Search Results for: lubbock

EDITORS NOTE: In 2024, I’m going to try and have a guest post on Saturdays. Today’s guest post is from the first manufactured spender I ever met up with in person and an original manufactured spend whale, Dean. Yes, Dean was really in Lubbock.

I recently had the opportunity to fly to Austin Texas and drive back to my home in Utah. When I reviewed the driving route, it passed directly through Lubbock, TX. MEAB is always talking about how Lubbock is his favorite destination so I thought this would be a great opportunity to see why he loves it so much.

I found the simplest points option for the flight to be Chase Ultimate Rewards to pay for the Delta direct from SLC to AUS through the Ultimate Rewards travel portal. Since it was a direct, morning flight I figured it would work for my tight schedule to pick-up the car before the shop closed and be on my way toward home in the afternoon.

A week before heading out, I reserved an Uber to pick me up at AUS to take me 1 hour and 15 mins away to Temple where the car was located. The flight was to arrive at 2:05PM, and an Uber ride of 1 hour and 15 mins would put me at the shop just in time for my 3:30PM appointment. It was a tight schedule but I figured the worst that could happen is that we would spend a night in Temple, TX and pick-up the car the next day with a couple more Uber rides.

Departing on this long drive at 4PM meant we would need a place to stay about 6 hours away so I wasn’t driving home drowsy. Low and behold, guess what was 6 hours away? Lubbock, TX. It was meant to be! Since Hyatt is still my favorite Hotel Points program, I was very pleased that I could stay at the Hyatt Place, Lubbock that MEAB so fondly refers to.

The Hyatt Place was about $98 per night plus taxes and fees. And this location is so fancy, they add a $7 a night parking fee. I outsmarted them with a Hyatt points reservation for 6,500 points and it apparently included the parking fee. They never charged me anyway.

Travel day came and all was well until, we sat on the runway for over 45 mins waiting for de-icing in SLC. That put us 30 mins late into AUS. I chose AUS hoping that the small size of the airport would make for a quick getaway and it worked quite well to move quickly through the terminal and into the parking garages. The signage for Uber was pretty easy to follow and they have a very organized waiting area in one of the parking garages for Ride Share.

Once off the plane, I checked my Uber app to verify that my ride was ready, they had my flight info so a late arrival shouldn’t be a problem right? Well, all I saw was that I had nothing scheduled in the app (even though the day before, I got a confirmation email from Uber) I dug through the app and didn’t see anything except under “Activity” I saw my destination address and amount paid as “$0 Failed”. I have over $200 in Uber credits in there from the good-old days of buying gift cards at Whole Foods, that somehow generated Uber credits too, so payment shouldn’t have been an issue.

How does Uber send me a confirmation yesterday stating that I’m all set and then today with no notice just leave me hanging? Ugh, don’t trust Uber’s reservation system apparently. I went to the Uber waiting area as I requested another ride. My new ride was there as I walked up to the spot and it cost $20 less than the reservation so that worked nicely. Now to get to Temple as fast as we can and hope they let me pick up the car late.

Driving from AUS to Temple, TX was just one strip mall after another of Applebee’s and Chili’s restaurants separated by rolling hills. Our Uber driver was great. She said that the Ride Share market is very saturated there so she doesn’t get a lot of rides.

My wife thought it would be fun to see the Magnolia “Silos” in downtown Waco that was nearby. We headed up there to see what the hype is about. This place was a little interesting. I think people go there as a tourist destination. We got there 30 mins before closing and there were a lot of workers and very few shoppers. We got a S’more’s cupcake from their bakery that tasted pretty good and walked the shops that had over priced Hobby Lobby items for home decorating. We probably should have gone to the DR Pepper Museum instead.

We hadn’t eaten all day so we stopped into a Torchy’s Tacos to try them since they were highly recommended by our friends who lived in Texas. The $5-6 tacos were pretty good. Two filled me up but I could have easily eaten another, I just didn’t want to wait for another and was eager to get to Lubbock, TX.

The highway went directly NW all the way to Lubbock. It was mostly just two lanes but the speed limit was 75. It was dark so I think it was just more rolling hills with small towns spread far apart the whole way. As we approached Lubbock, it was just like driving into Las Vegas. We could see the glow of lights in the dark sky indicating a city was near. That’s where the similarities ended.

