A Great Day Yesterday

Chase is being very generous again. They are offering various points bonus to encourage people to spend money on various credit cards. Yesterday, I received my third bonus offer from Chase Hyatt.

This time the offer is spend $6,000 by the end of 2013 and earn 6,000 Hyatt Gold Passport Points.

Others are reporting that they have received emails offering 5,000 points after spending $3,000 in 3 months. This is similar to my previous two offers.

This offer would be good on its own. However, I received a similar offer from my Personal Southwest Visa.

If I spend $5,000 in 3 months I will earn 3,000 bonus Rapid Rewards points.

Neither of the offers are jump up and down amazing. However, since I don't have any minimum spends to hit, I will move my spending over to these cards.

Did you get any offers from Chase?

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3 Things I Learned About My Southwest Companion Pass

Earlier this year, I detailed my road map to earning a Southwest Companion Pass. Shortly after my post, I crossed the 110,000 points threshold to earn my golden tickets.

I have only used the companion pass once for an upcoming trip to Chicago in October. Since I book the trip in May, I have learn 3 things about using the Companion Pass.

1. A Companion Can Only Be Added After A Ticket Is Purchased

When I purchased my ticket to Chicago, I could not figure how to add a companion to my ticket. My first thought was that I had to add 2 tickets to my cart and then link my companion to the trip. Wrong!

Then I though that I added one ticket to the cart and during the check-out process there would be
a place to add my companion. Wrong!

After a quick call to Southwest, I learned that I needed to purchase my ticket first then add my
companion to the itinerary.

To do this, log into your Rapid Reward Account and click on "My Travel."

 
Find the flight you want to add the companion. Under the itinerary is "Add A Companion."

After clicking the link, the process is self-explanatory.

2. Sales Are Great Even After You Purchase Your Ticket

This one has more to do with Southwest than the Companion Pass. After purchasing a ticket on
Southwest, its not a one and done situation. If Southwest has a sale and your ticket is now cheaper,
Southwest allows you to get a credit for the difference. Book the flight with points? The difference in points will be credit to your account instantly.

To get your refund, find your itinerary and click "change reservation" link directly under the reservation.

The system will ask you which flights (outgoing or incoming) that you want to change. Next, you will see your options to change your ticket and the price of the new ticket. Complete the steps and Southwest will eventually show your savings.

3. Changes on an Itinerary with a Companion Requires an Extra Step

Twice since booking the Chicago trip, the price of the ticket has dropped. I booked the trip with points and the drop in price/points has saved me 2,000 points per ticket. However, I encountered a problem when I went to make the change.

When I tried to change the ticket as I showed above, the following error appeared:

Itineraries with companion tickets require you to cancel the companion ticket before making any changes. This is one thing Southwest needs to fix. Its time consuming to make ANY changes to these type of itineraries.

Find the companion ticket's confirmation number and go to Southwest's homepage. On top of the page, click the "Air" button and then click "Cancel Reservation"

After cancelling the companion reservation, you can then make a change to the your reservation.

The final step is to add the companion back to your itinerary. I am going to repeat this:

Don't Forget To Add The Companion Back To Your Ticket!

I forgot to do this for two weeks after making one of my changes. That could have ended badly!

The Southwest Companion Pass is one of the best travel tools out there. However, at times, getting it to work can be like calculus.


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Update: Earn Up To 16 Rapid Reward Miles Per $1 Spent @ Marriott

I wrote here about how to earn 16 Rapid Reward Miles Per $1 spent at Marriott. I wanted to follow-up with my experience. Even though I did the United promotion (expired), it is very similar to the Southwest promotion.

As a reminder, you can earn Rapid Reward miles for buying Marriott gift cards.

•       $100 = 1,200 Rapid Rewards Miles
•       $250 = 3,000 Rapid Rewards Miles
•       $500 = 6,000 Rapid Rewards Miles

I ordered my gift card on August 8th and the points still have not posted.

My next recommendation was to purchase the gift cards with the Chase Sapphire card to earn 2x per $1. As expected, I earned the 2x Ultimate Rewards points per $1 on my next statement.

When its time to book your Marriott hotel stays, go through the Ultimate Reward shopping portal to earn 2 additional points per $1.

I am happy to say I earned my points this way as well. I book the stay on July 30th, stayed on August 24th and the points were credit to my Ultimate Reward account on September 8th.

My final suggestion was to switch your Marriott accounts to earn MileagePlus/Rapid Reward miles; instead, of Marriott points. I never did this, because I learned that by doing so I might not be eligible for the Unexpected Bonus's free night. Therefore, I left those points on the table. However, I did earn a free night.

