It’s been an information dense week, and today is no exception – sorry friends. We’ll collectively both try harder and do better next week.

  1. If you hold Hyatt elite status and have linked your Hyatt and AA accounts, check your American Airlines profile for a targeted AA status match promotion, or alternatively look for an email from AA. The Loyalty Points required to maintain status after a promotional period are:

    – 25,000 Loyalty Points for Platinum (equivalent to Gold on other airlines)
    – 42,000 Loyalty Points for Platinum Pro (equivalent to Platinum on other airlines)
    – 67,000 Loyalty Points for Executive Platinum (top tier regular status)

    Brian M shares a note of caution: The earning period for Loyalty Points is split up into three phases each with earning targets, and if you don’t earn enough for a higher tier in an earlier phase it won’t matter what you earn in later phase. Each phase is four calendar months, and starts when you activate the promotion. Why three phases? Budgeting.
  2. One of the loopholes for Delta status that we discussed yesterday was discount partner business class flights. In the most Delta move ever, Delta has announced that they’re cutting the MQM earning on Aeromexico discount business class tickets starting on January 1.

    When asked for commentary about why the earnings charts were changed, Delta simply said “budgeting”. (Thanks to EyeOfTheFlyer)
  3. Staples has a promotion for $200 fee-free Visa gift cards starting Sunday and running through the following Saturday, limit eight per transaction.

    By the way, I’m told these can help with budgeting.
  4. Giant, Stop & Shop, and Martins grocery stores have 2x points on Vanilla Visa gift cards through Thursday of next week, which effectively makes the gift cards negative cost provided you use the points for gas or groceries.
  5. Do this now: Register for Chase’s Freedom and Freedom Flex Q4 5x categories on up to $1,500 in spend at:

    – PayPal
    – Wholesale Clubs
    – Select charities (probably the same as the Pay Yourself Back eligible charities)

    While you’re at it, you’ve got roughly two weeks left to knock out your Q3 Chase 5x spend at gas stations, electric vehicle charging, or select entertainment.

Have a nice weekend!

This week’s MEAB posts, but as a burger.

  1. Delta’s rumored SkyClub changes have been announced. The summary is that if you get credit card access, you’ll get a limited number of SkyClub visits unless you spend $75,000 on that card within the calendar year. Additional changes:

    – Basic Economy tickets don’t qualify for credit card lounge access
    – Delta Platinum and Delta Business Platinum cards can no longer co-pay for access
    – Delta Reserve and Delta Business Reserve cards will only get 10 visits per year
    – American Express Platinum and Business Platinum cards will only get (probably) six visits per year

    On the other hand, I’d estimate that your average churner has or churns through at least six Platinum or Business Platinums a year, which probably means 6*6 = 36 visits per year without any extra spend required.
  2. Delta’s Medallion Elite qualifying changes for status year 2025 have also been announced. Unlike AA’s Loyalty Points, the only Delta currency here is MQDs (medallion qualifying dollars). You’ll earn one MQD for:

    – Each dollar spent on base airfare, car rentals, hotel stays, or vacations booked through Delta
    – 10 dollars spent on a Delta Reserve or Business Reserve card
    – 20 dollars spent on a Delta Platinum or Business Platinum card.

    To manufactured spend your way status with the newly announced thresholds, that means you’ll have to spend on Delta cards:

    – Silver: 7,000 MQDs ($70,000 spend on Reserve, $140,000 spend on Platinum)
    – Gold: 12,000 MQDs ($120,000 spend on Reserve, $240,000 spend on Platinum)
    – Platinum: 18,000 MQDs ($180,000 spend on Reserve, $360,000 spend on Platinum)
    – Diamond: 35,000 MQDs ($350,000 spend on Reserve, $700,000 spend on Platinum 🤡)

    Yes, this is still gameable either with discount partner Business Class paid flights or with American Express 99 employee card offers)
  3. There are a few new, interesting card linked merchant offers:

    – Chase Offers has for 10% back on Southwest flights, up to $40 cash back
    – AmEx Offers has 3,000 or 6,000 Membership Rewards with a $300 Delta gift card purchase
    – AA’s SimplyMiles has 230-460 bonus miles with a Kroger purchase $50 or more 🤏

    Each of these should be gameable.

Happy Thursday!

The guy who’s manufacturing $700,000 spend on his SkyMiles Platinum card.

The reaction to yesterday’s budgeting post was next-level. Thanks to everyone who wrote in! Today’s post is a biggie, so buckle up:

  1. Do this now: Register for Hyatt’s Bonus Journeys promotion for 3,000 bonus points for each three qualifying nights up to seven times, valid for nights between October 6 and November 30.

