• I nearly lost it while checking in at Barcelona Airport. The pretty but demeaning 20-something year old American contract worker that checked me in asked me how many bags I was going to check in. I said “none,” and then she looked at my bag with pure horror. Before she had the chance to object I said “it’s a standard carry-on,” to which she responded “that’s much larger than the standard size.” I responded with “it’s a 22 inch that hasn’t given me any trouble for the past 200,000 miles on American.” At this point she looked over at her colleague, rolled her eyes, mocked me for suggesting it was a standard size, and then began talking with her colleague in Spanish as if I wasn’t standing there, including the use of “muy grande.” After a minute she was informed by her colleague that I was in business class, and said “oh, business class, well that’s completely different.”

• Aboard the flight from Barcelona to New York I talked to one of the flight attendants about American cutting the New York to Budapest flight. It goes without saying that this had something to do with Malev shutting down shop. While I often disagree with management cutting routes (as was the case with Chicago to Delhi), I loved this lady’s reasoning for why American shouldn’t cut the route – “who’s going to fly the poor people now?” Ah, yes, American’s obligation is to fly the “poor people” of Hungary. Good business model.

• I’ll leave out the commentary, or maybe you guys can guess, but the flight attendant on my flight from Barcelona to New York got one of these from me (pardon my chicken scratch, this is the first thing I’ve written by hand in months):

And now, after flying over 40,000 butt-in-seat miles over the past two weeks, I’m beat. W Bed at home, here I come.

Lately I’ve been looking at how to efficiently redeem miles for Korean Air’s Airbus 380 first class, and I realize it can actually be a pretty darn good deal. Korean Air is transfer partners with Ultimate Rewards, which is the points currency of the Chase Sapphire Preferred and Chase Ink Bold credit cards. Points can be instantly transferred at a 1:1 ratio to Korean Air.

Korean Air actually has surprisingly reasonable first class award redemption rates. For example, first class from the US to South Korea costs only 160,000 Korean Air miles, which isn’t half bad.

While it’s not cheap, the real beauty of it is that Korean Air has phenomenal first class award space, even on the Airbus 380. In looking at award space on ExpertFlyer, almost every single date has 2-5 first class award seats on most of their to and from the US.

The thing to watch out for is that Korean Air has blackout dates, and if you want to fly during those dates you’re going to pay a 50% premium. The blackout dates are as follows:

With quite a few Star Alliance airlines more or less not releasing first class award space in advance, the relative value of an award like this increases. Good luck getting saver first class award space for 3-5 people to Asia on the same flight just about anytime of year through one of the “mainstream” programs. It ain’t happening.

So this really does tempt me, given that 160,000 miles is most definitely a reasonable first class redemption rate.

Anyone else tempted?

American Express Premier Rewards Gold Card — 25,000 points after spending $2,000 within three months

While the best published sign-up bonus for the American Express Premier Rewards Gold card is 15,000 points after spending $1,000 within three months, American Express is allowing existing cardholders to refer new members for a 25,000 point sign-up bonus after spending $2,000 within three months. The person making the referral also earns 10,000 Membership Rewards points. If you’re an existing member and want to refer a friend you can do so by logging into your American Express account, or if you’d like to be referred I’d be delighted to do so if you email me your first and last name at onemileatatime@hotmail.com. This offer expires February 13, 2012.

Reasons to get this card: Three points per dollar on airfare, two points per dollar on gas and groceries, and one point per dollar on everything else. You also get 15,000 bonus points when you spend $30,000 on the card in a calendar year. This is one of my top three credit cards, and what I charge my airfare, gas, and groceries to. In the past American Express had great sign-up bonuses whereby they would honor targeted sign-up bonuses for everyone, though that seems to be a thing of the past

American Express Platinum Card — 50,000 points after spending $3,000 within three months

While the published offer for the American Express Platinum card is 25,000 points after spending $1,000 within three months, American Express is allowing existing cardholders to refer new members for a 50,000 point sign-up bonus after spending $3,000 within three months. The person making the referral also earns 10,000 Membership Rewards points. If you’re an existing member and want to refer a friend you can do so by logging into your American Express account, or if you’d like to be referred I’d be delighted to do so if you email me your first and last name at onemileatatime@hotmail.com. This offer expires February 13, 2012.

Reasons to get this card: The $450 annual fee more than pays for itself. You get a $200 airline fee credit per calendar year, which in practice can be used to buy airline gift cards. Since it’s based on a calendar year, if you sign up for the card now you would get the $200 airline fee credit twice, meaning in practice you can get $400 in airline gift cards, bringing the annual fee down to $50. Beyond that you get complimentary Global Entry ($100 value) plus access to American, Delta, and US Airways lounges, as well as a Priority Pass membership. At the very least this card is worth having for one year for all the benefits, and then after that you can decide if it’s worth it to you or not. This is definitely a card I’d sign up for under this offer, as I can’t imagine we’ll see a better sign-up bonus anytime soon.

American Express Business Platinum Card — 25,000 points after spending $5,000 within three months

Just today American Express raised the bonus on the Business Platinum Card from zero to 25,000 Membership Rewards points after spending $5,000 within three months. While it’s not a great sign-up bonus, I do think it’s worth mentioning since the bonus went up and it’s the best published bonus. The link for the application can be found here.

