Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.Even if you’re new to the points and miles hobby, you know that maximizing each and every purchase by choosing the right credit card is essential for quickly boosting your rewards balances across programs. Of course, even if you pick the best card for a given purchase, it needs to code correctly in order for you to earn the category bonus.After a reader emailed us to share how he was able to earn 3x Ultimate Rewards points on duty-free purchases made at the US-Canada border (thanks to having the Ambassador Bridge Reward Card connected to his Chase Sapphire Reserve), we were curious to see which other purchases have unexpectedly earned bonus rewards. We posed the question in the TPG Lounge, and here’s what you had to say:A Fortuitous Mix-Up10% back with Uber for a record store purchase mistakenly identified as a Visa Local Offer partner? Sounds good to us. Image by Mara Elizabeth Ludwig/Getty Images.Joe T. had this to say: “Uber local partnership, ordered a couple hundred in records from NYC, apparently it had the same name as a coffee shop here in Chicago because they gave me 10% back in Uber credits.“Food Not RequiredAs we’ve noted in the past, often a bar that doesn’t serve food will still code as a dining purchase on an Ultimate Rewards-earning card like the Sapphire Reserve or the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card. Marcelius B. experienced this firsthand: “Bought a glass at a brewery because it shares my last name. Got coded as 2x points for Ultimate Rewards.“Tavo R. also lucked out with bonus points while enjoying beer: “Signed up for the 5x bonus on the Chase Freedom for restaurants, mostly all CO breweries don’t have food service but still got 5x. Best bonus ever!” (No longer open to new applicants)Sign up for our daily newsletterEmail addressSign upI would like to subscribe to The Points Guy newsletters and special email promotions. The Points Guy will not share or sell your email. See privacy policy.And Joel M. was able to take things one step further: “My barber shop is in a bar. 3x points on haircuts!“A Wedding SurpriseWeddings aren’t cheap, but if the venue codes as a travel purchase, you’ll at least earn extra points. Image by Jianghui Cai/EyeEm/Getty Images.Chris O. says, “My wife and I paid for our wedding using the Chase Sapphire Reserve. Our wedding venue coded as travel so we earned 3x points. All our vendors were also billed through the venue, so we even earned 3x points on floral, decor, DJ, and photographer costs.“Daniel P. was also able to maximize wedding expenses: “Our wedding venue coded as dining! Several thousand bucks in spend. Talk about a happy day.“The Silver Lining to a Bad SituationAs Doug H. learned, it can really pay to have rental car insurance through a travel rewards credit card: “I misjudged a u-turn in New Zealand and hit a tree. Hertz automatically charges and leaves it up to you to deal with insurance. Since I used my CSR I got triple points. Used the CSR rental car protection and got a check in the mail a few months later to cover the charges. Over 6,000 free points (even if I nearly had a heart attack when I saw the damage on the car).”
