0:21 Hyatt Globalist Lite Fast Track (FM Summary)
- Offered through Bilt Rewards (no Bilt credit card required to for this)
- Needed to register between March 28 - April 1, 2023
- Stay 20 nights between April 17 - July 16 2023 to earn and retain Globalist Lite through February 2025
- Se...
2023-04-09 22:07:52 +0000 UTC
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News
0:22 Citi Travel Portal now Powered by Booking.com (OMAAT)
- I’m liking this change already
- Booking .com is a better engine than cxLoyalty ever was
- Better inventory and pricing
- Disney properties available
- Citi Prestige 4th night free and Premier $100 off $500+ looks well implem...
2023-03-27 12:59:29 +0000 UTC
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0:30 Using Points for Disney
2:30 Snagging Disney dining reservations
7:00 Disney hotel discount tips
10:00 Being a travel agent as a hobby/as a job
Thanks to Joe for coming on the show!
2023-03-23 13:29:26 +0000 UTC
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2:45 Amex Referrals: +5x on Grocery up to $25,000
- “Lose” primary Personal Gold card that’s lost ability to refer, once that’s healed - refer, apply, recon, approve (strange “acceptance” process)
- How are you playing it?
- Honeypot?
12:00 Loss of Referability from Personal Cards
12:45 Ambiguous Pop-Up When Applying
- Seeing more reports of this type for cards people have never ...
2023-03-20 23:13:32 +0000 UTC
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0:22 Amex +5x Referrals (HT Andrew C on Slack)
- These typically appear on personal MR-earning cards
- Makes Personal Gold 4x + 5x on grocery, plus whatever you get for the referral
- Discussion about plans to gain back referrals on P2’s side
- Which cards to apply for with the referral?
- Quite n...
2023-03-13 08:09:15 +0000 UTC
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News
0:30 Fluz 2.0 Lands
- Need Power Portal Access and a Business account
- Load cash at 3% using Cash loads
- Picking MCC in the app, loading cash in the Power Portal
- Create 1-Time Cards either in app or in power Portal
- Cards last 24 hours if not used, and earn cash back when used (up to 1.5% back, so net 1.5%)
- Discussion of Scale, etc.
- #fluz-discussion for more information
2023-03-06 12:10:00 +0000 UTC
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0:37 Fluz Time
- 1-Time Cards coming for more? For all?
- Day of Reckoning arrives for 1-Time Card users.
- Sidekicks, Protection team. Fluz is having growing pains.
07:05 Follow Up: Citi Shutdown Scenario
- I did end up calling their “special team” in response to their calls and letter
- Thought that maybe calling on a Saturday moments before the call center closed would get me someone who wanted to qu...
2023-02-16 03:39:13 +0000 UTC
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0:20 Citi Shutdown Coming? “Know Your Customer” Calls
- Saw a call come in to my cell phone from 855–688-0555 (Spam Risk)
- “Please call Citibank in reference to your account…” said to call them back at 833-951-0031
- I’d think it really was a spam call because they didn’t say my name, or any specific information about my account. But the woman had a bit of a southern accent and I hear Citi has a fraud team in Jacksonville. So I think t...
2023-02-08 04:02:09 +0000 UTC
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0:23 Japan Follow Up: Trip Status Reports
- With Robert’s trip just a few weeks what’s the latest?
- Lodging and other updates
- Sam: Trip is months away and starting to finally get serious about it. More updates to come.
- Booking.com
- Tour talk: how to get a feel for a place at a higher level.
13:41 Follow Up: Wyndham Business Card
- Card arrived with a 25k limit. Should help with cycling conc...
2023-01-31 12:24:56 +0000 UTC
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0:27 Fungibility: 5x Spend on Fluz with Daily Caps
- Last week we mentioned loading up Fluz daily cards
- I started doing this but then I realized I don't think it matters if I do cash out or not
- As long as I make sure I'm buying every single $200 card that they put up, the source of those funds does not matter
- So I'm cashing out the 5x to not slow myself on cash loads. Meanwhile, I'm doing a daily load on wherever I need to...
