revisiting old posts, updates: plastiq, wings, scotiabank amex gold

just wanted to quickly post to update on a few of my previous posts:

1. paying taxes with your credit card via plastiq.com. i did this back in april, and everything went through. as you may recall, they charge an additional 2% surcharge to make up for the fees. however, after doing the math, since i'd be given a cash rebate of 2% on the purchase price and the additional surcharge, i ended up saving $0.42 on my taxes. i was a bit worried when my notice of assessment revealed a balance still owing, so i registered for a canada revenue agency (CRA) account to investigate. as it turns out, my taxes were paid to the CRA on the same date as i paid them. i have no balance owing. and it turned out to be regular purchase as opposed to a cash advance. so plastiq.com works as advertised. i'll use it again next time.
2. buying products and getting them free using a mail-in-rebate. this time, it was for the quantum dish soap. i bought the product for around $6. and they rebated both the taxes and the postage. received the check $7.32 today. 
3. i did not end up doing the yyj-yvr-sea-yvr run for "aeroplan's earn your wings" contest. at 3.23c/mile and a full day's worth of travel, it didn't seem to be worthwhile to me. plus, as mentioned in previous posts, if you can't actually redeem the mile itself because of lack of seats, then the actual value of the mile approaches zero.
4. applying for and using the scotiabank american express gold card. as per my previous post, i did indeed keep using my 2% MBNA cash back card for most of my everyday purchases. for gas, grocery, dining, and entertainment, i signed up for the scotia bank card for 4% travel rewards. the card works like a charm and indeed rewards me for what i should be rewarded for. no troubles there. however, the application process was frustrating and repetitive.

• they wanted proof of income, so i had to fax in my pay stub. i've had that happen before, so that's fine
• they wanted proof of my identity, so i had to go into the branch to meet with a banking representative (not just an ordinary teller) so that i could sign some forms. i had to go in during specific work hours for this. they also wanted me to provide proof of address and employment, and so they suggested that i bring my pay stub in again. i take that as evidence that their departments don't talk to one another, which is never a good sign.
• they wouldn't let me have online access to my account initially as i was not a scotia customer. however, when i came back at a later time to submit a voided check for pre-authorized debit, without batting an eye, the teller simply created a customer card and login for me. so for now i'm a happy customer.

air canada ordered to increase compensation for involuntary denial of boardings

in this cbc news article, they report that the canada transport agency has ruled that air canada's current compensation for an involuntary denial of boarding needs to be increased. (ht: dan and jason via facebook)

what is an oversold flight?
airlines oversell their flights on a consistent basis. the idea is that based on previous statistics and performance, they know that a certain number of passengers on any given route will not physically make it to their seats come departure time. this could be for a variety of reasons:

1. cancelling a refundable ticket at the last minute
2. passengers simply not showing up, or showing up too late (e.g., arriving too late at baggage cut off time)
3. passengers who misconnect based on late inbound flights.

the airline knows that if a seat flies out empty, it is potentially revenue lost. even if the flight has been sold to someone else, if that other person does not show up, then there was the potential for the airline to have sold the seat to someone else as well. therefore, the amount of money lost can be significant. airlines hedge their bets by overselling flights so as to minimize the amount of lost revenue.

but sometimes, it backfires. sometimes, everyone does show up. in that case, they try to bump up passengers from economy class to business class (usually elite passengers in a process known as an operational upgrade, also known as an op-up). if doing even that doesn't solve the numbers problem, then they will need to deny people from boarding the flight.

voluntary denial of boarding
the first step is to look for volunteers. airlines are required to ask for volunteers before bumping people off. these volunteers are essentially signing up for a voluntary denial of boarding. the airline usually tries to offer compensation, which can be significant. i was offered a voluntary denial of boarding on my oversold flight from LAX-HNL two years ago, delaying my arrival by 4 hours. but in the process, i received $400 in travel vouchers. if there are not enough volunteers initially, the potential compensation increases in a desperate bid to win volunteers. usually that is enough.

involuntary denial of boarding
this occurs when not enough volunteers are found. involuntary denial of boarding policies for air canada can be found here on page 3. it looks like they begin boarding all people with confirmed seats. then they board everyone with disabilities, unaccompanied minors, or anyone in the airline's view who would be faced with undue hardship if they were not carried. then full fare economy and business class passengers board. finally, they board in the order with which they presented themselves at check-in. this is why checking in as early as possible is usually beneficial if you do not want to be bumped off the flight.

compensation for domestic and international flights in america
frequent flying summarizes the rules here. they are as below:

• no compensation is required if the airline can get you to your final destination within one hour of your originally scheduled arrival time. 
• 1-2 hour delay, you receive a cash compensation of 200% of your original one-way fare, up to $650.
• 2+ hour delay, you receive a cash compensation of 400% of your original one-way fare, up to $1,300.

in the case of my voluntary denial of boarding to HNL, the one-way ticket price was roughly 200$. for a 4-hour delay, i could have, in theory, received up to $800. however, there were certainly no shortage of volunteers. supply and demand: if enough people are willing to settle for $400, then that's great news to the airline. in this case, united airlines only paid out $400 for overbooking, which is a savings of 50% for them. luckily, i got to sit in the lounge during that time.

of course, when asked, they provide meal vouchers, hotels for overnight stays if necessary. sometimes they will lump in seat upgrades (economy plus or business) as a part of the volunteer package.

current compensation for domestic flights on air canada
i didn't realize this, but according to the article, it's currently set at a $200 voucher or $100 in cash. the new ruling has suggested that it has to be higher although the actual amount has not yet been set. i fully support this as it's only fair to the consumer. i would be interested in seeing whether they adopt the same limits as the american airlines do. i would certainly hope so, as it could potentially make the art of flying that much more lucrative.

this, of course, probably impacts me very little. i've never been on an oversold flight that i could have volunteered off of on air canada. i also don't use them very often for transborder travel due to their 50% mileage earning rates. and i sometimes lean more towards westjet flights (who apparently do not overbook their flights) on domestic itineraries as i can get 100% non-status miles on american airlines compared to air canada's 25% non-status miles for usually the same price.

on the road to status: sfo/hnl edition. the journey home

closing out this trip, there were two things that made the journey home especially easy and more comfortable. we were scheduled to go from hnl-sfo-yvr on a red-eye. it was booked this way (compared to direct on air canada) for the extra milage, and because i had to make use of a previous travel voucher from united.

