by PointsGuru | Mar 12, 2015 | Tools & Gadgets
The Apple Watch is finally here after a long wait and we are so excited to try out some of these travel apps. As with the iPhone and iPad the Apple Watch will have lots of Apps to support the new innovative product and make it needed in day-to-day life and really convenient when trying to find your way around town.
Apple showed off many Apps during its stage demonstration including Siri, WeChat, American Airlines and Salesforce. Other travel brands such as TripAdvisor, Expedia, and Open Table for restaurant books were announced but we are more excited for the following:
1. Apple Pay. The Apple Watch’s killer app which displayed the Chase Freedom card during the presentation is one of the most anticipated. As more and more stores adopt Apple Pay we can travel without bulky wallets full of all of our rewards cards. This will cut down on theft being a safe alternative to carrying around cash or tons of cards.
2. American Airlines. With the Apple Watch’s American Airlines app, you won’t have to worry about your boarding pass with it being on your wrist. You can also check-in for your flight from the watch and see at which baggage claim your bags will be. I don’t know how many times I have had to seek out my bags especially at DFW airport not knowing the baggage claim. (more…)
by PointsGuru | Mar 12, 2015 | Sign-Up Bonus
When you have been through as many cards as I have it is hard sometimes to find sign-up bonuses I have not yet taken. There are not a lot of $100+ sign-up bonuses out there right now but one I found is the Rakuten Rewards MasterCard which is part of the online retailer that competes with Amazon.com you may remember Buy.com that it bought several years ago.
With the Rakuten Rewards MasterCard you can get $80 just upon approval towards something on their site then when you make a purchase you get the extra points that amount to $20 making it a total of $100. One difference between the Rakuten Rewards and well no rewards over at Amazon are the Rakuten Super Points you can earn in promotions. One example is Black and Decker and Keurig coffee machines are an extra 15% in points with promo code BRANDSULOVE. Get the card and earn stack-able points on top of that.
With the MasterCard for this retailer that sells everything from fitness supplies to computer you will earn 3 Rakuten Super Points for each $1 of qualifying purchases made at Rakuten.com; use your Rakuten Rewards MasterCard® directly at checkout or use it as the payment method on your digital wallet.
One all other everyday purchases such as gas, dinner, and groceries you earn one Rakuten Super Point for each $1 spent.
You may not know about Rakuten but it is the largest e-commerce site in Japan and among the world’s largest by sales. Try it out and see if you can save some money compared to Amazon and Alibaba. Interestingly enough Rakuten contributed a $300 million in Lyft rideshare.
by PointsGuru | Mar 10, 2015 | Retail
The New Target RED Debit or Credit Card that offer 5% Rewards come as a must-have for Target shoppers. Mainly because Target REDcard gives you 5% off everyday, free shipping, and 30 extra days for returning. A great extension for us to have that are procrastinators and hate taking things back.
Now the REDcard saves you 5% on top of our already low prices on every Target shopping trip, every day. You’ll automatically get 5% off when you use your card in Target stores in the United States and on Target.com. From couches and TVs to lipstick and shoes, anything and everything gets free shipping when you use your REDcard at Target.com. Plus, there’s no minimum purchase.
A big pro of this card is that the immediate discount is taken at the register, not cash back that must be claimed at some later date. The Free Shipping is a no-brainier as it is similar paid Amazon Prime service. Donations to Education is another great thing about this card. Target donates 1% of the amount of all REDcard purchases to the K-12 school of your choice.
I fill a ton of Prescriptions like most Americans so I know they will benefit from the extra Savings on Pharmaceutical Purchases. When you fill at least five prescriptions at a Target pharmacy, you receive an extra 5% discount for one day of Target shopping, in addition to your existing 5%. Stack that up and you have 10% for the day!
Some of the Cons of this card is that it doesn’t work with Target Mobile. Target has a cutting-edge product that offers discounts at the store and online. However, it does not offer a discount at Target Mobile. Possibly it will be added in the future.
These cards are not part of a Payment Network such as Visa or MasterCard meaning this card can only be used at Target stores and at Target.com.
Also keep in mind that if you are looking to carry a balance you cannot with this card. Furthermore, those who seek to build credit with the RED Debit card will not be building credit but they can with the credit card version.
by PointsGuru | Mar 6, 2015 | Hotels
We had some fun at the Club Carlson #HashtagHotel party last year and they are doing it again for 2015! You can score 1,000 free points just by connecting to their twitter promotion.
This is for the First 5,000 so make sure you do it now! Go here to sign-up.
by PointsGuru | Mar 4, 2015 | Low Cost Airlines
Spirit! Airlines just rolled out a fabulous promotion giving out miles to hate on them. “Airlines mess up, but at least we’re (Spirit) is willing to admit it. Look, we haven’t been great about telling you how we fly. We’re out to change that. But first, let’s clear the air. Trade in some hate for 8,000 FREE SPIRIT miles.” You just need 10,000 miles to get a free one-way flight!
Sign-up here for your free miles and hate on an airline.
They then allow you to hate on Spirit airlines which is rather easy to do or hate on any airline which is also easy to do. The discount airliner claims their total price is on average 40% lower than other airlines and that people should learn to love them. Maybe they should hashtag it after Madonna’s new Rebel Heart album titled song #LivingforLove or they could have used #LivingforHate. Either way my biggest complaint with Spirit is of course the carry-on bag fees that are NOT included in the fare price when you get these low fares from Fly.com and Kayak. It’s disappointing to spend so much time comparing flights and it is always Spirit at the top of the list annoying us with their bag fees not included.
I will gladly take the 8,000 free miles. I cannot guarantee I will be flying Spirit anytime soon but there is lots of things I hate about American and other airlines now after all the mergers so I do think of them in a lighter way after this promotion. I was also not in their rewards program until this promotion so they now may have a new customer.
Miles will be posted to your FREE SPIRIT account within 30 to 45 days of submission and the airline will award up to one (1) billion miles for the Promotion and may modify or cancel the offer at any time. The minimum miles required for one-way flight purchased with a Spirit MasterCard credit card is 2,500 miles, with taxes and fees starting at $2.50 ($5.60 after 07/20/2014). The minimum miles required for a one-way flight purchased with any other credit or debit card is 10,000 miles, with taxes and fees starting at $2.50 ($5.60 after 07/20/2014). Miles may be used in combination with already accrued miles that are available in the member’s FREE SPIRIT account balance.
