Holiday Shopping Portals Offer Big Bonuses

It's almost that time of the year again! The holidays. Whether you give big gifts or small gifts or you plan to gift to charity, you can earn extra points for your online purchases. 

Holiday Shopping Portals Offer Big Bonuses 

How you ask? By taking that one extra step and making your purchase through a shopping portal. Most of the airlines, some credit cards and even a few hotel chains have shopping portals. 

Already we are seeing some bonus offers! 

• Alaska - Earn 300 bonus points when you spend $100, 750 when you spend $350 or 1,500 when you spend $650. 
• American - Earn 500 bonus miles for spending $200, 1,500 for $700 or 4,000 for $1,600 in total purchases. This is big because it doesn't have to be one purchase, it can be multiple purchases from different stores. 
• Delta - Earn 400 bonus miles for spending $200, 1,000 bonus miles for $500 or 4,000 for spending $1,500. 
• Southwest - Earn 400 bonus points when you spend $100, 1,600 when you spend $400 or 4,000 for spending $900.
• United - Earn 500 bonus miles when you spend $125, 2,000 bonus miles when you spend $500 or 5,000 for $1,100. 

These are just some examples, but your first step before making any online purchase is to check cashbackmonitor.com for the specific store. From there, you can see if there is an elevated offer for that store and then you can see if there is a bonus offer being offered by the platform. 

Holiday Shopping Portals Offer Big Bonuses 

The other thing to take into consideration is your travel strategy. Are you trying to collect points or miles on a certain airline or hotel? If so, then target that shopping portal. Flying Blue often has huge bonuses! 

Another interesting fun fact is that you don't have to use the credit card associated with that shopping portal. For example if you use the Chase Shopping Portal to earn 3x points at Chewy.com, you could use your Capital One Venture X credit card to pay for the purchase to earn 2x points. 

We call this strategy "stacking". I've seen some people double and even triple stack! 

Let me know the creative stacking you come up with. 

Want more personal help using points and miles for almost FREE travel? Book a 1:1 consulting call, download my ebook, custom tracker or Join my Travel Coaching Program and we will design your personal strategy to travel for almost FREE and guide you through the process.

Right now, you can use the promo code "FREETRAVEL" to get $50 off the coaching program. I would love to help you make priceless family memories affordable. 

*For every new client, we will donate 10% of the proceeds to one of our favorite charities. 

Capital One Venture X Launches A 100,000 Bonus Offer

🔥 Capital One Venture X just launched a whopping 100,000 point bonus offer! Wow! This is the highest offer we have seen for this card. The minimum spend is also high at $10,000, but you have 6 months to reach that spend. 

Capital One Venture X Launches A 100,000 Bonus Offer

We love the Venture X because the annual fee is $395, but you get a $300 travel credit in the Capital One Travel Portal, 2x points on every purchase, $120 Global Entry credit, 10,000 bonus points on your anniversary valued at $100 and Priority Pass and Capital One lounge access. 

What can you do with 100,000 Capital One points? Oh so much. You can read about how I have used Capital One points in the past here. 

1. If you spend them in the portal or use them to erase travel purchases, they are worth $1,000 in travel

2. If you transfer the points to any of the dozen or so airlines and hotels,  they can be worth so much more. For example:

• 18,750 points on Flying Blue (KLM and Air France) from the US to Europe in economy 
• 16,000 Iberia Avios from the US to Spain (transfer to British Airways or Finnair and then transfer to Iberia)

Capital One Venture X Launches A 100,000 Bonus Offer

That's just a start to the incredible travel savings! If this card is too hefty, the Capital One Venture card carries just a $95 annual fee and right now offers a bonus of 75,000 points for a $4,000 minimum spend. 

We don't have an end date on this offer yet. 

Want more personal help using points and miles for almost FREE travel? Book a 1:1 consulting call, download my ebook, custom tracker or Join my Travel Coaching Program and we will design your personal strategy to travel for almost FREE and guide you through the process.

Right now, you can use the promo code "FREETRAVEL" to get $50 off the coaching program. I would love to help you make priceless family memories affordable. 

*For every new client, we will donate 10% of the proceeds to one of our favorite charities. 

