Milenomics² Podcast Episode 245: Everything Expires: Including 2024…
Added 2024-12-19 14:43:26 +0000 UTC0:20 Amex Business Platinum: New $50 Quarterly Hilton Credits
Enrollment required (naturally)
Requires entering your Hilton loyalty number at the time of registration…
…which auto-enrolls your “business” in Hilton for Business with fewer enrollment details than if you register head-on at
How to play this? Online GC purchase for Q4? Use on-property in $50 increments for paid stays? Harder to ignore than similar credits on Hilton co-branded cards when you’ve got a lot of Business Platinums.
7:45 BofA Elite Application/Credit Liquidation Update
Were we 2 for 2 on P1/P2 late season applications?
How is incidental/lifestyle credit liquidation going? What surprises have we bumped into?
Tangent: Chase Ritz $300 credit liquidation
18:15 Fluz Sputtering
$10k instant access but longer holds.
Have to check Funding of MUVC more than ever before a payment.
Scheduled payments become nearly impossible to guarantee
MCC for cash loads not reliably office supply for me.
Still great but like a wild animal, always be on alert around it.
23:20 Chase Ink Unlimited Update
Met min spend, welcome bonus posted
Called to product change to Ink Cash for 5x capacity
Rep said card ineligible to product change (too new?)
Will try again after some time
25:00 AA/Hawaiian Mirage
Saw on Google Flights that AA was offering BOS - HNL First on Hawaiian metal for just $900 pp one-way (booked directly with Hawaiian the flights were > $3,000)
Multiple days were available, including peak February break on ideal days in both directions
Tried booking with AA: Led to error page before I could enter payment details
Booked with Amex Travel online: Got record locator but never ticketed
Booked with BofA Concierge: Ultimately never ticketed either
Tried to book on AA’s site w/VPN from Spain: Proceeded to enter credit card info, but browser ultimately just spun and spun
What happened here that we can generalize and learn from?
31:30 Hawaiian: Redemption Story
Saw some useful upgrade space appear a few days after the mirage fares
Had expiring travel bank from last year and remnant Hawaiian miles
Hawaiian travel credits expires 365 days after prior booking, and travel has to be completed by then
Went to book the outbound after seeing space when manually checking on “Expert” Flyer (eyeroll), rep said space was gone
Tried to use the travel credits for return flight but they’re set to expire half-way through our trip
Rep said to email Hawaiian Airlines Consumer Affairs Office requesting a conversation from travel credit to travel voucher. I did so. Never got a reply.
Booked HNL - BOS w/130k pp one-way in First
Booked JFK - HNL using remnant expiring Hawaiian travel credit from last year (+50k pp)
Tacked on cheap BOS - JFK positioning award on outbound
So effectively the same trip we booked for April last year
Have to say: Hawaiian call center was pretty good. Short hold times early in the morning. Reps got right down to business and implemented what they could quickly.
Mahalo!
38:00 Alaska Wallet Expiry Updated to 5 years
Cryptic email about my famous (infamous?) Wallet and “Extension of Your Travel Credit Validity”
“Earlier this year you were issued an Alaska Airlines travel credit following a flight disruption. We are pleased to inform you that your credit is valid and redeemable for five years from the date that the certificate was issued”
Digging into this it seems like a new policy and that when a schedule change occurs a travel credit of no less than 5 years needs to be allowed.
3 hours for domestic, 6 for international
44:15 Hair-Brained Ritz-Carlton Stay
Had an expiring 85k cert from the Ritz card, thought I’d use it for a lowly $175/nt hotel but that ended up being unnecessary
So decided to spend a Saturday night at the Ritz-Carlton Boston
I’ve enjoyed Club Level stays here in the past, but came away from this stay underwhelmed. There’s just not much special about the place.
Thought about taking Uber both directions, but instead did SpotHero for $35 in the Ritz garage (rather than $65 valet). Biggest mess I’ve ever seen in a parking garage. Took 45 minutes to park.
Lobby is small and crowded - unpleasant. Agent at check-in told us we wouldn’t be able to go to the restaurant & bar we had a reservation at because it’s a bar and they card everyone. Turned out to not be the case at all. Why a hotel clerk would say this is beyond me.
Mini bar was empty. Coffee solution is room service or call and beg for one of the few Keurig/Nespresso machines. It’s as if every bit of Ritz-Carlton uniqueness has been wrung out of the place.
Did room service breakfast which was very good for around $100 (had to try the eggs benedict, right?)
I’ve got to start finding better uses for these certificates but having only 1 of them each year makes it awkward.
