Manufactured Spending

Are You Joining Me For Frequent Traveler University?

August 5, 2018By Edward Pizzarello3 Comments

Live in the DC area? Want to know advanced strategies on earning the most miles possible? And, how to use them to travel the world? There’s still time to purchase a last-minute ticket for Frequent Traveler University.

United Gets Whacked For Mistreating Disabled People, Death of Bluebird And Free Wine

January 11, 2016By Edward Pizzarello0 Comments

Today’s Best of the Rest includes United getting smacked around, the death of Bluebird, discounted gas cards, free wine and more. Did I mention free wine?

The Risks Of Manufactured Credit Card Spending

March 31, 2015By Edward Pizzarello20 Comments

Don’t forget to enter my giveaway for $99 SIM cards for free data when traveling internationally. Bluebird, REDbird, gift cards, Walmart Money Center. These are all terms you’re very familiar with if you engage in “manufactured spending”, where you create spending that costs little to nothing but earns you lots of points/miles from a credit card. It’s a typical strategy for maximizing the generous sign-up bonuses many card companies are offering now. One of my readers (Anton) relates the following story to me about a problem they encountered. I’ve paraphrased […]

CONFIRMED: US Will Require Negative COVID-19 Test For Entry From International Flights

There’s a report on most of the major news sites right now indicating that The NY Times is reporting the US will require a negative COVID-19 test for all passengers entering the United States via plane from abroad. This would be a remarkable step. But it also may be a logical evolution of COVID-19 policy as it relates to travel. While we don’t have exact details, reports seem to indicate that this could go into place January 26, 2021. Honestly, if this is needed to stop the spread of the more […]

I Was In An Airport For The First Time In 9 Months This Week. It Was Odd.

It won’t be too much longer before I’ll be able to say it’s been an odd year of not boarding airplanes. As it stands today, that seems to be the earliest I could see myself getting on an airplane. However, I was in an airport yesterday, and it was definitely an odd experience. I wasn’t expecting to be, but I had to pick up a family member from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport yesterday. It wasn’t my wife or kids, so I wore a mask in the car and we […]

No Numbers: My 2020 Year In Review

This is about the time each year where I’d summarize how many miles I flew and how many nights I had at various hotel chains. Obviously, those numbers were way down this year. As I looked at friends summarize what their year in travel looked, I was a little surprised that I really had no motivation to look at the numbers. Initially, I thought that meant I wouldn’t bother with a year in review. But 2020 taught me that we can’t take things for granted. So, without numbers, I thought […]

Breaking Down The New Wyndham Rewards Earner Credit Cards

There’s a lot of discussion about credit cards in the travel blog space. Credit cards are how many (if not most) people earn miles and points to be able to take that dream trip. And, there are plenty of folks who sign-up for lots of credit cards for the welcome bonus without much regard to whether they’re going to keep the credit card long-term. I get it, but I don’t generally sign-up for a new credit card unless I see some sort of a long-term place in my wallet. That’s […]

DEAL: Save On Alaska Airlines Gift Cards From Costco

Discounted gift cards represent one of the best ways to take advantage of travel deals during the pandemic. With flexible change policies on virtually every airline, a gift card gives you even more ability to get the best deal. Thanks to Denny for sending along this deal which should be appealing to folks who live out west and can enjoy the strength of Alaska Airlines’ network. Costco is selling $500 Alaska Airlines gift cards for $449.99. I guess that’s a $50.01 discount, but hopefully you’ll forgive me for the slight […]

I Flew Frontier, Saved $400 And Didn’t Die. My Frontier Airlines Review

Those low-cost carriers always have very appetizing fare sales. Who wouldn’t want to pay $20 to fly somewhere? But, what does $20 really buy you? I found out exactly what Frontier does (and doesn’t) offer customers on my first flight with them recently.

How To Use New Metro Silver Line To Get Between Dulles and Reagan National Airports

People talk about how bad the traffic is in places like Los Angeles with plenty of adjectives. And, it is quite bad. But, the traffic in DC is what I refer to as “stealthy bad”. It doesn’t get the same press that LA traffic does, but a trip that normally takes an hour can easily turn into a 3-hour ordeal. With visiting dignitaries, protests and construction as variables, weather can also wreak havoc on a system that consistently backs up during rush hour. For those of us that live in […]

Update: American Airlines Variable Choice Plus Pricing A Feature, Not A Bug

I have to admit, I was pretty pleased with the original announcement that American Airlines was creating bundled pricing that included change fees at a lower apparent cost. Things got a little better when American also announced they were expanding the timeframe you could request a same day change to your flight. And, then things started to get a bit screwy. It started with just one flight I couldn’t get to price right with Choice Plus as an add-on. But, then I did a bit more digging and found out […]

A Summary Of United Airlines Global Services Benefits

As travel has gotten more stressful the benefits of elite status are even more valuable. In some cases, what used to be free for everyone is now only free for those customers that fly most frequently. I value my American Airlines Executive Platinum status more highly than any status I’ve earned, including 1K service with United Airlines. However, Global Services is another matter. For those not aware, Global Services is an invitation-only status level that United bestows on their best customers. What defines a best customer? Well, United doesn’t list […]

Is Foursquare Dead?

Venture Beat doesn’t think so, and I’m not 100% sure they’re wrong. But, before I discuss the article, a little background on why someone allergic to social media like me became a Foursquare nut. A few years ago, a company called TopGuest came up with this concept where you could earn airline miles and hotel points for checking in at various places on Foursquare. I can’t say I thought it was a terribly good business model, but they convinced a bunch of hotel chains to hand out miles for this. […]

Edward Pizzarello - January 12, 2021:
Mike, I could see land crossings being exempt if you could prove [...]

Mike Saint - January 12, 2021:
Yeah it will be interesting to see. I live in San [...]

Edward Pizzarello - January 12, 2021:
Chris, I have to think that gets legally challenged pretty quickly. Insanely [...]

Chris - January 12, 2021:
You couldn't do it indefinitely, but I'm reasonably sure you could hold [...]

Edward Pizzarello - January 12, 2021:
Gary, I agree the variant is here in some degree, small or [...]