Category: Quick Hits

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 🤡🤡🤡

    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.

NOTE: I’ll be going on a blogging vacation between December 18 and 31, during which there may or may not be any posts. But, we’ll ring in the new year on January 1, 2024 with the 2023 version of Travel Hacking as Told by GIFs though, so no need to be up in arms. What’s this “may”, you ask? I’m soliciting for guest posts and I’ll use those during the regularly scheduled newsletter. They should be non-sponsored, non-promotional, non-political, and at least travel hacking or churning adjacent. Please reach out to me if you’re interested, it’ll be the third easiest gig you’ve ever gotten!

It’s short and sweet Tuesday!

  1. Rakuten’s in-store program has a card linked offer for 5%-10% cash back or 5x-10x Membership Rewards points on up to $300 in purchases at Staples, good up to four times for spend through December 24.

    This pairs nicely with fee-free Visa $200 gift cards running through Saturday, and with monthly American Express Business Gold credits. (Thanks to Doug)
  2. Giftcards.com has 10% off of electronic Visa gift cards using promo code VISACHEER or HOLIDAYVISA10, limit three per transaction, and $2,000 per rolling 48 hours.

    Don’t forget go through a shopping portal, but lately portals haven’t been paying cash back at giftcards.com when using a promo code.

Have a nice Tuesday friends!

The fifth easiest gig you’ve ever gotten.

NOTE: I’ll be going on a blogging vacation between December 18 and 31, during which there may or may not be any posts. But, we’ll ring in the new year on January 1, 2024 with the 2023 version of Travel Hacking as Told by GIFs though, so no need to be up in arms. What’s this “may”, you ask? I’m soliciting for guest posts and I’ll use those during the regularly scheduled newsletter. They should be non-sponsored, non-promotional, non-political, and at least travel hacking or churning adjacent. Please reach out to me if you’re interested, it’ll be the third easiest gig you’ve ever gotten!

  1. Meijer MPerks has a digital coupon for $10 off of $150 or more in Mastercard gift cards through Saturday, limit one per account. Scale with multiple MPerks accounts.

    Meijer sells both Sunrise and Pathward gift cards.
  2. DDG reports that Discover is sending a targeted 5x promotion at Walmart for January and February via email, activation required.
  3. Capital One Shopping has $150 to $200 referral bonuses for both the referrer and referred after the referred installs a browser extension and spends $10 through the portal, limit $500 in referral bonuses per account. You don’t need a Capital One card or a social security number to have a Capital One Shopping account.

    It’s good practice to cycle to a new Capital One Shopping account after $1,000 or so cash back, and now there’s slightly more incentive. If you don’t already have a Capital One Shopping account, be sure to reach out to a friend for a link.
  4. VanillaGift.com has no fees on $150 or more in electronic Visa gift cards through Wednesday night with code VGHOLIDAY23.

    VanillaGift.com is an Incomm website, and American Express has blocked points earning on Incomm websites.

The ninth easiest gig you ever got. (Thanks to Carl for sharing)

NOTE: I’ll be going on a blogging vacation between December 18 and 31, during which there may or may not be any posts. But, we’ll ring in the new year on January 1, 2024 with the 2023 version of Travel Hacking as Told by GIFs though, so no need to be up in arms. What’s this “may”, you ask? I’m soliciting for guest posts and I’ll use those during the regularly scheduled newsletter. They should be non-sponsored, non-promotional, non-political, and at least travel hacking or churning adjacent. Please reach out to me if you’re interested, it’ll be the third easiest gig you’ve ever gotten!

  1. Do this now: Register for Hilton’s Q1 promotion for 2,000 bonus points per stay, or 2,500 points if you request a digital key on the stay. Valid for stays between January 1, 2024 and May 1, 2024.
  2. Do this now (if you hold an American Express Bonvoy Brilliant card): Register for a targeted 85,000 point free night certificate after $4,000 in spend by March 15, 2024. (Thanks to The_Sultan1)
  3. Staples in-store has fee free Visa $200 gift cards starting Sunday and running through the following Saturday, limit five per transaction according to the current ad.

    These are Pathward gift cards. Yes, there are still working in-person liquidation methods and there are still pajama liquidation methods too, but on average fees are going up, either directly or because the opportunity cost of locking up funds for a few months is increasing with interest rates.
  4. American Express offers has $150 back on $1,000 or more in Air Canada airfare through. (Thanks to Parts_Unknown-)
  5. Holding the Chase Aeroplan card gives you a 10% transfer bonus when converting Ultimate Rewards to Aeroplan miles. That bonus was supposed to be temporary for this year’s launch of the card, but FM reports that it’s now apparently permanent. This bonus stacks with occasional temporary transfer bonuses too.

