The Hits And The Misses Of Companion Tickets

By: Jason Steele

03/04/2011

The airline companion pass is frequently offered as a perk for credit cards. Consumers are rightfully skeptical that a companion pass they are offered will be worth much or anything. Here are some examples of companion passes that are offered and if they are worth anything.

1. The Delta Airlines Domestic Companion Ticket From American Express

Holders of some of the Delta cards from American Express receive a companion pass every time they renew their card. I have used these and I have concluded that they are not a scam. The are transferable, so that you can use it for people other than yourself. Some of the cards have a free companion pass, while others have a $99 companion pass. They can be redeemed online, so that is fairly convenient. More importantly, you book directly through Delta. The best part is that most classes of service are eligible for using these passes. I have booked the lowest price available for a seat, and then get another.

2. The American Express Platinum International Fussiness and First Class Companion Ticket

One of the key problems with some of these companion pass programs is that they require the purchased ticket to be in a refundable class. Sure enough, a refundable ticket will typically cost more than twice as much as a non-refundable ticket. In the case of the American Express Platinum card pass, there is seemingly a real potential to gain a lot of value form the this pass. Recently, I looked into using this certificate for some family members traveling to Europe. The $5,000 non-refundable business class ticket was bad enough, but to use the companion pass, the same seat would have cost over $10,000, so what is the point? There are only two scenarios that I can come up with to justify the use of this pass. One would be last minute, company reimbursed travel on a refundable ticket. In that instance, it would be easy to bring along a co-worker, spouse, or friend and feel like you are getting a great deal. The other possible scenario is with an Asian carrier that offers highly discounted, but refundable business class tickets.

3. Citi Thank You Premier and Thank You Prestige Companion Pass

There are two cards from Citi that come with a companion pass. The problem is that this is a program run by a company called Spirit Incentives. You have to call them and book a ticket through them. It is really hard for me to believe that this is not one of those deals where they are marking the ticket prices up by over %100 and offering you a “free” companion ticket. I don’t have any direct information that this is a scam, but all signs point to it.

4. Southwest Companion Pass

This is more of a status than a pass. If you fly with them enough, eventually you will get to bring a companion with you for free on any itinerary. You have to designate the companion ahead of time, so there is actually an aspect of commitment here. That said, this is a spectacular benefit that will give a traveling couple almost unlimited free tickets.

The companion idea will always be one that is ripe for exploitation, but that doesn’t always have to be the case. By doing a little research ahead of time, you can learn which passes have value, and which are not worth the paper they are printed on.

Broken Stuff? Purchase Protection To The Rescue

By: Jason Steele

03/03/2011

Reward cards are great for their cash back and loyalty points, but it is easy to forget that there are other benefits that come with your card, even if it is not a rewards card. One example is purchase protection.

How It Works

Credit card companies offer a host of benefits that are often administered by third parties. In the case of purchase protection, Visa, Mastercard, Amex and Discover all offer some sort of coverage. Let’s take a look at each offering:

American Express:

Amex offers $1,000 purchase protection per item with a limit of $50,000 per year. It covers theft or damage of items purchased within 90 days. The limitations include coins, gift cards, rare items, and consumables. In addition, virtually anything associated with a motorized vehicle is excluded.

Visa

Visa provides $500 in Purchase Security protection with a maximum of $50,000 for items purchased within 90 days. The restrictions on which items are covered are similar to Amex in terms of motorized vehicles and parts, consumables, and rare and collectible items. According to their policy, your purchases are protected against damage due to “aircraft, spacecraft, or other vehicles”. I would be interested to know how many spacecraft related claims they have had.

MasterCard

Mastercard does offer purchase assurance, but it varies depending on the bank. There is very little information out there on Mastercard’s site. For example, the USAA Mastercard offers $1,000 protection from theft or damage, with a $25,000 annual cap. Items must have been purchased within 90 days. The restrictions mirror those of Visa and Mastercard.

Discover

I got to thinking about this subject after reading this account of someone who smashed his television and was later compensated by Discover. The problem is, I couldn’t find any information about purchase protection on Discover’s consumer cards, only their business cards. That doesn’t mean it isn’t there, it just means that it may be there, but they aren’t really clear on their web site. They do have a page on Merchandise Protection under their small business card section. Their coverage is limited to $500 and the usual restrictions apply.