If you haven't participated, this is a great way to quadruple dip: earn points for buying the gift card, using your Chase Sapphire, booking the stay, and staying with Marriott. These type of promotions are rare.

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Earn Up To 16 Rapid Reward Miles Per $1 Spent @ Marriott

I wrote about here about how you can earn up to 11 United Mileage miles per $1 spent at Marriott. Shortly after posting, a stumbled upon a similar promotion to earn Rapid Reward miles for buying the same Marriott Gift Cards (H/T again to Loyalty Traveler) After thinking about it for a while, I realized that the same tactics used in my United post could be used for the Southwest promotion.

Follow the steps below to earn at least 16 Rapid Reward miles per $1 spent at Marriott

From August 1st until September 26nd, you can earn up to 12 Rapid Reward miles per $1 spent on gift cards through this link. Maximum of 12,000 miles can be earned.

I purchased Marriott Gift Cards for the holidays last year. These are actual gift cards, not e-gift cards. They ship them to you in the mail. The cheapest option for delivery only cost $1 and gets the card to you in less than 10 business days.

My plan is to use the gift cards for future hotel stays. Gift cards can't be used for prepaid nights. However, some people have indicated that they have gotten local hotel staff to reverse prepaid hotel stay charges allowing guests to use a Marriott gift card.

+ 12 Miles Per $1

Pay for the gift cards with your Chase Sapphire Card. Since you are buying directly from Marriott, you will earn 2 Ultimate Reward Points per $1. Ultimate Reward points can be transferred to Rapid Reward miles at a 1:1 ratio

+2 Miles Per $1

When its time to book your Marriott stay, go through the Ultimate Reward Shopping Portal. Currently, you can earn 2 Ultimate Reward Points per $1 spent by going through the Portal. Points are only earned on the base rate of the hotel, not the taxes. You will need to put a credit card down to hold the room. The gift cards won't work to hold the room, but you can pay with the gift card later.

+2 Miles Per $1

Let's put it together now:

 +12 Miles - Purchase Gift Cards (Pay for Future Stays with Cards)
 +2 Miles - Purchase Gift Cards with Chase Sapphire
 +2 Miles - Go Through Ultimate Reward shopping portal to Book Hotel Nights
----------

+16 Miles per $1

I have earned miles for each of the steps outlined above. The only one I have not tried out is paying for hotel nights with gift cards and earning miles through the Ultimate Reward shopping portal. In theory, it should work.

Unlike the United MileagePlus offer, where you can earn up to 2 miles per $1 spent, stays at all Marriott's earn a flat 600 Rapid Reward miles regardless of hotel brand.

This is a personal choice if you want to earn Rapid Reward miles, instead of Marriott points. Personally, I think it depends upon your travel goals. I have no use for Marriott points, as I almost never stay there except when traveling with CashBack Boy. However, I have a $50 stay coming up, so I might switch to earn 600 Rapid Reward miles rather than 50 United miles.

To earn airline miles for Marriott stays, you have to switch your earning preference. To do this, sign into your Marriott Reward account and go to "My Account Overview."

Click on the Member Profile button:

 Now, click on Earning Preferences:

Finally, choice airline miles, pick your preferred airline and enter you frequent flyer number

From now on, you will earn airlines miles; instead, of Marriott Points.

A few things to remember:

          1) The gift card promotion starts 8/1 and ends 9/26

          2) You need to book your hotel nights through Ultimate Reward Portal

          3) You need to switch your earning preference to airline miles and put in your Rapid Rewards number


I hope that those who prefer Southwest miles over United will take advantage of this offer.
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Earn Miles by Refinancing Your Mortgage

In full disclosure, I am a licensed mortgage officer (NMLS # 527599) with the ability to sell mortgages in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, DC. The opinions of this post are my own and do not represents opinions held by my company. This post should be taken for informational purposes only. I do not work with any of these companies directly and will not earn money from you applying for a mortgage from the links below.

United offers their customers the opportunity to earn miles for refinancing their home mortgage or getting a mortgage to purchase a new home. United partners with Chase to offer miles for mortgages. It is important to follow each step outlined on their website; otherwise, points will not be award.


      

Chase Bank offers one the ability to earn up to 50,000 United MilagePlus miles by getting a mortage. The amount of miles one recieves for obtaining a mortgage from Chase various by loan size, in a three tier level. 

The property tied to the mortgage must be a one to four unit property. To get earn the miles, the mortgage must be a "first trust" mortgage and not a Home Equity Line of Credit or Loan.

Information about the program can be found on this website. Miles can only be earned if you initiate the request through the following phone number, exclusively for United MileagePlus members: 1-800-836-4835.

