Mar 13, 2017, 3:34 pm
Last edit by: beltway
The official Chase description:
What counts as Travel?
Also, see THIS thread for additional locations.
Merchants in this category include airlines, hotels, motels, timeshares, car rental agencies, cruise lines, travel agencies, discount travel sites, campgrounds and operators of passenger trains, buses, taxis, limousines, ferries, toll bridges and highways, and parking lots and garages.
Some merchants that provide transportation and travel-related services are not included in this category; for example, real estate agents, educational merchants arranging travel, in-flight goods and services, on-board cruise line goods and services, sightseeing activities, excursions, tourist attractions, RV and boat rentals, merchants within hotels and airports, public campgrounds and merchants that rent vehicles for the purpose of hauling. Purchases from gift card merchants or merchants that sell points or miles will not qualify in the travel category.
Some merchants that provide transportation and travel-related services are not included in this category; for example, real estate agents, educational merchants arranging travel, in-flight goods and services, on-board cruise line goods and services, sightseeing activities, excursions, tourist attractions, RV and boat rentals, merchants within hotels and airports, public campgrounds and merchants that rent vehicles for the purpose of hauling. Purchases from gift card merchants or merchants that sell points or miles will not qualify in the travel category.
- Airline purchases, fees & gift cards
- AA e-gift certificate
- Delta eGift Cards
- UA in-flight bev
Hotels: - Marriott GC and hotel charges
- Airbnb & their GC
- hotels.com (NOT hotels.com e-gift cert!)
- Hotel restaurants not charged to room (verified at Renaissance LV)
- Priceline "opaque" hotel purchases
- Kruger National Park lodging reservation (booked on sanparks.org official site)
Transit, including parking, trains, ferries, toll roads, etc: - Taxi fares: Uber, Lyft, Gett, Way2Ride, London taxi, Fasten (Austin)
- Transit fees: BART, MTA, FastTrak, Clipper Card (Bay Area), MetroCard, DC Metro (WMATA) SmarTrip farecard and commemorative cards, NJ Transit, Oyster card, Ventra (Chicago), Las Vegas Monorail, Brussels (STIB/MIVB), Incheon Airport Bus tickets, Orca King county(Seattle area), Suica/PASMO (Tokyo IC transit card - Apple pay top up)
- Parking meters: Atlanta; Chicago; Portland, OR; San Francisco; Atlantic City; Seattle, (Los Angeles but NOT Santa Monica)
- Public parking garages: San Francisco; Montgomery Co. MD
- Toll passes: E-Z Pass (MA, MD, NH, NJ, NY, PA), Sunpass prepaid tolls, Washington State GoodToGo tolls, RiverLink tolls, TxTag, IPass (Illinois)
- Train tickets: trainline (UK train tickets), Eurostar.com, Bahn.com (when using Paypal), Amtrak, italirail.com, Train and bus travel in Scotland at ticket counter.
- Amtrak dining car purchases (YMMV, recent reports are below):
- Pacific Surfliner, November 2016 (tmiw): yes, counted as travel with CSR.
Pacific Surfliner, December 2018 (tmiw): did NOT count as travel (no travel credit), but did count as dining for 3x. - San Joaquin, December 2015 (serpens): counted as 3x on CSR, unknown if counted as travel.
- unknown train/date (StanJazz): counted as dining on Freedom and CSP.
- Pacific Surfliner, November 2016 (tmiw): yes, counted as travel with CSR.
- Ferries: Cape May, NJ to Lewes, DE and NYWaterway (Belford-Pier 11)
- Shuttles: Jackson Hole WY Airport official shuttle to town
- Unlimted JR Pass for Japan purchased from japan-rail-pass.com
Misc: - MileagePlusX Uber GC [NB MPX eBay did NOT count, so it appears to be only actual travel related items on MPX]
- Royal Caribbean drink package
- Cruise bookings
- Cruise Excursions Booked Prior to Cruise (and fully refundable)
- MIR Travel Agency
- undercovertourist.com
- Rental cars (verified Avis on page 7 of this thread, Hertz)
- Car Share (Car2Go) (ReachNow)
- Lahaina Cruise Co. (Hawaii Ocean Project whale watch cruise)
- Interval International Exchange Fee + Upgrade Fee
- Aircraft title transfer registration fees with ICAO's International Registry of Mobile Assets (Cape Town Convention and Aircraft Protocol)
- Viator/TripAdvisor
- Recreation.gov fees for reserving federal park campsites do not count as "travel"
- Point.me award search site starter pass
Also, see THIS thread for additional locations.
