Category: Points

  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. The Capital One Shopping portal has a new targeted referral bonus of $40 for both the referrer and the referred, as long as the referred installs the Capital One Shopping extension and keeps it installed for 30 days, no other purchases are required. You’re limited to $500 in referral earnings per year per Capital One Shopping account, but otherwise I don’t see any other restrictions. Walmart gift cards are back as a redemption for that cash too.

    What could possibly go wrong here? It’s not like there’s a way to uninstall extensions without the extension knowing, and it’s also not like there’s a way to have multiple browser profiles, right?
  2. American Express Offers has $50 off of $250 or more at IHG properties in the US, Mexico, and the Caribbean with a few random exclusions through the end of 2024.
  3. The Amtrak Guest Rewards Preferred Mastercard has a 35,000 point sign-up bonus after $2,000 spend in three months, and the $99 annual fee is not waived the first year. This card is issued by FNBO, the bad batch of sriracha of big US banks.

    These points are worth 2-3 cents each for travel on Amtrak. If you’re lucky maybe they’ll combine a hard pull for this card with a hard pull for a new JAL card, though I wouldn’t count on it.
  4. Avianca Lifemiles has 30% off of economy flights flown on Avianca metal, for flights booked today with travel through the end of November.

Have a nice weekend!

From left to right: FBNO, Chase.

  1. The three main Vanilla/Incomm gift card sites have fee-free Visa, Mastercard, and American Express gift cards:

    – VanillaGift.com fee-free through October 31 with promo code VGSHOP24
    – MasterCardGiftCard.com fee-free through October 31 SHOPEARLY21
    – TheGiftCardShop.com fee-free through October 28 with promo code CCHOLIDAY24

    American Express cards won’t earn points on these transactions, but no longer cash advance either. Let’s hope for another SHOPEARLY2021 debacle with one or more of these codes.
  2. American Express has increased offers on several business cards via referrals, with up to 40,000 points for the referrer and:

    – 200,000 Membership Rewards after $15,000 spend on the Business Gold
    – 250,000 Membership Rewards after $20,000 spend on the Business Platinum

    It’s ok for P1 to refer P2 and vice-versa, even if they share an address. To really play fast and loose, get the Business Gold, wait two statements, get a retention offer (hopefully), get some employee cards, the use the 120,000 Membership Rewards upgrade link which will hopefully still be around.
  3. Albertsons, Vons, Safeway, and other Just4U stores have 10x points on Zillions and Zift Zillions gift cards through Saturday night. If you wait to buy until Saturday and clip the 4x gift cards coupon, you’ll earn 12x and last time I checked, 12x > 10x. But also last time I checked, 10x + 4x = 14x, so there’s that.

    What’s a Zift? That’s a great question, I’m so glad you asked. I can only assume it’s a zebra themed British elevator.

Zift, prolly

I’m not saying banks colluded to drop a bunch of card linked and spend offers on the same day, but banks colluded to drop a bunch of card linked and spend offers on the same day:

  1. The Citi Shop Your Way Rewards Mastercard, a phoenix that rose from the ashes of Sears, sent new mid-month spending offers for cumulative online spend:

    – 250,000 Shop Your Way Rewards points after $1,000+
    – 200,000 Shop Your Way Rewards points after $750+
    – $70 statement credit after $1,000+
    – $50 statement credit after $750+
    – $30 statement credit after $500+

    If your utility takes online payments, these will stack with those offers too. (Thanks to Ben, MS Ninja, Adam W, Jen T)
  2. Citi Merchant Offers has an offer for a 4% statement credit on up to $750 spend at Giftcards.com through November 10, two uses per card.

    In addition to Pathward Visa and Mastercards, giftcards.com sells lots of third party cards.
  3. American Express Offers has two gameable offers:

    – $150 off of $750 or more booked with Carnival Cruises
    – $150 off of $700 or more at Hawaiian Hyatt Hotels
    – $200 off of $1,000 or more at Fontainebleau Las Vegas

    Mahalo AmEx, and also stay classy. (Thanks to Shredder05)
  4. Chase Offers has 10% back on up to $570 in spend at IHG hotels through December 5.
  5. Chase Ultimate Rewards has a 40% transfer bonus to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club through November 30.

    This is an abnormally high bonus, but we know that Virgin is devaluing their award chart on October 30, so maybe this bonus won’t even make up for price changes?

Happy Wednesday!

Upcoming expose about boring bank stuff.

  1. The Citi AA Business card has a heightened sign-up bonus of 75,000 AAdvantage miles after $5,000 spend in three months. The $95 annual fee is waived for the first year too.

