Trip to Atlanta for the BSU Game: Frequent Flier Miles > Buddy Passes

Posted on September 5, 2011 by Brad Christensen

I have a good friend, and fellow BSU Broncos fan who is a pilot for Skywest Airlines (which services the shorter, smaller plane flights for United and Delta among others).  I wrangled him into using a couple of buddy passes and accompanying me out to Atlanta for the Chick Fil A Kickoff Classic.  I had never flown on a buddy pass (standby), and thought that would be the better option than using some of my precious frequent flier miles.

We left Idaho Falls on a United Flight to Denver.  In Denver we were joined by hundreds of orange and blue-clad fans en route to Atlanta.  While it was nice to be surrounded by fellow fans, it made a timely, direct flight to Atlanta almost impossible.  We hustled from gate to gate, and finally settled on the idea of heading to Nashville to try our luck there. We happened to sneak on as the last two passengers on the flight.

In Nashville, our luck wasn’t much better.  The first flight to ATL was so overbooked I was wishing I had a real ticket so I could have taken advantage of a $400 travel voucher bump.  The second flight was overbooked as well, so we started looking into the possibility of a one-way car rental to Nashville, but at $156 for one day and a 4 hour drive, it didn’t seem very practical.  It came down to the wire and by the skin of our teeth, we were able to make it on the second flight to ATL.  All in all, the flights worked out, but the buddy passes aren’t free and for a guy like me to fly 3400 miles and pay without getting a single FF mile is a grievous sin.

I had booked us a hot-rate non-refundable deal for a rental car and 2 nights in 2 star hotel near the airport for $145, which I felt like was a great value when we got a mid-size car from Hertz, but then began to crumble when we arrived at a dive Days Inn and all they had for us was a dirty room with a single King Size Bed.  They offered us a rollaway bed for $10 a night, and I went to work with the Hotwire customer service people.  I got them to refund the non-refundable hotel charge and we opted for a really nice Fairfield Inn just down the road for a total of $65 a night – a price we gladly paid for the added cleanliness and our own beds.

All of this we pulled off in time to get to the Atlanta Braves vs. the Dodgers in the second inning.  It will come as no surprise that I am a consummate ticket scalper… and they get really cheap in the second inning.  We had to walk away from the scalper and I thought he had called our bluff until he called us back and settled on $20 for two tickets on the first base line.  One of these days I’ll post about scalping strategies.

The next day we made an excursion to Stone Mountain, a mammoth piece of exposed granite which rises seemingly from nowhere, from the side of which juts an enormous carving of Confederate President Jefferson Davis, and Generals Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson.   The carving, incidentally, was commissioned in 1916 to Idaho-born sculptor Gutzon Borglum.  (Borglum abandoned the project and went on to conceive and to carve the faces of four American presidents into Mt. Rushmore in the Black Hills of South Dakota).  The carving resumed in 1958 was was determined to be complete in 1972.

After hiking to the top of Stone Mountain in 95 degree weather, lots of humidity, and little to no shade, we ran down and set about our game-day preparations.  Southern hospitality was true to form and the great majority of the Georgia fans welcomed us with kindness and graciousness.  Also true to form, my Boise State Broncos executed a pass-punctuated trouncing of an SEC opponent for the first time, with Kellen Moore carving up Georgia’s defense much more expeditiously than the carvers who took on Stone Mountain – albeit slightly flawed from the standpoint of allowing 21 points against our 35.

But now to boil it down to my key takeaways:

  • There’s a place for buddy passes, but probably not en route to a big football game.  When BSU goes to New Orleans to play in the National Championship in January, I’ll be using my frequent flier miles. Frequent Flier Miles > Buddy Passes
  • Hotwire also has its place, but buyer beware.  In some instances, non-refundable expenses might be refundable if you whine bad enough, but don’t plan on it.
  • You can scalp a last-minute ticket to almost anything at a fraction of the cost.
  • Georgia coach Mark Richt has a rockin’ spray tan. (http://www.markrichtsspraytan.com/)

New Business Card from American Express. This card offers a 50,000 Membership Rewards Bonus once you spend $10,000 within the first five months.

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Travel and Currency Quiz

Posted on September 4, 2011 by wpengine

Where was this picture taken and what currency do they use there?


