Milenomics² Podcast Episode 240: Breakthrough Approvals, and a San Francisco Trip Report

0:25 Chase Ink: Success

• Got a targeted mailer at the house intended for a prior resident (we’ve lived here almost 20 years, what a list Chase maintains!)

• I think the prevailing wisdom is that targeted mailers don’t bypass 5/24, especially since the offer terms show a variable APR which is a negative indicator of pre-approval

• Mailer includes 14-digit RSVP code tied to zip code, but the application wasn’t pre-populated or locked down with the prior resident’s business info

• Applied. Went pending. A few days later I saw a phone call coming in from Chase. Before I could answer it they hung up. A few minutes later I got an approval email. They must have just wanted to congratulate me?

• Went for a 90k Ink Unlimited that I think can be product changed to an Ink Cash for more enduring 5x capacity.

• I doubt Private Client had anything to do with the approved (as documented previously I’ve tried and tried with that)

• RSVP code still works. Do I go for one for P2? Or is that getting greedy?
  

05:25 Amex Delta Business Gold for P2

• Sam: Applied with a New Tab and…pending for days. 

  • Eventually received a decline, likely due to too many Credit cards

• Mentioned last show that I tried to replicate a similar approval for P2

• Her request was routed to High Risk/Fraud team

• Aske1,000 phone call” (ha ha)

• It really helps to have familiarity with how these things go, so as to direct new accounts and end the HRF team and be comfortable with things that would otherwise seem very strange

• HRF rep asked for digits off pre-existing Amex cards

• I produced 5 Business Platinum cards but none of them were old enough to satisfy their systems

• Thankfully unearthed an Old (very old) Blue Cash that did the job

• Enabled approval on the spot

13:55 Delta Regional Upgrade Certificate Slog

• Finally did some archeology on what I suspected were some regional upgrade certificates that never came back on a booking I cancelled

• T&Cs say to allow “2-3” weeks for refund but it had been over a month so I called

• In my experience, Delta phone reps are good in that they’re human and get right down to it (esp with status) but some of the agents are downright snippy and condescending.

• Asked agent to check whether I had any certificates that should have been refunded and she asked for a ticket number to look into. I only had ther record locator and she said that wasn’t good enough. Thankfully further down in the confirmation email (it was an award booking) the ticket number was there. She said it would be credited back in 24 hours.

• I checked back a couple hours later and only one of the two tickets was credited back. What a lack of rigor!

• I called again and the agent was a more friendly, and told me it would take up to 72 hours after she “submitted the form”

• For future reference, I asked her if I did something wrong or if I should always expect to have to call in? She said this is how it works if you cancel online. But if you call, the agent should submit the form. Really? You need to call if you do something online? What’s the point of doing something online?! Just ridiculous and intentionally lossy that online cancellations don’t trigger the needed refunds.

• Seems almost Fluz-like in how you it pays to audit them out of self-preservation interests, but unlike Fluz, Delta never reconciles things. These things would have shown as depleted until they expired. Turkeys!

19:01 Amex Business Platinum 250k Slog

• The workflow on approvals like this is getting ridiculous but I’ll do a lot for 250,000 MRs

• Recall…

• Applied, have/had pop-up, opened new tab, pending

• Called new accounts, rep told me I had to accept pop-up to get card

• Called again, and after a meandering conversation rep agreed to re-submit

• Then letter came a few days later asking for 4506-C

• Submitted, which is a pain itself

21:00 Hilton Free Night Follies (Part 3? 4?)

• For my trip I talked it over with my wife and we agreed on the Hilton Financial District

• I saw that they did offer connecting rooms. So I attempted to book these via chat

• This wasn’t possible, with the agent telling me there are no connecting rooms

• The next rep quoted me a price in dollars and said free night certificates were ONLY good for 1 night stays

• Tired, I decided to give up for the day. 

• The next morning I’m told that a max occupancy of 2 is allowed for free night bookings, 

• Which was in reality because the hotel had only 1 king room left. 

• This means they waited out the clock basically–and I couldn’t book even a single room in my preferred hotel. 

24:25 Hilton Parc 55 Pivot

• Sadly pivoted to the Parc 55 After booking a single night I called to ask about paid upgrades. 

• They clarified that a diamond would receive an upgrade to a skyview room

• I asked about a high floor suite, and was quoted $150 a night for the Bayview high floor suite (Price difference of $240/nt).  

• The rep said she could give me a deal of just $130 a night if I took her up on it. 

• I did actually take her up on it. Because I didn’t want to try to book a second room and 

San Francisco Trip Report

29:40 Outbound AA booked with Alaska miles

• 8:40pm. Really nice flight time for us!

• Just worked!

• Good flight time even for the kids, excitement helped.

34:25 Lyft issues with kids and no car seats

• Only have had this issue in the Bay Area

• Got some ‘dirty looks’ later in the weekend about this

Parc 55 check in. 

• Seamless. Room ready and waiting 

• Huge, 1100 sq ft 

• Medium quality finish. 

• A ‘’hilton’ no more, no less.

• Location great, east west and north south of some great areas

• $130/nt plus tax. No resort fee added.

• Used $50 GC at check out without issue 

36:55 Waymo Driverless car Experience

• Incredible 

• Never jerky or unsafe feeling 

• Better than a human driver. Not in a rush. 

• You control the music and since you're alone you can speak freely. A really great feeling.

• So good it became hard to find cars 

• Became popular late in the day. 2x+ the price of Uber on some routes.

• Took 3 rides. Love it. 

39:18 Length of trip 

• We're slow moving. 

• Saturday: California academy of science (capital one portal)

• Golden gate Park. Always fantastic 

• Incredible weather. Low 70s and sunny all day Saturday. Fog Sunday.

• Inner sunset for lunch and dessert.

• Nap and then pier 39 followed by Chinatown for dinner 

• Outstanding breakfast at MR. East kitchen (walkable from parc 55)

• A quick mission visit for my 4th grader

• And then we were off. 

Transportation Around Town

• A mix of waymo, muni and Uber

• Clipper card added to Google wallet and funded right there. Tap to pay just worked.

• Muni stations are spotless. Zero weird smells. 

• Kids started to demand waymo cars. 

42:15 Return Flight: Delta with Delta Miles

• 9500 Per Person

• Had to take this because Southwest Same Day change didn’t work (no seats)

• Able to get into the Delta Lounge with the kids, agent didn’t care about kids’ access

• Clear ‘closed’ at SFO!