MEABNOTE: I’ll be going on a blogging vacation at the end of the year and there won’t be any daily posts between December 15 and December 31, at least none from me. We may have guest posts during that period, but that depends on you sending me some. On January 1(ish), we’ll celebrate with the 2025 version of Travel Hacking as Told by GIFs.

  1. The Delta personal and Business American Express cards have new public no-lifetime language (NLL)[EDIT – link corrected] links, also available from your Delta Business portal’s dashboard:

    – Business Reserve: 125,000 SkyMiles after $10,000 spend in six months
    – Business Platinum: 110,000 SkyMiles after $6,000 spend in six months
    – Business Gold: 90,000 SkyMiles after $4,000 spend in six months, annual fee waived
    – Reserve: 100,000 SkyMiles after $6,000 spend in six months
    – Platinum: 100,000 SkyMiles after $5,000 spend in six months
    – Gold: 85,000 SkyMiles after $4,000 spend in six months, annual fee waived

    The Business Gold card with its waived annual fee is a current sweet spot in the American Express portfolio. If you can get these via referral and games, that’s likely still a better option though. (Thanks to achzeet44)
  2. The Cardless issued Qatar Privilege Club Visa cards have heightened sign-up bonuses through February 4, 2026:

    – Signature: 20,000 Avios after one purchase and 45,000 additional after $3,500 in 90 days
    – Infinite: 25,000 Avios after one purchase and 75,000 Avios + 150 QPoints after $6,000 spend in 90 days

    Both have 6x earning at dining through February 4, but beware of behaving like a floosie on Cardless cards if you value your relationship with the bank.
  3. Staples stores have fee-free Visa gift cards through Saturday, limit nine per transaction.

    These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards.
  4. Stop & Shop, Giant, and Martins have 3x point earning on Mastercard gift cards through Thursday, limit $2,000 per loyalty account (or limit $1,500 for Giant Food because it’s still a running joke at the parent company).

    Stores carry either or both Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards and Sutton / Incomm gift cards.

Happy Tuesday!

Giant Food stores get joke sushi too.

MEABNOTE: I’ll be going on a blogging vacation at the end of the year and there won’t be any daily posts between December 15 and December 31, at least none from me. We may have guest posts during that period, but that depends on you sending me some. On January 1(ish), we’ll celebrate with the 2025 version of Travel Hacking as Told by GIFs.

I have an upcoming FlyingBlue award flight that I need to cancel. Sometimes you can do that online, but: (1) often the option isn’t available or errors out if it is, and (2) doesn’t work if you need to pay the cancellation fee with a different card than you used to book.

I fell squarely into the second category. I had booked a reservation in May with a card I don’t have any more because churning, which means I needed to call in to cancel. I looked at a trusted list of airline customer service phone numbers. I found the FlyingBlue number, typed it into my cell phone and called.

I’ve been through FlyingBlue’s customer service center plenty of times, and immediately a few things were off about the call:

  • The FlyingBlue jingle didn’t play (maybe they changed it?)
  • There was no hold time after dialing the number for reservations (weird, but it was very early in the morning in the European Union and late in the United States so maybe that’s why?)
  • The representative’s accent was really mild, and didn’t sound french at all (maybe a non-french employee?)
  • The cancelation fee quoted was incorrect (this happens with regular FlyingBlue all the time though, it works itself out with the automated system, so on brand)
  • The representative asked which website I used to book “for security” (I’ve never been asked that)
  • The representative asked for my credit card directly (FlyingBlue transfers you to an automated system for credit card entry)

The last one really made the alarm bells ring. I asked the representative about the automated system, and he told me that he can do it directly, there’s no longer a need for the automated system. Because we all have momentary lapses of judgement and I’m certainly not immune, I read the representative my credit card information. After that, he said there would be a 10-15 minute hold while he processed the cancellation. I was now convinced that this was a scam, but I confirmed I’d wait on hold.

I logged onto my bank’s website right away and locked the card. Right after that, I hung up the phone and within 30 seconds got a call from an “Unknown Caller”. I didn’t answer, then a minute later I got another, and another minute later another came in. Then again an hour or two later and once more an hour or two after that. At least scammers have good customer service when a call disconnects?

Now that I had a moment to think and investigate, I went through my call log to double check the phone number I’d dialed. At this point it should be no surprise – I had indeed made a mistake. I’d taken the “1-800-237” from the FlyingBlue phone number and then took “2262” from the Aeroplan phone number accidentally. CI had dialed the wrong number. It’s wild, but someone had anticipated this sort of mistake and set up a phone number to field calls from people like me.

