Category: Airlines

  1. As reported by some weirdo on the internet known for being apocryphal yet this time with a trustworthy source (DC Domer via MEAB slack), the glitch affecting Membership Rewards cash outs and partner transfers was resolved yesterday afternoon. 🎉 
  2. Southwest has run its first major schedule change for flights from early September through early November, though the number of impacted flights is smaller than is typical which could mean there will be another round of changes, or it could mean Southwest is changing the way it rolls out schedule updates.

    If you have flights booked in that window, now is a good time to see if you’re affected and rebook if the updates don’t work for you. Southwest allows you to change to any other flight between the same city pairs ± two weeks when a schedule change affects your itinerary. (Thanks to Brian M via MEAB slack)

  3. Do this now: Register for Q3 spending categories on major 5%/5x rotating category cards:

    – Chase Freedom and Freedom Flex: Gas, car rentals, movies, and some entertainment (Disney parks included)
    – Citi Dividend: Gas and home improvement
    – Discover IT: PayPal and Restaurants
    – US Bank Cash+: Utilities and electronic stores are probably best
    – Bank of America Cash Rewards: Gas and online shopping are probably best

    Expect ideas on manufactured spend for these categories soon.

  4. American Express has been sending out new Pay-over-Time 20,000 or 30,000 point offers every week for over a month. Not everyone that’s eligible receives an email or mailer because American Express, but fortunately it’s easy to check via these links:

    – Link 1
    – Link 2
    – Link 3
    – Link 4
    – Link 5
    – Link 6

    It doesn’t take a super-hacker to see the patterns in those links, so I suppose it’s really easy to look for alternate links that aren’t yet known. (Thanks to DoC, reddit, and my inbox for these links)

  5. Kroger has a 4x fuel points sale on third party gift cards and fixed value Visa and Mastercards running from today through Sunday. Unfortunately the fuel points resale market prices continues to drop, and this sale won’t help it recover. I think we’ll see depressed fuel points and gift card prices through at least mid-July as a result

    There’s also widespread reporting that Kroger has started to shutdown accounts that were created with the anonaddy.com service, so I guess be careful and remember that only you can prevent wildfires.

It may seem like the US Forest Service is being literal, but in reality they’re referring to Kroger burner accounts.

Another day, another grab-bag because that’s how this week rolls:

  1. The Citi AA personal (update: thanks to Gary for noting this is the personal version of the card, not the business version) card has an offer for 75,000 AAdvantage miles after spending $3,500 within four months, and the annual fee is waived for the first year. (Thanks to divinebaloon)
  2. An update from my attempt at getting more than 11 charge cards with American Express: I was denied because my account was already at the charge card limit. I have a theory about bypassing it though but won’t be able to try for a few more weeks, story developing.
  3. There was quite a bit of noise floating around yesterday about the American Express Delta Reserve card’s special 747-edition because 25% of its metal comes from a retired Delta 747-400. Normally I couldn’t care less about a special edition card, but this one tugs at my avgeek heart strings so here we are I guess.

    If you want one and have an existing Delta Reserve card, you can request a replacement card directly from the website or mobile app with the reason “Change Card Design”, at which point you’ll be given a choice for the normal design or the 747 design. You can also apply for a new Delta Reserve to get it while supplies last, but the sign-up bonus has been 30% higher in the recent past so I wouldn’t go for it now.

  4. Some news on the manufactured spend front:

    – Staples has started selling the “Everywhere” variety of gift cards, but reports suggest that the maximum face value is currently $100 (These are Metabank cards that are restricted to certain types of merchants but often work for manufactured spend in more places than regular gift cards)
    – USPS has new terminals with new software, which means new opportunity
    – The Paceline card has turned out to be very friendly to MS so far, perhaps it’s worth a second look (reader Fish and Vinh both report that limits aren’t always limits, which we all know happens a lot, right?)

Have a nice weekend!

This week rolls in exactly the same way that this airplane doesn’t.

  1. Southwest has a 40% off sale for travel between August 16 and November 5, you must book by tomorrow and use code FALL40 for the discount. A few notes:

    – Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and several International destinations are included in this sale
    – This offer applies to paid fares and points fares (thanks to Dave for the correction)
    – If you’ve already booked travel during that time, consider rebooking
    – Southwest hasn’t made its schedule changes for September and beyond yet (so maybe booking a cheap flight ± two weeks of your actual desired flight is a good idea)

    What’s the catch? You’ll be flying on Southwest.

