This link is a decent enough breakdown of what cards offer rental car status https://thepointsguy.com/credit-cards/cards-elite-status-car-rentals/amp/ I will say in my experience (Amex Plat and Venture X), the rental car status hasn’t seemed to matter much price wise. I typically only rent a car a couple times a year though. Feel like I’ve seen better pricing through Priceline and sites like that. The status may be beneficial for obtaining a higher level vehicle or bypassing the rental process.
Doesn’t really do much for the price but being able to bypass the line and go straight to the car is worth it to me.
If you have hotel status, National will usually match it. I’ve had executive elite with them forever through my Marriott titanium https://status.emeraldclub.com/
got on our Delta 757 to ATL from FLL on Friday night and pilot comes on and says “we were about to push back but the ground crew noticed our front landing gear was leaking… I have no further information at this time” then he comes back on and says “so it is leaking but it’s a slow leak, so I think it’s safe to fly with it, because it won’t leak all its fluid before we get there, but I have to clear this with Atlanta” lady next to me says “what the fuck” and I go “this guy is way oversharing” anyway this daredevil move was NOT approved by Atlanta, so I ended up missing my connection and had to stay overnight at the ATL Westin on my way back home. got 18k miles for the inconvenience tho and drank a lot of beers in the FLL sky club, which is lovely
they said 7500 and I was like well I’m missing part of my nieces fifth birthday party for this and the lady goes oh I’ll do 10000 more. then on my flight to KC on Saturday the flight attendant gave me another 1000
she came down and said thanks for being a gold member, I saw you missed a connection and I wanted to offer you 1000 miles, is that ok? I said sure, she typed some stuff into her little tablet and I got the points she also went through and thanked all the diamond members, never seen that
With 1M MR points, you have to fly Emirates A380 first class IMO. Especially for your honeymoon. It's an experience you'll never forget. When I booked my flight last year they were only flying the A380 out of LAX/SFO/JFK and maybe IAD? The onboard bar and shower are amazing. Service was unmatched. It unfortunately has ruined flying for me, even business class. The shower has a 2 person max capacity BTW. I have been Explorist for the past year, which has been nice but nothing special IMO. I convinced my gf to leave Marriott and go with Hyatt this year, so I'm excited to see the perks of Globalist.
Some Instagram models have definitely been shit on by some Sheiks in those showers Kidding aside, that sounds amazing. Will definitely look into that
Called Marriot. Per the agent I spoke with, I have to CALL MARRIOT to use my 5 free award night certificates. Web site won't show option for using Award Cert - even though Marriot's own web site says it should. And she couldn't find a single option anywhere near Tampa, FL for Feb 17-19. I've made a mistake with this Bonvoy crap. Oh well, live and learn. I'll keep searching. https://www.marriott.com/loyalty/redeem/hotels/free-nights.mi
Pretty difficult to use in the US....they advertise 35,000 pts as redemption options at Marriott or Renaissance hotels, but they all are usually 40k or 45k in the high season. 35k usually only available in the low season, like Minneapolis in February. I've been able to use mine, but usually only outside the US
Really? Mine are 35k Edit: y’all are talking about a specific promotion. Mine are just the yearly that come with the card
Wut (I use the site/app all the time for it) Also I really don't find it that difficult to spend my 35k (card) or 40k (annual choice) certs in any of SF, PDX, or NYC - admittedly, usually on Autograph, AC, or CY - but sorry to hear about the woes finding availability.
Are you able to search hotels by points, find one for less than 50,000, then try to book and use the cert as an option? Sorry, I have no experience with the card/Marriott certs, just spitballing after reading a few articles.
That was the answer. The Marriot app is SO much better than the web site. Was able to reserve 2 nights using the free award certs using the app in a few minutes.
What card should I buy purchasing my flights on? I’m not good at figuring out the differences. I have these cards: chase sapphire reserve Amex Hilton Aspire Amex platinum Chase IHG I also have a business citi American Airlines but that is only 2x points which seems shitty
This will also cover your checked bags if you are flying AA, but I think you have to pay for the tickets with the card for it to kick in.
I can transfer Amex Points to any SkyMiles account, right? Lyrtch to do the Amex gift card trick....I have a $600 flight. I need to buy $325 with of gift cards then buy my flight with the gift cards plus $175 on my amex and I should get a $175 credit back?
Yes to your first Q. I think the trick for your second point is to get the amount put on the card under $250. That will trigger the “incidental” charge that gets credited back to you. I’d buy $375 in GCs and then put $225 on my Amex Plat.
Had no problem maxing out the $200 incidental when I was living in NYC and family would travel with me a lot (guest lounge access). May give this workaround a try
I used mine immediately in like December, but I think I bought them from Amazon because I had a 5x Amex offer. Is there a reason to buy them from Delta directly? Another data point for the Amex Plat airline credit on Delta is my taxes and fees for an award flight were credited back to me.
Idk, just figured it didn't matter where I bought from. Shit...I just bought two reward flights and put them on my delta amex for higher points. Maybe I'll upgrade seats. Annoying
Sounded like you were going to burn your $200 credit by using GCs to get the price under $250 though, right? If so, shouldn’t matter. Just FYI - I think your Amex Plat is always going to be the highest points when paying an airline. That comment wasn’t directed at you - just generally throwing it out there for if anybody’s wondering if the taxes and fees on an award ticket can be applied against the flight credit. Flight credit used to feel difficult to use, but I’ve spent the whole thing without trying the past few years.