We learn of a resource showing banks’ credit card app status, Citi Thank You Points adding Virgin America, read about calling US Bank, we brace for the mega pumping of the Chase BA Visa, how to use AA awards on Iberia Business Class, travel to Norway, learn how to do obscene hand gestures all over the world, laugh at the persistent Gold Bugs, visit the best museums and more!
TBB Blog Mission: To Entertain. Educate. Inspire. In That Order!
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The Devil’s Advocate at Frequent Miler has a fantastic reference post with links to Credit Card Application status for all banks. Bookmark material!
Citibank continues to improve its Thank You Points program by adding Virgin America to the list of airline partners. Which is really not a big deal. Now watch how the Titan bloggers will find this opportunity to pump their readers with all Citibank affiliate credit cards AGAIN!
SPG sent highly targeted bonus promotions to members. Check if you were targeted and register HERE.
Miles to Memories had an interesting phone call with US Bank trying to downgrade his Club Carlson Visa. Well, I am still waiting for my free night e-cert. And my wife has not received a phone call yet (but got the 7,500 CC points I did not because I never called). So, this whole business with this bank and hotel loyalty program is starting to get on my nerves… #developing Update: Wife received a letter in the mail saying the e-cert is coming to her email…ok, we shall see.
By now everyone knows that Chase has a new offer for the British Airways Visa card for “up” to 100k Avios points. It requires minimum spend of $20k to get the whole 100k and the annual fee is not waived. But the standard offer for 50k Avios for $2k of minimum spend and NO annual fee for the first year is still out there, you can find it HERE. The 100k offer pays bloggers and the 50k offer does not. So when you see a blogger pumping away ONLY the offer that pays him/her, tell them what douche bags they are! Even better, come here and apply (for the 100k if you can handle the minimum spend in your friendly MS establishments) to teach them a lesson lol. The offer here at TBB can be seen after clicking on the credit cards tab, clicking on the creditcardsdotcom link/banner, clicking on “Card Type”, clicking on “Chase” (or the applicable bank) and scrolling down and then applying…phew! TBB does not have direct cc links and it shows lol.
Great Iberia award space for next summer at MileCards. This is where this appeared first. If you saw it at a Titan who used it to pump away a bunch of plastic…just remember this. Do NOT reward pumping/blatant selling, reward valuable content FIRST!
So, will gift card purchases count for the Discover Apple Pay promo? For God’s sake, please DO NOT CALL Discover to ask!
Michael @real_jetsetr had a wonderful guest post at The Flight Deal about (non)flying Spirit and what can happen when flights get canceled. Great stuff Michael, you can write a guest post at TBB anytime. But I am not betting with you…I only bet when I am 100% certain I will win lol.
Loyalty Traveler is traveling in Norway and is writing some wonderful pure travel posts lately. Here is one of the latest ones: 68.8° N in Harstad, Norway
Obscene hand gestures from around the world. Hey, why stop just giving them the finger? This is where you learn about the wanker, the little finger wag, moutza (in Greek, please don’t do this to me next time you see me lol) and more.
The Not So Surprising Truth about Gold Bugs. Oh, read this next time you hear of a “guru” that it’s time to buy Gold. And laugh at their faces!
Mysterious Beach Patterns That Scientists Can’t Explain
25 Best Museums Around the World
And I leave you with this…
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1st
Central Standard Time Second…
Is that now a 1-THREE typ to Hilton?
What?
People often belittle airline status yet Michael’s example show how status can be a great benefit. Its a relief to be handed a boarding pass under circumstances like this. These type situations might justify burning 25k miles in my book, I’d cry to see the miles go for this short flight but would be happy heading to my destination. Either way those of us with knowledge and choices because of this hobby come out ahead.
I agree for the benefits, especially in the situations similar to what Michael faced.
