Milenomics² Podcast Episode 219: The Latest Salvo in the American Express Arms Race

News:

0:21 Amex +10x at Restaurants for Referrals

• We have a long history with these +X offers from american express
• Some basics: you earn 10x on the card you refer from
• Your referrer doesn’t need to apply for the same card–they just need to be approved for a card.
• For someone in popup purgatory this could be a nice ‘start’ to a 90 day decline
• Lowes4Pros is what I went with initially. This is a CC, card limits might be important to some.
• These are listed to run through 5/22
• Squirreling away links will only work if you’ve applied already and can force a decline. (would be nice to do that at the end of the period as part of a popup-avoidance strategy).
• We know what the next Amex earnings call will highlight:  Business card spending

10:49 Amex Bonvoy Business 5x50k Cert Welcome Bonus

• $8,000 in 6 months
• $125 AF not waived first year
• Head-on application doesn’t seem to skirt have/had popup

13:51 PayPal Bill Pay Removing Useful Targets

• Shutdowns were bad because targets that are removed couldn’t be added if you spun up a new PP Account
• But this is worse–the target itself is being removed without notice from your bill pay section, so even without a shutdown you’re out useful targets.
• Do Credit card payments become more useful.
• Is it insane to over-pay an Amex card and ask for the balance to be moved to a Business card?

19:24 Western Union Online Billpay

• Online (or in app) billpay category changed from POI FUNDING TRANSACTIONS to Utilities - Electric, Gas, Sanitary, Water
• Was earning 3x on AT&T Access More, now no more - but it opens up other cards as potential earners

22:34 Fluz Discounts Some cards for a week (Already Dead!)

• Amounts to a .5% (half a percent) discount on GC loads on a dozen or so BINs.
• Strange email sent explaining it, or rather not explaining it
• Slack members report these reduced rates will mean “FLUZ” shows up in the merchant charge
• All told if I do my normal loads, this represents a savings of $5 per $1000 spend.
• Totally Nothing – it lasted only about 1 day and is now dead
• Cash loads are getting my attention right now, and rightly so.

What we’ve been up to:

26:42 Hilton Free Night Certificate Booking Follies

• Wife had 6 certs finally showing in the app so I thought it was high time to “simply” book the Conrad Osaka
• Wanted: 3 nights, 2 rooms, connecting. Simple, right?
• Issue 1: You can’t book connecting rooms with free night certificates (FNCs)
• Issue 2: The standard rooms that FNCs book into at the Conrad Osaka cannot connect
• Chatted to book on Desktop and the rep balked because one of the FNCs expired the day after check-in. I was like, “Can’t we just use that one for the first night?” Nope. Not possible.
• I asked if they could extend the cert as a “one time courtesy”? Nope. I can’t request an extension until it’s within 2 weeks of the cert expiring. What?! Why do I have to wait until the last minute?
• Chat rep didn’t even propose breaking the stay up into multiple nights so that the first night could be covered by the expiring cert so I called the Diamond line instead.
• Phone rep was better. “Do you have access to your wife’s email?” Is this a trick question?
• Phone rep was able to extend the cert to cover the stay so I wound up with “just” 2 confirmation numbers. No guarantee of connecting.
• So I emailed the hotel. No response 2+ days later.
• For a chain that prides itself on the simplicity of booking connecting rooms, this is recurring source of frustration. Will follow up with the hotel’s response when I get it.
• Update: Got a response. No upgrade but $42/nt to ensure connecting rooms.

32:42 Issues with Upcoming Kauai Trip

• Booked a ‘placeholder’ trip with United (fully refundable)
• United Cancelled the afternoon nonstop from LAX and rebooked me through SFO (instead of on the LAX morning flight).
• Logging into United.com I’m presented with a banner that says I’m allowed a rebooking as a one time courtesy but will be responsible for the fare difference.
• Sinister–this was a fully refundable fare.
• So I flanked to Twitter who moved me to the morning flight – which had only single seats left. The UA Family boarding policy shoehorned myself and my daughter next to each other and my wife and son next to each other, separated by a dozen rows.
• All told I’m still going to Kauai but I’m in the last row of the plane – and there’s nothing else that can be done.
• Hawaii travel is TOUGH. Maybe the toughest ‘vacation’ route in the country

37:40 Hawaiian Airlines Return Flight Update

• Originally booked return with 135k United pp one-way
• They canceled the HNL-EWR route (only running it seasonally now) and I negotiated for reaccomodation twice and the connections were becoming unappealing
• I noticed the HNL-JFK route had two things that make it a good candidate for upgrading: Cheap Economy cash price, and Flex Upgrade availability
• Paid ~$350pp + 50k Hawaiian (transferred from Amex) for a $2,600 flight
• There needs to be Flex Upgrade availability for this to work (tends to correlate with times when Flex Award is available, but call/chat or check Expert Flyer to check)
• Cash fare has to be Main Cabin (Basic Economy was once eligible, but no longer it seems)
• Cash ticket can be purchased directly -or- with a 3rd party travel agency (or with bank points)
• Booked cash tickets through CapOne portal (tip: can use 2x$300 Venture X/Venture X Business on a single transaction if you have both)
• Called Hawaiian to confirm award availability, transferred over Hawaiian miles from Amex while on the phone
• Nice deal. I’m sure Alaska will kill it once they take over.

46:15 Norw ay Trip: Looking to Book Transit, Lodging

• We’re looking at 1000 miles separating the cities of Oslo and Tromso, so a flight there
• After a few nights in Tromoso we’ll take a ferry to
• Then backtracking to take a flight to Bergen.  The only other option is a one way car rental ($500 or so in drop fees) plus some pricier flights on turboprop planes.
• Then a train from Bergen back to Oslo.
• I’d ideally like to flatten as much of this as possible, so I’m now keeping an eye on Bergen-CDG options on air france. I’d gladly pay the $50 change fee to do less transit.   I’m also considering the ferry from Tromso to Lofoten (17 hours, overnight).
• All the while I’m keeping in mind my kids are in tow.