What About Loss?

These policies primarily cover theft or damage. There are some indications that loss may be covered, but there are no clear explanations. If you loose something, it certainly could not hurt to try to submit a claim, but don’t count on it.

How To Take Advantage Of Purchase Protection

In the case of theft, you need to file a police report. In many cases, that can be done quickly online. In the case of damage, you should take a picture of the item. In all cases, it is imperative that you file the claim within 90 days of purchase. You will always need the receipt for the item you purchased. In the case of online purchases, it should be fairly easy to print out the receipt from the site or from your email. Another factor is that these coverages are not primary. They will only pay if the item is not covered by your homeowner’s, renter’s, or another insurance policy. If the theft or damage is small and your deductible is high, that shouldn’t be a problem.

What Is My Story?

These policies seem a little bit too good to be true. They continue to exist because few people are aware of them and ever take advantage of their provisions. I have never even filed a claim, although I am sure I must have purchased something that was damaged or stolen within 90 days. Clearly, Amex and Visa are the better policies here, that have $1,000 limits, but the $500 limits of Mastercard and Discover aren’t bad either.

The key here is to file a claim whenever you think you might be eligible. These benefits can be a real lifesaver when you have an unfortunate incident with a recently purchased item.

Travel Tools I Use

By: Jason Steele

I am not a weekly road warrior; I do not actually hold “status” in any frequent flier programs (but don’t tell the line police at Denver International Airport). Maybe it is because I do not travel every week that I try to make the best plans and score the best deals when I do get to travel about every other month.

I am also a person who spends a good eight hours a day at my computer, and I try to organize all my Internet resources in bookmarks. Recently, I organized all of my most indispensable travel resources I use into one folder. Now, I though it might be helpful to share with you the resources I rely on to plan my travels:

Expedia

I use Expedia primarily for researching and booking hotels. With airlines, I like to directly from the site of the carrier I wish to fly. Because I so strongly prefer non-stop flights, I usually do not have to compare more than two or three carriers for any particular route. I also don’t find them to be exceptionally useful for booking rental cars either. When it comes to hotels, Expedia’s Best Rate Guarantee is unbeatable. Let’s just say that I always have a few of their $50 off coupons ready for use.

Trip Advisor

Once I have found some reasonably priced hotels, I will not book them without consulting Trip Advisor. It takes a while to learn how to disregard extremely positive and negative reviews or irrelevant criticisms (complaints about no air conditioning when looking for a ski lodge). Yes, it can be a little time consuming to sift through the reviews of a few candidate hotels, but you will soon be glad you did when you find otherwise attractive hotels that get dozens of horrible reviews.

Seat Guru

Even though I book my air directly with the airlines, I will not select a seat and confirm a flight unless I have consulted Seat Guru. For those of you who have not used this site, it rates every seat in every aircraft on nearly every airline. It will tell you which seats do not recline, which seats have extra legroom, and other peculiarities. All you have to do is match up the aircraft type and seat map on the airline’s web site, with the corresponding seat map on Seat Guru. Just mouse over the seat you want and you will be told about any unusual features.

Flight Aware

Flight Aware is really more for the pilots and aviation geeks than travelers, as it shows the flight path of any airplane under United States air traffic control. It is a great tool when you are timing your departure to pick someone up at the airport, as the estimated time of arrival here will be the most accurate. You can also use it to track the inbound aircraft that will be used for your flight. If your inbound flight is delayed, there is a good chance your flight will be delayed too.

Award Wallet

I always try to get as many points and miles as possible when I travel, but the downside is that I have eventually joined a confusing array of loyalty programs. Award Wallet allows me to keep track of my status in almost all of my programs, and I can use it’s dashboard to help me find awards possibilities for future travel.

Great Circle Mapper

The biggest problem I have with this planet, and planets in general, is it’s spherical nature. It turns out that it is dang near impossible to represent a spherical body on a two dimensional medium such as paper or a computer screen. Until that changes, there will always be the great circle mapper that can be used to calculate the shortest, great circle distance between any two points. Why do you need to know this? First, this will determine about how many frequent flier miles you will get for any given flight. It will also help you to compare the length of one flight to another. As much as I love traveling, I really would prefer to spend the minimum time in the air. It is also a great way to settle bets and impress people with your geographic knowledge.

