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January 6, 2006
The Evil Plan continues
A progress report on this:
Cathay Pacific Asia Miles – goal accomplished, ticket held. Will be purchased (with my Goldpoints Visa, natch) around January 17 when my credit card moves to the next billing period.
Marriott Points – 1 free night certificate + 16,474 + 2,040 pending. There was a setback; I wasn’t approved for the Marriott Business Visa as well as the personal card. I may have too many cards with Chase already. I used to have only one, but then First USA and Bank One merged with Chase and now I have three. This setback means I’ll only have one free night certificate and I think only enough points for an extra night, so I will only plan to stay there two nights and concentrate from this point on getting Goldpoints for the Radisson SAS. New Goal: 1 free night certificate + 18,000 points (purchasing 2,000 more for $20)
Goldpoints – 19,260 + 11,659 pending. That’s slightly more than one free night’s worth. Points from shopping at their portal add up quickly, earning 15-55 points on the dollar as opposed to 3 points for every dollar of credit card spending. Besides Aadvantage miles being convertible at points.com, so are a few other plans. I have more than enough Aadvantage miles to cover the balance needed, but I’d rather use up a few currencies less valuable to me.
I had 6500 orphan USAir Dividend Miles, but USAir didn’t allow transfers out of Dividend Miles without their branded Visa. Then, on the advent of their merger with America West, they allowed transfers between the two programs at 1:1. America West gives much worse transfer rates than USAir, but at least I can exchange the miles.
I value Continental Onepass miles at half of any other reward currency because "Nonepass" is notoriously stingy about award availability, especially at standard rates rather than “Easy Pass”. An award that might be 25,000 miles on American is never available for less than 50,000 miles on Continental. Continental Miles can be transferred to Amtrak Guest Rewards at 1:1 by calling Continental’s customer service. Amtrak points can convert to Midwest Airlines miles at 1:1 as well. And Midwest miles convert to Goldpoints at a little bit more than 1:1. Not the best ratio (eBay points to Goldpoints was 1:3) but I think the 25,000 points I now have parked at Amtrak waiting to go to Midwest will do me more good as Goldpoints than as Nonepass miles. If I don’t need them, I can send them back from Amtrak to Continental.
Posted by Leigh Witchel at January 6, 2006 11:33 PM
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Comments
You amaze me. I consider myself detail-oriented beyond most, but all that ... I would go crazy.
You amaze me.
Good for you!
Posted by: Grace at January 9, 2006 10:19 PM