Category: Airlines

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.

  1. Accor has registration open for a Q3 promotion for 500-1,000 bonus points on two night or longer stays including a Friday, Saturday, or Sunday through October 26, but the bonus can only be earned one time. (Thanks to FM)
  2. Hilton silently devalued many of its high-end properties, in some cases award redemption prices went up by more than a third.

    Valuations are notoriously hard and opinionated, but I’d suggest that you drop your own Hilton valuation by at least 25-30% unless you have your own private unicorn. Personally, I’m treating them as worth 0.3 cents each.
  3. Southwest has a 50% off of base fares sale for both paid and award tickets with promo code MILLIONS.

    It’s worth checking existing travel plans that were booked after May 27 because you’ll be operating under the same fare and checked bags scheme. For travel plans booked before, ymmv.
  4. Stop & Shop, Giant Foods, and Martins stores have 8x points on both Amazon and Zift Zillions gift cards through Thursday, limit $2,000 spend per account.

Have a nice Wednesday!

New perk: This Hilton Garden Inn’s 30% award rate increase comes with complimentary fire (included with resort fee)

  1. Some applicants that used Citi Strata Elite’s 100,000 points offer links both online and in-branch are now locked with requests from Citi for a 4506-C income verification form. A few notes:

    – If your application wasn’t wildly different than the 4506-C numbers, you’ll be fine
    – This appears to be a bug in Citi’s IT systems, not a crusade to out churners
    – Going for a double dip with these links increases the likelihood of 4506-C requests
    – The form is available your message center if you’ve enabled paperless statements
    – Both online and in-branch approvals are affected

    For a non-mainstream take on the risk versus reward of using the heightened offer links, see Chasing Cetaceans, my favorite new churning blog.
  2. American Express quagmire elevator games are dead and have been for a few weeks. Based on other system updates, I don’t think they’re coming back either.

    If you don’t know what this means, it doesn’t affect you. #crypticmeab
  3. The Barclays Hawaiian Mastercard and the Bank of Hawaii Mastercard both have increased sign-up offers:

    – Barclays: 80,000 HawaiianMiles after $2,500 spend in three months, use random numbers for promo code
    – Bank of Hawaii: 50,000+30,000 Hawaiian Miles after $2,000 in 90 days and $5,000 in 180 days, respectively

    These miles will become Alaska Atmos miles at the end of the month, and presumably you won’t be able to get either card after that point. You don’t seem to be able to get both versions of this card any more.
  4. Southwest has a nice bonus points and Companion Pass offer that’s targeted, but I think using this link you can register even if you weren’t targeted. The offer:

    – 1 round trip: 5,000 bonus points
    – 2 round trips: 5,000 additional bonus points
    – 3 round trips: 5,000 additional bonus points
    – 4 round trips: a Companion Pass valid between January 6, 2026 and March 6, 2026

    There are also various targeted status shortcut promotions available, check your promotions at the bottom of your My Account page.

  5. Some airline shopping portals have sweepstakes for winning lots of miles and cash, and you can register to enter by logging in at one of the sweepstakes pages (churners have occasionally won these in prior years):

    – AA eShopping: 100,000 miles and $2,500
    – Alaska Atmos Shopping: 100,000 miles and $2,500
    – United MileagePlus Shopping: 100,000 miles and $2,500

    If you do win, you’ll probably need to dispute the value of the miles with the IRS because their 1099 valuations are whack, like Boston born Mark Wahlberg teaching Southern California about Mexican food whack.

Happy Tuesday!

How it’s going: The American Express elevator.

  1. Chase has new targeted offers for both its Freedom cards and United cards, you can check your eligibility at chase.com/mybonus, ideally in a new incognito window for each card. Offers include 3x-5x earning at gas, EV charging, and groceries on up to $1,500 spend through November 30, a fixed bonus on 20 purchases monthly for three months, and 10,000-15,000 bonus points on $3,000-$4,000 spend.
  2. The American Express Delta cards have heightened sign-up bonuses, coming back a short three days after the targeted NLL versions expired. The Gold and Reserve offers beat the last round’s bonuses, while the Platinum cards are each slightly lower. Spend requirements were tweaked slightly too:

    – Personal Gold: 80,000 SkyMiles after $3,000 spend in six months, annual-fee waived
    – Personal Platinum: 90,000 SkyMiles after $4,000 spend in six months
    – Personal Reserve: 125,000 SkyMiles after $6,000 spend in six months
    – Business Gold: 90,000 SkyMiles after $6,000 spend in six months, annual-fee waived
    – Business Platinum: 100,000 SkyMiles after $8,000 spend in six months
    – Business Reserve: 125,000 SkyMiles after $15,000 spend in six months

    All of these are available via referral, and you should use another player’s referral or a churning buddy’s referral when applying. There are also modest upgrade offers for existing cards available.
  3. Iberia Avios has an award sale for economy travel between the US and Europe booked by Thursday for travel between October 1 and December 5. Basic economy fares start at 6,400 miles with decent availability, and regular economy fares start at 10,000 miles.

    Normally you can transfer miles freely between British Airways, Aer Lingus, and Iberia, but that’s currently broken with no official ETA on a fix.
  4. Capital One has two business banking new account bonuses for existing business card holders without an existing Capital One Bank account with promo code Q3BONUS1000. The offers:

    – $500 with $5,000 in deposits held for 60 days (effectively a 60% APR when annualized)
    – $1,000 with $30,000 in deposits held for 60 days (effectively a 20% APR when annualized)

    Both require 10 transactions, but $1 ACHs back and forth will do. These bonuses are churnable every 180 days. (Thanks to DDG)
  5. The Chase IHG Business card has a heightened sign-up bonus of 200,000 IHG points split into two tiers:

    – 140,000 points after $4,000 spend in three months
    – 60,000 points after $9,000 spend in six months

    This card’s annual free-night certificate is for nights up to 40,000 points. The offer is available via referral, so use another player’s or another churner’s referral instead of the public link.
  6. Southwest will have free-WiFi onboard starting on October 24. This sounds great, other than that they’ll still have their legacy inflight internet system which was already really slow when < 10% of the plane was using it. So, I guess each passenger will get to relive the 2,400 baud internet speeds of the early 1990s?
  7. Staples in-store has fee-free $200 Mastercard gift cards, limit nine per transaction through Saturday.

    These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards.

Happy Monday friends!

Emulating the Southwest WiFi experience at home.