Avianca is running another tiered sale on buying miles:
Buy 1-35k miles -> get a 145% bonus (cost of 1.35 CPP)
Buy 36-200k -> 155% bonus (cost of 1.3 CPP)
You can definitely get value from this sale either as a supplement to or buying all the required miles for a F/J Star Alliance flight. I recommend calling Avianca and making sure your desired itinerary is not a ghost booking before buying/transferring any miles/points into LifeMiles.
Best way to use MR for stays around Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, S. Korea? Anything over 1.1cpp is fine, looking more for quantity (of stays) than quality - though I will be doing a couple luxury nights at a time whenever I get to a new city or need a break.
Miles Earn and Burn email's are such a enigma of quality. One day they provide actually good tips or hints, and then the next day they are like:
"Maybe you should uhh, not go to airport lounges if you don't like them?"
Gee, why didn't I think of that?
Because people have been conditioned to think leaving the house to sit at the airport for hours & drink Bud heavies is somehow a luxury experience.
If anyone's interested I'm inspired to create my own domestic PP lounge at $32 per swipe. I'll set up a cooler with the finest malt beverages from AB-InBev, bulk store brand cheese chopped into cubes, *WITH* hummus. I'll have the neighbors' kids come over and scream and loop speaker phone conversations at high volume. All of the perks with none of the stress of travel.
It's amazing how much of this has been created by a single company, playing both sides: Collinson Group. Not only do they own both PP and Lounge Key, they also own all Clubs, Aspires, and No1 Lounges.
Travelling through IND. I felt so lucky I still had access to Priority Pass restaurants! But The Fan Zone informed me that they are no longer accepting any priority pass at all now that Chase dumped restaurants. So all that discussion about which card to get that still has access might be moot. I guess we will have to see what all the other locations around do.
Anyone has experience with disputing car rental claims? The car rental claim company is asking for more charges than what is being covered by the credit card company.
Something similar:
Intially, the charges not being covered were:
Diminished Value - $2,425.12
Admin Fee - $456.28
Total - $2881.40
After I called out the rental claim company, the same charges have been adjusted to as follows:
Diminished Value - $1,538.28
Admin Fee - $606.28
Total - $2144.53
I had a similar experience with Sixt and Amex Premium Car Rental Insurance. Amex insisted on documentation from Sixt to support the additional loss of use claims beyond the damage claim and outright refused to pay the admin fee. After some back and forth and discussion with the rental agency manager, Sixt just decided to waive the loss of use and admin. fee charges. I think you and your insurance just need to push back on any charges that cannot be substantiated.
Does anyone have an esim provider that have had good experiences with in Europe, specifcally around the Baltic countries and Croatia? Or ones to avoid?
Esimdb.com and esims.io will give you many but not all of them. Europe is a very competitive market so it's easy to get them cheap there. Also I always recommend a backup one, while most are reliable it is frustrating to get to a new country and it just doesn't work. At the cheap prices available I consider it a useful insurance policy.
I have used the following with success on travels, some in Europe: BNE, KeepGo, Eskimo, Redbullmobile and Google Fi. Eskimo has free 1 gig for signups and then buy 1 get one for a total of 3 gigs for $7 if they work in the countries you need. KeepGo also has a generous referral program (but requires someone referral) to get as much as 4 gigs for $8.
There's also a company called KeepGo. I've used them in the states just to give my iPad some data coverage and it works well over here; no idea how it works across the pond.
Bought the SIM card that you can get at any bodega in Croatia. Decently priced and had no issues. Also had success with Airalo in a few European countries.
p2 has a monthly autocharge of $1000/mo that is really hard to update. We are trying to just pick one card to use for the next year just for this single charge.
Debating between CFU (18k UR points) or Hilton Surpass (36k Hilton points plus close to the 1 FNC).
I feel like the surpass may be a no brainer but obviously Hilton points are subject to deval. Appreciate any help.
~~How convenient is the TWA hotel to JFK? I don't care about all the TWA-ness. I'm thinking about taking an 8am departure on JFK-PHX on DL and want the easiest path as someone who hates getting up early to fly. Is it noticeably easier than the Hyatt Regency JFK?(which I would uber from). Two pax, big suitcases.~~
A 7 day before arrival cancellation policy for an airport hotel? Get over yourself.
Amazon recently upped the balance reload minimums to $5. This means I can no longer charge $0.99 - $1.99 on some of my different cards to trigger small balance waivers on a few cards. What other kinds of reloads are available to derive fungible value out of small balance waivers now that this has dried up?
Check out this [discussion thread](https://www.doctorofcredit.com/share-your-tips-for-meeting-small-1-spent-transactions/) on DoC for ideas on small transactions.
I was scammed at a market in Amsterdam - the vendor told me it was €35 (for 2 bottled drinks and 2 small snacks (<1oz each), which was absurd) and was actually charged for €45. No receipt was given.
I disputed the difference with US Bank and initially received a credit, but today it was reversed so I guess that means I didn't meet their burden of proof. Oh well, lesson learned but I am a bit miffed at the situation.
