Tag Archives: Citi Bank

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Reviewing my Travel Predictions from December 30, 2013

A few years ago, I wrote My Travel Predictions (Both Good and Bad) for 2014 on December 30, 2013.  I thought I wrote a similar post at the end of 2014 for 2015 predictions, but I guess I did not.  Anyway, I thought it would be fun to review that original post and see how close I came to predicting the truth.  For the most part, I think my predictions were about a year too early.

My original predictions are in black and my thoughts/reactions are in red.

Airlines:

  • British Airways – I think the 4,500 and 7,500 (maybe even 10,000) Avios award prices will go away or the entire award chart will be revamped.  The current prices are just too good.  I was partially right about the 4,500 BA Avios award band.  I wouldn’t be surprised if the 4,500 BA Avios band completely disappears in 2016.
  • Alaska Airlines and Delta Airlines – since there has been a lot of fighting over routes to/from SEA and SLC, I think Alaska will no longer allow you to earn or redeem miles with Delta.  This is an ongoing issue, but I think the fighting will continue in 2016.
  • American Airlines and US Airways – after the merger, we will see some new “enhancements” (aka devaluations) to the new award chart.  Maybe off-peak awards will be changed or removed.  You could see this coming from a mile away.  I’m sad that off-peak awards are changing.
  • Southwest Airlines and AirTran – hopefully the merger goes through smoothly and quickly.  I look forward to using Southwest Rapid Reward Points for flights to Hawaii, Mexico City, and other tropical destinations south of the border.  I also think the 50,000 Southwest Rapid Reward sign up bonus will no longer count for companion pass status, it is just too easy to get Companion Pass.  I hope Southwest continues to add new routes.  I’m especially excited about the newly announced LAX-LIR (Liberia, Costa Rica) route starting in mid 2016.
  • Hawaiian Airlines – merge with another airline, maybe JetBlue or Alaska Airlines.  This seems unlikely, but it could still happen.
  • Lufthansa  – revamp their award chart after everyone signs up for their credit card.  I wasn’t approved for the Barlcays Lufthansa credit card (or any Barclays credit card, ever), so I don’t care what happens to the Lufthansa award chart.
  • Virgin Atlantic – miles will be transferable 1:1 with Virgin America and Virgin Australia.  This seems unlikely, but Virgin Australia and Singapore Airlines allow transferring miles between their award programs (just not at a 1:1 ratio).

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Citi Hilton HHonors Reserve Credit Card Annual Fee Notification Oversight

Good morning everyone.  I just got an email from Citi regarding my Citi Hilton HHonors Reserve Credit Card.  Apparently, on my last statement that closed a few days ago, Citi forgot to mention that the annual fee will be billed the following month.  I’m not sure if this is a regulation that credit card companies have to follow whereby they have to inform you 1 month prior to having the annual fee billed to your account or if that is just a courtesy most credit card companies follow.  Either way, if you had planned to cancel your Citi Hilton HHonors Reserve Credit Card before the annual fee posts to you account, you can call the number listed below.  If you call, your credit card will be canceled.

Citi Hilton HHonors Annual Fee Email

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Q4 Credit Card Category Strategy: Do Way Better than 5% Cash Back at Amazon

Good afternoon everyone, Q4 is among us.  With that, comes new cash back categories for Chase Freedom, Citi Dividend, and Discover It credit card holders.  Let’s go through the list of categories really quickly, starting with the Citi Dividend Credit Card: 5% cash back at Best Buy and department stores.  Most people will probably buy Visa Gift Cards at Best Buy.  I would also like to mention that you can often buy department store gift cards for much more than a 5% discount by shopping on Gift Card Granny.  Macy’s gift cards are 10%+ discounted, Sears gift cards are 6%+ discounted, and Kmart gift cards are 7%+ discounted.

Citi Dividend Q4 Calendar

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Chase Ink Plus $95 Statement Credit and Other Retention Offer Tips and Tricks

(Hat Tip to Kenny @ Saverocity for the inspiration)

Good evening everyone, I am writing this blog post from The Hall, a bar/restaurant in SF as I wait for a few travel hackers to join me.  This morning on BART, I read Kenny’s post about his recent Citi retention offers and I thought I would share my retention offer strategy and a few tips and tricks.  I’ve probably mentioned these tips and tricks a few times on this blog, but a refresher is always welcome.

Let me recap my recent retention offer call to Chase regarding my Chase Ink Plus Business Credit Card.  The $95 annual fee was going to post at the end of this month and I haven’t used this credit card in 6+ months (my Chase Ink Bold Business Credit Card get’s all my love).

Chase Ink Plus Business Credit Card

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My First Experience Booking an Award Ticket with Singapore Airlines Miles (Flying on United Airlines)

Good morning everyone, a few weeks ago, I wrote Transfer Times to Singapore Airlines from Chase Ultimate Rewards, AMEX Membership Rewards, Citi Thank You Points, and SPG Starpoints.  In that post, I learned that transfers to Singapore Airlines were not instant and vary by transferable points program.  Nothing is worse that transferring points to miles and waiting for the miles to post.  It can be extremely nerve racking and frustrating to keep refreshing your Singapore Airlines account and seeing no change.

Long story short, I needed to book a very short notice award ticket for my friend from Germany back to the US.  And by short notice, I mean less than 24 hours between request and flight departure.  I did not have enough Singapore Airlines miles to book a one way from Europe to the US (which costs 27,500 Singapore Airlines miles), so I initiated a transfer from Citi Thank You Points around 8am PT.  I was hoping the Singapore Airlines miles would post within a few hours, but that did not happen.  I checked every few hours after that, but still no luck.  Right before I went to bed (around 11pm PT), I checked one more time, but still no luck.  I went to bed and set my alarm for 5:30am PT.  Luckily I heard my alarm go off and saw that the miles posted to my account (almost 24 hours after after initiating the transfer).

27,500 Singapore Airlines Miles

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