Mortgage loan application submitted through a Chase branch or a Chase mortgage branch office are not eligible for miles. You must submit your application through the phone number on the website.

Miles will be post six to eight weeks after you close on your loan.

One can also earn miles through mortgages with Southwest and American Airlines.

Southwest

The Southwest offer is exactly the same as the United offer above. The only difference is the phone number that one must call. Southwest's dedicated phone number is 1-866-550-9870. If you would like more information on the Southwest offer, please go to this website.

Again, mortgage loan applications submitted through a Chase branch or a Chase mortgage branch office are not eligible for miles. You must submit your application through the phone number above.

Miles will be post six to eight weeks after you close on your loan.

American Airlines

The American Airlines offer involves Wells Fargo Home Mortgage. One can earn 1,000 AAdvantage miles for every $10,000 financed on a new purchase, refinance and home equity loans or lines of credit.

Information about the program can be found here.

To particpate in this offer, you must call and close your loan through 1-866-324-8127. Like the United and Southwest offers, one can not earn miles by obtainign a mortgage through a Wells Fargo Branch or Wells Fago Home Mortgage office.


The most important part of earning miles under this offer starts at the begining. According to the rules:

           To be eligible for miles, you must state your intention of applying through the
           American Airlines AAdvantage Mileage promotion and request to earn miles at
          time of application. Wells Fargo Home Mortgage requires the AAdvantage
           number in its system at application. This program is not retroactive. If the
           AAdvantage number is not provided at application, AAdvantage miles will not be
           awarded.

Unlike the United and Southwest offers, one can earn miles for home equity line of credit and home equity loans. According to the rules:

         For new home equity transactions, miles are based only on the initial amount
         advanced on the closing date (funding may occur upon expiration of any applicable
         rescission period), not on the total line of credit amount (unless fully advanced on the
         closing date) or on future advances.

If I was going to try to earn miles through the Home Equity Line of Credit program, I would advance the entire amount of the line of credit, even if I did not need it. Shortly after closing, I would pay back the amount of money, I didn't need. Yes, one would incur a small amount of interest payments, but I think the additional amount of miles earned would offset that extra burden.

Allow six weeks after your funding date for AAdvantage miles to post to your account.

What to Watch For?

I have been thinking for a long time: how can the banks afford to give out these miles for mortgages. My best guess is that by forcing you to work with the phone staff, they are saving money that they would have to spend on commission for loan officers. However, could these mortgages for miles come with increase mortgage rates or fees.

To the average consumer, the difference between a 3.750% rate and 3.875% rate is minor. However, over a $100,000 mortgage, an 1/8 (.125%) point equals $125 more a year or $3,750 over a 30 year mortgage. Is 12,500 miles worth paying $3,750 more in interest payments?

I am not saying that participating in these programs will result in higher interest rates. All I am cautioning is for you to shop around the interest rate before locking it with a mortgage company or bank.

Then, I started thinking maybe the banks will increase your origination fee to cover the miles. Rental car companies charge a "frequent flyer fee," so the idea is not crazy. When talking to the phone representative, I would ask them if there is an additional fee for participating in this program. By law, they are required to disclose it to you within 3 business days of applying for a mortgage.

The way to see if a fee is being charged is to look at the Good Faith Estimate. This is a three page document that list the fees and costs associated with obtaining a mortgage. The area to pay particular attention to is on page two:

Particular, Section 1 and 2. See below:



The section "Our Origination Charge" is the fee that you pay the bank/mortgage company for getting the mortgage for them. Typically, the charge is under $1,000 unless there are no charges in the title company section. Asking for two Good Faith Estimate, one that earns miles and another one that does not. I may be making a big deal over nothing, but its easy for fees to be snuck in.

When getting a mortgage, due diligence is important.

Conclusion

If you are in the market to refinance your mortgage, these offers can be great. On the other hand, if you are in the market for a purchase mortgage, I would avoid this offer. When working with a 1-800 number mortgage staff, a different person will be working with you, each time you call.

Working with the telephone staff for refinancing is fine, but mortgages for purchases are different animals. Purchase mortgages involve appraisal and financing contingencies and you need a person in your corner to make sure those contingencies are met. Phone staff won't have the time to ensure those contingencies are met.

Refinancing your mortgage or getting a new mortgage just to earn points can be expensive and dangerous. However, if you are in the market for a new mortgage or have a high interest rate, this is a great way to pick up a free flight or two.

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Great Change to e-Miles

Back in January, I wrote about receiving an email from e-Miles indicating positive changes were on its way. I wrote about it here. Overall, the change was that you would soon be allowed to transfer miles to a number of different airlines/programs; regardless, of which one you signed up. Previously, one could only deposit miles into the airline that they sign-up for.

