Small Business credit cards are a bit of a special animal in the credit card world.  Unlike what we call “personal” cards, some cards like the Chase Ink Business Unlimited that are tagged as “business” cards do require you to have a business to apply.  You’ll be asked for business identifier (SSN or EIN), business income, years in business and other things about your business on your Chase Ink Business Unlimited application.  I’m lucky to have a couple of businesses, but you might have a business too, even if you don’t think you do. You can often apply just as a sole proprietorship with your own SSN if you don’t have a separate business EIN.

card_name

Chase Ultimate Rewards are one of the best types of miles and points currencies out there – because it’s a transferrable currency, it’s able to be transferred to a variety of miles and points partners, which helps insulate it from devaluations.

Plus it’s easier than others to get a lot of – including the Chase Sapphire Preferred, Sapphire Reserve, Ink Preferred, Ink Unlimited, Ink Cash, Freedom Flex, Freedom Unlimited.

The Chase Ink Business Unlimited has 3 main things going for it

• First, a welcome offer that allows you to bonus_miles_full (it’s advertised as a cash bonus, but see the section below)
• 1.5 Ultimate Rewards per dollar spent
• No annual fee

And that’s…. pretty much it.  No frills, no category bonuses.  Just a solid welcome offer, a solid earn for your everyday spend, and no annual fee. This is very similar to the Chase Freedom Unlimited card, but with a much bigger welcome offer. This card does fall under the Chase 5/24 rule, so you’ll likely not be approved if you’ve applied for 5 or more cards in the past 24 months.

Combining Chase Ultimate Rewards from your Chase Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card

Since the Chase Ink Business Unlimited card is not considered a “premium” card, its points are only worth 1 cent when considered by themselves.  However, if you already HAVE a premium card (like the Sapphire Reserve or Ink Preferred for example), then you are able to (at least for now!) combine all your Chase Ultimate Rewards into one account.

So your 1.5x for every dollar spent, if transferred to an account with the Sapphire Reserve (where you can REDEEM for 1.5 times), would give you 2.25% back on purchases through the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal.  And of course if you transfer them to travel partners, you can often get even MORE value.

To me, this makes the Chase Ink Business Unlimited possibly the best business credit card to put everyday spending on, if you’re not meeting a minimum spending requirement or getting a category bonus.

Primary Rental Car Coverage and Travel Protections

One of the best Chase Ink Business Unlimited benefits is that it offers primary car rental coverage in most countries around the world, as long as you are renting the car for business purposes. Renting a car using a credit card that has primary car rental coverage can be a big time and money saver if you happen to get into an accident or cause damage while renting.

(SEE ALSO: How a Chase car insurance claim saved my mom nearly $900)

(SEE ALSO: Why you’re foolish to rent a “standard” car)

The Chase Ink Unlimited card also offers travel and emergency assistance services.

Is the Chase Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card the best business card out there?

I think the Chase Ink Business Unlimited card has a case for the best business card out there.  Here’s a quick look at some of the other contenders

• card_name – welcome offer lets you bonus_miles_full. You’ll earn 3x category bonuses but only 1x on every day spend and a $95 fee
• card_name – welcome offer lets you bonus_miles_full. You’ll earn only 1x on everyday spend and 5x on certain categories and no annual fee. Comparing the Ink Cash to the Ink Business Unlimited will depend on how much of your regular spend is in these bonus categories
• American Express Blue Business Card – no annual fee, 2x Membership Rewards on every purchase and a 15,000 Membership Rewards bonus (though I’ve seen the bonus vary over time)
• American Express Business Platinum card – this card has a $695 annual fee but comes with a variety of premium benefits (but only 1x on everyday spend, though there are bonuses in some categories and for large purchases). Currently it has a bonus of 120,000 Membership Rewards bonus but there are often targeted offers for more.

KEY LINK: card_name – bonus_miles_full annual_fees

If you’re looking for links to apply to the American Express business credit cards instead, you can find it on our top credit card offers page, under small business cards. If you’re interested in signing up, we may receive a commission if you sign up through our link – we appreciate the support!

What do you think? Where does the Chase Ink Business Unlimited card fall in the list of best business cards out there?  Leave your thoughts in the comments

Manhattan to Newark airport by Uber or Lyft

Uber has an estimated price of $59-72 to go from Manhattan to Newark Airport, though obviously that depends on where you start out in New York City and probably time of day (how long it takes)

Lyft is similarly priced from Manhattan to EWR though both Uber and Lyft often are running promotions especially in New York City so be sure to check with them before you go

[The time my Lyft driver went the wrong way down a one-way street]

If you do sign up for Uber or Lyft, signing up through my referral code you will get you $10 off on your first ride.

