Tuesday Triple

  • Nerds With Inks are running to Office Depot again. The current deal is better than most. You’ll get $20 off your purchase of gift cards (when you buy the $100 or $200 MasterCards). Make sure you ring each one up individually. If you find a friendly employee, it’s definitely possible to buy a bunch.
  • Register here for a Club Carlson promo if a stay is possible before the end of June. Thanks to reader Robert for adding that you could get even more if you’re staying at a Country Inn & Suites or booking through the app.
  • Get 20% bonus miles on transfers of hotel points to Etihad in April.

 

The Top 25 Credit Cards

(If you see any errors, please let me know. I try to keep a full list, but it’s a lot of information and I do make mistakes)

Significant Changes Since Last Month:
-Added Marriott link worth 107,500 points.
-Sapphire Reserve 100,000-point offer expired.
-Link for Merrill Lynch 50,000-point bonus died.
-Increased American Express offers on Hilton and Hilton Surpass card.
-Amex Platinum public standard link up to 60,000 with an increased fee.
-American Airlines links without “every 24 month” limitation died.
-Added Alliant to top of cashback list. Link will work later this month.
-Removed Delta links for this month.
-Wynham dropped down to 15,000 points from 45,000.
-Korean bonus doubled to 30,000.

Before Playing This Game:
-Find a new hobby until you can pay off all balances each month.
-Take 5 seconds to confirm the bonus and is what you expect.
-Get a screenshot of the bonus in case you have issues collecting it later.
-Take 2 minutes to read the small print terms before applying.
(Look for “once in a lifetime,” “no bonus for cardholders in last 24 months,” etc.)
-Keep everything very organized in a spreadsheet. You’ll thank me later.

 

Time my monthly Top 25 Credit Cards. It’s called “Top 25” out of tradition, but you’ll get many more links than that below. Again, if you’re a rookie, make sure you read The Newbie Guide. It’s a little outdated but many basic questions can still be answered there. For people running out of cards, remember there’s often a Business card option. Also, “churning” (getting the same card more than once) might be an option. The dates here were a guideline but things always tend to vary individually. If you’re new, it might be wise to start with Chase cards because of the limitations they’ll place on you soon.

Miles and points are far from an equal currency. 50,000 Delta SkyMiles are worth less to me than that amount from Alaska Airlines. 25,000 Hyatt points mean way more than the same number from Hilton. And so on. These links work right now (April 3rd at midnight). If you read this later, many of the offers will have changed. Things move fast so read offer details and terms before applying. Especially all that small print when you’re trying to get bonuses more than once on the same card. Ok, enough chatter…here we go! My “Top 25” current credit cards are below.

Read More

Delta Promo

Could have sworn I posted this a couple of weeks ago, but those posts got lost in the great tech debacle of 2017 so I’m not sure. Maybe I imagined it. Damn, I’m old.

Anyway, this offer from Delta is like a (very) watered down version of the old Grand Slam from US Air. It’s 1,000 bonus miles from every new partner you earn miles with through the end of June. Make sure you register at the link before you start earning. Have a great weekend, nerds!

Thursdeals

  • Alamo’s one-way car rental deal out of Florida is back. Not everyone will have a use for it, but this has been a great offer for some it in the past.
  • If you’re going for a Southwest Companion Pass with a hotel point transfer…you’re quickly running out of days. This option ends for good on Friday. Marriott has been (by far) the most popular way to do it.
  • Here’s a new link to the valuable 50,000-point Merrill Lynch card from Bank of America. Good card and, yeah, it’s possible to get one of these and an Alaska on the same day.
  • A not-quite-as-valuable new 60,000-point link for the Amex Platinum card (same bonus for the Charles Schwab version). If you’re seeing 75,000 in an incognito window, that’s still the better way to go.

Dear MileNerd

This is the 3rd edition of an occasional column where there are truly no dumb questions. The more random, the better. Please email your Dear Abby-type contributions with the subject “Dear MileNerd.” I haven’t done one of these in a while, so there’s a bit of a backlog to catch up on. Here are today’s 5 very different topics:

 

Dear MileNerd:

I live at home with my parents until I start college in the fall. There is no privacy. Why do they always walk in at the exact worst moment when I’m watching a movie? This blows.

