“Triple Dip” - Tis The Season To Offset Annual Fees

📣 WHAT EVERYONE’S TALKING ABOUT

• Alaska Airlines acquired Hawaiian Airlines for $1.9bn. This should unlock solid value for Alaska loyalists.

• Amazon has $15 off $50+ spend on Household Essentials and $10 off $25+ for Locker Pickups with code PICKUP10OFF. Add &emi=ATVPDKIKX0DER to your URL to filter for shipped+sold by Amazon.

• Home Depot now sells 3rd-party gift cards. Great development if you’re in BGs.

• Kimpton secret password for stays through 02/29/24: Chalet All Day.

• If you’ve been under a rock, World of Hyatt made mostly positive changes to their program starting 2024. Time to jump on the Hyatt bandwagon.

• CLEAR is introducing facial recognition via NextGen Identity+. No more eyeball/finger scans, thank goodness.

🧠 CREDIT CARD STRATS/HACKS/TRICKS
“Triple Dip” - Tis The Season To Offset Annual Fees

December is the perfect month to “triple dip” some of the most lucrative perks and extract maximum value from your premium cards.

A “triple dip” is claiming 3 years worth of perks within your first year of having a card due to perks timing.

Card benefits are generally structured in one of two ways:

• Once per cardmember year
• Once per calendar year

Perks that reset on the calendar year are ripe for triple-dipping. I just opened the 190k AMEX Biz Plat offer a few weeks ago so I’ll use that to explain.

1) Card is opened late Nov/early Dec with the first statement closing as late as possible in Dec. Use all of your perks (Dell, airline, CLEAR) before the calendar year is over. This is immediately $589 in value.

2) 2025 comes around and your perks reset as it’s a new calendar year. This is another $789 in value (Dell is every 6 months for the AMEX Biz Plat)

3) Annual fee hits on your 12th credit card statement, which should be mid-late Dec. Last week, we talked about the 30-day refund window for your annual fee. This means you have until mid-late Jan to cancel/downgrade the card and still get your annual fee refunded. If you’re fast enough, you can use all your perks a final third time, getting you an additional $589 in value.

$1,967 in total value. Not too shabby for a $695 annual fee card, considering I didn’t include all of the benefits.

This works for any/all card benefits that reset on the calendar year. Get crafty.

⏳️ FINAL BOARDING CALL - TIME-SENSITIVE
Alaska Business Card - 65k Points + Companion Fare

Alaska miles are arguably one of the most valuable in the industry. There are some amazing sweet spots to exploit that are unfortunately going away starting next year. Take advantage while you can!

The Alaska Business SUB is currently:

• 65k points after $4,000 spend in 90 days
• Alaska’s Famous Companion Fare from $121 ($99 fare + taxes/fees @ $22)

You can apply directly here and use any random 6-digit number for “event employee ID”.

This is the highest we’ve seen for a while so it’s a great time to hop on this card if you’re on cooldown with Chase & AMEX.

Some example redemptions:

• Off-peak US to Europe - 20k points, one-way econ
• Off-peak US to Asia (e.g. Korea, Japan) - 25k points, one-way econ
• South America | LAX → Santiago - 45k points, one-way business
• South America | NYC → Lima - 30k points, one-way business
• Oceania | LAX → Auckland (one-stop) - 55k points, one-way business
• Asia | SEA → Seoul - 105k points, round-trip business (make sure to book round-trip as it’s the same price as one-way!)
• Africa | IAD → Seychelles (one-stop) - 85k points, one-way business

For secrets that shouldn’t be publicly discussed, email me.

☁️ ON POINTS
AMEX 30% Transfer Bonus to Virgin Atlantic

Through 12/31, AMEX has a 30% transfer bonus to Virgin Atlantic. VS flights come with surcharges and fees, sometimes exorbitant, sometimes palatable.

Virgin points do not expire so you can preemptively transfer points. However, it’s usually best to already have a redemption in mind.

Select redemptions:

• ANA First Class from US to Japan - 58-66k points (originally 75-85k) one-way. The transfer bonus brings rates almost back down to what they were pre-devaluation. This will still be the pinnacle of value redemptions.

• US to Europe - 39k points (originally 50k) one-way Delta One business-class (avoid UK due to fees)

• US (East Coast) to Israel - 52k points (originally 66.5k) one-way business, off-peak
• US to UK - 7.7-11.6k points (originally 10-15k) one-way economy

As usual, Virgin Atlantic provides incredible value if you know how to find award space.

Targeted AMEX 20% Transfer Bonus to Singapore KrisFlyer

This appeared and disappeared from my account, but regardless, log in and see if you’re targeted. Singapore miles expire after 3 years so make sure you have redemptions in mind.

You’ll get the most value flying on Singapore Airlines directly as they have some of the best business/first-class products in the world.

Select redemptions:

• US to Singapore - 90-97k pts (originally 107-115.5k) one-way business, 122-124k pts (originally 146.5-148.5k) one-way first-class

• Europe | Houston to Manchester - 67.5k pts (originally 81k) one-way business
• Europe | NYC to Frankfurt - 67.5k pts (originally 81k) one-way business, 81k pts (originally 97k) one-way first-class

Singapore premium products don’t get any cheaper than this. It’s on the higher end of point costs but very much worth the splurge, if only once.

🛍️ 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)

• Canada Goose: 10k MR points on $500+ spend | Expires 01/31/24
• Delta Air Lines Gift Cards: 4.5k MR points after $300+ in purchases | Expires 01/31/24
• LenovoPro: 15% off up to $100 | Expires 12/31 | Make purchases online at Lenovo.com/PROAmex
• Shake Shack: $5 back on $15+ spend | Expires 12/31
• Vuori: $25 back on $125+ spend | Expires 12/31
• Wynn Las Vegas & Encore Las Vegas: $60 back on $300+ spend | Expires 04/01/24 

Chase (login at chase.com to check)

• Air Canada: 10% off up to $40 | Expires 12/31 | gameable
• Lenovo: 15% off to $100 | Expires 01/04/24
• Ulta Beauty: 10% off up to $10 | Expires 12/31
• Walmart.com: 5% off up to $5 | Expires 01/01/24

🤡 MEME

Even when they tell me it’s complimentary I think they’re lying to me.

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!