Frequent Miler: "The Instacart benefits on the Chase Sapphire and Chase Freedom cards are scheduled to end on 7/31/24. We’ve all been expecting Chase to extend these, but we’ve heard nothing about it and the benefits have been removed from the public card page sites, so we assume that these are indeed going away next week. If you haven’t used your monthly/quarterly credits yet, now’s the time."
Disclosure: I serve on an advisory board for Bilt.
In a disappointing turn of events, Bilt has reduced the cap on the number of bonus points you can earn on Rent Day (the first of the month). On Rent Day, cardholders are able to earn double points on non-rent spend. Since Bilt launched the monthly promo, cardholders have been able to earn up to 10,000 bonus points per Rent Day.
That cap will be reduced to 1,000 bonus points as of October 1, 2024.
There's no sugar coating it, that's a rough 90% reduction.
Points Wire Note:
While I doubt the majority of cardholders are spending $3,333 at restaurants, $5,000 on travel, or $10,000 on non-bonus categories, this change still hurts. Many cardholders made a point to pay bills on Rent Day to earn double points. Others timed large purchases they needed to make to earn extra points.
If you ask me, this change was aggressive. I can appreciate a change might have been necessary, but a 90% cut seems drastic.
Danny the deal Guru: "American Express is targeting select cardholders with an offer to easily earn a bonus of 20,000 Membership Rewards points. To earn this bonus, all you need to do is activate Pay Over Time. This is a feature that lets you carry a balance on Amex Pay Over Time cards (charge cards). But you don’t need to actually carry a balance, and pay interest so you can earn this bonus."
Check your Amex Offers for the offer to enroll in Pay Over Time. You can also use this link to see if your'e targeted with this offer. You must enroll buy August 1, 2024 to receive the bonus points.
Danny the Deal Guru: "Barclays and Hawaiian Airlines announced today the renewal of their decade-long co-branded credit card program. Under the newly signed agreement, Barclays will continue to issue the Hawaiian Airlines World Elite Mastercard and the Hawaiian Airlines World Elite Business Mastercard."
Points Wire Note:
The Barclays Hawaiian Airlines co-branded cards are niche plays with limited use for those who use points and miles to travel. They have their place, but these are not top priority cards.
Upgraded Points: "American Express will open its fourth Centurion Lounge at Mexico City International Airport (MEX) on August 1.
"The new lounge will be located in Terminal 1 and will feature 8,400 square feet of space. Here is a look at the various amenities travelers can enjoy when flying out of Mexico’s capital and most populous city."
MilesTalk: "With Marriott’s “It’s in the Cards” promotion, you’ll get 200 points just for registering your card and another 10,000 bonus points if you spend $7,000 by September 21, 2024. You only have until August 1st to register, however, and only American Express Bonvoy cards opened before April 1st, 2024 and Chase Bonvoy cards opened before June 20th, 2024."
Upgraded Points: "Cardmembers will get access to the Visa Lounge, located in central Paris. It will be open between 11 a.m. and midnight CEST. The lounge will have gourmet food and excellent views of the River Seine and the Eiffel Tower."
"In addition, the lounge will have fun engagements like a meet and greet with former Olympians."
Athletes you can meet include: Michael Phelps, Tony Parker, Aly Raisman, Allyson Felix, and Sue Bird.
Danny the Deal Guru: "Choice Hotels revealed last year a multi-year agreement with Wells Fargo and Mastercard to launch a new cobranded credit card program. Now the two credit cards have best ever bonuses. The no-fee Choice Privileges Mastercard has a 70,000 points bonus and the Choice Privileges Select Mastercard has an offer for 100,000 bonus points.
Redditor /u9821 shared that "The DCA centurion lounge appears to be opening, or at least is very close to it! This evening, from the Sky Club I could see workers disassembling (?) the wooden cover. I asked a security guard there when it would open and all he said was “soon”. But from the looks of it, it’s basically done—there’s even art up on the walls. I also saw someone walking around inside taking a video."
Points Wire Note:
The Amex Centurion Lounge at Reagan National Airport was originally scheduled to open in late 2022. It's opening was then pushed to early 2024. Clearly, neither of those targets were me. Hopefully, we'll actually see an official opening date soon!
If you have the Chase Sapphire Reserve, you can register for a Marriott Bonvoy Gold status fast track promotion.
If you register by September 30, 2024, you'll receive 3 months of Marriott Gold status. If you stay 3 nights within that 3 months, your Gold status will be extended through February 2026.
Points Wire Note:
Marriott Gold is middling at best. You can get late checkout and room upgrades (in theory), but it doesn't provide breakfast. As for the promo, it's nice enough if you have Marriott stays coming up, but the Amex Platinum and Business Platinum offer Gold status just for being a cardholder.
Sign up for free flight alerts or upgrade to Straight To The Points Premium.
Premium members even get text alerts when there are great opportunities to book business and first class flights!
To make choosing your next card a bit easier, we've ranked the best credit card offers to help find the best bonuses.
Whether you need help figuring out the best ways to earn or redeem points and miles, I’ll work with you to create a personalized strategy that’s easy to follow.
In August 2018, I started the Straight To The Points flight alerts newsletter with the goal of making it easier to book business and first class flights with points & miles and fare deals.
I started Points Wire to make it easier for you to keep up with the news you need to know without all of the fluff.