It’s Christmas Day 2023. Merry Christmas and I hope you find peace while celebrating the birth of Jesus. I was up early browsing the internet and thinking about a couple items I may need soon from Amazon. I live in a rural area so Amazon Lockers aren’t very common but I found out recently that there is one at a Circle K just 7 miles from my home. But it’s the only location showing because Amazon only lists locations within a few miles or the nearest 20 or so in a big city. I stumbled upon a Redditor who made a mapper of all their locations. Not sure it stays up to date but for now it’s not bad. Enjoy https://lockermap.com/
Here is a handy chart of many of the airline phone numbers. Some may be inaccurate as they change from time to time but could be a handy list to keep in your IROPS file.
Aer Lingus 800-223-6537 Aero California 800-237-6225 Aeroflot 888-340-6400 Aerolineas Argentinas 800-333-0276 Aeromexico 800-237-6639 Aeropostal 888-912-8466 Air Aruba 800-882-7822 Air Aurora 800-443-0478 Air Botswana 800-518-7781 Air Calin 800-677-4277 Air Canada 888-247-2262 Air China 800-982-8802 Air Europa 888-238-7672 Air Fiji 877-air-fiji Air France 800-237-2747 Air India 800-223-7776 Air Jamaica 800-523-5585 Air Madagascar 800-821-3388 Air Malta 800-756-2582 Air Mauritius 800-537-1182 Air Namibia 800-626-4242 Air New Zealand 800-262-1234 Air North Airlines 800-764-0407 Air Pacific 800-227-4446 Air Portugal 800-221-7370 Air Sunshine 800-327-8900 Air Tahiti Nui 877-824-4846 Air Transat 800-388-5836 Air Vanuatu 800-677-4277 Air Vegas 800-255-7474 Air Zimbabwe 800-742-3006 Alaska Airlines 800-426-0333 Alitalia 800-223-5730 All Nippon Airways 800-235-9262 Allegiant Air 888-594-6937 Aloha Air 800-367-5250 Ambassadair 800-225-9919 American Airlines 800-433-7300 American Trans Air 800-225-2995 Amerijet International Inc. 800-927-6059 Asiana Airlines 800-227-4262 Atkin Air 800-924-2471 Atlantic Airlines 800-879-0000 Atlas Air 800-462-2012 Austrian Airlines 800-843-0002 AviaCSA 888-528-4227 Avianca 800-284-2622 Avioimpex – Interimpex 800-713-2622 Bahamas Air 800-222-4262 Balair/CTA 800-322-5247 Baltic Intl Airlines 800-548-8181 Bangkok Airways 866-226-4565 Bemidji Airlines 800-332-7133 Big Sky Airlines 800-237-7788 Bouraq Indonesia Airlines British Airways 800-247-9297 British Midland 800-788-0555 BWIA International 800-538-2942 CanJet Airlines 800-809-7777 Cape Air 800-352-0714 Caribbean Star Airlines 866-864-6272 Cathay Pacific Airways 800-233-2742 Cayman Airways 800-441-3003 Century Airlines 800-541-0410 Chalk’s Ocean Airways 800-4-CHALKS China Airlines 800-227-5118 China Eastern Airlines 800-200-5118 China Southern 888-338-8988 Colgan Air 800-428-4322 Comair 800-354-9822 Condor 800-524-6975 Continental Airlines 800-525-0280 Copa Airlines 800-359-2672 Corporate Express Airlines 800-661-8151 Corsair 800-677-0720 Croatia Airlines 888-462-7628 Czech Airlines (east coast) 800-223-2365 Czech Airlines (west,mw) 800-628-6107 Delta Air Lines 800-221-1212 DHL WorldWide Express 800-225-5345 Dragon Air 800-842-9911 Dutch Caribbean Airlines 800-327-7230 East Coast Flight Services 800-554-0550 Egyptair 800-334-6787 El Al Israel Airlines 800-223-6700 Emery Worldwide 800-367-3592 Emirates Air 800-777-3999 Ethiopian Airlines 800-445-2733 Estonian Air 800-397-1354 EVA Airways 800-695-1188 Evergreen International 800-345-5556 Fine Airlines 800-923-9222 Finnair 800-950-5000 First Air 800-267-1247 Florida Coastal Airlines 888-435-9322 Frontier Airlines 800-432-1359 Garuda Indonesia 800-342-7832 Ghana Airways 