Tuesday, January 5, 2021

Amazing Daily Deals From American Airlines

 


In order to encourage travelers to fly again, American Airlines has launched daily deals. You can find the deal on this website. It launched on Monday, Jan. 4th with a kids fly FREE deal to the Caribbean. On Tuesday, there were cheap flights to warm places. 
You will have to check daily and move quickly to take advantage of this. Even if you aren't sure you want to fly right now, it might be worth purchasing one of these daily deals since American's flight change policy is so generous. 
Right now, American is waiving change fees on tickets purchased through Jan. 31, 2021 so you may have a lot of flexibility. 




Wednesday, December 30, 2020

Happy Holidays From All Of Us

 


As we approach the end of the strangest year I've ever experienced, I am humbled. This year, I have been forced to slow down, explore my neighborhood and my home city. My son put it best when we were considering heading to Hawaii over the holidays, he said "we live here, why do we need to go somewhere else?"

Yep, we live here. We are fortunate to live in San Diego and lots of people come here for vacation. So why do we want to explore somewhere else in the middle of a pandemic? Good point. 

So for now we stay put, explore our home town, enjoy time with our immediate loved ones, and watch a lot of sunsets. And when I have downtime, I look at travel websites and dream of a time when we can travel again. 

It's not too bad. So this holiday season, wherever you live, enjoy the moments, the treasures of your hometown like a tourist. And we wait together for better times in 2021. 


Sunday, December 27, 2020

Alaska Airlines BOGO Promotion Is Back

 


It's back! Alaska Airlines just brought back the BOGO sale, but you need to hurry. You must book your ticket by Dec. 28th, 2020 for travel anytime from January 12, 2021-May 19, 2021. 
The sale is valid on most Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays for most flights. For flights to Hawaii, Mexico, and Costa Rica, the sale is offered on Monday - Wednesday, and the return is offered on Tuesday-Thursday. Blackout dates: Feb. 11-15, March 6, 13, 20, 27, April 3, 10, 17, 2021. You will need to use the code LETSGOBOGO in the booking form.  and enter 2 travelers. 
I did a quick search of flights to Honolulu from San Diego and I found plenty of availability for the low fares. 


The return was a bit more expensive. So the total for two people came to $246.40 round trip, pretty good. Now I have a Southwest Companion Pass and if you compare, it's a better deal to fly Southwest. If you use points for your trip, then it's almost FREE which is the best, of course. 


Remember, you must book your travel by December 28th at 11:59pm PT. If you pay for your reservation with your Chase Sapphire Preferred credit card, you will earn 2x points on travel and with your Reserve you will earn 3x points. You can read about why these are my two favorite cards here and if you decide to apply for one, please consider using my referral link. 




Wednesday, December 23, 2020

New Ways To Redeem Miles With Barclays Arrival Card

 


If you hold a Barclays Arrival Plus Mastercard (closed to new applicants), you have a new way to redeem your miles, but just for a few weeks. 

Many of the leading credit cards like Chase Sapphire Preferred and Reserve are offering new ways to redeem points other than travel since many of us have not traveled in 2020. I just redeemed thousands of Chase Ultimate Reward points to pay for my bathroom remodel - woohoo! 

And many of these new redemption methods are offering better value than using them for travel. 
Now Barclays is allowing you to redeem your miles for credit on gas, grocery store, and restaurant purchases. 
This offer is only valid through January 31,2021, but you can use them to erase purchases made in the past 120 days. 
As usual, you will also earn 5% of redeemed miles back to use on future redemption. 



Monday, December 21, 2020

Chase FREEDOM and FLEX Q1 Bonus Announced

 



Both of these cards earn Chase Ultimate Reward Points which are my new favorite due to their flexibility to use for hotels, airlines, and cashback. I just used the points to pay for part of my bathroom remodel.  You can check out how I am maxing out these points right now. 

Chase just announced the bonus categories for Q1. Drumroll, please. The categories are wholesale clubs (Sam's BJ's and Costco), cable, internet, phone, and some streaming services (Disney+, Hulu, Netflix, Spotify and more). These bonus categories are for spending between Jan. 1, 2021, and March 31, 2021. 