    If you have a Chase Hyatt credit card, there’s an additional 1,000 bonus points for every three nights at certain properties with the same promotion, but the properties are mostly outside of the US.
  2. Do this now: Register for Marriott’s Go Your Way promotion for 1,500 bonus Bonvoy points for every three paid nights between September 12 and December 6.
  3. Do this now: Register for Choice’s More Destinations, More Adventures promotion for 8,000 bonus points for every two paid stays completed by November 6.
  4. Southwest’s next schedule extension for travel between April 9 and June 3, 2024 happens tomorrow, and covers both some spring break travel and Memorial Day weekend. (Thanks to the legendary Brian M, who keeps a closer tab on Southwest than Herb Kelleher did)
  5. The Capital One VentureX Business 150,000 points sign-up bonus after $30,000 spend in three months is now available online. The $395 annual fee is not waived the first year but does include an easily redeemable $300 travel credit.

    For the math challenged, you’ll earn 7x on $30,000 in spend which is hard to beat for big spenders. (Thanks to DDG)
  6. Southwest’s Rapid Rewards shopping portal has 2,000 bonus points when spending $400 in cumulative purchases through September 18. Fortunately, as a collective society we once again we know how to easily earn these kinds of bonuses.

    With the fees you’ll pay for two $250 egift cards, you’ll be effectively buying 3,000 Rapid Rewards points at 0.396 cents per point, minus whatever value you’ll earn for spending $500 on your credit card. Of course there’s a Citi Merchant offer for 3% back that gives even more upside. (Thanks to FM)
  7. There’s a new fast-track to Hyatt Globalist status for higher level AA elites. Platinum Pro and Executive Platinum elites will earn Globalist(-lite) with 20 nights within 90 days of registration, and you must register by November 12.

    With a little grit, or dare I say, true grit, you can earn Globalist(-lite) in exchange for 70,000 Ultimate Rewards utilizing this promotion.

Happy Wednesday!

An avid churner navigates today’s post from the comfort of home.

When you talk to a bank to change something, ask for something, appeal something, or to close something, you’ll often be asked some form of “Why are you doing this?” Usually customer service is asking for two reasons: first, because they’ve got metrics and they need to keep track of reasons that people call, and second, they’ve got practiced responses and rebuttals for common objections.

There’s a simple answer to “Why?” that almost always ends the conversation without any further discussion and you should add to your repertoire: “Budgeting”

For example:

[Q] Why do you have so many AmEx cards?
[A] Budgeting

[CS] This card offers thousands of dollars in savings for a small annual fee, why would you want to close it?
[Churner] Budgeting

[Q] Why do you have 27 checking accounts at our bank?
[A] Budgeting

[Q] Why are you downgrading this card two weeks after you upgraded it?
[A]: Budgeting

[Q]: I see a bunch of back-to-back charges for $49x.xx. Why didn’t you just run a single big charge?
[A]: Budgeting

[Q]: Why did you receive nearly a hundred envelopes from American Express with your name and Roman numerals?
[A]: Budgeting

[Q]: How come your American Express Business Platinum card is stored on your daughter’s Delta SkyMiles profile?
[A]: Budgeting

[Q]: Why did you open a teen spending debit card when you don’t have kids?
[A]: Budgeting

[Q]: Why does MEAB exist?
[A]: Budgeting

Good luck, and happy Tuesday!

For bonus points, send template dashboards showing your “budget” to customer service.

  1. Kroger is selling Marianos, QFC, and Carrs brandnames (and stores) to C&S, the parent company of Piggly Wiggly subject to regulatory approval, and they’re also selling rights to Albertsons branded stores in California, Arizona, Colorado, and Wyoming. This is a double edged sword, but all things being equal as a manufactured spender, I’d rather have:

    – A Kroger instead of Piggly Wiggly
    – A Piggly Wiggly instead of an Albertsons, at least in recent history

    Markets like California and Arizona with both Safeway stores and Albertsons stores will probably get the best of all worlds.
  2. Some airline shopping portals have a sweepstakes running for 25,000 – 100,000 bonus miles, and all that’s required is logging in and clicking a button to enter:

    – Alaska MileagePlan shopping
    – AA AAdvantage eShopping
    – United MileagePlus shopping

    Last round there were two separate winners in the MEAB community, and if someone’s going to win it might as well be one of you who probably won’t redeem 73,500 miles for a one-way to Lubbock a United Express First seat in a CRJ-700.
  3. First class tickets on China Eastern are now bookable with AirFrance / KLM FlyingBlue in addition to the normally available business class award tickets. To find them, you’ll need to choose La Premier class on the award search tool.
  4. The Bank of America Alaska Airlines personal card has a heightened sign-up bonus for 70,000 MileagePlan miles after $3,000 spend in 90 days. The annual fee is $95 and isn’t waived the first year. As with any Bank of America card, if you’re going to go for this offer probably grab some other cards at the same time.

