The spreadsheet had nine tabs. She opened five cards in fourteen months, prepaid a year of her cousin's rent to hit a minimum spend, and bought $9,400 in gift cards she then used at the same grocery store she always used. The redemption came through at 2:15 on a Tuesday: Newark to Doha, seat 2A, a flat bed and a menu with a cover.

She photographed the champagne, the amenity kit, the warm bowl of nuts, and posted the taxes and fees she had paid: $86.40. Doha lasted thirty-one hours. She saw an airport, a mall, and a hotel gym, and slept through most of the second afternoon. Her annual card fees that year came to $2,190, and she called the trip free at Thanksgiving, twice.