Sears 18X (or more) Southwest portal deal: everything you need to know
Thursday morning I posted a Quick Deal: Sears offering 9X through Southwest portal. Greater than 18X returns possible. In this post I’ll describe options for getting outsized value from this offer. This offer is...
Distance based earning from Citi, less 5X from Wells, Southwest wackiness, gift card woes,...
Distance based mileage earnings live on The big news this week was United’s announcement that mile-earnings from flying will change from a distance-based to a revenue-based scheme as of March 1 2015. The details...
Evolve Money talks
Evolve Money is an online service that allows free bill payment with debit cards (including Visa and MasterCard gift cards) that can’t usually be paid with a credit card. I first wrote about Evolve...
My biased view of hotel loyalty programs
Which hotel loyalty program is best? I get asked this a lot, but the answer depends upon your personal needs, your goals, and your travel preferences. Travel is Free recently presented a fantastic infographic...
Act fast at Walmart, watch out for dated promo cards, avoid the IHG crackdown,...
Today, instead of one big post, I have lots of little posts to share… Visa gift cards at Walmart Ever since MasterCard and Visa gift cards began offering PINs for debit use, Walmart has...
Evolve devolves (developing story…)
I’ve written a few times before about the online service Evolve Money (see, for example: “Pay bills online with debit and prepaid cards”). Evolve has been a great service for paying bills with debit...
Help friends, earn cash
In yesterday’s post, “Help friends, earn points,” I showed a number of ways in which you can be rewarded by helping friends earn points, miles and travel credits. Today’s post has a similar theme,...
Help friends, earn points
While credit card signup bonuses continue to be the quickest and easiest way to earn points and miles, another good option is to refer friends to credit card and loyalty programs you are already...
Amex Sync: 20% off beyond Home Depot
American Express is currently running a Sync Offer which gives cardholders a one time $15 rebate on a $75 or larger purchase at Home Depot (see this Quick Deal for more info). You must...
A deal that’s better than it looks
On Sunday, I posted the following Quick Deal: “Free $5 award card from Kmart, Sears when buying Kmart, Sears gift cards.” This deal is way better than it seems upon first look. Read on…...
How NOT to earn a million frequent flyer miles for $1000
Last week, Yahoo Travel published an article titled “A Million Frequent Flier Miles for $1,000? Here's How.” It was a short piece that briefly covered an adventure I undertook last year. In March 2013,...
Airlines with multiple transfer partners
I’ve always been a big proponent of points programs that let members transfer points to their choice of multiple airline loyalty programs. The best of these are Chase Ultimate Rewards (UR), Amex Membership Rewards...
A Reasonable Redemption SNAFU
They’re barely out of the gate, but already there’s a problem with Reasonable Redemption Values. Reasonable Redemption Values (RRVs) are estimates of the redemption value one might reasonably get from various types of miles...
Reasonable Redemption Values taking shape
Slowly, but surely, “Reasonable Redemption Values” (RRVs) are taking shape for various types of points and miles. When I last wrote about this, I showed how I computed RRVs for United MileagePlus miles. Since...
