I am in a foul mood. The forecast low Monday will be -4 with negative 35-40* wind chill with skin freezing in minutes if you are outside. Why was I not smart enough to book a cruise or an all-inclusive this time of the year? I have a fireplace so I will survive but there will be whining. But instead of whining let’s look at the busy week that was:
I have to say I do appreciate being a million miler with Delta and my “lifetime” Gold status with the airline for some small, but meaningful, perks when I fly them. If you too are chasing whatever level status with Delta you need to know how you can book flights that can yield much higher MQDs for your trip.
I still have a few hundred thousand Delta SkyPennies (SkyMiles) in my and my wife’s accounts and am always looking for some degree of value spending them. Gosh I have to say it is becoming harder and harder to use them when other points are sooooooo much better. See why.
If you are going to fly Delta, and not paying with points, then what is the best credit card to buy your tickets with? Is it what you think? Chris breaks it down for us.
There is a sweet targeted Amex offer that seems to only be for personal cards (not business cards) that once you register you can save $200 on a $1000 NCL purchase. 20% off is amazing and if you happen to have others (in the family or friends even) who have the offer you can really do well making a number of 1k payments per card! Check out the offer terms.
On top of the Amex 20% offer I am able, as a Caesars Diamond (from a hotel status match), to book my cruises with a 20% discount. This sweet trick will not last much longer so it is worth checking out.
This week our own Michael who is an Oceania cruise enthusiast has a review of one of their small ships. What are the pro’s and con’s of small ship life?
Lastly, and I think this is the highest reward I have ever seen, TopCashback is offer a massive 16% cash back on most Dell purchases. Why does this matter so much? Many of us have $200 per card Dell credit on our American Express Business Platinum cards (you can use a number of cards per order with split pay) and this huge cash back opportunity with the credits is a huge win to start 2025!
Have a safe and warm weekend everyone and if you are on a cruise ship right now I am immensely jealous and wish I was you! – René
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Can’t even read the article due to all the pop-ups and crap floating in/out.
@Rick – We are working with our team at BoardingArea.com for a fix. Thanks for patience as we have some bad ads sneaking in.
To be fair, it seems all of the blogs associated with Boarding Area have this problem.
@Fred – We have a test fix rolling out next week. All of BA is working hard to fix this. Thank you again for support and help.
A few hundred thousand SkyMiles and lifetime Gold Medallion status certainly sounds significant to me.
I’m retired and just barely made Gold Medallion for 2025. Probably only make Silver for 2026. Funny thing is I pay for all my travel out of my own pocket.
To have your employer pay for your travel expenses while you make Platinum or Diamond status has to be a wonderful benefit. Enjoy your lifetime Gold Medallion status.
Congrats on your retirement!
@Rich – FYI I payed for every single ticket during my lifetime of flying Delta. Well, I did take a LOT of bumps so Delta also chipped in so… 😉
The WSJ has an article about long-time frequent flyers abandoning tier status in favor of lower-cost free agency. A month or so ago, the NY Times had a similar article. CNN did as well. While some can garner value from tier status, more and more seem to be concluding that benefits are either of little meaningful value, not realizable, or attainable via a premium cabin ticket. And, many in the hobby would say the same thing has happened with the hotel programs.
@Fred – Saw that this morning. Delta said all things are perfect puppies and kittens and everyone loves loves loves Delta more than ever in history (basically)!
And that’s okay. If elites are in fact leaving and if Delta is in fact not affected financially, it would suggest that elites never needed Delta and Delta never needed elites. Ha.