Category: Portals

  1. The major airline portals have November spend bonuses:

    – AA: 4,000 miles on $1,600+ spend through November 20
    – Alaska: 1,500 miles on $650+ spend through November 20
    – Delta: 2,000 miles on $1,200+ spend through November 21
    – Southwest: 5,000 miles on $800+ spend through November 23
    – United: 5,000 miles on $1,000+ spend through November 20

    Sometimes these stores earn more than 1x at giftcards.com, but the overlap of > 1x with bonus offers like this is rarer than kids that like getting Necco Wafers on Halloween.
  2. Chase has new transfer bonuses for November:

    – 80% bonus to IHG points through December 3, a 10:18 ratio
    – 30% bonus to Wyndham Rewards through December 3, a 10:13 ratio
    – 30% bonus to Avios programs through December 1, a 10:13 ratio

    Why hotels on December 3 and Avios on December 1? I don’t know, but it has to do with people that give Mounds candy bars out for Halloween.
  3. Capital One has a 20% transfer bonus to Air France / KLM FlyingBlue through November 30, a 10:12 ratio. Yes, this is also Mounds people’s fault.
  4. Safeway, Albertsons, Vons, and other Just4U stores have a digital coupon for 10x points on Zift cards through November 11, excluding cards that convert to Amazon. Why exclude those? Because Zift knows that Amazon sells Mounds and Necco Wafers.
  5. Office Depot / OfficeMax stores have $15 off of $300 in Visa gift cards through Saturday. Always buy in even multiples of $300. (EDIT: Visa, not Mastercard)

    These are Pathward / Blackhawk Network gift cards.
  6. TheGiftCardShop.com has fee-free custom gift cards through November 11 with promo code CUSTOM26.

    These are Sutton / InComm gift cards.
  7. American Express Offers has an offer for $200 off of $1,000+ with Lufthansa Group booked direct through AmEx Travel.

Happy Monday friends!

Pop quiz: These or Necco Wafers? Answer: Neither.

  1. Rakuten has a $100 or 10,000 point new account bonus for new Synchrony High Yield savings accounts. The bonus requires deposits of at least $1,000 within 55 calendar days, but those deposits don’t have to stay there.

    If you wanted to be annoying for sport, you could schedule 1,000 $1 ACHs in and back out.
  2. AT&T and AA have a 5,000 or 2,500 mile promotion for linking your accounts. Both AT&T wireless and internet customers are eligible. (Thanks to SideShowBob233)
  3. The Southwest Premier Business Visa has a new sign-up bonus of 80,000 miles after $3,000 spend in three months.

    Generally I’d say “just get an Ink instead”, but 2026 is your last hurrah for earning Companion Pass points on credit card sign-up bonuses. Besides, what other airline is going to connect you from West Texas to Houston via Colorado Springs and Kansas City?

Happy Tuesday friends!

Southwest route planning in action.

  1. Do this now: Register for Hyatt’s promotion for a bonus 1.5x Aeroplan Points on stays in addition to regular Hyatt earning through February 14, 2027.

    Hyatt and Aeroplan launched a reciprocal status match challenge too which isn’t terribly compelling.
  2. The Rove shopping and travel portal added JetBlue TrueBlue as a new 1:1 transfer partner approximately 37 seconds ago. They’ll also have a 20% transfer bonus to JetBlue running through November 14, pushing the ratio to 1:1.2.

    If you don’t yet have Rove, use a friend’s referral and make their day.
  3. The Amazing line of credit cards (formerly AmaZing with a capital Z, I’m really glad they rebranded that err zinger) has an increased $1,000 sign-up bonus after $5,000 spend in 120 days. The cards carry no annual-fee:

    – National Bank of Arizona (Arizona)
    – California Bank and Trust (California)
    – Vectra Bank (Colorado and New Mexico)
    – AmegyBank (Texas)
    – Zions Bank (Utah, Idaho, and Wyoming)

    There are Washington and Nevada banks with the same family of cards, but without the increased sign-up bonus. All of these banks do manual underwriting, and it’s annoying but not arduous.
  4. The Imprint Safeway forU American Express card launched yesterday. The card carries no annual-fee, and takes over with stupid naming from the now sunsetted AmaZing brand. Earn:

    – 5% on Safeway, Albertsons, and other Just4U online
    – 3% on Safeway, Albertsons, and other Just4U in store
    – 3% on gas, dining, utilities, and streaming
    – 1% elsewhere

