Podcasts about frequent miler

We've been gradually telling the "origin stories" of each team member in Frequent mIler. Today, we'll talk about how Tim came to join Frequent Miler.(00:52) - How did Tim get started in miles and points?(02:12) - Around 16 or 17, Tim and his brother planned out a series of roadtrips to try to see beyond their Midwestern home.(06:24) - To prepare for his honeymoon years later, Tim volunteered for medical research studies to raise money. His goal: take his new wife to the top 5 places she wanted to see. (New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, France, and Ireland.) (09:10) - After all that travel, Tim and his wife ended up with a bunch of United miles. He started to learn a bit about miles when he attempted to use those United miles to fly home for the holidays. (13:07) - Gradually, Tim started to learn more, starting with a Southwest credit card.(14:14) - When Tim started entering the wine making industry, he started traveling more for work and had the opportunity to join an expensed trip to South Africa if he could get himself there. As a tall guy, he was motivated to figure out a way to fly business class.(20:31) - Tim and his wife planned a trip to the Maldives, which got Tim even deeper into the hobby, especially when he sort of stumbled upon a type of mistake fare of sorts where his stay was earning points as though it were a paid stay. (23:12) - In 2021, Tim was starting to tire of working in the wine industry and was itching for something new. His wife was helping him brainstorm his dream job and he said "I'd love to write for Frequent Miler." About a week later, he saw the job posting for a new author at Frequent Miler. (27:34) - Nick and Greg shares their impression of Tim's application and interview.(33:18) - So what does Tim get most excited about now, in the points and miles hobby?Visit https://frequentmiler.com/subscribe to get updated on in-depth points and miles content like this, and don't forget to like and follow us on social media.Music Credit – Beach Walk by Unicorn Heads

Send us a textHave you found yourself struggling to find cheap flights using your points and miles? Do you see other people post about redeeming their points for business and 1st class trips around the world, but you can't even find a deal on a basic economy seat for under 60,000 points? Today's guest breaks down all the ins and outs of finding those deals, plus we talk about some must have tools for redemption searches including a free browser plug in that takes all the guess work out of your next search.Julian Kheel has been covering points and miles topics since 2014 in various different news outlets. He has been a contributor to the “big boys” of points and miles, including Frequent Miler and the Point's Guy where he was a director and senior analyst before breaking away and starting his own travel start up, Points Path- a game changer for point redemptions, which we know is the hardest part of the points and miles hobby.Topics we cover today: Strategies for point and miles redemptions; including how to choose travel destinations, how to begin points and miles searches and how to level up over time.Best redemptions we've found and some ones we're looking for in the future The best free and paid tools to take some of the guesswork out of redemptions (or make it easier to get started). Some of the tools we talk about: Points Path - Just go ahead and download this, its free and a no brainer!  Point.meSeats.aeroPoints.yeah**this is not a paid ad and we are not affiliates as of the recording of this episode, we just really like this product! Support the showJoin our Travel Community on Facebook to connect with other like minded travelers, share stories, tips, tricks and travel hack wins- Travel More Insiders Subscribe to our Newsletter for access to our giveaways and travel hacking tips Visit our Website https://travelmorepodcast.com/ Join Going (Scott's Cheap Flights) Use code: MAGIC20 for 20% off your first year! Check out our Travels in real time on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thetravelmores/ Get in touch with us at contact@travelmorepodcast.com Disclosure: We only recommend products we would or do use ourselves and all opinions expressed here are our own. This post may contain affiliate links that at no additional cost to you, we may earn a small commission.

