Category: Gift Cards

  1. Do this now: Register for IHG’s promotion for 2,000 or 8,000 bonus points for two or four night stays, respectively through August 31. There’s also an offer for 2x points for IHG Business Rewards members through December 31.
  2. Do this now: Register for I Prefer’s promotion for a $50 reward certificate for a 2+ night stay at each of their properties, as long “each” means five or fewer.
  3. Raley’s, Nob Hill, and Bel Air stars have 15x points on Lowes and One4All gift cards, some of which convert to Home Depot, through Tuesday.

    This is an outstanding deal.
  4. American Express offers has new offers for:

    – Expedia: 10% back on prepaid Hotels through August 4
    – Cambria Hotels: $100 off of $300+ through September 1
    – Choice Ascend Hotels: $50 off of $200+ through September 1

    Gamers gonna game.
  5. Capital One checking has a $400 new account bonus with promo code FLASH400, provided that you receive at least two direct deposits within 75 days of account opening. A few notes:

    – Don’t do this if you play games with Capital One, the banking side might cause you to lose your credit cards
    – If you have Discover checking or savings, consider closing those accounts quickly so you can either avoid those banking shutdowns, or get this sign-up bonus in the future
    – Business account ACH pushes often look like direct deposits
    – Please close these accounts after you get the bonus

    For more on holding checking accounts at Citi, Chase, and Capital One especially, see SideShowBob233’s opus.

Happy Thursday!

Since we shared SideShowBob233’s opus, we might as well share his award winning art.

You’ve no doubt heard it in 1,000 other places so I won’t belabor the point, but Spirit shutdown over the weekend. I’m sure any of you that had Spirit plans had a backup, and I’m sure you already know to do a chargeback for outstanding fares if you don’t already have an automatic refund. For those keeping score at home, my prediction was wrong: I’d guessed in January that we’d lose them by April, but they held out until May 2.

  1. The Citi AA Platinum Select personal Mastercard has an offer for 80,000 AA miles after $1,000 spend in three months, and the annual fee is waived for the first year. Any random six digit number will work on the application, but I’m partial to 311437 for reasons.
  2. The Chase IHG personal cards have a targeted bonus of 3,000 bonus points on $1,000 spend through June 25.
  3. Staples has two Visa gift card promotions:

    – $200 Visas for $199.05 online
    – $200 Visas fee-free in-store through Saturday

    These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards.
  4. Chase Ultimate Rewards has two transfer bonuses:

    – 65% to Marriott Bonvoy through May 15
    – 20% to AirFrance / KLM FlyingBlue through May 27

    The 65% transfer bonus to Bonvoy brings it into the realm of an ok deal, but still not in the range of a speculative transfer.
  5. Capital One has a 20% transfer bonus to Qantas Frequent Flyer through May 31. This one has great utility for Emirates First redemptions specifically.
  6. Major US airlines have airfare deals for stranded Spirit passengers for travel in the next week or two. Most of these work whether or not you’re actually a stranded Spirit passenger, and some of them are actually sort-of a good deal.

Happy Monday!

The MEAB prediction machine.

  1. Do this now: Check for targeted offers from Hilton. I got 2,000 bonus points per stay, but various offers exist including stacking stays for up to 15,000 points.
  2. Kroger stores have a 4x fuel points promotion on third party gift cards excluding Amazon and flexible fuel gift cards, and on fixed value Visa and Mastercard gift cards running through Tuesday, May 12.
  3. The Chase Sapphire Reserve personal card has an increased sign-up bonus of 150,000 Ultimate Rewards after $6,000 spend in three months. This bonus is available via referrals, so use someone’s referral and make their day. If you don’t use a referral, you’re probably using someone else’s affiliate link so be intentional.

    Also, yes this is a good card offer, and no, it’s not the bee’s knees, the cat’s meow, or the chicken’s foot. Yes, I made that last saying up.
  4. The personal Chase IHG cards have increased sign-up bonuses:

    – IHG Premier: 150,000+35,000 points after $3000 spend in three months and $6,000 spend in six months, respectively
    – IHG Traveler: 90,000 points after $2,000 in three months and $4,000 spend in six months, respectively

    These aren’t currently available via referrals but my tea leaves suggest they might be on Monday. Of course, I’m really bad at tea leaves.
  5. H-E-B stores have a $20 H-E-B gift card free with the purchase of a $100 airbnb gift card. Airbnb lets you pool gift cards in a single account.