1) tsa pre-check -- it works as advertised. more importantly, it works for nexus card holders on specific airlines traveling even on international itineraries. when they scan your boarding card, you'll hear either 3 beeps (tsa pre-check) or 1 beep (regular screening). i remember the line in SFO: the regular line extended beyond the roped area, the premier access line was still at least 20 people deep (although within the roped area), whereas the tsa pre-check line had one person in front of me. on top of the speed advantage, we:

• did not have to remove shoes
• did not have to remove belt and jacket
• did not have to take out computer and liquids. 

pre-check was equally as fun in honolulu, although not as needed. that being said, we were leaving on an earlier flight (9pm). in the past, on my 10 or 11pm flight, i have seen lines extending almost to the entrance of the actual airport itself.

apparently, you can still be randomly chosen to be sent to regular screening lines. i don't know if that is done randomly when scanning your boarding pass, or upon boarding pass issuance (i.e., by not placing the "tsa pre-check" logo on top of your boarding pass). but even if you were sent to the regular screening lines, you've at least cut the line by a significant degree.

2) economy plus access -- every inch counts. i knew that the loads coming to honolulu were a lot higher than the loads exiting. so it went without saying that i would not be getting any economy plus seats when going to hawaii as a lowly star gold member. but on the way home, i knew that the loads were a lot less busy. i was hopeful for e+ seating.

in honolulu, the lounge agent helpfully offered it to me when asked, but because it meant giving up the duo seats that we already had (in a 2-5-2 configuration) for an aisle and a middle (in that same 2-5-2 configuration), we opted to keep our seats. in san francisco, things were a bit different.

"so just to let you know, star golds no longer get complimentary access to economy plus seats." when she said that, i was kind of expecting that she wouldn't give us the extra inches of legroom for free. "i'm just letting you know so that if another agent refuses you in the future, that's why." but then she smiled and typed a bit in the computer. "but here are your new boarding passes!" it's nice to get a gift like that to make the process of coming home from hawaii just a little bit easier to take.

yet another timeshare presentation, hawaii edition part 2

yesterday, i started talking about my latest timeshare presentation adventure. due to the length, i had separated out the experience into two different parts:

• part one: how to get the time share presentation
• part two: what happens in the actual timeshare presentation

i think that getting the actual timeshare presentation is light-hearted and fun. the guy signing you up for the presentation wants to keep you motivated to go to the actual presentation. but once you get there, especially if you've made up your mind in advance that you don't want to buy one, they're not quite as nice. and so after three different presentations, i've realized that what makes this process easier is the fact that i've dealt with narcissistic and anti-social personalities via work. if i pretend that i'm at work, then these presentations are quite easy.

so when you arrive, you have a nice fancy entrance area, with pictures telling you how much of a paradise the hilton is (and to be fair, it is a lovely property). the reception desk is full of smiling people, unless they aren't. in which case, you get a nice empty picture, as per below.

1) they checked me in i waited for the salesman. he was 4 minutes late for me today, but the clock started ticking at my scheduled appointment time. it is important to remind them that they were late, so as to give you more leverage for when you turn them down later. "i have to admit that i lost confidence in things when you showed up late," is something i said near the end. i also looked for anything to use in order to gain more leverage. for instance, as he walked by the washrooms, he tapped the female door  and said "and if you need the washrooms, they are here." he could have pointed to the male one.

2) he tried to be friendly with me. i suspect that he probably googled vancouver before our appointment (hence the 4 minutes), and tell you how much they love it there. but then that's where i interrupt the to make it clear: "so letting you know, i'm actually here for the gift cards only, and that i'm pretty skeptical about all of this. i'm probably not going to buy, but i'm open to hearing your presentation." i think it's only fair to let them know in advance so that they don't waste their time. however, if they choose to continue their hard sales pitch after that, then that's no longer my issue. i should have been more careful with how much hope i gave him, though. i think they're trained to grasp onto the smallest bit of ambivalence, and in a motivational-interviewing kind of way, they try to ramp you up through the stages of change.

3) he gathered my information, he gathered my typical vacation preferences. he gave me a survey about how important certain factors are in your life, and it will be clear that he hasn't read it himself because he will ask you about every single point. "why is happiness important to you? who do you meet while you are on vacation?" but i am curt with the replies: "because it is. and i meet people here." really, i wanted to tell him: "none of your business." 

he berated my current hotel that i'm paying 50$ for (thanks to expedia's best price guarantee), tells me that the cost of my hotel 10 years from now will be roughly 500$ a night (uh, i'm not one to stay at 500$ hotels ... or even 250$ hotels no matter how nice they are). he tells you that you can own your vacation property and vacation points, and that you can use those points at any of their properties, and that points will never experience the ill effects of inflation. he cannot explain how come those vacation points don't devalue over time, yet their prized hhonors points do.

4) he made me watch a 15-minute video, which, i will admit, reduced my level of certainty from 99% to 95%.

5) he insisted on going for a tour and a walk-through of the property. he sensed that i wasn't really interested, and so he took the opportunity to jab me a few times: "i know this is above your affordability," he said at least a few times. during this portion, he kept on confusing my profession multiple times (psychologist vs. psychiatrist). i corrected him many times. but i was thankful because i was able to use this in the end: "it was really weird that you kept calling me a psychologist," i told him. "i felt that you weren't really listening to me and paying attention to what i was looking for. how  can i trust that this timeshare really fits my needs if you don't even listen to me?"

6) he took me back to the office and gave me the numbers re: points and how the program works. he will tell me the cost of ownership vs. how much money i'm throwing into the trash by renting. at this point, i innocently looked at the phone, which he was intensely aware of: "you have somewhere to go?" he asks me in a confrontational matter. "no," i replied. "i'm just seeing what the time is." but he knew he was wasting his breath, and so he didn't even bother telling me about the full cost of ownership.

