Those of you who have been following us for a while know that I live in Philadelphia. And our family went through Hurricane Sandy. In our area, we were relatively OK. But many folks in New Jersey took the brunt of the storm in terms of damages etc. Throughout this period, I have received various emails from Chase (as we are Freedom and Sapphire Preferred card members) telling us how they are responding to their customer in the NorthEast region. And I must say that I am really impressed. We have quite a few credit cards and we have only really heard from Chase.

Here is a recap of the emails we received and what Chase said they would do to help their customers. On 2nd November 2012, they sent out an email saying that they will be waiving fees for consumers and small business customers in Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia, and Washington, DC. This will give customers until the end of business on Monday, November 5th to make a deposit or a payment to bring their account current and avoid fees. Fees that they are waiving include overdraft protection transfer fees and credit card late payment fees.

Chase also mentioned their donation efforts to various organizations involved in Hurricane Sandy. For example, they are donating $5 million to various organizations including the Red Cross and United Way.

On November 8th 2012, Chase sent out another email. This time they mentioned additional measures that they were taking to help their customers. They include working with their customers if they cannot make payments on time and even increasing credit lines. Chase has even said in the email that they have committed $5 billion in making loans to small businesses impacted by the storm.

To be honest, I am really impressed with this. I have several American Express cards and have not gotten a single email with regards to Hurricane Sandy. This is really good PR for Chase if nothing else. But as millions of people lost their power and many folks are still not allowed into their homes in New Jersey, these measures taken by Chase will help folks to some degree.

I personally have the Chase Freedom® Visa and Mrs Credit Card has the Chase Sapphire(SM) Preferred Card and we have absolutely no hesitation to recommending these cards and any Chase card given the improvements they have made on their reward program over the last 2 years. And with them being what I would consider responsible corporate citizens in the wake of the Sandy devastation in the North East, Chase has gotten a double thumbs up from me.

Presale tickets for the George Straits: Cowboy Rides Away at the Power Balance Pavillion in Sacremento in California New Orleans Arena (also in CA) are now available to American Express Gold, Platinum and Centurion members. Card members of the Delta Platinum and Reserve Cards can also book these presale tickets.

Fans of George Strait would know that he announced his first 20 dates of the Farewell Tour for 2013 and 2014. The tickets for his concert in Oklahoma City sold out within a few hours! Since his debut in 1981 where his single “Unwound” became a top ten hit, George has gone on to record 59 number one singles and winning awards after awards (last count was 60).

Below are the presale ticket details.

Sleep Train Arena (formerly Power Balance Pavillon)
1 Sports Parkway
Sacramento, CA 95834
Date: 31st January 2013, 7:30pm

New Orleans Arena
1501 Dave Dixon Drive
New Orleans, LA 70113
Date: 13th April 2013, 7:30pm

There are several ticket options for Amex card members. You can simply get presale tickets, or go look for preferred seating tickets if you want to get better seats. There are also a couple of interesting packages available if you want to get a better experience.

The Troubadour VIP Package – This package includes one front row ticket (awesome!), one George Strait signed guitar (mega awesome!), VIP parking pass, one VIP laminate, invitation to pre-show party in “The King’s Tavern Lounge” w/ complimentary food and cash bar. You can also see “The Kings Exhibit”, which is a private exhibit of George Strait memorabilia that travels with the tour. This is only available to VIP guests and guests of George Strait. The package also includes one VIP limited George Strait merchandise gift, private merchandise shopping and on site event host.

Ace In the Hole VIP Package – This package has all the features of the above one except that rather than being guaranteed a front row seat, you will get a seat anywhere from row 1 to 10.

For Amex card holders, you have to enter the customer service number that is printed at the back of your credit card to “unlock” the seats available for you to book.

Like we have mentioned before, these tickets will sell out quickly. Having an eligible Amex card will help you get better seats. So check your calendar and book them now if you are a fan of George Straits.

Just checked my email a while ago and found the following message from my Chase Freedom® Visa card. From today until Thursday 18th October 2012), Chase card members have exclusive access to pre-sale tickets for the Musical Garden of Laughs at the Madison Square Gardens 26th January 2013 8:00pm.

