Mastercard And Visa Make A Political (Grand)Stand

By: Jason Steele

12/07/2010

This is not a political blog. I write here about credit cards and travel. Today however, politics have intersected with the credit card industry in an interesting way. It turns out that both Visa and Mastercard have suspended payments to the controversial web site Wikileaks. Apparently, Wikileaks had used these networks to accept donations like many organizations do.

If you support Wikileaks actions, you are probably upset, and if you opposed what Wikileaks has done, then you are might be pleased with what Visa and Mastercard has done. This is certainly not the forum to debate Wikileaks, and I would ask my readers to take a step back and view this development in a wider context; Do we want credit card processors to choose companies based on their political positions?

Think about this for a second. The Techdirt blog has pointed out that Visa and Mastercard are accepted by no less than the KKK, yet political pressure seems to have been applied in such a way that Wikileaks is not acceptable all of the sudden. It would be easy to say that an organization as vile as the KKK should not be a customer of any respectable business such as Visa and Mastercard, but where does this end. Certainly large numbers of people consider both pro-life and pro-choice organizations to be similarly unacceptable. What about organizations on either side of the middle east conflict? Should Visa and Mastercard do business with with countries that are dictatorships or those that are ruled by totalitarian regimes that abuse human rights?

Clearly there are some larger philosophical issues here that go to the heart of business ethics and the role of government in imposing censorship on organizations it does not like. According to Techdirt, Mastercard cited illegal activity as the reason for cutting off Wikileaks, despite the fact that no one has yet been convicted of a crime. Certainly we would not like our credit card processors to be our judge and jury. At the same time, without passing judgment on Wikileaks or its founder, we would not expect to continue to deal with any openly criminal element under the excuse that all legal proceedings have not yet been concluded.

Perhaps you think it is the moral right of Visa or Mastercard to deny service to a business it disagrees with. In that case how would you feel if a credit card company refused to accept donations on behalf of your favorite political party?

There are no easy answers here, but you still have to question how it is the KKK is fine by Visa and Mastercard, while Wikileaks remains a pariah.

Making Sense Of The Latest Kevin Smith Debacle

By: Jason Steele

Kevin Smith is a Hollywood actor and producer. He also likes to loudly complain online when he perceives that he has been slighted in some way. Earlier this year, he was denied boarding on Southwest airlines when they decided he was no longer small enough to fit in a single seat. Whatever the merits of the complaint, it seems Southwest handled itself poorly both at the time of the incident as well as in the ensuing Internet flame war that followed.

Round 2: Kevin Smith Versus Virgin America

Now, Smith is involved in yet another airline imbroglio, this time with Virgin America. Apparently if you are not rich enough to afford a private jet and you feel you are too famous to board with everyone else, you can actually hire someone to act as a concierge to escort you through security and to the lounge. There, your escort will presumably know what time to escort you to your gate so that you can board last without missing your flight. In this case, Smith’s concierge brought him to the gate 10 minutes before departure. At that time, the boarding doors had already closed and the gate staff refused to allow him to board. According to Smith, they argued while the plane sat at the gate for another 15-20 minutes. You can read Smith’s account at his blog.

Why This Happens

First, this has happened to just about everyone who travels frequently, minus the whole concierge thing. If you are not a famous person with an Internet presence, you just don’t get to tell the whole world about it. In reality, the airlines all have a pretty clear policy that passengers who have not boarded by their published cut-off time, typically 15 or 20 minutes, may loose their seat. If you have ever flown standby, you know that you have to wait up until the cutoff time before your seat is released. Those who don’t arrive before the cutoff time will loose their seats to standby passengers. That is what I suspect happened to Smith. He can rant and rave all day long about the plane was there for so many minutes yet they wouldn’t open the door, yet it seems he hasn’t considered the possibility that his seat was already given to a standby passenger in accordance with the airline’s policies.

The other possibility is that the seat was empty but the gate agents had already “closed out” the flight. That is when they have completed the passenger manifest as required by law. Doing so also transmits the final weight and balance information to the computer, the airplane, and the pilots. Lets just say that once the flight has been “closed”, it is a time consuming task to re-open it for any changes. That is not an excuse for poor customer service, but it explains why a gate agent will almost never re-open the doors when a passenger arrives late, even if the aircraft will be sitting at the gate for another 10 or 15 minutes.