(in previous timeshare sessions with the "new" upscale property groups, it turns out to be a $25-50k upfront fee to buy a "deed" for which you keep. it's associated with an annual maintenance fee that will go into perpetuity until you sell it back to the company for a fraction of your initial $25-50k investment. the annual maintenance fee is just slightly less than what you would pay for a normal, affordable, decent hotel for the same amount of time. admittedly, the rooms are much nicer than normal hotel rooms, and so if you insist on luxurious rooms, maybe it is worth it after all. maintenance fees are subject to inflation).

7) he terminated when it was clear that i wasn't going to buy. he told me that i was clearly a money waster, that this is a bad decision, but that's okay because "look like that type" anyway. he will threaten you, saying that you may never be offered another chance to tour again, and that these free gifts will disappear. when i pointed out how he wasn't listening to even basic things (e.g., where my hotel was, what i did for a living, how he wasted my time with the survey), he pulled out his book of recent sales. he showed me one from yesterday with a hand-written testimonial about how wonderful he was. he told me that because he was very consistent with his sales pitch, that the problem was clearly with me. 

it should be noted that when you sign up, you can have the option of using your passport as ID, which does not contain your address. you can use your parents' address, you can use your work phone number, and in that sense, it is hard to be refused for future sales pitches.

8) you always get your gift. how it is presented to you varies. in my case, he kind of tossed it in front of me, and i just let it plop onto the desk while keeping full eye contact. and just like that, i was dismissed, gift in hand.

9) they pretended to forget to give me a taxi voucher. but since their front desk is right beside the holding room for eager people waiting to hear the sales pitch, all i had to do was ask: "oh, hey, i just finished my tour, and i was promised a taxi voucher back. could i get a voucher back, please?" they quickly issued one for me.

10) in and out time: 90 minutes, but only because the salesman insisted on dragging it out. 

my friend told me that timeshare presentations are a little bit soul-destroying. but i think i came out in the end with minimal rage and $150 richer (+free swag as pictured below). i'm looking now for the next one!

yet another timeshare presentation, hawaii edition part 1

the first time i went to hawaii back in 2011, i was introduced to the world of timeshare presentations. i was a newbie at those, but i knew the one fundamental key: do not buy. i just remembered my dad buying one back in the 1990s, and i think he still regrets it.

the first time i went, i think i jumped for the opportunity of getting a $100 prepaid credit card with lunch included. they didn't tell me that you could get more. they didn't tell me that you could get more expensive experiences instead of a prepaid credit card. i didn't know that you could short circuit things so that you leave sooner rather than enduring the whole two hour presentation. during my second trip to hawaii, i was offered a $200 pre-paid amex for attending another session. that time, i told the presenter up front that i wasn't interested and that i was only here because of the gift. i was in and out of there within 45 minutes.

so fast forward to this trip, i was playing united's "halfway to hawaii" game when i saw that you could get this free tote from hilton if you went to their kiosk at the ala moana center. and that's when i was offered another chance to do a presentation for $150 with hilton grand vacations. this post is done in parts:

• part 1: how to get the timeshare presentation
• part 2: what happens in the actual timeshare presentation.

how to book a timeshare presentation:

1. find a reason to go to the kiosk. in this case, i needed to pick up the free tote bag. at the ala moana center, all of their kiosks have the word "information" on them as well. it's really information about the timeshare properties, but it's not unreasonable to expect that they'd have information about the mall too (e.g., "where is the washroom?"). so when you see a kiosk, innocently ask whether this is for a timeshare presentation as well.
2. ask what chain it is for and compliment the hotel: "oh, i saw ____ as i the shuttle was driving by and it looks so nice!" they cater to tourists, and so once, i had my camera hanging from my neck to be extra convincing.
3. they'll try to sell you on a timeshare presentation. they'll offer a gift. if it's not cash or something that you don't want (e.g., i was offered a hawaiian luau party for two -- no thanks), then a disappointed "oh" followed by an open ended pause, mixed with a little bit of a dismay on your face. that usually does the job. "or, we also have another promotion where if you go tomorrow, we can give you $150 in amex gift cards," he told me, picking up quite quickly that i had no interest in a big party with random strangers and lots of alcohol. "normally, it's $100, but for tomorrow only, it's $150." sometimes, you can push harder for more stuff, but honestly i didn't want to be too greedy.
4. they make you sign a bunch of forms agreeing to things:
• you're over the age of majority
• you're above a certain income level ($75,000/year for this one). they didn't verify.
• if you're married, then your spouse needs to come. they didn't say anything about common-law so i left it as ambiguous: "no, i'm not married."
• you're willing to sit through a 2-hr presentation
• you have not done one from the same company (e.g., wyndham vs. hilton vs. marriott) within the last 12 months (for hilton) or 6 months (for wyndham). 
5. they book a time for you, and arrange transportation to the sales office. they will give you a carbon copy of your agreement form and appointment time. you show up at the appropriate time.

it's pretty simple to get these offers. remember that the guy at the mall kiosk is motivated to get you to the showroom; that's how he gets paid. so even if you've had a poor encounter from the actual timeshare salesman in the past, it will have no influence on how eager the mall kiosk guy will be towards you. when you have the agreement in writing, you're all set. this is the fun part. the next part is a bit harder on the ego, but can still be worth it. that post will be for later.


either way, i'm basking in the glow of my $150 amex gift cards for now ...

on the road to status: sfo/hnl edition. this ain't no starwood ...

when i was booking the hotels for this trip, i had initially wanted to book one of the hotels that i had previously stayed at and enjoyed in san francisco. unfortunately, they were both sold out. so we needed a different plan.

we planned on arriving late at night on friday, and so we booked a four points by sheraton at the airport in SFO. the plan was afterwards to move from the airport hotel to downtown SFO for the following morning.

the four points at the airport wasn't luxurious by any means. the lowest available price at the time for the date that i wanted was around $250. however, it was only a category 2 hotel at the time, or 3,000 starwood points. this gave an average return of $0.08/point. and at 1 starwood point / dollar spent, that gave me an average return of 8%. a few weeks later, they changed its hotel cateogry to a category 3 hotel, meaning that 7,000 points were needed to redeem. so i was glad that i redeemed at the right time.