Getting from Manhattan to Newark airport by taxi

You can absolutely take a taxi from Manhattan to Newark airport but it will be fairly expensive.  Depending on where you are coming from in Manhattan, a taxi from New York City to Manhattan is likely to cost anywhere from $40 to $70, exclusive of tips and tolls.

If you do want to take a taxi from Manhattan to Newark Airport (EWR) in New Jersey, you’re likely to save money by using a service like Carmel Limo — plus you can save $4 off using this link

And obviously you will be in a car, so subject to New York City traffic, especially if you’re traveling in rush hour (which seems like every hour!)

How to get from Manhattan to EWR by bus

You can find several express buses that go from Manhattan to Newark airport, in the $15 to $20 (one-way) range.  These are large buses designed for airport runs, so most of them should have plenty of storage underneath the seats for luggage. GO Airlink Shuttle is one such bus – it costs $21 one-way.  It runs every half hour on the half hour and they will pick you up at a variety of hotels and NYC transportation hubs (Grand Central, Penn Station, etc).  Try promo code SHUTTLE to save 5%

It will drop you off at Newark Liberty airport at either Terminal A, B or C.

If you want to travel on a public bus from EWR to New York City, you won’t be able to do it in one trip – since different public bus companies serve New York and New Jersey. NJ Transit bus lines 28, 37, 62, 67, and 107 all serve Newark Airport.

Another option would be to take the PATH train from WTC to Newark Penn Station and then take one of those NJ Transit buses from Newark Penn Station to Newark airport. This is probably the absolute cheapest way from Manhattan to Newark airport, but I don’t think it is quite the best way from Manhattan to Newark Liberty airport.

And remember, buses also go on the road, so when going from New York City to Newark by bus, you’ll be subject to traffic during peak traffic periods.

The cheapest and best way to get from Manhattan to Newark airport

While taxi, Uber, bus and even other ride share services or limos are all options to get from Manhattan to Newark airport, in my opinion, just like getting from Newark Airport to Manhattan, the absolute best way to get from Manhattan to Newark airport is by train.

The train costs $13 which includes both the NJ Transit train from New York Penn Station to Newark Liberty Airport Station as well as the AirTrain Newark which takes you from Newark Liberty Airport Station to the actual Newark airport. The Air Train inside Newark Airport runs every 3 minutes for most of the day.

The cost of a ticket from New York Penn Station is $13, which includes the AirTrain portion of $5.50.  The Newark AirTrain is free to ride if you stay at Newark Airport but if you go to Newark Liberty Airport station, it is $5.50.  The $5.50 portion is not charged for children 11 and under, AND the other portion is half price, making the child’s ticket $3.50

Adult ticket on the left; child ticket from Manhattan to Newark Airport on the right

Another advantage of taking the train from Manhattan to Newark is that you’re not on the road (duh), so you don’t have to deal with any of the famous New York City traffic.

Step by step instructions for riding the NJ Transit train from Manhattan to Newark

After we had our fun weekend in New York (SEE: 5 awesome things I did in New York City), my daughter and I took the subway and then walked to New York Penn Station, between 7th and 8th Avenues and 31st and 33rd streets in Manhattan.

Once inside NY Penn Station, follow the signs for NJ Transit.  If you bought roundtrip tickets on your way from Newark to Manhattan, you won’t need to buy tickets again.  There is a small waiting area / lounge for NJ Transit passengers.  It doesn’t have any type of food / drink, but it does offer phone charging stations.  In our case, we had just missed a NJ Transit train, so we had to wait for awhile for the next one.  Since you’re just going a few stops to Newark Airport station, you can take just about any NJ Transit train.

While you’re waiting, it won’t say what platform the train will be at, but once a train is announced, they will tell you – at that point, join the masses of humanity as you all go to that platform.  Board the train and then get off at Newark Liberty Airport Station

How to take the train from Newark Penn Station to Newark Airport

Once you’re at Newark Liberty Airport Station, follow the signs to the Air Train (it’s easy to find). Board the Air Train and then get off at the terminal that your flight is in.

