Monthly Archives

Monthly Archives for April 2015.

Review: Aer Lingus Gold Circle Lounge @ BOS

by Harlan 6 Comments

By the time you read this, I will be in the air on Aer Lingus headed to Dublin (assuming you read this within the next 7 hours. Hmmm… that opening line doesn’t hold up well to posterity).

I booked the coveted BOS-DUB award with 50,000 British Airways Avios for a round-trip ticket. And now, I’m in Boston at the Aer Lingue Gold Circle Lounge.

A few notes

The Boston airport is super cute. I’m sure I’ve been here before, but my travels pre-Out and Out are such a jumbled blur in my mind that I can’t remember where, when, or how. It reminds me of AUS airport somehow, although with way more international flights. I spotted Icelandair, WOW!, Swiss, Lufthansa, Virgin Atlantic, and British Airways in Terminal E. I… had no idea that there were so many routes out of here. Very cool.

The Aer Lingus lounge is super small. It’s really just one open room. They do a good job of squeezing in a lot of seating, and it doesn’t get seem like it gets too crowded. There are no bathrooms in here though, and definitely no showers. Very limited services and limited hours, too. Just 3:30pm-8:30pm. I’m thinking they’re only open for the BOS-DUB and BOS-SNN flights, then they close up shop.

The Boston airport is easily accessible to/from the city via the T Silver Line. It’s literally 20 minutes to downtown Boston. I didn’t know this before this trip. If you’re keen to take public transportation, I’d recommend looking into this option!

The lounge

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Hotel Review: Hyatt Regency Boston

by Harlan 4 Comments

Hyatt Regency Boston reviews

Since the BOS-DUB flight on Aer Lingus tonight flies out of, um, Boston, I decided to build in a day to explore this culturally rich city. As a base, I decided on the Hyatt Regency Boston.

It’s a Hyatt Category 3 hotel, meaning it’s 15,000 Gold Passport points per night, and also eligible for use with the annual free night certificate given as a perk to cardholders of the Chase Hyatt Visa.

Since I’d already redeemed my annual free night certificate earlier this year at the Hyatt Regency in New Orleans for Mardi Gras, I redeemed 15,000 Gold Passport points.

Daily rate was $313/night

Daily rate was $313/night

This saved me $313 for a one-night stay, which means I got a value of 2.1 cents per point – and meets my 2 cents per point minimum. However, since I’m a Chase Hyatt Visa cardholder, I’ll get 20% of those points back due to a promo they have going on right now until July 31st (but you had to register by March 31st). That gives me even more value out of the points redeemed – closer to 3 cents per point. Considering how easy it is to earn Ultimate Rewards points, I consider Hyatt stays one of the best uses of Ultimate Rewards – especially with this 20% discount going on.

Getting there and check in

After getting off the Amtrak train at Boston’s South station, it was a short 10-minute walk to the Hyatt Regency. The streets in Boston drive me absolutely batty. I’m a lover of the grid. Well-planned cities like Chicago and Phoenix appeal to my sense of order greatly. I can deal with New York’s mish-mash of a kinda-sorta grid. But Boston is something else altogether.

Once I found the Hyatt Regency, I entered through the sliding glass doors. You have to take an elevator up to the lobby on the 3rd floor, and from there, you have to take another elevator up to your room. So to enter and/or exit, you always have to take two elevators. This design feature/flaw was not my favorite thing in the entire world, and I can see how it could be confusing to some.

Ground floor entrance of the Hyatt Regency Boston

Ground floor entrance of the Hyatt Regency Boston

Check-in area on the 3rd floor

Check-in area on the 3rd floor

The desk agent was very, very welcoming and acknowledged that I was Platinum with Hyatt. After just a couple of minutes, we headed up to our room.

The room

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Trip Report: Riding On Amtrak Business Class NYP-BOS

by Harlan 4 Comments

Whew!

I’ve been a bad boy here lately with the updates. Between the Airbnbs, real estate, freelance articles, and other bits of life, I’ve had to neglect my posting schedule. The upshot, though, is that I’ve been getting ready for my first trip to Ireland, and am now writing this on an Amtrak train from somewhere in Connecticut.