when we first got in at the four points, we weren't impressed. its stairs were out of order, we got a room on a low floor (no upgrade), and the room was a bit worn. but in all reality, it was good enough for what we needed. it was clean, the bed was comfortable, and it was free. 

we were supposed to move to the downtown region on saturday, and i had found this hotel with decent reviews in a great location. it was roughly $100 but because i managed to score best price guarantees from expedia, it was only $50 a night. an amazing deal. we went in and this is what we found:

there are two feet from the bed to the cabinet with a tv hidden inside of it. there's a chair that you can sit on in the corner, which is useful if you want to play hide and seek. given its location, i'm sure that no one's vacuumed underneath the chair for decades.

there's four feet from the edge of the bed to the rusted heating pipes that are permanently turned on. the window overlooks a raised, rooftop parking lot. there are three feet from the tail of the bed to the washroom.

if you sit on the toilet, your knees are a centimeter away from hitting the wall. the sink is located outside the bathroom, and so brushing your teeth in the morning will invariably wake up the remaining sleeping party.

so the four points by the airport? amazing in comparison.

we met up with some friends for dinner and we were talking about the joys of this hotel. one of them, a bona fide road warrior who puts in 260,000 miles a year on board tin cans, had told me the three factors that go into a hotel room: price, location, cleanliness. one should only aim for two out of three in order to be happy, he told me.

and so this hotel was an amazing value at just $50 a night. and the location was amazing, being just a few blocks from the BART station which also links to the airport. the area was also safe. but the room itself was not the best for two people. and so, as my friend suggested, i should be thankful that i scored two out of the three criteria for a great hotel. and really, given that we really only came home to shower and sleep, the room did its job. so i'm going to take my friend's advice and make that conscious effort to evaluate the hotel using those three criteria. i'm going to tell myself that i love it.  

but gosh, this is certainly not a starwood hotel.

on the road to status: sfo/hnl edition. united's travel-with-a-friend policy

yesterday, i ran after work to get to the airport. i thought that a 19h08 departure time was doable, and that i could easily slip away from work before 5. but life usually throws in a detour, and so we ended up racing to the airport in order to make the deadlines on time. just a few notes:

1) baggage drop off time is 60 minutes internationally for united, just like it is for air canada (trans-border). the bf and i got to the counter at 18h05 with our single piece of luggage that needed to be checked. the united agent was a bit curt, seemed a bit irritated that we didn't use the kiosk first. i think she was irritated that we were using the business class check-in counter too, even though it is a published benefit for star gold members). i did this because rather than waste my precious remaining 3 minutes fumbling on the computer screen and have something go wrong, i'd rather let the agent do it for me. the agent "forgot" to give us a priority baggage tag, and i was too in a rush to notice. interestingly, those traveling with star gold members who do not have status themselves also receive waived baggage fees on the same PNR. learned something new there.

2) the bf used the nexus iris scanner for the first time yesterday and did it like a pro. the machine went out of service for me when it came to my turn, so i used global entry for the very first time. you don't need to use the blue declaration cards when using global entry. global entry is available at all canadian pre-clearance airports, so i think i'll be doing global entry from now on.

3) joe and i got to the gate 27 minutes prior to departure time. interestingly, united has now moved to a system of separate lines for its different boarding groups. group 1 was already done by the time we arrived, and group 2 was almost done as well. i knew i was group 2 due to my star gold status but interestingly enough, my "travel companion" on the same PNR was also group 2 despite not having any status. this is great because now we don't actually have to check in luggage ... joe can board comfortably knowing that he will definitely have space available in the overhead compartments. this is definitely different than two years ago, whereby in vietnam, we were in different boarding groups. not that it mattered, because the vietnamese gate agent gave him a priority boarding sticker after she saw that we were traveling together.

4) there were a few seats left in premium economy, all of which were middle seats. it was not oversold after all. and i'd rather sit with the bf than in between two random strangers, even if there is more legroom.

5) our luggage was among the first to come out despite not having a priority tag. i honestly wished that priority baggage would mean priority baggage, and that if you're supposed to get a priority tag, that you actually get one. but having two "accidents" on united's part meant having the correct, expected outcome for me. so i'm happy in the end.

all in all, we are in san francisco, all in one piece. we arrived 30 minutes early, and we are now 800 status miles ahead.

preparing for a hopefully oversold flight

On Friday, I'm headed to SFO for a conference. It's going to be a very busy city, and thus the flights into SFO are actually quite full. They're not as full as they were during the conference held in Hawaii because Hawaii required specific gateway cities to be used in order to access the island. The same can't be said for San Francisco where there are hundreds of flights from all over North America coming and going everyday. The total number of ways to get to SFO are vast, and getting a seat somewhere is likely.

I'm flying United from Vancouver. It's exciting because using the mobile app, it shows only 13 economy plus seats, 1 regular economy, and 3 business class seats open. It doesn't actually mean that there are 14 economy seats available. What's more likely is that people have booked the flight, but don't want to pay the upfront economy + fee, and are just waiting for people to vacate their current economy seat (e.g., via an upgrade) before getting a seat assigned.

Most flights these days are oversold if possible, and that's important to know. Airlines know that there will be some people who won't make the flight or who will cancel last minute. Therefore, they can give that newly emptied seat to the oversold passenger. This ensures that as few seats go empty as possible. However, when everyone shows up on that oversold flight, the airline will try to bump people up a class of service. They'll bump those with status up from economy to economy +, or from economy + to business. If that's not enough to free up seats in economy, then they ask for volunteers. Usually, they pay volunteers a nice sum to take either the next flight out, or a flight that is convenient for the airline.

Playing around with the united booking engine, I can only make a dummy booking for two seats. Even for just one seat, the booking engine still maps onto a business class fare. That means that the airline doesn't even want to sell any more economy seats on that particular flight. They know that it is so overbooked that they are at risk for paying out more in compensation than they are to make money off of the potential no-shows and mis-connects. So this is simply exciting.

