Category: Quick Hits

  1. Do this now: Register for National’s Spring promotion for a free rental day with every two rentals between April 6 and June 7. Promotional free days must be used by the end of the year.
  2. Staples stores have fee-free $200 Mastercard gift cards through Saturday, limit nine per transaction.

    These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards.
  3. There are multiple reports that Cardless now allows holding three cards. You can’t get the Celtics card anymore, so just make sure you dial back that enthusiasm by 8x, or is it 6x?

Happy Monday!

DIY short and sweet.

  1. The Chase IHG Business card has an increased sign-up bonus of 200,000 points after tiered spend:

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

    This should also be available via referrals in a couple of days. (Thanks to ArchEveNix)
  2. Wyndham is updating its hotel award tiers on April 15. Apparently 8% of hotels are moving to a lower tier and 4% to a higher tier. That means you’ve got until April 14 to book any Wyndham aspirational stays in anticipation of the price increasing.

    I’d like to see the same numbers out of Hyatt in May. I’d also like a new, free Gulfstream Jet which seems equally likely.
  3. American Express Offers has an offer for $250 off of $1,000+ at Marriott Homes & Villas through May 24.
  4. Lufthansa’s Allegris business class seats have now been certified after years of complications. Watch for quite a bit more Lufthansa business availability dropping in the next week, though probably only with the airline’s own miles.
  5. Singapore KrisFlyer has 30% off of both economy and business class redemptions to and from many destinations for travel booked by the end of March and flown in April. Destinations in the US aren’t currently advertising reduced business class rates though.

Happy Tuesday!

The Allegris seats certification issue: Footwell made emergency egress hard.

  1. It’s time to register for Q2 rotating category card bonuses:

    – Chase Freedom and Freedom Flex: Amazon, Chase Travel, and Feeding America
    – Discover IT: Restaurants and Home Improvement
    – Citi Dividend: Grocery and Citi Travel
    – US Bank Cash+: I choose utilities and electronics

    Every one of these has a way to manufactured spend your way to your $1,500 quarterly. I’d suggest knocking these out on day one so you don’t have to think about them, but you do you.
  2. The Chase Freedom Unlimited no-annual fee card has an increased sign-up bonus of $250 after $500 spend in three months via referrals only.

    The sign-up bonus isn’t great, but there are a number of use-cases for 1.5x Ultimate Rewards everywhere. Its 3x categories have niche use-cases too.
  3. Citi ThankYou Points sharing between different accountholders is ending on May 17. If this doesn’t sound like a big deal, it’s not really because the limits were 100,000 points annually. You’ll just have to join team QR now.
  4. The American Express Bevy and Brilliant Marriott Bonvoy cards have new language restricting eligibility for cardmembers that:

    – Have or had a Chase Marriott card in the last 30 days
    – Opened an American Express Boundless, Bold, or Bountiful card in the last 90 days
    – Got a sign-up bonus for a new Boundless, Bold, or Bountiful in the last 24 months

    Can gamers still game? Undoubtedly. Or should I say, Bundoutably?
  5. There was a time when PayPal Bill Pay games could amount to huge profits in a short period of time. Then there was another period with different games, and yet another period with even more games. PayPal has thrown in the towel now, BillPay is completely gone from the app and website.

    Other FinTechs that use the same backend have been going through interesting changes recently too. Coincidence? I doubt it.
  6. Office Depot / OfficeMax stores have $15 off of $300+ in Mastercard gift cards through Saturday, limit nine per transaction.

    These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards.

Have a nice Monday friends!

Even playing the whah-whah trombones for PayPal BillPay died.

  1. Chase Ultimate Rewards can’t be deposited to an external account starting March 27, instead you’ve got to redeem as a statement credit or to a Chase account.

    There are generally only a couple of good reasons to have a Chase deposit account, but those are overshadowed with a really bad reason to have one after you’re established.
  2. Chase Offers has new offers for:

    – $100 back on $600+ in Chase Travel spend
    – 10% back on up to $320 spend at Best Western properties

    Look, not all Best Western properties are bad, but also there’s a reason that we poke fun at them.
  3. Wells Fargo launched two new versions of the Autograph Journey card for Premier clients, but in-app only. They’re exactly like the regular Autograph Journey cards, except for:

    – There’s a 100,000 point sign-up bonus instead of a 60,000 point sign-up bonus
    – There are different colors available
    – They’re more, uhhh, fun

    There’s still a $2,500 Wells Fargo Premier banking bonus through April 14 and brokerage accounts work for it too, so if the fun of the Autograph Journey gold edition moves the needle, I bet it moves even more with a cool $2,500 added on.
  4. Alaska Atmos has a coach award sale for flights booked by February 27 and flown through May 12. Because Alaska is trying to be like the other major US carriers, they added blackout dates around spring break too:

    – Helsinki Finland: 17,500 miles each way
    – Copenhagen Denmark and Vienna Austria: 20,000 miles each way
    – Hokkaido Japan: 20,000 miles each way
    – Munich Germany and Prague Check Republic: 30,000 miles each way

    If you’re cool with flying coach: (a) uh, wow; and (b) check cash fares before booking, they’re often pretty cheap right now.

