The annual fee for my Amex Platinum Card just appeared on my monthly statement, and this year, just like every one before, I think about it. Is any card worth $450 dollars per year? The answer for now is yes. The card grants me lounge access to the airlines I fly most, American, Delta, and US Airways, and it is very likely that I would purchase lounge access from one of those airlines if I didn’t already get it with the Platinum Card. This, in combination with the Cruise Privileges Program, justify the annual fee for me. That’s just 2 of the many benefits this card offers travelers, so I will remain an Amex Platinum Cardmember for another year. You can read my post on the many other virtues of the Amex Platinum Card here.

One item of note. As I was reviewing my monthly statement I noted that Amex is dropping the complimentary TripIt Pro subscription that was offered with the card last year. Will I renew TripIt Pro on my own? I’m undecided for now.

This is the synopsis of a recent email conversation with a reader edited for content and clarity. What do you think of my suggestions and what other tips would you have offered?

Reader A writes:

Hi Marshall,

I’m a high school teacher with a child in college and one in high school.  I am researching the points system in hopes of finding a way to take my family on a big vacation, such as Hawaii, or similar.  My credit score is excellent.  What would your suggestions be of how I should get started.  I main expenses are gas, groceries, dining, utilities, of course tuition and clothing.   Thanks for your help.

MJ on Travel Responds:

Hi. Thanks for your note. Let me ask you a couple of questions…. What airport would you normally fly out of, and is there an airline where you already have a bank of miles? Do you have any airlines that you prefer over all others? 

And the answer is:

Thank you so much for replying to me .  Normally, we either fly from Greensboro or Charlotte which are the closest (about 2 hours away) or Raleigh.  We do not fly often.  Maybe once a year.  Neither my profession, nor my husbands requires us to travel.  In fact its just the opposite.  Both of our professions keep us very close to home.  I don’t have a preference on airline.  I did a little research on the Chase Saphire Preferred Card, and the reviews are very good on it.  I just need to make sure that the cards I apply for will earn points for the items I purchase monthly. THANK YOU so much for your help.  I am REALLY excited to learn but very conservative about making good decisions financally at the same time.

And MJ on Travel offers:

There are a lot of ways to go at this, and I will offer a few thoughts.

First, I’m a big big fan of the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card. Ultimate Rewards points are very useful, with 1 to 1 transfer to some big mileage programs like United and Continental (soon to be just United), British Airways, Marriott Rewards, and more. You earn double points for travel and dining. If you got that card, which is currently offering a 50,000 point signup bonus AND the United MileagePlus Explorer Card (I’ve seen 40 and 50,000 mile bonus offers for that) you could have 90 to 100,000 United miles right there. Have your husband apply for the same 2 cards and you’ve got 180 to 200,000 miles. 

Living where you live, you might consider one of the US Airways MasterCards too…if you fly US Airways? You could also fly US Airways and credit your mileage earning to your United account since they are both in the Star Alliance too. US Airways miles are pretty good because you can spend them on Star Alliance carriers. US Airways can get you to Hawaii from Charlotte via Phoenix too. Just something to consider.

What I’ve written here is by no means the only way to go at free travel. Just something to think about. Feel free to write back with questions, clarification, anything you need.

The headline says it all. After 3 weeks of carrying my new Chase Sapphire Preferred, and using it exclusively, I have to admit that I really love it. Aside from the obvious things like it looks and feels really cool, the all-around acceptability of your basic Visa card is helpful. (NOTE: That’s not a dig on Amex. My Amex Platinum Card remains my favorite T&E card) Not to mention, there’s no foreign transaction fee.

Chase is currently offering 50,000 Ultimate Rewards points if you spend $3,000.00 in the first 3 months of card membership, and the $95 dollar annual fee is waived the first year as well. This is a great deal because those points can be transferred to many great rewards programs like MileagePlus and Marriott Rewards, not to mention, you can use them to purchase travel through Chase. Seriously, I’m starting to think that the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card and the American Express Platinum Card are the only 2 cards I’ll carry semi-permanently. (As long as the benefits remain valuable) I’ve only begun to explore the Ultimate Rewards program, so stay tuned for a future post all about that.

You can apply for the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card by clicking here. Note: I do not yet accept referral income, and this link is directly to the Chase website.

I know, it’s my job to say things that help you out, but I find myself in a bit of a quandry. I would like a new briefcase/bag. I currently have a basic Samsonite “TSA Approved” briefcase that works just fine for a day or two trip. For longer trips, I normally take my Wenger “Swiss Army” backpack. Either bag is great for their purpose, but I really want something else. Preferably, I would have one bag that I could carry for business and personal trips and to the office as a briefcase as well. I need a bag that has lots of room for a laptop as well as other things too like my Bose headset, folder pockets, meds, and enough “stuff” to get me through a solid 5 day business trip. Any suggestions? Help MJ out.

