American Airlines’ Bankruptcy AAdvantage Miles

Posted on November 29, 2011 by wpengine

Let’s be honest, this wasn’t a huge surprise.  American Airlines is the third largest airliner in the world.  The other two that are larger and some that have been smaller all have been through this process before.  Here is an excerpt from the letter that was sent out from American Airlines’ AAdvantage program.

I look at the financial situation of American Airlines and I see that their two biggest problems are the unions who have such high demands on the company as far as labor costs, and the recent increases in fuel charges as their concerns.

The AAdvantage program is actually a pretty good moneymaker for American.  They are able to sell their miles to lots of companies like Citi, which gives them working capital.

Should I Use My Miles Up?

I’ve still got an arsenal of AAdvantage Miles and I am not too worried.  (For one I didn’t pay for them) I plan on booking a trip soon so I can get some of them used up.  I don’t see them going down the tube as much as I potentially see them getting devalued.

Let’s face it, they are the best airline to use when booking flights to Northern South America, Central America, and Europe.  All of the other airliners have devalued their miles, so I wouldn’t be surprised if they do it here too.  I think that you should try to book a trip, or gift the miles, but I would be really surprised if they completely disappeared.

Keep in mind that the largest holder of AAdvantage miles is probably Citi.  They have been partners for years and I don’t think that AA would try to leave Citi in the dust.

Why not start accruing miles with another carrier today?

United, Delta, Continental, and US Airways all have good cards.  You can see most of them on the sidebar.

Chase Ultimate Rewards is another great way to accrue miles.

 

 

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Using Chase Ultimate Rewards

Posted on November 27, 2011 by Brad Christensen

I just applied for the Chase Bold Ink charge card, raking in another 50k Ultimate Rewards points, which, like all of the points and miles in my Awardwallet, I’m anxious to put to work in the form of some wonderful adventure.

I got on www.ultimaterewards.com to start wanderlusting about where they might take me and just played with a few ideas.  My first thought was to use the points to book flights for our cruise in March.  The way I see it, using the Ulitmate Rewards points to book travel directly offers some significant advantages:

  • Each point is essentially worth 1.25 cents – 50k points equate to roughly $625 in value.
  • By using the points to book travel directly, they can be used with any airline at any time.  Thus, if you’re having a hard time working out FF mile travel, these come in handy.
  • You’ll also accrue miles through the program of the airline you use.  This acts as a double bonus because using your 50k points could equate to as much as another 10k miles – all of which also count towards status.

I took a screenshot just to show how it works.  They neatly calculate the value of your points as you search your options.  You can use the Farecompare Flyertalk fares tool to really start to play with your options.   At the moment, my 50k Ultimate Rewards points could take me to all of these locations with points to spare and earn me 11k more miles while I’m at it.  I’m particularly intrigued by the flight to Venice, which is the launching point for our Starwood Preferred Guest Exploring Europe Itinerary.

Transferring your Ultimate Rewards

There are many other ways to use the Chase Ultimate Rewards Points, including transferring them to other programs. Currently you can transfer the Ultimate Rewards to:

  • Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards
  • United Airlines Mileage Plus
  • Marriott Rewards
  • Hyatt
  • British Airways Avios
  • Priority Club
  • Korean Airways
  • Amtrak

These can all be transferred at the rate of 1:1 to each of these programs.  This is advantageous because when booking your trip with points you can transfer the exact amount of points needed for that vacation, and the rest can stay in your Ultimate Rewards account until you are ready for your next trip.

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Travel Quiz

Posted on November 27, 2011 by wpengine

This photo was taken on a trip earlier this year. Who can name the stadium, and team from this picture?

Thanks for Wanderlusting with us.

Get your Experian credit score FREE on a monthly basis with Credit Sesame.

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American Express Small Business Saturday

Posted on November 25, 2011 by wpengine

Don’t let this easy offer pass you by.  Last year I was the owner of one measly American Express credit card and my wife didn’t even have one.  Last year American Express wanted to thank all of the small businesses who accept their credit cards.  Their idea……Give every American Express cardholders a $25 statement credit for anyone who spends over $25 at a merchant who accepts American Express credit cards.  (You have to register using their registration link too).

Saturday the 26th of November 2011 is the next Small Business Saturday.

I saw this as a great marketing event for American Express.  My brother and I got on the phone to call a few local companies to ask them if they accept American Express before we went in for dinner.  We tried a couple of locations and I can only imagine that everyone else who registered for the promotion did the same.  All of the sudden local companies get a ton of phone calls asking them if they accept American Express.  (Cha-Ching)

At the time my brother invited me to dinner (As it wasn’t going to cost him anything) to a local restaurant.  Later that night my wife and I went shopping and she picked up a shirt and a bracelet that put the total purchase over $25.  Within a week Amex had already credited our account the $25.

This Year

This year is going to be different.  Now my wife and I both have a Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card from American Express and I have my Blue Sky from American Express(R). This means that we will be scoring $25 per credit card, for a grand total of $75!! Thank you Mr. American Express!