800-404-4262 Grand Aire Express 800-70-GRAND Great Lakes Airlines 800-554-5111 Great Plains Airlines 866-929-8646 Gulf Air 888-359-4853 Gulfstream Intl Airlines 800-992-8532 Hapag-Lloyd Express Hawaiian Airlines 800-367-5320 Hooters Air 888-359-4668 Horizon Air 800-547-9308 Iberia 800-772-4642 Icelandair 800-223-5500 Independence Air 800-359-3594 Interstate Jet 877-359-4538 Island Air 800-323-3345 Japan Airlines 800-525-3663 Jet Airways (India) 866-835-9538 JetBlue Airways 800-538-2583 Jet Express 800-806-8833 JetsGo Airlines 866-440-0441 Kenmore Air 800-543-9595 Kenya Airways 866-536-9224 KLM 800-374-7747 Korean Air 800-438-5000 Kuwait Airways 800-458-9248 Lacsa Costa Rica 800-225-2272 LanChile Airlines 800-735-5526 Lauda Airlines 800-588-8399 Leading Edge Air Logistics 800-552-5323 Lithuanian Airlines 877-454-8482 Lloyd Aereo Boliviano 800-327-3098 LOT Polish Airlines 212-789-0970 LTU International 866-266-5588 Lufthansa 800-645-3880 Lynx Air International 888-LYNX-AIR Malaysia Airlines 800-552-9264 Malev Hungarian 800-223-6884 Martinair Holland 800-627-8462 Mesa Airlines 800-637-2247 Mesaba Airlines 800-225-2525 Mexicana 800-531-7921 Midway Airlines 800-446-4392 Midwest Airlines 800-452-2022 Miles Above 800-469-6453 Mongolian Airlines 800-642-8768 Nantucket Airlines 800-635-8787 Nature Air 800-235-9272 New England Airlines 800-243-2460 North Vancouver Air 800-228-6608 Olympic Airways 800-223-1226 Pacific Coastal Airlines 800-663-2872 Pakistan Intl Airline 800-221-2552 Pan Am 800-359-7262 Pelita Air Service Penair 800-448-4226 Philippine Airlines 800-435-9725 Polynesian Airlines 800-644-7659 Qantas Airways 800-227-4500 Rover Airways Intl 800-828-4668 Royal Air Maroc 800-344-6726 Royal Jordanian Airlines 800-223-0470 Royal Nepal 800-266-3725 Royal Tongan Airlines 800-486-6426 Ryanair.com +3 531 582 5932 Ryan International Airlines 800-727-0457 SAS Scandinavian Airlines 800-221-2350 Saudia Arabian Airlines 800-472-8342 Scenic Airlines 800-634-6801 Shuttle America 888-999-3273 Singapore Airlines 800-742-3333 SN Brussels Airlines Sol Air 866-476-5247 Solomon Airlines 800-677-4277 Song Delta Air 800-359-7664 South African 800-722-9675 Southeast Airlines 800-359-7325 Southwest Airlines 800-435-9792 Spanair 888-545-5757 Spirit Airline 800-772-7117 SriLankan 877-915-2652 Sun Country Airlines 800-752-1218 Sunflower Airlines, Fiji 800-707-3454 Suriname Airways 800-327-6864 SWISS 877-359-7947 TACA Airlines 800-535-8780 TAM – Brazilian Airlines 888-235-9826 TAP Air Portugal 800-221-7370 Ted Airlines 800-225-5833 Thai Air 800-426-5204 Transbrasil 800-872-3153 TransMeridian Airlines 866-435-9862 Trans International Express 888-244-8922 Tropic Air 800-422-3435 Turkish Airlines 800-874-8875 Ukraine Intl Airlines 800-876-0114 United Airlines 800-241-6522 USAir Shuttle 800-428-4322 USA 3000 Airlines 877-872-3000 Varig 800-468-2744 Vasp Brazilian Airlines 866-776-3869 Virgin Atlantic 800-862-8621 WestJet Airlines 800-538-5696 World Airways 800-967-5350 Yemen Airways 800-936-8300
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So I found myself at 7pm on 12-31-22, once again trying to figure out a way to use the American Express Personal Platinum card Fine Hotel and Resorts $200 annual credit. For those living under a rock, this benefit is supposed to be a way to claw back some of the overpriced annual fee. It is basically as useful as most hotel discount rates. I’d compare it to the IHG Ambassador free weekend night benefit but less useful due to the limited locations for the average person.
