Tag Archives: Cash Back

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Buyer Beware! Klook Travel OTA Offers Misleading Saver / Basic Economy Flights

Good afternoon everyone, I hope your weekend is going well.  A few weeks ago, I read Frequent Miler’s article: Klook lets you book flights, car rentals, trains & more (stack with Amex Offer) and thought it would be a good way to get a discount on an upcoming flight.  Nope! Klook turned out to be a nightmare, and I wanted to write this post to warn others and prevent them from experiencing the same issues I faced.

Long story short, there is a Klook AMEX Offer for $80 off $400 and you could stack that with a Klook promo code to take an additional 10% off your flight.  Unfortunately, Klook sells Saver / Basic Economy flights and there is no notification anywhere on their site or through the booking process that says the flight you are booking is a Saver / Basic Economy flight.  Cancelling a flight booked on Klook is also a frustrating experience.

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My Journey to Redeem Orphaned Caesars Reward Credits with Caesars Racebook App

Good afternoon everyone, I hope you had a great weekend and are excited for Halloween later this week.  For better or worse, I am the kind of person that hates to let airline miles, hotel points, free night certificates, and companion fares expire.  I can now add casino rewards to that list.

Over the last month, I have tried to figure out the “most efficient way” to redeem my 1,816 Caesars Reward Credits (worth ~$18) without going to Las Vegas.  Laura and I were in Las Vegas for Memorial Day Weekend to complete a few casino status matches and watch 2 Cirque Du Soleil shows.  For that trip, I transferred 60,000 Wyndham Rewards Points into 60,000 Caesars Reward Credits and redeemed 58,678 points to cover the $586.78 room charge (read this post).  The remaining 1,816 Caesars Reward Credits were set to expire 6 months later on December 2, 2024.

In this post, I will share the journey I went on to redeem or extend these 1,816 orphaned Caesars Reward Credits along with some helpful tips for anyone in the same situation.

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YTD How I Earned & Redeemed My Citi ThankYou Points

Good afternoon everyone, I hope you had a great weekend.  I thought it would be interesting to share how I earn and redeem my Citi ThankYou Points (TYPs), in case any readers were interested in my strategy.  From January 2024 through October 2024, I earned 44,150 TYPs from my Citi credit cards – here is the breakdown:

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500 Email Newsletter Subscribers Celebration! 5 x $10 Amazon Gift Card Giveaway [Winners Selected]

Updated at 7:45am PT on 8/19/24: Thank you to everyone who entered the giveaway.  Here are the 5 winners who will each receive a $10 Amazon Gift Card sent to them via email:

  • Rob Tomanek: Enjoy reading the “too good” helpful hints to maximize travel. Thanks. (blog post)
  • t: My Underwhelming Experience with MaxMyPoint, Awayz & StayWithPoints Hotel Award Alerts (blog post)
  • Bill G.: Not really sure I would remember all the posts to pick a favorite. But I do enjoy the no-hype factual stuff, be they reviews or news about a promo. I do scan most of the posts but I read a lot of different blogs and definitely appreciate the factual style (your friendly conversation style is good too.) (blog post)
  • Heath: I enjoyed your trip summary about your trip to Europe with Laura. (blog post)
  • Andrew SHANSBY: I like to read about maxmy point and retention bonuses, keep up great work! (blog post)

Good afternoon everyone, happy Friday!  2 months ago, I wrote Calling All Readers, Help Me Reach 500 Email Newsletter Subscribers!  At the time of that post, I had 476 subscribers and I was slowly inching my way toward the 500 subscriber mark.  I just checked my stats and I am at 504 total subscribers – thank you to all my subscribers!

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My United Airlines Account & MileagePlus X App were Hacked, My Journey to Restore Access

Good afternoon everyone.  A few weeks ago, Laura and I were driving to Lake Tahoe for vacation.  During the drive, I started getting emails from the MileagePlus X app (the app where you can earn United Airlines miles for buying gift cards).  The first confirmation email came in at 12:48pm for a $10 Apple eGC.  Then over the next 5 minutes, I received 4 more confirmation emails for $500 Saks Fifth Avenue eGCs.  Uhh oh, this was bad.  Then I got an email from United Airlines that said:

Your MileagePlus account information has been updated – We wanted to let you know your MileagePlus account information has changed. For your security, we can’t specify exactly what was updated, but it may include your address, phone number, password or other details.

Oh boy, now the hacker had signed into my United Airlines account and changed my email or password.  We exited the freeway and stopped at a gas station.  We changed seats so Laura could drive the car and I could call United Airlines about my hacked account and US Bank to report the credit card fraud.  This was the start of my journey to restore access to my accounts.

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