Tag Archives: American Express Membership Rewards Points

a hammock on a beach

Find the Perfect Routing for your Next Award Flight

Posted on by . 4 Replies

Do you have all the time in the world to keep track of all the airlines, the alliances, which airlines are adding flights and routes, and which routes are being canceled? I certainly don’t. I was reminded of this a few weeks ago when United announced its new non-stops to Europe for Summer 2018. Sure, these are seasonal routes, but still, for those of us who work hard accumulating miles and points, this is exactly the kind of knowledge we need to book those award tickets, and book them early. Knowing when award charts open, and seasonal route award seats are bookable, is just not something I’m good about keeping track of. In addition to United’s new Summer routes, United also started daily service between LAX and Singapore and between New York and Buenos Aires. See what I mean? That’s a lot of news to follow. And that’s just United.

a map of the earth with lights Continue reading →

green text on a white background

American Express May Temporarily Suspend Credit Card Earning & Redeeming Ability (Effective November 1)

Posted on by . 7 Replies

Update: For more discussion about this change, check out this Doctor of Credit post and this Reddit thread.

Good morning everyone.  I was reviewing my American Express credit card statements last night and I noticed an update to the program terms printed on my American Express Everyday Credit Card statement.  Effective November 1, American Express has the ability to temporarily suspend your ability to earn and redeem American Express Membership Reward Points if they suspect that you are abusing, misusing, or gaming their rewards program.   Further down on the program terms update, American Express also lists possible actions they may take to your credit cards:

  • Take away any points in your program account
  • Temporarily suspend your ability to redeem points
  • Temporarily suspend your ability to earn points
  • Cancel your program account
  • Cancel any of your American Express Cards

I am not sure if this is much different than getting an American Express Financial Review, but it sounds serious.  Who knows how American Express will enforce these new program terms, but here is the complete program terms update for you to read:

a screenshot of a credit card

Continue reading →

a silver credit card with a picture of a man

I Love My New Shiny Metal American Express Business Platinum Charge Card

Posted on by . 10 Replies

Good morning everyone, happy Friday!  Last week, Doctor of Credit wrote a post stating that you could now request a metal card for your American Express Business Platinum Charge Card.  I jumped at the opportunity to request the new card (I love metal cards like my JPMorgan Chase Ritz Carlton and Chase Sapphire Reserve).  Ordering a metal card was quick and easy online, so I will show you the process.  I also have images of the old plastic card vs the new metal card at the bottom of this post.  You can request metal cards for both the Business Platinum cards and Personal Platinum cards.  With that said, sign into your American Express Business Platinum Charge Card online account and click the Account Services tab (btw, it looks pretty ugly that American Express cannot fit the entire name of the tab in the tab).

a screenshot of a login page

Continue reading →

a blue and yellow logo

Singapore Airlines Partner Award Chart for Alaska Airlines Flights (Sweet Spots to Hawaii, Canada & Mexico)

Posted on by . 10 Replies

Buenos dias everyone. As first reported by Scott at Travel Codex, Singapore Airlines’s Krisflyer loyalty program has released a partner award chart for flights on Alaska Airlines. It seems confusing at first, but once you understand the full picture, it makes more sense.

a table with numbers and symbols

Alaska’s route map is split into five zones:

  • Zone 1: West Coast
  • Zone 2: Mountain West and Canada
  • Zone 3: Midwest
  • Zone 4: East Coast, Southeast, Cuba, Costa Rica, and Mexico
  • Zone 5: Alaska and Hawaii

a screenshot of a computer Continue reading →

a blue sky with clouds and black text

Trip Report: ANA 787 Business Class MEX-NRT

Posted on by . 1 Reply

a plane parked on the tarmac

I had a work trip to Hong Kong in June, and I asked the people booking my ticket to put me on the new ANA nonstop from Mexico City to Tokyo-Narita. This flight launched earlier this year with ANA’s 787 Dreamliner, and is one of the only options to get to Asia from Mexico City without transiting the US (which requires early departures and long layovers). Luckily, the ticket got booked into a fare class that’s eligible for mileage upgrades, so I was able to use 28,000 ANA miles (transferred from Membership Rewards) to upgrade from Economy to Business.

I flew the reverse in economy in May coming back from Tokyo, so I was excited to see what business class would be like on this flight. The flight departs Mexico City at 2:20AM and arrives in Tokyo around 6:30AM the next day.

At the MEX Airport

I wasn’t able to print a boarding pass online for this flight. I arrived at MEX just before the cutoff time for checked bags, so there was no line at the ticket counter (but even if there had been, there was a separate checkin line for Business Class and Star Alliance Gold customers). Checkin was fast and efficient, and I was on my way to security in just a couple of minutes.

Since both of the Star Alliance lounges at MEX (Avianca and United) were closed at this hour, my boarding pass indicated that I could access the Grand Lounge Elite, a 24-hour Priority Pass lounge. The lounge was so far away from the gate though that by the time I went through security and had my immigration paperwork processed, it wasn’t worth trekking down to the lounge before the flight started boarding. I bought a big bottle of water (since there’s nowhere to fill a reusable bottle with drinkable water) and waited for boarding to start. Continue reading →