Category: Gift Cards

  1. Do this now (if you like camping I guess): Register for Hyatt’s promotion for 2,000 bonus points per night at Under Canvas locations through July 1.
  2. The Chase Hyatt Business Visa card has an increased sign-up bonus of 80,000 Hyatt points after $10,000 spend in three months.

    This bonus is available for referrals too, and remember that good things happen to 5/24 dreamers when new Chase business card bonuses come out.
  3. The American Express issued Marriott cards have increased sign-up bonuses available direct and via referrals:

    – Brilliant: 200,000 Bonvoy points after $6,000 spend in six months
    – Bevy: 175,000 Bonvoy Points after $5,000 spend in six months
    – Business: Five free night awards after $9,000 spend in six months

    Of course use a referral instead of a random link on ye-olde internet.
  4. Kroger stores have a 4x fuel points promotion on third party gift cards other than Amazon and flexible fuel cards today through Sunday.

    The current state of gas prices seems to be good news for resellers.
  5. American Express has targeted spend offers worth between +0.25x and +1.5x on between $20,000 and $30,000 spend.
  6. Marriott Bonvoy raised the free night award top-off limit to 25,000 points, 10,000 higher than before. According to my future-news-o-tron, next week Bonvoy will raise average award redemption costs by 10,000 points.
  7. Giant, Giant Food Stores, Martin’s, and Stop & Shop stores have 2x rewards on Mastercard Gift Cards through Thursday, limit $1,500 per account at Giant and $2,000 per account otherwise.

    These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards.

Have a nice weekend friends!

The all new, always sophisticated, future-news-o-tron 2,000.

  1. Ford launched a new Comenity issued Visa. It looks great until you see that Ford Rewards points are worth only 0.5 cents each toward the purchase of a new car, after which it looks just ok. The vitals:

    – No annual-fee
    – 15,000 point ($75) sign-up bonus
    – 6x (3%) back on grocery, gas, restaurants, EV charging, insurance, tolls, and parking
    – 2x (1%) for other purchases

    It’s not unheard of for a churner to use an auto-manufacturer card to churn a car, but this one would be a lot of time at your favorite Kroger, Speedway, or similar to end up with a Ford. The fact that it’s a Comenity card could change the calculus.
  2. GiftCards.com has a promotion for a $10 GiftCards.com gift card with a $100 Visa or Mastercard gift card through tomorrow night using promo code SPDBOGO. This is limited to three per account, but players don’t let that stop them.

    These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards.
  3. MGM Rewards has a free 90 day status match and challenge to keep status through January 2028. Match status by the end of June, and retain status after 90 days with either 50,000 Tier Credits for Gold or 150,000 Tier Credits for Platinum.

    For those mathing at home, 50,000 Tier Points is a breeze to earn with only *checks notes, furrows brow* $12,500 in spend. *sigh*

Happy Thursday!

Good news: It’s not against the rules to buy a kids Ford and say you churned a car, I checked.

  1. The Rove shopping and portal travel added SAS EuroBonus as a 1:1 transfer partner on Monday, and they’ve got a 20% transfer bonus through April 8. You can search for award space on their ‘Explore’ tool too.

    SAS EuroBonus is great for its 60,000 mile business class redemptions between the US and Europe, at least as long as you can find availability.
  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. The Emirates partner award chart changed, including some increases and some decreases. Generally it’s a positive change after dozens of bad ones from the program, or as it’s called in the industry, five canceled flights followed by one diverted flight that got you 25% of the way there.
  4. More Saks stores are dying. If one of those is near you, perhaps visit now to cash out American Express Platinum credits before you can’t.

Have a nice Tuesday friends!

I don’t think Mesa and Rove are anything alike, but, uh, they are both four letter names.