This week we'll lean about the "ultimate life hack", we'll gripe about how we're being Bonvoyed every which way, and we'll debate: is the points and miles game dead?(01:14) - Listeners respond to our "Points for the next generation" podcast Ep306 with some great life hacks...You can find our "Points for the next generation" podcast Ep306 here.(08:53) - Nick's schedule change storyRead more about Nick's schedule change story here.(16:17) - The Blackjack Apprenticeship PodcastFind our guest appearance on the Blackjack Apprenticeship podcast "AP Life Skills: Maximizing Your Edge with Credit Card Rewards" on Spotify here or on Apple Podcasts here...(17:43) - Hilton 200K awards: See: Hashing out Hilton's Devaluation | Coffee Break Ep56 | 5-20-25 here(18:45) - Bonvoyed: Marriott elites shouldn't expect suites(22:02) - Marriott's Dearborn Inn Autograph Collection: No free breakfast for Platinum ElitesRead more about this here.(25:16) - Citi Strata Premier, Prestige cashout drops to 0.75 (but with easy work-around)(27:46) - Bilt: Reducing all non-Bilt cards to 0.5 pts/dollar (like Amex) when paying rent starting 6/21(31:21) - St Pancras Chambers Club permanently closed(33:57) - Virgin Atlantic award sale: Only 4,800 points to fly to/from UK through September 2025(38:50) - Air France / KLM Flying Blue cuts redemption rates for 2026 Delta flights(41:29) - Easy Money w/ ShopBack portalLearn more about our Shopback portal promo here: https://frequentmiler.com/shopback-portal-promo-for-frequent-miler-readers-20-signup-bonus-20-when-spending-20-in-may/(45:43) - New Kimpton Secret Password: “Social Sent Me”Main Event: The end of the points & miles game?(47:50) - Doomsday Events(50:15) - On the other hand, welcome bonuses higher than ever(51:58) - Category bonuses higher than ever(54:00) - More opportunities for transferable points than ever before(57:02) - Transfer bonuses very common(59:27) - New award sweet-spots keep popping up all the time(1:03:10) - Great tools make it easier to find awards(1:10:09) - Valuable promotions pop up randomly(1:17:45) - Do devaluations like Hilton's feel like a bigger deal to non-bloggers (who maybe have fewer points?)Visit https://frequentmiler.com/subscribe/ to get updated on in-depth points and miles content like this, and don't forget to like and follow us on social media.Music Credit – “Ocean Deep” by Annie Yoder

In today's episode we'll talk about how you can still book Emirate first class awards, we'll discuss Spirit Airlines is going premium, and we'll look at how you can prepare your kids for points and miles.(01:29) - Does anyone else feel like American Express' customer service is above and beyond the rest?(09:33) - Chase Instacart benefits on many cards(17:07) - Buy Marriott Points for as low as 0.89 cents each (or maybe lower)Read more about buying Marriott points here.(23:33) - Emirates restricting first class availability to elite members from 5/12/25(24:14) - Read about booking Emirates first class with Qantas or Air Canada miles here.(27:43) - Too good to last: Rakuten stops offering rewards for Chase cards(30:08) - Japan Airlines added as a new Bilt transfer partner(32:23) - Combined Alaska/Hawaiian loyalty program now expected in August(38:31) - Spirit updatesMain Event: Points for the next generation(47:57) - Sign up for airline accounts to earn miles now(57:39) - How do you track all these accounts?(1:04:29) - Help them build credit history(1:10:13) - Help them build college savingsRead more about earning miles for college savings here.Or find the best options for buying Gift of College gift cards here.(01:18:52) - See our Plastiq guide here.(1:22:15) - Help them build rewards balances & let them help you build yours(1:23:06) - Help them build their credit card collection(01:34:37) - Learn more about Travel Freely here: https://frequentmiler.com/take-the-stress-out-of-credit-card-bonus-hunting-travel-freely/(1:39:08) - Why isn't anyone talking about the Accor Signature Annual Membership given their airline transfer partners (many with a 1:1 ratio)?Visit https://frequentmiler.com/subscribe/ to get updated on in-depth points and miles content like this, and don't forget to like and follow us on social media.Music Credit – “Ocean Deep” by Annie Yoder

Takeaways: The Frequent Miler on the Air podcast has officially joined the Voyascape podcast network, which signifies a shift in a few ways. Listeners of the audio version will notice new network identifiers and advertisements, which were previously absent from the podcast. (Viewers via YouTube will not see any change.) The transition to Voyascape will not alter the core content of the podcast, as we remain committed to producing original material without external influence, as always. Advertisers featured in the podcast will primarily be travel-related, ensuring relevance to the audience's interests. But we'll look for advertisers who are not too related to the specific topics we tackle in our episodes, so we can maintain the integrity of the content and make sure it's very clear to listeners the difference between the podcast content and the host-read ad segments. By joining Voyascape, we aim to diversify our revenue streams, moving beyond reliance on credit card affiliate links. The collaboration with Voyascape also presents an opportunity to potentially expand our audience by attracting new listeners interested in travel.

