- If I were grading it, this Southwest sale would get a solid B.
- This one here (from Alaska and Virgin America) gets a thumbs up.
- Using fewer SkyDongs for domestic flights is always nice. Congratulations, Delta – 2 dongs up.
Giveaway
Last year around this time, I wrote a post to see if there was any interest in contributing to a contest for readers. The response was INCREDIBLE and it led to multiple giveaways (American Airlines gift cards, United lounge passes, National free rentals, Hyatt gift cards, Airbnb money, and 2 free flights with Flexperks points). There’s absolutely no pressure here, but if you have anything you’d like contribute (big or small), I’d love to do another reader giveaway this year. Thanks!
Global Entry Credit
Like any other day, I got a bunch of emails on Sunday. But I wanted to answer one question here because it’s a pretty common one…
Question:
“Which cards give a credit for Global Entry?”
Answer:
The ones below (most of them have big-ass annual fees). As always, you’ll find links on the Best Credit Cards page.
- US Bank Altitude Reserve
- Chase Sapphire Reserve
- Amex Platinum (multiple credits possible)
- Citi Prestige
- Chase Ritz Carlton
- US Bank’s Flexperks Gold Amex (lower annual fee – $85)
- Bank Of America Premium Rewards (lower annual fee – $95)
- Citi’s American Executive card
- First National Bank TravElite (no annual fee)
- UBS Visa Infinite
- Barclays American Aviator Silver
If I missed anything, please let me know and I’ll edit the post. Also, there are other options that give you a general airline/travel credit you can choose to use for your Global Entry fee. The Arrival card from Barclays is the best of those options. Expedia’s card from Citibank is probably on the lowest end of that list.
My Favorite Hotel Card
Five reasons why I consider the IHG card to be underrated as hell…
- It’s one of the few Chase cards that people like me still get approved for.
- Their Platinum status isn’t garbage. I’ve always gotten a better room with late checkout.
- Even when the public offer dipped, you could get the card and send a message to Chase. That extra 30 seconds bumped the bonus up to 80,000 points.
- Now the public offer is 80,000 and sending a message might get you matched to 100,000 points (according to reader Carl).
- This is one of the few cards I keep open longer than a year. Unlike Hyatt, the IHG anniversary night isn’t limited by category. I rarely say this…but it’s an annual fee worth paying.
Definitely a card worth considering if you haven’t gotten a new IHG bonus in the last 24 months. Make sure you add a user for an extra 5,000 points. Have a great weekend, nerds!
Audience Rewards
As many of us know, Broadway shows ain’t cheap.
Luckily, I’ve been able to save a few bucks by using Audience Rewards points. These are some of the basics that have helped me:
- Points + Cash is almost always how I burn these points.
- Amtrak points can be transferred to Audience Rewards at a 1-to-1 ratio.
- Get Amtrak points from Starwood transfers or this credit card.
- I get seats as early as possible because availability tends to be pretty low.
- The best value (for me) isn’t with shows like Book of Mormon or Hamilton.
- If you’re rich with Starwood points, you can also get tickets directly with those.
