Category: Credit Cards

  1. The Chase Aeroplan Mastercard relaunched with a new structure and 75,000+40,000 mile sign-up bonus, and they’ve removed 3x grocery:

    – $195 annual fee is not waived the first year
    – 2x dining, grocery, and gas, 1x elsewhere
    – 75,000 Aeroplan miles after $4,000 spend in three months
    – 40,000 Aeroplan miles after $20,000 spend in one year
    – $50 semi-annual Air Canada statement credits
    – 15% discount on some Air Canada metal redemptions
    – Low level 25k Aeroplan status for holding the card

    This card doesn’t do referrals.
  2. The NFCU Flagship Rewards Visa launched yesterday with 50,000 points after $4,000 spend in 90 days. The vitals:

    – $95 annual fee is not waived the first year
    – 4x travel, 3x dining, 1x elsewhere
    – Points are worth 1 cent each, no uplift
    – $100 airline credit
    – Yet another global entry or pre-check credit

    NFCU doesn’t love cycling, so hope for a big credit line.
  3. The American Express Hilton cards have increased sign-up bonuses:

    – Aspire: 200,000 Honors points after $6,000 spend in six months
    – Surpass: 130,000 Honors points and a free night certificate after $3,000 spend in six months
    – Honors: 70,000 Honors points and a free night certificate after $2,000 spend in six months
    – Business: 150,000 Honors points and a free night certificate after $8,000 spend in six months

    These are all available via referrals, please use another player’s referral or a churner’s referral rather than applying through a blog or head-on.
  4. The Marriott Bonvoy Business American Express has an increased sign-up bonus of 100,000 Bonvoy points and a 50,000 point free-night certificate after $8,000 spend in six months. The card’s $125 annual fee is not waived for the first year.

    This is available via referrals. The sign-up bonus is definitely worth the $125 annual fee with no credit reporting, but that doesn’t mean it’s a super strong bonus thanks to the terrible value of Bonvoy points.
  5. Stop & Shop, Giant, and Martins stores have 8x points earning on Zift gift cards through Thursday, limit $1,500-$2,000 per week. Meanwhile Giant Food has 2x earning on Mastercard gift cards with seemingly no cap? Finally Giant Food gets some love I guess.

    These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards.
  6. If you like picking up pennies: Register for Marriott Bonvoy’s Q4 promotion for 1,500 bonus points at non-resorts and 4,500 bonus points at resorts on stays of at least two nights through November 22.

    What’s the value of 1,500 Bonvoy points, you ask? I mean probably not over $5. Thanks Marriott.

Have a nice weekend!

A churner proves that hiking around a Marriott property is probably more valuable than their promo.

  1. Do this now: Register for double points at Hyatt’s Thompson hotels via the Hyatt mobile app through November 10.
  2. The Capital One Venture Rewards Visa card has an increased sign-up bonus of 75,000 miles and a $300 hotel credit when booked through the Capital One Travel portal after $4,000 spend in three months.

    This offer is widely available via referrals too, so use another churner’s referral and make their day. If you refer someone else to the card, apologize for the stupid Capital One Travel portal in advance.
  3. Giftcards.com has 10% off of gift cards including Visas with promo code SAVE10, limit $20 back per account. This one should stack with a shopping portal.
  4. American Express Offers has an offer for $200 off of $450+ at North American Marriott properties through November 30.
  5. Breeze Airways has 25% off of roundtrip base fares with promo code POSTCARD for travel between September 21 and February 10, 2027 with carveouts around the holidays.

    And I know you know what this means: it’s time for the next callout on Breeze Route Bingo™. Today’s route is VRB-PVU (Vero Beach, FL and Provo, UT)! If you got a bingo, reach out for validation and your prize.

Happy Wednesday friends!

The Breeze route planner’s previous delivery job was … weird.

  1. The Chase British Airways, Iberia, and Aer Lingus credit cards have heightened bonuses for 90,000 Avios after $5,000 spend in three months, and their $95 annual fee is not waived for the first year. Each card has different ongoing benefits after the sign-up bonus so if you’re going to hold the card, it’s worth investigating each. Generally the favorite is the British Airways flavor for its three award ticket fee reimbursements and companion ticket available after $30,000 spend.

