Walking Across America with Points: Week 2

I hope everyone had a fantastic fourth of July! We've been following Mike Hammari for a bit now as he makes his way across this nation of ours on foot, soaking in the scenes in a very different way than most of us are accustomed to. Slowly!

Mike is covering a large portion of his accommodation along the way with travel rewards. This series takes a look at how and why he chooses the redemptions he does.

Amex Cardholders Get Up to $50 Off Amazon Order

Amazon is offering 20% off purchases sold by Amazon, in addition to various gift cards not sold by Amazon, for those that apply at least 1 Membership Rewards point to their order and pay with the Amex card that earned it. The maximum discount is $50 on a $250 order. Note that while widely available, it does appear that this is a targeted offer.

Routes You Can Fly to Southern South America in a Flat Bed for 45k Points

At the beginning of the week I wrote about how I recently redeemed 45,000 Virgin Atlantic Flying Club miles, transferred from Ultimate Rewards, to fly Delta One between Atlanta, Georgia and Buenos Aires, Argentina. Virgin Atlantic is not in an airline alliance, but one of its partners is Delta.

That is a competitive price to fly to Southern South America in Business Class, with a type of mile that is also very easy to accrue as four out of the five major transferrable points--Ultimate Rewards, Membership Rewards, ThankYou Points, and Marriott Rewards---transfer to Virgin Atlantic.

New British Airways Avios Partner Award Chart

Over a month ago I wrote about the impending devaluation of the British Airways Avios program's prices to fly partner airlines. Since then, the speculated award prices have all been confirmed.

Here is the speculative chart I included in that original post:

Flight DistanceCurrent Economy PriceMay 30 Economy Price
Zone 1: 1 - 650*4,5006,000
Zone 2: 651 - 1,1517,5009,000
Zone 3: 1,152 - 2,00010,00011,000
Zone 4: 2,001 - 3,00012,50013,000

Note those are just the most commonly booked BA Avios partner awards.

Anatomy of an Award: 45k Virgin Atlantic Miles for Delta One to Argentina

In May I flew from Atlanta to Buenos Aires in Delta One, and only had to spend 45,000 Ultimate Rewards--transferred to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club-- to do so.

New Southwest Business Card with 80k Bonus


The brand new Chase Southwest Rapid Rewards Performance Business Credit Card is exciting. Its benefits package is loaded, the 80,000 point bonus is huge, and it makes getting a Companion Pass easy.

If you are eligible to open a business card, keep reading. If you're not sure you're eligible, don't move on so fast. Read the linked post and make sure whether you're eligible or not, because ignoring business credit cards leaves a lot of bonus miles and points on the table.

Free Giveaway: $101 Southwest Gift Card

Update 6/24/19: Congratulations to Shawn McCarthy, winner of the giveaway!

Who wants free money to fly Southwest? This Saturday, June 22, I'll pick a winner. $101 fully transferrable (electontric) gift card up for grabs that doesn't expire.

Here's how to enter:

Comment on this post,Follow us on Facebook,Share this post on Facebook,

And/or follow us and retweet this tweet:

GIVING AWAY A $101 GIFT CARD ON SOUTHWEST AIRLINES. FOLLOW AND RETWEET TO WIN.

CardMatch Tool: 50k for Amex Gold & 100k for Platinum

The public (standard) sign up bonus offer for the American Express Gold Card, which you will see by clicking that link, is 35,000 bonus Membership Rewards for spending $2,000 on the new card within three months of account opening. That's ok, but since you can only get the sign-up bonus on an Amex card once in a lifetime, you should know that the CardMatch Tool has been offering targeted customers 50,000 bonus Membership Rewards for the same minimum spending requirement of $2,000 in three months.

Reader Question: Chase Travel Portal or Transfer to Airline Miles?

Last week I wrote about how and why you'd to want transfer Ultimate Rewards between accounts. If you haven't read it yet, stop and read before continuing with this post.

How & Why to Combine Points Between Ultimate Reward Accounts

Chase issues seven credit cards that earn a travel reward currency called Ultimate Rewards. Not all Ultimate Rewards, however, are created equal.

This post will teach you:

the logistics behind moving Ultimate Reward points between accounts (your own, or between two people's living at the same address)

how to turn water to wine, doubling the value of more than half of these Chase cards' Ultimate Rewards via strategic point transfers

Step-by-Step

Step 1) Login to your Chase online account.

Step 2) Choose an account.