    There’s a whopping $50 after $1,000 spend too.
  5. American Express is now attaching new cards to their own Membership Rewards accounts automatically. Apparently functionality now exists to link Membership Rewards accounts in your profile, but I’ve yet to see it.
  6. Hyatt supports points transfer from one member to another online, as of approximately six hours and 37 seconds ago. Limits are 525,000 points sent and a separate 525,000 points received per year. (Thanks to DDG)
  7. Meijer stores have 50,000 points with $500 in third-party gift cards excluding Amazon, Apple, and betting cards through October 27, limit 50,000 points per account.
  8. Enterprise Car Rental has a promotion for double points between October 28 and February 28, 2027, registration required.

Happy Thursday!

Things I’d rather be doing instead of typing “AmaZing”.

Since at least September 28, you’ve been able to self refer via Rakuten for the Citi Strata Premier credit card with $150 back. Sounds good, right? You’d think so based on a plethora of (late) coverage yesterday, but the answer is no. The current sign-up bonus with your self referral is:

  • 60,000 ThankYou points after $4,000 spend in 90 days
  • $150 (or 15,000 points) via Rakuten

This card often has a 80,000 point bonus which is *checks notes* 20,000 points more than currently. That bonus especially likes to appear in Q4 too. Even if you only value Citi ThankYou points at their straight-to-cash value of one cent each, waiting for the increased sign-up bonus would give $200 in additional ThankYou Points. Last I checked $200 > $150. Of course Rakuten will still probably offer its regular, non-increased rate of $50 back when the bonus jumps to 80,000. Also, last I checked $200+$50 > $150.

tl;dr: Having an increased bonus on a portal doesn’t mean you’re getting a good deal. (Thanks to reader Harisch for letting me know about the increased offer in September)

Happy Wednesday!

On the other hand, there’s always alternative math.

  1. The Rove shopping and travel portal has new transfer bonuses:

    – Japan Airlines MileageBank: 50%
    – Air France / KLM FlyingBlue: 40%
    – Qatar Avios: 35%

    All of these are valid through the end of October.
  2. Accor ALL has a promotion for 4x points at its newer properties booked by November 22 for your first stay through March 28, 2027, registration required.
  3. Two more airline shopping portals have new bonuses:

    – Southwest Rapid Rewards: 2,000 miles after $200+ spend by October 12
    – United MileagePlus: 500 miles after $150+ spend through October 5

    Giftcards.com is on both.
  4. Giftcards.com has a $10 Giftcards.com gift card with the purchase of a $100 Visa gift card using promo FESTIVAL, limit three per account. There’s also $10 off of a $100 Visa gift card using promo OKTOBERFUN. Why no WIESEN26? Ich weiß nicht.

    Apropos of something, both of these promo codes are listed on the airline portals.
  5. Meijer mPerks has 10,000 points with the purchase of $100+ in Visa gift cards through Tuesday, limit one per mPerks account.

    These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards.
  6. Bilt’s transfer bonus to both Amtrak and Hilton is today.

Happy Thursday friends!

It’s bad German jokes day, sorry.

  1. Do this now (If you have an AmEx Hilton): Register for 10,000 bonus points with a stay of at least three nights through January 3, 2027 booked by November 9. (Thanks to Ok-Anywhere6998)
  2. Bank of America has a new account business checking bonus of between $400 and $2,500 depending on how much you deposit in the first 30 days and maintain through day 90.

    The effectively 0% APR on the money makes this deal barely interesting, except that you fast track to Preferred Rewards Platinum Honors during account creation to make the Business cash rewards cards pay an extra 75% in rewards.
  3. American Express Offers has two new airline card-linked offers:

    – $50 off of $200 with Frontier through December 31
    – $60 off of $400 with JetBlue through December 14

    There’s a very specific breed that can go nuts with the Frontier GoWild Pass, currently priced at $249. I’m not that very specific breed but game recognizes game.
  4. Office Depot/OfficeMax stores have $15 off of $300+ in Mastercard gift cards through Saturday. Buy in even multiples of $300 for the best discount.

    These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards.
  5. The United MileagePlus Shopping portal has 500 bonus miles with $150+ in spend through October 5.

Happy Tuesday!

Did you know? Frontier GoWild pass holders get snacks pre-installed at their seats.

