How to Earn Free jetBlue Points and Free Safeway Gas Rewards

Want to earn free jetBlue Points every month? Want to earn free Safeway Fuel Rewards Points? This is about the easiest method for earning jetBlue Points and Safeway Fuel Rewards Points for absolutely free.

For those of you who don’t know, jetBlue is a budget carrier based out of New York. Although they are based out of New York for those living in the Pacific Northwest, JetBlue flies from Anchorage – Seattle as well as Anchorage to Portland. Take a lookhere for a full list of JetBlue routes.

Safeway Gas Rewards can be very valuable. For every $1 you spend on groceries you get 1 gas reward point. For every 100 points you earn you get $0.10 offer per gallon of gas purchased at Safeway or Chevron gas stations. You can use a max of 1,000 gas rewards points at one time for $1 off per gallon up to 25 gallons. So there is a max savings of $25.00. This means that you have to have a vehicle that holds at least 25 gallons are get 2 vehicles lined up at once. I recently purchased an older RV, I get $25.00 worth of value every time, and I’ve already saved over $100 on gasoline in the last 2 months.

So how do you get Free JetBluePoints and Free Safeway Gas Safeway Gas Rewards? The basic idea is this. You buy Safeway gift cards online at Amazon.com after linking through with the jetBlue Amazon link.JetBlue has partnered up with Amazon to offer 3x TrueBlue points for every dollar spent at Amazon. After you receive your Safeway Gift cards by mail, you go to your local Safeway and buy the same amount of Amazon Gift cards. You earn 2x Gas Rewards points at Safeway for gift card purchases. Once you had the Amazon Gift cards you can add them to your Amazon account. Then use the Amazon Gift card balance to buy more Safeway gift cards via the jetBlue Amazon link.

A few things to note. Amazon only sells $100 physical Safeway gift cards and there is a $300 weekly limit per Amazon account. So basically unless you get creative, you are limited $300 at a time. This also means that you have a $300 float. Meaning the first time you buy Amazon or Safeway gift cards you will have to use your actual money.

How it breaks down if you buy $300.  Per rotation you would earn 600 Safeway Gas Rewards. Enough for $.60 offer per gallon. Based on 25 gallons that is worth $15.00. You would also earn 900 TrueBlue points worth an estimated 1.41 cents each based on this post by Doctor of Credit. So those 900 points are worth around $12.69 for a total value of $27.69 per rotation between the JetBlue points and the Gas rewards.

It takes a couple of days before the Safeway gift cards from Amazon actually ship (Shipping is free). Shipping takes 5-7 days. I am reasonably able to do one rotation every 10 days. So I earn 1800 Safeway Gas Rewards points and 2700 TrueBlue Points every month. So $45 worth of Gas rewards and $38.07 in TrueBlue points per month which is 21,600 or $540 worth of Gas Rewards and 32,400 or $456 worth of TrueBlue Points per year. Not bad for very little worth of work.

I was able to find flights for as little as 5,100 TrueBlue points one way from Portland to Anchorage.

 

Ok, so there is a lot to put together in this post so here is a step by step process.

Step 1 – Sign up for a JetBlue TrueBlue account here. (if you don’t already have one)

Step 2 -  Sign up for a Safeway Just4U account here. (if you don’t already have one)

Step 3 – Sign up for an Amazon account. (if you don’t already have one)

Step 4  - Here you have two choices to start with.

1. Go to your local Safeway and buy $300 worth of Amazon Gift Cards. Make sure to enter your Safeway ID or phone number associated with your account in order to get the 600 gas rewards points. I generally buy $100 Amazon gift cards, but it does matter what value you buy.
2. Log in to your Amazon Account the click on this link. Click the “SHOP AND EARN” button which will take you to Amazon. Search “Safeway Gift Cards.” You should see $100 (physical not eCards)  Safeway gift cards for sale. Add 3 to your cart and purchase with your credit card.

Step 5 – Depending whether or not you started with Step 4A or Step 4B go to the other step. If you  started with Step 4A then take your $300 worth of Amazon Gift cards and load them to your                  Amazon account. Try this link. Then follow step 4B to purchase 3 $100 Safeway giftcards using your Amazon Gift Card Balance.

Step 6 – Once you receive your Safeway Gift cards in the mail, take them to your local Safeway and buy 3 $100 Amazon gift cards. You can swipe one Safeway card at a time at the POS. The POS will automatically drain the full balance of the card. Then you can swipe the next card. No need to tell the cashier that you are using a Safeway gift card to purchase Amazon Gift cards.

Step 7. Repeat Steps 6 and 7 continuously.

