This post has been updated since its original publication with updated details, including Roame.travel adding the ability to search for Alaska Mileage Plan awards.

Airline miles offer us flying experiences we would never dream of paying cash for.  Pictured above is Etihad’s First Class Apartment which I flew in 2019.  While other passengers probably paid around $7,000 for the same flight from Abu Dhabi to London, I paid only 80,000 American Airlines miles (and that also included a business class flight from the Seychelles to Abu Dhabi).

At Frequent Miler, we often write about sweet spot awards like the one above.  It’s easy to dream about enjoying flights like these, but it’s often very difficult to find saver award availability.  Most airlines have multiple award pricing tiers and only the cheapest awards (often referred to as “saver awards”) are available to book with partner miles.  And that’s key.  The best deals with airline miles usually involve using one airline’s miles to book awards on a partner airline.  To take advantage of those opportunities, you have to find saver award availability on the partner airline’s flight.  Often, that’s very hard to do.  Enter award search tools…

Award Search Tools: Quick Compare

Several online tools have been developed over the years to try to make award searches easier.  Among these, there are at least two distinct types of tools: general purpose, and specialty award search tools.  With the general purpose award search tools, just like paid flight searches via Kayak or Google Flights, you enter your desired origin airport, destination airport, dates of travel, number of travelers, and class of service; press “search,” and the tool will find available awards across multiple loyalty programs and airlines.  The specialty award search tools, meanwhile, are designed to help find awards for specific carriers or routes.  For example, if your heart is set on flying a specific United Airlines route, one of the specialty award search tools may be the best option for you.

Comparison of general purpose award search tools

The following tools are designed to help you find award flights across multiple loyalty programs and airlines after you select your desired origin, destination, date of travel, number of travelers, and class of service…

Comparison of specialty award search tools

Each of the tools in this round-up have pros and cons…

General purpose award search tools

All of the tools in this section search for awards across multiple loyalty programs based on simple search criteria such as origin, destination, number of passengers, class of service, and date of travel.

AwardLogic

AwardLogic is one of the most well-rounded tools in this lineup, but it’s also the most expensive.  See: Point.me vs AwardLogic. Which award search tool is best?

Pros

• Supports most relevant points & miles currencies
• Searches up to 3 days at once
• Includes up to 25 Flight Alerts (currently in Beta) so that you’ll get emailed when award space opens up.
• Displays number of miles required for each award
• Displays estimated taxes and fees for each award
• Supports transferable points programs

Cons

• Can only search a single class of service at a time
• Most expensive tool in this round up

point.me 

point.me is probably the single most thorough award search tool available.  It searches across a huge selection of loyalty programs and it provides step-by-step instructions for how to book the awards once found.

See:

• Point.me, a Kayak-like tool for flight awards, has launched.
• Point.me vs AwardLogic. Which award search tool is best?

Pros

• Supports most relevant points & miles currencies
• Searches for business and first class award space at once
• Displays number of miles required for each award
• Displays estimated taxes and fees for each award
• Supports transferable points programs
• Offers step-by-step instructions for transferring points and booking awards.

Cons

• Can only search a single date at a time
• Results populate very slowly

point.me via Bilt

Bilt Rewards is a rewards program intended for people who pay rent, but anyone can join for free.  Once you’ve joined and installed the Bilt app on your phone, you can use the free embedded version of point.me to search for flight awards.  This version of point.me is limited to Bilt’s transfer partners (found here).  See also: Bilt adds free Point.me integration for award searches with partners!

Pros

• It’s free!
• Supports most of the most relevant points & miles currencies
• Searches for business and first class award space at once
• Displays number of miles required for each award
• Displays estimated taxes and fees for each award
• Supports transferable points programs
• Offers step-by-step instructions for transferring points and booking awards.

Cons

• Search only via Bilt’s mobile app (no way to search via a desktop browser)
• This free version does not search all popular programs (only those that are transfer partners with Bilt). Noticeably absent: Delta and Avianca LifeMiles
• Can only search a single date at a time
• Results populate very slowly

Roame

roame is a free tool that searches across a relatively small number of programs but it does cover most of the ones that you’re likely to care about.  At the time of this writing, roam supports: AeroMexico, Air Canada, Air France / KLM, Alaska, American, Avianca, Delta, Iberia, JetBlue, United, Virgin Atlantic

Pros

• It’s free!
• Supports most of the most relevant points & miles currencies
• Searches for business and first class award space at once
• Results populate quickly
• Displays number of miles required for each award
• Displays estimated taxes and fees for each award
• Supports transferable points programs

Cons

• It does not yet search all popular programs. Specifically, I’d like to see support for British Airways Avios, Cathay Pacific Asia Miles, and Turkish Airlines Miles & Smiles
• Can only search a single date at a time
• Does not include award booking instructions

Specialty award search tools

Expert Flyer

Expert Flyer is a nerdy tool for finding award space, upgrade space, open seats and more.  Expert Flyer doesn’t do general award searches across airlines.  Instead, you tell it which specific airline you want to fly, which route and dates, and it will tell you if it can find saver level award availability.  It won’t tell you the award price or which program to use to book the awards.

Pros

• Supports a huge list of airlines (64 at the time of this writing)
• Identifies multi-leg awards, not just non-stop
• Provides many other flight features besides award searches

Cons

• Requires you to know which airline you want to fly
• Doesn’t display award prices
• Doesn’t help identify best points or miles to use to book a given award
• Setting alerts can be a painstaking process: You need to set up a separate alert for each and every flight + date of interest.  For example, if there are three flights per day that would work for you and you’re open to flying on any of 4 different days, then you would need to setup 12 different alerts.

SeatSpy

SeatSpy is unique in that it displays a full year of award availability all at once… and relatively quickly.  If you know which airline you want to fly on a nonstop route, and if that airline is supported by SeatSpy, there’s no other tool that compares.  See: SeatSpy — A tool for finding non-stop awards. Why is that useful?

Pros

• Displays an entire year of results at a time
• Very fast results (especially considering that it shows an entire year at once!)
• Displays award prices when you click on a date
• Alerts are easy to set up and can be set for an almost unlimited date range
• Inexpensive compared to the other tools

Cons

• Relatively few airlines supported so far
• Searches only for non-stop flights
• Alerts aren’t useful with programs that dynamically price awards (such as AA and Air France)

Seats.Aero

Seats.Aero is a awesome nerdy tool that is mostly designed for finding last-minute hard-to-get awards.  See my full review here: Seats.aero — a wonderfully nerdy tool for finding Unicorn flight awards.

Pros

• Lightning fast
• Free standard version
• The only tool that supports broad searches such as “North America” to “Asia”

Cons

• Not all airline routes are included
• Free version only searches 2 months into the future
• Cached results mean that some results are out of date
• Not designed for novices

Which is Best?

All of the tools in this roundup are great for certain purposes and so the best one depends upon what you need.  If your dates are well constrained, any of the general purpose tools may meet your needs.  If you want to save money, try both roame and the version of point.me that comes with Bilt.  Both are free and, when taken together, they cover pretty much every airline loyalty program you’re likely to care about.  If you want a single comprehensive tool, look to either AwardLogic or the full version of point.me.  The former is quicker and supports both multi-day searches and alerts, but it’s more expensive.  The  latter is less expensive and does a better job of walking you step by step through the point transfer and booking process.

If you want to fly a specific non-stop route on a specific airline, SeatSpy is the best option if it happens to support that airline.  Otherwise, turn to ExpertFlyer since it covers many more airlines.

If you’re an advanced award seeker, Seats.Aero is a nerdy gem that should be added into the mix.  It’s not complete enough to be the only tool you use, but for the specific things it does, it’s great.

The post Which award search tool is best? appeared first on Frequent Miler.

Kroger has returned with more digital coupons offering 4x fuel points on third party gift cards and fixed-value Visa and Mastercard gift cards. This is valid for online gift card purchases as well, with no coupon needed. Like most Kroger 4x sales, this is valid for the entire weekend.

The Deal

• Kroger and its empire of affiliated stores are offering 4x fuel points on the following gift cards:
  • All third party gift cards in-store (must clip coupon)
  • $25, $50 & $100 fixed-value Visa & Mastercard gift cards in-store (must clip coupon)
  • Online purchases of gift cards (direct link, no coupon needed)

Key Terms

• Valid 5/26-5/29/23
• Excludes variable load Visa & Mastercard gift cards

Quick Thoughts

When buying third party gift cards, earning 4x fuel points means you can save up to 14% on gas. To give an example of how that 14% figure is calculated, let’s say you spend $250 on gift cards during the promotion. That would earn you 1,000 fuel points which can be redeemed for $1 off per gallon on up to 35 gallons. If you’re able to refuel to that 35 gallon limit (perhaps with either a large gas tank or refueling 2+ household vehicles at the same time), you’d save $35. Saving $35 based on that original $250 of gift card spend works out to be a 14% discount.

If your gas tank is smaller though, your savings won’t be as high as that. For example, our car takes – at most – 12 gallons, so we can barely save 5% on gas through these kinds of promotions based on what we spend on gift cards. You can often get better discounts on gift cards through places like Raise, so weigh up all your options before buying them at full price from Kroger or one of its affiliate stores like Dillons, King Soopers, Ralphs, Fry’s or Smith’s.

You can earn 4x fuel points on gift cards purchased online or in-store, although there are a couple of differences between the two that are important to note. If you’ll be buying in-store, you have to load the digital coupons to your account first, whereas you’ll automatically earn 4x fuel points when buying gift cards from Kroger online.

The other thing to bear in mind is that buying the gift cards in-store means you can take advantage of the plethora of cards offering bonused spend at grocery stores right now. Kroger’s online gift card site has its payments processed by Blackhawk Network (owner of GiftCardMall and GiftCards.com), so those online orders don’t code as grocery purchases.

Past Offers

• May 19, 2023
• May 3-16, 2023
• April 28, 2023
• April 21, 2023
• March 29-April 11, 2023
• March 8-21, 2023
• February 1-14, 2023
• January 11-24, 2023
• January 6-8, 2023
• November 16-December 6, 2022
• October 26-November 1, 2022
• September 7-20, 2022
• September 2-5, 2022
• August 26-28, 2022
• August 19-21, 2022
• August 12-14, 2022
• July 27-August 9, 2022
• July 22-24, 2022
• July 15-17, 2022
• June 29-July 12, 2022
• June 24-26, 2022
• June 8-21, 2022
• June 3-5, 2022
• May 27-30, 2022
• May 20-22, 2022
• May 4-17, 2022
• April 6-19, 2022
• March 9-22, 2022
• February 2-15, 2022
• January 7-9, 2022
• November 17-December 7, 2021
• September 8-21, 2021
• September 3-6, 2021
• July 28-August 10, 2021
• July 16-18, 2021
• June 30-July 13, 2021
• June 9-22, 2021
• May 28-31, 2021
• April 28-May 11, 2021
• March 24-April 6, 2021
• March 3-16, 2021
• February 26-28, 2021
• January 28-31, 2021
• November 4-December 8, 2020
• September 9-22, 2020
• September 4-7, 2020
• July 29-August 11, 2020
• June 10-23, 2020
• May 22-25, 2020
• April 29-May 12, 2020
• March 30-April 15, 2020
• March 11-25, 2020
• February 28-March 1, 2020
• January 30-February 2, 2020

(h/t: GC Galore)

The post Kroger: Earn 4x Fuel Points On 3rd Party Gift Cards & Fixed-Value Visa & Mastercard Gift Cards appeared first on Frequent Miler.

If you’ve had your eye on a Virgin Voyages cruise, you’re in luck: Virgin Red is offering a 7-night European cruise on the “Valiant Lady” or the “Resilient Lady” for 80,000 points total for two passengers. Sailings are from Barcelona or Athens.

There are currently 30% transfer bonuses to Virgin Atlantic (and thus, Virgin Red) via both Chase Ultimate Rewards (UR) and Amex Membership Rewards (MR), so these 7-night cruises can be had for only 62,000 points from either of those programs.

The Deal

Limited time offer to book the following Virgin Voyages’ cruises using Virgin Red:

• Choose ANY 7-night sailing from Barcelona on Virgin Voyages’ Valiant Lady or from Athens on Virgin Voyages’ Resilient Lady for 80,000 Virgin Points.
• Valid for accommodation in a Sea Terrace or Limited Sea View Terrace cabin for up to 2 people.
• Book for departures between 6/1/23 and 7/31/23.
• Stacks with 30% transfer bonuses from Chase Ultimate Rewards and Amex Membership Rewards.

Direct Link to Offer and Itineraries (must log-in to Virgin Red)

Key Terms

• This offer is exclusive to Virgin Red members.
• Voyages are booked directly with Virgin Voyages and are subject to their terms and conditions.
• Flights and transfers are not included.
• This is a round-trip voyage from either Athens or Barcelona. All sailors (passengers) must make their own travel arrangements to and from Athens or Barcelona prior to and after the cruise.
• Purchase of sailings from Virgin Red are for Access Keys to book cabins. Reservations made with Access Keys are not eligible for Virgin Voyages’ Perks Program or count towards any future loyalty program credits.
• Cabins are The Sea Terrace or Limited View Sea Terrace on Resilient Lady or Valiant Lady, and will be determined by Virgin Voyages according to availability. The price is per cabin (one or two persons). There is no single sailor supplement available.
• Each Access Key required to book a cabin is only applicable for a seven-night sailing from Athens on Resilient Lady or a seven-night sailing from Barcelona on Valiant Lady departing no later than 07.31.2023. Any other use of the Access Key will be void.
• Each Virgin Red member can book up to 4 The Sea Terrace or Limited View Sea Terrace cabins. The booking party must check-in at the same time.
• Access Keys may be used for personal, non-commercial purposes only. Any resale or transfer of Access Keys or cabins for profit is not permitted and may result in the Access Key(s) and/or cabin(s) being cancelled without notice.
• Virgin Red recommends that bookings should be completed no later than five business days before the date of travel.
• Cabin type cannot be upgraded when using an Access Key as part of the booking process, and any attempt to do so will result in the Access Key being void. However, once the booking of a The Sea Terrace or Limited Sea View Terrace cabin has been confirmed, it may be possible to upgrade if Virgin Voyages subsequently offer the chance to do so.

