1. Do this now: Register for 25,000 bonus Bonvoy points at Marriott Homes and Villas for bookings in February and stays through September 1.

    Am I the only one who thinks “bonus Bonvoy” sounds derogatory?
  2. The Chase IHG Premier card has a heightened bonus of 175,000 points after $5,000 spend in three months.

    Use P2’s another churner’s referral for maximum win.
  3. Kroger brands have a digital coupon for 4x fuel points on third party gift cards in store, excluding Amazon and flexible gas cards through Tuesday, February 17.

    The fuel point and gift card resale market are currently strong for a February, make sure you shop around.
  4. Kroger has a digital coupon for a fee-free variable Visa or Mastercard loaded with $150+ through Tuesday.

    These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards.
  5. The Incomm sites have Valentine’s Day fee-free gift cards:

    – TheGiftCardShop 100% off of purchase fees through February 15 with promo code LOVE26
    – MasterCardGiftCard 100% off of purchase fees through February 14 with promo code VDAY26
    – VanillaGift 100% off of purchase fees through February 14 with promo code VGVDAY26

    VanillaGift chose to use the tagline “For the Love of Gifting”, which I hope makes the floosies laugh.
  6. Delta has an award sale for non-basic economy main cabin travel to and from Europe booked today for 26,000-28,000 miles round-trip.
  7. Spirit has 90% off of base fares booked today with promo code 90PCT for Tuesday, Wednesday, and Saturday travel through March 11.

    In case you’re wondering, which I’m sure you weren’t, I think you’ll get a bigger discount than the odds I’d give that Spirit hasn’t ceased operations by March 11. (Thanks to FM)
  8. Breeze Airlines has 26% off of base fares for weekday round-trip travel booked today for flights through September 15 with promo code WEEKDAY.

    Let’s call out the square for the next round of Breeze Route Bingo: Brownsville (BRO) to Orlando (MCO)! Today only, you get a bonus middle square if you already knew where BRO was – I sure didn’t.

Have a nice Thursday!

BRO airport (probably)

Let’s discuss a few quasi-private / quasi-public news items today:

Air Astana Nomad Club

I hadn’t known much of anything about Kazakhstan based Air Astana or its Nomad Club frequent flyer program until yesterday, but I’ve now investigated it because reasons. The interesting parts:

  • They have paid code-share flights
  • Nomad Club award tickets can only be redeemed for Air Astana metal flights
  • There’s good award availability between Central Asia and major European airports
  • Award prices are dynamic, but rates seem to be approximately:
    • Economy: 5,000 – 15,000 miles
    • Business: 15,000 – 60,000 miles
  • They have interline agreements with lots of partners, but only on the earn side.

Want more? Seek your favorite feline friend coded chat room for more information. At the very least, you’ll get a cat picture out of it. They’ll also be happy to tell you about Qatar Avios, but I think that one’s slightly less obscure.

The Robot Lady

In the 2010s there were two “robot ladies” that manufactured spenders befriended. We lost one of them, Kate, in 2016, and the other slightly less famous but more prolific one continued service unabated until a couple of days ago. The signs had been there, the robot lady overlords had been threatening to cut us off since mid December, but we were unsure what the deathbed would look like.

Now that we know though, I can confidently say that there’s a difference between life support and complete robot-death, you haven’t yet found the penultimate all set. Always be probing.

Happy “one of those obscure posts that nobody can understand”-day to all those who celebrate!

Where they are today: Kate’s widower husband.

  1. Do this now: Register for Hyatt’s Q1 promotion for 3,000 points for every three nights through April 15. As a way of saying “sorry” in advance, Hyatt Place and Hyatt Select hotels actually get 4,000 points for the same stays. You’re limited to seven bonuses under this promotion.
  2. Two Bank of America Atmos Visas have increased sign-up bonuses:

    – Personal Ascent: 85,000 miles after $4,500 spend in 120 days
    – Business: 75,000 miles after $4,000 spend in 90 days

    If one is good, three is better right? Also, side note, aren’t you glad I don’t have to write “The Atmos™ Rewards Ascent Visa Signature®” like everyone else? No, that’s just me? Hmm.
  3. Two US Bank Visas have increased sign-up bonuses:

    – Leverage Business: $750 after $7,500 spend in 120 days
    – Triple Cash: $750 after $6,000 spend in 180 days

    Just like with Bank of America, why have just one? The Triple-Cash card comes with a free monthly subscription to seats.aero, at least sort-of.
  4. There are February shopping portal bonues at major airline portals:

    – AA Advantage: 500 miles with $200+ through February 11
    – Alaska Atmos: 500 miles with $150+ through February 11
    – United MileagePlus: 500 miles with $150+ through February 11

    Watch for the Southwest portal bonus to arrive late in the next couple of days as winter weather spreads through their technology stack.
  5. American Express offers has new travel offers for:

    – Virgin Atlantic: $250 back with $2,000+ spend through March 29
    – Air France via AmEx Travel: $250 back with $1,400 spend through February

    Something something gamers gonna game something something.