Maps took us through a small town on fancy brick-paver roads that eventually lead to Hyatt Place! Lubbock was a pretty tired town but the Hyatt place and surrounding buildings were modern and clean. I was pleased as I entered the lobby to see that it was a very new and clean facility. The lobby was identical to my all-time favorite Hyatt Place, Moab. It was built in the same 2018 style and had the same Hyatt Place fresh-clean scent.

My wife’s Hyatt credit card gives her status enough that we got 2 free bottles of water! We headed up to the room and found it to be in great shape and very clean too. Everything was standard Hyatt Place quality and comfort. No wonder MEAB likes this place so much! Other amenities include a swimming pool, fitness room, and spacious lobby with computers and work stations.

The location must be near a Police station. We were greeted by sirens when we got out of the car and heard them periodically through the night. Far more sirens than I expected in a small town like that.

The free breakfast was standard for a, post-Covid, Hyatt Place. The shower supplies were the same smell and quality but in bulk large containers on the wall vs. individual containers that we have been used to in other Hyatt Places. The staff was friendly and we really enjoyed our stay overall.

We headed out for the rest of our adventure back to Utah well rested and fed. If I ever find myself near Lubbock, TX again, I would definitely stay at the Hyatt Place, Lubbock again. And so should you.

– Dean

The view from the Hyatt Place Lubbock’s window. Just kidding, the rooms’ windows only have a view of the dumpster.

I’m going to go out on a limb and say if you’ve been in the travel hacking community since before 2020, you know exactly what United’s Expert Mode is, and if you’re newer, there’s about a 0.20 probability that you have any idea. Feel free to tell me how wrong I am. Anyhoodles, there are a few good reasons to know about Expert Mode:

  1. When your flight’s been cancelled, rebooking is a zero sum game with your fellow passengers; the number of free seats on later flights is finite and more aren’t going to magically appear, instead they’re going to vanish rapidly as customers rebook. Knowing which flights have which seats lets you make the best rebooking decision.
  2. When your flight might be oversold and you want to be flexible for a travel voucher, knowing what the seat count on your flight looks like is immediately actionable. I guess it also applies if you want to be hauled off of a plane and punched if it’s oversold. Too soon?
  3. If you want to know your chances of a Same Day Change to a better flight, knowing availability in the fare bucket you’re ticketed in will help you understand your odds and make backup plans.

With that out of the way, let’s briefly discuss fare buckets.

Fare Buckets

In the time before computers, airlines used repurposed slop buckets to hold each paper ticket they would sell. When you’d buy a ticket by telegraph, they’d send it from the bucket to your house via courier pigeon (*citation needed). The pigeons are gone, but buckets remain. So, what’s a modern fare bucket? Let’s talk to the ghost of MEAB past discussing bucket jumping:

WTF is a fare bucket? The boring definition is that each bucket is a letter (like S, or J) or pair of letters (like OW) that corresponds with a given fare on file in [airline] systems. There isn’t a standard for buckets on all airlines, but they do share a lot in common. First class fare buckets are often Z or F, and economy buckets are often S, L, Y, and B for example. Typically there are around 20 fare buckets per airline.

Fare buckets also have a hierarchy. F > Z, and Y > B > M. See the pattern? Nah, me neither. That’s ok though. You don’t need to memorize the hierarchy, just know that it exists and how to find it.

I promise this is going to become important shortly so stick with it. On United, you’ve got three types of revenue fare buckets:

  • First and Business: J, C, D, Z, P
  • Premium Economy: O, A, R
  • Economy: Y, B, M, E, U, H, Q, V, W, S, T, L, K, G, N

Yeah yeah, there are quasi-buckets too like RN and PN, but let’s chill for a second ok? They don’t matter for this conversation. Just have the above table handy when it’s game theory time.

Expert Mode

United’s Expert Mode shows you which fare buckets are available when you search for flights using united.com. After enabling expert mode and clicking “Details”, you’ll see something like this:

For this flight, there are (at least) 9 seats available in First, as seen by J9, the highest bucket in the First and Business group. The people of Lubbock don’t like to pay for first, I guess. The same flight has (at least) 9 seats available in Economy as seen by Y9, telling us that the Lubbock-ites don’t like to pay for economy either. (Side note: 9 is the maximum number that will display. So 9 really means “9 or more, idk I’m just a computer”)

So how do you turn Expert Mode on? Navigate to your Special accommodations settings under your profile and scroll to the bottom where you’ll find the setting “Enable expert mode”. Check that and click “Save”.

