Flying for Fitness

Today,  Delta and America Airlines announced that they will be requiring all passengers to wear face coverings or masks on all flights starting on May 4 and May 11, respectively.  Both carriers are somewhat late to the game as Frontier and JetBlue already have such requirements, though legacy carriers Southwest and United have yet to jump on the face mask bandwagon. Earlier in the week, Delta and American also announced that all flight crew will be require to wear face masks, and masks and sanitizing wipes would be provided to passengers as available.  Delta is taking it a step further by also requiring masks in the following locations: check-in lobby across Delta touchpoints Delta Sky Clubs boarding gate areas jet bridges on board the aircraft for the duration of the flight – except during meal service Delta selling no more than 60% of seats on any given flight In an effort to increase social distancing, Delta also announced today that they wi...

Boeing released its 2020 Q1 earnings today, and the adjusted losses amounted to $1.7 billion and a staggering negative cash flow of $4.7 billion.  Revenue also fell 26% to $16.91 billion, which fell short of analysts forecasts of $17.17 billion.  Boeing says that they plan to ax 16,000 jobs, or 10% of their total workforce, and cut back on the production of widebody jets as the COVID-19 pandemic has crippled demand.  In response to the earnings release and workforce reduction, Boeing's stock closed today up 5.86% at $139.00 per share, which is still a far-cry from pre-pandemic prices upwards of $340 a share. Boeing's YTD price per share The 737MAX, which has been the primary driver of Boeing's headaches for the past year, was scheduled to gain the necessary regulatory approvals to resume deliveries in mid-2020.  But Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun said that deliveries would restart more likely in Q3, as the timing will be determined by regulators. Grounded 737...

This morning, Southwest released their 2020 Q1 earnings report, and it wasn't as bad as analysts had estimated as the carrier lost "only" $94 million on revenue of $4.2 billion.  Analysts were expecting a loss upwards of $240 million on revenue of $4.4 billion.  However, it was still Southwest's first net operating loss in 11 years, dating back to the Great Recession in 2011. Southwest's EPS (earnings per share) chart since 2016 Unsurprisingly, Southwest has warned that the current Q2 will yield even more miserable results.  Revenue for the months of April and May are expected to be down by at least 90% as the carrier only sold 6% of its seats to paying passengers in April.  Typically, a carrier needs to fill 75% of their seats just to break even, and we have seen what operating flights at 13% capacity has done to United, which lost $2.1 billion in Q1 . Like many of the other players in the U.S. airline industry, Southwest will be taking advantage of th...

With several states now re-opening select businesses, select gyms are beginning to open their doors.  However, many gyms are franchise owned and allowed to remain closed despite the lifting of local ordinances.  The following is the current list on where many health club chains stand on the COVID-19 pandemic. Georgia Last week, Governor Kemp announced that the state would be partially re-opening select businesses, including fitness centers, bowling alleys, body art studios, barbers, hair and nail salons, and massage therapy businesses.  However, major gym chains such as LA Fitness, Equinox, SoulCycle, Planet Fitness, and Anytime Fitness have remained cautious and kept their doors closed.  Select Workout Anytime facilities , like the one in the city of Stockbridge, have opened their doors with the following restriction: I'm unsure of the exact details, but based on their text, it would appear that you would need to call the gym ahead to reserve your work...

SoFi never ceases to amaze me as the gift that keeps giving.  They've offered sign-up bonuses galore for their Money, Invest, and Crypto accounts, all of which have zero fees and minimums.  There are also no ATM withdrawal fees worldwide, no trade commission fees, and no credit checks for opening these accounts.  I personally like the ability to purchase stocks, ETFs, and equities at your own set dollar amount instead of buying a set number of whole individual shares. SoFi Money has been offering a $75 sign-up bonus for new users who make two direct deposits of at least $500 each.  But now, they're sweetening the sign-up bonus even further by offering 5% cashback up to $100 on eligible purchases within the first 60 days.  Doing the math, you could easily max out this offer and earn the $100 cashback simply by spending $2,000 on your SoFi Money debit card, which usually arrives in the mail within 1-2 weeks. Direct link to the offer (referral) A...