The show is produced by Emmy Award-winner, Rory Rosegarten. This event will be a one-night only event featuring the best known names in stand up comedy. They include Adam Ferrara, Darrell Hammond, Robert Klein, Ray Romano and Wanda Sykes, with more comedians to be announced. This event is being put together to benefit the Garden of Dreams Foundation, which is a non-profit charity that works with all areas of The Madison Square Garden Company, including MSG Entertainment, Rangers, Knicks, Liberty, MSG Networks and Fuse.

This presale is available to all Chase card members (not just the Freedom card). You have to use the first six digits of your card number to gain access to the available seats.

For those of you who are fan of any of these comedians and who live in the North East Area, you might just want to get some good seats within these couple of days.

A week or so ago, I mentioned the British Airways 100,000 Avios miles deals and also the US Airways 250,000 Bonus Miles deals. But I overlooked the fact that American Airlines was running similar deals as well. So here a recap of the present promotions they are having to encourage you to fly with them, or use their partners and earn some extra AA miles.

Firstly, AA has a very similar deal to BA for flights to Canada and Europe. For the first round trip that you make in First Class, Business Class or Select Economy Class Tickets, you will get 15,000 bonus AA miles. For the second trip, you will get 35,000 bonus miles. From the third trip onwards, you get 50,000 bonus miles each time you fly. You can earn unlimited bonus miles with this promotion. This means that if you are a few transatlantic flight planned or flights to Canada, you are in for a bumper bonus. The participating airlines include American, BA and Iberia.

This promotion is good for flights from 25th September 2012 until 31st January 2013.

Triple Miles At Radisson Hotels – AA members can also earn triple miles until 20th December 2012 when they stay at Radisson Hotels.

4X Points with Hertz Booking – AA members can earn 4X miles per dollar when they book a Hertz car rental and get up to a 35% discount as well. This deal is good until 30th November 2012. You simply need to rent for a day or more and renting at the following countries qualify: U.S., Puerto Rico, Mexico, Canada, Belgium, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. The discount code is CDP# 217692, PC# 169676. And you obviously need to have your AA number when you book it.

Up to 10,000 Bonus Miles For Buying AA Miles – AA has a bonus promotion going on now until the end of October for those buying miles. For simply buying miles, you will get a 25% bonus. The minimum miles you must buy is 6,000 and the maximum is 40,000. Within this range, you will earn anywhere from 1,500 to 10,000 miles. You can also earn bonus miles when you need to top up your account for an award ticket. Once again, minimum purchase required to earn bonus miles starts at 6,000.

30,000 Bonus Miles for AA card – Lastly, the current sign up bonus for their credit card is 30,000 miles. Not the best that we have seen, but pretty decent. This promotion has no end date and I expect it to run longer than the above mentioned ones. (See Review)

As I mentioned in my earlier post, Chase card members can get preferred seating and discounts to many shows and musicals that are happening during the holiday season. In the email that I just received yesterday, Sesame Street and How the Grinch Stole Christmas have preferred seating available. Here are the details.

Dr Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas – This musical is held at the Madison Square Gardens in New York City and tickets are available from 13th to 30th December 2012. To check the availability of preferred seating, you need to enter the first six digits of your Chase credit card. The musical includes their hit songs “Your’re a mean one , Mr Grinch” and “Welcome Christmas”. Here is the link

Sesame Street Live – Elmo’s Super Heroes – Preferred seating tickets are also available for the Sesame Street Live show featuring Elmo’s Super Heroes. The venue is once again Madison Square Gardens and dates are from 7th to 18th February 2013. Once again, you have to use the first six digits of you chase card number in the promo code box to see available preferred tickets.

Along with the tickets, there are also a couple of interesting perks that come with your ticket. For example, Play Zone is now open before the show begins. If you come early, your kids can hang out in the play zone with their favorite Sesame Street character. You can hang out in Big Bird’s nest, Oscar’s trash can etc. Entry to the play zone is free with your ticket.

There is also a Sunny Seat package where you have to come 90 minutes before the show for a meet and greet opportunity with two Sesame Street Live friends and character. You can use your own camera for photo and picture taking.

Here is the link.