  1. Do this now: Register for a widely targeted promotion for bonus AA Loyalty Points on flights booked by April 30.
  2. Do this now: Register for Wyndham’s promotion for 7,500 bonus points for each two night stay booked by May 9 for travel through the end of June, up to four stays. Barclays co-brand cardholders qualify for an extra 7,500 bonus points on one stay, as long as you use that card to pay. Paid Wyndham Insider members also qualify another 7,500 bonus points, but, don’t waste your time.
  3. The Chase Aeroplan Mastercard has an increased sign-up bonus of 85,000 Aeroplan miles after $4,000 spend in three months. The card’s $95 annual fee is not waived for the first year. This offer is generally available but isn’t the public offer at the main Chase landing page. The link comes from both an email and postal mail campaign that started this week. (Thanks to wake-and-bake)
  4. The First Bank Shop Your Way Rewards Mastercard has an increased sign-up bonus of $100 after $1,000 spend in three months. The card is generally notable for (1) being an uncapped 5% earner at gas stations, and (2) a generally worse version of the defunct Citi Shop Your Way Rewards card.
  5. RobinHood announced a new Platinum credit card complete with “big coupon book energy”™ and a $695 annual fee. A few notes:

    – If you like twice monthly $10 DoorDash credits, this card’s got your number!
    – How about a $20 monthly dining credit at participating restaurants? Check!
    – Are you the only churner without a Priority Pass card? Good news!
    – Chase Edit credits aren’t hard enough for you? RobinHood’s got your back!

    For the “think biggers” among us, it earns 5x on dining up to $50,000 annually, 1x on regular spend, and a relatively easily usable 2x$150 travel credits. The other credits are frankly just a ton of work and largely noise. My best hope for this card is that it pays affiliate commission so I can be entertained watching the blog-o-sphere try and sell this one.
  6. Meijer MPerks has 50,000 bonus points on $500 in third party gift cards other than Amazon, limit one per MPerks account. With the right gift cards and buyers group purchases, you can do really well on these, be creative.
  7. Kroger Stores have a promotion for 4x fuel points on One4all gift cards through Tuesday. There’s a coupon for 4x fuel points on fixed value Visas and Mastercards too.
  8. Marriott Vacations has a promotion for 25,000 bonus points (worth about $120 and a bloody nose) on five night or longer stays booked by March 31 for travel through July 31. No registration required.
  9. Chase Offers has 10% back on Air India bookings on $100+ in spend, up to $50 back, through March 31.

    The best game for this one is to not fly Air India under any circumstances, ever. Fun fact: It’s actually a good deal to pay $50 to get out of flying Air India.

Happy Thursday!

No punchline today, just a real, undoctored photo of an Air India flight post landing to explain your $50.

We’re going to keep it short and sweet today:

  1. Chase has a 20% transfer bonus to British Airways, Ibera, and Aer Lingus Avios through March, making the transfer ratio 1:1.2. Because you can transfer Avios between airlines too, this is effectively a transfer bonus for Qatar, FinnAir, and Vueling.

    There’s a small issue on the redemption side: Qatar flights aren’t flying at the moment. For that matter, neither are non Avios airline Emirates flights as of this writing.
  2. Capital One has a 30% transfer bonus to Preferred Hotels I Prefer through April 1, making the transfer ratio 1:2.6.
  3. AirFrance / KLM FlyingBlue has March promo rewards for travel booked in March and flown by August 31. The list of promo reward US cities is huge, which should tell you something about US European summer travel demand. Those cities are: Orlando, Seattle, Miami, Detroit, Chicago, Portland, San Diego, Las Vegas, San Francisco, and Atlanta.

    I searched each of these cities for business class availability and found only a single business class seat at low level during the promo period, which should also tell you something about European summer travel demand. This makes the transfer ratio nearly 1:0.
  4. Staples stores have fee-free Mastercard gift cards through Saturday, “limit nine per customer” which practically speaking means limit nine per transaction as long as you’re a schmoozer. Fan favorite golden liquidation Costco is a popular outlet for these.

    These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards.

Have a nice Monday friends!

Head of FlyingBlue promo rewards explains why there’s a single promo business class seat.

  1. The American Express Business Hilton card has an increased sign up bonus of 175,000 Hilton points and a free night certificate after $8,000 spend in six months. This offer will likely be available for referrals on Friday or Monday. (Thanks to DDG)
  2. Monday saw new American Express Hilton no-lifetime language (NLL) links on personal cards, and we’ve got a new, different set today in case Monday’s expire.

    – Honors: 70,000 points and a free night certificate after $2,000+ in six months
    – Surpass: 130,000 points and a free night certificate after $3,000+ in six months
    – Aspire: 175,000 points after $6,000+ in six months

    These should also be available for referrals on Friday or Monday, but they won’t be NLL.
  3. VanillaGift.com has fee-free Visa gift cards with code VGWOMEN through March 8. For scalers, the purchase limit: $10,000 per account per rolling 24 hours, to the minute.

