Category: Quick Hits

  1. Delta introduced a new status challenge that gives you 90 days of status and lets you keep it through January 2026 completely with credit card spend. You can match up to Platinum, and that’s the only level on here that’s worth while in my opinion, specifically for Platinum Choice Benefits and Comfort+ seats at booking.

    Assuming you challenge to Platinum, you’ll need to earn $3,750 MQD to retain it through January 2026. Since we’re us around here, that probably means $37,500 of manufactured spend in the next 90 days on a Delta Reserve card. Yes, if you know what you’re doing that can be knocked out in a single day.
  2. H-E-B stores have $10 H-E-B gift cards free with the purchase of $50 or more in Vanilla Visa gift cards with a digital coupon, limit one per account.

    Liquidation of these cards is currently rather constrained for in-person channels, often you’re limited to three at a time per store, per random time unit. (Thanks to GCG)
  3. Barclays has a 30% transfer bonus for JAL Mileage Bank, the San Francisco 49ers of mileage programs given its ability to scoop up business and first class awards and upset the competition. The bonus runs through February 15, and won’t post until after the promotion completes.

    The transfer ratio is normally 11,500 Arrival points to 5,000 JAL miles, which works out to be a 23:10 ratio (a number obviously chosen because Barclays hates its customers). With a 30% bonus, that becomes a much more standard 23:13 ratio.

Ratios visualized.

It’s short and sweet today:

  1. Office Depot / OfficeMax stores have $15 off of $300 or more in Visa gift cards this week through Saturday. As usual:

    – Link your cards to Dosh
    – Look for the lower fee variety of Everywhere cards provided you can liquidate them
    – Try for multiple transactions back-to-back
    – Don’t forget about any AmEx Business Gold monthly credits
    – This deal scales differently than it probably should

    These are Pathward gift cards, so have a liquidation plan in place that doesn’t involve melting the plastic into liquid, that doesn’t work. (Thanks to GCG)
  2. American Express Offers has a card linked offer for $200 off of $700 or more in airfare with Delta through March 31. Delta provides ample opportunity to game this one. One of the above board methods includes booking a non-basic economy ticket, waiting 24 hours, and then refunding it to a travel credit for use on future airfare.

    There’s a spectrum of other methods too. As usual, gamers gonna game. (Thanks to SideShowBob233)

Have a nice Monday!

Failed liquidation plan, illustrated.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Surely you noticed that yesterday autocorrect got surly and took it out on me. It’s corrected though, and rest assured that I’ve given myself the requisite face-palms. Oh, and don’t call me Shirley.

  1. Do this now: Check for targeted Chase offers for 5x-7x on up to $1,500 spend at groceries, gas, and restaurants on co-branded cards. If you get an error, open an incognito window and try again.

    These can usually be knocked out on a single trip to the right gas station or grocery store.
  2. The Alaska MileagePlan Business card has a new, 75,000 mile sign-up bonus after $4,000 in spend in 90 days. Don’t forget that there’s much more than meets the eye with Bank of America credit card applications and limits aren’t always limits. (Thanks to DoC)
  3. American Express Offers has new travel related card-linked offers for:

    – $225 statement credit on $1,250 or more in airfare purchased directly with Air New Zealand through March 16 for flights originating in the US
    – $150 statement credit on $750 or more at Omni Hotels through May 15

    Yes, one can game these offers, but also yes, both are nice products for non-gamers.
  4. The Motley Fool has a storied past with churners, and I typically avoid writing about their promotions as a result. However there’s a confluence of deals and multiple positive reports show that they work together on this round, so here we are. The promotions:

    – American Express Offers has $50 back on $99 or more at Motley Fool through May 5
    – AA’s eShopping Portal has 6,200 miles for a new subscription

    The Motley Fool Stock advisor happens to cost $99, so with the two offers together you’re buying 6,200 AA miles and Loyalty Points at 0.79 cents per point, which is a great deal if you’ll use them. Just set a reminder to end your subscription at least 61 days after subscribing. (Thanks to Paul and Ryan)

Happy Wednesday!

Taking ‘knocked out in a single trip to the right gas station’ literally.

First, a general PSA: Today is typically a good day for flash sales at airlines and hotel chains, so consider setting some time aside to price or reprice upcoming travel.

  1. Office Depot/OfficeMax stores have $15 off of $300 or more in Mastercard gift cards through Saturday. Tips:

    – Link your cards to Dosh, then activate the Office Depot offer
    – Chase has a šŸ¤ card linked offer for up to $11 back
    – Sometimes promotions like this scale differently than you’d expect

    These are Metabank Pathward gift cards, so have a liquidation plan in place.
  2. Dell is currently 10x or 15x at rakuten.com depending on category, which makes it a good time to convert each of your American Express Business Platinum $200 credits into 3,000 Membership Rewards and some junk that you don’t want.