The last time I volunteered to be bumped was on my first trip out to HNL. They were looking for three volunteers to go onto the next direct flight, roughly 4 hours later. They offered a $400 voucher, which was almost the price of the ticket to go itself. I didn't have any plans, didn't know anyone in hawaii at the time, and I already had lounge access. So I raced to the podium, got my $400 voucher, and then parked myself in the lounge for the rest of the afternoon.

I'm not going for the actual conference, however. I took vacation time and not conference time. So I don't feel bad at all missing the conference. So the bf and I had a quick discussion about what our personal limit was: How much money are we willing to accept in the case of an oversold flight in order to arrive the following morning? Our answer: no less than $300 a person. I would agree as well. So we will see. I don't mind losing a day in SF when the compensation is almost enough for a new ticket back anyway!

Double dipping: buy your gift cards from Petro Canada!

Back when Safeway would offer Airmiles on gift cards, I would make sure that I would buy all of my gift cards from Safeway. Unfortunately, they've since corrected their computer glitch such that you can no longer earn miles. You used to be able to insist that the cashier swipe your points card "just for fun" and voila! -- one mile per 20$ in gift cards. No reward = no incentive.

I recently applied for, and started using, the Scotia Bank Gold American Express. It's a card that gives me a 4% rebate on gas, grocery, dining, and entertainment spend for use for future travel. So my strategy was to just purchase gift cards from Safeway to earn the 4% rebate instead of 2% with my MBNA World Points Mastercard. Such gift cards would include: Subway, A&W, iTunes, Banana Republic, HBC, and Best Buy. Doing so would serve two purposes: 1) allow me to use my Amex for purchases at non-Amex retailers (e.g., A&W), and 2) allow me to earn a 4% rebate across more types of purchases that wouldn't normally qualify for that extra rebate (e.g., that new shirt at Banana Republic).

I was at Petro-Canada looking at investing in the Pivot Visa (a topic for a future post), when I suddenly remembered something unique with Petro-Canada: they still offer points for your gift card purchases. In fact, you get 20 points per dollar spent. And with the Scotia Bank Amex, because Petro-Canada is a gas retailer, you still get 4% back!

Remember from my previous post: Petro-Points are very versatile. Note the conversion ratio assumes getting 20 Petro-Points per dollar spent on gift cards. Sometimes, there are promotions which would allow you to earn even more:

• 10,000 Petro-Points = 1,000 Cathay Pacific Asia miles. So you get 2 points/$1 spent
• 10,000 Petro-Points = $10 worth of travel at itravel2000.com. Rate of return: 2%
• 12,000 Petro-Points = 1,000 Sears points = $10 in Sears purchases. Rate of return: 1.67%
• 12,000 Petro-Points = $10 fuel savings card (5c off for 200L). Rate of return: 1.67%
• 80,000 Petro-Points = $50 Petro-Canada gift card. Rate of return: 1.25% 

Another unique value proposition is purchasing their prepaid Visa cards: $250 for an activation fee of $6.95. To save on the taxes on the activation fee, I'd consider buying these solely in Alberta. This brings the price to $257.30.

• You would receive $10.29 back in rebates from your Amex (4%)
• You would receive either $4.29 in Sears gift cards, or 515 Asia miles (note that Asia miles are worth at least 1c/mile, or $5.15 in this case.)
• You could use this card on all of your non-Amex, non-bonused spending (e.g., Superstore)
• If you had just spent the regular $250 on your 2% Mastercard, you would have gotten $5 in rewards. (Note: they no longer offer this product. The best you can do is really 1.5%, but I use 2% to make it fit my own scenario)
• Using this system, I would have spent $7.30 extra for the gift card, but would have received $14.58 in rewards, a net reward of $7.28 per $250 spent. $7.28 > $5.00, so this strategy wins. (Remember that Asia miles can often be worth much more, and so this net reward is on the conservative side.)

Petro-Canada is now my stop for gift cards. If I lived right beside one, I'd probably go there on a weekly basis. I'm not yet fully convinced that I'd buy the Visa pre-paid gift cards -- we will have to see.

Hidden city fares -- the art of throwing away the last segment.

Hidden city fares used to be great back in the day. Let's say you want to go from A --> B. Usually, a direct flight is quite expensive. However, flying from A --> B --> C can sometimes be cheaper. A "hidden city fare" is the technique of buying the A --> B --> C itinerary at a cheaper fare knowing full well that you'll be getting off at B and "throwing away" the last leg of the journey.

Let's use an example. This weekend marks the annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association in San Francisco (May 18-22). Let's say that my bf and I wanted to go to this conference, and that we wanted to arrive the day before it starts (i.e., Friday, May 17, 2013). Let's say that I can only take the last or second last flight of the day because I need to still work on Friday. And because the actual conference starts on Saturday, I don't have time to drive down to Seattle or Bellingham where it's cheaper to fly. What are our search options?

1. YVR (Vancouver) - SFO (San Francisco) direct on Air Canada = $921 all in for a one-way ticket.
2. YVR - SFO direct on united airlines = $802 all in for a one-way ticket.

Both pretty expensive. But it's my mistake for thinking about booking this busy conference so late in the game. (note: this is all for illustrative purposes -- I've booked my tickets a long, long time ago).

So this is where hidden city ticketing comes into play. Pricing is based on demand. Prices are based on city pair involved, regardless of stopover cities. United Airlines is selling me a ticket from YVR-SFO, and this is the price. the demand for this particular city pair is high because there's a major conference happening in the city at that exact time. that makes sense.

But what would happen if I pretended that I was going to Los Angeles (LAX) instead? The demand is much lower because there isn't a major conference happening at that time. A search on United shows one possible option of flying YVR --> SFO --> LAX. In this case, the price per person comes out to $673. so if you jump off the plane and "accidentally" miss your connection to lax, you end up still going to your intended destination (SFO). You save $129 per person, and as it so happens in this example, you get to ride up in business class as well.

