Credit Card Promos

Activate Today for Q1 Bonuses and Sign Up for Q2 Bonuses Tomorrow

Posted on March 14, 2015 by 2btravel

2014-12-08 Freedom 2015 BonusToday is the last day to get 5% bonuses by using the Chase Freedom card at Grocery Stores, Movie Theaters and Starbucks or by using one of the Discover Cards at Gas Stations and for Ground Transportation.

2015-03-14 Discover Q2 Bonus Categories
Starting tomorrow you can register for Q2 (April-June) bonuses for the Freedom card which includes bonuses on Restaurants.  Registration for the Discover card is already open and it will give bonuses on Restaurants and Movies.

I loved the Freedom bonus at Grocery Stores and quickly maxed that out. In my area there aren’t many (any?) gas stations that will allow me to purchase gift cards with a credit card so I struggle with that category.

I eat out a lot so restaurants are a great category for me – but I’m really bummed that both cards are offering the bonus in the same quarter. I can’t even remember the last time I went to a movie theater so that doesn’t help me but I was surprised to see that both Netflix and RedBox count in the movie category for the Discover card.

Both of these cards limit the bonus to the first $1500 in purchases in all of the bonus categories. To sign up for these bonuses, log into your account at chase.com or discover.com and you’ll see the link for the promotion.

Categories: Chase, Credit Card Promos, Discover, Freedom | Tags: , , , , , | Leave a comment

First Friday Reminder

Posted on March 6, 2015 by 2btravel

Today is the first Friday of the month so here’s your monthly reminder to use your Chase Sapphire Preferred card to pay for your meals today since they’ll offer 3 Ultimate Rewards points per dollar instead of the usual 2 points.

CSPUltimate Rewards are one of my favorite currencies since they can be transferred to so many partner airlines and hotels.  Several times I’ve transferred them to Hyatt and then booked rooms that would have cost well over $400 USD per night.  Recently a friend transferred her UR points to Virgin Atlantic and then booked a flight to Australia on Virgin Australia for $28 in taxes.  That same flight costs just over $1000 right now!

The Sapphire Preferred card also earns 2 points per dollar on all travel expenses so that $28 charge for airline taxes will earn my friend 56 Ultimate Rewards points.  Plus, the Sapphire Preferred has no foreign transaction fees and it does have chip + signature technology.  Sign up now and get 45,000 points after spending $4000 in the first three months.  You can get an additional 5000 points for adding an authorized user.  The annual fee is $95 but it’s waived for the first year.

(Note: I have no affiliation with Chase and receive no compensation though using this link will help a fellow blogger maintain his excellent site.)

Categories: Credit Card Promos, Credit Cards, Sapphire Preferred | Tags: | Leave a comment

Earn 3x AA Miles at Hilton

Posted on February 28, 2015 by 2btravel

2015-02-28 AA Hilton PromoAmerican Airlines is running a promotion where you can earn 3 AAdvantage miles for every $1 spent at Hilton properties between now and May 31, 2015. It’s a targeted offer and I received it for one of my AAdvantage Executive Platinum cards. I went ahead and registered my card, even though I don’t currently have plans for a Hilton stay before the promotion period ends because as the old saying goes, it’s better to be safe that sorry.

Hilton brands include the flagship Hilton brand, Waldorf Astoria, Conrad, Curio, DoubleTree, Embassy Suites, Hilton Garden Inn, Hampton Inn, Homewood Suites, Home2Suites and Hilton Grand Vacation Clubs. If you’re not staying at one of these hotels, if you dine there and put the charge on your card it may qualify for the 3x points.

Categories: American Airlines, Citibank, Credit Card Promos, Hilton | Tags: , , | Leave a comment

Activate Chase Freedom Q1 Bonus Categories

Posted on December 31, 2014 by 2btravel

2014-12-31 Freedom Q1 ActivationHere’s a reminder to activate your Chase Freedom card so that you can get 5x points (or 5% cash back) on select categories for the first quarter (January – March) of 2015. Q1 categories are: grocery stores, movie theaters and Starbucks. Note that Wal-Mart, Target and warehouse clubs such as Costco and Sam’s do NOT qualify for the bonus.  You can get the 5x/5% bonus on up to $1500 in purchases.

