Chase Freedom Unlimited $200 bonus

Chase is offering a really good bonus on the Chase Freedom Unlimited Credit Card after you spend $500 in the first 3 months. If you use my referral to apply I will get 5k points.

The card is great for getting 1.5% back on all other purchases that do not fall under categories you can get a higher return on like 2% for travel if you have the Sapphire Preferred card, or 5% on the rotating categories of the Chase Freedom card.

This card also has lots of additional benefits, like purchase protection, but you can read about those on their website.

Merry Christmas,

Mike

PGA MSP Lounge and AE Gold Delta SkyMiles card.

Updated: Feb, 2020

I recently returned from a trip to see my brother and sister in law in Salt Lake City, Utah (SLC). I flew from Cedar Rapids, Iowa (CID), had a stop in Minneapolis St. Paul and was able to visit the PGA MSP Lounge.

I was traveling with my parents, who they let go through TSA Precheck even though they didn't sign up for it or pay the $85 fee. My wife and I both got TSA Precheck even though I am the only one who has it.

On our return trip we had 3 hours layover in Minneapolis, so we used Priority Pass Select which is a benefit of the Chase Saphire Reserve card to visit the PGA MSP Lounge. The Lounge is at the North end of the Sky Mall and is accessed by either taking an elevator just inside of Ike's restaurant or a wide set of stairs. You check in at the desk in the PGA store and then tucked away to your left is a door to the actual lounge. Each guest gets a $15 voucher good for either food and drink or a golf experience. Normally lounges will have food an drinks, but they only had limited drinks in the lounge. We chose food over golf. They give you a few options for food, which include a bar within the PGA store, Ike's, French Meadow and Rock Bottom. An employee tipped us off that Rock Bottom had lower prices than the restaurant underneath the Lounge.

After a nice hamburger and beer, we went up to check out the Lounge. Soft drinks, water, coffee and snacks (think airline snacks) were free in the lounge, but it was staffed by only one person, who took peoples orders, went downstairs and returned with food from the restaurant below. On the plus side, the lounge was nearly empty. There was however only one restroom. There were also two small strange rooms commemorating two golfing legends. I think they should add toilets to them as they are just wasted space as is.

Overall I was satisfied with he experience even though the $15 is less than the $28 allowed at restaurants who accept Priority Pass. This is made up by the fact that you also have lounge access. Lounges do not usually have as much food options as a restaurant so this was a good mix of both worlds.

One last note about the trip. I signed up for the Gold Delta SkyMiles American Express card and was instantly approved. It was only a 30,000 mile bonus after spending $1000 in the first three months, and a $50 statement credit after using it for a Delta purchase within three months. The miles don't expire and the $95 annual fee is waived the first year. You and up to 6 people also get your first checked bag free on Delta Flights as long as you booked the flights together. They have a referral program as well, so you can earn an extra 12,500 miles for getting someone to sign up for the card using your referral. This and the above link are my referral links. (This offer is now only 5,000 for a referral.)

I may get my wife to sign up for one as well and then see if I can use the miles with Virgin Australia.

Update Feb 2020:
I got my wife and mom to use my referral links and they got 50,000 point (current offer is 40,000) bonuses while I received 25,000 points for the referrals. We used 40,000 points each to fly from Darwin, Australia to Indianapolis.

I also downgraded the card to the Blue Delta SkyMiles American Express card to avoid the annual fee. I then realized I would be flying on Delta soon after and upgraded to the Gold the day before the flight. The Delta gate agent allowed my wife and I the checked bag waiver even though it had not updated in their system that I had the Gold card. I will also get a 15,000 point bonus for upgrading the card after a minimum spend and my annual fee will not be charged until next January. I had heard about these kinds of offers for card upgrades in the past, but was pleasantly surprised that I would get one when I had just downgraded from the Gold a few month prior.

All for now,

Mike

Booked a Rewards Flight to New Zealand

We usually visit my parents and my wife's parents in the States over the holidays. This year has been no different. I used Qantas points to get here, flying from Darwin to Indiana on an American Airlines flight to reduce the taxes and fees that Qantas would charge. I was considering the best way to get back to Australia as it was only a one way ticket.

United seems to have the best combination of point redemption and low taxes and fees for flights from the U.S. to Australia. I checked on the award maximizer tool first anyways. It is also easy to transfer my Chase Ultimate Rewards Points over to United almost instantaneously.

Unfortunately they do not offer reward flights to Darwin. They do offer flights to many other places including Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Auckland, New Zealand. For 40,000 points each, I booked two flights. The days to fly for this price point were a little slim, and at one point I thought I had missed my opportunity, The next day, the day I had been eyeing was back at 40k instead of 100k points. I quickly transferred my points to United and booked it, which I can cancel within 24 hrs free of charge.

Now I need to come up with some more points fast or else pay for the airfare from AKL to DRW. The last time (several months ago) I applied for a credit card to get the bonus points I was declined. The reason being I had gotten too many cards in the last few years. I had read that people routinely wait six months and then apply for more, and as long as they have good credit it usually works. my credit is around 775.

