Miles and Points, Smorgarsbord

1. In case you’ve missed it, make sure to check out this fantastic post on Million Miles Secrets focusing on British Airways Avios program and ways to avoid fuel surcharges.

2. Speaking of, don’t forget about 40% bonus on transfers to Avios from Membership Rewards through January 31st. This is a big deal and probably the most important hobby development of 2015 so far.

3. New list of SPG Hot Escapes valid for next 6 weeks. US has 40 participating properties. (h/t LoyaltyLobby)

4. Through the end of the week, get 8% cash back on Expedia special rate by going through TopCashBack (my link).

5. According to this Flyertalk member the annual fee on Citi Thank You Premier card will go down from $125 to $95 in April 19th, plus some changes in rewards structure. Not a big deal to me, but thought I would mention it.

6. Check your Amex “Offers for you” Many report $50 credit on $250 reservation in Hilton hotels. You can also try to Sync your card via Twitter.

7. On occasion, I like to mention m/s opportunities to my readers. In case you are interested in this activity, Wells Fargo Cash Back Visa Signature card still offers 5% cash back on groceries, gas and drugstore purchases for  6 months after account approval. No sign-up bonus is offered.

Obviously, it’s mostly of use to those who are willing to buy and liquidate prepaid Visa gift cards. The offer pays me commission. If you are after sign-up bonus, I recommend you go with Wells Fargo Propel (does not pay me). Read more on it in my page “Best credit card deals for family.”

On my mind

I’m not a  huge fan of buffets, and neither is my husband. Most of the time, it’s a case of having many food choices, all of them mediocre. Kind of like, Jack of all trades and master of none.

Well, in spite of this dislike, recently we ate at a local smorgasbord buffet. Why? The miles, of course. Everything in life is about miles. I’ve mentioned that my brother-in-law told me I could use his United miles for one of my parents’ tickets. The problem is, he has 57,500 miles, and I need 60,000 miles for roundtrip coach redemption from Europe to USA.

He is working on another offer at the moment.  Plus, he barely uses credit cards, period. That means I needed to find a way to top off his account. Thankfully, through the end of January, United is giving 2,000 bonus miles for signing up for new United Mileage Plus Dining account. So, I went ahead and created a profile and put in my credit card number. My brother-in-law is busy.  Plus, I’m a control freak, so I wanted to take care of it myself.

Unfortunately, the only participating restaurant close to us is a smorgasbord buffet. Convincing my husband to go was a challenge, to say the least. But in the end, he agreed. So even though we rarely get to have a date night, we ended up schlepping to a buffet. So, we come in and turns out, you have to pay upfront. The problem is, you need to spend $30 in one dine in order to get the bonus, but the bill is $22.

So, I started explaining the situation to a cashier and asked her to sell me a $30 gift card, and then I would pay with it. She just gave me a blank stare. This is an instance when you can not pull a HUCA (hang up, call again). I’d be careful using this term around Boston, though. They may think you are referring to something else entirely.

Back to my story. At that moment, a group of 9 senior citizens comes in. Oh my! I knew I was in trouble. Without saying anything, my husband sat down and gave me the “look.” I told the cashier that I would wait till the group got done paying and attempt to explain myself again.

After what seemed like 30 minutes, but was probably closer to 10, I told the lady about the deal and she got it! Everything went through just fine. That’s the kind of crazy stuff we do in this hobby. Oh, and you probably wonder how the food was? It was mediocre, just as expected. But at least there  was lots of it! Hmm, I hope this doesn’t describe my content.

Click here to view various credit cards and available sign-up bonuses