You may be aware of some of the cardholder perks that come with many premium credit cards, such as rental car insurance and lost baggage coverage. But did you know that some cards will reimburse you if your cell phone is stolen or damaged?
Not a lot of cards offer this coverage, but it may be worth getting one just to protect your phone. I know I’ve dropped, sat on, cracked or otherwise damaged many smartphones over the years.
There’s no reason that being deaf or hard of hearing should prevent anyone from traveling. While it can offer its own challenges, nothing compares to sunning on an exotic beach, exploring a world-class museum or strolling through a quaint village. A little preparation and planning in advance can help make any trip—be it by plane, train, bus or boat—stress-free and fun.
Your trip is booked, your bags are packed, and you’re ready to go. Chances are the last thing on your mind is how you’re going to save money on currency conversion fees, securing pocket cash and on your foreign purchases.
These expenses can add up though and without some upfront planning, you’ll return from your holiday with a bank or credit card statement full of fees. Minimal time invested before you go can result in reducing transaction fees, avoiding overcharges for foreign travel expenses and even earning rewards while you’re traveling.
The good news is that you don’t need a Social Security number to get a credit card. The bad news is that you’ll probably have to establish a credit history in the United States before applying.
Flying Blue is the frequent flyer program of Air France-KLM. They share it with some partners: Kenya Airways, Tarom, Aircalin, and Transavia. It is one of Europe’s major frequent flyer programs, along with Executive Club (British Airways) and Miles&More (Lufthansa group).
Until recently, earning Turkish Airlines Miles & Smiles hasn’t been easy for anyone living in the United States. The only ways to do so has been to credit Star Alliance flights to your Turkish Airlines Smiles & Miles account or through Marriott Hotel + Air packages. Now we have another way.
Delta Air Lines has taken delivery of its first Airbus A350becoming the first North American operator of Airbus’ new long-haul aircraft, and on August 5, the airplane was flown from the Airbus factory in Toulouse, France to Delta’s main hub in Atlanta. The aircraft is the first one to feature Delta’s new Premium Select cabin (premium economy), as well as their new Delta One Suite with a fully flat bed, a full-height sliding privacy door, and customizable ambient light. The airline’s goal is to offer an entirely new travel experience on ultra-long-haul flights.
Chase continues to make it more difficult to get approved for new credit cards and earns large sums of points with sign up bonuses. By now, many are familiar with the 5/24 rule, in which Chase will automatically reject applications for most of their cards if you have opened five or more new credit card accounts with any bank within the last 24 months.
Now, Chase has come out with a new rule, targeted at the Sapphire family of cards. There are three cards in the Sapphire family: the no annual fee Sapphire card, Sapphire Preferred, and Sapphire Reserve. Here are the new rules per a memo sent to Chase bankers:
It’s hard to believe it has already been a year since Chase announced the release of the Chase Sapphire Reserve®. This card and its promotional 100K point sign up bonus sent shockwaves around the travel blogosphere.
For those who signed up for the card shortly after it was announced, the annual fee is coming due, so it’s time to decide whether to keep, cancel, or downgrade the card. With a hefty $450 annual fee, the threshold for keeping this card is higher than most.
Hurricane Harvey has done unimaginable damage to Houston and the surrounding areas. It’s the wettest tropical storm ever recorded in the contiguous United States, dumping more than 40 inches of rain in just four days. Storm damages are estimated in the tens of billions of dollars.
Malaysia Airlines made a pretty big announcement in late July regarding the 10 Boeing 737 MAX 10 it ordered during the last Paris Air Show. The aircraft, due to be delivered in 2021, even though it is a narrow-body medium-haul plane, will feature lie-flat seats with direct aisle access in business class, replacing Malaysia’s traditional recliner seats and making it a great new business class product to try out!
Travelers who are also country counters always look for ways to maximize their travel time and visit more than one place per trip. Although traveling longer is the most obvious answer, sometimes traveling smarter also does the trick. Knowing special routings and which frequent-flyer miles to use where can help you maximize that time on the ground.
Sometimes the best value for miles is not the most obvious one. And in the case of redeeming miles to fly on Delta, the answer may come from a totally different loyalty program. You can actually spend fewer miles by redeeming Virgin Atlantic Flying Club points for some Delta flights than it costs to redeem SkyMiles.
When you collect points and miles you do it for the value, not for the mere pleasure of accumulating millions of them–although there is certainly some excitement when you see them piling up. I still remember how thrilled I was to accrue my first 30,000 miles. But I was even more excited to make my first redemption for a round-trip flight to South East Asia with the return flying Thai and Lufthansa first class. This was a ticket worth a few thousand dollars in value. The economy round trip-ticket would have easily run $1,200.
When Mariott and SPG merged last year we wrote about the new opportunities the merger created. First Marriott quickly installed a policy allowing members of either program to convert their points back and forth at a ratio of one SPG point to three Marriott points.
SPG points are one of the most valuable currencies in the travel rewards game, with the ability to transfer to over 30 airline partners providing a great deal of flexibility. And if you transfer increments of 20K SPG points to airline partners, you receive a 5K mile bonus, effectively making SPG points worth 1.25 airline miles of your choice. But you can do even better than that. We will show how you can get more than 1.25 miles per point and get a free hotel stay.
Chase recently sent out a survey to selected cardholders to gauge opinions on several potential negative changes that could be made to the Ultimate Rewards program and its associated credit cards. While no changes are imminent, this survey could give us some insight into what may occur in the future. Since program devaluations are a constant source of risk in the travel rewards game, it helps to consider which opportunities currently provide outsized value that may be ripe for devaluation.
The Citi Prestige credit card is one of my top cards. In fact, I always use it for booking flights, but it is also great for a few other reasons! Here’s why I love the Citi Prestige.
Last month, American Express Membership Rewards program restored its point transfer ratio to 1-to-1 for both partner Avios programs: British Airways and Iberia. With a 250-200 conversion for British Airways and a 5-4 conversion for Iberia, transfer ratios left a lot to be desired previously. Shortly after, a new promotion sweetened the deal even further. Amex began offering a 40-percent bonus on all Avios transfers through September 17.
One of the greatest –if not the greatest –credit card benefits is the 4th Night Free perk exclusively with the Citi Prestige® Card. Today we’ll do a deep dive into what it is and how to use it.
Have you applied for an American Express card just to earn the sign-up bonus before? If you have, or have ever considered it, you might want to tread lightly going forward. American Express has added to their terms and conditions to discourage this type of behavior for some credit cards, with the possibility that others will follow. If they decide that you’re a churner, it’s not going to be pretty!
