Month: October 2024

  1. Do this now: Register for a targeted promotion from AA for flying in premium cabins, found on your promotions page. I got 10,000 bonus miles with two paid flights booked by November 11 in first, business, or premium economy and flown by December 19.

    Without trying very hard, I found round trip fares in premium economy from my airport for about $160, or in first for about $250. I think you could do better if you live in ORD or MCO especially, but probably in lots of other places too. I really could also just try harder and do better.
  2. Virgin Atlantic’s dynamic award chart changes are live for Virgin Atlantic metal awards. The gist:

    – Cancellation fees are increased to $100 per ticket
    – Transatlantic business class redemption cost range: 28,500 – 77,500 miles
    – Transatlantic economy redemption cost range: 6,000 – 25,000 miles
    – Award surcharges are also variable, often lower than before
    – There is last seat availability for award redemptions

    For now this is a positive net change and availability at low levels isn’t too hard to find, but I expect neither will be the case in three years.
  3. United’s elite status requirements are increasing for elite year 2025, in both the number of Premier Qualifying Flights (PQF) and Premier Qualifying Points (PQP) required to reach different Premier Stupid Levels (PSL). On the plus side though, you can earn more PQPs from credit card spend (CCS) on premium co-brand cards, but the United Club cards are the only ones worth using with 1 PQP per $15 spend (P15S), up to 15,000 PQPs annually each for both the personal and business:

    – Silver: 6,000 PQP, or 5,000 PQP + 15 PQF, or $90,000 card spend
    – Gold: 12,000 PQP, or 10,000 PQP + 30 PQF, or $180,000 card spend
    – Platinum: 18,000 PQP, or 15,000 PQP + 45 PQF, or $270,000 card spend
    – 1K: 28,000 PQP or 22,000 PQP + 60 PQF, or $420,000 card spend

    I don’t want to yuck your yum (YYY), but getting both a personal and business United Club card to earn 1.5x on $420,000 spend with no additional kickers doesn’t feel terribly appealing in light of a litany of other better options (OBOs).
  4. Chase Offers has an offer for 5% back up to $45 on $100 or more in spend at British Airways.
  5. Southwest extended its schedule through August 4, 2025, so now’s the best time to lock in potential schedule changes for Summer travel.

    These flights will still be of the open seating persuasion because apparently seat assignments aren’t coming until early 2026.

MEAB: Airline themed halloween costume idea central.

Bank of America’s written rules and their real life behavior never quite matched one another. Some of the consequences of the mismatch include:

  • Business cards aren’t really limit one per product type, despite the language
  • Hard-pulls are combined for between 1 and 30 days, generally
  • Phantom credit lines can exist in Bank of America’s systems for a year after you close a card

There’s more detail about the quirks and app-o-ramas in the Bank of America Followup post from 2021, but in the past several months things have changed. Multiple data points now suggest that if you apply for more than 3-4 cards on the same day:

  • You may be still be approved for all cards on the same day
  • A day or two later, only one card shows up in your online profile
  • Several days later, emails or letters show up saying all applications but your first are denied
  • If you’re really unlucky, Bank of America will close your accounts (this is rare)

This isn’t entirely consistent, but it happens enough that it’s time for some new guidance on Bank of America app-o-ramas:

  • Stick to between one and three cards for safety
  • Stagger your applications across days

Generally you’ll still only have one hard pull on your credit report too, and you can freeze your reports after the first application to make sure.

Good luck!

Following up requires a followup to the shirt too.

  1. The TD Business Solutions Credit Card, a 2% everywhere no-annual fee Visa, has a tiered, heightened sign-up bonus worth $750:

    – $250 after $1,500 spend in three months
    – $500 after $10,000 spend in six months (technically this is 5% back on up to $10,000 spend)

    This card unfortunately does report to your personal credit unlike most business cards. (Thanks to terpdeterp)
  2. Bilt has a targeted 50-100% transfer bonus to British Airways Avios on Friday. Why talk about it today? So you’ve got time to earn more Bilt points if the deal is enticing, which unfortunately for me it is, slightly (but only slightly), especially now that Qatar is part of the Avios family.

    For December, I want Bilt to have a transfer bonus to Hyatt. Go on Kerr, I dare you, and I promise to burn a holiday sugar-cookie in your honor.
  3. American Express offers has a new offer for $100 off of $300+ at most North American Radisson Blu and Cambria Hotels by December 31. A list of eligible properties is here. (Thanks to Mike from Cheapskate Travel Tips)
  4. Gift of College gift cards at giftcards.com now cost $5.95 and stopped earning 2% in giftcards.com cash too. The portal double dip is still alive though. #bonvoyed

Happy Tuesday!

Let’s be honest, imma light this thing on fire whether or not we see a Hyatt transfer bonus in December.

  1. The Barclays AAdvantage Aviator Mastercard has a heightened sign up bonus of 70,000 AAdvantage miles after a single purchase in 90 days. The $99 annual fee is not waived for the first year.

