Bluebird

One of my most loyal readers, Dan, helped me out as a guest writer today. Keep in mind that Bluebird is very new and a lot of things could still go wrong. On the other hand, I ordered dollar coins from the US Mint and made thousands of miles before that went away. You never know.

  1. What credit card do I need? You can use any mile or point credit card you want, but this process works best with a Chase Ink Bold or Ink Plus. If you don’t have either, it’s getting more and more important that your next Chase card be an Ink card.
  2. Why is it so important? Ink cards earn 5 times the points at office supply stores (including Office Depot). These Ultimate Rewards points are some of the most valuable points in the game (transfer to United, British, Southwest, Hyatt, Marriott, etc).
  3. Why do we care about office supply stores? At Office Depot, you can buy Vanilla Reload cards. These cool little cards cost $3.95 to “load” with $500.
  4. Why would I spend $3.95? Because you’re getting 500 miles. And if you’re using an Ink card, you’re getting 2,500 miles. See why the Ink cards are so important now? It’s a crazy cheap way to rack up miles. Plus, meeting your minimum spend is no longer a problem.
  5. How many miles are we talking about? If you have an Ink card and you’re doing $2,000 per month, it’s about 120,000 points in a year!
  6. So, what’s the deal with this Bluebird card? This is the really fun part. You can order it free from American Express online. Then you can easily load it with Vanilla Reload cards. You can use Bluebird to pay bills you never earned miles for before.
  7. What kinds of things? Mortgage payments, rent, maintenance guys working on your house, utilities, student loans, and pretty much anything you can think of! Even credit card bills!!!
  8. No way. How is that possible? Their billpay feature is GREAT. You just log in and they can mail a check to anyone you want. Again, if you have an Ink card, you’re getting 5 miles per dollar for EVERYTHING.
  9. You’re blowing my mind. Is anything else possible? Yes! You can also go to Walmart and use your mileage debit card (see yesterday) to load your Bluebird and rack up miles that way.
  10. I need to sit down. How about fees? No transaction fees, no fees for loading, and no fees for billpay! Ahhhhh! Ok MileNerd, calm down. There are some limits you should know:
    • You can load $1,000 per day
    • You can load $5,000 per month
    • You can’t hold more than $10,000 on the card at one time
    • Your limit for check payments per month is $5,000

Look guys, nobody is more excited about this than me. Playing this little game at $5,000 per month could be worth an extra 250,000+ miles per year. If you’re married, you could double that total. That being said, there’s a chance this will come to an end soon. And people who go absolutely crazy with it can have their Chase accounts closed. This should be obvious, but when you don’t use your Ink card for anything but buying Vanilla Reload cards, you’re shining a very bright light on your activities. Anyway, it’s really early in the game for this, so more updates to come.

**Edit: Vanilla Reload cards have been pulled from Office Depot but can be found at many CVS and Walgreens locations.**

Debit Cards + 1 Credit Card

I’ve gotten emails asking my opinion about Bluebird. Some of you want it explained simply, so I’ll have that for you by the end of the week. Until then…

  • A new debit card here. Get 1 American Airlines mile per 2 dollars spent. Debit cards will look attractive after my upcoming post. Also, some readers get their cards, track down a store to buy money orders from, and earn TONS of miles. Other debit options are:
    • Bank of America’s Alaska Airlines debit card here. $30 annual fee, 1 mile per $2 spent, and a 3,000 mile bonus after your first purchase.
    • The Suntrust Delta Airlines card here. $75 annual fee, 1 mile per dollar spent, and 5,000 miles after your first purchase.
  • Creditwise, the American Express Hilton card has increased it’s bonus to 65,000 points after spending $3,000 in 6 months. The last offer was 40,000 points, so this is a nice jump.

Free Hotel Night

Just a few days left to book a room with Radisson’s free night promotion. Book your room before the end of the month at a cheap Radisson, then use your free night at an expensive Radisson. You can do well with this one. If you shop around and get your rate lowered with Radisson’s Best Rate Guarantee, you can do even better. If you’re not a Club Carlson member yet, pick up an extra 2,000 points here.

The Rewards

These are the rewards of hustling miles! As requested, here’s a little motivational recap:

  • 2 round trip tickets from LA to Maui for 50,000 British Airways miles. 
  • 7 nights at the Grand Wailea for just over 450,000 Hilton points. 
  • Total money saved was $8,700
  • Cliche as it sounds, the memories are worth so much more. 
  • Maui = Magic

Three For Free

  • A few great hotel deals through Jetsetter using coupon code jetset75. This is for today only and gets you $75 off a stay (even a 1-night stay).
  • 2000 Accor hotel points here for playing a Facebook game. 10 questions at 50 points per correct answer. Playing once per week, it adds up to 2000 pretty easy points by the end of the contest. These points will convert to miles (British Airways is a good choice) but you’ll need 4,000 points before you can do the transfer.
  • 1000 bonus Hilton points per stay here.