Today’s post is brought to you by baby sized offers:
Do this now:Check your US Bank Products and Offers page for each credit card on the website or in the mobile app for a targeted offer for double cash back on card linked offers between March 27 and 30, activation required.
– $50 statement credit after six $60+ purchases once per month for March, April, and May – $75 statement credit after five $75+ purchases once per month for March, April, and May – 5% back in Shop Your Way Points when redeemed for Visa gift cards
The Citi Shop Your Way Rewards card also has interesting payment options that aren’t necessarily available on other Citi cards too. (Thanks to birt, Ben, and JEB)
Citi sent targeted offers via email to Double Cash and Premier card holders for 4x on up to $625 in spend, activation required.
As a general reminder: Citi does retention offers by phone, and they stack with these offers too. (Thanks to Santosh)
What everyone seems to forget to mention when these fare sales drop is that you’re still flying Southwest and the discount better be big as a result. This is extra acute to me with six flights in the last 30 days on Southwest.
You have through March 26 to book at the old rates. If you book a property that goes down in price after March 26, your points will probably be automatically refunded.
– Star Alliance business or first class from the US to Europe and Africa – Short haul domestic first class – Flights to and from the Caribbean in cattle classSouthwest class economy
This transfer bonus is mid at best unless you were going to book something anyway.
– $200 statement credit on $1,000+ at about three dozen properties through May 15 – $100 back on $500+ in Alaska flights booked through AmexTravel.com through May 26
Gaming on the first one is typical, on the second probably is only really doable by refunding the right type of your fare to an Alaska wallet.
Combined, the two promotions mean you’re buying 6,700 AA miles at for a net cost of $49, or 0.73 cents per mile. It’s untested as far as I know, but you probably can’t do this again on the same AA eShopping account as the one used in January. (Special thanks to David)
The laundry equivalent of today’s news items coming neatly packaged out of the box.
Yes, JetBlue, AA, and United increased their checked baggage fees and it’s an easy article for every travel reporter or travel blogger to write so we see it everywhere. Even worse, it’s also probably the kind of article that’ll get a disproportionally high number of clicks because airline fees rile people up.
Should you care? I dunno, but it does change the calculus slightly for the enduring value of an airline’s cobranded card if you check bags regularly.
EDITOR’S NOTE: The feedback I’ve gotten for guest post Saturday has been resoundingly positive. I’ve got a few posts left to publish, but I’m running low. If you’re interested in a guest post, please reach out!
Do this now:Register for Hyatt’s Bonus Journeys promotion for 3,000 bonus points for every three nights stayed between March 1 and April 30. There’s an additional 1,000 points for some international properties available if you hold a Hyatt credit card too.
I extended my Diamond status through the end of the decade which seems like an insane option to offer, but no complaints. It’s rather niche and limited scope, but this approaches deal of the year territory for people with lots of rolled over MQMs.
The FBNO Amtrak Preferred Mastercard has increased its sign-up bonus to 40,000 points after $2,000 spend in three months, and the $99 annual fee is not waived the first year. Points are worth between 2.5 and 2.9 cents each roughly.
If you ride Amtrak regularly this a great card, otherwise skip it.
In case you’re wondering how Alaska is doing since the Boeing door plug incident: They’re running another deep discount award ticket sale through tonight:
– Short haul: 4,000 miles – Medium haul: 7,500 miles (including Hawaii and Mexico) – Transcontinental: 10,000 miles
The covered dates are for travel between March 12 and May 22, which obviously overlaps spring break, but also Lubbock, TX’s favorite holiday: Pig in a Blanket Day on April 24.
EDITOR’S NOTE: All of the feedback I’ve gotten for guest post Saturday has been resoundingly positive. I’ve got a few posts left to publish, but I’m running low. If you’re interested in a guest post, please reach out!
What’s a weekend kerfuffle you ask? You don’t want to know, but it involves this:
Do this now:Register for your targeted United Mile Play bonus. I got “Book and take a trip one time by March 15 to earn 3,000 bonus miles, minimum $100,” which frankly isn’t bad. But the bad news? The trip must be on United or United Express (shudder) metal.
There’s still value in the IHG program, especially for stays in the middle of nowhere and for Intercontinental brand hotels in conjunction with 4th night free. RIP PointBreaks though, amirite?
– Southwest: 10% back on $50+, up to $400 spend through March 5 – Marriott Fairfield: 10% back on $100+, up to $380 spend through March 19 – Sheraton: 10% back on $100+, up to $570 spend through March 19 – Le Meridian: 10% back on $100+, up to $570 spend through March 19 – Westin: 10% back on $100+, up to $680 spend through March 19 – Four Points: 10% back on $100+, up to $570 spend through March 19 – AC Hotels: 10% back on $100+, up to $570 spend through March 19 – Springhill Suites: 10% back on $100+, up to $430 spend through March 19
The simplest way to game the hotel offers is to buy a gift card at the front desk. But, there are always other ways. With Chase offers, breaking correlation isn’t necessary.
– Personal Gold: 70,000 miles after $3,000 spend in six months – Personal Platinum: 90,000 miles after $4,000 spend in six months – Personal Reserve: 100,000 miles after $6,000 spend in six months
– Business Gold: 80,000 miles after $6,000 spend in six months – Business Platinum: 100,000 miles after $8,000 spend in six months – Business Reserve: 110,000 miles after $12,000 spend in six months
Alaska has a paid and award fare sale with serious teeth through tomorrow evening, including West Coast to and from Hawaii, flights to and from Mexico, and transcons for 6,500-7,500 miles each way
Login before checking the above link. If you get an offer not available link, look for another offer on your AmEx dashboard. (Thanks to Creative_Accounting)
FM notes that the American Express Delta cards have better than public landing page offers for at least two cards during a paid dummy booking:
– Personal Gold: 50,000 SkyMiles and $400 statement credit after $3,000 spend and a single Delta purchase in six months – Personal Platinum: 70,000 SkyMiles and $400 statement credit after $4,000 spend and a single Delta purchase in six months
The regular offer is 70,000 SkyMiles and 90,000 SkyMiles respectively, so you’re effectively selling 20,000 points for 2 cents per point with these offers. I was able to pull up both variants by switching browsers.
– If you’re going to apply head on, don’t forget that you can probably get a much better offer by trying several browsers and connecting to a Dallas VPN – If you can’t find a better offer through a VPN, at least use a referral link – If you triple dipped Business Platinum cards in December 2022, a downgrade might be a better option than closing the card given the current lack of no-lifetime language (NLL) links – American Express’s calendar day ends before midnight Eastern, but after midnight UTC, because reasons
As is typical with targeted promo codes and Southwest, there are a bunch of excluded days and routes, most of which correspond to the days that normies working with school schedules want to travel.
Look, I’m not planning on staying in a Best Western either, but sometimes it’s the best option and in case that happens the promo will already be attached to your account.
Have a nice Wednesday!
You shouldn’t could combine the second and third items at the Best Western Movie Manor (pictured).
