Category: Gift Cards

  1. Cardless’s Avianca Elite American Express card has an increased tiered sign-up bonus worth 120,000 LifeMiles in aggregate:

    – 80,000 LifeMiles after $4,500 spend in 90 days
    – 40,000 LifeMiles after $25,000 spend in 365 days

    Cardless has a one card per person lifetime limit, so consider whether cards like the Qatar Privilege Club may better fit your style. The Avianca card’s best features are that: it’s a third party American Express, and that it includes a Lifemiles+ lite membership which gives award redemption rebates and a cheap upgrade to Lifemiles+ basic membership for free award cancellations.
  2. American Express Offers has card-linked offers for either a statement credit, co-brand points, or Membership Rewards after spending $2,000-$7,000 depending on the offer. The rebates’ average values quite good at around 10% of spend. (Thanks to DoC)
  3. Giant, Giant Foods, Martins, and Stop & Shop stores have 3x points on Visa gift card purchases through Thursday, limit $2,000 spend per account.
  4. Giftcards.com has a bonus $10 giftcards.com gift card with the purchase of a $100 Virtual Visa gift card through Wednesday using promo code GOBBLE, limit one per transaction. The great irony sadness is that giftcards.com gift cards can’t be used to purchase Visas or Mastercards.
  5. Do this now: Check your email inbox for a targeted $50 Marriott Bonvoy bonus gift card, but also note that it expires on December 21. A good search query is probably: “in:anywhere subject:Enjoy a gift from Marriott Bonvoy to celebrate your upcoming stay”.

Happy Monday!

Once per lifetime Cardless credit card unboxing photo, presumably.

  1. Do this now: Register for 20% back in World of Hyatt points at Homes & Hideaways properties worldwide EDIT: No need to register, you’ll automatically get 20% back for award bookings through March 9, 2025.
  2. H-E-B stores have a promotion for a $20 H-E-B gift card with $100 or more in several gift card brands including bulk friendly like Airbnb, Lowes, and Home Depot through November 28. Scale with multiple H-E-B accounts. (Thanks to DoC)
  3. Kroger.com has 5% off of $100 Visa e-gift cards using promo code TURKEY2024 through Tuesday. The purchase won’t code as grocery but will earn fuel points. (Thanks to GCA)
  4. In case you needed further proof that Southwest hates cheapskates, they’ve launched a paid and award ticket sale for crappy flights:

    – Departing before 8AM
    – Departing after 7PM

    You have to book by tonight, but for travel at least 21 days out so that you’ve got plenty of time to anticipate your upcoming crappy flight, unless your airport is SNA; they continue to exclude it from sales because reasons.
  5. Alaska has a sale for flights to Sydney or Auckland that (in theory) connect in Honolulu, Hi for travel through September 30, 2025. The paid fare sale isn’t amazing, but on the award side I’m seeing:

    – Prices about 17% cheaper than the low level Alaska redemption price
    – The discount applying on non-stop, direct flights too

    There’s decent availability in down-under Summer time.

Happy Thursday! (It’s Thursday right?)

My office calendar explains everything.

  1. American Express Offers has a card linked offer for 20,000 Membership Rewards or $200 after $1,000 spend with AirFrance or KLM through December 31.
  2. The three Chase co-branded Avios credit cards have an increased sign-up bonus of 100,000 Avios after $7,500 spend in six months, and each has a $95 annual fee.

    – AerLingus Avios
    – British Airways Avios
    – Iberia Avios

    It is possible to hold multiple Avios cards, but unfortunately they’re still personal cards. (Thanks to makhav)
  3. VanillaGift.com has 100% off of purchase fees of orders of at least $250 with promo code VGTHANKS24 through November 28.

    These are Incomm gift cards, and they won’t earn credit card points when purchased with American Express.
  4. Rakuten has “unlimited” $40 or 4,000 Membership Rewards points referral bonuses for both the referrer and the referred, provided the referred makes $40 of purchases through the portal within 90 days.

    What could possibly go wrong with unlimited referrals?

Happy Tuesday!

Post-bot, pre-shutdown Rakuten dashboard view.

