Search Results for: barclays

  1. Meijer MPerks has $10 off of $150 or more in Visa gift cards in-store through Saturday with a clipped digital coupon. This type of promotion usually lets you re-clip the coupon after each transaction, so four dozen MPerks accounts aren’t needed for scale even though a banana still might be.

    Meijer typically carries both Sunrise and Pathward gift cards.
  2. Reportedly Citi is discussing how much it’ll have to pay to become the sole issuer of AA credit cards in contract negotiations for a new co-branded credit card deal, and rumors say that the Barclays AA portfolio would be purchased by Citi under the new contract.

    If you’re banned by Citi and not by Barclays, I think getting a Barclays AA card now is your best chance to get back with Citi with minimal hassle; of all banks with bad IT and poor practices around closures and blocklists, Citi ranks first. At least Citi ranks best at something right? If you can count on anything in churning, it’s that #CitiGonnaCiti and the most logical, simple thing will never be the one that happens.
  3. Office Depot / OfficeMax stores have $15 off of $300 or more in Mastercard gift cards through Saturday. For best results:

    – Buy in even multiples of $300
    – Remember that fixed and variable load cards work
    – Try for multiple transactions back-to-back

    These are Pathward gift cards.
  4. IHG has a targeted fast-track promotion for Diamond Elite status, requiring only 10 mattress-runs nights between October 1 and December 31 to earn and keep status through the 2025 Elite year.

A readable Citi error message shows that not everything at Citi is dysfunctional.

  1. Do this now: Register for Avis’s promotion for a free rental day after two rentals of two days or longer through February 28, 2025 up to five times. The free rental date window is October 9 – May 18, 2025.
  2. The DoT approved the merger between Hawaiian and Alaska airlines, provided that routes don’t change and that miles transfer between the programs at a 1:1 ratio until the programs merge. That means, assuming the merger completes:

    – Membership Rewards will be able to be converted to Alaska MilagePlan via HawaiianMiles
    – The Hawaiian co-branded Barclays cards are more valuable than they used to be

    I wouldn’t transfer Membership Rewards to Hawaiian miles for the conversion yet because there’s no bonus and you won’t win any prizes for transferring early.
  3. Apparently the Pepper gift card platform’s merchant categorization is now back to normal, and yesterday’s post was all a giant lie. We’re all free to earn 4x Membership Rewards through our gift card games.

    After this debacle I wouldn’t believe anything you see on this site again personally.
  4. Citi’s Flex Pay option, which creates a no-interest loan based on your card’s credit line, is now supported for travel booked through the Citi Travel portal. Why should you care? If you’ve got paid travel and you earn money for paying off your Citi cards, there’s a play here – just avoid cycling.
  5. The Bank of America AirFrance/KLM FlyingBlue Mastercard has a heightened sign-up bonus after $3,00 spend in 90 days. You’ve got two options:

    – $150 statement credit + 60,000 Miles + 100 XP (via dummy airfare booking)
    – 70,000 Miles + 100 XP

    Both versions give you annual XP bonuses, and the annual XP bonuses stack with one another too.

The official “Membership Rewards → HawaiianMiles” travel hacker shirt.

Let’s focus on news from a few banks today:

  1. Bank of America’s Preferred Rewards status was removed from many business accounts on September 6, and it seems related to early enrollment during new account setup. If you’re affected, there are two action items:

    – Consider whether you want to pause spending on Bank of America cards until it’s fixed
    – Consider contacting Bank of America and opening a case

    Generally speaking, calling a bank as a manufactured spender about missing rewards isn’t the best idea, it’s kind of up there with betting in Vegas on John McCain winning the 2024 Presidential Election; but in this case I think the team you’ll be working with (Preferred Rewards) is sufficiently distant from the rest of banking that the risk is low and reward is potentially high. You’re all adults, so make your own judgement call.
  2. If you’ve given full, non-Bank of America card numbers to Bank of America representatives recently, consider locking or replacing those cards; there are multiple correlated reports of fraudulent charges that surfaced yesterday stemming from Bank of America.
  3. Bloomberg reports that Barclays is nearing completion of a deal to purchase the Marcus GM portfolio of credit cards in a few months. If you’re banned from Barlcays, getting a GM card now could be a way back in. UPDATE: This didn’t work for people banned by Barclays when they acquired the Banana Republic card, so adjust your calculus as necessary.

Have a nice Thursday!

Bank of America’s vault mirrors the rest of their technology stack.

