US Bank FlexPerks are a different type of currency. It’s similar to booking through the Chase Ultimate Rewards mall or Citi ThankYou portal in that you are using your points directly for flights, so the amount of points that you use are directly tied to the cash price of the ticket.
The trick with FlexPerks is that there are “tiers” for your flights
So if you book a $400 ticket, it costs 20,000 FlexPoints, while a $401 ticket will cost 30,000 points, though there are a few tricks you can use. Note that when I (and the US Bank website) talk about redeeming for up to $400 “ticket value” – you have to book it through their travel portal. I believe it’s powered by Travelocity so it should typically find as good a deal as anywhere else.
(SEE ALSO: Simple trick to redeem Flexperks Travel Rewards on cheaper Southwest flights)
So the key is to use these for a ticket that costs as close to the target value as possible – you’ll end up getting (close to) 2 cents per point in value. I don’t know if I’m the only one, but this actually makes it a bit harder to redeem because I just “can’t” book something unless it gets the maximum value.
US Bank FlexPerks Olympic bonus
The regular signup bonus for this card is 20,000 FlexPoints, but for the past few Olympic Games, US Bank has offered a bonus based on the number of medals that the US team gets. The 2016 Rio Olympics are no different – here is a link to the promotion page.
With only a little bit to go, the current USA medal count is 38 golds, 35 silvers and 32 bronzes. Doing the match leads to a 12,700 FlexPoint bonus (in addition to the 20,000 FlexPoints you’ll get by signing up and spending at least $2,000 in the first 4 months.
Those 32,700 points (and counting) are worth at least $600 in travel, so definitely worth consideration for your next application. The link to apply is here (not an affiliate link) and you have to apply by Septmber 3rd to get the Olympics bonus
(H/T: MileNerd, even if he did get me all excited about the bonus being 30K instead of 13K :-D)
Have you applied (or are you going to apply) for the US Bank FlexPerks card with the Olympic bonus?