Happy Thursday friends!

Wells Fargo marketing shows off fun outfit ideas for your new fun credit card.

  1. Best Western has a promotion for 2,600 bonus points for stays through May 10 booked by Sunday, registration required.

    Best Western havsa separate promotion for a $50 gift card with 3+ night stays through May 10, registration is also required. The promotions will stack.
  2. Bilt’s rent day promotion on Sunday has a tiered transfer bonus of 25%-100% to Accor ALL depending on your Bilt status. Platinum Kerr Kash Bilt Cash holders can redeem $75 for an extra 25% bonus too. A few reminders about Accor:

    – Accor ALL points are worth a fixed 2 eurocents, or approximately 2.4 cents
    – You can transfer Accor ALL to Qantas at a 1:1.25 ratio
    – For more on the program, see the MEAB FAQette.

    Honestly, if you’ve decided to get out of the Bilt ecosystem this is probably the best case cash-out you could hope for, at least assuming you travel outside of the US.
  3. I wouldn’t normally write about content monster fodder like this, but I’m too happy to see it gone to help myself. So:

    Southwest boarding groups are gone, they only have assigned seating now. Ding dong, the witch is dead.

Happy Wednesday

You’ve gotta figure it out on your own today.

  1. Do this now: Register for Q1 5x rotating categories:

    – Chase Freedom and Freedom Flex: Dining, up to $1,500
    – Discover IT: Grocery, wholesale clubs, select streaming up to $1,500
    – Citi Dividend: Amazon, select streaming up to $1,500
    – US Bank Cash+: I choose utilities and electronics because reasons

    Chase had a few other categories that weren’t mentioning to, but clearly I do want to mention that I didn’t mention them.
  2. Do this now (if you have a Chase United card): Check for targeted spend offers. Most are an extra 2x, 2.5x, or 3x up for between $2,000 and $10,000 in spend.
  3. On Saturday, the British Airways shopping portal listed Kate Spade at 250 miles per dollar, and several other portals were in the 100+ miles per dollar range too. This triggered, in order:

    – A Kate Spade churner shopping spree (buying miles at 0.4 cents each is a steal; and oh yeah, you get a bag too)
    – A quick examination of Kate Spade return policies
    – Some happy P1 and P2 Kate Spade fans
    – Sadness, when the portals actually tracked at 2x-4x

    If you’re stuck holding both the literal and metaphorical bag, I’d suggest first opening a case with the portal, but know that it probably won’t go anywhere. Next, I’d reach out to Kate Spade directly, which also probably won’t go anywhere. Finally, either consider whether the miles are worth your time to pursue even further, or just return your purchase. If you want to chat with others about the issue, I’ve created a Telegram group for discussion, it’s open to all churners but meant to be specific to this issue, not a long lived general room.
  4. The Citi ThankYou Mastercard, which has been nominated as a MEAB Unsung Hero but is still stuck in committee, sent year long spend bonuses for the third year in a row. We saw:

    – $160 back on $2,000 spend at gas, grocery, or dining (monthly)
    – $150 back on $1,500 spend at gas, grocery or dining (monthly)
    – $120 back on $1,200 spend at gas, grocery or dining (monthly)
    – 5% back on up to $1,600 spend at lots of places with lots of merchant codes (monthly)

    A few notes: $160 * 12 months = $1,920, and you also earn ThankYou points. Also, unfortunately no you can’t apply for this card. (Thanks to Matt M, Michael, and K)
  5. The Citi AA Platinum Select Mastercard has a heightened bonus of 80,000 AAdvantage miles after $1,000 spend in three months. This offer is from inflight AA applications and requires a flight attendant code. Any six digit code starting with ’00’ should work.
  6. AirFrance / KLM’s promo awards for January includes:

    – Business: Orlando, Montreal, St. Martin
    – Premium Economy: Chicago, Seattle, and Mexico City
    – Economy: New York, Houston, Miami, Atlanta, and Las Vegas

    There are business class opportunities in my spot checks on some of the economy and premium economy cities too, but they’re sparse.

Happy Monday!

Pictured: The MEAB Unsung Hero committee in deep deliberation.

EDITOR’S NOTE: If you sent me an email, message, or something else over the last week and a half, I probably haven’t gotten to it yet. It’s not you, it’s me; well, it’s me and a disconnected international trip.

