Credit Card 2 The Point - Tips & Deals
Using a Cellphone in Isreal - Golan Telecom
If you fly to Israel here & there, or maybe even only once a year, it may be worth to consider buying an Israeli sim, it's yours to keep, you stay with same # every time, no hassle renting every time.
You must have a sim card phone that will work on the Israeli (more suphisticated) networks, or even a Verizon or Sprint phone (that dont work on sim cards in the US) would work if it's a global phone.
Golan Telecom have 2 great plans, one for 9.99 shekel a month, and one for 99 shekel a month (now offering 1st 2 months free), the plan you choose you'll have to pay monthly (you can't activate the plan only for the months you'll visit Israel), but 9.99 is less than $3 a month, and you can change your plan to the 99 shekel for the time you'll be there and then change it back, BUT keep in mind, that you must change your plan before your billing cycle starts and will take affect for next month, so for example if your billing cycle is every 25th (as mine, perhaps everyones is on 25th too), you must switch your plan no later than the 24th, for example:
*If you change your plan on July 7th then it will take effect on July 25th.
*if you switched on July 25th it will only take effect on August 25th.
*If you change on July 24Th it will take effect the next day on July 25Th.
so if you plan to be there from May 19 - May 27 and you want the 99 shekel plan, you'll have to be on that plan for 2 billing cycles, in this case it may be more worth to stay on the 9.99 plan.
The 9.99 plan includes 60 free minutes in Israel (land lines & cellphones), 60 SMS, 10mb of internet browsing (which you can disable), calls to the US cost only 0.08 agurot (about $0.02) per minute.
The 99 shekel plan includes, unlimited calls in Israel, unlimited SMS / MMS, Unlimited internet, unlimited calls to 55 countries, see more here.
You will need to buy their sim card for a one time fee of 39 shekel (no delivery charge), and you choose your own number (if still available to you), e.g. your US home number.
allow 1 - 2 weeks for sim card delivery.
if you are interested to go ahead, please just enter 0584357430 as your recommender, at the order confirmation page in the subscription process, it doesnt cost you anything, Ze Nehne V'ze lo chosor.
Before you sign up make sure you are eligible as you must have the following in order to subscribe.
1) An Israeli ID number (Tehudat Zehut)
2) An Israeli issued credit card
3) A shipping address in Israel (to ship the sim card to)
If you dont have, ask a friend or relative to lend you.
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If you fly to Israel here & there, or maybe even only once a year, it may be worth to consider buying an Israeli sim, it's yours to keep, you stay with same # every time, no hassle renting every time.
You must have a sim card phone that will work on the Israeli (more suphisticated) networks, or even a Verizon or Sprint phone (that dont work on sim cards in the US) would work if it's a global phone.
Golan Telecom have 2 great plans, one for 9.99 shekel a month, and one for 99 shekel a month (now offering 1st 2 months free), the plan you choose you'll have to pay monthly (you can't activate the plan only for the months you'll visit Israel), but 9.99 is less than $3 a month, and you can change your plan to the 99 shekel for the time you'll be there and then change it back, BUT keep in mind, that you must change your plan before your billing cycle starts and will take affect for next month, so for example if your billing cycle is every 25th (as mine, perhaps everyones is on 25th too), you must switch your plan no later than the 24th, for example:
*If you change your plan on July 7th then it will take effect on July 25th.
*if you switched on July 25th it will only take effect on August 25th.
*If you change on July 24Th it will take effect the next day on July 25Th.
so if you plan to be there from May 19 - May 27 and you want the 99 shekel plan, you'll have to be on that plan for 2 billing cycles, in this case it may be more worth to stay on the 9.99 plan.
The 9.99 plan includes 60 free minutes in Israel (land lines & cellphones), 60 SMS, 10mb of internet browsing (which you can disable), calls to the US cost only 0.08 agurot (about $0.02) per minute.
The 99 shekel plan includes, unlimited calls in Israel, unlimited SMS / MMS, Unlimited internet, unlimited calls to 55 countries, see more here.
You will need to buy their sim card for a one time fee of 39 shekel (no delivery charge), and you choose your own number (if still available to you), e.g. your US home number.
allow 1 - 2 weeks for sim card delivery.
if you are interested to go ahead, please just enter 0584357430 as your recommender, at the order confirmation page in the subscription process, it doesnt cost you anything, Ze Nehne V'ze lo chosor.
Before you sign up make sure you are eligible as you must have the following in order to subscribe.
1) An Israeli ID number (Tehudat Zehut)
2) An Israeli issued credit card
3) A shipping address in Israel (to ship the sim card to)
If you dont have, ask a friend or relative to lend you.
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US Airways Premier World MasterCard(R)
US Airways are merging with American Airlines, try to get as many miles you can, as they will convert into American Airlines points after the merge.
