1,000 free United miles – Ultimate Rewards warning – Hyatt House announcement

Posted by Noob Master on May 21, 2013 in Hyatt, Ultimate Rewards, Uncategorized, United Airlines | 0 comments

Here are a few quickies:

1,000 free (not really) United miles w/ Small Business Network

I received an email last week from United, touting their Small Business Network and the perk of earning 1,000 United MileagePlus miles after enrolling. 

1,000 United MileagePlus Miles

You will earn 1,000 miles after you spend enough through United’s network partners to earn 100 miles by August 17, 2013. You will have to spend at least $10 to earn 100 miles, which will trigger the 1,000 United miles. Not terrible or great. Just, ehh.

There are promises that you will be able to eventually transfer your business miles to your personal account. This is a perk, but I will just keep my business spending through my personal account.

You can sign up as a sole proprietor, so that’s good news for those people who have businesses that aren’t incorporated.

Here are the full terms and conditions from United’s website:

This account will be separate from personal MileagePlus member accounts. Subject to terms & conditions and program rules.

*Enrollment bonus terms and conditions

• To qualify for 1,000 mile bonus, prior to 11:59PM CENTRAL on August 17, 2013, a business must:
  • Enroll in MileagePlus Small Business Network
  • Complete qualifying earning activity for 100 miles or more with Small Business Network partners
• Member must be a business that is duly organized and validly existing in the United States under the laws of the jurisdiction of its organization
• Offer subject to terms & conditions of the MileagePlus Small Business Network
• Bonus offer available one time per member account
• Earning points in connection with United PerksPlus will not count as qualified earning activity toward earning the enrollment bonus.

New Ultimate Rewards warning?

A few months ago, I wrote about Chase closing down Ultimate Rewards accounts for illegal transfers. You’re allowed to transfer points to same household members, but no one else. At the time, it seemed like it was still ok to transfer UR points out to travel partners outside of our household, but now I’m not so sure.

I was transferring some of my Ultimate Rewards points to one of their travel partners and noticed the warning on the confirm transfer page:

“Ultimate Rewards point transfer features are designed to allow our cardmembers to take advantage of the rewards they earn. The features are not intended to allow transfers to third parties other than a spouse or domestic partner of the cardmember. Transfers to unauthorized third parties or any other abuse of the Ultimate Rewards program may result in suspension or termination of the ability to participate in the program and forfeiture of points already earned.”

Maybe it’s been there for a while and I haven’t noticed, but it’s just a reminder to only transfer your Ultimate Rewards points to household members UR accounts and/or their loyalty program accounts.

I love the flexibility Jordan and I have with our Ultimate Rewards points earned from one of our many Chase Sapphire Preferred®, Ink Bold® Business Card, or Ink Plus® Business Cards. I’m sticking to only transferring points between our accounts, because it would be a crushing defeat if my Ultimate Rewards accounts were shut down.

Hyatt House new additions

Hyatt House had a PR release yesterday, announcing their new Very Important Residents (VIR) and two new additions for all members.

The new VIR program is for guests who have stayed 30+ nights at a Hyatt House. If that’s you, you’d receive these bennies:

• Personalized service: From learning guests’ personal preferences to building a relationship with them during their stay, each property is committed to making guests feel like they’re right at home.
• Pick-Your-Suite: Guests will have the opportunity to pick their own suite from available rooms in their room type at the time of their arrival.
• VIR Key Card: Each key card will reflect guests’ VIR status so that hotel staff can quickly recognize a VIR guest and provide them with above and beyond personalized service.
• VIR Tour: A personalized hotel tour from hotel management staff.
• “Favorites” Folio: A place to make note of guests’ likes, dislikes and special requests so HYATT house can personalize their stay in every way, every time.
• Grocery Shopping Service: By providing a grocery list to the House Host, the staff will stock guests’ refrigerators and kitchens with their favorite food items before their arrival or for when they come home.
• Grub Stub: Redeem for a $10 food and beverage credit from the H BAR or the Guest Market.
• Scrub Stub: This voucher can be redeemed for one washer and dryer cycle.
• VIP Welcome Amenity: Guests can select an amenity of their choice to be waiting for them when they arrive.