    You can pair this with the Citi AA Personal card’s 75,000 AAdvantage miles after $3,500 spend in four months which also has the annual fee waived for the first year, just space out the applications by eight days or one will be automatically denied.
  2. Hyatt and AA’s partnership is changing next year. The highlights:

    – No more reciprocal earning on paid flights or stays
    – Exchange AA miles for Hyatt certificates after several Loyalty Points thresholds
    – Choose Hyatt certificates as a Loyalty Point Reward at some thresholds (this is a bad value)
    – Exchange Hyatt Milestone Rewards for AA seat coupons or status
    – Hyatt elites can redeem points for “status for a day” with AA (this is also a bad value)

    We don’t know what the conversion rates look like yet for exchanging miles, but we do know what the redemptions for threshold rewards and status for a day look like, and they’re terrible. Don’t let the hype machine get you excited over this. UPDATE: Gary at VFTW let me know that we do know that redemptions for Category 1-4 certificates will start at 25,000 AA miles, and redemptions for Category 1-7 certificates will start at 65,000 AA miles.
  3. SAS Eurobonus has a tiered promotion for bonus award miles for travel on SkyTeam airlines through December 31 (registration required), provided the flights are paid for in cash and earn miles with SAS Eurobonus, or are Eurobonus redemptions. The tiers are based on your of SkyTeam operating carrier count:

    – 5 carriers: 10,000 bonus miles
    – 10 carriers: 100,000 bonus miles
    – 15 carriers: 1,000,000 bonus miles

    There are 21 (or 20 minus Aeroflot) SkyTeam carriers. I believe it’s possible to do this at an approximate cost of $75 per ticket if you’re very flexible and able to sandwich it in-between other flights you’ve already got on the books, putting the lower minimum cost at approximately $1,125. If you’re less flexible or don’t have additional travel that you can piggyback on, you’re probably looking at $5,000 in tickets to pull this off. The SAS Eurobonus chart is quite good on SAS metal to Europe at 50,000 miles in business, and it’s reasonable-ish for partner awards. One million miles would be worth 20 business class one-way flights on SAS metal, so there’s utility for gamers.
  4. Breeze Airways has 45% off of base fares with promo code FLYLOCAL for round-trip flights booked by tomorrow night with travel between October 22 and February 4, 2025.
  5. Alanis Morissette called and told me that one of the most valuable airline currencies, AirCanada Aeroplan, teamed up with one of the least valuable hotel currencies, Marriott Bonvoy. Under the partnership, you can match status between two programs:

    – Marriott Titanium or Ambassador elites can register for Aeroplan 25k status
    – Aeroplan 50k or higher elites can register for Marriott Gold status

    Status lasts through the end of the 2025 elite year. (Thanks to BuyerCompetitive6425)
  6. Amazon has refreshed links for a checkout discount when using a single reward point:

    – 30%-50% off with a US Bank card, up to $30-$50
    – 30%-50% off with an American Express card, up to $30-$50
    – 30% off with Discover, up to $30

    These work with most third party gift cards.

Happy Thursday!

Inspiration for the Marriott Bonvoy and AirCanada Aeroplan partnership.

  1. Do this now: Register for Choice’s Q4 promotion for 8,000 bonus points on two night (or longer) paid stays through January 5.
  2. Do this now: Register for Marriott and Singapore Airlines reciprocal earning promotion for bookings and flights between October 10 and December 12. You’ll earn:

    – 500 Singapore KrisFlyer miles on paid Marriott stays
    – 1,200 Marriott Bonvoy points on paid Singapore flights

    Because Marriott is Marriott, 500 Singapore miles are probably more valuable than 1,200 Bonvoy points.
  3. The Chase Hyatt personal card has a new sign-up bonus for five free category 1-4 free night certificates with $4,000 spend in three months. The $95 annual-fee is not waived the first year. I prefer the points version of the sign-up bonus since those don’t effectively expire and are more flexible. (Thanks to shris420)
  4. Etihad Guest has a tiered 20%-40% transfer bonus for incoming Citi ThankYou point transfers through October 31. With the transfer bonus, AA short0haul flights are cheaper to book with Etihad than with Alaska MileagePlan.
  5. Qatar Avios has a 25% transfer bonus for incoming Citi ThankYou points transfers through October 31.
  6. Bank of America has a $500 personal checking account bonus requiring $15,000 deposited within 30 days, keeping the money there through day 120, and one of: sending a bill payment, using Zelle (don’t do this), mobile depositing a check, or making a singe direct deposit. Use promo code MCC500CIS. There are exclusions for

    The effective APR of this deal is 13.3% in the best case or 10.0% in the worst case, but the real reason to do this is for opening up Bank of America credit card approvals. (Thanks to DDG)
  7. US Bank has a $900 business checking account bonus requiring $30,000 deposited within 30 days and maintaining the balance for 60 days using promo code Q4AFL24. This bonus requires that 12 months have passed since you last had a business checking account with US Bank.

