Citi ThankYou Premier Card Means New Pajamas!

Shout out to MileValue for nudging me over the edge when I was wavering about whether to apply for the Citi ThankYou Premier Card after receiving the Fry’s VIP Citi Prestige Card only a few days ago. Many had written that the Citi Prestige’s 50k ThankYou points should be redeemed for $800 on American Airlines. At the time, I was the only one advocating holding out for more ThankYou offers which can be used on a growing alliance of transfer partners that I detailed in this post. Well it didn’t take long for my premonition to become a reality. Citi upped its Citi ThankYou offer from 30k to 50k meaning those who apply and are approved for both will have well over 100k points to enjoy.* *Note per the article: You can be approved for no more than one Citi credit card application in 8 days and no more than two applications in 65 days. What will I do? My initial thought is to hoard them and apply for the Citi ThankYou Business offer in 65+ days while simultaneously learning more about the transfer partners. My other thought is to meet the min spend ASAP then book a flight on SQ A380 stopping in Frankfurt on the way to Singapore in order to get two new pairs of Givenchy pajamas as mine are a little worn from overuse. DSC_0383

Deals I Liked: 12.5% of Hyatt Gift Cards

Sometimes I get lucky and read the right post at the right time. Today is an example of that. This Thursday I will be back in Scottsdale for a wedding flying devalued Southwest to get there. I used cash and points to book the Hyatt House in Old Town which is located in the best part of Scottsdale. The deal was 2 nights for 8000 GoldPassport points + $110. Looking at a fellow BoardingArea’s blog, I learned of a deal to purchase Hyatt gift cards for 12.5% off. Some may not care about such a small savings but for me every dollar, every point counts. This offer is another reason why I’ve started the AutoPilot series where each week I summarize the best of points blogs in case you don’t have the time to read them all. Hats off to dealswelike.com for saving me some money. Capture

NBA Eastern Conference Playoffs

Looking for a way to spend your SWA points post devaluation? Look no further than the horrid Eastern Conference Playoffs for great destinations. They include: Milwaukee, Chicago, Toronto, Cleveland, Brooklyn, Boston, Atlanta, and DC. I’ve never been to Milwaukee which is the ugly cousin of Chicago and do not want to go to Cleveland because everything sucks in Ohio. But the rest are easily accessible using SWA or Avios. Tickets to the first round should be easy to come by because there aren’t any intriguing match ups and the quality of play is garbage. Either way, as is the tradition here, ThePointsOfLife makes its picks. Toronto vs. Washington: Washington in 6 Bulls vs. Bucks: Bulls in 7 Celtics vs. Cavaliers: Cavs in 4 Nets vs. HawksUpset alert. Nets in 7. Atlanta basketball is a joke. Overall, who cares about the Eastern Conference. I’m sure it will be the Cavs vs. another snooze team with the Cavs advancing to The Finals. Let’s see. Tomorrow we go West where it’s a lot more exciting.

Detroit Basketball!
Detroit Basketball!

Autpilot Saturday: News You Should Peruse

NBA playoffs started today but let’s talk points with a few posts that you should click.

  1. MileValue: More opportunities to fly first-class on Etihad long-haul. Again the issue I have with Etihad is the destination or origination of Abu Dhabi. What’s there to do besides catch a flight in or out?
  2. Le Chic Geek: Why Every Traveler Should Sign Up for Google Voice: A workaround when SMS isn’t available.
  3. Miles to Memories: A great Amex gift card offer: Pay attention to those offers if you are an Amex card holder. It literally is free money.
  4. One Mile At a Time: $1000 Business Class to Europe: This one I want to book if I knew what was going on in my life schedule.
Tomorrow I’ll break down the NBA playoff picture.  

Citi Prestige: Is This My Fry’s VIP Card?

