Yes it is amazing indeed. This whole industry relies on the unhealthy habits of Americans binging using plastic. And suffering the consequences by paying exorbitant interest charges to the banks for decades. It is just awful to watch. This practice (reeling in new credit card customers with ridiculously high sign up bonuses we experienced players feast on taking it to the banks, pun intended) is allowed to exist only in the US. The debit card abuses were reeled in some years ago, which pretty much destroyed the rewards you get with them. There have been legislative efforts to do the same with credit cards but they always fail. Because...lobbying and very strong resistance from the industry that makes millions pushing these products. If this is ever fixed, I guess most of us who do this for a hobby will have to find another hobby, so sad. But maybe it is better for humanity. Then again, banks will have to target other ways to stay in business. And they will....So, the status quo continues. I am not complaining, I have earned probably close to 100 million miles in my lifetime but have slowed way down only aiming to burn at least 1 million miles per year... To an earlier posted who posted about the apporama days applying for 13 cards in one day, those were the days. And they are not coming back due to increasing bank restrictions against some of these gamers who play the system. Even AMEX has a separate department cracking down, the Rewards Abuse Team, infamously called the RATs...I could go on. You all do what is comfortable for you, sticking it to the banks and airlines/hotels is addictive, you have been warned.
Chris Elliott has been consistently a thorn on the side of bloggers pushing every travel rewards credit card they can sell. And he does have some great consumer protection views of course. But imho he takes it to the extreme on the other side and you need to realize this is how he makes his living. Which is way more ethical than the side he fights against, that's for sure. At one point, he agreed to move his domain to the main website in this space, Boarding Area. Which was the oddest pairing ever! As expected, he did not last long in that website...wonder what he was thinking going there in the first place.
You need to update your airline account profiles with your Global Entry number...which is, inexplicably asked as "Known Traveler #". And that should ensure to get TSA Precheck on your boarding pass...99% of the time. It was 100% but daughter did not get one last month...so maybe they start to get rationed lately? Those TSA Precheck lanes are sure getting longer these days!
I left the corporate world when firm decided to stop allowing us to book business travel on personal credit cards because I could really bring it on big time. This is what I miss the most from my corporate days, all the free miles and points! I am now managing son's business travel and he is raking it in, it brings memories lol. Paying Amazon using Amex points is considered a poor value in general. And you can get better value transferring Amex points in other partners than Hilton Honors. But, as you stated, it is much less work this way and keeping it simple is way under rated. And two big thumbs up in reducing credit fraud risk holding a few credit cards, something no blogger in this space ever mentions.
The Amex Hilton Surpass card requires $40,000 spend on the card to earn Hilton Honors Diamond status. Please don't do that. There is really not that much of an improvement when you go from Hilton Honors Gold to Diamond elite status. Citibank Double Cash card is a straight up no annual fee 2% cash back card. At a minimum, everyone should earn that for all spending. And life will be a lot simpler instead of trying to keep up with ever evolving maddening changes with airline and hotel programs. Card Con? Do the speakers fly for free on ConAir to it? :-)
I have been around this "hobby" (which has become a mega business) for over 30 years. It has changed a lot and the bang for rewards is definitely a lot less than it used to be. Several factors involved, airlines are making money, all programs moving to revenue based structure and killing fixed award charts, fees galore added, finding awards to book is becoming harder, planes/hotels are full and, most importantly, the pace of devaluations are increasing even more frequently. When you see a blog talking up yet another credit card you need to understand they make A LOT of money from the sales commissions banks pay them. When you see blogs continually do that every day you probably should consider another blog with better ethics. There is NO best credit card out there. Just like there is no best stock or ETF. We are all different. Different goals, different travel aspirations, different money habits, different schedules, different family structures, different financial situations, different lodging preferences, different local airports we start travel from. And I could go on... But there is ONE thing you must do before you embark on this addictive hobby. NEVER ever carry a balance, ALWAYS pay it in full. Every time. Because all the souls who do not do that pay for our rewards, it is a sad reality. In general, a few other tips: Bank transferable points are preferred to pure airline or hotel points, because of inherent flexibility. Focus on the airline that flies most out of your local airport. And one hotel chain you prefer. To get started and wet your appetite so to speak. Delta Skymiles and Marriott Bonvoy are two currencies you are most likely not going to get much value out of. Most stingy companies out there. You fly Delta because they do a great job flying, not because of SkyMiles. Regarding Marriott, it is a matter of time before you get Bonvoyed too (google it). Miles and points travel bloggers are essentially bank financial product salesmen. Never forget that. And they always pump out how amazingly they travel for free repeatedly. It is all marketing, nothing is really free! Anyway, I do blog once a week. Name of my blog is travelbloggerbuzz. Yes, my blog sells a few cards that pay the blog costs, it is a labor of love. I curate web content once a week, Humble Dollar articles repeatedly make it to my blog. There is so much bad information in this area online it is sad to watch really. I would not mind maybe writing here once in a while if I find the time. Thank you. George Papadopoulos
Comments
Yes it is amazing indeed. This whole industry relies on the unhealthy habits of Americans binging using plastic. And suffering the consequences by paying exorbitant interest charges to the banks for decades. It is just awful to watch. This practice (reeling in new credit card customers with ridiculously high sign up bonuses we experienced players feast on taking it to the banks, pun intended) is allowed to exist only in the US. The debit card abuses were reeled in some years ago, which pretty much destroyed the rewards you get with them. There have been legislative efforts to do the same with credit cards but they always fail. Because...lobbying and very strong resistance from the industry that makes millions pushing these products. If this is ever fixed, I guess most of us who do this for a hobby will have to find another hobby, so sad. But maybe it is better for humanity. Then again, banks will have to target other ways to stay in business. And they will....So, the status quo continues. I am not complaining, I have earned probably close to 100 million miles in my lifetime but have slowed way down only aiming to burn at least 1 million miles per year... To an earlier posted who posted about the apporama days applying for 13 cards in one day, those were the days. And they are not coming back due to increasing bank restrictions against some of these gamers who play the system. Even AMEX has a separate department cracking down, the Rewards Abuse Team, infamously called the RATs...I could go on. You all do what is comfortable for you, sticking it to the banks and airlines/hotels is addictive, you have been warned.