Gift card fraud has been running rampant at US grocery stores this year. Kroger, BlackHawk, and Pathward have been making changes to make fraud harder recently, and that’s especially escalated in the last several weeks. Updates for gift card buyers:

  • The newest batches of BestBuy and Apple gift cards are now geo-locked to the store they were shipped to (they won’t activate at other stores, and this locking applies to different stores in the same chain in the same city)
  • Older stock bulk gift card brands like HomeDepot, BestBuy, and Apple are slowly being removed from Kroger’s POS terminal software so they can’t be activated
  • Visa gift cards are going away at some stores, replaced by higher fee Mastercards with better tamper proofing
  • New gift card packaging now includes the phrase “This package is the property of BHN until purchased”
  • Kroger has installed new one-way gift card hangers in some stores that only allow removing cards from the hanger, but don’t allow putting them back

I think it’s safe to assume that geo-locking and better gift card inventory management will spread to other gift card brands quickly, and it’s also safe to assume that BlackHawk Network (BHN) is actively working on language and tamper measures to improve their legal position when fraud and theft take place.

Stay safe out there!

The scammers almost got me with this one!

  1. The Citi Shop Your Way Rewards Mastercard card sent new mid-month spend offers that stack with existing offers. We’ve seen:

    – $50 off of $750+ in online spend
    – $70 off of $1,000+ in online spend
    – 200,000 Shop Your Way Rewards points with $750+ in online spend
    – 250,000 Shop Your Way Rewards points with $1,000+ in online spend

    (Thanks to BrandonV, SPX, Y, and Charlie)
  2. The Cardless Qatar cards have both increased sign-up bonuses and increased on-going spend bonuses through the end of the 2024.

    – Infinite: 80,000 Avios after $5,000 spend in 90 days, plus uncapped 6x at restaurants and 2x everywhere else
    – Signature: 60,000 Avios after $3,000 spend in 90 days, plus uncapped 4x at restaurants and 2x everywhere else

    There’s a status play with the Infinite card that’s even better with the increased spending bonuses, and so is the Infinite’s rebate on award taxes and fees after $15,000 spend.
  3. The Wyndham Business Earner credit card gives Diamond status with Wyndham, which can be matched to Caesars Rewards Diamond status. The match for elites that earned status through the card only is going away on January 31, 2025 though, reducing the value of the card and the value of any trademarks paid for based on the process.

    You might want to care because Caesars Diamond gives an annual, free four-night stay at Atlantis provided you gamble for four hours during your stay, but there are smaller benefits like show tickets, no resort fees, and free parking at Caesars properties too.
  4. Citi added an extended warranty benefit to its no-annual fee Mastercards, doubling the warranty for up to 24 months after the factory warranty expires. The Citi warranty exclusions list is smaller than is typical too. (Thanks to Country Boy)
  5. Giftcards.com has $6 off of $100 Visa gift cards with promo code EARLYJOY through November 28. Shopping portals usually don’t combine with promotion codes at giftcards.com, but if something goes wrong, sometimes they do. There’s a Chase offer for 5% back on up to $1,000 spend too.

    These are Pathward gift cards.
  6. Office Depot / OfficeMax stores have $15 off of $300 or more in Mastercard gift cards through Saturday. Always buy in even multiples of $300 for best results.

    These are Pathward gift cards.

Watch out, filing a complaint with Caesars may not be successful, I guess?

  1. Do this now: Register for Hyatt’s promotion for 3,000 bonus points per night at Hyatt Vacation Club properties between December 1 and March 30, 2025 with a maximum of 30,000 bonus points.
  2. Kroger has a 4x fuel points promotion on third-party gift cards excluding Amazon, and fixed value Visas and Mastercards through December 3.

    Holiday demand for third party gift cards is soaring, and fuel points demand remains steady.
  3. The Barclays JetBlue Plus Mastercard has an offer for 80,000 TrueBlue points after $1,000 spend and paying the annual fee within the first 90 days in the mobile app. I can’t make this appear on desktop without some trickery, but it appears on the front page of the mobile app even if you’re not signed in. (Thanks to abhirpduttamit)
  4. Staples in-store has fee-free $200 Visa gift cards starting Sunday and running through the following Saturday, limit nine per transaction.
  5. The personal United cards from Chase all have an increased sign-up bonus for those of you light on MileagePlus miles. Yes, the increased bonus even includes the stupidest United card of all, the Quest:

