American Express buying flights as if you redeemed miles

American Express is offering a promotion to a random selection of cardmembers likely to make up for losing American Airlines and United Airlines as transfer partners.

For flights that have award space on these two airlines, members can call the number and spend the equivalent number of Membership Rewards points, and Amex will BUY the ticket for you.

For example, if there is availability for a one-way United flight on First Class between LAX and LHR for 25,000 MileagePlus miles, you can spend 25,000 Membership Rewards points and Amex will purchase the ticket for you!  If the ticket was $4500, then it would have cost 450,000 Membership Rewards points to purchase if you did the standard "purchase flight using points".

The benefit to this is that you will still get elite-qualifying points and miles, where you would not have if you had just transferred into miles and done an award redemption!  In that regard, you can double-dip!

40% Bonus for Amex MR transfers to British Airways Avios ending soon!

American Express is having a special right now on transfers to British Airways Avios miles. Until January 31, you will get a 40% bonus for all miles transfer. For example if you transfer 50,000 Membership Rewards points you'll get 70,000 Avios points.

Avios points are especially worthwhile to me because I have the ability to get flight segments for less than the standard 12,500 miles. For example a one way between LAX and Las Vegas would be 12,500 miles on American Airlines, Delta Airlines, and United Airlines. Using Avios points, you only need 4500 miles.

Another really nice redemption for Avios miles is lie-flat Business class seats on the transcontinental flights on American airlines, which is a partner. These only cost 25,000 Avios miles. Using this promotion, this is the equivalent of 17,800 membership rewards miles.

After American Express lost United Mileageplus as a partner, I found difficulty using membership rewards points. This is a promotion I got in on, and transferred 50,000 points.

Free 10,000 American Express Membership Rewards Points for Extended Payment Option

American Express is offering 10,000 Membership Rewards points for enrolling a charge card in their extended payment option. Amex offers charge cards such as the Platinum and Preferred Rewards Gold that require payment in full each month. If you add the Extended payment option, you get the option to pay larger purchases over time (but are not required to). You can get 10,000 bonus MR points, worth $100 in gift cards, for adding an option you don't have to use.

If the 10,000 MR signup doesn't work, then try the 5,000 MR bonus.

10,000 registration link

5,000 registration link

Remember, you don't have to use this option to get the bonus points! Points will take 6-8 weeks to credit to your Membership Rewards account, according to the terms and conditions.

My US Airways VIP lounge access today

I had an hour and a half layover today in Phoenix, NM, and as I arrived to the connecting gate, I saw that the area was completely packed. All the chairs in the seating area were taken and the few electrical outlets were all occupied, and there were several people sitting on the floor. There were kids crying and it was overall pretty chaotic. I needed to get some work done and this was not what I was looking for.

Fortunately, there happened to be a US Airways club right above my gate that I had access to with my Priority Pass membership from my American Express Platinum. It was a godsend to have a nice couch to sit on, free snacks and cocktails, and peace and quiet. At all the lounges, they give you a free wifi access code that works for 24 hours.

With the amount of traveling I'm doing these days, I've been able to utilize the lounges more and more!

Making the most of Black Friday and Cyber Monday

Black Friday is a chaotic time for shoppers, trying to find the sporadic good deals in the haystack of mediocre deals. I recommend Slickdeals for that. But beyond finding the best deal, there are ways to make the most of your shopping.

First, decide which credit card you want to use for your spending.

If I'm buying electronics that I think I'll keep for more than a year, I will usually put it on either my Premier Rewards Gold or Starwood Preferred Guest American Express card. American Express has a very customer-friendly one year of Extended Warranty that is automatically added to all purchases. Additionally, you get 90 days of Purchase Protection against theft and accidental damage. So instead of spending that extra $200 on an extended warranty for your laptop or LED TV, put it on your AMEX.

If you're doing shopping in a department store, I recommend using a card like the Chase Freedom card, which for Q4 2011 is giving 5 points per dollar for dining, department stores, charitable organizations, and movie theaters. Additionally, if you have a Chase Checking account, you'll get a 10% bonus on points and an extra 10 points per transaction!  If you get a great deal for a suit for $200, you'll get more than 1100 UR points, worth about $22.



Second, decide how you want to shop. While there are probably some good deals in brick & mortar stores, that requires a lot of effort, elbowing through crowds, and waiting in lines at early hours. I'll probably do the majority of my shopping online. That way, I can earn points or cashback by using shopping portals.

A good resource to see what kind of cashback you can get for any online store is evreward. You type in whatever site you plan on shopping from, whether it be Macy's, Barnes & Noble, or Best Buy. It will provide a comparison of various cashback links, often between 5-15%, for just clicking through their link. These cashback links are separate and in addition to any cashback that you get from your credit card!  So if you find a cashback link for 8% and you use a Chase Freedom card, you will get 8% + 5% back!


The second online resource I plan to use is the Ultimate Rewards Shopping Mall. Before shopping at any online store, I check to see what the UR Mall is offering for that store. Yesterday, they offered 20 bonus Ultimate Rewards points per dollar spent, which is essentially 20% cashback!  Best Buy will be offering 10 bonus points per dollar spent, so if you buy a MacBook Air for $1000, you'll get 11,000 UR points, worth about $220.



Main takeaways: bring several credit cards when doing your shopping, and choose wisely when deciding which one to use. Try to do some of the shopping online, avoiding hassle and benefiting from additional cashback from shopping portals!