I was excited to learn that the iPhone 4S would be equipped with a much improved 8 megapixel camera. MrsMJonTravel and I dutifully presented ourselves at the Apple Store just a few days after the new iPhone debuted. I called before going to the store just to ensure that phones were available, and they were. We showed up and bought our new iPhone 4S’ to replace our aging iPhone 3GS’.

After hearing how much better the iPhone 4S camera was, I was anxious to try it out. Our recent back to back cruises on Allure of the Seas offered the ideal opportunity to do so. In truth, every photo I snapped during the 14 days aboard Allure was taken with my iPhone 4S. Here are just a few shots. Tell me what you think.

These are just a few pictures I took during our recent cruise aboard Allure of the Seas. The verdict? The iPhone 4S is a reasonably suitable point and shoot camera. It is not perfect, but I found that if I had more than a second or two to focus, the iPhone 4S took decent pictures…..and video. Have you had any experience with the iPhone 4S. What do you think of its performance as a camera?

I’ve tried just about every mileage program “aggregator” known to man, and a few more than that. Most of them offered one or two things I liked and several things I would have done differently. However, I’ve finally found one I really love, Award Wallet. Award Wallet offers a clean and simple presentation of your points balances, and elite status levels for your program and alliance. Award Wallet is free for the basic level, but I gladly donate money to get the expanded service which includes tracking of your expiration dates. Award Wallet is capable of tracking your travel plans, but I use TripIt Pro for that and focus solely on points tracking for myself and MrsMJonTravel. I added her programs to the account after we mistakenly let 10,000 US Dividend Miles evaporate from her account.

Award Wallet now offers a handy little service called OneCard. OneCard is the size of a credit card, and lists each of your program account numbers (up to 30) and contact phone numbers. I think that’s a pretty nifty thing to have in your travel wallet and will be ordering mine soon. Historically, I’ve maintained my program account numbers in my Outlook notepad, and will continue to keep that list. But having a OneCard in my travel wallet makes sense to me.

With so many good things to say about Award Wallet, I have to admit I was a little bothered when I read in The Wall Street Journal recently that American Airlines and Southwest Airlines are making an effort to disallow Award Wallet and other aggregator sites from displaying their content. I speak from experience when I say airlines can be control freaks, so I’m not surprised that they are a little touchy on this subject. That said, I hope they peek through the trees and the forest on this and see the light. Frequent fliers value the services that the folks at Award Wallet provide, and airlines could be stepping on it if they overdo it with their control issues on this subject.

This is big news. Delta Air Lines has announced that it is introducing its Economy Comfort product to its entire domestic fleet, including two-class regional jets! While I haven’t had the opportunity to partake of the product, some colleagues of mine have and felt it was worth the price of gold. By next summer, Delta expects to have the new product installed, and will make it available to Diamond, Platinum, and Gold Medallion members at the time of booking for free. Full fare economy customers can select the seats free of charge as well. Silver Medallions can confirm Economy Comfort seats at a 50 percent discount at time of booking or select a seat for free at check-in. Fees will range from $19 to $99 dollars for non-Medallions.

Delta’s move in this direction with its international flights must have paid off for them to be doing this domestically. With the 2 largest US airlines now offering a superior economy product, can AA afford to ignore this? Is it time for a “More Room Throughout Some of Coach” effort? Time will tell. In the meantime, I say this is a good move!

Hat tip to Gary.

Last weekend, I was faced with a very early 6am flight and needed transportation to the airport. Normally, I’d just book an appointment with Red Top Cab, but they are on my temporary probation list for standing me up for my last early pick up. I checked on SuperShuttle, which was very affordable, but I had no real interest in their proposed 3:30am pickup time for my 6am flight from the airport that is 17 minutes from my front steps. I decided to give SuperShuttle’s “other option” a try…. ExecuCar.

I booked the car through the SuperShuttle website, used the iPhone app promo code I’ve been using for discounts for a while now, and even collected some US Airways miles for another “hit” in their Grand Slam promotion! The price, including gratuity, came to approximately $50 bucks. The only wrinkle is that like SuperShuttle, you pre-pay for ExecuCar. But since I was definitely going on the flight, I didn’t really care. I booked the pickup for 4:40am, which gave me a little cushion for driver tardiness.

On the morning of the flight, I got a little extra sleep, and got ready for my car’s arrival. At 4:40am, there was still no car, so I looked up it’s location using SuperShuttle’s iPhone app. I could see that the car was fairly close, so I didn’t bother calling, and within a couple minutes, I received a phone call alerting me that the car was 1 minute away. Go figure, in just about a minute, the car appeared and I was on my way to DCA. When I book for 4:40am, I mean 4:40am, but I’ll let 5 minutes slide, especially since I could easily track the position of the car. Other than that, no complaints.