This is a very bad example, of course, because this is a very specific situation. But it is not uncommon to find YVR --> YYC (Calgary) --> LAX cheaper than YVR --> YYC. this is most likely due to the sheer amount of competition that is available with the US-based airlines. I have occasionally found fares going from YVR --> YYZ (Toronto) --> MCO (Orlando) cheaper than flying YVR --> YYZ alone. Usually, the most luck I've had with finding hidden city fares is when I intend to fly domestically but look at transborder flights with strategic connections instead.

A quick search right now doesn't reveal many such savings, at least not for tango fares on Air Canada. But if you're looking for status miles and are willing to book flex fares domestically, hidden city ticketing still offers some advantages. For example, YVR --> YYC on may 30 at 8am on Air Canada = $262 (flex fare). YVR --> YYC --> LAX on the same day and time on air canada = $226. So you get the additional status and end up paying $36 less. Of course, if you only intended to buy tango fares domestically, then this technique doesn't make sense.

Some rules when playing this game:

1. Only buy one-way tickets. If you skip any segment, it invalidates the rest of your itinerary. If you book two separate one-way tickets, then your return ticket is not invalidated as it's on a separate reservation. Therefore, only skip out on the last leg of your itinerary and nothing else.
2. Checking luggage is an absolute no-no as your luggage will be sent to the final destination. For obvious reasons, this is not what you want. Also, under no circumstances do you want your carry-on gate checked either. This is why having star gold status is useful -- if you board first, you aren't at risk for having things checked at the gate. 
3. Do this sparingly, not weekly. In the travel terms and conditions, it does state that they could possibly charge you for it or find a way to recoup the cost. But if it's just every once in a while, it should be okay. I certainly don't do this often, and no one has ever asked me for payment.
4. In the case of irregular operations, always ask to be re-booked for the next flight out to the intermediate city (where you want to be), even if the connection to the final destination looks horrible. Because really, who cares? It's not like you're actually going there anyway. There is always the risk that you end up going to the ticketed final destination via other connections in the case of irregular operations (snow storm, mechanical issues, etc.), but that's a risk that you will need to be comfortable with. 
5. Due to #5, do not do this with very important, not-to-be-missed dates. I will be willing to do this with a vacation to Calgary or even to my review course in London next year. I will not be doing this for my Royal College exams.
6. Always be careful if you think your plans are likely to change. Change fees within Canada are much cheaper than change fees transborder.

Have you ever played with a hidden city fare? Or have you ever "thrown away" the final segment to make your travel just that much cheaper?

expedia.com's rewards program

when i book hotels that are not a part of the starwood group, like days inn (the wyndham rewards program does not have an elite program) or other independent hotels, i normally book via hotels.com. hotels.com uses practically the same search engine as expedia.com, except there are a few differences:

1. hotels.com gives a 4.55% rebate via big crumbs. this was discussed in my previous post. 
2. hotels.com allows you to pay in canadian currency, thereby eliminating the 2.5% forex fee
3. hotels.com has the welcome rewards program, where after 10 nights, you get a free one based on the average pre-tax cost of the previous 10 nights. you pay the difference if the new night is more.

overall, it's not a bad program. you essentially get a 14.55% rebate if you use the program right.

however, expedia.com (which i've heard is owned by the same people), have a different value proposition for me. it comes mainly in the form of their best price guarantee. if i can find a hotel cheaper on a competing site, i get an additional $50 voucher for the future. however, there are a few things to keep in mind:

1. expedia.com gives a 5.6% rebate via big crumbs.
2. expedia.com only charges in US funds, which means that there will be a 2.5% forex fee (unless you have a no forex fee credit card.

if i have a best price guarantee, it makes sense to book on expedia.com. note that bookings made via either hotels.com or expedia.com (or any online travel agency, really), do not count towards elite status or point accrual for most hotel chains.

when booking on expedia.com, something that stands out for me is expedia's rewards program. ultimately, it doesn't offset the larger rebates that you can get from the welcome rewards program by hotels.com. however if you're going to book on expedia anyway, you might as well collect.

expedia rewards: an introduction to earning

this is a free program to enroll in. points are earned from various purchases on the site. the points earning potential is as below. note that by throwing in a cheap car rental into the reservation that includes a hotel, you earn double the points. and if you're an american with frequent airline bookings, booking via expedia makes sense as flights purchased on expedia.com still do qualify for airline miles and status.

of note: a package is considered any combination of two or more of the above items where at least one item is a hotel.

points do not expire unless there is no activity in the account in the preceding 18 months. and unlike airline programs, you don't actually have to be the one consuming the travel in order to book. the points go to whoever make the booking.

expedia points redemptions
there are three main redemption options:
1. redeem for a hotel certificate

 7,000 pts = $50

13,000 pts = $100

18,000 pts = $150

20,000 pts = $200

25,000 pts = $250

29,000 pts = $300

37,000 pts = $400

44,000 pts = $500

46,000 pts = $600

47,000 pts = $700

48,000 pts = $800

49,000 pts = $900

50,000 pts = $1,000

in other words, after you spend between $25,000 to $50,000 in bookings, you can get up to a 2% return in hotel credits.

2. redeem for flight credit
i attempted a dummy booking for yyc-yvr on may 31 to jun 1. prices using westjet indicated a revenue ticket price of $418.16 CAD. using points, they wanted 53,900 points. in other words, if you have 53,900 points available, you might as well use them for a hotel redemption as you would get over twice the value like this.