Bilt and Rakuten Team Up: More Points For You!

 

Woohoo! Great news from Bilt and Rakuten. Two big announcements: 

1. Bilt is going to make it so you can earn points and miles when you make your mortgage payment. Now that's a game changer. You can read all about how you can currently use Bilt to earn points on your rent payments. But starting in February 2026, Bilt will be offering three new credit cards. These new cards will make it so you can also earn points and miles on your mortgage payment. Since most people earn zero points on this payment now, this is huge. For most of us, it's our biggest purchase of the month. We don't know the details of the new cards yet, but we should hear in January. For existing Bilt credit card holders, Bilt says the change will be seamless. Watch for details in January. 

2. The second big announcement, Bilt is teaming up with the shopping portal, Rakuten. Instead of earning cash back with Rakuten, now you will be able to earn Bilt points specifically 1,000 points for every $10 cash back. Pretty sweet!

You will need to link your two accounts and specify Bilt as your payment preference. Cash back points will deposit quarterly into your Bilt account. The emails on both accounts must match to use this option. 

Two great announcements. If you do not have a Rakuten account yet, you can sign up here. If you use my link, when you spend $50, you will get a $50 bonus or link your Bilt account and that's 5,000 points.

 Yep, that's free money! 

Want more personal help using points and miles for almost FREE travel? Book a 1:1 consulting call, download my ebook, custom tracker or Join my Travel Coaching Program and we will design your personal strategy to travel for almost FREE and guide you through the process.

Right now, you can use the promo code "FREETRAVEL" to get $50 off the coaching program. I would love to help you make priceless family memories affordable. 

*For every new client, we will donate 10% of the proceeds to one of our favorite charities. 

 

Points Ecosystems: A 4-Person Portugal Field Test ✈️

Portugal is absolutely one of those bucket-list destinations! Sun-drenched cities, incredible food, and history around every corner. Even better? With some clever planning, it’s also an incredibly affordable one. Before we dive into what to eat and see in Lisbon and Porto, let's look at the most exciting part: free flights!

I often hear from clients who get stuck at the points-redemption stage. They have the points, they want to book, but they freeze up worrying they aren't getting the best deal or doing it "right."

I’m about to show you that there isn't one "right way." There are many different ways to get to the exact same destination using different combinations of points and miles, and all of them are wins! Hopefully, this case study takes some of the pressure off your next big booking.

The Ultimate Points Challenge

Recently, my family of four headed to Portugal for a much-needed getaway. But this wasn't a simple round-trip for four. Because of different schedules and starting points, we were traveling from four different cities on four different days to converge on Lisbon.

This logistical challenge turned into a perfect, real-life points-and-miles case study, demonstrating how powerful diverse redemptions can be. Here’s a look at the strategy for each traveler:

Traveler 1: The Multi-City Mixer

• LAX → MAD | Nonstop via Iberia Airlines | 18,000 Iberia Avios + $60 | |
• Seville (SVQ) → LIS | Positioning flight (booked via portal) | 8,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards (UR) 
• ATH → CDG → LAX | Return via Air France/KLM (Flying Blue) | 20,000 Chase UR (transferred to Flying Blue) + $80 
• Total Cost | | 46,000 points + $140 | The takeaway here is using Avios for low-tax redemptions and then transferring Chase points to a partner (Flying Blue) for the long-haul return.

Traveler 2: The Direct & Diversify

• LAX → LIS | Direct via TAP Portugal (booked via portal) | 22,000 Chase UR 
• OPO → AMS → SAN | Return via KLM (Flying Blue) | 20,000 Chase UR (transferred to Flying Blue) + $80 
• Total Cost | | 42,000 points + $80 | A great reminder that sometimes the easiest redemption is through a portal (Chase) for the outbound, while a partner transfer (Flying Blue) is best for the inbound.

Traveler 3: The Flying Blue Promo Fare Hunter

• SFO → CDG → LIS | Air France Promo Fare | 18,750 Chase UR (transferred to Flying Blue) + $120 
• LIS → AMS → SFO | KLM Promo Fare | 18,750 Chase UR (transferred to Flying Blue) + $177 | | 
• Total Cost | | 37,500 points + $297 | This person shows the magic of Promo Fares. They saved the most points overall by being flexible with connections and leveraging a great monthly transfer bonus.