In today's episode, we'll talk about how The Standard is coming to Hyatt...(but we're too old for it). Nick will enlighten Greg about the fact that Air France flies to French Polynesia, and we'll talk through our recent award booking stories.(01:24) - A correction about the Delta Business Gold card (with a $150 hotel credit, not $200 as mentioned in the episode).(02:23) - Would a speculative Discover Miles card be worth it for the 3x everywhere for the first year, with the chance that those all become transferable to C1 miles when the merger goes through?(08:05) - Greg acquired Smartly 4% card, downgraded Chase Sapphire Reserve, and got approved for Chase Sapphire Preferred(20:06) - Citi Rewards+ may be achievable for some(22:54) - Cardless removes one card per lifetime limit(24:10) - Qatar cards increased offers(29:54) - Rakuten's shopping portal has a great new trick | Coffee Break Ep55 | 5-5-25 (Earn Amex and Chase cards at once)Check out the coffee break episode 55 here.(34:52) - TPG: "Chase Sapphire Preferred vs. Amex EveryDay Preferred: A $95 annual fee showdown"(37:57) - Hyatt integration of The Standard(43:15) - Air Tahiti bookable via Flying Blue(47:19) - Nick: Hilton free night extendable(50:43) - Gondola no longer requires access to your emailMain Event: Award Booking Stories(52:09) - Greg: Booked premium cabin flights to Japan for his sonRead more about this trip here.(1:01:28) - Nick: Booked unexpected trip to Bora Bora(1:18:54) - Greg: Booked lie-flat round trip to London for 3(1:34:28) - Why do people choose to do all this work for travel rather than just cash back?Visit https://frequentmiler.com/subscribe/ to get updated on in-depth points and miles content like this, and don't forget to like and follow us on social media.Music Credit – “Ocean Deep” by Annie Yoder

In today's episode, we're schooled about Wells Fargo cards, we learn about earning points on your mortgage, and we talk about how you can take the sting out of Southwest's customer unfriendly changes.(01:03) - Listeners give us more ideas about making a great Wells Fargo WalletFind our episode "A World-Class Wells Fargo Wallet" here.(08:20) - Mesa Homeowners Card: Earn transferable points on mortgage payments(14:20) - Goldbelly no longer selling $10 gift cards (minimum is $25)(16:06) - Read about maximizing your "coupon" credits from American Express here.(16:15) - Capital One Shopping pulls many good gift card redemption options (and it varies from one cardholder to the next!)(20:05) - Pepper Rewards app not working (Taking payment but not producing gift cards, no coin...(22:44) - Likely: JetBlue partnering with United(27:51) - AA reducing award holds to 24 hours(29:04) - Emirates breaking up with some transferable currencies (temporarily?)Read more about this Emirates speculation here.(31:39) - Transfer SAS to Scandic hotels and backMain Event: Southwest LUVs cardholders(34:26) - New Details announced (fare bundles, bags, credit cards)(41:09) - Cardholders will win big(47:05) - Is Southwest Priority Card the best airline card ever?(53:09) - Is Southwest Priority Card even better than elite status?(57:23) - But....is the writing on the wall?(1:01:19) - If you have a major purchase you weren't expecting, which credit card would you put it on (and how would you decide?)Subscribe and FollowVisit https://frequentmiler.com/subscribe/ to get updated on in-depth points and miles content like this, and don't forget to like and follow us on social media.Music Credit – “Ocean Deep” by Annie Yoder