Using The Info

With the caveat that the number of seats for sale doesn’t always equal the number of seats available (ask Dr. Dao if you’re unsure why that is), looking at the number of seats available in the highest of each of the classes of fare buckets (first, economy, etc) to find the approximate number of seats available on the flight gives you actionable information. Once you get there, it’s time to “game theory and chill”.

Good luck friends!

Next up: Expert mode for banana hacking, how to see if your banana is simultaneously overripe and green.

Sometimes there’s a deal that’s worth traveling across the country, like say when Meijer used to offer 15% off of Choice gift cards, something about Nobby Hills, or seeing UFOs in Lubbock, TX I guess?

Similar deals come and go, and often they slide by because analyzing whether it’s worth traveling takes a mental load that’s never lifted. To that end, Having that number ready to go might mean you make it. Sample:

Earn side:

  • Return on spend from your credit card: 4%
  • Return on spend from the deal: 5%

Cost side:

  • Round-trip ticket: $360 (30,000 miles at 1.2 cents each)
  • Rental car: $100
  • Hotel room: $300
  • Meals: $100

Let’s call that about $1,000 to keep it easy (just like physicists use π=3 to keep it easy), which means you’d have to spend around $11,100 to cover your costs, excluding opportunity cost at home of course. There are lots of places that will let you spend that amount in a single transaction, so it can be a quick return.

Of course there’s opportunity cost, you might hate traveling, you may have a family or job to consider, or maybe you don’t believe in UFOs. This isn’t a complete analysis, just a go number. So, what’s your go number?

Have a nice one friends!

#neverforget

  1. Do this now: Register for Hyatt’s Summer promotion for 3,000 bonus points for three night or longer stays at Hyatt Place and Hyatt Select properties through the end of the month, which (probably) stacks with the other Summer promotion for 2,000 bonus points for two night or longer stays after the second stay through September 7.
  2. The Chase Hyatt personal Visa card has a highest ever bonus of:

    – 45,000 points after $5,000 spend in three months
    – +1x points on up to $30,000 spend in six months

    So, $30,000 spend is at least 105,000 total points, also known as enough for 1 ½ nights at Park Hyatt Kyoto or long enough to decompose (30 nights) at the Hyatt Place Lubbock. This will probably be available for referrals on Monday.
  3. There’s reportedly a targeted Capital One Business card referral bonus for 100,000 miles (!) for the referrer and the regular sign-up bonus for the referred. The link is valid for referrals to the Venture X Business and the Cash Plus Business card, and you can check your referral offers here.

    I got a rock, but it was at least a shiny rock this time.
  4. Stop & Shop, Giant Food, and Martins have 10x points on Home Depot and Lululemon gift cards through Thursday. Per-account limits are either $1,500 $2,000.

    It’s been a while, but the corporate overlords are punking the sister brand Giant with only 6x points.

Have a nice weekend, friends!

The green means money, right?

  1. Safeway, Albertsons, Vons, and other Just4U stores have 12x points on $50+ in BestBuy gift cards through Tuesday. Register limits are $500 every 15 minutes.
  2. American Express’s on-again/off-again Summer transfer bonuses are on again, presumably this time for realzies:

    – 30% to Virgin Atlantic through July 31, making the ratio 1,000:1,300
    – 20% to Hilton Honors through July 14, making the ratio 1,000:2,400

    There are use cases for both, but especially the former. If you’re going to be speculative, might I suggest that the Hilton one, uhh, ain’t it chief.
  3. Capital One has a 30% transfer bonus to EVA through July 31, making the transfer ratio 1,000:975. Premium Citi ThankYou cards still transfer at 1,000:1,000 though.
  4. The Chase Sapphire Reserve personal card’s Pay Yourself Back categories changed to gas and transit, and the rate dropped from 1.25 cents per point to 1.20 cents per point for categories other than the annual fee and select charities. The Business version hasn’t changed, but still only offers boosted redemptions on charities.