    The permanent transfer bonus combined with Aeroplan’s partner availability and the ability to earn 3x at grocery stores makes me ready to kick a 5/24 slot in the teeth to get this card.
  6. The Chase Marriott Boundless card has a new link with a heightened sign-up bonus for five 50,000 point free night certificates after $5,000 spend in three months. The $95 annual fee is not waived for the first year.

    It’s no secret that I’m a Bonvoy hater, but this offer is almost good enough for me to care — but not quite enough because it would also kick a 5/24 slot in the teeth, and the Aeroplan card holds more long term value for my use case so that’s a tooth two far. (Thanks to DDG)

The sixth easiest gig you’ve ever gotten.

Today’s items are all gamable to an extent. I’ve rated them on a Jim scale of 0 to 37 in terms of ease of gaming because reasons.

  1. The American Express Bonvoy Brilliant card has a targeted offer for +10 points per dollar on $750 in spend at grocery stores through the end of the year. Unfortunately the regular spend rate for grocery is only 2x, but even in Marriott Bonvoy land 2x+10x = 12x.

    Gamability: 30 (Thanks to Miles)
  2. American Express also has a card linked offer for 17,500 Membership Rewards on $1,000 or more in ITA Airways airfare through December 31.

    Gamability: 18 (Thanks to irieriley)
  3. SoFi has 17,500 Membership Rewards or $175 back through the Rakuten portal or $200 through Swagbucks for opening a new checking and savings account, depositing $500 and keeping it there for 45 days. The T&C suggest that this only works if you’ve never had a SoFi bank account. It also stacks with a $250 bonus from SoFi if you direct deposit, or “direct deposit”, $5,000 or more.

    If you don’t have a Membership Rewards earning Rakuten account, you can create a new one and earn a $40 referral bonus for doing it. As usual, refer from P2’s account or from a friend’s account, use a bloggers referral only as a last resort.

    Gamability: 33 (Thanks to TV)
  4. Chase Offers has a targeted 10% back up to $40 on airfare of $100 or more booked directly with Air Canada by today.

    Gamability: 34
  5. Chase Offers also has a targeted $50 statement credit with $500 or more booked through the Chase Travel Portal through December 31.

    Gamability: 30 (Thanks to Kyle W)

Happy Wednesday friends!

Deliciousness: 14
Gamability: 2.13

Warning: There’s a lot of math in today’s post, but don’t worry, it’s the easy kind that doesn’t cause my P2 to break out in hives.

  1. PenFed has a $750 new savings account bonus for depositing $50,000 by the end of the year and holding it through April 30, 2024. The account earns 3% APR, and the bonus is effectively another 6% 4.5 APR. Last I checked, 3%+6% 4.5 = a good savings rate for cash. (Thanks to DoC, and Anthony)
  2. The American Express Business Platinum card has heightened bonuses via referral, now up to 25,000 Membership Rewards for the referrer and 150,000 Membership Rewards for the referred.

    Obviously 150,000+25,000 is less than the current sporadic offer of 190,000 Membership Rewards, but the referral offer is much less likely to give a pop-up. (Thanks to Gasongasoff)
  3. Capital One Shopping has a targeted $50 or $75 referral bonus for both the referrer and referee available, for a total of $100 or $150 in bonuses. A couple of reminders:

    – You don’t have to have a Capital One account to use Capital One Shopping
    – After approximately $1,000 cash back you should switch to a new account

    So, I guess connect the dots on this one.
  4. Based on news headlines in the space, affiliate credit card bloggers evidently have new access to a new Alaska Airlines Visa 60,000 mile sign-up bonus. As a friendly reminder, VPN into Southern California and use a link that has an embedded Google referral for a 70,000 mile offer if you’re going for the card, and probably go for some business cards at the same time too.
  5. Citi has a new targeted offer by email for a $30 statement credit with $350 or more in hotel spend through December 20. Check your inbox for the subject: “[NAME], Activate your offer today and start earning now!”
  6. Qatar Avios has a 25% bonus for incoming bank point transfers through November 30. For most of us, bank points with Qatar as a transfer partner means Citi or American Express.

    Typically these bonuses post in a week, but the T&C gives them 45 days of wiggle room.

Happy Tuesday!

Ok, this one might actually be hive inducing, sorry.