We haven’t lined out our purchases quite yet, but I’m sure we will eat at a local restaurant next Saturday night, and then go shopping for some Christmas gifts, or we might even treat ourselves to a massage. Who knows?

Prepare for the American Express Small Business Saturday by scoring your own American Express Credit Card. I recommend the Starwood Preferred Guest from American Express.

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Thanksgiving

Posted on November 24, 2011 by wpengine

As I look back over the last year I see that I have been blessed in so many ways….

Family

This year I was blessed to have a health, happy, and cute baby boy Max.  He was born in June and has brought so much happiness to our family already.  Family means so much to me and I am thankful that I have a wife and a little boy to brighten my day.

Travel

Since last Thanksgiving I’ve been able to take a number of trips.

  • Cruise to the Southern Caribbean visiting US and British Virgin Islands, Antigua, St. Lucia, and Barbados.  The cruise left out of San Juan, PR, so I was able to see the Pearl of the Caribbean
  • A week in Costa Rica with my wife as our last trip before our son joined us.  I vividly remember Max kicking me in the back as I snuggled up to my wife one night.
  • A motorcycle trip of over 1700 miles visiting Northern Idaho, Banff National Park, Glacier National Park, and many other places along the way.
  • A visit to the Sweet Carolinas with my wife and son.  It was his first trip!
  • A family trip to Tennessee where we were able to visit family and see many fun things.  We spent a day at Dollywood, went to a UT football game, rode down the Virginia Creeper, and saw the Biltmore Home.

Traveling is something that I love, and now that I can do it for free it is even better.  It is great planning a few wonderful trips each year.  My wife has become quite the wanderluster and my son is already jet setting.  Together we’ll visit many places, and we won’t be paying very much to do it either.

Work

I blog on the side because I enjoy it, but it would never pay the bills for a week!  This is just because I enjoy sharing my experiences with other people.  It would be great if it could be a full time job, but I don’t know that I see that in the cards for me.  I work at BowenGroup in Idaho Falls and I sell Health, Life, and Disability Insurance.

My work has provided a living for our family and a little bit extra so we can take time off and travel.  I enjoy my work and I enjoy working with people.

Country

Although I’m rather pessimistic about our country sometimes, I love this place.  I want our country to thrive and for the people who live here to be safe, and be self-sustainable.  Visiting Camp Lejuene Marine Corp Base in North Carolina this year has given me a much greater appreciation for our military.  They sacrifice MUCHO so we can enjoy this freedom.  Thank you for your service.

I look forward to another year of life, travels, and fun.  Thanks for Wanderlusting with us.

Score the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card and get 40,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points. These are worth $500 in travel, or they can be transferred to United.

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Upgraded to Delta Skymiles Platinum Card

Posted on November 22, 2011 by Brad Christensen

I’m coming full circle in my immersion into the credit card world.  I’ve had a couple experiences with attempting to cancel a card to avoid paying an annual fee, and had great outcomes so far.

In my attempt to cancel the Citibank AAdvantage card that got me half of my miles for my family’s trip to Colombia, I didn’t even have to weasel my way into an $85 credit to offset my annual fee – they just offered it, straight up.  That way I keep the card open for at least another year, accumulate more miles, and extend my credit history.

I canceled Nicole’s card without any problems.  I would have liked to have kept it open to, but nothing was offered and I figured I wanted to make room for more anyways.

Most recently, I set out to cancel my Delta Gold Skymiles card, the card that gets me a free bag on Delta flights and that got me enough MQM to start to feel like a big-shot with Silver Medallion status and pretty regular first-class upgrades.  I called up and tried to muster a genuine tone as I proclaimed that I wanted to cancel.  I tried to get the associate to sweeten the pot by saying that I had five cards and was going to cancel two of them.  The best I got despite my haggling was an offer for a $50 credit – half of the annual fee.  I stalled and said I’d have to call back.  I got creative and started scouring the American Express site to look into upgrading my Gold Card to a Platinum Card and hit the jackpot – an offer for 10,000 Skymiles, 5,000 of which are MQM. (I couldn’t find it outside of my login, so if you’re looking to do the same, login to your account first).

I did have to fork over the $150 annual fee, but the platinum card has the added bonus of a free companion certificate each year (which is easily worth $300), and of course I called back to take them up on their offer for the $50 credit.

This year my Delta miles took me to Roatan, Honduras (35k), and bought a ticket for my brother-in-law to come out for his sister’s wedding (32.5k).  With the extra 10k I just piled on, I’ve still got 125k that are burning a hole in my awardwallet.

Wanderlust with us on Facebook!

 

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Food and Currency Quiz

Posted on November 20, 2011 by wpengine

We’ve decided to spice up this week’s quiz by adding a food. You have to name the food, then where it comes from and the currency that they use there.

Wanderlust with us.

Watch your Experian credit score each month for FREE with CreditSesame.com.

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