Tag Archives: Chase Ultimate Rewards Points

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You Cannot Convert Chase British Airways Credit Card to Chase Freedom Unlimited

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Good morning everyone.  A few days ago, my $95 annual fee posted on my Chase British Airways Credit Card and I had to make a few decisions.  Would I keep the credit card open and pay the annual fee or close the credit card and avoid paying the annual fee?  Could I convert the credit card to a different Chase credit card?  Could I transfer the credit line to a different Chase credit card?  So many questions, but I ultimately decided to call Chase and ask if they could convert the Chase British Airways Credit Card into a Chase Freedom Unlimited Credit Card.

Chase British Airways Annual Fee Statement

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Hyatt Anniversary Free Night Certificate Now Bookable Online (Category 1-4 Hotels)

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Good afternoon everyone, happy Easter!  I’m down in Orange County this weekend to celebrate Easter with my family, but it always seems like I plan more trips while I am on a trip.  Does anyone else do that?  Anyway, I was looking for a cheap weekend trip from San Francisco in July or August and Google Flights found some cheap flights to Seattle.  After booking my flights, I started searching for hotels.  By using Wandering Aramean’s Hotel Hustle tool, I saw that there were a few Hyatt hotel options available.

I also had an anniversary free night certificate compliments to my Chase Hyatt Credit Card.  You can view details of your anniversary free night certificate by logging into your Hyatt account, clicking My Account, and clicking My Awards.  It shows that my anniversary free night certificate expires on November 30, 2016, so I must book and complete my stay by the expiration date.

Hyatt Free Night Certificate

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My Recent Credit Card Applications: Chase Ink Plus, Citi Hilton HHonors Reserve & Bank of America Amtrak Guest Rewards

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Good morning everyone, happy TGIF (Thank Grant it’s Friday).  I want to share my recent experience applying for 3 credit cards on March 11, 2016.  Here are the 3 credit cards I applied for, along with their bonuses as of 3/11/2016:

  • Chase Ink Plus Business Credit Card – 60,000 Chase Ultimate Reward Points after spending $5,000 in 3 months.
  • Citi Hilton HHonors Reserve Credit Card – 2 free weekend night certificates after spending $2,500 in 4 months.
  • Bank of America Amtrak Guest Rewards Credit Card – 20,000 Amtrak Points after spending $1,000 in 3 months.

I applied for all three credit cards at the same time and got 2 pending decisions (Chase and Citi) and a denial (Bank of America).

Chase Ink Plus Pending Status Citi Hilton Reserve Pending Status BofA Amtrak Denial Status

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My Q2 Rotating Cash Back Category Credit Card Strategy

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(Hat Tip to Free-Quent Flyer Book’s post from yesterday)

2 nights ago, I was at the SF Travel Hackers March Meetup and I was talking to a few friends about my second quarter rotating cash back category credit card strategy (that is a mouthful).  I wanted to see what everyone’s strategy was for Q2 and that thought process led to this post.  As a reminder, there are currently 4 rotating cash back category credit cards: Chase Freedom, Citi Dividend, Discover It, and US Bank Cash+.  Even though I have around 30 credit cards, I am a minimalist at heart.  I have an iPhone case that can hold a few cards.  Currently, my “iPhone wallet” (Verus iPhone card case on Amazon) holds my drivers license, my Citi Forward (5% cash back at restaurants) and my AMEX Old Blue Cash (5% cash back at grocery stores, pharmacies and gas stations).

iPhone 6S Versus Card Case

Since I want to remain a credit card minimalist, I want to carry only 2 credit cards in my “iPhone Wallet.”  Which credit cards will I carry for Q2? Continue reading →

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Bad use of AS $99 Companion Ticket & Codeshare AA / AS Booking with Citi Thank You Points

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Good morning from rainy San Francisco.  I hope you all had a great (sunny) weekend.  Since I was stuck inside most of the weekend, I did some travel planning (I do that anyway even if the weather is great).  I booked a quick weekend trip to Portland in mid May and I even found Alaska Airlines saver award space for the return flight from PDX to SFO at a convenient time (not 6 or 7am).  After calling British Airways several times and finally getting through after hearing the busy dial tone 5+ times, I booked the return flight using British Airways Avios.  It was not the greatest redemption ever, but I had British Airways Avios to burn.

For the outbound flight from SFO to PDX, I searched on Google Flights and found a few decent flight times and prices.  Since I am traveling with my roommate, I needed to get 2 tickets.  I have access to a few Alaska Airlines $99 companion ticket codes (the codes are transferrable and can be booked by anyone).  Here is the standard price for 2 one way tickets:

SFO-PDX AS No Companion Ticket

And here is the price with the $99 Alaska Airlines companion ticket.  As you can see, the price with the companion ticket is 43 cents higher than booking the flights without the companion ticket.  I decided to save the companion ticket for a future flight and researched other flight options.

SFO-PDX AS Companion Ticket Continue reading →