Category: Airlines

  1. Do this now: Register for AA’s widely targeted promotion for 500 Loyalty Points for each AA flight in March, up to 5,000 bonus points total. Flights need to be booked (or rebooked) after registration to be eligible. (Thanks to VFTW)
  2. Capital One has a widely targeted offer for 5,000 bonus miles with a 1,000+ mile transfer to JetBlue TrueBlue. The transfer ratio is awful other than the bonus, so your best bet is to transfer 1,000 miles exactly and earn 5,600 TrueBlue miles. On the plus (?) side, 5,600 miles is enough for some short-haul basic economy tickets.
  3. The American Express Hilton cards have an increased sign-up bonus:

    – Honors: 70,000 points and a free night certificate after $2,000 spend in six months
    – Surpass: 130,000 points and a free night certificate after $3,000 spend in six months
    – Aspire: 175,000 points after $6,000 spend in six months

    In case you’re in pop-up jail on those and don’t know how to get out, you can find smaller bonuses that are mostly popup immune for the same cards here.
  4. Staples.com now sells virtual Visa gift cards with gargantuan fees, topping out at $9.95 for a $300 virtual Visa. I guess maybe you can make this make sense if you’re good at alt portals.

    These are Pathward gift cards. (Thanks to DoC)
  5. The Chase United Quest’s $125 annual United credits are changing to TravelBank credits in March, which makes one of my least favorite cards slightly more attractive.
  6. Breeze Airways 45% off of base fares with promo code ESCAPE for travel from March 5 through September 9, and it must be booked by tomorrow.

Happy Thursday friends!

JetBlue basic economy still includes a circa 2012 screen with at least one burnt out color channel and complimentary screen covering.

  1. Hyatt released its category changes scheduled to take effect on March 25. Many more properties are going up in category than going down so make speculative bookings for future travel now, especially if that travel includes Japan.
  2. It’s time for a semi-regular Pepper update:

    – Pepper is regularly selling Walmart and other high value cards with 30% back in coins
    – Amazon’s “partnership” with Pepper no longer allows card purchases, but only if you’re not special apparently

    I can’t imagine a plausible positive spin on either of these items, but I’m sure several churners buried up to their ears in Pepper coins have one. (Yes, I still have floated Pepper coins, but I’m only buried up to my ankles.)
  3. The Lufthansa Miles & More program, long a sweet spot for churners buried up to their ears in esoteric details, is moving to dynamic award prices for Lufthansa, Swiss, and Austrian tickets starting on June 15, and the base mileage cost for Premium Economy, Business, and First is going up on many routes too.

    Unlike with Pepper, I can imagine a few plausible positive spin on this: (1) You’ll be able to book flights that wouldn’t have availability under the old scheme, but probably at much higher mileage costs; and (2) economy fares will have a lower bottom. On the whole though, these changes suck.
  4. There are a few targeted generic upgrade offers for Delta Business Gold American Express card holders:

    – Gold to Platinum with 30,000 SkyMiles and a $100 statement credit after $6,000 spend in six months
    – Gold or Platinum to Reserve with 40,000 SkyMiles and a $200 statement credit after $10,000 spend in six months

    If you’re fast, or lucky, or maybe fast and lucky, you might get both back-to-back from a Business Gold. (Thanks to Bill)
  5. The Ceasar’s Rewards Visa Signature credit card includes Diamond status if you apply by March 1 and spend $5,000 within the first 90 days outside of Ceasars properties, which is extra useful if you’re a washout from a mostly defunct trademarked merry-go-round. (Special thanks to Joshua)
  6. Southwest has 30% off of base fares with promo code 30SPLASH for flights booked by tomorrow night and travel between March 18 and May 21.

    I repriced existing travel and averaged about 30% off with this promotion, which is slightly better than normal and surprisingly on brand for the promo code.

Have a nice Wednesday!

Visualization of being buried up to your ears in Pepper coins.

Before we dive in let’s start with a quick American Express shutdowns update: There were no reports of new shutdowns yesterday. Are we out of the woods yet? I think that’s highly unlikely, but you never know I guess. Anyway, let’s dive in to today’s news.

  1. Southwest registration is open for a limited scope promotional Companion Pass:

    – Book a round-trip or two one-ways by tomorrow night
    – Fly by the end of March
    – Earn a companion pass valid between August 7 and October 8

    This works on award and paid tickets, and if you’ve already got something booked you can cancel and rebook too.
  2. The American Express personal Hilton cards have new no-lifetime language (NLL) links:

    – Aspire: 150,000 points after $6,000 spend in six months
    – Surpass: 130,000 points after after $3,000 spend in six months
    – Honors: 80,000 points after $2,000 spend in six months

    These are popup resistant links.
  3. The Synchrony Virgin Atlantic Mastercard has an increased sign-up bonus of 60,000 miles after $3,000 spend in 90 days.