Whose Fault Is It

I believe that the responsibility for arriving on falls on the passenger, and in this case, the concierge that he paid to prevent this exact problem. Airlines deal with no-shows all the time, and every flight would be late if they had to wait until departure time before accepting standbys. It is also likely that they had upgraded a passenger to his first class seat by the time he arrived. If his seat was in fact empty when he arrives, I still think that the VA staff should have re-openned the flight in the name of good customer service, even if they really didn’t have to.

Furthermore, Smith rants on and on about his wife’s medications in her checked bags. Every traveler should know never to check medications! I have no idea how they ensure that you have room for your carry on luggage when you board last with your concierge, so that is probably why they checked everything, but they should always carry on any essential items. Frankly, I don’t see the point of the whole concierge exercise if you still have to wait at the carousel with everyone else, but perhaps a concierge on the other end does the luggage pickup and delivery as well.

Nevertheless, Virgin America displayed far greater crisis management than Southwest did when confronted with Smith’s issues. They have since apologized and even refunded the price of the ticket, which is far more than you or I will get next time we are denied boarding 10 minutes before our scheduled departure.

Budgeting In the Fun Stuff Holiday Indulgence

By: Mr Credit Card

The following is a guest post from Crystal at Budgeting in the Fun Stuff, which covers spending, saving, and the fun stuff along the way.

For any of you that haven’t “met” me before, I am not extremely frugal but I’m not a big spender either. My husband and I basically live off of his salary as an elementary school librarian and use my cubicle work salary for savings. This pretty much means that I’m a HUGE fan of holiday indulgences.

I don’t think we should go nuts, blow off all our savings goals, and become uber-consumers, but I do think that spending some extra money on some fun traditions is totally worth it. Here’s what hubby and I splurge on every December:

Trans-Siberian Orchestra

We have gone to the Trans-Siberian Orchestra Winter Tour every year for the past 6 years even though the tickets always end up costing about $120 after all the stupid fees are thrown on. Their show is amazing. It is a true mix of a rock show, a choir performance, an orchestra experience, a laser light extravaganza, and a pyrotechnics dream. Even if you weren’t in a holiday mood before taking your seat, you’ll leave humming Christmas tunes and ready to smile at every passerby you see.
The show starts with a Christmas story that’s told through some very awesome voices. The story is touching and the songs are amazing. When they wrap up the last bit of the story, you seriously feel like you got your money’s worth…then they surprise you with a whole other performance! The other half showcases their current favorite songs and new pieces. They also usually have a guest performer on stage at some point that joins in. Overall, $120 is more than worth it and we happily sign ourselves up every year.
Board Gaming Convention

Another holiday tradition for us is to attend a New Year’s board gaming convention for 4 days at the end of December and beginning of January. We have gladly forked over $70 for the past 5 years to attend the Lone-Star Gaming Convention. My husband and I enjoy playing board games like Power Grid, Vikings, and Settlers of Catan throughout the year, but a gaming con is 3-4 solid days of gaming and hanging out with friends. We even stay at the hotel despite the fact that it’s only an hour from our home. We think it’s worth the extra $300 a year to have a mini-vacation to start off the year with some major fun.

Gifts

Our last main splurge every year is definitely the amount of money we may spend on gifts. Normally we try to keep all gifts within the $25-$50 range, but we allow ourselves an extra $1000 every Christmas. We don’t always use it, but we know it’s there if we find something that is just absolutely perfect for someone. Some years we find or make great gifts for a relatively low amount and just put the extra towards our normal goals, but other years we do take full advantage and splurge on family or ourselves. One year we surprised my husband’s father with a $300 painting that just screamed his name. Another year we purchased our 47″ LCD TV, which we’ve enjoyed for more than 3 years at this point. 🙂
Do you and your family budget for holiday splurging? Do you have any slightly costly traditions?

Luggage Travel Tip: Go Cheap

By: Jason Steele

12/06/2010

I like nice things. I own what I consider to be a nice car, I have several nice bicycles, and a nice computer or two. There is one thing that I use all the time that I spend as little money as possible on, luggage. Five years ago, I purchased a carry on suitcase. No self respecting traveler is complete without a good carry on. I found mine at one of the local discount stores, Ross, TJ Max, or Tuesday Morning. Frankly, I forget which. I believe I paid under $30, again I forget. Amazingly, it has lasted dozens of trips over the last five years. Since, by law, the carry on stays in my possession at all times, I can ensure that proverbial gorilla will not jump on it. The idea that you can get years of service out of the cheapest suitcase makes me question why anyone pays more for theirs.