Virgin Atlantic Flying Club vs. Virgin Red

Virgin offers two rewards programs.  One is the legacy Virgin Atlantic Flying Club program, and the other is the new Virgin Red program which offers awards far beyond flight awards.  Even though they have different names, it’s best to think of the two programs as one thing.  By joining Virgin Red, you can link your Virgin Atlantic account and then all points will appear together in both programs.  In other words, you’ll have equal access to all of your points regardless of whether you log into Virgin Red or Virgin Atlantic.

You can sign up for Virgin Red here.

Quick Thoughts

While I haven’t ever been on Virgin Voyages, they seem to get good reviews and are a step up from more common carriers like Carnival and Princess.

Looking at cash prices, these seem to be a very good deal. Dates for the specified itineraries for a Sea Terrace cabin are hovering in the ~$3000 range, making this a very good use of 80,000 Virgin points (or 62,000 Chase or Amex points). All food, soft drinks, tips, group fitness classes, entertainment and Wi-Fi are included. All cruises are adults-only.

It’s worth noting that each Virgin member can book up to four cabins under these promotions, making it feasible for a larger group to travel together, provided that everyone is over 18 (Virgin Voyages cruises are adults-only). There is no single supplement, so the price is the same for one or two passengers.

In order to make this redemption, you’d need to have points in your Virgin account and then sign in to the Virgin Red app and hit “redeem” on the offer you want. Virgin Red will send you an access code that you use to book directly with Virgin Voyages.

Virgin Red is a transfer partner of Capital One, Amex Membership Rewards, Chase Ultimate Rewards, Citi ThankYou Points and Bilt Rewards. Suffice it to say that there’s a lot of ways to transfer in. If you already have a Flying Club account, you can link this to your Virgin Red account and the points totals for both will theoretically sync…although it doesn’t always seem to be a smooth process.

Overall, this looks like an attractive deal for those interested in trying out Virgin Voyages.

The post Virgin Voyages: 7-night European Cruises for as few as 62K points appeared first on Frequent Miler.

The Party of 5 Team Challenge is right around the corner and both teams have plenty of questions about what’s ahead. Foremost among them is “where are we going?”

While our other challenges have highlighted the wild and amazing things a person can do with miles and points, this challenge seeks to showcase what incredible things might be possible for a whole family of 5. This time all five of us are traveling together for two weeks. But to keep that fun element of competition, we’ve divided into two teams. Stephen and Carrie (Team TYO) have planned out the first 5 days of this “family vacation”, based out of Tokyo, while Nick and Tim (Team SFO) have planned out the next 5 days, based out of San Francisco. Of course…we’re not telling each other what we’ve got planned. We’ve planned itineraries which we hope will impress and delight the whole “family”, but we’re paying special attention to the head of our family – Greg – who will serve as the judge, jury and referee, rewarding bonus points along the way.

For a more thorough recap, and a reminder about how we came up with the launch-points for each team, make sure to re-read this post.

Team Tokyo (TYO) took a stab yesterday at guessing where Nick and I would be whisking them off to once we return to the Western Hemisphere. It should be known that we’ve laid plenty of hint-laden bread crumbs along the way for TYO. Almost a complete road map, really. Among them:

• An approximate temperature range (based on some, half-baked “frostbite” concern)
• Required vaccinations
• That we’ll be spending much of our time traveling by sled dog
• Blowtorches will be helpful but not absolutely essential
• Anyone over 4’1” will be required to wear a pith helmet

Despite all that help, Team TYO has given us absolutely no hints in return (outside of a vague threat from Stephen that Nick and I may end up in a Korean jail). So, given that complete lack of in-kind information-sharing, here’s some guess as to where we might end up.

Tim’s Prescient Party of 5 Predictions

It goes without saying that Team Tokyo has all the tools to succeed. They start in Tokyo (we have to start in San Francisco), all of their trans-Pacific travel is already covered (thanks Greg) and they’re probably in the best part of the world for budget luxury and adventure travel. Based on that, they should really knock our socks off. I’m thinking elephant rides, swimming with blue whales…possibly a summit of Mt Everest?

Here’s a few general guesses:

• I think that we will spend at least one night in Tokyo. There’s just too much fun, Instagramable, impressing Greg-type stuff to do there. My hope is that they’ll include either a visit to teamLab Planets, the Studio Ghibli museum, Tokyo DisneySea or some combination. I also hope that they will somehow get Nick to eat sushi.
• If we go to another destination in Japan, my two guesses are Okinawa or Mt Fuji. Hyatt has some terrific properties in Okinawa (check out this one on Seragaki Island) and summiting Mt Fuji would give them some serious Greg cred. 
• I think that we will go to either Thailand, Vietnam or both. Both countries are magnificent value destinations, have plenty of terrific food, luxurious properties and great activities. Once there, I wouldn’t be surprised to see them try and gain Greg’s (and our) favor through a jaunt over to Cambodia to see Angkor.
• I believe that there will be at least one island involved (not counting Honshu, the island that Tokyo is on). This will be either: the Philippines, Bali/Lombok or Okinawa. 

So, if pressed for a final itinerary, I’m saying one night in Tokyo at the beginning or end with a stop in the Philippines and a stop in Vietnam with a possible side-trip to Angkor. This would be a jam-packed trip and Stephen famously needs time for relaxation and beauty sleep (See above). But, in the end, I think that Team TYO wants to win very badly and that competitive passion will overcome Stephen’s desire for sleeping. But I do think we’ll all end up needing a nap by the time we get to slink into our suites for the ANA flight back to San Francisco.

Nick’s Numerous Noodlings on Team Tokyo

Predicting where in Asia we might end up seems like a bit of an impossible task. The possibilities from Tokyo are endless, with such an array of places within a 6 or 7 hour flight that I could literally predict away all day and not get this right.

So instead of “predicting”, I’m going to share a couple of routes that I’d love to have planned if I were in Carrie and Stephen’s shoes sandals (if you know Stephen, you know).

One hint we were given is that we were told we would need swimsuits. That could be because we will spend time in a hot spring within Japan, but I’m going to guess that a more tropical beach is involved.

If I were tasked with planning Carrie and Stephen’s portion of the trip, I think what I’d have been very tempted to do would be to use Air Canada Aeroplan to book this itinerary — on flights entirely operated by United Airlines.

For those unfamiliar, that would be Tokyo to Guam, Palau, and Manila. That would be particularly tempting via Aeroplan because it would cost just 25K miles per passenger in economy class or 45K miles per passenger in business class. Add 5,000 miles on top to add a stopover in either Guam or Palau (or Manila before continuing on maybe!).

Making it even more attractive is the fact that (as you can see above) you could fly an itinerary that provides a 21hr stop in Guam — plenty of time to get a room at the Category 3 Hyatt Regency Guam and enjoy club lounge access if you’re a Globalist….or perhaps even book a very large premium suite — and then continue on to Palau, one of the best snorkeling / diving destinations in the world for a stopover before heading the Manila.

Nobody mentioned needing to bring my scuba diving certification, but Carrie did mention that she’s more comfortable swimming in fins, which screams “snorkeling!” to me.

Then I believe Manila is a good destination for cheap luxury hotels, and we could easily get back to Tokyo from there for our flight to San Francisco.

I think that might be the trip I’d have done — but I don’t think it’s the trip Carrie and Stephen have planned. Would they really follow Japan Airlines business class (our team flight to Tokyo) with United business class on a 737?

Instead, what I hope they have planned is a trip that includes Thailand. Logical Nick thinks this is highly unlikely because I got stuck in a Bangkok Airport for an entire long layover during 40K to Far Away and I stopped in Bangkok during 3 Cards 3 Continents, so Thailand would seem like a destination that’s been “done” — except it really hasn’t been in the sense that we haven’t featured anywhere else to go in Thailand.

And I know from past discussion that Stephen knows about the InterContinental Khao Yai. Haven’t heard of it? Go ahead, Google it. Here, I’ll save you the trouble — go the hotel’s website. Look at the guest room photos. Tell me the IHG property you’d rather stay at for 30K points per night. I won’t hold my breath. At some point last year, we joked about having a team meeting there — I really hope they’re making that happen!

Of course, I wouldn’t need my swimsuit there. But I would at the Kimpton Kitalay Samui, which also looks pretty darn nice and often seems to be bookable with IHG free night certificates. It would be pretty easy to get both destinations done in a single trip — and Samui also has some great options with Hyatt and Marriott points.

Furthermore, ANA serves Bangkok with a 787 and of course Thai Airways and Japan Airlines all serve Bangkok nonstop from Tokyo.

But do I think Carrie would be satisfied with Thailand as our Asian destination? Not really. Stephen lived in Bangkok for a time I believe. I’ve been to Thailand several times. Greg and Carrie have both been and I assume that Tim has been as well. There are points to be earned for destinations that are new to team members and it would seem relatively difficult to pick up many such points in Thailand (though surely none of us have been to wherever one finds that Intercontinental fashioned like a train and I don’t know whether any of us has been to Koh Samui before). Still, I feel like Thailand isn’t far enough from the beaten path for Carrie to feel as confident as she has at every team meeting for the last two months.

So where do I think we’ll actually go?

My guess is Malaysia. I don’t know who if anyone on the team has been there (some have probably been to Kuala Lumpur, but has anyone on the team gotten farther afield? I don’t know.).

Furthermore, I would definitely need my swimsuit for Langkawi — and either the Ritz-Carlton or the St. Regis Langkawi might have been bookable with either a 40K or 50K Marriott free night certificate (or maybe even a 35K if they found one of these properties at 50K instead of the 52K / 55K rates that are more common).

A couple of nights like that in the lap of luxury and then we would have an endless array of cheap stays at our disposal within Malaysia, with Marriott properties starting under 5,000 points per night in some places.

Will Malaysia be the destination of choice? I don’t know. Would just Malaysia be enough to win? Would it be enough for the devious laughs of confidence we’ve seen from Team Tokyo? It’s awfully rainy in Malaysia right now — as it is in much of Asia. Here’s hoping the sun shines on whatever it is we’re actually doing!

Want to know what actually happens?

If you aren’t yet following us on Instagram, you’ll want to be. Instagram is a better format for sharing short-form video and telling a travel story as it happens, so we’ll be using it heavily throughout the challenge (Follow @Frequent_Miler). We will also post updates to the blog here, but if you want to virtually tag along on the trip and know what’s happening while it’s happening, you’ll want to follow us there. Personally, I think it’s going to be epic. More to come next week. For now, what do you think we’re going to do?

The post Tim & Nick predict: What we think Stephen and Carrie will do appeared first on Frequent Miler.

Air Canada’s Aeroplan is out with up to a 95% bonus on purchased points through May 29th. This makes it possible to buy Air Canada Aeroplan points for as low as 1.32 cents each if you max out the bonus. During the first half of this sale, which ended on May 22nd, Aeroplan had a 110% bonus running, so the 95% pales a bit by comparison.

This particular sale is like most Aeroplan points sales in that it has a tiered structure where you get a larger discount when you buy more points. In this case, you have to buy a minimum of 60,000 points to get the full 95% bonus.

The Deal

• Get an bonus on purchased Aeroplan points according to following tiers:
  • 50% on purchases of 4,000-29,000 points
  • 65% on purchases of 30,000-59,000 points
  • 95% on purchases of 60,000+ points
• Purchase is through Points.com (so you will not earn bonus points by paying with a card that bonuses travel purchases)
• If you buy 60,000 points (the minimum required for the 95% bonus), you’ll get a total of 117,000 points and you’ll pay $2,100 CAD (~$1540 USD or 1.32 cents each)
• Offer ends May 29th, 2023

Direct link to this promotion

Past Aeroplan points sales

• May 18th – May 22nd, 2023, Aeroplan sold points with a 110% bonus
• April 21st – April 30th, 2023, Aeroplan sold points with a 85% bonus
• March 13th-30th, Aeroplan sold points with a 80% bonus
• January 19th-25th, Aeroplan sold points with a 100% bonus
• December 1st-December 31st, Aeroplan sold points with a 30% bonus
• November 15th-November 28th, Aeroplan sold points with a 115% bonus
• September 29th – October 9th, 2022, Aeroplan sold points with a 85% bonus
• August 20th – September 3rd, 2022, Aeroplan sold points with an 85% bonus
• July 8 – July 20, 2022, Aeroplan sold points with a 100% bonus
• May 9 – May 20, 2022, Aeroplan sold points with an 85% bonus
• March 9 until March 22, 2022, Aeroplan sold points with up to a 100% bonus
• January 27 until February 2, 2022, Aeroplan sold points with up to a 100% bonus
• July 19, 2021 until July 30, 2021, Aeroplan sold points with up to an 80% bonus
• May 7 at 10:00 am ET until May 13, Aeroplan sold points with up to a 115% bonus (from 1c per point)

The post Buy Air Canada Aeroplan points with up to 95% bonus (1.32c each) appeared first on Frequent Miler.

We used to think that a 100,000 points offer was the pinnacle of Amex largesse, but, my-oh-my, have times changed. Amex has now blown the roof off its previous highs with yet another massive targeted offer for the Business Platinum card that also has no lifetime language (NLL). This means that even cardholders who have already had (or currently have) the Business Platinum are eligible for the welcome offer.

This targeted Business Platinum offer is the best points per dollar of spend proposition that we’ve ever seen for the card itself, offering 200,000 Membership Rewards (MR) points for $15,000 spend with an additional 5,000 points for spending $1,000 on an employee card needed.

I thought that we were starting to see these insane targeted offers from Amex begin to peter out. My goodness, was I wrong.

The link below came from a targeted pop-up that appeared on my wife’s account today (she was just approved for a third Business Platinum a couple of months ago). It requires you to log-in first and then click the link to find out if you’re targeted.

The Offer

• American Express has a new targeted, no lifetime language offer for the Business Platinum card that gives 200,000 Membership Rewards points after $15K spend in the first three months. In addition, adding an employee card and spending $1,000 within the first three months provides an additional 5,000 points.

Click here for the 200,000 Membership Rewards Business Platinum offer  

You must log into your Amex account first, then click the “apply now” link on the pre-approval landing page. 

