NatashaB

How are you finding Evolve, tonrob? I might need to start using it soon, the company I work for is shifting our pay schedule to a 2-weekly one and it's completely incompatible with our monthly car and mortgage payments.

tonrob

Evolve's gone a bit shit - I think they were too generous in the first place, coupled with bloggers publicizing the abuse potential too widely. I believe now there's a maximum if one payment per month per recipient account number, which means the most you can pay using a gift card is $500. Buggers up those who were paying their mortgages (or more creative things) with it every month. I still pay my electricity and gas bills with it, but it's small change in the grand scheme of things.

NatashaB

Shame, we really need to find a way of paying the mortgage via card as sometimes our paydays fall a couple of days after the mortgage due date.

g1ant

My god, what have I done?

I have to go back to the UK next month to pick up the dog that I bought last month.

Flying outbound on BA in F from Houston to Heathrow. 62,5K AA miles + rip off YQ.
BUT.......
As I want to have the dog travel as excess baggage on the return to Dallas, all I can get is a flight on AA in COACH !!!!

I've not flown in the back for as long as I can remember. Does anyone have expericence of flying economy? Is it really that bad? Will I have to get my shots up to date???

coastieexpat

You should trade places with the dog.

dunroving

OK, any advice greatly appreciated on whether I should be calling United to ask for FF miles....

I am a United FF mileage member.

I recently flew Glasgow to Austin via the following segments:

Glasgow to Dublin with Aer Lingus
Dublin to Chicago with Aer Lingus flight that was a codeshare with United
Chicago to Austin via United.

Return journey was essentially the same/reverse of the above.

On my United account, only the two Chicago/Austin flights seem to have earned points (the flights were over a month ago). This was even though the whole journey was showing as a booking on the United Web site (it was booked via Budgetair).

Am I whistling in the wind to expect to get the FF miles for the two segments with Aer Lingus? My FF number was showing on all of the boarding cards and in the booking ...

Do any of you sage folks have suggestions as to whether I should be picking up the phone?

[ETA: I also recently flew to Doha and back with Qatar Airways and that journey also doesn't seem to be showing on my United FF statement, even though my FF number was in the system for that trip too ... I suppose it may be a bit soon to expect to see it online - it was a week ago)]

tonrob

To be honest mileage earning on paid flights is not really my speciality. I do always as a general rule make sure I know what the answer should be before I call an airline (especially as the queues can sometimes be long and the agents untrained). If I were you I'd copy/paste your question into Flyertalk.

dunroving

OK, thanks Tonrob, I'll look into that. I have submitted a request to claim missing miles from United as I found this page that specifically mentions Aer Lingus, which is reassuring.

I also submitted a similar claim to USAir for another flight, where they cancelled my return ticket and put me on an alternative route via Aer Lingus - that one is a bit stickier because Aer Lingus isn't in the same alliance as USAir/American (but it wasn't my fault they changed my flight).

At least these days there are electronic records of these things so keeping boarding cards and mailing hard copy forms isn't necessary.

I didn't receive a confirmation email from either of the claims I submitted, though, which is a bit worrying.

tonrob

I've made a few posts in the past regarding my love for Chase Ultimate Rewards points.

Dan's Deals has used the current 70K INK offer as an excuse to spell out a number of interesting uses for UR points.

g1ant

I got gonged out by Chase when I applied for the Southwest business card because of too many requests for credit. How long should I wait before I do another AOR ??

coastieexpat

try the re- consideration line for chase at 888-245-0625

Here's the Points Guy's pag e on the subject...

http://thepointsguy.com/2013/03/cred...phone-numbers/

I have used it for both Chase and Amex and got approved. Just make sure you have all the reasons why you need it, I wouldn't bring up the real reason, ( i.e. miles/points ). I have mentioned after I was approved just to make sure I was getting them but only casually, as an afterthought

I think both times I did it the day after I was declined or I got the, " we need more time to make a decision " page.

Good luck !

Also, If it looks like they are still going to decline you, ask if you can just shift your credit limits around, that worked for me too.

tonrob

These days I usually 'sacrifice' one Chase card to get another one approved. Apply first then call reconsideration and offer up the sacrificial lamb if they start umming and ahhing.

g1ant

That's fine. I don't want my Chase Hyatt any more. Their redemption has got crappy.

coastieexpat

You do get the free room every year though, ( cat 1-4 ) which easily covers the card fee.

tonrob

That's what we've kept Mrs tonrob's for so far. As far as point acquisition goes, I go down the Ultimate Rewards route.