Tomorrow is the day of the British Airways devaluation, and I was lucky to’ve booked BOS-DUB on Aer Lingus in business class (there is still some availability in October and Novermber FYI!). It’s an award I’ve long wanted to redeem, and in light of the devaluation, I decided to go ahead and pull the trigger. I was already going to Ireland anyway (on a Delta attack fare), but then when this happened, I pushed up my trip and redeemed some British Airways Avios. This particular award will be increasing from 50K round-trip to 75K round-trip. Still not bad for business class to Europe, but less is obviously better.

Anyway, being based in New York, I had to get myself to Boston. Getting back from Boston was easy: 4,500 Avios BOS-LGA and boom. But going to Boston, availability was dismal.

Redeeming Ultimate Rewards for Amtrak

NYC is Amtrak heaven. New Yorkers can get to nearly anywhere in New England, the Northeast, or Mid-Atlantic in just a few hours with relative ease.

The last time I rode Amtrak was probably in 2008 when I went down to DC for a weekend – but my memories of it don’t exactly allow for a full trip report. 😉

This time, however, I’m in business class at a seat with a table, connected to the (very very spotty) wifi, and writing a blog post with a rum and Coke Pepsi from the snack car next to me. Safe to say life is pretty good right about now.

There are blackout dates on Amtrak. Luckily, April 27th isn’t one of them. The blackout dates are centered around the holidays: New Year, Easter, July 4th, Memorial Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas, with a couple random dates through in throughout the year. If you want to travel any time that isn’t a holiday, you’re pretty much golden.

To boot, their zones are large and generous, and redeeming Ultimate Rewards for a bedroom or a business class ticket can make since if:

  • You want to experience the country by train
  • You have time to take the train
  • The train experience to where you wanna go will be roughly equal to flying (ahem, NYC-BOS or NYC-WAS)
  • You have to travel and simply must stay connected to a cell network
  • Flights aren’t available but the Amtrak availability is wide open (my case)
Amtrak zones

Amtrak zones

Here is a the Amtrak zone map and here is the list of award redemptions by zone.

NYP-BOS falls into the Northeast zone, so a regular ticket is 4,000 Amtrak Guest Rewards points. However, I redeeemed 6,500 points to be in the business class car. It was only a little more and still met my 2 cents per point minimum, so I went with that.

Screenshot 2015-04-27 12.13.49

Northeast zone chart

Note that you can only redeem points for one-way tickets. So if you need a round-trip, you will have to redeem for two one-way tickets.

My ticket selection

My ticket selection

The photo above is the price for two one-way business class tickets AKA 13,000 Amtrak Guest Rewards points. That’s still 2.2 cents per point, and a great stopgap when flights from NYC-BOS were over $400 for a one-way and there was no award availability on American or US Airways with Avios! And also better than paying cash…

Over $400 for a one-way

Over $400 for a one-way

$431 for a one-way flight that’s a little over an hour? No way. Amtrak was the best option for this trip.

The experience

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The Perils of Blogging, Quick Defense of MMS, My First BuzzFeed Article, and More!

by Harlan 5 Comments

AKA my first digest?

The Opportunity Cost of Being a Miles and Points Blogger via Miles for Family. This hit home for me in a big way. It’s why I try my best to keep blogging fun instead of a chore. I only write when I have something interesting to say. Otherwise, I keep my trapped closed. And that’s how I deal with generating new content. Must reiterate, if you like a blog, use their affiliate links if they have them, comment when you really love something, and interact with them. It’s the little things that make it all worth doing.

Via comments… There’s been some mud-slinging onto Million Mile Secrets and how they often don’t post the best links to credit card offers. A few thoughts about that… As always, do your due diligence. A quick Google search will in fact tell you the best offer. MMS has a mother-in-law rule where they lay out exactly how they try to give readers the best links, even if it doesn’t earn them anything. Finally, am I being naive here? Can anyone actually point out an instance where they’ve intentionally misled readers? I think it’s all hot air, and that they’ve actually done no wrong. Also see: The Opportunity Cost of Being a Miles and Points Blogger.