Last night, I was playing around with their site and I noticed that the change is now live!!! I signed up for Delta miles (no longer available), but I now have the ability to deposit miles with the following companies:

United: 1:1

Hilton: 1:2

US Airways: 1:1

AirTran: 500: .5 credit

Priority Club: 500 : 750

Frontier: 1:1

Alaska: 1:1

Southwest: 1:1

Another major change is that I can deposit more than 500 miles at a time. Previously, one could only transfer 500 miles, once a quarter. Now, they have options to transfer 500, 1000, 2000, 3000 at one time.

Last night, I moved 500 miles into my Southwest Rapid Rewards account. Crossing my fingers that they count towards my Companion Pass total….I’ll report back.

e-Miles are now worth a little more to me. It’s very rare that a rewards program makes a change for the positive. Thanks e-Miles for making the program better!!!!

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Best Redemption of Marriott Points

Every once and a while, you read a post that sticks with you. I can't describe what makes such a post, but you know when you read one. Its the post that you you are thinking about or more importantly talking about days and even weeks after reading it.

I read one of these posts a few days ago on Frugal Travel Lawyer. In her April 2 post, she writes how she exchanged 270,000 Marriott Rewards for 120,000 Southwest Miles, the Southwest Companion Pass and a week at a category 5 Marriott Hotel. I will let you visit her post to learn how she did it, but it was not easy, but still doable.

However, I write this post to applaud the Frugal Travel Lawyer for an amazing redemption. This is one of those out of the box resumptions that our community was built to celebrate. Not only is she getting a week a hotel, but free airline travel in the form of Southwest Rapid Reward points and the Companion Pass, for her husband. He husband will travel almost free, he has to pay taxes, when she travels on Southwest until December 31, 2014!!

Yes, I know the redemption option that she used has been available for quite some time. What makes this such a great redemption is that she credited to Southwest to earn the Companion Pass. I have not seen anyone talk about this. For this reason, I stand and applaud your out of the box redemption!

Brava, Frugal Travel Lawyer for a great redemption!!!! 

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Earning My Southwest Companion Pass

In my most credit card churn, see here, I got both the Southwest Personal and Business credit cards. Both cards earn 50,000 miles after spending $2,000 in three months. The reason I got both cards is to get the Southwest's Companion Pass. You can learn all about the Companion Pass on Southwest's website here. In short, the companion pass allows your chosen person to fly with you free on any purchase or free Southwest flight.

One can earn the Southwest Companion Pass by earning 110,000 miles in one calender year. The key term here is "earn." One does not need to earn the miles by flying alone.

Therefore getting the two Southwest Cards puts be almost 95% the way to a companion pass:

50,000 Point Sign-Up Bonus for Personal Card
2,000 Earned by Spending $2,000 on the Personal Card
50,000 Point Sigh-Up Bonus for Business Card
2,000 Earned by Spending $2,000 on the Business Card

So far, I have earned 104,000 Southwest Miles leaving me 6,000 miles short of the Companion Pass. I could spend $6,000 more on either or both cards and be finished, but that will divert my spending ability from other cards that I value more. Therefore, I need to find other ways of earning 6,000 Rapid Reward Miles and quickly.

Here is my plan (so far):

1,000 Filing taxes through TurboTax (Southwest Merchant Portal here)
2,000 eRewards Transfer ($100 eRewards = $2,000 Points)

I have no plan for the last 3,000 Rapid Rewards. Here are some of my ideas:

1) Transfer 5,000 Choice Privilege Points = 1,800 Rapid Reward Points
2) Transfer 5,000 Hyatt Points = 2,400 Rapid Reward Points
3) Sign Up for Southwest Dining Rewards and spend $25 = 300 Rapid Reward Points
4) Stay at a Wyndham Hotel =1,200 Rapid Reward Points

As you can see,there aren't really any cheap slam dunk ideas to get that last 3,000 points. These 3,000 points are very violable. The sooner I earn them the sooner I earn the Companion Pass.

After looking at my options, I might need to just spend the extra $3,000 on the credit cards. Not what I want to do, but what I may need to do.

Am I missing some great way of earning 3,000 Rapid Reward Points asap and cheaply?




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Mortgages and Miles: My Two Loves

In full disclosure, I am a licensed mortgage officer (NMLS # 527599) with the ability to sell mortgages in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, DC. The opinions of this post are my own and do not represents opinions held by my company. This post should be taken for informational purposes only. I do not work with any of these companies directly and will not earn money from you applying for a mortgage from the links below.

