Milenomics² Podcast Episode 243: Churning Season Begins and More

0:21 Delta to Prepare and Serve Shake Shack on Domestic First Flights

• Direct Link

• Starting Dec 1 out of BOS on 900+ mile flights

• Also: Revamped wine program

• Discuss: What do we actually appreciate when it comes to airline catering?

6:30 JetBlue Plus 80,000

• Direct Link

• $1,000 min spend in 90 days

• $99 AF not waived first year

• 10% point rebate on awards

• Spend towards status: 1 Tile per $1,000

• 2x dining and grocery

• Just a dead simple solid card for JetBlue fliers

• High time to lob in an application, 8 years post shutdown. Result?

8:50 Cardless Qatar Visa Credit Cards

• Direct link

• Two options…

• Visa Signature

• 60k for $3k in 90 days

• $99 AF not waived first year

• 4x Dining through 12/31/2024

• Visa Infinite

• 80k for $6k in 90 days

• $499 AF not waived first year

• 6x Dining through 12/31/2024

• OneWorld Sapphire for a year (access to AA Flagship lounges when traveling in US in any cabin)

• Award fee waiver on Qatar metal after spending $15k first year, $25k/yr after that

• OMAAT review

• Referrals available for 5k

15:02 Cardless Avianca Amex Credit Cards

• Direct link

• Two options…

• Amex

• 40k for $3k in 90 days

• $99 AF

• Amex Elite

• 60k for $4,500 in 90 days

• 40k for $25k in 12 months

17:51 BofA Elite 75,000 Churning Season Begins

• In the spirit of “don’t get mad, get even”...

• Reduced credit line on last year’s Elite by $45k

• Applied the next day. 

• Denied: You have, or recently have had, a sufficient number of accounts with us and/or our affiliates

• P2: Approved with a healthy credit line. Theory: I didn’t wait long enough after reducing my credit line. Will try again in a couple weeks.

• Direct Link if you want to try

Follow Up

28:19 Ongoing Follies: B28374 Error Code in BofA Travel Center

• Happening on both P1 and P2

• Frustrating, causing me to have to call in and have concierge book

• Tedious for a single ticket I haven’t been bothering. 

32:23 BofA More Rewards Aftermath

• I hear they’re retroactively adjusting late-day transactions to earn an additional 2 points?

• Does pay by phone still have a high enough success rate that it’s worth trying?

• How are those recurring payments going for people?

• Late posting of 2x points and Miles for purchases that were pending 11/7 but closed later.

• I appreciate this, especially without my calling 

• They're still sinister.

35:45  SLOOOOW Amex Credits posting (airline, saks, etc)

• 10 - 13 days in my experience

• Even slower for others (20+ days!?)

• Fine hotels are posting fast for me

• Even the tracker is slow to update

• Server overloaded? Ponzi scheme? What gives!

39:09 Elan 4x Cards Capped at $2k/Quarter

• Got emails across a bunch of US Bank/Elan credit cards with rewards updates

• Starting April 22, 2025 4x cards will be capped at $2,000 spend per quarter

• Got one of these from a local bank last year, never used it much because the spread is too narrow, there’s no pay by phone as far as I can tell, and there’s no redemption upside

40:25 giftcards.com: Louse of the Week? Month?

• Yes They Are

• GC.com gc experiment 

• Terrible customer service 

46:40 Happy Thanksgiving! What are we thankful for this year?

• Sam

• Family and the support through all of this of my wife. I'm certainly thankful for our friendship. I appreciate how back to normal travel has become. I'm thankful for the continued success in the game we play. And for my health and my family's as well. Joy this year in taking my daughter to a historical destination which was my plan years and years ago finally realized, and I'm sure more of those trips to come. 

• Robert

• All the usual stuff we’ve mentioned in the past: Our listeners. Our friendship. That life is going well enough that we can play this game. Friends and family that make travel worth doing. This year in particular, I’m thankful for a great year of travel in 2024.