  1. Rakuten In-Store card linked offers has offers for:

    – 6% or 6x at Walgreens
    – 1% or 1x at Food Lion
    – 1% or 1x at Giant
    – 1% or 1x at Martin’s

    Remember, it’s not just credit cards that link to Rakuten. You’ve got to re-add the offer an hour after its first use, though any purchases within that hour are still active. These offers generally aren’t supposed to work for gift cards, but “supposed to” and “the real world” don’t always align. (Thanks to Douglas)
  2. The Citi ThankYou Mastercard, formerly the Shop Your Way Rewards Mastercard, continues its predecessor’s reign in the Unsung Heroes realm, and it continues to taunt churners who don’t have the card since you can’t currently apply for it. Offers for those with the card were sent for:

    – $50 statement credit after $450 spend, twice monthly for three months

    For #mathchallenged: $50*2*3 =$300. Also, e^{i*\pi}=-1 (just thought you’d want to know). (Thanks to Adam)
  3. Staples stores have fee-free $200 Mastercard gift cards through Saturday, limit nine per transaction.

    These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards.
  4. Staples.com has fee-free $200 virtual Visa electronic gift cards, limit five.

    These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards.
  5. Giftcards.com has increased portal payouts like it’s going out of style, and some of those increased payouts will last through the week. The most interesting:

    – ShopBack: 5%
    – AA: 2.5x

    Use a referral for the first portal if you don’t already have account there and make a friend’s day.
  6. Chase Freedom and Freedom Flex cards earn 5x at PayPal for the month of December only, and [checks notes] it’s now December. The $1,500 5x spend quarterly limit still applies.

Good luck on your buyer’s group and reselling activity today, and happy Monday!

Sometimes math is easy.

  1. US Bank has a double cashback promotion for its card linked offers and its shopping portal today through Friday.

    The portal and offers are hard to find and are quirky, so double check the US Bank portal cheat sheet if you’re not sure how to get there.
  2. Chase Ultimate Rewards has a tiered 15-25% transfer bonus to AirCanada Aeroplan through January 5, 2026:

    – 15%: transfer <= 74,000 miles
    – 20%: transfer between 74,000 miles and 174,000 miles
    – 25%: transfer >= 175,000 miles

    I think banks shouldn’t make you pull out a calculator for a transfer bonus personally, but welcome to #2025.
  3. The Chase Aeroplan Visa has a heightened sign-up bonus of 75,000+25,000+20,000 miles with tiered spend:

    – 75,000 miles after $4,000 spend in three months
    – 25,000 miles after $20,000 spend in 12 months
    – 1.5x on 1x spend through January 15, 2026 up to 20,000 miles

    I think banks shouldn’t make you pull out a calculator for a sign-up bonus personally either, but welcome to #2025 again.
  4. The Rove shopping portal, notable for its transferability to Lufthansa Miles & More, has a promotion through Black Friday for 4x-5x at giftcards.com.

    If you’re not a member of Rove, use a friend’s referral link. If you don’t have a friend with Rove, reach out to me and I’ll send you a random churner’s link.
  5. Giftcards.com has a $10 gift card with the purchase of $100+ in Visa gift cards with promo code VISABOGO. This code is appearing on most shopping portals, so it should stack with portal earning.
  6. Staples stores have fee-free $200 Visa gift cards through Saturday, limit nine per transaction.

    These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards.
  7. On December 1, Bilt will have a 50-100% transfer bonus to British Airways Avios depending on your Bilt status. Two things:

    – You’ve still got a few days to earn if this is interesting to you
    – To decide if it’s interesting, would you trade 1.50-2.00 Avios for a Hyatt point?

    Even with a big Hyatt balance, I’d generally still answer the second question with a definite “yuuup”.
  8. Royal Air Maroc has a paid status match opportunity for non-US frequent flyer elites (that is, they’re not matching US airline status). Matches to Gold ($349) get oneworld Sapphire and to Platinum ($749) get oneworld Emerald status though the end of 2026. 

    Both will get you access to AA and Alaska lounges even when flying domestically with either airline. (Thanks to David) 
  9. There are two niche hotel promotions, register for either or both if there’s any chance of you staying with either program in the next quarter:

    – Best Western: 5,000 bonus points for 2+ night stays through February 1, limit 20,000 points
    – Preferred Hotels: 35,000 bonus points after two night stays through June 30, 2026 booked by December 4

    I’ve been told Best Western has some really nice properties, but I’ve personally yet to see one. I can confirm however that Preferred Hotels does have some really nice properties.

Happy Wednesday, safe travels!

The kind of quirk you should expect from the US Bank shopping portal.