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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Unboxing my American Express Blue Business Plus Credit Card: Card Art & Welcome Letter

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Good morning everyone, happy Thursday!  Last week, I applied for the much talked about new American Express Blue Business Plus Credit Card (my referral link).  The sign up bonus was decent (20,000 Membership Reward Points after spending $3,000 in 3 months), the 2x on all spend for the first $50,000 in purchases every year is great, and having no annual fee is the perfect reason to hold on to this credit card for years to come.  In this post, I will walk you through the approval process and “unbox” the new credit card and show you what the new credit card looks like.  (Disclaimer: there is no box, just a UPS Second Day Air flat envelope.)  Here is the front and back of the American Express Blue Business Plus Credit Card.  I am kind of disappointed that this credit card looks just like my American Express Old Blue Cash Credit Card (OBC) and my American Express Blue Cash Everyday Credit Card (BCE).  I wish the card was more distinctive looking.  Oh well.

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Hawaii Travel Hack: Combine Alaska Airlines Companion Fare & Hawaiian Airlines Award Ticket

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Good morning everyone, happy Wednesday.  I am writing to you from the WiFi-connected Golden Gate Transit bus, heading to work in San Francisco.  I love Hawaii and I have written a few posts about traveling to Hawaii over the last few years.  Some of my favorite posts about Hawaii include:

Recently, I was trying to book a flight from Lihue, Kauai, Hawaii (LIH) to San Francisco (SFO) or Oakland (OAK).  I will show you how I used a Bank of America Alaska Airlines Companion Fare and Virgin America miles to book a Hawaiian Airlines award ticket.  But first, take a quick look at these route maps from Alaska Airlines and Virgin America.  Those 2 airlines offer lots of flights, but there are only a few routes to Hawaii, and not every major Hawaiian airport is served.

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Earn a $10 Statement Credit for using US Bank Credit Card with ApplePay (May 23 – June 30)

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Good afternoon everyone, I hope your week is going well.  I am really late to the party, but US Bank sent out emails last week to cardholders with a $10 bonus if you added your US Bank credit card to your ApplePay wallet and made an ApplePay purchase of $10 or more.  I received the email for my US Bank Club Carlson Personal Credit Card, US Bank FlexPerks Select+ American Express Credit Card, and US Bank Cash+ Credit Card.  I have 3 other US Bank credit cards that did not receive the email.

There are 2 ways to use ApplePay: in-app purchases, such as buying tickets from the StubHub app or for paying for your Uber/Lyft ride; or in-store purchases, made at the register at your local store or gas station.  I’m not sure if both ways will trigger the bonus, but I assume so.

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Barclays Lufthansa Miles & More Credit Card Downgrade & Retention Offer

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Good morning everyone, happy Memorial Day!  A few days ago, I called Barclays to close my Barclays Lufthansa Miles & More World Elite MasterCard.  The $79 annual fee was coming due soon and I barely spent any money on the credit card after completing the minimum spending requirements last year.  After calling the number on the back of the credit card and explaining that I wanted to close the credit card because the annual fee was posting soon, the rep transferred me to a different department (I don’t remember the department name, but let’s call it the Barclays retention department).  After explaining my situation to the second rep, she asked me if I would be willing to downgrading the credit card to a no annual fee version of the Barclays Lufthansa Miles & More Credit Card.  Sure, I said, that sounds good to me. The downgraded credit card will earn 1 Lufthansa mile for every $2 spent and the conversion would be completed on June 5.

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Great First Experience Calling American Express Platinum Concierge for Restaurant Reservations

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Good afternoon everyone, I hope your Memorial Day Weekend is going well.  I have the American Express Business Platinum Charge Card and some of the card benefits get a lot of attention: Centurion Lounge access, Priority Pass membership, $200 airline reimbursement annually, Global Entry fee reimbursement, and the 50% Pay with Points rebate on flights.

Surprisingly, there are several other less talked about benefits of the American Express Business Platinum Charge Card too.  One such benefit that I just used for the first time was the American Express Business Platinum Charge Card Concierge (I believe the various versions of the American Express Platinum Charge Card also have this benefit).  I wanted to make a dinner reservation for a special occasion and I wasn’t having any luck with OpenTable (unless I wanted a 5pm or 10pm reservation – no thank you!).  I decided to call the Concierge (1-800-492-8468) and see if they could help me out.  If you have a personal American Express Platinum Charge Card, just call the number on the back of your card and you can navigate to the Concierge Department.

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