Beyond my carry on, I have a couple of larger suitcases. They are just like scaled up versions of my carry on, with wheels and a telescoping handle. I doubt I paid more than $40 each, and they have been across the globe with me and my family. A few years ago, one arrived at the destination with a wheel torn off. For some reason, I got both a check for $80 and a replacement suitcase. I didn’t argue.

Finally, I keep a range of duffle bags. These are also available for under $20 and can last years. On some trips, you can spot me waiting in line to check in for my international flight with the duffle perched on top of the large, wheeled suitcase. On other trips, the duffle is empty, tucked into my carry on, just in case I return with more than I left with. If the carrier decides that my baggage tops their weight limit, out comes the duffle loaded with a few heavier items.

The carry on, the duffle and the large suitcase are now my three essential pieces for the big, epic vacation. Their combined value is well under $100, and I await greater compensation in the event of their loss, damage, or destruction.

The idea is that you should look at your luggage as functional, but ultimately disposable. Even the most expensive luggage will not last forever. I plan on using my luggage for a number of years, but then it will be time to replace it. Realistically, it is more likely to be lost or damaged before it needs to be replaced. Once you realize that, you will never understand why people pay hundreds of dollars for a set of luggage.

Save that money for your travels.

My Three Favorite Ways To Cheat The Airlines

By: Jason Steele

12/03/2010

Airlines love to cheat us. They price gouge us for last minute tickets. When we are late there are huge penalties and change fees, but when they are late, too bad. They also have bizarre policies that penalize you for not flying a leg (hidden cities).

That is why I, as many travelers, do not have a problem getting back at them occasionally.

1. Using my child’s car seat to check a bag I have a pretty unblemished record of not paying bag fees. I also have a small child, and I know that passengers are allowed to check child safety equipment without charge. What do I do? I put my kid’s child seat in a large duffel bag, on top of the things I need to check anyways. At the check in counter, I unzip the bag a few inches and show them the child seat. The last thing they are going to do is open my duffel all the way and go through my stuff. I have even been known to do travel with a car seat even when there is one waiting for me at my destination. You can never be too safe, right?

2. Using a schedule change to rebook a ticket Airlines love charging customers $150 plus fare differences to make even the most minor change. On the other hand, most airlines will change their schedule every 90 days. When that happens, it is almost inevitable that one of your flights will be rescheduled. The change can just a few minutes, but I have had airlines move my flight by a day when they cut back their schedule. No matter what the change, this is your opportunity to get a free change in for yourself. Just call and ask for a different flight in light of their schedule change. You may need to make up some excuse about a meeting that will be interrupted, but it is likely that the agent just doesn’t care. They will change your flight to an earlier or later one, or perhaps even the next day. Don’t forget, once you accept the schedule change, you are locked in just as before, they will not let you make more than one change unless they change their schedule again.

3. Playing the disability card. Last month, I broke my shoulder in a bicycle accident. Since then, I had to make one trip when my arm was in a sling. What do you know, the gate agent let me board first. I have since learned that, by law, you merely need to request early boarding for a disability, and they are not allowed to question you as to your disability, due to concerns for your privacy. That said, this is the one rule I am the least likely to abuse. On the other hand, it is nice to know that you can use it if you really feel you need some extra time to board for some legitimate reason short of being in a wheelchair, but are not about to pay for some B.S. early boarding fee.

The airlines have set the rules, we are merely playing by them. There is no doubt that the airlines are going all the way to extract as many fees from passengers as possible. Short of faking a disability, I have no problem using all the tricks I can come up with to play their game to my advantage.

Delta MQM's For Charity Donations

By: Jason Steele

12/02/2010

I am a former Delta Medallion member as well as an Atlanta refuge. Sadly, much of my family and friends didn’t make it, and are destined to circle I-285 for eternity like Pasqcal Perez. Their only hope is the occasional escape from the city via the gargantuan Hartsfield-Jackson-Dead Mayors International Airport. Should they desire to see something more exotic than Cancun or Ft. Lauderdale, they have to take Delta, or (gasp!) be forced to change planes in a city with a smaller airport.