  2. Vinh at Miles Per Day was able to get a 12th AmEx Charge card. I currently have 11 and lobbed in an application for a Business Gold card which would make 12 total charge cards for me. (Remember, there’s zero downside to applying for AmEx business card because you won’t have a hard pull as an existing cardholder, you won’t have a new card show up on your credit report if you’re approved, and AmEx doesn’t put you in a penalty box if you’re denied.)

    I tried getting a 12th in early May and I was denied instantly, but this time my application went pending which is a good sign. Here are current no-lifetime language (NLL) links in case you want to try your luck too:

    – Business Gold: 90,000 Membership Rewards for $10,000 spend plus another 10,000 for $1,000 spend on an employee card
    – Business Platinum: 150,000 Membership Rewards for $15,000 spend plus another 10,000 for $1,000 spend on an employee card

  3. Check for a targeted offer from Citi for a spending bonus on your Custom Cash rewards card. This one gives +4x on up to $2,500 in spend at grocery and gas, or for hardware and home improvement. You have to click the link in the email to activate the account.

Happy Wednesday!

American Express’s backend approval standards team designs a futuristic restroom.

Today we’re going with an all-economy post, Southwest style:

  1. Southwest has a longstanding, unofficial policy for letting you convert recently expired travel credits into LUV vouchers for a $100 fee when you call and ask. LUV vouchers are more flexible than regular travel credits because they’re not tied to a particular name, but the fee associated with creating one has been an impediment.

    The impediment is temporarily going away according to Flyertalk though. Reportedly Southwest has implemented a new policy for funds that have recently expired or will expire before the end of the year: You can convert them to a LUV voucher without paying a fee, and the voucher will be good for six months from issuance. This policy is scheduled to last through December 31, so call as late as possible for the longest expiration possible. (Thanks to Brian M via MEAB slack)

  2. While we’re talking about Southwest, let’s discuss a loophole that’s been working for a few weeks. With Southwest’s new Wanna Get Away Plus fares, you can move a name-locked ticket or credit to someone else easily. To transfer it to anyone else, book a Wanna Get Away Plus fare of roughly the same value as the original credit, and then you can immediately transfer and rebook at will, a feature of the new fare class.
  3. Finally, let’s add a Southwest twist to the Chase Modified Double Dip: It works for other cards too, not just Sapphires. If you want a companion pass, you can use the Modified Double Dip with two of the increased Southwest credit card 75,000 bonus point offers instead of with the Sapphire Preferred and Sapphire Reserve. Any of two the Southwest cards will do.

The Southwest transcontinental and transpacific economy dining experience. This looks great for a seven hour flight, right?

Introduction

This weekend’s thunderstorms in Maryland and DC wreaked havoc on travelers all over the US, primarily because canceled flights led to lack of crew and aircraft downstream. With US carriers seeing load factors above 90%, recovery times are long and last-minute fares are sky-high to boot. When events like this happen though, it’s an opportunity for travel hackers to get (relatively) inexpensive last-minute fares provided that the weather can somehow work its way into your travel plans.

Booking Into a Waiver

Let’s say on Saturday I decided that I wanted to fly from BOS to MCO on Sunday or Monday because reasons. Unfortunately, last-minute airfares were north of $500 one-way for a desirable, direct flight, and because mileage rates are often directly tied to fares in the US market, mileage redemption values were terrible too.

But, there’s a way out. It starts with checking for travel waivers with the major airlines, and then trying to shoehorn a bad, cheap itinerary into what you actually want. To pull the stunt off:

  • Check airline travel waiver pages (AA, Alaska, Delta, JetBlue, Southwest, United)
  • Find airports that have waivers
  • Book the cheapest, worst flight possible that passes through a waiver airport (see forced routings for how to find these airfares)
  • Change your flight under the travel waiver to the flight you actually want without paying any difference in fare

Circling back to our BOS to MCO flight, a 5:15 AM BOS to BWI flight on Southwest with a 6 hour layover connecting to another flight to MCO was a tad over $200, and BWI was one of the airports covered by Southwest’s travel waiver. So, one could book the cheap cruddy BWI connecting flight after the waiver is issued, then immediately switch to the direct flight that leaves hours later for no extra fee.

For what it’s worth, United and AA are probably the best airlines for this hack because they offer punitive red-eye connecting to another red-eye with a 20 hour layover saver awards pretty much year round, but go with whatever fits your travel needs.