Reasons to get this card: The benefits of this card are very similar to the American Express Platinum card, and the $450 annual fee more than pays for itself. You get a $200 airline fee credit per calendar year, which in practice can be used to buy airline gift cards. Since it’s based on a calendar year, if you sign up for the card now you would get the $200 airline fee credit twice, meaning in practice you can get $400 in airline gift cards, bringing the annual fee down to $50. Beyond that you get complimentary Global Entry ($100 value) plus access to American, Delta, and US Airways lounges, as well as a Priority Pass membership. At the very least this card is worth having for one year for all the benefits, and then after that you can decide if it’s worth it to you or not. I’m not sure if we’ll see a higher sign-up bonus of this anytime soon, though it sure wouldn’t surprise me.

Starwood American Express Card — 25,000 points after spending $5,000 within six months

While the sign-up bonus remains the same for both the Starwood Personal American Express and Starwood Business American Express credit cards, they have increased the referral bonus for consumers from 5,000 points to 10,000 points, through February 13, 2012. So you can now refer someone to the Starwood American Express and earn an even better referral bonus. If you’re an existing member and want to refer a friend you can do so by logging into your American Express account, or if you’d like to be referred I’d be delighted to do so if you email me your first and last name at onemileatatime@hotmail.com or you could apply through one of the above links.

Reasons to get this card: See this recent post.

Any questions?

Full disclosure: I receive a referral bonus for anyone that signs up through the above links.

a) Don’t judge a book by it’s cover
b) Don’t make a bet with someone that looks clueless

Let me explain. I boarded my flight from Las Vegas to Los Angeles, and as usual the crowd was an absolute disaster. As I Tweeted about, the lady sitting next to me was easily over 50, though wearing fishnet stockings and “stripper boots.” Sadly she was one of the more “normal” people in the cabin. The last two rows of first class were taken up by an Australia family. One of the six kids was wearing a tiara and sash that read” BIRTHDAY PRINCESS” (I’m embarrassed to admit I’ve seen enough episodes of “Toddlers and Tiaras” to know those two terms).

As boarding finished up the lady seated next to me said “do you smell fertilizer?” I quickly responded with “sorry, it’s probably me, I’ve been flying for 24 hours.” Not amused, she pushed the call button and called over the flight attendant. “I smell fertilizer, I think someone boarded with it, could you look into this?” He also quickly responded with “all I smell is an MD-80.” I was laughing my rear off, though my seatmate obviously wasn’t.

Then we started talking about travel, and she started telling me about some great hotels. I still figured she was pretty clueless for whatever reason, and eventually she stated a fact about a hotel, so I said “oh wow, I had no clue about that.” She sensed my doubt, so responded with “you wanna make a bet?” and I said “what do you have in mind?” She said “let’s bet 100,000 miles.” I asked her miles in which program, and she said “it’s your choice.” We settled on American Express points. As soon as we passed through 10,000 feet I turned on my laptop ready to collect my 100,000 Membership Rewards points, only to find out that she was in fact right.

So yes, friends, I lost 100,000 points on a travel related bet. I think that’s the end of the road for me. I’ve lost my edge.

But the bigger surprise was that she was actually one of the most interesting people I’ve sat next to. She was the CEO of one of the most unique companies I’ve heard of, and she flies just about as much as I do (though actually pays for first and business class with cash).

So as much as it annoys me when people assume I don’t belong in first or business class because of my age or how I dress (what beef do people have with pajamas again?), subconsciously I find I still do the same thing to others. Time to force myself to stop doing that, and time for me to make the painful points transfer to her account…

Correct Answer: Port-au-Prince, Haiti
Winner: Jose

If you’d like your photo featured, please email it to me at onemileatatime@hotmail.com, along with the correct answer.

Note: I realize much of the below will be obvious to many of you, though I’m trying to write comprehensive credit card reviews that I can add to the Best Credit Card Offers page of the blog. My apologies in advance if this is obvious to many of you, though I hope current and future “newbies” will find it useful.

For years the credit card of the savvy traveler has been the Starwood American Express. I’ve had it since I was 18, and I think it can only be described as the most reliable and consistent travel rewards credit card. Yes, new credit cards have come and gone, though the Starwood American Express is one of the few cards that accrues points that really haven’t been devalued in a long time.

The beauty of the Starwood American Express is that it accrues one of the most flexible points currencies out there, Starwood Preferred Guest points. Not only are they great for hotel redemptions, but they can also efficiently be converted to miles in over a dozen airline programs.

Sign-Up Bonus

Presently both the personal and business credit cards come with a 25,000 point sign-up bonus. Both cards offer 10,000 points after the first purchase, and an additional 15,000 points after spending $5,000 within six months. It’s worth noting that in the past Starwood has occasionally run promotions whereby they offer 30,000 points as a sign-up bonus, though I’ve never seen it go higher than that.

