Tag Archives: Frequent Flyer Miles

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San Francisco Travel Meetup with Grant & Tonei (6:30pm on August 7)

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Buenos dias everyone!  Sorry I’ve been MIA for a while – it’s been a very busy summer. But now I’m in the Bay Area for Alaska’s inaugural flight from SFO to Mexico City, and to make up for my absence, I decided we should have an opportunity to see Grant’s (burger-eating) talents at Super Duper Burgers this coming Monday.  If you are free Monday evening, please join me, Grant, and other Bay Area travel hackers for burgers, fries, miles, points, MS, and more.  As a reminder, this location is on Market Street between Montgomery and Powell Street BART stations.

  • Where: Super Duper Burgers, 721 Market St, San Francisco, CA 94103 (Google Maps)
  • When: Monday, August 7th from 6:30pm – 8:30pm

Super Duper Burgers Yelp

No need to RSVP, just show up when you can and be ready to eat and talk.  Have a great weekend!

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My Love / Hate Relationship with British Airways & Match.com (LONG STORY)

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Good morning everyone.  A long time ago, British Airways had a promotion with Match.com where you could earn 150 British Airways Avios per dollar spent.  The following story talks about my struggle to get the British Airways Avios I was owed.  Be prepared, this is a very long post.  I hope you enjoy.

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Hawaiian Airlines Adds 3 New Routes: PDX-OGG, OAK-LIH & LAX-KOA (Departing Early 2018)

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Who doesn’t like hearing about MORE flights being added to Hawaii? And on top of that good news, Hawaiian Airlines has introductory price deals on these offers! What’s also nice is that these added flights are to Maui, Kona, and Lihue so you can try some of the other islands if you’ve already been to Oahu. My favorite island has always been Maui, and now that Hyatt opened up the Andaz Maui, it seems to be a lot of people’s favorite island too :)

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Image source: https://www.hawaiianairlines.com/

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I Downgraded to the Virgin America Visa Signature Credit Card

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Good morning everyone.  A few days ago, the $149 annual fee posted to my Virgin America Premium Credit Card.  I called the number on the back of the credit card to see if there were any retention offers available, but sadly, the rep had no offers available for me.  Instead of closing the credit card, the rep suggested that I downgrade to the Virgin America Visa Signature Credit Card that had a $49 annual fee.

Most of the card benefits are the same for both cards, including the Virgin America $150 off companion discount code, free checked bag, and 20% off in-flight purchases.  The only difference between the credit cards is the Visa Signature credit card does not earn status points (not a big deal since I am Virgin America Gold and Alaska Airlines MVP Gold), I will get charged a fee for changing or cancelling my ticket (I never used this feature when I had my Virgin America Premium Credit Card) and I will be charged foreign transaction fees (I will never use this credit card internationally).

The only reason I kept the credit card is for the Virgin America $150 off companion discount code and my curiosity surrounding what will happen to this credit card when the Alaska Airlines / Virgin America merger is complete.  If my memory is correct, the Virgin America $150 off companion discount code used to only apply to the Virgin America Premium Credit Card, but sometime in the last year, that benefit was added to the Virgin America Visa Signature Credit Card.

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My Alaska Airlines Bump: There’s a First Time for Everything

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There’s a first time for everything, and recently on an Alaska Airlines flight, I volunteered to be bumped. It’s not that I’ve never heard the call for volunteers before. We all have. But something about this time made me ask myself if now was the time and this was the opportunity to do it. After all, can a bona fide travel blogger NOT have a bump experience to talk about? Given the crazy day I ended up having, I’ll never forget my first time!

I was originally on a morning Alaska Airlines nonstop flight from San Diego to Boston. I’ve taken this flight before but always in the winter months. Apparently, since it’s the only nonstop of the day to Boston, it can get crowded. I heard the call for volunteers before we started boarding the flight.

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Great Circle Mapper: San Diego (SAN) to Boston (BOS)

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