Gotchas

Airlines are typically very permissive with waiver related changes, but sometimes waivers have specific exclusions like requiring that you booked the ticket directly with the airline and not through a travel agent, so double check the fine print.

Good luck out there!

The bad news is that this might be the only seat left on that BOS-MCO flight with boarding position C-60.

As you’ve no doubt heard or experienced, you need a negative antigen COVID test taken no earlier than the calendar day before your flight to board a flight to the USA. In my recent travels I’ve seen people paying $200-$400 for a rapid test at the airport, or about half that for a test at their hotel. You don’t need to do that, and even better you don’t need to have a technician in a sterile room in a foreign country give you a brain tickle to get your test either.

There are two cheap, convenient options that I’ve used, both of which require essentially swirling a q-tip around the lowest part of your nose five times on your own schedule in the comfort of your own room while a proctor watches on your phone or webcam:

  1. FlowFlex tests ($9.99 at CVS, or possibly free from USPS if you’re lucky) with AZOVA proctoring ($20, can be scheduled ahead of time in 8 minute increments)
  2. eMed BinaxNOW tests ($150 for a six pack, and it includes proctoring that can’t currently be scheduled ahead of time, but waits to complete a test are minimal)

With both of these, you’ll either use a laptop or a mobile phone application to make a video call to a proctor. The proctor will walk you through performing the test while watching via your webcam, you’ll wait 15 minutes for the test to complete, and then you’ll either take a picture or reconnect to a proctor to read the COVID result.

When you’re done, both services will email you a certified PDF of your test results suitable for getting into the US. In my experience a digital copy of the PDF is all I’ve ever needed, but if you have access to a printer it can’t hurt to have a physical backup I suppose, especially for airlines that haven’t yet figured out how to issue a mobile boarding pass.

One final note, the eMed BinaxNOW test packaging is rather unfortunately large: It’s about the size of a bulky journal. The FlowFlex packaging is much smaller though, about the size of a cell phone external battery. I typically pack two of them in my luggage before I leave the US with the extra one as a backup, though so far I haven’t ever needed the second.

Good luck!

Just because you can doesn’t mean you should.

Today we’ve got a few new options to save on airfare:

  1. Southwest has a 30% off fare sale to and from Hawaii, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central America with promo code GOTROPICAL and bookings made by tomorrow evening for travel between September 6 and November 4. Schedule changes haven’t happened for those dates yet by the way, why would you ask?
  2. Create a new frequent flyer account with Alaska Airlines for $25 off of airfare in most states, or $50 off of airfare if your fake new account lives in California or Hawaii. You’ll receive the code via email within three days.

    Of course booking a one way for you and a one way for your twin will yield twice the discount on a round trip, but unfortunately your twin doesn’t have six months to cash in the deal like your 99 American Express twins do, rather the code expires 28 days after the account is opened. (Thanks to FM)

Mango Punch Tampico and Citrus Punch Tampico each have an Alaska Airlines frequent flyer account. That doesn’t make them not gross.

There are a few things to keep an eye on today:

  1. The introductory World of Hyatt Business card 75,000 point sign-up bonus ends today, and it’s widely expected to fall to the 50,000 – 60,000 point range starting tomorrow. The card is a good one to hold for two cases: First, for the sign up bonus; second if you manufacture Globalist status through spend ($50,000+) and redeem many Hyatt points (10% points redemption rebate after $50,000 in spend). Otherwise it’s probably not worth your time.
  2. Southwest rolled out schedule changes through July 4th over the weekend, and it’s expected that the rest of July’s changes will come in the next week. If you want to book into one of these, I’d do it today. (Thanks to Brian M via slack)
  3. Check your Southwest profile for targeted promotions for 50,000 points, 60,000 points, or a companion pass for booking either one or two round-trips before July 31. This is a good enough deal that I’d mileage run a few flights just to earn it, but’s purely hypothetical because I wasn’t targeted. (First reported by mickey972)
  4. A link to upgrade an AmEx personal Gold card to a Platinum card that was active last year has risen from the dead and has a new offer: Upgrade for 25,000 Membership Rewards after spending $2,000 in six months, and earn 5x at grocery, gas stations, and restaurants up to $15,000 in spend. If you get a blank screen after logging in, that means that you’re not targeted. Based on my limited sample size though, this one seems to be widely targeted.

    Last year the 5x was 10x so the offer degraded a bit while it was in the dirt. That said, it’s the best Gold upgrade offer I know of right now.

Happy Monday!

All words were invented at some point, right? Enter zombified.