I know Chase has a 5 card limit for a 24 month period, so I tried signing my wife up for another card. Even though I know she hadn't gone over this limit, the same thing happened to her. I am not sure, but it seems like the banks are cracking down on the Bonus seekers. I am going to try again, as it has been a few months, but I am not holding my breath.

Mike

Finally able to use my Qantas points

I had been looking for flights from Australia to the USA and noticed rewards flights seemed to be a bit higher than last year. United was still 40,000 each way plus taxes and fees of $99, but Chase was not giving me good redemptions on travel. Most if not all of the flights I saw were going through China and they were 45,900 Ultimate Rewards Points.

Early in the year I had seen flights through the Chase travel redemption tool for around 33,000 points with the Sapphire Reserve card benefit of getting 50% more on travel redemptions compared to the 25% on the Sapphire Preferred card. This could be in part the result of ticket prices going up from Darwin (DRW) to Bali (DPS) as Airasia stopped flying the route and left Jetstar with no competition. Many of my Google Flight searches to Bali now go through Singapore (SIN) first. I also think ticket prices are higher than the same time last year in general.

In an effort to come up with something better I bought a cheap ticket to Brisbane (BNE) thinking that I might use it as a better starting point. I was even considering going through Auckland (AKL) using some Qantas points I had accumulated when I did a few searches to see how much a Australia to USA flight would be. I usually do not consider this as a good option due to the high taxes and fees Qantas imposes on flights leaving Australia, but this time I ran across an American Airline flight that imposed much smaller fees. AA reward flights to the US are not common on Qantas classic rewards, but when you can find them they are a great way to us your points without getting hit with heavy fees.

I was able to book one way flights for 60,000 Qantas points and $160. While this may not seem as good as the 40,000 point and $99 option from United, I do not value Qantas points nearly as much as Chase Ultimate Reward Points which can be turned into cash, transferred to many partners or redeemed for travel. This flight is from Darwin to Indianapolis, which I was not able to see on the United website when searching for reward flights.

Last year there some very cheap flights from the US to SE Asia which I took advantage of (LAX to DPS for around $475) . I am hoping ticket prices will drop a bit for the return leg or that some better redemptions will come up.

Using Priority Pass

A few months ago I upgraded my Chase Saphire Prefered card to the Chase Saphire Reserve card, in order to take advantage of the included Priority Pass as well as higher points earning.

Since I returned to Australia I have had the chance to test it out at a few Lounges.

The first opportunity was while travelling from Dallas to LAX. It was a Minute Suite, which is really just a number of small private rooms, with a couch/bed thingy, TV and computer. I did not realize this until we arrived, but I was glad I had a chance to check it out. There were no complimentary refreshments, and I was unable to get the wifi or computer to work. There is also a charge if you go over the 1 hour allowed for Priority Pass members. Since we had limited time we were probably only in the Suite for about five minutes. I wonder what the guy staffing it thought?

The first real lounge we used was at LAX. We were in the International terminal so without leaving it our only option was the KAL lounge. We had to take an elevator to get to it, but it was near all the other airport lounges. Checking in was just a matter of showing my card and our Tickets. After entering we were greated by gentle music and plenty of empty comfy chairs. There was also a selection of complimentary food and drinks. While it wasn't a huge buffet, the staff did a good of keeping up with the demand. I was pretty happy with the food, and who can complain about free cold beer and fresh coffee? I was also able to take a shower, in order to keep fresh on our long haul flight to Korea.

While on our short Layover in Korea, we could have made our way to a lounge, but as we were already full from our breakfast on the Singapore Airlines flight and didn't want to be too rushed, we decided to just take a walk around the airport. It is good to know that most International airports did have a lounge in the terminal we were in and that Priority Pass is continuing to add them. Dallas was the exception, which required a five minute ride each way on the rail to the Minute Suites in Terminal A. We should have gone to Terminal D to get our free refreshments at The Club at DFW instead. Live and learn. There is definitely room for improvement in PP's list of Dallas lounges.

The next stop was Singapore. We had payed to stay in an airport lounge on our trip to the USA. The $30 each or so we paid was worth the five hours of extra sleep it afforded us. It also included hot drinks and a shower. I do not remember which lounge it was, but am pretty sure it is not on Priority Passes list of Lounges. This time we went to the SATS Premiere Lounge in Terminal 2. It was pretty busy, but as usual there was food and drink free of charge. The two massage chairs were constantly being hogged. The food while not bad reminded me of a fairly limited breakfast buffet at one of the Hotels we stay at in Bali. I enjoyed the fresh coffee and cold beer, and the oasis of calmness from the chaos of the terminal. If we had wanted to sleep, we would have been better off finding a different lounge, or maybe going to the free movie theater.

I noticed Priority Pass has also added TGM which is a restaurant in Terminal 2. I have read that you and your guests are allowed something like $35 USD worth of food and drink, and that the restaurants often encourage you to spend all of the allowance.

