Tag: credit-cards

Mexico City 3 day Trip with Points

We visited Mexico City for a quick 3 day trip to catch the Monarch Butterfly migration.

Parking at the Airport: We used cheapairportparking.com to book 4 days of parking at VPNE parking near LAX. It includes a shuttle and was only $27 for 4 days. A trick is to buy a cheap refundable parking reservation. When you cancel it they will offer you additional credit if you refund as an account credit versus to your credit card. Afterwards, you can use the credit for your booking. Make sure to add a coupon code for additional savings.

Flight to Mexico City: We only had 3 days in Mexico City so we wanted to catch the midnight flight out of LAX so we can arrive in the morning. The price of the flight was only listed as $88 but we added the carry-on package. They also charge a significant tax for non-residents of Mexico, bringing the total to almost double the listed price. Despite booking two people on the same PNR, they did not seat us together so we also paid extra for a seat assignment.

Hotel in Mexico City: Although the Andaz Mexico City was an option was 42k points, we opted for a cheaper option on Expedia. It was only $184 after a personal Capital One Shopping offer of 16% back. The Apartamento Suites Londres 212 was basically an AirBnB studio that was very centrally located. Two of our tours started within a 7 minute walk of the hotel. The lobby was staffed 24 hours but they only spoke Spanish and they had no AC in the room. At the end, we were happy with the choice because of the convenient location. We arrived at the hotel at 6AM the first day and just left our luggage with the staff at the lobby and proceeded to breakfast, followed by the first tour.

GetYourGuide Frida Kahlo Tour + Xochimilco + Coyoacan Tour: The tour was originally priced at $162 for two people but we had 40.5% cashback from the Capital One Shopping Portal. We gathered at the meeting spot and took our tour buses between locations. Fortunately, we were able to sleep on the bus between locations since we arrived that morning from LAX. This was a full day tour and lasted until around 7PM.

GetYourGuide Teotihuacan Balloon Tour: The tour was originally priced at $336 for two people but we again used the cashback from the portal. We were picked up at the hotel and drove about an hour to the meeting area. There were hundreds of balloons that go up each morning and we were in a basket with 8 total people. We flew for roughly an hour and a half and got really close to the pyramids. Definitely a great experience and worth the price. Afterwards, we had breakfast in a restaurant in a cave and then proceeded to spend an hour on foot at the pyramids. We could have used about an hour more but we had to get back to the van.

GetYourGuide Monarch Butterfly Tour: The tour was originally priced at $234 for two people but we had the 40.5% cashback offer. We walked to the pickup spot and the van took about 4 hours to get there, including one rest halfway. The van was incredibly bumpy (I logged 10k steps each way just from the bumpiness of the ride). The El Rosario sanctuary was the highlight of the trip and we came at a good time to watch millions of monarch butterflies in the sanctuary.

Food and miscellanous: We ended up withdrawing 3500 pesos (About $180) and used all of it for food and miscellanous expenses. We used the Charles Schwab debit card which reimbursed our fees at the end of the month (about $6 reimbursement). Some highlights:

La Casa De Tono: Breakfast place close to our hotel. Really hit the spot when we first arrived. Only about $10 for two people. 9/10
Taqueria Los Coyos: A Bib Gourmand taco place. Really good tacos. Was only about $8 per person. 9/10
Terraza Los Pérez Carbón y Comal: Rooftop Restaurant with views across from cathedral. About $20/pp. 8/10
Taquería El Califa de León: Michelin star taco place. They really need better signage for the pickup vs order line. Worth a shot if you’re visiting but took us about an hour to order and wasn’t as good as the other taco place. About $15/pp. 8/10
Centurion Lounge Mexico City (terminal 1): Food is free for platinum card holders, plus tip. Pizza and tacos were great. 9/10
Centurion Lounge Mexico City (terminal 2): Only had the pizza here, and it seemed like it was microwaved. The lounge seemed fine otherwise. 7/10

Flight back Aeromexico via AA: We originally booked a 6AM AA flight award from MEX-PHX-LAX for 12k points per person. However, a day before, availability opened on AA for a 3PM direct flight for the same cost so we just cancelled the first one and rebooked for the later flight. It allowed us to wake up at a reasonable time and also enjoy a couple hours more in Mexico City. When we arrived at the airport, we spent an hour or so at the Centurion Lounge which offered a la carte meals that were quite good. We walked to the gate and they needed about 20 volunteers to change flight due to weight limitations. They offered $800 credit per person and offered to rebook us to the Aeromexico flight that was leaving just 3 hours later so we jumped on it. It took us about an hour to switch to the other terminal and get our new tickets from the Aeromexico counter. We were able to save about 30 minutes by using the skyteam priority line because of the Bilt status match to Air France/KLM. After clearing security, we went to the other Centurion lounge for awhile and then boarded the flight.

