Author: mediantraveler

Waybetter: Health motivation app

Waybetter is an app where you join fitness and health challenges by putting money in a pool. If you complete the challenge, you get a share of the money. It gives you an incentive to stay active. It costs $70 every 6 months and you need a fitness tracker.

Sample challenges could be:

Contribute $50, Walk 10k steps for 5 days a week for 2 weeks
Contribute $100, Walk 5k steps for 3 days a week for 6 weeks
Contribute $50, Track your food, 5 days a week for 2 week
Contribute $50, Run 30 mins at > 18 min/mile pace, 5 days a week for 2 week

I often stay active and can usually complete the challenges naturally. But some days I walk or run more just to meet the requirements. The game stops me from sitting too much or gaining too much weight.

In 5 months I’ve complete 104 challenges, spent $3440 and profited $408.

You can do 10 challenges at once, which will cost roughly $500 every 2 weeks. They take any type of credit card, including all gift cards, and send you the winnings via paypal. It’s a great way to stay healthy and get rid of gift cards that you have lying around.

Trip Report: 2 day Bay Area Trip

Flight: Frontier from ONT-SFO, 40000 points and $22.40 in taxes and fees. Parked at self-parking lot 5. In hindsight, since we were departing from terminal 2, it might have been smarter to park at at the $20/day lot since it was closer. Ate some food from the Aspire lounge and boarded the mostly empty flight.

Rental: $90 Rented from Hertz at SFO for $120 before the $90 off $360 Amex Offer. Smooth experience, picked a Camry with about 8000 miles from the PC lot. Gas ended up being $17.

Hotel: $184 for one night at the Fairfield Inn and Suites Oyster Point and one night at AC hotels Oyster Point. We saved on parking since there was plentiful street parking right outside the Fairfield Inn. We earned a 35k cert from the two stays, as well as $120 back from Amex Offers.

Food: $230 on various restaurant options. Ended up being roughly $13 per meal per person. Got some cheap and amazing food from a Chinatown bakery. Also ate at a place that happened to take inKind. Spent $16 for taxes and tip at a priority pass restaurant. In hindsight, it might have been faster and cheaper to just eat at the Amex lounge.

Parking: $73 Airport parking at ONT and used parking meters around the city.

Price PaidRealistic ReplacementRealistic Price
Flight: ONT-SFO40000 points + taxesSouthwest: LAX-SJC$318
Car Rental: Hertz$117Fox Car Rental$110
Hotel$184 but received 35k certCastle Inn SF$173
Food$230
Parking$73
Misc/Activities$32

Realistically, I estimate points and travel hacking reduced the cost of the trip by $300. The flight was paid with points which I value at 0.5 cents per point, but I earned at a much lower rate through a Frontier promotion. The flight times were perfect as well, giving us the maximum amount of time in the bay area. The alternative was to leave from LAX to SJC, which would add 2 or 3 hours in travel time. Amex offers and a Marriott promo basically ended up netting us a free 35k cert versus the alternative. The car rental through Hertz probably saved us 2 hours versus going to an offsite alternative.

Total cost: $631 and 40k Frontier Points at 0.5 cents/point = $831, but received a 35k Marriott cert

Frontier Airline’s new reward program, how are points calculated?

Frontier changed their reward program so it rewards points and tier credits based on revenue, as opposed to distance flown. You earn 10-20x points per $1 spent, depending on tier status. This lowers the earning rate drastically for many of their flights that are mostly taxes and fees.

For the above flights, with two segments for 24.98 each, I earned a grand total of 192 miles. As a Diamond member, I should get 20x points per dollar, so apparently $9.60 of the $49.96 above was not taxes/fees. The only part of the $49.96 fare that was eligible to earn points was the $2 base fare (not listed) and the $7.60 CIC fee. Under the old program, these flights earned 500 miles each way, but now only earn 96.

The takeways are:

  1. the only part of the price that earns points is the base fare + the CIC fee.
  2. Booking through a 3rd party adds a $5 per segment Electronic Commerce Charge that isn’t eligible for points.

Trip Report: Vegas Trip

Flew out to Las Vegas with some expiring credits I had with Frontier. Not a full flight and we left and arrived on time. They closed the gate exactly at T-15 minutes because, supposedly we would have to wait an hour if we missed our landing slot at LAS.

Rented a car via Hertz – they had about 6 Mustangs and a Mini in the Presidential Circle Lot and a couple sedans in the gold lot. I chose the Camry with 5000 miles. Pro-tip: you can drive a Toyota for about 50 miles before the fuel gauge goes below full.