The Beginner’s Guide To Earning Airline Miles via BuzzFeed. I’ve been contracted to write a series of points & miles related articles for BuzzFeed Travel and this is the first one from the pipeline! It’s meant to be spread far and wide across the land, so feel free to share the link anywhere you see fit. Hopefully, it’s a good intro to this hobby, so send to your friends who are still putting everything on debit cards.

How to pick your Aer Lingus seats on an Avios booking via Points with a Crew. Useful info, and ties into my recent post about getting your Aer Lingus confirmation number from Royal Jordanian. And, as I get ready for Ireland, you may want to check Aer Lingus award space to have your own trip to the Emerald Isle.

Quick blogroll.

Want to express admiration for Rapid Travel Chai. Stefan has the right idea about things, and his passion for travel shows through to the surface in all of his posts. Aside from being a great writer and photographer, and an avid traveler, he’s a great guy. Highly recommend his blog.

Check out The Jetsetter’s Homestead, too.  I’ve been having a blast interacting with Jennifer on Twitter. Also be sure to check out the rest of my Prior2Boarding crew. Lots of interesting tidbits scattered about, and a good rabbit hole to fall into if there ever was one.

One more to add: Doctor of Credit. Will has an awesome, thorough blog pertaining to the credit side of our hobby. A daily read and a mainstay on my feedly.

That wraps up my 1st “digest” – very cool. Kinda fun to post random thought in an unsorted order. I might have to do that more often.

Oh and one final note! If you are in NYC, please join us on the evening of April 22nd in the East Village for the Reach for the Miles meetup! Would love to meet new NYC peeps!

Thoughts on Authenticity within the “Points Game”

by Harlan 9 Comments

What is it?

What is it?

(Get ready for a jumble of unorganized thoughts.)

Pushing credit cards on blogs isn’t a new trend. But what is new is that more readers are starting to react to the constant pushing of credit cards.

Affiliate links

I tried to get affiliate links. I kinda sorta have them (see the front page or this link about getting a rewards credit card). I’m also kinda sorta glad I have them in a roundabout way – so no fear and/or responsibility of having 55 affiliate links in one post (yes, that has really happened). I’m grateful when people use them but there’s no expectation there, and it doesn’t drive my content. It’s a “nice to have”, not a necessity.

It’s what George at Travel Blogger Buzz pointed out time and time again – and maybe what caused him to pull out of blogging? (Although he never really stopped. I love his posts.)

I will tell you the 2 blogs that really pulled me into this hobby: The Points Guy and Million Mile Secrets. 2 “titan blogs.” I still have TPG on my feedly, but only check MMS from time to time.

I appreciate how TPG has been throwing in posts centered around destinations, truly helpful tips and tricks, and other good little nuggets – in addition to the posts laced with affiliate links. I don’t mind those posts because the other stuff is worth it.

For MMS, it’s simply targeted to beginners. I respect it as a great, valid starting point for those entering into the hobby. They definitely have their voice and circles/arrows, but dang it, those circle and arrows helped me to understand what to look for as a beginner. So props to them for knowing their audience.

Content

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Exploring Amex Serve for free money and handy uses after April 16th

by Harlan 11 Comments

Also see:

 

Since I’m without REDbird and just have Serve as an option here in NYC, I’ve been thinking a lot about how to best use Serve following its move to Amex-only cards after April 16th.

They’re really not leaving consumers with a whole lot of options, but there are a few ways to get some great value and/or handy uses out of Serve using just American Express cards.

But don’t get them from American Express

In this post, I produced a list of all the Amex cards that are not issued by American Express.

Why?

Credit cards issued by American Express will not earn points and will not count toward minimum spend when used to load Serve. Which is so lame. I’d love to be able to use the Amex EveryDay Preferred to load this puppy up.

But alas, we take what we can get.

The FIA Fidelity Amex (!!!)

Why don’t other bloggers talk about this card more? This is my number one use of this card following April 16th. I’ve written about this card in detail many times before.

The transactions post flawlessly and are coded as purchases and earn free money.

