Hello NYC! (And Pittsburgh, Houston, And Orange County)

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On the road today on a quasi-mileage run. Only quasi as we don’t get home until Monday.

Right now I’m taking a breather in the Newark President’s Club. By now I’m sure all of you guys have access to this place with your American Express Platinum cards! Take a shower, get your clothes pressed, it can all be done in here for free with your card.

We drove from Cleveland to Pittsburgh this morning to catch a $78 flight to Orange County, California.  I’ll make some 7,400 miles just the one-way with the flying, which to me is worth more than the cost of the flight. Best of all is that due to my elite status with Continental the flights from Newark to Houston and Houston to Orange County will be in First Class.  Even better?  The flight to Houston is on a 777, the same plane that Continental flies to Israel.  I’ve flown in BusinessFirst to Israel a couple times in the past with miles, but this will be the first time flying in that cabin since Continental changed the seats to 180 degree lie-flat beds, so I’m pretty excited to try that out!

Earlier today we stopped in the USAirways Club in Pittsburgh before the flight where I was excited to find a kosher snack, Baked Tostitos. They were actually pretty good! Before the new Priority Pass benefit came to the Platinum card, USAirways was the only club you could access with the AMEX Platinum card that doesn’t require you to be flying with them. Of course now with Priority Pass you can even access Continental or United clubs regardless of which airline you are flying.

Come to think of it, today is actually exactly 1 month since I was last in the NYC area. On April 3rd I got to get together with about 15 dedicated members of the DansDeals forums. One member (“Avid Reader”) even picked me up early in the morning from LaGuardia and chauffeured me around the entire day! We went to Clubhouse Cafe for drinks before crossing the street and feasting on steaks at Le Marais where we ate in the quieter upstairs section. We shared tips and stories, oohed and aahed over each other’s wallet candy, and everyone had a blast.

We even raffled off a few prizes using Random.org’s random number generator. A member won a free DansDeals vacation concierge package and another won a hardcover Starwood Coffee Table picture book. You might not know what Thomy is, but the stuff is legendary on the forums! When I was planning my Europe trip that we took last May I don’t think anything was hyped up about Switzerland more than it was. A forum member brought a tube of the famous Swiss Mayonnaise with him to raffle off as well!

When I handed out track-it-back luggage and electronics tags to the crowd they quickly figured out how to ship their bags worldwide for free…

The best part about it was seeing the diversity of the forum members’ backgrounds. From guys too young to rent a car, to people with grown kids. From Flatbush, Crown Heights, Lakewood, even a guy learning in the Mir.

I was in NYC that day for less than 12 hours, but my flight from Cleveland was just an hour…compare that to another super member who flew into NYC from Belgium just for the event!

The 4 hours literally flew by in the blink of an eye.  Definitely will have to do it again!

Well, it’s about time for me to get off of this comfy couch and head over to the gate…catch ya’ later!

Disclaimer: This content is not provided or commissioned by American Express. Opinions expressed here are author’s alone, not those of American Express, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by American Express.

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18 Comments On "Hello NYC! (And Pittsburgh, Houston, And Orange County)"

All opinions expressed below are user generated and the opinions aren’t provided, reviewed or endorsed by any advertiser or DansDeals.

J

“…you can even access Continental or United clubs regardless of which airline you are flying.”

Access to Continental and United clubs end in October no?

PSP887

How the heck did you find a $78 flight from Pittsburgh to Orange County?

Rabbi Issamar Ginzberg

When will you make an event in the holy land?

email me next time you come around here. If I’m here, i’ll set something up!

AL

did they ask you or check if your card is still active?

kranzman

Please, Tell us more about the shipping luggage for free…?
Also, was the ny event by invite only or did I miss a general email announcement? I would like to join you next time, but need notice to fly in for it. thx

avi

“track-it-back luggage and electronics tags” what is this, and how does it work?

Tuchus

Wow nice!!!

Jason

Yes, Please elaborate on shipping baggage. I still have some tags from the US AIR promo. What can I do with them?

chaya

“track-it-back luggage and electronics tags” what is this, and how does it work? please share the wealth!
Its nice to hear people having fun.

Jason

https://www.trackitback.com/portal/cart?page=details&pid=142

This seems almost too good to be true. I’ll assume Dan is hinting at something like this:

You call in saying you found a bag (your bag) and it needs to be returned to the owner (you). Trackitback calls you and asks where you want it delivered. You name the foreign address. They then send it to where you want.

Then, when it’s time to ship it back home, you’d have to make a call saying the luggage was found and trackitback calls you again to ask where you want it delivered.

Dan is that it? I can’t imagine they would really let you go back and forth like this. If so, I’m ready to ship a bunch of stuff 1 way. Do you think you can send to Asia as their offices are only N. America and europe, although they do say “worldwide.”

Shmuel Boruch

very cool, check out trackitback.com you buy (or get from Dan?) a luggage tag for $25. If it gets lost, vahameivin yavin, whoever finds it contacts the company and they will arrange and pay for it to be shipped back to you, plus the finder gets a reward, $100 worth of trackitback products. Awesome! Obviously, mach nisht a chillul Hashem!

Rabbi Issamar Ginzberg

“Mach nisht a chillul Hashem!”

ditto!

Dan

I’ve never used them yet, but I wouldn’t recommend doing it more than one time.

Dan

@J:
Correct.

@PSP887:
$78 each way.

@AL:
They have no way of knowing if its active.

steve

can you explain the mileage run and why its worth it?
i.e. How many miles did you get? how much the tickets were? etc.

sam the man

just got extra 50k 4 my wifes account but they said my platinum more than 3 months thanks dan (what happened???)

Broussard

@Jason:

To do it even once would be considered Gneiva

Yitzi

@kranzman
It was an open invitation via the forum.

wpDiscuz