Credit Cards & United Airlines MileagePlus

Diners Club

you can get 1 UA point per 2AUD on Diners

 

This ain't all bad, depending on intended flight. Take a UA flight to east coast US in J class - requires 90,000 pts or a spend of $180,000 AUD. After May 05 - on a certain Australian airline - it will require 256,000 pts - a spend of $256,000 AUD.

 

we can hope for a card that takes advantage of the *alliance and points in this country... perhaps virgin might work something in to their cc ??

on a side note NM, 2 banks I know of will issue credit cards if you have a history of banking with them.
bank of america: i had a significant balance with them for over 12 months straight and enquired many many times about credit cards - i managed to get a platinum check visa debit card which is OKAY (no points), - was told by the bank manager if I had a SSN, then based on previous banking it would "most likely" be approved.

Second bank is wells fargo, same deal as BOA. I have a partner card of my girlfriends account and I dont even have SSN.

Doubt this helps him... but eh.. might serve handy for someone using that search function in 5 years

 

As for converting points to a *A program-
Westpac Altitude allows you to convert the Altitude points to Air NZ AirDollars. The Visa card gets you 1 altitude point for every $1 spent. The Westpac Altitude AMEX gets you 2 altitude point for every $1 spent.

After the changes to the AirNZ program, I do not know the conversion rate for Altitude points to AirNZ AirDollars. I could not find that in the WP website.

Regards
Arun

 

I'm ready to give my UA Mileage Plus CC the flick - they charge approx 2% 'exchange rate' as the CC bill comes as US dollar total.

Was hoping that Virgin CC would team with UAL, but I just received a note from Virgin saying in no uncertain terms that they do not, and will not in the forseeable (yes, that's spelled correctly - I checked) start any FF programs with anyone. Leaves us isolated West Aussies in a bit of a lurch as far as in-country FF choices (read Qantas).

I don't want to give up on Star Alliance however, because it gets me to California easily. This year travelling via ANZ all the way - costing $117 in taxes.

I'm going to Westpac today to get info on their 'Westpac Altitude' program. I couldn't figure out their exchange either, but the website says that you can use the Altitude miles on ANY airline for ANY seat... We'll see... I'll let you know what I find out.

Here's a question for you travelers.. My flight to SFO via ANZ involves a 13 HOUR layover in Aukland. Guess that's the payback for the $117 flight. Anyway, can anyone who is familiar with Aukland airport and surrounding city please give me some recommendations as to how to kill half a day? I considered joining their 'Lounge', but $250 was a bit much for the trip. The Aukland airport website offers showers, but not much in the way of places to 'park' for an extended period. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Replies here or yanknperth@westnet.com.au. Thanks very much. Cheers

 

AKL Day Room

Great info serfty. I'll sleep soundly knowing that I won't be doubled up and snoring in the departure lounge the better part of 13 hours. Thank you. Cheers

 

I tried for years to get a US-based card to accumulate UA points, especially when I was travelling there a third of the year, but even with then employer support, they wouldn't do it.

I haven't tried since.

 

For a 13 hour layover (that happens to be all daytime) I would definitely visit the city and not spend the time at the airport. Get a departure tax exemption sticker (for those transitting less than 24 hours) from one of the BNZ outlets. Saves paying a needless NZ$25.

Get a return ticket to the city on the airbus (NZ$22) - leaves about every 20 minutes and the GPS system means you know roughly how long a wait it will be.

Visit sky city (there's an airbus stop there) - casino, tower incl restaurant, stand on the glass floor overlooking the city. If into thrills, jump off the tower or maybe climb up to the crows nest.

Something more sedate but worthwhile (as long as weather isnt cr@p) is to take a ferry to Waiheke (leaves from the bottom of Albert Street - if taking airbus the stop is on Quay Street just about opposite) and spend a few hours visiting wineries (Mudbrick also has nice restaurant), craft shops &/or beach.

 

This is probably being cheeky to Kiwi (sorry in advance), but I would recommend the ferry to Devenport. It's closer, easier to get around on, nice views back to the city, bridge, etc and a nice little town. Walk thru it and up the hill to the lookout. As much as I like Wiheke, I also find it much harder to get around, less frequent ferries. If push came to shove, a taxi back into the city would not be difficult.

Also Cin Cin at the ferry building (in AKL) is a great place to dine.

 

Spending time in AKL

Thanks everyone for the great travel tips... did someone say CASINO??? All the best.

 

I got a Mileage Plus Credit Card

I'm an Australian on a work visa to the US and I'm a member of Mileage plus. I got my Social Security number in February. I immediately applied for a MP Visa card - and got rejected. No surprises there. However when I qualified for Premier Executive status 4 months later I got a letter "you have been pre-approved". Yippee. I confirmed my interest on line and with a few days got a "send a photocopy of your SSN and a utility bill confirming your address" letter. I complied. A month later and I'm now the proud bearer of a MP Visa card with a limit of (drum roll) USD2,500