If you share finances with a partner, stacking gets even juicier:

Both of you open cards in the same flexible-currency ecosystem (Chase, Amex, etc.).

Pass referral links back and forth when opening new cards—easy 15–25 K points each time.

Add authorized-user cards only after a bonus pops up (“Add an AU, get 20 K points”).

Pool the portal clicks. Airline portals don’t care whose name is on the credit card; they credit whoever’s logged-in portal account fired the click.

Result: every grocery order, home-improvement splurge, or Black-Friday haul feeds a single mountain of transferable points you can later split into two award tickets.

Two-Player Mode: double the stack, double the fun

Wrong click order. Only the last portal click before checkout gets credit. Clear cookies or open an incognito window when you switch portals.

Gift-card exclusions. Many portals exclude purchases coded as gift cards or “payment toward a balance.” Read the merchant’s fine print.

Double-dip illusions. Some card offers conflict with portals because they reroute you to a third-party processor; if a portal specifically says “ineligible with coupon codes,” skip the offer or accept you might lose the portal points.

Expiration creep. Airline-portal miles usually extend the clock on your frequent-flyer account, but cash-back portals may expire after 12 months of inactivity. Log in once a quarter to keep them alive.

Card offers: coupons hiding inside your banking app

Issuers like American Express, Chase, and Capital One push targeted offers you must add to your card before paying. Think “Spend $100 at Hilton, get 20% back in points” or “Earn 2,000 Bonus Miles at Best Buy.” Find them in your card’s mobile app, tap Add to Card, and pay with that card online or in-store. When the transaction posts, the bonus credits automatically.

Pitfalls to dodge

Stacking on the go: browser extensions & phone tips

Install the Rakuten or Capital One Shopping extension so a pop-up reminds you when a site is portal-eligible. On mobile, open the airline-portal app before launching Safari/Chrome; the app passes through the click the same way the desktop portal does. If you’re standing at the cash register, see whether your issuer has an in-store offer you can add in seconds, it still counts.

Preview of Post 5: spending the pile

You now know how to collect points faster than most seasoned travelers. Next up, we flip the coin: finding and booking business-class award seats using Seats.aero, Point.me, and Thrifty Traveler Premium (don’t forget code HollyandLuke for $10 off). Spoiler: those stacks you just earned could be your ticket to a lie-flat bed over the Atlantic - taxes under $100, champagne included.

Make sure autopay is still set to “Pay in Full,” bookmark your favorite portals, and we’ll meet you in the next post with a boarding pass in hand.

The anatomy of a perfect stack

Here’s the simple three-step routine we run almost every time we buy something online:

Fire up a portal—usually Rakuten if it’s 10 % cash-back (which we set to convert into Amex points).

Activate a card offer—open the Amex app and see if Nike, Apple, or whoever has a targeted bonus. Tap Add to Card.

Pay with the card that earns the best multiplier—Amex Gold for 4 × at restaurants or Chase Freedom Flex if the merchant happens to be a 5 × quarterly category.

One checkout, three layers of rewards.

It won’t override bad redemption choices. Using points for Amazon gift cards is still terrible value even if you earned them at 20 ×.

It won’t fix poor budgeting. If stacking tempts you to buy things you didn’t actually need, the “free” trip costs more than a cash ticket.

It won’t replace signup bonuses as the fastest path to six-figure balances—stacking is a multiplier, not a shortcut.

What stacking won’t do