I hope this guide has helped you travel from New York City – remember, I also have a guide on the best way to get from Newark Airport to Manhattan, if you need to make this a round trip

What are your tips for the cheapest and best way from Manhattan to Newark Airport?

The Road Warriorette had an interesting post recently talking about a negative experience she had with the Southwest boarding process.

When we checked in to leave Vegas I ended up in boarding group C, and the Home Warrior was in group B.  When we tried to board together in the B group the agent told me we would have to wait till group C is called if we want to board together.  I told the agent we were married and she wouldn’t budge.  I told the Home Warrior to go ahead and board.  We were able to sit together but the Home Warrior had to turn a number of people away from the seat while waiting for me.  Frustrated with the situation I decided to tweet my experience.

Southwest Boarding Process

If you’re not familiar with Southwest Airlines seating, you don’t get an assigned seat, but instead a boarding order.  A1-A60 boarding passes board first, then families, then B1-B60, then the rest of the plane with C boarding passes.

Most of the commenters (myself included) agreed with Southwest that what she was trying to do was not appropriate.  If 2 people want to board together, they need to board with the person with the worst boarding pass.  Families traveling with children under 6 get to board between the A and B sections.

(READ: Family boarding on Southwest Airlines – tips and tricks on how to get to sit with each other)

Saving seats on Southwest – the “official” policy

The “official” policy appears to be that there is no policy.  I could find nothing on southwest.com, and the only thing semi-official that I could found came from a Southwest customer service rep email that was posted on FlyerTalk.

“Dear X,

Thank you for taking the time to contact us. We appreciate the opportunity to address your concerns.

As you probably know, all flights on Southwest are “open-seating,” and Customers are free to take any available seat onboard the aircraft. In light of this, it is not uncommon for a Customer to want to reserve a seat (or seats) for a friend, family member, or associate who will be boarding behind them.

Truthfully, we don’t have a policy either way–for or against–saving seats. In fact, we share our perspective on this issue on southwest.com as follows: “because Southwest Airlines maintains an open-seating policy, general-boarding Customers may sit in any open or unclaimed seat.” With this in mind, as long as there is no Safety concern, it would be acceptable for a Customer to “claim” a seat for his/her family member or traveling companion who may be in a later boarding group. We are aware that the saving of seats is a by-product of our policy, and as long as the boarding process is not delayed and other Customers aren’t inconvenienced, it usually isn’t a significant issue.

Again, we appreciate your contacting us. We look forward to welcoming you onboard a Southwest flight soon.

Sincerely,

Marco, Southwest Airlines”

So I guess their policy is “uhhhhh do whatever you want”.

Saving seats with Southwest Airlines seating – my take

My take is simple: Don’t do it.  If you are going to do it, do it at the back of the plane.  I think that most people would not mind saving one middle seat in the back of the plane.  But if you’re going to do that, you might as well just board together (at the “worse” boarding position!)

On a recent Southwest flight, my wife and I were in the early B boarding group.  We were a few numbers apart but boarded with the higher (worse) number.  In my experience, this is definitely early enough to get 2 seats together.  We boarded the plane and found an aisle / middle seat about 10 rows back.  The man sitting by the window had a coat or something on the middle seat, and when we went to go sit there, he said it was “saved”.  It was annoying but we just continued moving and found 2 seats together a few rows back.

I think the only one I’d feel sympathy for would be someone traveling with a young child (but older than 6 and thus not eligible for family boarding).  On the other hand, you do have the Early Bird Check-in, which lets you board in the A1-15 section.

(SEE ALSO: Is Southwest Early Bird Check-in worth it?)

While I understand wanting to sit with your traveling companion(s), let’s not forget, with the possible exception of younger children, the world is not going to end if you sit apart for 2-3 hours.  If it’s very important to you, either a) pay for Early Bird check-in, b) make sure to check in as close to 24 hours before your flight as possible or c) FLY ANOTHER AIRLINE THAT LETS YOU PICK YOUR SEATS!

What do you think?  Have you ever saved seats on Southwest or tried to sit in a seat that someone else saved?

Alaska Airlines miles are regularly considered some of the highest value in the travel industry due to their unique partnerships and award chart sweet spots. Recently Alaska announced their highest bonus of the year, a tiered promotion offering up to 60% bonus miles when purchasing. Depending on your needs, this can be an awesome deal.

