Weekly Deals 05/04/26

1. Rakuten VPN Point deals
97-100% back in points on spend
Details

2. Autopilot
App that automatically saves money on flights
Details

3. Point Auctions
Use your points to bid on experiences 
Details

4. Award Wallet
Lookup stores to see what category they are in
Details

1.Rakuten VPN Point deals

Rakuten currently has several VPN point deals including:

• 100x NordVPN and Incogni
• 97x NordProtect, NordPass, and SurfShark

I am reposting my explanation of the Surshark deal below from two weeks ago that addresses why you should do these deals.

Rakuten currently has a deal where you get 95x every dollar you spend at Surfshark, a Virtual Private Network (VPN) company. If you buy the longest-term plan they offer for 27 months it costs roughly $112.86 and you would get 10,721 Bilt or Amex points plus whatever your credit card normally generates (1-2%). Why would you “buy” 10,721 points for $112? Because Bilt and Amex points are worth 1.5-5+ cents per point as a result of their transfer partners. Bilt has Hyatt as a transfer partner where I easily get 2 cents a point and Alaska Airlines where I personally get 3-5 cents per point on premium economy and business class bookings. Amex has a similarly impressive transfer partner list including Air France, Air Canada, and British Airways.

Note that with Rakuten you have to go to the vendor’s website through the Rakuten portal or have the Rakuten browser extension installed. I also like to use the snip tool to video tape the process so I can prove I went through the portal as evidence in case for whatever reason I am not credited with the purchase.

Step 1: Sign up for Rakuten

• If you use my link above you will get $50 on top of the 10,721 points

Step 2: Choose Bilt or Amex points

• How to switch your Rakuten account to earning Bilt points
• How to switch your Rakuten account to earnings Amex points

Step 3: Purchase Surfshark through Rakuten

• Once the purchase is completed you should receive an email a few hours later with the title, “You earned at Surfshark”.

Step 4: Redeem your points

• Rakuten pays out on Feb 15, May 15, Aug 15, and Nov 15

2. Autopilot

Autopilot is an app you install on your phone that will automatically rebook your flight if the fare drops by $20 or more. The company has a “free” tier and a pro tier that costs $9.99 a month. The free tier charges you 25% of the savings you get from the app whereas they only charge 15% on the pro tier. After $500 in savings on the pro tier, the commission rises to 25%. The pro tier also works with points bookings, although I am not sure how they value points for the commission.

The app works with Alaska, American, Delta, JetBlue, and United. There are three ways to get a flight into the app: it can sync with your Gmail account and import flight reservations, you can forward your flight to their email or manually import the flight using your name and airline confirmation number. When the system automatically rebooks you get the same purchased cabin, but your fare class could change, which could impact you if you have elite status. One cool feature is that the app lets you import friend and family member’s reservations and can rebook them as well. You pay the resulting fees, but they still get the savings.

I have not personally used the app. I could see it being very useful for a somewhat frequent domestic traveler who is looking to save money on bookings and isn’t trying to be upgraded.

3. Point Auctions

One quasi “secret” of the points world is that many major hotels (Accor, Choice, Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott etc.) airlines, (Alaska, Avios alliance, Delta, United etc.) and credit cards usually through transfers have experiences you can bid on via auctions. In some cases you can get really good deals on auctioned items that cost a fraction of the events true cost. Auctioned items include everything from tickets to major events such as Coachella or the French open to dinners, curated experiences, concerts, and sports tickets.

Points Auctions and Points Events both aggregate points auctions. They have a similar interface and let you see the event, program name, current bid, and time left. Points Events has a nice map feature that lets you search on a map so its easier to find local experiences.

4. Award Wallet Merchants

Award Wallet is a paid tool that costs $49.99 per year which lets you track points from all your credit cards. I have used it in the past, but never saw the need for it personally. One awesome free service Award Wallet offers is a free merchant category lookup tool. The merchant category determines what kind of bonus category if any your purchase qualifies for with the credit card. For example, Chase Sapphire Reserve has 3% bonuses on restaurants and grocery. The site will also show you every major card and what your % bonus will be if you make a purchase from the retailer. One note of caution, gift card purchases are often done by third party merchants and may therefore have a different code than the merchant.