    I expect Saks will jump up to at least 10x for today too, but as of this writing it’s only 2x.
  3. Chase Offers has 10% back on Southwest airfare purchases of $50 or more on up to $400 in spend. These aren’t hard to game, but there are varying levels of difficulty and sketchiness for each method.
  4. Do this now: Register for Accor Hotels’ Q1 promotion for double Accor points at hotels in Europe and North Africa for 2+ night stays through March 14.

Happy Monday!

A preview of Spirit Airline’s upcoming President’s Day sale.

  1. Kroger has a 4x fuel points promotion on third party gift cards and fixed value Visa and Mastercard gift cards running through Tuesday, January 24. The market for fuel points remains strong, but as is typical, the market for gift cards to go along with those fuel points is relatively weak.

    For gift card beginners: An easy way to dip your toes into the water is to buy a single $250 gift card (like Amazon or something else you’ll probably use). You’ll earn 1,000 fuel points worth $1 per gallon at Kroger and Shell gas stations, up to 35 gallons total.

    For non-beginners: It’s go time.
  2. Hyatt has a corporate status challenge for the third year in a row, and in theory this one allows for registration throughout the entirety of 2024; many large corporations are eligible, so if you’ve got a way to get an email address at a major corporation then you can probably register. The challenge:

    – Earn Explorist for 90 days
    – Keep Explorist through February 2026 with 10 nights
    – Earn Globalist through February 2026 with 20 nights

    The now defunct, defacto way to manufacture this status was mobile check-ins at MGM’s Excalibur (or is it Exaliburist? I forget). After a status match, you’d effectively be buying elite nights at $20 each, and could complete a Globalist challenge for about $400. Now it’s a bit harder but there are always angles. (Thanks go Guilane2)
  3. Apparently in an effort to rejuvenate spending on Delta cards after the October elite program massacre, American Express has new sign-up bonus level retention offers for existing card holders:

    – Delta Platinum: 70,000 miles on $2,000 spend
    – Delta Platinum: $1,200 on $4,000 spend
    – Delta Reserve: 90,000 miles on $3,000 spend

    To check retention offers, call or chat with AmEx and say something like: “I’m considering closing this card due to [reasons, like budgeting], but before I decide what to do, I’m wondering if there are any retention offers available?” If they give you an offer, always ask if there’s another offer available before accepting, often there is and it’s better than the first. (Thanks to royalic)
  4. Stop & Shop, Martins, and Giant Food stores have 2x points on Vanilla Visa gift cards running through Thursday of next week. Note that Vanilla Visas have been rocky for the last couple of weeks, and you may find that some liquidation channels have a three swipe limit before the cards start declining for a while. (Thanks to GCG)

Have a nice weekend and watch for tomorrow’s guest post from SideShowBob233!

Unfortunately, we also no longer have access to Excalibur’s elite member welcome amenities.

I think the title speaks for itself today, but here we go:

  1. Southwest has a fare sale for flights booked by tomorrow night for travel from January 30 to May 22 using promo code WOW. There’s an embarrassingly long list of blackout dates, cities, and flights so make sure your booking expectations are tempered in the same way that your flying expectations are tempered with Southwest.

    I checked my existing bookings, and 25% of them (2/8) were included in the sale, but none of the sale bookings were the expensive tickets.
  2. AA’s frequent flyer program has changed slightly for 2024. The major updates:

    – Redeem miles for upgrades on some partner airlines
    – Apply systemwide upgrades (SWUs) online
    – An option for Loyalty Points as a redemption reward at various point thresholds

    Most of the other changes linger on having an AAdvantage account for certain benefits, but I’d be shocked to the core if anyone in this group is flying AA without an AAdvantage or partner frequent flyer account.
  3. Do this now: Check for targeted Q1 Marriott Bonvoy promotions. Offers vary from account to account, and holding status seems to make you less likely to be targeted this round. We’ve seen:

    – Double elite qualifying nights for 60 days
    – 4,500 bonus points after two stays

    I was targeted for literally nothing, which somehow beats my normal experience with Marriott.
  4. Do this now (if you use Amtrak): Register for a free round-trip ride between July 1 and August 31 after three round-trips between January 3 and February 29. (thanks to MtM)

Another mildly interesting promotion: You can redeem Kool-Aid points for a winter hat.

Editor’s note: I have a few straggler guest posts ready to go and a few more on the way, so for January and perhaps beyond we’ll be doing guest post Saturdays, making this a six day a week blog, or a 20% increase in content. Hooray for progress science math Stanley cups guest authors!.

