tonrob

Especially useful if you have a card that offers a points or cash back multiplier on grocery spend.

These offers seem to come more and more regularly, in 3x, 4x and even 5x variants. Gas points expire after a month.

My MO is to buy a few thousand dollars worth of Visa GCs at the beginning of the offer, earn 6% cash back (AMEX Blue) and also save a few hundred dollars in gas over the coming month.

Gas points are redeemable at Shell (2,200 points maximum per fill = $2.20 off per gallon). I layer this by paying with Shell gift cards bought at a discount, e.g. current AMEX offer for $15 back wen spending $75 at Home Depot (Home Depot sells Shell gift cards, so 20% off). I'm earning cash back (or miles) while getting gas for about $1.15 a gallon!

tonrob

I'll be heading out for my annual trip to Germany soon to visit Mrs tonrob and the Sproutlet via a "roundabout" route that satisfies my travel geekery and craving for premium travel funded for cheap (or free). I posted a few months ago about my original itinerary, but I'm in the process of making a few changes thanks to (1) my inability to leave things alone and (2) the fact that you can easily make changes to award bookings (for a smallish fee).

Current plan is:

Train to Boston

Free night at Intercontinental (Chase IHG Visa free night)

Amtrak Acela First Class to New York (Chase points)

BA First Class to Heathrow and connection in Club Europe to Frankfurt (BA points, fuel + taxes covered by cash back tricks)

BA First


This will allow me to sample the Concorde Rooms in both JFK and Heathrow for the first time. Also booked Cabana at Heathrow for some sleep and a shower between flights.

Concorde Room JFK


Concorde Room Cabana Heathrow


After a few days with the in-laws, leaving the Sproutlet with them and taking Mrs tonrob for a long "mystery weekend" comprising Lufthansa (economy class - the horror) to Prague (Barclaycard Arrival redemption) and 4 nights at the Mandarin Oriental (BA Avios points sale earlier in the year).

Back in Germany, will leave a few days later.

"Back-up" booking is BA via London and First class to Beijing (BA points). I now see that about 14 days before departure Lufthansa First Class availability is appearing either direct (on the A380) or via Munich (on the 747-8), so I'll see if I can grab that instead nearer the time (Chase points, via United). Lufthansa First beat BA hands-down by a country mile and it'll mean I get to try the dedicated First Class Terminal at Frankfurt (including transfer to the plane by Porsche!)

Lufthansa First class Terminal


Lufthansa First


Having never been to mainland China before, I'll enjoy 3 nights at a Hilton followed by DragonAir (Cathay subsidiary) to Hong Kong (Chase). One night there at the Intercontinental (Chase free night) before Cathay First to JFK (Chase again). I'll arrive late and stay at the Intercontinental Times Square for a night (Chase free night) before returning home via Amtrak the following day (cash, covered via cashback).

Hilton Beijing Wangfujing


Intercontinental Hong Kong


Cathay First




Out-of-pocket for this trip apart from meals and local sightseeing etc. will be zero. Nothing. Nada.

I write this not to brag, but to illustrate what can be done if you sink some time into this game. Those who have read this thread from the start will probably know how I've done this. If you've done this and still have questions then feel free to ask. It's not for everyone, but I really love this stuff and want to help people who are interested and can spend the time to do the same.

g1ant

Sounds like a great trip. When will you be in Prague?
I can certainly point you towards some great pubs if that's your thing.

Steerpike

I think I asked this already, but I can't find my post or the reply so here it is again ... I have about 200,000 miles with US Airways, and they are part of 'One World', which also has BA as a member. How do I go about getting a BA flight using my US Airways miles? I can't seem to find any way to do this online.

Do I have to make a call, and if so, do I have to call US Airways award folks or BA Award folks? Having to make a call sucks because I can't explore options ahead of time, but I'll do whatever it takes to get the 'free' ticket.

Thanks!

coastieexpat

Super ! Thanks, just booked 2 Biz class Acacia from NY ( penn ) to Washington. 16,000 pts.

Just a little summary of my upcoming trip.

I am in the Uk at present and my better half is in California.......so........

One way flight from SFO to SEA on AA $236.00 minus $200 from Amex Plat gift card.

BA SEA to LHR club world 50,000 pts + $450

3 weeks in UK, ( were hiring a Narrowboat in London for 2 weeks.....good deal but you can't use points :-(

Return

2 Berths, ( Balcony.... obstructed by a lifeboat ) 7 nights Cunard Queen Mary Southampton to New York , on sale from Vactions to go $2600.00.

