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]
Mar 19, 2018, 3:27 pm
#271
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Florida
Posts: 29,738
Was it bought thru the cruise line at the booking time? Or it was bought independently?
Mar 27, 2018, 8:24 pm
#272
Join Date: Nov 2017
Location: SAN, LAX
Programs: UA, SW, VA, Marriott, IHG, HH
Posts: 73
Does Viator tour purchase code as travel on CSP?
I've tried the search function, but can't pull up anything.
Does tour packages on Viator website code as travel (2X) for Sapphire Preferred card?
Thank you :')
Does tour packages on Viator website code as travel (2X) for Sapphire Preferred card?
Thank you :')
Mar 27, 2018, 10:25 pm
#274
Join Date: Nov 2017
Location: SAN, LAX
Programs: UA, SW, VA, Marriott, IHG, HH
Posts: 73
Thank you! Then I think it should code as travel for CSP :P I was just debating between using Freedom Unlimited vs CSP anyway, not a huge difference I suppose.
May 3, 2018, 9:40 am
#278
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: SW Michigan, ex SF Bay Area
Posts: 828
Pretty sure this one is known: IHG Points + Cash booking did NOT code as travel, but rather "buying/shopping services, clubs".
This one is also known and in the wiki: Chicago parking meter DID code as travel ("parking lots and garages").
This one was a surprise: Chicago Solder Field / Museum East parking lot did NOT code as travel, but rather "charitable and social service organizations".
This one is also known and in the wiki: Chicago parking meter DID code as travel ("parking lots and garages").
This one was a surprise: Chicago Solder Field / Museum East parking lot did NOT code as travel, but rather "charitable and social service organizations".
Jun 1, 2018, 2:41 pm
#279
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Southern California
Programs: AA Exec Plat, UA Gold, Hyatt Globalist, Marriott Titanium, Hilton Gold, National Exec, Hertz Pres
Posts: 212
I will be going to Kauai this summer and plan to book excursions directly with the following companies:
Sunshine Helicopters
Captain Andy's Sailing Adventures
Do these kind of vendors typically count as Travel (3x w/ Chase Sapphire Reserve) or are they usually non-category (2x w/ AMEX Blue Business Plus)? I'm waiting to find out before I book so I know which credit card to place these charges on. Thanks!
Sunshine Helicopters
Captain Andy's Sailing Adventures
Do these kind of vendors typically count as Travel (3x w/ Chase Sapphire Reserve) or are they usually non-category (2x w/ AMEX Blue Business Plus)? I'm waiting to find out before I book so I know which credit card to place these charges on. Thanks!
Jun 1, 2018, 7:14 pm
#280
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: Intermountain West
Programs: Too many to list
Posts: 12,065
I will be going to Kauai this summer and plan to book excursions directly with the following companies:
Sunshine Helicopters
Captain Andy's Sailing Adventures
Do these kind of vendors typically count as Travel (3x w/ Chase Sapphire Reserve) or are they usually non-category (2x w/ AMEX Blue Business Plus)? I'm waiting to find out before I book so I know which credit card to place these charges on. Thanks!
Sunshine Helicopters
Captain Andy's Sailing Adventures
Do these kind of vendors typically count as Travel (3x w/ Chase Sapphire Reserve) or are they usually non-category (2x w/ AMEX Blue Business Plus)? I'm waiting to find out before I book so I know which credit card to place these charges on. Thanks!
Jun 4, 2018, 10:29 am
#282
Join Date: Jul 2016
Location: NJ (EWR) - USA
Programs: UA Silver - IHG Spire AMB - Hilton Gold - Choice Hotels Platinum - Hertz Gold FiveStar
Posts: 396
Can anyone confirm that cruises paid and booked United Cruises code as travel?
https://cruises.united.com
https://cruises.united.com
