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]
Oct 12, 2021, 5:52 am
#377
Join Date: Feb 2014
Posts: 112
Disney VIP Tour Coding
Does anyone know if the Disney VIP tours code as "Travel" or "Entertainment". My experience with Disney has been hit or miss:
- Food usually codes as "Dining" but not always.
- Tickets bought in a package at a resort count as "Travel"
- Tickets bought alone count as "Entertainment"
Nov 22, 2021, 3:38 pm
#378
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: NW Iowa
Programs: Hilton Gold, Marriott Gold Elite, Hyatt Explorist, IHG Platinum Elite, Delta Silver Medallion
Posts: 378
Do Delta gift cards still count toward the travel credit? My credit will reset in the middle of December however I'm going to cancel before my AF posts on January 1st and get the CSP which better aligns with my current spend patterns. However I have no current travel plans for 2022 that I want to book at the end of this month so I figured Delta GC's are always useful. Just making sure Chase hasn't killed this loophole before I pull the trigger.
Nov 22, 2021, 9:49 pm
#379
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Toledo, OH
Programs: Delta DM & MM, Hilton DM, Marriott gold, Hyatt Globalist, Alaska 75K, Wyndham Diamond,
Posts: 15,399
Do Delta gift cards still count toward the travel credit? My credit will reset in the middle of December however I'm going to cancel before my AF posts on January 1st and get the CSP which better aligns with my current spend patterns. However I have no current travel plans for 2022 that I want to book at the end of this month so I figured Delta GC's are always useful. Just making sure Chase hasn't killed this loophole before I pull the trigger.
Something else you could do is add $300 to your uber cash account and just use uber eats for pick up at restaurants you like to go to
Nov 23, 2021, 6:40 am
#380
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: NW Iowa
Programs: Hilton Gold, Marriott Gold Elite, Hyatt Explorist, IHG Platinum Elite, Delta Silver Medallion
Posts: 378
It should still work if it's bought through Delta. If you are really concerned and know you'll be flying in the next year on Delta, since they are waiving change fees just buy a ticket for around $300 and then cancel it a couple days later and you'll have an e-credit to use in the next year towards a trip you want to take.
Something else you could do is add $300 to your uber cash account and just use uber eats for pick up at restaurants you like to go to
Something else you could do is add $300 to your uber cash account and just use uber eats for pick up at restaurants you like to go to
Don’t use Uber Eats or any of those meal delivery services.
Nov 29, 2021, 12:55 pm
#381
Join Date: Nov 2021
Programs: AA UA Delta
Posts: 1
I wonder if your travel bank purchase was eventually coded as travel purchase in your credit card?
Jan 21, 2022, 7:25 am
#384
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Eden Prairie, MN, USA
Posts: 219
Jan 21, 2022, 7:46 am
#385
Moderator
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Miami, Mpls & London
Programs: AA & Marriott Perpetual Platinum; DL & HH Gold
Posts: 48,958
Feb 22, 2022, 8:20 am
#389
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: SW Michigan, ex SF Bay Area
Posts: 832
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/29122736-post230.html
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/31010178-post328.html
Apr 12, 2022, 8:02 pm
#390
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: SW Michigan, ex SF Bay Area
Posts: 832
Apparently VRBO now splits out their service fee as a separate charge from the rest of the deposit. I booked a place and charged it to my CSR. The VRBO service fee coded as "Travel / Lodging: hotels, motels and resorts" and earned 3x points. The remainder of the deposit coded as "Professional services / Real estate agents and managers" and earned 1x.
Separately, I paid $15 to have points transferred between my wife's and my AA accounts to extend the expiration date on our points. That charge coded as travel and earned 3x.
Separately, I paid $15 to have points transferred between my wife's and my AA accounts to extend the expiration date on our points. That charge coded as travel and earned 3x.