We bring you more on the Citibank bonus changes, help you find Skyteam award space, we go to eat awesome cheeseburgers, learn about the war on drugs, El Chapo and heroine, check out some awesome buildings, laugh at some people with their dolls and more for YOU!
TBB Blog Mission: To Entertain. Educate. Inspire. In That Order!
After a wonderful weekend away for the most part, lets catch up on the latest you should know, you know, the eclectic stuff TBB finds worthy!
The suffering miles and points world is still abuzz (no pun intended) by the recently announced non friendly changes by one of the big gorilla banks, Citibank. Let’s recap what those were about:
Citi’s New Bonus Rules: The Terrible Changes You Need to Know About & What This Means
Now lets touch base on how to go about these changes:
Strategies For Dealing With Citi’s New Application Rule
Citi App Strategy BEFORE New Rules (8/28): What to Consider & How to Maximize Apps
The following cards have the highest bonus available and ARE available with my links (see imaginary yuge red arrow pointing to you know where:)
- Citi Hilton HHonors Reserve card (2 Freeeeeeee weekend nights, mine came so handy in Tokyo Conrad!)
- Citi Hilton HHonors Visa Signature 75k points
- Citi Prestige Card bonus now lowered to 40k Thank You points #sosad. Still better than the Citi Premier card with ZERO Thank You points bonus, WTF!
Update: Here is the direct link for Citi Hilton HHonors Reserve card that could get you up to $100 statement credit for your first Hilton hotel stay. I think I missed that in the first go around as it required a paid stay…and who does that lol!
The rest are either not worthy enough or there are better offers than what my links offer. If I am missing something, please let me know in the comments and will fix as soon as I can get to it. Unlike other bloggers who prefer to keep their readers in the dark because they are not “running a charity”, wow!
Another good reference post, in case you still have some Delta Skymiles Skypesos Skydrachmas:
How to Find SkyTeam Award Space Using the Delta Air Lines Website
This is absolutely ridiculous, wow! A One Year Timelapse of Earth From a Million Miles Away
Another fantastic read by reader A.: “El Chapo and the secret history of the heroine crisis“. It seriously made me reconsider my support for drug legalization. Maybe legalizing marijuana is the first step on the way there to bankrupt the narcos? I am being sarcastic. I don’ t know but this article is a must read if you are interested in the subject and the devastation heroin and, most importantly, fentanyl are bringing. At the end of the day, Guzman El Chapo was right I am afraid: ” If there was no consumption, there would be no sales.”
Personal Finance post of the day: “Simple vs Complex“. Needless to say, I agree with this! Avoid the fancy crap you are pitched to buy, show them your middle finger!
30 Architectural Masterpieces That You Should See in Your Lifetime
All right, we need something to laugh..or perhaps cry in this case! Here we go: Daughters, friends and… ‘partners’: The bizarre relationships between men and human-size plastic dolls in China
Mile Nerd had a super mini rant the other day: “How To Seem Less Dumb“. I agree!
BLOG BUZZ
Note: This section is geared to more advanced travel hacking enthusiasts who follow the blogs!
Things have slowed down so much in August, wow! I am almost out of material even after taking Saturday off!
How to credit JetBlue Flights to Singapore Airlines Kris Flyer Program. Interesting, I had no idea this was possible. Not that you should do it but hey, it’s available!
The kid from Singapore who beat Phelps in Rio also got 1 million Kris Flyer miles from Singapore Airlines. And Gold Status…lol, come on, only Gold, so generous, woohoo. So, here how it usually goes. I see it in Feedly, I dismiss it as not adhering to the blog mission, I see it popped up in Loyalty Lobby, then I see it in View From the Wing and then many other blogs recycle it HTing VFTW…and so it goes. If I did not want to make this point, I wouldn’t bother 🙂
It amazes me there are STILL miles and points blogs that are being started. And it amazes me still what angle they take to stand out as most angles have been done over and over. And how they are so enthusiastic in the beginning busting their ass to get noticed. One of the new ones is someone using a monkey (not joking!) and of course loving the exposure at the Million Mile Secrets Friday interview which sounds like all of the others on Fridays! The blogger reads The Points Guy and Million Mile Secrets…just stab me now, wow! By the way, MMS is selling the Ritz Carlton credit card so hard!
