Good afternoon everyone. At the end of March, I received an email from Barclays regarding my Barclays JetBlue Plus Credit Card. The email said I could earn 10,000 bonus JetBlue Points for spending $750 or more for 3 consecutive months (April, May, and June). I had to make sure to spend $750 or more from April 1-30, May 1-31, and June 1-30 (not when my credit card statement closed in April, May, and June). I received the 10,000 bonus JetBlue Points ~5 months after the date I received the email.
Do you ever wonder what it would be like to have had a 30+ year career with the airlines? I know people who are currently working in the airline industry, but I’ve never had the chance to really sit down and talk to an airline veteran of so many years… until the other day. I was on one of my walks in Coronado making notes for my Coronado / San Diego series when I struck up a conversation with a woman who was also taking a walk. I figured she was a Coronado local, which she was, but I came to find out she was also retired from a 30+ year career with the airlines. So later that week, over coffee and scones at Tartines, I talked with Janet. I figured if I was intrigued by the changes she’d seen in all those years, and her other impressions of the airline industry, as well as any places she’d been and enjoyed, you might want to eavesdrop on our conversation and hear what I learned from Janet.
I’ve always wondered how people got started when they work for the airlines for so many years. Janet had one of those I-guess-it-was-meant-to-be stories. In her early 20s, she and a girlfriend came out to San Diego from the east coast. No job. No plans. They stayed with a friend and, one day, a neighbor came by. Naturally, he asked Janet what she would do for work, and when she said she had no idea, he said he worked for the airlines, they were hiring, and she should come by and see about getting a job.
That was the summer of 1968 and the airline was PSA! Pacific Southwest Airlines was the first large discount airline and billed itself as the “World’s Friendliest Airline”. Maybe you remember PSA, I sure do! At first, they only flew intra-state in California. So imagine a lot of up and down and up and down in one day kind of flights. Janet mentioned that this was great for the women crew because they could be home with their kids every night.
Another interesting fact she mentioned was that one of the reasons the PSA crews were so young was because they could hire 18 year olds. PSA didn’t cross state lines. They did, however, serve small bottles of alcohol, but didn’t open them for you. The bigger airline carriers did serve alcohol, so they couldn’t hire anyone younger than 21! The crews were young and fun, and Janet told me they still have PSA get togethers and parties :)
PSA Pacific Southwest Airlines flight attendants. Image source: http://www.psa-history.org/sights_and_sounds/stewardesses
Good morning everyone (again). I just saw on the Southwest Airlines homepage that their schedule is now open and bookable through June 1, 2018. Before now, you could only book flights through early April 2018. Now you can book trips for Mother’s Day (Sunday, May 13) and Memorial Day Weekend (Saturday, May 26 – Monday, May 28). Prices tend to be higher when the schedule loads, but you can always watch the price and rebook when the price goes down. Check out my post: PSA Reminder: Check Existing Southwest Airlines Reservations; I Rebooked & Saved $66.
Good morning everyone, I hope you all had a great weekend. 2 weeks ago, I did an App-O-Rama where I applied for a bunch of credit cards, mostly with mixed results. I will share more details of the App-O-Rama and reconsideration calls in another post, but today, I wanted to share my process of getting the new Cathay Pacific Visa Signature Credit Card (direct credit card link). The credit card is issued by Synchrony, the same bank that issues the Ebates Visa Signature Credit Card and many other store credit cards. The credit card currently offers 50,000 Cathay Pacific Asia Miles after you spend $2,500 in 3 months. Even though I don’t have concrete plans for the 50,000 Asia Miles, I am sure I can find a good use for them. In this post, I will tell you about the application process and show you the card design and welcome kit.
Do you remember the first time you used British Airways Avios? I do! And for me, that was also when they took their special place in my heart. And a special place in my award booking world as well! I use British Airways Avios for short haul domestic flights, getting me from the states to Europe or within Europe. I realized that not a year goes by without me using British Airways Avios. When I found out about being able to pool Avios among family members, I became an even bigger Avios fan girl because this really simplified award bookings for me. It created more value to my stash of Avios as well. Did you know that British Airways allows pooling points among family members? It’s called a Household Account!
Benefits of Creating a Household Account
Creating a Household Account allows you to redeem Avios from any member of the household to create an award booking. So if you don’t have enough Avios for an award, but a member of your household does, you can pool points. Of course this works both ways.
If you find a Household Account too restricting, you don’t have to have one to move miles between accounts. For a fee, British Airways does let you do this. And you can book one-way award redemptions, so if you don’t have enough Avios in your account for a roundtrip award, someone else can book one leg for you. But maybe a Household Account WOULD work well for you! Let’s take a closer look at how Household Accounts work. Continue reading