Delta SkyMiles Amex Adds Priority Boarding, In-Flight Discounts
American Express and Delta Air Lines announced today two new benefits–priority boarding and in-flight discounts–for Delta SkyMiles credit card holders.
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Category Archives: Travel Cards
Starwood Amex: 30,000 Points Bonus is Back (Expired)
For a limited time, the Starwood American Express is offering up to 30,000 bonus Starpoints as a signup bonus — enough for 3 free nights at a Category 4 hotel (or 10-15 nights at a Category 1 hotel). You’ll earn 10,000 bonus Starpoints after your first purchase and another 20,000 bonus Starpoints after spending at least $4,500 in your first 3 months of cardmembership. In addition, the annual fee of $65 will be waived for the first year.
Even without its generous signup bonus, however, the SPG Amex is one of my favorite travel credit cards.
Note: As of August 22, 2011, this 30k bonus Starpoints offer has expired.
Note #1: If you click through to the application and don’t see the 30k Starpoints offer, you may need to clear your cookies, then try again.
Note #2: If you’re applying for a new Starwood Amex, don’t include any additional cardmembers as part of your application. Instead, apply and get the card first, then use this link to add additional users. It will allow you to earn 1,000 additional Starpoints when you add an Additional Cardmember to your account and they spend $150 in the first 3 months (up to 2 additional cardmembers).
Note #3: For a limited time, Amex is also running a referral program for this same 30k offer. If you know someone who already has an SPG card, you can ask them if they received a referral offer. If they did, they can send you a link for this 30k offer and if you sign up under their link, they will receive 5k Starpoints as well.
Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards Premier Credit Card – 50,000 Bonus Points, Enough for 2 Flights
For a limited time, Chase and Southwest have brought this excellent offer back: Under this promo, you’ll receive 50,000 bonus points with your first purchase — enough for 2 free flights (up to $833 towards Wanna Get Away fares).
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Capital One Venture Rewards Card: 25,000 Bonus Miles
While not nearly as nice as their earlier “Match Your Miles” promo, Cap One has just sweetened its signup bonus on its Venture Rewards credit card, from 10,000 miles to 25,000 miles, good for $250 towards travel. You’ll earn your 25,000 bonus miles once you spend $1,000 within the first 3 months of opening your account.
As is standard for the Venture Rewards card, you’ll earn 2% back on all purchases that can only be redeemed towards travel. If you choose to instead redeem your miles for cash, they’ll instead be redeemed at a 1% reward rate. Another nice feature of the card is that, like all Cap One cards, there are no foreign transaction fees.
The card does carry a $59 annual fee, but it’s waived for the first year.
For more info, or to apply, see capitaloneventure.com.
Chase Sapphire Preferred Card: 100,000 Bonus Points?
According to a new thread on FW, there is now a targeted promo offering 100,000 bonus points after you spend $500 within the first 3 months, worth either $1250 towards free flights or $1000 in cash. To be eligible for the deal, you must have received a personalized invitation number from Chase in the mail. While the vast majority of us will not be lucky enough to receive this offer, there is still some very good news.
If you’ve taken advantage of the current 50,000 bonus point offer (which is quite generous as it is), it appears that Chase may be willing to basically match the targeted offer. A poster on SD reports:
I applied chase preferred sapphire card a few days ago with 50k bonus points after spending 3000$ in three months. Now I hear there is a better target promotion that is Earn 100,000 bonus points when you spend $500 within the first 3 months. I sent a secure message and asked them to match this offer, and they kindly offer me extra 50K points. Now the 50k points are shown in my account and I can earn extra 50k bonus points after spending 3000$ in three months. Hope you can get it as well!
If you applied recently, it certainly seems worth contacting Chase to see if the offer can be matched.
Edit 6/19: It seems many SD users who applied for the card recently are reporting success getting an additional 50k bonus points. The key appears to be logging into your Chase account and sending a secure message online to ask for the additional points, rather than calling and talking to a rep. Good luck!
Edit 6/22: Based on multiple reports, it appears that this deal is now dead. As of yesterday, people asking for the 100k deal to be matched were being turned down. The 50k point offer, however, is a very good deal, available to everyone and still alive.
Citi ThankYou Preferred Card: $250 in Gift Cards
In addition to the 50,000 bonus ThankYou point promo Citi is offering on its Premier Card, Citi has temporarily sweetened its deal on the ThankYou Preferred Card. Until June 30, 2011, you’ll earn 26,000 bonus ThankYou points, redeemable for $250 in gift cards when you open a new Citi ThankYou Preferred Card and spend at least $1,000 within 3 months.