    On the one hand the mileage bonus is low compared to other sign-up bonuses, but on the other hand it’s Synchrony so that’s a nice win with the right playbook.
  4. The Capital One Venture card has a sign-up bonus of 75,000 miles and a $250 Capital One Travel credit available by referrals (and publicly available too, but use a referral from a friend instead).
  5. Singapore KrisFlyer has 30% off of award tickets in both economy and business class on various routes booked by February 28, including:

    – LAX-SIN
    – JFK-FRA
    – SFO-SIN
    – SEA-SIN

    Travel is valid in March with some route specific black-out dates. (Thanks to FFB)
  6. Alaska has an award sale with teeth through tomorrow night:

    – Transcons at 15,000 points
    – West coast to Hawaii at 7,500 points
    – West coast to Mexico at 4,000 points

    The left-coasters have a better pick but there are gems for the other coast too.
  7. Saks is behind on their bills to suppliers according to the Wall Street Journal, which probably only matters if you’re a supplier or a gift card reseller. (Thanks to nobody65535)
  8. MasterCardGiftCard.com has a promotion for a free $10 gift card with the purchase of a $100 gift card using promo code bonus25. (Thanks to Past_Reality_1909)

Have a nice Wednesday!

A churner dives in.

  1. The Citi AA Platinum personal card has an increased sign-up bonus of 75,000 AAdvantage miles after $3,500 spend in four months.

    AA miles are the most valuable currency for several use cases typically exercised by US based fliers. The program hasn’t devalued in a while though so caveat emptor and it’s the only thing in the AA ecosystem that’s keeping the lights on, but AA is good at cutting off its profit centers when they make too much money for shareholders for some reason. (Thanks to casinovibes)
  2. The American Express Business Platinum card has a hacked upgrade link from a Business Gold or Green that awards 120,000 Membership Rewards after $10,000 spend in three months. Remember:

    – You can stack employee card bonuses with upgrade bonuses
    – You can stack retention offers with upgrade bonuses
    – You can stack with new card sign-up bonuses
    – Retention offers may be better before upgrade
    – An upgrade is a no-harm/no-foul maneuver with American Express
    – You can do this in the first year of card membership because it’s a business card

    Now, the question that comes up often after these: How risky are hacked links? There have been historic shutdowns for hacked links, but there haven’t been any of those in nearly a decade. American Express doesn’t seem to care now, but that may change in the future. Do your own risk assessment, ideally involving variational calculus if you’re a bored super-nerd.
  3. The American Express Business Platinum card also has a new targeted no-lifetime language (NLL) link for 175,000 Membership Rewards after $20,000 spend in three months.

Happy Thursday friends!

An exclusive look at the AA executive management playbook helps explain their decision making.

  1. Do this now: Register for Best Western’s Q1 promotion for a $50 gift card after each two nights stayed, up to a whopping 2x$50.

    In what might be the lamest churn known to the community: You can book the Best Western Hollywood Plaza Inn for $76.80 with AAA or similar discounts, and 2*$76.80 =$153.60. That means you can churn $50 Best Western gift cards for only $153.60, and get two nights in a hotel that probably won’t kill you and two elite night credits too.
  2. Kroger stores have a 4x fuel points promotion on third party gift cards other than Amazon, and on fixed value Visa and Mastercards through February 18.

    Pepper: (1) is still alive, (2) maybe got a bridge loan, and (3) continues to kill the bulk resale market for everything but BestBuy and lululemon.
  3. Meijer MPerks has 50,000 MPerks Points with the purchase of most $500 third party gift cards including BestBuy and Apple through February 15, limit 50,000 points per account.

    Marrying MPerks and buyer’s groups are an occasionally profitable way to cash out mPerks Points on something other than paper towels. (Thanks to GCA)
  4. Southwest will extend their schedule tomorrow morning for flights between October 2 and November 1. Southwest expert Brian M predicts that flights around this window are highly likely to have substantial schedule changes, so gamers will game (but only starting tomorrow).
  5. Turkish Airlines has two February promotions:

    – 50% rebate on mileage bookings in all cabins for two passengers traveling by February 23
    – 15% off of paid flights for card holders with code USCARD15 booked this month for travel by the end of April

    If you don’t already have the credit card, it’s probably not worth your time, just get a Citi Double Cash and Strata Premier instead for much better earning, especially when paired with a Rewards+ for its 10% redemption rebate.
  6. FlyingBlue’s February promo rewards include the following US cities for travel through July 31:

    – New York
    – Denver
    – Houston
    – Raleigh/Durham
    – Boston

    Prices are 18,500 miles in economy with good availability, or 60,000 miles in business with better than normal (but still not good) availability.

Happy Wednesday!

Best Western Hollywood Plaza warning: The Front desk doesn’t know random facts about an airport over 15 miles from the property. Imagine!