Apply for the US Airways credit card while its still out, earn 30,000 bonus miles after 1st purchase on every card you apply for and become approved.
The US Airways credit card is really a great card to apply for, first of all you receive a generous 30,000 bonus miles just for swiping your card once, even just for $1, and then you can earn additional points by making a balance transfer (within 1st 90 days of account opening), 1 point per dollar up to $10,000, that’s a total of 40,000 bonus miles, plus many more features come with the card.
What can you do with the 30,000 points which you earn after 1st purchase?
That’s way more than enough for a round trip ticket to anywhere in the US or Canada, or enough for a
one way to Europe (apply for yourself and your spouse and you have enough for a roundtrip), and 40,000 is already enough for a one way to Tel Aviv.
You can try applying multiple times (once in every 30 days) for yourself and for your spouse, and get multiple sign up bonuses, if you are declined you can call the reconsideration line at 866-408-4064.
You continue to earn 1 mile for every dollar you spend (2 miles on US Airways purchases), US Airways miles can be redeemed on any of their star alliance members, like United, Swiss, Lufthansa.
US Airways often have some great offers, like a while back ago they offered share you miles and earn 100% bonus, that meant if you transfer your 30,000 miles to your spouse, your spouse would end up with 60,000 miles and the cost for the transfer was only around $350, and now they are running a 50% share bonus, see more info on this offer below.
More features on the card:
You get a 5,000 mile discount when you redeem your miles for flights, e.g. if you require 25,000 for a domestic round trip, you’ll pay only 20,000 miles.
When you fly on US Airways, you can check in at the first class check in desk, and board the flight early.
You are eligible to receive one complimentary US Airways Club pass, valid for a one-time visit at any
domestic US Airways-operated Club.
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US Airways are merging with American Airlines, try to get as many miles you can, as they will convert into American Airlines points after the merge.
Apply for the US Airways credit card while its still out, earn 30,000 bonus miles after 1st purchase on every card you apply for and become approved.
The US Airways credit card is really a great card to apply for, first of all you receive a generous 30,000 bonus miles just for swiping your card once, even just for $1, and then you can earn additional points by making a balance transfer (within 1st 90 days of account opening), 1 point per dollar up to $10,000, that’s a total of 40,000 bonus miles, plus many more features come with the card.
What can you do with the 30,000 points which you earn after 1st purchase?
That’s way more than enough for a round trip ticket to anywhere in the US or Canada, or enough for a
one way to Europe (apply for yourself and your spouse and you have enough for a roundtrip), and 40,000 is already enough for a one way to Tel Aviv.
You can try applying multiple times (once in every 30 days) for yourself and for your spouse, and get multiple sign up bonuses, if you are declined you can call the reconsideration line at 866-408-4064.
You continue to earn 1 mile for every dollar you spend (2 miles on US Airways purchases), US Airways miles can be redeemed on any of their star alliance members, like United, Swiss, Lufthansa.
US Airways often have some great offers, like a while back ago they offered share you miles and earn 100% bonus, that meant if you transfer your 30,000 miles to your spouse, your spouse would end up with 60,000 miles and the cost for the transfer was only around $350, and now they are running a 50% share bonus, see more info on this offer below.
More features on the card:
You get a 5,000 mile discount when you redeem your miles for flights, e.g. if you require 25,000 for a domestic round trip, you’ll pay only 20,000 miles.
When you fly on US Airways, you can check in at the first class check in desk, and board the flight early.
You are eligible to receive one complimentary US Airways Club pass, valid for a one-time visit at any
domestic US Airways-operated Club.
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Ultimate Rewards - Transfer To Virgin Atlantic
Chase have added Virgin Atlantic as a new airline partner you can transfer Ultimate Rewards points to, Virgin fly from NY (JFK / Newark) - London 6 times a day from 7:20am to 10:25pm, each Ultimate Reward point is worth one Virgin mile, and you only need 38,500 points in economy or 90,000 in business, so we now have another option getting to London with Ultimate rewards. Their business class is great, the only thing is they have surcharges on mileage tickets of about $1000. Points don't expire till 36 months, apply for the Chase Sapphire to get 40,000 bonus points or the Ink Bold for business and get 50,000 bonus points.
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Chase have added Virgin Atlantic as a new airline partner you can transfer Ultimate Rewards points to, Virgin fly from NY (JFK / Newark) - London 6 times a day from 7:20am to 10:25pm, each Ultimate Reward point is worth one Virgin mile, and you only need 38,500 points in economy or 90,000 in business, so we now have another option getting to London with Ultimate rewards. Their business class is great, the only thing is they have surcharges on mileage tickets of about $1000. Points don't expire till 36 months, apply for the Chase Sapphire to get 40,000 bonus points or the Ink Bold for business and get 50,000 bonus points.