Stayed at the Four Queens hotel because I had a vegas.com $100 off code and they don’t charge resort fees. It’s a very basic hotel but has free parking for guests and is right in the middle of Downtown Las Vegas.

Walked around various Downtown LV hotels and used about $250 worth of freeplay/sign up offers/Las Vegas advisor offers but only returned about $190.

Ended up doing the status match at Fontainebleau to their gold status from Diamond Elite. There was a line of about 10 people and many seemed to be signing up or doing status matches.

I left Downtown LV at 11:08 for a flight that was scheduled at 12:43. Drove to the rental car center, hopped into the shuttle as it was about to leave, and arrived at the departure gate at 12:05, leaving about 15 minutes for the Priority Pass lounge in the E gates. They upped their food game a bit. They had rice, mashed potatoes, pulled pork sandwiches, shredded chicken, broccoli, and a salad bar. Previously they only had the sandwiches.

Travel: Nationwide gym access through Active&Fit Direct

AAA and some health insurance/corporate wellness programs provide access to the Active&Fit Direct program. For an initiation fee (sometimes waived during promotions) and $28/month, you can have access to thousands of gyms nationwide. AAA members also get 10% back after 12 months with the program, which makes it roughly $25/month.

A unique benefit with Active&Fit is that you can sign up for an unlimited number of memberships at the same time. Options include LA Fitness, Planet Fitness, 24 hour fitness, Crunch Fitness, Esporta, EoS fitness and others. Typically, you present your Active&Fit membership number at the gym and they sign you up for a regular membership, many which give you nationwide access.

This membership really comes in clutch when backpacking/traveling solo and you need a quick shower. Also it’s useful while traveling and you need something more than a hotel gym.

Beware: AVIS Car Rental Experience

This morning, I received a call from a company called Sedgwick, which handles claims for the AVIS/Budget group. They claim that I had damaged a rental car that I returned on 6/13/23, 8 months ago. This is the very first time I’m hearing of this damage. They claim they sent an invoice on 6/23/23 but I never received it. I did not receive any calls, emails, or additional correspondence even though all the addresses and numbers are accurate.

After the call, they emailed me with the damage estimates and photographs. The damage amounted to over $1300, with $200 in admin and $200 in loss of use fees. Fortunately, I still had 2 minutes of video showing that the damage was preexisting. I emailed them the proof and I am waiting to hear back.

Lessons

  • Take extensive videos of the car, inside and out, before leaving the lot. Inform the agent of any potential damage, no matter how minor. Include the mileage, gas level, location, and time in the video.
  • Your credit card rental damage coverage doesn’t cover you if the rental company takes 8 months to report damage. Usually, they require claims to be filed within 45 days.
  • Get confirmation and recording of the attendant inspecting your vehicle on return. If there are any issues, follow up as soon as possible.

I’ve rented with AVIS/Budget maybe 5 times in my life. Of those 5 times, I’ve gotten 1 charge for sand in the car (this was waived), one car key fob that broke off, a car that had a broken fuel meter, and this false claim for damage.

How much would most people pay for a business class lie-flat seat?

Many people in the travel space, particularly travel influencers or bloggers, would happily pay $1000 out of pocket for a regular business-class seat on a 10-hour international flight. Usually, 1) their income is significantly above the median or 2) travel is their hobby and it’s a worthwhile splurge 3) they need the seat for work purposes 4) they are used to business class so economy is torture for them.

Most people would not pay $100/hr to be moderately more comfortable going from point A to point B. I would never consider paying $100/hr for a lie-flat seat. My parents would disown me at the mere suggestion of paying $2000 extra for a roundtrip ticket. So what is a reasonable price point for an average traveler? Here are a couple thoughts:

  • Obviously everyone has their own price point. I’m interested in the price point that is reasonable for people in the middle of the bell curve.
  • People who travel internationally typically have higher incomes. In fact, most people never fly in a given year at all.
  • People who post/blog/participate in forums about travel typically have higher incomes and value travel more than most.
  • Many people in business class aren’t paying for their own ticket.
  • As a data point, SAS airlines allows bidding for upgrades and bids for $500 (or less) are routinely accepted for 8 hour flights. In other words, a vast majority of people on the flight would not pay $500.
  • Families traveling with kids would be even more expensive

Based on the above points, I would argue that most travelers wouldn’t pay $50/hr for a lie-flat seat. For most people, business class is an unnecessary splurge that can easily double the cost of a trip without adding much value. It just doesn’t make any sense to spend days of post-tax income to be moderately more comfortable for a couple hours.

Personally, $50/hr is my maximum unless the product is exceptional. Even then, it is a splurge that doesn’t really make sense from a financial perspective.