The last of our Lounge experiences was on our way from Bali to Darwin. Our only option in the International lounge at the time was the Premiere Lounge although I now see the T/G lounge is also listed. While food was pretty sparce, we were able to find comfortable seating. It was pretty busy, but at least they were not running out of drinks. I think this was the least impressive of experiences due to the crowdedness and meager food, but as I ran into a buddy from the Darwin Sub Aqua Club, it was memorable. You don't run into people you know in a foreign country every day, although it happens more often than you'd think. As it turned out we were on the same flight after a few months of escaping the worst of the Darwin heat and humidity. The flight was with Jetstar which is one of those budget airlines that charges extra for checked baggage, meals, etc. My friend said his original ticket to Bali had been canelled due to the Volcano activity, but that Jestar would not offer him a refund. Unfortunately I see articles complaining of similar scenarios with the company. In my personal experience I have had better luck. I accidently booked two tickets under my name instead of my spouses and my names. I talked to a representative online and after quoting a policy to him I had found on the internet, he changed my ticket.

Back to Lounges. Darwin has a Lounge in the International Terminal, but unfortunately domestic flyers can not acces the International Terminal.

So after my experiences using PP, is the effective $150 annual fee for the Reserve card worth the benefit of Priority Pass? For those who fly airlines frequently I would say yes. especially if you find yourself with long layovers with a guest. With a family it would be even more worthwhile as you are allowed multiple guests in most lounges/restaurants on the Priority Pass Lounge list. There is also the $100 credit towards Global Entry every five years, which includes TSA precheck. If you pay the $99 anual fee for the Saphire Preferred card anyways, you might as well pay an extra $51 and get 3% cash back on travel and dining instead of 2%.

So far I have only used Priority Pass at 4 lounges, making 8 free entrys, since I had my wife along as a guest. That averages out the annual cost to about $20 per entry if I don't use it anymore this year. That is well below the cost of most pay per entry Lounges and about the same you would pay for a decent meal in most airports. I feel airport lounges make airtravel much more enjoyable and this is by far the least expensive way to into them.

China Flights to Bali cancelled

Earlier I had written about finding one-way flights to Bali from Dallas for $271 on CheapOair.com. Since then Bali’s active volcano has caused China to cancel all flights to Bali until sometime in February. This made it necessary for me to have to repurchase tickets through Singapore Air, for around $475 per person from Los Angelos to Bali.

We had a good experience using Singapore Airlines from Bali, and I have found using google flights and then booking through the airline to be a much easier process than using CheapOair.com. The savings are probably not worth the hassle unless you find a really, really good deal.

I will still be using the Spirit portion of the original booking to get to LAX. With one checked and one carry on bag per person this comes to around $133 per ticket.

Oh well, maybe next time I will get to take advantage of a rediculously cheap fare.

Mike

Global Entry

Global Entry is a U.S. Customs and Border Protection Program which allows you to skip the long lines and makes it much easier going through screening when reentering the United States. Being in the Global Entry Program also gives you TSA precheck benefits as well. You can go through TSA Precheck security lines, and do not need to: take off your shoes, remove your laptop from the case, take out liquids from your carry-on, and take off your belt or light outer wear.

This morning I went in for my global entry interview at the DFW airport. I arrived early and was done with the interview before my scheduled appointment time. It was really just an appointment where they looked at my passport and took my fingerprints. I received an email in the afternoon, which said there had been a change to my application status. When I logged in I saw that I was approved and I am now waiting for my card to arrive by mail.

The first part of the application was all online, and fairly simple. You have to create an account and enter your information and pay the fee. You then have to wait a week or two for your application to be processed and approved. If it is approved you are able to schedule an appointment, which is the last step. I had to schedule mine for when I would be in Dallas, as the Indianapolis airport did not have a Global Entry office. This may be problematic if you are not in a major city. If you only want TSA Precheck you can apply for that instead, which costs $85 and is good for 5 years, same as Global Entry. This would be fine, if you do not leave the U.S. often.

One reason I applied for Global Entry was that the Chase Saphire Reserve card reimburses the application fee of $100 when using the card to pay. You could also get reimbursed for TSA Precheck. If you apply for this card by clicking the link above you can get a sign-up bonus of 50,000 points after spending $4,000 in the first three months. This is worth either $500 in cash back, or $750 in travel through the Chase Rewards Site. The card also includes Priority Pass Select, which will let you and a guest enter over 1000 airport lounges worldwide, where you can rest comfortably while waiting for your flight. My wife and I found using a travel lounge to sleep while in Singapore made our longhaul trip much more tolerable. Many lounges also include complimentary showers, food and drinks. With 3% back on travel and dining purchases and a $300 credit on travel, this makes the $450 annual fee more than worth it if you travel frequently. The travel credit and Global Entry credit benefits have effectively reduced the annual fee to $50.

I hope this is helpful to anyone considering getting Global Entry or TSA Pre-check. You can check available enrollment center and apply using the link below.

https://www.cbp.gov/travel/trusted-traveler-programs/global-entry/enrollment-centers

Happy Travels,

Mike