I loaded up my Serve this month with my Barclays AAdvantage Aviator Red MasterCard for $990 to take AAdvantage of the 50% bonus that I was targeted for a few weeks ago to earn some extra free miles.

But then I loaded up the remaining $10 to my FIA Fidelity Amex to see how it would post.

Serve reloads code as purchases with FIA

Serve reloads code as purchases with FIA

And points post without any issue

And points post without any issue

What does this mean?

You can earn an extra completely, totally 100% free $240 to credit toward an IRA, brokerage account, or checking account for 1 minute of “work” each month. I use the Serve iPhone app to blearily load up my Serve account from bed the first 5 days of each month. It takes me literally seconds. This is the easiest money I’ve ever earned in my life, I think. I consider this, by far, the best use of the Serve card after April 16th.

Why?

The FIA Fidelity Amex has no annual fee and earns an unlimited 2% cash back on every purchase… including Serve reloads.

Say you get the FIA Fidelity Amex, which is free, and the Serve card, which is also free, and load up $1,000 each month and then pay it off.

You’d be stashing away a free $240 annually into a retirement account with very little effort.

I plugged in my own numbers into Bloomberg’s retirement calculator, and, assuming I contribute nothing but the $240 each year (and it grows at 7% annually) between now and when I’m 68, I’d have a totally free $40,000+ waiting for me on the other side.

My $240 a year would grow to over $40,000 for my retirement

My $240 a year would grow to over $40,000 for my retirement

This whole Serve reload thing probably won’t last for the next 38 years, but take the free money while you can. I like to stash away at least $200-$400 per month into my IRA, and the extra $20 isn’t much but with compound interest on your side, a little truly goes a long way. And this is completely free money. Which is awesome, and there is no reason not to take advantage of this if you can.

Get some free miles

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Club Carlson eliminating free night for award stays on June 1st

by Harlan 2 Comments

This changes things

This changes things

Ever have those moments where everything is turned upside down in an instant? Where everything you thought you knew went out the window in a split second?

Club Carlson devalues

That happened to me this morning when I saw that Club Carlson will be eliminating its free award night for credit card holders on award stays, effective June 1st.

That makes this post about how much the annual bonus is worth, um… worthless.

This benefit is literally the only reason I have the US Bank Club Carlson Visa. And I’ve been such a fanboy about it here on Out and Out for so long. In fact, I’ve been geeking out about staying with them in Ireland for about a month by now.

I’ve gone out of my way to stay in their properties. But, given their tiny footprint, they can’t compete with Hyatt or Starwood (similar footprint) or with the big guns (IHG, Marriott, Hilton).

Some of their Category 1 and 2 properties will still be good deals, but those are few and far between, and in some really far-flung places.

The elimination of the free award night brings them more in line with Hilton and IHG prices, which they can’t compete with. Period.

Their only saving grace is the generous earning ability with the co-branded credit card. But given the sparseness of their hotel network, I’m not sure if it’s worth it any more.

Bottom line

I’m torn between hanging on to the US Bank Club Carlson Visa for one more year just to get the anniversary bonus one more time, then canceling and… dumping them right now out of spite.

I’ll probably hang on to it, but my spending on it will drop like a stone.

I think I’ll turn to Hyatt now as my primary chain, and not go out of my way for Club Carlson any more. If one of their properties work, then great… but when I have the choice, I won’t make them my go-to any more.

Very, very disappointed. But can’t say I’m really surprised.

My prediction for next devaluation: sadly enough, American’s AAdvantage program.

Does this news affect your relationship with Club Carlson? Will you burn your points and dump the card when June 1st rolls around? 

HT to Frequent Miler for breaking the news!

Aer Lingus business class seats showing up as economy on United website?

by Harlan 11 Comments

A-ha, so now I’m finally getting to it: the crux of all my recent Aer Lingus posts.

I noticed that when selecting Aer Lingus business class seats on the United website, they are showing up as being in the U fare bucket – which is economy class.

I was perturbed about paying for business class seats (with Avios) only to see that I’d maybe been booked in the wrong fare class.

However, I called British Airways and Aer Lingus to verify that I am indeed in a business class seat. But then I went to look again on the United website to make sure it wasn’t just a glitch.

