Category: Portals

MEABNOTE: I’ll be going on a blogging vacation at the end of the year and there won’t be any daily posts between December 18 and December 31. After that, we’ll ring in the new year on January 1, 2025 with the 2024 version of Travel Hacking as Told by GIFs though, so no need to be up in arms, but I guess it’s ok if you’re up in legs.

  1. Meijer stores have 50,000 MPerks Points with the purchase of a $500 third party gift card, including bulk brands like Apple and BestBuy, through December 14. There’s a limit of 50,000 points per account, but what’s the limit on accounts? The limit does not exist.
  2. Meijer stores also have $10 off of $100 or more in Visa or Mastercard gift cards through December 21. This one requires that you clip a digital coupon, but seems to be the variety that you can reclip after each purchase, meaning again, the limit does not exist but different.
  3. Alaska Airlines has a paid and award fare sale through this evening. I’m seeing:

    – Transcons at 9,000 miles each way
    – Mainland to Hawaii 9,000 miles each way
    – Mexico at 15,000 miles each way

    These continue to be the best award sales for medium-haul flights that no-one talks about because something something, apathy is real, something something.
  4. Costco has $100 in Uber Gift Cards for $75 through tonight. There are multiple reports that Uber charges more when you have credits on your account, so apply them retroactively to a ride instead of adding them to your account ahead of time, or just use Uber Eats to order a private taxi for your burrito.
  5. The Citi Shop Your Way Rewards card, the card that would probably be driving the private taxi for your burrito if it was human, has new beginning of month offers that reset monthly for December, January, and February:

    – $50 statement credit for 5 purchases of $75 or more each, up to $150 for all three months
    – $60 statement credit for $450+ spend, up to $180 for all three months

    (Thanks to Dave M and birt)
  6. The Chase Southwest Rapid Rewards Plus card has an increased sign-up bonus of 40,000 Rapid Rewards points and a $400 statement credit with $3,000 in purchases in four months for applications through December 16.

    If you’re not going for a Companion Pass, which you probably shouldn’t chase if you don’t fly Southwest more than 3-4x annually, then this might be a better option than a pure points bonus.
  7. Preferred Hotels has a promotion for 35,000 bonus points for paid three night stays booked by Wednesday night for travel through March 31, 2025.
  8. Giftcards.com is currently 3x at most airline shopping portals and 4x at Chase portals. AA and Southwest points earned through portals count toward status too.

    These are Pathward gift cards.
  9. The Incomm gift card sites have new deals:

    – MasterCardGiftCard.com: No fees through December 31, code NOFEES24
    – VanillaGift.com: No fees through tonight, code VGCYBER24
    – TheGiftCardShop.com: $10 Zillions with $100+ in Visa cards through tonight, code BF24

    These are (obviously) Incomm gift cards. None of these earn points on first party American Express cards.
  10. Typically Citi offers 20% off of many ThankYou point gift card redemptions on Cyber Monday and today is (maybe? I dunno, I’m not getting up that early in the morning to verify #sorrynotsorry) traditional. With Apple cards reselling at about 91% of face value, you can use this promotion to cash out ThankYou points indirectly at ~1.1 cents each, or even better if you have the Rewards+ card.

Have a nice Monday!

Seatbelts are required in private taxis too.

  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.

  1. The major airline shopping portals have a big holiday bonus promotion before black Friday, all of which are more lucrative than typical:

    – AA: 4,000 extra AAdvantage miles with $1,600+ through November 17
    – Alaska: 1,500 extra MileagePlan miles with $650+ through November 18
    – Delta: 2,000 extra SkyMiles with $1000+ through November 18
    – Southwest: 4,000 extra Rapid Rewards with $1,000+ through November 24
    – United: 5,000 extra MileagePlus miles with $1,200+ through November 22

    Giftcards.com is present on all of these portals.
  2. The Citi Shop Your Way Rewards Mastercard, the Detlef Schrempf of credit cards, sent out beginning of the month offers:

    – 150,000 Shop Your Way points with $1,500 spend through December 31
    – 10% statement credit with $350-$400 spend in utilities each month through January (total $120)
    – $125 statement credit $600 spend in utilities, each month through January (total $375)

    My offer was stolen out of my glove by rabid baseball fans this month, or at least I assume that’s what happened. (Thanks to GoBolts, SPX, BrandonV, IAD_Flyer, and birt)
  3. AirFrance / KLM’s FlyingBlue has renewed its paid status match for non-SkyTeam airlines through October 2025. Notable in this iteration is that it’s possible for to match to a full 12 months of Platinum status in Canada for $499 CAD.

    I suppose an American with status in Air Canada could match too with a sleight of hand, and for the right use case Platinum is absolutely worth $499 CAD. I mean, what could that possibly be in US dollars? $20? $25? Yes I could look it up, but [insert excuse here].
  4. AirFrance / KLM’s FlyingBlue has released its November promo awards. North American cities include Boston, New York, Vancouver, Denver, Seattle, and Ottawa, with tickets at 15,000 miles to and from Europe each way in economy for travel through April 2025.

