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.

a woman with blonde hair and a green shirt

Which 10 Credit Cards am I Considering for my March App-O-Rama?

Posted on by . 33 Replies

Good morning everyone, happy Thursday.  My last App-O-Rama (where I applied for several new credit cards at the same time) was back in mid December 2016.  I usually wait 3+ months between App-O-Ramas, so the time has come to start my next round of credit card applications.  I am going to list the credit cards I have in mind in the order in which I will probably apply for them.  If you have any feedback on my strategy or think I am missing or applying for the wrong credit cards, please leave a comment below. Without further ado, let’s begin…

1. American Express SPG Business Credit Card – 25,000 SPG points after spending $5,000 in 90 days and an additional 10,000 SPG points after spending $3,000 in 120 days.  No annual fee the first year, then $95 in the second year.

With the impending merger with Marriott, this might be my last opportunity to apply for the SPG business credit card.  I can’t pass up this opportunity. 35,000 SPG points are worth ~$700 in hotel nights and airfare (and possibly much more).

2. Bank of America MERRILL+ Credit Card – 50,000 points after spending $3,000 in 90 days.  No annual fee.

Doctor of Credit reports that you can apply for this credit card over the phone.  50,000 points is worth $500 cash or up to $1,000 toward airfare. Continue reading →

a blue rectangular sign with white text

$100 Statement Credit from Delta AMEX Offer Posts Very Quickly

Posted on by . 5 Replies

Good afternoon everyone.  A few days ago, American Express released a few new AMEX Offers, the best being for Delta Airlines.  Spend $500 or more on Delta airline tickets and get a $100 statement credit.  If you have any travel coming up on Delta, this is an easy offer to complete.  Unfortunately, this offer is somewhat targeted and only showed up on 2 of my 6 cards (Old Blue Cash and Blue Cash Everyday).  In this post, I will show you how quickly the $100 statement credit posts after you purchase your Delta airline tickets online.

Delta AMEX Offer $100 Off $500

Continue reading →

a close-up of a logo

Comparing the Alaska Airlines $120 Companion Fare Code vs. Virgin America $150 Companion Discount Code

Posted on by . 5 Replies

Yesterday, the news broke that you could now redeem your Alaska Airlines companion fare code for flights on Alaska Airlines and Virgin America.  That is great news, especially if you have 1 or more companion fare codes and if Virgin America serves the routes you want to fly.  I’ve written about the Alaska Airlines Companion Fare Code a few times:

The overlooked part of the news from yesterday is that Virgin America has their own less-than-amazing companion discount code.  No one ever talks about that code, but I am going to compare the Alaska Airlines companion fare code to the Virgin America companion discount code and show you which code is better.

First things first, if you have the Bank of America Alaska Airlines Visa Signature Credit Card (personal or business version), you will get the companion fare codes.  To locate those codes, log into your Alaska Airlines account and click Valid under Discount and Companion Fare Codes.  You will see all the companion fare codes listed, their expiration date (travel must be booked by that date) and the terms and conditions of the companion fare code.

Alaska Airlines Comanion Fare Codes

Continue reading →

a black and white credit card

US Bank FlexPerks Travel Rewards Visa Signature & American Express Downgrade / Conversion Options

Posted on by . 21 Replies

Good morning everyone, happy Friday!  I am flying to Phoenix this weekend to watch some Spring Training baseball games, go to a Phoenix Suns basketball game, and maybe catch a Phoenix Coyotes hockey game – lots of sports in my future!

In credit card related news, both my US Bank FlexPerks Travel Rewards Visa Signature Credit Card and US Bank FlexPerks Travel Rewards American Express Credit Card had $49 annual fees that just posted.  I got both credit cards during various Summer / Winter Olympic promos and have since spent down the majority of my FlexPoints.  The only reason to keep the FlexPerks Visa Signature card is for 3x at charity (making Kiva loans) or 2x at gas stations and grocery stores.  You do get 10 Gogo Wifi Passes every cardmember year, but I seem to earn them faster than I can redeem them (plus the American Express Business Platinum Charge Card gave me 10 free Gogo Wifi Passes that I have yet to use either).  As for the FlexPerks American Express card (no longer offered – it has since been replaced by the US Bank FlexPerks Gold American Express Credit Card), I really never use that card either.

Long story short, both credit cards had annual fees that posted and I wanted to downgrade / convert to credit cards with no annual fees.  Here is my journey calling US Bank and figuring out which credit cards you can downgrade / convert to.  The obvious choice is the US Bank FlexPerks Select Plus American Express Credit Card that earns FlexPoints and has no annual fee.

3 Current US Bank FlexPerks Credit Cards

Continue reading →

a purple circle with white text

Google Flights Price Tracking, WOW Air KEF-SFO & JPMorgan Chase Ritz Carlton Travel Credit

Posted on by . 11 Replies

Good morning everyone, happy Thursday.  I just wanted to give a quick shoutout to everyone who attended the SF Travel Hackers March Meetup last night.  I gave a presentation about my recent trip to Iguazu Falls, Argentina.  I will work on getting that presentation turned into a blog post “soon”.  In today’s post, I will show you how I used Google Flights to track a WOW Air flight from Reykjavik, Iceland (KEF) to San Francisco (SFO).  I’ve always been interested in Iceland, and even more so after reading Whitney’s posts (Iceland & What I Wish I Had Known Before Going – Part 1 and Part 2).

I’ve been planning a trip to Iceland for the last few weeks and knew the dates I wanted to travel, but I just had to wait for the price to go down.  One of the many great things about Google Flights is that you can track specific routes on specific days, and you can even track specific flights on specific days.  I received the following email from Google Flights that the WOW Air flight I was tracking dropped from $469 to $263.  Granted, this is not the cheapest possible WOW Flight I have ever seen, but the price was right for me so I jumped on the deal.

Google Flights Price Drop KEF-SFO Email Alert

Continue reading →