The Freedom card is a favorite of mine because it has no annual fee and it earns Ultimate Rewards (UR) points. If you only have the Freedom card you can use URs like cash to buy airline tickets, hotel rooms and even merchandise (but please, don’t buy merchandise) at the rate of 1 UR = 1 cent. Or, if you have a premium Ultimate Rewards card like the Sapphire Preferred or one of the Ink cards, you can transfer URs to one of the associate frequent flyer or hotel programs get more than 1 cent per point in value.

Here are the current transfer partners:

Ultimate Rewards Transfer PartnersKorean Air is not currently on the list but is rumored to be returning as a partner in the new year. When they do, that means the three major airline alliances will each have a representative airline. And Virgin Atlantic miles can be used on Virgin America and Virgin Australia too!

So be sure to activate your Freedom Q1 bonuses by March 14, 2015 to ensure you’re maxing out all the points you can.

Categories: Chase, Credit Card Promos, Freedom | Tags: , | Leave a comment

Bonus miles for MileagePlus Dining Program

Posted on November 12, 2014 by 2btravel

Each of the airlines is an affiliate with the Dining network.  Use a registered credit card to dine at one of participating establishments and earn miles for each dollar of credit card spend.  For the first ten(?) dines of each year you get five miles per dollar spent and after that I believe it’s eight miles per dollar.

United recently sent me a targeted promo to earn 7500 bonus miles if I dined ten times between now and a date in December.  As a single person I eat out a lot both because I can’t/don’t want/don’t like to cook and because cooking for one is a pain.  Two of the restaurants in my regular “rotation” participate in the Dining Rewards program.  Great!  Until I read the fine print: not only must there be 10 separate dines, for each dine I must spend $40 or more.  For the two participating restaurants I visit regularly, my average bill is $10.31.  I could theoretically buy gift cards on each visit but, wow, that’s a lot of spend for 7500 miles.  For me, it’s just not worth it.

Did you receive one of these offers?  Are you planning to try to get the bonus miles?

Categories: Credit Card Promos, United | Leave a comment

A Plethora of Promos

Posted on October 3, 2014 by 2btravel

Oh, I’m so far behind! I went on vacation for 10 days and have been scrambling ever since I got back. There are several promotions going on right now, so let’s get to the good stuff:

30% Bonus on Purchased Club Carlson Points

2014-10-03 Club Carlson Promo

Between now and the end of the month you can get a 30% bonus if you buy 10,000-40,000 Club Carlson points. I recently points for a two-night stay at the Radisson Blu in Istanbul. If you also have the Club Carlson credit card, the last night of any multi-night stay is free! Click HERE to learn more.

 

100% Bonus on Purchased Dividend Miles Extended Through October 12

2014-10-03 US Airways Buy Miles Promo

Buy or gift US Airways Dividend Miles through October 12 and get a 100% bonus. Click HERE to be taken to the US Airways site.

 

 

1000 Bonus Gold Passport Points

 

2014-10-03 Hyatt Mobile Booking Promo

Book your next Hyatt stay via their mobile app and earn a 1000 point bonus. There doesn’t seem to be any limit and it’s good through the end of the year! Click on the HERE to be taken to the Hyatt site.

 

 

2500 Bonus US Airways Dividend Miles

 

2014-10-03 USDM Credit Card Bonus

 

Use your US Airways Dividend Miles MasterCard at gas stations, restaurants, toy & game stores and department stores through the end of the year and receive up to 2500 bonus miles. That’s a bonus of spend in these categories up to $1250. You must activate this offer by October 20th! If you’re already a cardholder, you should have received info about this offer already.

 

That’s it for now. I’ve got some more updates coming including a report on my recent trip to Turkey. Stay tuned!

