Tag Archives: American Express

March App-O-Rama Thoughts: Hawaiian Airlines (35,000 Miles), Discover It ($150 Cash Back), Barclays Arrival ($440 Cash Back), Chase Ink Bold Visa (50,000 UR Points), Citi AA Executive (100,000 Miles), and US Bank Olympics Flex Points ($400+ Travel Credit)

Which Credit Card

March App-O-Rama Thoughts: Hawaiian Airlines (35,000 Miles), Discover It ($150 Cash Back), Barclays Arrival ($440 Cash Back), Chase Ink Bold Visa (50,000 UR Points), Citi AA Executive (100,000 Miles), and US Bank Olympics Flex Points ($400+ Travel Credit)

Wow, what a title.  I expect my Google Search traffic to go through the roof now.  Anyways, my last app-o-rama was in early November (post), how I upgraded an AMEX Hilton HHonors to an AMEX Hilton HHonors Surpass (post), and my surprise approval of an AMEX Mercedes Benz Platinum card (post).  If you want to see which 19 cards I currently have open, check out this list.

Since I typically wait at least 3 months between App-O-Ramas, I am starting to plan for my next round of credit card applications.  Here is what is on my mind:

1 – Barclays Hawaiian Airlines Credit Card – 35,000 Hawaiian Airlines miles after spending $1,000 in 3 months

I’m not sure if this is a coincidence or if they were reading my mind, but I literally got this email 2 hours ago.  Unfortunately (for me), this card is no longer issued by Bank of America.  Barclays is now the credit card issuer.  Barclays has never approved me for a card, so I have approximately a 1% chance of be approved.

Hawaiian Airlines Credit Card Offer Barclays Hawaiian Airlines Card

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Amazon Affiliate and Credit Card Affiliate Update

Amazon Logo

Amazon Affiliate and Credit Card Affiliate Update

Good morning everyone, hopefully you get a chance to look at my massive trip report from Amsterdam, Berlin, Vienna, and Rome that I posted a few minutes ago.  I will wait until you finish reading that and oohing-aahing at the pics.

Anyways, I just wanted to update all my blog readers really quickly.

In early December, I was approved as an Amazon affiliate (congrats to me!) and inserted the following link/image to the right side of my blog.  If you are reading this on a mobile device, the link/image will probably be toward the bottom of this page.

Amazon Affiliate

I have been a long time Amazon Prime member and can’t imagine paying for shipping ever again.  If you regularly shop on Amazon, please consider clicking on the link/image before heading to Amazon.  I receive a small percentage of the sale amount.  I much prefer to support Amazon rather than have ugly/distracting ads on my blog.  I love simplicity and hate ads, as simple as that.

Some helpful Amazon-related posts:

Also, regarding credit card affiliate links.  I admit that Travel with Grant is a teeny tiny blog and does not have access to most of the best current credit card sign up bonuses.  If you take a look at my credit card tab, I have a direct link to the FlyerTalk master thread with all of the current, best, up-to-date credit card links.  If you are looking for some obscure Barclays or Discover credit cards, I should have direct links to those.  Lastly, I have a few credit cards from Chase and American Express that I am able to refer people to.  Just post a comment on that page with the credit card offer you would like and I can send you an email with the referral link.  Please check your inbox/spam for that email.

As always, if you need more personalized recommendations for a new credit card application or app-o-rama, please fill out my credit card questionnaire and I will give you my personal one-on-one attention.

If you have any questions, please leave a comment below.

Virgin Atlantic Transfers to Hilton HHonors Ratio Changing from 1:2 to 2:3, use AMEX Membership Reward Points to Liquidate Balance

UPDATE 3/1/14 @ 5:30PM PST: my transfer from Virgin Atlantic to Hilton HHonors took 22 days to complete (see photo below).

HH Honors

Virgin Atlantic Transfers to Hilton HHonors Ratio Changing from 1:2 to 2:3, use AMEX Membership Reward Points to Liquidate Balance

(Hat Tip to Mommy Points for breaking the story)

Good morning from Rome! That title is a mouthful, I know, but here is the breaking news of the morning:

  • Please note from 6 February 2014 the exchange miles to points rate is changing. Flying Club members will be able to exchange miles at the following rate: 2 Flying Club miles for 3 Hilton HHonors points.
  • You can currently exchange miles at a rate of (up until 5 February 2014): 1 Flying Club mile for 2 HHonors point.
  • Minimum Level: 10,000 miles and then in increments of 5,000. Just call the Flying Club Helpline (1-800-365-9500) with your HHonors account number.

Now that the cat (news) is out of the bag, it pays to be proactive. I have a small balance of Virgin Atlantic miles (only 11,260).  I want to get my balance up to 15,000 so I can transfer them out to my Hilton HHonors account.

Virgin Atlantic Balances

Here is my Virgin Atlantic account.  Copy your account number and head over to your American Express Membership Rewards Account.  I’m skipping a lot of steps below, but you can see the entire step-by-step guide here.  The guide shows you how to transfer to British Airways, but the process is exactly the same.   Continue reading →

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PSA: Don’t use your Priority Pass Select Card from your American Express Hilton HHonors Surpass Credit Card

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This parent teacher association transportation security administration public service announcement is important if you have one or more Priority Pass Select cards.  Can you tell the difference between these two cards?

2 Priority Pass Cards

These cards may look almost the same, but one of them will charge you a $27 fee every time you (yes, the cardholder) enter a Priority Pass lounge.  Here is the email I received a few minutes ago.  If you do not get emails from American Express about “card not present” transactions, you can turn on the alerts from your American Express account.

AMEX Card Not Present Email

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What’s on my Mind? Bluebird and Walmart, Credit Card Sign Up / Spending Bonuses, Mercedes Benz Key Rings, Panda Express, Panera Bread, AMEX Statement Credits, BA Avios, and the Grand Canyon

2014 New Years

What’s on my Mind? Bluebird and Walmart, Credit Card Sign Up / Spending Bonuses, Mercedes Benz Key Rings, Panda Express, Panera Bread, AMEX Statement Credits, BA Avios, and the Grand Canyon

Instead of posting several small blog posts, I decided to post everything here in 1 giant post.

1 – Which gift cards work at Walmart to reload a Bluebird Card?

Thank you to everyone who commented on my last post and shared their recent successes and failures of loading gift cards to Bluebird.  I compiled the results below. From looking at the list, it looks like every Visa gift card that you guys tried worked, so I am going to switch from buying $200 MasterCard gift cards issued by US Bank to buying $200 Visa gift cards issued by Metabank (Gift Card Mall).

WM BB Successes

I went to Walmart today (January 6) and loaded 2 $200 and a $500 Visa gift card successfully.
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