Category: Credit Cards

The Thing

US Bank launched transfer partners on its Altitude Reserve and FlexPerks Travel Rewards Visa cards (my hidden gem FlexPerks American Express card sunsetted and became an Altitude Connect Mastercard earlier this year or it’d probably be there too). Initial partners are:

– AirFrance / KLM FlyingBlue at 1:1
– Qantas Frequent Flyer at 1:1
– Ethiopian Sheba Rewards at 1:1
– Accor ALL at 2:1

They’re using a landing page at points.com for transfers, which means they’ll likely have access to many more transfer partners in the future.

The Impact

Because this is U.S. Bank where mediocrity is a way of life, this launch turns out to be … mediocre. Here’s some two-day-late Monday morning quarterbacking:

  • Accor ALL points are worth a fixed two eurocents each so that partner is relatively lame at 2:1. With current exchange rates, that’s effectively a fixed 1.15 cents per point
  • Ethiopian Sheba Rewards isn’t common, so let’s chat about it:

    – Ethiopian is part of Star Alliance
    – The Sheba Star Alliance Award chart is decidedly mediocre (to match U.S. Bank)
    – Redemptions on Ethiopian metal are zone based:
    Same zone: 15,000 miles in economy and 45,000 in business
    Two zone: 30,000 miles in economy and 60,000 in business
    Three zone: 🤷‍♀️
    – Ethiopian has 22 fifth-freedom routes (routes between two countries that aren’t Ethiopia). Pricing on these routes can be good
  • Because transfers are handled by points.com, I expect we’ll see more added rapidly after U.S. Bank figures itself out, but I really mean rapidly in U.S. Bank terms which means slowly in regular terms
  • Seats.aero already tracks Ethiopian miles, so the best redemptions are probably going to be rare thanks to the Tragedy of the Commons
  • Oh yeah, they have Qantas and FlyingBlue transfers too. Welcome to every other bank and FinTech on the planet I guess

The tl;dr: Some partners are better than none, but in this case not that much.

Happy Wednesday!

U.S. Bank transfer partner launch celebration swag.

  1. The Barclay’s Lufthansa Miles & More credit card has an increased sign-up bonus of 70,000 miles after $4,000 spend and paying the $89 annual fee within 90 days.

    The card is basically 1x everywhere on the earn side generally speaking, but it’s one of the best way to earn Lufthansa miles so I guess you win some and lose some? Did anyone notice that lose rhymes with floosies?
  2. The Citi AAdvantage Platinum Select World Elite MasterCard has an increased sign-up bonus of 80,000 miles after $3,500 spend in four months. The card’s $99 annual fee is waived the first year.
  3. Office Depot / OfficeMax Stores have $15 off of $300+ in Visa gift cards through Saturday. Practically speaking you should be buying these in even multiples of $300. Remember even and odd numbers friends? #MathIsHard

    These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards.
  4. Wyndham has a weird partnership with Costco that’s I guess tailored to the intersection of manufactured spend and award travel: Get 4,000 Wyndham points and a $40 shop card with a new Executive Membership using promo code WYNDHAM26 through September 16; you’ll provide your Wyndham Rewards number during the sign-up process.

    There’s also an offer for the Gold Star Membership, but you’d be making TeddyH cry if you chose that option. Of course Groupon may still be better because reasons. (Thanks to FM)

Happy Tuesday!

Leaving half eaten bars of chocolate ice cream in the fridge also makes TeddyH sad, reportedly.

  1. Two American Express Marriott cards have increased sign-up bonuses:

    – Bonvoy Bevy: 125,000 points and $150 statement credit, $250 annual fee
    – Bonvoy Brilliant: 150,000 points and $250 statement credit after $6,000 spend in six months, $650 annual fee

    As of this writing, both links appear to be popup-free. Marriott is going to devalue soon though (see their earnings transcript and search for Bonvoy), so … that’s great.
  2. The Chase Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Visa has an increased sign-up bonus of four 50,000 point free-night certificates after $3,000 spend in three months, and is also available via referral links so use one of those from a friend or from P2.

    This one also has a must-activate-before-spend offer for two semi-annual $50 airline credits after $250 in airline spend, which is unfortunately is a big enough flexible rebate that you should pay attention to it.
  3.  The Chase IHG Premier card has an increased sign-up bonus of 160,000 bonus points after $3,000 spend in three months, 5x$20 in IHG food and beverage vouchers which is just as annoying as it sounds. If you get an error on the application page, check the Chase mobile app instead because #tech. The card’s $99 annual fee is not waived.