Mortgages and points are my two favorite things. Mortgages consumed most of my days and the time that is left is consumed by collecting and spending points. From my readings, one of the popular points earning strategies, 5 or 6 year back, was refinancing your mortgage or taking out Home Equity Lines of Credits or Loans.


I wanted to check to see if there was ways to earn points by refinancing your mortgage. To my surprise, there are still ways to earn points for this purpose. One can obtain a mortgage and earn miles on three airlines: United, American Airlines and Southwest.

Each has there own rules and it is important to follow the rules; otherwise, points will not be award.

UNITED

Chase Bank offers one the ability to earn up to 50,000 United MilagePlus miles by getting a mortage. The amount of miles one recieves for obtaining a mortgage from Chase various by loan size, in a three tier level. Here are the tiers:

Mortgage Loan Amount	United MileagePlus Award
Up to $249,999	12,500 miles
$250,000 - $500,0000	25,000 miles
$501,000+	50,000 miles

The property tied to the mortgage must be a one to four unit property. To get earn the miles, the mortgage must be a "first trust" mortgage and not a Home Equity Line of Credit or Loan.

Information about the program can be found on this website. Miles can only be earned if you initiate the request through the following phone number, exclusively for United MileagePlus members: 1-800-836-4835.

Mortgage loan application submitted through a Chase branch or a Chase mortgage branch office are not eligible for miles. You must submit your application through the phone number on the website.

Miles will be post six to eight weeks after you close on your loan.

Southwest

The Southwest offer is exactly the same as the United offer above. The only difference is the phone number that one must call. Southwest's dedicated phone number is 1-866-550-9870. If you would like more information on the Southwest offer, please go to this website.

Again, mortgage loan applications submitted through a Chase branch or a Chase mortgage branch office are not eligible for miles. You must submit your application through the phone number above.

Miles will be post six to eight weeks after you close on your loan.

American Airlines

The American Airlines offer invovles Wells Fargo Home Mortgage. One can earn 1,000 AAdvantage miles for every $10,000 financed on a new purchase, refinance and home equity loans or lines of credit.

Information about the program can be found here.

To particpate in this offer, you must call and close your loan through 1-866-324-8127. Like the United and Southwest offers, one can not earn miles by obtainign a mortgage through a Wells Fargo Branch or Wells Fago Home Mortgage office.

The most important part of earning miles under this offer starts at the begining. According to the rules:

           To be eligible for miles, you must state your intention of applying through the
           American Airlines AAdvantage Mileage promotion and request to earn miles at
          time of application. Wells Fargo Home Mortgage requires the AAdvantage
           number in its system at application. This program is not retroactive. If the
           AAdvantage number is not provided at application, AAdvantage miles will not be
           awarded.

Unlike the United and Southwest offers, one can earn miles for home equity line of credit and home equity loans. According to the rules:

         For new home equity transactions, miles are based only on the initial amount
         advanced on the closing date (funding may occur upon expiration of any applicable
         rescission period), not on the total line of credit amount (unless fully advanced on the
         closing date) or on future advances.

If I was going to try to earn miles through the Home Equity Line of Credit program, I would advance the entire amount of the line of credit, even if I did not need it. Shortly after closing, I would pay back the amount of money, I didn't need. Yes, one would incur a small amount of interest payments, but I think the additional amount of miles earned would offset that extra burden.

Allow six weeks after your funding date for AAdvantage miles to post to your account.

What to Watch For?

I have been thinking for a long time: how can the banks afford to give out these miles for mortgages. My best guess is that by forcing you to work with the phone staff, they are saving money that they would have to spend on commission for loan officers. However, could these mortgages for miles come with increase mortgage rates or fees.

To the average consumer, the difference between a 3.750% rate and 3.875% rate is minor. However, over a $100,000 mortgage, an 1/8 (.125%) point equals $125 more a year or $3,750 over a 30 year mortgage. Is 12,500 miles worth paying $3,750 more in interest payments?

I am not saying that participating in these programs will result in higher interest rates. All I am cautioning is for you to shop around the interest rate before locking it with a mortgage company or bank.

Then, I started thinking maybe the banks will increase your origination fee to cover the miles. Rental car companies charge a "frequent flyer fee," so the idea is not crazy. When talking to the phone representative, I would ask them if there is an additional fee for participating in this program. By law, they are required to disclose it to you within 3 business days of applying for a mortgage.

The way to see if a fee is being charged is to look at the Good Faith Estimate. This is a three page document that list the fees and costs associated with obtaining a mortgage. The area to pay particular attention to is on page two:

Particular, Section 1 and 2. See below:



The section "Our Origination Charge" is the fee that you pay the bank/mortgage company for getting the mortgage for them. Typically, the charge is under $1,000 unless there are no charges in the title company section. Asking for two Good Faith Estimate, one that earns miles and another one that does not. I may be making a big deal over nothing, but its easy for fees to be snuck in.

