How to watch the Olympics for free

Good morning from Dakar, Senegal! 🇸🇳

I’m doing my best to fight off this jet lag, so just bear with me (and apologies if today’s newsletter is less coherent than usual).

Let’s get into it:

• ⛷️ How to watch the Winter Olympics for free (with credit card perks)

• 🥕 Buy groceries, get 5,500 bonus United miles

• ✈️ American Airlines status match, explained

⛷️ How to watch the Winter Olympics for free (with credit card perks)

The Winter Olympics are in full swing, folks. And that means two things:

1. I think I could absolutely compete in curling if someone handed me a broom, and

2. You can watch every Olympic event for free with an underrated credit card benefit 👀

Let’s talk about the second one (you can thank Daily Drop President Austin for unearthing this idea, by the way).

The big picture

If you have a co-branded credit card with this bank, there’s a very good chance you can activate a complimentary 3-month Instacart+ membership.

And… it just so happens that Instacart+ includes Peacock (the streaming service), which is where you can stream the Olympics for free. Boom!

Which cards are eligible?

All IHG, Marriott, Hyatt, Southwest, Aeroplan, and Avios-earning co-branded cards (again, only with that one bank) are eligible for this benefit, along with two business cards (this one and this one).

You can read about this benefit and see a specific list of eligible cards on this website.

United cards also offer similar Instacart benefits (read more here).

So, basically, MOST cards from that bank include this benefit. It’s very, very good.

It gets even better….

All cards with this benefit also include monthly Instacart credits. Specifically, here is what you get:

• Airline and hotel co-branded cards get $10 per month in credits

• The business cards I mentioned get $20 per month

If you have multiple eligible cards (I personally have four), you can sign up for consecutive 3-month Instacart+ memberships to take advantage of the benefit multiple times.

But even if you want to leverage this benefit purely for the Olympics, it’s a pretty awesome deal for buying groceries on the backend.

This Instacart benefit is good until December 2027, so you still have almost two years to take advantage of it on all of your cards.

Here is a very quick step-by-step for unlocking this:

• Create an Instacart account

• Click the three lines in the top-left corner

• Click “my account settings”

• Click “Instacart+”

• Scroll down, and you’ll see a box that allows you to redeem your card perks

Oh, and there’s one more stacking element to this…

🥕 Buy groceries, get 5,500 bonus United miles

If you are playing the Instacart+ game from the previous section, you’ll want to hear about another way to stack some miles on your Instacart orders.

United MileagePlus has a special partnership with Instacart that could earn you a bunch of bonus miles.

You can check out the partnership page for all of the details, but most people will be interested in two specific components:

1. Link your United and Instacart accounts and get 500 bonus miles after placing your first order

2. Place four orders of $35+ in the first 8 weeks of enrollment and earn 5,000 bonus United miles.

If you’re already placing orders with Instacart to take advantage of those card credits, this is a super easy win, especially for United loyalists.

As always, there is fine print

Here are the nitty-gritty details you’ll want to be aware of:

• This offer is only valid for new Instacart users or users with no orders in the past 12 months

• You must complete your four orders within 8 weeks of enrolling and linking your accounts

• Orders must be at least $35, excluding taxes, fees, and tips

• Restaurant orders are not eligible

Again, if you’re a regular Instacart user (or plan to become one with these credits), none of those terms is particularly restrictive.

While 5,500 miles isn’t anything crazy, it does get you a decent way toward a free domestic flight on United. And that’s pretty sweet.

✈️ American Airlines status match, explained

Status matches rock.

It’s the best way to take your hard-earned status in one program and leverage it into an equally great status in another program.

And one of my favorites is the ongoing American Airlines status match.

If you have status with Southwest, JetBlue, Delta, or United, you can turn it into American Airlines status, which comes with some nice perks.

Many mid-tier statuses in those programs can match AA Platinum or higher, which already comes with some tasty benefits:

Now, let’s talk about the catch…

Once you match to AA status, you’ll only have it for four months. BUT… if you earn a certain number of loyalty points during that time, you can extend your status for another four months.

If you do this three times, you’ll get to keep your status for the rest of that membership year.

Yes, it’s kind of annoying… just think of it like playing a video game where you unlock new levels of travel perks. 🤷🏼‍♂️

Anyway, here is how many Loyalty Points you’ll need to earn in the four-month period to maintain or upgrade your status:

• 13,000 Loyalty Points for Gold status

• 25,000 Loyalty Points for Platinum Status

• 42,000 Loyalty Points for Platinum Pro status

• 67,000 Loyalty Points for Executive Platinum status (for you overachievers out there)

The reason I love this particular match so much is that there are tons of ways to earn those loyalty points besides just flying.

What status do you need to have?

Here is a table showing you which status you can match to from other airlines:

As you can see, even Southwest A-List Preferred or Delta Gold (neither of which is too hard to earn) can unlock Platinum status with AA.

Anyway, I’ve had status with all three major airline alliances, and I have always felt that Oneworld (the alliance that AA gives you benefits with) has been the best by a long shot.

If you have status with any airline and want to date around, I highly recommend this.

Okay…. That’s about all my brain can handle today, folks. I hope you enjoyed this newsletter full of tedious (but useful) tips.

Take care and see you tomorrow 😴

14.7167° N, 17.4677° W

With contributions by McKay Moffitt