Enjoy. If you have any pictures (from the air) of the Freedom tower, do share.

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Chase Ultimate Reward (UR) Points are extremely flexible. I wrote a blog post a few weeks ago comparing them to American Express Membership Reward Points. This post is on different options available for UR points that make them unique and Awesome!

Combining Chase UR Points

You can Transfer Chase Ultimate Reward Points to another Chase UR rewards account (another Chase Card). This can be another Chase Card owned by you or spouse/domestic partner. My wife has two Chase Cards – The Chase Sapphire and Chase Ink cards and I have a Chase Ink card. Each had over 50,000 points on it, which is great, but 150,000 is much better! So just today morning I transferred all our points to my wife’s Chase Ink card account. 160,000 Points is awesome!!

Transferring Chase Points

Transferring Chase points to the Airline, Hotel and Amtrak programs it allows transfers to is just as easy. More importantly, for US based airlines, Chase does not charge any excise tax, unlike American Express. Also, all transfers are at a 1:1 basis. The list of programs you can transfer to is limited, compared to American Express, but a great list:

• Amtrak Guest Rewards
• British Airways Executive Club
• Hyatt Gold Passport
• Korean Air Skypass
• Marriott Rewards
• United Mileage Plus
• IHG Priority Plus
• The Ritz Carlton Rewards
• Southwest Rapid Rewards

The program I am considering transferring to is Marriott Rewards, British Airways or United Mileage Plus. Both Marriott and British have 50,000 point credit card offers (from Chase – Check out my Credit Card Page for links) so I can really bump up my totals. And United is my primary carrier and I have hinders of thousands of miles on it. It is a tough choice, but I have time, as UR points do not expire.

You too can get a fast start on collecting UR points with these Credit Card offers:

Personal Cards

• Chase Sapphire Preferred® – 40,000 points after spending $3,000 in your first three months. No foreign transaction fee. 7% Annual bonus. No annual fee the first year, then $95. (** In my Opinion, this is the best personal card offer available from Chase at this time).
• Chase Sapphire® Card – 10,000 points after spending $500 in your first three months. No annual fee (ever).

Business Cards

• Ink Bold® Business Card – 50,000 points after spending $5,000 in your first three months. No foreign transaction fee. Upto 5x points on select purchases. Airport Lounge Access. No annual fee the first year, then $95.
• Ink Plus® Business Card – 50,000 points after spending $5,000 in your first three months. No foreign transaction fee. Upto 5x points on select purchases. Airport Lounge Access. No annual fee the first year, then $95.

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• The Lufthansa Premier Miles & More World MasterCard® – 20,000 award miles after first purchase. 30,000 points after spending $5,000 in your first 90 days. Companion ticket Annually. Annual fee of $79 ** NEW OFFER **
• British Airways Visa Signature® Card – 50,000 Avios after making $1,000 in purchases within first three months of account opening. No foreign transaction fee.Travel Together Ticket. Annual Fee of $95

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• Marriott Rewards® Premier Credit Card– 50,000 points after spending $1000 in your first three months. One free night stay. No Foreign transaction fee. No annual fee for the first year, then $85

There are multiple such bonuses for Business Credit Cards. Here are three:

• Ink Bold® Business Card– 50,000 points after spending $5,000 in your first three months. No foreign transaction fee. Upto 5x points on select purchases. Airport Lounge Access. No annual fee the first year, then $95.
• Ink Plus® Business Card– 50,000 points after spending $5,000 in your first three months. No foreign transaction fee. Upto 5x points on select purchases. Airport Lounge Access. No annual fee the first year, then $95.
• The Business Gold Rewards Card® from American Express OPEN– 50,000 Points after spending $5,000 in the first three months of getting the card. No annual fee the first year, then $175.

Other than these offers that give an outright 50,000 points, there is also the opportunity to earn 60,000 miles from American Airlines. This does however, involve getting two cards – one each from American Airlines and US Airways. Once the two airlines have combined their Frequent Flyer programs, these will add up to a cool 60,000!

• CitiBusiness®/AAdvantage® World MasterCard®- 30,000 miles after spending $1000 in your first three months. No annual fee for the first year, then $95
• The US Airways Premier World MasterCard®- 30,000 miles after first purchase. Up to 10,000 miles for balance transfers. Redeem flights for 5,000 fewer. Two companion tickets every year. Annual fee of $89

Just added some new 50,000 Mile offers from Lufthansa and British Airways on this new post and my Current Credit Card Offers dedicated Credit Card page.

