Tag Archives: Chase Bank

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How Right (& Wrong) were my 2024 Airline, Hotel & Credit Card Predictions?

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Good morning everyone, happy Friday!  I know it is a few days before the end of the year, so technically, all of these predictions could come true, but I am going to call it now.  At the beginning of the year, I wrote My Overly Ambitious 2024 Airline, Hotel & Credit Card Predictions.  The original predictions are in black, correct predictions are in green, and incorrect predictions are in red.  Without further ado, here are the results of my predictions for 2024:

My 2024 Airline Predictions

  • Alaska Airlines or Southwest Airlines will introduce a “family pooling” benefit for miles or travel credit. – Technically, Alaska Airlines doesn’t allow “family pooling”, but it is possible (right now) to move miles into a single account.  If someone in your family has a Barclays Hawaiian Airlines Credit Card, you can transfer Hawaiian Airlines Miles between accounts for free and move those miles to and from your Alaska Airlines account for free.  Read this post for step by step instructions.
  • American Airlines will allow Web Special awards to be changed online (currently, they can only be cancelled). – Nope, you cannot make changes to American Airlines Web Special awards.
  • British Airways will add another airline (besides Finnair) to the Avios family. – Nope, Qatar and Finnair were the most recent additions to the Avios family.
  • Delta will change their 15% SkyMiles discount for Delta credit cards holders. – Nope, the 15% discount for credit card holders hasn’t changed.
  • United will allow you to combine multiple travel bank funds and future flight credits for the same reservation. – Nope, it is not possible to combine travel bank funds and future flight credits for a single United Airlines reservation.

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I Paid $5,341 in Credit Card Annual Fees in 2024 – Was it Worth it?

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Good afternoon everyone, I hope your holiday season is going well.  With the end of the year right around the corner, I decided to publish my 2024 version of credit card annual fees I paid this year.  For comparison, here are my previous credit card annual fee posts:

For this year’s post, I decided to break up the list of credit cards into 5 sections:

  • Credit cards with sign up bonuses
  • Credit cards with retention offers
  • Credit cards with product changes
  • Credit cards that were closed this year
  • All other credit cards

For simplicity, I did not include the value of miles or points earned from credit card spend, but I did include the value of miles and points earned from sign up bonuses, referral bonuses, anniversary points, discounted points, and rebated points.  I counted all credits, reimbursements, and retention offers at face value.  I list the value of all tangible and intangible benefits below too.

I went through all of my credit card statements and online accounts to see which Credit Card Benefits I used in 2024 and those values are in the CCB $ column. If I received a retention offer, that is listed in the RO $ column. I listed the credit card annual fees in the AF $ column. Lastly, I used this formula to calculate the Profit or Loss (P/L column) for each credit card: CCB $ + RO $ – AF $ = P/L.  Laura’s card are included as well. Continue reading →

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Chase 5/24 Rule Is Overrated: 6 Credit Cards & Bonuses I Scored After I Stopped Worrying

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Good morning everyone, I hope your weekend is off to a great start.  Every time a new credit card is announced or the sign up bonus increases to an all-time high, bloggers and readers debate endlessly about whether the card is “worthy of a Chase 5/24 slot.”  Back in the day (before the Chase 5/24 Rule existed), I think Chase had the best credit cards and the best sign up bonuses, but those days are long gone.  Many credit cards from American Express, Bank of America, Barclays, Capital One, Citi, US Bank, and Wells Fargo have bigger sign up bonuses and more transferable points than similar Chase credit cards. I like to think of myself as a free agent when it comes to credit cards, miles, and points, so I Chase chase the credit card sign up bonus, regardless of the credit card issuer.

I currently have 8 Chase credit cards, and based on my Chase 5/24 score, I won’t be able to pick up any new Chase credit cards for more than a 12-18 months.  The last Chase credit card I applied for was the Chase Ink Cash Credit Card and I was happy to pick up 90,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards Points.  Here is my current Chase credit card roster:

Grant’s Chase Credit Cards Opened Notes
Chase Freedom Flex 1 11/1/2013 Opened Chase Freedom (2013), converted to Chase Sapphire Reserve (2017), & converted to Chase Freedom Flex (2021).
Chase IHG Rewards Select 11/18/2013
JPMorgan Chase Ritz Carlton 12/15/2014 Opened JPMorgan Chase Ritz Carlton (2014), converted to Chase Marriott Premier Plus (2017), & converted to JPMorgan Chase Ritz Carlton (2019).
Chase Ink Plus 3/21/2016
Chase IHG Rewards Premier 7/25/2018
Chase Freedom Flex 2 7/13/2021 Opened Chase Sapphire Preferred (2021) & converted to Chase Freedom Flex (2023).
Chase IHG Rewards Business 6/17/2022
Chase Ink Cash 10/13/2023

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Track IHG Nightly Award Rates & Rebook When Prices Drop (My Recent NYC Example)

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Good morning everyone, I hope your week is going well.  Last week (Thanksgiving Week), Laura and I spent 4 days in New York City.  We stayed at the conveniently located Crowne Plaza Times Square IHG Hotel which is close to Times Square, the Theater District, the Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood, and several subway stations (which you can take to JFK via Jamaica Station and the AirTrain).  We stayed at this hotel last March during Laura’s Spring Break, so we knew the area well.

I used 2 IHG Free Night Certificates from my Chase IHG Business Credit Card and the Chase IHG Select Credit Card (no longer available) along with IHG Points.  Nightly award prices vary dramatically (see the nightly prices for award stays in December 2024), but I closely tracked the nightly prices over a few months and rebooked my stays a few times whenever the award price dropped.  Whenever I book a hotel stay of more than 1 night, I always book my stays in 1 night increments since it is much easier to cancel and rebook 1 night at a time.  At check in, the front desk agent linked the stays together and kept us in the same room for the duration of the stay.  You could also call, email, or text the hotel ahead of time to let them know about the multiple back to back stays.

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Around the World in 24 Days: Day One

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Buenos días everyone, I started my journey to become a SAS EuroBonus Millionaire on Sunday night. Here’s a rundown of the first 24 hours.

a map of the first half of Tonei's route plan, with DCA-JFK-LHR highlighted in red

Flight 1: American Eagle 4781 DCA-JFK (Embraer 175)

I started my trip Sunday night with a short hop up to New York on American Eagle, booked with 4,500 Alaska Airlines miles + $19. I took Metro to the airport, and the Clear line saved me a good amount of time at security (one of the only times that’s been the case).  Before the flight, I used my Citi AAdvantage Executive Credit Card one last time to visit the Admirals Club at DCA.  My account finally got hit with the annual fee increase instituted by Citi last year, and I decided it wasn’t worth $550 a year to me, so I called to cancel while I was still in the lounge.

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