I wouldn’t use this kind of service for every trip, but for special occasions, I’ve always used some kind of car service for transportation to the airport. Carey, whom I’ve used many times in the past for vacation departures charges in the neighborhood of $100 dollars for the same service. With ExecuCar, I found that the car was newish, clean, bottled water was provided, and the day’s Washington Post was waiting on the seat. The driver was well dressed, very courteous, thanked me for my business and even told me to please come back again. I’ll do that. If ExecuCar is available in your city, give them a try. And if you’ve had experiences with them you feel like sharing, please do so in the comments section.

This post has been a long time in the making.  I’ve been an MS Money and later Quicken user since the mid 1990s when I was fresh out of school and really didn’t have any money.  I’ve learned to really like Quicken, but as someone who travels a bit, often with different computers, keeping my Quicken data up to date has been challenging….and frankly, I’m losing the motivation to keep up with it.  Yes, I know there’s Quicken “Direct Connect” and I use it to automatically download my spending from credit cards and my bank account, but that doesn’t do me much good when I’m traveling for work for 2 weeks in a row, and my personal laptop (my Windows machine since Quicken for Mac doesn’t seem all that fab to me) is sitting at home.

In an ideal world, Quicken would offer some kind of web interface with my Quicken datafile, but I realize the world is NOT ideal, and I can’t imagine the challenges that would entail.  With that in mind, I’ve been looking around for some options and decided to try Mint.com, which is of course, now owned by Quicken’s maker, Intuit.  I’ve been testing Mint.com for about 2 months while maintaining the currency of my Quicken file.  I’m going to continue testing for another month or so, but I have to say that I think I’ve passed the 50/50 line of making the decision to ultimately switch to Mint.com.  The interface and budgeting tools are easy, and I love the fact that I can access all my Mint.com data through an iPhone app.  Not to mention, I can access it through any computer with internet access.  Given that I regularly use a work laptop, personal laptop, MacBook Air, an iPhone, and probably an iPad in the not so distant future, having easy access to my financial data from multiple venues is not a small issue.

On the other hand, I’ve found the investment performance tracking tools in Mint.com to be a little less robust than I’d like.  Not to mention, I’ve had a difficult time getting Mint.com to recognize different share lots in investments where I’ve made multiple purchases.  It’s taken some coaxing, but I think I’ve mostly gotten that fixed, but it wasn’t easy.  All in all, Mint.com is beginning to grow on me.  I’m still not completely comfortable that it can replace Quicken for me, but it’s sure starting to look like it could.  How do you deal with managing your finances from afar?

I’m happy to hear the US Airways is making some meaningful improvements in its onboard product offerings.  First, the airline is adding a First Class cabin to its 70 seat and up Express fleet of 110 aircraft.  This is good news for elite customers, and good news for the airline.  I expect this improved product will result in improved revenues for the airline, and since US Airways is making the move, their accountants must agree!

Second, US Airways is investing in its meal offerings  most mainline flights.  In addition to real honest to goodness glassware, better snacks  are on the way too.  And on flights greater than 3.5 hours departing between 5 a.m. and 8 p.m., First Class customers will now enjoy upgraded breakfast, lunch, and dinner meals that include include appetizers, upgraded desserts and a choice of breads. According to US Airways, menus will vary slightly on Embraer 190 and Boeing 737 aircraft.  Finally, US Airways will be making updates to its international business class with better meals, and improved china.

I think all of this is great news for US fliers.  I have a natural connection to US Airways.  The Piedmont frequent flier program was the first mileage scheme I ever joined….at the ripe old age of 17.  I was a big fan of Piedmont, and have really been a little sad about how things have shaken out in the industry madness since then US Air’s takeover.  It’s nice to see the new US Airways investing in its onboard product.  Past due, but appreciated nonetheless.  Hopefully I will be able to experience these new enhancements on a US Airways flight in the near future.

You can read the presser from US Airways here.

In the latest salvo between American Airlines and online travel agencies/global distribution systems, Sabre Holdings announced today that it will immediately de-preference American Airlines fares and drop the carrier all together in August when its contract expires.  I remain passionately indifferent as to which side is the right one in this.  I don’t think anyone should be surprised that American desires to lower its distribution costs, nor do I think any airline should be surprised that the online agencies and global distribution systems are a little antsy about changing the status quo.  In any event, the implications of this little tiff could be widespread depending on how it turns out.

I don’t know the first thing about American’s “Direct Connect” option that is at the center of this controversy.  That said, I’ve never been a big online agency proponent in the first place.  Personally, I think meta search engines like Farecompare.com, Kayak, or Bing are the way to go.  And if you’re brand loyal in the least little bit, just book direct with the airline and be done with it.  Otherwise, use a real honest to goodness “bricks and mortar” travel agent and pay them for their services.