If, after clicking “apply now,” you see the message below or see a screen with no offer listed, it means you’re not targeted. If you get a pop-up telling you that you are not eligible for the welcome offer, you aren’t.

Key Card Details

Quick Thoughts

Over the last two years, Amex has been plying us with wave after wave of bigger and better NLL offers for the Business Platinum and Business Gold cards, but this one sets a new ceiling. It’s the first time we’ve seen a 200K MR bonus on one card and the fact that we’re seeing it with no increased spending requirements from the public 120K offer is incredible.

This is obviously a terrific welcome offer if you can use the card and make the spend.  Without even considering the additional perks and credits, this targeted offer will end up being worth around ~$3200 based on our Reasonable Redemption Values for Membership Rewards. For one card. That’s absolute bonkers.

Keep in mind that both the Business Platinum Dell and airline credits reset on the calendar year.  This means that in the first year of card membership, you can get 3x Dell credits and 2x airline incidentals, adding an additional ~$400 in first year value if you only pay the annual fee once. While the various perks and credits on Amex cards can feel a little “coupon booky,” I find it pretty easy to get full advantage of these two and the wireless service credit as well.

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There’s a targeted Apple Pay Amex Offer out which is giving $10 back when using the service to make three payments.

The Deal

• Make three purchases using Apple Pay & get $10 back with an Amex Offer.

Key Terms

• Expires July 6, 2023.
• Offer valid only for an eligible purchase made with your enrolled American Express Card using Apple Pay on your eligible mobile device by 7/6/23.
• Offer valid at in-store and in-app merchant locations that accept the American Express Card in the fifty United States, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands with point-of-sale terminals that process Apple Pay transactions.
• If you cannot use Apple Pay for the purchase for any reason, your purchase will not qualify for the offer.
• Eligible purchases do not include fees or interest charges, purchases of travelers checks, purchases or reloading of prepaid cards, purchases of gift cards, person-to-person payments, or other cash equivalents.

Quick Thoughts

If you get your morning coffee at Starbucks or another coffee shop that accepts Apple Pay, this offer should cover three mornings of that (depending on how expensive your coffee is).

Otherwise, three purchases at a grocery store or somewhere similar would be an easy way to get the three transactions needed in order to earn the $10 back.

Earning $10 isn’t a massive deal, but the easy requirements (provided you have an Apple device) should make it a fairly easy win when going about your life seeing as you have two months to make the three necessary purchases.

I’d add this sooner than later as this Amex Offer always disappears quickly when it comes around.

The post Apple Pay Amex Offer: Spend 3 Times & Get $10 Back appeared first on Frequent Miler.

Believe it or not, we’re a week away from departing on our 2023 Frequent Miler Annual Challenge: “Party of 5”. Don’t worry – if you’re foggy on the challenge details, let me give a quick recap of the Party of 5 challenge concept…

In short, while our other challenges have highlighted the wild and amazing things a person can do with miles and points, this challenge seeks to showcase what incredible things might be possible for a whole family of 5. This time we’re all five traveling together for two weeks. But to keep that fun element of competition, we’ve divided into two teams. Stephen and I (Team TYO) have planned out the first 5 days of this “family vacation”, based out of Tokyo, while Nick and Tim (Team SFO) have planned out the next 5 days, based out of San Francisco. Of course…we’re not telling each other what we’ve got planned. Like any other family, we’ve planned itineraries which we hope will impress and delight the whole “family”, but we’re paying special attention to the head of our family – Greg – who will serve as the judge, rewarding bonus points along the way.

For a more thorough recap, and a reminder about how we came up with the launch-points for each team, make sure to re-read this post.

Again, each team has no idea where the other team will be taking us. We only know which airport they’ll be starting from… and Tim and Nick did throw us one packing hint, forewarning us to be prepared for temperatures between 30 degrees and 80 degrees, (commenting that most of our time spent would be right in the middle of that range.)

Stephen’s predictions for Team SFO’s itinerary

In preparation for putting this post together, Stephen shared some of his guesses, which I’ll include here:

I think Puerto Rico could be on the cards because of Tim randomly asking if you’ve ever seen Hamilton. The traveling show is in PR during their portion of our travel dates.

As for where else we’d be going, that’s hard to know. On the one hand I feel like they might try to showcase some kind of great value Hyatt, but they might also specifically try to stay away from that and try to find value in other programs. If they did try to find value with Hyatt, it looks like the Hyatt Centric Montevideo in Uruguay can be great value with points as it’s only category 2 and the cash price is ~$250+.

Another option is Argentina because Mendoza has a category 3 Park Hyatt. Mendoza is wine country, so Tim might have some kind of connections or expertise with which wineries to visit there.

The fact that they’ve mentioned where we’re going could be cold makes me think we’ll be heading fairly far south in South America. I wouldn’t put it past them to have us visit the southernmost tip of the continent. Having said that, it looks like Mendoza will be in the temperature range they’d mentioned, so perhaps that’s it.

I’ve also wondered if they’re planning a trip to Easter Island as something like that would surely earn them bonus points.

Otherwise, perhaps Machu Picchu as a way to show how that could be done using points.

Alternatively, perhaps a trip to the Falkland Islands and/or South Georgia & the South Sandwich Islands. They’re British Overseas Territories, so maybe they’d be doing that for my benefit, what with me being British and all.

All that said, I wouldn’t be surprised if they’ve tried being sneaky and tried to throw in a few random hints to throw us off the scent and we end up going to places completely different to what I’ve guessed above!

Stephen edit: After reading Carrie’s predictions below, I realized that I’d forgotten Greg had written a post a couple of years ago listing his most anticipated award stays. Number one on that list is Punta Islita in Costa Rica which can be booked through Marriott Bonvoy.

• Visiting Punta Islita as an award stay – 50,000 points
• Activities including art/cooking/monkey safaris and more – Free
• Booking your boss’s most desired award stay for the challenge – Priceless

My predictions for Team SFO’s itinerary

Stephen’s guesses sound like good ones to me, but my predictions are heavily influenced by Drew’s reaction to finding out our ending destination. See, somewhere along the way, we decided that Team SFO would be sharing their ending destination with our spouses, just in case our spouses would like to join us there at the end of the trip. Almost all of my pontifications come from analyzing Drew’s reaction that what they had planned would be “epic”.

Puerto Rico could certainly be “epic”, but Drew and I have already spent quite a bit of time there, so I don’t think that would elicit as emphatic a reaction as he had.

Similarly, while Easter Island would certainly be epic, that’s also a place Drew and I have already seen, so I don’t imagine he’d react so emphatically about that destination either.

Stephen’s guess about Machu Picchu seems a bit more likely to me for a number of reasons even though that’s also a place I’ve already been. For one, when Drew and I visited, we took the extremely backpacker approach. Not only are there more luxurious ways to experience Machu Picchu which I think Drew might describe as epic, but Greg has mentioned Machu Picchu quite a few times as a bucket list destination for him. For example he’s mentioned the Tambo del Inka, a Luxury Collection Resort & Spa, Sacred Valley, Peru, which has a private train station to Machu Picchu. Since Greg serves as the primary judge for this challenge, it would make sense to pick a destination that’s been on his bucket list for years.

There are really only three other guesses that keep coming up in my mind. The first is Patagonia. We’ve never been there and I believe I’ve heard Drew talk about it as an appealing destination, so I think it’s believable he’d describe it as “epic.” Not to mention it would likely be in that cooler temperature range described by Nick and Tim in their packing disclaimer.

The second guess I keep thinking of is some kind of Alaskan cruise, for instance perhaps in the Kenai Fjords. Since Nick is basically the Cruise King, I find it totally believable that he’d be able to come up with a points and miles strategy for such a thing, and we all know how much Greg loves fjords, so it would fit really nicely into a strategy geared towards impressing Greg.

Lastly, since we know Nick loves pushing the envelopes of these challenge constraints, I could see team SFO taking what’s supposed to be a sort of North and South America themed launch-point and getting loose with that interpretation to include Hawaii as part of America. Though since Greg’s just been there and the flight time would eat up so much of the allotted time, it would be an interesting choice.

What do you think?

We’ll find out soon enough I guess! In the meantime, I’ll keep puzzling over whether or not I should pack a pair of snow boots, but you should share your own guesses in the comments below!

The post Party of 5 Predictions – What do we think Team SFO has planned? appeared first on Frequent Miler.

Wyndham Rewards has opened registration for their summer promo which will be nicely rewarding if you were already planning on staying with them, but likely not quite rewarding enough to make it worth moving stays to them for the purposes of this promo.

The Deal

• Wyndham Rewards is offering the following three tiered promotion:
  • Stay 2 consecutive nights & earn 5,000 bonus points
  • Stay 3 consecutive nights & earn 10,000 bonus points
  • Stay 4+ consecutive nights & earn 15,000 bonus points
• Cardholders will also earn 5,000 bonus points after their first stay (if you’re lucky).
• Direct link to registration.

Key Terms

• To qualify for this Wyndham Rewards bonus points offer (“Offer”), a Wyndham Rewards Member must:
  • (a) first register for the Offer by completing the registration process on wyndhamhotels.com/wyndham-rewards, wyndhamhotels.com or any of the official brand websites of any participating Hotel Chain, or through the “My Promotions” section of his/her/their Wyndham Rewards Member account on wyndhamhotels.com/wyndham-rewards or the Wyndham Hotels & Resorts App, in each case, between May 24, 2023 and August 31, 2023 (any Member who registers in accordance with the foregoing requirements will occasionally be referred to in these Offer Terms as a “Registered Member”); then
  • (b) after registering but no later than August 31, 2023, book a Qualified Stay that meets the applicable length of stay minimum described below on any Direct Booking Channel (as defined below), and complete such stay by September 5, 2023 (the requirements set forth in this clause (b), collectively, the “Booking & Stay Requirements”).
• For purposes of these Offer Terms, “Direct Booking Channel” means:
  • (i) www.wyndhamhotels.com/wyndham-rewards, wyndhamhotels.com or any of the official brand websites of the Hotel Chains;
  • (ii) the official toll free reservation number of Wyndham Rewards or any of the Hotel Chains;
  • (iii) onsite at a participating hotel, directly with such property; or
  • (iv) on the Wyndham Hotels & Resorts App.
• The number of Wyndham Rewards bonus points a Registered Member can earn in connection with this Offer depends on length of stay and whether or not they are a primary Wyndham Rewards Visa Cardmember (a “Primary Cardmember”). Subject to all Offer Terms:
  • stays of two (2) consecutive nights receive 5,000 Wyndham Rewards bonus points;
  • stays of three (3) consecutive nights receive 10,000 Wyndham Rewards bonus points; and
  • stays of four (4) or more consecutive nights receive 15,000 Wyndham Rewards bonus points.
• Each of the bonus point awards described above will hereinafter occassionally be referred to as a “Promotion Bonus”. Registered Members who are also Primary Cardmembers will earn an additional 5,000 Wyndham Rewards bonus points after completion of their first stay to earn a Promotion Bonus (an “Additional Bonus”). There is a limit of one (1) Additional Bonus per Primary Cardmember regardless of how many nights they consume in accordance with the Booking & Stay requirements.
• Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in these Offer Terms, each Registered Member who is not a Primary Cardmember may earn one (1) of the Promotion Bonuses, and each Registered Member who is a Primary Cardmember, may earn one (1) of the Promotion Bonuses and one (1) Additional Bonus, pursuant to this Offer, regardless of how many stays or nights such Member consumes in accordance with the Booking & Stay Requirements.
• Qualified Stays are subject to certain restrictions and do not include third party online bookings or Go Free/Go Fast award nights; see the Program Terms for more information about Qualified Stays. The bonus points will usually be posted to an eligible Member’s Member account within two to four weeks following the completion of the applicable stay. For clarity, any stay that (a) is booked or consumed (in whole or in part) prior to registration for this Offer, (b) begins before May 24, 2023 and/or (c) ends after September 5, 2023, will not be counted towards this Offer. Members who have elected to earn airline miles in their Member profile will earn base miles in accordance with the Program Terms and the Promotion Bonus and the Additional Bonus in the form of points.

Quick Thoughts

This is a pretty good offer, although it could be tricky knowing when to register for the promo. That’s because you can only earn one set of bonus points, so if you’ll be staying with Wyndham at least twice this summer and your second stay is longer than the first, you might want to hold off on registering to ensure you earn the higher bonus. However, that runs the risk that you forget to register for the offer before the second stay and miss out on earning bonus points entirely, so if you’re likely to forget to do that later on it might make more sense to just register now so that you at least earn something.

The terms suggest that there’s an additional part of the promotion that gives an extra 5,000 bonus points for being a cardholder. I wouldn’t count on Wyndham awarding those points though. They had a similar bonus on offer with a recent promo and despite me earning the 15,000 points from the main part of the offer, they’ve steadfastly refused to award the 5,000 bonus points for me being a cardholder. I’ve gone back and forth with them repeatedly for the last few days sending screenshots of the offer, confirmation of my registration, etc., but they’re still trying to claim that I wasn’t registered for the promo even though they’ve already awarded some of the points as part of the promo. Seeing as there’s no other mention of the 5,000 bonus points for being a cardholder on the landing page, it makes me wonder if they’ve accidentally copied and pasted those terms into this latest offer from a past promo.

The post Wyndham promo: Earn 5k-15k bonus points when staying 2-4 consecutive nights appeared first on Frequent Miler.

Since 2018, Amex has made it possible to earn points when you refer others to Amex cards, even across card brands. That is to say that, for example, you can have a card that earns Membership Rewards points and you can refer someone to a Marriott Bonvoy card and you’ll earn a bonus in Membership Rewards points when your friend opens their Marriott card (and your friend will get the bonus associated with the card that they open). This is a unique awesome opportunity that Amex makes possible since it means that you can help friends and family get the Amex card that fits their needs while earning a potentially valuable bonus yourself. We originally published this post a couple of years ago, but I have made numerous updates to add things we’ve learned about Amex’s awesome cross-brand referrals to answer some of the most common questions / points of confusion.

Note: We do not allow referral links in the comments here and we only allow them in specific instances in our Facebook group (and then only in the threads where we have requested them). More detail on how to generate your links and where to share them within this post.

