Traveling would probably be better for most people if all airports offered free wifi, but they don’t. For those that don’t, or those that have time restrictions on their free wifi, what’s a traveler to do? An unhelpful answer is to get lounge access, since I can’t think of a lounge that doesn’t offer free…
Conventional wisdom amongst travel blogs says that when you call to cancel a credit card, you should consolidate your credit lines (i.e. add the credit line of the card you’re canceling to one you already have) so you don’t lose the credit. The primary justification is so you can then use that credit as a…
In college, I had the wonderful opportunity to study abroad in Denmark for a semester (which was prompted by an earlier wonderful semester studying abroad in Hungary). Denmark held a lot of mystique to me before I lived there, being that it has been regularly ranked as the happiest country in the world (or at…
Applying for credit cards is one of the best ways to accumulate miles and points quickly. Assuming you have good credit and pay off your balances in full every month, if you’re not regularly applying for credit cards, you’re leaving a lot of easy miles on the table. I’ve already detailed the cash back, bank…
If you’re looking for the most accurate Star Alliance award availability, you should be searching using the ANA website. It’s a little less user-friendly than the United website, but it’s 100% accurate (as far as I can tell), which means that I often do most of my searches on the ANA website, particularly when I’m…
As I plan my next round of credit card applications, I’m always cognizant of how much spend I’m signing myself up for. While there are still some credit cards out there with minimal spend requirements (e.g. the Barclays US Airways Mastercard, which I love), many credit cards require that you spend a certain amount on…
The New York Times recently published an article entitled, “Why the Airline Industry Needs Another Data Revolution”. In the article, there’s a brief outline of how the airline industry used to be at the forefront of technology, pioneering things like computerized reservation systems and revenue management, but now, airlines seem to be stuck with archaic…
Since starting this hobby of collecting and maximizing miles and points, I’ve focused almost exclusively on airline miles. The majority of my credit cards are from airlines, most of the points that I’ve transferred from Ultimate Rewards or Membership Rewards have been to airline partners, and most of the awards I’ve redeemed have been for…
I hate it when travel bloggers write things like, “I redeemed 67,500 American miles for a one-way first class flight to Hong Kong on Cathay Pacific which retails for $8,000; therefore, I got a value of over 11 cents per mile!” This is completely wrong. For one, you didn’t get 11 cents of value per…
Continuing on the theme of online shopping portals, I almost always buy my flights through Travelocity, specifically because of the Ultimate Rewards portal, using my Chase Sapphire Preferred Card. Chase Sapphire Preferred gives 2 points per dollar spent on travel. You can also use the Ultimate Rewards portal to book travel directly for 3 points…
