1. Safeway, Albertsons, Vons, and other Just4U brands have 10x points earning on Zift cards through Saturday, and because in J4U land 10+4 = 12, you’ll probably get 12x earning on Saturday too.

    Some Zift cards can be converted to high value bulk brands like Amazon and Home Depot, for the others, well, I hope you like Cracker Barrel.
  2. Staples has fee-free $200 Visa gift cards through Saturday, limit nine per transaction.

    These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards.
  3. Giftcards.com has a promotion for a $10 giftcards.com gift card with a $100 Visa, Mastercard, or One4All card using promo code BONUSSEASON for purchases through tomorrow, limit one per transaction and three per account.

    These promo codes are showing on portals, so you should earn shopping portal rewards and seasonal bonuses too.
  4. The American Express Hilton personal cards have increased targeting on no-lifetime language (NLL) links:

    – Aspire: 175,000 points after $6,000 spend in six months
    – Surpass: 155,000 points after $3,000 spend in six months
    – Honors: 100,000 points after $1,000 spend in six months

    These are also available via referrals albeit with lifetime language, so go that route if NLL doesn’t matter. (Thanks to DDG)
  5. ShopRite stores have a promotion for $25 off of groceries with $100+ in One4All gift cards. Some One4Alls can be converted to high value bulk brands like Home Depot and GameStop.
  6. Chase Ultimate Rewards has a 40% transfer bonus to Virgin Atlantic through November 20.
  7. American Express offers has a card linked offer for $100 back on $300+ at Small Luxury Hotels through December 31.
  8. Chase Offers has multiple card linked offers:

    – 5%-7% back at Hyatt House & Studios, max $28-56 through December 15
    – 7% back at Park Hyatt, max $28-$56 through December 15
    – 10% back at Kimpton, max $62 through December 19

    Gamers gonna game, but these prizes aren’t as good recent ones so I guess #shrinkflation?

Hint? Troll? You decide.

Introduction

The current DoT mandate for a 10% reduction in flights for major US Airports means a few things:

  • Airlines are moving quickly and implementing IT quickly (poorly)
  • Widespread travel waivers are in effect
  • Airline employees are dazed and confused

Taken together, there are a few unique opportunities for a travel hacker. We’ll talk about two in particular, but there’s always another game around the corner.

Un-Tying Up FUnds

When major disruptions happen, travel credits and wallet funds that you’ve got stuck at an airline can often either be refunded, or be changed into more flexible funds. Games vary, but under current waivers:

  • Basic economy tickets may be refundable
  • Name-locked funds may be able to be converted to flexible funds
  • Travel credits may be able to be partially refunded

There a number of success stories over the last few days with each of these. Always be probing.

Getting the Expensive Flights for Cheap

High-demand, close-in travel is often very expensive (duh). Crappy flights with terrible timing and long connections are often cheap (also duh). Current travel waivers like those at Delta, United, AA, and Southwest allow you to make a one-time change to travel in the near future. So the game becomes:

  • Find a cheap flight
  • Book it
  • Use the waiver to switch to the flight you want

You’ll find that each airline has different terms and conditions about which flights are eligible, but you’ll probably also find that none of these airlines have properly implemented their IT in all cases. Just make sure you complete these steps within 24 hours so that if something goes wrong, you can still cancel your original booking for a full refund.

Fin

Apropos of nothing, support your local Air Traffic Controller, they deserve it.

Happy Monday!

McDonalds gives us a November travel outlook.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is a follow-up bonus guest post from SideShowBob233 thrown together after yet another run-in with a bank.

After my American Express scam a few months ago I’ve been living the dream, no account hacks and a normal, quiet, rake-free life.  That rake-free life came to an abrupt end a few weeks ago when I tried to login to my main AmEx login and found the account was locked and required a password reset.  No worries, this happens from time to time, usually due to external logins like AwardWallet.  I reset the password and login, everything is wonderful.

I then tried to login to a different online login, which was also locked.  I may not be a smart clown, but I know what love suspicious is. I sat back, ran my fingers through my thick red hair and thought about this situation and how it was like a box of chocolates (both involved something brown).  Both logins recently had a new card issued (an upgrade).  One login is NOT connected to AwardWallet.  Both logins were fine the day before (I logged in to both).  

I eventually came to the conclusion that my accounts were locked by someone trying to reset the password a few times and failing due to the two factor authentication that I’d turned on after the scam/hack a few months ago.  Which leads me to the unhappy conclusion that someone has my new card numbers and used them to try to reset my password, access my account, and do the same thing they tried to do in the prior hack.  

The new cards left the house one time and were used at a single store recently.  Now maybe the twenty something girl behind the counter somehow got photos of the cards, but I doubt that.  For one, I used several cards at this store and ONLY the two that were recently replaced had their login locked.  Second, a family member who got a new card around the same time also had their login locked yesterday.  And their card is still sitting in a sealed envelope not activated yet.  

Again I find myself at an unhappy conclusion that the cards were likely compromised at the factory somehow.  The card that was used to hack me months ago also had been recently replaced.   And as I found out this week it was replaced again right before the hack – but I never received the replacement (which I didn’t know I was getting since I hadn’t requested it).  Maybe it’s not the factory, maybe it’s the shipping carrier, but my rake is still pointing to the factory.  

