1) I bought my Gold status with the Amenity and don't stay at SPG properties all that often. The vast majority of my stays are at Hyatts.
2) I'd have to change NIS to USD in order to pay the card off since I don't have USD income. (Although currently my charges are all converted to USD before conversion to NIS so that might not matter anyway. Hmmm.)
3) I have the AAdvantage M/C for using while in the US this summer.
2) I'd have to change NIS to USD in order to pay the card off since I don't have USD income. (Although currently my charges are all converted to USD before conversion to NIS so that might not matter anyway. Hmmm.)
3) I have the AAdvantage M/C for using while in the US this summer.
If you have AAdvantage M/C you must have a U.S. bank account, right?
If so, I think you will find it much less expensive to make a few large wire transfers each year to put money into that account.
still, if you are buying a lot of stuff in Israel, in NIS, Amex's 2% conversion fee plus really bad rates gets you.
Well the idea here is not to use it in Israel but to use it on things you are purchasing which will eventually pass through dollars before getting converted into NIS. I spend a good amount of time in hotels in Asian countries. When they charge my Israeli CC the charge goes from local currency into USD and then from USD into NIS. So if I were to stop it at USD with a US CC and then transfer NIS to a USD into US account I could then potentially earn points/trips at a more favourable rate.
Well the idea here is not to use it in Israel but to use it on things you are purchasing which will eventually pass through dollars before getting converted into NIS. I spend a good amount of time in hotels in Asian countries. When they charge my Israeli CC the charge goes from local currency into USD and then from USD into NIS. So if I were to stop it at USD with a US CC and then transfer NIS to a USD into US account I could then potentially earn points/trips at a more favourable rate.
You can open a USD back account in any Israeli bank (parallel to your NIS account) and make the CC charge in USD. This way is the best to avoid the CC company ridiculous change rate and rating system (local - USD - NIS).
You can open a USD back account in any Israeli bank (parallel to your NIS account) and make the CC charge in USD. This way is the best to avoid the CC company ridiculous change rate and rating system (local - USD - NIS).
But I'll still need to convert my NIS salary into USD so I might as well do it in a way that I can earn points/miles with a US card.
You need to do A LOT of duty free shopping in order to get your miles
Not really. By buying one IBM ThinkPad (at a much lower price than I would have paid in a usual Israeli computer shop) plus $200 worth of cigarettes, I got over 1,100 Starpoints in the last year.
Quote:
Originally Posted by entropy
hotel bought cokes cost about 500% over the normal price!
Not quite. At the Tel Aviv Sheraton they cost $3.50. In most Tel Aviv bars they run about $2.45.
Still, I am not urging this as a way of getting Starpoints except, as I noted, 11 times in the first year. You will collect 6000 points in bonuses that way (as well as a dollar for each point spent). Total cost: $38.50.
Of course, you can buy those 6038 points directly from Starwood, or at least most of them. It would cost you $300 for 6000 points -- and you don't even get the Cokes.
I had a glass of your Yiron the other day at Bugsy, it was very good.
I was a big fan of the DL 50,000 sign up + 50(or 25k) after spending 25k. I only need 7k more of 'fake' spending to get there....
Do you know if there is a card with the milemiglia? if one could manage a good CC 'scam' with them it might be worth it to try for the 80k reward to TLV.
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CO 777 seat 2A on approach to TLV =
Not really. By buying one IBM ThinkPad (at a much lower price than I would have paid in a usual Israeli computer shop) plus $200 worth of cigarettes, I got over 1,100 Starpoints in the last year.
No such thing as IBM ThinkPad anymore. They sold the whole product line to Lenovo.
Any laptop would be much cheaper in the USA than in the TLV dutyfree. I would not but a computer directly from the shelf but customize it a little anyway.
