🔀 Last chance for this underrated transfer bonus

Estimated read time: 4 minutes and 30 seconds

Good morning from Kyrgyzstan, one of the hardest country names to spell.

I’ve got some urgent points and miles business to attend to with y’all, so let’s dive in:

• 🔀 Last call for this 70% transfer bonus

• 🍪 Tasty Travel Tidbits

• 🛳️ Cruise News: Earn BONUS AAdvantage Miles by booking a cruise (plus enter their Million Miles Giveaway!)

🔀 Last call for this 70% transfer bonus

A couple of weeks ago, I told you about a 70% transfer bonus from [[ ink-business-preferred-credit-card.points-program-override.points-currency ]] [[ ink-business-preferred-credit-card.points-program-override.points-currency-short ]] to Marriott.

Many people are not a fan of transferring valuable points to a program like Marriott, even with such a tasty bonus.

But I think most people are underestimating just how powerful this offer is. And since it ends TODAY, I thought I’d take a swing at convincing you.

First of all, there are a ton of ways to rack up [[ ink-business-preferred-credit-card.points-program-override.points-currency ]] [[ ink-business-preferred-credit-card.points-program-override.points-currency-short ]] right now.

For example, if you recently signed up for the [[ ink-business-preferred-credit-card.name ]] and met the minimum spend, you’d be sitting on at least 128,000 UR Points right now.

If you transferred all of those to Marriott, you’d have a whopping 218,000 Marriott Bonvoy points, which is… a lot.

You’re effectively getting 90,000 points out of thin air just for taking advantage of a good opportunity.

Those 90,000 points are enough to book a 5-night stay at a hotel like this one in Oxford, England.

That’s a value of over $1,500 just for the BONUS points from this transfer… and you’d still have 128,000 left over.

I’m heading to Astana, Kazakhstan, in a couple of days, where 128,000 points gets you a 5-night stay at the freaking Ritz-Carlton.

This stay would cost over $1,600 for five nights.

If you use your points in this way, you’re getting ten nights and $3,100 in value out of your $95 credit card bonus.

Not too bad.

Of course, you can always go for quantity over quality (my personal preference).

Let’s say you’re heading down to Mexico City when the weather starts to get cold.

You can book this hotel for 7,000 points. I stayed here last December, and the location is actually excellent!

The welcome offer we discussed earlier is enough to book you OVER A MONTH in this hotel.

Who knew a $95 credit card like the [[ ink-business-preferred-credit-card.casual-card-name ]] could buy you a month in a hotel in one of the world’s great cities?

By the way, if you’ve never been to Mexico City, check out this video (shameless FareDrop plug), which will make you fall in love with it. 👇

And if you’re looking for a different card to earn [[ ink-business-preferred-credit-card.points-program-override.points-currency ]] toward a future transfer bonus like this, you have plenty of options, including:

• The [[ chase-sapphire-preferred-card.name ]], which is perfect for beginners/everyday spending

• The [[ chase-sapphire-reserve.name ]], which has more premium travel perks (and my personal go-to card)

Now that I’ve sufficiently buried the lede, here’s the bottom line:

I think this 70% transfer bonus to Marriott is far better than many people give it credit for.

If you have a stash of [[ chase-sapphire-reserve.points-program-override.points-currency ]] and want to multiply your free hotel nights, I’d definitely consider it.

🍪 Tasty Travel Tidbits

🤑 [[ american-express-gold-card.issuer.name ]] is offering bonus [[ american-express-gold-card.points-program-override.points-currency ]] for various checking accounts. Check the website to see what offers are available and rack up some more transferrable points - no credit card required.

🛂 Ever wonder what happens when you lose your passport abroad? Check out this article, which covers the ins and outs of “Emergency Passports.”

✈️ Lufthansa is now operating a number of flights featuring the new Allegris business-class seats… but finding the correct flight can be confusing. Check out this article for a breakdown of which routes currently offer this new product.

🛳️ Cruise News: Earn BONUS AAdvantage Miles by booking a cruise (plus enter their Million Miles Giveaway!)

All you cruisers and American Airlines fans out there should be excited for this one…

If you didn’t know, American Airlines Cruises is a website that allows you to earn AA miles when booking cruises, and right now, they’ve got a tasty bonus going on 😏

Normally, you’d earn just one measly mile per dollar spent when booking a cruise through their portal, but if you book a cruise by August 16, 2024 (for select sailings between now and December 31, 2025), your earnings will double to 2x miles per dollar.

However, if you have a co-branded credit card of the airline, there’s an additional promo you can take advantage of that will allow you to double dip on miles earned.

When booking through American Airlines Cruises using that co-branded card, you’ll earn an additional 2x miles per dollar when booking.

So depending what promo you go for (or are eligible for), you could be walking away with a nice stack of AA miles for your cruise purchase 🙌

This offer applies to balcony staterooms and suites, and there are cruises available across multiple cruise lines and for varying durations and destinations.

You can find the full terms and conditions here. 

BUT WAIT.

Did you forget about the giveaway part??

From now until September 30, 2024, American Airlines Cruises is giving away some big-ass prizes in the form of their Million Miles Giveaway sweepstakes.

To be clear, this is separate from their current bonus miles promo.

The grand prize includes winning 500,000 bonus miles and a 7-day cruise for two on Royal Caribbean. There will also be five additional winners who will get 100,000 AA miles apiece!

All you need to do is go to their sweepstakes page and fill out the form with your AAdvantage number.

No purchase is necessary, but you must be a U.S. resident age 21 or older to enter 🎉

How fun, and good luck!

Trusted Traveler Programs are some of the best ways to save time at the airport both before your flight and after arriving from abroad.

But there can be a lot of confusion around which programs are best, what they each accomplish, and how to get them (ideally for free).

In this week’s Daily Drop YouTube video, Brendan answers all of these questions and tells you how to avoid a big mistake regarding this topic. 👇

That’s all for today, folks! I hope you enjoyed another edition of Daily Drop, and I look forward to seeing you bright and early tomorrow for more travel talk.

Cheers,

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