I’m traveling in South East Asia and have been slacking lately, sorry. đ All that flying, riding, driving… Take its toll, you know. It’s also lucky that there hasn’t been anything new in our little mile-and-point universe, either, otherwise I would feel a little guilty. Well, sometimes lack of news is good news. I will take another day without devaluations anytime. Now that I’m relaxing at the fabulous Category 10 Conrad in Koh Samui, there is time to do some writing for a change.
I’m sorry, did I say no news? How dare I! One of the longest unofficial credit card offers, the Barclays US Air 35,000-mile bonus with the waived annual fee for the first year is dead. End of the era, in some ways.
Is it mind-blowing news? Not really. There is another unofficial 40,000-mile bonus offer but it doesn’t waive an $89 annual fee. The extra 5,000 miles make it up for the $89 fee if you want my opinion (and even if you don’t). You will find the link to this new offer on my Best Credit Cards for Free Flights page.i
There is another 30K-bonus offer without an annual fee, but in all honesty, I don’t believe it to be a good deal. Grab a 40K offer and hand them the annual fee; these miles will soon become the new AA currency, the extra 10K miles definitely worse more than $89.
The Chase British Airlines 100K offer is gone too, but you know what, good riddance! The buggers wanted you to spend $50K a year for that extra portion of 50,000 miles. Nothing has really changed now that the offer is reset back to the original 50,000 bonus.
American Express Membership Rewards offers 40% transfer bonus to Virgin America. Not bad if you frequent VS, otherwise–meh! There is another 33% bonus to Hilton, which you must ignore. If you want Hilton, transfer your MR points to Virgin Atlantic first and then to Hilton at 1:2 ratio.
Well, that’s all the essential news I could scramble. Now that the active part of my trip (Siem Reap and Bangkok) is over, it’s back to blogging again. And with the views like these, believe me folks, there is no lack of inspiration. The reports are coming.