Sadly, flying Delta these days means no legroom, no free checked bags, and a general Greyhound-like atmosphere. The result is that they, like all Delta fliers are in a perpetual race to grab as many Medallion Qualifying Miles (MQMs) such that they may be upgraded to first class on occasion.

Currently, there are few ways to pick up MQMs, other than enduring Delta flights. Now there is a new one. By this point in the year, it is already too late to sign up for one of the Delta Amex cards that give out MQMs.

This year, you do have one other option if you wish to make Medallion for 2010. The Atlanta based carrier is now offering MQMs for donations to three Atlanta based charities, AID Atlanta, the Grady Health Foundation or the Washington, DC Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial Project.

You will receive 2,500 MQMs for a donation between $250 and $499 and 5,000 MQMs for a contribution of over $500. You can only earn MQMs once for each charity, so the most you can earn is a maximum of 15,000 MQMs from this promotion. On the face of it, you are ing miles for 10 cents each that may be worth 1-2 cents tops. If you are in a high tax bracket, say 40%, you might get enough of a tax deduction so that the actual cost is more like 6 cents per mile. Of course, none of that really matters. MQMs aren’t about redemption, they are about status. Get to the next level of status, and you will have that many more upgrades, and be that much higher on the standby list for your return flight at the end of the week.

While some may complain that Delta is making it easier to become Medallion without flying, you can’t argue with their timing of this promotion. With 30 days left to secure MQMs, it is easy to imagine many people making contributions in order to reach the next level.

So the next time you arrive at ATL and hear the pilot of your Delta flight say, “Good evening folks, it looks like our gate is currently taken, so we will just have to wait here for a while until the other aircraft pushes back.” at least you might be sitting in first class.

Anatomy Of A Frugal Trip

By: Jason Steele

11/29/2010

Them mission: My family of three wishes to escape the icy clutches of Denver this January to bask in both the warm sun of Florida and the warm embraces of my grandmother. It would be pretty simple to book three airline tickets, four hotel nights, and four days of rental car for a good $1000-$1,500. That simply wasn’t in our budget. In fact, we want to do it for under $500.

Air Travel For Three: $200

Through use of my Southwest Airlines Visa, occasional paid air travel, and other various promotions, I came within 5 Rapid Reward points of two award seats. To fill in the remaining 5 points, I transferred 7,500 Starpoints from my Starwood account to my Rapid Rewards account. While it was probably not the best conversion ratio ever, the whole point of having Starpoints is the flexibility to top off accounts in this manner. With two tickets down, we were able to a third ticket for a mere $200 after the Cost Plus World Market discount I had told you about.

Since Southwest has fairly generous award seat availability, we had little difficulty finding two award seats on non-stop flights from Denver to Ft. Lauderdale in January. Try that with United, Delta, or even Frontier and you will be extremely disappointed.

Lodging For Four Nights: $100

Here I was able to use one of my favorite frugal travel tricks, the best price guarantee. In the past, I have been able to find lower priced rooms than the ones I booked on Expedia, and I have received a price match and a $50 coupon good for future lodging. By booking each night stay separately, I was able to book four $75 rooms for $25 each. Using TripAdvisor, I am fairly confident that we will enjoy our stay in this particular hotel, even at this rate.

For Days Car Rental: $104

My first attempt to find a rental car for four days was about $160 through a couple different search engines. Next, I went to National’s site, using a coupon I had, and got that down to $130. Finally, I found Hotwire had it at $104. I booked a compact car, which should be sufficient for the three of us to do some sightseeing. If experience is any judge, it is unlikely that we will actually receive such a car.

The Results

For just over $400 my family of three will be enjoying four days and nights in south Florida this winter. Credit card, frequent flier mile, hotel, and rental car deals are not just an academic exercise for me. They are an applied science that will allow my family the comforts of a nice vacation without the expense.

Suggestion For Travel Rewards Or Cash Back Credit Cards

By: Mr Credit Card

I recently got an email from Amy asking for some suggestions about getting a new credit card/s based on her needs. We exchanged a few emails. And after pondering over it for a while, here are my thoughts.

Hi Mr. Credit Card,

I’ve been reading your site off and on for about 4 months now. I think I’m going through what you went through when you started this website. Thank you for doing so! It has been a great help to me and I’m sure to many others.

