This week is going to be a great week for buyer’s groups because reasons, and it’ll be a good time to get your toes wet to prepare for the holiday frenzy too. With that out of the way:
– 9,000 miles for transcontinental flights, Mexico flights, and Central America – 21,000 miles for east coast transatlantic flights to Europe – 30,000 miles for other US transatlantic flights to Europe
So how about that comfort? Well, you’ll get there, probably.
Stop & Shop, Giant, Giant Food, and Martins 6x points on third party gift cards through Thursday. Per-account limits are either $500, $2,000, or $500 on Zift and $2,000 on everything else depending on the chain because uniformity is overrated.
Giftcards.com remains a great way to do this, or as reader Sean mentions, buy a gift card that you’d use anyway like Safeway or Home Depot at Newegg via Paze to double dip.
– Transfers to Hyatt will be 4:3 on June 15 for new cards and October 1 for existing cards – The annual 10% rewards bonus ends on June 15 for new cards and October 1 for existing cards – 3x earning on gas, EV charging, Airbnb, and VRBO – A new Global Entry / PreCheck credit since the other 14 you have aren’t enough – Changed travel insurance – A one-time Apple TV coupon
Generally speaking this is a negative change, but don’t worry if you want a positive spin from lala land, TPG has your back: “And at a time when many travel cards are becoming increasingly expensive and complicated, there’s a strong argument that the Sapphire Preferred just became an even better fit for casual travelers.” Erm, ok.
For those of you that like it when portal-like companies that you’ve never heard of team up with business banks that you’ve never heard of, there’s a $300 promotion between Finder and Grasshopper. To earn a $300 Finders gift card which can apparently be turned into a Visa e-gift card:
Let’s start with a PSA and a disclaimer, but in reverse order: I don’t work in marketing and I have no formal training in marketing, so smart money would ignore anything I have to say about the subject. With that out of the way, dear marketers: If you want to make a splash, maybe don’t wait until the second half of the first week in colloquial summer to launch a campaign.
With that out of the way, let’s talk about some new marketing campaigns.
The American Express Delta cards have new sign-up bonuses:
– Gold (via dummy booking): 60,000 miles + $500 credit after $3,000 spend in six months and a single Delta purchase – Gold: 90,000 SkyMiles after $5,000 spend in six months – Platinum: 100,000 SkyMiles after $6,000 spend in six months – Reserve: 125,000 SkyMiles after $9,000 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: 125,000 SkyMiles after $15,000 spend in six months
These are all available via referral, except for the dummy booking version. If you’re going for one where a referral is available, use a friend’s link and make their day.
– Gold, Platinum, and Reserve cards, both personal and business, get a second free checked bag – Personal Gold cards get a (lame) $10 monthly statement credit on rideshare
One of these is objectively nice, and one seems nice but is really just more work for you.
With the previous marketing disclaimer still in full force, Frontier did a good job of making you look twice at their promo, good show. (Thanks to David)
Have a nice weekend friends!
Actually, maybe some promotions are better launched in the second half of the first week of summer. (Thanks to Lea)
These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards.
Also, yes, some people got credit line increases on some of their credit cards this weekend and somehow that’s big news elsewhere. Cool, let’s go content monster!
Next up on the content monster: Allan Savory had two views in 1947.
– 25 Tiles award for status is now at the end of your cardmember year – Basic economy tickets no longer get BlueHouse lounge access with this card – Companion fare statement credits post after travel is completed
Strange flex by Barclays the week after they lost their AA card portfolio to Citi, but ok.
Capital One rebranded its Spark Miles and Spark Miles Select business credit cards, and it brought new sign-up bonuses in the process:
– VentureOne 1.5x everywhere, 50,000 miles after $4,500+ in three months – Venture: 2x everywhere and 75,000+75,000 miles after $7,500+ in three months and $30,000+ in six months
I’m sure someone thought this was a good idea, but choosing to rebrand other cards as Venture when there’s already a Venture X (charge) card that everyone just calls “Venture” is a choice. Also, hello inconsistency with spacing. (Thanks to padbodh)
“We know that after failing to pay mortgages, numerous social media gaffs, and building the most obtuse rewards platform in history that you’d hesitate to refer our program to your friends and family, but we think you won’t have such qualms against your enemies. Now you can earn while you get revenge!”
I realize it’s been a while since we’ve had another Breeze RouteMap Dartboard Bingoā¢ call so let’s make today’s a twofer: South Bend IN to Fort Meyers FL, and Cincinnati OH – Portland ME. If you got Bingo, come see the host for your prize.
Happy Wednesday!
Bilt Partner restaurant Tom’s Diner shows that it’s a team player.
Do this now: Check for spend offers on existing Chase cards. Most are 5x-7x or 5%-7% back on up to $1,000 spend at grocery, restaurants, and gas stations, the higher bonuses are when paying with Apple Pay. Sorry Androidians.
In a move that should surprise no one, Delta increased its checked bags fees after JetBlue and United did last week. That leaves American, Southwest, and Alaska to stagger their fee increases enough that it doesn’t look like anything to do with collusion or an oligopoly. (I’m not salty, you’re salty!)
Now for my degens, where’s the Kalshi line for the other airlines increasing checked bag fees by next week? Prediction markets aren’t always just arbitragey fun and games.
The Melio bill payment service has two new user bonuses through the end of April, though I think you can only get one or the other. Some existing accounts are also targeted for the international version on the Melio dashboard after clicking the first link and then logging in from that page:
The second one is available via affiliate links too, so find your favorite affiliate blogger and use their link if you want to support them. I’ll give the MEAB Gold Seal of Approvalā¢ to any affiliates that list the $500 gift card version of the sign-up bonus even though it doesn’t pay them. EDIT: Greg at Frequent Miler pointed out that there’s a stated limit of 100 participants in the international payments version of the promo, and there’s no counter to show the number that have participated.
American Express offers has an April version of $200 off of $1,000 spent with Delta Vacations through June 30.
– A companion pass worth either $500 with $15,000 spend or $1,500 with $75,000 spend – A 25 Tile annual status credit – 15% off of TrueBlue award flights
The three taken in sum make this a compelling card for New England or SoCal residents that have a penchant for Mint.
I’ve avoided covering last week’s United’s media blitz until the dust settled, and I guess here we are. Some of the most interesting announcements included bad news buried by updates:
– Polaris business class tickets will soon have a Basic option with no-seat assignments, lounge access, and no free ticket changes, talk about elevated – CRJ-200s are being converted to premium heavy “CRJ-450s“ – 787-9s will have an upgraded interior called “Elevated“ – The front row of some international flights will have bigger suites called “Polaris Studio“
Currently award tickets are exempt from Polaris Basic, just like how AA, Southwest, and Alaska is currently exempt from increased checked bag fees.
And a couple of items that are barely worth mentioning, but like they say “Cs get degrees”:
There are two hotel promotions of limited utility:
– IHG: 3x points in some non-Americas countries, book by Saturday, stay by May 22, registration required – Wyndham: 5,000 points on two night stays at Caesars Rewards properties booked by the end of the month for stays through September 1
