propel World – $175 (posted 3/31)

US Bank FlexPerks Gold American Express Credit Card

The $85 annual fee just posted and I have seriously lost interest in FlexPoints over the years.  The death nail came on December 31, 2017, when FlexPoints changed to a fixed 1.5 cents per point (CPP) value for all travel redemptions.  This credit card earns 3x on airfare, 2x on gas, and 2x on restaurants.  I currently use my Chase Sapphire Reserve Credit Card for travel, restaurants, and gas since I get 3x Chase Ultimate Reward Points on those purchases.  I can also redeem Chase Ultimate Reward Points for travel at 1.5 CPP, so the Chase Sapphire Reserve Credit Card is as good or better in every way compared to the US Bank FlexPerks Gold American Express Credit Card.  I redeemed almost all of my FlexPoints before December 31, 2017, and have a few hundred FlexPoints leftover in my account.  Not to worry, I have a no annual fee US Bank FlexPerks Select+ American Express Credit Card that will keep my few hundred FlexPoints alive.

Decision: US Bank FlexPerks Gold American Express Credit Card will be converted to a no annual fee US Bank Cash 365 American Express Credit Card.  That card earns 1.5% cash back on all purchases, so it will never be used.

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