Today I’ll expand on a site that everyone needs to get familiar with for booking award travel. Great Circle Mapper (www.gcmap.com) is a site so embedded in award travel searches that I can’t think of a blog that doesn’t use. Today I’ll go over how to use GCmap to find flight distances between routes, and discuss […]
Shop Talk: Is it too Late to Start Earning Frequent Flyer miles?
Sam: I’d like to turn our standard Shop Talk format on end today. Instead of a guest post, or our usual banter I wanted to discuss a question that’s been on my mind for a few weeks. This topic has been sitting in the draft box unwritten for a while: “Is it too late to […]
Confirming and Tracking Wells Fargo Signup Bonuses
Quick Summary: Wells Fargo has added a tracker that makes it easy to confirm signup bonuses are attached to your account, your progress toward the minimum spending requirement, and when the bonus is scheduled to be paid. We beat up on Wells Fargo quite a bit when discussing Good, Bad and Ugly banks recently, and […]
This Week in Bank Points: Stacking AmEx Insider Fares, 35% Rebate, 4x and more for Flights
Quick Summary: Flexible bank points (Chase Ultimate Rewards, AmEx Membership Rewards, Citi ThankYou Points) are often a better way to pay for flights than traditional airline miles. With bank points you don’t have to contend with award availability and you earn miles since they are considered paid tickets. In this post I’ll stack AmEx Insider […]
Shop Talk: The Good, The Bad & The Ugly in This Game.
Welcome to another edition of Shop Talk where we discuss what’s going on in our personal points & miles space and highlight what we think is interesting in the broader space as well. This is the kind of “Shop Talk” many of you are engaged in on a daily basis, so feel free to discuss […]
Potential US Bank Gift Card Fraud Spotted in the Wild
I hate that I have to write a post like this (again), but I would be remiss if I didn’t put this warning out there. Years ago there was an issue with US Bank gift card fraud. Cards would be drained after purchase at stores hundreds of miles away. It seemed the cards were opened, […]
Targeted: American Express Business Gold 75k/$5k Offer
Today I’ll go over an excellent targeted 75k Offer for the American Express Business Gold Card that’s starting to show online on some American Express account login pages. This offer was not on my page yesterday so this is a relatively new targeted offer (to me). Even if you don’t see this offer you might […]
This Week in Bank Points: Stacking Citi Prestige 4th Night Free with Four Seasons Offers
Quick Summary: It’s possible to stack the Citi Prestige 4th night free benefit with free night offers at hotels like the Four Seasons. You can pay with Citi ThankYou points for additional uplift if you have the Citi Premier card. If the hotel makes their best rates and promos available to bank portals it can […]
Pay Federal Taxes Online with a Credit Card Fee-Free with Plastiq
Quick Summary: You can pay federal taxes online with a credit card for free through bill pay service Plastiq as part of the Masterpass/Mastercard promo they’re running through September 30, 2018. Why use Plastiq to Pay Federal Taxes If you have federal taxes to pay, you can earn credit card rewards and/or liquidate Mastercard gift cards […]
Shop Talk: Chase Ritz-Carlton, Full Sized Car Seats, Open Ended European Vacations, Kauai (Food & Coffee) and More
Welcome to another edition of Shop Talk where we discuss what’s going on in our personal points & miles space and highlight what we think is interesting in the broader space as well. This is the kind of “Shop Talk” many of you are engaged in on a daily basis, so feel free to discuss […]