Category: Airlines

  1. There’s news about the imminent death of the once great Citi Shop Your Way Rewards Mastercard, the highest profile of the low profile MEAB Unsung Heroes:

    – First Bank & Trust will issue a new “Shop Your Way 5321 Visa” card
    – Citi Shop Your Way cards will be converted to Citi ThankYou cards

    Interestingly for, erm, gamers, the Shop Your Way 5321 Visa seemingly doesn’t have limits on bonus categories. What could possibly go wrong?
  2. WeBull has a 2% transfer bonus for incoming funds between $10,000 and $2,000,000 for all new users and some targeted existing users. Notes:

    – Click the enrollment button first
    – Rewards are paid out monthly equally for 12 months
    – Stocks transferred via ACATS and cash deposits are both qualifying

    SIPC insurance on brokerage accounts is for up to $500,000 per customer because reasons.
  3. American Express has a 15% transfer bonus to Avianca LifeMiles through November 30.

    LifeMiles historically was a very quirky program that benefited travel hacking, but more recently the quirks are just mildly annoying. Also, watch for phantom space.
  4. AirFrance / KLM’s FlyingBlue promotional rewards routes for November are bookable. Typically economy seats are widely available and business seats have sporadic availability, though this time it’s better than typical.

    North American include New York, Chicago, Seattle, Orlando, Austin, Las Vegas, Atlanta, Detroit, Washington DC, Vancouver, Ottawa, Toronto, and Montreal.

Happy Tuesday!

Also coming soon: The all new Stop Your All Way sign.

  1. Wells Fargo added JetBlue TrueBlue as a transfer partner at a 1:1 ratio. This is mildly interesting because:

    – TrueBlue can book United and JAL tickets at not-wholly unreasonable rates
    – TrueBlue points are worth ~ 1.35 cents each for low demand tickets

    It’s mildly uninteresting for the same reasons.
  2. Office Depot/ OfficeMax stores have an offer for $15 back on $300+ in Visa gift cards through Saturday. As usual:

    – Try for the lower fee variants if you know how to liquidate them
    – Even multiples of $300 are better than odd multiples

    These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards.
  3. American Express has a few new interesting targeted offers:

    – $100 off of $300+ at Hyatt Regency properties
    – $100 off of $300+ at Radisson Blu and Cambria Hotels in the Americas
    – $100 off of $500+ at Mandarin Oriental in US, Europe, and Asia

    All of these have participating property lists, and both cover most properties in their geographic regions.
  4. American Airlines is resuming its schedule to Tel Aviv on March 28, and as a result there’s an atypical glut of saver award space in both business and economy. The same is expected of United this week.
  5. Bilt footnote-worthy news:

    – On November 1, there will be a 25-100% transfer bonus to Etihad Guest
    – Milestone rewards are being replaced with Bilt Cash (Itchy and Scratchy money)

    Maybe I’m being too hard on Bilt Blit, but also, maybe not.

Happy Tuesday!

The Bilt footnote (thanks to John-K).

  1. Stop & Shop, Giant, Giant Food, and Martins have 2x point earning on Mastercards through Thursday, limit $2,000 per loyalty account (or $1,500 for Giant Food because sibling spite).

    These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards.
  2. New no-lifetime language (NLL) Hilton card offers are available and they’ve been shared by DDG (note that DDG says that these are hacked links, but at least the Aspire and Honors links are generally available at hotels on Hilton WiFi):

    – Aspire: 175,000 points after $6,000 spend in six months
    – Surpass: 155,000 points after $3,000 spend in six months
    – Honors: 100,000 points after $2,000 spend in six months

    These are good offers, and they’re great offers for NLL cards, but Hilton’s recent devaluations are significant so make sure you know the award prices for a booking you have in mind rather than blindly signing up for one of these bonuses.
  3. Ether.fi is cluster bombing travel influencers promoting their crypto backed 3% everywhere debit card and crypto account. It’s cool on the surface and by all means please try and work it into your churning portfolio, but you should know:

    – They’ll turn off your cash back earning really quickly if you have a big transaction or two
    – They’re pretty sure “cashback farmers” are constantly attacking their company
    – Their site is rather buggy, and their support doesn’t respond to tickets
    – They advertise debit card features that haven’t been implemented
    – You’re not actually earning cash back, you’re earning SCR which is down 75% for the year

    So, good luck I guess?
  4. Paid flights on Qatar have a 5% discount code and 3,000 bonus miles in most fare buckets (or 10% and 6,000 bonus miles in some expensive fare buckets) using promo code QRPCHILTON for travel booked by October 31 and flown by March 31, 2026.

    Why? Because somehow a Qatar+Hilton partnership gives you bonus earnings on Qatar and exactly nothing with Hilton except their name in a promo code. #marketingfail
  5. Stater Bros stores have $10 off of groceries with $50+ in Visa or Mastercard gift cards through October 21.