I’m kind of intrigued by the “grocery shopping service.” A refrigerator stocked with beer and ice cream is the way I want to be welcomed.

The other new announcements are:

The Morning Spread

The new complimentary Morning Spread offers a build-your-own Omelet Bar, oatmeal, yogurts, fresh fruit and other breakfast goodness. Guests will also find more balanced items, including vegetarian and gluten-free options. As always, breakfast is free for guests and served daily at HYATT house.

Hyatt Has It – Borrows

From curling irons to cell phone chargers to blenders – these commonly forgotten items are now available to borrow from House Hosts. An expanded list of items to borrow will be available June 1, including family-friendly board games, noise machines and laundry baskets.

Good news for those of you who can’t sleep without a noise machine. We’re those people.

I always like seeing Hyatt increase its benefits. I’ve never stayed at a Hyatt House, but if I was a road warrior and had the added VIR bennies, it might sway me to at least try them out.

— Noob Master

Transferring Southwest points for Air Tran to Mexico/Caribbean

Posted by Noob Master on May 20, 2013 in Air Tran, Southwest, Uncategorized | 2 comments

Every summer, Jordan and I meet family in Mexico for a quick all-inclusive escape from the daily grind. This is mostly awesome, but usually we have to connect to and from Mexico, since there aren’t non-stop flights available (not awesome).

BUT, this year is different. Air Tran has a non-stop to Cancun from Austin, which makes me very happy. I didn’t have any Air Tran credits, but that wasn’t a problem. Since Southwest has acquired Air Tran, you can transfer Southwest Rapid Rewards points to Air Tran (and vice versa).

I actually didn’t have Southwest Rapid Rewards points because I’ve exhausted most of them by taking advantage of our Companion Pass. But…Ultimate Rewards points earned from the Ink Bold® Business Card, Ink Plus® Business Card, or Chase Sapphire Preferred® cards can transfer into Southwest, which can be transferred into Air Tran. Winning.

If you’re looking for a killer beach getaway, AirTran has non-stop service to destinations such as Aruba, The Bahamas, Bermuda, The Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Mexico and Puerto Rico. Here are some recently added non-stop routes:

• Chicago – Cancun
• Denver – Cancun
• San Antonio – Mexico City
• San Antonio – Cancun
• Austin – Cancun
• Orange County – Cabo San Lucas
• Orange County – Mexico City

And here’s how I transferred my Southwest Rapid Rewards points to Air Tran and booked Business class flights to Mexico…

Checking Air Tran for availability

If you’re not an A+ member, you can sign up here.  After you create an account, log in and click on “book a reward flight.” Enter your dates and destination.

Finding Air Tran availability

From there, you will see a calendar with availability. I like that Air Tran will show you 3 weeks of availability. You can also see if there’s coach or Business availability. Unlike Southwest, there’s a Biz class on Air Tran. You know I like that.

Air Tran Reward Space

After seeing the dates you want, click “continue” and then decide between a one-way coach trip for (8) A+ credits, or Business for (16) A+ credits. My dates only yielded Biz class award availability, which is fine, but I was actually looking for economy since it’s only a 2.5 hour flight to Mexico. I usually save Business bookings for longer flights when it really counts, but hey, it’s peak season. Do whatcha gotta do.

Booking Air Tran ticket

Now that you’ve found the flights that work for you, it’s time to book (or transfer Southwest Rapid Rewards points to A+ credits).

Transferring Southwest Rapid Rewards points to Air Tran

You can get to the Southwest conversion site from the Air Tran site. Go to the My Account page and click Rewards Conversion in the top right corner. You will be directed to this page, where you can start transferring Rapid Rewards points.