-Brad

 

(From now on, you shall be known as Bad Timing Brad)

This issue, my young friend, has been haunting teenage boys since the birth of television. It is the original unsolved mystery. Peacefully watching a movie? You better believe your mom will walk in at the exact moment a boob makes its first appearance. If the scene is 30 seconds long, those are the exact 30 seconds your parents will find their way onto the couch. There is no way to avoid or prevent this phenomenon. So, how does it happen? I have no idea. Scientists and researchers are unable to solve this riddle. They have learned that all normal laws of probability should be thrown out the window. This involves a totally different type of math. The equation is really quite simple – boob pops out, your mom pops in.  I’m very sorry. There will be no resolution until you move into your dorm room. Stay strong, my tortured young brother.

 

 

Dear MileNerd:

What do you think of letting my son play football?

-Amrita

 

Obviously, football is awesome to watch. The last Super Bowl was one of the best games we’ve ever seen in any sport. But, at this point, you might as well be asking about throwing your kid into a cage filled with tigers. Amrita, are you actually Brad’s mom? Is this some sort of punishment for the skin flicks he watches? Do you secretly hate your child? Look, I’ll watch football for the rest of my life. But letting a kid play it is about as smart as getting credit card advice from a costumed clown in a bow tie.

 

 

Dear MileNerd:

How do you feel about bloggers swiping your Dear MileNerd idea?

-Anonymous

 

Well Anonymous, I have no clue who you’re referring to and can’t say I care to find out. It’s all good. Many of my readers remember what every single mile/point blog looked like before I started. They know my impact. I tend to write long posts when I have something to say about bloggers. Other than that, on average, I spend 0% of my day thinking about them…except when trying to come up with punchlines for Amrita.

 

 

Dear MileNerd:

My wife asked me if her jeans made her look fat. Of course I said no but I was tempted to be more honest. I love my wife. But the jeans are unflattering and I don’t understand why she wanted to wear them. Why is it considered bad to be real in this case?

-Steve

 

Wow.

Steve, it was generous of you to provide an example of what a death wish sounds like.

You’re seriously thinking about telling your wife she needs to lose weight?

Like, this is an actual option you’re considering?

Well shit, it was nice knowing you.

(Ironically, you’re the one who’s about to start running)

Strangely, after laughing for 15 minutes straight… I might have actually come up with a solution that could keep you alive…

How would you describe your physique?

Please be honest…could we accurately refer to you as Stomach Roll Steve?

Those years of eating tacos might be your answer!

Instead of mentioning anything about her weight, why don’t you try bringing up your own gut? Clearly, she’s the more supportive person in this relationship. Her natural instinct will be some form of sympathy. When you start talking about getting in better shape, there’s a good chance she’ll offer to join your workouts. Not only will she lose a few pounds, but you will too.

(Most importantly, you won’t end up as the subject of a Lifetime crime drama starring Luke Perry and Jennifer Love Hewitt)

 

 

Dear MileNerd:

Wasn’t sure if you knew, but those young girls in leggings were in a group of pass riders. I’m not saying the pass traveler dress code should always be enforced, but it can. People can wear strange and ill-advised clothing…but not if they’re non-revs on a plane.

-Steve

Sure, United was allowed to do what they wanted. And I’m allowed to think it was dumb. Pretty good bet another airline will have an ad campaign based on this whole thing pretty soon. Was it worth the negative press? Is that really what United wants to draw a line in the sand over? In fact, I’d wager a few bucks there was another passenger sitting on that plane wearing leggings. But no legal or moral objection here. I just think it was dumb. What’s more interesting to me is how fired up people are getting about yoga pants this week. As many of us are noticing, our society keeps reacting with fury no matter the incident. There is more misplaced anger right now than I can ever remember seeing. And less understanding. I hope one day we’ll get back to healthy arguments and debates. For now, it has devolved into our era of trolling. Real communication has given way to the white noise of temper tantrum-y monologues. There is no end goal other than hearing our own opinions and expressing our own feelings. It’s a strange time.

 

If you want to submit a question for this column, please send me an email with the subject “Dear MileNerd.” I’ll try to get to all of them eventually.