GeoffM

Does it say where that Delta purchase has to be made - ie on board, for a trip, or the sky mall thingy? If you trust somebody you know is flying, give the card to them to buy a $1 TV program onboard with it?

coastieexpat

I did this a few months ago...

Set up your Avios UK account, ( I used a UK address ), then go to my account, look to the bottom left and it will say, combine my Avios.....click on that and then choose the BA programme , sign into your BA account, ( mine is U.S. based ), you will then be given the option to transfer.

Hope it works out

Bink

That's exactly what I did but when I signed into my BA account it said it wasn't possible and gave me a reference code and told me to call Avios.
Maybe it's because my bank account which earns the Avios points has a US address...?!

coastieexpat

That may be it ! I set up my account Via Tesco club card rewards in the UK, no bank account needed....

Bink

It's no biggie really. I'll use them for trips to Paris/Rome etc when I'm back in England if I can't transfer them. I have about 50k so enough for a few nice trips, that or I'll use it to hire cars when I'm back.

I'm just really happy someone in the US has finally given me a decent credit limit - $16k. I'm fed up of being denied $500 Macy's cards... (I only wanted one to get an additional 25% of the Dyson I was already getting a substantial discount on).

Massively off topic but along the saving money theme - If you are a new expat (no credit history) and at somewhere like Macy's I've played the sob story about not being able to get credit as a new expat, and have been given the additional discounts anyway... Always worth exploring! I've done it 3 or 4 times now and have been given the same benefits as getting a store card, without actually getting one.

tuxedocat

creditinfocenter forum has really great info on credit
It's been a few years since I did applications but Target used to be one you could get with no history.

tonrob

Alitalia - a fellow Sky Team member - is offering 15% off flights booked via its website until tomorrow night. This includes Delta, Air France and KLM flights.

Linky.

Edit: on reading the comments to the article it looks like some have had challenges booking, but it's worth a shot if you were going to book anyway.

Bink

United just sent me the following offer for anyone that's interested:

As a Cardmember, your benefits include:*

• 50,000 bonus miles when you spend $1,000 in your first three months as a Cardmember.

• 5,000 bonus miles after adding an authorized user and making a purchase with your Card, both within three months of opening your account.

• 10,000 bonus miles when you spend $25,000 on the Card during a calendar year.

• Two complimentary United ClubSM passes each year.

• Two miles per $1 spent on tickets purchased from United and one mile per $1 spent on all other purchases.

• Use your miles to book any seat, any time — no limitations, restrictions or blackout dates. If seats are available for sale on United-operated flights, they can be redeemed at the Standard Award level.

• Your miles won't expire as long as you're a Cardmember.

• $0 Intro Annual Fee for the first year, then $95.

tonrob

I grabbed the previous version of this offer back in April (basically the same except it gave a $50 statement credit on first use and excluded the additional 5,000 for an authorized user).

It's definitely worth jumping on - United miles are quite flexible currency - and there are rumours that they're going to bring out a new version of the card. This often means that the sign-up bonus is available again on the new card because Chase classifies it as a different product, so good to grab this one (and its bonus) before it goes away.

I used United miles this summer to fly the family to Germany and back in a mixture of first and business class - all miles being supplied by Chase and a total of just a couple of hundred dollars out of pocket on fees.

Chase is giving away United miles like they're going out of fashion these days! (Chase Ultimate Rewards program also converts to United, and UR points are very easy to acquire in large quantities).

coastieexpat

Could somebody post a link to the United deal, I'm having trouble finding it.

Thanks

Bink

Go here and then enter your mileage plus account details: https://www.united.com/web/en-US/app..._to=thatsaplus

MsElui

just noticed (and you may already know this rob) you can exchange 800 coke rewards points for 1500 Hilton Honors reward points.

coastieexpat

What are Coke rewards ?

tonrob

MsElui's post reminded me that there are a lot of easy ways to acquire lots and lots of Hilton Honors points. I think Hilton Honors is the complete slapper of the hotel points world, and here's why:

Hilton Credit card applications:

The following are all classified as separate products, so there's no reason you can't have at least one of each:

AMEX Hilton Honors card - fee-free and 50,000 sign-up bonus after spending $750 in 3 months.
AMEX Hilton Honors Surpass card - $75 annual fee, and 60,000 points after spending $3,000 in 3 months. Free Gold status for first year.
Citi Hilton Honors Signature card - fee free, and 40,000 after spending $1,000 in 4 months. There's an 'unofficial' link out there that nabs you 50,000 instead. Also - contrary to the terms, you can get this bonus more than once (I am on my 2nd of these cards and got 50,000 each time).
Citi Hilton Honors Reserve card - 2 free weekend nights (any Hilton, anywhere) after spending $2,500 in 4 months. $95 annual fee, and free Gold status while you hold the card.


Transfers from other programmes:

Hawaiian Airlines miles transfer to Hilton at a ratio of 1 miles = 2 points.

Get 1 Hawaiian mile per $ spent at Amazon by navigating to Amazon via the Hawaiian Airlines shopping portal.
Hawaiian Airlines also has 2 credit cards you can sign up for, one issues by Bank of Hawaii and the other issued by Bank of America. Each gives 35,000 Hawaiian miles (or 70,000 Hilton points if you convert) after spending $1,000 in 4 months. Annual fee for each is $79.

Virgin Atlantic miles convert to Hilton points at a ratio of 1 mile = 2 points.

Get Virgin Atlantic miles by getting the Bank of America Virgin Atlantic card, which typically gives around 50,000 or so miles (or 100,000 Hilton points). This offer comes and goes regularly (multiple times each year) with the terms changing slightly each time.

Other Hilton stuff:

Hilton is the one hotel chain that allows you to 'double dip' - that is, to earn Hilton points in addition to airline miles each time you have a paid stay. Even better, for the rest of the year they have an offer whereby if you choose Virgin Atlantic miles, they give you 1,000 miles per stay. Which of course transfers straight back to Hilton to give you an extra 2,000 points!

You can earn 50 Hilton points per day by joining Topguest and 'checking-in' via Facebook or Foursquare at any of their Doubletree properties using your smartphone. I'll point out here that Auto4sq is a website that allows you to schedule check-ins in advance from the comfort of your own computer.

There are also 2 ways of making your Hilton points stretch further when booking stays:

Both Gold members and also AMEX Hilton card holders have points discounts when booking stays. Both sets of discounts are different, so you need to work out which one is most advantageous to you before booking.

Here is an excellent Flyertalk thread in which the mysteries of booking using Hilton points are unraveled.

During our southern California holiday (next two weeks) we'll be staying in a one-bedroom suite at Homewood Suites for 5 nights that I booked using 140,000 Hilton points I acquired for free and using one of the discounts I mentioned above.

Also, don't forget that you can get a $25 statement credit for each AMEX card you hold on Small Business Saturday (Thanksgiving weekend). This applies to additional cards you have on each account* (so get ordering those now) and also to AMEX-branded cards that are not issued by AMEX (e.g. the Virgin Atlantic card above). This is a great way to take the sting out of the annual fees for some of these cards, or even make a profit!

*additional credits for authorized users applies only to AMEX-issued cards.

tonrob

I think they're something they give you in return for your teeth - a modern-day corporate tooth-fairy, if you will.