As many followers of Miles Per Day will know, Virgin America is offering a promotion where transferring 80,000 Membership Rewards points to the Virgin America (VX) Elevate program will grant you VX Gold status until February of 2017. For frequent VX flyers, this could be a great deal because it offers free Main Cabin Select upgrades (typically $50 a pop) and increased earnings on cash fares.
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Bay Area Sunset Drive :)
Check out the video for stunning dashcam footage during a sunset drive!
How to get a last minute passport renewal + Brazilian Visa
For my recent trip to Brazil, I knew that as a US Citizen, I needed to get a visa. The only person going on the trip who was exempt from this requirement was my friend who was a Singaporean citizen.
I looked up the requirements. The fee for the visa was $160, payable in USPS Money Order. Due to a new reciprocal agreement, it would be valid for 10 years with multiple entries allowed. It was still 6 weeks out from my trip, I had plenty of time, right?
Free 150 Starwood points for updating your security questions
Via View from the Wing, you can get 150 free Starwood points for updating your security questions by October 31, 2015.
With several high profile hacks of loyalty programs in recent years, like the Hilton HHonors hack, it’s a good sign to see that loyalty programs are adding additional security features to accounts. I recommend using randomly generated passwords from a program like 1Password to fill in your security questions, or at the least not making answers to questions something that could be easily looked up from public records or just by knowing a little about you.
Increased signup bonuses for the Amex Gold and Green charge cards
From Reddit via FlyerTalk, there are increased offers available for the following cards through incognito windows / private browsing.
American Express Gold Charge Card
25,000 Membership Rewards after $1,000 spend in first 3 months. Earns 2x Membership Rewards for purchases made directly with airlines, and US restaurants. 1x for everything else. $160 annual fee, waived the first year.
Strictly Speaking: Sometimes, there is a right answer
Last week, Esther and I were trying to figure out the best use of our points for an upcoming trip to Australia, New Zealand, and Fiji. I had initially covered four nights in Sydney with my IHG balance (140,000 points for 4 nights at the Holiday Inn Old Sydney), and we planned on redeeming Orbucks for our stay in New Zealand, so we were left trying to figure out what to do about Fiji.
After some research, Esther settled on the Intercontinental Fiji, and it’s not too hard to see why:
$300 bonus for Amex Blue Cash Everyday!!
Via my mother (I have trained her well 😛 ), Costco Amex holders may be eligible for a $300 sign up bonus on the Amex Blue Cash Everyday (see Doctor of Credit’s review of it and a publicly accessible $250 offer here) card. As far as I know, there’s no offer code, but you do have to call in and go through the phone bill-pay flow (you will get redirected to an agent because they are trying to convert customers; note also that they may give you a lesser offer but as with all things, just HUCA). I tried numerous times to see if there were product change offers available over online chat and the reps came up with nothing, but if anyone has success, let us know in the comments.
Quick news and deals from around the web
From Just Another Points Traveler, you can save $10 off $50 on your first order at Amazon Warehouse Deals WD1STTIME. I’ve bought plenty of electronics and other more expensive products from Amazon Warehouse Deals and always had a good experience.
From Travel Codex, Avianca is status matching from various frequent flyer programs to its own program from October 1, 2015 to November 30, 2015. This is an easy way to get Star Alliance Gold until March 2017 if you have equivalent status or higher on another airline. It’s not certain what airlines they are matching from or if they are matching from other Star Alliance Airlines, but it’s worth a try! Star Alliance Gold gets you lounge access when flying Star Alliance airlines, priority check-in, sometimes priority security, and priority boarding. Star Alliance Gold from a program outside the United States also gives you domestic lounge access even when flying economy, which you don’t get as a United MileagePlus Gold member.
Targeted Spending Offer for Barclaycard Sallie Mae Mastercard Holders
Received this in my email today! I’m a huge fan of my Barclaycard Sallie Mae Mastercard thanks to the 5% cashback on grocery stores (up to $250 per month), 5% cashback on gas (up to $250 per month), and 5% cashback on bookstores, including Amazon.com (up to $750 per month). And of course the standard 1% cashback on everything else. I always recommend this card to my friends and family who aren’t really looking to play the travel hacking game but just want to earn the maximum cashback on the most common everyday spending categories.
A theoretical travel hacker walks into a bar….
A theoretical physicist walks into a bar….
Oh wait, that’s not right. In theoretical physics, everything happens inside a perfect vacuum.
No, I don’t expect you to have taken college physics (or even high school physics, for that matter) to get something out of this post. All you need to know is this: in physics, a perfect vacuum is a space that doesn’t have any external forces or influences so that when you do some sort of calculation (say, how far a meteor will travel in a given amount of time), you don’t have to take into account things like friction, gravity, or air resistance. That is to say, you can calculate without making any other considerations.