We tend to ignore Wells Fargo cards because there are so many other great credit cards out there, but they actually do have some compelling cards out there. In today's episode we'll discuss which ones you might want in your wallet. (01:47) - Re: Clarifying our "Beyond 100K Sapphire Preferred" episode, which you can read more about here. (19:33) - Bigger Capital One VentureX Business Card offer via private banker Listen to the podcast episode about the public Capital One VentureX Business card offer here. (22:49) - Citi decreasing redemption rates on emirates starting 7/27 (26:24) - Read more about the OneKey Cash devaluation for Vrbo stays here. (29:10) - A top up fee for priority pass lounge access (32:10) - Read more about the Japan Airlines devaluation here. (35:26) - More Japan Airlines (JAL) news Learn about how to Book JAL with JetBlue points here. (39:29) - More Bilt news (44:55) - Learn how to use Bilt to pay student loans with points here. (46:24) - United MileagePlus Showing More Awards After Changing Settings (49:51) - Wyndham Points + Cash reservations now bookable with as few as 750 points (51:12) - Learn more about Gondola here: https://frequentmiler.com/gondola/ Main Event: A World-Class Wells Fargo Wallet (57:04) - Transferable points (59:27) - Notable Wells Fargo credit cards which have transfer abilities (1:01:07) - Notable Wells Fargo cash back cards, which can be moved to a transferrable point card (1:04:33) - Here's how you can build a world-class Wells Fargo wallet (1:07:44) - Downsides (and fun hypotheticals) (1:13:32) - See our current transfer bonuses resource here. (1:16:22) - How many of your millions of miles come from sign up bonuses vs credit card spending, and where does most of your credit card spend come from? Read more about how to increase credit card spend here, and watch our episode 197 about increasing spend here. Visit https://frequentmiler.com/subscribe/ to get updated on in-depth points and miles content like this, and don't forget to like and follow us on social media. Music Credit – “Ocean Deep” by Annie Yoder

If you just got 100K points from a brand new travel rewards card, you should know a few things to help make sure you're earning even more points, saving money, and getting great value. Plus we'll also look at "Amex referral reformatory rescinded" and how to earn points on RENT with any credit card. (01:30) - One reader shares a success story using the "email the GM" strategy... (03:37) - Capital One Venture X Business Card: Up to 350K Miles Read our review of the Capital One Venture X Business Card here. (06:55) - Amex referrals back for many (referral reformatory rescinded) (09:48) - Two Hawaiian cards in one day (my quick experience) (17:23) - Synchrony reintroduces Cathay Pacific card (21:06) - Bilt now offers rewards when you pay your rent with non-Bilt credit cards (26:48) - Virgin jacked up fees on KLM/ Air France then backed off (31:03) - Frontier Elite Gold status for $40 (35:22) - 30% transfer bonus from Citi to Virgin Atlantic thru May 17 Main Event (36:39) - Read our FAQ about this card here. (38:45) - Earn more points (59:09) - Save money (1:09:49) - Redeem points for great value (1:17:33) - DON'T TRANSFER TO... (1:20:50) - World of Hyatt credit card gives an additional Hyatt category 1-4 free night certificate with 15K spend in a calendar year. But with recent Hyatt category changes, is it still worth spending towards that goal? Visit https://frequentmiler.com/subscribe/ to get updated on in-depth points and miles content like this, and don't forget to like and follow us on social media. Music Credit – “Ocean Deep” by Annie Yoder