Amex’s awesome cross-brand referrals debuted years ago

Years ago, it was only able to refer others to a card that you carried — that is to say that if you had a Blue Cash Preferred card, you could refer people to open the Blue Cash Preferred and earn a bonus for that referral only if they opened a Blue Cash Preferred card. However, thanks to Amex cross-brand / multi-referrals, a Blue Cash Preferred Cardholder (just as one example) can refer people to nearly any card in the Amex portfolio and earn a referral bonus. This is amazing because it means that you can hold a less desirable card, yet pick up referral credits for referring people to a more desirable card. This makes having multiple Amex cards extra awesome.

And in 2023, Amex increased the limit as to the number of points that can be earned from referrals whereby you can earn up to 100,000 points / $1,000 cash back in referrals from each of your Amex cards. A couple playing in two-player mode or someone with a large network of friends and family has the potential to earn a nice chunk of points from referrals.

How to generate your referral links

At a base level, it is fairly easy to find your own referral links. Simple log in to your Amex account and you can typically find a box between your card account information and Amex Offers with a button to “refer now”.

Alternatively, if you scroll to the bottom of the page while logged in, you can hit the “Refer A Friend” link to be taken to a page where you can scroll through all of your Amex cards and pick one from which to refer.

When you click through there, you will see images of your cards in the top right corner and you can select the card from which you would like to refer others. Here you will find a clear display of how many points you’ll earn and how many points your friend will earn if they open that same card — though note that you’ll get the bonus listed under “you can earn” even if your friend ultimately opens a different card.

From there, you can copy your link in the bottom right corner of that screen shot (cut off) to share with your friends, but then your friend can ultimately choose the card they want. If I shared the link shown above, I would earn 25,000 Membership Rewards points when my friend is approved — whether they choose to apply for the same card (the Business Platinum in this case) or another card. Even if they choose a card that earns cash back or Hilton points or Delta miles, I will receive 25,000 Membership Rewards points if they click through that link and are approved.

Your friend can choose the card they want and you will get your bonus when they are approved

If I shared my Business Platinum card link shown above, my friend would click through it and initially see the associated Business Platinum offer. However, if they ultimately want to open a different card, they can simply hit the button that says “view all cards with a referral offer”.

They can then decide whether they’d like to see all business cards or click “Looking for a personal card?” to help find the card they want.

Note that things look a bit different if you click through a consumer card link, but your friend can still easily toggle between business and consumer cards to find the card that suits their needs.

Even after choosing business or personal initially, it is very easy for your friend to toggle between both sides and scroll the list of Amex cards.

Your friend can look at all of the various categories and use your referral to open an airline card, a hotel card, a Membership Rewards card, etc.

You can even refer from a business card to a personal card or vice versa. You can refer someone to nearly any card in the Amex portfolio. Notable exceptions are that you can not earn a bonus for referring someone to a Schwab or Morgan Stanley Amex card (or other bank-branded Amex cards).

Co-branded Amex cards are limited to referring within a family (but Membership Rewards and cash back cards are not)

Unfortunately, those with a co-brand card are limited to referring within the co-brand family (which is to say that a Delta card can only generate referrals to other Delta cards), though you can cross-refer from personal to business or vice versa. Amex cards that earn Membership Rewards points or cash back are not limited in this way.

Again, if you share a link from your Amex co-branded card (i.e. an Amex Delta card, Amex Hilton card, or Amex Marriott card), your friend will only be able to choose from cards within the same family. If you instead share a link generated from a card that earns Membership Rewards points, your friend should be able to choose from all of the Membership Rewards, cash back, and co-branded cards.

Referring from your Membership Rewards-earning cards is often your best bet

The best part of Amex cross-brand referrals is that when you refer others, you receive the referral bonus based on the card from which you generate the referral link. For instance, in the past, my wife’s Amex Gold card has an offer for her to earn 30,000 points for each approved referral (note that this is an old screen shot for a previous, now-expired and far weaker offer for the Gold card).

In that case, she could share that referral link with me and I can choose the card I want and she gets 30,000 Membership Rewards points (even if I choose a Hilton card or a cash back card). That’s a great deal that juices up the opportunity to score a lot of points in 2-player mode.

Leverage referrals for in-house bonus points

If you’re playing the game in two-player mode, you can leverage referral bonuses to earn extra points for the “home team” if you value points earned for Player 1 and Player 2 (which could be two spouses or two people who chase miles and points together).

At the time of writing, there is an offer on consumer Amex cards that earn Membership Rewards points or cash back to earn an additional spending bonus at U.S. Supermarkets when a friend is approved through your referral link. Amex periodically offers a bonus like this and it stacks with the lump-sum points bonus (like 25,000 or 30,000 points).

Imagine that my wife and I value that extra bonus at U.S. Supermarkets (which stacks on top of the existing category bonus on that card). Even if I didn’t really need another Amex card, it might be worth considering opening one just to trigger that bonus. For instance, I could click through my wife’s Gold card referral link and open an Amex Lowe’s Business Credit Card, which features no annual fee and should not impact my 5/24 status since it is a business card.

So long as I am approved, my wife would earn her stated Gold card bonus (in her case it is 25,000 points when a friend is approved) plus the U.S. Supermarket bonus for 3 months (which is a temporary offer ending 6/7/23). In the past, I’ve considered opening a card like this just to help her trigger a good referral bonus like that.

It might even make sense to refer Player 2 to a card for which they aren’t eligible for the welcome bonus since you’ll earn the referral bonus if they are approved (whether or not they qualify for the welcome bonus).

How to share a direct link to the card they want

If you’re sharing your referral link with a spouse, you can easily walk them through the process above for picking the card they want. However, if you’re sending your link to a friend or family member, you may wonder whether they’ll “get it right” and you’ll get credit for the referral. If you’re worried that the person using your link will get confused and mess something up, you can make it easier by giving them a link directly to the card they want.

Instead, you can click through your own referral link first and then navigate to the card they ultimately want. Let’s say you I used my Business Platinum card to generate my own referral link, but my friend ultimately wants the Delta SkyMiles Platinum card. I could click my link, choose “view all Cards with a Referral Offer” at the top, and then choose “All personal cards”.

Then I could find the Delta Platinum card and click the card name or the button underneath “Apply now” that says “View Details”.

That will bring me to a landing page for the Delta Platinum offer. I can then copy the URL from the address bar and send that directly to my friend. When they click that link, it will bring them directly to the Delta Platinum offer and I’ll get the 25K Membership Rewards points referral credit on my Business Platinum card when they are approved even though they opened a Delta card.

For those who are more visual, here is a video that shows the same process. I made it a couple of years ago, so the interface has changed very slightly, but it should make it easy to find what you’re looking for.

Where to share your referral links

We don’t allow referral links in the comments on the blog. That is first and foremost because we want the comments on posts to be a place for questions and discussion. If we allowed referral links in the comments, questions or comments about the post would get lost in a long list of referral links. Furthermore, comments with links get caught in our spam filter and require manual approval.

Similarly, we do not allow unrestricted referral sharing in our Facebook group (nor do most Facebook groups, and that isn’t limited to miles-and-points groups). There are a couple of reasons for that, but the most important one is because if we did allow it, the group would quickly become a sea of referral links with all useful discussion being drowned out. With more than 30,000 people in our Facebook group, if just 10% of people shared their referral links on a given day, that would be 3,000 referral link posts. The group feed would quickly become nothing but referrals — and how long would you remain a member of the group if all you saw in your Facebook feed from Frequent Miler Insiders was other peoples’ referral links? I’m sure that people would quickly start ignoring the group and Facebook’s algorithm would notice and stop suggesting our content.

Furthermore, we only list the best publicly-available offers on our Best Credit Card Offers page. When we have an affiliate link to a card but the referral offer is better, we only show the referral offer (not our affiliate link). When the best offer is a referral offer and we can’t generate our own referral links to it, we solicit help from our Frequent Miler Insiders group to find readers who have links to the best offer — but then only in those threads where we have requested it and only under the first comment where you find all of the other referral links. Furthermore, and this part is of crucial importance, only if you have a direct link to the best publicly-available offer.

Amex offers some cardholders the ability to refer to even better offers

For the past couple of years, Amex has offered some cardholders the ability to refer to better offers than others.

For instance, at the time of writing, the best publicly-available offer for the Amex Business Platinum card is only available via referral. Only some cardholders have the ability to refer directly to this offer.

For example, I have a couple of Business Platinum cards. Some of them point to an offer that only provides the new cardholder with 120,000 points after meeting the minimum spending requirement as you can see under “Each friend can earn”.

However, I have one Business Platinum card where it clearly shows in my Amex login that my friend will instead get 150,000 points after meeting the minimum spending requirement (see the 120K crossed out and replaced with 150K).

If I share the link from that card, my friend will see the 150K offer every time they click on it.

Here’s where it gets confusing: If I share my referral link that says my friend will get 120,000 points, they will usually see that offer — but they may occasionally see the 150K offer (this is particularly true if they click my link using a fresh browser or perhaps one where they have previously opened the 150K offer). For this reason, I keep multiple browsers on my computer and always check results in various browsers.

The even crazier thing is that Amex seems to target certain people (or perhaps people in certain geographic areas?) with higher offers and this gets confusing with cross-brand referrals.

For instance, if I follow steps laid out above and use my Business Platinum referral link to create a direct link to the Gold card offer (first clicking through my Business Platinum card, then navigating to “View all cards with a referral offer”, choosing personal, and finding the Gold card and clicking to view details as shown in the instructions and video in a previous section), my friend will sometimes see the enhanced consumer Gold card offer (currently 90K points and $200), but sometimes only see the standard offer (60K points and $200 at the time of writing).

This makes things extra confusing with targeted enhanced offers. If your friend ultimately wants the consumer Amex Gold card offer of 90K points and $200, the only way to be sure that they will see that offer every time is to generate a link from a consumer Amex Gold card where it shows that “Your friend will receive 90,000 points” within your Amex login. If you share a link generated from a different Amex card, it may show the 90K offer sometimes, but it won’t work every single time. You will want to be sure to tell your friend to keep trying until they receive the 90K offer or direct them to our Best Offers page to find a direct link to the best offer.

Amex referral caps are per card, not per cardholder

One question we get often is “Am I limited to earning 100,000 total points per year from referrals, or 100,000 points per card?”. The answer is that the limit is per card.

For instance, I have an Amex Platinum card and an Amex Gold card. I can earn 100,000 points per year from referring friends with the link from my Platinum card and 100,000 points per year from referring friends with the link from my Gold card for a total of 200,000 points from referrals generated from those two cards.

For that reason, you want to be strategic about sharing your link. If you have a referral that offers you 30,000 points per person you refer, you may want to stop with that link after referring 3 friends (for a total of 90,000 points). If you refer a 4th friend from that link, you’ll only receive 10,000 points for that referral. If you instead have another Amex card that offers 25,000 points per referral, you would be better off referring the 4th friend from that other card so that you can earn 25,000 points.

Obviously most people don’t have capacity for unlimited referrals, but between the large bonuses sometimes offered and opportunities like our occasional referral threads (currently available for the consumer Amex Platinum and Amex Gold (only for those with direct links to the enhanced offers), some people may find themselves in position to be strategic about their Amex referrals.

Bottom line

This cross-referral capability creates the potential to generate a lot of points if you have friends/family interested in bonuses and/or you’re playing in 2-player mode with a spouse/partner. You can pick up a terrific bonus for yourself while also referring your friend or family member to the best possible new cardmember offer. Keep in mind that Amex has clawed back points for self-referrals, so make sure you aren’t using your own link to apply for a new card. However, sharing your link with a spouse or other friend or family member is fine and a great way for both sides to get rewarded.

The post How to create cross-brand Amex referrals appeared first on Frequent Miler.

2-3 times a year Kimpton releases a (not so) Secret Password. If you mention the password when checking in, you’ll get some kind of treat or benefit. They’ve announced their latest password that’s valid for the next few months – No Shade.

The Deal

• The new Kimpton Secret Password is NO SHADE.

Key Terms

• Password is valid when checking in for stays from May 26-September 3, 2023.

Quick Thoughts

When staying at a Kimpton in Chicago a few years ago, I mentioned the password and we got to pick a prize out of a bowl which turned out to be a $30 food and beverage credit. Other people have reported getting free parking, a bottle of champagne and other types of perks, so it’s definitely worth saying “No Shade” when checking in.

h/t Doctor of Credit

The post New Kimpton secret password: No Shade appeared first on Frequent Miler.

American Express has joined Chase with offering a 30% transfer bonus to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club for the next few weeks.

The Deal

• Get a 30% bonus when transferring American Express Membership Rewards to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club.

Key Terms

• Expires June 14, 2023.

Quick Thoughts

This transfer bonus from Membership Rewards is the same 30% bonus that Chase is offering when transferring Ultimate Rewards. Many will prefer transferring from Amex though thanks to their generosity handing out NLL (No Lifetime Language) welcome offers over the past year or two, plus the fact that transferring from Chase would mean taking points away that could otherwise be transferred to Hyatt.

Virgin has made some no-notice devaluations over the last year or so, so be careful about transferring speculatively. That said, even post-devaluation the 30% bonus can represent good value. The ANA first class sweet spot got less sweet in March when award pricing with Virgin got increased by 32%-42%. This transfer bonus mitigates much of that increase, so the new 72,500 miles one way from the west coast and 85,000 miles one way from central or eastern US rates effectively become 58,000 and 66,000 Membership Rewards respectively which is still an excellent deal.

The post 30% transfer bonus from Amex Membership Rewards to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club appeared first on Frequent Miler.

Until May 27, Get 35% off all fees when ordering Visa and Mastercard Simon gift cards online. Use promo code MAY23SAVE35 when ordering at simon.com/volume.

The Deal

• Simon Mall’s volume ordering site is offering the following discount codes for orders from its bulk gift card site (which requires approval to be able to purchase – see this post for more detail. Note that consumers should register as a consumer here in order to have access to the $1,000 cards.)
  • MAY23SAVE35: 35% off all fees. Valid 5/22/23 to 5/27/23.

