What Is The Greatest Travel Hack You Did?

[MeirS]

Got this reminder today when I opened the DL app:

I've got to be about half your age but on my United account it says member since June 1994

[YitzyS]

I think my first loyalty program was with Pony Express

[mendy95322]

I seized the United Arline deal that Dan just posted last week to book a trip to LA for winter break for a family of 6. I used 2 United Quests cards, one for each way. It was $375 each way for a total 6 tickets. I then applied the $125 travel credit on both cards. With the Quest card I will also be getting free checked bags. I then texted customer service, as advised by DD since traveling with children under the age of 14 they must assign seats for free.  In the end I affectively paid for a family of 6 a total of $510 for rounds trip nonstop tickets from CLE to LAX , with free baggage and assigned seats.

so an update on this. united canceled the direct flight in the evening that i was on. i rebooked for the early AM direct flight and got the very nice agent to put the whole Family in economy+.  so yeah just turned my $42 ticked into economy+.

[yochai]

Can’t really call this a hack, more like crazy siyata dishmaya, but wanted to spare a new thread. Trying to make it as short as possible:
I had TAP flights cancelled due to Covid in March 2020 and got a voucher with a 20% bonus.
Booked a flight for my sister in March 2022 using the voucher and adding a portion on my CC.
The day of the flight, my sister lost her passport. I advised her to go to the airport and ask them to rebook her a few days later. Airport rep told her that the ticket value is safe and she can rebook whenever she wants. This was untrue, and immediately after the flight departed the ticket appeared as no-show with no change option. Hours of HUCA led to nothing but a bunch of reps contradicting each other, but no success in rebooking.
Filed a DOT complaint in June, and they responded that under fare rules were ineligible to change but gave us a voucher as a courtesy equal to the base fare (30% of the full ticket value).
A week ago, I got an email from TAP requesting my bank details for a refund. At first I thought it’s a scam, partially due to their poor translation of the form from Portuguese, but then I saw my CC was refunded for the portion I charged on it. I filled out the form, and sure enough, my bank account was credited for the full voucher (which would have since expired), including the 20% bonus!
TYH!!!

[Mimo]

I was looking for a long-term SUV rental (11 months) anywhere in the US. The cheapest SUV rate I found was $6,340 ($576/month) at a small Avis location in Memphis, TN. The location had horrible reviews, all of them with the complaint that when they showed up to pick up the rental, the location was sold out. I was doubly worried since I obviously didn't want to fly down and find out that they didn't have a car for me, but I also wanted to ensure that they would have an SUV available and wouldn't try to downgrade me to a Sedan. It occurred to me that I can rent a car in Memphis Airport (which has an Avis Preferred Aisle so I'd be more likely to get something to fit my taste) and set the return location at the smaller office where my SUV was scheduled to be picked up for the 11 month rental. After receiving confirmation from a fellow DDF'er that locations commonly allow you to drop off a vehicle and then check it out again right away under a different reservation, I went ahead and booked the Memphis Airport rental. It cost me $200+ for just 24 hours but I decided it was worth it in an effort to prevent heartache down the line.
Lo and behold the night before I was scheduled to pick up my long term rental I received a call from the local Avis location that I shouldn't bother to show up for my reservation since they were out of vehicles. I explained to them that I was actually dropping off a vehicle at the same time as my pickup was scheduled for, and that they should please hold the reservation open since they will have a vehicle for me as soon as I drop it off. The guy was a bit confused by the dropoff and then pickup shpiel, but after checking his dropoff list he confirmed that I was indeed on it and that I can check out the same vehicle again for my reservation!

