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The 7 Miles & Points Tools / Services that I Pay For

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Good afternoon everyone, happy Friday!  I love free stuff as much as the next person, but there are a few miles and points tools and services that are so incredibly useful, they’re definitely worth paying for. Keep in mind, this isn’t a complete list, so there may be other fantastic tools out there that I haven’t discovered or used yet.

AwardWallet Plus – $49.99 / year

I can’t imagine a world without AwardWallet.  They track all my credit card programs, airline programs, hotel programs, shopping portal balances, dining rewards, and much more.  I love that they constantly check my accounts, display the current balances, and display expiration dates for all my rewards.  The flight schedule change notifications (which sometimes come days / weeks / months before official airline notifications) and upcoming expiration alerts are well worth the cost to me.  If you are interested in trying it out, here is my AwardWallet referral link.

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My 2024 Travel Recap: Elite Statuses, Flights & Hotel Nights

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Good afternoon everyone, I hope your week is going well.  I thought it would be cool to share the hotel and airline elite statuses I earned (and matched to) in 2024 along with the number of flights I flew and the number of nights I stayed in hotels.  Fun fact: I might be the only travel blogger without Hyatt Globalist Elite Status (I actually don’t have any Hyatt status).  Read on to learn more interesting facts about my 2024 travel recap.

2024 Flights & Airline Elite Statuses

  • Alaska Airlines is the only airline status that I earned (and care about).  I took 14 flights and earned 13,658 elite miles.  I also earned 8,000 elite miles from spending $20,000 on my Bank of America Alaska Airlines Credit Card.  I am looking forward to earning Alaska Airlines MVP Elite Status in 2025 with several Companion Fare flights and awards booked with Alaska Airlines miles.
  • SFO is my nearest international airport, but I only flew United Airlines 3x last year.
  • Before the end of 2024, I status matched to Hawaiian Airlines Pualani Gold (allows better seat assignments on Hawaiian Airlines) and Southwest Airlines A List, but I don’t have any Southwest Airlines flights planned in 2025 since all my favorite routes were moved from SFO to OAK.
Loyalty Program Status Status from Credit Card Notes Flights
Alaska Airlines MVP – 13,658 Elite Miles from flying + 8,000 Elite Miles from credit card spend 14
Delta Airlines – – 3 trips: SFO-ATL-DAB, DAB-ATL-SFO, and MIA-JFK 5
United Airlines – – 3 trips: SFO-SNA, SNA-SFO, and SFO-DEN 3
Air France / KLM – – 1 Business Class Award: ARN-AMS-LAX 2
Avelo Airlines – – 2 trips: STS-BOI and BOI-STS 2
Finnair – – 2 trips: DUB-HEL and HEL-ARN 2
Aer Lingus – – 1 Business Class Award: DEN-DUB 1
JetBlue – – 1 trip: SFO-FLL 1
Hawaiian Airlines Pualani Gold – Status matched from Alaska Airlines MVP Elite Status (Dec 2024) 0
Southwest Airlines A List – Status matched from Alaska Airlines MVP Elite Status (Dec 2024) 0
Total Flights:  30

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My 2024 Peloton Bike Rental Year End Review (Total Cost of Ownership & Workout Class Stats)

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Good afternoon everyone, I hope your week is going well.  Last year, I wrote My 2023 Peloton Bike Rental Year End Review and it turned out to be my second most popular post of 2024, so I figured I would do a 2024 year end review as well.  I am not turning Travel with Grant into a fitness blog (Pedal with Grant), but I wanted to share my experience renting and using my Peloton bike in 2024.

In December 2022, I stumbled onto a Mashable article that mentioned renting the bike directly from Peloton and I was surprised by the affordable monthly price. As of January 2025, the Peloton bike rental program is still running, but you can only rent the Peloton Bike+ now – the original Peloton Bike is no longer available to rent (as of August 2024).

For starters, you can rent the Peloton Bike+ for $119 / month.  Your membership includes a set of Peloton cycling shoes (you can buy more pairs / sizes on eBay) and a Peloton All-Access Membership (to stream all the live and on-demand classes).  There is an initial $150 delivery and set up fee, but there is no long term commitment and you can end the rental anytime and have the bike picked up for free. I liked having the option to return the bike if we didn’t like it or use it enough to justify keeping it.  There is also an option to buy out the bike and finance the bike with Affirm.

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New American Express App Feature: Get Your AMEX Pass to Access 25 Venues + 10% Cash Back on Qualifying Concessions

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Good afternoon everyone.  I was clicking around the American Express app and stumbled on some new features that are being rolled out.  If you sign into the app and click the Account tab in the bottom right corner, then click Try New Features, you will see 3 new features: New Wallets & Merchants, Amex Inspire, and Amex Pass.  This post is dedicated to the AMEX Pass feature, but I cover the other 2 features at the bottom of the post.  The AMEX Pass creates a special QR code that you can use to access select AMEX venues (25 as of 1/8/25) and you can earn 10% cash back on qualifying concessions by using your enrolled card.  Here is the process to set up your AMEX Pass.

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3 Upcoming American Express Endings: Redeeming Membership Rewards Points at Newegg & Staples, ShopRunner Benefit & AMEX Auto Purchasing Program

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Good afternoon everyone, I hope you had a great weekend.  Yesterday, I was reviewing my recent American Express statements and saw a few upcoming changes that I wanted you to be aware of.  Thankfully, none of these changes are huge.  Without further ado, here are the 3 changes.

Bye bye AMEX MR Redemptions at Newegg.com and Staples.com

Effective March 31, 2025, Card Members will no longer be able to redeem Membership Rewards points on www.newegg.com and www.staples.com.

I have made several purchases at Newegg.com and Staples.com over the years, but have never used my AMEX MR Points to pay for my orders since I assumed it was a bad deal.  My assumption was correct!  On both websites, you can redeem 14,286 AMEX MR Points to offset $100, which is a terrible redemption at 0.7 CPP.  Good riddance to this redemption option!

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