    Say what you will about H-E-B vs Meijer, but 2026 seems biased toward the former.

And some small news items:

  1. Citi is ending ThankYou Points sharing between different cardholders on May 17. This was previously limited to 100,000 a year times n, where n = (1 + shenanigans).
  2. AirFrance/KLM FlyingBlue has released its May promo awards for travel through October. US cities include almost all of the airline’s international routes, which should tell you something about demand, especially on the lower leg on the K-shaped economy.
  3. American Express has a 20% transfer bonus to Hilton Honors through May, bringing the ratio to 1,000:2,400. It’s not the worst redemption in the world, but that’s like saying that American cheese isn’t the worst cheese in the world: Objectively correct but missing the point.
  4. American Express’s Gold card benefits changed slightly, but it probably doesn’t matter for most of you.

Have a nice weekend friends!

The worst cheese, you ask? American cheese with ketchup.

  1. The Capital One Quicksilver Mastercard is changing:

    – Moving cardholders from Mastercard to Discover (possibly targeted)
    – Adding 3x categories at grocery stores and gas stations

    There’s been a lot of hate about the change, but for a manufactured spender’s perspective this is great because: You’ll have 3x unlimited gas and grocery transferrable miles when paired with another Capital One card, and if you don’t like the Discover transition, you can opt out by May 4th, just as the Star Wars gods foretold.
  2. According to the Wall Street Journal, Spirit and the government are negotiating a $500 Million rescue package.
  3. Kroger has 4x fuel points on third party gift cards other than Amazon and flexible fuel gift cards, since the preceding two weeks’s promotion for the same thing wasn’t enough.

    It turns out that when fuel prices soar, fuel points are worth more. Wild right? Oh wait, no it’s not.
  4. AirFrance and KLM’s FlyingBlue program has a promotion for 10,000 bonus miles for paid economy flights from the US to Amsterdam or Paris and beyond on AirFrance or KLM metal. Book by May 3 for travel through September 30 and credit to your US FlyingBlue account.
  5. JetBlue has a promotion for double elite tile earning (yes, it’s silly to even write “that in a sentence “double elite tile”). Book $1,000+ before taxes and fees by tomorrow and stay by August 31.
  6. Meijer MPerks has 7,500 points with the purchase of $100+ in Visa gift cards, but the promotion is limited to one per MPerks account, also known as 🤏.

Have a nice Thursday friends!

Sample Star Wars god.

  1. American Express Offers has new targeted offers for:

    – AirFrance / KLM: $250 or $400 back on $1,000+ or $2,000+ spend through May 31
    – Marriott: $50 or $150 off of $250+ or $500+ spend through August 22
    – Hilton: $40 off of $200+ spend through August 15

    For the hotel offer, a gift card is an easy game to play. For the airline offer, its not as easy but just like Jurassic Park taught us: gamers uh, find a way.
  2. Wells Fargo Offers and US Bank Cash-Back Deals have new offers at various Marriott properties:

    – Renaissance: 15% back up to $75 on $100+ through April 30
    – TownPlace Suites: 15% back up to $57 on $100+ through April 30
    – Le Meridian: 15% back up to $57 on $100+ through April 30
    – Marriott: 10% back up to $80 on $100+ through May 15

    These are usually a lot easier to deal with than American Express Offers.
  3. Staples stores have fee-free $200 Visas through Saturday, limit nine per person.

    These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards.
  4. ANA and Japan Airlines both set their fuel surcharges on the two month rolling average of the cost of Singapore Kerosine, which you might be surprised to learn, is a lot higher than it was a few months ago. As a result, the surcharges for both airlines have approximately doubled. You can find discussion and a few data points here.

    Someone please queue the whah-whah trombones for me.

Apparently the Japanese whah-whah trombones also have new fuel surcharges.

