Tips and Tricks

Travel Hacking SFO… the Daily Commute Edition
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Travel Hacking SFO… the Daily Commute Edition

If you read this blog and follow others in the Boarding Area, you’ve probably invested hundreds of hours optimizing your experience in the air. But, have you done the same with your daily commute at a lower altitude? Now that Citi Thankyou Premier has taken the lead to include gas in its “travel” bonus category, it’s time for someone in this hobby to write about America’s favorite mode of travel: cars.

Saying Goodbye To JPMorgan Palladium, Paying To Reserve Seats, Eating Maui And Japan
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Saying Goodbye To JPMorgan Palladium, Paying To Reserve Seats, Eating Maui And Japan

t’s been fun being a featured blogger this week on BoardingArea! To wrap things up, in case you missed it here’s a summary of the top posts from the past week. Just a note that you can still find Hungry for Points on the Prior2Boarding site, and the best way to keep up-to-date on the latest updates by adding me on Twitter or Facebook (or by using the buttons on the right-hand side) and feel free to drop me an email anytime!

Saying Goodbye To The JPMorgan Palladium Card
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Saying Goodbye To The JPMorgan Palladium Card

It’s a process that I go through every year for each of my credit cards – the annual retention call. I throw on my most innocent sounding voice, and call the number on the back of the card. “Hello, I just noticed that the annual fee was billed and I’d like to cancel my credit card.” That sentence usually triggers a “WAIT STOP!” type of response from the customer service representative, and a couple minutes later I’m walking away with some free points or a statement credit.

How Much Are You Willing To Pay To Reserve Seats In Advance?
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How Much Are You Willing To Pay To Reserve Seats In Advance?

Last week, there were some great Business Class deals floating around for travel to Europe later this year and even into next year. It seems like the East Coast gets the majority of the European deals, but this wave included departures from the West Coast (SFO and LAX) on either American Airlines or British Airways as low as $2,100. While I’m never keen to transfer via London’s Heathrow airport, I was able to knock an additional $400 off the price by booking with British Airways and utilizing the AARP discount, so it was a no-brainer to choose BA over AA.

How To Earn More Points When Paying Your Next Health Care Bill
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How To Earn More Points When Paying Your Next Health Care Bill

Having spent my entire career in the employer-sponsored health care consulting space, I’ve put in countless hours designing health plans for my client’s employees. But until today, I hadn’t realized that my work world and the points world were actually intersecting. Here are a couple tricks that I use to maximize my points-earning related to health care expenditures (medical, prescription drug, dental, vision, etc.) that may also be of use to you.