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The giveaway I am running for the Lufthansa Magazine Special Issue on the 747-8i is ending tonight at Midnight, EST. To enter, go to the original post (here) and leave a comment with the route you have flown on the 747-8i or would like to see the plane fly.

(DO NOT leave a comment on this post.)

I will be declaring a winner tomorrow.

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One of my readers Jack asked a question after I posted my post on Earning United Miles on Jet Airways flights. In the article I talked about how I did not pay attention to the booking class I was being booked into on Jet Airways and I earned no United miles, as a result. His question was how does one pick a booking class when using online search engines. The answer is that it depends on the search engine. If you are using a generic search engine like Expedia or Orbitz. the answer is no, you cannot pick the booking class. You can however call the travel agency after booking and ask to ‘fare-up’ to a higher booking class, if you get booked in one that does not earn miles (or less than 100% miles). Some airlines do allow picking a booking class when you book directly with them. United and Delta are two examples of those that do. US Airways, for example, does not allow you to pick fare classes, just whether it is an Elite Upgradable fare or not.

The attached screenshot shows how you can pick a booking class on delta.com.

To go back to the question of Jet Airways, they do not allow you to pick a booking class at the time of booking. However, it tells you which class you will be booked into (see attached picture). You can then call the airline and have them book you into a higher class, that does earn you miles (some airlines require a booking fee for using the call center.

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Last year I had to opportunity to fly in a brand spanking new Lufthansa Boeing 747-8i (also known as a 747 Intercontinental). I actually flew the aircraft all the way from Washington, DC (IAD) to Delhi (DEL), via Frankfurt (FRA). Separate aircraft on each segment, but both 747-8i. For the FRA-DEL segment, the aircraft was on its second round trip ever. What I found on that aircraft was a Special Issue of the Lufthansa Magazine – dedicated to the new 747-8i. I saved my copy and each family member I was traveling with did the same. And I forgot all about them. Yesterday while cleaning out my office (it is Spring…) I found them. I would like to give two copies away to two lucky readers. These are amazing collectors issues and for those of you who are Aviation geeks like I, an amazing piece of history to hold on to. The Magazine is beautiful with excellent layouts and pictures. And yes, it is bi-lingual – German & English.  

How can you get it? Very simple. If you would like to win one of the two I am giving away, express your interest by leaving a comment below. All you have to do is leave a comment sharing which route you have flown on the 747-8i, if you have flown it, or which route you would like to fly it on. It does not have to actually fly the route you desire. Please limit comments to once per day (using Midnight EST as the day change). I will disqualify anyone with more than one entry per day. I will use the email addresses used to verify. I will be drawing a winner using random.org. The contest runs from now until Midnight EST, Wednesday, April 25th. This contest is open to participants all over the world. I will mail the magazine to any address anywhere in the world (just do not expect overnight mail!).

Wish you all the best!

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Here is a list of all the Jet Airways booking classes:

• First: F, A
• Business: C, J, Z, I, P
• Economy: Y, M, T, U, N, L, Q, S, K, H, V, O, W, B and G

Here are the ones that earn United Miles:

• First: F, A (150% miles)
• Business: C, J, Z, I, P (125% miles)
• Economy: Y, M, T, U, N, L (100% miles)
• Discounted Economy:Q, S (50% miles)
• NO miles earned: K, H, V, O, W, B and G (thats a lot!)

I also noticed that in some cases the fare difference between a class that did and did not earn miles was trivial. I could have ‘fared-up’ and earned my miles. Lesson learnt – Know Your Booking Classes!

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The American Express Membership Rewards program is one of the best out there. I did a detailed comparison between Membership Rewards and Chase Ultimate Rewards in my last post. Well, the program just got better! For a limited time though. American Express OPEN has increased the sign up offer for its The Business Gold Rewards Card® from American Express OPEN to 50,000 Points! You get the points after spending $5,000 in the first three months of getting the card. This is an excellent offer, especially given the no annual fee for the first year (then $175).

Here are the full details:

• Earn 50,000 Membership Rewards® points after you spend $5,000 in purchases on the Card in the first 3 months of Card membership†.