Totals: Our total cost for the trip was about $1800 for two people. Broken down it was flights: $774, Hotel: $184, Activities: $477, Food/Misc/Ubers: $371. They flights were pretty expensive because we had date/time restrictions. We also received $800 of AA vouchers per person for changing a flight by 3 hours. However, they were archaic paper vouchers that had some booking limitations and expire within a year.

Effect of Points: The points/miles hobby saved a couple hundred dollars for this trip and gave us lounge access. It allowed us to book refundable award flights, and change our flight to a better one at the last minute. We also received $280 cashback from the capital one shopping portal. There were points options for the hotel and flights, but they just did not make sense given the lower cash prices for acceptable alternatives.

Caesar’s Diamond Elite 2023-2024

The Caesar’s Reward program often has promotional days where you earn 5X, 7X, or 10X Tier credits. It’s possible to achieve Caesar’s Diamond, Diamond Plus, or Diamond Elite status with a minimal amount of gambling. With a 10X Tier Point multiplier, someone can reach Diamond with 14k coin-in , Diamond Plus with 24k coin-in, and Diamond Elite with roughly 65k coin-in in video poker. With a 99.54% RTP Jacks or Better machine (e.g. at the El Dorado in Reno), the expected loss is only $64, $110, and $299 respectively for each tier.

In early 2023, I played enough to reach Diamond Elite until 1/31/2025. I significantly underperformed the expected value of roughly $300. The real cost for me was $2887, divided up into:

Car Rentals $177
Hotel Stays: $55
Gambling Loss: $2655

In return, I received over $2900 in benefits:

Monthly Sports Bets, returned $670
Reward Credits: $75
Airfare Credit: $1200
Reno Freeplay: $100
Atlantic City Freeplay: $275
Uber Eats Credit: $100
Two weekend nights in a Caesar’s Palace Suite: $300
Tier match to MGM Platinum: $200
One night at Caesar’s Atlantic City: $50

So even though I was unlucky on the gambling side, the value of the benefits still outweighed the cost. I also did not redeem the 5 free nights for achieving 25k tier credits, or the 4 free drinks per day in Vegas. I also had offers for 3 stays in Las Vegas that I booked but ended up canceling.

Diamond Elite requires significantly higher play than just Diamond but is well worth it if you can handle the variance. For about $250 more in expected loss, you get $1200 in airfare credits and roughly $800 in free bets on Caesar’s Sportsbook, in additional to better comp offers.

Amex Personal Platinum Credits Year in Review

The Amex Platinum card has a hefty $695 annual fee but has many credits that help offset that cost. I’ve been tracking the actual value that I’ve gained from this card in the last 12 months. This is the actual value I would have paid in cash for each benefit.

$240 Entertainment Credit: $20/month. Value for me is $7/month. I pay $2/month for Hulu, $2/month for Disney Plus and $3/month for NYT Games. Value: $84
$200 Fine Hotel Resorts: $200/year. Value for me this year was $200. I booked a hotel and ended up canceling it, but they still credited me anyways. Value: $200
$200 Flight Credit: $200/year. Value for me is $150. I just buy Southwest credits, but I haven’t flown Southwest in awhile because their prices aren’t competitive anymore. Value: $150
$100 Saks Credit: $50 biannually. Value for me is $83. I have a local Saks and just buy gift cards. Value: $83
$200 Uber Cash: Value is me is $140, or 70% of face value. In the past 31 months I’ve used this card, I’ve used this organically 15 times for full value. In the other months, I forced myself to use the credit at the end of the month. Value: $140
Clear membership: Value for me is $20. I use it about 5 times a year, but only if there is a line at pre-check. I mostly use this in Las Vegas, where the pre-check line in terminal 3 has gotten longer. Value: $20
Walmart+ Membership: Value for me is $10. I used it for free shipping about 5 times last year. Value: $10
Priority Pass membership: Value for me is $20. I’ve used this 2 times a year at minute suites and sleeping rooms inside the airport. This is useful since the Capital One priority pass membership doesn’t cover these. Value: $20
Marriott Gold and Hilton Gold: Value for me was $20. I only stayed at Marriotts and Hiltons about 4 times this year. I think I got late checkout and some bonus points but the benefits were barely noticeable. Value: $20
Amex Offers: $30. The Amex Platinum had a couple unique offers as part of their 40th anniversary. Value: $30
Amex Centurion Access: Value for me is roughly $160. Last year, I entered a Centurion Lounge about 40 times. Mostly at the LAS location and a couple of times at LAX. Since I usually had other lounge options, I would value this at $4/visit or $160. This may seem low, but I usually get to the airport very close to departure and I honestly would not make the trek over for a 20 minute visit to the lounge if it wasn’t free. Value: $160

So the total real value, the amount I would have paid out of pocket for these benefits, was $917 per year, which more than offsets the $695 annually fee.

