Year: 2026

  1. Do this now: Register for Marriott Bonvoy’s Q1 promotion for 2,500 bonus points and an additional elite night for each Marriott brand with a completed stay by April 26.

    For those keeping track at home, 2,500 Bonvoy points are worth approximately the same as a six pack of sharpies and a Laurence sanga. The elite night credit’s value is very much in the eye of the beholder.
  2. Radisson Rewards has a Q1 promotion for 500 bonus points after your first stay, 3,000 bonus points after your second stay, and 3,500 bonus points after your third stay through April 9, registration required. This is the non-Americas version of Radisson.
  3. The Chase Southwest personal Visa credit cards have improved offers for:

    – Plus: 20,000 points plus a Companion Pass through February 2027
    – Premier: 30,000 points plus a Companion Pass through February 2027
    – Priority: 40,000 points plus a Companion Pass through February 2027
    – Pretend: 50,000 points plus I made it up

    These are available via referral, please use P2’s or a friend’s instead of a random link on the internet.
  4. JetBlue and United’s Blue Sky alliance announced that each can book revenue tickets for the other airline on their own ticket stock.

    Traditionally new partners mean that there are booking code and pricing arbitrage plays, but who knows this time.

Happy Wednesday friends!

TIL: This is a Laurence sanga.
(Thanks to Larry)

  1. There’s a unique sign-up bonus for the Chase Marriott Bonvoy Boundless card (the $95 annual fee version for those keeping track at home):

    – 50,000 Bonvoy points after $3,000 spend in three months
    – $400 Marriott egift card instantly on approval

    You’ll also get 2x$50 statement credits after spending $500 in airline purchases (1x in the first half and 1x in the second half of the year).
  2. Staples.com has fee-free Visa egift cards, limit five per account, four per transaction.

    These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards.
  3. American Express Delta Stays gamers are going through a bit of a rough patch, or at least that’s what my robot overlord translators told me in the most broken English they could muster. The action here? Be trickier if you’re going to play tricks.
  4. The Lufthansa Miles & More program has a new status match for ITA Airways, British Airways, and Iberia elites, with status lasting through the end of February 2027. USA based addresses are included in this one too.

    The match is free for ITA elites, or €99 for the others. The match doesn’t include HON Circle, but you can match to Senator which gives Star Alliance Gold for United Club access even when flying domestically. There’s a joke in here about cheese cubes, but I’m going to leave that as an exercise to the reader.

Have a nice Tuesday friends!

My translation robot in action.

Before we dive in, it’s time to Monday morning quarterback with your own personalized recap:

I’m really ____________ (adjective) that the ____________ (sportsball team) made their last minute ____________ (action) which prevented me from doing ____________ (action) today. At least now I’ll be able to churn my ____________ (play) while I ________________ (action). Now if on only ________________ (issuer) hadn’t ________________ (action, past-tense), everything would be perfect!

I’m sure yours is the best one of these, nice work.

  1. The Citi ThankYou Mastercard sent targeted offers for home improvement spend:

    – 8% back up to $100 back monthly for February, March, and April
    – 12% back up to $175 back monthly for February, March, and April

    It’s still not possible to get this card if you don’t already have it as far as I know. (Thanks to David and Mark)
  2. Meijer MPerks has 50,000 points withe the purchase of a third party $500 gift card through Tuesday February 17, limit one per MPerks account.
  3. The Barclays JetBlue Plus Mastercard has a heightened sign-up bonus of 70,000 TrueBlue miles after $1,000 spend in 90 days.
  4. Staples stores have fee-free $200 Visa gift cards through Saturday, limit nine per transaction.

    These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards.
  5. The Rove portal has 4x points on Visas and Mastercards through Wednesday via giftcards.com, just make sure to use the Visa or Mastercard specific link rather than the generic giftcards.com version.