How to Earn Points

The card accrues one point per dollar spent on all purchases, with the exception of spend at Starwood hotels, which accrues two points per dollar. On one hand it’s frustrating that they don’t have category bonuses like some other cards (the Chase Sapphire Preferred card offers double points on dining and travel), though most would argue that Starwood points are the most valuable points currency out there.

How to Redeem Points

Transfer to Airline Miles with a 25% Bonus

Starwood points can be transferred at a 1:1 ratio to about two dozen airline partners, giving them one of the most comprehensive airline partnerships of any program. There’s no other points currency with as much flexibility as Starwood. But here’s the best part — when you transfer points in increments of 20,000, you get a 5,000 point bonus, meaning you’re actually earning 1.25 miles per dollar spent on the credit card.

Cash & Points

One of the most lucrative ways to redeem Starwood points is by making a cash and points hotel redemption. Instead of paying completely with points, you can get a great deal by mixing cash and points for a stay. The values are phenomenal, and I’ve used this many times to stay at $250+ per night hotels in Asia and Europe for between 2,800 points plus $45, and 4,800 points plus $90.

Fifth Night Free Awards

While cash and points redemptions are capacity controlled, standard room redemptions are not. Starwood’s award chart is pretty good for room redemptions, especially for category 1-5 hotels. Furthermore, when you stay for four nights on points at category 3-7 Starwood hotels, the fifth night is free.

For more tips on redeeming Starwood points, see this TravelSort post.

Other Cool Features

Earn Five Elite Qualifying Nights and Two Elite Stay Credits Annually

To earn elite status faster you get five nights and two stay credits towards elite status annually. Given that I would otherwise be mattress running in order to maintain my Starwood Platinum status, that more than pays for the annual fee.

The Annual Fee is Waived for the First Year

And it’s only $65 per year after that, which is among the lowest in the industry.

Starwood Preferred Plus Status

As long as you have the Starwood American Express you get Preferred Plus status, which gets you 4PM late check-out and room upgrades upon availability. It’s basically Gold status minus the 50% points bonus.

Starwood Gold Status When You Spend $30,000 Annually

While Starwood Gold status isn’t the best mid-tier elite status, it has gotten quite a bit more valuable after Starwood’s recent program overhaul.

Verdict

The Starwood American Express remains one of the “must have” credit cards for points junkies. If I could only have one credit card I’d probably go with the Chase Sapphire Preferred card given the lack of foreign transaction fees, double points on dining and travel, and 7% annual points dividend. But the Starwood American Express is one of my top two cards, given the further diversification it affords me. Between the Starwood American Express and Chase Sapphire Preferred card I can transfer points to virtually any major hotel chain or airline at a favorable ratio, and that’s flexibility that can’t be beat.

Links:
Starwood Personal American Express
Starwood Business American Express

Full disclosure: I receive a referral bonus for anyone that signs up through the above links. As always I will only provide a referral link if it offers the best available sign-up bonus.

For one, the flight was less than 40% full in both business class and coach, apparently thanks to the Superbowl.

Second, since this was a 767, American has an enhanced meal service compared to business class on the 777. Their logic is apparently that since they don’t have a first class product, everyone deserves a bit better of a meal than business class on a three cabin plane to compensate for it.

That means that instead of just nuts you get nuts and a cheese antipasto.

Then instead of the small starter and side salad being served together you get a separate starter consisting of shrimp and salmon.

Then you get a full sized salad, as opposed to the side salad served in business class on 777s.

Then instead of the main course being in a small pre-plated dish, it’s actually plated onboard and served on a proper plate. This steak happened to be really good, surprisingly.

Then for dessert you get an ice cream sundae instead of just a scoop of ice cream.

But what really set the flight apart was the crew. There were three guys working business class, all with completely different personalities. The purser, Mauricio, was one of the funniest flight attendants I’ve had in a long time. He was sarcastic at almost every interaction, but in a funny way. The guy in front of me asked if he could hang his coat, and he said “of course I can, I have two hands. Why do you ask?” When my travel companion got a bit demanding he was reminded (jokingly) that’s he’s an Executive Platinum and, only Concierge Keys can be that demanding. Yet despite his humor he was also incredibly professional, and greeted every passenger both on the way in and thanked each business class passenger for their business before landing.

Then the flight attendant working my aisle had to be one of the most professional I’ve had on any airline. At every single interaction he addressed me by name, and constantly asked how everything was, if he could get me something, etc.

Truly a fantastic flight, though now it’s off to bed for a few hours…

Delta ordinarily charges 3.5 cents per mile plus the 7.5% federal excise tax, for a total of 3.76 cents per mile. Through this promotion the cost is brought down to about 2.15 cents per mile. You can purchase a maximum of 60,000 miles per calendar year, so once you factor in the 75% bonus the real cap is 105,000 miles.

This is by no means a rate at which I’d buy SkyMiles just because. But if you have a specific redemption in mind, this is one way to top off an account that won’t totally break the bank. I’m waiting for them to bring back the 100% bonus on transferred miles, which was essentially an opportunity to purchase SkyMiles for roughly 1.1 cents each.

(Tip of the hat to Apu)

As usual, it’s a pretty good offer, though US Airways seems to offer these just about nonstop nowadays…