Category: Points

  1. Do this now: Make any Hyatt award bookings today that fit your schedule before the award chart is retooled tomorrow and lots of hotels go up in redemption cost. Most award bookings have great cancelation policies, so even speculative bookings probably make sense.
  2. Turkish Airlines and Hilton have a promotion (registration required) for 1,000 bonus Turkish miles for stays through June 30, provided you set Turkish as your preferred travel partner in your Hilton profile. For new Hilton accounts, you earn 1,000 Turkish miles for each stay, but for existing Hilton accounts can you only earn the bonus once.
  3. The Chase IHG Premier Business card has an increased tiered sign-up bonus:

    – 140,000 points after $4,000 spend in three months
    – 60,000 points after $9,000 spend in six months

    The $99 annual fee is not waived for the first year.
  4. The Barclays Aviator Red Card has an increased sign-up bonus of 70,000 AAdvantage miles after making a single purchase and paying the $95 annual fee.

    The best ongoing use case for this card used to be converting it to an AAdvantage Silver after a year, but because Citi will be the exclusive card issuer in 2026, that ship has probably sailed for new applicants. Instead, the best use beyond the sign-up bonus is probably to get a higher (or initial) credit line at Citi after the takeover.
  5. The Chase Sapphire Preferred (100,000 Ultimate Rewards), United Explorer (80,000 MileagePlus miles), and United Business (150,000 MileagePlus miles) cards’ increased sign-up bonuses are live today.
  6. Staples has fee-free $200 Mastercards through Saturday, limit nine per transaction.

    These are Pathward gift cards.
  7. Since it’s launch in 2021, I’ve thought the Chase United Quest Card was stupid, but it just keeps getting stupider and I’m convinced the product development team for the card lives in an alternate plane of existence. The annual fee has increased to $350, and there are new stupid credits to, uh, justify (?) the stupid increase:

    – $5 monthly Instacart credit, plus $10 one time Instacart credit
    – $150 in credits at stupid Renowned Hotels and Resorts
    – $8 in monthly rideshare credits, except in December when it’s $12
    – $150 in stupid JSX purchases
    – Small TravelBank credits for your first two rentals with Avis or Budget, but only using the United AWD which has generally inflated prices

    This is probably a good change for exactly three cardholders on the planet, and bravo to you if you’re one of them.

An amusement park in the United Quest Card team’s alternate plane of existence.

  1. There’s a great sign-up bonus for $1,000 statement credit after $5,000 in spend on one of the lamer named credit cards on the market, the AmaZing Business Credit Card. It’s available for residents of Arizona, California, Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, or Texas.

    The card is a no-annual fee business Visa that earns 3x at office supplies, telecom, and networking, 2x in categories better served by other cards, and 1x everywhere else. The application process for the card looks streamlined but is actually archaic; that can be a good thing though, amirite?
  2. American Express Membership Week has enrollable offers for:

    – $75 back on $250+ at Curio, Canopy, Tapestry, Motto, Tempo, and Graduate Hilton properties in North America through May 15
    – $70 back on $350+ at Hertz within the US through April 30
    – $50 back on $200+ at Lowes online or in-store through March 31
    – $50 back on $250+ at Dell through August 15

    These work with faux-cardpointers too, and if you’re not seeing them remember the 100 offer rule. Also, here’s your periodic reminder that often these work more easily on third party American Express cards at AmEx Connect.
  3. Kroger stores have a 4x fuel points promotion starting tomorrow and running through April 1 on third party gift cards excluding Amazon.

    The best options for a bulk resale are still Apple and Lululemon, because Pepper blew everything else up for funsies.
  4. Citi ThankYou Points has a 25% transfer bonus to Avianca Lifemiles through April 12. Best uses:

    – ANA First to and from Japan
    – Lufthansa First to and from Europe
    – Mixed cabin shenanigans
    – Taking advantage of loose definitions of regions
    – Travel between Asia and Oceana

    There’s decent economy short-haul value too, I guess. But that’s definitely not funsies.
  1. Do this now: Register for your 5x bonus on rotating category cards:

    – Chase Freedom and Freedom Flex: Amazon (and “select streaming services” I guess)
    – Discover IT: Grocery stores and wholesale clubs, but Walmart and Target don’t count
    – Citi Dividend: Who knows, because it’s giving an error right now #citigonnaciti
    – US Bank Cash+: I choose utilities and electronics, cause #meabgonnameab

    Given Pepper’s explosion all over the gift card market, you should be getting a much bigger discount than 5x on Amazon purchases, either by using Pepper if you dare, or by buying Amazon gift cards from Pepper users at 12%+ off. I guess if you’re masochist there’s Raise/GCX at 7.60% off too.
  2. The Citi Shop Your Way Rewards card has released new mid-month offers including (I believe) a new all time high spending bonus for online spend through April 14:

