Earn Thousands of Miles and Get Wine for $6.99 Per Bottle

Most of us in the miles and points community hear about Vinesse Wine Club frequently. This internet based company offers tempting points bonuses for signing up for the wine club. The standard offer is to give you your first 6 bottles for $6.99 per bottle and wave the shipping charges. You get a varying amount of points depending on the program us sign up with. Most of the offers give you a certain amount of points for your first shipment, and more points after your second or third shipment. So your cost is $41.94 for 6 bottles of red, white, or mixed wine with free shipping.

These are the points programs that currently have lucrative offers:

United Mileage Plus - 2,000 miles after 1st shipment, 4,500 miles after your 3rd Shipment

Aadvantage American Airlines - 2,000 miles after 1st shipment, 3,000 miles after your 2nd shipment

Alaska Airlines - 2,250 miles after 1st shipment

Delta Airlines - 1,500 points after 1st shipment

Spirit Airlines - 5,000 points after 1st shipment

Hilton Honors - 3,333 points after 1st shipment

Club Carlson - 5,000 points after 1st shipment, 7,500 points after your 2nd shipment

Priority Club - 4,000 point after 1st shipment, 5,000 points after your 2nd shipment

I live in a state where wine is quite expensive. I cannot buy even the cheapest wine on the bottom shelf for $6.99 a bottle. So for me get a variety of wines for $6.99 a bottle is a great deal on its own. As for the overall quality of the wines included in the initial shipment, my opinion is that it is hit or miss. Some wines are decent and quite drinkable, others aren't so good. I frequently bring these along for various parties or as simple gifts.

In my opinion the wine is not good enough to wait for the 2nd shipment at full price plus shipping. The second shipment comes in at around $108+$20 shipping = $128 for 6 bottles or over $21 per bottle. I can find some pretty nice wines on my own for $21 a bottle. Even with the added points for the second shipment given with several of the offers it is not worth it for me.

I am currently in the process of testing this, but I think it is possible to get multiple offers from Vinesse. I have been succesful in signing up for a Club Carlson and an Alaska Airlines in less than one week. I received 2 boxes of wine and my credit cards were charged $41.94 each for 6 bottles of wine.

If you want to sign up for multiple offers you will need to use a different email address. If you don't have several email address and if you have a gMail account you can simply add a period in your email address and it will still arrive at the same inbox. So if your email address is johndoe@gmail.com you can use john.doe@gmail.com.

Make sure to enter different rewards account numbers. I have not confirmed this yet. It may be possible to get multiple for example Delta Airlines bonuses for the same frequent flier number.

For now use different rewards accounts. You can use your own account the first time, perhaps a spouse's account the second time. I have multiple Club Carlson numbers for personal and business use so I could sign up for two Club Carlson bonuses.

I also use a slightly different name for each account. My first name is Timothy so I use Timothy on the first signup and Tim on the second signup.

There is a lot of information out there about how Vinesse is pretty shiesty when it comes to quickly sending out a second shipment or making it difficult to cancel your membership. Here are some tips to getting around that.

As soon as you receive your first shipment, log into your account using your email and the temporary password provided to you in an email. On the right side up the page you will see a link that allows you to delay your next shipment. You can delay shipment for at least two months out. This gives you time to make sure points from the first shipment post to your account. Once the points have posted call and cancel your account.

Let me know your experiences with Vinesse. Post any questions in the comments.

A New Twist on the Up to 10,000 Club Carlson Points for a LifeLock Membership

Many of the travel blogs have been posting recently about the promotion with LifeLock for up to 10,000 Club Carlson Points for a membership. LifeLock is a identity protection service that for most of us in the miles and points world have little use for in my opinion as we regularly check up on our credit reports and open credit cards. Regardless, I still think this deal has value.

