Join Us For The Chicago Frequent Flyer Seminars
This weekend the entire TPG team will be heading to Illinois for the 2012 Chicago Seminars which I am co-hosting along with The Frugal Travel Guy, Rick Ingersoll. There will be about 500 frequent flyer enthusiasts in attendance and several informative sessions for both beginner and advanced mileage junkies, as well as some fun cocktail hours thrown into the mix.
Throughout the weekend, the TPG team will be live tweeting from The Points Guy Twitter feed @thepointsguy. For anyone coming to the Seminars, or those of you at home interested in what is going on, the official hashtag of the event will be #chicagoseminars, so start tweeting and let's get the conversation going!
Here is the schedule of events for the weekend:
FRIDAY OCTOBER 12TH
6:30 - 7:20 PM Rookie Bootcamp: with Dave Homyak
7:30 - 8:30 PM
Delta SkyPesos to Delta Gold: with John Nielsen
Travel Technology with Cliff Stratton
SATURDAY OCTOBER 13TH
7:00 - 8:15 AM Breakfast
8:30 - 10:00 AM
Beginner: FF 101 Pudding Guy and Credit Cards for Newbies with Rick Ingersoll
Advanced: Itasoftware and Expert Flyer with Cara Kreft and Chris Lopinto
10:00 - 10:15 AM Coffee Break
10:30 to Noon
Beginner: Mommy Points and Elite Status- Challenges and Fasttracks with BikeGuy/PuddingGuy
Advanced: Captain Denny Flanagan Author
Noon to 1:00 PM Lunch
1:00 - 2:45 PM
Beginner: Mileage Runs with Ben Schlappig
***Advanced: Transfers and Bonus Category Credit Cards with Brian Kelly
2:45 - 3:00 PM Coffee Break
3:00 - 5:00 PM
Beginner: Award Booking with Ben Schlappig
Advanced: Moderated Airline Breakout Sessions with Geoffco (top tier status all 3 alliances)
5:00 - 6:00 PM Meet the Speakers: Cash Bar/Hotel Lobby
***6:00 - 7:30 PM
Advanced: Q and A Mileage Runs and Award Booking with Ben Schlappig and Brian Kelly
The Cruising Crowd with Marshall Jackson
8:00 - 9:00 PM Cocktail hour hosted by Rick Ingersoll and Brian Kelly
SUNDAY OCTOBER 14TH
7:00 - 8:30 AM Breakfast
8:30 - 10:00 AM Sponsors Workshop
10:00 - 10:15 AM Coffee Break
10:15 to Noon
Beginner: Belkin (Beaubo) as a Beginner
Advanced: Hotel Breakout Session
Noon to 1:00 PM Lunch
1:00 - 3:00 PM
Beginner: Gift Card Churning with Frequent Miler and Shopping Mall Bonanzas with Hans Golden
Advanced: Blogger Questions and Answers
My Presentations
From 1:00 - 2:45 pm on Saturday, I will be speaking about Transfers and Bonus Category Credit Cards and will be present throughout the weekend for mingling and there's also an "Ask the Bloggers" workshop on Sunday.
Saturday night at 8:00pm, there will be a Sponsor's cocktail hour in the Woodfield Ballroom of the hotel, so if you hang around after the last session stop in for a drink!
For more information on the Chicago Seminars you can read this thread on FlyerTalk.
Points Giveaways and The TPG Scavenger Hunt
Since the event was officially sold out by July 19th, I want to give those of you who weren't able to register the chance to follow along with the events from home and possibly win some prizes.
Throughout the weekend Eric, Kate, Ryan and I will be live tweeting (from @thepointsguy). Follow the conversation during my presentation and answer some trivia questions we'll throw out during it, and you could be one of 5 lucky people who win 1,000 Amex points each (transferred to your partner program of choice). Just be sure to Tweet me @thepointsguy and to include the hashtag #chicagoseminars to qualify.
To keep it interesting for the attendees of the conference, we've come up with a variation of a scavenger hunt that will take place during the course of the weekend.
The first 20 people to get pictures of the following 5 things and post them to your Twitter or Instagram account with #TPGhunt will get 2,000 Amex points (transferred to the partner of your choice):
1) Picture of yourself with all 4 members of the TPG team at once: Brian/ TPG, Eric the Managing Editor, Kate the Director of Ops and TPG Intern Ryan. We'll all be at my presentation and at the cocktail party, so you can catch us there.
2) Picture posing at one of the sponsor tables in the main lobby (Make sure to say hi to my friends at the Routehappy.com table!)
3) Picture fanning yourself with at least 5 Chase Sapphire Preferred Cards (I chose this one since the numbers aren't shown on the front) - so start making friends!
4) Picture of you posing with a banner or sign showing "Chicago Seminars".
5) Picture of you with a charity raffle ticket you've bought from Sharon (FT: Skiadcock) - there are going to be great prizes and Marriott just donated a bunch, so stay tuned for details.
When uploading each of your pictures, please use the same application each time (either Twitter or Instagram):
1) Follow The Points Guy on Twitter
And Tweet your photo to @thepointsguy and include the hashtag #TPGhunt in your Tweet.