If you get your breaking news from this blog, I feel sorry for you!
Way #1,234,458 to sell the CSP card, smh.
Love pakalu papito, he is awesome!
I managed to book an award with my United miles for 16 year old girl from my hometown in Greece, daughter of a good friend. First time flyer and her first flights to the US will be in Business class. Maybe I am going to ruin her, economy will never feel the same afterwards. Award availability always weak out of Greece in August! And we had some constraints, including we only looked at Thessaloniki airport SKG. 87,500 UA miles, Business & Economy mixed. Both Saver awards of course. I need to pray hard for a miracle very soon to start replenishing my United miles…(as in Sapphire Reserve 100k bang, lol).
I am now up to about 750k miles/points burned year to date! Will I burn over 1 million miles again for the third year in a row? Click my links to find out lol!
It has been a great month here as well, thank you so much for the support. No zero days (okay many single digit Amazon days) and credit cards are doing well. Thanks to the readers who got a CSP and a CFU card, originally clicked on July 18th, wow! I know everyone here knows how to handle credit responsibly and it is a good feeling to know that! Remember, any newbies, read this one FIRST, this game is probably NOT for you!
A few pics from our nice day in Caseville, Michigan at the world famous (joking) Cheeseburger Festival:
And I leave you with this…Inspired by the Olympic divers!
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TBB
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Hi
Crystal meth is rapidly gaining market share over heroine, so the imports to the US are going down, and so are prices. Kinda like fracking oil & gas making the US more independent of the Persian Gulf.
SQ KF ain’t that bad George. I love my SQ KF miles I have via Amex MR. Lotsa sweet spots, the Greek trip you booked would have been cheaper via SQ.
Is the SQ website to book awards as smooth as the UA site is or does it require calling? If calling, do you call a US call center?
I have about 300k Amex MR points I have been holding…not sure where to send to. Hoping for a big bonus like old times. Certainly do not need any more Avios.
I was hoping to get her on Aegean out of SKG (done) and then connection to Frankfurt to fly direct to Detroit to save her another connection in the US. Not doable. Looks like LH is booked up!
thanks for the link Fractured Arab World yesterday. Fascinating, and filled in a lot of gaps for me.
Yes, it was fascinating indeed! I think it will win an Oscar…or Pulitzer I mean.
Sky Drachmas for sure. Needed a quick hop from Genoa to Rome to connect to an AA award originating at FCO. Figured I’d use a few to book Alitalia. I am not making this up. 10K Sky Drachmas + $56 . Then I looked it up on Skyscanner and to buy the ticket for cash it was 62 Euros. I cannot seem to find a use for them. Absurd.
I keep burning my AA miles no problem except that with earning going down, yikes. 200K for two in business to Latin America and Europe will be missed. Just did my last one last week. And booked three more awards while there. My family in South America whose travel I underwrite with my miles had to be told the gravy train is ending. I’ve said this before so I am not sure it sunk in.
I really may need to get a new hobby soon. Sad!
Shockingly, they came so handy in getting my wife and daugher out of China in July, out of KMG on China Eastern. Saver award levels, wow!
I expect the next knife on our backs to be revenue based BURNING in late 2017 to be effective in 2018…so, get your flat bed awards while you can get them.
I am picking basket weaving or drone racing as my next hobby 🙂
Waiting for Pedro, TBB’s eternal optimist, to comment that all is good 🙂
Sadly I’ve been thinking the same about revenue based burning coming…it’s just a matter of when, not if. Sure, revenue-burn has been okay for the occasional WN domestic flight redemption but it’s gonna suck when it hits the legacies and our beloved international (and especially premium) redemptions.