This is how the offer breaks down:  There are three levels of service

• Standard ($8.99/month) - Bonus 7,500 Club Carlson Points
• Advantage ($17.99/month) - Bonus 8,500 Club Carlson Points
• Ultimate Plus ($26.99/month) - Bonus 10,000 Club Carlson Points

Although the offers says 30 day free trial the first month free trial was not available when I went to the billing page. I currently have a claim out requesting that LifeLock extend the 30 Day FREE trial to me. As of right now, your credit card will be billed automatically. I will post an update when I get a response from LifeLock.

You are required to have the service for 31 days in order to get the points. The objective would be to cancel your account after you have met the terms to receive the Club Carlson points.

If you want to maximize the value of this offer you will want to sign up for the Standard Service which is $8.99/ month. You will be required to pay the $8.99 when you first sign up and again on day 31 for the next month bringing the cost up to $17.98 for 7,500 Club Carlson points. The cost per points is $0.0024 per point so about 1/4 of one cent per point. Many people is the points world value Club Carlson points at around 1/2 a cent per point. So this offer enables you to pick up 7,500 Club Carlson points for half cost.

In my opinion signing up for this offer really only makes sense if you currently have a US Bank Club Carlson Credit Card which extends 2 night free on award bookings which basically cuts the cost of an award night in half for every two day booking. As a result I always book Club Carlson awards for two day bookings.

Category 3 hotels which there are a reasonable amount of cost 28,000 points per night. With the 2nd night free benefit a category 3 hotel is 14,000 points per night. If you paid 1/4 cent per point you would pay just $35 for a free night, a really great deal!

On another note, I just successfully signed up for a second US Bank Club Carlson Premier Rewards Visa Signature credit card.  I receive 85,000 points after spending $2,500 in the first 3 months.

I received the second credit card even though I currently have the same exact credit card already open. This is great news! I already have both personal and business versions.

What Credit Cards Do I Currently Have Open?

I was doing some review the other day trying to figure out how many credit cards I currently have open right now. I have 13 open rewards credit cards. I have had many others, but I have since closed those credit cards. From these credit cards, I earned 645,000 points. These are not necessarily the top credit cards. There are many great credit card offers. Remember, before applying for any new credit cards, ensure that you are getting the best offer available.

They are:

Chase Ink Bold - 50,000 Ultimate Rewards Points. Rumor of a 70,000 points offer

Chase IHG Rewards Club Select - 80,000 points, currently only 60,000. may be better offer available

Chase British Airways Visa - 50,000 points

Barclays Arrival Plus World Elite - 40,000 points

US Bank Club Carlson Premier Rewards - 85,000 points

US Bank Club Carlson Business Rewards - 85,000 points

US Bank LANPASS Visa Signature - 30,000 points, currently only 20,000 points

Bank of America Alaska Airlines Visa Signature - 25,000 points

Bank of America Alaska Airlines Business - 30,000 points, currently only 25,000

Citi Platinum Select Aadvantage World MasterCard - 50,000 points

Citi Business Aadvantage World MasterCard - 50,000 points

Citi Executive Aadvantage World Elite Mastercard - 100,000 points currently only 50,000. May be better offer available.

IHG Hotel Point Breaks

IHG stands for Intercontinental Hotels Group. IHG Point Breaks

Last Week, IHG (Intercontinental Hotel Group) released its newest list of Point Breaks. Point Breaks are a selection of hotels that can be had for just 5,000 points per night. Many of these hotels regularly cost 30,000 points.

You may not be aware of the IHG rewards program, but the Point Breaks can be a great reason to sign up for Chase IHG Rewards Club Visa credit card. 

The Chase IHG Rewards Club Visa credit card is often touted as one of the best hotel credit cards available.

I was able to use my points on Point Breaks for a four night stay in at the Intercontinental Mendoza in Mendoza, Argentina. I visited with my parents for four nights. We had two different rooms. The cost was just 5,000 Priority Club points per night. The regular points rate is 25,000 points per night. Over the four night stay in two rooms we saved 140,000 points by paying just 40,000 points total for the two rooms for four nights versus 200,000 points. We also received free breakfast for all of us because of the IHG Platinum status that came with the Chase IGH Rewards Club Select Visa credit card.