  1. The Chase Southwest Plus, Priority, and Premier cards currently have a bonus only available via referrals through March 25 for:

    – 30,000 Rapid Rewards Points
    – A Companion Pass good through February 2026

    As usual for any offer, use another player’s referral or one from a friend and make their day.
  2. The Citi Shop Your Way Rewards Mastercard sent its beginning of the month bonus offers. We’ve seen:

    – Spend $800+ at home improvement, get 10% back up to $100 monthly for three months
    – Spend $1,000+ at home improvement, get 15% back up to $175 back monthly for three months
    – Spend $1,000+ at home improvement, get 175,000 Shop Your Way Rewards points monthly for three months
    – Spend $1,000+ anywhere, get 100,000 Shop Your Way Rewards points through March 31

    (Thanks to Dave, Matt, and Cashback Cowgirl)
  3. Staples stores have fee-free gift $200 Visa gift cards through Saturday, limit nine per transaction. Why nine? I don’t know, but at least they’ve held that line for all of 2025 (as opposed to 2024 when the limit seemed to have been the result of a random dice roll).

    These are Pathward gift cards.
  4. Chase Ultimate Rewards has a 30% transfer bonus to Virgin Atlantic through February 17. Virgin Atlantic’s own metal awards recently have great availability, but they also have variable pricing. Finding space isn’t typically the issue; rather the issue is finding space that’s cheap enough for your taste.
  5. Avianca LifeMiles has a 15% transfer bonus from American Express Membership Rewards through the end of the month, the bonus will be awarded by Avianca within 24 hours of the transfer, making it a somewhat speculative play.
  6. If you travel in paid premium cabins from BOS, LAX, SNA, BUR, ONT, LGB, JFK, LGA, EWR, or HPN (lol), check this link for a targeted offer for Delta ecredits. (Thanks to Ok-Anywhere6998)

Happy Tuesday!

Pictured: Delta plane holding on the runway at HPN.

  1. Do this now: Register for bonus British Airways Executive Club tier points for paid flights booked by February 14 for travel any time after March.

    British Airways Gold status traditionally was somewhat easy to game and had great value, but after March, the games are largely gone.
  2. United has a status match to Silver, Gold, or Platinum, and an accompanying challenge running through June 30. The match is good for 120 days once it’s activated; but to activate it you have to take a United flight within 90 days of the match approval. You can retain status through the program year (through January 2027) with some Premier Qualifying Flights (PQF) and Premier Qualifying Points (PQP) earning.

    Status is most useful for free checked bags, economy plus seating, and lounge access on international itineraries. In theory you can only match every five years, but also in theory: (1) communism works, and (2) the colors of gummy bears are evenly distributed. (Thanks to FM)
  3. The Chase Marriott cards have increased sign up bonuses:

    – Boundless: $150 statement credit + 100,000 Bonvoy points after $3,000 spend in three months, $99 annual fee
    – Bold: A free night certificate for up to 50,000 points plus 60,000 Bonvoy points after $2,000 spend in three months, no annual fee

    They’ve also introduced Pay Yourself Back on the cards at a rate of 0.8 cents per point, which is more than the market value of a Bonvoy point so actually pretty good. The bad news though? You’re limited to $750 in total redemptions annually. But at $750 + $150, you could turn the Boundless into a $900 sign-up bonus and convert it to a Ritz Carlton card after a year (a move we call the reverse Bonvoy).
  4. Yesterday we talked about a Chase IHG Premier sign-up bonus with five free night certificates, but David let me know that there’s a different version of the sign-up bonus:

    – Premier: 170,000 points after $4,000 spend in three months, $99 annual fee
    – Rewards: 100,000 points after $2,000 spend in three months, no annual fee

    I prefer points offers to capped free-night certificates approximately 122% of the time, but not everyone thinks like I do.

Theory doesn’t always predict the real world.

  1. The Chase IHG Premier Visa has an increased sign-up bonus of five free night certificates, each good for 40,000 points a night, with $4,000 spend in three months. The $99 annual fee is not waived for the first year.

    40,000 points in the IHG program is good for average, mid-tier hotels, and if you stack the free night certificates with fourth night free, you can make this effectively a six night free sign-up bonus.
  2. Qantas will devalue its points program on August 5, raising redemption costs between 5% and 20%. Redemption fees will increase too, because duh. (Yes, some short haul Qantas metal redemptions will decrease in cost; no, that doesn’t make it any better.)
  3. H-E-B stores have a digital coupon for a $20 H-E-B with every $100 Visa, Mastercard, or AmEx gift card purchased in-store through Tuesday, limit one per H-E-B account.

    If only it were possible to have multiple H-E-B accounts through some miracle of modern technology called multiple email addresses.
  4. Southwest has a fare sale for paid and award bookings made by tonight for travel between February 11 and May 22.

    No blackout dates are listed unless you’re traveling to Hawaii or Puerto Rico, then black out days are longer than an entire month.
  5. Breeze Airways has 50% off of base fares with promo code GONOW for travel through May 22, sort of. They took a page from Southwest’s book and added a blackout periods of over an entire month, but decided it’d be funner to apply it to all destinations and not just non-continental US destinations.

Techno-lord mug of the day.