Here’s the transfer table when transferring Southwest currency to A+ credits:

• 1,200 Rapid Rewards Points = 1 A+ Rewards Credit
  
• 1 Rapid Rewards Credit = 1 A+ Rewards Credit
  
• 1 Standard Award = 16 A+ Rewards Credits
  
• 1 Freedom Award = 32 A+ Rewards Credits

In most situations, you will probably be transferring Rapid Rewards points to A+, so it would cost 19,200 Southwest Rapid Rewards (Ultimate Rewards points) for a one-way in Business class (38,400 for roundtrip), or 9,600 points for a one-way flight in economy (19,200 roundtrip).

Transferring Rapid Rewards

I highly recommend going for the cheaper option in economy and paying for preferred seating or the ability to select your seat, which you can do with Air Tran. Of course, if the trip is longer, then going for Business class could be worth it. I’m easily convinced to fly Biz.

Beware: Once you transfer Rapid Reward points to Air Tran, you can’t transfer them back as “points” – they will instead be transferred back as “credits.” Southwest credits are more restricting than points, so be sure before you transfer any points over to Air Tran.

Booking Air Tran flights

Once you have the necessary Air Tran A+ credits in your account, it’s time to book. Booking was pretty easy, even though the Air Tran site is very slow. I had to change the dates after I initially booked and that was really easy and didn’t cost me a thing. I did it all online and was done it 2 minutes. I like that.

Recap

I love that Air Tran gives me another option when I’m looking to fly to Mexico/Caribbean. Here’s Air Tran’s interactive flight chart. I found it pretty handy to see where they flew.

I don’t love that Air Tran doesn’t honor our Southwest Companion Pass, but that would just be too good. I guess I won’t be too greedy. I’m just happy to get a non-stop flight to Cancun from Austin. Really, any non-stop from Austin puts me in a good mood.

You can fly Air Tran Atlanta/Fort Lauderdale without having to transfer Southwest Rapid Rewards points to Air Tran, but that’s the only destination for now. Hopefully, they will open up more Air Tran flights that you can book with SW points on the SW wesbite soon. Also, watch out for bag fees when you book flights on Air Tran.

There is an Air Tran rewards credit card from Chase (of course). I’m not sure it’s worth a Chase inquiry, but you can read my review here. It may be going away once the Southwest-Air Tran merger is complete, but it could be used as a way to pad your Southwest account since you can transfer A+ to Southwest, too.

I hope this helps by giving you another way to use your Ultimate Rewards or Southwest Rapid Rewards points.

(Disclaimer: I do receive a referral credit for the cards mentioned in this post. Thanks for the support if you decide to apply!)

— Noob Master

Quick hitters from the week

Posted by Noob Master on May 17, 2013 in Uncategorized | 0 comments

In case, you missed some of the news this week, here ya go:

Starwood Double Take

Starwood Preferred Guest has a new promotion where you can earn double points. Everyone likes double points, right?

From the SPG site:

“Register now and start earning on the double. First, earn double Starpoints® on all eligible stays from May 1 through July 31, 2013, at more than 1,000 participating Starwood hotels and resorts worldwide.

Plus, get 500 additional bonus Starpoints for each eligible booking made through our spg.com mobile site, the SPG® App for iPhone, or the SPG App for Android™ — and that’s at all our more than 1,100 hotels and resorts in the SPG program. Go ahead, do a double take.”

If you’re already spending $$ on SPG hotel stays, then you might as well register for this promo and then book through their app. They have one of the best hotel apps around.

Club Carlson’s new promo is no “Big Night Giveaway”

The last two years, Club Carlson has had some really lucrative promos like, “Book a room and receive 50,000 Gold Points.” This isn’t that. You will receive 10,000 Gold points for every two night stays. Ehh…

You already receive 20 points per $1 on your Club Carlson bookings, so it’s easy to stack up the Gold Points if you’re paying for hotel stays regularly. Gold Points aren’t the most valuable points, but you can really stretch our their value if you have a Club Carlson Visa. You get the Free Award night benefit if you hold the card, meaning a 2 night stay at a Radisson Blu property would be 50,000 points instead of 100,000. Killer.