Now maybe it’s just another coincidence but too many coincidences make me think something is up.  Not much we can do if I’m right but turn on two factor authentication, lock your SIMs, etc.  And remember what my uncle used to say until the guys with the nets caught him – just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean someone isn’t out to get you. And also you miss 100% of the shots you take.

Stay safe out there!

– SideShowBob233

SideShowBob233’s key chain holder’s security definitely had nothing to do with the hack.

  1. Bank of America “More Rewards Day” is today, and you’ll earn +2% or +2x on all Bank of America credit cards on up to $2,500 spend each as long as the spend happens before midnight Eastern time, sorry west coast night owls, BofA doesn’t love you.

    If you don’t regularly exercise your Bank of America cards, be prepared for a litany of fraud alerts.
  2. Hy-Vee stores have $10 off of $150+ in Mastercard gift cards through Saturday. Notably this doesn’t require clipping a digital coupon, so multiple transactions back-to-back will work really well.

    These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards.
  3. MastercardGiftCard.com has fee free gift cards through November 30 with promo code NOFEES25. Limits are $10,000 per account per rolling 24 hours, and first party American Express cards don’t earn points.

    These are Incomm / Vanilla gift cards.
  4. TheGiftCardShop.com has fee free Visa and Mastercard custom design gift cards through November 16 with promo code SHOPEARLY25.

    These are also Incomm / Vanilla gift cards.
  5. Kroger has a 4x fuel points promotion on One4All and Choice gift cards and for dining gift cards through Tuesday. There’s also 4x fuel points on fixed value Visas and Mastercards, and 400 bonus points on a fixed value or variable load gift card too.
  6. The FNBO Amtrak Visa has a heightened sign-up bonus of 40,000 points after $2,000 spend in the first three statements. The $99 annual fee is not waived for the first year, and the main bonus category for the card is 2x on dining and travel. Points are worth approximately 2.6 cents each for train travel.

    FNBO is often down to clown too.
  7. JetBlue has a promotion code for 20% off of domestic economy flights for a laughably small travel window for travel booked today and flown between December 2 and December 18. To make it worse, both Fridays and Saturdays in that window are excluded too. Use promo code TAKE20 for travel on the other 12 days I guess.

    Why even mention for something so lame? Some of you are doing 25 for 25, and it will work for that.
  8. Citi now allows product changes via chat, and let’s just say Citi gonna Citi unintentionally too.

Happy Thursday!

Real Bank of America fraud alert or fake? It can be hard to tell with BofA IT.

New card launches don’t usually happen in November or December, but this time’s different for funzies.

  1. The Sunrise Bank United MileagePlus Visa debit card and bank account launched yesterday. The vitals:

    – 10,000 MileagePlus miles after $500+ in four months
    – 0.5x earning
    – $4 monthly fee, waived with $2,000 on deposit
    – Annual mileage earning of up to 70,000 with money held in the account (terrible value)

    If you think this card isn’t at all interesting, maybe (1) you’re right, or maybe (2) you’re not seeing something.
  2. The Citi ThankYou Mastercard, the card that’s Citi’s replacing the Shop Your Way Mastercard for existing card holders, has an official bonus category lineup:

    – 5x at gas, up to $10,000 annually
    – 3x at restaurant and grocery, up to $10,000 annually
    – 2x at drug stores and department stores, up to $10,000 annually
    – 1x elsewhere

    The card gives 100,000 ThankYou Points annually if you maximize each of these categories, and it retains some of the favorite quirks of the old Shop Your Way card too. Taken all together, this card is aiming squarely toward Unsung Hero status, or at least twirling toward it.
  3. The Citi ThankYou Mastercard, still the Shop Your Way replacement, has new targeted spend bonuses, each of which is good monthly for November, December, and January:

    – 15% back on up to $175 monthly on $1,000 spend at eligible retail
    – 10% back up to $100 monthly on $800+ spend at eligible retail
    – 10% back up to $80 monthly on $750+ spend at eligible retail

    Eligible retail includes online and in-store purchases at most retail stores other than home improvement, wholesale clubs, and grocery stores. (Thanks to George, Andy N, and JacobS)
  4. US Bank launched a suite of co-branded Edward Jones Investment credit cards. One of the three is interesting. Its vitals:

    – 3% on top three categories including unique categories like medical, hospitals, and car dealerships
    – Uncapped rewards
    – $0 annual fee

    They’ve specifically excluded US Mint, Amazon, Walmart, Target, and “other discount stores/supercenters”.
  5. The Capital One T-Mobile Visa credit card launched. The vitals:

    – 5% on in-stock phones, devices, and accessories at T-Mobile
    – 2% elsewhere
    – $0 annual fee, no foreign transaction fees

    This card is the only credit card that qualifies for $5 off per line per month, which is typically only available with ACH payments.

