point fu

A new high-speed rail link opened between Guangzhou and Hong Kong in late 2018. We've never been to mainland China, and for us train nerds, this was a perfect excuse to go. Hong Kong Station Exterior First off, Americans need a visa to go to mainland China . We were originally thinking we'd just do a day trip, but when I started checking a few Hong Kong transportation forums, it seemed clear there is no way to get a day trip visa issued on the spot in Hong Kong . We decided to get the 10 year, multiple entry visa so we could go back again without having to do any further paperwork. There's a consulate here in New York City, and I did all of the visa paperwork in person. We were flying in to Hong Kong and taking the train into Guangzhou, which actually caused me some trouble with the people at the consulate . They are very focused on having your flight information for your arrival into mainland China, and we had none. The train tickets are only available 30 days in ...

I've complained about the Amex Platinum a lot recently . My most recent mis-adventure trying to use the Delta credit was sorta the straw that broke the camel's back, though. There have just been way too many cutbacks and nothing new or exciting to replace them. I gave Amex a call and asked to cancel my card. I cited my reasons, and also let them know that the card's one "killer feature" – 5x on airfare – isn't a slam-dunk with me because it doesn't offer trip delay insurance like the Chase Sapphire does. I'm not going to book, for example, our January Mexico trip on the Amex because it so reliably gets screwed up by New York winter weather. Renewed for another season The rep was quick to quote back to me exact totals for all of the card's benefits I'd used, but the bottom line for me is that the trend right now is negative – all cuts, no improvements. I asked straight up if the was a retention offer available and there was: $500 stat...

As I've mentioned before, Amex has been slowly devaluing and eliminating many of the Platinum and Gold cards' perks. Specifically, they closed the well-publicized loophole that allowed you to spend your annual Airline Fee Reimbursement buying Delta gift cards. This was a popular and relatively easy way to offset part of the card's annual fee so there has been lots of uproar online about this change. This FlyerTalk thread is tracking and aggregating people's individual experiences trying to use the credit on other types of Delta purchases. It seems like the consensus for the new way to spend the credit is this: buy a plane ticket that's less than $250, apply a $50 gift card to the purchase, and ta-da! the remainder of the ticket counts as a fee, and is reimbursed by Amex . I read through the summary and it seemed like our upcoming flight from Burlington to New York City would be a perfect place to try it. First, I bought a $50 Delta gift certificate from th...