Help with FFN & Mastercard
 

I'm lazy. I admit it. I also don't have much time to decide what to do with the upcoming FFN promotion and read through the very long sticky thread.

So, I ask your advise for my particular situation & hope you won't hate me ;).

I don't have a MC. What I do have is a 3 part reservation for Memorial Day weekend at a Hyatt. 2 nights on a weekend stay certificate, 1 night paid, and 1 night (the night of June 1) on an award.

First of all, will I even be eligible for FFN for the 1 night stay?

If so, can someone point me toward the best MC to apply for? I may still have enough time to actually get one. Doesn't necessarily have to be an affinity card, but I do have accounts with UA, DL, CO, HH, Hyatt, with a UA Visa.

Thanks in advance for putting up with my request ;) :D.

www.bankrate.com

A stay counts if you have eligible charges and you pay with master card.

-David

Thanks David, but the rate doesn't interest me since I never carry a balance.

I'll make sure to make a phone call :).

I guess you are talking about www.bankrate.com for the first part? They have a credit card selector tool that allows you to compare cards from various issuers based on your criteria. Try it. Click on "credit cards" on top of the first page. You can start with no-fee or awards or whatever.

If none of those appeal to you see if you can get a master card from Capital One. They are a very good issuer, plus no additional mark-up on forex transactions. There's also the MBNA Amtrak MC.

Personally, I went with the AA World MC, but it has a stiff annual fee. I wanted to drive some upgrade miles to AA for those odd times I need to fly with them.

-David

This is an easy one, but has nothing to do with GP. pgary offers information about this topic at length. Here is the relevant excerpt that answers your query:

American Airlines offers a free MasterCard that gives 2500 miles up front, and then 1 mile for every $2 spent. I was given this offer when I threatened to close my account to avoid an annual fee. It is called "Citi Bronze Advantage World MasterCard". I can't find it on line. You may have to be a bit persistent to find it, but it does exist. First try the standard number for applying for Citibank American Airlines cards, (800) 359-4444. If that doesn't work, call customer service at (888) 766-2484 and do not respond to any of the prompts. Instead, wait (several minutes) until the system gives up trying to understand you and sends you to a human being. In both cases, you will most likely have to ask for the card by name. Most reps say they have never heard of it, but they all have the means of looking it up.

The Amtrak Guest Rewards program offers a free MasterCard credit card that provides 500 bonus Amtrak Guest Rewards points up front, plus 1 point per dollar spent, and 2 points per dollar spent on Amtrak tickets. Points are convertible to miles on United Airlines, Continental Airlines, and Midwest Express, on a one for one basis, in 5000 mile increments, with a maximum of 25000 miles per year.

Aer Lingus offers residents of the U.S. and Puerto Rico 1,000 points for applying for and using once its free, no annual fee MasterCard. Plus earn 1 Shamrock Reward point per dollar spent.

MyPoints offers a free MasterCard which gives you 750 MyPoints up front, plus 1 MyPoint for every dollar spent.

I use my Chase MasterCard Debit card when for this promo. But I do 'twist' it a bit as my company requires us to use their Corporate Visa card for all business travel. So I'll reserve a room using one of Hyatt's prepaid rates with my Visa, then when checking in I'll give them my debit M/C for incidentials. I end up keeping my company happy (lower rate), as well as getting the FFN stay.

Thanks everyone for your advise. I appreciate you repeating it for me!

I will check bankrate.... Amtrak one sounds interesting.

Off to bankrate :)

Break up your stays
 

Mary2e, you might consider breaking up your stay so the hotel does not consider the three reservations as only one stay. For example, put your companion's name & GP number(if you are not alone, of course) on the paid stay in the middle.
The hassel factor is, that you'd have to "officially" checkout for each of the reservations, but the front desk clerk is usually fine with re-assigning the same room you just checked out of to the new reservation. Just make sure they don't merge the reservations to one folio.
What this gains you, is two stay credits as long as you have some incidentals. While not officially a bene, in the past, any incidentals even on an award stay have triggered points & stay credit for me. :) YMMV

Great Advise.... Thank you. It won't work for me for this promotion though... The last night of my stay is the first night of the promotion.