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 […]

Air Canada Launches Cool New Feature: Status Pass!

If you live in the United States and haven’t been paying attention to Air Canada, continue to do so at your own risk. Since the middle of last year, Air Canada has been announcing new components of a completely reimagined loyalty program under a familiar name, Aeroplan. While it’s certainly good news for Canadian residents, it’s also good news for US residents. When Air Canada announced the new program last year, there was plenty to be excited about. New status perks and new credit cards were really enticing. In two […]

United Cuts Deep On International Flights at Dulles

The pandemic has yielded plenty of unexpected decisions by airlines and hotel chains over the past year. Recent moves by United Airlines aren’t all that surprising in general, but the depth of the cuts did surprise me. It’s clear from these cuts that United doesn’t think international travel will come roaring back as more vaccines find their ways into people’s arms. United Cuts International Flights At Dulles Airport The Points Guy reported on a deep number of cuts on international flights at Dulles Airport. Dulles Airport, located outside of Washington, […]

VIDEO: Truck Crashes Into Rental Counter

There are a lot of ways to return a rental car when you’re in a hurry. This video is over a year old, but I hadn’t seen it. And, the potential for driver injury aside, this has to be one of the more amazing/amusing car rental returns I’ve seen: Best comment in the comment section? “Guy that built those counters should see this!” Thx to David H for sending it along! Did you enjoy this post? Please share it! There’s plenty of ways to do that below. You can also […]

HURRY: As Low As $245 ROUND-TRIP Business Class To Europe Through This Summer

I’ll keep this short so you can have as much time to book as possible, and I’ll update the post with some more details shortly. There are business class fares from several US cities to several European cities for as low as ~$250 round-trip. Miles Talk and View From The Wing have some examples. Remember that you have 24 hours to cancel any flight you book that departs or arrives in the US with no penalty. While this fare is bookable with a few OTAs, my recommendation is to search […]

Quick Reminder: 50 Transactions On Your World of Hyatt Card By Tomorrow

If you’re a World of Hyatt credit card holder and you registered for the February promotion to earn up to 5,000 bonus points you have until tomorrow to get your 50 transactions. There’s not a whole lot of restrictions on what the transactions can be. They do need to be at least $1 each, but in theory could be multiple transactions at the same store if you’re really close to one of these point thresholds. Because the Hyatt award chart doesn’t stretch nearly as high as Hilton or Marriott 5,000 […]

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 - March 13, 2021:
G, it is one per reservation. One will cover the entire [...]

G - March 12, 2021:
Is it one pass per passenger, or would one pass cover the [...]

Gene - March 11, 2021:
Who is flying for business right now? And business travel is [...]

Edward Pizzarello - March 11, 2021:
Christian, my impression was the route had a solid block of finance [...]

Christian - March 11, 2021:
Why would Geneva be surprising? Sure there will be no direct [...]