Tag Archives: Cash Back

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First Class Flights Cheaper than Economy with AMEX Business Platinum 35% Membership Rewards Points Rebate

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Good morning everyone, happy Friday!  A few weeks ago, I was looking at flights from San Francisco (SFO) to Orange County (SNA).  I found this 7:15pm Alaska Airlines flight that was $155 for Saver (Basic) Economy and $209 for First Class.  The flight is only 1.5 hours long and normally I do not fly First Class, but I remembered that the American Express Business Platinum Charge Card offers a 35% rebate when paying with American Express Membership Rewards Points on First Class flights.  Based on my calculations ($209 x 65% = $135.85), the First Class flight should be cheaper than the economy flight after the 35% rebate.  In this post, I will show you the steps to book the First Class flight using American Express Membership Rewards Points.

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Ebates Credit Card Rebranded to Rakuten Cash Back Visa Credit Card

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Good afternoon everyone.  I just got an email from Ebates / Rakuten regarding the Ebates Cash Back Visa Credit Card.  Starting in early July, the Ebates Cash Back Visa Credit Card is going to be rebranded to the Rakuten Cash Back Visa Credit Card.  The email also shows the first look at the new credit card.  I like the pretty colors on the credit card that match the new Rakuten logo.

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American Express Sends Out Checks for “Technical Error” Regarding Annual Fee Refund

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Updated at 7:30am PT on 2/10/24: This post was written in 2019 when American Express sent out checks with the help of Epiq Class Action & Claims Solutions.  If you receive a check like this in 2023 or 2024, the check may not be legitimate.  Please scroll down to the comments section for more information.  Thank you.

Good morning everyone, sorry for the lack of posts lately, I was on vacation in Tahiti and Moorea for 10 days for my pre-honeymoon and didn’t have time to write any posts.  I have several posts in the pipeline, so I will work on getting those published over the next 2 weeks.  Anyway, this morning, Doctor of Credit wrote Numerous American Express Bonus Adjustments Posting Now for Referrals and More.

Yesterday, when I picked up my held mail from the Post Office, I received a letter and check from American Express regarding a “technical error” that caused an annual fee to be charged but not refunded when I closed an American Express credit card.  I have several open and closed American Express credit cards so it wasn’t obvious which credit card this was related to.  Luckily, the letter says account ending in 01009 and I was able to look up that credit card number in my credit card spreadsheet.  I keep all open and closed credit card details in the spreadsheet, so I was able to find out that it was my closed American Express SPG Business Credit Card.

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My Oversold Delta Flight: $700 AMEX Gift Card, Hotel Voucher & Morning Flight

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Good morning everyone.  Last week, I was flying back from Salt Lake City (SLC) to Oakland (OAK) on Delta.  The flight was oversold, so the gate agent was looking for a few volunteers to take a later flight (depart SLC at 10:30pm, land in OAK at 11:30pm) in exchange for a $700 gift card.  Since I didn’t need to get back to OAK right away, I asked the gate agent if I could take a morning flight into OAK (depart SLC at 8:30am, land in OAK at 9:30am – I would then take BART into SF for work) and I also asked for a hotel voucher for the night.  The gate agent said that was possible, so he added me to the volunteer list, and I waited near the gate for all passengers to board.  After all passengers boarded the flight, the gate agent called me up, changed my flight to the new morning flight, printed out a hotel voucher, and showed me the list of gift cards that I was eligible to claim.  I didn’t take a photo of the laminated sheet on the counter, but I believe these were the same gift cards that were offered.  I decided to go with an American Express gift card since that was basically cash to me.

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Success! Airbnb WORKS with US Bank FlexPerks Real-Time Rewards (Special Circumstance?)

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Good morning everyone, I hope you had a great Memorial Day Weekend.  I had delicious clam chowder in Bodega Bay and then BBQ’d chicken and corn at home.  Last week, I got an email from Airbnb about paying for the second half of an upcoming Airbnb stay in Tahiti.  I don’t use Airbnb very often, but apparently you can split your Airbnb payments into 2 parts (pay half when you reserve your Airbnb and pay the other half a few weeks before you arrive at the Airbnb).  I had a stash of FlexPoints from my US Bank Altitude Reserve Credit Card and recently enrolled in Real-Time Rewards (for the 500 free FlexPoints).  I was hoping I could redeem my US Bank FlexPoints for 1.5 cents each with Real-Time Rewards to cover the Airbnb payment.  I clicked the Update Payment Details button at the bottom of the email and paid $804.69 with my US Bank Altitude Reserve Credit Card.

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