Amex Gold Personal Card – Worth the annual fee?

Amex increased the annual fee on their Amex Gold card to $325/year and added some credits. Here’s how I value the credits:

$120 Dining Credit (Grubhub): $10/month. I would value this at $108, or 90% of face value. With the Grubhub Guarantee hack, I get 2 Chipotle bowls + side of tortillas (4 meals) per month.
$84 Dunkin Credit: $7/month. Value for me $60, or 70% of face value. The market value for the gift cards is at 85% right now, but it’s inconvenient.
$100 Resy Credit: $50 bianually. Value for me is $60, 60% of face value. The restaurants are less convenient and usually has a price premium over the places we would visit organically.
$120 Uber Cash: Value is me is $84, or 70% of face value. You can regularly buy uber gift cards for 80% of face value, but these expire each month and I’m often forced to spend it. Historically, I use about half of these on uber rides that I would have paid for anyways. In the other months I get Uber Eats for pickup at the end of the month.

So the total real value for me is $312 per year, which basically offsets the $325 annually fee.

Planning a Trip to Madison, WI with Points

We were planning to visit Madison, WI for about a week in November. We had fairly strict boundary conditions: We had to arrive on Monday, November 4th and leave on Saturday or Sunday.

Flight to MSN: The lowest priced option was to Uber to Ontario airport (about $60) and take a cheap Frontier flight to MSN. We looked at a variety of permutations (from all the Socal airports to Madison, Chicago, or Milwaukee) but it’s hard to beat $46 per person. I had diamond status on Frontier, which includes a carry-on, seating, and priority boarding. If we had no points we probably would have booked the same flight, but added the carry-on bundle for about $60.

Hotel in MSN: Our best option turned out to be booking direct with Choice Hotels at a Mainstay Suites for $516.38. There was also 10.5% cashback through a shopping portal. The points alternatives were Fairfield Inn and Suites (126k Marriott points), Hyatt Place (72k points), or Hilton Home2 Suites (180k points), none of which seem to be a wise use of points. There was also an interesting option with Marriott using 2 Amex offers for $140 off $350. The lowest rate would have been $590 after Amex Offers, but would have been a nonrefundable. In this case, points weren’t very useful.

Car Rental in MSN: We booked a refundable $30/day weekly rate. Presidential Circle status from Amex Platinum or the Venture X card may allow us to pick a larger car from the lot. I had about 800 Hertz points expiring this year, so this rental would earn enough points to get another free rental day. Without points, I would have booked the same rental, but wouldn’t have gained the free rental day.

Flight from MSN: We booked a Frontier flight back that would stop overnight in Las Vegas. We had to book each leg separately because Frontier doesn’t allow long layovers. Any alternatives would have been about $250 per person or 18.5k AA points.

Overnight in Vegas: This would allow us to do a mattress run at the Rio and use some of the dining credits from various offers (e.g. Fointainebeau status match). We had waived resort fees at the Rio and used some expiring Hertz points for a 1-day rental. With cash, we would have booked $40 Budget rental through Autoslash and stayed at the Excalibur or Luxor for roughly $58/night with resort fees.

Additional Flights: We had 2 people coming from PHX and their flights would have been $307 pp on American Airlines basic economy. We used Alaska points to book the exact same flights for 15k points + $36.20 per person. The points flight would be mostly refundable (minus the $25 partner booking fee) and include seat selection.

Totals: Our total expected cost for the 6 day trip for 4 people is: $1238 and 30000 Alaska Airlines points. Without points, it would have cost roughly $2000 for the entire trip. Although we used points for only 2 flights, we were able to use some elite status perks. The savings for this trip is mostly from the Alaska points on American flights, extra perks from Frontier Diamond, and Hyatt Globalist.

Future New York City Trip with Points

We were planning to visit NYC for about a week sometime later in the year. This is one of the instances where points didn’t really save much money, but did elevate the trip.

We wanted to leave at night from LAX and arrive in the morning in New York on specific days, which limited our flight and hotel options.

Flight to NYC: I had 4 Move to Mint certificates from the Jetblue/Delta Status match so Jetblue was really the only choice with points. There was also a 25% off promotion, which brought the flight down to $130.

