point fu

The blogs have been abuzz about a targeted 20% promo from Amazon and American Express. I set my Amex as my default credit card in Amazon and then checked my Amazon account with this link to see if I was targeted, and I was! I'm not a huge fan of Amazon because I find the whole experience so baffling unless you're a hardcore Amazon user. You can't even buy some things unless you're Prime, and still others you can't because they're Prime Pantry , or "this is only available as an add-on product". Furthermore, I hate how confusing it is to tell who's actually shipping your order to you and I've had terrible luck getting Amazon to fix purchases that go wrong from outside vendors on their site. End rant .  Because this promo ONLY applies if you spend some number of Amex points on your purchase AND if the product is "Sold By Amazon", I was dreading scouring their site trying to find something I needed that met the criter...

Chase is trying to promote Chase Pay for in-person and online transactions so they're offering a couple of great deals through December 14th when you shop at Walmart.com or a Best Buy brick-and-mortar store. Details are here . Since both my husband and I have Chase cards, we double-dipped on those (i.e., we each spent around the $350 maximum), PLUS we visited Walmart.com via the Alaska Airlines shopping portal and got yet another point per dollar for a total of 11 points per dollar.  After our recent trip to Japan and Taipei, our accounts are feeling a little empty so it's time to fill 'em back up again. There have been a few good Amex offers these past few weeks so we've snagged another 10,000 there via Martha Stewart Wine and Google Express offers.

Right after I posted this I heard about a huge quake in Mexico City . Here's a list of ways you can help! ❤️🇲🇽 Over the years I've heard a bunch of interesting, somewhat under-the-radar tricks that frequent fliers have used to fly for less. One of them involved buying a Star Alliance Round The World First Class ticket at the airport Venezuela using local currency. At the time, their currency was rapidly devaluing and you could score this ticket for a fraction of what it would cost anywhere else in the world. You saved so much money it more than paid for the cost of flying yourself there to make the transaction. Among my friends these things inevitably end up with wacky and suggestive nicknames. Well, after last year's interesting attempt at getting onto a one-way flight back from Mexico without paying extortionary rates (seriously, all the normal booking channels wanted more for a one-way than a round-trip!), I found that local travel agencies could book the ticket...

I was poking around Google Flights for a friend and noticed that there's quite a few dates in Autumn with super cheap economy fares to Tokyo from New York. Normally these would be in the $1000-$1300 range but these are as low as $489! Most of the cheap fares seem to be on Air China via Beijing or ANA/United via Chicago or Los Angeles, and both have reasonable layover times. If it were me, I'd take the ANA itinerary because of ANA's stellar reputation . As far as Business Class fares go, there's a few Air China itineraries for $2100, but from the reviews I've read , the food and service is terrible, so that $2100 is to get you a lie-flat seat and not a whole lot else. Keep in mind that the arrival of Tokyo's fall weather lags New York's by a month, so the weather should be mild and pleasant on a lot of the Oct and Nov dates... $489 via Beijing on Air China Click to enlarge or $627 on ANA/United Click to enlarge My Japan tips are here . ...