  1. The Barclays Wyndham cards have increased sign-up bonuses from a promotional email:

    – Earner Rewards: 45,000 points after $2,000 spend in 180 days, $0 annual fee
    – Earner Plus: 75,000 points after $2,000 spend in 180 days, $75 annual fee
    – Earner Business; 80,000 points in tiers after $15,000 spend, $95 annual fee

    The major use case for manufactured spenders is gas stations, which earn at 5x, 6x, and 8x respectively. On the burn side both both Vacasa and Wyndham have good options.
  2. American Express Offers has an offer for 15,000 Membership Rewards after $700 or more in spend at Leading Hotels of the World properties through December 8.

    As usual, buying a gift card at the front desk is the easiest and most above board way to game the offer, but gamers gonna game.
  3. Singapore Airlines has a 25% discount on all economy award redemptions and business and premium economy redemptions for travel between January 15, 2025 and May 29, 2025 booked by September 22. (Thanks to TheSultan1)
  4. The Southwest Rapid Rewards portal has a new spending bonus for 2,000 Rapid Rewards after $350+ spend by September 18.

    Giftcards.com still hasn’t returned to the main Cartera white-labeled airline portals, but it is now on JetBlue Shopping, Emirates Skywards Shopping, and Virgin Atlantic Shopping. I still pick Rakuten over those though.
  5. United has an economy award sale for flights booked today for travel between the US and London, Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels, or Frankfurt between September 15 and December 12; but only for Chase cobranded card holders. Prices are 50,000 MileagePlus miles round trip. (Thanks to TheSultan1)

Happy Tuesday!

The Wingate by Wyndham Lubbock is a good redemption for masochist elites with suite upgrades, so there’s that.

  1. Do this now: Register for bonus JetBlue TrueBlue miles with IHG hotel says through November 30. You’ll earn 1,000 miles for one or two night stays, or 3,000 miles for three night and longer stays. The maximum bonus earned for this promotion is 15,000 TrueBlue miles.
  2. Do this now (if you have a Chase Southwest Business card): Register for 6,000 bonus points after $6,000 in spend through November 30.

    For the math challenged, that works out to be an extra 1x on $6,000 spend. In fact, it works out that way even if you’re not math challenged. (Thanks to Brian M)
  3. The Barclays Lufthansa Miles & More personal card has an increased sign-up bonus of 80,000 miles after $3,000 spend in 90 days. The $89 annual fee is not waived the first year. This is the highest bonus seen on this card since last year, when it was 100,000 miles for a short period.

    The main use case for this card is for good access Swiss First Class award space for Miles & More members which costs 182,000 miles between the US and Europe, after a status match. You can also pair the bonus with 150,000 additional miles for $1,960 through September 30 . Or skip it, Swiss F is great but at a cost of $1,960+$89, so are plenty of other things.
  4. The Korean Skypass Visa has an increased sign-up bonus of 70,000 Skypass miles after $5,000 spend in 90 days. The $450 annual fee is not waived the first year. I believe this is an all-time high bonus.

    The main use case here is good access to Korean Business (Prestige) and First award space, which cost 80,000 miles and 120,000 miles between Asia and the US, respectively.
  5. Staples has fee free $200 Mastercard gift cards through Saturday. Because Staples likes messing with churners, this time the limit is nine per transaction.

    These are Pathward gift cards.

Staples messes with non-churners too, as Portsmouth discovered after contracting sign design.

  1. American Express widened its targeting for adding employee cards to business charge cards, with a 15,000 Membership Rewards bonus after $4,000 spend in 90 days for up to five employees online. These links appear in your AmEx Offers tab, and reader Jim notes that they’re not necessarily on top but may be buried much lower.

    Any cards that already earned five bonuses of 15,000 Membership Rewards using online links from Spring will not get the online bonus again; calling in for offers still works for those and gives a higher capacity of 99 total bonuses per card though.
  2. Canada’s ultra-low cost carrier Flair Airlines has a promotion for $1 base fare (+ tax) tickets between many major Canadian cities and Las Vegas, Orlando, Los Angeles, Fort Lauderdale, Phoenix, Palm Springs, Nashville, New York JFK, and several Mexico airports.

    Surprisingly, I’m seeing limited availability around US winter holidays. I was able to price out a complete bare-bones ticket at ~$15 each way including taxes. That said, “you get what you pay for” very much applies here, and Flair makes Southwest look like luxury.
  3. Capital One has a 20% transfer bonus to AirFrance/KLM FlyingBlue through September 29. Availability out of Canada is often better than out of the US, which I guess pairs nicely with the prior item. (Thanks to virginiarph)
  4. If it was a Cruel Summer and now you’re Down Bad waiting to be Bejeweled to reset your Karma with a Blank Space and Shake it Off, Hilton is giving you a chance to bid Honors points to meet Travis Kelce. You probably won’t meet his girlfriend, but statistically speaking it’s likely your best opportunity on Earth to do so. (This news item was just for Shay at TCB)
  5. The Barclays Hawaiian card has an increased bonus of 70,000 HawaiianMiles after a single purchase using a link from an in-flight mailer. The $99 annual fee is not waived in the first year. For a promotional code, you can try a random number or email me for the promo code that reader Dean shared. (Thanks to Dean)
  6. Gary at VFTW notes that SkyTeam member SAS’s elite status match program doesn’t actually seem to be validating anything and is just awarding status when the form is filled out. So that’s a thing I guess.