If you learn to use these tools as I have, you too can master the art of infrequent travel. If you think I am missing something, let me know.

New Credit Card Data Is Just A Picture Of The Economy

By: Jason Steele

03/02/2011

There is new data out about how Americans have been using their credit cards, according to the New York Times. It seems that consumers are spending more, which is good for the economy, but lower income consumers are starting to incur debt again. People who were better off were doing a good job of managing their finances and keeping their debt in control.

In this situation, what is good for the economy as a whole is not good for individual consumers. The economy as a whole benefits from increased spending. In the absence of real income growth, increased spending is based on revolving loans, largely from credit cards. As someone who hopes the US economy improves, this is good news. As a consumer advocate, I really hate to see people getting deeper in debt with their credit cards. The article does show that there is more restraint in credit card spending than in years past.

“You’ve got people who already had good credit and were pretty much managing their credit, and because of the risk, paid down their debt even more,” said Maxine Sweet, vice president for public education at Experian. Then there were “very dramatic increases in debt by people who, mainly, lost jobs, but also had medical emergencies, and turned to credit cards to carry them through the hard times……

…The cash shoppers, Ms. Sweet suggested, “were the ones that were pretty much in control — they can say, ‘I’m going to be more conservative.’ ” People under more difficult circumstances had to put certain debts on their credit cards, she said.”

The article is so full of contradictions, that it is almost best to just dismiss the whole thing as a series of generalizations. The important thing for individuals to know is that the economy is improving, but slowly. Furthermore, we should not make the mistake of using our credit cards to leverage ourselves and go back into debt. Spending based on credit might help the economy as a whole in the short term, but like always, it will be detrimental in the long term to both individuals and the economy as a whole.

Time To Upgrade Your Capital One Card

By: Jason Steele

03/01/2011

I have held a plain vanilla Capital One card for many years. At first, it was just a decent rewards card for merchants that did not take American Express. Later, I realized that it was one of the only cards that you could use outside of the United States without incurring a dreaded foreign transaction fee. Now that more and more banks are dropping their indefensible foreign transaction fees, the Capital One is less unique of a card. Nevertheless, they do not charge an annual fee, so there was really no reason to cancel it. The reward rate is 1%, which used to be the standard but is now just a little below average. Without much annual spending at stake, I never worried about it too much.

New Cards From Capital One

These guys have been all over the airwaves with commercials, both good and bad, touting their new line of cards. I recently received an offer in the mail to upgrade my card to their Venture Rewards card or their Venture One card. The mailer said their was no need to open a new account or apply for new credit, so there really isn’t much to loose here.

I have to say, their Venture Rewards card is an outstanding card that gives you 2% back. The reward is technically not cash back; it comes as a statement credit towards any travel related expense. Unless you never travel, you can just think of it as a 2% cash back card. The problem here is that it comes with a $59 annual fee, although that is waived the first year. Again, I just don’t spend enough on that card to justify an annual fee.

The other option I was presented with was their VentureOne card. It returns a 1.25% statement credit towards any travel expense. I really am not spending the $4,720 a year it would take to earn the difference between 1.25% and 2% to return enough cash back to pay for the $59 annual fee.

What I Will Do

So long as they are offering the first year with no annual fee, I will upgrade to the Venture Rewards card. At the end of the year, I will ask them to waive the annual fee. If they refuse, and I don’t see myself spending $4,720 on that card the next year, I will just downgrade myself back to the Venture One card. In this way, I should maximize my rewards on a card that I seldom use.

American Airlines Gets A Harsh Penalty For Fees

By: Jason Steele

While some argue that fees are good for passengers, I still feel like having a fee for everything creates an adversarial relationship between airlines and their customers. In the battle of passengers versus the airlines and their fees, the passengers scored a victory today as the Department of Transportation issued a $90,000 fine against American Airlines. Apparently, when American bumped passengers and gave them vouchers, they would then charge their customers a booking fee to redeem them at the ticket counter. A $200 voucher would really be worth only $170. They could redeem them by telephone without a fee, but they would have to mail their tickets in three weeks early. There is no way to redeem the vouchers online. Welcome to 1995!