BUT is it worth the cost to get that elite status? Not these days in my opinion in general. This is no longer the after 911 days… #sadforus #goodforremainingairlines
Regarding your tweet about me adding the dates or archives marks in front of my tweets. Thanks for the feedback. Let me explain a little bit where I am coming from…
The tweets I schedule with links back to my blog are NOT aimed at regular readers who, I am guessing/hoping/estimating, that they have already read the blog of the day and are familiar with is headline and content. Why are you clicking on my tweet during the day linking back to my blog? These tweets are intended for new readers who search on Twitter and happen to find me and I hope some of them stay on as regular readers. It’s a long slug… Each click on my site does NOT mean anything monetary to me, I am not in a network where they run ads and split ad revenues with the individual bloggers based on page views. One month in ad revenue alone of a Titanic blog in Boarding Area is probably more than what TBB earns the whole year from all sources! Let’s talk about the sources: CC clicks from NON direct links at creditcards.com, Amazon shopping and the VERY rare click on my referral links. I despise the ads my readers have to look at the right menu side (which by the way they never paid out yet!). As soon as I see a payment from them I am killing them and going totally ad free.Finally, the only “marketing” I do is schedule tweets via Buffer. No time for SEO stuff and cross linking to blue death to my own content. No weekly summaries either 🙂
As always, thanks for the feedback and support.
I called Club Carlson about one month ago regarding not having received the free night offer as a Club Carlson Visa card member. Agent said I was eligible, but she had to connect me to a supervisor to process the free night credit. After 15 minutes on hold listening to the music the line disconnected.
Still have not followed up on that, though I wish I had after my tiny room in London last week at Comfort Inn Westminster. I would have loved to have another night at The Mayfair to see if they could possibly place me in a worse location in the hotel than I received on my last stay.
I never called when the devaluation happened. If I had done I would have been given 7,500 CC pts in both accounts and been “registered” for this free night e-cert. So…I waited. When I finally called for myself, I was told no 7,500 pts but e-cert will come to me as a nice bank staffer called to tell me. “My wife” called about a week earlier than me and was awarded the 7,500 on the spot but bank staffer said no to the free night e-cert. Waited for a while and then sent a secure message. Did not hear anything until a few days she received a letter in the mail saying the free night e-cert is going to come. Again, e-certs have a language of “six to eight weeks” to appear in an email…
I found the ecert letter in the mail.Here is my sequence: First spoke to Club Carlson and received 10k points posted to my account. Next I sent the secure message to USBank just asking about how it works and received acknowledgement via secure message that director’s office will review. A little over two weeks have passed and I did not pay attention much. The e-cert came in today saying upon a review I have been awarded a free night ecert and that it will show up in a few weeks. I’m hoping the 2 free nights will post eventually as well as I spent $10001.5 and just paid the annual fee 🙂 Thanks for the good info.
Thanks for the update in your situation too!
I haven’t spent much on the cards at all since paying the annual fee a few months ago. Just waiting to get the e-cert before deciding what to do with them. One thing for sure, no point of keeping both cards open, one will go.
What are you saying BUZZ? That Gleff ( THE THOUGHT LEADER ON TRAVEL, A MAN WHO DESCRIBES HIMSELF AS one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel — a topic he has covered since 1902) DID NOT JUST HAPPEN TO THINK OF writing about THE SAME TOPIC OF IBERIA AWARD SPACE as Milecards and was not a coincidence? Sir I will have you know that is blasphemy!!!!! What’s next Obama is really Muslim?
Almost forgot… we are giving out free pizza at my site today, check out our link, everyone wins.
That is exactly what I am saying 🙂
Buzz-
My wife and I each applied for BA 100K cards through your link, and as I am sure you know, we were approved, despite a summer windfall of other new cards.
I just want to thank the Travel Blogger Buzz credit committee for these favorable decisions. Rest assured, we will make every payment due, if at all possible.
Muchas gracias Sam!
The TBB credit committee is in favor of grabbing everything we can get out of them banks lol.
Hey TBB, i was praising your for adding dates/archives etc to the beginning of your tweets! TBB is not who I was referencing sorry- if that wasn’t clear.Regular readers such as my fairself, especially groupies, are familiar with most current headlines/content. When I get po’d is when someone tweets(not TBB) and old title or post and I fall for it then realizing its 6 months old and the content is outdated already.
