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Just bought EQP to requalify for IHG Diamond through end of 2025! Since I usually buy miles for 0.5 cents, the $768 to buy 110,000 EQP was only a $218 premium, and I get Diamond again
Ran into the Mexican car insurance scam with Budget in Merida, Mexico 🇲🇽
Base rate was $18 USD a day, but if you didn't get the CDW costing minimum $85 USD a day, I had to put down a deposit of 330,000 MXN / $16,000 USD which obviously got rejected by all my credit cards.
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Just a collection of blog posts I found interesting from this week!
Access the old version of the Amex Offers website. American Express rolled out new version of the Amex Offers website a couple of months ago, but the new interface is much less convenient to see and add all your offers at once. Fortunately, the link to the old version of the Amex Offers website is still working! H/T Miles to Memories.
I caught this message from M life titled “Renew Your Tier Match” from a couple of weeks ago.
I was under the impression before that the status match was automatically renewed for everyone, except for some people due to IT issues, but it looks like not.
The process to renew is even easier than matching the first time, since you should have already created an M life account. Just click on the link in the email, sign in with your Hyatt Gold Passport credentials, then sign in with your M life credentials, and that should be it!
About a month ago, I applied for the Marriott Rewards credit card due to some new targeted offers that came out. I went through phone reconsideration, then I sent a reconsideration message through Chase secure messaging, and was approved. I’ll describe the process I went through. This is not a guaranteed method to get approved for cards from Chase, but I believe it does give you a better chance.
Update: They let me into the SFO Air France lounge, after initially insisting that they needed to see my physical card. The agent realized there was a scanning feature on the Priority Pass reader, but it took a while to scan properly. The process was a lot smoother at the Asiana lounge in Seoul Incheon, as the agents there knew exactly how to scan the digital membership card.
Arrived at the airport and headed to the lounge when you realized you left your physical Priority Pass card at home? Or in my case, left your Priority Pass card along with a bunch of credit cards in your hotel in Brazil? You now might have a backup option!
For my recent trip to Brazil, I knew that as a US Citizen, I needed to get a visa. The only person going on the trip who was exempt from this requirement was my friend who was a Singaporean citizen.
I looked up the requirements. The fee for the visa was $160, payable in USPS Money Order. Due to a new reciprocal agreement, it would be valid for 10 years with multiple entries allowed. It was still 6 weeks out from my trip, I had plenty of time, right?
From Just Another Points Traveler, you can save $10 off $50 on your first order at Amazon Warehouse Deals WD1STTIME. I’ve bought plenty of electronics and other more expensive products from Amazon Warehouse Deals and always had a good experience.
From Travel Codex, Avianca is status matching from various frequent flyer programs to its own program from October 1, 2015 to November 30, 2015. This is an easy way to get Star Alliance Gold until March 2017 if you have equivalent status or higher on another airline. It’s not certain what airlines they are matching from or if they are matching from other Star Alliance Airlines, but it’s worth a try! Star Alliance Gold gets you lounge access when flying Star Alliance airlines, priority check-in, sometimes priority security, and priority boarding. Star Alliance Gold from a program outside the United States also gives you domestic lounge access even when flying economy, which you don’t get as a United MileagePlus Gold member.
I recently had 3 very favorable experiences with hotel chain best rate guarantees, 2 with Marriott as well as 1 with Starwood Hotels. I managed to save over 30% compared to the rate offered by the hotel this way while still earning hotel points and being able to use elite status benefits.
I wanted to share my experiences so people can take advantage themselves. The process is not always simple, but with perseverance and attention to detail, you should be successful. Some 3rd party hotel booking websites also have best rate guarantee programs, such as Orbitz, but that will be a topic of a different post.
