Category: Airlines

There’s lots of follow-up news to go over today:

  1. AA’s shopping portal finally has a back-to-school bonus for 2,000 miles after $1,200+ spend through August 8, which was predicted by my made up sources a week ago. That makes those sources right half of the time.

    Giftcards.com remains absent from major airline shopping portals.
  2. As you’ve no doubt heard since just about every news outlet in North America picked up the story, Southwest announced a few things:

    – They’ll soon offer assigned seating
    – They’ll soon offer extra leg room seats
    – Red-eye flights *shudder* start in February 2025

    They still won’t charge for checked bags. Will this make me fly Southwest more? Actually, definitely. (Thanks to Brian M)
  3. The personal American Express Gold revamped. The quick reference card:

    – $325 annual fee (up from $250), existing cardholders pay the new price after 10/1
    – 4x dining is now limited to $50,000 spend per calendar year
    – $50 semi-annual Resy restaurants credit (gaming info here)
    – $10 monthly dining credit shifts to 5 Guys from Shake Shack
    – $7 monthly Dunkin’ Donuts credit (lulz)

    The new card is available via both referrals with a 90,000 Membership Rewards sign-up bonus or through luck and a random number generator you might get 100,000 Membership Rewards by applying directly. Just try different browsers, incognito, a VPN, mobile instead of desktop, or going through different search engines until it shows up.
  4. Do this now: Register for new American Express Gold card credits: $50 semi-annual Resy credit and $7 Dunkin’ Donuts monthly credit (lulz)
  5. Kroger has a 4x fuel points promotion running today only on third party gift cards and fixed value Visa and Mastercards, excluding Amazon cards. GCG notes that there’s also a coupon for $8 off of two $100 Visa gift cards.

    Fuel points and gift card rates remain more or less steady with last week.
  6. Pepper Rewards, which has effectively tanked most bulk gift card resale rates, has finally devalued its program. As of today, most major brands will earn 1% back in points, rather than the 5% or 10% that they’ve been earning since the beginning of the year.

    My made-up sources say bulk gift card rates will recover by the end of August, and we all know how good they are.

Follow-up recipe from “Churning, Travel Hacking, and Selected Croissant Recipes”.

  1. Southwest has a 20% rebate on a single award flight booked by today with registration for travel through November 20. (Thanks to imadogg)
  2. Giant Foods, Martins, and Stop & Shop stores have 10x points on Home Depot, Lululemon, and some gift cards that aren’t high enough rate on the resale market to bother with through Thursday, limit $2,000 per account.

    Pepper still offers competitive pricing on one of those two brands, so expect demand to be slightly lower than normal. (Thanks to GCG)
  3. The Wells Fargo Choice Privileges cards have heightened bonuses. Note that there seems to be an affiliate code in the link, and I get error codes when I strip it out. I don’t know if anyone will be paid a commission when you apply through this link, but I can tell you I definitely won’t (just like all MEAB links):

    – Mastercard Select: 100,000 points after $3,000 spend in three months, $95 annual fee
    – Mastercard: 70,000 points after $1,000 spend in three months, $0 annual fee

    The Mastercard Select earns 5x at gas, grocery, and home improvement stores, and has a 30,000 point annual bonus. Choice has some awful hotels, but they’ve also got some good to great properties in the Ascend Collection, some Radisson properties, and Preferred Hotels. (Thanks to DDG)

Happy Monday!

Counterintuitively, free breakfast at Choice Hotels diminishes the value of Choice points.

  1. Do this now: Register for your United MilePlay targeted promotion.

    I got “book and take a trip in a premium seat 1 time to get 5,000 bonus award miles” through September 13. Sounds great at first, but the fare must be $500 so it’s not that great.
  2. Do this now (if you didn’t yesterday because I bungled the link): Register for targeted AA promotions for miles or loyalty points. My offer was 5,000 bonus AAdvantage miles after two paid flights in any cabin in August or September.
  3. You’ve heard of Bilt, right? They are to credit cards what Marriott Bonvoy is to Loyalty Programs; sure there’s value to be had, but you have to wade through plenty of sludge and grime to find it. A few choice examples:

    – They’re actively seeking to bonvoy manufactured spenders
    – They’ve recently removed valuable transfer partners
    – They shutdown a bunch of their users, but didn’t actually, it was just an accident

    Well, they’ve found another way to #bonvoy their early adopters and presumably biggest fans: At the end of the year, they’re closing cards opened in 2021 and early 2022 issued under Evolve Bank, which, side note, leaked customers’ private data for funzies. Don’t worry though, they say if you apply by the end of August they’ll give you 10,000 bonus points, so it’s all cool right? No, not right. At least you can lock all of your credit reports, apply and get denied, and still earn 10,000 points. (Thanks to pizza42bob)
  4. Staples stores have fee free $200 Mastercard gift cards starting Sunday and running through the following Saturday, limit eight per transaction.

    These are Pathward gift cards.
  5. Chase’s no annual fee Marriott Bonvoy Bold card has a sign-up bonus of 60,000 points and a 50,000 point free night certificate after $2,000 spend in three months.

