The Milenomics Podcast Network

M² Episode 138: Amex’s October Surprise, Q4 5x Opportunities, and the [hopefully temporary] Death of a Liquidation Channel

Added 2021-10-05 07:11:37 +0000 UTC

0:27 Amex “October Surprise”: Revamped Referral Program (4-for-us)

Referrals have been extensively covered on this show, as recently as last week we said to be sure to refer for the Business Bonvoy card.
Readers found the referral language change on Americanexpress.com on Sep 30th,
Referring now earns +4x anywhere for the person referring, up to $25k in spend (100kMR).
Business Platinum 15k AND +4x
Thinking is this goes beyond 55k annual per-card cap on referrals and these additional earnings won’t generate 1099s
Discuss: Best cards to refer from. +9x Personal Platinum upgrades (stacks to a total of 14x at gas and grocery (up to the $15k spend cap on upgrade offer). New Resy Vanilla Platinum 19x restaurant/Shop Small. Personal Gold for 8x at grocery up to 25k. Business Platinums.
Discuss: Pushing it too hard w/Amex When accounts show signs of sputtering, when penalty box conditions are mounting - do you plow forward or slow down?

11:27 Q4 2021 5x Categories

12:39 Fluz w/PayPal

If PayPal key still works for you, Fluz is a great straightforward way to maximize Freedom Q4
For everyone else…
You cannot add PayPal as a payment source in the PowerPortal. Only in-app.
When you add it in the app, the credit card you select at that time becomes the credit card that will be used for subsequent transactions even if you later change your primary CC in PayPal later.
There's a slider when adding PayPal in the app that says whether you want to use PayPal Cash first. Deselect that.
From then on, you can use PayPal in the app or in the Power Portal and it will use the credit card you selected.
If you want to change the credit card, delete PayPal from the Fluz app and re-add it and select the credit card you want (remembering to de-select use PayPal Cash first).

18:31 WMBP ‘Dies’ a quiet death.

“Our new app goes so fast” Forced update started showing on 9/29.
Prior to this we were clinging onto older versions
I loved this for liquidating $200 Visa Grocery anywhere from OD/OM (with dosh even not on sale).
Now… we wait and see. This lasted a LONG time--and even though it was infuriating to try to figure out the limits and why/when it would stop working, it did allow VERY low cost liquidation from home.
My gut says it will return--meaning we’re going to get to love and then hate it again.
Importance of turning off auto update for our most ‘useful’ apps. (especially on iOS). This gave some of us weeks of extra time with the app.

21:03 Clear Sign up Process:

A few weeks ago a link offering $100 UA travel credit + 2 months of Clear and a reduced first year.
We’ve said we wanted to try this out, so I signed up
The $100 posted--but with a early expiry
Online I was asked to sign up and then directed to a clear kiosk to complete sign up
I passed on this over Labor day even though OAK had Clear
MSP meetup gave me a good excuse to finalize on my own.
Eye scan, fingerprints and a face photo were required.
Personal questions to verify ID almost tripped me up
Total was 5ish minutes. Is clear worth it? There was ZERO line to skip. In MSP Clear had a longer line than Precheck (Broken clear machines backing up the line).

Travel:

28:40 Booked: LAX-BZN with Jetblue Travel Credits.

With covid issues we’re still not working with a full demand schedule.
We had a family talk about our ‘expiring’ Jetblue travel banks and that we need to use it
Looking at the route map out of LAX--Jetblue has cut back LA service. Collecting these was probably a mistake.
The kids want snow--not guaranteed but we should be ok.
Have Never been to Montana. But interested in the area--and possibly getting into the middle of nowhere there.
Did not realize the route is EXTREMELY seasonal. It appears to be a 2 week route in Dec/Early Jan.
Almost totally out of Jetblue credits--and I am extremely certain there will be a schedule change
Rental Cars: $1k+ for 4wd (which I need, I’ve driven in snow/ice without it and it wasn’t fun).

32:03 Let’s Talk Turo

Turo -- $350 for the week for 4WD option -- and I’m going for it with a completely new TURO member, with a late model 2020 Jeep (what could go wrong!)
My thoughts are between now and Dec. someone will rent this car and I can cancel if the reviews come in poorly.
Really not a car rental company, they are a peer-to-peer car sharing company.
They also sell insurance it seems.
CC Coverage doesn’t work with the services (per a TPG article).
But even if I booked their highest insurance I would STILL be lower than rental cars at this point.
Like anything--I’ll monitor it as we get closer to the trip and adjust if needed.
T-24 hour cancellation policy is nice. Not allowed to ‘double book’ at all, even overlapping a single day.

36:35 Booked: Boston to Tokyo for Feb 2022

JAL seems to have absolutely opened the floodgates on Business Class award availability between now and March 2022
8+ seats almost every day on this and other routes
Will it be possible? Doubtful. Booking with easily refundable currencies.
Discuss: Booking backups if Asia still not possible in early 2022

43:34 Foiled: The Literal Burrito Rule.