Tag Archives: Credit Cards

My Travel Predictions (Both Good and Bad) for 2014

2014 New Years

My Travel Predictions (Both Good and Bad) for 2014

Happy holidays everyone!  As 2014 quickly approaches, I wanted to share my predictions for 2014, regarding airlines, hotels, and credit card rewards.  Feel free to agree, disagree, or share your own comments below.

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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Hawaiian Airlines – merge with another airline, maybe JetBlue or Alaska Airlines.
  • Lufthansa  – revamp their award chart after everyone signs up for their credit card.
  • Virgin Atlantic – miles will be transferable 1:1 with Virgin America and Virgin Australia.

Hotels:

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Need Help Liquidating Gift Cards?

CCs

Need Help Liquidating Gift Cards?

Happy holidays everyone!  If you are lucky (or maybe unlucky), you may have too many gift cards in your wallet.  Wouldn’t it be great to get all of your gift card balances on one card?

Here’s how…

You will need a Target AMEX reloadable gift card.  I first learned about this card from Frequent Miler’s post last October (post).  It hasn’t gotten much attention lately with Bluebird dominating the reloadable space, but this card definitely is worthy.  It does not have bill pay, but what it lacks in features, it makes up for in “loadability”.  This is the only reloadable gift card that can be loaded with gift cards that do not have PINs.  You know, all those American Express gift cards you bought last week at Office Max?  They don’t have PINs.  Load them to your Target AMEX card and you are good to go.

Welcome Slick Deal members, here is my Target receipt from this morning:

Target Receipt1

After loading up my Target AMEX, I usually drive over to CVS and buy 2 Vanilla Reload Cards.  There you go, all liquidated.  For more info on the Target AMEX, read this post.  If you have any questions, please leave a comment below.

Cashing Out Membership Reward Points for British Airways Avios

MR Logo

Cashing Out Membership Reward Points for British Airways Avios

Last February, my mother and father both signed up for the American Express Premier Reward Gold (PRG) credit card since it had a sweet sign up bonus: 50,000 Membership Reward Points after spending $1,000 in 3 months, with no annual fee the first year.

The Membership Reward Points posted after 2 months and then sat in their account.  And sat.  And sat some more.  Until yesterday.

Since neither of them have any plans to use the Membership Reward Points, I decided to cash out their Membership Reward balance and take advantage of the 20% transfer bonus to British Airways Avios (link) before the December 31, 2013 deadline.

MR BA Avios

The Membership Reward Points were immediately deducted from my parents’ accounts and credit to their British Airways accounts.

  • Mother: 22,000 Membership Reward Points x 1.20 = 26,400 British Airways Avios
  • Father: 51,000 Membership Reward Points x 1.20 = 61,200 British Airways Avios

BA Balances

Good thing for me, we all belong to the same British Airways Household account.

BA Household

Anyone have an ideas on what to do with 1 Membership Reward Point?

Dad MR

Since both of their Premier Reward Gold credit cards will have an annual fee coming up in February, the 20% transfer bonus was as good as any.  I would have transferred the points to my SPG account, but 3 Membership Reward Points = 1 SPG Point is too hard to stomach.  If you annual fee is coming due in the next few months, you may want to look into transferring some/all of your Membership Reward Points to British Airways, especially if you have a Household account.

If you have any questions, please leave a comment below.  Happy holidays!

How are Merchants Classified? Use the Visa Supplier Locator to Find Out!

Visa Merchant

How are Merchants Classified? Use the Visa Supplier Locator to Find Out!

Do you have a Chase Freedom, Citi Dividend, or Discover It credit card?  Are you aware of the rotating categories that change every month?  Do you know what is considered a “department store,” “gas station,” or “drug store”?  In order to get the 5% cash back spending bonus, it is important to know what stores qualify.  Here’s how…

Go to the Visa Supplier Locator website now.

Start by searching for the name of a merchant and your zip code.  In this case, I type CVS into the supplier name and enter my zip code.  Leave everything else the same and click search.

Merchant Search

To read the whole article, click here.