    The effective APR of this deal is 36% at best and 18% at worst which is reason enough to go for it, but like with Bank of America, opening a checking account will help with credit card approvals. (Thanks to DoC)
  8. Chase’s Q4 Pay Yourself Back 25% bonus categories are: utilities, insurance, fitness clubs and gyms, gas stations, and annual fees. Bonuses are all only the Sapphire Reserve this quarter too. “Select Charities” remains at its 50% bonus value. So long high volume gold cash-out, but hello octopus insurance cash-out!
  9. Chase is making a change to the Sapphire Reserve $300 annual travel credit which seems to be:

    – $300 travel credit resets in December as usual for use past your December statement
    – Remainder of unused December credit becomes a statement credit on December 31
    – $300 travel credit for January 2025 – [your anniversary date]
    – $300 travel credit for [your anniversary date 2025] – [your anniversary date 2026]

    I think this means a bonus $300 travel credit in 2025.
  10. Chase’s has a few targeted promotions for booking through the travel portal:

    – 10,000 bonus Ultimate Rewards after booking a hotel stay of $400+ by January 31 (via email)
    – $100 back on $500 in spend by October 31 (via Chase Offers)

    These will stack, and these are (probably) both gameable. (Thanks to FM)

Pay yourself back hiccups when buying Octopus insurance.

  1. There’s now a public, safe version of an upgrade link to a Business Platinum for Business Gold and Business Green American Express card holders with 120,000 bonus Membership Rewards after $10,000 spend in 90 days.

    This one is safe for anyone to use, potentially unlike the one made public last week which was dubious at best and err, scary at worst. Why was that one dubious? It was a manufactured link specifically constructed with two contradicting offers that happened to pass through the application system in an unintended way. Side-note: That fact that this link is dubious still isn’t noted on other blogs, hopefully because they just don’t know. Always know the province of links before diving in. (Thanks to reb702)
  2. Southwest has a 40% fare sale for selected flights booked by tomorrow night for travel between October 29 and January 31, 2025 with the typical blackout dates that you’d expect using promo code SAVEWOW.

    I got approximately 25,000 Rapid Rewards points back by grooming by existing bookings, though most of those existing bookings are backup flights so the expectation value for my actual cost is lower than 40%.
  3. Marriott Bonvoy has a transfer bonus of 15% to AirCanada Aeroplan miles through the end of October. Points transfer at a 3:1 ratio and if you transfer in 60,000 point increments you get a bonus 5,000 miles too, which means you’ll earn:

    (60,000 * 115% * 1/3) + 5,000 = 28,000 miles

    Which increases the normal transfer ratio to 2.143:1. (Thanks to TheSultan1)
  4. AirFrance / KLM’s FlyingBlue program has released its promo awards for October for travel through March 31, 2025 to and from Europe. US cities include Dallas, Austin, Houston, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Miami, Chicago, and Detroit. US-lite cities include Havana and Toronto.

    There’s a ton of economy space at 15,000 miles in this month’s drop, more than I’ve ever seen in-fact. Discount business class space is almost non-existent this year and barely-existent next year.
  5. American Express has 100% off of purchase fees with promo code 100AMEXGIFT. The main use for these is shifting spend to a later time while earning the sign-up bonus now, but only if your manufactured spend-fu can’t support immediate spend needs. (Thanks to GCG)

Calendar view of discount business class inventory in this month’s FlyingBlue promo awards.

  1. Virgin Atlantic FlyingClub will be moving to a spooky dynamic award chart on October 30 for Virgin metal awards, and apparently will offer a new saver level of awards that prices similar to saver level flights today. Somehow the new saver level is different than the old saver level though because #marketing.

    Partner award flights are purportedly unaffected.
  2. The United MileagePlus shopping portal has a spooky 500 bonus miles after $150+ in spend through October 7. The actual spooky part of this story is that giftcards.com remains absent from major airline shopping portals.
  3. Futurecard, a debit card with capped 5% cash back in some spend categories, added Amtrak as a 1:1 transfer partner. Major banks haven’t been able to pull off a direct transfer to Amtrak in modern history, and indirect transfers via JetBlue TrueBlue and Points.com are only a 2:1 ratio.

    I guess now we’re getting excited about a debit card with a $5 sign-up bonus because of course 2024 brought that too.
  4. JetBlue has an award sale for economy travel on Etihad for travel though October 31. Where does spooky fit into this one? Long-haul economy, duh. (Thanks to Gary)

More October spookiness.