American Express Platinum-Get 25,000 membership rewards,$200 for incidentals, and Airport Lounge Access.

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Boise State Broncos

Posted on September 3, 2011 by wpengine

Today is a big day for my Boise State Broncos.  We have a lot to prove.  For the first time in history we are not the underdog in a game facing a team from the SEC.  Boise is starting the season ranked 5th on the AP poll overall.  This game will be the determining game for the Broncos this season.

They will be facing the Georgia Bulldogs on a “Neutral” field.  It just so happens that the game will be played in Atlanta, about an hour by car for the Georgia Bulldogs, and about 24 hours from Boise in a car.  Call me one-sided, but that doesn’t sound like a neutral location at all.  Last year the same thing happened when Boise faced Virgina Tech in Washington DC.

As an avid Boise State fan, my brother Brad made the trip out to Georgia yesterday and he is preparing to watch the game in person.  He will be wearing orange and blue, and will be cheering for the Broncos.  I’ll be on the couch at home, wishing I were in Atlanta.    I’m rather jealous because they also went to see the Atlanta Braves play a baseball game tonight, and then the plan on visiting the Coke museum before the game tomorrow.  So jealous!  There is so much to see in this world.  Don’t tell yourself that you’ll never get to see the things that interest you.  Start wanderlusting today by getting a great card that will offer you free travel. 

Plan to visit the tulip gardens in Amsterdam during the spring, ski the alps, eat gumbo in Louisiana, or cross the Siberia in a train.  Start accruing miles so you can eat pizza in Naples, ride to the top of the Eiffel tower, eat clam chowder in Boston, or see the northern lights in Alaska.  All of these can become realities.  Just allow yourself the time and patience to get great deal and all these can be yours.

I love watching professional sports wherever I go.  I’ve watched the New York Knicks, Yankees, and Mets all play at their respective fields.  I’ve also seen baseball in Arizona, and Washington, and watched basketball in Utah, and San Antonio.  There is something great about cheering for the home team that makes life exciting.  I’ve yet to do it, but I would love to watch a live soccer game in Barcelona, Liverpool, or Milan.  I’d love to watch a hockey game in Boston or Vancouver.

When you travel somewhere, and get a chance to visit with the locals, you always feel a bond with the people.  Try to break out of your shell when traveling to visit with people to learn about their histories.  Tonight I met a nice gentleman at a local hot spring and listened to his life story.  The people are part of what drives me to be a wanderluster.  I’ve had dinner with complete strangers in Thailand and Russia. 

Go Broncos!! Wanderlust with Us!!


 

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A Giant Allegiance to Allegiantair.com

Posted on September 2, 2011 by Brad Christensen

In the beginning, there was Southwest Airlines, and Southwest was built on the premise that it could offer discount flights, keep their planes fuller and minimize expenses, and still make a nice profit.  At one point in time, I did feel like Southwest presented value, but times have changed.

Today, I look to Allegiant Airlines (www.allegiantair.com) to quench my longing for value travel to leisure destinations.  In a little over a year, we’ve flown to Las Vegas twice and to Long Beach, California once ($90 RT).  Never have we paid more than $130 for a round-trip ticket, including taxes and fees.  Yes, is that totally off the hook amazing or what?

Their model is simple – they fly from small towns that are underserved in air travel to major leisure destinations.  Then, they try to up-sell you with everything under the sun – from priority boarding to hotel packages.  It’s really quite brilliant, because even as cheap as I am, sometimes I indulge, just so that I feel like I’m not over-exploiting their generosity.

Allegiant really opens the country up to me, so I can only imagine what it does to places like Las Vegas, LA, Phoenix, and Orlando.  Thought their system isn’t set up to do connecting flights, I often test out my options when plotting domestic travel.  One of these times I’m going to nail an opportunity to use Vegas as a hub and take advantage of something ridiculous like the $102 RT flight from Vegas to Shreveport, Louisiana later this month.  If you look at their route map, you can daydream about where some strategic use could take you very cheaply.

They’ve also announced that they’ll soon be serving Hawaii, one of those destinations that has still managed to escape me. That will make things even more interesting.