For this dummy booking, I selected economy class to Dublin and business back from Dublin.

Aer Lingus fare buckets on United

Aer Lingus fare buckets on United

It looks like economy is being booked into the T bucket and business is being booked into U – but U is economy.

I plugged in the record locator into the Royal Jordanian website, and sure enough, their system displayed the same information.

EI booking on RJ site

EI booking on RJ site

But, it still says business on the BA website.

Aer Lingus booking on BA website - business, confirmed

Aer Lingus booking on BA website – business, confirmed

Bottom line

Just in case anyone else got in (or wants to get in – space is still very open) on the lucrative amount of award space on the Aer Lingus BOS-DUB route and had the same questions I did…

Of course, I’ll be pretty miffed if it does actually end up being economy, but 6 hours over the pond isn’t so bad. I’ve done it before and I’ll do it again if I have to. I’d be a tyrant to get my Avios back, though.

But that’s worst case scenario stuff. I’m gonna let this be a trust fall with British Airways and assume they’ll catch me (there is a good joke and punchline in here somewhere…).

Has anyone else noticed this mislabeling on the United website? Even better, has anyone flown the flights and can confirm they are indeed in business class? 

Either way, I will have Aer Lingus trip reports soon enough. Looking forward to it, and to visiting Ireland, so very much.

Stay scrappy out there!

Use the Royal Jordanian website to check Oneworld bookings

by Harlan 13 Comments

…and to get confirmation numbers. 

Booking those Aer Lingus flights last week with Avios has kicked up a few little issues that I’ve never dealt with, so thought this might be useful to post.

British Airways gave me a confirmation number when I booked the Aer Lingus flights… but not for Aer Lingus. I could only access the reservation on the British Airways website.

I wanted to be able to pull up my flights on the Aer Lingus website, but didn’t have the confirmation code that British Airways gave Aer Lingus.

Enter Royal Jordanian (with a HT to George at Travel Blogger Buzz via Twitter).

Royal Jordanian website interface

Royal Jordanian website interface

On the Royal Jordanian website, hover over “Plan & Book” and then click anything in the “Manage the Essentials” part of the dropdown menu.

Manage

Manage Booking

Once there, click “Manage Booking” or follow this link.

You can plug in your record locator and name and pull up a whole host of interesting services like:

  • Change frequent flyer number
  • Obtain other airline’s record locator
  • Verify fare buckets
  • Easily check flight duration and aircraft type
  • Email yourself a receipt
  • Get a ticket number

All important things for preening and double-checking reservations. I could, for example, use Avios to book a flight on American, and then add my AAdvantage frequent flyer number to make sure I get elite benefits like early boarding.

I can also simply take the record locator for the AA flight and then plug it into the AA website… something that British Airways doesn’t give you on their website or in any of their emails (someone correct me if I’m wrong – I just booked a US Airways flight with Avios and couldn’t find the freaking US Airways record locator for the life of me).

There's my US Airways record locator - how handy!

There’s my US Airways record locator – how handy!

And it shows up perfectly when I plug it into the US Airways website

And it shows up perfectly when I plug it into the US Airways website

Why this works

I noticed in the web address on the RJ website that they were pulling from Amadeus – the same system that Check My Trip uses. It’s a bit dated and still has the copyright as 2014, so take that for what it’s worth. But it works like a charm.

With regard to Oneworld bookings, you should be able to preen the following airline bookings on the RJ website:

  • British Airways
  • Finnair
  • Qantas
  • Royal Jordanian (duh)
  • Cathay Pacific
  • LAN/TAM
  • Iberia

But not AA or US Airways… they don’t use Amadeus. It is handy, however, for adding AA flights booked with Avios to your AA account. And for adding your AA number to the reso to receive elite benefits.

And who knows, sometimes they end up crediting award bookings as paid flights on accident.

Bottom line

Handy little trick, thought I’d share for my Oneworld peeps out there.

Let us know if something similar exists for SkyTeam. United is really good about showing the other airline’s record locator on their website already.

And on this note, other tips are certainly always welcome!