I am feverishly getting ready for my second “epic” Asia trip, so haven’t had time to dig much on my own. Here are the miles and points deals stolen from all over the internet in no particular order.
150 Easy SPG points
You can get 150 SPG points and 300 Quinta points in 2 minutes. I have no interest in Quinta (yes, I’m this lazy), but I’ll take anything with the letters SPG in it. I guess, it took about 40 seconds to add 3 security questions in my profile.
HT to TBB to Miles to Memories who HT’s some others, as well.
New Marriott Benefits
Marriott Rewards will introduce point-sharing and point-advance (no word when). You can currently combine points with your family members, but the new benefit will remove this requirement. That’s good news.
HT to VFTW
Chase sneaks in restrictions for the Hyatt card
The best, currently available, Chase Hyatt offer with 2 free nights, $50 statement credit and 5,000 points after adding authorized user, has received a nasty small print add-on.
Exclusive offer only available for guests who have had a stay after May 1, 2015.
I checked my own link at my Best Credit Cards for Free Stays page, and sure as hell it’s there. It sucks that they added this provision, but it sucks even more that they only added it to the fine print. This is an incredibly important restriction, and Chase should put it on the offer’s front page instead of trying to sneak it in through the back door!
The other offer without $50 statement credit doesn’t have this restriction.
HT to MilesCards
Citi ThankYou Business card?
There have been sightings of the Citi ThankYou business card with a 40,000-point bonus in some mysterious locations in NYC. The nearest Citi Bank is quite far from me (which means 10-minute drive), so you understand I had to call. One confused bankers asked another confused banker, who in turn asked someone else, and they all said they had never heard of it. Well, too bad, because if you happen to be able to spot this Flying Dutchman application, that’s a no-brainer.
HT to Julian at Frequent Miler
City National Crystal Card
The City National Crystal Card on which I wrote back in the summer came out with a crazy 100,000-point sign-up bonus. Crazy, because it has incredible bennies even before the bonus, and with the bonus it would be out-of-this-world good, but there are reports of the banks not honoring the offer. Yes, this card is so good (or was?), that you have to (or had to?) sign up in the branch, because they can’t (couldn’t?) possibly give it to you without a handshake and looking you in the eye.
I wouldn’t know where to start with HTs — this story is everywhere. Don’t hate me.
Reminder: ANA is increasing levels to Asia 2 and South America on Partners on Oct. 14
You still have two more days to book a business class trip to Brazil, Argentina or Chile on TAM for 80,000 miles, and ANA allows one stopover on a roundtrip flight. After Oct. 14, the levels in South America will “enhance” to 88,000 miles, which is still not too bad, but why pay more? The ANA cancellation/redepositing fee is only 3,000 miles.
Two 50,000 Citi Checking Account Bonuses
There are two Citi Checking account bonuses — for 50,000 AAdventage miles and 50,000 ThankYou points and Shawn has excellent write-ups on both.
HT to Shawn Coomer at Frequent Miler
Hyatt is dropping from the AmEx Open Savings program
Starting Jan 1, you won’t get 5% off for Hyatt stays via the Open Savings program. What can I say? Nothing. I don’t like paying for hotel stays, be it 100% or 95%.
HT to FTG
This concludes my miles and points deals and news roundup. Have I missed anything important? Please share in the comments.
Here is the final thought that has nothing to do with our little hobby. If you have some time on your hands (and even if you don’t), check out the latest Chai Digest; start at the top, and don’t miss a single link. I used to be a huge fan of The Week, but Stephan’s collection of thought-provoking articles is much better, IMHO. Gonna finish them up during my flight to Dubai.
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