Milenomics² Episode 200: Getting Back to it & More

0:27 Amex Employee Offers Back Up to 20k

• 20,000 for $4,000 in 6 months, up to 5 employees
• These were down to 5,000 for a while
• Business Platinum
• https://www.americanexpress.com/en-us/business/campaigns/employee-cards/business-platinum/index.html
• Business Gold
• https://www.americanexpress.com/en-us/business/campaigns/employee-cards/business-gold/index.html
• Business Green
• https://www.americanexpress.com/en-us/business/campaigns/employee-cards/business-green/index.html
• Remember you can add free gold cards without a fee to qualify for these
• Stacks nicely with recent NLL offers

05:38 My Experience Getting Approved for Amex 200k Bundle (link to check)

• 150k Business Platinum + 30k Business Checking + 20k for both
• Applied after closing a charge card (to get under 10) and was declined because I was approved for a Business Platinum < 90 days prior
• Called recon again after 90 days and agent was being fussy about putting it through so I just applied again
• This time I was approved without having to call, even though it was < 30 days after closing 10th charge card
• Then applied for Business Checking, which went pending
• Called and rep confirmed some details and approved

10:37 Fluz Talk

• Daily trickle of $200-ish VGCs and more volume of MCGCs, but unclear how to liquidate MCGCs effectively
• Is it time to do quarterly 5x spend with GC loads and 0.5% 1 Time Visas via PayPal BillPay?
• I really wish they’d get 1 Time MCs working again
• MCGC death showed new angles. Rates continue to change.
• Sam: My Prepaid Site locking me out completely. Frustrating, cards are locked in there.

17:35 Staples Selling $500 GC (FM Link)

• Metabank
• Right now probably not worth doing vs. Fluz
• Will la No Fee Sale or cardlink program sweeten this

23:47 Founders Card Hyatt Globalist Lite Fast Track

• https://founderscard.com/benefits/world-of-hyatt
• 20 nights in 90 days for Globalist Lite through Feb 2025
• Similar to Bilt promo a few months back

26:02 MGM and Hyatt split, Marriott and MGM start new partnership

• There certainly are people who are affected big by this.
• These phantom status stays were useful for Hyatt nights
• Will these continue and/or become more useful with Marriott since more elite nights can be earned by holding CCs than with Hyatt?

28:30 Marriott Bonvoy Co-Branded Credit Card Spend Promo

• Direct Link
• 10,000 for $7,000 across all cards, Amex and Chase
• Adds 1.42 to earning which makes Bonvoy Business 5.4x on dining and gas
• Should stack with 5x in certain categories on Chase cards chase.com/mybonus

32:12 Dell to Buyer’s Groups (The return of Episode 142, Hopefully not the return of episode 145)

• Had a Business Platinum with annual fee hitting in July.
• Dell Credits for a triple/quadruple dip are important
• Can’t possibly buy any more Dell crap
• Pivoted to the idea Robert did in Episode 142: Buy dell laptops and ship to buyer’s groups
• Found a unit for $379 that BFMR is paying $350 on. With tax I’m at $418
• $24 to ship ($15 plus 9 for insurance & Signature conf)
• What could go wrong!?

37:37 CFPB Action Against BofA (Direct Link)

• Double-dipping scheme for junk fees
• Habitually not paying credit card welcome bonuses and rewards
• Misused sensitive customer info and opened unauthorized account
• $100M to customers, $150M in penalties

41:18 ITA Bookable With Virgin Atlantic (Dans Deals)

• Good to see this option open up since Delta wants so many miles for international premium cabin awards now
• Booking engine is comically bad at searching for partner awards, but Dans Deals post helps tremendously
• Doesn’t really seem “wide open” to me - seeing max 2 seats in Business Class BOS-Rome with picked over dates, which is consistent with prior trends observed when booking with Alitalia miles
• Nice to have the potential for premium cabin direct flights to Italy

47:32 Citi AA Executive 100,000 (Direct Link)

• $10,000 min spend
• $595 AF not waived first year
• Includes lounge access for family (or up to 2 guests)
• $10/mo Lyft credits (after the 3rd paid ride! Wow - that’s out-Amexing Amex)
• $10/mo GrubHub credits
• $120/yr Avis/Budget credits
• 3 AUs for $175

53:20 Plucky up start airline of the week:Northern Pacific (link)

• Original plans were to connect Orlando and other east coast cities to Japan and Korea with a stop in Alaska.
• Similar to Icelandair and how they use rekyavick
• The restrictions on Russian airspace mean they can no longer use that airspace and now need etops certification for their 757.
• Needless to say their plans have been set back a bit. But still an interesting idea and they're flying now…from Ontario to Las Vegas…
• 1x weekly ONT-LAS started domestic travel. (Fridays)
• Return flight cancelled due to maintenance issue (Sundays)
• What does the plane do on Saturday?
• Currently have only one 757-200 with economy and first.
• About $100 one way. Fridays outbound Sunday return only for now.
• I bet these are incredibly empty flights