What’s In Your Wallet: Credit Cards for Travelers

July 6, 2016 | rjmcgarvey | Travel

 

By Robert McGarvey

 

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I used to believe in a kind of Tolkien style “one card to rule them all” philosophy for business travel – that is, that one perfect card was all I needed on the road.  

For me that has been the American Express Platinum card ($450 per year).

But I no longer believe that one card is sufficient.

Changing realities – particularly my lack of interest in elite status on airlines – has prompted me to carry more cards to insure better, smoother travel. One card just won’t do the job anymore.

Mind you, I remain a fan of Amex Platinum. First off, the card wins free entry to the Centurion Lounges – now a new one in Houston – and they are the best domestic airport lounges by far.

There’s also a gratis enrollment in Priority Pass, with some 900 airport lounges.  If one is convenient to my gate, I generally will use it.

There’s reimbursement for the fees associated with TSA Pre-Check or Global Entry.

No foreign transaction fees.

There’s also $200 available for refunds on fees charged by an airline you designate (you may change it annually).  

Use that $200 fund – which will cover things like bag fees, club entry charges, booze and food inflight – plus maybe a half dozen Centurion Lounge visits and you have gotten your fee back and more.

Plus you have traveled in comfort.  

What Amex Plat does not help me with – boarding planes sooner, when there still is overhead compartment space – is what my other two cards handle.

My second card is MileagePlus Explorer via Chase ($95 annual fee).  The big get: priority boarding on United.

That usually means no need to check baggage, but the other card perk is free checked baggage (for you and a companion).

Two United Club passes are thrown in.

No foreign transaction fees.

Double miles on United tickets purchased with the card (that’s miles earned on the purchase price).

With this card I no longer need bemoan my loss of platinum status – and my slide into no status. I don’t recall ever having to gate check a bag when I have traveled on this card.

My third card: AA Advantage Aviator Red Mastercard ($89 annual fee)

Priority boarding is the main benefit.

There’s also free checked bags.

25% off inflight purchases.

No foreign transaction fees.

Note: there are no free passes to the AA club but, really, do I care?

The real perk of course is priority boarding.

No, these airline cards do not deliver upgrades from coach to business class but, guess what, those upgrades are available less and less frequently anyway.  That was the one real, tangible plus of elite status. But it’s gone.

And so is my interest in regaining elite status.

I no longer need it.  My three travel focused credit cards give me plenty of weapons to succeed – in comfort – as a road warrior.

So far I have ducked adding a Southwest Airlines card to my portfolio but if I eventually decide I need it, I will buy it without hesitation.  We need to take actions to maintain comfort on the road. That is fact.

Every traveler will have his/her own list of must carry credit cards. That’s reality.  My list may not suit your needs.

When I lived in Jersey City, really, I did not need or have the American card. But when I moved to Phoenix, I did.  And I keep the United card because the airport I still fly into most is Newark which means I am still flying United.

Your travels will be different and so should be your cards.

In that vein, here is frequent traveler Joe Brancatelli’s round up of his must carry cards. Joe, by the way, recommends Amex Plat, Chase Sapphire Prefered, and he also has some (qualified) affection for airline and hotel branded cards.

Which brings us to the question: what’s in your wallet?

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When Was Your Last Real Vacation?

June 28, 2016 | rjmcgarvey | Uncategorized

When Was Your Last Real Vacation?

 

By Robert McGarvey

 

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Research from Funding Circle tells us what we already know: entrepreneurs don’t take much time off. The specific number in their poll is that 17% of entrepreneurs don’t plan any time off this year.  33% plan five days off.

That’s 50% with minimal vacations.

It’s not just entrepreneurs either. Polls say 56% of Americans have not taken a real vacation in the past year.

Many, many employees confess they do not take all the days off we are owed.

We are a vacation deprived people.

Even when we are off duty we are not. Said Funding Circle: “almost 40 percent confess to checking their email multiple times a day when they’re supposed to be checked out.”

I am glad to have Funding Circle’s numbers – even though I loudly disagree with their suggestions about how to deal with this. More on that later.

First, before I throw stones at anyone else I have to confess I have not been on a real vacation since a week in Rome in late 2013. I had a few days at a college reunion in April 2015.  A night in Prescott AZ last winter. A day at a college reunion this year.

That’s about it and that is sad.

I know many others in the same boat.

Partly it’s just that most of us are still struggling to get our finances up to where they were before the Great Recession visited devastation on us.

Partly also it’s that how we work has fundamentally changed and there is no going back,  

I don’t know about you but I am glad to be able to check email anywhere, and also to receive calls just about anywhere.  Twenty years ago when I traveled there always was an unease  that stuff was going on and I did not know what.  There was always an element of dread involved in the return home – what horrors would I discover?

I cannot say I ever found any real horrors – oh, a few unhappy clients and a few opportunities lost because by the time I responded they were gone.

But I much prefer the control – and knowledge – that today’s technology gives me and, if anything, I’d say I now feel much more able to vacation, anywhere, than I did before the Internet and cell phones and WiFi.

That’s why I shiver as I read Funding Circle’s advice to the vacation deprived.  The first suggestion: “Leave your smartphone at home” when you go on vacation.

Absolutely not. I want to be able to see who is calling and to answer those I wish.  In Rome I believe I answered one call and ignored the others. But I was glad for the control the phone gave me (and in fact I carry two phones).

I am on record, by the way, as saying I would not stay at a hotel that had no cellular service.  Yes, there are still some, even in the US. Shiver. If you check into a hotel and find out it has no cellular, check out and refuse to pay any cancellation fees. No cellular is tantamount to no running water or no electricity and, sadly, there remain hotels (resorts mainly) that refuse to spend on signal boosting and leave their guests in a dead zone.

Funding Circle’s second prescription: Travel somewhere without WiFi.

That is just as silly an idea as leaving the smartphone home.  WiFi lets me read news at no real cost, ditto for email, and it is invaluable for mapping, especially in new to me locations. A reason I am a T-Mobile customer is the great deal on data abroad.  

The third piece of advice is: Reserve designated work times.

That is, know how much and when you will work when on vacation. I am behind this completely. And my other advice is: only do what urgently needs doing. If something can be deferred when you are on vacation do so.

Bottomline: technology now will let me comfortably and confidently vacation, more often and to more remote places than ever before. It’s up to me to embrace that opportunity.

So now I’m off to see if there are good Brexit deals on holidays in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

 

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