Tag Archives for cardless.
Cardless, co-founded by a former points blogger who once signed up for 150 credit cards in college, has now raised $170 million and offers airline cards with Qatar, Avianca, TAP, LATAM—with Bilt set to join next year.
Cardless got its start with sports team cards, and it made sense to limit a customer to just one card. The thinking goes that a customer would be a super fan of a single team, and if they were getting multiple cardless cards it probably wasn’t their dedication to the brand as much as a bonus or other strategic play they were after.
If I were eligible, I’d definitely consider the premium card – a year of oneworld Sapphire and 80,000 points is a no-brainer to me and I’d spend hard through end of year to earn the redemption fee rebate.
Last year, Star Alliance member TAP Air Portugal launched a U.S. credit card with Cardless. At the time, they had a 60,000 point initial bonus offer, but that dropped down to 30,000 points after the initial push for cardmembers.
Now they’re back with a strong acquisition offer: 58,000 bonus miles That’s an odd number, right?
Qatar Airways, like many frequent flyer programs, adds cash surcharges when you redeem your miles. Their award travel isn’t free. Still, it can be an incredible deal to redeem 70,000 points to fly arguably the best business class in the world… even with a few hundred bucks out of pocket.
But what if you didn’t have to pay these cash surcharges at all?
New Cardless cards for Star Alliance member Avianca LifeMiles are live. I’m really excited about the premium card, which is chock full of benefits.
Qatar Airways just launched two new U.S. credit cards and they are really interesting since just getting the premium card gives you oneworld status that includes lounge access when flying American Airlines and Alaska Airlines domestically – for less than buying a lounge membership – and even includes access to American Airlines business class Flagship lounges.
Star Alliance member Avianca LifeMiles has one of the most valuable frequent flyer programs for experts in award travel. They have reasonable redemption prices. There are no fuel surcharges. And when you have some coach segments along with business or first class, the price of the award drops.
Qatar Airways is launching a U.S.-based credit card. Actually, they’re launching two, and I’m especially excited to see what the super premium card (Visa Infinite) has to offer.
The initial bonus offer on this card is about to drop. For card launch there is a limited-time offer of 60,000 points after $2,500 spend within 90 days. This is only available for approvals before November 30th and it is 50% larger than the regular bonus offer that will replace it. So, jump on this offer now.
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