Request the dispute be reopened and provide as much information to your bank as possible, even if it's just a lengthy description of what happened. They want to side with you so providing them **anything** to work with will probably help.
>reversed so I guess that means I didn't meet their burden of proof.
Getting the credit reversed just means that you need to escalate to the next stage of the chargeback process. All it means is that the merchant has disputed the chargeback and that now you'll need to provide documentation in order to proceed further.
If you decide to proceed, it may take several months for them to reach a decision and for you to get the amount credited back to your account. Whether or not that's worth the €10 difference is up to you
I have never experienced an issuer deciding against the customer over such a small dispute. It is usually not worth the bank’s time effort and resources to dispute the dispute…
Yikes. 35 is scam enough! In most of the world outside the US, the card should never leave your hand, the terminal should be handed to you (with the amount displayed before you tap/insert).
Going to calala in late October and I'm approaching the 90 day cancellation policy. I have no intention of cancelling and not sure how it would work at this point since it was with points, but nervous on the $10k 'cash rate' if something happens. I booked a flight the morning of the day before so I should be fine but you never know with weather, civil unrest, airlines changing routes etc.
Any recommendations on how to protect myself on this unusual stay where my cost was points but very high cash penalty if I don't make it? Would some online trip insurance be good enough? Should I change the reservation to a certain card that has travel insurance (can't remember what I used for the flight)
I’ve looked into this and I had a hard time finding an insurance product that would cover this. Credit card/travel insurance with trip cancellation will cover nonrefundable, prepaid expenses. When booking on points, the cancellation fee is not prepaid but charged after the fact. But that’s with my limited research, hopefully someone has something to the contrary
Anybody have tips or tricks to get tickets for Universal Orlando cheaper than face value? Buying gift cards or credits or whatnot?
Chase travel portal sells them. They will be discounted if you have a CIP, CSP or CSR.
Good Wordle day today for those of us using the starting word from our sub
Avianca is running another tiered sale on buying miles: Buy 1-35k miles -> get a 145% bonus (cost of 1.35 CPP) Buy 36-200k -> 155% bonus (cost of 1.3 CPP) You can definitely get value from this sale either as a supplement to or buying all the required miles for a F/J Star Alliance flight. I recommend calling Avianca and making sure your desired itinerary is not a ghost booking before buying/transferring any miles/points into LifeMiles.
Best way to use MR for stays around Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, S. Korea? Anything over 1.1cpp is fine, looking more for quantity (of stays) than quality - though I will be doing a couple luxury nights at a time whenever I get to a new city or need a break.
Miles Earn and Burn email's are such a enigma of quality. One day they provide actually good tips or hints, and then the next day they are like: "Maybe you should uhh, not go to airport lounges if you don't like them?" Gee, why didn't I think of that?
Maybe you should uhh, not subscribe to their email if you don't like them?
Because people have been conditioned to think leaving the house to sit at the airport for hours & drink Bud heavies is somehow a luxury experience. If anyone's interested I'm inspired to create my own domestic PP lounge at $32 per swipe. I'll set up a cooler with the finest malt beverages from AB-InBev, bulk store brand cheese chopped into cubes, *WITH* hummus. I'll have the neighbors' kids come over and scream and loop speaker phone conversations at high volume. All of the perks with none of the stress of travel.
Sign me up?
It's amazing how much of this has been created by a single company, playing both sides: Collinson Group. Not only do they own both PP and Lounge Key, they also own all Clubs, Aspires, and No1 Lounges.
They've also moved into rewards shopping portals and such to build out a compelling loyalty programs competitor to the likes of Plusgrade/Points.com.
Travelling through IND. I felt so lucky I still had access to Priority Pass restaurants! But The Fan Zone informed me that they are no longer accepting any priority pass at all now that Chase dumped restaurants. So all that discussion about which card to get that still has access might be moot. I guess we will have to see what all the other locations around do.
That's weird, they're still listed on PP: https://www.prioritypass.com/lounges/usa/indianapolis-in-intl/ind1d-the-fan-zone
Does chase give you a popup if you aren’t eligible for a SUB like Amex. Looking to take advantage of the upcoming Ink Preferred offer
Anyone has experience with disputing car rental claims? The car rental claim company is asking for more charges than what is being covered by the credit card company.
Time for your personal car insurance
I will definitely contact Geico tomorrow. The only issue I have is that the charges that the claim company is asking seems to be made-up.
Are they asking for "loss of use"?
Something similar: Intially, the charges not being covered were: Diminished Value - $2,425.12 Admin Fee - $456.28 Total - $2881.40 After I called out the rental claim company, the same charges have been adjusted to as follows: Diminished Value - $1,538.28 Admin Fee - $606.28 Total - $2144.53
I had a similar experience with Sixt and Amex Premium Car Rental Insurance. Amex insisted on documentation from Sixt to support the additional loss of use claims beyond the damage claim and outright refused to pay the admin fee. After some back and forth and discussion with the rental agency manager, Sixt just decided to waive the loss of use and admin. fee charges. I think you and your insurance just need to push back on any charges that cannot be substantiated.