In this episode, we highlight the credit cards that are becoming "collectables", we had a heated debate about "Strawberry season", discuss changes from ANA and Alaska Airlines, and share tips for saving on your domestic flights. (01:29) - Delta Sky Club access with multiple American Express platinum cards in your name... (06:40) - Chase Sapphire Preferred 100K (Read more about this offer here) (07:58) - United Business 125K ... (08:59) - Citi Rewards+ no longer available new OR for product changes (12:05) - US Bank Smartly changes for new cardholders as of 4/14. Read about the US Bank Smartly card changes here. (18:50) - Strawberry Hotels Summer Pass 2025 (Read more about this Strawberry Hotels Summer Pass here) (25:14) - IHG increases top award rates at Intercontinental hotels to 200K+ per night (27:02) - Amex Biz Plat nerfs Dell credits (31:57) - ANA Round the World award tickets are dead as of June 24th (34:46) - More ANA news starting June 24 Read more about these ANA updates here. (38:32) - Updates from Alaska Airlines (40:29) - Tools/services to find cheapest cash rates (e.g. google flights) (42:30) - Tools/services to find cheapest award prices (e.g. points path) Read our "Which Award Search Tool is Best" post here. (44:58) - Saving miles with partner awards (49:21) - Credit card travel discounts/rebates (52:59) - Find our Amex Airline Reimbursement Fees post here. (54:46) - Companion tickets (1:03:26) - Pay w/ points through a bank travel portal (1:05:30) - Cardholder award discounts (Delta, United, JetBlue, etc.) (1:06:32) - Discounted Airline gift cards (1:07:59) - Membership discounts (1:09:36) - Change the way you book it (1:17:46) - Read more about skiplagging here. (1:18:42) - Choosing between the Amex Hilton Aspire card or the Amex Bonvoy Brilliant card: Do you think Bonvoy will listen to the negative feedback and will get better? And will Hilton get worse because they've been too generous? Visit https://frequentmiler.com/subscribe/ to get updated on in-depth points and miles content like this, and don't forget to like and follow us on social media. Music Credit – “Ocean Deep” by Annie Yoder

There are some creative ways to use airline miles to fly further with less miles. In other words, you can see more and spend less. We'll talk about these fun tricks in today's episode. (01:00) - The validity of Etihad Guest Miles will be extended by 18 months based on qualifying member flight activity. We thought this means you have to credit paid flights to Etihad to extend your miles...but is that true? (04:20) - How do you handle domestic positioning flights? See our "Tips for booking positioning flights" episode 253 here. (09:30) - Amex targeted referral +5 points on travel & transit (11:21) - Learn more about Amex multi-referrals here. (11:27) - Amex Membership Rewards: You don't need a credit card to transfer to some partners Read more about this here. (15:10) - Chase: 80% transfer bonus to IHG through 4/30 (18:26) - Transfer bonuses (21:14) - Updates to popular award tools (22:56) - National Car Rental's One Two Free Promo Returns (27:43) - Virgin Atlantic jacks up Delta One surcharges departing Europe to more than $1,000 one-way Read more about dumping fees when booking Delta One here. (31:05) - Cautions about skiplagging / hidden city ticketing, etc... (37:34) - Married Segment Logic (42:23) - Start to End Distance Based/ Zone Based Award Pricing (47:25) - Mixed cabin award pricing (51:53) - Multi-partner awards (52:57) - Read Nick's post about Air Canada's United devaluation relief with multi-partner awards here. (58:59) - Creative routing (1:04:40) - Should people wait to get the other Hawaiian Airlines credit card (if they have one of the personal Hawaaiin credit cards already)? (There are two different consumer Hawaiian Airlines cards - one with Bank of Hawaii and one by Barclays (though confusingly both are issued by Barclays)). 

