joeheg, Author at Your Mileage May Vary

Why You Should Keep Your Sapphire Preferred Card

The $95 annual fee was due for Sharon’s Chase Sapphire Preferred card. That’s the time each year when I think about the card’s benefits vs. the cost and if I should keep, downgrade or cancel it. After giving it some thought, I decided that we’d keep the card but that didn’t mean I wouldn’t try to get a retention offer from Chase.

I had Sharon call (she hates these calls so I try to not to make her do them often) and she was told by a representative that there were no offers available for us right now. As per the notes I gave Sharon, she thanked them for looking and said that we could keep the card for now.

The Sapphire Preferred is a good card for $95 but we hardly use it anymore now that I have the Sapphire Reserve. I was updating the annual fee spreadsheet and gave one more look at deciding if I wanted to keep the card or not. Continue reading “Why You Should Keep Your Sapphire Preferred Card”

A New Departure Fee, The Airplane Window Controversy, How Not To Overvalue Points & more…

Happy Sunday to all of our travel friends, both near and far! Here are some articles we’ve read from other bloggers (and other sources) that we think you may like, as well, so we’re passing them along.

Continue reading “A New Departure Fee, The Airplane Window Controversy, How Not To Overvalue Points & more…”

Would You Still Stay at This Hotel?

If you know anything about Sharon and I from meeting us in person or from reading our blog, you’ll know that we and the word “party” do not usually belong in the same sentence. If a room is too crowded or the music is too loud, we’re typically headed towards the exit.

I put a lot of time into picking out hotels for our most recent trip, probably too much (Note from Sharon: Probably???). I weighed the cost of the room, the location and the quality of the hotel to find the best fit for each of our locations. Except one.

Continue reading “Would You Still Stay at This Hotel?”

There’s No Holy Grail And Chase Just Proved It

Very few topics get the attention afforded to the Southwest Companion Pass. You could spend a lifetime reading the 14.5 million web pages about it just from a Google search.

I was one of the people reading these posts that told me about how the Companion Pass was the be all and end all of the travel savings. Having the pass lets you fly on Southwest for half price. You could take twice as many trips as you did before and not pay any more money. Or if you had Southwest Rapid Rewards points, you’d only be spending for one ticket and the other one was free.

I fell for this line and decided that I was going to do whatever what I needed to in order to get one of these passes. After six months of trying and some false starts, I finally had the pass and 14 months to use it.

Continue reading “There’s No Holy Grail And Chase Just Proved It”

What Is The Southwest Airlines Companion Pass?

Southwest is one of our favorite airlines and we’re not alone. They have a business model that’s easy to understand. They don’t charge for you to bring a bag on the plane and you also get two free checked bags per passenger. Southwest planes only have one class of service so there’s no paying extra to get a seat in the extra legroom section and no first class to upgrade into.

Not to be left behind the other carriers who throw perks at the business travelers as thanks for their loyalty, Southwest tries their best to compete but there’s only so much they can offer. The after 25 flights in a year you become an A-List member which allows you stand-by for an earlier flight for free and provides priority boarding, meaning you get a spot at the beginning of the A boarding group and are the first one to pick whatever seat you want on the plane (exit row, bulkhead). After 50 flights, you are A-List Preferred and now can get free WiFi. But Southwest saves their best perk for those who fly with them the most often… Continue reading “What Is The Southwest Airlines Companion Pass?”