A few interesting notes:
1. Danny from the Milenomics Alchemy Podcast sent me a link for viewing all of your past American Express card applications, both successful and denied. It’s definitely worth squirreling away for when you’re trying to figure out which cards you’ve applied for. Note that while it looks like a web page designed in the era of Windows 95, it is a real American Express site and it does work:
https://onilne.americanexpress.com/eoal/welcome.do
2. Amazon has an offer for 50% back on up to $30 spend when using one or more Chase Ultimate Rewards points at checkout. I didn’t buy a Best Buy gift card on this one, instead I bought an Amazon lightning deal for a $50 Adidas gift card that resold immediately at the lightning deal price.
3. If you signed up for the Brex 100,000 points PayPal integration, you should hopefully be getting the bonus in your Brex account shortly. There’s been a lot of sausage making shared from behind the PayPal and Brex scene in various places, but the summary is basically “integrating technology between two companies is hard”. An update shared by Travel With a Point yesterday from Brex support makes it look like we’re nearing the finish line:
We just got confirmation from our team that we are waiting for an update from PayPal in regards to the customers who signed up correctly for that points bonus. Unfortunately, there has been some miscommunication from PayPal in regards to this. Our team will post those points to your account shortly.
We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience, and will certainly provide you any additional information as PayPal gets that to us.
As always, feel free to let us know if you have any additional questions.
So I guess that means stay tuned from Brex. Like American Express, their Windows 95 computers need some help.
4. Southwest seems to be having a fare sale for 50% off of all points bookings today. As of this writing not much is known, but do take a look today at existing bookings to see if you can get them cheaper, or for any new holiday bookings you’ve got tentatively planned. Remember the Southwest free change window hasn’t hit late fall or winter travel yet, so consider booking the cheapest flight within two weeks of your actual desired travel in anticipation of the change window. Use code SAVE50 at checkout, book by Thursday for travel between September 15 and November 3.