But don’t worry, the airlines will tell us how the enhancement is being done to make redemptions “simpler, and less confusing…something our customers have been asking for”
I think Delta has the news release ready!
“We heard you loud and clear. You find the current award booking process non-transparent and frustrating with lack of Saver awards. So, we are going to make it very transparent and easy for you going forward, effective tomorrow! All Skymiles are worth 1 penny each and if you can book a trip, you will be able to book it with your Skymiles! Enjoy the enhancement, we listen!”
Smittytab-
Hard to find a case where an intra-Europe award beats using cash. Last one I looked up the BA fees with the award were $18 less than just paying cash (Watch out for those add-ons though, and remember that friends don’t let friends fly Ryan Air).
I too am in mouring for those easy to book AA TATL awards eventually fading with the new Citi policy. Remember when we could apply for 2 (or 3) cards every 90 days, each earning a 75k sign-up bonus? Those were really the salad days-salad with lobster.
Yeah, those days of a gazillion AA miles are gone for good I am afraid…
Just found this. If you’ve posted already, forgive me, but seems like good TBB material
http://m.imgur.com/gallery/tuG5A
Awesome! Love the Greek cows one, woohoo! Thanks.
heroine is a female hero. Heroin is the drug.
Thanks, fixed! I care about this stuff, unlike so many other bloggers who don’t but who ALWAYS never have a typo on their affiliate cc links 🙂
Any advice?
Son is building his credit score slowly and steadily. Up to 750 now. Been holding back on his apps for….., drum roll, to go after Chase cards!
Only 2/24 so far. It is time to ATTACK.
Have CSP, the new Sapphire Reserve and Ink Plus in sight. I am going to leave the Ink Plus for a little later on. Sooooo, do we go for the CSP now? And then maybe a month later on, go for the Reserve? Wait for August 21 and go for the Reserve as Chase will likely be more lenient in approvals to build its numbers? And then wait a month or so to go for the CSP?
Anyone?
Don’t want to mess it up with any Citi cards right now, he has the AA Platinum for now. The other one he owns is a Discover it card, the college version I use once a month to keep working on that credit score 😉
If only this was 10 years ago 🙂
Reserve has higher bonus, right? Why not go for that first?
Will be harder to justify adding the CSP than vice versa.
Hey I want one of those dolls! It could allow me to use the carpool lane, right?
Seriously though, you know people are lonely. Kinda sad, isn’t it?
It is sad…
My friend got back to me. Is it okay to send him the dropbox link? U intend to make money off the song right? He was not sure if you were asking how to distribute it for free or intend to make money? I told him the latter…Will email you what he says.
Email me the lyrics if you get a chance.
Yo! Thanks for being my affiliate link blogger AND chase app status checker! Found out about my wife’s apps through my morning read 🙂
Your affiliate link blogger? What does that mean, hope you are not insulting me 🙂
But if you mean you use my links, you are awesome! And gracias!
I meant it in a good way 😉 someone somewhere is getting paid. It better be someone who I appreciate.
I just didn’t realize my wife was approved until I was reading through TBB Monday morning and realized that it might be referring to my wife….. hahaha
Ahhh, now it makes sense! Sorry I got it the wrong way, I am a little edgy these days, some may call it angry lol.
Thanks a lot. Remind me if we meet, drinks on me!
Damn if it was only year ago when I was still living in Novi. Still going to keep you to that!
Sumbuddy gotsta tell da MileNurd that correcting spellin on the intranet is fer old peeplz. Know better wayz too look like whiney old persun that too correct otherz spellin
Why is yo soi angwrie dood?
Better offer on the Citi Hilton Reserve by dummying up a booking to get two free nights and $100 credit on first stay
I updated it with a direct link to the $100 credit offer VERY early after it first posted.
If only all of you let the pumpers know how shitty they treat their own readers pumping the Amex Plat for 40k while never ever mentioning….Ameriprise 🙂