Tag Archives: Chase Ultimate Rewards Points

Amtrak Coast Starlight Trip – Part 2: Transferring Points and Booking Trains

Sheldon Cooper Train

Amtrak Coast Starlight Trip – Part 2: Transferring Points and Booking Trains

Please read part 1 of my Amtrak Coast Starlight Trip (link) before reading this post.

To make this trip happen, I used 7,500 British Airways Avios to fly Alaska Airlines from Orange County, CA (SNA) to Seattle, WA (SEA) and 25,000 Amtrak Points for a 2 person bedroom on the Coast Starlight Amtrak train from Seattle to Irvine.  This was accomplished by using Chase Ultimate Reward Points and their instant 1:1 transfer partners (the chart is slightly out of date since it is missing Singapore Airlines).  To learn more about the Chase Ultimate Rewards program, click here.

Chase UR Partners

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Surprise Chase Ink Plus Approval after Closing my Chase Ink Bold

Ink Cards

Surprise Chase Ink Plus Approval after Closing my Chase Ink Bold

Based on the responses from my recent poll (voting still open), the Chase Ink Plus seems like this is a pretty popular topic in the voting.

Chase Ink Bold Plus Survey

I would have shared my story sooner, but right when it happened, the sign up bonus for the Chase Ink Plus Business Credit Card raised from 50,000 to 70,000 Chase Ultimate Reward Points.  I’m sure you were (are?) bombarded with posts about the Chase Ink Plus and didn’t want my story to get lost in the crowd.  With that said, here are the facts:

  • I got my Chase Ink Bold MasterCard in April 2012
  • I got my Chase Ink Bold Visa in March 2014
  • I applied for my Chase Ink Plus Visa on September 12, 2014

The reason I applied for the Chase Ink Plus Visa Business Credit Card was because I received a targeted letter in the mail for the 70,000 Chase Ultimate Reward Points sign up bonus.  It was too good to resist, so I pulled the trigger.

Chase Ink Plus 70k Front

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Poll: Do you Manufacture Spend when you Travel?

Which Credit Card

Poll: Do you Manufacture Spend when you Travel?

Based on the responses from my recent poll (voting still open), it seems like this is a pretty popular topic.  I think I may have misled you with the question; I was more interested in seeing if most people do manufacture spending while they travel, either for work or while on vacation.  Since it is an interesting topic, I will share my view on MS while traveling.

MS Travel

The topic comes up frequently at travel conferences, especially at FTU events and the Chicago Seminars.  Last year when the FTU was held in Tampa, Florida, I remember hearing many people visit the CVS close to the host hotel to load up on Vanilla Reload Cards ($5,000 at a time).  Of course this happens often, but it is talked about less frequently.   Continue reading →

Requesting an Increased Cash Advance Limit from Chase for Online Serve Reloads

AMEX Serve Logo

Requesting an Increased Cash Advance Limit from Chase for Online Serve Reloads

I’m sure most of you are sick of hearing about Serve and their “cash advance fees” on Chase cards, but I promise this will be the last post about this issue.  Last Thursday/Friday, Serve or Chase started processing online Serve reloads slightly differently than before (link).  As it turned out, no cash advance fees ever posted, but the online Serve reload would decrease your cash advance available balance (link).

If you tried to use a Chase credit card with a cash advance limit smaller than your online load amount or a Chase Ink Bold business Charge Card, your online Serve reload would fail and you would get this error message.

Serve Reload Payment Declined

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a blue and white logo

Amtrak Coast Starlight Trip – Part 1: Advice for an Amtrak Noob

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Let me be honest, I have never been on an Amtrak train before.  Living in SoCal my entire life, I have never had a need or desire to take Amtrak, but every time I go to travel conferences or do OC/SD meetups, someone always shares awesome Amtrak stories.  Therefore, I decided to break my 24 year streak of no Amtrak rides and book one of Amtrak’s premier routes, the Coast Starlight (link), from Seattle down to Los Angeles.  The journey takes 35-36 hours non-stop on a train.  Before you think I am crazy, let me explain…

  • George (Travel Blogger Buzz) wrote a nice trip train report (link) about the Coast Starlight from Los Angeles up to Seattle.
  • Shawn (Miles to Memories) has a similar train report (link) starting in Santa Barbara / Oxnard up to Seattle.

Sheldon Cooper Train

The Coast Starlight leaves Seattle everyday at 9:30am and arrived in Los Angeles 9pm the following night.  Here is the map and list of cities where the train stops (probably for just a few minutes):

Amtrak Coast Starlight Train Stops Map

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