Happy Tuesday friends!

Southwest IT troubleshooting delays on their shopping portal server.

  1. Barclay AA cards will become Citi AA cards on April 26. What to know:

    – Your balance will transfer to Citi
    – Barclay cards will work after the transition until you activate your Citi card
    – Citi card will have a new account number
    – The Barlcay variants will be converted to the Citi lineup, sorry Silver card holders*
    – Authorized user cards will be reissued too

    If you’re Citi shut, will this transition get you back in? We’ll see, but #citigonnaciti.
  2. Capital One has a 30% transfer bonus to JAL MileageBank through February 28, bringing the transfer ratio to 1,000:975.
  3. Chase has a 50% transfer bonus to Marriott Bonvoy through February 28 which makes the transfer ratio 1,000:1,500.

    Let’s ask a rhetorical or philosophical question, whichever you prefer: What do you get when you turn an awful transfer ratio into a really bad transfer ratio?
  4. The Fairwinds Business Visa 1.5x everywhere cards have a heightened, tiered sign-up bonus:

    – $500 after $5,000 spend in 90 days
    – $1,500 after $50,000 spend in 180 days

    The cards carry no annual fee. If you haven’t figured out how to join banks or credit unions in another state, it’s probably time to experiment. (Thanks to DoC)
  5. Staples stores have fee-free $200 Mastercards through Saturday, limit nine per transaction.

    These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards.

Happy Monday!

*I guess sorry Silver holders of all types (too soon?)

  1. The American Express Delta cards have heightened sign-up bonuses, all of which are available via referrals too so go that route instead of using a blog link, P2 will thank you:

    – Business Gold: 90,000 SkyMiles after $6,000 spend in six months, annual fee waived
    – Business Platinum: 100,000 SkyMiles after $8,000 spend in six months
    – Business Reserve: 125,000 SkyMiles after $15,000 spend in six months
    – Personal Gold: 90,000 SkyMiles after $5,000 spend in six months, annual fee waived
    – Personal Platinum: 100,000 SkyMiles after $6,000 spend in six months
    – Personal Reserve: 125,000 SkyMiles after $9,000 spend in six months

    There’s also a Personal Gold link for 60,000 SkyMiles and a $500 statement credit after $3,000 spend in six months with a waived first year annual fee during the ticket booking workflow, you don’t have to actually buy the ticket to get it.
  2. Four of the Chase United family of cards also has increased sign-up bonuses, and these are available for referrals too, so it’s either your best churning buddy or P2’s time to shine!

    – Personal Explorer: 70,000 miles after $3,000 spend in three months, annual fee waived
    – Personal Quest: 80,000 miles after $4,000 spend in three months
    – Business MileagePlus: 100,000 miles after $5,000 spend in three months
    – Business Club: 100,000 miles after $5,000 spend in three months

    What’s the difference between the last two? A few things, but also an extra $495 for unlimited cheese cubes at any United Club location. I hope you like cheese!
  3. Kroger stores have a digital coupon for 4x fuel points on third party gift cards excluding fuel points cards and Amazon, and on fixed value Visas and Mastercards between Friday and Sunday.
  4. The Rove Miles Shopping Portal that also has a travel booking engine has several promotions including: 4x on Visas and Mastercards at GiftCards.com, 10x at Viator, and 2x when purchasing Alaska Atmos or AirCanada Aeroplan miles. Increased bonuses run through Sunday.

    Obviously you should sign up for Rove with either P2 or a churner buddy’s referral.
  5. Stop & Shop, Giant, and Martins  have 10x points on Home Depot cards through Thursday, and Giant Food earns 6x during the same period. You’re limited to $2,000 or $1,500 per loyalty account depending on the brand.
  6. If you want to go all in on Accor ALL, there’s an interesting Accor ALL Signature+ subscription now available world-wide. The important parts:

    – Pay 1,149 Euros for a one year subscription
    – Earn 1,500 Euros worth of Accor ALL points (75,000 annually / 6,250 monthly)
    – Earn 12,000 status points (1,000 monthly)

    Gold status requires 7,000 points and Platinum requires 14,000, so earning Platinum becomes almost trivial. Effectively, if you were going to spend 2,000 Euros on Accor hotels in 2026 you’ll come out ahead by about 350 Euros and have Platinum status when you’re done. (Thanks to LL)

Have a nice weekend friends!

Gearing up for Player 2 referral shenanigans.
(Thanks to smirley)

There are more articles about how to optimize your daily organic spend with the right credit card portfolios then there are people on the planet (citation needed). I think you should ignore all of them. Why? Since you’re here, I’m going to assume you fall into one of two buckets, each with its own reason.

Bucket 1: The Players

As a churning player, you’ve got at least an intermediate understanding of manufactured spend and its execution. You probably know how to spend many thousands of dollars a week, a day, an hour, or maybe even more frequently, and those thousands of dollars mean at least many thousands of points earned in the same time frame.

