My big break

[snoseek]

That's awesome man. Hadn't seen you post in awhile and was unaware of your trip back east. While you were here did you get to dig into some Loco's Coco's, fresh Haddock and some Lobster???

Give a shout when you're coming back for the holidays, maybe we can catch some turns

Yeah I had an awesome time. Ate at Brown's immediately after landing-ate fish, seafood every single day for eight straight days. WTF-Loco's is like a full service place now, I even had a drink at the bar!!! Hiked three days in the Whites, spent some time in the boat fishing salmon and lakers, foraged and cooked food on the islands in Casco Bay, closed down Gritt's on Sat night, smoked some of New Englands finest, swam in the ocean multiple times.....New England really can be a great place to take a vacation.

I will ski when I come back-dates are still unsure. At least I won't have to shop for the cheapest days like usual.

 

[Geoff]

i think i am up to around 375 390,000 points on amex this year. i was just reminded by my partner. looks like im going somewhere for free. we have a few more project to do so i bet i could get that number close to 500,000. for all the money we put throught them they still wont give us a freakin plum card. i like using the cards instead of using net 30 with my vendors because i get rewards but i hate amex.

I've got 350K in the United program and 110K each in American and Delta. I'm unemployed so I'm thinking I'll use the Delta miles for some dirtbag trips to Salt Lake. Midvale cheap motel or a couch. Bus loop or $25.00/day econobox rental. Brown bag it. Buy tix in the flats at the ski shops.

 

[severine]

Sure... why not....?

Is that your answer to everything?

Because NWA (which is where I already have some miles) cards that offer miles have annual fees. I don't pay annual fees on my other cards and I don't want to.

 

[Vortex]

I'll be at the River Dec 19th till Jan 4th. We better get a visit. Mid week non holiday the fam goes home. I'll get you a good deal on lodging ;-)as long as I don't have to drink your lousy canned beer.:razz: Love to see ya.

 

[dmc]

Is that your answer to everything?

Because NWA (which is where I already have some miles) cards that offer miles have annual fees. I don't pay annual fees on my other cards and I don't want to.

i always encourage people to take advantage of things offered by businesses... Why not?

I hope those annual fees are not more then the breaks you get from having a card with an airline...

 

[dmc]

I've got 350K in the United program and 110K each in American and Delta. I'm unemployed so I'm thinking I'll use the Delta miles for some dirtbag trips to Salt Lake. Midvale cheap motel or a couch. Bus loop or $25.00/day econobox rental. Brown bag it. Buy tix in the flats at the ski shops.

Yeah buddy!

Live it up when you can! Brown bag it when you gotta...
Just ski!

Last year in Utah I spent the first part of the week in a "cherry" condo at the Bird and ended up on a couch outside the canyon for the second part...

Dinners at the mountain for he first part... fish tacos for the rest...

 

[Geoff]

i always encourage people to take advantage of things offered by businesses... Why not?

I hope those annual fees are not more then the breaks you get from having a card with an airline...

I've played the airline miles program credit card game for years. You sign up for a card that gives you a big bonus the first year and that's free for the first year. When renewal time comes, you cancel the card. Repeat as necessary.

I've probably pulled at least 150,000 free miles out of the Delta/AMEX program. I got a huge bonus for signing up for an AMEX Blue card around 10 years ago. I got another big hit for signing up for a Delta Skymiles card a couple of years ago. I recently called up to cancel that card and AMEX offered me a free one that only gives you a half mile per dollar spent. That's enough to keep my 110K Delta miles current if I don't end up burning them going to Salt Lake this winter.

I do pay for a Citibank AAdvantage platinum card and I've been pushing all my corporate expense account and personal stuff through it. I don't pay cash for anything since I'd rather get the miles. I originally signed up because Canadian Airlines was in the American program and had a non-stop Boston/Vancouver flight. That route vaporized and the airline merged into Air Canada so that stopped being possible. I've been using the miles from that card for the last 8 years to do South America ski trips. I've flipped the card several times along the way to pick up free years and big chunks of bonus miles. The next time it renews, I'll probably cancel it again and pick up the free mile bonus and free card for a year deal in some future promotion. I think the fee for the card is $85.00 and I've been accruing enough miles to get a couple of Chile flights that are worth at least $1,000 each.

 

[drjeff]

For my business, we use one of Capital One's Business Visa Cards, where we pay an annual fee of $39, but in return for that, it doubles the points/miles we get. So for every $1 we charge we get 2 points. Last year that $39 fee we paid got my partner and I each a freebie round trip ticket (Him to San Francisco and me to Salt Lake City), and we still had an extra almost 100,000 points left over. Right now, the office account with Capital One has almost 750,000 points, which will be rapidly decreasing in a few weeks with a trip to San Antonio and a trip to Florida

 

[Geoff]

For my business, we use one of Capital One's Business Visa Cards, where we pay an annual fee of $39, but in return for that, it doubles the points/miles we get. So for every $1 we charge we get 2 points. Last year that $39 fee we paid got my partner and I each a freebie round trip ticket (Him to San Francisco and me to Salt Lake City), and we still had an extra almost 100,000 points left over. Right now, the office account with Capital One has almost 750,000 points, which will be rapidly decreasing in a few weeks with a trip to San Antonio and a trip to Florida

I have one of their cards in my wallet since it's the only credit card that doesn't nail you to the wall with foreign currency fees. I use it whenever I'm out of the country. It's a free card that accrues miles in their program. I haven't spent much time looking into their program since I use the card so infrequently. It's a penny per mile on the face value of the airline ticket, right? That's fine for domestic flights if you shop carefully but you get slaughtered if you're trying to use it for international long haul business class where the face value of the ticket can be $4K or $5K.

 

[drjeff]

I have one of their cards in my wallet since it's the only credit card that doesn't nail you to the wall with foreign currency fees. I use it whenever I'm out of the country. It's a free card that accrues miles in their program. I haven't spent much time looking into their program since I use the card so infrequently. It's a penny per mile on the face value of the airline ticket, right? That's fine for domestic flights if you shop carefully but you get slaughtered if you're trying to use it for international long haul business class where the face value of the ticket can be $4K or $5K.

Actually the way that the calculate the redemption points is basically 100 points per dollar cost of the ticket (They have standard point deductions based on the cost of the ticket upto I believe $600 - the exact info is currently in a filing cabinet deep within the basement of my office and I'm feeling lazy right now ) and above the top set dollar bracket it's the 100 points per dollar of ticket cost. Not sure if its diffrenent for international flights as my partner and I as of late have just been hitting up domestic locations.

Customer service has been great with them too. To redeem, book your flight either through them or by yourself(doesn't matter), then if you booked yourself, you just call them up, and say you want to use your points for charge such and such on your statement and thats it. Total phone time for the redemptions I've done so far has been atmost 2 minutes, no hassels, no problems (damn, I'm starting to sound like one of those stupid Capital One commercials now )

Here's the link to what my business has:
http://www.capitalone.com/smallbusi...dex.php?linkid=WWW_Z_Z_02_SBCD_C1_03_T_SBDNHM

Was 9.99% interest rate when we got it, but doesn't really matter to us what it is since it's paid off each month. Plus, they have no problems increasing the creditline shortly thereafter if needed.

 

[dmc]

i hate foreign currency fees...

Siht is expensive enough anywhere outside of the US now... and that hurts....
I borrowed $100 Euros from a friend when I was in Germany and will pay him back next week when i see him in US...

 

[ComeBackMudPuddles]

i HATE it when flights are overbooked. total BS.