Amazon limits you to 3 $100 Safeway gift cards every seven days. If you want to earn even more points you could buy $300 worth of Safeway gift cards every 7 days. This would require that you float a total of $600 between Safeway and Amazon gift cards, but would let you earn up to 46,800 JetBlue points every year for completely free.

$40 OFF $80 with Booking.com

Via the American Airlines website, there is a new offer out to get $40 off an $80 booking on Booking.com. This is a really great deal. Works best when traveling in less expensive areas. The $80 booking generally has to be before taxes. So to maximize this deal you could be getting almost 50% off. The $40 off comes as a statement credit after your stay. Looking at the terms and conditions, you also need to leave a review of the hotel and have add a non Amex credit card to your Booking.com profile. You could even use this for a multi night stay if the room rate was cheap enough.

Save 50% on Cattle Company (Black Angus) Gift Cards

I am seeing that the gift card app GiftMe is offering Cattle Company (Black Angus Steakhouse) gift cards for 50% off. These are egift cards that are delivered immediately to your phone app. A great way to save on diner or just drinks.  Cattle Company isn’t my first choice in a restaurant, but 50% off is a good enough value proposition that I jumped on this offer myself. You can combine this with signing up for their Prime Club rewards program which sends you a free dessert to use immediately and a free steak dinner on your birthday to your email. You can search other decent promos on the web.  If you combined the free steak dinner and the gift cards you could be getting as much as 75% off.

To find these deals I used Gift Card Wiki to find the best deals on gift cards.

Even better Alaska Airlines Credit Card Offer 30k, $100 statement Credit, $0 companion fare

Bank of America recently came out with the best offer ever for the Alaska Airlines Visa Signature Credit Card. It includes:

• 30,000 bonus miles after spending $1,000 in the first 90 days
• $0 companion fare
• $100 statement credit
• $75 annual fee not waived

The standard offer comes with

• 30,000 bonus miles after spending $1,000 in the first 90 days
• $99 companion fare
• $75 annual fee not waived

The limited time offer comes with the same 30,000 bonus miles after spending $1,000 in the first 90 days, but it comes with a $0 fee companion fare so you only have to pay the taxes.  This offer also comes with a $100 statement credit so not only will it offset the $75 annual fee for the first year, but it will also result in making $25.

Already have an Alaska Airlines Credit card?  In general you are allowed to have multiple Alaska Airlines credit cards. You can get the bonus multiple times. Just make sure to wait at least 90 days since your last credit card application with Bank of America to make sure you are not denied.

How to Find Extreme Discounted Gift Cards with Gift Card Wiki

Gift Card Wiki is a great website. It aggregates all of the gift card resellers into one place. There are about 15 main gift card resellers out there. You don’t really need to know that, all you need to know isGift Card Wiki. If you plan to make a purchase from any major retailer or restaurant check out Gift Card Wiki first to see if you can save some money by buying discounted gift cards.  Gift Card Wiki lets you set up an account. 

If you search "ALL" then sort by "Discount" you can see all gift cards that are for sale.

After you set up an account you can set alerts so that you can be notified when a particular gift card reaches the discount you want.

49th State Brewery in Alaska Adds Rewards Program

49^th State Brewery recently began participating in a rewards program called MobileBytes. As far as rewards programs go it is actually a pretty decent program. It in essence rewards 4% of whatever you purchase back as points. You can redeem your points for a gift card starting at just $10. So when you spend $250 you get $10 back.  Once you download the app you simply scan the QR code printed on the bottom of your purchase receipt and voila your points are added to your account.  If you are friends aren’t interested in collecting their points you can scan their receipt too. I believe you are limited to scanning 3 receipts in a 24 hour period. If you have more than 3 receipts just save them to scan later the next day.

On another note, I stumbled across a little known discount for 49^th State Brewery.  If you are a AAA member you get 10% off the price of one entrée per visit.  Not a huge discount, on a $17 entrée the savings would be $1.70, but combined with utilizing the rewards program it can save you a little bit of money. I had the AAA app on my phone, I showed it to our server and the discount was taken off.

The Alaska Northern Lights Coupon Book has a coupon for 49^th State Brewery. It is for $10 off the cost of food. The coupon book can be purchased at Barnes and Noble for $55. Don’t forget to sign up for the 49^th State Birtday Club. You get a $25 food voucher to be used within one week before or after your actual birth date.

Get $25 Off Hotel Booking over $50 at Booking.com

Via a Slickdeals thread, you can get $25 off a booking of more than $50 at booking.com. Here is the actual booking.com link where you can get the offer. You should see a green bar at the bottom of the page that says, "Book now and get US $25 back."  This a really great deal for those booking budget hotels and guesthouses. If you do it just right you could get almost 50% off. You could book a single night that costs slightly over $50 or 2 nights at $25. I expect that taxes are not included in the $50 total so the room cost before the taxes has to equal more than $50.

