Seal The Deal Travels: "You’re now excluded from the Amex Marriott Bonvoy Bevy’s signup bonus if you ever have the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant Card. If you have a clean slate with Marriott cards and want the signup bonus from all personal Amex Marriott cards, then you’d have to signup for the Bevy first before applying for the Brilliant."
Points Wire Note:
It's been a year of Amex card family restrictions. First there were restrictions across the various personal versions of the Amex Platinum. Next, Amex stopped allowing people to get the Amex Gold bonus if they'd previously opened an Amex Platinum (any of the personal versions). Now, they're restricting co-branded Marriott cards.
Things have certainly tightened up this year and it's made putting together a card strategy even more important if you want to maximize your points earning. Learning each bank's application and bonus rules is more important than ever.
Many people who booked Flying Blue business class award tickets to Europe for 1,500 to 13,500 miles one-way were frustrated to find out that their tickets had been canceled. Even more frustrating was the fact that many had transferred points from Amex, Bilt, Capital One, Chase, and/or Citi to book.
In a rare move, Flying Blue has agreed to reverse these transfers as first reported by Kyle Potter. The Head of Flying Blue, Ben Lipsey, confirmed this on FlyerTalk but you'll need to contact Flying Blue to do so. The U.S. contact number is +1-800-375-8723.
Reports indicate that phone agents may not have received word about this yet, so don't be surprised if you need to call back in a week.
From January 1 through March 31, 2024, the Chase Freedom Flex will earn 5%/5x (up to $1,500 spend) at grocery stores, fitness clubs and gym memberships, and self-care and spa services. Please note groceries purchases at Target and Walmart are excluded.
You can register through February 15, 2024, but you should do it now.
You can transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards points to Air Canada Aeroplan with a 20% bonus until 11:59pm ET on July 31, 2024.
If you have the Chase Aeroplan Card, you'll get an additional 10% bonus on the points you transfer if you transfer at least 50,000 points. That means you'll get a 30% bonus. For example, a transfer of 50,000 Ultimate Rewards points will get you 65,000 Aeroplan points if you have the Aeroplan card.
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With a Rakuten in-store offer, you can earn 2.5% cash back or 2.5x Amex points at Safeway or Albertsons.
The key to earning 6.5x is the Amex Gold which earns 4x points at U.S. supermarkets. By linking the card to your Rakuten account and linking the in-store offer, you'll be able to earn an amazing 6.5x. Make sure you link your card and the offer before shopping.
Since offers can only be used on a single purchase and are typically active for 45 days, I would use this offer for a big trip to grocery store.
Rakuten is also offering 1x at Food Lion.
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Chase has increased the sign-up bonus for two Southwest personal credit cards to 85,000 Rapid Rewards points. To earn the 85,000 bonus points, you'll need to spend $3,000 in 3 months.
The Chase Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier Card bonus was not increased.
Points Wire Note: If you want to earn the Southwest Companion Pass, it's best to do so as early in the year as possible. That way you have the Companion Pass for the remainder of the year as well as the following calendar year. To earn the Companion Pass, you need to earn 135,000 points in a calendar year. If that's a priority, you might want to hold off on applying until later in the year.
Unfortunately, Amex ended this targeted transfer bonus promo early.
You can transfer Amex Membership Rewards points to Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer and get a 20% bonus through December 31, 2023.
Transfers from Amex to Singapore KrisFlyer can take up to 48 hours to process. If you've transferred Amex points to KrisFlyer previously, transfers often process a bit faster.
It seems this is a targeted offer. While I have it on my account, some readers have reported that they do not.
You can transfer Amex Membership Rewards points to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club and get a 30% bonus through May 31, 2024.
Transfers to Virgin Atlantic are generally instant but you can call to put awards on hold. Amex last ran a 30% transfer bonus to Virgin Atlantic in late 2023.
Points Wire Note: Generally, speculative transfers aren't a great idea as you lock up points with a specific airline program. That could put you in the position of needing to book with a different airline program, but not having enough points to transfer. Plus, you run the risk of an airline program devaluing before you can use the points you transfer if you transfer speculatively.
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Rakuten is running a 100% cash back (or 100x Amex points) promo on Surfshark VPN. Please note that this is a targeted offer.
It looks like the max order price is $115.68.
The cash back option isn't particularly exciting unless you simply want the product. However, earning 11,568 Amex Membership Rewards points at 1 cent per point is much more interesting.
If you haven't joined Rakuten yet, you can get $30 back (or 3,000 Amex points) when you spend $30 within 90 days. Pair that with this deal and you could earn some extra points.
The 75,000-mile offer is back!
Alaska miles are both valuable and tough to earn since Bank of America's cobranded cards are only practical way to earn Alaska miles with credit card spend. That means it's important to time your application carefully so you can get a large sign-up bonus.
Currently, the public offer for the Alaska Airlines Visa Business Card is only 50,000 miles.
However, you can get a 75,000-mile offer via a specific link. You just have to enter any 6-digit number in the referral code box.
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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.
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