My next steps:

  • Report my credit card lost/stolen
  • Double check for pending charges on the card (there weren’t any)
  • Change my FlyingBlue password, just in case
  • Turn on “Always Require 2FA” on my FlyingBlue account which really should have already been turned on

After all that I was in a position to cancel the ticket, this time for realzies. I dialed the correct FlyingBlue number 1-800-237-2747 (hyperlinked here so you can click it instead of typoing it) and was met with the FlyingBlue jingle and a hold. I waited on hold 15 minutes before I decided to deal with it tomorrow and hung up. At least the hold confirmed that I’d dialed the correct number the second time, hooray for holds or something.

The lessons:

  • Triple check reservations phone numbers, ideally click a hyperlink from a loyalty program’s app instead of typing it in manually
  • Know how to lock your cards quickly in case you didn’t do the above
  • Be ready and willing to bail on a call, ideally much earlier than I did

Good luck out there and happy Monday!

This one could be real though.

MEABNOTE: I’ll be going on a blogging vacation at the end of the year and there won’t be any daily posts between December 15 and December 31, at least none from me. We may have guest posts during that period, but that depends on you sending me some. On January 1(ish), we’ll celebrate with the 2025 version of Travel Hacking as Told by GIFs (also, jifs is wrong way to pronounce that word – also known as the Bonvoy way).

  1. Klarna released a new rewards earning Visa debit card, apparently with WebBank’s charter. The application link is live on their site too. The earnings structure seems to be:

    – Plus:, $9.99 monthly fee: Earns 1.0% (1.0x?)
    – Premium, $19.99 monthly fee: Earns 1.5% (1.5x?)
    – Max, $44.99 monthly fee: Earns 2.0% (2.0x?) and provides lounge access

    They mention transfer partners like SAS Eurobonus, British Airways, FlyingBlue, Accor and Radisson, but transfer ratios and mechanics are currently unknown. Also the “Max” tier’s card comes in either rose gold or bro’s gold (aka rose gold), your choice. The T&Cs exclude lots of things from earning, but… (Thanks to C-MontgomeryChurns)
  2. The Citi AAdvantage Executive Mastercard has a heightened sign-up bonus of 100,000 AAdvantage miles after $10,000 spend in three months. The card’s main utility after its sign-up bonus is in AA lounge membership for the card holder and its modest loyalty point boosts. You can also add up to three authorized user cards with their own AA lounge access for $175 total. I suggest you don’t add up how many cheese cubes you need to eat to offset the annual fee though.

    There was a glorious time in the mid-2010s where you could apply for 12 of these cards back-to-back, get approved for all of them, hit all the spend, get the bonuses, and then close the card before the annual fee hit. Those games are long gone though, at least with Citi.
  3. There are a few short lied airline shopping portal bonuses:

    – AA eShopping: 500 miles with $150+ spend by tomorrow night
    – Southwest Rapid Rewards Shopping: 1,000 miles with $200+ spend by tomorrow night
    – United MileagePlus Shopping: 1,000 miles with $150+ spend by Saturday night

    As usual, giftcards.com is an easy way to hit these.

Have a nice weekend friends!

AA lounge cheese cube alternative: Adult hot dog Mac ‘n Cheese, now non-toxic*.

MEABNOTE: I’ll be going on a blogging vacation at the end of the year and there won’t be any daily posts between December 15 and December 31, at least none from me. We may have guest posts during that period, but that depends on you sending me some. On January 1(ish), we’ll celebrate with the 2025 version of Travel Hacking as Told by GIFs.

Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Travel Tuesday were all good to manufactured spenders, but companies collectively decided that the next day should be called “Woeful Wednesday”. The punches kept coming with devaluations:

Surely there was some good news out there yesterday too, right? Well, Meijer tried to cheer us up with 50,000 MPerks points with a $500 third party gift card through December 16, but they limited it to one to MPerks account so here we are.

United tried to devalue business class meals with this, but it didn’t work because literally anything other than the old meal is an improvement.

MEABNOTE: I’ll be going on a blogging vacation at the end of the year and there won’t be any daily posts between December 15 and December 31, at least none from me. We may have guest posts during that period, but that depends on you sending me some. On January 1(ish), we’ll celebrate with the 2025 version of Travel Hacking as Told by GIFs.

  1. The Synchrony Virgin Red Mastercard has a heightened bonus of 75,000 points after $4,000 spend in three months today only.