Alas, every rose has its thorn and because you all are being trained, you already know exactly what it is.  You’re thinking, “all these cheap flights are great, but we’re wanderlusters who want to travel for FREE… show me the frequent flier miles!” Unfortunately such a thing doesn’t exist for Allegiant.  The closest I can offer you is that in many cases, Allegiant vouchers are transferable, so there is a chance you might be able to buy $400 in credit for $300 or something along those lines.  For example, I did see that there was a post on the LV Craigslist for a $238 voucher for $150.

Because I’m tired of all of our boring posts without pictures, I’ll also include some pics from our Allegiant adventures in hopes of spicing this one up a bit.

South Rim of the Grand Canyon on a day trip from Vegas.

Manhattan Beach – Los Angeles.  Not a bad day for November.

My son with the HALO guy on the strip.

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Airline Customer Service

Posted on September 1, 2011 by wpengine

It’s no secret that the customer service of airlines is taking a nosedive. We used to get on planes and find nice white pillows upon which we could lay our heads and blue blankets to spread across our laps. (Actually that reminds me of a story. One time, when I went to Thailand I took one of those little blue blankets from the plane in New York and used it on the beach in Thailand as a beach towel, on the train in Thailand as a blanket, and when trekking across the northern hill tribes of Thailand as well. On my way home I kindly dropped it off on my plan in New York. It was basically a rental. Hahah) They fed us with a mediocre meal and as many drinks as you wished. Their goal was to make your flying experience as comfortable as possible. Then things changed.

As fuel prices rose our benefits decreased. They stopped feeding us those meals on little airline trays, and allowed us one drink even if we were dying of thirst. They ripped the blankets from our laps and pulled the pillows out from under our sleeping heads. Now we are just another number, and it is our responsibility to bring food, blankets, food, and drink. Obviously we have seen a huge decline in the customer service realm of airlines.

The interesting thing is that they still have customer service representatives in call centers across America. The job of these people is to help us when we have had a bad experience on our trip. They are available after your trip and they respond by phone or email. Each company has a department that helps clients to “Make things right.” Some of you have never had experience with these people, but I have. I would love to share my experience with you and would love to hear about yours. Share yours as a comment below.

Sunset over Parrita, Costa Rica

When our flight was delayed leaving San Jose the customer service attendant kindly offered me the option to stay in San Jose for another day as I might not be able to make my connecting flight in JFK. She offered no hotel, no food, and virtually nothing else. I was rather disgruntled and told her that we would go to JFK and decide what to do at that point. I guess that the crew needed rest and she told me that it wasn’t deserving of any free services. We boarded the plane and headed off for JFK.

Upon arrival in the JFK airport we were already too late for our connecting flight into Chicago. We found a ticketing booth at JFK and found a lady who was very helpful. I mentioned that our flight was late leaving SJO and we had missed our connecting flight. When she told me that there was no other way home for the night I acted sad, but was actually pretty happy. She gave us a room at the Lexington Hotel, some food vouchers, and a taxi trip to the hotel. We rushed to the room, threw our stuff down, grabbed some food at the restaurant and headed off too Times Square. We didn’t have a lot of time, but it was a great addition to our trip.

Me enjoying our "Delay in New York"

The best part is yet to come. So when I got home and had been settled for a day I wrote an email to the Customer Service team at American Airlines. I explained that the flight had been delayed and my wife had subsequently missed work (A vacation day she didn’t have) and her boss had been rather disgruntled. I had also missed a few appointments. I requested that they give me 20,000 AAdvantage miles for my troubles. When the email response arrived I was pleasantly surprised…

“While we must respectfully decline your specific request, as a gesture of goodwill,
we’ve credited your and your wife’s AAdvantage® accounts with 10,000 bonus miles each.
This adjustment should be reflected in your accounts very soon.”

So, just remember that it never hurts to ask for a little benefit. These customer service reps have the power to issue Frequent Flier Miles to you or $$ off your next flight. If you’ve had a legitimately bad experience, let them know and maybe you will score too.

If you like our posts, make sure you like WorldWanderlusting on Facebook.

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American Airlines 75,000 Citi Card

Posted on August 31, 2011 by Brad Christensen

My Wanderlusting Round-trip Journey

There’s an old saying about dancing with the girl who brought you… well today I’m going to dance with the girl who brought me.

