👋 Hi Reader,

Happy Sunday! Life got in the way of getting this out yesterday, but hope you're having a great weekend so far! Here are some highlights from today's newsletter:

• 🧳 My process for booking travel with points & miles
• 💳 Multiple increased welcome offers up to 300K
• 💵 Rakuten: $50 for new members + up to $150 card bonuses
• 🏛️ Free museum tickets this weekend for BoA cardholders
• ✈️ Airlines start raising fees on bags
• 📱 Website for live TSA security wait times
• 🌉 Why bridges don't sink and more!

A small favor: If you enjoyed reading this newsletter, please forward this to a friend who might too! And if that's you, make sure to subscribe here. Thank you so much!

Chris

🧳 My Process for Booking Travel with Points & Miles

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Want to learn how to turn your points into significantly better travel experiences? I share how I usually plan travel, find award availability, choose the right tools, and decide between portals vs. transfers, plus the mindset shifts that make the whole process work.

🏠 Turn Your Housing Payment Into Points

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📋 My Past Week

Here's a quick recap of what I was up to last week:

• I've been looking to replace our August locks for years, because the product and software hasn't evolved at all. I finally swapped them out for Aqara locks and I'm so happy with the outcome. I don't have any affiliation with the company, but they've integrated so easily to Apple Home and Home Assistant. I got the U200 Lock + G400 Doorbell for the front door and plan on swapping two other doors with U400 Locks (which I would have gotten for the front door if we didn't have a mortise lock).
• I took the lock replacement project as a catalyst to update our entire home automation system as well. While it would have been easy if all our devices connected to Apple Home, they don't, so I set up Home Assistant, which has a plugin that will bridge all your devices into Apple Home, so we can finally manage all our lights, cameras, security system, plugs, etc. in one place.
• We packed up all our ski gear and returned our season rentals last week. While we didn't have the best snow, we managed to get 12 days on the mountain, which definitely made our Epic Passes worth the cost. Hopefully the snow next year is even better, because I just renewed our passes for next year.
• Our youngest daughter had some type of viral respiratory infection last week and I'm so thankful that we had a nebulizer and pulse oximeter at home, which saved us a trip to the ER.
• Without knowing that Anthropic would ban using your subscription OpenClaw yesterday, I had spent the past week building a new system using Claude's Channels that allows my main agent to spin up Claude Code sessions I can manage from telegram. Very happy I spent that time, especially since I'll be traveling a lot over the next few weeks.

🛫 Travel, Points & Miles

💳 New Welcome Offers: Up to 300K & More

There are quite a few big card bonuses right now. They're mostly cards I already have (and I sadly opened most of them with lower bonuses). If you're able to get a 300K offer on the Business Platinum, that's probably the best offer. However, for a personal card, the 3-in-1 offer on the Atmos Summit card is very compelling too.

• ​Amex Business Platinum: Up to 300K points after spending $20K in 3 months.
• ​Amex Business Gold: Up to 200K points after spending $15K in 3 months.
• ​Atmos Rewards Summit: 100K points + a 25K-point Global Companion Award after a $6K spend in 3 months + a 50% flight discount code for an eligible future flight.
• ​Atmos Rewards Ascent: 80K points after a $4K spend in 4 months + a 50% flight discount code for an eligible future flight.
• ​Atmos Rewards Business Card: 80K points + a $99 Companion Fare after a $5K spend in 3 months.
• ​Airline Co-brand Cards: All 6 cards of a major US airline have increased bonuses of up to 110k miles. They also now unlock at least 10% off award flight and free checked bags.

Finally, quick reminder that the welcome offer on the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card for 75K miles + $250 towards Capital One Travel after a $4K spend in 3 months (worth ≥$1,000 if you leverage transfer partners) will end on 4/13.

You can find the full list of best card offers on our ​​​Best Cards Page​​.

For compliance reasons, we can't mention all the cards by name, but the linked pages have all the details on the increased welcome offers.

🔁 Transfer Bonuses: JAL, Aeroplan & IHG

I don't recommend making any speculative transfers unless you have a specific redemption in mind. All offers expire on 4/30.

• Capital One → JAL: 30% bonus. I think JAL miles are the best way to book business class flight to Japan because JAL releases so much inventory to its members. Just don't forget that JAL miles have a hard expiration after 36 months.
• Popular bank → Aeroplan: 20% bonus + 10% for cardholders. A decent bonus for one of the most versatile programs out there.
• Popular bank → IHG: 70% bonus. A bonus that's only worth it for a specific IHG redemption you already have in mind.