Beware: Ralph’s tampered Amazon Gift Cards

I recently purchased a $100 Amazon gift card from Ralph’s (Kroger’s) supermarket in Southern California. Being an idiot, I was in a hurry and didn’t check the packaging. I opened the gift card 3 hours after purchase and found that the gift card had been tampered with. They had scratched/scraped off two digits of the claim code so that I can’t claim the balance. The scammers would then periodically check the claim code to see if someone has activated it and claim it themselves.

I went back to the store and they gave me a phone number to call. Apparently gift card fraud is so prevalent that they make a hand-out when it happens. In the 3 hours since I left the store, the manager had independently already found over a dozen other Amazon gift cards that had been tampered with.

I called the Kroger customer service line (866-544-8062) and they looked up the transaction. They were able to confirm that the gift card was activated and told me to call the regular Amazon customer service line(888-280-4331). I went through the prompts (I said “gift card” to the automated system) to get to a human. They asked for the 16 digit number card number on the gift card and was able to apply the claim code to my account. Luckily, only about 4 hours had passed since I purchased the gift card so the scammers didn’t claim it yet.

If the scammer had claimed it before I called, I’m not sure Amazon would be willing to do anything. If not, my only recourse would likely be a credit card chargeback.

Lessons

  • Check the gift card for tampering before purchase.
  • Open the gift card before scanning and paying at the register
  • Check the balance on the gift card as soon possible
  • If it’s an Amazon gift card, contact Amazon ASAP, Ralph’s cannot help you

myVegas: Prizes and 1099-misc

Last year, I won a myVegas sweepstakes for a 2 nights stay at NYNY with $100 in freeplay and $200 in resort credit. I had to submit a W9 form with playstudios because the winnings are considered as income. I expected to be taxed but I was definitely surprised at how much they valued the prize.

I received my 1099-misc for the winnings and the prize was valued at $1000. They seemed to just pick a random number for the value of the prize, without considering the actual value. At a 30% state + federal tax rate, I would owe an addition $300. The actual value of the prize, based on publicly available rates on the same day, was:

  • 2 weekday nights at NYNY: No resort fees. Had to go on weekdays due to schedule. Actual value: $220
  • $100 freeplay: Actual value: $100
  • $200 resort credit: Actual value: $120

The resort credit value is based on the premium they add for their room rates with a food and beverage credit. Typically, for $100 daily credit you only pay $50-$60 per night. So the actual value of the stay was only about $450, yet I had to pay $300 in taxes for it.

What’s even worse is that the REAL value for me is significantly lower. If I had to book this trip, I would have paid:

  • 2 weekdays nights at NYNY: free through myVegas, no resort fee through MGM Gold. Price: $0
  • $100 freeplay: Price: $100
  • $200 resort credit Price: $120

If I booked the trip myself, I would have only spent $220! Yet by winning the prize I would pay $300 in taxes.

Conclusion

The lesson here is 1) if you win a prize, ask about taxes 2) book weekend rates to maximize value 3) consider decline the prize if the taxes is more than you would pay for the trip.

In the above picture, if someone won the NCL cruise, they would owe taxes on $1800, in addition to the gratuities and port fees. They could have gotten the cruise for free and saved $540 if they purchased the NCL reward directly loyalty

Waybetter and Healthywage: Health wagering apps

Waybetter is an app where you can join health challenges by paying a fee. The fees are combined and then divided among those who complete the challenge. For instance, you might bet $50 to walk 5k steps, 4 days a week for 2 weeks. They offer different challenges for strength, running, walking, exercise, and mental wellness.

The fee is $70 every 6 months, allowing you to join 10 games at once. The priciest games last for 2 weeks and cost $50 each. Over the past few months, I’ve won around 13% of the money I’ve spent on entry fees as prizes.

For the $140/year, I get:

  • Incentives to keep active
  • $13k spend a year, I personally use up any smaller denomination gift cards
  • Roughly $1500 in profit from the game

You do need a fitness tracker to track your activity and I typically spend 3-5 minutes a day uploading proof of activity completion. The challenges aren’t too difficult for me to complete in an ordinary day.

Healthywage

Healthywage lets you bet on losing weight. Their main challenge requires you to lose at least 15% of your weight, but you can only do it once or twice. There’s a yo-yo rule for the main challenge, where your starting weight for the second challenge can’t be higher than your ending weight for the first challenge.

Healthywage also has smaller challenges like Waybetter that don’t follow the yo-yo rule. They collect the fees from a specific challenge, deduct a processing fee, and divide the rest among the winners. On average, I join about 6 challenges every 2 months, spending about $100 on each one.

In addition to the primary benefit of keeping my weight in check, I spend about $4000 a year from gift cards and earn about 10% back in return.