    These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gif cards.
  6. Meijer stores have 10,000 bonus MPerks points with $100+ in One4All gift cards through Tuesday, limit 10,000 points per MPerks account.

    Meijer sells both Pathward / BlackHawk Network and Sunrise gift cards.

Have a nice weekend!

A cashback farmer driving to Meijer.

Background

The Wyndham Rewards program when tied with the Barclays Wyndham Business Earner Visa credit card used to be a heavyweight in terms of both earn and burn, but that’s changed due to:

– Continual Vacasa devaluations
– The loss of many Vacasa properties for points bookings
– The dwindling Vacasa footprint
– The loss of Caesar’s Diamond status matches

It doesn’t help that Wyndham points have a hard expiration of four years after earning regardless of account activity, so stuck points will eventually become forfeited points if you’re not careful.

The Way Out

United currently has a 25% bonus for incoming hotel points up to 25,000 total bonus miles, and Wyndham has a 100% transfer bonus for points transfers to United (registration required) through October 31. The regular transfer ratio is 5:1, and when you stack everything, it comes out to:

5 / 2 / 1.25 : 1 = 2 : 1
(or)
30,000 Wyndham → 15,000 United

Those United miles aren’t worth what they used to be, but they don’t expire and you’d probably rather not stay in an old Ramada next to a European airport anyway. Watch out on the Wyndham side though, based on the terms and conditions you may need to do each batch of transfers in a single transaction.

The Tweaks

The Wyndham Business Visa card still earns 8x at gas stations, so you’ve got an opportunity to earn 4x United miles (after conversion) at gas stations if you have the card. But, Wyndham to United transfers take a couple of weeks [UPDATE: Transfers are happening next day currently], so unless your Wyndham Business card statement closes in the next week or so, you may not be able to slide into the narrow window for United’s incoming transfer bonus, which would mean the you’d only get 12,000 miles for 30,000 Wyndham points, or 3.2x at gas stations.

My Action

Just because I’m doing something doesn’t mean you should to, in fact it probably means you shouldn’t. Anyhoodles, I’m sending all of my Wyndham points to United now, and I’m going to try and move my Wyndham statement closing date to next week and send everything new over before the deadline (Indiana Jones sliding under the concrete door style, but without all the leather). (Thanks to C-MontgomeryChurns)

Happy Wednesday!

The way out is easy, just follow the signs.

  1. The Citi AA Business card has an increased sign-up bonus of 75,000 AAdvantage miles after $5,000 spend in five months, and the $99 annual fee is waived for the first year.

    Churners not scared of cycling Citi business cards can use this card to earn earn Executive Platinum for two or more people this year.
  2. AirCanada Aeroplan has devalued US domestic United partner awards, doubling or tripling prices in some cases.
  3. Bask Bank, once useful for earning AA miles in a ZiRP economy but not in our current environment, is reducing the earning rate on money held in their AAdvantage savings account to 1.75 miles per dollar held annually.

    With high-yield interest rates savings accounts paying ~ 4.35%, you’re effectively paying ~2.5 cents per AA mile under the new regime. In other words, it’s probably time to get out if you’ve got money there.
  4. MasterCardGiftCard.com has a bonus $10 gift card with purchases of $200+ through October 14 with promo code BONUS10. Notes:

    – First party American Express cards won’t earn points
    – Order limits are $10,000 per rolling 24 hours
    – These cards can be added to ApplePay

    These are Incomm cards.
  5. Costco via Groupon has an offer for new executive memberships that includes a promo code for $100 off of $200+ at costco.com. These accounts can be useful for manufactured spenders for lots of reasons.

    Gamers occasionally find ways around the one-membership per household rule. If you’re one of those gamers, you might as well take another $100 voucher.

Happy Wednesday!

More Costco hacks.

  1. The Citi Shop Your Way Rewards Mastercard, the only card to receive the MEAB Unsung Hero medal of honor, is being converted to a Citi Mastercard for existing card holders on November 3. Citi being Citi hasn’t specified which Citi Mastercard though, just that additional information will be provided in the future.

    Citi does say that targeted spend offers will continue, but color me slightly skeptical. 🪦
  2. Today’s the last day of the quarter, so make sure you’ve completed:

    – Quarterly Hilton credits [ideas] (AmEx Business Platinum and various Hilton cards)
    – Quarterly Resy credits [ideas] (Various AmEx)
    – Quarterly 5x spend on 5x cards [ideas] (Freedom, Dividend, DiscoverIT, Cash+)
    – Quarterly airline credits (Hilton Aspire)
    – Quarterly Lululemon credits (Amex Platinum)
    – Monthly cell phone credits (AmEx Business Platinum)

    Unfortunately for us this list is non-exhaustive.
  3. Southwest has a fare sale for travel booked by Thursday and flights at least 21 days in the future. There are of course lots of blackout days around the winter holidays. Discount fares apply to both paid and award tickets.

