Tag Archives: British Airways

Amtrak Coast Starlight Trip – Part 2: Transferring Points and Booking Trains

Please read part 1 of my Amtrak Coast Starlight Trip (link) before reading this post.

To make this trip happen, I used 7,500 British Airways Avios to fly Alaska Airlines from Orange County, CA (SNA) to Seattle, WA (SEA) and 25,000 Amtrak Points for a 2 person bedroom on the Coast Starlight Amtrak train from Seattle to Irvine. This was accomplished by using Chase Ultimate Reward Points and their instant 1:1 transfer partners (the chart is slightly out of date since it is missing Singapore Airlines). To learn more about the Chase Ultimate Rewards program, click here.

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Is the Chase Sapphire Preferred Credit Card Worth the $95 Annual Fee?

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Is the Chase Sapphire Preferred Credit Card Worth the $95 Annual Fee?

Thank you Amanda for asking me why the Chase Sapphire Preferred credit card was not used on my recent trip to Cabo. Great question Amanda, let me explain why…

There is no doubt that the Chase Sapphire Preferred is a great credit card. Double points on travel and dining purchases is awesome. Transferable points to many of the best airline and hotel loyalty programs is awesome. No foreign transactions fees and no annual fee (for the first year) is awesome. I think that if you could only have 1 Chase credit card, most people would say the Chase Sapphire Preferred is the best card (we will assume you are not a business owner). I totally agree 100%. But what about the second year and the third year and the fourth year when you have to pay the $95 annual fee. Is it still worth it?

Yes and no. Continue reading →

Random News: Ads Coming to TWG, Free Paper from Staples, Expiring Hotels.com Credits, Chase Marriott Retention Offer Letter, Uber Airport Rides, British Airways Avios Award Cancellations, and New AMEX Offers

Good evening everyone, let’s get to today’s random news…

First off, as I slowly transition under the Prior2Boarding / BoardingArea umbrella, you will probably notice some changes, like the Prior2Boarding banner showing up at the top of my blog. I will remain self-hosted, so all my page URLs will stay the same.

I have some bad news for those of you who hate ads (probably all of you). I have partnered with BoardingArea to show their ads on my blog. You will see them in the coming days on the right hand side of my blog and toward the bottom of the blog. If you use an ad blocking software/plugin, I won’t be mad. I actually use Chrome’s Adblock Plus myself. If the ads are really annoying, distracting, or obstructing content, please let me know ASAP and I will fix them. Thank you for understanding.

Now to the good stuff…

Like clockwork, Staples has another ream of paper that is free after rebate and coupon. These reams go for about $2 at garage sales, so stock up!

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Trip Booking Report: First and Business Class SNA-DFW-MAD-AGP with AA Miles on American Airlines and Iberia

This is my second installment of my Trip Booking Report series, where I show you how to find and book award flights. My first booking was Trip Booking Report: LAX-DUS-BCN with AA Miles and MAD-MUC-LAX with UA Miles.

In this installment, I will *represent* how I booked 2 business class flights for my parents from Orange County (SNA) to Malaga, Spain (AGP) with American Airlines miles (dates and times have been changed to protect ~~the innocent~~ my parents). Looking at AA’s award calendar for March shows plenty of business class seats from Orange County to Madrid.

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My Favorite Credit Cards for Manufactured Spend

First off, I am not saying that these are the *best* credit cards for manufactured spend, these are just *my* favorite credit cards to use. With that said, your travel patterns and preferences might be different than mine, so you might have different credit cards you like to use. I guess I should also state what manufactured spend means to me:

Using your credit card for the sole purpose of earning miles, points, or cash back
Converting whatever you purchased back into “cash”
The amount of “cash” lost during the transactions should exceed the “value” of the miles, points, or cash back you received from using the credit card

Without further ado, here are my favorite credit cards… Continue reading →