Best of 2016 #16-20 – forfeited Amex points, $900 profit from gift cards, a $1306 check from Aer Lingus, Emirates first class and dressing up in first class

With 2016 coming to a close, we also are coming up on the 3 year anniversary of Points With a Crew, which started back in January 2014.  It’s been a great run and I could not be more excited about the future as we look into 2017 and beyond.

Looking back at the top posts of 2016, I thought I’d run a short series of the top posts of 2016 at Points With a Crew.  These more or less are the most visited posts by blog visitors in 2016 (only including posts actually written in 2016), and are pretty highly correlated with a list of my most popular posts.

So, without further ado, here are posts #16-20 in the Top PWaC Posts of 2016:

#20 – Back in June, I was going through my online American Express account and realized that I had 11,436 “forfeited” American Express Membership Rewards.  After going through a live chat with American Express, I was able to get most of those forfeited points reinstated.  Have you ever had “forfeited” American Express points?

#19 – When I first started in the miles and points game, 99% of my points came from credit card signup bonuses.  I’ve never been a huge manufactured spender, though I have dabbled a bit.  As more and more banks have tightened our ability to get credit card signup bonuses (hello Chase 5/24!), I have been doing more and more reselling, both of products as well as gift cards.  Back in November, I wrote a post called Another day, another $900 profit from gift card reselling that detailed my adventures in gift card reselling on just one day.

#18 – In September 2015, my wife and I were ticketed in business class on Aer Lingus from Boston to Dublin, when the flight was canceled.  It took me almost a year, and a ton of follow-up phone calls, but I eventually got a check for $1306 from Aer Lingus for the flight cancellation.  It took me even longer, but I also got my 25,000 Avios reinstated by British Airways

#17 – As part of my wife and my first class trip around the world, we had 2 long-haul flights on Emirates First Class.  First was from Singapore to Dubai where I wrote about my experiences being “stuck” on Emirates First Class on “only” a 777 (so no shower!).  Then it was time for the 13+ hour flight on Emirates A380 First Class from Dubai to New York City (shower included!)

#16 – After I posted some of the pics of our trip flying first class, I got a few comments about the fact that I was dressed in shorts and a T-shirt.  There were several people who felt that it was inappropriate to be so casual while flying first class.  I was curious to read others’ opinions, so I wrote a post asking “Should you dress up in first class?”  People had VERY strong opinions on this (nearly evenly balanced on both sides) – so much so that it became one of my 9 posts with the angriest blog comments for the year

There you have it!  Tune in next time for Points With a Crew Top 20 of 2016 #11-15!