  1. Capital One rebranded its Spark Miles and Spark Miles Select business credit cards, and it brought new sign-up bonuses in the process:

    – VentureOne 1.5x everywhere, 50,000 miles after $4,500+ in three months
    – Venture: 2x everywhere and 75,000+75,000 miles after $7,500+ in three months and $30,000+ in six months

    I’m sure someone thought this was a good idea, but choosing to rebrand other cards as Venture when there’s already a Venture X (charge) card that everyone just calls “Venture” is a choice. Also, hello inconsistency with spacing. (Thanks to padbodh)
  2. Bilt introduced a way to earn points through referrals to your enemies which is frankly quite innovative. Richard Kerr was quoted in my imagination as saying:

    “We know that after failing to pay mortgages, numerous social media gaffs, and building the most obtuse rewards platform in history that you’d hesitate to refer our program to your friends and family, but we think you won’t have such qualms against your enemies. Now you can earn while you get revenge!”

    Well said.
  3. The AA eShopping portal has a promotion for 500 bonus miles with $200+ spend through Monday.

    Giftcards.com remains a viable option, especially when you’re stacking offers.
  4. Chase Offers has an offer for a 10% statement credit with Best Western spend May 24, with a maximum credit of $32.
  5. Southwest has a promotion for 2x companion pass qualifying points on cobranded card spend at home improvement stores on up to $10,000 through June 30, registration required.
  6. Breeze has a promotion for 20% off of base fares booked by tomorrow and flown through January 12, 2027 excluding winter holiday travel with promo code PLANIT.

    I realize it’s been a while since we’ve had another Breeze RouteMap Dartboard Bingo™ call so let’s make today’s a twofer: South Bend IN to Fort Meyers FL, and Cincinnati OH – Portland ME. If you got Bingo, come see the host for your prize.

Happy Wednesday!

Bilt Partner restaurant Tom’s Diner shows that it’s a team player.

  1. Accor has a registration required promotion for double points at North America and Brazil properties for stays booked by August 8 and completed by September 8.
  2. Office Depot / OfficeMax stores have $15 off of $300+ in Mastercard gift cards through Saturday. Don’t forget that sometimes math maths and that three $200s might work out better than two $200s.

    These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards.
  3. SoFi paired with Swagbacks has a net sign-up bonus of $815:

    – $415 from Swagbucks for new accounts
    – $400 from SoFi after $5,000 in direct deposits within 30 days

    If you already have a SoFi account, it’s probably a good time to close it for next time, eh?
  4. Early this year, Citi went rogue and decided that it wouldn’t allow corporate debit payments on its personal cards. Last week, Bank of America copied Citi by showering siren, goat, and sobbing emojis on the churning community, at least vicariously.

    Well, just like it’s possible for a photocopier to copy a photo of a photocopier, Citi is copying Bank of America who was copying Citi by disabling those same payments on its business cards too as of June 1.
  5. Meijer MPerks has a promotion 10,000 points on $100+ in One4all gift cards, limit one per MPerks account.

Happy Monday!

Citi IT producing a copy of a Bank of America photocopier.

  1. AA raised checked bag fees yesterday to match JetBlue, United, Delta, and Southwest. Then, Alaska decided it was time too.

    For those keeping track at home, that leaves exactly zero major US airlines that didn’t raise bag fees effectively in tandem.
  2. AA is also devaluing elite benefits for Basic Economy fares, starting on May 18:

    – No more free seat assignments
    – No more complimentary domestic upgrades
    – No more systemwide upgrades
    – Higher checked bag fees where applicable

    There’s still some value in AA elite status, but their drive to make that de-minimus is succeeding.
  3. American Express has newly targeted links for 70,000 Membership Rewards for opening a new business checking account [LINK 1] or [LINK 2]. Both versions require $15,000 in deposits within the first 30 days, five transactions, and maintaining at least a $15,000 account balance for 60 days after deposit.

    For things like these, I prefer to transfer in $15,005 and then schedule five $1 ACHs out.
  4. Stop & Shop, Giant, and Martins  have 8x points on Zift Zillions cards through Thursday. Some of these cards are convertible to high value brands like Amazon and Home Depot. In the most surprising twist of 2026 yet, even Giant Food has the same offer. I assume their corporate overlords are playing reverse April Fools for the entire month.
  5. The American Express Business Platinum’s generic travel landing page has newly targeted no-lifetime language (NLL) offers for 200,000 Membership Rewards after $20,000 spend in three months. This isn’t the best offer out there, but it is the best NLL offer we’ve seen recently.
  6. It’s not just you, American Express airline incidental credit tricks didn’t work for at least a week in March, but they seem to be working again for more recent purchases; take posts like this with a grain of salt for a few weeks.

Have a nice weekend!

AA and Alaska’s inspirational red wine for April, 2026.