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Book all your travel in one place
Going to Miron, London, or absolutely anyewhere, use this link to book your airline tickets & hotels, you have 24 hours after you purchase your ticket to cancel without penalties, here is a tip that sometimes works, if you plan to travel from NY - TLV and back, you may want to try a multi city search and back to ORD, IAH or IAD (for example NYC - TLV & TLV - ORD), it sometimes comes out to be cheaper than a round trip ticket, just make sure there you get a stop in NY (and often you are left with nonstop both ways), and once you arrive in NY take your luggage and go home (the US TSA rules require you to check in again if you were to travel on to another city in the US.
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Going to Miron, London, or absolutely anyewhere, use this link to book your airline tickets & hotels, you have 24 hours after you purchase your ticket to cancel without penalties, here is a tip that sometimes works, if you plan to travel from NY - TLV and back, you may want to try a multi city search and back to ORD, IAH or IAD (for example NYC - TLV & TLV - ORD), it sometimes comes out to be cheaper than a round trip ticket, just make sure there you get a stop in NY (and often you are left with nonstop both ways), and once you arrive in NY take your luggage and go home (the US TSA rules require you to check in again if you were to travel on to another city in the US.
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Barclaycard(R) Arrival World MasterCard(R)
Limited time offer. Earn 40,000 bonus miles when you spend $1,000 on purchases in the first 90 days (equal to a $400 statement credit towards travel).
Barclaycard have just improved their bonus on the Arrival World MasterCard(R), you earn 40,000 bonus points after you spend $1000 in the first 90 days, you get 2 points for every dollar you spend (in any category), and the annual fee is waived the first year, plus when you redeem the points for travel you earn an additional 10% of your points:
40,000 bonus points:
This looks like a limited time offer, so act fast while the offer is still around, after you spend $1000 on the card in the first 90 days you'll receive 40,000 bonus points, these points are redeemable for statement credit, so e.g. if you charge your card $1000, once you receive your statement you can immediately redeem those 40,000 points for a $400 statement credit against travel expenses, and you'll only have to pay the remainder $600, but even better is you'll also get a 10% bonus on the points you just redeemed, e.g. you use your card for an airline ticket or any other purchase in a travel category let's say for $300, and you redeem 30,000 points against that charge, you'll get a $300 statement credit (for the 30,000 point redemption) plus they'll add another 10% bonus points to your point account, in this case that's a 3,000 points bonus, so as long as you redeem for travel purchases you'll always gain another 10% of your redeemed points.
2 points for every dollar:
This Barclaycard Arrival World MasterCard(R) is unlike other cards that only give you 1 point for every dollar you spend, or double points in some categories, this card gives you 2 points per dollar anytime, anywhere & everywhere, so basically if you redeem your points for travel (and getting another 10% as mentioned above) you are earning 2.2% back on every dollar you spend.
So if you buy coach class economy tickets, this card is definitely the card to use, but even if you choose to redeem airline mileage for travel e.g. by applying for our US Airways Mastercard that gives you 30,000 bonus points or any other airline e.g. British Airways or credit card points that transfer to airlines like Amex Membership Rewards, you can still charge the airline surcharges & taxes to this card, pay it off with these points, and end up paying absolutely nothing for the entire ticket (some airlines like British Airways & Virgin have really high fuel charges).
So let's compare this card to others, Citibank have a program called Thank You points, they currently offer 25,000 bonus points after spending $2,000, and Chase Sapphire offer a 40,000 bonus after spending $3,000, and Barclaycard offer 40,000 after spending $1,000, with Thank You and Sapphire points you must redeem on their network, with Barclaycard you buy your ticket anywhere you like, they give you 1 point for every basic dollar you spend, and some bonus points on specific categories, Barclaycard give you 2 points on every single dollar, the annual fee's are waived on all three cards, however after the 1st year Citi Thank You card annual fee is $125, Chase Sapphire is $95, and Barclaycard is only $89 (but 1st year is totally free).
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Limited time offer. Earn 40,000 bonus miles when you spend $1,000 on purchases in the first 90 days (equal to a $400 statement credit towards travel).