1 night Starwood Le Parker Meridian, New York 20,000 starpoints

1 night Hyatt Regency Washington DC 15,000 pts
1 night Hyatt Regency Washington DC Anniversary free night
1 night Hyatt Ronald Reagan Airport hotel 12,000 pts.

1st class from DCA ( washington ) to LAX to SFO on AA , 2 tix $ 627 each, yeah I know I could have had this for free but we need the BA Tier Points to reach Silver, and this 1 trip will reap me and the missus 270 of them each ( I also have $400 of AA gift cards to use up ).

I Qualified for the Hyatt Diamond Challenge, so the Hyatts will include , free breakfast and possible upgrade.

All in all I am pretty pleased with this trip, especially coming into NY on the Queen Mary.

Not all for free....but pretty decent.

Thanks for the help.

tonrob

Have a read of this.

You need to call US Airways to book, but you can search availability on ba.com first which makes things easier ("fishing" on the phone takes much longer).

Note that ba.com will list BA Avios points prices, but you'll actually pay the number of US miles as mentioned in the table in the article.

The article references the fact that US-made bookings weren't attracting the fuel surcharges that BA and AA would have charged for the same flight. I don't know if that's still true, so you might want to Google ahead of time if this matters that much to you.

tonrob

A few things have gone tits-up recently:

Evolve bill-pay now only allows 4 payments per month per payee per household.

No more shopping portal pay-outs for gift cards purchased online from Staples.

As of earlier today, Walmart no longer accepts OneVanilla prepaid debit cards for money-equivalent purchases over $99.99.

Also of today, AMEX Membership Rewards no longer accept points transfers to accounts in any other name than your own.

If none of this means anything to you then great. Otherwise I'll have a large Scotch if you're buying.

On to the next thing...

tonrob

Off to Philly for the weekend.

Amtrak coach there, business back - funded by Chase Ultimate Rewards transferred to Amtrak Guest Rewards.

2 nights at a decently-rated Radisson downtown, 44K points for 2 nights using the one-night "free" feature of the US Bank Club Carlson credit card.

Never been to Philly before so looking forward to a look around the sights and a few beers.

tonrob

Currently this card has had its sign-up offer increased temporarily to 20,000 Ultimate Reward points.

The card also has rotating quarterly categories that offer 5x points per dollar spent (up to $1,500).

The Q3 categories are gas stations and Kohls's, which is quite useful.

Gas stations sell, well, gas (which is handy).

Kohl's sell a myriad of gift cards to restaurants, Home Depot and others, so it's easy to max out the 5x bonus.

I personally value UR points at about 1.5c each based on the value I can get when I transfer to airlines/hotels. Note that you can only transfer to airlines, hotels etc. if you also have a Chase Sapphire or INK card (both also worth getting, and tend to have even higher sign-up bonuses). Otherwise, with Freedom only, you're limited to getting cash back at a rate of 1 point = $1, which is a bit of a waste in my book (but better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick).

Take a look back in the thread for the sheer number of times I've used the words "Ultimate Rewards" when I've referred to how I've paid for really cool travel.

Mommy Points (woof, woof) says things here.

g1ant

Don't miss Herschel's East Side Deli in the Reading Terminal Market. The best Reuben sandwich in the world!!! A ton of great sandwich stalls in that place.

tonrob

Ok - bargain hunters! North Korean airline Air Koryo seems to have a system wide IT glitch where all fares are $9, even in business class!

BE meet-up in Pyongyang?

Screaming Deal: North Korea's Air Koryo $9 All-In Mistake Fare is Systemwide, and Even Works for Business Class - View from the Wing - View from the Wing

tonrob

Frequent Miler has created a master list of transfer partners where miles or points in programme A can be transferred to programme B.

Clicky.

tonrob

There have been many reports online yesterday about the demise of this offer, the best credit card sign-up offer around for many months.

Citi has a track record of "ending" offers, killing the landing page that details the offer but still leaving the application page intact. Links to the application page itself are available online via blogs etc. I can dig one out if anyone's interested. Historically they've survived for several months, with Citi still honoring the original offer.

There have been many (10, 20?) reports I've read today that confirm that people have applied today, been approved and had the offer confirmed.

You can apply for this card multiple times and get the bonus each time. Search upthread for details as I've written these before. This card is a moneymaker.

tonrob

Frequent Miler's Quick Deals

tonrob

Expires 30th July. I'd go for it if I wasn't already holding one at the moment.

View From the Wing covers:

50,000 Point Offer Back for American Express Business Gold Rewards - View from the Wing - View from the Wing