    You’ll also get 10,000 extra points for adding an authorized user and putting a charge on that card; but don’t get too excited, 10,000 points is worth about $50. This should be available for referrals in the next couple of days.
  4. The Synchrony Virgin Red Mastercard has an increased sign-up bonus of 60,000+20,000 points. The card’s $99 annual fee is not waived for the first year. Breaking down the spend:

    – 60,000 points with $4,000 spend in three months
    – 20,000 points with $6,000 total spend in six months

    You can also add up to four authorized user accounts for 2,500 bonus points each, though it’ll hit their credit report so use caution. (Thanks to DDG)
  5. Frontier Airlines has a discounted GoWild unlimited travel pass for $199, valid for travel through the end of February 27. This pairs well with matched Frontier elite status, but there are blackout periods around holidays.
  6. AA’s elite upgrade policy is changing to allow for only one class of service upgrade on three class aircraft starting on August 25.

Happy Friday!

More from the Marriott earnings call.

  1. The Chase Air Canada Aeroplan Mastercard has an increased sign-up bonus, and the card’s $95 annual fee is not waived for the first year:

    – 75,000 miles after $4,000 spend in three months
    – 25,000 miles after $20,000 spend in one year

    This isn’t available via referrals, but should be soon. This is a relative high but not an absolute high offer;that was 120,000 miles with some extra gyrations.
  2. The Bank of America Unlimited Cash Rewards card has a targeted sign-up bonus of 3% everywhere for the first year, or up to 4.12% everywhere with Preferred Rewards Premier status. You can check to see if you’re targeted by logging in to Bank of America and then visiting your personalized offers dashboard.
  3. There are a few travel related offers card offers:

    – American Express: $100 credit with $500+ at Accor Luxury Hotels
    – Citi: $75 credit with $325 spend at Hertz
  4. Rent paid through Bilt using a Cardless Qatar card now earns 3x up to $50,000 annually, but it costs 3% so I hope you like buying Avios at 1 cent per point (I know I don’t). How about buying lounge access via QPoint earning on the Qatar Infinite card to earn 270 Points for Gold status which gives oneworld Sapphire, for access to AA and Alaska lounges even on domestic flights though? Breaking it down:

    – 2 QPoints for every 1,500 Avios earned
    – 3x earning means $500 in rent spend gives 2 QPoints and costs $15
    – $50,000 annual cap means a maximum earn of 200 QPoints for $1,500

    So if you can earn another 70 QPoints elsewhere, you can buy oneworld lounge access for $1,500 plus whatever your incremental cost is beyond that. Good deal? That’s a nah from me dog, but maybe you love infinite cheese cubes more than I do. (Thanks to David)
  5. Hyatt has a very specific promotion for a Category 1-4 free night certificate for every three nights at resorts in the Caribbean and Latin America in Q1, 2027, limit five free night certificates. Registration required.

Happy Thursday friends!

Ok ok, some AAdmiral’s Clubs have over two types of cheese cubes.

  1. American Express’s Resy monthly and quarterly credits now have certain excluded Resy restaurants, and because complexity is the mother of annoyance and American Express maximizes annoyance as a core KPI, excluded restaurants will change periodically.

    Most restaurants are currently still eligible, but to check you’ve got to (1) login to Resy, (2) add an AmEx card with a Resy credit to your wallet, (3) search for the restaurant in Resy, and (4) see if the restaurants says “Qualifies for Resy Credit”. KPI indeed.
  2. Turkish Miles & Smiles has a 40% incoming transfer bonus from Citi ThankYou Points through August 31, limit 50,000 bonus miles from 125,000 miles transferred in.

    Bonus miles will be awarded by Turkish in early September.
  3. Capital One has a transfer 15% transfer bonus to Avianca LifeMiles through September 15. This is generally a good opportunity if you have bookings, but absolutely watch out for phantom space which plagues LifeMiles.
  4. Staples in-store has fee-free $200 Visa gift cards through Saturday, limit nine per transaction. Some stores had this last week too, it’s not just you.

    These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards.
  5. Staples.com has fee-free $200 Visa gift cards, limit five total and four per transaction, again just like last week.

    These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards, and these were also on sale last week.

Have a nice Monday!

Leaked AmEx KPI Master dashboard.

  1. The Huntington Bank Business Voice credit card has an increased sign-up bonus of $700 after $5,000 spend in 90 days through September 14, but only in branch. The cards is relatively noteworthy for its quarterly 4% cash back on $7,000 spend in categories like grocery stores and gas. (Thanks to Mushu_Pork)
  2. AT&T and AA have a promotion for 20,000 AA miles with a phone number port-in, limit four. To maximize the promotion, you’ll need to keep AT&T service for three months. At $140 per month and a total of 80,000 miles, you’re effectively buying AAdvantage miles at 0.7 cents each.