What counts as travel? [Sapphire, INK, Consolidated]
Feb 12, 2018, 8:57 am
#256
Join Date: Feb 2018
Posts: 2
Update: for a separate booking, it did code as travel when paying with PayPal on Hotels.com. It's strange that it's not consistent. Maybe it depends on the hotel or maybe this was fixed so it codes correctly as travel.
Feb 12, 2018, 11:54 am
#257
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Traveling some where hopefully
Programs: AS, AA Gold, and Hilton
Posts: 1,954
We also used it to rent the original IPass a year ago.
It is in the Wiki also.
Last edited by jjmiller69; Feb 12, 2018 at 11:57 am Reason: add info
Feb 25, 2018, 5:05 pm
#258
Join Date: Dec 2017
Posts: 137
Does anyone know if various tours in Alaska will code as travel on the CSR? Namely the wildlife viewing tours through Denali National Park and the Kenai Fjords boat tours in Seward? I'm trying to decide between using the CSR for 3x points, or the Citi Premier for 2x points on entertainment. Since it will be a sizable expense I just want to avoid it coding for only 1x points. Any input would be appreciated!
Feb 25, 2018, 5:19 pm
#259
Moderator
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Miami, Mpls & London
Programs: AA & Marriott Perpetual Platinum; DL & HH Gold
Posts: 48,958
This is Chase's definition of Travel:
Note that sightseeing activities are specifically excluded, BUT if the credit card transaction were billed by a travel agency or cruise line it would not matter if the charge is for a shore excursion.
Merchants in the travel category include airlines, hotels, motels, timeshares, car rental agencies, cruise lines, travel agencies, discount travel sites, campgrounds and operators of passenger trains, buses, taxis, limousines, ferries, toll bridges and highways, and parking lots and garages. Please note that some merchants that provide transportation and travel-related services are not included in this category; for example, real estate agents, educational merchants arranging travel, in-flight goods and services, on-board cruise line goods and services, sightseeing activities, excursions, tourist attractions, merchants within hotels and airports, and merchants that rent vehicles for the purpose of hauling. In addition, the purchasing of gift cards, points or miles does not qualify in this category unless the merchant has set up such purchases to be classified in the travel category.
Feb 25, 2018, 5:36 pm
#260
Join Date: Dec 2017
Posts: 137
Right, thanks, that's what I gather as well. Would you happen to know if a sightseeing tour/wildlife excursion would code as entertainment on the Citi Premier? (I see that you are a moderator for Citi too).
Mar 11, 2018, 10:13 am
#262
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: New England
Posts: 485
way to get 3X for non reservation cruise items
In the past - the charges I incurred on RCCL while on-board did not come through as 3x.
But, I did find out if you made and paid for items prior to sailing, you did the 3x. Drink packages, arcade card, internet, excursions, etc. Those are all coming through at 3x.
Now, I am thinking of the remaining OB charges that I will incur. RCCL goods offers a gift card that can be used as a credit to on-board account. I'm thinking if I buy one for my known costs - then that will come through with 3x also.
Has anyone ever done that?
But, I did find out if you made and paid for items prior to sailing, you did the 3x. Drink packages, arcade card, internet, excursions, etc. Those are all coming through at 3x.
Now, I am thinking of the remaining OB charges that I will incur. RCCL goods offers a gift card that can be used as a credit to on-board account. I'm thinking if I buy one for my known costs - then that will come through with 3x also.
Has anyone ever done that?
Mar 11, 2018, 4:31 pm
#263
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Florida
Posts: 29,762
Originally Posted by mdurette;29511005[b
]In the past - the charges I incurred on RCCL while on-board did not come through as 3x.
But, I did find out if you made and paid for items prior to sailing, you did the 3x. Drink packages, arcade card, internet, excursions, etc. Those are all coming through at 3x.
Now, I am thinking of the remaining OB charges that I will incur. RCCL goods offers a gift card that can be used as a credit to on-board account. I'm thinking if I buy one for my known costs - then that will come through with 3x also.
Has anyone ever done that?
But, I did find out if you made and paid for items prior to sailing, you did the 3x. Drink packages, arcade card, internet, excursions, etc. Those are all coming through at 3x.