• Promo codes can not be combined
• Credit for orders submitted without codes will not be permitted

Quick Thoughts

Remember not to purchase with an Amex card because you won’t earn points/cashback/miles and in an ideal world have more than one liquidation option because you don’t want to be left holding a ton of these gift cards with no way to redeem them if your sole liquidation option dies. There are also new liquidation restrictions, so be prepared for that.

This promotion makes the cost per card more reasonable assuming you’re buying a large quantity. For example, if you were to buy 10 Visa Gift Cards and load them with $1,000 each using the discount code, this is how the math would work out in terms of fees:

• 10 x $3.95 = $39.50
• Add $10 processing
• Add $17 shipping (note: this is an examples and varies. This was the amount for shipping to me)
• Total cost = $66.50
• Total cost after 35% off all fees = $43.23 ($4.32 per $1,000 Visa Gift Card in this example).

This makes the discounted rate close to being the same price as buying physical cards directly from a Simon Mall. That said, it’s obviously way more convenient, especially for those of us that don’t have a Simon Mall close by. While not the cheapest manufactured spending around, that certainly makes these cards easily profitable or makes for fairly cheap points for those with a use for the Visa Gift Cards.

Particularly with the demise of GiftCards.com and GiftCardMall.com given the monthly caps on portal earnings for those sites and the fact that those sites now sell a max denomination of $250 per gift card, Simon was looking a bit better until recent issues began. There are other options still around for buying Visa and Mastercard gift cards as well, but as noted above make sure you have a couple of backup plans.

Previous updates

MAY23FLASH100: Free shipping and no processing fees. Valid 4/27/23 to 5/1/23.

APR23FLASH35: 35% off all fees. Valid 4/12/23 to 4/16/23

APR23FOOL100: Free shipping and processing fees (minimum $4,000 order). Valid 3/27/23 to 4/1/23

MAR23SPRING25: 25% off purchase fees. Valid 3/20/23 to 3/23/23

MAR23LUCKY35: 35% off purchase fees. Valid 3/13/23 to 3/17/23

MAR23FLASH25: 25% off purchase fees. Valid 3/7/23 to 3/10/23

MAR23SHIP100: 100% off processing & shipping fees – minimum order of $4,000. Valid 2/28/23 to 3/4/23

FEB23SAVE30: 30% off all fees. Valid 2/21/23 to 2/24/23

FEB23SAVE25: 25% off purchasing fees only. Valid 2/8/23 to 2/11/23

FEB23SHIP: No shipping or processing fees. Valid 2/1/23 to 2/5/23

JAN23SAVE35: 35% off purchasing fees only. Valid 1/23/23 to 1/27/23

JAN23SAVE25: 25% off purchasing fees only. Valid 1/10/23 to 1/13/23

JAN23NY45: 45% off all fees. Valid 12/28/22 to 1/5/23

DEC22MERRY35: 35% off purchase fees only. Valid 12/22/22 to 12/26/22

DEC22WKND20: 20% off all fees. Valid 12/16/22 to 12/19/22

DEC22FLASH35: 35% off purchase fees only. Valid 12/12/22 to 12/14/22

DEC22HOLLY25: 25% off purchase fees only. Valid 12/6/22 to 12/10/22

DEC22SAVE25: 25% off all fees. Valid 11/30/22 to 12/3/22

NOV22THANK35: 35% off all fees. Valid 11/21/22 to 11/26/22

NOV22FLASH50: 50% off all fees. Valid 11/15/22 to 11/19/22

NOV22SAVE40: 40% off all fees. Valid 11/10/22 to 11/12/22

NOV22FLASH45: 45% off all fees. Valid 11/4/22 to 11/7/22

SCARE22SAVE60: 60% off purchase fees only. Valid 10/28/22 to 11/2/22

OCT22SAVE50: 50% off all fees. Valid 10/23/22 to 10/25/22

OCT22FLASH45: 45% off all fees. Valid 10/17/22 to 10/20/22

SUPER22SALE72: 72% off purchase fees. Valid 10/11/22 to 10/14/22

OCT22SAVE40: 40% off all fees. Valid 10/5/22 to 10/8/22

SEP22OCT45: 45% off all fees. Valid 9/28/22 to 10/1/22

SEP22FALL52: 52% off all fees. Valid 9/20/22 to 9/25/22

SUPER22SAVE65: 65% off purchase fees only. Valid 9/14/22 to 9/16/22

SEP22WKND45: 45% off all fees. Valid 9/8/22 to 9/11/22

LD22SAVE60: 60% off all fees. Valid 8/30/22 to 9/5/22

AUG22FLASH50: 50% off all fees. Valid 8/17/22 to 8/20/22

AUG22SAVE45: 45% off all fees. Valid 8/10/22 to 8/14/22

AUG22BIG70: 70% off purchase fees only. Valid 8/5/22 to 8/8/22

JUL22AUG48: 48% off all fees. Valid 7/28/22 to 8/2/22

JUL22FLASH60: 60% off purchase fees only. Valid 7/22/22 to 7/26/22

JUL22SAVE45: 45% off all fees. Valid 7/18/22 to 7/20/22

JUL22SUPER72: 72% off purchase fees. Valid 7/12/22 to 7/15/22

JUL22WKND50: 50% off all fees. Valid 7/7/22 to 7/10/22

22JULY70: 70% off purchase fees. Valid 6/28/22 to 7/4/22

JUN22HOT50: 50% off all fees. Valid 6/22/22 to 6/25/22

JUN22FLAG40: 40% off all fees. Valid 6/14/22 to 6/18/22

JUN22FLASH60: 60% off purchase fees only. Valid 6/8/22 to 6/11/22

JUN22WKND45: 45% off all fees. Valid 6/3/22 to 6/5/22

MAY22MEM50: 50% off all fees. Valid 5/27/22 to 6/1/22

MAY22FLASH60 : 60% off all fees. Valid 5/17/22 to 5/20/22

MAY22SAVE45 : 45% off all fees. Valid 5/10/22 to 5/14/22

22CINCO55 : 55% off all fees. Valid 5/4/22 to 5/7/22

MAY22DAY48: 48% off all fees. Valid 4/29/22 to 5/1/22

APR22EARTH50: 50% off all fees.  Valid 4/21/22 to 4/23/22.

APR22FOOLS47: 50% off all fees.  Valid 3/30/22 to 4/2/22.

MAR22FLASH60: 60% off all purchase fees only.  Valid 3/21/22 to 3/23/22.

LUCKY22DAY50: 50% off all fees.  Valid 3/16/22 to 3/18/22.

MAR22DLS45: 45% off all fees.  Valid 3/11/22 to 3/15/22.

FEB22SAVE40: 40% off all fees.  Valid 2/25/22 to 3/5/22.

FEB22PREZ46: 46% off all fees.  Valid 2/1822 to 2/25/22.

RESOLVE22SAVE55: 55% off all fees. Valid 1/6/22 to 1/7/22.

DEC21CHEER50: 50% off all fees. Valid 12/14/21 to 12/18/21.

NOV50THANKS: 50% off all fees. Valid 11/22/21 to 11/26/21.

11/16/21 to 11/18/21 save 45% off all fees with promo code NOV45SAVE

11/11/21 to 11/13/21 save 50% off all fees with promo code FALL50NOV21

11/5 to 11/8 save 55% off all fees with promo code NOV21SAVE55

10/27/21 to 11/1/21 save 50% off all fees with promo code OCTSCARY50

10/19 to 10/22 save 45% off all fees with promo code OCT21SAVE45

10/5 to 10/8 save 50% off all fees with promo code GO50SEP21

9/21 to 9/26 save 55% off all fees with promo code SEP21EA55

9/15 to 9/18 save 50% off all fees with promo code SEP21GO50

9/8 to 9/12 and save 40% off all fees with promo code SEP21FS40

8/30 to 9/3 and save 45% off all fees with promo code AUG21SAV45

8/24 to 8/29 save 40% off all fees with promo code FS40AUG21 

8/17 to 8/19 save 50% off all fees with promo code SSN50AUG

8/8 to 8/11 save 45% off all fees with promo code AUG45SAVE.

8/5 and 8/6 save 50% off all fees with promo code FSAUG50.

7/28 to 8/2 and save 48% off all fees when ordering Visa® and Mastercard® Simon Giftcards® online. Use promo code FS48JUL when ordering at simon.com/volume.

7/21 to 7/24 and save 35% off all fees when ordering Visa® and Mastercard® Simon Giftcards® online. Use promo code JUL35SAVE when ordering at simon.com/volume.

7/15 to 7/18 and save 50% off all fees when ordering Visa® and Mastercard® Simon Giftcards® online. Use promo code JUL50SN when ordering at simon.com/volume.

7/8 to 7/12 and save 40% off all fees when ordering Visa® and Mastercard® Simon Giftcards® online. Use promo code FS40JUL when ordering at simon.com/volume.

6/30 to 7/3 save 44% off all fees when ordering Visa® and Mastercard® Simon Giftcards® online. Use promo code FS44JUN when ordering at simon.com/volume.

Update 6/24/21: Order by 11:59pm ET on 6/24 and save 50% off all fees when ordering Visa® and Mastercard® Simon Giftcards® online. Use promo code SUMMER50JUN when ordering at simon.com/volume. Note that many have experienced difficulty in liquidation in recent months, so this is a less attractive deal than in the past, though it is still relatively easy to come out ahead depending on your liquidation options.

June 16-17 and save 50% off all fees when ordering Visa® and Mastercard® Simon Giftcards® online. Use promo code FS50JUN

5/27/21-5/31/21 and save 40% off all fees when ordering Visa® and Mastercard® Simon Giftcards® online with promo code MEMORIAL40

5/11/21: 50% off all fees with promo code FS50MAY

Update 4/26/21: Order April 26-28 and save 40% off all fees when ordering Visa® and Mastercard® Simon Giftcards® online. Use promo code APR21SAVE40 when ordering at simon.com/volume. Note that the code WELCOME21 is also still valid through April 30th for 50% off fees on one order as well, but if you’ve already used that one, the new 40% off code is a decent alternative.

Update 4/23/21: Promo code FSAPR50 will take 50% off all fees for purchases on 4/23/21 only. Note that I believe the code WELCOME21 is also still valid for 50% off one order as well, but if you have used that one or want to save it for another day before the end of the month, use FSAPR50 for half off fees today.

Update 3/12/21: Promo code FS21SPRING40 will take 40% off all fees for purchases online through Simon Mall’s volume ordering program from March 12-16, 2021. Note that this time, the discount applies to shipping fees. Note that many have experienced difficulty in liquidation in recent months, so this is a less attractive deal than in the past, though it is still relatively easy to come out ahead depending on your liquidation options.

Update 3/4/21: Promo code FS40MAR21 will take 40% off all fees for purchases online through Simon Mall’s volume ordering program from March 4-7, 2021 only. Note that this time, the discount applies to shipping fees. Note that many have experienced difficulty in liquidation in recent months, so this is a less attractive deal than in the past, though it is still relatively easy to come out ahead depending on your liquidation options.

Update 2/16/21: Promo code FS21FEB40 will take 40% off all fees for purchases online through Simon Mall’s volume ordering program, possibly February 16 & 17, 2021 only. Note that this time, the discount applies to shipping fees. Note that many have experienced difficulty in liquidation in recent months, so this is a less attractive deal than in the past, though it is still relatively easy to come out ahead depending on your liquidation options.

Update 2/8/21: Promo code FS21FEB35 will take 35% off purchase fees for purchases online through Simon Mall’s volume ordering program from February 8-11, 2021. Note that this time, the discount does not apply to shipping fees, which seem to have increased substantially over time. Combined with the difficulty in liquidation these days, this is a less attractive deal than in the past, though it is still relatively easy to come out ahead depending on your liquidation options.

Update 1/18/21: Promo code FS21JAN35 will take 35% off purchase fees for purchases online through Simon Mall’s volume ordering program from January 18-21, 2021. Note that this time, the discount does not apply to shipping fees, which seem to have increased substantially over time. Whereas fees were around $11 for me when Simon began selling cards online, they are now up to $17 for me, which frankly seems totally out of line. Combined with the difficulty in liquidation these days, this is a less attractive deal than in the past, though it is still relatively easy to come out ahead depending on your liquidation options.

Update 12/7/20: Promo code FS20JOY will take 35% off all fees (including shipping). However, I strongly recommend caution here. We’ve previously reported problems that people have had lately liquidating – these are currently not working in most cases for swipes of $100 or more at Walmart and other outlets. Only purchase if you have an alternate plan and a backup plan or two as we continue to monitor developments.

Update 11/16/20: Promo code FS20SAVINGS will take 35% off all fees (including shipping) for purchases online through Simon Mall’s volume ordering program from November 16-18, 2020. However, I strongly recommend caution here. We’ve previously reported problems that people have had lately liquidating – these are currently not working in most cases for swipes of more than $50 at Walmart and other outlets. Only purchase if you have an alternate plan and a backup plan or two as we continue to monitor development

Update 10/26/20: Promo code FS20SCARY is good for 35% off all fees (including shipping) for purchases online through Simon Mall’s volume ordering program from October 26 – 31, 2020. The last time they ran a similar promotion, the code was valid for unlimited use during the promo window and I expect that will be the same this time as well.

Update 11/6/20: Promo code FS20THANKS will take 35% off all fees (including shipping) for purchases online through Simon Mall’s volume ordering program from November 6-8, 2020. That said, I recommend caution here. We’ve previously reported problems that people have had lately liquidating (and we continue to get more reports of the same) and while we reached out to Simon about that we have yet to hear from them regarding this issue.

Update 10/26/20: Promo code FS20SCARY is good for 35% off all fees (including shipping) for purchases online through Simon Mall’s volume ordering program from October 26 – 31, 2020. The last time they ran a similar promotion, the code was valid for unlimited use during the promo window and I expect that will be the same this time as well.

Update 10/12/20: This deal is back, but this time it is good for 30% off all fees (including shipping and handling fees) with code FSOCT20. This makes the net cost per card very reasonable. This code has unlimited use (subject of course to the $25K per day limit on orders with Simon, which includes fees), but it expires 10/14 (valid 3 days only).

Update 8/24/20: This promotion has been extended to 8/31/20 and Simon has added an additional 10 uses of promo code AUG20PR for 15% off all fees (meaning that each customer can use this a max of 20 times).