Additionally:
-Avis long-term rentals (referred to as a "mini-lease") are not set up as one long term rental, but rather at pickup they had me sign 11 contracts for 1/11th of the price, each for 30 days. Each month at the close of the contract they send me an invoice for 1/11th of the total and bill my card (card is charged after the 30 days wraps up, not before) so I didn't have to put up the full $6k in advance.
-On the 11 contracts I signed at pickup, the pickup date and mileage were blank. Each months on the day the contract rolls over I receive a call from Avis inquiring as to the current mileage reading (the reservation has unlimited miles so this doesn't matter price-wise), and they then send me an updated contract that has the pickup date (the start of the current 30 day period) and mileage filled in. This allows me to be covered by my credit card CDW insurance, as no single rental contract exceeds 30 days.
-I booked my reservation on Prime Day, when Avis cashback at Amazon (https://www.avis.com/en/offers/partners/amazon-benefits) was 20% (note that the Amazon offer only applies to the base rate), so I'm receiving that each month as well! That brings my effective monthly rate down to ~$500 including insurance:)

what car did get?

[cgr]

what car did get?

Chevy Equinox

[travel agent]

many years ago, was flying from TLV, there were phones installed at every row in the aircraft, requiring to swipe a credit card in order to use it, (it was a few $ per minute) I swiped my MIKVAH CARD & they accepted it & I was able to talk unlimited....

a few weeks later my father got a call from the airline, asking him who called you - a few weeks ago - from an aircraft? he responded: how should I know from where every caller is calling me?

[SuperFlyer]

many years ago, was flying from TLV, there were phones installed at every row in the aircraft, requiring to swipe a credit card in order to use it, (it was a few $ per minute) I swiped my MIKVAH CARD & they accepted it & I was able to talk unlimited....

a few weeks later my father got a call from the airline, asking him who called you - a few weeks ago - from an aircraft? he responded: how should I know from where every caller is calling me?

They could have figured out, if you called from your designated seat and you called your father...

[travel agent]

They could have figured out, if you called from your designated seat and you called your father...

there was 1 phone per row, not per seat, & probably I made some more calls, not just to my father.

[Something Fishy]

many years ago, was flying from TLV, there were phones installed at every row in the aircraft, requiring to swipe a credit card in order to use it, (it was a few $ per minute) I swiped my MIKVAH CARD & they accepted it & I was able to talk unlimited....

Reminds me of before the internet when people would buy duty free stuff with an empty GC etc. The transactions weren't processed until the aircraft was on the ground and you were far away.

The line between a hack and outright stealing can sometimes be quite thin...

[Yehuda57]

Reminds me of before the internet when people would buy duty free stuff with an empty GC etc. The transactions weren't processed until the aircraft was on the ground and you were far away.

The line between a hack and outright stealing can sometimes be quite thin...

הה"ד Starbucks method

[LoLo]

Reminds me of before the internet when people would buy duty free stuff with an empty GC etc. The transactions weren't processed until the aircraft was on the ground and you were far away.

The line between a hack and outright stealing can sometimes be quite thin...

Still works nowadays on many international flights.

[ExGingi]

-On the 11 contracts I signed at pickup, the pickup date and mileage were blank. Each months on the day the contract rolls over I receive a call from Avis inquiring as to the current mileage reading (the reservation has unlimited miles so this doesn't matter price-wise), and they then send me an updated contract that has the pickup date (the start of the current 30 day period) and mileage filled in. This allows me to be covered by my credit card CDW insurance, as no single rental contract exceeds 30 days.

Don't credit cards have clauses about back-to-back rentals counting as one long rental?

[cgr]

Don't credit cards have clauses about back-to-back rentals counting as one long rental?

I read through it and don't remember seeing it. I does mention contracts exceeding 30 days, but that's not the case here.

[ExGingi]

I read through it and don't remember seeing it. I does mention contracts exceeding 30 days, but that's not the case here.

Which CC?

How did you go about finding the cheapest rental location?

[cgr]

Which CC?

How did you go about finding the cheapest rental location?

Amex Plat
https://forums.dansdeals.com/index.php?topic=132119.0#msg2676745

[bdubya]

booked BA mileage tickets for fam(separate tickets for each way) LGA to DTW (and planned to drive to grr)
all the flights were canceled due to weather I got them to book me into Chicago stay overnight and spend the day with relatives then flew out the next day to grr
For the way back I told them they flew me into GRR so they have to give me a ticket out of grr back to LGA
Which was what I originally wanted but much more expensive :-) and we got to hang out with family for a day in Chicago