Tag Archives: Chase Bank

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Midyear Review: My 2024 Airline, Hotel & Credit Card Predictions

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Good morning everyone, happy Friday!  I recently watched a Frequent Miler On The Air Podcast episode on YouTube where Greg and Nick reviewed their 2024 predictions, so I figured it would be fun to review 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 my predictions for 2024:

My 2024 Airline Predictions

  • Alaska Airlines or Southwest Airlines will introduce a “family pooling” benefit for miles or travel credit. – Nope, but Southwest Airlines Wanna Get Away Plus fares do offer Transferable Flight Credit that can be used for other Rapid Rewards members.
  • American Airlines will allow Web Special awards to be changed online (currently, they can only be cancelled). – Nope, not yet, but I haven’t booked any AA Web Special awards recently.
  • British Airways will add another airline (besides Finnair) to the Avios family. – Nope, not yet, Qatar and Finnair were the most recent additions.
  • Delta will change their 15% SkyMiles discount for Delta credit cards holders. – Nope, not yet, I haven’t booked many Delta awards this year.
  • United will allow you to combine multiple travel bank funds and future flight credits for the same reservation. – Nope, not yet, I confirmed this a few days ago when I purchased a United Airlines flight.

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My Easy 2 Day & $100 Global Entry Renewal Process

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Good afternoon everyone, I hope your weekend is going well.  On Wednesday, April 24, I logged into my Global Entry account to saw that my Global Entry / TSA PreCheck membership was set to expire this year in November 2024.  Side note: Do you know when your Global Entry / TSA PreCheck membership expires?  Once your membership is within 12 months of expiring, you can begin the renewal process.  In this post, I will walk you through the Global Entry renewal process and show you how long it took (spoiler alert: my renewal was approved in 2 days).  To get started, sign into your Global Entry account and click the Renew Membership button.

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My 2 Favorite Restaurant & Food Apps for New York City: InKind & Too Good To Go

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Good afternoon everyone, I hope your week is going well.  2 weeks ago, I was in New York City with Laura for her Spring Break.  We had a great time seeing musicals, walking around Manhattan, and eating out at fancy restaurants.  During our time in NYC, we used 2 apps for restaurants and food that I wanted to share: InKind and Too Good To Go.  If you have never heard of InKind before, it is an app that you can use to pay at participating restaurants.  Several times throughout the year, InKind runs various promotions with Chase Offers, Citi Merchant Offers, and AMEX Offers that you can use to buy discounted InKind credits.  If you are new to InKind, you can use my referral link which will give you a $25 reward bonus after you spend $50 or more with InKind.

I’ve written about InKind many times, but I don’t think there is a city in the country with more InKind restaurants than New York City.  Just look at this map of participating InKind restaurants!  I’m not sure the total number, but I would guess somewhere in the 150-250 restaurant range, with multiple options in every area of the city.

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My IHG Hotel Strategy: Points, Free Night Certificates & Multiple Rebookings

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Good afternoon everyone.  Last week, Laura and I were in New York City for her Spring Break.  I had 2 IHG Free Night Certificates (40K capped FNC from my old Chase IHG Select Credit Card and a 40K uncapped FNC from my Chase IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card) that were expiring soon that I wanted to use.  We were staying for 4 nights, so I could have used the IHG 4th Night Free Benefit, but I wanted to use up those 2 IHG FNCs instead.  We decided to stay at the Crowne Plaza Times Square because the hotel is 1-2 blocks away from Times Square, surrounded by many musical theaters, very close to many subway lines (including the subway that goes from Manhattan to JFK (via the Jamaica Station), and walking distance to Central Park / Cruise Terminal / Rockefeller Center, etc.

I didn’t take screenshots during the booking process, but here is the booking strategy I used which I will explain below.  To get started, I searched for 4 nights to ensure that there was availability every night using points.  I clicked the Select Hotel button to view more details.

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How to Enroll US Bank Altitude Reserve & Business Altitude Connect Credit Cards in Free Priority Pass Membership

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Good afternoon everyone, I hope your week is going well.  Last week, we learned that the Chase Sapphire Reserve & JPMorgan Ritz Carlton Priority Pass memberships will lose restaurant access on July 1, 2024.  Luckily, Frequent Miler’s recent podcast episode listed a few credit cards that will still offer Priority Pass restaurant access after July 1.  Also luckily, I already have 2 of those credit cards: US Bank Altitude Reserve (8 visits) and the US Bank Business Altitude Connect (4 visits).  In this post, I will show you how to enroll in Priority Pass for these 2 credit cards.

For the US Bank Altitude Reserve, you need to go to this specific enrollment link: www.prioritypass.com/usbankaltitudereserve.  The terms say:

Congratulations! As a valued U.S. Bank Altitude® Reserve Visa Infinite® cardholder, you are eligible for a complimentary membership of Priority Pass, with eight free visits a year. Once you enroll you will have access to more than 1,500+ participating airport lounges and experiences worldwide. Get started today by entering your 16-digit U.S. Bank Altitude Reserve card number. If you have already enrolled, please login to access the member website.

Enter your 16 digit credit card number, enter the captcha code, and click the Submit button.

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