When getting a mortgage, due diligence is important.

Conclusion

If you are in the market to refinance your mortgage, these offers can be great. On the other hand, if you are in the market for a purchase mortgage, I would avoid this offer. When working with a 1-800 number mortgage staff, a different person will be working with you, each time you call.

Working with the telephone staff for refinancing is fine, but mortgages for purchases are different animals. Purchase mortgages involve appraisal and financing contingencies and you need a person in your corner to make sure those contingencies are met. Phone staff won't have the time to ensure those contingencies are met.

Refinancing your mortgage or getting a new mortgage just to earn points can be expensive and dangerous. However, if you are in the market for a new mortgage or have a high interest rate, this is a great way to pick up a free flight or two.

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Have a question for us?

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Club Carlson & New Partner

Club Carlson is making a big push to enter the "big boy" hotel club. There latest change is adding Southwest as a partner that you can transfer Club Carlson Gold Points to Southwest's Rapid Rewards program.

The transfer rate isn't anything to jump-up and down about:

• 2.,000 Gold Points     =    250 Rapid Reward Points
• 50,000 Gold Points    =    8,000 Rapid Reward Points
• 100,000 Gold Points  =    18,000 Rapid Reward Points

While I will most likely not being transferring points any time soon, this option might be helpful for those trying to get Southwest's Companion Pass. 

What is Southwest's Companion Pass?

The companion pass is Southwest's hidden gem of their frequent flyer spender program. The companion pass acts as a buy 1, get 1 free offer. If you have the companion pass, you deem someone your companion, and they fly free when you buy a ticket or redeem points. Flying to New Orleans, your companion comes free. Redeeming points for a trip to Seattle, your companion comes along.

How does one get the Companion Pass?

One needs to earn 110,000 Rapid Reward Points in a calender year.

That sounds hard/ impossible, right?

Not really. In the past, Southwest has had a Chase Personal and Business credit card that earn 50,000 miles after spending $2,000 in three months. If you get both cards, and hit the minimum spend, you will have 100,000 Rapid Reward Points. This will leave you 10,000 points shy of the companion pass. It is important to note, that in the past the credit card sign-up bonus has counted towards the companion pass . . . will that stay the situation is unknown...so proceed with caution. 

Can you now see how this transfer offer might be helpful? Transferring 50,000 points will net you 8,000 Rapid Reward points, 2,000 points shy of the Pass. Maybe you earn 50,000 points with one of Club Carlson's big offers last year and value the option of having your wife, kid, best friend travel free for a year; instead of one night at a $400 night hotel.

If the cards come back, I am going to jump on them this time. My hope is to travel more (possibly by airplane) to college football games this year and next. The Companion Pass will help Chris and I get Cash-Back Boy and Limited Credit Boy to the games. Instead of buying three tickets, we only need two, reducing the cost of the trip.

A new transfer option like this might not make sense to everyone, but the addition of each new option, opens new doors for us points addicts. With so many doors being closed to us in the game now a days, its nice for once a new and somewhat valuable one being opened.

UPDATED: Southwest Adds $40 Fee For Early Boarding

Every day it seems like Southwest airlines is moving more and more in the pay for services model. Today the announcement was made that the discount airline would be implementing a new option for their passengers on the day of departure, early boarding.

The service, which would be $40.00, would allow individuals to board the flight early and bypass the zone system of boarding that Southwest is famous for. The interesting thing is the option will only be available at the gate on the day of departure and agents will only start selling the option at 45 minutes before the flight.

It will be interesting to see if this is going to be the new trend for Southwest.


UPDATE: A good friend correctly pointed out that I didn't have all of the info here and helped me clarify.

It appears that the early boarding option will be in to the "A" Boarding Group slots that are traditionally for "Business Class" customers. The option to board early will only be available IF there are spots left (i.e. If the Business option isn't sold out).


Here is the full announcement from Southwest:

Southwest Airlines Offers New Boarding Option

Southwest Airlines Customers LUV the coveted "A" boarding group, and now they have one more way to be among the first to board.  Beginning today, Southwest Airlines will offer Customers the opportunity to purchase one of the earliest boarding positions at the gate for $40 per flight, when available.

"At Southwest, we have developed boarding options that fit a variety of our Customers' needs—from EarlyBird Check-In to our Business Select Fare," said Kevin Krone, Southwest Airlines Vice President of Marketing, Sales, and Distribution. "Offering Customers the option to improve their boarding position on day of travel is one more way we can offer the travel experience that best fits their needs."