3. donate to st. jude's, a children's hospital charity that expedia supports.

bonus earning opportunities
like most rewards programs, there are various bonus point opportunities. there have been double points awarded for booking expedia v.i.p. hotels, for using mastercard, or just for booking. sometimes, they randomly throw points into your account as a "top up" reward. it's kind of a nice treat when that happens.

conclusion
expedia rewards offers another 0.71 - 4.00% return (standalone hotel at lowest redemption value vs. hotel package at highest redemption value) on your bookings for hotels. i consider it a bonus and only if you're booking an expedia best price guarantee hotel as i would rather use hotel.com's welcome rewards instead.

they've also made some significant changes to the program since it last came out. the redemption chart has weakened. furthermore, it was once possible to get more than 2pts/$. if you booked a hotel with two other items (e.g., flight + car), you would get 3 pts/$. if you booked a hotel with three other items (e.g., flight + car + activities), you would get 4 pts/$. so really, capping the maximum earnings to 2 pts/$ makes the overall value of the program slightly weaker. there are more changes to the program to come over the next year, and we will have to see if the value of these points stay the same.

international itineraries now qualify for TSA PreCheck!

in one of my links that i had posted a few days back, i noted that the points guy discovered that he could use the tsa PreCheck lanes for security despite having an international segment on his itinerary. it used to be that having an international segment (even to canada) would force you to use the traditional lines at tsa PreCheck enabled american airports. this always irritated me because as a canadian, there is always going to be at least one segment whereby travel would be international. therefore, i would never be eligible for the service.

yesterday, while browsing the flyertalk forums, i came across this post which linked me to the tsa's official announcement about including itineraries with international segments.

WASHINGTON – The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) announced today that beginning May 7, 2013, in addition to domestic travel, TSA Pre✓™ participants will be eligible for expedited screening on select international travel itineraries. Eligible passengers traveling on Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines and US Airways will be allowed to leave on their shoes, light outerwear and belt, keep their laptop in its case, and their 3-1-1 compliant liquids/gels bag in a carry-on.

Passengers flying internationally from the 40 participating TSA Pre✓™ airports may be eligible to receive expedited screening. In addition, passengers with connecting domestic flights who arrive in the United States on an international flight may use the TSA Pre✓™ lanes when going through the screening process at participating airports after being cleared by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

this comes six months after the tsa allowed canadian citizens holding nexus passes to use the PreCheck program on purely domestic itineraries.

why is this important?

1. though i've never used it, i can only imagine that PreCheck is a more comfortable experience. no need to remove shoes (how disgusting are airport floors?), you don't have to remove liquids or your computer from the carry-ons, don't have to remove belts and heavy jackets.
2. those who are eligible for PreCheck are just more experienced travelers. they're either all frequent flyer elites of the american programs or members of the trusted traveler program. infrequent flyers who don't know that you can't bring knives or tons of liquids generally have no need of trusted traveler cards. therefore, it is a faster experience.
3. provided that the PreCheck lanes are close to the gate, PreCheck usually has a shorter wait. at LAX terminal 7 (united's terminal), the premier/star gold security line cuts ahead of the regular line by sometimes 10-20 meters. but they both merge into a common line. the PreCheck lane is its own separate process. every time i've been there, the PreCheck lane is almost always empty, and even then, they get their own dedicated screening station. this makes things even faster for everyone involved.

will this change behaviour?

1. does it mean that i will arrive at the airport later because of a faster screening process? unfortunately, it won't. as per PreCheck's rules, you can randomly be reassigned to use regular screening line (but at least you can merge into the pre-existing line). if this happens, then you'll still need a fair bit of time to clear security. if i do get approved to use the PreCheck, it would simply mean less time in line, and more time leftover in a lounge somewhere.
2. does it change my booking behaviour? in a previous post, i had explained my booking strategy for transborder travel. because air canada would only give 50% status miles (compared to 100% at united) for my main program (asiana airlines), united would make more sense to me. the chance to use PreCheck only makes the choice easier.

i'm excited to try PreCheck when i head to hawaii in a few weeks!

kiva and zidisha -- microfinance loans as a way to manufacture spend

edit feb 23/14: please see my update on zidisha.org here.

manufactured spending is the process of spending money on a credit card for the points or threshold bonuses while knowing that most, if not all of that expense, will be reimbursed at no cost for the user. this is extensively discussed online, and there is an entire flyertalk forum devoted to this.

manufactured spending is not just the basics, like buying things for work and having those expenses reimbursed by the company. manufactured spending goes beyond that. some things in the past that i've heard about include:

• buying vanilla reloadable credit cards at the pharmacy (with 5x mile multipliers with various cards), transferring it to an intermediary pre-paid card, and then cashing them out at ATMs for minimal cost
• buying thousands of dollars worth of 1$ presidential coins with free shipping on credit card, then cashing them out at a banks
• buying and selling to yourself (or trusted friend) using amazon payments (provided you have an american SSN)

these have netted substantial amounts of miles for its users south of the border. most of these techniques don't work for canadians as there generally are 2.5% surcharges on credit card purchases. this alone generally negate any of the rewards associated with these schemes. admittedly, i don't know the intricate details -- if it does not work for me in canada, i'm not one to research it too deeply. however, one mini-version of manufactured spending is through the world of microfinancing.

kiva.org -- microfinance 101

despite the currency conversion fees, something that may be worthwhile to some would be microfinancing or microlending. this is the act of providing loans to small businesses or entrepreneurs who lack traditional banking access to loans. a good example of this would be making loans to small businesses owners in developing countries, where for the ordinary citizen, the cost of the loan and the associated interest rates are quite prohibitive.

kiva.org is an organization which has local field partners who find small business owners in developing countries. kiva then posts their requests on their website, and kiva users (lenders) can lend small amounts (usually 25$) to these small business owners (borrowers). once a borrowers have enough lenders, the loan is supposedly disbursed. in my own experience though, the funds are disbursed beforehand, and kiva is just trying to find enough lenders to make up for the loan after the fact. borrowers then pay back through a pre-determined payment schedule. kiva users don't earn interest. there is a real risk of loan default (at the time of writing, there is a 98.99% repayment rate). there is also a chance of currency conversion losses. for the most part though, i have not run into any troubles.

my statistics compared to the average

in order to fund these loans, you can pay using your credit card via paypal. paypal's currency conversion fees/rates are not the best, so i would consider using your no forex fee card to pay the USD price. as the borrowers pay you back, you receive credit into your kiva account. you can either re-loan the money, or you can request that the money is cashed out into your paypal account. you can then convert this back to canadian currency. when your account balance reaches $150+, you can transfer this money back to your bank account for free (amounts less than $150 incur a $0.50 fee). paypal reportedly has waived its fees for kiva.