Of course, it is not just these outrageous policies that drew the fine, but the fact that American was, of course, not informing anyone of these policies when they gave them the vouchers. This move is part of an increasing pattern of the DOT actually standing up for customer rights lately. By lately, I mean since something happened around January 20th, 2009.

What Do You Do With These Vouchers

Airlines love to hand out vouchers whenever they screw their passengers for some reason. It is not just bumps, but canceled flights, lost luggage, and other customer service failures. The vouchers sound great, but they purposely make redeeming them as difficult as possible. It is rare to see an airline accept them on their web site. Typically, they require both a phone call and the mailing of the vouchers. Even going to the airport, as was the case with the American vouchers, can result in a fee that negates a significant amount of the value you were promised.

American got fined because these vouchers were part of a federally mandated compensation for being bumped. It is not clear whether or not American or if any other carriers are required to eliminate these fees on vouchers received for other reasons.

One of my real pet peeves, beyond airline fees in general, is ticketing fees that must be incurred in order to use a voucher. As far as I am concerned, this is outright fraud. If you are trying to redeem one of these vouchers, you should demand that the fees be waived. Your chances of success are greater if you are an elite member of the carrier’s frequent flier program. Before you pay for any kind of ticketing fees when using a voucher, ask if it is possible to redeem the voucher some other way without a fee. The chances are that you will have the choice of mailing the voucher in, using the web site, or visiting an airport ticket counter. One of these options should be fee free. You should then ask for your reservation to be held while you redeem your voucher.

If you have to mail the ticket in, you should make a photocopy of the voucher and at least use delivery confirmation from the post office or another method of tracking.

Finally, I have had the experience of having had a separate ticketing charge added to my reservation without being informed. As with any unauthorized charge to my credit card, I demanded an immediate reimbursement and threatened a chargeback. I was promptly refunded the fee.

You likely got the voucher because your airline screwed up in some way. Don’t let the airlines beat you up with fees when you redeem a voucher. Take the time to figure out how to redeem it fee free, and don’t give them any slack if they don’t make it easy.

Chase Freedom BluePrint Finish It Set Up

By: Jacqui Stewart

Chase Freedom has a great option for their borrowers. With the BluePrint plan, you can choose not only which categories to pay off each month of either Groceries and/or Drugstore purchases. The other option the BluePrint offers is “Split It”. This allows you to name larger item purchases to pay off faster. Here is more information:

BluePrint also allows you to determine how fast you want to pay down your balance. The statement has two fields for the regular minimum payment as well the BluePrint minimum payment to help you keep on track and pay your balance down according to the plan you have set up:

You can cancel your Finish It plan by visiting Finish It home. Click “Go to Finish It” in the Finish It section on Blueprint home. This will take you to Finish It home where you can cancel your plan using the “Cancel Plan(s)” option in the “I want to” menu.

Will Anyone Compete With Southwest On Fees?

By: Jason Steele

02/28/2011

Southwest has done a great job staking out it’s territory in the market. They are the airline with no bag fees and no change fees. Actually, they really haven’t done such a great job explaining the no change fees part, as most people I talk with really don’t get it. They either aren’t aware of the policy, or they think that they can make changes without cost. The reality is that there are no change fees, but they must pay the going rate for the new ticket at the time of the change, or receive a credit if the new price is less.

That said, Southwest has been expanding slowly, but inexorably to nearly every market in the United States. Unlike a traditional hub and spoke carrier, Southwest doesn’t enter a market to fly to one or two hub locations. For example, over at tiny Birmingham Alabama, Southwest flies non-stop to Baltimore, Chicago-Midway, Dallas-Love, Houston-Hobby, Jacksonville, Las Vegas, Louisville, Nashville, New Orleans, Orlando, Phoenix, St. Louis, and Tampa. This represents more destinations than all other carriers at that airport combined.

When Will The their Competitors Compete on Fees?