(Update 5/15/12: Currently, you’ll earn 25,000 points redeemable for $250 in gift cards once you spend at least $2,000 within 4 months of opening a Citi ThankYou Preferred Card account.)
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Citi ThankYou Premier Card: 50,000 Bonus Points Worth $665 in Airfare
Note: As of 8/15/11, this 50,000 bonus ThankYou points offer has expired. To see the current Citi ThankYou deals, see the following links:
Citi has just launched a brand new limited-time offer: you’ll earn 50,000 bonus ThankYou points for spending $2,000 in the first 3 months of opening a new Citi ThankYou Premier Card account. This signup bonus is enough for $665 worth of airfare when you redeem your points through the ThankYou Travel Center. Alternatively, you could exchange your 50,000 points for $500 in gift cards or other rewards.
You’ll also earn 1.2 points per $1 when you use the card at gas stations, supermarkets, drugstores, and at commuter transportation and parking merchants. Everywhere else, you’ll earn 1 point per $1 spent.
In addition, some of the card’s other benefits include:
- No foreign exchange fees
- Earn points for the miles you fly when you purchase a ticket with your Citi ThankYou Premier Card.
- Earn an anniversary bonus based on the number of points earned from purchases every year. The longer you remain a cardholder, the larger your bonus percentage will be.
- Receive a complimentary domestic companion ticket each year
The Premier Card does carry a $125 annual fee which is not waived for the first year under this offer. The annual fee is permanently waived, however, if you are a CitiGold customer. For this reason alone, the current Chase Sapphire deal is the better value at this time for non-CitiGold customers if you were only going to apply for a single card. Nevertheless, this 50,000 bonus ThankYou points promo is still an attractive option.
Note 8/15: This promo has now expired. For the latest Citi ThankYou deals, see the following links:
How to Cash In Your Cap One Matched Miles Fast
Did you sign up for the Capital One “Match My Miles” promo while it was still alive? If so, someone on SD has discovered a loophole that will allow you to cash out your miles almost immediately without incurring additional travel expenses or forcing you to redeem them for gift cards.
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PenFed Premium Travel Rewards Amex: 5x Points on Hotel and Dining
Through August 31, 2011, PenFed is running a promotion where you’ll receive 5x points on all hotel and dining purchases with your PenFed Premium Travel Rewards Amex. That’s in addition to the 5x points that you normally receive on airfare purchases.
Through June 30, 2011, you can also transfer balances fee-free at 4.99% for the life of the balance.
Read a more detailed review of the card here.
Chase Sapphire Preferred Card: 50,000 Bonus Points
Chase is now offering 50,000 bonus points after spending $3,000 within the first 3 months of getting your Chase Sapphire Preferred card. That’s double the number of points it was previously offering, enough for 2 airline tickets or a statement credit of $500.
Redeeming Your Chase Sapphire Points
With Chase Sapphire points, you have a number of redemption options. You can convert your Chase Sapphire points into BA miles, Continental miles or Hyatt miles at a 1:1 ratio at any time you want. Point transfers are also possible to Amtrak, Priority Club and Marriott at lower conversion ratios.
If you convert your 50,000 points to one of these programs, what does that get you?
- With 50,000 BA miles, for instance, you can get 2 tickets within the continental United States and Canada on American Airlines.
- 50,000 Continental miles are also enough for 2 tickets on Air Canada, Continental, United or US Airways.
- 50,000 Hyatt Gold Passport points, on the other hand, can be redeemed for between 2-10 free hotel nights with no blackout dates, depending on hotel category and room type.
Alternatively, if you use Chase’s online travel portal, you can redeem your 50,000 points towards $625 worth of airfare or hotel accommodations.
For those who aren’t into travel or prefer cold hard cash, you can also redeem the 50,000 points for a $500 gift card or a $500 statement credit.
The annual fee of $95 is waived for the first year. You can also downgrade to the standard version of the card after a year, which does not carry an annual fee.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred card also earns double the number of points per dollar spent on travel (including air, hotel, car rental, trains, travel agencies, taxis, etc.) and on dining purchases (from fast food and coffee shops to fine dining).
In addition, there are no foreign exchange fees when you use the card overseas and you’ll earn a 7% annual points dividend on any points you earned during the year, so you actually earn 1.07 points per dollar spent on regular purchases and 2.14 per dollar spent on travel and dining, making it a particularly excellent choice for the international traveler.
Update 4/3/12: The 50,000 point offer has expired and has been replaced by an intro offer for 40,000 points, making this deal slightly less lucrative. 40,000 points is still enough to redeem towards a $400 statement credit or $500 in travel when redeemed through Chase’s Ultimate Rewards portal.