    – 325,000 Shop Your Way Rewards after $1,000+ online spend
    – 250,000 Shop Your Way Rewards after $750+ in online spend
    – $100 statement credit after $1,000+ in online spend
    – $75 statement credit after $750+ in online spend

    (Thanks to uppereastsider, irieriley, Matt, and David 99)
  3. Meijer MPerks has a digital coupon for $10 off of $150+ in Visa gift cards through Saturday. This coupon doesn’t specify a limit, which probably means you can re-clip the same coupon after checkout repeatedly.

    This is the kind of low profile deal that can be so valuable that it’s worth it to travel from out of state if you don’t live by a Meijer, provided you have a good liquidation channel for Visas.
  4. Office Depot / OfficeMax stores have $15 off of $300+ in Visa gift cards through Saturday, and this one is confirmed working unlike last week’s Mastercard version, which didn’t work even though stores had the flyer, then worked after stores took down the flyer, then maybe worked, but only if you were lucky. For best results, always:

    – Buy in even multiples of $300
    – The “Everywhere” cards sometimes have lower fees and definitely work differently for liquidation

    These are Pathward gift cards.
  5. Hilton has a targeted bonus for 3,000 bonus points after your next stay within four months of registration, but no later than the end of the year. (Thanks to Beneficial-Board6959)

From the people in charge of last week’s Office Depot / OfficeMax’s Mastercard promotion.

  1. Yesterday’s post mentioned in fake-shakespeare obtuseness that Rapid Rewards points value shifts based on demand; based on questions and comments I got yesterday, that wasn’t clear to many. To speak in ye-new-modern-day-English: Southwest Rapid Rewards points will no longer have a fixed redemption value for each class of ticket, but rather the redemption value will vary based on demand.

    In other words, Rapid Rewards which already had dynamic pricing based on ticket value, will now have a dynamic redemption value per point too. To quote the quiet grandmaster churner RabbMD, “double secret dynamic” pricing.
  2. Harris Teeter stores have a coupon for fee-free variable load Mastercard and Visa gift cards when loaded with $150+ through Tuesday, limit one per Kroger account. (Thanks to GCA)
  3. Rakuten’s In-Store card linked program has offers for several grocery stores:

    – 1% or 1x at Giant
    – 1% or 1x at Giant Food (different than the above, duh)
    – 1% or 1x at Martins
    – 1% or 1x at Food Lion

    These are valid for 75 days after clipping the coupon. But after first use, the coupon is only valid for another hour, at which point you can reclip it as long as the promotion is still going. Why so complex? Well, remember that Rakuten is the company that bought Buy.com for $250 Million and decided that Buy.com was too hard for Americans to pronounce and remember, so just migrated it to Rakuten.com.
  4. Some discount airlines, sorted in order of recent annoyingness, are running promotions:

    – Breeze 50% off: Book by today, fly between March 18 and June 18 with promo GROW
    – Frontier award sale: Book by Monday, fly through August 18
    – Alaska international sale*: Book by April 11, fly through July 31
    – [this space left intentionally blank]
    – [this space left intentionally blank]
    – Southwest sale: Book by today, fly between April 1 and June 11

    *The Alaska sale includes Premium Economy, which is weird because Alaska doesn’t really support partner Premium Economy bookings for the partners you need to get to these destinations. #AlaskaGonnaAlaska
  5. The Wyndham shopping portal has a bonus of 2,000 points after a single purchase through April 9. (Thanks to FM)

Don’t blame Rakuten, after all, Rasputin was once named Bryce right? (Don’t check)

  1. American Express has a newly targeted offer for 20,000 Membership Rewards for turning on Pay Over Time. You’ve got two shots:

    – Check the generic landing page for an offer on every charge card
    – Check this specific link for an offer on every charge card

    Make sure you set a reminder to turn off Pay Over Time in 121 days, and if you get the bonus offer on multiple charge cards, consider activating them in separate tabs as close together as possible. All of this is obviously because reasons.
  2. American Express Offers has new targeted offers for:

    – $50 back on $250+ at Grand Hyatt through April 15
    – $300 back on $2,000+ at Qatar through April 30
    – $150 back on $1,000+ at Emirates through April 30
    – $100 back on $500+ at Mandarin Oriental through May 6
    – $100 back on $400+ at SLS hotels through May 14
    – $200 back on $900+ at Four Seasons in the Americans and Europe through May 21
    – $40 back on $200+ at Ceasars though June 30

    Gamers gonna game.
  3. Meijer MPerks has a promotion for 50,000 bonus points with a $500 third party gift card purchase, limit 50,000 points per MPerks account. Obviously it’s impossible to have multiple MPerks accounts, right?