  1. The American Express Delta cards have new, highest ever offers through November 4, but caveat emptor because those marked with “*” are “as-high-as” offers, which means without some sleuthing you won’t know what your bonus is until you’re approved (it feels like that sort of offer ought to be addressed by law, but I’m just a guy who writes stuff on the internet, what do I know?)

    – Gold: 80,000* SkyMiles + $250 credit after $3,000 spend in six months
    – Platinum: 90,000* SkyMiles + $300 credit after $4,000 in six months
    – Reserve: 50,000 SkyMiles + two free round-trip flights in Main Cabin or Comfort Plus after $10,000 spend in six months

    – Business Gold: 90,000 SkyMiles after $6,000 spend in six months
    – Business Platinum: 100,000 SkyMiles after $8,000 spend in six months
    – Business Reserve: 200,000 SkyMiles after $20,000 spend in six months

    The personal Reserve free-flight certificates have a value of well over $3,000 for the right use cases, and there aren’t restrictions on fares either. Eligible destinations are the continental 48 states, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands on Delta branded metal with a 21 day advance purchase requirement. These are all available via referral, do that or remember this gem.
  2. The Rove shopping and travel portal launched a few new features today:

    – Third-party gift card sales, which earn miles on purchase
    – A new mobile app
    – In-store earning with card-linked offers

    They’ve also added card-linked dining rewards and revamped their hotel portal. Rove has the potential to be Pepper 3.0 with these changes, hopefully without the unredeemable loyalty currency a few years later.
  3. Google Travel’s AI companion now has access to award pricing and availability for Alaska, AA, Choice Hotels, Hilton, and Wyndham. “In the coming weeks” they’re adding Accor, Flying Blue, Hyatt, LATAM, and Lufthansa group airlines.

    It hallucinates award space that doesn’t really exist, though that is likely a temporary phenomenon. (Thanks to isaacides)
  4. American Express offers has an offer on Hilton cards for 13,500 bonus Hilton points with $4,500 spend, up to three times through December 31.
  5. Stop & Shop stores have 10x points on Delta gift cards through Thursday, limit $2,000 per week. Giant and Martins have 8x, and Giant Food has 6x.

Happy Friday!

Watch out for evaporating award space on, *checks notes*, ZephyrJet?

  1. Chase Ultimate Rewards has a 20% transfer bonus to Air Canada Aeroplan through September 30, and Aeroplan Visa card holders can stack their regular 10% bonus for a total of 30%.

    Unless you have a specific award redemption in mind, 1 Hyatt point is probably worth more than 1.2 or 1.3 Aeroplan miles so speculate at your own risk.
  2. Kroger stores have a promotion for 4x on One4All and Choice gift cards through August 25.
  3. The half-life of US Bank transfer partners seems to be a day; now there are only two left:

    – Ethiopian Sheba Miles
    – Accor ALL

    I guess by Friday we’ll have a half of a transfer partner, otherwise known as Frontier?
  4. Capital One Shopping has targeted promotions on the home page for:

    – $100 off of $100+ in hotels booked through Capital One Travel
    – $100 off of $100+ in rental cars booked through Capital One Travel

    Of course $100 off really means $100 worth of gift cards that are worth an average(ish) of $90 on the resale market. If you don’t have a Capital One Shopping account, use a friend’s referral and you’ll be in, even if you’re banned from Capital One Bank.
  5. Kroger stores also have a new promotion for 4x on all gift cards excluding Amazon from tomorrow through Sunday. Notably, flexible fuel cards are no longer excluded from 4x.
  6. Meijer mPerks has 10,000 points on $100+ in Visa gift cards through Tuesday, limit one per mPerks account.
  7. American Express added about 350+ hotels to its Fine Hotels and Resorts collection and its The Hotel Collection. There’s good new coverage in most of Europe, Asia, and North America.
  8. The Citi ThankYou Mastercard is targeting more people for its 8% back on $1,250+ in travel and entertainment, up to $125, once a month for August, September, and October. You might find it on the ThankYou dashboard offers section, Chrome seems to work best for that. (Thanks to Hippo 387)
  9. American Express offers has a card linked offer for $80 off of $400 at Alaska Airlines or Hawaiian Airlines through October 23. Alaska refund to wallet is a safe and easy way to game this one.

Happy Thursday friends!

Does this count as a good prediction or a bad prediction? The Western Union app could confirm either.