Earn 3x AA Miles with Citi Executive AAdvantage Card

Update:  Looks like the email is targeted as several readers have reported not receiving the offer.  Perhaps you will receive tomorrow.

Last year, I was able to take advantage of not one but three 100,000 mile offers from the Citi Executive AAdvantage Card.  Those bonuses enabled us to fly First Class on Cathay Pacific back from Hong Kong and to Hong Kong with my brother in June.  I'm finding a ton of value in AA miles so will continue to rack them up whenever possible.

While two of the three cards are cancelled, I have kept one card for Admirals club access.  Yesterday, I received an email from Citi offering 3x AA miles during Q2 in a handful of categories:

• Restaurants
• Gas Stations
• Department Stores
• Grocery Stores

I certainly won't put any restaurant spend on this card (I'd rather earn 5x Ultimate Rewards points) but will for sure put gas and grocery spend on the card for 3x AA miles...which I value at around $.02.  That's a 6% rebate on everyday purchases - not bad!  

You could also use this bonus to triple dip with a shopping portal at department stores.  For example, Macy's is offering 6x miles through the American Airlines Advantage Shopping Mall.  In addition, they are offering a tiered bonus for spend through the mall which would earn you another 2x miles on $125 in spend.  

Add it all up and you're looking at 11x when shopping through the mall and leveraging your Citi Executive card.  It took about seven seconds to register - just click the link in the email if you received.  The bonus is limited to 2,500 bonus miles ($1,250 in spend) so should be pretty easy to max out during the quarter.

Earning Starpoints with Uber

I've been meaning to write a post about Starwood's partnership with Uber but just haven't gotten around to it.  If you're not familiar with the details, you can check them out here.  The partnership enables SPG members to earn 1 Starpoint per dollar spent with Uber.  Double that if you ride during a Starwood stay.  Triple it if you are staying with Starwood and are an elite member (I am).  You'll see your Uber bonus points post on your SPG account within 1-2 days.

Remember - to earn the SPG points, you'll need to have at least one SPG stay.  This is an awesome way to earn extra Starwood points which are both extremely valuable and difficult to obtain.

On the Way to JFK

Hey that title rhymes.  I'm sitting comfortably at the American Airlines Admirals Club at ORD (thanks to the Citi Executive Card) waiting for my flight to JFK after a great conference in Chicao.

The weather is absolutely terrible - with strong thunderstorms impacting a wide swatch of middle America.  Somehow my flight is on time (T-55 at the moment).  However there are scores of flight cancellations and a lot of upset people in the lounge.  But we're all lucky to be inside safe from damaging winds, hail, and tornadoes.

ORD storms

Hopefully we'll get some clearing soon and we can all make it to the our destinations safely.

1,000 Free Honors Points for Changing Your Password

Hilton's loyalty program (HHonors) is offering each member 1,000 points for changing your password by 4/22/2015.  Hilton is moving away from their PIN based system (4 digits) for security purposes.

This will literally take 1 minute of your time.  I value HHonors points at half a cent each so this is like getting $5 for free.  I've changed my account and Emily's and both of our points have already posted.

60% Bonus on AA Miles Purchases

Continuing on the theme of American this morning, AA is offering a substantial bonus on purchased miles through 4/30.  If you aren't familiar with purchasing miles direct from airlines, read this post.

If you max out the promotion (100,000 miles) you will receive a bonus of 60,000 additional miles.  The total cost (including taxes and fees) comes to $3,201.25.  Through the promotion, you're able to buy miles for 2 cents each.  That is the best deal I've seen in a long time.

So how could you leverage this promotion?

Let's say you currently have 110,000 AA miles and you want to fly to Asia.  And you want two tickets.    You could totally buy two coach tickets on AA or any other carrier.  And that would probably cost you about $3,200.

Or you could spend $3,200 and max out the current AA miles bonus (which runs through 4/30).  You'd have a total of 270,000 AA miles which is enough for two roundtrip first class tickets.  You could redeem those AA miles for a first class on Cathay Pacific!

Buying miles is an easy (and fast) way to fill in the gaps if you are looking to take a trip and don't have sufficient miles to redeem for the award you want.  $3,200 is clearly a lot of money but if you were going to spend the cash on coach tickets, you might as well fly in style.

AAdvantage eShopping Mall Bonus

The Advantage eShopping Mall is offering some pretty great deals at the moment.  If you aren't familiar with online shopping portals, read this post first.  Here's one of the best examples where you can literally quadruple dip on your earnings.

First, spend $155 at eBags (buy that new suitcase you've been eyeing) through the AA eShopping Mall.  You will earn:

• eBags is now offering 12x AA miles through the portal through 4/11/15.  That is 1,500 AA miles after the discounts below.  You'll also earn 250 bonus miles based on the AA eShopping Mall current promotion
• American Express Offers is offering a $15 statement credit after spending $75
• eBags will give you $20 off a purchase of $100 or more
• eBags will also give you 5% back on this purchase to redeem 

Pretty unbelievable.  For $155 in spend, you will receive $35 off so you'll actually spend $120.  You will also earn 1,750 AA miles which I value at $35.  Plus 5% back from eBags gets you another $6 to use in the future.   That is nearly 50% off your purchase!!!

Earn 10% Off at Restaurants with Chase Freedom

Chase Freedom is one of the best "fee free" cards on the market.  While the card is marketed as a cash back card, if you have another Ultimate Rewards earning card (such as an Ink business card or a Chase Sapphire Preferred card) you can transfer the cash back points earned to your Ultimate Rewards earning card.  You can then use those points to transfer to a variety of travel partners (British Airways, United Airlines, Hyatt, etc..) which provide far more value then simply redeeming for cash back.

Chase Freedom also provides a quarterly bonus where you can earn 5x cash back (and ultimately 5x Ultimate Rewards) on up to $1,500 in spend per quarter.  Q2 2015 happens to be restaurants.  So you can spend $1,500 on restaurants throughout the quarter and earn 7,500 Ultimate Rewards points.  I value UR points at $.02 each so ultimately you're earning 10% off your restaurant spend during the quarter.

Earn 5x Ultimate Rewards this quarter

This quarter, the bonus also includes spend at Bed Bath & Beyond, H&M, and Overstock.com.  You do have to activate your cad each quarter but it takes all of 10 seconds to do.  Chase will even send you several reminders throughout the quarter to ensure you don't forget.

Because the card does not carry an annual fee, there's no reason to cancel...ever.  And because the rotating categories provide so much value, Freedom will always have a place in my wallet.