Post: Scoring Points
Link to comment from August 31, 2023
Chris Elliott has been consistently a thorn on the side of bloggers pushing every travel rewards credit card they can sell. And he does have some great consumer protection views of course. But imho he takes it to the extreme on the other side and you need to realize this is how he makes his living. Which is way more ethical than the side he fights against, that's for sure. At one point, he agreed to move his domain to the main website in this space, Boarding Area. Which was the oddest pairing ever! As expected, he did not last long in that website...wonder what he was thinking going there in the first place.
Post: Scoring Points
Link to comment from August 31, 2023
You need to update your airline account profiles with your Global Entry number...which is, inexplicably asked as "Known Traveler #". And that should ensure to get TSA Precheck on your boarding pass...99% of the time. It was 100% but daughter did not get one last month...so maybe they start to get rationed lately? Those TSA Precheck lanes are sure getting longer these days!
Post: Scoring Points
Link to comment from August 30, 2023
Automatic Hilton Honors Gold, not Diamond, is a benefit of the Amex Platinum card.
Post: Scoring Points
Link to comment from August 30, 2023
"Best value" is relative for everyone. So glad it works for you and you are happy with it though!
Post: Scoring Points
Link to comment from August 30, 2023
I left the corporate world when firm decided to stop allowing us to book business travel on personal credit cards because I could really bring it on big time. This is what I miss the most from my corporate days, all the free miles and points! I am now managing son's business travel and he is raking it in, it brings memories lol. Paying Amazon using Amex points is considered a poor value in general. And you can get better value transferring Amex points in other partners than Hilton Honors. But, as you stated, it is much less work this way and keeping it simple is way under rated. And two big thumbs up in reducing credit fraud risk holding a few credit cards, something no blogger in this space ever mentions.
Post: Scoring Points
Link to comment from August 30, 2023
The Amex Hilton Surpass card requires $40,000 spend on the card to earn Hilton Honors Diamond status. Please don't do that. There is really not that much of an improvement when you go from Hilton Honors Gold to Diamond elite status. Citibank Double Cash card is a straight up no annual fee 2% cash back card. At a minimum, everyone should earn that for all spending. And life will be a lot simpler instead of trying to keep up with ever evolving maddening changes with airline and hotel programs. Card Con? Do the speakers fly for free on ConAir to it? :-)
Post: Scoring Points
Link to comment from August 30, 2023
I have been around this "hobby" (which has become a mega business) for over 30 years. It has changed a lot and the bang for rewards is definitely a lot less than it used to be. Several factors involved, airlines are making money, all programs moving to revenue based structure and killing fixed award charts, fees galore added, finding awards to book is becoming harder, planes/hotels are full and, most importantly, the pace of devaluations are increasing even more frequently. When you see a blog talking up yet another credit card you need to understand they make A LOT of money from the sales commissions banks pay them. When you see blogs continually do that every day you probably should consider another blog with better ethics. There is NO best credit card out there. Just like there is no best stock or ETF. We are all different. Different goals, different travel aspirations, different money habits, different schedules, different family structures, different financial situations, different lodging preferences, different local airports we start travel from. And I could go on... But there is ONE thing you must do before you embark on this addictive hobby. NEVER ever carry a balance, ALWAYS pay it in full. Every time. Because all the souls who do not do that pay for our rewards, it is a sad reality. In general, a few other tips: Bank transferable points are preferred to pure airline or hotel points, because of inherent flexibility. Focus on the airline that flies most out of your local airport. And one hotel chain you prefer. To get started and wet your appetite so to speak. Delta Skymiles and Marriott Bonvoy are two currencies you are most likely not going to get much value out of. Most stingy companies out there. You fly Delta because they do a great job flying, not because of SkyMiles. Regarding Marriott, it is a matter of time before you get Bonvoyed too (google it). Miles and points travel bloggers are essentially bank financial product salesmen. Never forget that. And they always pump out how amazingly they travel for free repeatedly. It is all marketing, nothing is really free! Anyway, I do blog once a week. Name of my blog is travelbloggerbuzz. Yes, my blog sells a few cards that pay the blog costs, it is a labor of love. I curate web content once a week, Humble Dollar articles repeatedly make it to my blog. There is so much bad information in this area online it is sad to watch really. I would not mind maybe writing here once in a while if I find the time. Thank you. George Papadopoulos
Post: Scoring Points
Link to comment from August 30, 2023
Hotels.com recently announced a change in its rewards program that basically kills all its value.
Post: When in Rome
Link to comment from April 21, 2023