Back in the day when I churned like a boss, I would lie and wait for the postman to come with envelopes from Nebraska that were a bit bulkier than other parcels which I never bothered to open. I recall the AA Executive Card coming in a black box with a golden ticket a la Willy Wonka. That was a great day. I remember the same card coming again 90 days later, also a great day. Today Christmas didn’t come early by way of a beautiful gift wrapped Citi Card. Since I had to get the card sent to an alternate address, it came in an unmarked Fedex envelope. No big deal I guess. The letdown came when I opened the present to find the lamest card in the history of all credit cards! $450 for this flimsy piece of plastic. Am I supposed to be impressed because the blue arc is transparent? Not since my Amex Blue have I felt so cheapened by what was supposed to be a novel product. Go to a merchant with this card and don’t be shocked if the card breaks in half when swiping it through the machine. Compare this to the card made of steel, the Chase Sapphire, where compliments are given because its weight infers stature. If you’re not in the points game you may find my rant useless but it does have merit from a marketing perspective. Consumers whether subconscious or not have pride in which card they chose to use when they go out. Heading to a nice restaurant, your more like to pay with your Sapphire (regardless of 2x bonus) than your local credit union card. Heading out for a night on the town you’re more likely to flash the Amex Platinum in a tacit way to let the bartender know that you are someone important. Fortunately for Citi this card comes with great benefits so when I do get scowls from the maître d’ much like I do when I use my trusty Blackberry, I will have the last laugh knowing that I’m getting 5x on this, 3x on that, all to be enjoyed in an airplane lounge at a date not too far in the future.

Piece of junk for $450 a year!
Piece of junk for $450 a year!
   

Creepy Citi Voice Recognition for Fraud Prevention

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My Citi Prestige card arrived at my billing address and I’m not in town to claim it. I called Citi to have them overnight it to me at my current location. The automated system was adamant that I provide my card number before connecting me, something impossible to do given that I didn’t have my card. Then when I was connected, the rep asked if I would authorize Citi to use my voice to authenticate my identity for future calls. Short answer: hell no. Why did I say no? I have no idea but there was something unseemly about Citi asking me to consent to having my voice on file (which I’m sure they already have from all those recon calls). In principle, it makes sense that banks do more than ask for your password and card number before enabling the caller to do whatever he wants to the account. Still, I think there’s enough privacy intrusion as it is and I’m sure I’ll still end up getting red flagged when I try to feed the bird, voice or no voice authentication. Thoughts? Anyone?  

Are Points Income Under the Tax Code? The Answer

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Previously I had posed the question given on a final exam when I was a professor of tax law about whether or not points are considered income under the US Tax Code: Now in commiseration of Tax Day, I will give the answer. Note that the answer is exactly why law school produces unemployable lawyers. There never is a straightforward answer. Question:  ‘Unlucky’ is a small business owner and world traveler. He recently signed up for credit card offers that give him points that he can use to purchase airline tickets, hotels, or simply redeem for cash. Most recently he signed up for a U.S. Generic Bank personal card and U.S. Generic Bank business card. The business card has a spending requirement of $5000 within the first 3 months of opening and awards him with 50,000 points. The personal card has no spending requirement but charges an annual fee of $75 for first use. The reward is 30,000 points. The 50,000 points is redeemable for $500 cash or a round-trip flight overseas ranging in value from $5000-$10,000. The personal card’s 30,000 points is worth $300 in cash or five nights stay at a resort worth $500 a night. Explain Unlucky’s tax implications for the personal and business cards. Assume rewards cannot be combined. Please focus more on the policy implications for your answer. Answer: The overall policy that should be discussed is what constitutes gross income, when it is realized, whether it makes a difference if it is for personal or business use. Does it matter if the amount gained is in cash or is in services? This is a pressing issue as Citibank has recently sent out statements for its reward card members but there has yet to be an IRS ruling on whether this constitutes gross income or not and in what form.  