A few years ago American Express introduced this kind of model for their Platinum card where they increased their annual fee, but attempted to make up for it by offering a whole collection of credits and rebates that could be valuable if you did the work to make use of them and happened to have natural needs for them. In other words, these new benefits felt a lot like coupons, thus introducing the nickname for these kinds of card benefits. Now, United seems to be taking a page from American Express' book by "couponizing" their credit cards. (02:02) - Denbigh writes in about our "getting started with points and miles" episode saying "Thank You for an episode worth the time, even for an experienced practitioner." Find our Getting started with points & miles episode 298 here. (4:02) - As previously reported, Southwest is planning reduced earnings on paid flights, expiring flight credits, charging for checked bags, and changing the value of points (04:50) - Point value changes already taking place Read more about the variable points values here. (07:23) - Other Info revealed in Southwest's recent video Read more about their updates in that video here. (12:05) - No-go for Capital One / Discover acquisition. DOJ doesn't like it Read more about this DOJ decision here. (12:56) - Citi (seemingly) no longer allowing product changes between card families (15:53) - Greg apparently never got credit for one of his 15 flights... (19:38) - Air France / KLM saver availability from the US stinks (24:23) - Bilt April Rent Day: Up to 100% bonus to Avios (27:59) - Wyndham point sale not as fixed as we thought (thru April 15) Find our Wyndham's Excellent Point Sale episode 50 here. (29:00) - Six United cards have increased annual fees, decreased benefits (slightly) and added "coupons" (30:32) - Summary of changes (45:45) - New Card Line-Up Overview (46:28) - "Coupon" Deep Dive (1:01:04) - If you still want a United card, which is best? Read more about which United card is best here. (1:05:42) - Which club card is best? (1:08:27) - How do you manage the fear of account shut-down? Visit https://frequentmiler.com/subscribe/ to get updated on in-depth points and miles content like this, and don't forget to like and follow us on social media. Music Credit – “Ocean Deep” by Annie Yoder

Winning the game doesn't have to be hard. Points & miles is like complicated board game -- seems overwhelming at first. But the rewards for winning are incredible. In today's main event we'll show you how to get started. (02:09) - Tyler writes in about success with Chase travel insurance Read more about Chase Sapphire Reserve & Ritz-Carlton cards' excellent travel protections here. (03:58) - Bilt rent payment method is changing - read more about it here. (07:27) - Chase biz cards: Pre-approved offers showing when logged in - read more about it here. (09:43) - Wyndham launches debit card, which you can read about here. (12:24) - Amtrak Guest Rewards Preferred Mastercard increased to 40k points, which you can read about here. (14:17) - Citi Rewards+ card may be discontinued soon (16:47) - Read more about the Wyndham point sale here. (17:53) - A listener writes in to say, "I feel like I Bonvoyed Marriott last month" by using a 35K cert for a Marriott in Guyana worth $675/night! (21:09) - Expires April 15, 2025.Hyatt Homes & Hideaways 3x promo (23:04) - Delta eliminates surcharges from Europe (25:07) - Frontier offering free Economy Bundle + free checked bag with promo code FREEBAG, which you can read about here. (26:45) - Get GigSky 15 day international data plan free w/ Visa Infinite & Signature cards + 10% off plans with a promo code, which you can read more about here. (28:50) - Redeem 2,000 Wyndham Rewards points for 2 Minor League Baseball tickets (Book by 3/26/25) - read more about it here. (30:35) - Use Hilton for Business for better cancellation terms and no deposits, which you can read more about here. (32:12) - Savewise: compare portals + find stacks - read more about it here. (41:05) - Earn credit card rewards (big picture) (42:47) - Check out Episode 214 about how to earn millions of points from credit card welcome offers here: https://frequentmiler.com/how-to-earn-millions-of-points-from-credit-card-welcome-offers/ (43:43) - Visit our Best Offers resource here: https://frequentmiler.com/best-credit-card-offers/ (44:08) - Check out Greg's picks for the best current credit card bonuses here: https://frequentmiler.com/top-current-credit-card-offers/ (45:45) - Don't do this unless you pay in full monthly (48:35) - What about credit score? (51:33) - Three types of cards, welcome bonus only, "sock drawer" cards, wallet cards (55:44) - Consider Travel Freely (which you can learn more about here: frequentmiler.com/travelfreely ) (1:01:09) - Learn ways to increase your spend (without really increasing your spend) Listen to this "13 ways to increase credit card spend" podcast Episode197 for more: https://frequentmiler.com/13-ways-to-increase-credit-card-spend-and-get-most-of-it-back/ (1:03:40) - More rewards with Shopping Portals and bank offers (e.g. Amex Offers, Chase Offers) (1:06:03) - Spend your points for travel! (1:09:58) - Use tools to find valuable ways to use your points - read this post for which award search tool is best: https://frequentmiler.com/which-award-search-tool-is-best/ (1:14:53) - Check out our post about which hotel award tool is best: https://frequentmiler.com/which-hotel-award-search-tool-is-best/ (1:15:27) - Keep track of your points with AwardWallet, which you can read more about here: https://frequentmiler.com/awardwallet/ (1:18:38) - Multi-Player Listen to podcast episode 292 "Points & Miles 2 Player Mode" here: https://frequentmiler.com/points-miles-2-player-mode-frequent-miler-on-the-air-ep292-1-31-25-podcast/ (1:20:55) - Greg did a long weekend trip to London using points (flying Delta One) which sounded like a lot of effort (and points) for such a short trip. Is there an ideal? Visit https://frequentmiler.com/subscribe/ to get updated on in-depth points and miles content like this, and don't forget to like and follow us on social media. Music Credit – “Ocean Deep” by Annie Yoder

