Good morning everyone, this is just a friendly reminder for all readers in the Orange County area. Please join me and many others like me for dinner at In-N-Out as we discuss miles and points. All levels of expertise are welcome, from beginners to experts.
Updated at 9:30am PST on 1/31/2015: the winners of the contest have been chosen. Scroll to the bottom of this post to see who won.
This is an idea that came to me a few weeks ago, but I never gave it much thought until writing my recent tell-all MS posts (Part 1: My Manufactured Spend and Redbird Loading Strategy and Part 2: My Manufactured Spend Strategy with PayPal, Chime, Meetups, Reselling, and More!). If you assumed the miles, points, or cash back posted right away (rather than when the statement closed), could you MS during the week to pay for a weekend trip?
To make things more realistic, let’s ignore credit card sign up bonuses and only focus on using the credit cards and prepaid cards you currently have today. Timing is everything, so let’s assume today is the first of the month and all your monthly MS limits have been reset (Bluebird, Serve, Redbird, PayPal, etc.). Your net out of pocket expenses should be $100 or less.
Let me start off by saying that British Airways Avios are awesome. If you fly short, non-stop flights, British Airways Avios cannot be beat. I’ve written a few posts about British Airways Avios in the past:
With that said, I have been asked a few times about the current 40% Transfer Bonus to British Airways from American Express Membership Rewards that is ending on January 31. To me, this is probably the best Membership Reward transfer bonus I have seen in the last 2 years.
Good morning everyone, here is part 1 of my Random News (part 2 will be out shortly with lots of news on credit card rewards, statement credits, retention bonuses, etc.). For now, here are 6 new AMEX offers that came out yesterday:
Updated 3:45pm PST on 1/4/15: The giveaway is over. Thank you so much for all your comments, I really appreciate everyone’s participation. I am now in the process of emailing winners for their mailing addresses.
Before I get to the contest, I just want to say thank you to everyone who has read and contributed to Travel with Grant throughout 2014. Your emails and comments keep me going day in and day out. Without readers like you, there would be no point in writing. I also really appreciate everyone who has used my Amazon and Ebay affiliate links over the last few months, every purchase counts, no matter how big or small. Lastly, I want to thank those of you who used my referral links to sign up for Chime, Award Wallet, Uber, and many other services. Thank you everyone and here’s to an amazing 2015!
With that said, let’s get to the contest! It’s not quite Spring yet, but I am doing some Spring Cleaning. I have a few amenity kits from friends and various travel conferences to give away o a few lucky readers.
The Rules
To enter the contest, please tell me what you are most looking forward to in 2015. Whether it is a dream trip booked with miles and points, closing in on retirement, a new baby, etc. If you have a preference for a particular amenity kit, please mention that as well. There are 6 amenity kits and there will be 6 winners. The contest is open from now through 12PM PST on Sunday, January 4. After the contest is over, I will email the winners and ask for their mailing addresses. I will send these out via USPS First Class Mail first thing on Monday morning.
The Prizes
Here are the 6 amenity kits up for grabs:
