Norwegian Now Flying Austin-London Gatwick Route

NorwegianTo the probable dismay of the Big 3 legacy airlines, Norwegian has begun flying 3x per week from Austin to London Gatwick (and vice versa).

The flight days, both outbound and return, are Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

The posted outbound price is as low as $209.90 (April 21), and the return price is as low as $229.90 (April 24 and 26).

Norwegian is a low-cost carrier, so everything except a seat will involve a fee. But, if you follow their rules, bring your own food and water, and pack light and compact, you can save a lot.

Check Google Flights or Norwegian’s web site for schedules and costs.

New Amex $1000 Revenue Requirement May be Flexible

Applying for credit cards can bring thousands and thousands of frequent flyer miles.A recent One Mile at a Time blog post reports that American Express has changed the rules for applications for their business credit cards. They have added a new requirement of a minimum $1000 annual revenue for the business.

If you read farther down into the blog post, you will find that $1000 of projected annual revenue may qualify…in other words, a company with zero revenue may still qualify if the owner thinks annual will reach $1000 at some (undefined) time.

Flight Delay Insurance Offered by Credit Cards

Award Wallet LogoAward Wallet has a blog post listing credit cards that offer trip-delay insurance, and the details for each one. In general, the best insurance is offered by the credit cards with the highest annual fees.

For example, four cards with $450 annual fee (Citi Prestige, Citi AAdvantage Executive World Elite, Chase Sapphire Reserve and Ritz-Carlton Rewards) will pay out up to $500 for delays as little as 3 or 6 hours.

All the other cards listed (with exception of Barclay Arrival Plus) require that your delay be at least 12 hours.

Which Credit Cards Have the Best Flight Delay Insurance?

American Airlines Opening New Routes to South America

American AirlinesWhile none of its new routes originate at Austin ABIA, American Airlines’ additions may still be interesting to Austin travelers. New South American destinations include Buenos Aires and Cordoba (Argentina), Oaxaca (Mexico), Pereira (Colombia) and Georgetown (Guyana).

Unexpectedly, the frequency of flights by American Airlines to Caracas (Venezuela) is also increasing.

American Airlines has always had a strong position in Latin America, and these changes add to that. A possible tie-in to LATAM (formerly LAN) may be involved. Pizza In Motion and Wandering Aramean report and analyze the new routes.

See details here and here.

Lucrative New Credit Card from Chase Bank

Applying for credit cards can bring thousands and thousands of frequent flyer miles.The frequent-flyer community is excited about a new offering from Chase: the Chase Ink Cash business credit card. This new card has a sign-up bonus of $500 after spending $3000 in 3 months, and is a no-annual-fee card!

Under certain circumstances you can convert the $500 bonus into 50,000 Ultimate Rewards points, which may be used to purchase up to $750 worth of air travel or converted into frequent-flyer miles.

You can read more about it at Deals We Like  and MileValue.

This card is subject to Chase’s 5/24 rule, but does not contribute to it because it is a business card.

This offer is truly worth doing.

Austin to Bermuda Just $379 Round-Trip

American AirlinesBermuda is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, several hundred miles east of South Carolina. The national language is English.

Scott’s Cheap Flights has found Basic Economy fares on American Airlines / Delta of just $379 round-trip.

Bermuda has no rivers or natural lakes, so all water is harvested from rainfall. When you go, notice that every house and commercial building has a white roof that drains into a cistern…that is its only source of water!

Search for your vacation date pairs on Google Flights, and enjoy your visit!

How to Get the Bonus Miles and Points You Should from Credit Card Signups

Applying for credit cards can bring thousands and thousands of frequent flyer miles.The fastest way to get a big pile of airline miles and hotel points is by applying for credit cards. Some credit cards offer 25,000, 50,000 or even more frequent-flyer miles or hotel points just for applying and spending some money on the card.

But the different banks that offer such cards have some arcane rules. This blog post from MileValue.com is a very good starting point for learning what you need to do to get your miles and points.