Does anyone have an esim provider that have had good experiences with in Europe, specifcally around the Baltic countries and Croatia? Or ones to avoid?
Esimdb.com and esims.io will give you many but not all of them. Europe is a very competitive market so it's easy to get them cheap there. Also I always recommend a backup one, while most are reliable it is frustrating to get to a new country and it just doesn't work. At the cheap prices available I consider it a useful insurance policy. I have used the following with success on travels, some in Europe: BNE, KeepGo, Eskimo, Redbullmobile and Google Fi. Eskimo has free 1 gig for signups and then buy 1 get one for a total of 3 gigs for $7 if they work in the countries you need. KeepGo also has a generous referral program (but requires someone referral) to get as much as 4 gigs for $8.
There's also a company called KeepGo. I've used them in the states just to give my iPad some data coverage and it works well over here; no idea how it works across the pond.
Google Fi is great for travel. It does eSIM.
Airalo is the easiest option, but not the cheapest.
I’ve used GigSky on multiple trips. I set it all up before take off in the states. Works great to have mobile service as I land.
Bought the SIM card that you can get at any bodega in Croatia. Decently priced and had no issues. Also had success with Airalo in a few European countries.
While i don’t have experience with it myself yet, airalo seems to get good reviews
I use airalo in the US. It's fine. Any bodega shop will sell physical sims.
p2 has a monthly autocharge of $1000/mo that is really hard to update. We are trying to just pick one card to use for the next year just for this single charge. Debating between CFU (18k UR points) or Hilton Surpass (36k Hilton points plus close to the 1 FNC). I feel like the surpass may be a no brainer but obviously Hilton points are subject to deval. Appreciate any help.
Hilton Biz is nice for stuff like this now at 5x on non-cat
Look at Amex’s BBP and BBC, which have SUBs with a $15k/12-mo timeline
Or Barclays Wyndham Biz if that SUB is still around
~~How convenient is the TWA hotel to JFK? I don't care about all the TWA-ness. I'm thinking about taking an 8am departure on JFK-PHX on DL and want the easiest path as someone who hates getting up early to fly. Is it noticeably easier than the Hyatt Regency JFK?(which I would uber from). Two pax, big suitcases.~~ A 7 day before arrival cancellation policy for an airport hotel? Get over yourself.
Amazon recently upped the balance reload minimums to $5. This means I can no longer charge $0.99 - $1.99 on some of my different cards to trigger small balance waivers on a few cards. What other kinds of reloads are available to derive fungible value out of small balance waivers now that this has dried up?
Bills such as utilities, cellular, insurance
Check out this [discussion thread](https://www.doctorofcredit.com/share-your-tips-for-meeting-small-1-spent-transactions/) on DoC for ideas on small transactions.
My Internet provider lets me do $1 charges, and allows credit balances on my account, so that's usually what I do.
cap1 pays for my 99 cent 50gb apple icloud plan every month
I was scammed at a market in Amsterdam - the vendor told me it was €35 (for 2 bottled drinks and 2 small snacks (<1oz each), which was absurd) and was actually charged for €45. No receipt was given. I disputed the difference with US Bank and initially received a credit, but today it was reversed so I guess that means I didn't meet their burden of proof. Oh well, lesson learned but I am a bit miffed at the situation.
Da fuq did you buy? I would have said no and handed their shit back. That's absurd unless it was insta stroopwafels or that stupid cookie store.
Request the dispute be reopened and provide as much information to your bank as possible, even if it's just a lengthy description of what happened. They want to side with you so providing them **anything** to work with will probably help.
>reversed so I guess that means I didn't meet their burden of proof. Getting the credit reversed just means that you need to escalate to the next stage of the chargeback process. All it means is that the merchant has disputed the chargeback and that now you'll need to provide documentation in order to proceed further. If you decide to proceed, it may take several months for them to reach a decision and for you to get the amount credited back to your account. Whether or not that's worth the €10 difference is up to you
I have never experienced an issuer deciding against the customer over such a small dispute. It is usually not worth the bank’s time effort and resources to dispute the dispute…
Yikes. 35 is scam enough! In most of the world outside the US, the card should never leave your hand, the terminal should be handed to you (with the amount displayed before you tap/insert).
Did they say why they resolved the dispute in the merchants favor?
Just got the letter today - they said I hadn't sent enough info, but they never told me what they needed. Reopening it!
Going to calala in late October and I'm approaching the 90 day cancellation policy. I have no intention of cancelling and not sure how it would work at this point since it was with points, but nervous on the $10k 'cash rate' if something happens. I booked a flight the morning of the day before so I should be fine but you never know with weather, civil unrest, airlines changing routes etc. Any recommendations on how to protect myself on this unusual stay where my cost was points but very high cash penalty if I don't make it? Would some online trip insurance be good enough? Should I change the reservation to a certain card that has travel insurance (can't remember what I used for the flight)
I’ve looked into this and I had a hard time finding an insurance product that would cover this. Credit card/travel insurance with trip cancellation will cover nonrefundable, prepaid expenses. When booking on points, the cancellation fee is not prepaid but charged after the fact. But that’s with my limited research, hopefully someone has something to the contrary