Barclaycard have just improved their bonus on the Arrival World MasterCard(R), you earn 40,000 bonus points after you spend $1000 in the first 90 days, you get 2 points for every dollar you spend (in any category), and the annual fee is waived the first year, plus when you redeem the points for travel you earn an additional 10% of your points:
40,000 bonus points:
This looks like a limited time offer, so act fast while the offer is still around, after you spend $1000 on the card in the first 90 days you'll receive 40,000 bonus points, these points are redeemable for statement credit, so e.g. if you charge your card $1000, once you receive your statement you can immediately redeem those 40,000 points for a $400 statement credit against travel expenses, and you'll only have to pay the remainder $600, but even better is you'll also get a 10% bonus on the points you just redeemed, e.g. you use your card for an airline ticket or any other purchase in a travel category let's say for $300, and you redeem 30,000 points against that charge, you'll get a $300 statement credit (for the 30,000 point redemption) plus they'll add another 10% bonus points to your point account, in this case that's a 3,000 points bonus, so as long as you redeem for travel purchases you'll always gain another 10% of your redeemed points.
2 points for every dollar:
This Barclaycard Arrival World MasterCard(R) is unlike other cards that only give you 1 point for every dollar you spend, or double points in some categories, this card gives you 2 points per dollar anytime, anywhere & everywhere, so basically if you redeem your points for travel (and getting another 10% as mentioned above) you are earning 2.2% back on every dollar you spend.
So if you buy coach class economy tickets, this card is definitely the card to use, but even if you choose to redeem airline mileage for travel e.g. by applying for our US Airways Mastercard that gives you 30,000 bonus points or any other airline e.g. British Airways or credit card points that transfer to airlines like Amex Membership Rewards, you can still charge the airline surcharges & taxes to this card, pay it off with these points, and end up paying absolutely nothing for the entire ticket (some airlines like British Airways & Virgin have really high fuel charges).
So let's compare this card to others, Citibank have a program called Thank You points, they currently offer 25,000 bonus points after spending $2,000, and Chase Sapphire offer a 40,000 bonus after spending $3,000, and Barclaycard offer 40,000 after spending $1,000, with Thank You and Sapphire points you must redeem on their network, with Barclaycard you buy your ticket anywhere you like, they give you 1 point for every basic dollar you spend, and some bonus points on specific categories, Barclaycard give you 2 points on every single dollar, the annual fee's are waived on all three cards, however after the 1st year Citi Thank You card annual fee is $125, Chase Sapphire is $95, and Barclaycard is only $89 (but 1st year is totally free).
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American Airlines 30% Buy Miles Bonus
Earn up to 30% bonus miles when you buy 20,000 - 40,000 miles through May 17 2013, maximum bonus is 12,000 miles, but you can buy up to 60,000 miles in a calendar year, dont forget besides the cost of the miles you also pay 7.5% tax + a $30 transaction fee, so e.g. to earn the maximum bonus you would buy 40,000 miles at $1,100 + $82.50 tax + $30 transaction fee, you come to a total of $1,212.50 for 52,000 miles, not an amazing deal (as per cost for the miles), but if you need a one way business class ticket from NY - London is way worth it.
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Earn up to 30% bonus miles when you buy 20,000 - 40,000 miles through May 17 2013, maximum bonus is 12,000 miles, but you can buy up to 60,000 miles in a calendar year, dont forget besides the cost of the miles you also pay 7.5% tax + a $30 transaction fee, so e.g. to earn the maximum bonus you would buy 40,000 miles at $1,100 + $82.50 tax + $30 transaction fee, you come to a total of $1,212.50 for 52,000 miles, not an amazing deal (as per cost for the miles), but if you need a one way business class ticket from NY - London is way worth it.
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US Airways limited time offer: Give a 50% bonus when you share miles!
For those who applied for the US Airways Mastercard, and received a 30,000 bonus after 1st purchase, can now transfer these points to spouse or any friend, and the recepient will receive 50% more miles, so if you transfer your 30,000 (or any amount up to 50,000) your friend will receive 50% more which is in this case 45,000, that brings it closer to a international reward.
The cost to transfer is $0.01 per mile - that's $300 for 30,000 + 7.5% tax that's $22.50 + $30 transaction fee, a total of $352.50, not the best rate to buy 15,000 miles but if you need them they may be useful.
Things to keep in mind:
1) This offer expires April 30
2) Your accounts have to be at least 12 days old (sign up now, it's free)
3) You can transfer a maximum of 50,000 for a bonus of 25,000
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For those who applied for the US Airways Mastercard, and received a 30,000 bonus after 1st purchase, can now transfer these points to spouse or any friend, and the recepient will receive 50% more miles, so if you transfer your 30,000 (or any amount up to 50,000) your friend will receive 50% more which is in this case 45,000, that brings it closer to a international reward.
The cost to transfer is $0.01 per mile - that's $300 for 30,000 + 7.5% tax that's $22.50 + $30 transaction fee, a total of $352.50, not the best rate to buy 15,000 miles but if you need them they may be useful.
Things to keep in mind:
1) This offer expires April 30
2) Your accounts have to be at least 12 days old (sign up now, it's free)
3) You can transfer a maximum of 50,000 for a bonus of 25,000
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