Lazy Points of the Week
It was a quiet week in the points and miles world, but here are some quick things to know:
Story of the week
If you haven’t signed up for Rakuten yet, we highly recommend it (you can get $30 in cash back after spending $30). It’s a great way to get extra cash (or Amex points) for shopping you would be doing anyway. It’s especially useful around the holiday gift season.
In the past, however, it’s been a little difficult to keep track of your shopping trips and whether you had cash back pending or received. Thankfully, Rakuten is improving that process with a new user dashboard that shows you the status of your shopping trips in a clear, easy-to-understand way, while also showing you your pending rewards and the next payment date.
Whether for holiday shopping or travel, Rakuten is a great addition to your points toolkit, and these changes make it just that much easier to take advantage of its benefits.
Other card and points news
Big Airline shopping portal bonuses in November. If Rakuten isn’t your speed, or you prefer to concentrate on a particular loyalty program, airline shopping portals are a solid alternative. AwardWallet reports that the airlines are offering pretty solid bonuses on shopping trips in November. My favorites: 300 Alaska miles after spending $100 through their portal, 400 Southwest points after spending $100, and 500 United miles after spending $150.
Virgin redemptions are better now? I always found Virgin points pretty difficult to redeem, but the consensus from multiple outlets seems to be that the switch to dynamic pricing has made it easier to find cheap tickets across the pond, even if availability may be constrained. This seems to apply to both east and west-coast airports, and both economy and business class tickets. So if you have a card with points that transfer to Virgin (which is essentially every card with transferrable points), those points have probably gotten a little more valuable.
Qatar has a new search feature. Speaking of points almost everyone has: Qatar Airways. Qatar’s mileage program uses Avios, and every major card with transferrable points can convert those points to Avios, and in turn transfer them to Qatar. Thanks to Qatar’s new award calendar, it’s now much easier to locate and book flights at the lowest rate. Read more at the Daily Drop.
Sign up bonus of the week
Just in time for the holiday shopping season, the Amazon Prime Visa is offering a $200 Amazon gift card as a sign up bonus instantly upon card approval. The welcome bonus usually hovers around $100-150, so this is a solid offer.
I generally don’t recommend this card unless you are a big spender on Amazon. There’s a few reasons for that. First, generalist cards like the Capital One Venture X (2 points per dollar) often earn solid-enough returns on Amazon purchases that it can take a lot of spending for the 5% cash back with the Amazon card to equate to significantly more rewards. Second, merchant offers or rotating category cards like the Discover It often make it possible to earn comparable rewards with other alternatives throughout much of the year. And third, it takes up wallet space that could be spent on cards with better rewards on more common purchases or bigger welcome bonuses. But 5% back on Amazon purchases is a solid return, and that $200 gift card could make holiday shopping just that little bit easier, so if the card appeals to you, now is a great time to pick it up.
Previously highlighted bonuses with offers still available:
•70,000 miles on the AA Aviator
•60,000 points + a $300 travel credit on the Chase Sapphire Preferred (offer “ending soon”)
•125,000 points on the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless
Lazy tip of the week
The New York Times recommends spending Thanksgiving traveling the world. I agree! We have spent Thanksgiving in Portugal and Italy and it’s a great way to save on international travel. Because Thanksgiving is a holiday, it requires burning less PTO to travel over the holiday. Because (American) Thanksgiving is a US-only holiday, there’s flat or depressed international travel, leading to cheap flights abroad. And as an off-peak travel season, it’s much easier to see the most popular sights without overwhelming crowds. It’s not all upside—there’s less daylight, and often restaurants and attractions close seasonally in this period—but if you want to travel on the cheap, it’s a great way to do it.
Enjoy your weekend!
🦥🦥🦥