If you haven't signed up for booking.com yet use my referral link and get $20 back after your first booking. You may be able to get these offers to stack.

Normally I suggest that people also use a cashback portal like those found on cashbackmonitor.com to get additional discount on hotel bookings.  In this case the Slickdeals link is the one you have to use so you won't be able to get additional cashback from cashback portals. If you haven't heard about cashback portals yet, check out my Cashback Page to learn more about how to save alot of money on all your online purchases.

Using British Airways Miles to Fly on Alaska Airlines

British Airways miles are easy to collect. The standard Chase British Airways Visa credit card offers a 50,000 point bonus. With just a single credit card signup bonus you would have enough points for 3 ½ short haul round trips. British Airways is also a transfer partner with all of the credit card points programs including:

• Chase Ultimate Rewards -  1:1 transfer ratio
• American Express Membership Rewards - 250:200 transfer ratio
• Citi Thankyou Points – 1:1 transfer ratio
• Starwood Preferred Guest 1:1 transfer ratio

Between all the programs which offer transferring to British Airways Executive Club, it makes it easy to acquire lots of British Airways miles or Avios as they are called.  Although Alaska Airlines is not part of any of the major airline alliances such as the Star Alliance, OneWorld Alliance, and SkyTeam Alliance; Alaska Airlines is a partner with British Airways.  British Airways has a distance base award chart.

For Economy flights

Distance Miles	Economy
1-650	*4,500
651-1150	7,500
1151-2000	10,000
2001-3000	12,500
3001-4000	20,000
4001-5500	25,000
5501-6500	30,000
6501-7000	35,000
7001 +	50,000

*British Airways removed the 4,500 one way from the North America Award Chart so all flights less than 1,150 miles are 7,500 miles each way.

British Airways is a little different in that they charge per flight segment, so if you are on a one way trip that is two segments of 900 miles each leg, then you would get charge for each leg separately for a cost of 15,000 Avios even though the total trip length is only 1,800 miles which would only be 10,000 Avios if it was a direct flight.

So British Airways Avios are best used for direct flights on Alaska Airlines.  Anchorage to Seattle or Portland costs 10,000 Avios. Anchorage to Hawaii costs just 12,500 Avios one way.  All intra Alaska flights cost 7,500 Avios one way.

To book an award on Alaska Airlines usingBritish Airways Avios you have to call British Airways (800) 452-1201. You cannot book Alaska Airlines awards on the British Airways site. First you will want to check availability. To do this is simple. Use Alaska Airlines website and search award travel. If there is an award seat available at the Saver Award (or lowest award level) then there should be availability for British Airways to book for you.  You can also use American Airlines website and search award travel. If American Airlines has award availability then so will British Airways.

I have used British Airways Avios to fly all over Alaska. In the last 2 years I have used British Airways Avios to score more than 10 round trip tickets on Alaska Airlines. I live in Anchorage and have family in both Kodiak and Juneau. When I use 15,000 Avios round trip I average over 2.2 cents per point value. This is really a great value as round trip flights usually hover around $350-$450.

Refer your Friends & Family for the Alaska Airlines Card and Make 2,500 Miles

Many of us already have the Alaska Airlines Visa Signature Credit Card. Many probably don't know that it is possible to sign up for more than one card. Even if you already have one Alaska Airlines Visa Signature Credit Card open, you can apply for another card and you will get the bonus again.

Here is the link to set up the referral for an extra 2,500 Alaska Airlines miles.  If you don't already have the card here are a few details:

Alaska Airlines Visa Signature

• 30,000 bonus miles after you make at least $1,000 or more in purchases within the first 90 days.
• Annual companion fare from $121 ($99, plus taxes and fees from $22) after you make $1,000 or more in purchases within the first 90 days of your account opening. There are no blackout dates.
• No foreign transaction fees, plus chip enabled for enhanced security when used at chip-enabled terminals.
• $75 annual fee not waived for the first year

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 So if you are planning on applying for a second Alaska Airlines Visa Signature Credit Card feel free to use my link and I will get a bonus. Or have one of your friends or family refer you and they will get the 2,500 referral bonus.

Miles and Points Review of Whistler/Vancouver Weekend Trip

My Wife and I decided to make a long weekend trip to Vancouver, BC and Whistler. We planned to leave on a Friday morning and return on Monday night, so this would just a 3 night 4 day trip. Unfortunately, I have a day job with limited vacation time.