So I sound really negative but here is why. If you look at the entire list of FHR or Hotel Collection locations there are entire states and major cities without a single location. The Proud Money blog has a nice list for example. Sure California, New York, and Florida all do pretty well but 1 location in Indiana and none in Kansas are just a few examples of holes in this program. This doesn’t even mention locations all over the world that either lack any locations or only have a few (which are all super expensive of course).
Ok so I’m mad I couldn’t figure out how to use this again for the 2nd year in a row and 2023 isn’t looking promising. Maybe I’m just bitter so I’ll give you an example of why this program isn’t worth anything to me.
This is a summary from the Amex website that makes this sound awesome. I’ll overlook the fact that it’s now 2023 and Wi-Fi, like Color TV, should be included at all hotels for free anyway. In some odd way, Amex is promising “strong coffee” but I assume that comes at a price.
Amex promises extra benefits on FHR 1-night prepaid stays or Hotel Collection 2-night stays in addition to the $200 rebate. You can book it far in advance and get the benefit once per calendar year so you could book your 2022 benefit into 2023 and then use the 2023 credit as well. This all sounds good but unless you are already planning to pay for a stay at one of these higher-end properties it might not be your best rate, by far.
So one potential location that would have worked for me is an upcoming trip to Israel that I’m considering so I checked Israel. I was in luck as there are several properties there that could work. Let’s compare the rate for one.
A web search finds the IHG Intercontinental Tel Aviv for $314 per night on Google Maps. Now, this isn’t 100% fair since the $314 is a prepaid 3rd party OTA site and doesn’t include taxes most likely but even the IHG website has it for less than about $350 a night for most nights. But let’s look at the Amex website. Keep in mind that as an IHG member with just about any status at all you will earn bonus IHG points., late check-out, etc. so this offsets any Amex 5x benefits except for the food credit which is usually around $100 if you want to eat at the hotel while in Tel Aviv.
$415 seems high compared to the $314 on Google? Weird that this is around a $100 difference, huh… Now I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt that not all FHR properties are like this. I have found a few that are about the same but at the end of the day, you still aren’t getting the best rate. No such thing as a free lunch as they say.
For this hotel, I could also use around 60,000 IHG points for a free night which I could likely buy at around .5 cents per point or less so about $300. Since I’m an IHG Ambassador status person I’ll likely skip the Amex benefit but this is just one example of many that I’ve found.
I’ve been able to use the $200 airline credit at less than $200 in value for misc junk like miles and such. I’ve also made good use of the Saks $50 credit but I bought stuff I really didn’t need at a store I don’t love, at prices that are much too high so I don’t value that at $100 per year. I think I’m going to have to downgrade my Platinum card for 2023 back to Gold so I at least get 4x at restaurants.
Bottom line: Are there some deals and value to be found with this benefit? Sure, but not for most people, and certainly not for me. When combined with the higher fees and the new 2023 limits on Centurion Lounge access the Amex Platinum card is no longer worth it to me.
CliQbait 