Categories: Club Carlson, Credit Card Promos, Hotel Promos, Hyatt, US Airways, US Airways MasterCard | Tags: , , | Leave a comment

Latest AA Credit Card Sign-Up Bonus

Posted on July 11, 2014 by 2btravel

In February American Airlines introduced their Citi Executive AAdvantage credit card.  It came with a steep $450 annual fee but offered AAdmirals club access, a $200 credit after $200 in purchases as well as 100,000 miles after spending $10,000 on the card in three months.  As of today that offer is dead.

2014-07-11 ACExec-75K

But the good news is that they’ve got a new offer!  Not quite as many miles but with a lower spending requirement.  The new offer is 75,000 miles after $7,500 in spending within three months.  There’s a $100 credit after $100 in spending though the $450 annual fee is still in place.

Offer: Citi Executive/AAdvantage World Elite MasterCard

Full list of terms:

Terms and Conditions

           Terms and Conditions

 

What’s not mentioned is that these cards are churnable!  That means you can apply for and receive the card, meet the spending requirement, collect the miles, then cancel the card and start the cycle all over!  Being a little more cautious than some, I picked up two of the 100,000 mile offers.  I plan to pick up one of the 75,000 cards when it’s time for my next round of credit card applications.  There are some limitations as to how quickly you can churn these so feel free to ask if you have questions.

Thanks to View From The Wing for pointing out this offer!

 

Categories: American Airlines, Citibank, Citibank AA Executive MasterCard, Credit Card Promos, Credit Cards, OneWorld | 2 Comments

Register Now for Third Quarter Bonuses

Posted on July 4, 2014 by 2btravel

It’s the start of a new quarter and the start of new quarterly bonuses with your Discover (or DiscoverIt) card and your Chase Freedom Visa card.

Discover 3rd Quarter Bonus Registration

Discover 3rd Quarter Bonus Registration

For the Discover card, you can get 5% cash back (up to $1500) when you use your card at gas stations.  Register HERE for the Discover quarterly bonus.

Freedom 3rd Quarter Bonus Registration

Freedom 3rd Quarter Bonus Registration

For the Chase Freedom Visa, you earn 5x Ultimate Rewards (UR) points on purchases at Kohl’s and at gas stations.  UR points can be used in two ways: redeem them for a penny a point on travel or, if you have a Chase Sapphire or Ink card you can transfer these points to airline or hotel points, where it’s possible to get more than a penny a point.  I prefer to wait until I need the points in a specific airline/hotel program before transferring them.  Of course when using points this way you’re at the mercy of the airline/hotel to have award seats/rooms available.  When using URs to “buy” airfare/hotel rooms the airline/hotel sees the purchase as one made with cash, so you’re actually earning points in that airline/hotel’s program during your stay.  Register HERE for the Chase Freedom quarterly bonus.

Got questions about quarterly bonuses? Just leave a comment and I’ll be happy to help.

Categories: Chase, Credit Card Promos, Discover | Leave a comment

US Airways MasterCard 30% Bonus for July-August

Posted on June 27, 2014 by 2btravel

 

I carry the Barclays US Airways Dividend Miles MasterCard.  It offers some terrific benefits like a free checked bag for the card holder and up to 4 traveling companions on the same ticket, Group 1 boarding and bonus miles on US Airways purchases.  Today I received a promo where I can earn a 30% bonus on miles this summer if I spend at least $2000 during the July 1 – August 31 timeframe.  That’s really pretty easy to do, especially if you put your regular spend on this card in addition to manufacturing some spend.  Here are the offer details:

Image

 

[Edit: there are also offers for a 20% bonus but no minimum spend.]

In addition, if you use this card for purchases outside the US during this timeframe, your foreign transaction fees will be reimbursed!

There’s a max bonus of 10,000 miles for this promotion.  The miles will post 6-8 weeks after the end of the promotion, which works out to mid-to-late October.  Will you be taking advantage of this promotion?

Categories: Credit Card Promos, US Airways, US Airways MasterCard | Leave a comment

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