Walking Across America with Points: Week 3

It's been a while since we've heard from Mike Hammari, the man who is walking across the United States using travel rewards to minimize accommodation costs and therefore nights slept outdoors. He's vlogging his experience on YouTube and blogging about it here on MileValue.

A Quick Catch Up

These recounts of his journey are being written in retrospect. Mike took a break in the middle of his walk to return to work, travel some (not on foot), and is now back on the steaming, late summer road of central Texas. Last I heard, his shoes had recently melted.

When Was the Last Membership Rewards Transfer Bonus?

American Express Membership Rewards, Citi ThankYou Points, and Capital One Miles, three of the four major transferrable point currencies, periodically run transfer bonuses to airline mileage partners. Chase Ultimate Rewards offered their first transfer bonus ever in May of this year to British Airways Avios.

To be clear, sometimes the transfer bonus is offered by the bank, and sometimes the transfer bonus is offered by the mileage program.

Google Tests New Price Drop Guarantee

Today I'm not talking about miles or points, but instead a new way to find the cheapest flights to book with cash. A savvy miles ninja knows when to use miles versus when to pull out the dollar bills, after all.

Until September 2, look out for this little symbol in the search results of Google Flights:

It means that Google predicts this flight is priced as low as it will go, and if you book it and the price drops more than $5, they will refund you the difference up to $500.

Using Hawaiian Miles for Travel to & Within Hawaii

Update 8/19: This offer is expected to drop on September 4, 2019, according to Doctor of Credit.

Barclays issues a Hawaiian Airlines co-branded credit card called the Hawaiian Airlines World Elite MasterCard that comes with 60,000 miles for spending $2,000 within 90 days of account opening.

Last Chance to Opt Out of Chase’s Binding Arbitration

If you have a credit card issued by Chase, in May you should have received an email from Chase with the subject line, "Important information regarding changes to your Chase account". In said email you were informed that Chase will alter your cardmember agreement to include a legal provision called binding arbitration as of early August.

GREAT DEAL: 40% Transfer Bonus Membership Rewards to Avios

Through October 1 you’ll earn 40% bonus points when transferring Membership Rewards to either British Airways, Iberia, or Aer Lingus Avios.

That means 1,000 Membership Rewards = 1,400 Avios.

This deal comes around once a year, presenting an excellent opportunity to save points on awards in and between various parts of the world.

Trip Report: Delta One, Atlanta to Buenos Aires

Recently I flew between Atlanta, Georgia (ATL) and Buenos Aires, Argentina (EZE) in Delta's Business Class cabin, Delta One, for just 45,000 Virgin Atlantic Flying Club miles and $5.60.

Here’s the series index for all posts related to this trip:

Atlanta Delta SkyClub, Concourse F review: Where I spent some time before the flightAnatomy of an Award: 45k Virgin Atlantic miles for Delta One to Argentina: How and why I chose to redeem Virgin Atlantic milesTrip Report Delta One, Atlanta to Buenos Aires: The in-cabin experience (this post)

Delta Flight 101Atlanta (ATL) – Buenos Aires (EZE)Depart: 10

How to Display AA’s Old Award Search Tool

Ugh. American Airlines' new tool for searching award space is super annoying. The results are in no way displayed in a way that makes it efficient for us to see what's available.

It gives you no easy option to filter number of stops or cabin. On the week view, it says a filter function is coming soon... but it's said that for a while now. (Edit 7/18: There are some filter options on the mobile version.

I Wasn’t Expecting That Auto-Approval!

I just applied for the Chase Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card.

Issuing Banks Rules for Approvals and New Bonuses

This is a living post, continuously updated over time as the miles and points hobby evolves. They change the rules and we have to stay on top of them.
Today I've updated the section about Citi cards to reflect the new sign up bonus eligibility timelines for their AAdvantage co-branded credit cards. If I've left something important out please feel free to let me know in the comments.