    I think there’s a niche for this card, specifically if you don’t spend many nights in Marriott Hotels but occasionally need them when nothing else is available. I fit this bill, but very much nothing else has to be available.
  6. Chime has a $301 or $318 portal sign-up bonus for new customers that apply through the end of the month and have two direct deposits (or “direct deposits”) of $200+ in 30 days. (Thanks to FM)

Have a nice weekend friends!

Better alternative to Marriott Courtyard: No $39 parking fee and no $59 resort fee on free night stays.

  1. Do this now: Register for Hyatt’s promotion for double points at Hyatt Place and Hyatt House hotels through October 15, up to 25,000 total bonus points.
  2. Do this now: Register for targeted American Airlines promotions for bonus miles or loyalty points (EDIT: Fixed link). My singular offer was 5,000 bonus AAdvantage miles after two paid flights in any cabin in August or September.
  3. IHG seems to have devalued its points at most properties, with awards now pricing between 0.45 cents per point and 0.55 cents per point as compared to cash rates, though the bright side (?) is that redemptions seem to top out at 500,000 points per night. I’m still able to find outsized value around major holidays in major cities, but the chicken is pretty far gone from the coop.

    This actually happened a few days ago and I’ve been waiting to hear more experimentation from the community, but coverage has been weak at best; probably due to the Big Point lobby’s tentacles in mainstream media, or something.
  4. Kroger has a 4x fuel points promotion on third party gift cards and fixed value Visa and Mastercards, excluding Amazon. The promotion runs tomorrow only.

    Often single day or single weekend promotions at Kroger have weird coding, so always be probing.
  5. Alaska Airlines released its July Global Escapes promotional cities, which give discounts for travel to or from several cities between October 1 and January 31, 2025 in economy or premium economy only. This month’s promotional cities: Guadalajara, Athens, Muscat, Taipei, Rome, and Delhi.

How the Big Point lobby operates.

  1. Southwest has 40% off of fares to and from Hawaii booked by tomorrow night for both paid and award travel from August 13 through December 17 with promo code HAWAII40. Of course there are blackout dates around Labor Day and Thanksgiving. Also SNA airport is excluded because it’s too convenient.

    Side note, do you know why I’m not in marketing? The real reason is I don’t enjoy it, but the fun reason is I’d refuse to release a promo like this without the promo code being HAWAIIFIVE0, on principle.
  2. Alaska Airlines has a paid and award fare sale for travel between August 20 and November 30, booked by tomorrow night. Some sweet spots:

    – West coast to and from Hawaii for 7,500 miles
    – Short haul to and from Mexico for 4,000 miles
    – Transcontinental flights for 10,000 miles

    They’re calling this “Autumn’s on sale!” Not bad I guess, at least they didn’t call it the “Alaska 1282 blow-out sale!”
  3. JetBlue has 25% off of all non-Mint, non-transatlantic fares booked today for travel from September 7 through November 20 with promo code FALL.

    Incidentally, they’re calling this one “Get the fall rolling”, which again, I’m not in marketing, but an airline talking about making things fall feels like, uhh, a choice.
  4. WeBull has a new account brokerage bonus for 2% of net transferred portfolio value in July for up to $5,000,000 in assets. Bonuses will be paid half on July 31, 2025, and the other half on July 31. 2026.

    SIPC insurance limits are $500,000 per account in case you have reservations about the longevity of a brokerage that chooses to turn the noun “bull” into a verb, seemingly on purpose. (Thanks to DoC)

After the “Get the fall rolling” sale, JetBlue prepares its next sale: “New England on fire”

  1. The US Bank Triple Cash Rewards card has a $750 sign-up bonus after $6,000 spend in 180 days. The card has no-annual fee, or a negative annual fee if you’re a gamer. A few US Bank notes:

    – Hard pulls with US Bank will be combined in the same day
    – Different businesses can get the same card on the same day
    – The Leverage card pairs well with this one, and also has a $750 bonus

    For more about US Bank gaming, see this article.
  2. The American Express Schwab 1.1 cents per Membership Rewards point cash-out will be limited to the first million points per year starting October 1. Afterward, points will be cashed out at 0.8 cents each.

    You’ll still, as of this writing, have uncapped cash-out with the Morgan Stanley Platinum card at 1.0 cents, and American Express’s Business Checking cash-out is also at 1.0 cents each. Of course, brokers gonna broke and bypass the whole system. Mini #rant brewing for the near future. (Thanks to DDG and jnjustice)
  3. Do this now (if you hold a United credit card): Check for a targeted spend bonus for spend through July 30. Offers include TravelBank credit, PQPs, and miles.
  4. Do this now (if you hold United or Marriott status): Register for Marriott and United’s reciprocal earning promotion for stays or premium cabin flights:

    – Marriott registration link (For Ambassador, Titanium, or Unobtainium status)
    – United registration link (For Gold, Platinum, 1K, Global Services, or Moon Walkers)