This new boarding option will only be offered at the gate on the day of travel, beginning 45 minutes before the flight departs.  Customers will hear an announcement in the gate area and will be able to purchase an available boarding position via credit card from a Customer Service Agent. Customers will only have the opportunity to purchase these positions if available. The airline successfully tested this new boarding option in San Diego last month, and received positive feedback.

e-Miles

One of the passive ways I earn points is using e-Miles. I use the word "passive," because you won't get point rich with e-Miles. One can only cash out of e-Mles once earning 500 miles and this takes time. Why bother you might ask? Every point counts and sometimes airlines have bonuses for transferring points into your account (ie the now dead US Airways Grandslam, my Delta Grandslam).

I have been a member of US Airways e-Miles for a very long time. It was once of the first point earning strategies that I did. Yesterday, I shut my account down. Why you might ask? To open a Delta e-Miles account and earn my bonus 500 miles by transferring 500 miles into my account, as part of the partner section of the Delta Grandslam.

Under the e-Miles FAQs:

        "What happens if I receive an invitation from another sponsor which I prefer? 

               Member can cancel their e-Miles membership at any time. To re-enroll, you will need to visit e-
               Miles.com and complete the member enrollment process.

               NOTE: Once you cancelled your membership any e-Miles miles earned that have not already been 
               deposited to your preferred frequent flyer or sponsor account will be lost.

This question gives us valuable information. For one, you are not allowed to have more than one active e-mile account, but more importantly two: you may switch between programs freely.


I did just that last night. I shut down my US Airways e-Miles account and applied for a e-Miles account with my Preferred Sponsor as Delta. Check your email accounts for special offers from your frequent flyer programs  Often, they will send offers to join e-Miles with 250 miles automatically deposited into you e-Miles account, meaning you are half way to you first deposit.

e-Miles has partnerships with Delta, US Airways, United, AirTran, Southwest, Hilton Honers, Priority Club, Frontier, Alaskan, Southwest and Amazon. As I previously stated, I am focusing on Delta to trigger the 500 point bonus, but e-Miles is almost the same for each partner.


After signing up for e-Miles, you will be taken to a front page with various offers. Many of the first offers will be asking you to create your profile. While creating your profile, I would recommend choosing the first two columns (High Interest or Somewhat Interest.) By doing this, you will increase the number of offers that you get.

Every few days, you will receive an email saying that you have new opportunities available to you. After receiving this email, click on the link to go to your homepage to see the offers. Each offer normally gives you 5 miles + additional miles for signing up for the offer. The only requirement to get the 5 base miles is to click on the"continue" button and answer a few short questions. Again, always try to pick "high interest" and "somewhat interest". 

The time commitment for e-Miles is a few minutes every couple of days. Nothing major.

Once you earn 500 miles, you are able to deposit into your preferred frequent account (mine is Delta). The deposit normally happens within a week of your request.

Again, e-Miles won't make you points rich. However, combined with partner bonuses, a few minutes every couple of days may result in a good chunk of miles.

I am currently at 115 miles after one day. I will report back to show my progress and how long it takes to earn 500 miles.

I hope you give e-Miles a chance. 

Groupon and LivingSocial

I must confess. Two years ago, I was a Groupon and LivingSocial addict. I would buy daily deals almost every week. I would try new restaurants, visit new museums, and do new activities.

I had to pull the plug on my love of Groupon and LivingSocial. I came to this realization when I looked at the number of Groupons, I bought, but had expired without me using them. I was wasting too much money and not getting a return on my money.

Something changed over the past month and I am buying Groupons and Livingsocial deals again, but I am being selective. A Groupon to my favorite restaurant, great! A Livingsocial deal to Brookstone, perfect!

My courtship with Groupons and Livingsocial has been triggered by two things:  a new found self control and founding out that I can earn points for buying these deals. Many of the shopping portals are giving points out for buying deals from Groupon and Livingsocial.

Here are a few of the current point offers:

LivingSocial:

Chase Ultimate Rewards: 3 pts per/$ 

United Milageplus: 2 pts per/$ 

USAirways: 2 pts per/$ 

American Airlines AAdvantage: 3 pts per/$ 

Delta: 2 pts per/$ 

Southwest: 2 pts per/$ 

Priority Club: 3 pts per/$ 

Groupon:

Chase Ultimate Rewards: 4 pts per/$ 

United Milageplus: 2 pts per/$ 

USAirways: 1 pts per/$ 

American Airlines AAdvantage: 2 pts per/$ 

Delta: 2 pts per/$ 

Priority Club: 3 pts per/$ 

Southwest: 2 pts per/$ 

By taking an extra minute by going through a shopping portal first, you will earn points on every dollar that you spend. It is important to note that you will earn points only on the money that you spend. For example, if you get a $50 Groupon to a new restaurant for $25, you will earn points on the $25. Using the Chase Ultimate Rewards, that 100 points for an extra minutes worth of work. 

