Bink

You'll have to do some searching as neither of my Chase CC's stated the offer that I had signed up for ANYWHERE on ANY of the paperwork I received from them. They did credit the miles to my accounts within 1 business day of my first statements being issued however. Both of mine were $1,000 within 3 months (I easily achieved this booking flights on both of them that I needed to book in any case, but I would find it easy to spend that much within 3 months without hurting my budget.)

GeoffM

I didn't spot anything obvious when I opened the heavily-wadded envelope so you're probably right! However, it was one referred to in this thread... somewhere.

Similarly, I won't have trouble spending that amount of money. Virtually anything I buy goes on AMEX if I can, so I'll just spend using this card instead.

Bink

Which were they? Chase BA, Chase United? Ultimate rewards?
The Chase BA and Chase United were both $1,000 in first 3 months.

tonrob

It's fairly rare for details of the sign-up offer to come in the envelope with the card. This is because sign-up offers aren't only a factor of the card itself, but also the source of the application (e.g. Card X can have different sign-up offers depending on whether you apply using link A or link B).

Geoff - try sending Chase a secure message asking them to confirm the sign-up offer. They usually respond within a couple of hours with the correct answer (that way you also have it in writing). Also did you phone the reconsideration line after the rejection? This is what they're for - so far every rejection I have received has been overturned following a phone call (this was in the days before I started pre-emptively phoning before I received a decision in the first place).

If anyone wants any hints on meeting spend bonuses PM me - I'm currently working on $34K worth of spending required to hit the bonuses on my recently-received AMEX Starwood ($5K), AMEX Delta ($5K), AMEX Gold Business ($10K), Chase INK Plus ($10K), 2x Citi Hilton ($3K) and BofA Hawaiian ($1K) cards.

GeoffM

Okay, it was a Chase Priority Club Rewards:
I think it was the "free" night outweighing the annual cost, plus the sign-up bonus, that attracted me.

Will try the rejection line later.

tonrob

The annual free night is definately worth the fee as you say. Mrs tonrob and I each have one of these cards, and we're using them for two "free" rooms at the Intercontinental in Boston this weekend (worth approx. $200 + taxes per room).

lansbury

OK not using miles and points but there are some good deals going on Delta at the moment.

United rescheduled at couple of my flights which meant I had very tight connection times, which I didn't want to risk. One flight changed by over 4 hours giving me the option to cancel for a full refund.

United PDX-IAH-IAD-MAN in business/first $4950 plus 80,000 for two tickets.

Delta PDX-ATL-MAN in business elite $4120 for two tickets.

The Delta product isn't as swish but it's $800 and 80,000 miles cheaper, and a better routing.

tonrob

The Delta fare's good, but isn't the United fare expensive as it's a "part miles part cash" fare? I find those tend to be poor value regardless of the airline.

coastieexpat

Just a heads up....

Hawaiian Airlines is offering double miles through their e-store from Nov 26th to Dec 5th.

lansbury

United are not as good as they were for getting upgrades with just miles. Unless you do cash and miles the chances are without being a GS or 1k you will not be high enough up list to get upgraded. Especially on flights to MAN which at best often have only 1 or 2 seats free for upgrades.

tonrob

Ah, ok. I was more thinking of the value of doing an outright redemption in the cabin you want rather than an upgrade from the cabin below. I figured that would give better value, assuming that you had enough miles in the first place.

tonrob

Kohl's has a few sweet Black Friday offers - made even sweeter by the fact that:

a) The Chase Ultimate Rewards portal is currently offering 10 points/$ spent at Kohl's
b) Kohl's is currently offering $15 Kohl's Cash for every $50 spent
c) Dealnews has some great coupon codes for Kohl's right now

For those with a bit of time on their hands to do some re-selling, this is a good way to earn free airline miles and make a bit of money on the side at the same time...

tonrob

Thanks, but you may be in the wrong thread.

coastieexpat

Tonrob , I just received an email from Amex offering an upgrade to their platinum card with a 25,000 point bonus.

The yearly fee is $450.00, though I have read you can get some of this back due to the benefits that come with the card.

Do you think this is worth it ?

Cheers !

Speedwell

Folks, I have over 100K miles in BA right now, and I want to think about planning a trip back to Northern Ireland to see my husband after he returns from his VWP trip to the US so he can wait out the remaining time for visa processing toward a CR-1. I'd be flying from Houston to Belfast, with stops in between as necessary (London and/or Dublin, I suppose). Do any of you old hands have any idea how I can minimize cost and maximize miles usage? I don't care about upgrading, just about affording the flight. I know it's a stupid question but I'm sitting in Germany at the moment on a business trip, jet lagged and not quite all there. Despite having accumulated all those miles, I don't have the faintest idea how to spend them. Thanks, all.