On the other hand, your regular spend just doesn’t matter much in comparison. Even if you had a magical 10x card, your $15 lunch would earn you 150 points, which isn’t worth thinking about unless it’s purely for entertainment value. Those 150 points probably represent much less than a tenth of a percent of your earning, so don’t stress it. Any card will do.

Bucket 2: The Dreamers

If you’re not yet a churning player, you’re probably dreaming of becoming one (again, otherwise I don’t think you’d be reading this). If so, I’m sure it’s tempting to analyze which of the major bank cards are best for your lunch dining spend. Maybe it’s the American Express Personal Gold that earns 4x on dining, the Citi Strata Premier that earns 3x, the Chase Sapphire Preferred that earns 3x, or the Wells Fargo Autograph Journey that earns 3x? Well, maybe it’s one of those, but:

  • they have different annual fees
  • they have different transfer partners
  • they have different cash-out values
  • they have different ancillary benefits

So, which is best given that they’re all different? Maybe you need to build a spreadsheet, list your common expenses, the current point valuations from BigBankBlogger™, the coupon credits each card offers, the sign-up bonuses, when you can cancel the cards and still get an annual-fee refund, whether the card makes sense next to your quarterly 5x earning card capped at $1,500, and a dozen other factors. That’ll be a cool spreadsheet! But, you’ll sink hours into that sheet, it’ll go stale in months, and you’ll find that you’re still a dreamer.

So instead of optimizing your small organic spend, consider spending your would-be spreadsheet time figuring out how to move from dreamer to player. I guarantee you’ll make more points by doing so than the incremental bump you’ll get from an extra 2x when you go out to lunch.

The Big Picture

Optimizing your organic spend is almost certainly a poor investment on your time, unless it’s done purely for entertainment purposes, or because it makes people like MEAB annoyed, or maybe both.

Happy Thursday!

From the page where I got the statistic about the number of point optimization articles on the internet.

  1. Best Western has a promotion for 2,600 bonus points for stays through May 10 booked by Sunday, registration required.

    Best Western havsa separate promotion for a $50 gift card with 3+ night stays through May 10, registration is also required. The promotions will stack.
  2. Bilt’s rent day promotion on Sunday has a tiered transfer bonus of 25%-100% to Accor ALL depending on your Bilt status. Platinum Kerr Kash Bilt Cash holders can redeem $75 for an extra 25% bonus too. A few reminders about Accor:

    – Accor ALL points are worth a fixed 2 eurocents, or approximately 2.4 cents
    – You can transfer Accor ALL to Qantas at a 1:1.25 ratio
    – For more on the program, see the MEAB FAQette.

    Honestly, if you’ve decided to get out of the Bilt ecosystem this is probably the best case cash-out you could hope for, at least assuming you travel outside of the US.
  3. I wouldn’t normally write about content monster fodder like this, but I’m too happy to see it gone to help myself. So:

    Southwest boarding groups are gone, they only have assigned seating now. Ding dong, the witch is dead.

Happy Wednesday

You’ve gotta figure it out on your own today.

Bilt is back in the Churn-o-Tron 5000 news cycle, this time because they sent a bunch of “oops, my bad, I guess we do actually need customers” emails to existing card holders that had been soft or hard denied for conversion to the new Cardless versions of the card.

That’s positive when taken at face value, but it also illustrates a critical point in churning:

Simplicity beats complexity, unless the complexity is really, really valuable
– MEAB tome of apocryphal wisdom

I’m going to wager that you can’t find a churner who can argue that the new version of Bilt has any heir of simplicity with a straight face. Assuming that’s true, you’d better find a metric ton of value in the new Bilt ecosystem before you decide to join.

If a metric ton of value isn’t obvious though, maybe consider that your time will be better spent by using a Citi Double Cash card, Venture X card, American Express Blue Business Plus card, or Chase Ink Unlimited card and looking for other plays instead of taking hours learning the ins-and-outs of the most complex credit card program ever invented for the possibility of good returns before Cardless axes you. With all of those non-Bilt cards:

  • You’ll earn 2x on all spend (1.5x for the Ink Unlimited)
  • The annual fees are simple
  • The programs all have valuable transfer partners
  • You don’t have to spend hours learning how to use the card
  • Richard Kerr won’t be watching your plays in real time

So naturally the follow-on question is: Well, is there a metric ton of value in the Bilt program?

I think generally the answer is absolutely not for a whale, maybe for a dolphin, and possibly for a shrimp. But, you do you friends, and obviously what you know is different than what I know. Let me leave you with a new word, courtesy of Chris from All the Hacks: Bilted, which (I’m definitely paraphrasing and editorializing his words) means “So much complexity that you want to give up and laugh, but maybe there’s a good deal behind it all.”

Have a nice Tuesday friends!

With the right you complexity you can drive in a river like churning legend Danny too. But should you?