Max Miles Points

Hey! 

 

I hope you had a good week! Here are your weekly 4 Points Friday Newsletter with tips to help you earn, redeem and maximize your miles and points.

Chase announced the Q3 5% rotating category for the Chase Freedom Flex and Chase Freedom, and the categories are gas, rental cars, movie theaters, and select live entertainment. This means you can earn 5x on up to $1,500 in purchases in those categories during Q3. With gas prices the way they are, it should be easy to hit that $1,500 spend cap.

 

If you don’t have a Chase Freedom Flex card, currently, there is a 20k bonus after $500 spend within three months of card opening, and you’ll also earn an additional 5x gas purchases for 12 months for up to $6,000 spend. [My referral link]

 

Stack both of these offers, and you can earn 9x points on gas.

(1x for the purchase + 4x for the rotating quarterly category + 4x for the sign-up bonus gas category)

If you're looking for discounted Rimowa luggage, my cousin was just in Munich and confirmed that Lederwaren Hetzenecker in Munich still sells Rimowa luggage at a discount. We bought my wife's Rimowa Original Cabin Carry-On for 659€ (after VAT refund) in 2019. They are still selling them for about 698€ (after VAT refund). That's about $733 USD. Purchasing the same luggage in the U.S. would cost over $1,200 USD. The only caveat is that you have to pay cash to get the price that low. The Lederwaren Hetzenecker stores in Munich are the only stores that I know of that do this kind of discount on Rimowa luggage. A full breakdown of the price ⬇️

The Citi Premier is back at its all-time high bonus of 80,000 Citi ThankYou points after $4,000 spend in 3 months. The card is a great all-around card with good spend categories. In my opinion, the Citi Premier is more of a mid or late-game card after you’ve got all the Chase and Amex cards.

Chase Sapphire Reserve got a slight increase in its sign-up bonus. 60k is the public/affiliate link offer, but if you have a Chase login and go to this link, you might see 70k. The standard bonus is 50k.

This is one of my favorite redemptions. One-way off-peak Iberia business class from ORD, IAD, JFK, and BOS requires just 34,000 Iberia Avios and $123.70 in taxes and fees. (h/t One Mile at a Time)

 

Iberia opens up its award availability about 360 days in advance, so right now would be the ideal time to book for June 2023. The calendar below shows off-peak and peak dates. Peak dates are in red; those are the dates you want to avoid because they’ll cost you more points. I have a full video tutorial linked below as well.

 

I just want to warn you though, Iberia is a good deal when everything goes as planned. If you ever need to contact someone from Iberia or make any adjustments to your itinerary it can be a nightmare sometimes.

More lounge access for Capital One Card holders 🙌🏼. Capital One Travel just added access to Plaza Premium Lounges. There are 100+ Plaza Premium lounges around the world. Five are here in the U.S. at JFK, EWR, SFO, IAD, and DFW. The DFW lounge is a Plaza Premium branded lounge, while the other 4 are Virgin Atlantic Clubhouses which have a la carte dining, which is a nice touch. [IG Reel]

Flying Blue’s hidden award calendar features to make searching for Flying Blue award availability wayyyyyyyy easier. (h/t Frequent Miler)

 

I hope you found some value in this week's newsletter. If you have any feedback or questions, reply to this email. 

 

Subscribe to my YouTube channel and if you need additional resources or one-on-one consulting, make sure to check out maxmilespoints.com.
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Have a good weekend, and keep maximizing your miles and points! 

 

- Max