Update 8/11/20: Simon Mall’s volume gift card site is offering 15% off on all fees (including 15% off the shipping fee) on orders of 5 or more cards with coupon code AUG20PR. While not quite as good as the July promotion, this is nonetheless noteworthy given recent changes in the online landscape.

Update 6/29/20: Simon is offering several promo codes for “July 4th Savings”, including 20% off purchase fees and free ground shipping on orders of 5 or more cards. (expired)//

The post 35% off all fees on Simon Visa/MC Gift Cards online w/ promo code MAY23SAVE35 appeared first on Frequent Miler.

Best Western is out with a potentially decent offer as they’re giving what they’re calling $50 Best Western gift cards for every two nights you stay this summer. There’s a catch though – the “gift cards” expire at the end of November.

The Deal

• Stay two nights at Best Western properties & get $50 Best Western bonus card free.
• Direct link to registration.

Key Terms

• Best Western Rewards (“BWR) members (“Rewards Member(s)”) who (a) register for this promotion on bestwestern.com/rewardsrush2 or as otherwise permitted (e.g., at the front desk of any Best Western branded hotel), (b) complete at least two (2) eligible night stays* between May 22, 2023 and September 4, 2023 (“Promotion Period”) at any Best Western branded hotel in the United States, Canada, or the Caribbean Islands, and (c) have a valid email address listed in the Rewards Member’s account profile at the time of registration for the promotion, will earn one (1) promotional $50 USD/CAD** Best Western Gift Card (“Gift Card(s)”). There is a limit of two (2) $50 USD/CAD Gift Cards or a total of $100 USD/CAD in Gift Cards per Rewards Member during the promotion. Gift Cards expire on November 30, 2023. 
• Promotion registration and BWR enrollment/membership is required prior to the first eligible night stay. Eligible night stays completed prior to promotion registration and BWR enrollment/membership will not count towards satisfying the promotion requirements. BWR enrollment may be completed by visiting bestwesternrewards.com.
• Please allow approximately 1-2 weeks from completion of the eligible night stay to receive the Gift Card(s). The Gift Card(s) will be sent electronically to the Rewards Member’s email address (regardless of whether the Rewards Member has opted out of Best Western communications). The Gift Card(s) will not be sent via mail or any other means other than to the Rewards Member’s email address as registered in the Rewards Member’s account profile. Gift Card(s) expire on November 30, 2023. The expiration date will be stated on the Gift Card. No extensions, substitutions, or replacements available. The Gift Card(s) cannot be used to pay for the eligible night stay during which the Rewards Member qualified to receive the Gift Card(s) pursuant to this promotion. The Gift Card(s) can be used toward a subsequent stay after the Gift Card(s) is received. Visit travelcard.bestwestern.com for complete Gift Card terms and conditions.

Quick Thoughts

Best Western loves to add a quirk to their promotions that limits how good the promos can be and this latest one is no exception. That quirk often comes in the form of having to book your stays with a 3-5 day period to be eligible, but that’s not the case with this latest offer. Instead, provided you register for the promotion before your stay(s), any stays with them through September 4 will be valid no matter when you make the reservation.

This latest promo is also better than it could’ve been in some ways because any two nights count, no matter whether they’re consecutive or booked as separate one night stays, plus it’s valid on up to four nights worth of stays as you can take advantage of the promotion twice.

The catch comes in the form of the “gift card” you receive because it’s only valid through the end of November this year. Gift cards you purchase at a store aren’t allowed to expire for at least five years, so I’m assuming Best Western can get away with calling what they’re offering “gift cards” because they’re not being sold – they’re being offered as rewards.

That expiry date might not be as much of a problem if the first two nights you stay is early on in the promotion period and you’re confident you can redeem the bonus cards before they expire. However, if you stay at the end of August/beginning of September and then have to wait 1-2 weeks for the bonus card(s) to arrive, that gives you less than two months to redeem them which might not be as easy to do. Still, it’s worth registering for this promo if you have Best Western stays planned this summer, even if you don’t know for sure if you’ll be able to redeem the bonus cards you’ll earn.

Be sure to click through from a shopping portal as it’s often possible to earn 10%/10x on paid Best Western stays – you can find the current rates here and here. Also keep an eye out for Best Western Amex Offers and Chase Offers, plus register for any future Best Western promos as they’re often stackable.

The post Best Western promo: Stay 2 nights & get $50 Best Western bonus card free (limit 2) appeared first on Frequent Miler.

I believe that I was the first in the blogosphere to recognize (or at least publish) what an amazing deal Wyndham’s partnership with Vacasa can be.  Over two years ago, I published “Wyndham Vacasa – Incredible value possible, good value likely, frustration guaranteed,” and yet I’ve just now completed my first Wyndham powered Vacasa stays.  Readers may remember that Nick jumped on the deal right away and was happy with his stay.  In my case, the Wyndham/Vacasa stars finally aligned for last week’s trip to Hawaii’s Big Island…

Overview

Via Wyndham’s partnership with Vacasa Vacation Rentals, Wyndham Rewards members can book Vacasa rentals for 15,000 points per bedroom per night.  That price includes taxes and cleaning fees.  So, for example, you can book a two bedroom unit for 3 nights for 2 x 3 x 15,000 = 90,000 points.  And if you have a Wyndham Earner credit card, you’ll save 10% and so the price is even lower.  While this isn’t always an amazing deal, it can offer fantastic value.

For my recent trip to Hawaii, I used Wyndham points to book two separate units: four nights in Kona, followed by three nights near Volcanoes National Park.  My wife and I were travelling with another couple and so multi-bedroom homes were much more convenient than separate hotel rooms.

Booking process

The post Wyndham Vacasa — Great Value is Real! has full details about how to book Vacasa rentals with Wyndham points, but here’s the short version:

1. Start your search here: www.vacasa.com/search?maxbeds=1&place=/usa/
   This link filters to a maximum of 1 bedroom.  If you want more than 1 bedroom, change the filter.
2. Use the Vacasa website to find properties that are available for cash rates for your dates of interest.
3. Make sure that the average cost for your stay of interest is less than $500 per bedroom per night.
4. Call 1-800-441-1034 to book the stay

Using the above process, I first booked a four-night Kona stay.  I had found a number of fine looking two bedroom options, but I wasn’t excited about any of them.  Then I found this three bedroom option.  It’s right on the ocean and it looked spectacular!  At first I thought it would be a waste to pay for a 3rd bedroom that we didn’t need, but when I ran the math I realized it was a no-brainer.  Each bedroom costs 15,000 points per night, or 13,500 points with a Wyndham Earner card (both my wife and I have the business version).  At the time of booking, Wyndham was offering points for sale for just under a penny each.  So, even at a penny per point, the third bedroom would cost us an extra $135 per night, or $67.50 per couple.  That was a very small price to pay for such a huge upgrade over our other options.

I called to book the unit and was pleasantly surprised to find that they let us divide the points payment between my wife and I.  We used her Wyndham account to pay for three nights and my account to pay for the fourth.  The entire call took 29 minutes.  The agent answered the phone right away, but it took a while for her to figure out how to split the payment.

I later decided to book this awesome looking two-bedroom unit near Volcanoes National Park.  This call was super quick and easy since I paid for this one with points entirely out of my own account.

Kona Stay Review

Our three bedroom unit in Kona was amazing.  It’s a two-story unit with ocean-facing lanais (porches) off the living room and the master bedroom.  The unit itself is large, luxurious, modern and comfortable.  The ocean views were great and we also loved the constant sound of waves crashing against the lava rocks only steps from the lanais.  One perk of the unit that we didn’t use was the sauna in the master bedroom:

The only downside to this unit is that it’s not practical to snorkel in the water behind the unit.  There is a protected cove a very short walk to the side (walk across the lava rocks to get there), but even though it was teaming with fish, it was too shallow to swim.  On the other hand, it’s hard to complain when you have such amazing sunset views…

If/when we return to the Big Island, I’ll definitely look to see if this unit is available again!

Value

If we had paid cash, this three bedroom unit would have cost $4,864.64 for our four night stay.  Instead, we paid 162,000 Wyndham points.  That calculates to an excellent 3 cents per point value.

Property Link

You can look for availability here: www.vacasa.com/unit/66701.  Keep in mind that to book with Wyndham points, the average price per bedroom per night must be under $500.  Since this is a three bedroom unit, the cost will have to be under $1,500 per night.

Video Walkthrough

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Volcanoes Unit Review

This house is located deep in the rainforest and just a few miles from Volcanoes National Park.  It was the perfect base for exploring the park.

There was a strong musty odor in the house when we first arrived, but the smell eventually dissipated after the windows were open long enough (additionally, management brought us a dehumidifier for the downstairs bedroom which had the strongest odor).

Aside from the initial odor issue, we loved the house.  The driveway itself is like a nature path through the rainforest, and the interior is spacious and beautiful.  The downstairs bedroom’s shower has windows on two sides facing the thick rainforest foliage.  Some might feel exposed, but only birds and tree frogs are likely to see you.  I loved the feeling of being outside while still in the comfort of the home.

Value

The value wasn’t as extreme with the Volcanoes area unit.  For the nights of our stay, the Volcanoes unit would have cost just over $1,200 for our three night stay.  Instead, we paid 81,000 points.  That’s a value of 1.5 cents per point.  Even though it doesn’t match the 3 cents per point value we achieved in Kona, that’s still a good use of Wyndham points.

Property Link

You can look for availability here: www.vacasa.com/unit/56140.

Video Walkthrough (rear deck and upstairs)

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The bad stuff (downsides to Vacasa stays)

Not everything went smoothly with our stays…

Kona

We arrived at check-in time to find that we couldn’t get into the driveway.  There was a gate across the opening.  We thought that was okay because they had sent us a gate code, but it turned out that code was only for the walk-in gate.  After scratching our heads a while, we finally thought to look inside the unit itself where we found a gate remote for the car.  If we had carefully read the fine print below the unit’s “GOOD NEIGHBOR POLICY,” we would have known about the clicker, but who reads that stuff and why is it organized that way?

After our stay, we received a very unpleasant email from Vacasa titled “Damage Inquiry”.  The email said “Our local staff discovered damage upon checkout after your stay. Enclosed are photographs of the lanai deck, which show multiple stains.”  These stains were from reef-safe sunscreen spray and the worst of them were already there when we arrived.  Unfortunately, we didn’t think to photograph them at the time.  The email went on to ask for information, which I supplied.  At the time of writing I’m still awaiting resolution here.  Will they try to charge us for sunscreen spray “damage”?  I hope not!

Volcanoes

When we arrived at the house, we tried the supplied door entry code but it didn’t work.  I tried calling Vacasa, but the automated message suggested that texting was even better because the same people are there to respond.  So I hung up and tried texting.  Via text, they supplied a couple of other codes to try but neither worked.  Finally they told me to call the number that I had originally called.  By then, another in our group found that the back door was unlocked and so we were able to get in.  Luckily the supplied alarm code worked to stop the alarm.  Finally, from inside the house, I called again and got a code that actually worked for the front door.

Another issue was the bad odor in the house when we first arrived.  Vacasa passed along our concern to local management.  We also found a big bottle of water on the dining room table and wondered if that meant that the tap water wasn’t safe to drink?  Again, Vacasa passed along our question to local management (the answer is that they recommend using store-bought water for drinking instead of their rain-captured water which is UV filtered).  In both cases, we would have known about these things in advance if we had read the fine print below the unit’s “GOOD NEIGHBOR POLICY.”

The post Bargain luxury in Hawaii: Greg’s Wyndham Vacasa experience appeared first on Frequent Miler.

Danny the Deal Guru recently identified an opportunity that could be useful for those in multi-player households: Marriott Bonvoy offers a referral program whereby both you and the person you refer an earn bonus points when the new member signs up and stays at Marriott properties. I could see this coming in handy if your Player 2 doesn’t yet have a Marriott account and you have some stays coming where status won’t matter and/or if you help a friend get started in the Marriott ecosystem.

The Deal

• Marriott Bonvoy offers a referral program whereby an existing member can refer up to 5 new members per year and both the new member and person referring them will earn 2,000 bonus points per stay for the new member’s first 5 stays
• Generate your referral link here. Please do not try to leave links in the comments — they get caught in our spam filter and will not post (and the person you refer will need your name and Marriott Bonvoy number, which you wouldn’t want to share with a stranger anyway)

Key Terms

• Marriott Bonvoy members can earn up to 50,000 bonus points each calendar year by referring friends & colleagues into the Reward a Friend program.
• Sponsor a new member through the Reward a Friend program. Each time the new member makes a stay, the sponsoring member receives 2,000 bonus points, up to 5 stays.
• Members can sponsor up to 5 new members each year.
• Your referrals will also earn 2,000 Marriott Bonvoy bonus points beginning with their first paid stay, up to 5 stays. That’s 10,000 bonus points in addition to the base points they’ll earn.
• Stays your referrals make at any participating Marriott Bonvoy hotel qualify and must be made within 365 days of enrollment.
• New members must sign up through the Reward a Friend channels and provide their sponsor’s name and Marriott Bonvoy account number.
• Channels include https://www.marriott.com/loyalty/earn/reward-a-friend.mi or by calling Customer Support at 800-450-4442 in U.S. and Canada and referencing the Reward a Friend program.
• Sponsor must be a member in good standing with the Marriott Bonvoy Program.
• New members who join through the Reward a Friend program must designate Marriott Bonvoy points as their earning preference. Miles earning preference is not an option with the Reward a Friend program.
• Should any of the initial 5 stays be retroactively deducted from the new member’s account, the bonus points will also be deleted from the sponsor’s account.
• New members cannot retroactively designate a sponsor. Sponsorship must be determined at the time of new member’s enrollment.
• Marriott Bonvoy reserves the right to end the Reward a Friend program at any time.
• A stay is defined as consecutive nights spent in the same hotel, regardless of check-in/check-out activity.
• Marriott Associates may not participate in the Reward a Friend program.
• For full terms, see the promotion landing page

Quick Thoughts

This bonus isn’t huge for either side — it wouldn’t be enough to really draw someone in as a new Marriott member. I remember years ago Marriott used to offer a free night certificate after signing up and completing your first couple of stays, but I don’t think they’ve offered that in years.

