Dirt Cheap Flights and The Battle of 100K Offers

Nick is on vacation this week and so it’s up to me to fill you in on this week’s happenings and to introduce the latest episode of Frequent Miler on the Air.  On the blog this week, I published the newest (and very exciting) 100K offer; I detailed how to find your own incredible flight details; I described a way to bypass Amex’s lifetime rule; and more.

On our show this week, Nick and I discussed the 100K welcome bonuses available from Amex, Capital One, and Chase.  Which 100K offer is best?  As always, there’s no single answer, but Nick had no trouble answering a key made-up question: “What’s the best card for someone you know nothing about?”  Check it out on YouTube below, or on your favorite podcast platform.

0:0:18 Confession Time with Greg
0:03:18 What crazy thing did… Nick do this week?
0:05:45 Mattress running the numbers: Stacking IHG deals
0:11:19 Main Event: Battle of the 100K Offers! Amex Platinum vs. Chase Sapphire Preferred vs Capital One Venture
1:00:25 Question of the Week: How to get Turkish Miles & Smiles to reply to emails?

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This week at Frequent Miler

How to find incredible flight deals with Google Flights

Google makes it super easy to find great flight deals thanks to their Google Flights site. In this post I showed how I easily found round-trip flights to Europe for under $400.  The same approach works for finding great domestic fares and international business class fares.  Also checkout the end of the post where I list many other ways to save money or miles on flights.

Bypass Amex’s lifetime rule when you “expand your membership”

I don’t know why Amex thinks this is a good idea, but it’s good for us: Amex likes to offer business card holders the opportunity to sign up for a second card, and they’ll give us lots of points to do so!  My son is on his 3rd Business Platinum card and third welcome bonus for that card thanks to these offers.  His latest bonus is for 150,000 points!  If you haven’t received one of these offers, check out the links in the post that let you check for yourself for Business Platinum or Business Gold “expand your membership” offers.

Wow! Chase Sapphire Preferred 100K Offer!

I really didn’t see this coming.  In fact, on the morning before I learned about this, I emailed a friend to remind him to sign up for the Sapphire Preferred 80K offer before it was too late.  Whoops!  Chase is out with their best offer ever for this card: 100,000 Ultimate Rewards points after $4K spend for the $95 Sapphire Preferred card.  That’s really awesome and it earned a very rare “Wow!” in the title of this post.

Hyatt Summer Promo: Get 25% Points Rebate On Destination, Joie de Vivre & The Unbound Collection Stays (Cardholders Only)

Hyatt has released details of their latest promotion for World of Hyatt cardholders: Get 25% points back for stays at select brand hotels (Destination, Joie de Vivre & The Unbound Collection).  This is valid for stays with checkout dates June 15 and September 15, 2021.  While this promotion is decent by itself, I’m more excited to see what comes next.  Will Hyatt unveil additional promotions this summer that overlap and stack with this one?  If so, it might just be worth going out of one’s way to stay at these brands this summer.  We’ll see!

Amex Offer Cheat Sheet

I updated and re-posted this because many great Amex Offers are ending in June.  Make sure to take advantage of all of the ones you qualify for!  Here are the ones I identified in the post that are ending this month:

• BestBuy.com: Spend $50+, get $50 back. Twice.
• Delta: Spend $200 & Get $40 Back
• HomeDepot.com: Spend $50 or more, get $50 back. Twice.
• Home Chef: Spend $50 or more, get $50 back. 3 Times
• Lowes: 10% back, up to $50 or $100 back
• PayPal: $30/Month
• Spend $500+ Get $25, Ten Times
• Shop Saks with Platinum Rebate: $50 Jan-Jun + $50 Jul-Dec
• Business Platinum $200 rebate: $100 Jan-June + $100 July-Dec

Buy points for less: Save on LifeMiles, Hilton, IHG, Hyatt, and Wyndham points

For those looking to book a vacation rental this summer, you may be excited to see that Wyndham points are again on sale for just under a penny each.  That means that you can book 1-bedroom Vacasa vacation rentals for $150 per night all-in.  In some cases, that’s a great deal.

American Airlines makes it easier for elites re-qualify for status in 2021

If you already have elite status with American Airlines, make sure to log into your account and register for these three promotions:

• Bonus Elite Qualifying Dollars (EQDs) with no flying requirements, ranging from 500 to 3,000 EQDs depending on your status.
• Bonus Elite Qualifying Miles (EQMs) for upcoming flying, ranging from 2,500 to 10,000 bonus EQMs depending on status.
• The ability to purchase bonus Elite Qualifying Miles (EQMs) for $495, ranging from 2,500 to 10,000 bonus EQMs (and you earn EQDs for the purchase).

That’s it for this week at Frequent Miler. Don’t forget  this week’s last chance deals.

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