Tag Archives: American Airlines

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August 2016: Which Annual Fees did I Pay & which Credit Cards did I Close?

Good morning everyone, I hope you all had a great weekend.   I quickly wanted to thank everyone who joined me at my Mountain View meetup yesterday – it was great speaking with you all and I will set up another Mountain View meetup soon.  Last August, I wrote July App-O-Rama Update: Several Reconsideration Calls Required to be Approved for 6 New Credit Cards.  In that post, I shared my successes and failures of applying for the following 7 credit cards:

July App-O-Rama Final List

I was eventually approved for the following 6 credit cards:

  • AMEX Everyday – 10,000 AMEX Membership Reward points
  • Citi American Airlines Business – 50,000 American Airlines miles
  • US Bank Cash+ – $100 cash back
  • Bank of America Alaska Airlines – 25,000 Alaska Airlines miles
  • Bank of America Spirit Airlines – 15,000 Spirit Airlines miles
  • Ebates Cash Back – $10 cash back

Of the above credit cards, 3 have annual fees that just posted recently:

  • Citi American Airlines Business – $95
  • Bank of America Alaska Airlines – $75
  • Bank of America Spirit Airlines – $59

I also have a US Bank Club Carlson Business Credit Card that just posted a $60 annual fee (originally opened in July 2014).  Of the 4 credit cards with annual fees, which ones are worth keeping and paying the annual fee?  Which credit cards did I decide to close?  Continue reading

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Poll Question: Meet Minimum Spend or Redeem Citi Thank You Points?

Good morning everyone, happy Fourth of July!  I have this really weird habit where I book a new trip while currently on a trip.  For example, I am currently in Orange County hanging out with my family this weekend, but I just made plans to visit Portland at the end of July with my brother.  I spent a few minutes searching on Google Flights and found the perfect flight: San Francisco (SFO) to Portland (PDX) on Alaska Airlines.  When I use the OnTheFly app (basically ITA Matrix in an app), I see that American Airlines has a codeshare flight for the SFO-PDX Alaska Airlines flight.  (I took a bunch of screenshots on my iPhone while I was in the car, so please excuse the lame images.)

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My June 2016 App-O-Rama Results: 155,000 Miles/Points and $650 AT&T Phone Credit

Good morning everyone, TGI Friday!  Earlier this week, I wrote My Upcoming App-O-Rama Credit Card Strategy – I need your Feedback!  I really appreciate all the great feedback you guys gave me and I did my best to incorporate that advice into my App-O-Rama strategy.  Last week, my “good” “friend” Julian (aka Devil’s Advocate) over at Travel Codex wrote this post: A New and Better Way To App-O-Rama.  In that post, he describes his “Elongated App-O-Rama” strategy where he applies for several cards over a period of days, instead of applying for several cards within minutes of each other (like any sane person would do).  Like any good friend, I listened to his advice and did exactly what he said I adamantly disagreed with his thought process and continued with my App-O-Rama strategy as before.

The one piece of advice that was super helpful to me was knowing which credit card company pulls from which credit bureau.  Luckily, my friend Emery has credit monitoring services from all 3 credit bureaus and he told me which credit bureau each credit card company pulled from.  Depending on your state, the information will differ, but since we are both in California, the data is reliable:

  • US Bank – TransUnion
  • Barclays – TransUnion
  • Citi – Experian
  • Bank of America – Experian
  • Comenity – ?

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Rainy Weekend Trip to Portland, Oregon using Citi Thank You Points, British Airways Avios & Club Carlson Points

Good morning everyone, happy Friday!  I am heading to Portland, Oregon tonight for a short weekend trip.  I wanted to go over Memorial Day Weekend, but I thought about the trip too late and the prices were too high and the award availability was not available.  Therefore, I am going this weekend.  I like to plan 2 holidays in advance, so right now, I recommend people start making plans for Labor Day Weekend in early September.  People are only thinking about Memorial Day Weekend and Fourth of July Weekend, so now is the time to start planning your Labor Day Weekend trip.

Anyway, a few months ago, I wrote about a Bad use of Alaska Airlines $99 Companion Ticket & Codeshare American Airlines / Alaska Airlines Booking with Citi Thank You Points.  In that post, I showed how I booked an Alaska Airlines flight, that was a codeshare with American Airlines, with my Citi Thank You Points for 1.6 cents per point toward the paid ticket.  15,012 Citi Thank You Points is worth $240.19, which is a pretty good price for 2 one way tickets from SFO to PDX.

Citi TYP Booking AA Codeshare AS SFO-PDX

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My Retention Offers for Citi Forward, Premier, Prestige & AA Platinum Credit Cards

Good morning everyone.  Yesterday, I called Citi to ask about a recent credit card transaction.  Toward the end of the call, the rep asked if I had any other questions and I said that I had just paid the annual fee on my Citi Prestige Credit Card, but that I was considering closing the credit card.  I told her that I use my Citi Premier Credit Card more often than my Citi Prestige Credit Card and I don’t take advantage of the 3 free rounds of golf or 4th night free hotel benefit, so I don’t get much value out of paying the *huge* annual fee.  She put me on hold for a minute and transferred me to the credit card retention team (actual department name may differ).

After talking to the rep for a few minutes, he offered me the following retention offers on my Citi Prestige Credit Card:

  • Spend $4,000 in 3 consecutive months and get a $200 statement credit
  • Spend $3,000 over the next 6 months and get 10,000 bonus Citi Thank You Points (TYPs)

The $200 statement credit sounded tempting, but spending $12,000 over the next 3 months seemed like overkill for a 1.67% bonus ($200 / $12,000 = 1.67%).  I decided to take the second offer which only required me to spend $3,000 over the next 6 months, or about $500/month.  Since I value Citi TYPs at 1.6 cents per point (CPP), I would be getting a $160 bonus after spending $3,000, which results in a 5.33% bonus ($160 / $3,000 = 5.33%).

Citi Prestige Small Logo

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