The Points Lord Giveth and the Points Lord Taketh Away

Today we mourn the loss of an integral member of our community, the Chase Sapphire Preferred 50,000 point sign-up bonus. Rest in peace old friend, you have earned it.

Fear not, the offer is now in heaven with the sexy British Airways 100,000 miles deal.

But before we don our finest black cashmere and officially begin to sit shiva, we thought we would point out several of the more positive happenings in the points world over the last couple days.

• Although the Sapphire Preferred bonus lost 10,000 Ultimate Rewards points, Chase, like some magical points surgeon, appears to have merely transplanted those points into the Freedom card, whose bonus rose from 20,000 to 30,000 Ultimate Rewards points, as noted by Mommy Points. A direct link to the 30,000 point application is here.
• Per Million Mile Secrets, Chase released an updated version of its United MileagePlus card that includes a $50 statement credit. Moreover, many have received targeted offers of 1.5x miles for every dollar spent on this card for a limited time. Our offer began March 1 and ends April 31, but Chase appears to be rolling this out gradually, so pay close attention to your mail. This is a superb way to rack up Star Alliance miles on your non-category bonus spending, like large liquor store purchases and yachting accessories. We earned more than 1500 miles just for buying a little overnight bag!
• In other encouraging news, Citibank tweaked its AAdvantage card offerings. A full report is available via View from the Wing, but we agree that the primary benefit is a 10% rebate on miles redemptions, capped at 10,000 miles a year. In related news, Chase and Amex still offer better cards than Citi.

So fear not friends! While it is inevitable that the corpses of card offerings and fallen human comrades will litter the arduous path to true points glory, we know there are new offerings just over the horizon. Though we will miss the 50,000 Sapphire Preferred bonus, we remain optimistic and will continue to see the glass of bubbly as half full. If you remain in need of further encouragement, please see here.