    This is a great card for ancillary benefits, but it’s a relatively lame bonus at face value given that Ultimate Rewards and Membership Rewards also transfer to Virgin and have cards with higher bonuses.
  2. The Mesa Homeowners Visa card added Omni Hotels as a transfer target. Until it’s nerfed, there’s good value on the high end at 30,000 points for a free night at any Omni hotel. Transferring within the next three months also earns you “Champion Status” in the Omni program, which is about the same as the mid-tier status levels at other hotel chains.
  3. The two biggest US airlines that you don’t want to fly that don’t start with “American” are having fare sales:

    – Southwest: 50CYBER for 50% off of base fares booked by tomorrow
    – JetBlue: SAVE35 for 35% off of base fares booked today

    It might shock you to learn that there are certain blackout dates with each sale. I know, crazy right?
  4. Kroger online has 5% off of Visa and Mastercard gift cards using promo code TEACHERS25, limit ten per account through December 8. These cards earn fuel points which makes it a great deal provided you know how to use or sell those points. The purchase will not code as grocery.

    These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards.
  5. Southwest Rapid Rewards Shopping has 1,000 bonus miles with $200 spend through Sunday. Giftcards.com remains on the shopping portals, but only 1x at Southwest so a single $200 gift card should be about right.

Have a nice Wednesday!

Trigger warning: Omni hotel shower drain.

MEABNOTE: I’ll be going on a blogging vacation at the end of the year and there won’t be any daily posts between December 15 and December 31, at least none from me. We may have guest posts during that period, but that depends on you sending me some. On January 1(ish), we’ll celebrate with the 2025 version of Travel Hacking as Told by GIFs.

Introduction

American Express, Wells Fargo, Chase, Citi, Bank of America, FakeBank LLC, FakeFinTech LLC, Rob’s Credit Union, and lots of others issue cards that have annual credits tied to a calendar year. When you pair that with the note that most issuers also let you refund an annual fee up to 30 days after it posts, you arrive at December being the best churning month of the year because:

  1. The first statement is usually 30 days after approval
  2. Your annual fee usually posts on the 12th statement (at 360 days, roughly)
  3. You can usually request an annual-fee refund within 30 days

This obviously doesn’t work for issuers that don’t issue annual-fee refunds though, like banks that rhyme with schmapital bun. It’s also a ymmv proposition with Bank of America, but it works there in the majority of cases.

The Actual Triple Dip

Because a card approved in December spans the calendar years 2025, 2026, and 2027 with a single paid annual fee, you can earn annual credits in all three years, hence the term “triple”. Because it’s silly that banks let us do that, we add the term “dip” (I couldn’t be bothered to fact check this part).

An Example

How about our good friend the American Express Business Platinum? Annually, you’ve got credits to cover things like:

  • $200 airline incidental
  • $150 Dell credit + $1,000 Dell credit
  • $600 annual Fine Hotels and Results credit
  • $360 Indeed credit
  • $250 Adobe credit

So if you apply for a card in December, your 12th statement won’t generate until between mid-December 2026 and mid-January 2027. Once that happens, you’ve still got another 30 days for games and an annual fee refund. With a single annual fee, you’d be able to get:

  • $600 in airline incidental credits (2025, 2026, and 2027)
  • $450 + $3,000 in Dell credits (2025, 2026, and 2027)
  • $1,200 in Fine Hotels and Resorts credits ($300 for 2025, 2*$300 for 2026, and $300 for 2027)
  • $1,080 in Indeed credits (2025, 2026, and 2027)
  • At least three migraines while dealing with the Adobe credits (various)

Good luck out there, and have a nice Tuesday friends!

Next time: Failed triple dips.

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.

Credit card rewards are kind of a big deal. Obviously earning 4x at grocery stores, 5x at office supplies, 8x at gas stations, 10x on travel, or 14x hotel spend can be used to leverage lifestyle creep in the form of (choose at least one):

  • outsized value
  • discount travel
  • cash-flow

A non-significant boost also comes from earning on the payment side. Plays vary, but consider some public options like:

  • paying your taxes with a credit card or rewards debit card
  • paying a local credit union HELOC with a credit card or rewards debit card
  • paying your mortgage with Plastiq (yes, it still exists)

The biggest unicorns allow payments directly with a credit card, but plenty of demi-unicorns work with a debit card too. A few options:

There are other options too, always be probing.

Three wheel to four wheel upgrade lifestyle creep.