This week, we'll cover top transfer partners to maximize your points, up to 80k points from best-ever JetBlue card offers, biz class award flight deals to Europe, Asia & more, 5k Aeroplan points off your next flight, back-to-school shopping w/o sales tax in August, another InKind deal for $25 off $25, card game recommendation: COYOTE, up to $400 off Costco Direct, and more!

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🤑 Top Transfer Partners to Maximize Your Points

Transferable credit card points are one of the most powerful tools in travel, and this week we share the top airline and hotel transfer partners. We also cover strategies to get the most out of your points, including how to leverage transfer bonuses, identify sweet spots, avoid common mistakes, and more.

📺 Watch or 🎧 Listen

📖 Read the Blog Post

🛫 Travel, Points & Miles

💳 Best Ever JetBlue Card Welcome Offers: Up to 80k

Three of the Barclays JetBlue credit cards currently have their highest-ever welcome bonuses. Given I recently status matched to JetBlue and need to earn some tiles, I'll probably be going for one of these (likely the Business Card).

• ​Premier Mastercard​: 80k bonus points + 5 tiles after $5K spend in 90 days and payment of annual fee.
• ​Plus Mastercard​: Up to 80k bonus points. 60k after $1k spend in 90 days and payment of annual fee, plus 20k additional points after $6k spend in 1 year.
• ​Business Card​: Up to 80k bonus points. 60k after $2k spend in 90 days, plus 20k additional points after $6k spend in 1 year.

💺 Biz Class Award Flight Deals to Europe, Asia & Beyond

There are some great business class award deals available right now with redemptions as low as 45k points to Europe and other options across Asia, Australia, Africa, and beyond.

• 🇮🇪 Ireland: Starting from ​45,000​ Alaska miles.
• 🇪🇸 Spain: Starting from ​45,000​ Alaska miles.
• 🇩🇪 Germany: Starting from ​55,000​ Alaska/Aeroplan miles.
• 🇯🇵 Japan: Starting from ​60,000​ AA miles.
• 🇦🇺 Australia: Starting from ​80,000​ AA miles.
• 🇫🇯 Fiji: Starting from ​60,000​ Alaska/AA miles.
• 🌍 West Africa: Starting from ​70,000​ Aeroplan points.

Also, ​Dan's Deals is reporting​ that Untied Cardholders are seeing some amazing deals right now, like business class flights from the US to Asia, Africa and Europe for 80-100k miles. It may not be on purpose, so I don't expect it to last, but is certainly a great deal.

Finally, you can save 25% on Air France/KLM economy and business class awards with ​Flying Blue Promo Rewards​ by 8/31, and get ​20% off transatlantic award flights​ via TAP Miles&Go when you book by 8/11.

✈️ Free 5k Aeroplan Points for Your Next Award Flight

If you own a Chase Sapphire Reserve® card, you can earn a ​5,000-point Aeroplan Flight Reward Certificate​, which can be used as 5,000 points off any Aeroplan award booking when you ​register​ before 8/18. All you need is your name, Aeroplan number, and the last 4 digits of your credit card number.

🛫 Join Alaska Mileage Plan, Get $25-$50 Off

New Alaska Mileage Plan members can get ​$25-$50 off​ their next flight when they book within 28 days of joining. Residents of California and Hawaii get $50 when they use ​this link​ to sign up, and residents outside of California, Alaska and Hawaii get $25 using ​this link​.

👑 Hyatt + American Status Match Challenge

American AAdvantage and World of Hyatt are offering ​reciprocal status match opportunities​ to select members. AAdvantage elites can fast-track to Hyatt status by ​registering here​ before 10/31 (including getting to Globalist after just 20 nights in 90 days). Hyatt elites can fast-track to AAdvantage status (including Platinum Pro for Globalists) by going to the 'promotions' tab on their AAdvantage account and completing the necessary activities.

💰 EVA Air & Hilton Points on Sale

If you have a redemption in mind or are familiar with these programs, check out these deals for discounted points. Expiration dates are in parentheses.

• EVA: 2.8¢ with a ​35% bonus​ (8/12).
• Hilton: 0.5¢ with a ​100% bonus​ (9/25).

🏨 Earn Double IHG Points in September

IHG One Rewards members can earn ​2x points​ starting from their 2nd stay during the month of September. Just make sure to ​register here​ before 8/31.

🏈 Bid Choice Points for VIP College Football Games

Choice Privileges members have the chance to ​bid on VIP college football experiences​ through its College Sports Gameday Experiences program. Four matchups are currently open for bidding, with more to be added throughout the season.

🤑 Latest Deals

🍽️ New InKind Deals: $25 off $25 and $25 off $75

I feel like ​InKind​ is trying to give away money lately and I'm happy to take it. If you're not familiar, it's a free dining rewards app that's helped me save $100s at some amazing restaurants. Right now, they have two promos for both new and existing users. And you can split bills with others, so you could double up on each of them.