Julian KheelFounder and CEOPoints PathOver the last 15 years, Julian Kheel has become one of the world's top experts on travel rewards. He first learned the ins and outs of travel loyalty programs while flying more than 200,000 miles a year as a TV producer and director for World Wrestling Entertainment (and yes, of course it's all real). He expanded his expertise on travel topics in the following years, writing about travel for U.S. News and World Report, along with popular weekly columns for the travel rewards websites Frequent Miler and Travel Codex.Noting Kheel's growing following, he was recruited in 2016 to work at The Points Guy, the largest website in the world covering travel rewards, where he served as both Editorial Director and Director of Special Projects. He was the creator of the site's now‐annual “Best and Worst U.S. Airlines” special report, as well as personally authoring its first and second yearly editions, both of which drew attention from hundreds of media outlets across the country.Following his time at The Points Guy, Kheel became a Senior Editor at CNN covering both travel and finance topics, and launched the company's first e‐commerce division focused on travel rewards. Battling through the global stoppage in travel from the pandemic, he grew the small section from its infancy to over seven figures of annual revenue in only three years.In 2023, Kheel left CNN to become the founder and CEO of Points Path, a company that helps people utilize their travel rewards. The company's browser extension not only shows travelers the cost in points and miles of every flight directly in Google Flights, but also indicates whether using points or miles for each flight is the better deal. In just 8 months, Points Path has grown to over 40,000 users, and has been lauded by numerous travel publications.Kheel has appeared regularly as an analyst to discuss finance, travel and loyalty programs on national television segments for CNN, Bloomberg News, CNBC's “Squawk Box,” Yahoo Finance and Cheddar TV, as well as on ABC and CBS Radio. He has been quoted in The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, the Chicago Tribune, and many other print and web outlets on travel-related topics. He has also worked as a consultant for the “Big 3” US airlines, advising them on their frequent flyer programs.Originally from New York and South Florida, Kheel is a graduate of Syracuse University's Newhouse School of Public Communications with a bachelor's degree in television, radio and film production. His hobbies include managing his ever‐changing personal inventory of 25+ credit cards while maintaining a credit score of over 800.summaryIn this episode of the Big World Made Small podcast, host Jason Elkins interviews Julian Kheel, founder and CEO of Points Path. Julian shares his unique journey from being a reluctant traveler to becoming an expert in travel rewards and frequent flyer miles. He discusses his experience working with WWE, the importance of understanding travel points, and how Points Path simplifies the process of finding the best flight deals. The conversation also covers tips for maximizing travel rewards, the value of credit cards, and the future of Points Path.takeawaysJulian Kheel initially disliked travel but overcame his discomfort through frequent flying for work.Points Path is a browser extension that helps users find the best flight deals using points or cash.Frequent flyer programs are more valuable than airlines themselves, especially post-pandemic.S Learn more about Big World Made Small Adventure Travel Marketing and join our private community to get episode updates, special access to our guests, and exclusive adventure travel offers on our website.

