And it gets interesting once again...

One more Hertz hit done, which puts me at 35.  An upcoming Hilton stay will give me 36, so I am essentially finished.  But I decided to do my Choice transfer, just in case.

Remember Choice?  The one that told me they had the problem all fixed so I could transfer to US?  Surprisingly, they didn't.   I should have known.  I called CP and got a representative named Joan, who sounds like she is answering the call from a van.  "Hmm, um-hmm, um-hmm, hmm..."  It's pretty bad.  They're still trying to tell me that it is because the account was an old America West number (It wasn't.) and that there is literally one person who can help me.  They have asked me to put AW in front of the redemption.  Didn't work.  Asked me to call US to make sure it's the right number.  Umm, I'm pretty sure I'm okay there.

I have informed Joan that I paid for points with the express purpose of getting US miles and I expect them to refund me the $44 if I am not able to transfer them.

Choice now ready for take-off

Hey, they were right!  Apparently, the problem was that my old US number was listed as an AWA number and US managed to relink it.  On the other hand, I've now got more than enough hits to qualify for the promo, so those Choice points will likely sit until GS12.

Mike

Odd issues with Choice hit

So Choice couldn't take my US number.  No idea why, since others have had no problem.  At first, they tried to tell me it was a United number.  Nope.  So it's going to be 72 hours while they figure out exactly what the problem is.  I won't hold my breath.

Choice Hotels for the pinch-hit

Let's face it: Something isn't going to post.  I know it, you know it and US knows it.  So it is critical to do hit #37 and maybe even #38.

To that end, I transferred some e-Rewards points to Choice and kicked in $44 to buy another 4,000.  I don't like paying that much, but it's worth it as an insurance policy.  My new e-Rewards account offers a number of hotel partners, so I'm just saving up for next year.  GS 2012 will be made on the back of hotel transfers.

Note: for Choice, the purchase was almost instantaneous, but you actually have to log out and then back in to see the points.

In stall mode, off for a few days...

Well, no new hits or offers over the past few days, and I'll be out of town until Thursday, so there may or may not be any posts until then.  Unfortunately, I didn't think about GS11 when I made my reservations and only have one hotel stay, not two, for this trip.

One FTer has apparently discovered a flaw in the system regarding hotel transfer points.  According to the T&C, you must transfer hotel points for a minimum of 850 US Airways miles.  Anyone who did it for that exact amount, however, seems to be missing a hit.  It looks like the coders at US set the hit for greater than 850 miles.  I would anticipate this error being corrected by the next sweep.  While the explanation may sound odd, it absolutely corresponds with the hits that FTers have received.

I've decided to put off the Choice hit for this year and start prepping for next year.  Choice points apparently take a while to hit the system, and with six weeks left in the promo, I'm not going to chance it.

Shopping for Choice points

Took a little bit of a hit today when I went to buy a Nordstrom gift card through the Choice shopping mall to get enough points to send to US Airways.  Turns out that, for this particular merchant, gift cards are excluded.  Ouch.  That was going to be an easy hit by buying a card that I would have used anyway.

With less than a week before we officially launch, I'm starting to position myself for easy, early hits before getting to the complicated ones.