(SEE ALSO: 5 ways to fly to Australia with at least one amazing stopover)

(SEE ALSO: 10 sweet spots for using miles to fly economy)

The Details

This promo is going on now through May 21st. Click here to navigate to the purchase page. If you have no status, you can acquire up to 150,000 bonus miles per year, though this limit is waived if you have MVP, MVP Gold, or MVP Gold 75k status. I have seen reports that the bonus shows up differently for different people – for me, it was a tiered bonus with a maximum of up to 60% miles. Your mileage may vary depending on the promotion that is targeted to you.

• Buy 3,000-19,000 miles, get a 40% bonus
• Buy 20,000-39,000 miles, get a 50% bonus
• Buy 40,000-100,000 miles, get a 60% bonus

Purchases are processed through Points.com, which means that you’ll want to buy these with a card that maximizes everyday spend, like the Citi Double Cash.

Normally, each 1,000 Alaska miles would cost $29.56 with tax included; that is 2.9 cents per mile! Nobody values Alaska miles at more than 2 cents per mile, so at the normal rate, it doesn’t make sense to buy. Buying at least 40,000 miles with this promotion nets you an additional 60% in bonus points, which with tax brings the cost of a point down to 1.85 cents per mile. It’s not hard to find more value than that out of Alaska miles.

You can use your miles on Alaska Airlines flights itself, or on any of their partners. And now that Alaska Airlines is part of the oneworld airline alliance, you can use Alaska miles for travel on most (if not all) oneworld partners.

(SEE ALSO: [QUIZ] – Can you name the oneworld alliance members?)

Terms and Conditions

• Transactions must be completed between 6:00 AM PT April 10, 2023 and 11:59 PM PT May 21, 2023 to be eligible for bonus miles.
• Miles are purchased from Points.com Inc. for a cost of $27.50 per 1,000 miles, plus GST/HST for Canadian residents and QST for Quebec residents.
• Miles are non-refundable and do not count toward MVP and MVP/Gold status.
• You may purchase and gift Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan miles in increments of 1,000 miles up to 60,000 miles, and in increments of 5,000 miles up to a maximum of 100,000 miles per transaction.
• MVP, MVP Gold, MVP Gold 75K and MVP Gold 100K Mileage Plan member (Elite Member) accounts have no annual limit on the number of miles which may be purchased or gifted through Points.com. If you are not an Elite Member, your account may only be credited up to a maximum total of 150,000 miles acquired through Points.com in a calendar year, whether purchased by you or gifted to you. Bonus miles do not count toward the maximum total of 150,000 miles.
• Offer is subject to change and all terms and conditions of the Mileage Plan Program apply.
• *Points.com Inc. is collecting Federal Excise Tax on behalf of Alaska Airlines Inc.
• Alaska Airlines Inc. has the obligation to collect Federal Excise Tax and remit the tax to the appropriate government agency.

Again, here is the link to buy Alaska miles with up to a 60% bonus.

Even though we never recommend speculatively purchasing miles, I’m sorely tempted by this. Are any of you going to take advantage?

The Chase Sapphire Preferred card gets a bit of a bad rap in the miles and points community.  I get the sense that it’s widely panned by some, because it’s very (VERY) widely mentioned by many travel bloggers.  It gets to the point where sometimes it feels like every post by some folks, no matter what the question or topic, ends up with the answer being APPLY FOR THE CHASE SAPPHIRE PREFERRED CARD!

But, there are valid reasons to talk about the card_name card – if you’re just starting out in the miles and points world and wanting to use your good credit to help you travel more, the Chase Sapphire Preferred can make a lot of sense as your first card.

Getting the Chase Sapphire Preferred card as a first card

Amongst my family and friends, I am known as the “credit card guy”.  I suspect if you’re reading this blog, that probably applies to many of you as well. It is not uncommon that friends or co-workers will ask me my opinion of what credit card to get.

Typically, this is someone who is not really interested into getting into MY lifestyle and signing up for multiple credit cards at a time, but is just looking for 1 or maybe 2 cards to take a specific trip, and even that’s only after I make them decide on where they want to go FIRST. And of course making sure that they are already in solid financial health where they have the  ability and financial discipline to pay off their bills in full EVERY month.

I’d say that in over 75% of the cases, the card_name is the card (or one of the cards) I recommend they get

Why Chase Sapphire Preferred?

What are some of the reasons I find myself generally recommending the Chase Sapphire Preferred as a “first” card?

