Category Archives: Airlines + Miles

a black and white card with white text

Triple Play: $500 BofA Checking Bonus, 105K Atmos Rewards Points & 50K AA Miles

Good afternoon everyone.  First off, thank you for all the kind messages and encouragement you shared with me in my previous post about the birth of my daughter: Attention Passengers: Madison has Joined the Travel with Grant Family.  I’m glad to share the exciting news with TWG readers and I promised I would have some good blog posts in the works.  Here is the first one…

Back in December, I signed up for the waitlist for the new premium Alaska Airlines credit card (now called the Bank of America Atmos Rewards Summit Credit Card).  A few weeks ago, I received a targeted email to apply for the credit card and receive 5,000 bonus Atmos Rewards Points, bringing the total sign up bonus to 105,000 points, but I only had 2 weeks to apply for this offer.

Unfortunately, Bank of America has their “3/12 Rule” (Doctor of Credit post) where BofA will only approve you for a credit card if you have 3 or fewer inquiries from all issuers in the last 12 months.  But… if you have a BofA checking or savings account, the rule changes to the “7/12 Rule” where BofA will only approve you for a credit card if you have 7 or fewer inquiries from all issuers in the last 12 months.  I was slightly over the 3/12 cutoff, but as luck would have it, BofA is currently offering a new checking account bonus up to $500 (Doctor of Credit post), depending on your total direct deposits within the first 90 days.

a screenshot of a credit card

Continue reading

a close-up of a logo

When Should You Add or Upgrade to a Premium Citi ThankYou Point Credit Card?

Good afternoon everyone, I hope your weekend is going well.  A few days ago, I read Frequent Miler’s post (Now transfer from most Citi cards to most ThankYou partners (even from Custom Cash)) and I started thinking about Citi ThankYou Point (TYP) transfers.  Among my 6 Citi TYP earning credit cards, I have always had a Citi Strata Premier Credit Card (and the OG Citi Premier) in order to transfer TYPs to airline and hotel partners.  Recently, Citi started allowing non-premium Citi TYP cards to transfer TYPs to travel partners, but the transfer ratio is ~70% of the premium Citi TYP cards.

For example, if you have a premium Citi TYP card (Strata Elite, Strata Premier, Prestige, or AT&T Access More), your transfer ratios are normally 1,000 TYPs = 1,000 airline miles (like this Avianca LifeMiles transfer).  Conversely, if you have one of the many non-premium Citi TYP cards (ThankYou Preferred, Strata, Double Cash, Custom Cash, ThankYou Mastercard, AT&T Universal Rewards World, AT&T Universal Savings and Rewards, AT&T Universal Rewards, AT&T Points Plus, or AT&T Access), your transfer ratios are normally 1,000 TYPs = 700 airline miles.

My question became… at what point should you add or upgrade a premium Citi TYP card to your Citi lineup?

a screenshot of a website

Continue reading

a credit card with different colored symbols

My 2025 Plans for US Bank Smartly & Altitude Reserve Credit Cards

Good afternoon everyone, I hope your week is going well.  There have been lots of new credit card launches and major credit card changes in the month of July, but in this post, I am going to focus on the changes to the US Bank Smartly Credit Card and US Bank Altitude Reserve Credit Card (no longer available for new applicants).  Doctor of Credit wrote about the various changes to the Smartly cards here: [Varies By Cardholder] U.S. Bank To Nerf Existing Smartly Cardholders On September 15.

US Bank Smartly Credit Card – Changes coming September 15, 2025

I have 2 Smartly credit cards from product changes in January 2025 from a US Bank Cash+ and a US Bank Altitude Connect.  Luckily, I received the “better version” letter for both of my Smartly cards so that I can keep earning 4% with $100K in investment / retirement accounts with US Bank.  Effective September 15, 2025, my credit card rewards will be capped at $10K spend / month and will not work on education, school, gift cards, insurance, tax, business-to-business transactions, and third party bill payment services.

a close up of a document

Continue reading

a woman with blonde hair and a green shirt

5 Credit Cards, $1,000 in Annual Fees: Which Retention Offers Did I Receive?

Good afternoon everyone, happy Friday!  In the first week of July, I had 5 credit card annual fees post to my accounts, totaling over $1,000.  As part of my credit card / travel hacking philosophy, I call the credit card company every time an annual fee posts and see if there are any retention offers available, then I decide if I will keep the card open for another year or close the card.

Here are the 5 credit cards and the results of each retention offer call:

Credit Card Name Annual Fee Date Posted
Chase IHG Rewards Business Credit Card $99 7/1/2025
JPMorgan Chase Ritz Carlton Credit Card $450 7/1/2025
American Express Marriott Bonvoy Business Credit Card $125 7/2/2025
American Express Delta Platinum Business Credit Card $350 7/2/2025
Laura’s Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card $59 7/7/2025

Continue reading

a close up of a logo

Check Barclays Account for 2,500 Hawaiian Airlines Miles Offer (Targeted)

Good afternoon everyone, I hope you had a great weekend.  If you have a Barclays Hawaiian Airlines Credit Card, you might want to log into your Barclays account to see if you are targeted for a great offer: earn 2,500 bonus Hawaiian Airlines Miles after you make 5 purchases of $50 or more.  The offer ends July 31, 2025, and you must enroll in the offer by July 31, 2025.   This is a great offer since you can move the Hawaiian Airlines miles over to your Alaska Airlines account (How to Transfer, Combine, or Move Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines Miles (with Direct Links)).

Laura was targeted for this offer – she opened this credit card in August 2024 and has not put any spend on the credit card since getting the sign up bonus in October 2025.  Unfortunately, I was not targeted for this offer – I opened my credit card in March 2025 and haven’t put any spend on the credit card since getting the sign up bonus in April 2025.  Therefore, this offer may be targeted to members who have not used their credit card in the last several months.

Here is how you can see if you are targeted for this offer.  These screenshots are from the Barclays app, but the process should be similar if you are starting from your Barclays online account.  Sign into your Barclays app / account, then click on the Offers icon, then select your Hawaiian Airlines account.

Continue reading