Last November, Google ran a crazy promo for their Fi wireless service. If you bought a phone from them and met some other requirements they’d give you travel gift cards worth the price of the hardware. I thought at the time that the deal was prone to malfunction. It seemed thrown together as quickly […]
Episode 20: “Fee Free MCGC, 8X Fuel Rewards on Happy Cards, Higher CC Offers & More”
Welcome to Episode 20 of the No Annual Fee Milenomics² Podcast. On Today’s show we discuss: 0:36 Fee-free Mastercard GCs at Staples (link) 3/24-3/30 2019 2:31 8x Fuel Rewards on Happy Cards at Stop & Shop (link) 3/22 – 3/28 2019 3:55 Chase Freedom Unlimited 3x the first year up to $20,000 spend (link) No […]
Episode 19: A Rare Chase Shutdown Reversal, Airport Lounges, 75k Hawaiian Offer, BOS-NYC Ride-Sharing & More
0:37 Chase Hyatt Offer: 2 Free Nights + $50 Statement Credit (link) Unclear whether this is limited to Category 1-7 (30,000 category) -or- 1-8 (40,000 category) Alternate offer of 50,000 points remains available (an eligible for 10,000 point referral) Card is subject to 5/24 1:48 3x Fuel Rewards on VCGs at Stop & Shop/Giant/Martin (link) […]
Episode 18: Southwest Flies to Hawaii (Without Us), AA Rebates Going Away, Avianca Lifemiles Transfer Bonus, What Would Strengthen Bank Points?
We’re back this week with another extended episode where we cover: News: 0:45 Southwest announces flights to Hawaii (link) Flying as soon as March 17th (wow, that’s quick) When I’m wrong I’m wrong, Sam said, “no way Southwest flies to Hawaii This year” Inter-island flights starting in April Cheap fares to kick things off 2:35 […]
Bizarro Bonvoyed: How Marriott Award Availability Works In Practice
There’s been a lot of chatter about Marriott’s Bonvoy program lately. Specifically about whether they play games with award availability and what their “no blackout” policy actually means. Which blackout date policy will the new Marriott Rewards program adopt? from Free-quent Flyer How Did I Miss This? Marriott’s Terrible Blackout Date Policy from One Mile […]
Bonvoyed: Extra Person Fee
As we were discussing on Episode 17 of the Podcast – we had one last chance to book Marriott properties for 60,000 points/nt before top properties go up to 85,000+/nt on March 5th, 2019. I booked one provisional stay but came across an annoyance along the way: The dreaded Marriott Bonvoy Extra Person Fee. A […]
Episode 17: Chase Closed All My Accounts, Help!
We’re back with another jam-packed “free” episode this week… 0:40 $600 Citizen’s Bank Checking Bonus (link) Requires recurring/single (?) $2,000 Direct Deposit Expires May 16th, 2019 1:50 [Targeted] $500 Bank of America Banking Bonus (link) $300 Checking/$200 Savings $4,000 in Direct Deposits within 90 Days Probably best to go just for the checking offer (savings […]
Episode 16: “Should I Ever Buy Airline Miles? Ebates Now Partnering with American Express, $750 Wells Fargo Business Credit Card Offer & More”
We’re back with a Jam Packed show this week. New Ebates/MR partnership, Negative changes from AA/Amex, and A new reader question. 0:40 Ebates Membership Rewards partnership (link) Can existing customers convert to MRs? No. Can you spin up a new account? It’s against T&Cs to have 2 accounts, but you can try. Can you refer […]
Unlocking Award Availability with Bank Point Transfers to International Frequent Flyer Programs
Most people realize that you can use US frequent flyer miles (United, American, Delta) for award travel on Star Alliance, OneWorld, and SkyTeam partners. The hard part about this is finding partner award availability. Today, I’d like to talk about transferring bank points to international frequent flyer programs. Many international airlines release award space far […]
Booking Hotel Timeshares with Bank Points
We’re headed out to California for vacation this week, splitting time between our beloved Four Seasons Residence Club Aviara and Disney’s Grand Californian. Here at Milenomics we like to talk about “techniques we use over and over again”. Because the Net Present Value of a deal is higher when it can be repeated thus generating […]