    If you haven’t linked your United status to Marriott, you can link here, and vice-versa here. (Thanks to FM)
  5. The AirFrance / KLM FlyingBlue program has promo awards from the US to Europe in the following cities through the end of July: Atlanta, Denver, Dallas, and Raleigh Durham. There’s wide economy availability for the promotion, and spotty 50,000 point business class availability too.
  6. The Citi Shop Your Way Rewards Mastercard, the Larry Bird of credit cards, sent a few targeted offers:

    – 10% statement credit on up to $1,000 in travel and entertainment, monthly in 2024
    – $150 statement credit with $1,000-$1,999 in spend or $250 with $2,000+ at gas, grocery, and restaurants, monthly in 2024

    These offers stack together and with other ongoing offers from the card. If you maximized just these two, you’ve got [launches massively parallel calculation on a supercomputer] $2,100 in statement credits on a no-annual fee card. If your favorite credit card blogger never talks bout this card, ask yourself “why not?” (Thanks to Tyler, Jay, and Fish)
  7. Virgin Atlantic devalued its transatlantic business class Delta partner awards in two ways, first with approximately $1,000 in new surcharges and second, an increase of up to 55% mileage redemption cost with the introduction of a new variable award chart.
  8. The Turkish Airlines Miles & Smiles Visa card has been unveiled in the US:

    – 40,000 bonus miles after $3,000 spend in 90 days
    – 2x on dining, groceries, entertainment, and hotels
    – $99 annual fee, not waived the first year.

    I think the card is only interesting because it is issued by First Electronic Bank. When a bank you’ve never heard of issues a card, it’s usually a green light for shenanigans because (1) their systems are different than big bank systems, (2) smaller banks usually have interesting payment methods, and (3), if you’re shutdown by First Electronic Bank, literally who cares?

Warning sign posted at First Electric Bank’s headquarters isn’t the least bit creepy, why would you say that?

It’s extremely common for people to arrive as early as possible to visit an airport lounge. Since we’re often gamers and manufactured spenders around here, and since we’ve talked about a minimum monetary value for our time, we should apply the same logic to airport lounges when we’re departing from our home airport.

Specifically:

  • If you’re an in-person spender, a few trips to Kroger, Staples, your local grocer, and Walmart can be done in a couple of hours and earn you (hopefully) a few hundred bucks or the equivalent in points
  • If you’re an online spender, the time value of money probably varies a lot more, but a couple of hours of investigation might open up a new channel that’s worth thousands

So, if you’re showing up to a home airport lounge three hours before you’re flight, I’d suggest you consider how much the cheese cubes, bottom shelf gin, and chewy slightly-overcooked chicken breast are actually worth to you. Look, I don’t want to yuck your yum – I get that a mental break might be worth the spoils from days of gaming. But, if you find yourself in the lounge saying “now what?” after you’ve been sitting for 10 minutes, perhaps consider using the early lounge time to earn something or learn something instead, and you can use some of that to buy yourself a nice meal that hasn’t been sitting under a heat lamp for six hours.

*None of this advice applies if you live in Tokyo and regularly have access to the JAL F lounge, you’re in Frankfurt and regularly flying Lufthansa F, or you live in LA and have regular access to the Qantas First lounge. All of you get a pass.

Concept for new AA Admiral’s club pre-flight meals at the future, Lubbock TX club.

The Game

Major US and European airlines will usually tinker with published schedules until about two months prior to departure, and most also let you switch to another flight or get a free refund when the schedule changes or a flight is cancelled. That leads to a game, especially when you can cancel tickets for little to no penalty if your game doesn’t work:

When you’re booking travel far out and your preferred date and time costs too much, book a flight that will likely have a schedule change so that you can switch to the expensive, ideal flight instead.

The Mechanics

How do you know which flights are most likely to have a schedule change? Look at both current flights and historical flights on a site like FlightRadar24 or FlightAware to see what an airline usually flies, then look for flights in the future with different schedules. Alternatively, take a look at what they’re selling in the near future and extrapolate.

For example, let’s say you want to fly from Salt Lake City, UT to Boise, ID on a Sunday. Currently, scheduled non-stop flights on Delta for Sundays in July leave at:

  • 8:06 AM
  • 11:00 AM
  • 3:45 PM
  • 10:50 PM

In Spring of 2025, the schedule looks almost the same:

  • 8:45 AM
  • 11:00 AM
  • 3:35 PM
  • 5:54 PM
  • 11:00 PM

But, the schedule has a smoking gun – that 5:54 PM flight doesn’t currently exist, and it probably won’t exist by the time Spring 2025 rolls around (#RemindMeOfThisPostIn2025). When that flight is inevitably cancelled, you’ll be able to switch to another day, a different flight on the same day, or if you’ve really got rizz, perhaps even switch to a different airport.

What Could go Wrong?

There are of course caveats:

  • Past performance doesn’t guarantee future results
  • Holidays mess up schedules
  • Football games and major concerts lead to one-off flights
  • Lubbock only has once daily frequencies

The best news is that you can probably play this game with three or four airlines at minimum, so you’ve got multiple shots at getting your way.

Good luck and happy Wednesday!

Honorary travel hacking shirt awarded only to those that can turn an SLC-BOI schedule change into an LAX-HNL flight.