United Airlines is joining the chorus of carriers that are now practicing in-flight social distancing.  The carrier just announced that they will be blocking all middle seats.  In addition, every other seat in first class will be blocked off, so you won't be sitting next to anybody regardless of where you're sitting. In their 2-1 economy class seating regional jets, United will be blocking aisle seats in every row: Upgrades now cleared at the gate Formerly, Complimentary Premier Upgrades (CPUs) would clear as early as 100 hours before scheduled departures for top-tier elites.  But United is now scaling that back to at the gate before departure only for all elites.  The upgrade hierarchy will remain the same, but the upgrades just won't clear until you get to the gate.  Although first class capacity will be cut by 50% with the blocked seats, I would still surmise that the majority of CPUs would still clear since there are so few flyers as United's ca...

United Airlines just provided a grim preview of their losses for Q1 (January 1 - March 31, 2020): $2.1 billion.  Adjusted earnings were "just" $1 billion in losses, but that was still far worse than the $378 million loss forecast by analysts surveyed by Refinitiv.  Their Q1 revenue was down by "only" 17%, due to the fact that the COVID-19 pandemic effect didn't really hit until the end of February.  However, United has stated that air traffic demand is currently at "essentially zero", painting a chilling yet expected future outlook. United's grounded planes at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport For the months of May and June, the carrier has already cut over 90% of their flights.  Existing flights have a passenger usage rate averaging just 13%, meaning that most flights are operating at a significant loss.  United has attempted to reassure investors and the public that it's still backed by $6.3 billion in cash, with $5 billion in fe...

With all the shelter in place orders, meal delivery services such as Grubhub and Uber Eats have thrived and been working overtime to get meals to people's doors.  Depending on the restaurant, most meal delivery platforms impose a delivery fee.  But for one month, Uber Eats is offering their Eats Pass , which includes free delivery for orders $15+, for free. Eats Pass, which is good at all restaurants that Uber Eats serves, normally costs $9.99 per month and also includes 5% off on all orders.  Free delivery and 5% off orders $15+ could prove especially valuable to those who frequent Uber Eats orders, and even for the occasional "Uber Eater".  Uber is also doing their part in supporting the community by donating $1 to the Restaurant Employee Relief Fund till 5/31, up to $1 million, for every new Eats Pass subscriber. Quick thoughts This is a pretty good promo from Uber Eats.  To claim your free one month trial, tap Eats Pass in the Accoun...

Amazon is perhaps one of the most difficult retailers to score cashback on, whether it be through spending portals or credit card cashback, which makes sense since the largest online retailer in the world doesn't really need to lure shoppers to their website in the same way that smaller retailers need to.  Fortunately for Amex Membership Rewards credit card holders, there's currently an Amex Offer for 5x MR on Amazon purchases with a limit of 4,000 MR: The offer is good for Amazon purchases through July 22, 2020, but I would add it now as Amex has been known to limit the number of total enrollees for their offers.  The 5x MR is in addition to your Amex card's normal earnings rate, so you'll be getting 6x on purchases totally up to $400 as the offer is limited to 2,000 bonus additional MR. As we are all sheltering in place, I would assume that most of us would have no problem spending $400 on Amazon purchases between now and July 22.  But if you're short or wa...

Level of difficulty: easy There is currently an Amex Offer for $20 off $100+ purchase at zola.com, which is a wedding gift registry website that anyone can make purchases with.  Zola sells a bunch of 3rd party gift cards , such as Uber, Home Depot, Lowe's, Doordash, Southwest, Delta, AirBNB, Hulu, and much more.  So with this Amex Offer, you'll be able to easily score 20% off these 3rd party gift cards. And no, you don't actually have to contribute to a wedding gift registry to make a purchase.  Just simply click the "Add To Cart" link instead of the "Add To Registry" link of the gift card that you want and checkout with your Amex card.  Remember to first add the Amex Offer to your Amex online account before completing your order. Quick thoughts This is an easy $20 or 20% off the many 3rd party gift cards that Zola sells.  Keep in mind that Amex Offers are now restricted to one per individual regardless of how many Amex cards th...

It's been over 3 weeks since any of us have been allowed to hit the gym, and with this coming month deemed as pivotal for reducing the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, the gyms are likely to remain closed for at least the rest of this month.  Our muscles are hungering for iron, and our gains are starting to soften...  But all is not lost!  Here are some ways to maintain those hard earned gains that you spent years working for. Chest: weighted push ups variations Since the bench press is one of our best friends, many of us can bust out dozens of push ups without breaking a sweat.  So the key here is to make it harder, whether that be by going to failure or adding weight onto your upper back while maintaining your form.  Good weights can be a backpack loaded with heavy items such as water bottles, or simply throwing your kid on your back.  The nice thing about push ups is that since they essentially replicate the same motion as bench press, you can also ...