1. Usually gives a very good signup bonus (currently you can bonus_miles after meeting the minimum spending requirement)
2. Reasonable annual fee (currently annual_fees )
3. Many folks I talk to already have a Chase Freedom Flex or card_name as their “go to” card.  So signing up for the Chase Sapphire Preferred card lets you use those Ultimate Rewards you might ALREADY have with your Chase Freedom Flex or Chase Freedom Unlimited by transferring them to travel partners (instead of only using them for statement credits at 1 cent per point)
4. It allows you to get a valuable signup bonus without locking you in to a particular hotel or airline.  You can use your Chase Ultimate Rewards to transfer to British Airways (for my friend who is always flying to New York) or United or Southwest or Hyatt (or some combination of the above!)
5. Plus if you ARE later going to get into multiple credit cards, the Chase 5/24 rule might make it more difficult to get the Chase Sapphire Preferred card later on

Comparing Chase Sapphire Preferred vs Chase Sapphire Reserve

I originally wrote this post right after the card_name came out a few years ago.  It seemed like the entire miles and points world had their head asplode.  I do agree that the Chase Sapphire Reserve card is a very good card, and for people with a basic understanding of miles and points, it definitely makes sense.

(SEE ALSO: I just got a Chase Sapphire Reserve (and didn’t even get the signup bonus))

(SEE ALSO: Chase Sapphire Reserve vs Chase Sapphire Preferred card)

But I’m not sure I feel comfortable recommending the Chase Sapphire Reserve card as someone’s first miles and points card to get.  I think that the annual_fees annual fee (although possibly offset by annual $300 travel credits) has a high chance to be wasted, either from forgetting about the $300 travel credits, or by not redeeming them correctly.  Remember that annual_fees comes due right off the top on your first statement.  So while I do think the Chase Sapphire Reserve card is a good one, it’s not one I’d recommend for beginners or other people starting out.

The CSR is a little bit less attractive now than it was last summer as the $300 travel credit is now by cardmember year instead of calendar year (preventing you from double dipping the first year) and also the signup bonus is down.

The Bottom Line

KEY LINK: card_name – bonus_miles_full annual_fees

So why does the Chase Sapphire Preferred card get so much press? Undoubtedly at least part of it is due to affiliate relationships, where people receive a commission for people that sign up through the card.  If you want to apply for this or any other top travel cards and support PWaC, you can find apply for the card_name here.  And just because people like to talk about it doesn’t mean that it’s not a good card.

As always, please understand the risks of credit cards before you apply for one, and DO NOT SIGN UP FOR A CREDIT CARD JUST BECAUSE SOME GUY ON THE INTERNET SAID SO.

Southwest is offering up to a 50% discount on buying, gifting or transferring points through May 19th. This is a high bonus, close to the best bonus Southwest has ever offered. Let’s examine the math and see if this makes sense. All buying points do pay a commission so thanks in advance if you use them to help support the site.

The Promotion

Below are details of the promotion:

• Offer is valid between April 18, 2023, 12:00:01 a.m. CT and May 19, 2023, 11:59:59 p.m. CT.
• Rapid Rewards® Member will save 50% when the Member purchases 3,000 or more Rapid Rewards points within a single purchase
• A valid credit card is required to buy points.
• A minimum 3,000 points purchase threshold must be met on a per transaction basis in order to qualify for the discount.
• Points can be purchased in blocks of 1,000 and a daily maximum of 60,000 points can be purchased by a Member with no annual maximum

What about with the current promotion? This time the bonus is tiered –

• Buy fewer than 3,000 points – no discount
• Buy 3,000 or more points – 50% discount

If you purchase the maximum allowed, you will receive 60,000 points for $900.00, about 1.5 cents per point.

Remember that you can only redeem Southwest points for a fixed amount – usually though not always for about 1.33 cents per point.

(SEE ALSO: Yes, you CAN get 2.55 cents per Southwest point!)

So obviously buying points at 1.5 cents per point and redeeming them at 1.33 cents per point is not a winning strategy!  I’d say the only real opportunities where this might make sense is if you have multiple accounts with points in them and don’t have enough to book your flights and need to consolidate. One option would be to have the individual accounts buy flights for individual people, but that doesn’t always work out for flying. Another possibility is if you can find a redemption for more than 1.5 cents per point

Also it’s important to note that purchased points do NOT count towards earning the points you need for the Southwest Companion Pass

If you have questions about whether or not this makes sense for you, send me an email or post over in our free Points With a Crew miles and points Facebook group

Conclusion

Purchased points can represent great value sometimes. But as always, you need to crunch the numbers to ensure it makes sense.  (SEE ALSO: When does buying airline miles make sense?  ONLY in these 3 instances)

During the past two years, Southwest has offered bonus on purchase points about four times a year, and the maximum bonus ranged from 30% to 50%. A 50% discount is equivalent to more than a 50% bonus, so the current promotion is about the highest it’s ever been. As I always say, if you don’t have an urgent need for Southwest points, I would recommend waiting for the next promotion with higher bonus.  I generally would only buy Southwest or any other type of miles or points if you have a specific short-term need for them.