    And once again, the downside is that you’re flying Southwest, and not only that, you’re flying the new Southwest.

Happy Tuesday!

Reader data points suggest Hilton credits work at Hilton bars (pictured).

Everything went wacky (whacky?) for Wednesday, but in a good way. Let’s dive in!

  1. Capital One added three new transfer partners:

    – Japan Airlines Mileagebank: 4:3 ratio normally, 30% bonus through October 22
    – Qatar Airlines Privilege Club Avios: 1:1 ratio
    – I Prefer Hotel Rewards: 1:2 ratio

    JAL’s Mileagebank is a quirky program and there’s plenty of value for those with completely flexible schedules, Qatar is a nothingburger, and I Prefer points are a good value for high end properties assuming you can find bookable ones.
  2. Southwest is launching a debit card issued by Sunrise bank, and FM sleuthing found the following:

    – 2,500 point sign-up bonus after $100 spend in 90 days
    – 1x on dining, Southwest, and “subscriptions”
    – 0.5x elsewhere

    Sunrise’s other debits don’t typically earn points on PIN transactions, so likely this won’t either. That doesn’t mean there isn’t value here though, always be probing. (Thanks to David and FM)
  3. AirFrance / KLM’s FlyingBlue has a promotion for 10,000 bonus miles on paid economy flights originating in the US and connecting through Amsterdam or Paris, but only for US residents.

    If this doesn’t tell you about the state of international economy travel bookings for airlines, I don’t know what will; I can’t remember the last time a promotion like this targeted US passengers on economy bookings.
  4. Bank of America Spirit Visa credit card holders now get two free checked bags on flights booked directly with Spirit, but whether Spirit goes Chapter 7 liquidation or your flight happens first is a coin-toss.
  5. Breeze has a promotion for 35% off of base round-trip fares using promo code NATURE for bookings by Friday and travel between October 7 and February 3, 2026.

    I don’t think this airline is going out of business anytime soon, especially given their new Pasco, WA to Provo UT route (PSC-PVU). I mean, how could you lose with that one?
  6. The Park Hyatt Tokyo, an aspirational and (formerly?) tired cult-famous hotel, has seemingly completed its remodel and is now bookable for stays in December and later after an 18 month remodel. (Thanks to changmander)

Happy Wednesday!

Pictured: Diving into wacky (whacky?)

  1. Do this now: Enroll in the new American Express Platinum and Business Platinum credits and hotel status boosts, and use quarterly benefits like Lululemon and Resy credits before September 30.
  2. The Chase Southwest Performance Business Visa card has an increased sign-up bonus of 120,000 Rapid Rewards after $10,000 spend in three months with a scheduled end date of October 22, and will probably be available via referrals by Monday. As long as you apply next month and wait until January to finish your minimum spend, this will be a Companion Pass valid for the lesser of:

    – 24 months
    – When Elliott management decides to kill the Companion Pass

    What’s the downside? Well, not only will you be flying Southwest, you’ll be flying the new Southwest.
  3. Meijer MPerks has a promotion for 50,000 points with the purchase of most third party gift cards including Best Buy through September 30. There’s a limit of 50,000 points per MPerks account, but you don’t let that nuance stop you, do you?

    Best Buy gift card resale rates are currently hovering at around 94%.
  4. Kroger has a 4x fuel points promotion on third party gift cards excluding Amazon and fuel services cards, through September 30. There’s a similar promotion for fixed value Visas and Mastercards, but I’d stick to the online version of those for 5% back through Saturday.

    Something something Best Buy something something.
  5. American Express changed a couple of additional items with yesterday’s refresh:

    – There’s a mostly worthless Oura ring coupon: $200 off
    – The digital entertainment credit is now $25 monthly
    – The Business Platinum has an offer of up to 300,000 Membership Rewards with the right gyrations (vpn/incognito/mobile/clown), including via referral – this link might work too but you won’t get a referral bonus
    – The Morgan Stanley Platinum and Charles Schwab Platinum cards have increased bonuses of 125,000 Membership Rewards after $8,000 spend

    You can get the old generation of the Oura for $200, but I’ve got great odds that it’ll end up in the trash or a junk drawer in a couple of months. (Thanks to Holly)
  6. Chase tweaked its Sapphire Reserve cards’ hotel benefits, but neither starts until 2026:

    – One time $250 credit on two night stays at some hotels booked through the Chase portal
    – Each $250 “The Edit” credit, which isn’t the same as the previous credit, can be used any time through the year

Have a nice weekend!

The new Southwest.