So, on to my conundrum. I currently have 3 credit cards: 1) Nordstrom Platinum Select Visa (am very happy & am an often shopper); 2) Citibank Driver’s Edge card (moderately happy – 20k miles on my car a year so lots of gas); 3) Premier Pass (not sure if I’m happy or not)

I pay in full every month and am not a big fan of annual fees but would pay it if I thought the card was worth it. (I have a degree in math so I watch all of my numbers closely). I’m looking for a card that will help with travel and other purchases since my Driver’s Edge gives me 3% on Gas/Groceries/Pharmacies. The AMEX Blue Cash is enticing but not as much for me since I use the Driver’s Edge. I thought the AMEX Costco was a good idea, but I’m not a member and don’t know that I would shop there.

I called Citibank today and apparently they are changing all of their credit cards somehow and no longer offer either of my current cards (which makes me nervous). I expect some changes in the next month – they said to call back in December. I’ve been wanting an AMEX but none really strike me as a winner for my situation. The PenFed seemed interesting as did the BofA Accellerated Cash Rewards.

Do you have any other suggestions? Or any thoughts in general would be great. =)

Thanks so much.
~A~

I probed further about her credit card spending patterns.

how much do you charge a month to your cards?
which gas station do you use? how much do you spend a month?
grocery expenses?

what do you want to redeem points for? cash travel?

This was her reply

Hi –

I spend about $800 on my Driver’s Edge, about $800 on my Premier Pass, and somewhere between $200-300 on my Nordstrom card.

I generally go to Shell or Chevron.

I put all purchases on my credit cards, but not bills. So, $1800-2000 a month.

My grocery expenses are $400-$500 of the $800 on my Driver’s Edge.

I’d be interested in redeeming the points for cash or travel. I’m leaning more towards cash currently but I’d like to get points for travel purchases.

Thanks.

But I had to probe further.

when do you travel
how?airline, drive?
any particular airlines or hotel where you are a frequent member and want to remain so?

And she duly obliged by answering my questions.

Thanks – I appreciate the questions.

I travel very often by car (20k miles a year on my car) to visit family within state (every 2-3 weeks). I fly all other times – probably 3-4 times a year. I travel for work probably 2-3 times a year (company paid).

I am a frequent flier of American, Delta, Southwest. I stay at either Marriotts or Starwood hotels (they really are the nicest). I intend to stay with all because of work.

Hope that helps.

Answer (more like Opinion) – OK Amy, your question is actually fairly typical, but is complicated by the fact that you use several cards (probably not optimally) and are torn between earning cash back or frequent flier or frequent points. Here is my take on your situation. You have three routes to go with this

Earn Cash Rebates
Earn Frequent Flyer or Guest Points
Earn Regular Credit Card Reward Points

So here goes.

The Cash Back Alternative – It looks like the most important spending categories for you would be gasoline (since you drive a lot) and travel. If you are going the cash back route, you should actually combine a few cash back credit cards. But first, we have to choose the right cash back credit card because and we start by looking at the quarterly rotating categories that these cards offer.

Discover More Card – The Discover&#174 More Card pays 5% rebates on

January To March – Airline, Hotels, Car Rentals and Cruises
April to June – Fashion and Home
July to September – Hotels, Gas, Theme Parks
October to December – Grocery stores, restaurants, movies

Aside from these rotating categories, Discover has an online shopping portal called shopdiscover.com where you can earn anywhere from 5% to 20% rebates when you shop with their partners. Orbitz and hotels.com happen to be their partners. So you could use the card to book your rooms and flights with them.

Chase Freedom Visa – $100 Bonus Cash Back – The Chase Freedom is like the Discover More Card. Here is their 5% rotating category schedule.

January To March – Dining, Utilities, Education/Child Care
April to June – Home Improvements, Home Furnishings, Lawn & Garden, Drugstores
July to September – Gas, Airlines, Auto Rentals and Hotels
October to December – Grocery stores, Department stores, movies

Citi Dividend Platinum Select Card – Here is the rotating categories for Citi Dividend.