Thus far, only JetBlue allows all passengers to check a bag for free. There is no other airline that allows fee free ticket changes. As I have shown, Delta’s CEO really doesn’t care about Southwest as their competition. There have been some rumors out there Frontier may reduce or eliminate some change fees when they redesign their web site.

At some point, something has to give. The majors can compete with Southwest based on their first class section and their international routes and partners. That still leaves the domestic, coach market to Southwest if someone is to look at fares, fees, and non-stop routes.

Supply and Demand Versus The Airline Industry

The fact that these airlines will not try to compete with Southwest is not very surprising. I have always felt that this is the one industry that doesn’t really get supply and demand. Ultimately something has to give. The breaking point will likely either be in Denver or Atlanta. In Denver, Frontier, United, and Southwest are in a standoff, with United staking out the business travel market. That leaves Frontier to fight Southwest over the leisure market.

In Atlanta, Southwest is poised to become the major competitor to Delta once they complete their acquisition of Airtran. I don’t see Delta or United cutting fees first, so I expect all eyes to be on Frontier to make the next move in the fee wars.

The Mechanics Of Getting A Great Car Deal And Trying To Use Your Credit Card!

By: Mr Credit Card

02/27/2011

Five years ago, I got our family a used Honda Oddesey and a 10 year old Toyota Corolla. I paid cash for both these purchases. Then about three years ago, Mrs Credit Card had an accident with the Toyota Corolla and I had to replace it. At the end of the day, I replaced it with a Lexus 350 (the 2009 version) and this time, I took a car loan for the sake of it (it was probably the wrong decision and the car will be paid off soon in a lump sum). But I wanted to share this story because I learned many things from my car purchases, from research, getting a car loan, even using a credit card for points! Plus, it’s a Sunday and I do not want to talk about credit cards today (though I inevitably will!). So here is my advice FWIW.

The goal when in the market for a new vehicle is to get the most car possible at the best price possible. Keeping this in mind, I followed a few simple steps to make this happen. I made sure I found out information like MSRP, what dealers paid. When I was in the “purchase mode”, I spent stupid hours just going to various dealers and checking prices and test driving. I talked to my friends and neighbors about the kind of car I was interested in, and I saved time by avoiding models that causes owners problems. I test drove a few different cars so I knew how they handle from firsthand experience. I test drove a Hyundai, a BMW, Volvo, Nissan, Subaru, Ford and numerous models. If there is something that I did not like about the car during the test drive, I knew that I can use this to your advantage when negotiating the final sale price.

Before even walking through the door of the dealership I made sure I knew my facts. This helped me when I started talking money with the sales people. I let them know that I was aware of what their cost was as well as what the manufacturer’s suggested retail price is (MSRP). Knowing this information will help you strike a deal that is somewhere between these two numbers. When I was replacing my Corolla, I wanted to get a crossover, though I did toy with getting a Subaru Impreza (though I later decided that a crossover was the right model for me). Another model I was looking at was the Nissan Rogue. What I did was to look at one of the big authority websites that deal in the automotive industry or the manufacturer’s website, such as Automotive.com. For example, you can find details of the Nissan Rogue and the Subaru Impreza at automotive.com.

One advice I would suggest is to negotiate the purchase price of your new car in terms of total price, not monthly payments, and never mention a trade in before you agree on a price. For the first Honda and Corolla, I intended to pay cash so that was not an issue. But for the Lexus 350, I thought about taking a loan and I had to trade in for my heavily damaged Corolla. For you to get the best deal possible it is important that you stick to your guns on this one. If you start talking in terms of monthly payments then the dealership can do some things with financing that will ensure that they get the best of you in the deal. Also, it may be a good idea to get financing from an outside source, not the dealership. This I did not do though oftentimes you can find car loans with a lower interest rate if you use a third party. But I did let the salespeople know this so they are forced to deal with you in terms of total purchase price. Of course if you get financing through the dealer they may be able to help you out more on the car’s price since they’re making money off the loan too. What was interesting was that I found out my credit score as they were getting me approved! (score was 793).

