Triangle Trip

I know most business travelers are American Express Platinum or Starwood (SPG) credit cardholders. However we all need to carry a Visa or MasterCard in our wallet just in case we are traveling outside of the US where AMEx isn’t accepted.

I have a Nordstrom Visa card which carries a fairly low foreign transaction fees and my perk is a $20 certificate for 2,000 points earned (2 points per $1 for Nordstrom purchases and 1 point per $1 on everything else). I found an expired Nordstrom $20 certificate today and called Nordstorm credit card to see if they can send me a replacement. I spoke to a representative, then a supervisor and neither budged. I even told them that I would cancel my card and they did not seem to care. On principle I am going to stop using this card.

Another lesson learned from this experience is not to age anything – points, certificates, etc. This sentence is actually directed to the Coach who loves to save his points 🙂

Now I have an empty credit card slot in my wallet and want to know the community’s recommendations for which is the best Visa or MasterCard to serve as my backup to my SPG AMEX. I’m leaning towards one of the Chase Visa cards at the moment.

Since I’ve gotten the Chase MileagePlus Explorer Credit Card, my friends and colleagues have been asking me questions about the MileagePlus Explorer cards benefits.

As a business person, sometimes we can’t use our personal cards and have to use a business card.  The most popular question I get is:

Do you have to use your MileagePlus credit card when buying United tickets to obtain the benefits?

The answer is NO!

I routinely purchase my United flights with my business credit card via the United/Continental Website.   I have my MileagePlus Explorer card stored into my profile, but I change my personal card to my business card upon clicking on “Purchase.”  Since the MileagePlus Explorer card is in my profile, I still get the United MileagePlus Explorer benefits of free baggage and earlier boarding.  Unfortunately I do not get the extra points as that would be a great loophole!

I recently got a new business credit card and started using it to purchase flights.  I swiftly bought a Virgin America ticket with the new credit card, no problems.  Next, I had to fill up gas, and like always I use a credit card to pay and in the more sketchy neighborhoods they always ask for zip code, so I prepared by getting the zip code, and actually the entire billing address.

Later that week, I purchased a United flight, and it asked me to input the billing address, so I entered my mailing address to see it if worked (since I had the card sent there), but no, it didn’t, I had to use the business mailing address and it worked.

I realized, Virgin America didn’t check the address at all.  I’ve recently purchased another VX ticket, and I don’t have the business address stored anywhere. For the extra security, I would be gladly take the burden of entering the correct address to the credit card.

For you readers out there, what about the other airlines?