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Looking over my account and realized that I never got the sign up bonus for a United Quest card I got back in February.  I called.  The rep looked it over. I'd spent $5060 dollars. "Oh but sir, the annual fee of $250 was part of that $5060, and it doesn't count toward the bonus" %#!@ Of course I knew that.  I even have a blog post here telling people to always overshoot the goal by a decent amount to account for returns and unexpected chargebacks and what-not. Such a rookie mistake and I feel like an idiot. I put in for a reconsideration from their marketing team but I'm sure I'll get a no. It's so hard to keep up with the details when you're in the middle of a bunch of travel. 

Update 27 Sept '23 (six weeks after initial post): my favorite email just arrived! The PlusPoints upgrade we requested for my early November flight from SFO to Sydney cleared! The current price difference between Polaris Business and what I paid for Premium Plus is $4470. So we have an upcoming heap of travel for my friends' wedding in Palm Springs, including legs to and from Australia (where the three of us will spend the end-of-year holidays again). I'm looking at our 2024 travel plans, our elite status, and the results of what that elite status got us in 2021-2023. Long story short, I think we're going to voluntarily pay $13,000 for a round-trip Business Class flight to Sydney to get one of us over the finish line for United 1k status .  It's hard for me to even type that . Yes, one of us has had 1k status since the pandemic, but spending $10k to get through Australia's harsh Covid restrictions was our only option back then. Now that it's voluntary, I wan

Well, last summer we had an amazing moment of the marketing matching reality when United held Tim's SFO-SYD flight so people on his belated Newark-SFO flight could make their connection. Fast forward a year and the very same thing happened but with an odd twist... Tim's flight into LAX from Newark is an hour late. We then (happily) get an alert that the Sydney flight is also going to depart late. Upon landing at LAX they ask all Sydney passengers to raise their hands and tell them they have to make a run for it and everyone else on board should stay seated while they disembark.  They rush to the gate, and... the door is shut, jetway pulled back, and the plane is leaving without them. They head over to customer service to see about rebooking and Tim's handed a new boarding pass for the Melbourne flight that's about to leave and lo and behold his Plus Points upgrade to Polaris (from Premium Plus) survived the rebooking and he ended up in row 12 behind Tyra Banks.  Not su

We love Montreal. So much good food and drink. Here's a few of our favorites: FIRST off, we love that LOTS of places are BYOB-only and they'll even give you an ice bucket. The state-run liquor stores are called SAQ. (there's also SQDC for recreational cannabis) Fairmount Bagel . Montreal style bagels are a different animal than NY bagels. Comparisons are tiresome. Just enjoy the difference.  Kem Coba ice cream Wilensky's light lunch. C'mon half-sours and a pineapple soda.  St. Viateur bagel Smoked meat ("Viande Fumée") poutine and sandwich at Schwartz 's Summer fireworks festival viewed from Sky Bar Pizza bouquet   Foie Gras poached eggs at Le Passé Composé   24/7 poutine at La Banquise Reuben pizza at Amelias!  pastries from Mamie Clafoutis Crepes (and beautiful produce  and unpasteurized cheese ) at  Jean Talon  market if you couldn't score a table at Joe Beef, you can still eat their amazing food at Liverpool House Cafe Chez Teta has amazi