– 100,000 MileagePlus miles after $5,000 spend in three months – 10,000 MileagePlus miles for adding an employee card in three months – 5,000 MileagePlus miles for entering a United Agent’s promo code – 2,000 Premier Qualifying Points (PQP)
That’s 115,000 total miles, double check offers before you apply. To get an agent code, either call United or chat on their website and ask the agent for one. If you chat, you may get the code directly or may get a URL that has it at the end.
Stop & Shop, Giant, and Martins have 10x points on Zift Zillions cards through Thursday. Some of these cards are convertible to high value brands like Amazon and Home Depot. The current variant is limited to $500 per loyalty account.
Wanna know what a Zillion is? A big number. A Zift? No idea.
Giant Food has 2x points on Mastercard gift cards through Thursday, limit $1,500 per loyalty account.
These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards.
Today’s drinking game: Take a sip every time someone mentions the Hyatt devaluation. Actually, don’t do that, I don’t want you to die. Here’s the non-Hyatt update:
– Select Visa Signature: 60,000 miles after $5,000 spend in 90 days – Visa Signature: 40,000 miles after $4,000 spend in 90 days – SkyBlue Visa: 10,000 miles after 1,000 spend in 90 days
The bonus multipliers aren’t amazing, but 2x on airlines, hotels, car rental, and dining is … there. The award chart also isn’t amazing, and also is … there; think 62,500-92,500 miles for business redemptions and 80,000-120,000 for first, both one way. Finally, let’s talk about their business class product for US flights: it’s … there. (Thanks to David)
AirFrance / KLM FlyingBlue has a new leader, and the most surprising part is that the leader is a relatively well-known travel hacker, Tiffany Funk. Tiffany co-founded point.me, ran a paid award booking service, and oversaw parts of the business operations at One Mile at a Time.
My crystal ball is famously nothing more than a ball made of crystal; but it tells me that this is bad news for serious travel hackers and good news for the median regular family putting all their spend on Delta credit cards and booking economy awards with SkyMiles to Rome. I do think we’ll see more business class availability on the worst routes at the worst times, but less availability when and where you want to fly in premium cabins. I sure hope I’m wrong. Today’s action Well, remember that the site’s name ends in “and Burn”.
– Movingcardholders from Mastercard to Discover (possibly targeted) – Adding 3x categories at grocery stores and gas stations
There’s been a lot of hate about the change, but for a manufactured spender’s perspective this is great because: You’ll have 3x unlimited gas and grocery transferrable miles when paired with another Capital One card, and if you don’t like the Discover transition, you can opt out by May 4th, just as the Star Wars gods foretold.
– AirFrance / KLM: $250 or $400 back on $1,000+ or $2,000+ spend through May 31 – Marriott: $50 or $150 off of $250+ or $500+ spend through August 22 – Hilton: $40 off of $200+ spend through August 15
For the hotel offer, a gift card is an easy game to play. For the airline offer, its not as easy but just like Jurassic Park taught us: gamers uh, find a way.
– Renaissance: 15% back up to $75 on $100+ through April 30 – TownPlace Suites: 15% back up to $57 on $100+ through April 30 – Le Meridian: 15% back up to $57 on $100+ through April 30 – Marriott: 10% back up to $80 on $100+ through May 15
These are usually a lot easier to deal with than American Express Offers.
These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards.
ANA and Japan Airlines both set their fuel surcharges on the two month rolling average of the cost of Singapore Kerosine, which you might be surprised to learn, is a lot higher than it was a few months ago. As a result, the surcharges for both airlines have approximately doubled. You can find discussion and a few data points here.
Someone please queue the whah-whah trombones for me.
Apparently the Japanese whah-whah trombones also have new fuel surcharges.
– Look for the lower fee Everywhere cards if you know how to liquidate them – Even multiples of $300 work even better – Yes, zero is an even number if you want to be technical, but you’re trying too hard
These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards.
Bank of America’s Rakuten links have increased bonus offers on both cards:
– Travel Rewards: $150 cash back plus the card’s sign-up bonus – Customized Cash: $150 cash back plus the card’s sign-up bonus
The business versions of these are still equal or higher bonuses and arguably better in every way, especially for churners and manufactured spenders. For those that like (n+1)/24 these are great though.
AirFrance / KLM’s FlyingBlue has a status match program that now includes eligibility for US and Canadian citizens, but it excludes the Platinum status tier for those countries which can only match up to Gold (SkyTeam Elite Plus) because we’re all a bunch of gamers.
SkyTeam Elite Plus status will get you lounge access on international SkyTeam flights and an increased checked bag allowance, but the real benefit for a match is pushing you closer to Platinum status with lower XP requirements.
Two airline shopping portals have spend promotions:
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 Approval™ 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
