Happy

The OP does not have qualified sponsor card, but have Expedia account which is a qualified sponsor account for fixed pts. Everyone was puzzled back in 2007 why Expedia, a no fee account, would qualify, while even PP card was deleted from the qualified sponsor account list. Citi never fixed that loophole.

I linked my Expedia long ago so the hotel bookings thru Expedia would also earn TYPs, but I knew the linkage did not show up until an actual booking thru that Expedia account.

Since we have PPEs, so no need to rely on Expedia account to qualify for fixed pt.

mtimoney

I am sorry if this is the wrong thread, but for all of you that just got the PPE to beat the deadline I was able to get my annual fee removed. I called into cancel, stating that no longer having fixed flight, and value of tickets being far less than I applied makes the card not what i applied for.
First rep stated couldnt waive annual charge, then got the next person, who offered an additional 2 TY points per dallar spent, and I said the points just aren't worth much. Then he offered to refund the fee if I dropped down to the lower card, wich I accepted, and I will just use the card if I book any flights. I hope this helps other people as much as many of these posts have helped me.

ashaboe

I looked for a fixed-point redemption table but can't locate one ... is there a 45k level or do I have to go for 2 x 20k?

balderdash

A simple search turned up: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/archive/t-709483.html (of course, with the 2x limit applied to all)

There is a 45k but it is int'l, which may make a difference in taxes and ease-of-crediting depending on which airline you pick. A little late in the game for redemption, but good luck!

friedablass

(Bolding mine)
The annual fee was not removed. You were downgraded to a regular PP card which never has an annual fee and only earns 3:1 flight points. I've done it a couple of times when I wanted to open new PPE cards for the bonus points and to match them with flight points. What would be great is when the annual fee for PPE is waived and you can still earn 1:1 flight points.

lazybummm

sweet! I booked and used 40k pts on a jetblue flight from SJU to OAK.

I am kind annoyed that I found the perfect itinerary, 799.40 on expedia, and when I tried to book they said it went up. Went through 2 or 3 more itineraries, and finally found one through one of my back ups that actually went through.

Came out to be about $791 for basefare, oh well. I was on hold for about 2 hours from 3:10pst to 5:10pst. the rep was very nice. tax was 67.20 or something.

I call jetblue within four hours, and wanted to cancel. Rep told me there was a $100 fee that can't be waived and then I mentioned that booked it less than 4 hours ago, and she looked at the time and said, "oh you're right, I didn't even look at the time" $100 fee waived!

Before you get off the phone with the rep, make sure you check your trublue account before you hang up, it should be available right away. The first time she said it was all done, it wasn't there, so I asked if it was available right away and if I could check, and she double check on her side and fixed it. Now it's all in my account. I had a little trouble with my Virgin America Redemption at first, better safe than sorry.

Finally fixed flight rep in Vegas, mentioned that they are accepting fixed flight reservations till wed.

moondog

Unless the Citi folks have tightened the reigns, you didn't get a very good deal. Many others, yours truly included, have gotten to keep PPE at 4 pts/dollar plus flight points matching. Annual fee gets waived (or posted as a statement credit) after $1k in spending over 3 months.

DaveH

Just spent hours working through this entire thread. Thanks to happy and everyone else who has tirelessly contributed their expertise!

I have a SB FMA card linked to my TYP account, and 102K TYP to redeem. I will eventually fly out of GEG or SEA, so UA is probably preferred, with DL and CO close seconds for options.

Based on guidance here, I am planning to call first thing tomorrow morning and try to redeem for one 90K business class ticket at 3x. I am looking for itineraries that work. I'm mindful of happy's and others' suggestions that I have several of them qued up, but am finding that difficult because the fares are just over the cutoffs. For example:

This fare now shows $2,749.63, so no good.

Question: Since I should get the magical 3x redemption, can I expect that they will waive the excise tax, if applicable? Or are they only doing this for people forced to redeem only at 2x?

Any other suggestions on good ITs or other points most appreciated. I will follow up with results tomorrow.

Thanks again to everyone for all the info.

lazybummm

It seems to be that excise tax is YMMV depending on the rep. They wouldn't include my excise tax on my 2x redemption on with 90k TY points, many report they were successful

thehawk75

If my understanding is correct, the excise tax is only embedded in the USA<->USA only trips. If you fly into Canada, the base fare you see is not including any excise tax. Thus, don't expect them to waive it...

DaveH

Thanks lazybummm and thehawk75. I get the point about their needing to be tax in order to have it waived...I was assuming this was matched up with a domestic flight. LB, according to happy, the more recent redeemers got the tax waiver OK without too much hassle...I wonder if you tried this before during the last few days, or perhaps you were an exception?

Anyway, they should be open now. Since no one else replied, I'll just try to tee up a few more itineraries and will give them a call ASAP, then report back as promised.

mtimoney

The fee was removed since I had already paid it, and they are refunding me the 75 with the new card. I think others like me applied for the PPE to get the bonus points and be eligible for flat rate redemption. I didnt really need the card for any other reason (especially now that I have an 1800 credit on United). I just posted my info for anybody else that really didnt need the card, but paid the 75 annual fee to get enough points.

DaveH

Well, I obviously am not very good at this I used GrizShel's helpful hint http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/11278107-post805.html (thanks GrizShel!), but so far still cannot seem to find a BUSINESS class fare (not first class) that works just below the $2700 level that does not involve international travel (which seems to cause problems AFAIK).

I missed the early morning window obviously, so will have to try later today. Any PM or emailed spoon-feeding most appreciated, as I am not proud.


[rant on]
It is maddening that we have to go through gyrations like this to avoid severe devaluation of hard earned points. By the time this task is done the time trade off will likely have offset the value of the better redemption. Oh well, at least I've learned some things from this fine community.
[rant off]

Happy

Excise tax is not applied by segment, it is by the whole itinerary being a domestic lower 48 itinerary or not.

Your itinerary is to YUL, what you see display as base fare is just that, no tax embedded.

You can pay value above the base fare by extra TYPs at 5000 pts $50 increment. That is the only way to pay for base fare above the capped amount. You have enough extra pts to do that, so just go for that route and be done with it.

balderdash

Check your PM. I also appreciate this community for informing me about the demise of the program (I didn't receive any notification from them). Anyway, one program that is a little bit better in terms of devaluation is the TrueBlue card. Once you reach the level, you get a flight voucher. It's probably more difficult to devalue vouchers than points. Good for us west-coasters that want to go to the Caribbean!