When you need to change a flight, it’s super easy.  Login to your Rapid Rewards account online, and modify the trip.  If your new flight selection needs more points, you’ll have to pay the difference.  If the new flight is less points than your original flight, you’ll get the difference refunded back to your account instantly!

There are no change or cancellation fees for Southwest flights, even with their cheapest fares!  This is a fantastic feature, and I took full advantage back when I had my Companion Pass for 2016 and 2017.

Buy, gift or transfer Southwest points here with up to a 50% discount through May 19th

What happens in Denver…

United Airlines captain Andrew Collins was in the Westin hotel in Denver in September 2018 (I’m assuming the Westin Denver International Airport), talking on the phone, walking around naked with his curtains open, for 20 minutes. He apparently thought that nobody could see him because the windows were somewhat opaque.

How this story SHOULD have ended (had someone that saw him naked even cared enough to mention it): the hotel should have contacted him and said “Hey people can see you naked; put some clothes on” = the end

How it ACTUALLY ended – the police were called, they came in with guns drawn, and he was arrested for indecent exposure and put in an airport jail. Here’s the body cam footage from the Denver Post

Lawsuit settled

While I do think it’s prudent to be careful about walking around naked, clearly this response was over the top. A judge agreed, and dismissed the case back in March. Collins sued the city and recently settled for $300,000. Apparently he is also considering suing the Westin for letting the police in, and wants to donate some / all of his winnings to The Innocence Project.

The Bottom Line

Just because you are “on vacation” or in somewhere other than your regular surroundings doesn’t mean that all laws and rules of society go out the window. So I do think that it’s probably a good idea to be careful about where and how you walk around naked. But clearly this was a response that was a bit over the top and unsubstantiated. Not to mention that this was back in 2018 even before the recent controversies regarding the appropriate role of police in the community.

What do you think should have happened in this situation? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

So we turned to Airbnb, and after a paralyzing search, we settled on a couple of different places for our stay in Lisbon and Barcelona. I booked them recently, and for the one in Barcelona, we paid about USD$480 for a week’s stay. The price was a little bit lower than surrounding units but I didn’t feel it was WAY lower than other comparable units. But then I got a disturbing message from one of the hosts:

Message from our Airbnb host

Here’s the message I got (roughly translated from the original Spanish via Google Translate)

Thank you for choosing our home for your vacation. However, I wanted to tell you that there is a problem with the rate, because we do not make such low prices, at least they should be € 500, they are equivalent to the price of our weekend rate (€ 400) plus cleaning (€ 100). I have to check the prices of your reservation. Can you tell me if you have received a discount?

then

Hello again Dan. As I mentioned before I do not understand why you get a price so low for my house.
My base price is € 59 / day in winter. The minimum weekly price is € 800, but in summer it increases depending on the week. Specifically, my June rates are € 1000 per week, in total. We apply a 10% discount for stays of 7 days or more. YOUR DISCOUNT IS APPLIED TO YOUR RESERVATION. I have not been able to verify in any way where the price of your stay comes from, what I do know is that it does not fit into our rates. All previous and subsequent reservations are for a price higher than yours, even if they are shorter and midweek. Regretting it a lot I have to reject your reservation for this amount. We could make you a 25% discount due to the possible error of the rates but not 75%.
For me it is a very embarrassing situation, I think that as a host you will understand, and I would not like to lose your reservation, you have good ratings and I would like to stay at our house. I propose to pay € 100 per day, cleaning included, in total € 700. For now, regretting it a lot I have to cancel your reservation.
I hope you get in touch with me to clarify this matter. I apologize for any inconvenience you may have caused.

What to do now?

I’m not naming or linking to the host because I don’t want to publicly shame him yet, but I’m not sure what to do. I don’t really want to pay an extra $400, but at this point I don’t feel like I can “force” him to take my reservation, since at that point there is so much the host can do to make things miserable for our stay (including just not letting us in). I guess he can take the black mark on his profile and cancel it. I will probably call Airbnb but I doubt their customer service will be much help.