January To March – Drugstore, Health Care, Fitness
April to June – No Details
July to September – Restaurants, Auto Rentals and Hotels
October to December – Department stores and electronics

My suggestion for a cash back card is to get the Discover More&#1744 Card because you can earn 5% rebates from January to March and July to September on Hotels. You can get 5% rebates on airline ticket purchases from January to March. But if you use Orbitz or Hotels.com through your Discover account, you can get 5% rebates anyway. That is actually a good amount of savings and hence I would recommend this card if you are looking to earn cash rebates because you can use it to get extra savings from your travels.

I would also keep your Citi’s Driver’s Edge and earn rebates on gas. But from July to September, you have to use your Discover Card because you get 5% rebates instead of 3% from the Drivers Edge.

Or you could also combine the Discover Card with the PenFed Visa Platinum Gas/Cash Reward Card as it allows you to earn 5% rebates on gasoline.

Earning Frequent Flier Points – If you choose the route of earning frequent flier points or frequent guest points, then you could choose either or combine the cards that I’m going to recommend.

If you want to earn frequent flier miles, then SouthWest Rapid Rewards is probably the best program to earn miles, The reason is because it is the easiest program to redeem for an airline ticket. You require more miles on Delta for a regular economy seat sinced they tiered it (they don’t call them Sky Pesos for nothing!). With American Airlines, their credit card only does not allow you to earn double miles and yet you have to pay the annual fee. With SouthWest, you save money on baggage fees (a big deal these days). Hence, I would consider getting the SouthWest Rapid Rewards&#174 Credit Card from Chase.

For hotel, both Marriott and Starwood have great programs and credit cards. I really like the Marriott Rewards Credit Card from Chase because you can get 10 elite night credits every anniversary date and that means you automatically qualify for an Elite Silver Status.

The Starwood Preferred Guest&#174 Credit Card from American Express is also a great card to get because you can transfer points to frequent flier miles at one for one ratio. And when you transfer 25,000 points into miles, you get 5,000 bonus miles! Note – You can transfer StarPoints to American Airlines and Delta Skymiles. But since you stay at Starwood hotels, I would be preaching to the choir by telling you the great service they provide. Plus, there are no blackout dates when you use your StarPoints. You might also want to consider getting the Starwood Preferred Guest&#174 Business Credit Card from American Express OPEN because as an OPEN member, you can get 5% Discounts at Marriott Hotels.

There are several combination that you can choose. For example, a combination of SouthWest with Starwood (since you can transfer Starpoints to American and Delta miles) will cover everything (since the Starwood Business card allows you to get 5% discount off Marriott Hotels). Whatever combination will depend on which hotels or airlines you spend more on.

Earning Credit Card Travel Reward Points – The last alternative would be to get a no annual fee travel rewards card like the Chase Sapphire or the Blue Sky&#174 from American Express. The advantage of these programs is that you could book any airlines or hotels and use your points for it. The disadvantage is that in most cases, your points are worth what is equivalent of a 1% in rebate terms and with some savviness, you can get 4% to 5% equivalent for your points with frequent flier cards or cash back credit cards.

Conclusion – Amy, so to conclude, I think you really have to decide which method of earning rebates you prefer? At the end of the day, I think it boils down to preference.

Earning cash rebates has the advantages of being simple. You simply earn rebates for spending and get discounts! Plus, it will save you on annual fees. The disadvantage of earning cash back is that you never actually feel like you have gotten a “free ticket” or a “free nights stay” though you will earn the equivalent in cash rebates! If you choose this route, I would recommend the Discover More&#174 Card together with the PenFed Visa Platinum Gas/Cash Reward Card.

If you go the frequent flier points route, then I would consider the SouthWest Rapid Rewards&#174 Credit Card from Chase, the Marriott Rewards Credit Card from Chase and/or the Starwood Preferred Guest&#174 Credit Card from American Express.

I think the ideal combination will be the SouthWest Rapid Rewards&#174 Credit Card from Chase and the Starwood Preferred Guest&#174 Business Credit Card from American Express OPEN since you can transfer StarPoints to American Airline and Delta Miles and you can also get 5% Discounts at Marriott Hotels.

As far as your existing card goes, I would keep the Drivers Edge and Nordstrom (though not use it since you want to maximize your points on your “new” cards). I would urge you consider dumping the PremierPass if you do not intend to use it or if the terms and conditions changes.

