My credit card lists are updated.

Best Credit Cards for Miles — Free Flights

Best Credit Cards for Points — Free Stays

Barclaycard JetBlue Credit Card

UPDATED: 40,000 points bonus now. Barclays JetBlue credit card, the highly anticipated new/old kid on the block is here. I went to the presentation yesterday and liked most of what I heard.

Important stuff

Barclays JetBlue Plus Card 

• $99 annual fee
• 40,000 bonus points after spending $1,000 in the first 90 days.
• Earnings:
  • six points for every $1 spent on JetBlue purchases
  • two points for every $1 spent at restaurants and grocery stores (for the business card restaurants an office supply stores, thanks GEM!).
  • one point for every $1 spent on all other purchases
• Free checked bag for the primary cardmember and up to three companions (must but tickets with the JetBlue Plus Card)
• 5,000 bonus points every year after your account anniversary
• 50% savings on eligible inflight purchases including cocktails, food and movies
• 10 percent of your points back every time you redeem to use toward your next redemption
• Primary car rental collision coverage
• PIN-ready for international travel
• No FOREX fee

Barclays JetBlue Business Card has almost identical features from what I can tell, plus consolidated reports, etc.

The current holders of the AMEX JetBlue card who will be transitioned to the new product, WILL NOT GET THE SIGN UP BONUS. However, those who closed their AMEX card at some point in the past and apply anew will get the bonus. Nothing unusual here, that’s to be expected.  

There are other bennies that I care much less about, like World Elite benefits, Mosaic elite status after spending $50,000 in the first year and a $100 statement credit after buying a vacation package.  The links above provide complete details.

There are plenty of things I like about JetBlue. I like the seats, award availability (mostly), but most of all I like Pooling. Being able to pool your family miles should mean that getting four cards for you and the spouse equals 120,000 points, and I saw flights to the Caribbean as cheap as 16,000 points RT. That $400 haul could buy a lot of sea breeze, me thinks.

AMEX 35,000-Point Bonuses for Personal and Business Cards

Last week the blogosphere was abuzz about the highest ever AMEX SPG bonus – 35,000 for both personal and credit cards. I wasn’t as excited about it as I probably should’ve been for a simple reason – can’t get it! Since AMEX put a lock on repeated churning of both personal and business cards, I can’t help but wonder who hasn’t gotten it yet? So if you are a newbie out there who has lived under rock in the last, I don’t know 5,6, 8 years, go ahead and grab it. Grab the referral bonus too if AMEX lets you, because me – I don’t have any love from AMEX. I wonder why they haven’t shut down my Blue Bird just yet, maybe because it’s a pain to get to the nearest Walmart from my neck of the woods.

AMEX SPG Preferred Guest Personal 35,000 Points  (limited time, till 03/30/16)

AMEX SPG Preferred Guest Business 35,000 Pointsa (limited time, till 03/30/16)

• Spend Requirement: $3K/3mths.
• Annual Fee: Waived for the 1st Year.
• An excellent hotel program that can also transfer points to many airline programs at 1:1.25 ratio. Make sure you can spend $5,000 in 6 months.

What’s more interesting to me is the timing. Those who have been paying attention to this little thing we do, know that this time of the year is very atypical. If memory serves me, AMEX and SPG had been working like a clock releasing a higher 30,000-point bonus every August (have there been any exceptions to that?). Now they are merging with Marriott, and all of a sudden, you’re getting the record non-seasonal 35,000 bonus. Tell me what you want, but I smell a conspiracy. Getting more new blood into the program, before drastic devaluation (or bringing it in line with Marriott Rewards, if you like that terminology better).

Whatever the case is, I would grab both of these bonus if I were an eye-wide newbie in a New York minute! And while you’re at it, grab both Chase 80,000-point Marriott bonuses, too. Because with this merger you never know – oh, wait, yes you do.

Barclays Lufthansa 50,000-Mile Offer

The Barclaycard Lufthansa 50,000 offer after spending $5,000 in 3 months is back, and it’s a great news. I’ve never gotten it before, but I might this time around. Lufthansa chart doesn’t have too many sweet spots, but one that’s amazing is a domestic roundtrip business class seat on United for 35,000 miles. Two cards for you and a spouse will get you 3 roundtrip rides in the front of the plane.  Unfortunately, with the new JetBlue cards, there is more than one Barclaycard product I currently want. Barclays is becoming what Chase was to me a few years ago. Too many good cards…

Barclays Lufthansa 50,000-Mile Offer (limited time)

• Spend Requirement: $5k/3mths.
• Annual Fee: $89 NOT waived.
• 2 passes to Lufthansa Business Lounges.

Aldi will now take your credit card

The Germany-based supermarket that’s so cheap  that they make (or at least made) customers pay deposits for the shopping carts, reconsidered its long-standing anti-plastic policy.

ALDI, one of America’s top three favorite grocers*, will now accept credit cards – including Visa, MasterCard, Discover and American Express – at all of its stores across the country. This move is yet another way ALDI is making grocery shopping as simple and enjoyable as possible for its more than 30 million customers each month.

See? Life is worth living again. 😀