    Rove remains notable for its unique transfer partners. If you’re not a member, use a friend’s referral and make their day. If you don’t have a churning friend, reach out to me and I’ll share a random churner’s link.
  6. Some Barclay AA cards aren’t being converted to Citi cards but will instead be converted to other Barclay cards. The criteria for who’s not being converted isn’t clear; there are people who were shutdown with Citi that are still being converted, and people with active Citi cards that aren’t.

    I suppose we shouldn’t be surprised that #citigonnaciti, and now by extension #barclaygonnaciti

Happy Monday!

White sharpie not included.

Even though I play one on TV*, I’m definitely not a psychologist. I have, however, observed a few things about manufactured spenders:

  • They have a tendency toward being rather extra
  • Their intelligence is generally higher than average
  • Their social-skills tend to be focused on the short term, except for the next item
  • Their memory about being wronged lasts a long time

Taken together, there are a conclusions we can draw that seem to be accurate based on lots of observation in the space:

  • Friendly relationships need active work, or they fade somewhat quickly
  • The memory of when someone feels wronged lasts forever

Like a good credit union, working to maintain a relationship boosts profitability and longevity. Also like a good credit union, nuking the thing isn’t going to help you at all. Instead, you end up blacklisted by your target, their inner circles, and probably by plenty of casual observers too. Is there a time and place for that sort of thing? I’m not sure, but if you’re going to do it be deliberate about the time and the place, like the Bikini Atoll I guess.

Have a nice weekend friends!

*This is a lie. I don’t play one on TV. Once I pretended to though. No, that’s a lie too.

Churners are good at jokes though.

  1. Do this now: Register for 25,000 bonus Bonvoy points at Marriott Homes and Villas for bookings in February and stays through September 1.

    Am I the only one who thinks “bonus Bonvoy” sounds derogatory?
  2. The Chase IHG Premier card has a heightened bonus of 175,000 points after $5,000 spend in three months.

    Use P2’s another churner’s referral for maximum win.
  3. Kroger brands have a digital coupon for 4x fuel points on third party gift cards in store, excluding Amazon and flexible gas cards through Tuesday, February 17.

    The fuel point and gift card resale market are currently strong for a February, make sure you shop around.
  4. Kroger has a digital coupon for a fee-free variable Visa or Mastercard loaded with $150+ through Tuesday.

    These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards.
  5. The Incomm sites have Valentine’s Day fee-free gift cards:

    – TheGiftCardShop 100% off of purchase fees through February 15 with promo code LOVE26
    – MasterCardGiftCard 100% off of purchase fees through February 14 with promo code VDAY26
    – VanillaGift 100% off of purchase fees through February 14 with promo code VGVDAY26

    VanillaGift chose to use the tagline “For the Love of Gifting”, which I hope makes the floosies laugh.
  6. Delta has an award sale for non-basic economy main cabin travel to and from Europe booked today for 26,000-28,000 miles round-trip.
  7. Spirit has 90% off of base fares booked today with promo code 90PCT for Tuesday, Wednesday, and Saturday travel through March 11.

    In case you’re wondering, which I’m sure you weren’t, I think you’ll get a bigger discount than the odds I’d give that Spirit hasn’t ceased operations by March 11. (Thanks to FM)
  8. Breeze Airlines has 26% off of base fares for weekday round-trip travel booked today for flights through September 15 with promo code WEEKDAY.

    Let’s call out the square for the next round of Breeze Route Bingo: Brownsville (BRO) to Orlando (MCO)! Today only, you get a bonus middle square if you already knew where BRO was – I sure didn’t.

Have a nice Thursday!

BRO airport (probably)

Let’s discuss a few quasi-private / quasi-public news items today:

Air Astana Nomad Club

I hadn’t known much of anything about Kazakhstan based Air Astana or its Nomad Club frequent flyer program until yesterday, but I’ve now investigated it because reasons. The interesting parts:

  • They have paid code-share flights
  • Nomad Club award tickets can only be redeemed for Air Astana metal flights
  • There’s good award availability between Central Asia and major European airports
  • Award prices are dynamic, but rates seem to be approximately:
    • Economy: 5,000 – 15,000 miles
    • Business: 15,000 – 60,000 miles
  • They have interline agreements with lots of partners, but only on the earn side.