Southwest Devaluation? Punta Cana Every Month

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Forget it. That’s what I’ve determined after wasting a few nights of searching and clicking SWA for a good companion ticket from the west coast to the Dominican Republic. The only available decent routing in the coming months is to Los Cabos, my New Year’s destination a decade ago. There are many other places I’d rather go in Mexico than Cabo so I’m going to scratch that off the list. But because the Southwest devaluation is on the horizon and because there are no cancellation fees when flying Southwest, I have decided to book a flight from Detroit to Punta Cana every month through the end of the year. My guess is that I will be visiting my parents at some point and the slogan, ‘wanna get away’ will have me bound for the beautiful beaches of the Dominican Republic. I’m slightly disappointed I couldn’t perform my usual points magic but I can’t complain too much since this is the third year I’ve had the companion pass. (Click for Round 1 & Round 2’s adventure.) So how do I rationalize not burning all my RapidReward points before the devaluation?

  • I tell myself that I don’t really know what the devaluation will be. OK, that’s the weakest argument but Southwest has a record of being great to its customers. My original fear was that the international routes would be the most devalued but as this post has shown, that’s no longer an issue.
  • I have a companion pass. Devaluations aren’t pleasant but let’s not get too greedy and forget that those holding the pass fly 2*1.
  • Domestic travel: I barely travel domestic. When I’m flying domestic my objective is to get from point A to point B with the least amount of money out of pocket.Sure it isn’t as great a deal as before but I don’t place a monetary value on RapidReward points like other programs. Just get me there.
  • Ultimate Rewards: In the case that I am a few points short, I can always transfer URs to my SWA account to put me over the top. I’ve gathered enough URs to purchase an island in Greece.
Overall, it is my hope that if I’m flexible with my travel dates then the low reward calendar/frequent sales will offset any devaluation. Now what to do with those stupid ClubCarlson points!
No Cabo, no problem
No Cabo, no problem

Southwest International Is a Mess, Fly Spirit?

The devaluation of Southwest is two days away and I have no game plan. Somehow I have three return flights booked and two outbound ones. Something isn’t adding up. A good deal I found was 8000 points from Washington to Cabo San Lucas. Another decent one was 7000 from Punta Cana to Fort Lauderdale. As you see these don’t really go well together. One weird thing from my perusal of Southwest’s site is the amount that points tickets cost. Returning from Dominican, the taxes are $101. Checking ITA I noticed that a flight on the dreaded Spirit was $127 making that 7k great deal not great at all.

Oh Spirit
Oh Spirit
Taxes returning from Cabo are $66 which is reasonable because paying out of pocket runs $266 on Southwest, $200 on American. As of right now, I’m not convinced that RapidRewards + International Tickets are the way to go. More research is necessary.

Too Many Blogs! How to Stay Organized

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A new feature at TPOL is Autopilot Saturday/Sundays where I link insightful posts from around the points blogosphere. Throughout the week, I bookmark these posts to well-organized folders because I know they will be useful in the future. If this sounds obvious, then let me ask if you are already doing it? If you are not, then my guess is that you have spent time fumbling around Google trying to find that one post that tells you whether Amex cards are reloadable on the RedBird. Much like my protocol for paying bills on time, I have a system for keeping up with news on gift cards, best airline redemptions, aspirational hotels, and travel guides per destination. What’s funny about the saved bookmarks is what I find when I’m motivated enough to do an audit of what is saved. What I discover is really telling of where the points game was and where it is going. A lot of the ‘best of’ are no longer available, victims to the inevitable devaluation thus the need to Shut Up And Book. Indeed an entire folder is dedicated to booking AA’s Explorer Award, a round-the-world redemption that was eliminated overnight. I keep the folder around hoping naively hoping it returns. My advice to you if you do find any posts useful whether mine or others is to set up a system for keeping it all straight, a simple but effective means of ensuring you don’t leave any points on the table.

Churn
Churn
Hotels
Hotels
Airlines
Airlines
Destinations
Destinations