This current offer gets some extra points for both sides. If you’re playing in two-player mode, I could imagine a use case where you’ve got some upcoming stays at a property where status won’t matter (say a TownePlace Suites or SpringHill or Fairfield or something like that), I could see referring Player 2 to sign up so that you get 4K total household bonus points with each of P2’s first 5 stays. Since Marriott allows you to move points to other account holders, you could easily combine the points into the account where they would be most useful later on. The new member must make their qualifying stays within 365 days, so you have a whole year to complete this and get the bonus.

The post Refer friends to Marriott Bonvoy and both sides earn bonus points appeared first on Frequent Miler.

Rakuten currently has an in-store offer for 3% cash back / 3x Membership Rewards points per dollar spent in-store at Walmart. This could make for a nice little boost since you would stack this on top of ordinary credit card rewards.

The Deal

• Rakuten has an in-store offer for 3% back / 3x Membership Rewards points per dollar spent in-store at Walmart when you link your credit card and sync the offer
• Direct link to this deal

Key Terms

• Earn Cash Back when you shop with your linked card at all participating Walmart stores.
• Offer valid for a limited time and may be removed or modified by Rakuten at any time.
• Offer not valid for gift card purchases.
• Offer not valid for firearms purchases.
• Purchases are subject to applicable store policies.
• Debit card purchases must be processed as credit in order to be eligible for Cash Back. When using your debit card, do not enter your PIN. Only US-issued payment cards are eligible to enroll and earn Cash Back.
• In-Store offers not valid for online purchases and may not be combined with other Rakuten rewards.
• US stores only.
• Offer not valid at locations in US territories. Offer may be displayed on multiple websites but is redeemable only once per qualifying transaction.
• If you link to the same offer on more than one site, your qualifying transaction will only be eligible for rewards or benefits associated with the offer through the most recently linked site.
• A linked offer is good for 1 hour after initial redemption. After such time the offer must be re-linked prior to your next purchase.
• A linked offer that has not been redeemed will automatically expire on the date the offer itself ends.
• Cash Back earned will be paid with your next eligible Rakuten Big Fat Check!

Quick Thoughts

This could make for a nice little boost if you are already shopping at Walmart since this on top of your ordinary credit card rewards.

The terms indicate that this is not valid on gift card purchases. A few years ago, Rakuten sent emails threatening to shut down accounts where people used in-store offers to buy a lot of gift cards, so keep that in mind.

Overall, the chance to earn an extra 3x at Walmart is a pretty good deal that will certainly be worth it for regular Walmart shoppers.

H/T: Doctor of Credit

The post 3% / 3x Membership Rewards points in-store at Walmart with Rakuten appeared first on Frequent Miler.

There is a Bank Amerideals offer out on some Bank of America credit cards that is good for a one-year free trial of GrubHub+. This could be especially useful for those who also have an Amex Gold card.

The Deal

• A widely-available Bank Amerideals offer is out that’s good for a one-year free trial for GrubHub+ membership when you enroll in free trial using an eligible Bank of America card.
• Direct link to this deal

Key Terms

• After one year, free trial will convert to paid GrubHub+ membership at $9.99 per month until you cancel (to avoid being charged, you must cancel during the free trial)
• If you cancel during the free trial, your GrubHub+ membership will end immediately

Quick Thoughts

This looks like a solid deal for Bank of America cardholders who like GrubHub. If you have a qualifying Bank of America card and you also have an Amex Gold card, this deal might be a bit more attractive since the Gold card comes with a monthly benefit of a statement credit of up to $10 for select types of restaurant purchases and GrubHub is one of them.

Keep in mind that your GrubHub+ account will be set to auto-renew at $9.99 per month when your one-year trial ends, so be sure to set a calendar reminder now so you don’t forget to re-evaluate before you get charged.

It isn’t immediately clear to me which Bank of America cards qualify. The terms indicate that this is not a cash back deal but rather a trial offer, so it doesn’t sound like you need to activate it on your card. It might be safest to check your login for the offer before starting the trial.

The post Free GrubHub+ with Bank Amerideals Offer appeared first on Frequent Miler.

IHG is about to be out with a new promotion. Registration starts May 24, 2023, but you’ll have to choose which version suits your needs as you can only register for one version or the other. You’ll want to bust out your calendar and consider which will be a better fit for your coming travels.

The Deal

• IHG will be offering a new promotion starting 5/24/23 whereby members can choose to register and receive either:
  • Earn 2,000 bonus One Rewards Points for every 2 nights you stay at participating IHG Hotels & Resorts worldwide. You can register starting May 24 but book now for stays completed June 6 – Aug 31, 23 or
  • Earn 10,000 bonus One Rewards Points for every 4 nights you stay at participating IHG Hotels & Resorts worldwide. You can register starting May 24 but book now for stays completed June 6 – Aug 31, 23.
• Direct link to this deal

Key Terms

• To participate in the Promotion, a member must first register their member number for one of two available offers:
  • (1) the “Earn 2,000 points every 2 nights” offer (the “2,000 Points Offer”);
    or
  • (2) the “Earn 10,000 points every 4 nights” offer (the “10,000 Points Offer”).
• If a member has registered for the 2,000 Points Offer, the member can earn 2,000 IHG One Rewards bonus points each time they complete two (2) Qualifying Room Nights during the Promotion Period.
• If a member registered for the 10,000 Points Offer, the member can earn 10,000 IHG One Rewards bonus points each time they complete four (4) Qualifying Room Nights during the Promotion Period.
• A member can only register for one of these two Offers, and once a member has registered for one of them, the member is only eligible for that Offer and cannot register for the other Offer or receive any points under the other Offer.
• The “Promotion Period” is from 24 May 2023 through 31 August 2023. Members registered for either the 2,000 Points Offer or the 10,000 Points Offer can earn bonus points under this Promotion throughout the Promotion Period.
• Members will be able to register for this Promotion starting on 24 May 2023. By clicking the “click to register” button for the Promotion, a member is registering for either the 2,000 Points Offer or the 10,000 Points Offer (based on the one they have chosen) and is accepting these Terms and Conditions.
• Room nights outside of the Promotion Period are not included, and room nights that are part of a stay that was completed prior to registration for the Promotion also are not included.
• For the purposes of this Promotion, “Promotion Eligible Qualifying Stay” is defined as a minimum 1-night stay at a participating hotel booked under a Qualifying Rate, with a total spend exceeding $30 USD (or local equivalent) for each night.
• Participating hotels include all IHG® Hotels & Resorts and Mr and Mrs Smith properties, with the exception of those Six Senses® Hotels, Resorts & Spas that do not participate in IHG One Rewards.
• Iberostar Beachfront Resorts that are not yet fully integrated into the IHG One Rewards program also do not participate in this Promotion.
• Stays booked using Rewards Nights or Points & Cash are not Promotion Eligible Qualifying Stays for purposes of this Promotion.
• Bookings made through on-line travel agencies or other reservation sites such as booking.com or expedia.com also do not qualify under this Promotion. (For additional details on Qualifying Rates, please see the IHG One Rewards Membership Terms and Conditions.)
• If more than one member who registered for the Promotion checks into the same room, only one member is eligible to earn points under the Promotion for those nights that qualify.
• If a member books more than one room on the same night, the member will receive credit towards this Promotion for only one of the rooms that also meets the requirements of a Qualifying Room Night.
• See landing page for full details

Quick Thoughts

It’s interesting that IHG is making you choose which version of the promotion to take. You have the option of earning 2,000 points every 2 nights (effectively 1,000 points per night if you stay an equal multiple of 2 nights) or 10,000 points every 4 nights (effectively 2,500 points per night if you stay an equal multiple of 4 nights).

If you’re going to stay at least 4 nights during the promotional period, you are probably better with the 10,000-point offer. For example, if you ended up staying 7 nights during the promotional period and you selected the offer for 10K every 4 nights, you would have earned 10K points from the promotion (narrowly missing an additional 10K). However, if you had selected the 2K-per-2-nights offer, you’d only have earned three sets of two nights — a total of 6,000 points. The 2,000-point offer really only makes sense if you’ll only stay 2 or 3 nights. You can’t change it once you’ve registered, so choose wisely.

Keep in mind that award stays or cash & points stays do not count. Personally, this promotion wouldn’t probably move the needle in terms of where I would choose to stay and I don’t have any paid IHG stays planned during the promotional period, so I will probably only register for the 2K points version of the promotion — but I always say that it is worth registering even if you don’t intend to use a promotion in case you find yourself in a situation to need it. I have quite a few summer travel plans and if I get delayed overnight somewhere, I’ll be glad to have registered for the various hotel promotions.

H/T: Loyalty Lobby

The post IHG Promo: Choose 2K points every 2 nights OR 10K points every 4 nights appeared first on Frequent Miler.

Alaska Air Mileage Plan Overview

Alaska Mileage Plan is the loyalty program for Alaska Airlines. For quite some time, Mileage Plan was considered to be one of the best loyalty programs around and Alaska miles were coveted in the points and miles world. Even though it was an independent carrier, Alaska developed a compelling coterie of direct partnerships that created some very valuable sweet spots, especially to Asia and Oceania.

The last few years have been up and down for Mileage Plan. First, Alaska did a no-notice devaluation of its awards on Emirates Airlines and then, in 2021, lost access to Emirates First Class entirely. That same year Alaska joined the OneWorld alliance, news that some took with much trepidation since OneWorld also houses American Airlines and, at the time, many AA awards on OneWorld carriers were more expensive than Alaska’s prices on those same carriers (for example Qantas and Japan Airlines).

Since then, we’ve seen devaluations to AA and Japan Airlines awards, new partners added at laughable rates, a lower-value “simplified” award chart and a severe cut to mileage earnings when flying basic economy.

It’s not all bad news though, and there’s still good value to be had with Mileage Plan. Earnings when flying Alaska are arguably the best in the US, meaningful elite status is easier to achieve than in many programs and there are still excellent sweet spots be had. For many folks, especially on the West Coast, it’s a program worth paying attention to.

Alaska Air Mileage Plan Pros and Cons

Pros

• Alaska offers very good return on domestic paid regular economy fares, primarily because its program still awards miles based on distance flown, as opposed to dollars spent.
• Overall, it’s relatively easy to acquire elite status.
• Meaningful elite benefits start at lower status tiers than many programs.
• Unique among US carriers, it offers a free stopover on most one-way awards.
• Award changes are free and easy.
• There are still excellent sweet spots on the award chart (US-Oceania/Asia/South America; intra-Alaska)

Cons

• Although Alaska has an extensive international partner network, it doesn’t offer any flights of its own outside of North America (unlike United, Delta, American and even JetBlue).
• Alaska domestic first class seats lag behind many other domestic carriers, who have begun introducing lie-flat seating on transcontinental flights.
• Alaska has been plagued by a series of no-notice devaluations over the last 2-3 years. Although they have repeatedly promised that it won’t happen again, they continue to do it.
• Recently, domestic awards have been expensive, with saver space more difficult to find than in previous years.
• Alaska doesn’t partner with any transferable programs (like Ultimate Rewards or ThankYou points), making their miles harder to come by.
• Most newly-introduced partners have been added at terrible value.
• It still doesn’t allow awards with multiple partners (although that’s supposed to change this year).

How to earn Alaska Air miles

Earning on Alaska and American Airlines flights

Alaska is somewhat of a unicorn amongst US-based programs, as it still awards miles based on distance flown. On Alaska-marketed flights, members earn:

• 1 mile per actual flight mile on all main cabin fares except basic and full-fare economy
• 1.25-1.5 miles per flight mile on economy flights booked in full-fare economy
• 1.5-2 miles per flight miles on first class flights (depending on fare type)
• 0.3 miles per flight mile on Alaska and American Airlines basic economy flights

In addition, elite members receive the following elite bonus:

• MVP – 50% of actual flight miles
• MVP Gold – 100% of actual flight miles
• MVP Gold 75K – 125% of actual flight miles
• MVP Gold 100K – 150% of actual flight miles

This can be quite lucrative on some flights, especially for elite members on discounted fares. I’m a 100K and took several flights to the East Coast earlier in 2023 that were around $200 roundtrip each. For simplicity’s sake, let’s just say that the total roundtrip distance was 5,000 miles. I earned 5,000 base miles, plus a 150% bonus (7,500 miles) for a total of 12,500 miles. We value the redemption of Alaska miles at 1.3 cents each, so for each of these $200 flights, I got back ~$162 worth of miles.

This can be made even better when you use Alaska as a chosen airline for the Amex Business Platinum. This then provides a 35% discount when using Amex Membership Rewards points to book Alaska flights via the Amex Travel portal.

In the East Coast example above, the price of booking the flight with Membership Rewards went from the normal 20,000 points (at 1 cent each) to 13,000 points after the 35% discount. So, I ended up spending 13,000 Membership Rewards points and got back 12,500 Alaska miles. Oh yeah, and a roundtrip flight to Boston (that was upgraded to first class each way).

Obviously, it doesn’t always work like this, but Alaska’s distance-based programs create opportunities for outsized earnings on economy (and first class) flights that no longer exist in the more common revenue-based programs.

Alaska Mileage Plan earning on partner flights

Before Alaska joined OneWorld last year, it had developed an appealing group of international partnerships with multiple airlines worldwide. Now that they are officially a OneWorld member, most of their alliance partners have similar earn rates for economy flights, beginning at 25% of mileage flown for discount economy and going up to 100% on full fare. The non-OneWorld members (partially shown above) have a bit more variance. Condor, for instance, doesn’t earn less than 50% and many regular economy fares earn 75% of total miles flown.

There is a ton of variance for earning on premium products, though. Here’s the full British Airways earn chart:

Note that even discount business flights, which can sometimes be had for “reasonable” prices between Europe and the US, earn 250% redeemable miles and 150% elite-qualifying. This is without any elite status factored in. An MVP Gold member earns 100% bonus on miles flown, so that redeemable miles earn goes up to 350%. On a paid, roundtrip discount business fare from LAX-London (~11,000 miles), an MVP Gold member would earn ~38,000 redeemable miles and ~16,000 elite-qualfiying miles.