2023-01-23 06:53:25 +0000 UTC
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0:41 Q1 2023 5x Categories
- Chase Freedom Grocery Stores, Target, Gyms
- Discover Grocery Stores, Drug Stores and Select Streaming Services
- Citi Dividend Amazon, Select Streaming Services
- Don’t forget: BofA Cash Rewards and US Bank Cash+
06:10 Plastiq 1% on MCGCs
- Died Just after recording.
- Have see this a few times. Will r...
2023-01-12 14:33:48 +0000 UTC
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Best of 2022 with Special Guest CF Frost
0:50 Best Trips of the Year
- CF
- Oman (Episode 15 of Checking In)
- Hilton LXR Zemi Beach House in Anguilla
- Florida 2x
- Robert
- Scottsdale
- Italy
- Aviara (Private Dining)
- Bermuda <- Favorite
- Chicago ...
2022-12-31 16:49:44 +0000 UTC
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0:21 BofA Premium Rewards Elite App
- After Robert had such a positive result I wanted to go for this (for the triple dip)
- Applied and approved.
- Value: Annual fee covered by sign up bonus, $900 in incidentals. Thanks to Robert for digging this up and nudging me into doing this. Fantastic.
07:28 Fraud Followup
- Back in Episode 173 we talked about widespread fraud from MCGC bought on Fluz
- The Issue was...
2022-12-22 23:47:04 +0000 UTC
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Episode 03: Show Notes.
It’s the holidays! During today’s episode, we’re talking travel tips, whether it's on the ground, in the air, at your destination, or just in general. We kick off our conversation with a handy list of websites to bookmark, giving value to your travel planning process based on our own experience. You’ll find out why you should consider secondary cities when you are planning your trip and hear some ground tips that will transform...
2022-12-15 14:27:38 +0000 UTC
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Follow Up
0:21 Things we said we’d do “I’ll apply for the MS Platinum right after the show”
- Applied again for one of these for myself and after a day of pending was approved!P2 is in limbo with MS account opening.
- Applied for this card and…. Denied
- The reason: Her MS account was closed on or around Dec 1.
- Seems like I might have been successful if I applied before Dec 1 and after her account was in ‘...
2022-12-12 06:16:18 +0000 UTC
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Thanks to Raymond (@outasflyguy) coming on the show!
- 0:40 Purpose of Japan trip
- 6th time going to Japan, just about every previous time I’ve gone during late October / early November in the Fall.
- Weather is perfect; not muggy like in Summer…
- Probably my favorite time to go even though everyone thinks Cherry Blossom season is ideal
- I think there’s value going in the shoulder season
- 2020 ...
2022-12-07 02:33:08 +0000 UTC
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0:20 Amex Business Cards
- Login/0 MR condition continues to occur/occurs with new cards
- Turns out I was charged $50 for creating a MR account - just bonkers stuff
- There is definitely something “not right” about these cards.
- Award wallet to get the new mr account's number.
08:21 Fluz
- Unreliable 1-time use cards make the service as bad as it has ever been.
- No longer earning 1.5%...
2022-12-05 16:00:17 +0000 UTC
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News
0:20 JetBlue to Paris Summer 2023 (Direct Link)
- From JFK and BOS
- Feels like this will be more useful than to/through LHR (lower fees, smaller airport)
4:04 New Citi AT&T Points Plus Card (2022-11-22 17:14:57 +0000 UTC
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0:21 Fluz 2.0 Arrives
- 3% loads available on business accounts, talked about this last week with Fluz 1.5
- 1-time debits now available for some Fluz business accounts
- 1.5% back for 1-time use Visa debits
- 1% back for 1-time use MC debits
- Max value on 1-time debit: $5,000
- Daily 1-time debit spend limit: $10,000
- MC [sometimes] works for Citi Pay By Phone
- Visa [sometimes] works for 1% on Plastiq
2022-11-11 18:27:47 +0000 UTC
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0:22 Fluz 2.0 (1.5?) Arrives
- If spend is unlimited and MCC categories can be chosen how does this change things?
- Best cards to use?
- Fear of shutdown
- Knock on effects?
14:30 Morgan Stanley Follow Up
- There’s no playbook here. Thought cards couldn’t be instant approved–but got an instant approval for P2
- Can’t even open an access account for P2 (Sam). Needed a scan of SSN card...
