The brand new PointBreaks list allows us to book hotel rooms for stays today through April 30, 2017 for $30 per night.

Even if you’ve read other posts on the PointBreaks list, read this.

We've been seeing tons of affordable economy fares between the United States and Europe.

We've all been there.

With no prior warning, you're faced with a large expense that must be paid ASAP. Most cards cards take a week if not more to arrive in the mail. But to spend that much money and not reap tons of rewards from it seems like blasphemy... what's a girl to do??

Sometimes you can request a card number (and expiration date and security code, all you'd need for purchase) immediately after approval.

There's a large amount of United Business Class available from the United States to Europe for the coming summer months of July and August. We're talking up to eight seats available some days and up to four on many days. Award space flying United Business Class costs just 57,500 United miles versus the 70,000 it would cost you to fly another Star Alliance partner like Austrian or Turkish.

This post is part five of a series about how to maximize value when transferring your Chase Ultimate Rewards to loyalty program partners. 
Maximizing Your Ultimate Rewards Series Index

Maximizing Ultimate Rewards: United MileagePlus
Maximizing Ultimate Rewards: Singapore Krisflyer #1
Maximizing Ultimate Rewards: Singapore Krisflyer #2 
Maximizing Ultimate Rewards: Korean SkyPass #1
Maximizing Ultimate Rewards: Korean Skypass #2 (this post)
Maximizing Ultimate Rewards: Korean Skypass #3 (future post)
Maximizing Ultimate Rewards: British Airways Avios (future post)
Maximizing Ultimate Rewards: Flying Blue (future post)
Maximizing Ultimate Rewards: Virgin Atlantic Flying Club

The United shopping portal is offering 15 miles per dollar today only (until 11:59 PM ET on 1/22/17) at a number of stores that normally offer only 2-5 miles per dollar.

I value United miles at 1.6 cents each, so getting 15 miles per dollar on your purchase is like getting 24% of your purchase rebated back in United miles (in addition to the 1x or more you're getting on your credit card purchase normally.)

Here are the 15x stores:
More information on portals from my Free First Class Next Month series:

The process for earning miles from portals

Taking no-frills, short distance flights on low cost carriers is a great way to fill in the hole on an open jaw award and to hop around Europe if you're traveling light.

You often cannot redeem traditional miles on these kinds of flights--or if you can it just wouldn't be worth it because the value you'd be getting per mile would be so low.

An interesting post on Reddit caught my eye called "The Economics of Churning: who pays for the rewards?"

("Churning" is the milesphere's term for opening cards, getting their bonuses, closing the cards, and repeating.)

While I don't agree with the post's conclusions about who pays for rewards, it does present a lot of interesting information for anyone who wants to understand the business of credit cards a little bit better.

Poster Buddy5000 writes:
I do have an undergraduate and graduate degree in business.

Avianca LifeMiles are easier to earn than ever thanks to the Avianca Vuela Visa that was introduced at the end of 2016.  In light of that fact, today I'm going to go over strategies for maximizing your LifeMiles.

Best Ways to Get Avianca LifeMiles

The new Avianca card issued by Banco Popular comes with 40,000 Avianca LifeMiles after your first purchase on the card and a $149 annual fee.