    Side note: What is British Airways flavor? Don’t ask.
  2. USAA launched its Eagle Navigator Visa card. The vitals:

    – 50,000 points after $3,000 spend by January 31, 2027
    – $95 annual fee, not waived the first year
    – 3x points on travel and transit
    – 2x points everywhere else
    – Points worth 1.0 cents each for travel, or 0.7 cents for a statement credit
    – Points can be pooled with other USAA cards

    With the right plays and payments there’s probably room for another 2x Visa card in lots of manufactured spending wallets, but my compel-o-meter measurement gives this card a solid 5.5 out of 10.
  3. Bank of America has a new personal checking account bonus of $500 with $10,000+ in direct deposits within 90 days. This account is also eligible for a fast-track to Honors status in branch.
  4. Giftcards.com has 10% off of Virtual Visa gift cards with promo code LD10, which I can only assume stands for “Lucifer’s Dog, 10”. What a weird thing to have a promo code for but cool cool.

    Go through a portal, this deal reportedly stacks properly with the promo code.
  5. Kroger stores have a 4x fuel points promotion on third party gift cards excluding Amazon and flexible fuel cards running today through Monday evening.
  6. Stop & Shop, Giant, and Martins stores have 2x points earning on Mastercard gift cards through Wednesday, limit $1,500-$2,000 per week. Meanwhile Giant Food has 8x earning on Zift cards which, if you’ve done anything recently with Zift cards, frankly feels like a punk rather than a perk to its customers.

Happy weekend friends!

The forefather of the USAA Eagle Navigator Visa.

  1. Capital One has a 30% transfer bonus to JAL MileageBank through September 30, bringing the transfer ratio to 1,000:975.
  2. AA has new targeted loyalty point promotions for September on your account’s promo page. Reportedly 2,000 bonus Loyalty Points with two flights booked in premium economy, business class, or first class, and flown by the end of October is widely targeted.
  3. The Citi ThankYou Mastercard sent new targeted spend offers for September. We’ve seen:

    – 10% back on up to $800 in eligible in-store and online purchases monthly for September, October, November, and December

    Most things work for these except home improvement stores, wholesale clubs, and grocery stores.
  4. AirFrance / KLM FlyingBlue released its September promo rewards. US cities:

    – Economy: Washington, Chicago New York, Detroit, Los Angeles
    – Premium Economy: New York, San Francisco
    – Business: Minneapolis

    Prices are 18,750 miles, 30,000 miles, and 45,000 miles respectively, and you’ve still got time to book before the devaluation on September 8.
  5. American Express Membership Rewards has a 30% transfer bonus to Hilton through October 14, making the ratio 1,000:2,600.

    Hilton’s program is currently a dumpster fire sitting on the deck of a sinking oil tanker, but there can be use cases where this makes sense.
  6. JetBlue debuted its BlueFirst cabin, and I guess to prove the K-shape economic recovery model, is also reducing pitch in economy from 32″ to 30″.
  7. Smart & Final grocery stores have $10 off of your next purchase with a $50 One4All Ultimate gift card through Tuesday. Smart & Final deals are transactional, so scaling is generally easy.

Happy Wednesday!

How it’s going: The Hilton Honors program.

  1. The Rove travel and shopping portal added Copa ConnectMiles as a 1:1 transfer partner today. There’s also a 40% transfer bonus through the end of September, pushing this month’s ratio to 10:14, or 1:1.4 if you don’t like aesthetically pleasing numerology.
  2. Giftcards.com has a few interesting promotions:

    – 10-22% back through Capital One Shopping
    – $5 off of physical Visas with promo ECO5 (works with portals)
    – $10 Kroger gift card with a $100 virtual Visa with promo KROGER10
    – 10% off of virtual Visas with promo code SD10OFF
    – 10% off through Slickdeals

    Mastercard gift cards are no longer eligible for portal cashback for the second time in the last 30 days.
  3. Bilt has a 25-100% transfer bonus to Virgin Atlantic FlyingClub today only, with the size of the bonus based on your Bilt status and your willingness to spend Itchy and Scratchy bucks, err, Bilt Cash.
  4. The Barclays Carnival Rewards Mastercard has a new 50,000 point sign-up bonus after $1,000 spend in 90 days. The vitals:

    – Points are worth 1 cent each for Carnival redemptions
    – 2x earn at grocery and restaurants
    – 1x status point per dollar

    I reached out to ask if you get priority onboard water slide access with the card, and the pressroom said “What?” so I guess I like those odds.

Happy Tuesday!

For some reason not all the waterslides need priority access.

  1. The American Express Delta cards have new, highest ever offers through November 4, but caveat emptor because those marked with “*” are “as-high-as” offers, which means without some sleuthing you won’t know what your bonus is until you’re approved (it feels like that sort of offer ought to be addressed by law, but I’m just a guy who writes stuff on the internet, what do I know?)