Southwest extends promotion

Southwest has extended their “double points and double tier qualifying points promo” until June 15, 2013.

You have to book your flights on Southwest.com and complete your flights by June 15th. I took advantage of this promotion when I had to buy Jordan a cheap one-way ticket to Dallas on the fly a couple of weeks ago. Plus, I used her Sapphire Preferred card, so I received an additional 2x Ultimate Rewards points.

Cheap AAdvantage Awards to Las Vegas

If you travel between May 7th and May 31st, you can get a reduced mileage rate of 10,000 one-way in economy to Las Vegas.

Southwest has a direct flight from Austin to Vegas that’s usually less than 10,000 one way, but if you don’t have that option, this might work out for you. It’s 5,000 cheaper than the normal redemption rate with AA!

— Noob Master

Struggling through canceling a trip

Posted by Noob Master on May 16, 2013 in Uncategorized | 5 comments

I had to do the unthinkable today….cancel a trip.

I know, I know – Something terrible must have happened, right? Don’t worry, Jordan and I are well. The truth is, our lives are just crazy busy right now. We just sold our house in 12 hours (weren’t really expecting that, even though the Austin market is crazy right now), Jordan had a work opportunity that was too good to pass up, and some other things arose that started to make this trip feel more like a burden than a blessing. So regrettably, I had to go and cancel our flights to Dublin, London, Maldives, and other spots. An epic trip indeed, and now I’m working through the depressing aftermath of having to cancel a trip I’d been longing to take.

Here are 6 things getting me through the lowest of times.

1. There will be other trips

I keep telling myself this, but I’m not sure I believe it. Beaches, treks into the countryside, rubbing shoulders with another culture, and eating foreign foods will happen again. I hope.

2. Now I have more miles

I do like this perk. But even though it’s nice to see my balances go up instead of down, I’m a firm believer in “earn and burn.” I almost hate seeing a large balance, because I know it’s most likely being devalued every day it’s in my account. Wait, this was supposed to be a plus. So I do enjoy seeing my million mile stash get larger. Makes me sleep a little better at night.

3. The trip was too much to bite off and chew

It was too long of a trip with too much packed in. One of those trips that you were dying to go on, but overwhelmed by at the same time. Plus, there really wasn’t enough time in each place to fully soak in the destination.

I actually enjoy the constant traveling, but it stresses Jordan. And keeping Jordan happy is #1 for me!

4. I get to plan these trips again

Nothing is stopping me from booking this trip again, but I’ll probably make two trips out of it instead of one now. That’s something to look forward to. Booking and planning trips is half the fun for me anyway, so I get to double up on the planning (stretching on this one). But planning trips really is kind of fun. I’m sick like that.

5. Make it a staycation

I love my hometown of Austin. And you probably know that, since I blab about it often. I do enjoy staycations because there’s always something in the area I haven’t explored yet. I’ve really been wanting to try the Hyatt resort in San Antonio, just an hour south. Wait, this is getting depressing again.

6. Patience

What we have here is a classic opportunity for me to work on my patience. I wanted to go on this trip and I wanted to go now, but it didn’t work out like that. Roll with it, noob.

7. Don’t have to leave my dog

I love our new pup that we adopted last December. I love her so much that it makes it hard to leave her. Yes, I’ve become that guy. And now I don’t have to leave her for over 2 weeks, so that does make me happy. Stop laughing.

Thanks for letting me pound out some frustrations. Now I don’t have to reach for the bottle of wine in the same way. I feel better already. Life happens and there will always be other opportunities.

