ANA First Class Round-Trip As Low As 88.5k Points

📣 WHAT EVERYONE’S TALKING ABOUT

• ICYMI - Last week we discussed how to get partial refunds from Southwest after you’ve booked your flights. If you have flights with them from 03/05 to 05/29, now’s the perfect time to try during the sale.

• AMEX added family rules to the Green and Morgan Stanley Platinum cards. If you want the signup bonuses for all of them, you now have to go Green > Gold > Platinum.

• United released their new MilePlay promotions. There are different offers so check what you received here. Mine: Book + take 2 trips for 13k miles.

• Bilt released their tiered milestone rewards. They really dropped the ball with these. Take a look here.

• T-Mobile launches Magenta Status, giving 15% Hilton discounts and Hilton Silver Status, free rental car fuel + EV charging, $5 movie tickets, & more.

🧠 CREDIT CARD STRATS/HACKS/TRICKS
Bilt - Paying “Annual Fees” For “Zero” Spend Requirements

For those who don’t know yet, Bilt is a credit card that allows you to pay rent without CC fees (referral).

Bilt assigns you a routing/account number that serves as your “bank” account to pay rent. Due to this, you’re able to bypass fees.

Historically, paying your rent with credit would cost you ~3% in fees. $3k/mo rent = $90 in fees, or $1,080 a year.

With Bilt, not only do you not pay the $1,080, but you also earn 1x points. In the above example, that’s 3k points/mo, or 36k points/yr.

These points can be stretched far, especially when considering the airline transfer bonuses Bilt has had (Virgin Atlantic, Flying Blue, Air Canada, Emirates).

Recently, Bilt introduced the ability to pay rent with any credit card. The caveat is that it does have the 3% fee (vs. Plastiq @ 2.9%) and you only earn a measly 250 Bilt points.

There are some very specific use cases where paying the fee makes sense.

Here’s a scenario: You have a $6,000 minimum spend requirement for a $0 annual fee card. To hit this amount, you consider putting all $6,000 toward rent payments. At 3% fees, this costs you $180.

The $180 sounds like a lot, but it depends on how you frame it. You can think of it as an additional one-time “annual fee” in exchange for “zero” spend requirement.

When you put it that way, it makes a little more sense. We frequently discuss premium cards with higher recurring annual fees, in the $300-$695 range.

There are even rare situations where you could come out net positive post-fees depending on the non-Bilt card you use.

Regardless, it’s clear that Bilt constantly improving its product offerings. They’re in the process of expanding their mortgage payment offerings which will massively increase the program’s value when released.

If you’ve got rent or mortgage payments, definitely consider the Bilt card.

⏳️ FINAL BOARDING CALL - TIME-SENSITIVE
Massive 200k Offer On AMEX Business Platinum

This is a targeted offer. Search your “Offers” tab in-app to see if you have it.

The fine print doesn’t have lifetime language and the offer is 200k MR points after $15k spend in 3 months.

30% Citi Transfer Bonus to Virgin Atlantic

From 02/18 to 03/16, Citi will have a 30% transfer bonus to Virgin Atlantic.

If you’re considering preemptively transferring points over without a specific redemption in mind, this isn’t a bad choice as Virgin Atlantic miles don’t expire. I still don’t recommend it though.

Here are some amazing example redemptions to get your brain juices flowing:

ANA First Class - Round-trip from 115k points to 170k points ( or 88.5k to 130.8k points with transfer bonus)

Delta Business Class - US to Europe in one-way business for 50k points (or 38.5k with transfer bonus)

🛍️ CREDIT CARD MERCHANT OFFERS

Automatically add, favorite, and search all merchant offers on every credit card with a single click via CardPointers+ (FEP readers get 30% off).

AMEX (login at americanexpress.com to check)

• Spectrum – Cable, Internet, Telephone & Wireless: $50 back on $50+ spend | Expires 03/31
• Caesars Rewards Las Vegas Destinations: $40 back on $200+ spend | Expires 05/31
• The LINE Hotels: $60 back on $300+ spend | Expires 06/18

Chase (login at chase.com to check)

• Circle K Pay-at-Pump: 2% off up to $1.5 | Expires 02/29
• ClassPass: $7 back on $19+ spend | Expires 03/24
• CVS: 10% off up to $5 | Expires 03/29
• Lululemon: 10% off up to $16 | Expires 03/31

Other

• Office Depot/Max: $15 off per $300+ spend on Mastercard gift cards | Limit 5 discounts per household | Between 02/11 to 02/17 |

🤡 MEME

That’ll do it!

Some travel experiences are so profound we can’t help but want to share them with those closest to us. Traveling on points enabled me to create these lifelong memories with loved ones, and it can do the same for you.

Share Fly EnPoints with friends and family so they can join your next life-changing adventure. It may be the experience you all reminisce on together for years to come!