    The Sapphire Preferred’s Pay Yourself Back categories changed and dropped too, with transit at 1.05 cents per point, and pet supply at 1.10 cents per point.
  5. The Rove travel and shopping portal added Frontier as a transfer partner, which whatever except that it’s a unique partner for a non-hotel program. They’ve got a 25% transfer bonus to Frontier through July 31 making the ratio 1,000:1,250.
  6. American Express Offers has various offers for $200-$250 off of $1,000-$1,250 at Waldorf Astoria, Conrad, and LXR properties in North America.
  7. AirFrance / KLM’s FlyingBlue program released its July 2026 promo rewards for travel through the end of the year. North America to Europe cities:

    – Economy: ATL, DEN, MIA, PDX, RDU, YUL, YVR, YOW for 18,500 miles
    – Premium Economy: LAX, ORD for 30,000 miles
    – Business: JFK for 45,000 miles

    There’s surprisingly good availability in business this summer, so go get some European frites.
  8. Marriott Bonvoy Titanium and Ambassador elites or United Gold, Platinum, or 1K elites can register for a complex promotion for reciprocal bonus points on either paid United itineraries or paid Marriott hotel stays.

    Neither promotion is great, but they’re both better than Texas frites.

Happy Thursday friends!

With Rove and Frontier, you can check my math on Lubbock frites.

Today’s drinking game: Take a sip every time someone mentions the Hyatt devaluation. Actually, don’t do that, I don’t want you to die. Here’s the non-Hyatt update:

  1. Citi ThankYou points has two new transfer bonuses:

    – 25% to Wyndham through June 13
    – 30% to I Prefer through June 13

    There’s decent value in both especially outside of the US.
  2. The Fidelity Visa card has an increased sign-up bonus of $150 after $1,000 spend in 90 days. The card is a workhouse for its 2% everywhere rewards, its no-annual fee, and because it’s issued by Elan. The downside is that one shutdown at an Elan issuer is a shutdown at all Elan issuers, including US Bank.
  3. The TD Business Solutions Visa card has an increased sign-up bonus of $400 after $3,000 spend in 90 days. This one also earns 2% everywhere and has no-annual fee, but isn’t issued by Elan. It also does report to personal credit. (Thanks to FM)
  4. The US Bank issued Korean SkyPass Visas have historically high offers:

    – Select Visa Signature: 60,000 miles after $5,000 spend in 90 days
    – Visa Signature: 40,000 miles after $4,000 spend in 90 days
    – SkyBlue Visa: 10,000 miles after 1,000 spend in 90 days

    The bonus multipliers aren’t amazing, but 2x on airlines, hotels, car rental, and dining is … there. The award chart also isn’t amazing, and also is … there; think 62,500-92,500 miles for business redemptions and 80,000-120,000 for first, both one way. Finally, let’s talk about their business class product for US flights: it’s … there. (Thanks to David)

Happy Wednesday!

Speaking of things that are … there, Lubbock TX.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Special thanks to John from BABC for putting together this guest post during the holiday season last year, and special jeers to Matt from MEAB that it’s April now.

I am a High School math teacher who not only participates in churning credit cards, bank accounts, gift cards, brokerage accounts, college tuition grants (I received a free master’s degree in education along with a free car back in 2019 from that endeavor), and pretty much anything else. I am also a tour guide of the many Churning Adventures in this fun and profitable game via my YouTube Channel. Every year, I spend an entire year making a single YouTube video where I attempt to document every single bonus I collect from January to December of that year. Usually, there are so many that I forget to document every single one. My annual goal from when I started in this fun and profitable goal back in 2017 is $10,000 from opening up new accounts. This past year, 2024, was my best yet as I made well over 3x that and after thinking about a few bonuses I didn’t include… it was actually, almost 4x that goal!

This post is not to brag. I document the profitable plays with videos 3x a week, so you can also participate if you choose to do so. I don’t pay out the bonuses, and I don’t make up the rules to get the bonuses… as I said, I’m just a tour guide for these Churning Adventures. Some of the manufactured spenders reading this would simply laugh at “rookie numbers,” while others would be impressed… others would travel to the Marriott in Lubbock, TX, just to step on a rake in the lobby and call it just another day, as business as usual.