Have a nice holiday weekend!

The SAS elite status match validation desk.

  1. Do this now: Register for Hyatt’s promotion for 1,000 bonus points per night at Unbound Collection hotels between September 1 and November 30. The promo caps at 20 nights.
  2. Do this now: Register for Best Western’s fall promotion for double points on all stays between September 3 and November 18. The bad news with this promotion is that you’ll be staying in a Best Western.
  3. Meijer MPerks has $10 off of $150 or more in Visa gift cards in-store through Saturday with a clipped digital coupon. This type of promotion typically lets you reclip the coupon after each transaction too.

    Meijer carries both Sunrise and Pathward gift cards.
  4. Hy-Vee stores have have $10 off of $150 or more in Visa gift cards through Sunday. You don’t need to clip any digital coupons and you can repeat the discount ad-infinitum with new transactions, at least until the store manager runs you off of the property.

    These are Pathward gift cards. (Thanks to GCG)
  5. Bilt Rewards now earns on purchases at Walgreens made with any linked card, Bilt issued or otherwise. The earn rate on general spend is 1x for most items, or 2x on Walgreens house branded items.

    Gift cards are excluded via the terms and conditions, but may or may not actually be excluded.
  6. Office Depot/OfficeMax stores have $15 off of $300 or more in Mastercard gift cards through Saturday. For best results:

    – Buy in even multiples of $300
    – Try for multiple transactions back-to-back
    – Link your credit cards to Dosh

    These are Pathward gift cards.
  7. The Barclays Hawaiian Airlines Business card has an increased sign-up bonus of 70,000 HawaiianMiles after $2,000 spend plus a purchase. The $99 annual fee is not waived. The bonus is split into:

    – Main card: 60,000 miles after $2,000 spend
    – Employee card: 10,000 miles after a purchase

    The best play for gamblers is to bet that these will turn into Alaska MileagePlan miles next year at a ratio of 1:1. If they don’t, the best use will probably be either inter-island flying or using miles to upgrade a paid coach ticket to business on Hawaiian metal. (Thanks to BleedBlue__)
  8. Southwest has 30% off of flights to or from Mexico, Hawaii, the Caribbean, and Central America using promo code BEACHES for bookings made by tomorrow, and travel from September 29 through February 10, 2025.

    Blackout dates that you’d expect are present. And just like last time, John Wayne airport is excluded because Southwest hates any actors that promote the southwest as a region instead of as an airline.
  9. Chase Offers has 5%-10% back on Southwest Airlines airfare of $50 or more through September 6, on up to $400-$800 spend for a max cash back of $40. I suppose you could fly somewhere with a Best Western if you’re not into the whole “basic comfort” thing.

Happy Tuesday!

Southwest’s new marketing campaign is coming to a city near you.

  1. Alaska Airlines has a good award and paid fare sale for flights through December 18 booked by tomorrow night. I’m seeing:

    – Transcontinental flights at 7,500 miles
    – Medium-haul flights at 6,500 miles
    – Short-haul flights at 4,000 miles (which is only 500 miles off the regular price)

    Hawaii flights are showing a steep discount in cash fares with one-way prices hovering around $110, but I don’t see mileage availability to Hawaii in this sale.
  2. Hyatt now has an AA status match on the account overview page for elites with linked AA accounts. Offers vary, but matched status seems to be either AA Platinum or Platinum Pro.

    There’s reciprocal 90 day Hyatt status match for AA elites too which requires 20 nights over 90 days to earn Globalist. There’s lower status available too, but my hot take is that Globalist is the only Hyatt status worth having. (Thanks to EccentricINTJ)
  3. American Express offers has a $225 statement credit with $1,500 or more in airfare spend with Iceland Air through November 5. Gamers gonna game.
  4. The Barclays JetBlue Plus card has a new offer for 80,000 TrueBlue Points after $1,000 spend within 90 days. There’s also ominous language about “paying the annual fee in full” within 90 days, so I guess don’t default on $99 worth of payments this time, cause apparently that happens?

    Remember though that unless you live in San Diego, Los Angeles, New York, or Boston, you’ll be flying JetBlue economy which is only slightly better than traveling via motorcycle side car.

Happy Wednesday!

JetBlue’s new inflight digital announcement system, coming soon.