Today is your day-off between Kroger’s promotions for 4x fuel points on gift cards. I hope you’re taking advantage of it, I know I’m excited to not step foot in a Kroger for the next 24 hours. In case that’s not exciting enough, here are a couple of items that will hopefully make up for it:
1. American Express has a 15% transfer bonus to LifeMiles, as I’m sure you already knew. Well, LifeMiles also as its own 15% incoming transfer bonus for Membership Rewards transfers until September 30, which gives you a total bonus of 32% (EDIT: Thanks to Vince for pointing out that a 15% bonus on a 15% bonus is effectively a 32% bonus, not a 30% bonus as previously written) . This is huge, it means:
- First Class (Lufthansa) US-Europe or vice-versa for 66,000 Membership Rewards, no fuel surcharges
- Economy US-Africa or vice-versa for 31,000 Membership Rewards, no fuel surcharges
- Business Class US-Europe or vice-versa for 49,000 Membership Rewards, no fuel surcharges
- Economy continental US-Caribbean for 10,000 Membership Rewards, no fuel surcharges
There are other great redemptions too. You’ve probably read on this site multiple times that one of Avianca LifeMiles’ sweet-spots is its loose definition of a region. That US-Caribbean deal is a prime example. (Thanks to TheSultan1 for digging up the LifeMiles bonus link)
2. American Express Platinum card retention offers in September have finally caught up with the new, increased annual fee. There are reports of 60,000 Membership Rewards or $650 statement credits being offered. Whenever I call for a retention offer, I say something like: “I’m thinking of closing this card because its annual fee is huge. Before I make a decision though, I was wondering if there are any spend bonuses or retention offers available?” It’s worth a shot with all of your AmEx cards at these offer levels, so don’t put this one off.