1. ​$25 off $25​
2. ​$25 off $75​

Plus, if you don’t have an InKind account yet, you can join with a referral offer (here’s ​mine​) for a free $25 off $50 and then add the deals above to your account after (and have all 3 offers saved).

📚 Sales Tax Free Back-to-School Shopping

During the month of August, a few U.S. states are offering ​sales tax holidays​ on back-to-school shopping, including electronics and clothing. Sadly, California is not on the list.

• Florida (8/1 - 8/31): School supplies under $50, clothing and footwear under $100, and computers/accessories under $1500.
• Ohio (8/1 - 8/14): Most tangible personal property (clothing, books, home goods) under $500.
• Massachusetts (8/9 - 8/10): Nearly all personal retail items, up to a $2,500 limit.
• Maryland (8/10 - 8/16): Clothing, footwear, and backpacks (up to $40) with a $100 limit.
• Texas (8/8 - 8/10): Clothing, footwear, school supplies, and backpacks with a $100 limit.
• Connecticut (8/17 - 8/23): Clothing and footwear with a $100 limit.

🏠 Up to $400 off Costco Direct Items

​Costco Direct​ is running a ​limited-time promo​ where customers can save $100 for buying 2 items, $200 for 3, $300 for 4, and $400 for 5+ items. This offer is valid online only until 8/31 and has a limit of 2 redemptions per member.

📱 $40 Off for Using A Discover Card on Apple Pay

Select Discover cardholder can earn an ​extra 10% cash back​ on up to $400 (up to $40) when they use Apple Pay before 8/31. There's no activation required, but check your email or Discover account to see if you're eligible.

🔗 Card-Linked Offers: $600+ in Savings

You can leverage card-linked offers to maximize your savings, so here are some I found this week. Expiration dates are in parentheses.

• Virgin Atlantic: ​$250 off $2,000​ (9/23).
• Vail Resorts:​$100 off $500​ (9/7).
• Peninsula Hotels: ​$100 off $500+​ (11/4).
• CVS: ​15% off or 15x points​, up to 1,000 (8/10).
• Turo: ​$30 off $150​ (12/31).
• A Popular Bank’s Travel Portal: ​$100 off $600​ (9/30).
• Great Wolf Lodge: ​10% off $100+​ (8/31).

Note that some of these offers are targeted, so I highly recommend using ​CardPointers Pro​ (get 30% off ​here) to automate these offers.

🎁 Latest Gift Card Deals

Here are some gift card deals I found this week. Expiration dates are in parentheses.

• Giftcards.com: ​6x-9x Capital One points​ on purchases. Plus, get ​10% off​ (8/18).
• Zift Zillions: ​12x points​ on purchases at Safeway. Plus, get ​$10 off $50​ (8/19).
• Apple, Instacart & Uber: Up to ​20% cash back​ on Discover cards (N/A).
• ​Hotels.com: ​15% cash back​, up to $250 via Ibotta app (N/A).
• Lowes: ​$90 for $100​ at Egifter with promo code LOWES825. Limit 5 (N/A).
• Visa Gift Cards: ​$15 off $300​ at Office Depot/OfficeMax (8/9).

🕵️ Top Finds

🏦 Banks Are Getting Pickier When Issuing Cards

Here's an ​interesting article​ about how banks are becoming more picky when issuing credit cards to customers. All the more reason to make sure you keep up your credit score.

🐺 Card Game Recommendation: COYOTE

📋 My Past Week

Here's a quick look at some of what I was up to this past week:

• Tesla recently added ​Grok AI​ to their vehicles and it has been so fun to be able to have instant access to an AI tool in the car. The kids absolutely love using it to make up stories. You could just do this with your phone + bluetooth, but for some reason this level of integration has us using it so much more.
• Our oldest daughter got her Adenoid's removed this week. Prior to the recommendation from an ENT, I'd never even heard of this surgery, but since then it seems like half the kids in her class have already had it done. While it's definitely not fun to go through any medical procedure with your kids, she's recovering well and I'm excited for her to start breathing and sleeping better.
• Amy and I enjoyed ​Platonic​'s first season, so we're excited that season 2 is back after every other show we enjoy has taken a break for the summer.
• I had taken a bit of a break from buying gold, but finally picked up some more at Costco this past week and am excited to ramp that back up. For more context check out ​this podcast episode​.
• I celebrated my 41st birthday and while I don't think anyone enjoys getting older at this point, it's so fun to watch the kids get so excited to celebrate. That said, my family is asking for any birthday ideas, so if there's a product you think I might enjoy, I'd love any/all recommendations. And I'm still looking for any connections to Weird Al if you have one to share.
• We just got the back-to-school schedule from our kids' schools, and it's hard to believe summer is almost over. Though it's a bit bittersweet, I'm pretty excited to get back into a routine.