Traveler 4: The Avios Madrid Hub Master

• ORD → MAD | Iberia Avios Redemption | 20,750 Iberia Avios + $67 
• LIS → MAD | Cheap cash positioning flight | $50 
• MAD → ORD | Iberia Avios Redemption | 16,000 Iberia Avios + $36 
• Total Cost | | 36,750 points + $153 | The Avios sweet spot is real! By routing through Madrid, they used significantly fewer points for a transatlantic trip and spent only a little extra cash on the positioning flight.

The Grand Total & The Earning Strategy

To move four people from four different starting points across the Atlantic, we used:

Total Points and Miles Redeemed

• Chase Ultimate Rewards: Approximately 107,500 points

• Iberia Avios: 45,750 Avios

• Total Cash Paid (Taxes/Fees/Cash Leg): ~$670

That’s four transatlantic flights and two positioning flights for minimal cash! 🤯

How We Earned the Points

Now for the second most-asked question: How do you have so many points?

• Chase Points: My large stash came primarily from my Player 2 (P2) downgrading his Chase Sapphire Preferred credit card earlier this year and immediately reapplying to snag a huge 100,000-point welcome bonus. This is a classic, powerful strategy.

• Iberia Avios: I earned 100,000 Iberia Avios a few years ago when Chase offered a whopping bonus on their co-branded Iberia Visa. I canceled the card after a year, but I kept the points alive by making a small, occasional purchase through the Iberia Shopping Portal—a simple trick to prevent expiration!

That's how it's done! Once you knock the big ticket item—the flights—out of the park for practically free, then you can relax and move on to redeeming for hotels, activities, and rental cars. If you aren't using points yet, focus on earning them for your next big trip. It’s absolutely worth the effort!

Want more personal help using points and miles for almost FREE travel? Book a 1:1 consulting call, download my ebook, custom tracker or Join my Travel Coaching Program and we will design your personal strategy to travel for almost FREE and guide you through the process.

Right now, you can use the promo code "FREETRAVEL" to get $50 off the coaching program. I would love to help you make priceless family memories affordable. 

*For every new client, we will donate 10% of the proceeds to one of our favorite charities. 

One More Chance To Earn The Southwest Companion Pass!

If that 120,000 Southwest bonus offer for a $10,000 minimum spend was a bit too hefty for you, now you have another chance! 

Southwest just launched 85,000 bonus offer for just $3,000 minimum spend on all three of their personal credit cards. Depending on which benefits you want, the annual fee will range from $99 to $229. 

Some of the differences between the cards include:

• 2x points on groceries or restaurants or gas stations
• Points earned on your anniversary date
• Seat selection 
• Upgrade option for more legroom 
• Qualifying points towards A List 
• Flight discount promo code 

All the cards include one FREE checked bag for you and up to 8 people on your reservation including your companion pass.  Which one is best for you? Depends on the benefits you will use and where you spend the most money, groceries, restaurants or gas stations.

This is a pretty great offer and better than the usual 50,000 bonus offer. 

The catch here is that if you want to earn the Southwest Companion Pass, you will still need to apply for  a business credit card or earn the points through flying, booking hotels or just using the card for purchases. You earn the Southwest Companion Pass when you collect 135,000 Southwest points in a calendar year. 

The Southwest Companion Pass is a BOGO on any flight anytime anywhere Southwest flies. Now that the airline is going to fly to Alaska and the Caribbean, it might save you a lot of money. I have had the companion pass for the past 8 years and it has saved my family thousands of dollars. 

You can read here about how we time this process so you earn the pass for almost two entire years! 

Want more personal help using points and miles for almost FREE travel? Book a 1:1 consulting call, download my ebook, custom tracker or Join my Travel Coaching Program and we will design your personal strategy to travel for almost FREE and guide you through the process.

Right now, you can use the promo code "FREETRAVEL" to get $50 off the coaching program. I would love to help you make priceless family memories affordable. 

*For every new client, we will donate 10% of the proceeds to one of our favorite charities. 