    I’m also seeing limited availability promotional business class awards from Seattle and Denver, the only two cities I bothered to check, for 50,000 FlyingBlue miles each direction.
  5. American Express Offers has new offers valid through December 31 for:

    – 30,000 Membership Rewards with $2,000 at ANA
    – $100 statement credit after $500+ with Delta
    – $250 statement credit after $1,000+ with Delta
    – $75 statement credit after $300+ at US and Europe Destination by Hyatt properties

    The easiest hotel play is to buy a gift card at the front desk. For airlines, it’s figuring out how to refund to a travel bank or travel wallet for future use. Gamers may find more lucrative options too.

Happy Monday!

More outsized value: Multi-country soda arbitrage.

  1. Staples has fee free $200 Visa gift cards starting Sunday and running for two weeks, limit nine per transaction. The two week promotional window is odd, normally when promotions are extended it’s because either (1) people pick up other profitable things when in store for the promotion, or (2) there’s not enough volume to exhaust the promotional budget in one week, so they extend. Neither feels like the right explanation though.

    These are Pathward gift cards.
  2. Giftcards.com has returned to major airline shopping portals. As of this writing, they’re all at 1x and cashbackmonitor.com hasn’t refreshed, but I expect both of these to change soon. Stack with Citi Merchant Offers for 4% back on spend on up to $750.
  3. Bilt Rewards has two new transfer partners, which solves the, err, mystery of why some travel bloggers were at a Bilt offsite earlier this week. I wonder who paid for the offsite? Anyhoodles:

    – Accor Hotels at a 3:2 ratio
    – TAP Air Portugal at a 1:1 ratio

    Accor Hotels partners with Citi and Capital One but with a worse 2:1 transfer ratio. Accor Hotel points are worth about 2.2 cents per point with fixed redemption values and are often a great deal in the European equivalents of Lubbock, TX. TAP Air Portugal is a Capital One transfer partner with the same ratio as Bilt.
  4. Giant, Giant Food Stores, Martin’s, Stop & Shop have 2x points on Visa gift cards through Thursday, limit $1,500 or $2,000 per account depending on store. (Thanks to his eminence, Stephen at GCG)
  5. American Express Membership Rewards has a 20% transfer bonus to AirFrance/KLM FlyingBlue through November 10. Sweet spots:

    – Promo awards, which are mostly economy
    – Business class to and from Europe
    – European short-haul
    – Delta domestic short-haul

    The sweet spots don’t mean transfer speculatively though, you can often find bonuses of up to 30% in multiple bank flexible currencies.

Europe’s versions of Lubbock, like Lübeck Germany, look slightly nicer than the American equivalent.

  1. The Chase Sapphire Preferred has both a 70,000 Ultimate Rewards and $300 travel credit as a sign-up bonus via referral links, though not all referral links see the increased sign-up bonus. The offer is also available in-branch.

    I prefer Ink cards to the Sapphire Preferred for lots of reasons, but this bonus is worth your attention if you can refer another player. If not, the periodic 100,000 Ultimate Rewards bonus version is a higher value.
  2. The Citi AA Platinum Select card has a sign-up bonus of 75,000 AAdvantage miles after $3,500 spend in four months, and the annual fee is waived the first year. (Thanks to DDG)
  3. United MileagePlus has a tiered transfer bonus of up to 30% for incoming Marriott Bonvoy points through the end of October, and registration is required. Points transfer at a 3:1 ratio and if you transfer in 60,000 point increments you get a bonus 10,000 miles too, so each increment earns:

    (60,000 * 130% * 1/3) + 10,000 = 36,000 miles

    Marriott has a similar deal with AirCanada Aeroplan with a smaller bonus that works out to 28,000 miles, which frankly is worth about the same as 36,000 MileagePlus miles. Frankly I’m impressed at some marketing person’s mileage valuation prowess.
  4. Staples has a fee free $200 Mastercard gift cards through Saturday, limit eight per transaction.

    These are Pathward gift cards.
  5. Chase has the following transfer bonuses through October:

    – 30% to British Airways, Iberia, or Aer Lingus Avios
    – 50% to Marriott Bonvoy (this was 70% over the summer)

    A 30% transfer bonus to the above Avios programs is effectively a 30% transfer bonus Qatar Avios and FinnAir Avios too.
  6. Safeway, Albertsons, Vons, and other Just4U stores have a promotion for 10x points on Zillions and Choose Your Card gift cards through Saturday, and if you wait to buy until Saturday you’ll probably earn 12x instead of 10x with the weekend 4x coupon.

    How does 10x+4x=12x? That’s one of the least weird things about the Just4U program, just roll with it.
  7. Kroger has a coupon for a fee-free variable load Visa or Mastercard gift card of $150 or more through October 15. I won’t go out of my way for one fee-free gift card, but there’s a great chance that it’ll happen organically.

    These are now Pathward gift cards, so long US Bank.
  8. Southwest has a 25% off base fares sale for flights booked today and travel between October 29 and February 10, 2025.

Just4U points as a grocery store mascot.