Almost a year ago, with a ferocious wanderlust, cheapness in my veins, and a diligent-researcher-brother egging me on, I took the plunge into the world of travel credit card rewards.  My first date was the Citi AAdvantage Amex.

Almost 12 months and about 505,000 miles/points later, here I am, thirsting for more.

Today I’m applying for the Citi Business Amex for 75,000 more AAdvantage miles , and my only regret is that I’m already a cardholder and I can’t also apply for the AAdvantage Visa to round my winnings up to 150k.  Several of our readers logged the 225,000 mile homerun by applying for all three at a time.  If you’re wanting to do the same thing, read the instructions on the flyertalk post diligently and don’t go off half-cocked.  As long as you use your cards cautiously and follow our Before You Apply rules, I don’t think you’ll have any regrets.

I’ve tracked my credit score with CreditSesame.com and I figure that my score has dropped about 18 points over this timeframe.  Much of that might be due to the fact that I was too tempted by 3.6% interest rates in the meantime and refinanced my house.  My wife’s score has remained relatively unchanged.  I’ve never missed a payment, and never paid a dime in interest.

I keep track of all my expenses and spending with the beautiful tool that is Mint.com.  That way I’m never late with my payments and I can always be sure that I have tabs on each and every one of my accounts without having to login to each one individually.

To hoard my points and count them like Ebenezer Scrooge, I use Awardwallet.com.  As if the wind and relentless allergies weren’t enough to spur my wanderlust, I can always spend some time looking at my stack to get the juices flowing.

Wanderlust: It’s a healthy addiction, if there is such a thing.

Posted in Uncategorized | 9 Comments

Why do credit card companies offer such great deals?

Posted on August 30, 2011 by wpengine

Why do credit card companies offer these great deals?

We’ve had a lot of our readers ask us, “Why are these companies willing to offer these great deals?” I’ve had quite a few people ask me lately, “What is the catch?”  I know that it seems unrealistic, but you have to remember that there are people like the Utahdealdiva that get cartloads of groceries for free.  It does take some discipline to cut the coupons and route your trips to a few grocery stores, but you can do it too.  She does a great job of showing you how to do it too.

Let me outline why I think it is worth it to them.

  1. Transaction Fees- Credit card companies charge the vendor anywhere from 2-5% for each transaction.  This means that if you charge $10,000 on the card, they are going to rake in a minimum of $200.
  2. Annual Fee- Some of these card companies rely on you spending $100 each year to renew the option to have the card.  Let’s say that you keep the card for 5 years, they are going to score another $500 on the deal
  3. Volume Purchasing- They buy the reward points from Delta, American Airlines, Starwood, etc.  for a low price because they are purchasing in large volume.
  4. Higher APR- These card companies usually have higher interest rates than some other cards available.  They obviously count on you using the cards and not paying the balances.  If you run up a high balance then they are going to be scoring big bucks from you.
  5. Other Fees- If you are late on your payment they can charge you $35 per late payment.  I’m sure that they have other options to make money from you on other hidden fees if you don’t pay off the balance each month.

I look at each of these categories, and don’t see any problems with any of them.

  1. These are fees that are built into products.  You are charged the same whether you pay cash or not, so it is the same cost either way.
  2. I don’t plan on paying annual fees unless they give me a good enough retention bonus.  Otherwise I won’t be paying.
  3. I’m glad that they buy them in bulk.  It makes the bonuses either to award.
  4. I never pay interest, so the APR could be 1000% and it wouldn’t make a difference to me.
  5. I am always making my payments on time, so I don’t have to worry about late payments.

Let’s say you are walking by an Allstate office and you see on the window a special promotion that says, “We will give you a free candy bar for getting a quote.” You walk into the office and say, “What is the catch here?  How can you really be handing out candy bars for getting a quote?”

Allstate is more than willing to be handing out candy bars in order to give quotes.  They know that they aren’t going to get everyone’s business, but they are willing to give out a few candy bars because they will make more money from the new business than they spent on the new candy bars.

American Express, Citi, Chase, and all of the others look at it the same way.  They are willing to give up a few dollars in exchange for the potential income from the five different categories listed above.  They have done the math and they know that statistics show that they will make money in the long run.

Learn to wanderlust with us.  Get a free credit score from CreditSesame.com.

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