   

If you wanted to maximize the points you received from the Chase IHG Rewards  Club Select Visa credit card and only use them for Point Breaks, you could get 12 free nights from this one credit card.

There are many other good value hotels in the IHG program. This winter I am planning on a ski vacation to Whistler, BC. There is a HolidayInn that only charges 15,000 points per night for a suite.

This website shares how you can buy 5,000 Priority club points for $35 with this workaround. You do need to have at least 10,000 Priority Club points in your account already to use this trick. 

Currently the Most Used Credit Card in My Wallet

There are so many credit cards out there, and many of us have many credit cards that it can be difficult to chose which credit card to pull out of your wallet when the time comes. The credit card that I pull out of my wallet most frequently right now is the Barclays Arrival Plus World Elite Mastercard card. This is my favorite card for every day spending. Why is that? Almost exclusively because it give what comes out to 2.22% back on all purchases. There is no other credit card out there right now that gives that much back on everyday purchases. Officially the Barclays Arrival card gives 2x points for all purchases. The points can be used as statement credit against any travel related purchases including hotels, flights, rental cars, and train tickets.

So if you purchase a $400 flight with your Barclays Arrival card you could redeem 40,000 points and receive a $400 statement credit. On top of that you receive a 10% refund on all points redeemed for travel. In this case you would receive 4,000 points back. When those 4,000 points are redeemed you would receive 400 points back. That what makes up the 2.22% return.

What also great is that you do not even need to buy the travel related items through the Barclays Portal. You can just purchase your flights from the airline or rental car comapany, etc... As long as the credit card purchase codes to travel you can use your points to redeem for statement credit.

So why am I using this card over my Chase Ink Bold credit card. The Chase Ink Bold is a great credit card that earns Ultimate Rewards points. Many travel hackers value Ultimate rewards points about 1.5 cents per mile. This isn't nearly as good as the Barclays Arrival card as this give 2.22 cents per mile for all purchases. If I am able to use my Chase Ink Bold for purchases in special categories like the 5x at office supply stores then the Chase Ink Bold is definitely the better choice because 5x  X 1.5 cents/mile = 7.5 cents per mile. But you can not get the category bonus on most of your everyday spending. That is why most of my purchases go to my Barclays Arrival card.

That isn't all! Sign up and get:

• 40,000 bonus miles after spending $3,000 in the first 90 days
• No foreign transaction fees
• $89 annual fee waived for the first year

Best Credit Card for Alaskans

Living in Alaska we have limited options for which airlines service our state or our city. Many blogs advertise the Southwest Credit Card or the Virgin America credit card to their readers. These are great credit cards... if you live in an area serviced by one of these airlines. So what are the best credit cards for people living in Alaska?

I think it is probably just a gimme, but most Alaskan educated on the subject would suggest that the Bank of America Alaska Airlines Visa Signature Card is the top credit card for Alaskans. Alaskan Airlines has the largest presence in Alaska with flights as far north as Barrow and as far south as Ketchikan This credit card offers:

• 30,000 Alaska Airlines miles after first purchase
• valuable $99 companion fare
• 3x miles on Alaska Airlines purchases
• $75 fee is NOT waived for the first year

Most of the offers publicly available are for only 25,000 miles so this offer is 5,000 miles greater. Yes, the $75 fee is not waived for the first year, but 25,000 miles is sufficient for a round trip domestic ticket. This is well worth the $75 fee.

The $99 companion ticket is also quite valuable. It works like this:

• Works only flights on  Alaska Airlines flights only
• Purchase one ticket and received the second for $99 plus tax

The Alaska Airlines Visa Signature Credit Card was my first credit card and I have kept it ever since. Some people find that they are not able to use the $99 companion ticket before the 1 year expiration date (you get a new $99 companion ticket every year you have the credit card).  I see that many people sell their Alaska Airlines companion ticket on craigslist. The going rate is around $175. A reminder that this practice is not completely legitimate from the perspective of Alaska Airlines, but many people do it.

So if you do not have this credit card already, you should definitely consider signing up!