After I agreed on the total price of the new Lexus, I felt it was now okay to present them with my trade in. By dealing with the trade in after I have negotiated the price of the car, I was ensuring myself that I was getting the bottom line price for the car as well as a good deal on my trade without running into any funny business. If you negotiate the trade in price at the same time as the new car price you give the salesperson the opportunity to play with the numbers of each. Know what the Kelly Blue Book value of your trade in is also super important before you start the negotiating process (though in my case, my damaged Corolla probably did not affect the trade in price too much)

Now for the interesting part. Given that I’m Mr Credit Card, I always try to use my credit card for all my purchases. But because of the interchange fee and the fact that cars are a large purchase, dealers loath their customers using credit cards. For the first two purchases, the Oddesey and the Corolla, I used my credit card to pay for part of the purchases. Both dealers allowed me to pay up to $5000 with a credit card. Technically speaking, this was against the rules of Visa, MasterCard or Amex. But I had sympathy with the dealers since I bargained hard and interchange fees will be substantial for such a high purchase price.

What's The Problem With Delta?

By: Jason Steele

02/25/2011

Let’s just say that I have a love/hate relationship with Delta, arguably the largest airline in the world. I grew up in Atlanta, home of their super-mega-fortress hub, and I even held Medallion status the last few years that I lived there. I still count many current Medallion members among my family and my close friends. I find Atlanta’s Hartsfield airport to be an amazing place, in large part to Delta’s impressive presence there, the largest ever hub of any airline in the history of the world. I still continue to fly Delta on occasion, although it is most certainly not my first choice.

At the same time, Delta’s largess seems to be responsible for its customer unfriendliness that many find aloof or even arrogant. Take for example this recent interview that it’s CEO, Richard Anderson granted to a local news station in Atlanta. To his credit, the reporter, Bill Liss of Atlanta’s 11 Alive News, dares to ask some tough questions of the Chief Executive of the largest company in the region. Liss focuses on how Delta will compete with Southwest once it completes it’s merger with its rival, Airtran:

“Are you contemplating any changes in your policies especially when it comes to fees and change fees and whatever, in order to meet this competition head on?” Liss asked.

“All you need to do is sign up for an American Express SkyMiles card, and all your bags are free,” Anderson said.

“What happens if I don’t sign up?” Liss asked.

“Well just sign up, and so we don’t have to talk about it,” Anderson said.

I could easily write a whole post on what is wrong with his answer. No, all your bags aren’t free when you have their credit card, just the first one, and then only if it is under 50 pounds. Beyond the first bag fee, many of Delta’s fees are exorbitant and arbitrary, even by airline standards. Just forget for a moment the ludicrous idea that everyone should have a Delta Amex.

The brave reporter continues:

“So you don’t necessarily see any changes in your bag fee or changes in change fees or anything, simply because Southwest is coming in?” Liss asked.

“We make those decisions unilaterally, so normally I would not speak about fares or pricing issues in the future,” Anderson said.

Most businesses set their prices according to the market. Delta’s CEO doesn’t see it that way, he makes pricing decisions “unilaterally” and tells the reporter, in essence, to screw off. You really have to see the whole thing to appreciate this CEO’s command performance on blaming everyone else for his failures. According to Anderson, Delta’s customer service and employee relations failures are the fault of unions, gas prices, the Obama administration and of course, its passengers for not carrying the right credit card.

Kralev Nails It

Nicholas Kralev may be my favorite reporter on the travel beat. Because he has a background in covering pretty hard news, he pulls no punches when discussing travel, an area that most reporters consider closer the leisure section than the business beat. For example, he has been the only mainstream reporter that I know of to blow the lid on United’s secret, and egregious practice of StarNet Blocking. In his most recent editorial, he slams Delta’s SkyMiles program for a lack of transparency, massive devaluation, and generally poor leadership.

Every now and then I come across an article such as this that so closely shares my opinion, that I almost have to wonder if the author had been reading my thoughts, or perhaps my blogs.

Am I Off Base?

Some people can find my criticism of Delta to be overly harsh. You know who you are. I will say this; If you fly with them often enough to gain Platinum or Diamond Medallion status, it seems that they can do a decent job of satisfying their customers. Certainly, there is no shortage of Delta apologists over at FlyerTalk. From where I sit, these customers only represent a small fraction of the flying public. As a consumer advocate and an occasional Delta customer, I would like to see them improve how they treat the majority of their customers.