    If you’re an value maximizer absolutist, you may want to wait a few weeks to see if an in-flight offer surfaces for 72,000 miles. I’d give that offer a 50% chance of surfacing; just keep in mind that my crystal ball broke in “The Great Christmas tree debacle of 2018”.
  5. The no annual-fee Chase Ink Unlimited and Ink Cash cards’ 90,000 Ultimate Rewards sign-up bonus is back:

    – Ink Unlimited
    – Ink Cash

    Referrals still pay 40,000 Ultimate Rewards to the referrer and have a sign-up bonus of 75,000 Ultimate Rewards, so if you’re running in two-player mode you’ll probably do better to refer P1 to P2. I’d also wait a week or two before doing so because it’s possible, perhaps even likely, that the referral bonus will also jump to 90,000 Ultimate Rewards (however, see prior crystal ball reference).

The Great Christmas tree debacle of 2018 shatters the near perfect MEAB crystal ball, or something.

  1. Staples has a fee free $200 Mastercard sale starting Sunday and running through the following Saturday, and we’ve ping-ponged (or maybe zig-zagged? yo-yoed? teeter-tottered? ebbed-and-flowed? Sorry, I’m getting off track) back to a limit of five per transaction.

    These are Metabank Pathward gift cards, so have a liquidation plan in place.
  2. One of my wishlist cards after dropping below 5/24 is the Hyatt Business card even with its hefty $199 annual fee, and there’s good news for me and anyone (un)fortunate enough to be like me:

    – This is my last month before dropping below 5/24
    – The sign-up bonus has increased to 75,000 Hyatt points after $12,000 spend

    If you spend for status or if you have plenty of award stays at Hyatt, this card is a keeper. Otherwise, it’s probably a skip because you can get an Ink Preferred 100,000 Ultimate Rewards sign-up bonus with $8,000 in spend and a $95 annual fee, then transfer those points directly to Hyatt.
  3. Do this now: Register for 20,000 bonus Bonvoy points after a three night stay at Marriott Homes and Villas booked between now and September 24 for stays through January 26, 2024. (Thanks to FM)
  4. Southwest has a fare sale for fares booked by September 17 for travel at least 30 days out, with requisite blackouts around winter holidays. If you have existing travel booked, it’s a good time to re-fare.

Pictured: Staples team setting purchase limits on gift cards with safety fans, week 47.

In scientific circles we occasionally discuss the “epistemic gap”, which refers to things that are knowable in principle but for whatever reason we still don’t know them.

In manufactured spend there’s a favorite epistemic gap of mine: How much spend can you possibly generate in a day? You can of course ask related questions too, such as:

  • How much spend in a day if you spend only from home?
  • How much spend in a day with a grocery category multiplier?
  • How much spend in a day with a single card issuer?

I could tell you what my records for the above are, but assure you that my records aren’t world records. I can confidently say that the world records for each of the above are beyond an average American annual household’s income though.

What’s the point? If you’re not shutdown, you haven’t filled the epistemic gap, so consider whether bigger scaling makes sense or whether you’re exactly at the level you’re comfortable with.

The epistemic gap, illustrated for visual learners.

  1. Kroger has a 4x fuel points promotion in stores running on third party gift cards and fixed value Visa and Mastercards through September 19.

    Yes we’ve seen a lot of these lately, but likely this is the last round until the end of October. So as uncle Larry says, make hay while the sun shines and take advantage of this while you can.
  2. Kathy at Will Run for Miles shares a Citi Merchant Offers warning: Even though you can add merchant offers to multiple cards, at least some of them disappear from all but the last card after adding. So, double check activation if you’re trying to add an offer to multiple cards.

    For what it’s worth, this isn’t how Merchant Offers behaved in the recent past but it’s likely the new normal.
  3. Breeze Airways has 50% off of flights booked by tomorrow evening with promo code IMGAME50 for travel through March 7, 2024. There are two weeks of blackout around Thanksgiving and another two weeks of blackout around Christmas and New Years.

    Breeze Airways continues to have some of my, let’s say “favorite”, routes in the US. Today’s highlight: San Bernardino to Hartford. Stay classy Breeze.
  4. American Express Offers has either $150 or $200 back after $500 in spend at several high end Marriott properties. For bonus points, get the credit but don’t stay at a Marriott using a healthy dose of churning magic.
  5. US Bank is sending targeted statement credit offers to business cards for spend at Office Depot and Staples through October 31:

    – $50 credit after $1,000 or more in combined purchases
    – $25 credit after $400 or more in combined purchases

    Activation is required, check your email inbox for the subject “Earn up to a $50 statement credit on office supplies”. (Thanks to DDG)

Pictured: Churning magic.