    This card is useful beyond the sign-up bonus because it can eventually be product changed into the AAdvantage Silver card, but only after a year thanks to the CARD act.
  2. Albertsons, Safeway, Vons, and other Just4U stores have 10x points on Zillions and Zillions Zift cards through Saturday. On Saturday when the “surprise” weekend gift card 4x event is released, you’ll get 12x. (Spoiler alert to Safeway management: Surprises that happen reliably every week with the same offer and same duration cease to be surprises at some point.)
  3. Meijer MPerks has a bonus of 10,000 points with the purchase of a $150+ Visa or Mastercard gift card through November 9, limit one per account.

    Meijer sells both Pathward and Sunrise gift cards.
  4. Giftcards.com has Gift of College gift cards available with no purchase fee. You might earn 2% back in giftcards.com rewards after registering for their program through the end of October, though Gift of College is technically excluded from that program. You will earn portal cash back if you’re sly. Always be probing, Gift of College has been ripe for weirdness in the past but eventually the money does need to end up in a 529 account.
  5. Office Depot / OfficeMax stores have $15 off of $300 or more in Visa gift cards through Saturday, limit 10. For best results:

    – Link your credit cards to Dosh
    – Buy in even multiples of $300
    – Look for lower fee variants if you know how to liquidate them

    These are Pathward gift cards.
  6. Chase Ultimate Rewards has a heightened redemption for Apple products at a rate of 1.5 cents per point for the Sapphire Reserve or 1.25 cents per point for the Sapphire Preferred or Ink Business Preferred cards (or less on other, stupider cards). The promotion runs through the end of November.

    These rates beat regular Pay-Yourself-Back rates, especially if you’re in the reselling game.
  7. There are two small business merchant processing sign-up bonuses:

    – Bank of America $1,000 after $100,000 processed in 90 days
    – US Bank $1,000 offer after accepting charges monthly for three months

    Since we’re MEABers around here, let’s caution a few items: (1) running more than a few gift cards will almost certainly get your account shut down and banned from the processor which could have repercussions on future real businesses; (2) running your own credit cards will almost certainly get your credit cards shut down, sometimes even same-day with banks like AmEx; and (3) you’ll get a 1099 for payments processed. So always be probing, but know when a fence is electrified too, and this one is.

    My advice is to keep these accounts completely above board if you’re going for the bonus. If you don’t have a real business for merchant processing, consider selling a few things on Facebook Marketplace. Combine with the previous item for extra #flair.

Happy Monday!

Stupider cards, prolly.

  1. The Capital One Shopping portal has a new targeted referral bonus of $40 for both the referrer and the referred, as long as the referred installs the Capital One Shopping extension and keeps it installed for 30 days, no other purchases are required. You’re limited to $500 in referral earnings per year per Capital One Shopping account, but otherwise I don’t see any other restrictions. Walmart gift cards are back as a redemption for that cash too.

    What could possibly go wrong here? It’s not like there’s a way to uninstall extensions without the extension knowing, and it’s also not like there’s a way to have multiple browser profiles, right?
  2. American Express Offers has $50 off of $250 or more at IHG properties in the US, Mexico, and the Caribbean with a few random exclusions through the end of 2024.
  3. The Amtrak Guest Rewards Preferred Mastercard has a 35,000 point sign-up bonus after $2,000 spend in three months, and the $99 annual fee is not waived the first year. This card is issued by FNBO, the bad batch of sriracha of big US banks.

    These points are worth 2-3 cents each for travel on Amtrak. If you’re lucky maybe they’ll combine a hard pull for this card with a hard pull for a new JAL card, though I wouldn’t count on it.
  4. Avianca Lifemiles has 30% off of economy flights flown on Avianca metal, for flights booked today with travel through the end of November.

Have a nice weekend!

From left to right: FBNO, Chase.

Introduction

One of the quirkiest mainstream airline programs is JAL Mileage Bank, and they’ve released a couple of new quirky co-brand credit cards that match their big quirk energy (BQE). They dive straight in by offering one Mastercard network card with two tiers, chosen at application time:

  • Basic: $35 annual fee, waived the first year
  • Premium: $85 annual fee, waived the first year

The sign-up bonus for both is 5,000 Mileage Bank miles after $5,000 spend in three billing cycles, and the Premium tier has an additional 5,000 miles after another $2,000 spend. For ongoing spend, you’ll earn 0.5x on the Basic or 1x on the Premium. Both cards earn 2x on JAL flights.

The Whale Angle

The Premium tier earns 5 Life Status Points (yes, that’s really what they’re called) for every $1,500 in spend. After 1,500 Life Status Points earned, you get JAL Global Club Three Star status for life, which also gets you JGC Premier status (second to highest JAL frequent flyer tier), which includes at least oneworld Sapphire status, and potentially also includes oneworld Emerald status; the terms are rather-unclear and no-one’s had time to try this yet to be sure. So, just spend $450,000 and get lifetime Sapphire or Emerald status, provided you pay 2,000 miles as a “membership fee” annually. Quirky enough yet?

