Category Archives: Credit Cards

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Hilton, Hyatt, IHG and AAdvantage Points Sale–Expiring Starting Tomorrow!

Seems to me hotel and airline loyalty program points fall into a few different categories. Some points you know you’ll put to great use, and some points you’ll likely use and even have a general travel plan for. And some hotel and airline points you scratch your head and wonder how the heck you’ll use them! Whether or not to buy hotel and airline points when promotions are running depends on which of these three categories the loyalty program falls into. When it comes to Hyatt points, Hilton points, and IHG points, I always have a plan for them!

We have a few hotel points sales going on right now with Hyatt, Hilton, and IHG. The sales expire soon, so take a look if you’re planning some hotel stays and can use these points at a discount. We also have an American Airlines AAdvantage sale going on right now, as well. It’s not the best offer ever. But if you’re tapped out of AA miles like I am after using a huge stash of my miles for my trip to Spain, and need some AA miles for trips you’re planning, a discount, even a small one, is better than paying full price when you need to top off your account. Continue reading

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Calculate Discover It Q3 Restaurant Spend ($75 Cash Back Max)

Good morning everyone. August 15 marks the midway point of Q3 (July 1 to September 30), so I wanted to do a quick check to see how I was doing in regards to my Q3 restaurant spending on my Discover It Credit Card. This quarter, the Discover It Credit Card is paying 5% cash back on all restaurant purchases, up to $1,500 in spend. If you max out Q3, you will earn $75 cash back ($1,500 x 5% = $75).

After you complete the $1,500 restaurant spend this quarter, all future restaurant spend only earns 1% cash back this quarter. I don’t want to do that, since I would rather put the extra restaurant spend on my Chase Sapphire Reserve Credit Card and earn 3x Chase Ultimate Rewards Points per dollar at restaurants. Some people value Chase Ultimate Rewards Points at more than 1.5 cents per point, but I tend to redeem them for airfare at 1.5 cents per point, so 3x Chase Ultimate Rewards = 4.5% cash back vs. Discover It’s 5% cash back (plus, I tend to redeem my Discover cash back for discounted gift cards through the Discover Deals portal). Anyway, let’s get back on track and talk about calculating Q3 restaurant spend on the Discover It Credit Card.

After logging into your Discover online account, click the Activity & Payments drop down menu and click the Search Transactions link.

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Southwest Airlines to Hawaii…….YES Please!

Aloha! Ready for that cup of Kona coffee, or that authentic poke bowl? All year long whenever I’ve flown Southwest Airlines, I always ask the SWA employees if they’ve heard anything new about when Southwest will be flying to Hawaii. They’ve never given me any insider information, so we laugh when I tell them it’s likely the day after my SWA Companion Pass expires Southwest will commence flights to Hawaii!

Yesterday we got some news.

Southwest held a meeting in Honolulu and revealed approximate dates Southwest flights will go on sale and start flying to Hawaii. SWA also announced that their two free checked bags and free flight change policies will remain intact for flights to Hawaii. Executive Vice President and Chief Revenue Officer Andy Watterson told the press that the announcement of flights will come by October at the latest, and service would “begin possibly just weeks thereafter.”

Destinations

Southwest will serve the following Hawaiian destinations:

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The Fastest Way from San Francisco to the SFO Centurion Lounge

Disclosure: I have TSA PreCheck, a Clipper Card, and travel with carry-on bags.  If you do not have TSA PreCheck, your security screening will take longer.  If you do not have a Clipper Card, you will need to buy a one-way BART ticket prior to riding BART.  If you need to check your bags, you will need to drop off your bags before going through security.  With that said, here is how to get to the SFO Centurion Lounge like a pro.

Good morning everyone, happy Friday. I fly out of SFO often and try to swing by the SFO Centurion Lounge as often as I can – even if it is just for a few minutes to grab a bite to eat before heading to my gate.  I will show you how to get from San Francisco to the SFO Centurion Lounge like a pro.  Since I work in San Francisco, I usually take BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) to SFO.  I jump on the yellow line headed to SFO and I can get there in under 40 minutes (make sure you are on the train that says SFO / San Francisco Airport).

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Image source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:BARTMapDay.svg

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Keep, Cancel or Convert? Old Chase IHG Rewards Select & Hyatt Credit Cards

Good morning everyone.  A few readers have asked me if they should keep their old Chase IHG Rewards Select Credit Card ($49 annual fee) and old Chase Hyatt Credit Card ($75 annual fee) in exchange for the annual free night certificate.  As a reminder, the free night certificates are not really free, since you pay the annual fee before getting the free night certificate – they are more like prepaid free night certificates with a strict expiration date.  Both of these credit cards are no longer available to new applicants, so if you do not have these credit cards right now, there is no way for you to get them now.  That also means that if you ever cancel or upgrade to the new Chase IHG Rewards Premier Credit Card or the new Chase World of Hyatt Credit Card, you will never be able to get the old Chase IHG Rewards Select Credit Card and old Chase Hyatt Credit Card again.

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