Note that Costco only accepts Visa in store so the FREEDOM FLEX which is a Mastercard will not be accepted, however, if you have the FREEDOM card, you can use that. 

You need to activate this offer by clicking here. You can activate any time before March 14, 2021, but I like to do it early. 

If you don't have the FREEDOM Flex card yet, you can apply for it here using my referral link. You will get 20,000 points for a $500 minimum spend plus 5x points on grocery purchases up to $12,000 or one year. It's a no annual fee card so it's pretty much a no brainer. 




Tuesday, December 15, 2020

Last Day To Convert Southwest Travel Funds To Points

 


Earlier this year, Southwest announced that you could take leftover travel funds stored in your account and convert them to points instead of letting them expire. But today, December 15th, is the last day to do that. 

What are travel funds?



When you cancel a Southwest flight, Southwest will ask you if you want the difference or the taxes returned to your credit card or stored in your account as travel funds. If you chose travel funds, they are stored in your account until you book your next flight. 
Side note, I always choose to refund the dollars to my credit card unless I'm rebooking right away. Southwest has made it easier to find your travel funds and use them since it changed the computer program earlier this year, but it's still easier to just refund to your card. 

To convert your travel funds
1. log into your Southwest account
2. Click on my account
3. Click on the banner at the top that talks about travel funds
4. Click on the tab "My Travel Funds" 
5. If you have any that are eligible to convert, click the convert button 

The points should be added to your account immediately and you can use them for any future flight. Southwest points and the Southwest companion pass are great because they are so flexible. You can read about both here. 


Friday, December 11, 2020

The Trick To Getting More Value Out Of Chase Ultimate Reward Points

 

When I wake up and see this in my Chase.com account, that makes for a great day! I applied for the new Chase FREEDOM Flex card in October and bam, this month, I was awarded the 20,000 point bonus. 
The Flex card requires just a $500 minimum spend in the first three months to earn the bonus. It has no annual fee and right now, it also earns 5% at grocery stores for the first year or up to $12,000. It also comes with the Chase rotating categories which for Q4 are Paypal and Walmart. 
I already had the Chase FREEDOM card, it's been my go-to card forever. But this is a new product so I was eligible to apply and get the bonus. I may close my old FREEDOM card or I may hold onto it in order to max out the rotating categories. 


Chase Ultimate Reward Points are amazing because they are so flexible and during the pandemic, Chase added a pay yourself back benefit to the Sapphire Preferred and Reserve cards where you can cash in the points for grocery and home improvement purchases. The Sapphire Preferred card has a $95 annual fee, but I think it's totally worth it. This is one of my favorite cards. The Sapphire Reserve has a $550 annual fee, but before you gasp, it also comes with a $300 travel credit which right now is a grocery credit plus FREE Doordash, Lyft and Peloton membership and a $120 credit at Doordash. It also comes with a $100 Global Entry credit and FREE airport lounge access. 

So here's the trick to get more value out of the points. 

The Sapphire Preferred gives you 25% more for your points in the pay yourself back and Chase Travel Portal and the Sapphire Reserve gives you 50% more. Chase also allows you to combine your points from one credit card to another. So you can easily move your points from your new FREEDOM FLEX card to your Sapphire Preferred or Reserve to get more value. 


It's easy. 
  • Just log into your Chase.com account
  • Click on the earn/use points and you'll see this dashboard. It's expanded a lot since the pandemic started. One of the things I love about Chase is how user friendly the site is. You can see exactly how many points you have, how to use them, and how to earn them. 
  • Click on combine points and you will see the option to move points from one card to another. You can also move points from one family member to another if your family member only has a no fee card or even a Preferred card. 



Chase will ask you how many points you want to move, review your order and bam, instant transfer. Now you can use those points for travel or to pay yourself back for any qualified purchases you made in the past 90 days. 
If you decide to apply for the Chase FREEDOM Flex or Sapphire Preferred, please consider using my referral link. You get the same bonus and I also get a small bonus for referring you. That's how we do it at almostFREEfamilytravel.com