Now, I am thinking of the remaining OB charges that I will incur. RCCL goods offers a gift card that can be used as a credit to on-board account. I'm thinking if I buy one for my known costs - then that will come through with 3x also.
Has anyone ever done that?
I had almost $700 onboard charges on a holiday cruise onboard Princess ship. The final bill earned 3x on my Ink Preferred which I assumed using the SAME mechanism to determine Travel Spending.
This was how it showed on the Ink Preferred statement
ROYAL PRINCESS 8007746237 CA
676.42
676.42
+ 2 Points per $1 on trvl, ship, adv, telecom 1,353
+ 1 Point per $1 earned on all purchases 677
Last edited by Happy; Mar 19, 2018 at 3:25 pm
Mar 12, 2018, 7:05 pm
#264
Join Date: Apr 2017
Posts: 14
Buying from the official Paris visit bureau website
Is there’s a way to know that if I want to buy the Paris museum pass and some metro tickets thru the official Paris bureau website, would my transaction count as travel? Because If not I will prefer to pay it with my CFU.
Thanks in advance, MS
Thanks in advance, MS
Mar 12, 2018, 10:40 pm
#265
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: SW Michigan, ex SF Bay Area
Posts: 832
I don’t know whether it would count as travel. However, it may be considered a foreign transaction and thus incur a fee if you use your CFU.
Mar 13, 2018, 8:45 am
#266
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Traveling some where hopefully
Programs: AS, AA Gold, and Hilton
Posts: 1,954
If it's a government agency it will probably be coded as Government imho. I bought metro passes at the counter in Scotland and they coded as travel, which they were. YMMV but buying them from the Government controlled automatic dispensers coded as Govt. in Scotland. So does anybody have history with Paris?
Mar 15, 2018, 3:14 pm
#268
Moderator
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Miami, Mpls & London
Programs: AA & Marriott Perpetual Platinum; DL & HH Gold
Posts: 48,958
Moderator action
An attempt to interject humor was misunderstood, and the resulting discussion has become personal. We have removed the entire episode because it takes the discussion off topic.
Mar 16, 2018, 12:30 am
#269
Moderator: Hyatt; FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: WAS
Programs: :rolleyes:, DL DM, Mlife Plat, Caesars Diam, Marriott Tit, UA Gold, Hyatt Glob, invol FT beta tester
Posts: 18,933
Data points from recent TPE/HKG trip
earned 3x:
- Taiwan SIM card bought online through https://www.klook.com/ (probably anything from Klook would qualify?)
- Taiwan High Speed Rail (THSR) tickets bought in-station
- Hong Kong Airport Express tickets purchased online: MTR > Airport Express Services
- tickets for the Victoria Peak Tram
earned 1x only
- wifi pass bought online directly from gogoair.com (I think this was already well-known but repeating FWIW)
- Fa-So-La gift shop airside at NRT
earned 3x:
- Taiwan SIM card bought online through https://www.klook.com/ (probably anything from Klook would qualify?)
- Taiwan High Speed Rail (THSR) tickets bought in-station
- Hong Kong Airport Express tickets purchased online: MTR > Airport Express Services
- tickets for the Victoria Peak Tram
earned 1x only
- wifi pass bought online directly from gogoair.com (I think this was already well-known but repeating FWIW)
- Fa-So-La gift shop airside at NRT
Mar 19, 2018, 2:33 pm
#270
Join Date: Apr 2009
Posts: 681
In the past - the charges I incurred on RCCL while on-board did not come through as 3x.
But, I did find out if you made and paid for items prior to sailing, you did the 3x. Drink packages, arcade card, internet, excursions, etc. Those are all coming through at 3x.
Now, I am thinking of the remaining OB charges that I will incur. RCCL goods offers a gift card that can be used as a credit to on-board account. I'm thinking if I buy one for my known costs - then that will come through with 3x also.
Has anyone ever done that?
But, I did find out if you made and paid for items prior to sailing, you did the 3x. Drink packages, arcade card, internet, excursions, etc. Those are all coming through at 3x.
Now, I am thinking of the remaining OB charges that I will incur. RCCL goods offers a gift card that can be used as a credit to on-board account. I'm thinking if I buy one for my known costs - then that will come through with 3x also.
Has anyone ever done that?
As for your idea of buying gift cards, I would suggest buying the smallest they offer ($50) to make sure it codes as travel. What I would suggest instead is pre- purchasing on board credit. That should definitely code as travel.