Author: michael

I’ve been enjoying the benefits of being an American Express Platinum cardholder in the last few months due to being added as authorized user to Esther’s Ameriprise American Express Platinum card (thanks Esther!) The Centurion Lounges and concierge service have been great! Today I discovered a couple new benefits while flying out of Toronto Pearson (YYZ)

I’m on a lightning trip through New York, Toronto and Boston this week, strategically avoiding all the Super Bowl craziness going on in San Francisco. I’m flying currently to Boston from Toronto Pearson. I gave myself a decent amount of time to get through immigration and security, but thankfully, my American Express Platinum card made that even faster! First, Global Entry got me through immigration and customs extremely quickly, skipping that entire line. Next, I run into a pretty long security line. But what’s this I see? Apparently, through a program called Cloud 10, American Express has partnered with Toronto Pearson to bring benefits to certain American Express cardholders. And tada, there was a completely empty special security line specifically for Platinum and Centurion cardholders. Thus, the entire process of immigration, customs, and security took me a grand total of 7 minutes. Continue reading →

A little late to the blog party, but American business class awards to Europe are wide open! Normally American is very stingy about releasing premium award space, but every once in a while, like right now, award space become wide open. The routes that are available are every city that American flies direct to London from, so Los Angeles, Charlotte, Miami, New York (JFK), as well as Philadelphia. Philadelphia doesn’t seem to be quite as open as the other cities. Furthermore, you avoid the high fuel surcharges from British Airways by flying on American for the long haul. Continue reading →

I woke up this morning to some tidbits of good news and wanted to share.

Via One Mile At A Time, the process to book the Citi Prestige 4th night free benefit has improved for the better. Citi recently switched concierge companies to Aspire Lifestyles Concierge. Previously, you would call up Citi, and then they would jot down your contact information and request and pass it along to Carlson Wagonlit Travel, who would get back to you in a day or 2 by email or phone. This was a bit of an annoying process given that hotel prices change all the time. Now, with the new concierge, you can book the hotel with the 4th night free benefit directly over the phone! The terms of the benefit haven’t changed at all, and you can still book pre-paid and other special rates and get the 4th night free! Continue reading →

Did you sign up for the BBVA NBA Amex card like many others but were getting annoyed at having to manually make payments and worrying that you might forget and get charged a late fee? Well, no longer! Thanks to icemule1 on reddit, now we know there is a way to set up autopay for your BBVA credit cards!

All you need to do send them a form either through snail mail, fax, or email, and autopay should start working in 1-2 billing cycles. Before it takes effect, make sure to still make your monthly payments manually! Addresses / fax numbers are below: Continue reading →