Good morning everyone, happy Friday! Long story short, I planned an awesome award trip to Africa (Victoria Falls, South Africa, and Madagascar) for August 2020, but due to the Coronavirus Pandemic, we decided to cancel the trip and try again next year. I planned / booked this award trip in October 2019 and part of the award booking process involved transferring 77,000 American Express Membership Rewards Points to my Air Canada Aeroplan account. I recently wrote about my Anatomy and Timeline of a Cancelled American Airlines Award Ticket, so I decided I would write something similar for my experience cancelling 2 Air Canada Aeroplan award tickets.
Tag Archives: Citi Bank
American Express Waiving Membership Rewards Points Transfer Excise Tax Through 12/31 & Refunding Previous 2020 Charges
Good morning everyone, I hope your week is going well. I was checking my American Express online account and I saw a credit balance of $1.80 on my American Express Everyday Credit Card. I never use this card, so I was surprised to see that the credit was a Membership Rewards Airline Tax Offset Fee Credit. I did some digging and learned that this refund is related to a $1.80 charge from February that I paid to transfer 3,000 American Express Membership Rewards Points to my Delta account to book an award ticket. I also learned that American Express is waiving the excise tax fee for domestic airlines through December 31, 2020 (including Delta, JetBlue, and Hawaiian).
Citi Rewards+: 2,500 Bonus ThankYou Points Posted to TYP Account, Not Credit Card Statement
Good afternoon everyone. Last month, I received a targeted spend offer on my Citi Rewards+ Credit Card where I could earn 10x Citi ThankYou Points up to 2,500 TYPs for online purchases. Doctor of Credit wrote about the offer. Spending $250+ online in a month seemed pretty easy and 2,500 TYPs is worth $31.25 toward TYP travel redemptions, so I activated the offer, made the online purchases, and waited for the TYPs to post. My credit card statement closed yesterday, so I downloaded the statement and looked at the TYP earning section, but I didn’t see the 2,500 TYPs. I did some digging and found that the 2,500 TYPs posted directly to my TYP account instead. I will share my findings below.
Reconsideration Strategy for Credit Card Annual Fees During Coronavirus Pandemic
Good morning everyone. After reading recent articles by Omar @ Travel Summary (It’s Time to Reduce Your Credit Card Annual Fees) and Doctor of Credit (Credit Card Annual Fee Due? Remember To Ask For A Retention Offer Before Cancelling), I decided to take a look at my credit cards, their annual fees, and whether or not they are worth keeping going forward. I will share my strategy for organizing my credit cards and my recent call with US Bank regarding my US Bank Altitude Reserve Credit Card.
I opened up my master credit card spreadsheet and looked at all the credit cards, debit cards, and authorized user cards in the table (68 total cards). I then removed all my debit cards and authorized user cards and was left with 42 credit cards in my name or Laura’s name. I then removed all the no annual fee credit cards and was left with 25 credit cards that have annual fees. The annual fees totaled $4,134. If you are curious about why we pay so much in annual fees, read I Paid $4,588 in Credit Card Annual Fees in 2019 & Was it Worth it? Here are the credit cards sorted by card name:
Credit Card Name | AF | Credit Card Name | AF |
AMEX Business Platinum | $595 | Chase Sapphire Reserve | $450 |
AMEX Gold | $250 | Chase Southwest Airlines Priority (Laura) | $149 |
AMEX Hilton Honors Aspire | $450 | Chase World of Hyatt (Laura) | $95 |
AMEX Platinum Delta SkyMiles | $195 | Citi AT&T Access More 1 | $95 |
Banco Popular Avianca Vuela | $149 | Citi AT&T Access More 2 | $95 |
Bank of America Alaska Airlines (Laura) | $75 | Citi AT&T Access More 3 | $95 |
Capital One Venture Rewards (Laura) | $59 | Citi Premier | $95 |
Chase Hyatt Hotels | $75 | US Bank Altitude Reserve | $400 |
Chase IHG Rewards Premier | $89 | US Bank Radisson Rewards Business | $60 |
Chase IHG Rewards Select | $49 | US Bank Radisson Rewards Premier Visa Sig 1 | $75 |
Chase Ink Plus | $95 | US Bank Radisson Rewards Premier Visa Sig 2 | $75 |
Chase Marriott Bonvoy Boundless | $95 | Wells Fargo Propel World | $175 |
Chase Marriott Bonvoy Premier Plus Business | $99 | Total Annual Fees | $4,134 |
Work from Home Diary 3: Upcoming Travel Plans (Cancel Now or Wait it Out?)
Good afternoon everyone, happy Friday. I started sharing my thoughts regarding working from home in a series of Work from Home Diary posts. Feel free to share your work from home feelings in the comments section below. For today’s update, I wanted to discuss upcoming travel plans and my plans for those trips. As of today, I have 4 trips on the books. These trips are not set in stone and could be cancelled by myself or the airlines before departure depending upon how things are going in the world. We are taking things slowly and focusing on 1 day at a time.
Trip 1 – Mother’s Day Weekend
My next trip is in mid-May for Mother’s Day Weekend. I was planning on flying down from San Francisco (SFO) to Orange County (SNA) to visit my parents and grandparents. I have flown down for Mother’s Day weekend for the last few years and enjoy seeing my family. This trip was booked with Citi Thank You Points for basic economy travel on Alaska Airlines. If the situation in California remains the same (all Californias are told to stay home to prevent the spread of coronavirus), I will probably cancel my trip and hold onto travel funds for a future trip.