2) On your smartphone, download the free Instagram App and then follow me at thepointsguy:
Then click the camera button and upload your photo. Make sure you include @thepointsguy and #TPGhunt in your caption so it is included as an official entry.
To be eligible to receive points, all photos must be uploaded with the correct hashtag by Sunday October 14th at 4:00pm CST which is when the final session of the Chicago Seminars ends.
[card card-name='Premier Rewards Gold Card from American Express' card-id='22035076' type='javascript' bullet-id='1']
TPG featured card
Rewards
| 2X miles | 2 miles per dollar on every purchase |
| 5X miles | 5 miles per dollar on flights and vacation rentals booked through Capital One Business Travel |
| 10X miles | 10 miles per dollar on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Business Travel |
Intro offer
Annual Fee
Recommended Credit
Why We Chose It
The Capital One Venture X Business Card has all the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card has to offer and more. It offers an incredible welcome bonus and requires an equally impressive spend to qualify. In addition, the card comes with premium travel perks like annual travel credit. (Partner offer)Pros
- The Capital One Venture X business card has a very lucrative welcome offer.
- In addition, the card comes with many premium travel perks such as an annual $300 credit for bookings through Capital One Business Travel.
- Business owners are also able to add employee cards for free.
Cons
- The card requires significant spending to earn the welcome offer.
- Another drawback is that the annual travel credit can only be used on bookings made through Capital One Business Travel.
- LIMITED-TIME OFFER: Earn up to 400K bonus miles: 200K miles when you spend $30K in the first 3 months, and an additional 200k miles when you spend $150k in the first 6 months
- Earn unlimited 2X miles on every purchase, everywhere—with no limits or category restrictions
- Earn 10X miles on hotels and rental cars and 5X miles on flights and vacation rentals booked through Capital One Business Travel
- With no preset spending limit, enjoy big purchasing power that adapts so you can spend more and earn more rewards
- Empower your teams to make business purchases while earning rewards on their transactions, with free employee and virtual cards. Plus, automatically sync your transaction data with your accounting software and pay your vendors with ease
- Redeem your miles on flights, hotels and more. Plus, transfer your miles to any of the 15+ travel loyalty programs
- Every year, you'll get 10,000 bonus miles after your account anniversary date. Plus, receive an annual $300 credit for bookings made through Capital One Business Travel
- Receive up to a $120 credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck®. Enjoy access to 1,300+ airport lounges worldwide, including Capital One Lounge locations and Priority Pass™ lounges, after enrollment
- Enjoy a $100 experience credit and other premium benefits with every hotel and vacation rental booked from the Premier Collection
- This is a pay-in-full card, so your balance is due in full every month
Rewards Rate
| 2X miles | 2 miles per dollar on every purchase |
| 5X miles | 5 miles per dollar on flights and vacation rentals booked through Capital One Business Travel |
| 10X miles | 10 miles per dollar on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Business Travel |
Intro Offer
Earn 200K miles when you spend $30K in the first 3 months, and an additional 200K miles when you spend $150K in the first 6 monthsLIMITED-TIME OFFER: Earn up to 400K bonus milesAnnual Fee
$395Recommended Credit
Credit ranges are a variation of FICO® Score 8, one of many types of credit scores lenders may use when considering your credit card application.740-850Excellent
Why We Chose It
The Capital One Venture X Business Card has all the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card has to offer and more. It offers an incredible welcome bonus and requires an equally impressive spend to qualify. In addition, the card comes with premium travel perks like annual travel credit. (Partner offer)Pros
- The Capital One Venture X business card has a very lucrative welcome offer.
- In addition, the card comes with many premium travel perks such as an annual $300 credit for bookings through Capital One Business Travel.
- Business owners are also able to add employee cards for free.
Cons
- The card requires significant spending to earn the welcome offer.
- Another drawback is that the annual travel credit can only be used on bookings made through Capital One Business Travel.
- LIMITED-TIME OFFER: Earn up to 400K bonus miles: 200K miles when you spend $30K in the first 3 months, and an additional 200k miles when you spend $150k in the first 6 months
- Earn unlimited 2X miles on every purchase, everywhere—with no limits or category restrictions
- Earn 10X miles on hotels and rental cars and 5X miles on flights and vacation rentals booked through Capital One Business Travel
- With no preset spending limit, enjoy big purchasing power that adapts so you can spend more and earn more rewards
- Empower your teams to make business purchases while earning rewards on their transactions, with free employee and virtual cards. Plus, automatically sync your transaction data with your accounting software and pay your vendors with ease
- Redeem your miles on flights, hotels and more. Plus, transfer your miles to any of the 15+ travel loyalty programs
- Every year, you'll get 10,000 bonus miles after your account anniversary date. Plus, receive an annual $300 credit for bookings made through Capital One Business Travel
- Receive up to a $120 credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck®. Enjoy access to 1,300+ airport lounges worldwide, including Capital One Lounge locations and Priority Pass™ lounges, after enrollment
- Enjoy a $100 experience credit and other premium benefits with every hotel and vacation rental booked from the Premier Collection
- This is a pay-in-full card, so your balance is due in full every month