I wanted to discuss in this post why this is a profitable game? Why are there so many opportunities to more often than not just sit at home on your couch or at a desktop, press a few buttons, and make more money appear in your bank account than actually getting dressed up, fighting traffic, and teaching a full day at a public high school? This process took me about 6 minutes today, from a single bonus to make more in churning than I would in a 10-hour day of being a high school math teacher. (I drive about an hour each way and spend my contract hours of 7 A.M. – 3 P.M. at that place with those people) That’s where the 10-hour figure came from, but I usually stay later as I refuse to take my teaching work home. I am also a member of the FIRE community and do plan on reaching my early retirement in 2-4 years, and just churn full-time and collect weekly dividends from high-yield ETFs… God Willing.

The answer to profitability and why people get paid is a simple one that is sadly not taught in our public schools. I know because at the beginning of each semester in the 13 years that I have been a teacher, I ask my students the simple question, “Why do people get paid?”. Of the thousands of students who have sat in my classroom in 13 years and counting, nobody has managed to answer the correct answer to that question when I first asked it. I shame our public education system by saying to my students, “Wow, from kindergarten to 12th grade… nobody can correctly answer this simple yet profound question that will impact you for the rest of your life, why do people get paid?”

I would get the standard response, “People get paid for working… DUH!” and I would follow up with, “Well, what does work produce? EVERYONE gets paid for the EXACT same reason… they don’t get paid the same amount but for the EXACT same reason,” and then, I get greeted by confusion and silence. I would also hear, “People get paid because they have bills.” Then I would follow up and say, “If I’m looking to hire an accountant for my business, would I ask the applicants, ‘Who has the most bills?” as that would produce the most qualified person… right? If you get paid to pay bills, then the person who has the most debt and bills would be the most qualified. Then my students would say that makes no sense. Then the consensus would be “I don’t know why people get paid”.

I would ask my students which profession makes a lot of money? One student would typically say that doctors make a lot of money. I would ask my class, “Who would just go up to a random doctor and hand them $1,000? Doctors are supposed to make a lot of money, right?” Everyone would just look at me, confused. I would follow this up with, well, what if you had a broken arm? You would gladly hand a doctor $1,000, right? The students would say, “Of course”. I would say, “What is the difference?” Well, the broken arm… What is the broken arm?

The Broken arm is a problem. It’s a big problem. If your car breaks down, who do you call? Someone to fix that problem… If your air conditioner stops blowing cold air, who do you call? Someone to fix that problem. (Interesting fact, Houston, not Lubbock, is the most air-conditioned city in the world) People get paid to solve problems. If you solve little problems, then you will get paid a little money. If you solve bigger problems, then you will make bigger money. That is why people get paid. That is why everyone gets paid… to solve problems. No matter if you are a teacher, a doctor, or a churner. It just so happens that EVERY single problem is a math problem, and that math class is the most important class you can take in your life.

This is how we need to look at life and churning. What problems do the banks have? They need new customers and are willing to pay very nicely to get them… funny enough, it doesn’t matter if you are a new customer or a repeat new customer, you will get paid out the same. Banks also need money to lend out so they can make interest from customers.

The average person who buys a $300,000 home and stays there for 30 years and doesn’t pay anything extra on their mortgage will end up paying about $700,000 for that house… that’s why banks pay pretty much nothing as far as interest goes on checking accounts and demand you keep a certain amount in your account that pays no interest or you get a fee, and banks get their product for free.

Last year, I made over $31,000 by opening up new accounts and solving the problem of needing new customers for banks and credit unions, and brokerages that need new customers and are willing to pay us for it… Join me in solving the fun and profitable problems that only churners and MSers can solve to make this the most profitable 2026!

– John from BABC

I have no idea what problem this duck solves

When you’ve hit a groove in churning or in manufactured spend, it’s easy to get stuck in an opportunity cost loop, like:

  • When I hit my favorite deal, I’m earning $<XXX>
  • I can hit that deal every <YYY> time units
  • After <ZZZ> runs, I’ll have earned enough for [COOL THING]

It’s all true on its face, but it often leads to a problem when you go on vacation, to a funeral, or to Lubbock for the world’s worst bachelorette party: It’s really hard to unplug, and that’s not because the math stops working. Rather, it’s because the math keeps working, even when you’re out of the loop.

How do you combat the math that won’t stop? You’ve got a few options:

  • Automate it
  • Delegate it
  • Batch it
  • Live without it

Some combination of all of those things is ok too, just make a conscious choice to do them ahead of time the next time you’re going offline.

Happy Tuesday!

Who wouldn’t want to be present for the food spread at the Lubbock bachelorette party?