• Earn points even faster to get more rewards for your business.

• 3X points on airfare purchased from airlines. 2X points at US gas stations.

• Up to $100,000 in each category per year, then 1 point.

• Terms and limitations apply.

• Reduce travel costs, show appreciation for employees and clients, and offset everyday expenses by using points to get something back and grow your business.

• $0 introductory annual fee for the first year, then $175.

• Apply online to qualify for this offer. See offer terms for details.

Apply here: The Business Gold Rewards Card® from American Express OPEN

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The two most flexible reward programs that are not locked-in to an Airline or a Hotel Chain are Ultimate Rewards from Chase and Membership Rewards from American Express. Both are excellent programs with great redemption opportunities and multiple ways to earn them. This post with compare and contrast some of the key points of these two rewards programs.

Whats Common:

• The first thing that is common between these two programs is that they are both not locked to a particular Airline or Airlines (like Miles and More is to Lufthansa, Swiss and Austrian or United MileagePlus to just United) or Hotel Chain (like Hilton HHonors to the Hilton Chain).
• Secondly, they can be transferred to multiple other programs – Hotel, Airline, Retail, Gift Cards
• Thridly, they both have redemption directly for Travel
• Fourth, they both have ‘shopping malls’ that allow earning rewards on purchases from a wide set of retailed/brands
• Fifth, both have multiple cards that earn to the same program – personal and business cards. (See below for list)
• Sixth, while not the best return, both allow redemption for cash or cash Gift Cards

Whats different:

• Chase Ultimate Rewards has 1:1 transfer to several airline and hotel programs (United, Marriott, Amtrak, to name a few), where as Membership Rewards the ratios are not always 1:1 (Hilton is 1:1.5 and SPG is 1:0.33)
• Membership Rewards has 16 Airlines and 5 Hotel programs you can transfer to, where as Chase has 9 total programs you can transfer to (Air, Hotel and Amtrak)
• Membership Rewards can be redeemed directly on Amazon.com
• Chase Ultimate Rewards has many opportunities to earn multiple points for each dollar spent (unto 6x), but Membership Rewards tops out at 3x (for travel)
• Membership Rewards allows transfer to Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG), which itself has excellent redemption and transfer opportunities
• Last, but not the least both have multiple cards that allow you to earn points, but American Express has more cards to choose from. Having multiple cards to get over a period of time allows one to really pile on the points with multiple sign-up bonuses!

Here is a list of cards that earn points for these two programs:

Chase Ultimate Rewards

Personal Cards

• Chase Sapphire Preferred® – 40,000 points after spending $3,000 in your first three months. No foreign transaction fee. 7% Annual bonus. No annual fee the first year, then $95. (** In my Opinion, this is the best offer available from Chase at this time).
• Chase Sapphire® Card – 10,000 points after spending $500 in your first three months. No annual fee (ever).

Business Cards

• Ink Bold® Business Card – 50,000 points after spending $5,000 in your first three months. No foreign transaction fee. Upto 5x points on select purchases. Airport Lounge Access. No annual fee the first year, then $95.
• Ink Plus® Business Card – 50,000 points after spending $5,000 in your first three months. No foreign transaction fee. Upto 5x points on select purchases. Airport Lounge Access. No annual fee the first year, then $95.

American Express Membership Rewards

Personal Cards

• American Express® Gold Card – No Signup bonus. No annual fee the first year, then $125.
• The Platinum Card® from American Express – 25,000 Membership Rewards after spending $2,000 in your first three months. Club Access. $200 Airline fee credit. Annual fee $450.
• American Express® Premier Rewards Gold Card – 25,000 Membership Rewards after spending $2,000 in your first three months. No annual fee the first year, then $175. 

Business Cards

• The Business Gold Rewards Card® from American Express OPEN – 50,000 Points after spending $5,000 in the first three months of getting the card. No annual fee the first year, then $175. (** In my Opinion, this is the best offer available from American Express at this time).
• The Business Platinum Card® from American Express OPEN – 25,000 Membership Rewards after spending $5,000 in your first three months. Club Access. $200 Airline fee credit. Annual fee $450.
• Business Green Rewards Card from American Express OPEN – 5,000 Membership Rewards after first purchase. No annual fee the first year, then $95.

Any feature of these two reward programs that you love? Which program do you have points with? Do share by leaving a comment below.

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