A few of my friends pointed out recently that Citibank is being a bit deceptive when charging foreign transaction fees. Most credit cards charge a 3-4% fee for purchases in a foreign currency. Citibank appears to be charging these fees for all purchases that are processed outside of the US, even if the charge is processed…
Last week, United let some unfortunate news out of the bag: Starting in 2014, elite qualification with United will require a minimum dollars on United Airlines tickets to maintain elite status with the airline. The table that United published sums up the changes: United will waive the Premier Qualifying Dollar requirements for anyone who spends…
I’m back! If you’re wondering *why* I took a vacation from blogging last week, here’s the explanation: Last Saturday, I gave a talk entitled “Speaking a New Language: Using Business Strategies to Build a Case for New Music Therapy Programs” at the Missouri Music Therapy Institute. My partner, Kirsten Meyer, and I were a bit behind in…
Just a heads-up: I haven’t forgotten about the blog; I’m just taking a vacation from blogging for about a week. The girlfriend and I are preparing a presentation for a music therapy conference in Missouri and work on that is taking priority this week. Don’t worry, starting next week I’ll be back at it, with…
Just a quick amusement today. The tunnel that connects concourse A with concourses B and C at the Detroit airport is one of the most…interesting airport tunnels I’ve been through. Even if you don’t need to walk through the tunnel to catch a connecting flight, the entertainment value is worth the 5 minute walk through…
Just a quick story and reminder that “Free After Rebate” is far from free… I recently applied for an American Airlines credit card which offered a 50,000 mile bonus after spending $2000. In order to meet that spending threshold, I decided that I would order a bunch of free-after-rebate stuff and resell it on Amazon,…
Have you ever found yourself planning travel and wondering if you are going to be able to stay connected in the airport? Jaunted has an excellent map of airports offering free WiFi. The map covers most of the domestic airports in the United States, as well as most major global hub airports. http://www.jaunted.com/maps/Airport-WiFi-Map
Last weekend, I took a quick trip to Ann Arbor to see some friends and have dinner with the Ann Arbor bloggers. TravelBloggerBuzz showed up. I didn’t follow his blog before, but I like the idea of what he does: He tries to keep bloggers honest by drawing attention to bad blogging practices. One of the…
Recently, a few friends have pointed out Feecation as a way to avoid fees (or even make money) while traveling. At first glance, Feecation promises a “vacation from your fees”. Sounds great, right? But the details are a bit onerous. First, you are only reimbursed $10 for each receipt you submit. Think that you’re going to…
The ITA Software Matrix tool is one of my favorite tools to find great airfares, because it is both more intuitive and more powerful than most airline websites or online travel agency websites. In this video, I show you how to use the tool to search for a simple round trip, a round-trip with flexible…
The Flying Consultant 