    Mileage valuations for AA will probably range between 1.5 cents each to 8.0 cents each (for sites that share an acronym with Two Putting Greens), either way 0.7 cents is less.
  3. Meijer mPerks has 50,000 points with $500 in third party gift cards through August 11.
  4. Kroger stores have a promotion for 4x fuel points on third party gift cards other than Amazon and flexible fuel cards through August 11.

Happy Thursday friends!

The Huntington Bank Business Voice credit card, or MEAB mile valuations? Evidently both.

  1. SoFi, a name derived by combining the words “sock” and “fiasco”, has a new account bonus of $335 through Swagbucks and $400 directly, provided you have direct deposits totaling at least $5,000 within 25 days of the first direct deposit and the first direct deposit is at least $400 (thanks to dylan for the note about the first deposit).

    These accounts are mostly churnable, contrary to the propaganda orchestrated by the big sock lobby.
  2. Staples in-store has fee-free $200 Visa gift cards through Saturday, limit nine per transaction.

    These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards.
  3. Staples.com has fee-free $200 Visa gift cards, limit five total and four per transaction, special thanks to Sean for the distinction.

    These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards.
  4. Kroger stores have a coupon for a fee-free $150+ Visa or Mastercard through tomorrow.

    These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards.
  5. American Express Offers has an offer for $80 off of $400+ spend with Hawaiian or Alaska through September 30. The level 0 churning game on this one is to book a non-basic economy flight for $400 and then cancel it to your travel wallet.

    These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards. Oh wait, it just seemed like something I was supposed to type at this point.
  6. Emirates has a partner award sale for 25% off of economy redemptions through August 9. These are particularly attractive for short haul flights, which coincidentally is also exactly the type of flight that I’m willing to sit in economy on.
  7. Chase Offers has two new travel related offers:

    – 7% back on between $100 and $500 at Hyatt Place in the US through September 30
    – 10% back on between $100 and $500 at Marriott in the US through August 31

    The level 0 churning game on here is gift cards at the front desk.
  8. Giant, Martins, and Stop & Shop have 2x rewards on Mastercards. Giant Food has 8x points on Zift Zillions gift cards.

    These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards.

Happy Monday, friends!

Ever wonder why you don’t see these out in the wild much? Again, big sock.

The churn-o-tron has a figurative, literal, figurative fire bomb of news today:

  1. The Bank of America AirFrance / KLM FlyingBlue Mastercard has an increased sign-up bonus:

    – 70,000 miles after $3,000 spend in the first 90 days
    – 30,000 miles after $7,500 total spend in the first six months
    – 100 XP

    You can hold multiple FlyingBlue cards. For bonus fun points, get one in Dutch and one in French. Or I guess two in French if that’s how you roll.
  2. The PenFed Defender Visa was announced yesterday, and the waitlist is open. The card’s vitals:

    – No annual fee
    – 5x at gas and EV charging
    – 3x at grocery, restaurants, sporting goods, military commissaries, and base exchanges

    Before you get too excited, PenFed is really good with gas pump versus gas store coding, and their points are worth about 0.8-0.9 cents each. (Thanks to MattyB)
  3. Bank of America has targeted $750 sign-up bonuses using this link on:

    – Customized Cash Rewards
    – Unlimited Cash Rewards
    – Travel Rewards

    All three require $5,000 spend in 90 days. For bonus fun points part deux, get multiple with multiple tax IDs or products.
  4. Kroger stores have a promotion for 4x fuel points on third-party gift cards other than Amazon and flexible fuel cards today and tomorrow.

    For those playing only casually: Watch out, Kroger stole bonus points and is now requiring ID and a social security number for BestBuy gift card purchases over $200.
  5. Meijer mPerks has 10,000 bonus points with $100+ in MasterCard gift cards through Tuesday, one per account.

    These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards.
  6. Capital One Shopping is “featuring” giftcards.com today. As of this writing, I don’t know what the featured bonus is though so watch for egg on my face.
  7. Alaska Atmos, also known as the last to the finish line, added a back to school shopping bonus like earlier finishers American, Delta, Southwest, and United. Alaska’s is 2,000 miles after $750 spend by August 10.

    Giftcards.com will work for these.

Have a nice weekend friends!

Meanwhile, at the FlyingBlue shopping portal.