    – Gateway: 30,000 miles after $1,000 in three months, no annual-fee
    – Explorer: 60,000 miles after $3,000 in three months, $95 annual fee is waived
    – Quest: 70,000 miles and 500 PQP after $4,000 in three months, $250 annual fee
    – Club: 90,000 miles after $5,000 spend in three months, $525 annual fee

    Only the Club’s bonus gives enough miles for a one-way long-haul partner redemption from the US to Europe or Asia, which should tell you something about the actual value of these cards especially as compared to an Ink. Each card does get you XN award space access, which is great for domestic economy awards I guess. Each card also earns an extra 5,000 bonus miles for adding an authorized user within the first three months. (Thanks to DDG)
  6. Hy-Vee stores have $10 off of $150 or more in Visa gift cards through Monday. You can repeat this with back-to-back-to-back transactions until either the police are called or they run out of stock.

    These are Pathward gift cards.

More weekend catchup (?) fun.

  1. Do this now: Register for the American Express Shop Small promotion for 10% back on up to $150 in spend at Shop Small restaurants through December 31.

    Don’t miss that you can link many offers including this one to any third party issued American Express cards at AmEx Connect.
  2. The Charles Schwab American Express Platinum card has an increased sign-up bonus of 125,000 Membership Rewards after $8,000 spend in six months, which is an all-time high.

    The main feature of this card is the ability to cash-out up to 1,000,000 Membership Rewards annually at 1.1 cents per point.
  3. Staples stores have fee-free $200 Visa gift cards starting Sunday and running through the following Saturday, limit nine per transaction.

    These are Pathward gift cards.
  4. Alaska is sending targeted applications for either 80,000 or 100,000 MileagePlan miles for the Bank of America Alaska personal card with $4,000 and $8,000 spend required, respectively. Look for the email subject: “Earn up to [80,000 or 100,000] bonus miles + Alaska’s Famous Companion Fare™”

    If you’ve got one, consider combining it with a business card application or two.
  5. MasterCardGiftCard.com has fee-free purchases through the end of November with promo code NOFEES24. You won’t earn points and spend won’t count toward sign-up bonuses with first party AmEx cards at any Incomm site.

    These are Incomm gift cards.
  6. I have an aversion to the blogosphere’s growing need to post random churning related rumors, especially when the rumor’s source is single comment on reddit from someone with little to no post history. At best these are wrong half of the time, which I guess means half of the time they’re right? (For the second time this week: No I’m not bitter, you’re bitter!)

    Sometimes though there’s a rumor that: (1) has enough noise behind it that seems to be more than just echo-chamber repeats, (2) has big enough consequences that most churners ought to know, and (3) makes complete fiscal sense for the company involved; a rumor that meets all three criteria is that US Bank may sunset new Altitude Reserve applications early next week. I’d suggest giving the rumor and your churning needs a few minutes of consideration.

Have a nice weekend!

Bread that’s more fully cooked than the majority of churning rumors.

  1. Bank of America’s +2x or +2% More Rewards Day on all spend up to $2,500 per card promotion, colloquially known by no-one but me as BankAmeriDay, is today and no registration is required. May the fraud alert gods tilt in your favor.
  2. Giftcards.com has 5% off of $100 Visa Virtual gift cards with promo code EARLYJOY. This pairs nicely with the major airline portal’s spend bonuses, the best of which (United) earns +4.16x on $1,200 spend in addition to +2x base earning and credit card spend earning.
  3. American Express offers has a $100 statement credit with $500+ at Best Western hotels in the US and Canada through January 1, 2025. Please don’t use this one for realsies if you’re in a medium or large-sized city; I guarantee that the Best Western isn’t the best option for a stay. (Thanks to Ok-Anywhere6998)
  4. Kroger has a 4x fuel points promotion running through Tuesday on One4All and Choice gift cards and fixed value Visa and Mastercard gift cards.

    The fuel points market remains unseasonably strong because: (1) Pepper has flooded the market so there are fewer buyers at Kroger, and (2) lots of Kroger stores have put all high-value third party gift cards behind the customer service counter. One of those things will probably change soon.

BankAmeriGuy makes his fifth blog appearance for BankAmeriDay.