    – Gold: 80,000* SkyMiles + $250 credit after $3,000 spend in six months
    – Platinum: 90,000* SkyMiles + $300 credit after $4,000 in six months
    – Reserve: 50,000 SkyMiles + two free round-trip flights in Main Cabin or Comfort Plus after $10,000 spend in six months

    – Business Gold: 90,000 SkyMiles after $6,000 spend in six months
    – Business Platinum: 100,000 SkyMiles after $8,000 spend in six months
    – Business Reserve: 200,000 SkyMiles after $20,000 spend in six months

    The personal Reserve free-flight certificates have a value of well over $3,000 for the right use cases, and there aren’t restrictions on fares either. Eligible destinations are the continental 48 states, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands on Delta branded metal with a 21 day advance purchase requirement. These are all available via referral, do that or remember this gem.
  2. The Rove shopping and travel portal launched a few new features today:

    – Third-party gift card sales, which earn miles on purchase
    – A new mobile app
    – In-store earning with card-linked offers

    They’ve also added card-linked dining rewards and revamped their hotel portal. Rove has the potential to be Pepper 3.0 with these changes, hopefully without the unredeemable loyalty currency a few years later.
  3. Google Travel’s AI companion now has access to award pricing and availability for Alaska, AA, Choice Hotels, Hilton, and Wyndham. “In the coming weeks” they’re adding Accor, Flying Blue, Hyatt, LATAM, and Lufthansa group airlines.

    It hallucinates award space that doesn’t really exist, though that is likely a temporary phenomenon. (Thanks to isaacides)
  4. American Express offers has an offer on Hilton cards for 13,500 bonus Hilton points with $4,500 spend, up to three times through December 31.
  5. Stop & Shop stores have 10x points on Delta gift cards through Thursday, limit $2,000 per week. Giant and Martins have 8x, and Giant Food has 6x.

Happy Friday!

Watch out for evaporating award space on, *checks notes*, ZephyrJet?

  1. Giftcards.com has 10% off of $100 Visa gift cards with promo code SD10OFF, limit three. I’m pretty sure the SD doesn’t mean shutdown, but you can’t ever be completely certain. Portals usually don’t combine with promo codes but usually doesn’t equal always.
  2. One of churning’s early achievements is to break American Express’s application status site – not intentionally, but rather from sheer volume. AmEx has just made that trophy harder with a new Application Status site better equipped to handle our shenanigans:

    https://newaccounts.americanexpress.com/eaol/welcome.do

    The first one to break this site gets a commemorative cookie.
  3. United announced new routes to Japan and Europe which is interesting for two reasons:

    – Award availability is usually good at launch
    – They’re adding a bunch of narrow body A321-XLR routes

    You do you, but personally I’m not flying long haul on a narrow body aircraft except in dire situations, so pay attention to equipment when you book these new routes.
  4. Meijer stores have a promotion for 10,000 mPerks points with a $100 One4All gift card through September 8, limit one per mPerks account.

Happy Thursday!

Watch out, the commemorative cookies are going fast.

  1. The Imprint Rakuten American Express card has a $200 or 20,000 Membership Rewards, or 20,000 Bilt Rewards sign-up bonus after $2,000 spend in 90 days depending on your Rakuten account. The heightened bonus ends today.

    Imprint American Express cards are useful for several reasons, not the least of which being that you probably shouldn’t be concerned about an Imprint shutdown so go wild.
  2. Citi ThankYou has a 25% transfer bonus to Leading Hotels of the World’s Leaders Club through September 19. The transfer bonus brings the ratio to 4:1, or exactly the same as the regular American Express transfer rate.

    David shared an interesting analysis of Leaders Club redemptions showing a post-tax value of generally 1.9 cents per Membership Reward transferred, or I guess now per ThankYou point transferred so it is worth paying attention.
  3. Staples online has fee-free $200 Visa virtual gift cards on sale, limit four per transaction and five total.

    These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards and yes, there are liquidation methods, always be probing. (Thanks to DoC)
  4. Hy-Vee stores have $10 off of $150+ in Visa gift cards through Tuesday, limit one per transaction. It should be easy to figure out how to scale this one.

    These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards.
  5. American Express Offers has an offer for $200 off of $1,000 spend at Lufthansa group airlines booked through American Express Travel by October 31.

And yes, there wasn’t actually a Kroger FYI yesterday, oops; stand by for that one later. Also, happy Tuesday friends!

Instructions unclear; liquidating Hy-Vee gift card didn’t work.