There’s some non-credit card news too:

  1. Choice Hotels now allows points selling pooling. (Thanks to CericRushmore)
  2. Alaska has two award fare sales running, one for travel booked by November 6 and flown between December 2 and March 11, 2026:

    – Short haul from 4,000 points
    – Hawaii from 7,500 points
    – Transcons from 7,500 points

    And another for economy international flights booked by November 11 and flown by March 30, 2026:

    – South Asia from 25,000 points
    – Australia and New Zealand from 35,000 points

    The latter sale includes partner metal bookings too.
  3. American Airlines has a “spring deals”fare sale for economy travel booked by November 16 and flown between January 12, 2026 and February 28, 2026. Business class bookings aren’t included in this one.

Have a nice Wednesday friends!

Rejected Edward Jones Investment co-brand design.

  1. There’s news about the imminent death of the once great Citi Shop Your Way Rewards Mastercard, the highest profile of the low profile MEAB Unsung Heroes:

    – First Bank & Trust will issue a new “Shop Your Way 5321 Visa” card
    – Citi Shop Your Way cards will be converted to Citi ThankYou cards

    Interestingly for, erm, gamers, the Shop Your Way 5321 Visa seemingly doesn’t have limits on bonus categories. What could possibly go wrong?
  2. WeBull has a 2% transfer bonus for incoming funds between $10,000 and $2,000,000 for all new users and some targeted existing users. Notes:

    – Click the enrollment button first
    – Rewards are paid out monthly equally for 12 months
    – Stocks transferred via ACATS and cash deposits are both qualifying

    SIPC insurance on brokerage accounts is for up to $500,000 per customer because reasons.
  3. American Express has a 15% transfer bonus to Avianca LifeMiles through November 30.

    LifeMiles historically was a very quirky program that benefited travel hacking, but more recently the quirks are just mildly annoying. Also, watch for phantom space.
  4. AirFrance / KLM’s FlyingBlue promotional rewards routes for November are bookable. Typically economy seats are widely available and business seats have sporadic availability, though this time it’s better than typical.

    North American include New York, Chicago, Seattle, Orlando, Austin, Las Vegas, Atlanta, Detroit, Washington DC, Vancouver, Ottawa, Toronto, and Montreal.

Happy Tuesday!

Also coming soon: The all new Stop Your All Way sign.

  1. The Rove Miles shopping portal added Lufthansa Miles & More as a transfer partner. This is great because:

    – There wasn’t previously a great way for US members to earn Miles & More
    – Lufthansa and Swiss availability is much better with Miles & More
    – Swiss First is bookable with matchable Miles & More Senator status

    With this development and with Rove’s ability to maintain elite benefits on hotel bookings, it’s probably a good idea to include Rove in your comparison shopping when booking paid hotel nights. Rove has referral bonuses, so use someone’s referral link if you’re going to join.
  2. The major airline portals have shopping portal bonuses (ordered by expiration date):

    – American: 4,000 bonus miles with $1,600+ (+2.5x) through November 17
    – Alaska: 1,500 bonus miles with $650+ (+2.3x) through November 19
    – Delta: 4,000 bonus miles with $1,500+ (+2.67x) through November 21
    – United: 5,000 bonus miles with $1,100+ (+4.55x) through November 22
    – Southwest: 4,000 bonus miles with $900+ (+4.44x) through November 24

    Each of these portals has giftcards.com as an option, and Chase Offers has a targeted offer for 5% back on up to $1,000 spend too.
  3. Staples stores have fee-free $200 Mastercard gift cards through Saturday, limit nine per transaction.

    These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards.
  4. Stop & Shop, Giant, and Martins have 6x point earning on third party gift cards through Thursday, limit $2,000 per loyalty account (or 4x earning for Giant Food because apparently it’s a running joke at the parent company).
  5. Wyndham and Vacasa’s partnership is ending for reservations after November 30 and stays after January 31, 2026. Here’s your obligatory wah-wah trombones sound.
  6. Rakuten has portal bonuses for applying for several Chase cards through their links:

    – $30 for the Freedom Unlimited (or $50 for almost no one)
    – $30 for the Sapphire Preferred (or $50 for almost no one)
    – $25 for the Ink Unlimited (or $50 for exactly no one)

    Referral offers for the Freedom and Sapphire Reserve are generally a much better deal for the referrer, but Chase Business referrals are restricted to new businesses (to Chase) only, so the Rakuten bonus is often the best choice. (Thanks to DoC)

Happy Monday!

Embargoed oil is also a thing.

Fuel point markets, gift card markets, and buyers group spot prices obviously change as supply and demand change. Practically speaking, what this means is:

  • When there’s a big deal that’s widely accessible, resale rates drop
  • When it’s been a while since there’s been a big deal, resale rates climb

Hard hitting stuff, I know. But really, there’s a point for churners other than remedial economics: Volatility in most of churning resale activities is really high. Over the course of a week, rates may change by 1%-3% on bulk gift card brands, or by 5% over the period of a month. Fuel points and buyer’s groups see similar pronounced behavior.

The takeaway? Sometimes holding things for a week or two increases your profit, and keeping a mental tab on average volatility helps you optimize your game. Of course, don’t forget about the velocity of money either.

Have a nice scary weekend friends!

Kroger fuel points, but as a drink.