Reminders Before the End of 2013

As we come to the end of the year/quarter, there are several bonuses and promotions wrapping up. Tuesday, December 31st will be the drop dead date.

Chase Freedom 4th Quarter Bonus

5x Ultimate Rewards points on Amazon.com and select department stores. This was an easy set of categories to rack up $1,500 worth of spend. If you haven’t, buy some Amazon e-gift cards for yourself for future use!

Discover IT 4th Quarter Bonus

The Discover IT card is basically their answer to the Chase Freedom, with rotating category bonuses every quarter. This quarter’s was “online purchases” which made it really easy with all the online shopping for the holidays + the points-manufacturing schemes like Amazon Payments.

American Express Membership Rewards British Airways Transfer Bonus

Get 20% more Avios bonus will end on Tuesday as well. Obviously, don’t transfer points without an award in your sights. The only exception to that rule is when you plan on cancelling a card. We’ll be cancelling Joann’s Platinum card so instead of downgrading or straight up losing the points, we’d rather get a transfer bonus on points we’ll be sure to use.

Cathay Pacific’s Last London 747 Flight

Gary writes about Cathay’s last London Boeing 747 flight, as these Queens of the Sky are being retired from service. As of now, there are 6 First Class award seats available! That’s the kind of New Year’s Party I could get into. You can use the aforementioned Amex-Avios transfer bonus to redeem for this momentous occasion. It will cost you 90K Avios + $456.

American Express Platinum $200 Airline Credit

Don’t forget that one major perk of being an Amex Platinum cardholder is a $200 airline credit every calendar year. It’s meant for incidentals like baggage fees or buy-on-board food, but it absolutely works when buying gift cards to your designated airline. I recently purchased a $200 American Airlines gift card and was reimbursed in 2 days.

American Express Sync Promotions

Amex has had some great promotions going throughout the year that are scheduled to end on the 31st. My favorite was the Amazon one, just in time for the holidays. Deals We Like has compiled a comprehensive list of the promotions along with their expiration dates. Be sure to take advantage of them if they fit your needs!

Although most of the Sync promotions are due to end on the 31st, my guess is that they’ll be re-upped for 2014.

Other Things To Remember

In 2013, the year of the devaluation, be cognizant of the upcoming changes. Hyatt is the first to change in the new year, making several changes to their award chart that go into effect on January 7, 2014. United’s new, more expensive award charts will go into effect February 1, 2014.

$25 Off $75 Purchase at Amazon – Multiple Times!

Hot off the presses. From 12/1 – 12/31/2013, receive a $25 statement credit when you spend $75 or more at Amazon with your synced American Express card.

The great thing about this is if you have multiple Amex cards, you can get this offer more than once. Just sync Twitter & Facebook with different cards.

If you don’t have Facebook or Twitter, you can just as easily go to this site and register each Amex card you have!

Here’s how you do it for Twitter:

Sync your Twitter account to American Express if you haven’t already.
Tweet out “#amexamazon” from your synced account.
Wait for a confirmation reply from @AmexSync
Spend at least $75 at Amazon with your synced American Express card and receive a one-time $25 statement credit.

And here’s how you do it for Facebook:

Like the Amex Sync page on Facebook if you haven’t already.
Sync your Amex card if you haven’t done so already.
Load more offers on the Amex Sync page until you see the Amazon offer; add it.
Spend at least $75 at Amazon with your synced American Express card and receive a one-time $25 statement credit.

Receive a one-time $25 statement credit when you spend a total of $75 or more online at Amazon by 12/31/13. Tweet using #AmexAmazon to add this offer to your synced American Express Card. This offer does not require a coupon at the point of sale – so once you’ve received a confirmation response message from our Twitter handle @AmexSync that the offer has been added, just shop with your synced Card to redeem!

This, along with Small Business Saturday, is a great start to the holiday shopping season so here’s to hoping there’s more to come from American Express and their partners!

United Award Flights to Europe for 48,000 Miles

United Airlines sent out an email entitled “Save 20% on Saver Awards when you fly to Europe.”

Normally, a United SaverPass round trip award from North America to Europe costs 60,000 miles. With a 20% discount, that comes down to 48,000 miles. Not a bad deal at all.

Important things to note about this deal:

You must book by 11:59 PM CST on November 19, 2013.
Valid for travel between January 13, 2014 – March 11, 2014.
Valid only on United operated flights.
Valid only on travel between the U.S. (excluding Hawaii) or Canada and Europe.
Valid on round trip travel only.
Valid on Economy travel only.
Open jaws are allowed.
Must purchase ticket 21 days in advance.

The discount will show when you search for the award within the promotion time frame.

Discounted Economy Award

Regular Economy Award

This is a nice discount that hopefully saves people some miles. After all, we need to scrounge up anything we can get after the big devaluation.

$10 Off Uber with Google Wallet

I just opened up my Uber app here in Honolulu and this offer popped up:

When paying with Google Wallet, new users will get $20 off and existing Uber users will receive $10 off.

I tried opening the Uber app on Joann’s iPhone and this didn’t pop up. Then, I remembered that there is no Google Wallet option for iPhone users yet.

Like last time, this is only valid for Android users.

If you haven’t joined Uber yet, here’s my link! You’ll receive a $10 credit for your first ride and I’ll receive a $10 credit as well. So new Uber Android users will actually start off with a $30 credit!

Uber offered this same deal back in July.

Please comment if you are an Android user and can confirm this offer pops up for you in other cities, too!

JetBlue Pulls #HotSeats Promo Early – Offers Consolation Code

Sad news. JetBlue just announced that they had to pull their #HotSeats promotion early. I wrote about this promotion earlier in the week.

It was a pretty cool promo, releasing a code that took 90% off base fares when the temperature reached 90 degrees in Central Park NYC.

It was originally scheduled to run until Saturday, July 20, 2013. Anyway, forget that. It’s over now.

The New Deal

The good news is they’re offering a code for us to use where supplies aren’t limited.

To prove we’re not full of hot air and to make sure everyone lands a hot deal, we’re offering 25% off fall flights from New York’s JFK/LGA/EWR airports. Just book by 7/19 at 4 p.m. EDT for travel 9/3 – 10/31/13 using promo code 2HOT2HANDLE. The promo code is good for all days and all domestic flights (including Puerto Rico), as long as there’s an available seat. Supplies AREN’T limited, so feel free to use the code more than once.

You can head to www.jetblue.com/promo to enter the code 2HOT2HANDLE.
Offer ends 7/19 4:00 PM EDT.
Valid for travel between 9/3 – 10/31/2013
Only valid for one-way OR round trip flights departing from JFK/LGA/EWR.
Valid destinations are anywhere in the USA, including Puerto Rico.

This is pretty nice of them to do. Lots of companies pull promotions early without any recompense. It’s no surprise that JetBlue seems to be making great progress in the social and loyalty game.

Please feel free to share any good fares you might find with this promo code!

The #hustle Blog

#hustle hard. Travel easy. Miles and points all day!

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