    In normal times there are plenty of brands that are well suited to this promotion, but in the current Pepper-pocolptic market, the workable brands are basically Apple and Lululemon.
  4. The Chase Marriott Bonvoy Boundless card has an increased sign-up bonus of three 50,000 point free night certificates after $3,000 spend in three months, and the $95 annual fee is not waived in the first year. The main utility in this card is that it has an upgrade path to the Chase Ritz-Carlton card after one year; it’s definitely not found in three 50,000 point certificates which will work at a lower end US airport hotel if you’re lucky.

    The same offer will probably be available through referrals by the end of the week too, so check referrals before applying.

Happy Tuesday!

Sample US Airport hotel currently priced at 50,000 Bonvoy points nightly.

  1. The Chase Freedom Unlimited card has an uncapped double cash for the first year back sign-up bonus. You may need to try different browsers, mobile devices, a VPN, or by making Chase jealous and applying for an American Express instead.

    There are golden plays where uncapped 3x Ultimate Rewards massively moves the needle.
  2. Etihad Guest has a tiered transfer bonus for incoming Capital One, Accor ALL, and Hyatt transfers through March 31:

    – 20% bonus: < 10,000 miles
    – 30% bonus: < 50,000 miles
    – 40% bonus: 50,000+ miles

    The bonus miles aren’t awarded instantly, and may take up to April 15 to arrive.
  3. The Office Depot / OfficeMax $15 off of $300+ Mastercard gift cards promotion mentioned on Friday turned out to be lies, and not the good kind (?). I guess there’s no need show up to a 9,000 square foot sparsely stocked, poorly-lit office supply store manned by exactly two 19 year olds, one of whom is on their lunch break, this week.

The Chase and American Express relationship.

Before we dive in, let me answer a few frequently asked questions about yesterday’s post:

  • No, I’m not building an alternative gift card marketplace
  • I think the opportunity for someone who successfully builds one is huge though
  • Yes, there are probably a bunch of mid-tier gift card resellers that you don’t know
  • You can find a recent-ish list of reputable gift card buyers here
  • No, I wouldn’t recommend starting new with Pepper any more, if you’re still there, float what you’re willing to lose based on your risk tolerance
  • No, I haven’t tried the Campbell’s ghost pepper soup, but yes, I do have a reader review ready

And now, today’s news:

  1. Chase has been accidentally reporting open business credit cards to TransUnion for a relatively small set of churners, but seemingly only if cards were opened with a social security number as the primary tax ID (versus an EIN).

    This seems to be an error on Chase’s part, and they’re fixing it within 10 business days if you call and ask. In theory . So your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to check your TransUnion credit report and put a ticket in with Chase if necessary.
  2. FlyingBlue Promo Rewards for March have been released for travel booked in march and flown through August 31. The promotional US cities are Detroit, Seattle, Washington DC, Boston, and Austin.
  3. Chase Ultimate Rewards has a 20% transfer bonus to British Airways Avios through the end of March. As usual, this is effectively a transfer bonus to all carriers that use Avios as their currency.
  4. Staples has fee free $200 Visa gift cards through Saturday.

    These are Pathward gift cards.
  5. VanillaGift.com has fee free Vanilla Visa gift cards with promo code VGWOMEN through Saturday. Purchase limits for Incomm sites are $10,000 per account per rolling 24 hours.

    These are Incomm gift cards. Incomm sites won’t earn points or count toward a sign-up bonus on American Express first party cards.
  6. The Chase Freedom and Freedom Flex cards have two bonus 5x categories in March: Insurance and tax preparation services, no registration necessary.

    The original $1,500 spend across all 5x categories for the quarter remains.

Happy Tuesday!

Your next mission: Fly for 12 hours in this.

One of the common refrains from people who have been in the hobby for too long is “there’s nothing new in the space”. That’s usually absolutely untrue because instead what’s usually happening is myopathy on a single play, but today it seems correct? I’m not old, you’re old!

  1. American Express Membership Rewards has a 20% transfer bonus to Qatar Avios through March 31. If this sounds familiar, maybe it’s because you’re going crazy, or maybe it’s because the same bonus came last week with Citi ThankYou Points. Who can tell?

    Qatar Avios also transfer to the other Avios based carriers, making this effectively a transfer bonus to six different airline programs.

Have a nice low-key Tuesday!

Even soup has new developments.
Anyone wanna volunteer for a guest review?