  1. Do this now: Check for targeted spending bonuses on your Chase cards, both co-brand and first party. Offers reported:

    – 10x points at grocery, gas, and Amazon for up to $1,000 in spend
    – 5x points at grocery, gas, and Amazon for up to $1,000 in spend
    – 10,000 bonus points on $110 or more in hotel bookings in 2024
    – $35 back on HBO Max after $99 in cumulative spend through September šŸ¤”šŸ¤”šŸ¤”

    It’s best practice with these to use a new incognito tab for each card in your portfolio. (Thanks to TIP)
  2. Alaska has a paid and award flight sale, and it’s one of the better ones in recent memory. I’m seeing:

    – Short-haul to medium-haul domestic: 4,500 miles
    – Long haul domestic: 9,000-10,000 miles
    – Hawaii: 9,000 miles
    – Mexico: 9,000-10,000 miles

    Book by tomorrow night. The sale seems to cover travel through the end of March, but I can’t find that written anywhere so look around.
  3. Southwest also has a paid and award flight sale running through tomorrow night, but it’s not a heavy-hitter sale like Alaska, but more of a lightweight 90 pound hot-dog leg kind of sale. This one is valid for travel between January 26 and May 22.

    For those keeping track at home, I repriced six upcoming flights all booked in the last week. Two were significantly cheaper, two were the same price, and two were slightly more expensive.
  4. Kroger is running a 4x fuel points promotion on third party gift cards and fixed value Visas and Mastercards Friday through Sunday, and brokers are lining up with fresh inventory like Starbucks shoppers lining up for pink Stanley cups I expect rates to be strong.

    Side note: I was today years old when I learned what a Stanley cup was, hockey jokes aside.

Happy Thursday!

Southwest’s award sale in humanoid-food form.

Since we missed major news items over the last two and a half weeks, it’s time to play ketchup catchup:

  1. Do this now: Register for 5x bonus categories for rotating bonus category cards:

    – Chase Freedom and Freedom Flex: 5x at groceries, gyms, and spas, $1,500 max per quarter
    – Discover IT: 5x at restaurants and drug stores, $1,500 max per quarter
    – Citi Dividend: 5x at Amazon and streaming, $6,000 max per year
    – US Bank Cash+: I choose utilities and electronics retailers, $1,500 max per quarter

    The Cash+ currently has a measly $200 sign-up bonus, the Freedom is only available via product change, the Freedom Flex has a $200 sign-up bonus and 5x at grocery on up to $12,000 in spend, and the Dividend isn’t generally available any more.

    Gaming most of these should be easy with gift card purchases at grocery stores, CVS, and Amazon. For the Cash+, look in to how your local utilities deal with card payments, especially when the payment doesn’t match the bill.
  2. The Citi Shop Your Way Rewards card, which incidentally hasn’t been mentioned on this blog in the entirety of 2024, has a few new targeted offers that stack with other spend offers:

    – 15,000 ThankYou Points per month on $1,500+ in spend at grocery, gas, or restaurant
    – $150 statement credit per month on $1,500+ in spend at grocery, gas, or restaurant

    The Citi SYWR card isn’t just interesting for spend bonuses, especially in the face unregulated debit cards. (Thanks to Brooke)
  3. Staples has fee-free $200 Mastercard gift cards through Saturday, limit eight per transaction. I’d say Staples is trying to make 2024 look like 2023 with this sale, except technically the promotion started in 2023 so I’m legally prevented from saying so by the Staples and Uber Eats cabal. The cabal also prevents buying these cards via Uber Eats as far as I can tell.

    These are Metabank Pathward gift cards, so have a liquidation plan in place.
  4. American Express Offers has a few interesting new promotions:

    – $125 back on $600 or more in spend with Delta
    – 25,000 Membership Rewards after $1,000 or more in spend with ANA
    – 15% to 20% back on up to $100 in spend at Martin and Giant grocery stores
  5. Do this now: Register for a 10% bonus from Cathay Pacific’s Asia Miles, paid when transferring points in from credit card programs.
  6. PayUSATax has lowered the cost of tax payments with a credit card to 1.82%. Games people play:

    – Lower W-2 federal tax withholdings and make up for it with quarterly estimated tax payments
    – Overpay taxes with a credit card and wait for a refund

    Don’t attempt either unless you’ve got the discipline to ride it out if you run into any issues, like the IRS delaying refunds for months or years. Remember what the 33rd president of the United States and former head of the IRS, Spiderman, said: with great power comes great responsibility. (Thanks to GodLovesFrags)

When Texas cities play ketchup, Lubbock misses the point.