Alaska Airlines recently change the mileage plan to more of a distance based award chart rather than a regional based award chart. What does this mean? Before the change, North America one way economy awards outside of Alaska started at 12,500 miles each way. So a round trip from Anchorage to Vancouver would have costs 25,000 miles round trip. With the new award chart, economy awards start as low as 5,000 miles for trips less than 700 miles.

• Trip distance Under 700 miles – Awards starting at 5,000 miles

• Trip distance – 701-1400 miles - Awards starting at 7,500 miles
• Trip distance – 1401-2100 miles - Awards starting at 10,000 miles
• Trip distance – Over 2101 miles - Awards starting at 12,500 miles

Just because the award chart says that awards start at 5,000 miles each way doesn’t mean you will find any award tickets available for 5,000 miles each way. In our case the trip length was between 701 – 1400 miles one way.  We were able to find the base 7,500 miles for the departure trip and 12,500 miles for the return trip. So our round trip ticket cost us 20,000 miles each, which is still a really great deal and a 5,000 savings from the old award chart.

Our flights routed us through Seattle which is necessary as there are no direct flights from Anchorage to Vancouver in the winter months (Air Canada offers direct flights in the summer months).  We arrived at the Anchorage airport an hour before our flight departed and had the opportunity to spend 30 minutes in the Alaska Airlines Lounge. We receive complimentary access to lounge as part of our Priority Pass Select Membership which we received by signing up for the American Express Platinum credit card.

The Alaska Airlines Lounge is ok as far as airport lounges go, with free alcoholic beverages, an espresso machine, and a few snacks. It definitely makes waiting in an airport a much more tolerable experience.

Once we arrived in Seattle we had an hour and twenty minute layover. Once again we used our American Express Platinum credit card benefits to visit the American Express Centurion Lounge Studio. American Express Centurion Lounges are considered some of the best airport lounges. We enjoyed a nice breakfast in the lounge and some coffee before heading off to our next flight.

Once we arrived in Vancouver we found our rental car, and headed off for downtown Vancouver, but not before a pit stop at a local McDonalds where I had arranged to meet up with someone off of Craigslist who was selling 4 lift tickets to Whistler-Blackcomb for $58 USD each. This was a great savings as lift tickets even at the advanced purchase rate cost $92 USD each day when purchasing 2 day lift tickets.

Our schedule was to stay at the Hampton Inn and Suites Downtown on Friday night. Then drive up to Whistler Saturday morning. Ski all day on Saturday. Stay Saturday night at the Westin Resort Whistler, ski all day Sunday then drive back to Vancouver Sunday night and stay again at the Hampton Inn and Suites Downtown.

We were able to book the Hampton Inn and Suites Downtown for 40,000 Hilton points per night. When I booked the room a paid rate would have gone for about $175 including the taxes. We have accumulated Hilton Points from the American Express Hilton Honors Surpass credit card which came with 100,000 points for signing up (Current offer is only 75,000 points). I haveHilton Diamond Status due to a status match that I received from my Chase IHG credit card which comes with IHG Platinum Status. There was an opportunity by Hilton where they would match your status if you had an elite status with another hotel program.

Hilton Diamond Status can have some valuable benefits including free breakfast and lounge access, but in this case because we were staying at a Hampton Inn we received 2 snacks that we could select at the front counter. I selected a bag of trail mix and a chocolate bar. We also received two welcome drinks which we could redeem at the café near the lobby. Hilton Diamond Status also entitles you to a suite upgrade if available. Unfortunately, all of the suites were sold out on our first night so we just got the standard room. The hotel was really nice and in a great location next to Rogers Stadium in downtown Vancouver. The hotel provided complimentary bike rentals. Vancouver is a very bike friendly city. We biked around downtown andStanley Park.  Hampton Inns already come with complimentary free hot breakfast buffet. We at breakfast before heading for Whistler Saturday morning.

On Saturday morning we departed for Whistler (about 1.45 minute drive from downtown Vancouver). We had reservations at the Westin Resort and Spa. We arrived at 8:30 am and were unable to check in immediately when we arrived. We hit the slopes for a while and we were able to check in to our room by 10:30 AM. TheHilton Diamond Status came in handy hear as we were upgraded to a 1 bedroom suite, which included a separate bedroom, and a kitchen. We booked the hotel with 12,000 Starwood points which we accumulated with the American Express Starwood credit card which comes with 30,000 points after spending $5,000 in the first 3 months of card membership. When I booked the room, the Westin was almost completely sold out, and the room I booked with points would have costs over $650 USD. Once again the Hilton Diamond Status got us two free welcome drinks at any of the hotels restaurants/bars. We redeemed to the welcome drink certificates for two fancy cocktails at the Firerock Lounge that normally costs about $15 USD each. Hilton Diamond Status also got us late checkout on Sunday. Normal check out time is 11:00 am, but I was able to get the checkout time extended to 1:00 PM.