Take an extra minute and earn points for those Groupons and LivingSocial!

United ~ Best Frequent Flyer Program???

During one of my trips on United, I saw this ad in their in-flight magazine:

In this ad, United claims to have the "Best Frequent Flyer Program" for the past 8 years. This is based upon a survey of readers of the Global Traveler magazine.

This made me think. Does United have the best frequent flyer program? I have only been a member of MileagePlus, United's frequent flyer program, for the past few years. However, I don't see what makes it better than other programs. For a person without status, what the diffidence between one airline's frequent flyer program and another. Typically, a flyer normally earns 1 frequent flyer mile for each mile flown. Yes, some airlines like Delta give you less based upon the type of ticket you buy and Southwest determines it by the cost of ticket and type of ticket. Am I over thinking this?

In regards to people with status, I hear many complaints, on other blogs, about United removing the benefits to people with status. So, what makes United the Best Frequent Flyer Program? And for eight straight? Wouldn't after losing to United for eight years other airlines make changes to their program to at least compete with United. Something smells fishy about this claim. Is my gut feeling wrong? Do you think United has the best program?

On the ad, their was also the claim "we're ranked #1 in award seat availability among U.S. Global carriers."  This was based upon a survey taken of saver-style award available for June-October 2012. They define US Global carriers as United, American Airlines, Us Airways and Delta. I also saw this claim on hundreds of signs at Dulles (IAD), during a recent trip:

What the advertisements don't say is how the survey was conducted. What award tickets were they trying to purchase? From the pictures in the advertisements, it looks like international destinations (from the pictures I see Paris and Holland). Looking at the survey conducted by Ideaworks, the survey was conducted with specific outbound and return flights dates. However, to get the best tickets, savey flyers know that flexibility is key to get the best seats for fee. Here is a link to the press release with the results. Specifically here is their methodology:

              "Notes regarding reward query methodology:  Booking queries for a party of two          

            travelers were made at frequent flier program websites during March 2012.  Some  

            airlines require a Saturday night stay for reward travel; all of the queries used date 

            pairings that included a Saturday night stay.  While the city pairs varied for each 

            frequent flier program, the travel dates queried did not.  280 specific dates were 

            selected for survey queries and only reward seat availability for travel on the date 

            specified was recorded; any departure time was acceptable.  Furthermore, reward 

            travel had to be available on the outbound and return dates queried.  Overly circuitous          

            routings and layovers longer than 4 hours were not accepted.  The top 10 routes 

            longer than 2,500 miles and the top 10 shorter routes were selected for each airline.  

            Due to a lack of long-haul routes, the top 20 overall routes were queried for these 

            airlines:  AirTran, GOL, JetBlue, Southwest, and Virgin Australia.  Two

            mainland – Hawaii city pairs (out of 20) were substituted for Alaska Airlines to reflect  

            the carrier’s increasing emphasis on longer-haul flights.  Ten top Europe - Palma de 

            Mallorca city pairs (out of 20) were substituted for Air Berlin to reflect the carrier’s 

            major Mediterranean emphasis on holiday flights.  When offered, online reward 

            availability for partner airlines was always requested; rewards fulfilled by calling the 

            airline were not."

What I found most interesting about this survey is where the US Carriers are ranked compared to international based carriers. Out of 23 carriers, Southwest ranks tied for first (1st), Airtran and United tied for seventh (7th), Jetblue at ninth (9th), Alaskan at sixteenth (16th), American at nineteenth (19th), US Airways at twenty-first (21st) and Delta last at twenty-third (23). 

So, in reality, Southwest/Airtran (they are in the middle of a merger) is the best US Based carrier.  United used some very very very tricky wording to say it has the "#1 in award seat availability among US global carriers," since it limited it to US Airways, Delta and American. One can assume out of this survey that if one is looking for domestic tickets, one should focus your attention on Southwest. However, if one is looking for international award tickets - United is the place to look.

I would agree to some degree. I have a lot of luck with US Airways with domestic tickets; however, their requirement to purchase a roundtrip ticket is antiquated; especially since they allow you to pick two one way tickets for cash purchases. For international trips, United is a member of the Star Alliance, which opens up many different award ticket possibilities  In addition,  United's trip routing and ticketing rules for award tickets are amazing as well. For example, I would not be going to Tokyo if it not for United's allowing one way ticketing.

The moral of this post. Don't believe everything you read, because with the right data any airline can be number 1 in any category.