Tag Archives: Credit Cards

a black and white logo

My Frustrating Experience Buying Hilton Points (14-24 Hour Turnaround Time)

Posted on by . 15 Replies

Good afternoon everyone.  Gather around, I have a story to tell.  I needed to book a 5 night stay for an upcoming trip and I decided to book a Hilton Garden Inn.  Hilton has a 5th Night Free feature that is part of their loyalty program – “When you book a standard room reward stay, every fifth night is free.”  The total price for the first 4 nights came to 274,000 points (and the 5th night was 0 points).  At the time, I had a little more than 174,000 points, so I went to the Hilton Buy Points page since they are currently running a 100% bonus promo.  I purchased 50,000 points for $500 and received 50,000 bonus points for free.  I expected the points to be deposited to my account immediately after purchase and I would complete my 5th Night Free hotel reservation.  Unfortunately, I learned that when you buy Hilton points, the points do not post to your account instantly.  Read on to hear more about my ordeal…

a screenshot of a credit card

Continue reading →

a blue credit card with a picture of a man

Targeted Bank of America Alaska Airlines Credit Card Referral Offer: 50K Miles + Companion Pass with $3K Spend

Posted on by . 17 Replies

Good afternoon everyone, happy Friday!  Yesterday, I received an email from Alaska Airlines about a “Special Email Referral Offer.”  The referrer will get 15,000 Alaska Airlines Miles for each referral and the referee will get 50,000 Alaska Airlines Miles plus an Alaska Airlines Companion Fare (just pay taxes and fees up to $22) after spending $3,000 in 3 months.  The $75 annual fee is not waived.

The other current best offer I could find for the Bank of America Alaska Airlines Credit Card is for 40,000 Alaska Airlines Miles plus $100 statement credit plus an Alaska Airlines Companion Fare (just pay taxes and fees up to $22) after spending $3,000 in 3 months.  The $75 annual fee is not waived either.  So the only difference between the standard offer and the referral offer is whether you want a $100 statement credit or 10,000 more Alaska Airlines Miles.  In my opinion, 10,000 Alaska Airlines Miles is worth more than $100 to me (probably closer to $150), so I think the referral offer is better.

If you currently have a Bank of America Alaska Airlines Credit Card, you might have received the targeted referral offer yesterday with the subject line “#NAME#, get a 15,000 bonus mile offer when you refer a friend” from the the sender “mileage.plan@ifly.alaskaair.com”.  Let’s go through the referral process to see what it looks like.  To get started, I clicked the blue REFER A FRIEND button.

Continue reading →

a blue sign with white text

American Express Removed $25 Minimum Redemption Amount for AMEX Old Blue Cash Credit Card (OBC) on July 14

Posted on by . 6 Replies

Good afternoon everyone, happy Friday!  In news that probably only matters to me, there is a positive change on the American Express Old Blue Cash Credit Card (OBC).  I was reviewing my recent credit card statement and saw that American Express removed the $25 minimum redemption amount, effective July 14, 2022.  As far as I remember, this credit card has had the $25 redemption threshold since I initially got this credit card back in 2014.  I decided to check it out and redeem my entire balance… all $15.07 of it :)

a screenshot of a document

Continue reading →

a blue and red airplane with black text

Use Southwest Airlines Points to Book International Flights on Other Airlines (or into Travel Credit) at 0.98 CPP

Posted on by . 8 Replies

Good afternoon everyone, I hope your week is going well.  My wife and I have been sitting on a lot of Southwest Airlines Points thanks to a combination of unused points from a Chase Southwest Airlines Priority Credit Card sign up bonus, referral bonus points, and diverting most of our travel to Alaska Airlines to reach MVP Elite Status.  If you are also sitting on a stash of SWA points, this post might be useful to you.  Did you know that you can use SWA points to pay for flights on other airlines?  The only catch is that it has to be an international route that cannot be booked on www.southwest.com.  To get started, sign into your SWA account, click the Rapid Rewards link, and then click Redeem Points for Gift Cards & More.

a screenshot of a credit card

Continue reading →

a black text on a white background

How to Top Off Marriott Free Night Certificate with up to 15,000 Marriott Bonvoy Points

Posted on by . 4 Replies

Good afternoon everyone.  A few months ago, Marriott introduced an improvement to their Free Night Certificates where you could combine a Free Night Certificate with up to 15,000 Marriott Bonvoy Points to book a hotel room that cost more points that your Free Night Certificate is worth.  To learn more about the process, read Marriott’s Free Night Award Top Off page.  I finally had a chance to use this feature yesterday for an upcoming stay in Seattle.  In this post, I will show you the booking process.

Sign into your Marriott Bonvoy account and go to the Activity tab to see your Free Night Certificates listed under the Earned Awards section.  I had a 35K Free Night Certificate available from my Chase Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Credit Card that expires later this year.  I clicked on the How To Use Your Certificate link to get started.

a screenshot of a website

Continue reading →