Southwest 120,000 Bonus Offer Ends Oct. 27th

 

Southwest Airlines 120,000 bonus offer ends Oct. 27th so don't wait! This offer gets you so close to earning the Southwest Companion pass. It's crazy! 

If you follow my blog, you know that the Southwest Companion Pass is the most valuable travel perk out there. It is a BOGO pass on any Southwest flight for up to two years and you can change your companion up to three times per year. If you  were planning to earn the pass, you may have applied for the Southwest Personal Credit Card 100,000 bonus offer that ended recently. 

And you are now slowly working towards your minimum spend since you have four months to do that instead of the usual three. So you strategically reach the minimum at just the right time to earn the companion pass for nearly two years. 

The Southwest Companion Pass has saved my family thousands of dollars on cross country trips, college trips, family weekends, events and more! Plus Southwest will be starting flights to the Caribbean in 2026! 

And usually the second step in this plan is to apply for a Southwest Business Credit Card to reach the 135,000 points that you need in a single calendar year to earn the pass. 

Whew! It's a lot of strategy and that's why I help people like you keep it all straight and on track. 

With this new offer, if you do it right, you will end up with 235,000 Southwest points plus a BOGO companion pass good through December 2027. Wow! 

Now if you were not eligible for the Southwest Personal Credit Card 100,000 bonus point offer, don't worry. This new offer includes almost enough points to earn the Southwest Companion pass on its own.

 

Here's the offer:

• $10,000 minimum spend in 3 months 
• 120,000 bonus points 
• Offer ends 10/27/2025
• $299 annual fee

The minimum spend is a bit hefty, but remember to use this card for all of your purchases for the next three months. It is a business credit card, but many businesses qualify, you can read about that here.

Just as an fyi, the Southwest Personal Credit Cards dropped back to their traditional offer of 50,000 bonus points for $1,000 minimum spend. Remember when you fly, you may have access to a better offer. 

Want more personal help using points and miles for almost FREE travel? Book a 1:1 consulting call, download my ebook, custom tracker or Join my Travel Coaching Program and we will design your personal strategy to travel for almost FREE and guide you through the process.

Right now, you can use the promo code "FREETRAVEL" to get $50 off the coaching program. I would love to help you make priceless family memories affordable. 

*For every new client, we will donate 10% of the proceeds to one of our favorite charities. 

#1 Thing You Need To Do BEFORE Oct. 26th

 

If you already had the Chase Sapphire Reserve before the mega bonus offers in June 2025, then get ready for your benefits to kick in. 

Starting October 26th, we will finally get the new refreshed benefits and for most of us, we are getting them without paying the increased annual fee. So you want to make sure you cash in! And some of the benefits reset January 1st, so you really want to be on top of this one to max out the value. 

Here's the list so you can just check them off as you go:

Before 10/26 - 

• Transfer points to your Chase Sapphire Reserve or Preferred from any Chase Ink, Freedom or Unlimited credit cards so they hold onto their increased value of 1.25 or 1.5. Any points accumulated or transferred to the Chase Sapphire Reserve BEFORE Oct. 26th hold their value. 

After 10/26 - 

• Activate Apple TV+ and Apple Music
• Activate IHG Platinum Status 
• $250 "The Edit" hotel credit valid through 12/31/25 then resets Jan. 1st 
• $150 StubHub credit valid through 12/31/25 then resets Jan. 1st
• $150 dining credit valid through 12/31/25 then resets Jan. 1st
• Points earned after 10/26 can be redeemed for 1x
• Peloton statement credit begins 

Starting 1/1/26 -

• "The Edit" hotel credit resets to $500 per year
• StubHub credit increases to $300 per year 
• Dining credit increases to $300 per year
• $250 one time promo for select properties 

I plan to pin this list where I can see it and check off these credits as I use them. If you use the credits, the card more than pays for the increased annual fee of $795. 

Want more personal help using points and miles for almost FREE travel? Join my Travel Coaching Program and we will design your personal strategy to travel for almost FREE and guide you through the process. Right now, you can use the promo code "FREETRAVEL" to get $50 off the program. Or book a 1:1 consulting call.  I would love to help you make priceless family memories affordable. 

*For every new client, we will donate 10% of the proceeds to one of our favorite charities.