2022-11-01 12:51:47 +0000 UTC
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0:21 Opening Morgan Stanley Robo Investing Accounts
- After last week this became important (really important given the discussion in #episode-discussion)
- MS seemed to try to limit applications by hiding the link
- The process was smooth, but took a few days
- Updates to come
5:02 125,000 Amex Morgan Stanley Platinum (2022-10-20 05:15:44 +0000 UTC
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0:30 Check What’s Still Working
- Is Fluz okay?
- Has Plastiq changed?
- Citi Robot Lady okay?
- Amex upgrade/AU/employee bonuses?
15:45 *Calendar* Year Resets
- Amex Incidentals (more on that below)
- Chase Ritz-Carlton $300
- Citi Prestige $250
- BofA Premium Rewards $100
16:30 *Cardmember* Year Resets (ie, don’t worry about these Jan 1)
- Ch...
2022-01-01 05:17:15 +0000 UTC
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0:23 Last Chance: Check for incidentals on Amex cards. Add employee cards, Upgrade Gold to Platinum, etc.
Biggest deals of the year (in review)
9:59 Fluz
- We started the year off using fluz for category bonuses, Ink 5x and Chase pay yourself back.
- All of this happened on the App (or in bluestacks). . The app feels glacially slow now.
- Fluz has spent the year working hard to get category...
2021-12-27 23:47:16 +0000 UTC
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Community member JG and I discuss a lucrative Amex additional employee offer that’s set to expire at the end of the year, then CF Frost joins us with some additional datapoints.
0:30 Quick Overview of the Opportunity
- For Amex Business cards only (not Personal, there are different opportunities for Personal)
- Add up to 5 employees per card
- Get 20,000 MR for each employee you add who spends $4,000 in 6 months
- So a total opp...
2021-12-20 06:38:48 +0000 UTC
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0:22 AA Simply Miles 240x Opportunity
- Offer died 12/14 -- Waiting to see if the miles are paid out.
- AA card-linked program that supports Mastercards only at this point
- They’re running a promo whereby they’ll give you an “additional 5x” on points earned through 12/27/2021
- This is more generous than it sounded to me when I first heard about it, but evidently they ran this promo in 2019 and it’s whatever the...
2021-12-16 07:12:38 +0000 UTC
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Robert chats with community member Brooke on these topics
- 0:40 The time Brooke got Fluz to accept PayPal Key BINs
- 5:00 Amex Shutdowns (and reinstatement)
- 17:30 Passing an Amex Financial Review
Our thanks to Brooke for coming on the show and sharing her experiences!
2021-12-08 14:29:24 +0000 UTC
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0:24 Late Amex +4 for us Moves
- Sam:
- Second referral from P2->P1 on her Gold card (targeted for Gold - PLT 25k/10x offer).
- Third attempt from P1-P2 on a BBP for 6x anywhere. Initial app resulted in P2 receiving the “Based on your history with American Express” penalty Box Popup. That’s very new (1 month ago was not there). Went ahead without the bonus.
- A few forced denials (Business Green on P2 side, Personal green / Busine...
2021-12-06 13:18:28 +0000 UTC
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Main Topics
0:38 Reasons People Don’t Play the Game?
- Inspired by this post on common reasons why people don’t travel
- Let’s pause right there: How much would your enthusiasm for the game be diminished if you weren’t particularly into travel?
- I surveyed friends on the fringe of the game/who ha...
2021-11-25 15:34:53 +0000 UTC
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Hello, and welcome to The Manifesto with Gideon, the Free-quent Flyer, on the Milenomics Podcast Network. I’m Gideon, the Free-quent Flyer, and I’m joined today by long-time reader and friend of the blog, Henry. Henry, welcome to the Manifesto.
[0:16] Plugs
[2:00] Background
- How did you g...
2021-11-25 03:44:43 +0000 UTC
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News
0:22 Reports of Amex Reinstatement
- Great to hear reports of Amex reportedly changing their mind on “Adam” shutdowns
- Creates all kinds of crazy situations to consider
- Are people now in the penalty box for closing cards within a year of accepting welcome bonuses/retention offers?
- Will annual fees be refunded?
- Is the slate wiped clean in any way? For welcome bonuses or incidentals?
- Which car...
2021-11-20 15:20:32 +0000 UTC
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