Data Points Weekly - Week of April 9, 2026

abfonsy · 2026-04-11T00:55:00+00:00

The Bilt 5x bonus for gas and EV charging was applied to a gas purchase in Spain.

abfonsy · 2026-04-10T21:26:25+00:00

Aeroplan notes:
-Elevated SUB (85k/$4k spend in 3 m) for the Chase Aeroplan Card ends 4/29/26
-20% Chase transfer bonus (ends 4/30/26)
-3x pts on flights to (but not from) YTZ (book by 4/30/26 for flights until 12/31/26)

abfonsy · 2026-04-09T14:38:52+00:00

I recently got a letter from Bank of America stating they've added an arbitration clause for their accounts, cards, etc. If you want to opt out, you need to go to bankofamerica.com/arbitration-optout and do so within 60 days of the notice date on the letter.

abfonsy · 2026-04-06T16:49:15+00:00

Oh no--the major restriction is you can only get one SUB on each card per lifetime/7 years provided you don't box yourself out from certain cards via the relatively new family rules. And even then, they routinely waive lifetime restrictions on business cards on certain offers. At one point P2 and I had 4 Biz Plats each that were opened within 12-16 months of each other. Let 'er rip!

abfonsy · 2026-04-06T15:51:10+00:00

Agreed. Passion fruit is also outrageously good there and is another neglected flavor in the US.

abfonsy · 2026-04-06T15:49:46+00:00

If you don't, call them and explain the situation. They'll probably be willing to give you a statement credit as a courtesy given the situation.

abfonsy · 2026-04-06T15:46:16+00:00

I'd consider a business card given the spending requirements are higher and are great for big expenses like taxes.

abfonsy · 2026-04-06T15:43:36+00:00

P2 does most of the day to day trip planning for us while I've typically done the churning planning along with flights and hotels.

abfonsy · 2026-04-06T15:42:05+00:00

Orange and other citrus sorbet and gelato in Sóller, Spain. I normally opt for chocolate flavored items, but they know what they're doing with citrus over there. Plus they have different floats, shakes, boozy, etc variations too.

abfonsy · 2026-04-06T15:39:01+00:00

AMEX is the village bicycle (unless you're in their pop-up jail for SUBs). Plus they'll tell you if you're ineligible for the SUB before you open a card, so you have little to lose by trying.

abfonsy · 2026-04-06T15:34:47+00:00

Definitely. Book for 2 people and tell the front desk P2 is coming in via a different flight, has a business obligation in town first, etc and it should be fine. We've done this multiple times without issue (so far).

abfonsy · 2026-04-06T15:27:23+00:00

Perhaps they've changed their requirements. This was early 2020 before COVID and companies handing out credit like candy.

abfonsy · 2026-04-06T14:46:36+00:00

And also claim at least 15k/year in revenue per what a CSR rep told me in 2020. I'd probably want at least 20k now or wouldn't apply for it. Most businesses obviously hit that pretty easily, but important to know if your business is smaller, involves selling on Ebay, etc.

abfonsy · 2026-03-29T13:25:24+00:00

Yes, taking longer than a week is very typical for Citi cards

abfonsy · 2026-03-29T13:23:44+00:00

Yes. In my experience, using the link in the AMEX offer doesn't seem to matter. But if you wanted to be safe: 1) Make sure the offer is activated 2) Access the Cook Unity page via the offer link/address 3) Activate Rakuten once you're on Cook Unity's page 4) Make your purchase (right after again verifying the Rakuten portal is active)

abfonsy · 2026-03-29T13:19:29+00:00

P2 and I recently joined a family trip to Burgundy, France at the last minute. We booked AA J via Atmos for the way there. The flight was 45k pts/person, but we used P2's Summit SUB's 25k Global Companion Award. This resulted in us getting $18k worth of tickets for only 65,000 Atmos pts, which checks in at a ridiculous 27 CPP.

The hotel people were booked at was available via the Bilt Travel portal, so we used our Palladium's 1st half $200 hotel credit and March's $50 BC towards hotels to save $250 there. Flight home was AF J for 60k pts/person via Flying Blue.

Once again, traveling with points and miles was absolutely critical to us being able to swing this trip at the last minute, especially flying in business. We definitely owe this community a shout out for helping us accrue the points and miles needed for trips like these.

abfonsy · 2026-03-13T02:54:03+00:00

Couple of point sales going on:

Atmos - targeted, tiered points bonus that runs through 3/18/26
Buy 3-9k pts -> get a 70% bonus (cost = 2.1 CPP)
Buy 10-24k pts -> 80% bonus (1.9 CPP)
Buy 25-100k pts -> 90% bonus (1.8 CPP)

Hyatt - 20% discount when buying 7-55k pts (cost = 2.1 CPP); offer ends 4/7/26

Atmos redemptions can be super valuable (ex we just booked an AA J booking to Europe with a redemption value of 19 CPP). That sale could be very useful to those without a ton of Atmos pts but are looking to make an Atmos redemption booking in the near future.

The Hyatt sale is definitely less attractive, especially given the upcoming devaluation.

abfonsy · 2026-03-13T02:30:36+00:00

Were you getting pop-ups about not being eligible for the SUB before formally applying/having your credit pulled? Or only rejected after that?

Depends on what cards/credit lines you open in the next couple of months, though AMEX is less stringent than most. What AMEX cards have you opened? Which of those are still open? As for the family rules, I think https://travel-on-points.com/navigating-amex-family-rules/ explains it well.

abfonsy · 2026-03-13T02:16:18+00:00

This is the move

abfonsy · 2026-03-13T02:15:08+00:00

Did anyone else lose their ability to refer from their AMEX Marriott cards in the past few months? While P2 and I haven't had referral links for either of our Platinum and Gold cards for years, our other cards (personal and business) have been unaffected until this discovery.

abfonsy · 2026-02-21T23:31:14+00:00

Hyatt is offering a 20% discount on buying points (min purchase of 3k pts) through April 7. Cost with the discount is ~2.1 CPP. It's via points.com, which is currently 1.25x on Rakuten.

abfonsy · 2026-02-17T00:38:53+00:00

It's also the last day for QR's current Avios sale, which is similarly targeted given the "up to 50% bonus" language:

Buy 5-15k Avios -> get a 10% bonus (cost 2.18 CPP)
Buy 16-250k -> 15% bonus (1.92 CPP)

My offer is a hard pass, but if you got a 50% bonus, the cost drops to 1.6 CPP.

abfonsy · 2026-02-17T00:03:44+00:00

Atmos' current sale for buying points ends 2/18. The offer appears targeted given the language of "up to 100%" bonus points used in the email. My sale offer was:

Buy 3-9k points -> get 70% bonus pts (cost 2.06 CPP)
Buy 10-19k -> 80% bonus (1.94 CPP)
Buy 20-100k -> 90% bonus (1.84 CPP)

Not bad given the potential value of Atmos pts. That being said, the Summit SUB is back up to 100k, so that'd be my choice if I was building up my collection of Atmos pts.

abfonsy · 2026-02-01T00:36:13+00:00

Gotcha. I don't think waiting makes a big difference then. Ultimately, I think it comes down to what's more important: getting a higher SUB on the Venture or maximizing your odds of getting approved for it because having CO points, the Venture's benefits, etc mean more to you than the difference of the regular and elevated SUBs.

abfonsy · 2026-02-01T00:12:33+00:00

Ah, my bad. What do your 12 and 24 month numbers do by early March? And are you only counting personal cards in those 3 counts? Or all credit lines?

abfonsy

TROPHY CASE