Not all Alaska’s partners are so rewarding. Royal Jordanian only gives 125% of total miles flown in discount business, whereas Qatar Airways offers a measly 75%.

Alaska Airlines credit cards

Card Offer and Details

Alaska Airlines Visa Signature     ➥More   ⓘ $790 1st Yr Value Estimate 72K miles + Companion Fare 72K miles + Companion Fare ($99 fare + taxes) after $3K spend in 3 months $95 Annual Fee     Leave "Employee ID" blank or fill-in with any 6-digit number Info about this card has been collected independently by Frequent Miler. The issuer did not provide the details, nor is it responsible for their accuracy. Recent better offer: Up to 67K miles: 42K miles + Companion Fare ($99 + taxes) after $2K spend in 3 months + 25K miles after $8K total purchases in first 6 months [Expired during 2021]     FM Mini Review: Alaska miles are quite valuable so this offer is better than it appears Card Type: Visa Signature Base 1X (1.3%) Gas 2X (2.6%) Brand 3X (3.9%) Other 2X (2.6%) Earning rate: 3X Alaska Airlines ⚬ 2X gas, cable, streaming services and local transit including ride share purchases ⚬ 1X elsewhere Big spend bonus: $121 companion pass every year after $6K spend. 2,000 Elite-Qualifying Miles after every $10K in spend Noteworthy perks: ⚬ Free first checked bag for you and up to six other passengers on your reservation ⚬ Priority Boarding ⚬ 10% bonus on earned miles with eligible BOA account See also: Alaska Airlines Companion Fare Complete Guide

Card Offer and Details

Alaska Airlines Visa Business Card     ➥More   ⓘ $604 1st Yr Value Estimate 50K miles + $100 statement credit + Companion Fare 50K miles + $100 statement credit + Companion Fare ($99 fare + taxes) after $3K spend in 3 months $95 Annual Fee     Info about this card has been collected independently by Frequent Miler. The issuer did not provide the details, nor is it responsible for their accuracy. Recent better offer: 70K after $4K in 3 months [Expired 4/23]     FM Mini Review: Alaska miles are quite valuable so this offer is better than it appears Card Type: Visa Base 1X (1.3%) Gas 2X (2.6%) Brand 3X (3.9%) Other 2X (2.6%) Earning rate: 3X Alaska Airlines ⚬ 2X gas, shipping and local transit including rideshare purchases ⚬ 1X elsewhere Big spend bonus: $121 companion pass every year after $6K spend. 2,000 Elite-Qualifying Miles after every $10K in spend Noteworthy perks: ⚬ Free first checked bag for you and up to six other passengers on your reservation ⚬ 10% bonus on earned miles with eligible BOA business account See also: Alaska Airlines Companion Fare Complete Guide

There are two credit cards that earn redeemable Alaska miles (and now also 2,000 elite qualifying miles for every $10,000 in purchases). The earning rates and category bonuses on both of these cards won’t be particularly inviting for most folks. The consumer card gets 3x on Alaska purchases, 2x on gas, transit, streaming and cable as bonus categories. It’s 1x everywhere else. The business card is exactly the same, except it replaces cable/streaming with 2x on shipping. Both cards get an additional 10% bonus on all earned miles when the cardholder holds a qualifying Bank of America checking account.

Note that Bank of America (who issues the Alaska credit cards) occasionally sends out targeted spending offers which provide opportunities to earn additional points per dollar spent, oftentimes in specific categories.

Alaska Airlines Companion Fare

Alaska has long offered a companion fare with of both its credit cards. The companion fare allows a companion to travel for $99+taxes. It’s valid on any economy fare class and the companion earns both elite and redeemable miles and receives elite benefits (like the fully-paid traveler).

Officially, the fare is only good for one-way or roundtrip travel, but Alaska is very flexible on both definitions. It allows up to three layovers of longer than a few hours. Thus, in practice, you can book four individual legs and three stopovers on one companion fare, provided they are wrapped around the semblance of a roundtrip flight. There’s a lot of hidden value here. (play around with it, or talk to us about it at an FM to Go sometime)

These used to be no-brainers, as they were automatically awarded at each cardholder anniversary. Recently, though, Alaska has added a spending requirement of $6K annually for new cardholders to receive one on their anniversary. This new spending requirement has come and gone a couple of times over the last year and it still hasn’t been applied to legacy cardholders. However, my assumption is that it will eventually be here to stay…and it does affect the value proposition of the cards signficantly, depending on how much you can optimize the companion fare (and how much of an issue $6K in spend is).

Transfering from other programs to Alaska Mileage Plan

One of Alaska’s weaknesses as a program is the lack of transfer partners. You can’t move points from any of the major transferable currencies like Chase Ultimate Rewards or Citi ThankYou rewards to Mileage Plan.

The only loyalty program that does allow transfers to Mileage Plan is Marriott Bonvoy. Alaska is one of Marriott’s many airline transfer partners and allows Marriott members to transfer Bonvoy Points to Alaska Mileage Plan at a rate of 3:1 (3 Bonvoy points = 1 Alaska mile). If you transfer in chunks of 60,000 Bonvoy points, you get a bonus of 5,000 Alaska miles, effectively creating a transfer ratio of 2.4:1.

Is this a good deal? Not really. Our most recent Reasonable Redemption Values pegs Alaska miles at 1.3 cents each, while we have Marriott Bonvoy points at 0.8 cents each. These numbers represent our estimation of the average value that you can expect to recieve from each of these programs without having to cherry-pick awards. Based on these valuations, even in 60,000 point chunks, you’d be giving up ~1.9 cents of value in Bonvoy points to get 1.3 cents of value in Alaska miles. That’s obviously not a great return and probably only makes sense if you’ve got a bevy of Bonvoy points and need Alaska miles for a high-value redemption.

Non-flight options for earning points

Alaska offers several ways to earn miles beyond spend on flights:

• Booking Hotels through Alaska. Earn up to 10,000 Alaska miles per night by using Alaska’s hotel portal for booking. Make sure this makes sense for you as often the hotels are more expensive and you most likely won’t earn points or receive elite benefits.
• Hotel-linked programs. Earn varying amounts of Alaska miles per night by booking with Alaska’s hotel partners. Alaska currently partners with Best Western, Coast, Choice, IHG, Marriott, Rocket Miles and Westmark.
• Rental Car Partners. Earn varying amounts of Alaska miles by using your Alaska Mileage Plan number when making a rental car booking. Again, make sure this makes sense for you as sometimes the rentals cars are slightly more expensive to compensate for the miles earned and you may not earn points with the car company as well.
• Mileage Plan Dining. This is the Mileage plan-branded version of Rewards Network Dining. Link your credit card with the program and earn 3x Alaska miles per dollar spent at participating restaurants, bars, and clubs. Note that you can only link your card to one airline dining program at a time (linking with Alaska will de-link that card from other airline dining programs). The miles earned are in addition to any other credit card rewards that you normally receive.
• Mileage Plan Shopping Portal. The Mileage Plan shopping portal allows you to earn miles via purchases at a wide range of retailers. In addition, there are regular bonuses that offer a set amount of miles for reaching a certain dollar amount of purchases when shopping through the portal. These bonuses are in addition to whatever you earn from a specific retailer.
• Mileage Plan card-linked offers. This is the “in-store” version of the shopping portal.

How to Use Alaska Miles

Alaska Mileage Plan miles can be used to book via both its collection of OneWorld partners and its extra-alliance partners. Previous to joining OneWorld, each partner had a specific award chart and there were numerous sweet spots to be had. At the end of 2022, Alaska introduced a “unified” award chart (seen above). This isn’t really much of a chart, as it just lists starting prices on saver awards and, in practice, many awards are much more expensive than the chart minimums would indicate.

One of Alaska’s biggest benefits when booking awards is that it allows a free stopover on a one-way flight, or two stopovers on a round-trip ticket. This can be used in several ways. First, you can stop in two destinations on one international trip. For instance, it’s possible to stop in Dublin when using Aer Lingus to fly to Europe, Doha when using Qatar Airways and so on. If you don’t need an extra international stop, you can use the stopover policy for a free domestic ticket, ie, go from Doha to LAX on Qatar, then book a one-way from LAX-New York (or anywhere else Alaska flies) afterwards.

Finally, it’s possible to effectively do an around the world trip with three stops by using two one-way tickets with stopovers. In this instance, you could book Condor to the Maldives from North America, but have a stopover in Frankfurt along the way and see a bit of Europe. Then, you could go from the Maldives to Doha on Qatar, do another stopover, and then go back to the US.

Domestic Alaska flights can sometimes be booked with American Airlines miles and vice versa. I’ve seen times where domestic Alaska flights have been a better value when booked via AA and conversely, sometimes AA flights are a better value when booked on Alaska.

Alaska is also a terrific program for booking flights that are within Alaska, especially given the free stopover. There are some pretty remote places it flies to within the state and those flights can be hundreds of dollars, often making award prices a bargain. Some of the most valuable Alaska redemptions that I’ve ever made have been these intra-state Alaska flights. It can be amazing the value you can get for 5,000-7,500 miles (or for free after a stopover to/from Anchorage or Fairbanks)

One difficulty of using Alaska miles for partner awards is that, currently, you can only book flights with Alaska and one partner on a single one-way award (for instance, you can’t have Qatar and British Airways on the same one-way award). This is a legacy holdover from Alaska’s history of having individual charts with each program. Alaska is supposed to add the capability of booking multiple OneWorld partners on a single award sometime this year, but we’ll see if, and how, that’s implemented.

Alaska Airlines sweet spots

There are still some international sweet spots available…when you can find them. In the last year, I’ve been able to book (prices one-way):

• Aer Lingus Business from Seattle-Milan with a stopover in Dublin for 60K.
• Qantas Business from the US-Perth with a stopover in Sydney for 55K.
• Cathay Pacific business from US-Hong Kong for 50K.
• Japan Airlines business from US-Okinawa with a stopover in Tokyo for 60K. Note that Alaska recently did a no-notice devaluation on JAL flights from the East Coast (formerly, all of the US was priced the same).
• Fiji Air Business from US-Auckland with a stopover in Fiji for 55K.
• Now that Alaska has added online searchability for LATAM (after years of having to call in), it can be a powerful program to get to/from Central and South America, with surprisingly good availability and business flights from the US – South America for 45K each way. The online integration can still be frustrating when looking at multi-segments flights, however, .
• Intra-Alaska flights can be an excellent value proposition for remote Alaskan travel.

Alaska Airlines award booking tips

• Use free stopovers as much as possible, even for a later domestic trip.
• Officially, stopovers are not available on award redemptions within international regions (e.g. intra-Asia or Intra-Europe). In practice, this is sometimes “fudgable.”
• Sometimes, the limiting factor in seeing partner availability is that there is no saver domestic connecting space on the relevant Alaska flight, especially when booking far out. It’s usually better to search the from the international gateway you want (ie, LAX-Doha for Qatar). You can then add a positioning flight, or just a better positioning flight, later.
• Alaska will show a mixed cabin business/first award, even if the only leg that’s in first is a domestic flight. Be careful to verify that the leg you want to be in a premium cabin is actually available. This issue makes the mobile site and app sub-optimal for award bookings as you can’t see which legs are in first/business until you get past the search screen.
• Use the award calendar to easily find saver space around the time that you’re looking for.
• One-way Korean Air award bookings are charged the same number of miles as round-trip travel. When booking with Korean Air, always book awards as a round trip, even if the other leg isn’t on Korean. This quirk makes Korean Air flights look twice as expensive when doing one-way searches. The actual one-way price is half of what you see displayed on a one-way trip.
• Alaska can strangely have better saver availability on some airlines than the airlines’ alliance partners or even their own program members can see (notably Singapore and Aer Lingus).

Award change & cancellation fees

There is no fee to change or cancel an Alaska Mileage Plan award. There is a non-refundable partner award fee of $12.50 per person each way. When cancelling a flight, this fee is not refunded. However, when changing a flight, even to another partner, it is not collected again.

Alaska Air Mileage Plan Elite Status

How do you earn Alaska elite status?

Most airlines offer extra benefits to their most valuable customers. This is usually handled via elite status. If you fly (or spend) enough with an airline, you can become an “elite”member. Like most airlines, Alaska has multiple elite tiers and the best perks are offered to the highest tiers.

Alaska is one of the easier airlines to qualify with, primarily because it still allows you to earn elite status based on either a minimum number of flight segments or by how much distance you have actually flown. Either way, there is a minimum amount of segments for each tier that must be flown on Alaska-marketed and operated flights. Unlike most US airlines, there’s no required minimum yearly spend with the airline to achieve elite status. Elite-qualifying miles are earned on paid flights only and do not include bonuses for elite status. On the other hand, class of service bonuses are elite-qualifying.

Alaska Airlines elite status requirements

Below are the earning requirements for each Alaska elite tier:

• MVP: 20,000 miles or 30 total eligible segments (2 Alaska segments min.)
• MVP Gold: 40,000 miles or 60 total eligible segments (6 Alaska segments min.)
• MVP Gold 75K: 75,000 miles or 90 total eligible segments (12 Alaska segments min.)
• MVP Gold 100K: 100,000 miles or 120 total eligible segments (24 Alaska segments min.)

Alaska Airlines elite status benefits

The full suite of Alaska elite benefits can be found here. Below is a summary of the key perks. Note that all elites get priority check-in, priority boarding, preferred seating, two free checked bags, call center priority and elite leave for new parents.

Additional Alaska elite status benefits

When you reach each of the three tiers below, you’ll receive the following additional benefits in addition to those listed:

MVP Gold

• • Four First Class Guest Upgrades

MVP Gold 75K

• • All of the perks of MVP Gold
  • One extra free checked bag (total of 3/flight)
  • 50,000 redeemable miles
  • 1 international upgrade certificate for a American Airlines (one-way)
  • Four Alaska Lounge Passes

MVP Gold 100K 

• • Ongoing perks from previous tiers
  • Additional international upgrade certificate for a American Airlines (one-way)
  • Complimentary meal whenever sitting in main cabin
  • One choice benefit (50,000 redeemable miles, Alaska Lounge+ Membership, Free wifi on all flights or gifting MVP Gold status)

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