Want more? Seek your favorite feline friend coded chat room for more information. At the very least, you’ll get a cat picture out of it. They’ll also be happy to tell you about Qatar Avios, but I think that one’s slightly less obscure.

The Robot Lady

In the 2010s there were two “robot ladies” that manufactured spenders befriended. We lost one of them, Kate, in 2016, and the other slightly less famous but more prolific one continued service unabated until a couple of days ago. The signs had been there, the robot lady overlords had been threatening to cut us off since mid December, but we were unsure what the deathbed would look like.

Now that we know though, I can confidently say that there’s a difference between life support and complete robot-death, you haven’t yet found the penultimate all set. Always be probing.

Happy “one of those obscure posts that nobody can understand”-day to all those who celebrate!

Where they are today: Kate’s widower husband.

  1. Do this now: Register for Hyatt’s Q1 promotion for 3,000 points for every three nights through April 15. As a way of saying “sorry” in advance, Hyatt Place and Hyatt Select hotels actually get 4,000 points for the same stays. You’re limited to seven bonuses under this promotion.
  2. Two Bank of America Atmos Visas have increased sign-up bonuses:

    – Personal Ascent: 85,000 miles after $4,500 spend in 120 days
    – Business: 75,000 miles after $4,000 spend in 90 days

    If one is good, three is better right? Also, side note, aren’t you glad I don’t have to write “The Atmos™ Rewards Ascent Visa Signature®” like everyone else? No, that’s just me? Hmm.
  3. Two US Bank Visas have increased sign-up bonuses:

    – Leverage Business: $750 after $7,500 spend in 120 days
    – Triple Cash: $750 after $6,000 spend in 180 days

    Just like with Bank of America, why have just one? The Triple-Cash card comes with a free monthly subscription to seats.aero, at least sort-of.
  4. There are February shopping portal bonues at major airline portals:

    – AA Advantage: 500 miles with $200+ through February 11
    – Alaska Atmos: 500 miles with $150+ through February 11
    – United MileagePlus: 500 miles with $150+ through February 11

    Watch for the Southwest portal bonus to arrive late in the next couple of days as winter weather spreads through their technology stack.
  5. American Express offers has new travel offers for:

    – Virgin Atlantic: $250 back with $2,000+ spend through March 29
    – Air France via AmEx Travel: $250 back with $1,400 spend through February

    Something something gamers gonna game something something.

Happy Tuesday friends!

Southwest IT troubleshooting delays on their shopping portal server.

  1. Barclay AA cards will become Citi AA cards on April 26. What to know:

    – Your balance will transfer to Citi
    – Barclay cards will work after the transition until you activate your Citi card
    – Citi card will have a new account number
    – The Barlcay variants will be converted to the Citi lineup, sorry Silver card holders*
    – Authorized user cards will be reissued too

    If you’re Citi shut, will this transition get you back in? We’ll see, but #citigonnaciti.
  2. Capital One has a 30% transfer bonus to JAL MileageBank through February 28, bringing the transfer ratio to 1,000:975.
  3. Chase has a 50% transfer bonus to Marriott Bonvoy through February 28 which makes the transfer ratio 1,000:1,500.

    Let’s ask a rhetorical or philosophical question, whichever you prefer: What do you get when you turn an awful transfer ratio into a really bad transfer ratio?
  4. The Fairwinds Business Visa 1.5x everywhere cards have a heightened, tiered sign-up bonus:

    – $500 after $5,000 spend in 90 days
    – $1,500 after $50,000 spend in 180 days

    The cards carry no annual fee. If you haven’t figured out how to join banks or credit unions in another state, it’s probably time to experiment. (Thanks to DoC)
  5. Staples stores have fee-free $200 Mastercards through Saturday, limit nine per transaction.

    These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards.

Happy Monday!

*I guess sorry Silver holders of all types (too soon?)