point fu

One of my rules for the frequent flyer game is "never chase status unless someone else is paying". Due to my husband's employer's travel policies, he occasionally ends up making Mosaic on his their dime. And when he doesn't, I point him to well-timed status challenges so he can keep it. I've written a long breakdown of the actual benefits of Mosaic, but he got a surprise benefit in his inbox the other day – free tickets to the Lion King on Broadway . I just checked and the cheapest seats for this show are $199 each and we're supposedly getting premium seats… so conservatively this makes Mosaic status worth another $450 . This appears to be targeted to Mosaic members who also hold the JetBlue card, but if you're Mosaic, having the card is a no-brainer. Yay for secret benefits! another $400+ to stack onto the value of Mosaic status

As part of our spring trip to Warsaw , we're heading to Israel. Yes, Israel. It's a 3.5 hour flight and several carriers offer direct service. Given Warsaw's history and dynamic economy, their airports offer a really unique list of destinations with direct service. (The list gets even more interesting if you add in Ryanair's terminal at Modlin , 35km outside the city.) After looking over the prices, schedules, and amenities of the options, we decided to fly Polish low cost carrier Wizzair . During the final checkout page I noticed that there were two buttons: one to pay in Złoty, the other to pay in US Dollars. A quick check on Google revealed that I'd be paying nearly $30 extra if I did the latter . (I've since checked my credit card online to verify the savings). I paid with my Chase Sapphire Reserve because it has no foreign transaction fees (FTFs), earns 3x points for travel, and has excellent travel insurance. If I'd used a credit card with FTFs,...

JetBlue has a great 3x shopping portal bonus with Amazon. None of the other airline shopping portals partners with Amazon, so this is a unique partnership that I use whenever I shop on Amazon. Unfortunately, I got an email today saying that the only Amazon purchases that will qualify are those made in the air while connected to JetBlue's FlyFi in flight Wi-Fi. So for nearly all intents and purposes, this program is over.

Doctor of Credit just reported that American Express is ending their OPEN business savings program effective June 1st 2018. This is a big one for me because I use the OPEN program to earn heaps bonus points and cashback for my company's FedEx shipments. I currently have a Business Rewards Gold card and without the bonus points, the card no longer justifies its annual fee . There's some vague wording about future Amex offers, but the only ones I've ever seen are for in-store purchases, not for actual shipping costs. Not quite sure what I should do instead. I looked at both Visa and Mastercard 's business rewards programs and only DHL participates (no FedEx or UPS). If anyone knows of a good card with a shipping category bonus, give me a shout!

You don't have to fly much to witness people behaving badly in airports, airplanes, or on social media. The Covid-19 era has taken the dicketry I talk about in this post from 2018 to unimaginable new heights. Let's reminisce about those more innocent days when jerks on a plane were more annoying than, y'know, deadly contagious and prone to violence. If you're sitting in the front of the plane and you refer to people in coach as "plebs" or "the unwashed masses" or something similar, just stop here and go throw yourself down a flight of stairs . Repeat if necessary. Don't ever say "Do you know who I am?" to airline staff. Since you're at JFK and not at Teterboro getting on your personal Gulf Stream jet , maybe take it down a notch or else I'll throw you down a flight of stairs myself.   Do you really need to check-in on social media at the airport, then again in the First Class lounge at the airport, and then again on ...

UPDATE March 2018: I have my answer. ANA's fuel surcharge is tied to the Singapore Kerosene (i.e., jet fuel) price index and that's been quite high lately. ANA Chart showing fuel price effect on surcharges I've been doing a bunch of test bookings for a friend and it seems like ANA has recently raised the price of the co-pays on their award tickets . Low and Regular season Economy tickets now have co-pays around the US$250 mark. When I search for itineraries similar to those in receipts I have from previous bookings, the prices are $100 higher than a year+ ago.  Low vs. Regular season are both now $250 Partner redemptions (e.g., United) are also in the $250 range, and also show a $100 increase JFK to Haneda and Narita are both $250 Booking onward to another city (e.g., booking JFK to Okayama via Tokyo) is $250 In other words, there's no trick I can find to get around these new fees. I've been scouring the various forms and haven't found any infor...

As I've written about before , many airlines offer Business Class fare deals between the US and Europe during the summer when business-related travel is low and vacation travel is at its peak. UPDATE (7/2018): Trip Report here ! We really want to attend a college friend's 50th Birthday party this summer in Poland, so I've had SkyScanner and Google Flights tracking fares and emailing me with any deals that show up. Based on previous years, I was expecting to actually purchase the flight sometime in April, but I got an alert last night (mid February!) that Singapore Airlines has a great deal on their direct service from New York to Frankfurt – many dates around or below the $2000 mark ! Keep in mind that an Economy ticket on the same flight is currently $1578 (and competing airlines' flights are all north of $1400). I bought our tickets with my Chase Sapphire Reserve, and as with my SAS flight last summer , I'll earn $300-ish worth of Chase and United points f...

Lately my social media feed has been full of ads for high-tech Merino wool clothes. I'd honestly just ignored them until our last trip to Japan . The biking leg of that trip meant that there was very little room for clothing beyond our cycling gear. So when one of these wool ads promised shirts, socks, and underwear that only need to be washed every couple of weeks, I was intrigued, skeptical, and a bit grossed out all at once. The lure of all that extra space in my bags was too much to ignore so I decided to buy several different pieces and test them out at home and on our recent trip to Mexico .   👕 Shirts  Short answer: enthusiastic YES While I do love a suitcase full of cute shirts, I feel like some combination of Steve Jobs' fashion, millennial "normcore", and the recent minimalism fad have made it absolutely fine to wear the same look every day, provided it's clean and not stinky. Since shirts comprise a fairly large percentage of my suitcase when ...

AKA, you might be a jaded old queen if : You're in First Class, you're neither sick nor hungover, and you decide not to drink even though it's free because, y'know, you're not in the mood for a drink . And because a couple of free $3 bottles of Tanqueray shouldn't make you as excited as August Gloop on the chocolate factory tour. seriously You don't bother opening the onboard amenity kit because you have half a dozen of them sitting in a box at home, you've got all your preferred products in your carry-on already, and under most circumstances no one really appreciates a gift of " Here's the travel kit from a trip you didn't go on, in a class of service you'll probably never get to fly… Enjoy! " You're in First and you skip a free onboard meal because you're not hungry (or you're trying to manage your jetlag ). Because nearly all airplane food – even in First – is basically just hospital food on better plates. ...

You've probably got all of this in your carry-on bag already… Long haul First and Business Class flights usually come with an amenity kit – a cute case with toiletries and things you might need while on-board. The first time I ever flew First was back around 2000 when a points broker friend got us onto the old legendary Lufthansa First (the one with the fresh-cut rose in your seat's integrated bud vase!). I saved the amenity kit from that flight for years ! When I finally took my second trip in the front of the plane nearly a decade later, I saved that kit too because it was cool and shiny and reminded me of my trip! Well, if you get good at the points game and don't control your hoarding instincts you can end up with a ton of these things. ( Yes, I realize this is quite possibly the most first world problem on earth ). Here are some things you can do with them:   0. Leave them on the plane, preferably unopened If they're still sealed, the airline can just...