✈️ Airlines Are Raising Fees and Surcharges

​JetBlue and United both raised checked bag fees this week (though co-branded cardholders are still exempt), and Flying Blue quietly bumped award surcharges in business class. I'd expect most airlines to follow similar moves soon, especially given all the uncertainty around oil prices. If you regularly check bags on a specific airline, having their co-branded credit card is now an even better deal.

📱 Live TSA Security Wait Times at Busy U.S. Airports

If you have travel plans this weekend, check out From the Tray Table, a new site that shows live TSA security wait times by checkpoint at the busiest U.S. airports. It'll be pretty useful for deciding when to head to the airport, especially with all the security wait issues happening.

📣 New Airline, Hotel and Points Promos This Week

Business Class Award Deals

• 🇩🇪 Frankfurt / Munich: From 60K Aeroplan points​
• 🇪🇸 Madrid: From 40.5K Avios points​
• 🇧🇷 Rio de Janeiro: From 40K AAdvantage miles​
• 🇨🇳 Shanghai: From 106K Flying Blue miles​
• 🇯🇵 Tokyo: From 89K Flying Blue miles​

Hotel Promos

• Hyatt: Cardholders of a popular bank's two premium cards who spend $75K in a calendar year ($120K for the business card) can now unlock World of Hyatt Explorist status.
• Hyatt Homes & Hideaways: 2x points on stays through 5/31. Register here.
• Hyatt Under Canvas: Up to 100K bonus points (11 points/$1 spent) on stays booked by 6/12 and completed before 9/8. Register here.
• IHG: 15% off award stays at new hotels through 9/30.
• Preferred Hotels: Up to 35% off stays booked by 4/13 and completed before 5/14.

Airline Promos

• Alaska: 1.88¢ per point with up to a ​​100% bonus​​ until 5/2.
• KLM Flying Blue: 25% off award flights between select U.S. cities and Europe. Book by 4/30 for travel through 9/30.
• Southwest: Up to 5x points on Lyft rides through 12/31 when you link your accounts and set the Southwest card as the default payment.
• United: Registration for the Mile Play promotion is open until 6/9.
• Virgin: 1K bonus points with a card-linked shopping portal purchase before 4/6.

🤑 Latest Deals

💵 Rakuten: $50 New Member + Up to $150 BoA Bonus

I love using Rakuten for earning cash back or points on everyday purchases. New members can now use a referral link (here's mine) to earn a $50 bonus after spending $50. Best of all, the $50 bonus can be issued as 5K Amex or 5K Bilt Points.

Rakuten also just added Bank of America cards to its portal, offering $150 back on the Travel Rewards card and $75 on the Customized Cash Rewards card on top of the standard welcome bonuses.

🏛️ Free Museum Access This Weekend (4-5th)

It's the first full weekend of the month, which means Bank of America and Merrill Lynch cardholders (including debit) get free admission to 200+ museums today​ (4th) and tomorrow (5th) through the Museums on Us program. You'll need one card per person for entry.

🔗 Card-Linked Offers Worth $600+

Here are some card-linked offers I found this week with expiration dates in parentheses. Some of these offers are targeted, so I recommend using CardPointers Pro (get 30% off here) to automate these offers.

• Aer Lingus: $250 off $1,250 (4/12)
• Air India: 10% off, up to $50 (5/1)
• Away Luggage: $100 off $400 (5/21)
• Hyatt Unbound Collection: 15% back, up to $60 (5/1)
• IKEA: 15% back, up to $41 (4/30)
• Park Hyatt: 15% back, up to $70 (5/1)
• Popular Bank's Travel Portal: $100 off $600 (6/30)

🕵️ Top Finds

🌉 Why Bridges Don't Sink

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Ever driven over a massive bridge and wondered how it stays up? This video breaks down the surprisingly complex foundation engineering that keeps bridges from sinking into riverbeds and soft soil.

😔 A Lot of Millennial Millionaires Don't Feel Wealthy

Here's an interesting read on why many millennials who have crossed the $1 million net worth mark still don't feel financially secure. Between housing costs, lifestyle inflation, and constantly moving goalposts, the milestone doesn't feel the way it used to.

💬 Parting Thoughts

Happy Easter to everyone celebrating today! I hope you get to spend some quality time with your family and loved ones.

And thanks so much for reading! I’d love to hear your thoughts on today’s newsletter, and if you enjoyed it, please let me know why!

Chris