If I didn’t have points, I would have booked Jetblue Basic, which would have cost $30 less per person.

Hotel in NYC: With points, the first option was the Hyatt Regency Jersey City, at 18000 points per night. I applied a suite upgrade to the Hudson River Suite. Another option was to get a suite at Hyatt House Jersey City for $131 + 6k points per night. There was also a double point promotion at Hyatt Houses at the time. Either choice would include breakfast and would have early check-in (if available) and late-checkout. The Regency room and breakfast should be nicer, so we opted for the HR option.

Without points, we would have booked the Doubletree at Fort Lee, which was $689 through id90travel. It wouldn’t have a view of NYC, wouldn’t have breakfast, would be a less nice room, and would be less convenient to public transportation.

GoCity Explorer Pass: The explorer pass includes touristy options like the Empire State Building and Statue of Liberty. It’s available as a Hyatt Find Experience so we opted for the $150 and $300 find credit as a 50 and 70 night milestones on Hyatt. I would value them at roughly 50% of face value, so $350 find credit cost me roughly $175.

Without points, I would have purchased the passes from Groupon with a gift card and cashback portal for roughly $147 per person.

Flight from NYC: We booked a Jetblue Blue fare for $168 per person and used move to mint certificates. It was originally $204 but the price dropped.

Without points, we would have just booked the blue basic option for $153 per person.

Other expenses: We would have paid less for food since breakfast is provided at the Hyatt hotels. Other than that, the other expenses should be the same with or without points.

Totals: Our total expected cost for the trip for two people is: 90000 Hyatt Points, $1304, and 4x Move to Mint Certificates that was free from the Delta status match last year.

Without points, we would have paid about $2117. In this case, points didn’t really save us much money at all, but gave us a more luxurious experience. We would have lie-flat seats both ways and better accommodations that were closer to public transportation.

The sticker price for all the options would be some nonsensical number that has no bearing on reality since we would never pay that amount. The personal value of the trip (the amount I would have paid out of pocket) was around $2700. We would have paid $100 more for mint each way and about $300 more for the better hotel with breakfast. So we got a trip that we value at $2700 for $1304 and 90000 Hyatt Points.

Stacking Hertz Offers for Discount Car Rentals

Usually, car rentals are the hardest part of a trip to get outsized value with points. Right now, until June 30th 2024, there’s some interesting offers for Hertz rentals that can be stacked.

1) Sign up for Hertz Gold Rewards (free) and you get 3500 points after 3 rentals. A free rental day on a non-blackout date is 950 points, so this is worth 3 rental days. If you spend $300 you will get a 4th rental day. The free points expire at the end of 2024.

2) Amex Offers has $40 back after $150 for Amex Platinum members as part of their 40 year anniversary promotion.

3) Rakuten currently has 15% cashback for Hertz Rentals.

I do a lot of 1 day rentals, and each rental day costs $55. So, after 3 rentals for $125 out of pocket, I should get 3 free rental days and 2500 Amex Rewards Points through Rakuten. That’s about $100 for 6 Rental days, which is as good as it gets for rental car deals.

Free Spirit Travel More Mastercard

A week ago, I applied and was approved for the Spirit Airlines Mastercard. I was assigned seat 30B on a flight (literally the worst possible seat) and thought that maybe it could be worth it to get Spirit status since I fly short Spirit flights regularly. Unfortunately, the status match isn’t open right now, and I wasn’t able to status match last year because I had status matched previously.

The credit card actually offers decent bonuses for first year. The first year annual fee is waived, but you get:

45k points, worth roughly $400
$100 companion voucher, worth roughly $80
$100 statement credit, worth $100
Transferred the credit limit to another card with a 0% APR until June 2025. With a 10k limit, this is worth about $500
$100 companion voucher after spending $5000, worth roughly $80

So with zero first year annual fees ($79 after), you get roughly $1160 in value.

Since it is a Bank of America credit card, it should be possible to pay the balance of this card using a debit card over the phone. This should help liquidate excess gift cards and is part of my overall points strategy.

It would take $1000 spend to get the sign up bonus, at $5000 spend I get a companion voucher, and at $20k spend I get silver status. The major (only) benefit of silver seat assignments, including exit-rows close to check-in. I usually fly <2 hour flights, so the value of the exit-row is, according to seatbid, about $5 per flight. The cost of spending $20k on the card, versus a higher earning card, is about $400, so it’s debatable whether it’s worth it and will likely depend how many qualifying points I earn organically. In addition, there have historically been plenty of status match and fast track opportunities so I’m debating whether or not it’s worth it.

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

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.