All airline phone lines are simply clogged to their limits as passengers request refunds and changes to their itineraries due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  I had several flights to cancel, notably with Southwest and Hawaiian Airlines (HA), so I decided to try my luck with their customer service departments. Hawaiian Airlines: failure Having booked a 3/29 LAX-HNL Hawaiian Airlines award ticket for my friend, my friend decided that flying out earlier on 3/26 would be the wiser decision as the governor of Hawaii had just announced at that time a mandatory 14-day quarantine for all visitors to Hawaii.  In response, HA suspended all long-haul flying except for a daily LAX-HNL flight and a daily flight to America Somoa. HA and all the other carriers have made it blatantly clear that since their call centers are all absolutely swamped, calls should only be made if you're flying out within the next 72 hours.  Since the flight change to 3/26 was within 72 hours of my time o...

The Citi Premier card was once my go-to card for all travel purchases with 3x ThankYou Points earnings.  However, Citi gutted many of the card's valuable travel benefits last September, including worldwide car rental insurance, trip/delay interruption, and baggage insurance.  Gone were also purchase protection including Citi's legendary 2-year extended warranty, price rewind, return protection, and damage/theft protection.  Even though TYP are still one of the more valuable points currencies out there, the Citi Premier has lost its flavor mostly due to the elimination of purchase and travel protection benefits.  Fortunately, I was able to benefit from their worldwide car rental insurance last year  in New Zealand before the benefit was stripped.  Today, Citi announced some further significant changes to the Citi Premier card. Changes to bonus TYP categories Since inception, the Citi Premier has earned bonus TYP on the following purchases: 3x on ...

Yesterday, United announced that they would be automatically extending existing Premier elite status holders through January 31, 2022, following Delta's lead just hours earlier.  United also stated that they would be reducing Premier elite qualification requirements for 2020 , and the new thresholds have now been released. Premier qualifying requirements for both flights and points (PQP) have been cut by 50%.  A minimum of 4 flight segments on United or United Express is still required to be eligible for Premier elite status.  In addition, United announced the following positive changes: We're also doubling PQP for the United Explorer cards and quadrupling PQP for the United Club cards.   • At the same time that we're decreasing the published program's PQP requirements, via a promotion from May 1 through December 31, 2020, we're doubling (for United Explorer cards) or quadrupling (for United Club cards) the maximum number of PQP that Cardm...

In light of all the elite status, free nights, and points expiration extensions that hotel groups like Hyatt and Hilton have implemented due to COVID-19, Intercontinental Hotels Group (IHG) has officially (and finally) announced that they will be extending anniversary free night certificates that come with their co-branded Chase credit cards.  Before, IHG members had to contact customer service, and they were being handed 6-month extensions.  But now, IHG has announced the following extensions: Certificates expiring from March 1, 2020, onwards, can be used through at least December 31, 2020 Certificates issued in 2020 will have an 18 month redemption period The anniversary free nights, which can be used at any hotel that costs up to 40,000 points per night, is one of the best values in the hotel industry.  The discontinued IHG Club Card came with just a $49 annual fee, and the current IHG Premier card comes with an $89 annual fee, automatic Platinum elite sta...

Delta Airlines announced this morning that will be automatically extending current 2020 Medallion elite status holders through January 31, 2022, whether they re-qualify or not.  Within hours, United essentially copied Delta, suggesting that United already had elite status extension in the works and was just waiting to see any other carriers jumped on first. Delta's announcement includes the following: Medallion Members: A full-year extension  will be added to your current Medallion Status through January 31, 2022, with Diamond and Platinum Medallion Members being able to select Choice Benefits in 2021 as part of the extension. Rollover for all 2020 Medallion Qualification Miles (MQMs)  earned on flight spend or your eligible Delta SkyMiles American Express Card. All 2020 MQMs will be rolled over to 2021 for qualification towards 2022 Medallion Status will be implemented. All unused Medallion drink vouchers  will be extended six months from their expirati...