Sorry you missed the leftover sushi-hope you didn’t have to buy son new clothes while his laundry is being done. 🙂
No problem. Me adding that was a good move I think. And it was based on reader feedback.
I just wished there was a way you guys did not bother with my tweets on the top of the hour as you are not the intended audience 🙂 I just wanted other readers to know a little more behind my thinking for this.
I may take a WordPress beginner class in Ann Arbor…
No new clothes…Yogurt was okay but I really preferred the sushi!
Doesn’t Chase just allow one to have five of their cards, or five applications in 24 months, or something like that ?
I have United Explorer Plus, Sapphire, and Ink. Think my next move might be United Business, maybe. Hmmm . . .
All this about what you can do with points on United or BA or whoever is wonderful but I think it depends on whether “award seats” are available, that’s the catch isn’t it ? Despite the glowing description of all the benefits.
My impression thus far anyway.
I would love to get in on one of those deals where they have a short cut to elite status, I think one of the airlines recently did this, can’t remember the details. Then again I don’t travel that much. Eh what am I doing here ? ? ?
OK keep up the good work !
Confusing so going slow and just sticking with my 3 cards plus one legacy Hawaiian Air card, it is from Barclays nowadays, at least there’s no conflict with Chase there.
Mike,
Again, do only as much as you can handle.
No limitation on Chase cards, it really depends on how much credit they extend to you. That is why is very important to have a “story” when you call the Chase reconsideration department and be ready to sacrifice/close and/or transfer credit lines from another card. No problem getting another Chase card based on what you have now. Business apps are getting harder to go through, be prepared to answer the question “We see you have an Ink card so why do you need another business card?”.
The limitation on the number of cards you are referring to is Amex: 4 credit cards at a time. It does not include charge cards (Amex Platinum, etc.). Charge cards are the ones you must make the payment of the balance in full, no CREDIT involved.
Everything is based on availability yes!
Check tomorrow for a primer on how to book award trips to Asia using AA miles. You need to diversify your miles away from Chase/United/StarAlliance 🙂
Agree about getting into AA, and I need to figure out how to get a running start with a good chunk of miles.
Thing I like about Chase is MS at 5x, our friend at TravelIsFree likes United too for all around value but yes I do want to diversify. I started with them due to Continental flying right out of San Diego back when, with their hub in Houston.
I can handle the cc payments and so forth, it is keeping track of the due dates and so forth, on top of keeping everyday life, work, etc. organized. But doing pretty well with BB.
I thought I had been told, do the CSP card before hitting 5 Chase cards, as they would only allow you 5, anyway I do need to branch out. Thanks for the tip on having a good story for a second business card, I think I should be able to come up with something. But I will let it simmer for a while.
AA, their cards are with Citi I believe. At this point I’m not very interested in the cards where you are exchanging for cash value, as I feel there is better value to be had in flights, I think one of the “gurus” agrees, maybe it is Travel is Free again. Thing is, I’m not churning massive numbers of credit cards, nor MS, so I want to make each cc count for the sign up bonus and so forth.
Thanks Buzz for taking the time to reply.
😀
Oh yeah I forgot the sapphire card you have is NOT the Preferred version right? Yeah, 5 apps of ANY bank within the past 24 months. So, make sure you sneak in an app for that one before you hit that number. It is ANY cards, not just Chase!
Plenty of AA cards to have fun with…
Albert Edwards is far from a crackpot. I put him up there with David Rosenberg and Jim Reid. He has a fabulous interview on RealVisionTV.com (that you can access for free).
TBB is not a Gold Bug. If I had a dollar for every time I read “Buy Gold” in my life I could buy Boarding Area 🙂
Mike-
Start here:
Where do you want to go, and what airlines go there at a price you like (in both dollars and miles)?
Great advice for Mike——–>Focus, focus, focus on a trip target and then all these miles related decisions becomes much easier! You are all over the field now…you will burn out soon this way!
Chase is spreading the 5/24 rule it appears. I am afraid Chase has had enough of us churners. This is the beginning.
Not looking good for the pimps. 1 bonus per card per lifetime with Amex, Chase clamping down. Citi has 18 months rule.
Is MommyPoints going to start pumping a Disney credit card?