Oneworld Sapphire is great because it grants you access to:

  • AA lounges including Flagship even when flying domestically
  • Alaska lounges, even when flying domestically

If you end up with oneworld Emerald, you’ll also get access to:

  • Qantas First lounges, even when flying domestically
  • Cathay Pacific First lounges, even when flying domestically

If $450,000 in spend is just another couple of days for you and you could easily burn 450,000 JAL Mileage Bank miles, then you can have some fun and some weird status if nothing else.

The Other Quirks

There are more quirks to contend with:

  • Mileage Bank miles expire after three years even if you hold the card, unless you hold JGC Three Star status or higher in which case they don’t expire
  • Paid tickets earn 10% “sector bonus” miles for every flight for cardholders
  • You earn 5,000 bonus miles on your first flight paid for with the card
  • You earn 5,000 bonus miles when booking your first flight with JAL International
  • There’s a promotion code to use during application, but it’s prefilled and non-editable: AFSPG1024

There’s more too, but the main quirks are covered.

Bonus: JAL MileageBank Sweet Spots

JAL MileageBank is traditionally a great program with a few (surprise) quirks. Sweet spots include:

  • 140,000 miles for JAL first round-trip awards
  • 100,000 miles for Emirates business one-way awards
  • 24,000-30,000 miles for an upgrade from paid economy to business on JAL metal
  • Distance flown based partner redemptions with three stop-overs, including mixed partners
  • Early-ish access to JAL first and business awards

Good luck!

Never fear, JAL’s own website is just as quirky.

  1. Kroger has a 4x fuel points promotion running through November 5 on third party gift cards and fixed value Visa and Mastercard gift cards, excluding Amazon.

    Don’t stress that Amazon is excluded though, you can get Amazon at 13-16% off with Pepper most days provided that you think signs of their imminent demise are greatly exaggerated. Yes, they lose money on every transaction but they make it up in volume.
  2. Alaska Airlines has an award sale through tomorrow, and as usual it’s pretty good. I’m seeing:

    – Transcons at 9,000 points
    – Hawaii at 9,000 points
    – Alaska at 20,000 points
    – Mexico at 9,000 points

    These continue to be the best award sales that no-one talks about, especially since you’re still able to transfer Membership Rewards to Hawaiian, then Hawaiian to Alaska MileagePlan miles.
  3. It brings me absolutely zero pleasure to report that the American Express Business Platinum’s $200 semi-annual Dell credit has been reported to continue through at the least the first half of 2025 according to multiple, separately sourced data points.

    I was very much looking forward to not worrying about Dell, so this is my October surprise I guess?
  4. Breeze Airways has 40% off of round-trip base fares with promo code GETCOMFY booked by tomorrow night for travel from October 29 through May 13, 2025 with black several blackout dates around major holidays.

    In related news, Breeze has gone from being a flaming money-pit in 2023 to a profitable airline in a very short time, exactly the way that AA didn’t.
  5. Amtrak has a free companion promotion for its double lie-flat roomette tickets booked through the end of the month with promo code C104 for travel from November through the end of January, 2025. (thanks to DDG)

Happy Wednesday!

Pepper’s Spinal-Tap solution for solvency.

  1. Citi ThankYou Points has two new transfer bonuses:

    – 20% to Wyndham Rewards through November 16
    – 30% to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club through November 16

    The Wyndham bonus is great for the right use cases; it’s pretty easy to get 1-2 cents per point on a Wyndham or Vacasa booking. The bonus to Virgin Atlantic is mid at best, and don’t forget that (1) Chase has a higher 40% transfer bonus to Virgin Atlantic, and (2) the Virgin Atlantic award chart is changing at the end of the month.
  2. Citi ThankYou Points also added Preferred Hotels as a transfer partner at 1:4 ratio. If that sounds vaguely familiar, that’s because you can also book some Preferred Hotels with Choice Points which is also a Citi transfer partner. The transfer ratio is great taken at extreme face value because those points are worth somewhere between 0.4 and 1.0 cents each, but in practice availability is:

    – Decent for cash+points bookings
    – Awful for points only bookings
    – Better through the Choice program

    To explore, start on the points booking landing page, and note that you’ll need to create an account and login to see many of the rates. Frankly this program is the most Citi-esque hotel program I’ve ever encountered, so I guess it makes sense that they’re now Citi partners. (Thanks to newg33b)
  3. Office Depot / OfficeMax stores have $15 off of $300 or more in Mastercard gift cards through Saturday. For best results:

    – Buy in even multiples of $300
    – Try for multiple transactions back-to-back
    – Look for lower fee cards, not all fees are the same

    These are Pathward gift cards.

Citi’s prototype robo-taxi is as weird as everything else they do.