We recently signed up for the now discontinued Chase Fairmont Hotel Visa card. This card comes with a signup bonus of two free nights at any Fairmont Hotel worldwide. We plan to use the free nights at the Fairmont Kea Lani in Maui. The card also provides Premier Status with Fairmont Hotels. One of the benefits of Fairmont Premier Status is $50 in dining certificates each year. These dining certificates expire every year at the end of February. We signed up for the cards in January and we received the dining certificates in January as well. The certificates expired at the end of February then you will get new dining certificates at the beginning of March.

There was a Fairmont Hotel in Whistler and even though we were not staying there we could still redeem or certificates. We enjoyed a $50 breakfast at the Fairmont on Sunday morning.

After another great day of skiing we headed back to Vancouver on Sunday night.  We checked out Steamworks Brewery for dinner and drinks.

On Monday, we ate breakfast again at theHampton Inn and Suites Downtown. We still had another $50 in Fairmont Dining certificates so we checked out theFairmont Waterfront Vancouver for a nice lunch on the house.  Our flight back to Anchorage left at 6:45 PM. We headed back to the airport and dropped off our rental car. We were able to utilize ourPriority Pass Select Membership again and hung out in the Plaza Premium Loungebefore our departure. During our 1 hour layover in Seattle we once again visited theAmerican Express Centurion Lounge Studiofor a quick dinner and a beer, all complimentary of course.

So for the three nights in Canada we had very little expense out of pocket.

• Two round trip tickets on Alaska Airlines  40,000 miles
• 1 Night Hampton Inn and Suites                40,000 Hilton Points
• 1 Night Westin Hotel                                      12,000 SPG Points
• 2 free breakfasts at the Hampton Inn
• 1 free breakfast at the Alaska Lounge and Centurion Lounge Seattle
• 1 free breakfast at the Fairmont Whistler
• 1 free lunch at the Fairmont Waterfront Vancouver
• 1 free lunch at the Plaza Premium Lounge Vancouver Airport
• 1 free dinner at the Centurion Lounge Seattle
• 4 free drinks and snacks at the Hampton Inn
• 2 free drinks at the Westin Resort Whistler

Some of the expense we did have to pay:

• $75 rental car (normally would pay with points, but the charge had to be greater than $100 on my Barclays Arrival Plus card to redeem
• Parking  $25/night Total $75. No way around this, there was limited parking even in Whistler.
• Lift tickets – Got a great deal at $58 each

I hope this gives you an idea of what is possible with miles and points and how you really can get an almost free vacation.

$25 Voucher for Anchorage 49th State Brewing for Email List Signup

I got an email today from 49^th State Brewery in Anchorage. When I followed the link on my mobile device an popup add displayed which stated

 “Join the 49^th State – Anchorage Birthday Club and receive a $25 voucher* for your Birthday!”

The sign up form was simple, and I had to confirm my email address with a link sent to my email. I will have to wait and see if a $25 voucher shows up for my birthday. The ad did say restrictions apply, but I could not find anywhere to read the restrictions. Not sure if the voucher is only good the day of your birthday or not.

Here is the link to 49th State Birthday Club. Wait for the Pop up ad to display. This only worked for me on my Android mobile browser, but may work on other devices.

So if you live in Anchorage, or will visit Anchorage, make sure you sign up.

$30 OFF Hotel Booking with Travelocity. No Minimum Purchase

Travelocity has just released a new promo code of $30 off a hotel booking with no minimum spend. Use code TMOBILETUESDAYSTRAVEL.  You add the coupon code when you get to the payment page just above or just below where you enter the credit card information.

• Appears this is only good for bookings in the Americas including the US, Canada, Mexico, Central America, Caribbean, and South America.
• This is good for bookings between February 28, 2017 and December 31, 2017.  The terms seem to show that the code will be valid through July 31, 2017, but I kind of doubt this code will last that long.  
• This will only work on Pay Now reservations. If it is a budget hotel that only accepts pay when you stay, then the coupon code will not work.
• The code will work on hotels that cost less that $30 before taxes, but the coupon code can only be applied to the actual room rate, and not the taxes. So if you boom a room for a rate of $25 that has $6 in taxes and fees for a total of $31, you will only get $25 off.

This is a great deal especially for a budget travelers. Find hotels that cost as close to $30 as possible and only pay the taxes. Remember to use a cashback portal for the possibility of getting of getting more back.