— Noob Master

Knowing the quirkiness of Barclays

Posted by Noob Master on May 15, 2013 in Barclays, Uncategorized | 8 comments

Barclays is moving and shaking. They recently increased sign-up bonuses on their Barclaycard Arrival World MasterCard and The Lufthansa Premier Miles & More World MasterCard®. Any time that happens, it’s a good thing. Plus, the NFL card still has a generous offer, and people are snatching up the US Airways card (read t&c’s to see the offer) before the merger with American Airlines is complete.

(Disclosure: I receive a referral credit for the Arrival and Lufthansa cards, but not the NFL or US Airways cards. Thank you for your support if you apply through my links!)

With many readers taking advantage of the recent Barclays offers, I’ve gotten quite a few emails highlighting the quirkiness of Barclays. Yes, Barclays is quirky, so I thought it would be a good idea to address their curious ways in a post.

You’ve got to earn their trust

It’s a good practice to apply for one Barclaycard if you haven’t already established a history of 4-6 months with them. To put it simply, don’t apply for two Barclaycards if you haven’t ever applied for another Barclaycard before.

Stefan from Rapid Travel Chai applied for 2 Barclaycards at once without a previous history and was denied his second application. He then waited 6 months before reapplying for anymore Barclaycards and was auto-approved for 4 more.

I can’t say that you would have the same results, but it appears that waiting 6 months after your first Barclaycard is the wisest decision. I was able to get my second Barclaycard 4 months after my first, but that was a year and a half ago.

They could close your account

There have been reports of Barclays closing accounts if you haven’t used their cards in the last 6 months. But that’s bad form. Always swipe your Barclaycard at least once every 6 months. I set up a custom reminder on Card Watchdog, so I didn’t forget.

Barclays will often have some pretty decent targeted promos, like the “spend $750 for 3 straight months and receive 15,000 US Airways miles” with the US Airways cards. It’s not guaranteed that you will receive the targeted promo, but Jordan did when she applied for the card a couple of months ago.

The Arrival card gives you 2x points back on all purchases, so it can be a great daily card if you’re wanting to use your Arrival points for free travel. Plus, you get 10% back on all redemptions.

If you’re wanting to take advantage of all the new Barclaycard options available now, it’s in your best interest to do some spending on your current Barclaycards. Show some activity, don’t be scared.

Applying again may not work

There was a time when you could apply for the same card that you currently held or had recently canceled. This has gotten extremely hard as of late, so I would tread lightly. Does anyone have a recent experience they would like to share?

I have two US Airways cards, but was denied when I tried applying for a third, even though my credit is in excellent condition and I had a good reason explaining the need for the card (separate spending, etc.). I’m not sure I will go for it again. But if I do, I will close out one of my current ones.

(If your application isn’t instantly approved, you can call a credit analyst at 1-866-408-4064. Check online here.)

They could approve you for a lower version card

I hate this bait and switch maneuvering that Barclays will do on some of their applications. It’s very important that you check the t&c’s before applying for any Barclaycards. In some cases, if you’re approved for a lower version, you will get a lower sign-up bonus. This is a good way to upset customers, and a practice that just drives me bonkers.

Things do seem to be improving in this department because both the Arrival and Lufthansa cards give you the same sign-up bonus no matter which version of the card you’re approved for. I like seeing Barclays showing signs of improving here.

Recap

It appears that Barclays is here is stay, which is s w e e t. I hope they continue to roll out new products and increase their sign-up bonuses on the rewards travel products.

And since they are here to stay, it’s important that you know their ways. (If that’s even possible – they can be quirky, after all.) My plan is for both Jordan and I to apply for the Arrival card during our next app parties. Diversity is good, and I’m hoping the 50,000 Lufthansa premium hangs out for a while, because I wouldn’t mind taking advantage of it. You know I love me some pretzel rolls.

I hope this helps as you consider adding any Barclaycards to your wallet, or if you’re just trying to figure Barclays out.

— Noob Master