my strategy has been to go on a loan-buying spree when CAD is roughly $1.01 or $1.02 per USD. when the canadian dollar falls to $0.96 or $0.97 per USD, i cash out my loans and transfer back to my bank account. it's not a huge amount of money that we're talking about here, but i figure i might as well try to earn a bit of a reward while doing my part in helping these business owners out. i personally do $100 or so at a time, but i hear reports from people on flyertalk buying thousands of dollars at a time.

zidisha -- microfinance 201

zidisha.org is a less tested microfinance site. it certainly doesn't have the press that kiva has, however it's something that i've tried out as well. it works on the same principle as kiva.org, however the main difference is that lenders on the site can ask for interest. a prospective borrower will tell you how much they require and what interest rate they are willing to accept. lenders will then offer various amounts to loan (e.g., $25 of a $800 loan) and will offer various interest rates that they are willing to accept. at the end of the bidding process, all of the offers with the lowest interest rates are accepted in order to build the required loan amount, and the loan is dispersed. there is a 2-month grace period before repayments start.

loans can be funded with credit card via paypal, however there is a 3.5% fee associated with this. this fee was temporarily waived suspended in march on a trial basis. therefore, my rule is that i will always insist on an interest rate of at least 3.5% to cover this cost. repayments are made and are collected in the user's zidisha account. this money can be re-loaned again or withdrawn for free to paypal.

my statistics on zidisha -- i just started this in march

conclusion
both sites offer ways to purchase loans via credit card while helping small business owners in developing countries. as per wikipedia, these sites themselves aren't without their fair share of controversy. however, the potential good is enough to outweigh those criticisms. it's an almost free service while earning a few miles along the way.

have you tried kiva or zidisha? has it worked for you?

links from the web -- may 4, 2013

1) rapid travel chai had posted his travels to the democratic people's republic of (north) korea. in his four-part series beginning here. such a fascinating read to a country that so few people are able to access, including travel on the world's only one star airline, air koryo. there's certainly a flair of americanism in his post, but it is so descriptive. it's a place that i'd want to try going one day, once all the hubbub subsides. apparently, while it's good to go with a sense of curiosity, it's important to exercise such curiosity in a safe manner.

2) the points guy asks if it's polite to ditch your traveling companion for tsa PreCheck in america. this is a program which allows for expedited security screening at airports. with PreCheck, you get to go through security without taking off your jacket and shoes, without removing your liquids, and without removing your laptop. the line is also significantly shorter. this is significant for me because while i don't have PreCheck via being an elite member of an american frequent flyer program, i am eligible because i am a part of the trusted traveler program (nexus). the most relevant part of his post to me was the fact that he was eligible for PreCheck despite having an international leg in his itinerary -- i was always under the impression that having any international leg in the entire itinerary would preclude you from being able to use PreCheck.

anyway, to answer the question, i think it's completely fine. i was allowed priority screening in canada with my nexus pass back when the bf didn't have his, and i totally took advantage of it while traveling with him to edmonton. the bf went to the regular lines, and he came out less than 30 seconds later. but still, does it really make sense for both of us to be in a long line?

3) UA insider, a company representative on flyertalk, had posted about united's plans to re-introduce different subscriptions to the united club, checked baggage, and economy plus. as a non-us star gold member, i get the first two for free anyway. but the subscription for economy plus is interesting to me. right now, i'm probably at 50/50 the number of times that the agents will upgrade my seat to economy plus by virtue of having star gold. and for longer flights, economy plus is certainly much more comfortable. a part of me toys with the idea buying a pass, but the bigger part of me realizes that i'm way too cheap.

4) starwood's q2/3 double take promotion went live sometime last week. the link to register is here.

is there a doctor on board? -- points for signing up, but how comfortable are you at helping out?

scott from hack my trip had posted about potentially getting better service using professional titles. in his post, he writes about how he changed all of his reservations to "dr." after he had graduated from grad school just this last year. he then talks about how there was a flight attendant who had given him extraordinary  service, and what felt like extra deference to him as well. the comments derail about whether he should have listed himself as a dr. with a phd, not an md. some suggested that it was misleading in the case of a real medical emergency. others defended his right to do so. i won't step into that one.

i've never personally felt comfortable putting my name as "dr." on any of my reservations or titles. partially, i continue to have that first year medical school imposter syndrome. to let everyone know that i have an m.d. seems too flashy for what feels like a giant accident in the medical school ranking process. i am still convinced most days that when ranking the candidates, they accidentally misplaced the decimal in my score. so it is because of guilt that i can't put the "dr." title in front.

i remember a flyertalk thread about being able to register as an MD for a one-time bonus on lufthansa. i couldn't find the thread, unfortunately, but a quick google search revealed lufthansa's doctors on board program. turkish airlines has a similar program. it makes sense for the airline to be able to have knowledge about who the medical doctors are on board in case of a medical emergency. by signing up for the program, you can still decline to participate in such an emergency (e.g., if you've already had a few drinks).

in the case of actually helping in an emergency, i know that my brother has received various gifts from air canada in the form of 10,000 status vs. 15,000 non status miles. i have yet to be on a flight where there was such an emergency.

and in the case of an actual emergency in the future, even after my medical residency training is over, i have decided that it will be unlikely that i volunteer my services first. i was on call last weekend and a patient on the ward had an altered level of consciousness. oh.my.gosh. it has been 2-3 years since i've done any acute care medicine, and 1-2 years since i've had to write the american medical licensing exams. i knew the basics but nothing more. luckily, the basics were all i needed to fix this situation. i also felt reassured knowing that there were other services that i could consult if things became tricky.

things never did become tricky with the patient; she was fine in the end. but i can't possibly imagine being in that tin can in the sky without any form of support for a patient with a medical emergency. i don't think i would be able to function. i don't think i'd be able to help. i think i'd be more of a hindrance if anything. let the other doctors on board take over. they can have the extra miles, and i won't end up killing someone in the process by accident. it feels like everyone wins this way.

(edit: that all being said, i assume that the basics for such a situation remain the same: assess, apply what you know given the scope of your training, then call for help if needed. and in a case like an airplane in the sky, calling for help is synonymous with landing the plane. which, incidentally, is what i'm sure the crew would do if there weren't a doctor on board anyway.)