Airline/Hotel Loyalty Programs

[Jeff Lebowski]

Delta CEO teasing a potential walkback of the revised skymiles requirements. I'm thinking this may have been the plan all along. They knew they had to cull the herd, but they deliberately introduced it with extremely draconian benefits cuts and earnings requirements increases. After the backlash they can appear reasonable by walking it back, but not all the way. They just walk back to where they predetermined they needed to be with the changes. Then the permanent changes are greeted with more satisfaction than anger.

This was prophetic. Well done.

[Jeff Lebowski]

I am not a big fan of JetBlue, but they are running a deal now where you can get the Jetblue premium credit card and with $1000 of spending you get 50K miles. There is a $100 annual fee, but once you spend $100, you get a $100 credit. So the first year is free. JetBlue also has very low mileage rates for flights, so a roundtrip from SLC to JFK is 18K miles. Spend $4K to get to 54K points and you have 3 roundtrip tickets to NYC.

[Pelado]

We should have a repository of referral links so that if there's a card one of us wants to get, at least one member of our little clan is also benefitting from it. I'll start with a summary of some of the current promotions and benefits of the cards in my wallet for which I can get a referral (click on the linked card name to apply for the card):


Chase Ink Business Preferred - 100,000 bonus Ultimate Rewards points after spending $15,000 in first 3 months; 3x UR points on travel, postage/shipping, social media advertising, internet, cable, and phone services; 1x points on other spending; points earned by other cards can be transferred into the UR account for this card and each UR point on this card is worth 1.25 cents in purchasing power in Chase portal (25% bonus); $95 annual fee

Chase Ink Business Unlimited - 75,000 bonus UR points after spending $6,000 in first 3 months; 1.5x UR points on all purchases; no annual fee

Chase Ink Business Cash - 75,000 bonus UR points after spending $6,000 in first 3 months; 5x UR points on purchases on internet, cable, phone, office supply stores; 2x UR points on gasoline and restaurants; 1x UR points on other spending; no annual fee

Chase Freedom Card - 20,000 bonus UR points after spending $500 in first 3 months; 5x UR points on rotating bonus categories each quarter; 1x points on other spending; no annual fee

Chase Freedom Unlimited (I don't have this one, but I'm trying the same link as the other Freedom Card) - 20,000 bonus UR points after spending $50 in first three months; 1.5x UR points on all purchases; no annual fee

United Business Card - 75,000 bonus United MileagePlus miles after spending $5,000 in the first 3 months; 2x MP miles on United spending, dining, gasoline, office supply stores, and local transit; 1x MP miles on other spending; 2 United Club passes annually; free checked bag for holder and companion; unlocks additional award availability; $99 annual fee/waived for first year

Chase Amazon Prime Card - 5% cash back on all purchases at Amazon.com or Whole Foods; 2% cash back at restaurants, drugstores, and gas stations; 1% cash back on other spending; no annual fee

To qualify for the business cards, you don't have to be (wholly) self-employed. A side gig could be enough to qualify you - something as simple as collecting some extra cash on the weekends doing welding for friends and family.

Many card companies, including Chase, will automatically decline you if you've opened up 5 or more new card accounts within the previous 24 months (known as the 5/24 rule). So you want to be judicious in which accounts you open to make sure that the juice is worth the squeeze. Luckily, business cards usually aren't considered for the 5/24 rule.

Chase Ultimate Rewards points (along with American Express Membership Rewards) are pretty much the most valuable loyalty rewards currency. Their best use is generally transferring them as needed to airline or hotel transfer partners for specific award spots. They can also be used in the Chase Travel Portal.

Your spending strategy doesn't have to be this complex (though it can also be much more intricate). In general, when I first get a card, I put all my spending on it to make sure I get the bonus points/miles. After the bonus has been earned, I revert to using whichever card gets me the most points for the purchase. For example, I only use the Chase Amazon Prime Card for Amazon purchases. I use the Chase Ink Business Cash card for internet, phone, cable, and office supply store purchases since I get 5x Ultimate Rewards points. I use the Chase Ink Business Preferred for any travel, postage, or social media advertising to take advantage of the 3x UR points. All the non-bonus category spending goes on the Chase Ink Business Unlimited since it gets 1.5x points instead of just 1x like the other cards.

I just got the United Business Card approval today. I don't anticipate using this card a lot for a couple different reasons. First, it provides MileagePlus miles instead of Ultimate Rewards points. UR points are more valuable than MP miles. Second, the bonus categories are not particularly exciting. I don't anticipate racking up a lot of United purchases, and even if I did, it would generally be wiser for me to use the Chase Ink Business Preferred to get 3x UR points instead of 2x MP miles. Some of the benefits that spurred me to apply: 1) It unlocks the same award availability than is available to the elite MP members without having to obtain elite status 2) It makes upgrades more likely for me and my travelling companion(s) 3) It opens up access to Chase's Luxury Hotel & Resort Collection. I'm skeptical that there will be any properties in the Collection that would be considered a bargain, but I couldn't see the options at all without the card, so now I'll be able to see the options there, at least. So there are some benefits to the card, including the 75k bonus miles with very little risk since the $99 fee is waived for the first year.

I also have the CitiBank Costco Card, which I use for 4% cash back on gasoline and 2% cash back on other Costco purchases. Unfortunately, I didn't see any referral bonus links there.

So what cards do you all have? Don't forget to include referral links where available so you can rack up some free rewards by all us suckers following your example.

Updating with new links and some additional cards:

Any Southwest Rapid Rewards card - This is a great way to get Southwest's Companion Pass, which may be the best benefit in travel (if you're willing to condescend to fly on SWA). The Companion Pass can be earned either by flying a lot in one year or by accumulating at least 135k Rapid Rewards points in a single year. Once earned, the Companion Pass allows a companion to travel with you for essentially free (only have to pay the taxes) for as many flights as you want to anywhere SWA flies (as long as there is an open seat) during the remainder of the year in which the pass is earned, plus the following year.

Accumulating 135k RR points is easy if you get both the Southwest Rapid Rewards Performance Business card along with one of their personal cards (Plus, Premier, or Priority). The Southwest RR Performance Business card will also reimburse you for your Global Entry or TSA Precheck application.

Remember - to qualify for the business cards, you don't have to be (wholly) self-employed. A side gig could be enough to qualify you - something as simple as collecting some extra cash on the weekends doing welding for friends and family.

Any Chase Ink Business card - Really nice bonus awards with one of the best transferable currencies (Ultimate Rewards). I have the Ink Business Preferred, Ink Business Unlimited, and Ink Business Cash cards, and I'm still using them as I described in the quoted post. Those cards are offering introductory bonuses of up to 100k UR points each, all transferable if you have either the Ink Business Preferred or one of the Sapphire cards. The Ink Business Premier card is also available through this link with up to $1,000 cash back bonus offer, but - last I checked - it doesn't work with Ultimate Rewards.

Chase Freedom Unlimited or Freedom Flex card - These cards can also accumulate Ultimate Rewards points and are currently offering intro bonuses of $200 or 20k UR points each.

Any United MileagePlus card - If you're going to be flying United (or want to book another Star Alliance carrier through United), these cards can get you some nice benefits - bonus miles, unlocking award seats, and even reimbursing you for your Global Entry or TSA Precheck application.

Amazon Prime card - Get 5% cash back on purchases from Amazon or Whole Foods.