Rapid Travel Chai

There was some to-do about Target last week (FrequentMiler). I have mixed feelings about my own addiction. It was so easy I couldn’t resist taking part and scaling up a bit. I was wearying of the time spent back and forth even though all on my own two feet in my neighborhood. I thought this week maybe the store broke the habit for me, instead they made it harder, but still feasible enough that I just went through and used ‘debit’ cards for the first time. Can’t manage to go cold turkey.

I have a last-minute business trip to Brazil ahead, the real fun for me, so I caught up on two weeks of missed activity in the miles and points world.

My question of the week: for someone who does not want to mess with AT&T and two hard credit pulls, does it make sense to convert an existing Citi credit card to the AT&T Access or Access More card for the category bonuses? And if converting a ThankYou Preferred will the ThankYou points not be forfeited? See FreqeuntMiler for more thoughts on the cards. I wish ThankYou points could be transferred from one account to another instead of pooled among accounts.

Airlines:

• I love last seat availability (The Free-quent Flyer). Very hard for me to redeem for anything above the minimum award, yet the best or most needed experiences often require it. Did it for the recent Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting and for taking my wife with me to Los Angeles on a business trip.
• Virgin Australia lowered earn rates on Delta in presumed response to the Jan 1 cuts to Delta earn on them (Australian Business Traveller).

Hotels:

• Choice Hotels unveils new brand identity and integrated marketing campaign (Travel Daily News). A dowdy brand with some great values and luxury partners (both Travel is Free).
• Radisson, Radisson Blu & Park Plaza Up To 2,000 Bonus American Airlines, Delta Or United Miles Per Stay May 1 – July 31, 2015 (LoyaltyLobby). Does Club Carlson still convert ALL you existing point balance for converting to earning miles?

Credit Cards:

• The New Wyndham Credit Card Offer – And It Is Much Better (Running with Miles). If there’s hope for Wyndham, there’s hope for everything.
• Where to get proof for a trip delay or cancellation coverage claim (MileCards). I recently tried with Ethiopian. No response.
• 14 Things Everybody Should Know About Citi Credit Cards (Doctor Of Credit). Did not know about credit increases sometimes resulting in hard pulls, never needed increases from Citi.
• How to (maybe) receive targeted Amex business card offers (The Frequent Miler). Not interested in this!
• American Express has launched Plenti Rewards, Doctor of Credit and Million Miles Secrets don’t see much worth attention, and there is a lame credit card, too.

MS:

• The unicorn of the MS world (Miles per Day). Excellent to read and reflect. Vinh might have a working 150,000 Amex Business Platinum code for you, check out his new blog (spotted via Big Habitat).
• 5 Common Miles and Points Mistakes & Why Not to Worry (Miles to Memories). Made plenty myself, including my first missed credit card payment. FIA makes every effort to confuse customers and make them forget about payments due, and I somehow screwed up in my Fidelity Amex first month somewhere along the line of verifying my payment checking account. Even auto-pay setup is odd.
• Holding up Lines – Is it Acceptable when Manufacturing Spend & How Should You Behave? (Miles to Memories). Just spent 23 minutes at Target, no one behind.
• REDbird: What’s Left? (Doctor Of Credit). Most useful post of the week for telling me how to properly use the $18k of ‘debit’ cards I carried into Target. Only would do that in Minnesota, don’t look for me on the streets of NY!