Chip And Pin In The Air

By: Jason Steele

11/24/2010

I have written previously about Chip and Pin technology. Essentially, you wave your card in front of scanner, and then you enter a PIN number. This saves you from having to swipe the card. Frankly, I can understand why no one is deploying it here, because remembering and entering a PIN number is more difficult than merely swiping your card. You even need less hardware. For example, here in Denver, we have switched to ‘smart’ parking meters that accept credit cards. The slot to slide your credit card is small, and I doubt a keypad would survive the winter. Worse, I have no idea what my PIN numbers are for my cards, since currently the PIN is only good for cash advances. I have never taken a cash advance from my credit card, and I never will. In fact, I would be very skeptical of using my PIN for fear that I would be tricked into a transaction that is treated as a cash advance.

Airlines Going For Chip and PIN

It has been deployed all over Europe, but hasn’t made any inroads here in the States yet. I have read reports of these systems being deployed in places like gas stations and subway stations. Now, it appears that European airlines are looking at deploying this technology for seat back in flight entertainment (IFE) systems. Actually, it seams like they feel that customers will not want to enter their PIN number in the back of the seat, for fear their seatmates will steal the number. Therefore, they will have a flight attendant go to your seat with a portable terminal to complete the transaction.

If that seems preposterous to you, you are not alone. Mary Kirby over at Flight Global calls the idea that people will be afraid to enter their PIN “jaw-dropping”. I agree. What is wrong with the credit card readers that Americans currently see in their seat back systems? It seems to me that the Europeans are creating solutions for problems that don’t currently exist. I mean, if you are afraid that your seat mate is going to memorize your PIN and then steal your credit card, you’ve got bigger problems on your hands than in flight purchases. Besides, isn’t this the last thing we need is to have flight attendants running around with credit card machines to facilitate these transactions?

Playing The Best Rate Guarantee Game

By: Jason Steele

11/23/2010

One of the more advanced tricks in my travel arsenal is the Best Rate Guarantee that some online travel agencies offer. I first found out about these offer through the invaluable Best Rate Guarantee blog. The idea is pretty simple. The online travel agency will meet a competitor’s price and give you a coupon for future lodging. The great thing about the Best Rate Guarantee blog is that they have found a way to figure out where lodging is offered at a better price than the major companies such as Expedia and Travelocity.

My Experiences

I have done this many times, but only on Expedia. Once I have found a place to stay that is eligible for the best rate guarantee, I book the room and immediately contact Expedia. The process takes about 30 minutes, so don’t bother calling unless you know you have some time on your hands. Generally, you have to repeat your itinerary number a couple times, and then slowly spell out the name of the website that the better room rate appears under. If there is even the slightest difference in how the rooms are described, then they might claim the room is not eligible, even if it is clearly the same room. You can persist, or you can just hang up and call back.

If the guarantee is granted, you are then placed on hold for a while why they confirm it. They will read from their script all sorts of things, and they seem trained to repeat back everything you tell them. Finally, your patience will be reward by both a refund of the difference, and an online coupon good for $50 off any hotel reservation.

Using The Coupons

On Expedia, using the coupons is very easy. They appear when you make a reservation, and you just have to click on them to use them. You can use only one coupon per reservation, so the $50 is spread out if you are booking multiple days. If the room is less than $50, it is free. If you have multiple coupons, you can get around this by booking multiple single day reservations at the same place, using a single coupon for each day. The hotel will see this, and you won’t have to check out and check in every day. The worst problem I ever had was when they had to reprogram my key card each day, a minor inconvenience considering the money saved, $50 per day.

What The Hotels Think

The best part is that the coupons are coming from Expedia, the hotel has no idea of what you are really paying. This is important, as it is nice to know that you are not cheating your favorite bed and breakfast out of a reasonable room rate.

Is It Worth It?

For me, it is. I can spend the 30 minutes on hold in order to save $50. While my time is definitely worth $100, I am actually able to continue to work on my computer while I am on hold, so it really isn’t that bad. The first one is the most challenging, but once you have the routine down, it is as easy as pie.

When paying out of pocket, I really don’t have very fancy tastes in hotels. Most of my vacations are not centered around hanging out in a hotel, so it is really just a place to sleep and store my stuff. It is very easy for me to book clean hotels and motels in most suburbs and small towns for under $100. If I have best rate guarantee coupon, I often pay less than $20 a night for a hotel.

For this traveler, the deal is definitely worth it.