  1. The Barclays Wyndham cards have increased sign-up bonuses from a promotional email:

    – Earner Rewards: 45,000 points after $2,000 spend in 180 days, $0 annual fee
    – Earner Plus: 75,000 points after $2,000 spend in 180 days, $75 annual fee
    – Earner Business; 80,000 points in tiers after $15,000 spend, $95 annual fee

    The major use case for manufactured spenders is gas stations, which earn at 5x, 6x, and 8x respectively. On the burn side both both Vacasa and Wyndham have good options.
  2. American Express Offers has an offer for 15,000 Membership Rewards after $700 or more in spend at Leading Hotels of the World properties through December 8.

    As usual, buying a gift card at the front desk is the easiest and most above board way to game the offer, but gamers gonna game.
  3. Singapore Airlines has a 25% discount on all economy award redemptions and business and premium economy redemptions for travel between January 15, 2025 and May 29, 2025 booked by September 22. (Thanks to TheSultan1)
  4. The Southwest Rapid Rewards portal has a new spending bonus for 2,000 Rapid Rewards after $350+ spend by September 18.

    Giftcards.com still hasn’t returned to the main Cartera white-labeled airline portals, but it is now on JetBlue Shopping, Emirates Skywards Shopping, and Virgin Atlantic Shopping. I still pick Rakuten over those though.
  5. United has an economy award sale for flights booked today for travel between the US and London, Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels, or Frankfurt between September 15 and December 12; but only for Chase cobranded card holders. Prices are 50,000 MileagePlus miles round trip. (Thanks to TheSultan1)

Happy Tuesday!

The Wingate by Wyndham Lubbock is a good redemption for masochist elites with suite upgrades, so there’s that.

  1. US Bank has opened a waitlist for its annoyingly named Smartly Visa credit card. The card’s earning structure is 2%-4% cash back depending on your balance in an equally annoyingly named Smartly Savings account; you’ll need to keep $100,000 parked there for 4% earning.

    The annual fee is currently unspecified. (Thanks to LiftBroski)
  2. Southwest has a fast-track promotion to earn a two month Companion Pass. The requirements are:

    – Book two one-ways or one round-trip by tomorrow night
    – Fly both legs by November 20
    – Both legs must be paid flights, and existing bookings don’t count

    The promotional companion pass is valid between January 6 and March 6, 2025.
  3. Rakuten in-store offers has 1% back or 1 Membership Reward per dollar spent at Giant Food stores. As usual, once you use the promotion you’ve got to re-add it to your account after an hour, though any purchases in the first hour after use will continue to track.

    Apropos of nothing: Giant Food stores sell gift cards.
  4. AirFrance and KLM’s FlyingBlue program released its September promotional rewards. North American cities include Phoenix, Las Vegas, Washington DC, New York, Montreal, and Ottawa.
  5. Breeze Airways has 50% off of base fares with promo code BIGDEAL for travel between September 18 and May 13, 2025 booked by tomorrow night.

    What they’re not telling you is that the big deal isn’t as big as you’d think because they blocked out lots of days from the promotion, so don’t listen when they say “I’m kind of a big deal”. In fact, that’s just good general life advice. (Thanks to FM)

Happy Wednesday!

Sioux City takes a swing and a miss at Lubbock.

  1. Do this now: Try and register for Hyatt’s targeted promotion for 5,000 bonus points for each 5 nights stayed in the next 90 days, up to 45,000 total bonus points.
  2. Do this now: Register for Marriott’s fall promotions:

    – 2,000 bonus points per 2+ night paid stay (+2,000 if it’s an MGM property)
    – 2,000 bonus points per 2+ night paid stay for Marriott credit card holders

    These stack, but honestly 4,000 bonus Marriott points is probably worth $20 at best so don’t go nuts.
  3. Office Depot / OfficeMax stores have $15 off of $300 or more in Visa gift cards through Saturday. For best results:

    – Buy in even multiples of $300
    – Link your cards to Dosh
    – Remember that the variable loads work too

    Just don’t be like me last week and try and load $500 on a $200 card. The register will take it, but I promise nothing good happens.
  4. The Citi Shop Your Way Rewards Mastercard, the most sung of Unsung Heroes, has released new beginning of month offers, each is slightly complex because #extra. Each is good monthly for September, October, and November, and each will stack with other offers as applicable. We’ve seen:

    – $60 statement credit for a purchase $450+, good twice per month
    – $60 statement credit after six $75+ purchases
    – $50 statement credit for a purchase $375+, good twice per month

    I’ll be knocking this out with two $1,000 purchases at a grocery store to combine with outher outstanding credits. (Thanks to Brooke and birt)
  5. Rakuten has 15% back or 15x Membership Rewards on purchases at Dell, likely ending today. Use a friends referral if you don’t already have a Rakuten account, or use George at TBB’s otherwise.
  6. Avelo has $50 off of round-trip fares booked by Tuesday, for travel between September 17 and February 11, 2025 using promo code LABORDAY.

Pictured: The source of my instructions to load $500 onto a $15-200 variable load card.
(Thanks to IAD_Flyer for the picture)