    These are Incomm gift cards.
  4. Capital One Shopping has a targeted heightened $80 referral bonus, both the referred and the referrer (or referer, where my computer scientists at?) get the bonus, limit $1,900 per account.

    You don’t need a Capital One account to use Capital One Shopping, and it’s great for manufactured discounts.
  5. Citi ThankYou points has a 25% transfer bonus to Wyndham Rewards through March 21. There was a time where this represented amazing, outsized value. Today, it’s more like a “extra value menu” kind of deal.
  6. American Express Lowes cards are being transferred to Synchrony on April 13. This is all around good because: payment games, a new AmEx slot, and perhaps a workaround to a Synchrony ban.
  7. Southwest has a 30% off fare sale for flights booked by today and flown between April 7 and May 20 with promo code ONBOARD. They’re excluding Sunday travel because reasons.

Happy Wednesday!

Who says programmers can’t be funny, even if they can’t spell?

  1. The American Express Hilton personal cards have new no-lifetime language (NLL) heightened, (or maybe we should say elevatored) sign-up bonuses:

    – Hilton Honors: 70,000 points and a free night certificate after $2,000+ in six months
    – Hilton Surpass: 130,000 points and a free night certificate after $3,000+ in six months
    – Hilton Aspire: 175,000 points after $6,000+ in six months

    These aren’t currently available by referral, so if timing isn’t critical and if you’re NLL agnostic, consider giving it a few days to see if that changes.
  2. Meijer MPerks has two promotions through tomorrow, both are limited to one per MPerks account:

    – 7,500 points with $100+ in Visa and Mastercard gift cards
    – 10,000 points with $100+ in One4all gift cards

    The open loop cards are Pathward / BlackHawk Network cards.
  3. American Express Membership Rewards has a 15% transfer bonus to Avianca LifeMiles through March 28.
  4. United is changing earning for tickets purchased April 2 or later. Chase United co-brand card holders (team Rocket), and possibly United debit holders with spend will come out ahead. Non-co-brand card holders (team Kirby) lose:

    – Team Rocket: Increased paid ticket mileage earning
    – Team Kirby: Decread paid ticket mileage earning

    – Team Rocket: 10% – 15% lower priced award redemptions
    – Team Kirby: 0% lower priced award redemptions

    – Team Rocket: Increased premium cabin award availability
    – Team Kirby: The Scott Kirby Special™, also known as nothing

    In case you were wondering, Scott Kirby has no relation to pink Kirby based on my exhaustive research.
  5. Office Depot/OfficeMax stores have $15 off of $300+ in Visa gift cards through Saturday. Even multiples of $300 make churners happier.

    These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards.
  6. Giant, Giant Food Stores, Martin’s, Stop & Shop have 8x points on Zillions Zift gift cards through Thursday. For once, Giant Food gets the same deal as the other three, bananas but true.

Have a nice Monday friends!

It’s easy to see how the Scott Kirby / pink Kirby confusion arises based on Scott’s official portrait.

  1. Chase Ultimate Rewards has a 40% transfer bonus to Virgin Atlantic through the end of February.
  2. Kracken brokerage has a bonus on incoming stock portfolio transfers through March 31 and held on the platform through April 1, 2027. The bonus depends on whether you’re a paid Kracken+ member, which costs $4.99 monthly:

    – Non-member: 1%
    – Member: 2%

    You’ll pay about $70 over 14 months to be a member, so portfolios over $7,000 in value will do better with paid membership. You’ll also earn $150 by going through Rakuten. You can ACATS transfer in and out with this promotion, no need to liquidate assets and incur a taxable event. Apropos of nothing, SPIC insurance limits are $500,000 on securities. (Thanks to DoC)
  3. The Rakuten American Express card has an increased sign-up bonus of $200 after $2,000 spend in 90 days. This is a third party American Express issued by First Electronic Bank.

    This card is an absolute banger for the right use cases when you link it to a Rakuten account that earns Bilt or Membership Rewards if you’re good at grocery store spend. It is, shall we say, bordering on Unsung Hero territory.
  4. Office Depot/OfficeMax stores have $15 off of $300+ in Mastercard gift cards through Saturday. For best results, buy even multiples of $300.

    These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards.

Have a nice Monday friends!

Also apropos of nothing: A book showing Bilt’s messaging changes since the launch of 2.0