Ever had anything like this happen to you? What would you do? Leave your thoughts in the comments

I find these types of things to be generally harmless but vapid, but what caught my eye was the claim that the average American has only been to EIGHT states!  I’m typically skeptical of claims like this, so I did a bit of research

How many states has the average American been to?

According to a 2016 survey by Livability and Ipsos, the average American has only been to 12 states.  The most popular states for people to have been to are Florida, California, New York, Georgia, and Nevada.

A few more surprising facts from the survey

• North Dakota is the least visited states
• 10% of Americans (!) have only been to the state they currently live in
• Somehow 15-20% of people have been to Maine, but less than 15% of people have been to New Hampshire (the only state that borders Maine). I guess there’s either a LOT of cruise traffic or some Americans are really bad at geography (or both 😀 )
• Households with no children are more likely to want to visit Alaska, but people with kids are slightly more likely to have Florida on their wish list

My stats

In January 2023, I visited my final state (Hawaii), but I am not content with visiting states – I am trying to visit every COUNTY in the United States – I’m about 60% of the way there

Looking through my family’s county spreadsheet (of COURSE I keep one!), in addition to my 49 states, my wife has been to 41. My kids have been to 37, 39, 38, 33, 30 and 29.  So with a family average of 37, we’re doing our part!

How about you?

Now I want to hear from you! How many US states have you visited?  Do you have plans to visit more or goals to visit all 50? Leave your thoughts in the comments

(SEE ALSO: Delta First Class Passenger Takes Bump Then Is Downgraded to Economy)

Getting a Delta Bump voucher

For the return leg, I checked in right around the 24 hour mark, and got 2 ominous messages. First of all, I didn’t have a seat.

Then, I saw they were looking for volunteers

I posted over on the free Points With a Crew Miles and Points Facebook group looking for suggestions and in the end, I decided to just put in $200, since this is totally non-binding and I figured getting on the list would at least give me options

Trying to find a better way home

My flight was a direct flight RDU-CVG leaving at 6:10 p.m. My conference was over at lunchtime, and there was a 1:30 p.m. flight leaving RDU connecting in Atlanta that would actually have gotten me into CVG a few hours earlier. I tried calling Delta the morning of the flight, but they said that it was only oversold by 2 and they wouldn’t do any compensation until the gate (by which time this earlier flight would have left).

So off to the airport it was. Even at the airport, I tried talking to a different Delta gate agent as well as going to the Delta Assist center, but neither of them wanted to work with me. I got to our gate about 75 minutes before departure time and talked with the gate agent. I told him that I had a price if he could get me home tonight, and a different price if I had to wait till the next morning. He said he couldn’t get me home that evening – there were flights leaving RDU to DTW and ATL right around the same time that would have gotten me home with a connection but he said they were full. I don’t know if they were REALLY full or if he just didn’t want to deal with the paperwork while he was trying to get the flight out the door

Getting a Delta Airlines bump gift card for being passenger #51 on a 50 seat aircraft

The Standby list did NOT look good….

After everyone was boarded, there was 1 other person with me (I assume HEW/J). I was talking with him and he said that he had also volunteered. I asked him what he asked for and he said that the gate agent told him it was also $1000. I asked him if they could only take 1, if he wanted to stay or go. He said that he’d stay. I was fine either way. $1000 is nice, but it’s not life changing money and I would have liked to see my family as well. It turned out that the pilot said that due to weather he could only take 49 passengers and 54 bags. But since there were only 36 bags, they could fit a 50th passenger and they took HEW/J.

Thankfully this all worked out for me, and not like the time that a Delta First Class passenger took a bump only to get downgraded back to economy

When the agent came back, there was a bunch of paperwork to sign and then I was off to the hotel!

Here’s a list of Delta Airlines bump gift card options that I was given

The way the Delta Airlines bump gift cards work is that you get an email within 24 hours or so (mine arrived within 2 hours), and then you can choose which card you want (I will be choosing the Amex Gift Card). I also got a hotel voucher for the Hampton Inn & Suites Raleigh-Durham Airport-Brier Creek, and 3 $15 meal vouchers. All in all, not too bad for a night’s work!

Ever been bumped by Delta Airlines? Have a good Delta Airlines bump gift card story? Leave it in the comments