Year: 2020

This isn’t exactly a secret, but it’s not well socialized either. Thanks initially to the 737-MAX grounding and now due to COVID waivers, periodically Southwest Airlines lets you change to any flight ± 30 days when you book within certain windows. (I’m not sure they want to do this, but they run an archaic computer system and it’s what they can do without breaking it.)

The play is to find the cheapest award or cash booking on a ticket you want to fly, book it, then change to the actual itinerary you want within 30 days for no additional points or cash. (Book SLC-SAN at 4:30 AM on a Saturday for 4,008 points, then change it to Monday at 5:00 PM.) You can do this online, no need to talk to an agent.

Currently, the booking window for free ± 30 days changes is February 11 through March 5, 2021, so you can fly cheap between January 11 and April 7. Yes, Southwest flies to Florida too, sorry.

Vintage NEC computer from the 1960s with relays, knobs, a printer, and tape spools.
Southwest Airlines’ Amadeus Computer Reservation System (circa 2020).

American Express periodically gives you discounts on Amazon for using Membership Rewards points and now they’ve expanded the ongoing Christmas offer, so check here to see if you’re eligible even if you weren’t before.

Discover jumped on the bandwagon too with more people targeted for a rebate for using at least $0.01 in your cash back balance. Check here to see if you’re eligible. This one was only $10 back for me, so I’ll still do it, but I’ll be frustrated the whole time that it’s only $10.

My recommendation? Buy a $125 BestBuy gift card and resell it at 98% of face, and get $50 off during your purchase by using one Membership Reward point. (Or if you got a lower offer than $50, do what’s right for you.) Scale down as appropriate for Discover.

blurry picture of an everyday young couple on a pile of money.
Actual picture of FlyerTalker ‘AmazonBestBuyCashPileATL’

Do this now:

  1. Register your Discover IT cards for Q1 bonuses
  2. Register your Chase Freedom cards for Q1 bonuses
  3. Register your US Bank Cash+ cards for Q1 bonuses

Spend strategies:

  • Discover
    • Grocery Stores
      • Buy US Bank Visas and convert to a money order
      • Buy BestBuy gift cards and resell
      • Buy groceries, I guess?
    • CVS/Wallgreens
      • Buy 3rd party gift cards during periodic sales and resell
  • Chase Freedom
    • Wholesale Clubs
      • Buy MetaBank gift cards at Sam’s club if you can liquidate
      • Buy 3rd party gift cards during periodic sales and resell
    • Internet, Cable, and Phone
      • Pay (and pre-pay) your bills
    • Streaming services:
      • Load your Apple Wallet balance
      • Pay (and pre-pay) streaming (Netflix / Disney+ / etc)
  • US Bank Cash+
    • Electronic Stores
      • Buy BestBuy gift cards and resell
    • TV, Internet, and Streaming
      • Load your Apple Wallet balance
      • Pay (and pre-pay) streaming (Netflix / Disney+ / etc)
    • Cell phone providers
      • Pre-pay your bill

This was a long post, sorry — I made it as short as I felt reasonable. As a bonus hint for those who made it this far: You’ll be surprised at all the things that count as 3x “Online Spend” or “Business Services” with the BoA Cash Rewards family of cards. It’s really easy to knock those out too.

This caption is not TL;DR

If you have a Hilton Honors or a Hilton Surpass AmEx, check for an upgrade offer to a Hilton Aspire Card that waives the annual fee for the first year. If you do it quickly, you can get the $250 airline credit in 2020 and 2021, a $250 resort credit, and a free night certificate for nothing out of pocket. Breaking: This may now be dead, but check anyway as nothing is certain with AmEx.

Vince shared that there’s a no lifetime language 100,000 bonus point American Express Business Platinum offer now available (use private mode or a different browser if you don’t see the offer). Of course, don’t forget about the Unicorn AmEx Personal Platinum with 10x at Gas and Grocery.

You can now get $500 Metabank gift cards with no purchase fees and no shipping fees. I don’t expect this to last long, and it doesn’t work in Florida. (Ok, ok, it does work there too.)

Three late teenagers doing a jump kick simultaneously in a line at the camera.
The AmEx-AmEx-Metabank triple threat, personified.

HSBC is a weird bank; they’ve been talking about leaving the US completely for a long time because they keep losing money. They are also paying handsomely for new US customers for some reason. Honestly, they’re a lot like that crazy person you dated right after school. There’s a bonus of $600 for signing up for a new Premier checking account between now and December 31. This is the easiest big bank bonus I know about.

Caveats:

  • There’s a fee of $50 per month that starts after 6 months (can be waived with direct deposit or a big balance, or just by closing the account before then).
  • You have to apply for this account over the phone, or in branch.
  • You have to get a referral code.
  • You have to ACH transfer (“direct deposit”) $5,000 per month into the account up to three times to qualify. I don’t see any reason you can’t just transfer it right back out after.
  • You’ll get a 1099 for the bonus

How do you get a referral code? Find a friend who already has an HSBC Premier checking account and ask. I’m not here to monetize you and I’d rather you find a friend, but if that doesn’t work reach out to me and I can share one.

Young adult girl with huge eyes and a menacing, big-smiled stare.
HSBC, if HSBC was your ex girlfriend.

The end of the year is fast approaching. If you have a premium travel credit card that reimburses for travel expenses, make sure you’ve used them all. For Chase this is trivially easy because they work for travel, gas, and groceries.

For American Express, let’s just say you’ve got your work cut out for you, though it’s easier during COVID since most airlines will convert small purchases to travel bank funds. For reference, check the relevant Flyertalk thread for the airline you’ve selected:

I can’t believe I’m saying this, but United might be the easiest way to do this with direct funding of their TravelBank.

Woman playing whack-a-mole arcade cabinet game.
AmEx RAT team closing loopholes

OfficeDepot and OfficeMax (why are they different at all at this point? It’s the same company) are offering a few deals for holiday gifts manufactured spend:

  • Purchase $300 or more in MasterCard Gift Cards and get a $15 instant rebate between now and Saturday evening. The total cost will be $298.90 (1x$200 and 1x$100) for $300, or $398.90 for $400 (2x$200) worth of MasterCard gift cards.
  • Starting Sunday, purchase $300 or more in Visa Gift Cards and get another $15 rebate. This will last through the following Saturday evening. (Note: These numbers are correct today, but they may change the deal before Sunday. Double check.)

All of these deals are limited to one per transaction; friendly cashiers will let you do this multiple times spread across transactions. Of course, use a credit card like the Chase Ink Cash that bonuses at office supply stores to goose this deal. On the liquidation front, watch out for BHN issues purchasing money orders at Walmart.

What your Office Depot store will probably look like in the near future.