Bilt Rewards is a program that became famous for giving you rewards for your rent payments, but these days there are many ways to earn Bilt rewards. In this episode, we'll pay special attention to how you might want to use your Bilt points. (01:15) - John writes in with a correction for Nick's statement that there's a "zero percent chance" the tax payment won't count toward the bonus. (06:57) - Andrew writes in about applying for an Amex card by opening up a Private Browser and searching for the card there can bring up a higher offer. (08:49) - Bilt 5x offers (targeted after asking for credit increase) Learn more about the Bilt offer here. Learn more about the Bilt spending offer for groceries, gas, and dining here. (10:38) - Amex coupon credits and bonuses posting slowly (relax / don't panic) Learn more about Amex coupon credits and bonuses posting slowly here. (13:30) - Marriott cracking down on "additional guest" reservations, which you can read more about here. (20:47) - Southwest for the "win". Read about Southwest's disappointing updates here. (23:28) - Check out our recent podcast episode about these Southwest changes here. (23:38) - Nick finally gets his million (25:14) - Reader winner updates (28:38) - Excellent Virgin Atlantic business class availability as low as 29K points + $254 (31:26) - Aviator companion tickets for the win! Read more about this here. (35:56) - Up to 40% transfer bonus from Capital One Miles to Etihad Guest (41:25) - How not to use your Bilt points (43:46) - 1.25 cpp: book travel through their portal (44:41) - 1.5 cpp: Use points for house down payment (46:23) - Transfer to partners (1:16:55) - Here are the partners you shouldn't transfer to... (1:18:20) - Wait for great Rent Day transfer bonuses (1:20:26) - One reader asks about the Capital One pre-approval tool and whether or not it would cause a hard pull.

In today's episode we'll talk about how American Airlines out-crazies Citi, Southwest out-bonvoys Marriott, and we'll talk about what we think are the 5 best award search tools that make it much easier to find those coveted awards. (01:25) - One reader shares their concerns about tax payments made by an American Express card not counting towards sign up bonus spending. (05:28) - Read more about paying taxes with a credit card here and check out our podcast Episode239 about paying taxes to earn rewards. (05:45) - Capital One Venture X Business cards have a Rideshare Protection benefit (which you can read more about here.) (08:00) - Hilton cards offer free night thru 4/29 (which you can read more about here.) (10:29) - Wyndham Earner cards big bonuses Read more about these Wyndham Earner bonuses here. (13:39) - Citi: accidentally credited a client's account with $81 trillion when it meant to send only $280 (Read more about this here.) (15:22) - American Airlines made a huge blunder which you can read about here. (19:25) - Marriott StudioRes (26:00) - Southwest for the win Read more about Southwest slashing points earning on Wanna Get Away fares here. (29:52) - Alaska starting to roll out mixed partner awards Read more about this here. (32:23) - Aeroplan Family Points Sharing Returns Read more here. (35:20) - Hilton adds more and more SLH properties (38:06) - Find current transfer bonuses here. (41:14) - Read our post about award search tools here. (42:47) - Live Searches vs. Cached Discovery (47:23) - Alerts are KEY (50:25) - Flexible Live Search is very important (51:59) - Which is Best? (54:57) - Runner up (59:07) - Best for Beginners (1:02:28) - Best for advanced people (1:05:10) - Best add on (to use in addition to these other tools) (1:08:15) - Worth mentioning (1:12:17) - Discounts available in our post about which award search tool is best here. (1:12:28) - What should you do with your Capital One miles?

Episode 110 of the Award Travel 101 podcast, hosted by Angie Sparks with Cameron Laufer, covers a range of travel reward topics, from hotel loyalty programs to new credit card offers and companion pass deals. They highlight a discussion about maximizing hotel points for international stays, with Hyatt standing out for high-tier status benefits and Hilton offering strong resort options. They also review recent promotions, such as Chase's 20% transfer bonus to Avios, new Hilton Amex card offers, and Frontier's new Companion Pass for Platinum and Diamond members. Additionally, Angie shares insights into a now-expired JetBlue transfer bonus and personal experiences with credit card applications and spending strategies.The main feature of this episode compares award travel search tools based on recent findings from Frequent Miler. They discuss several options, including Point.me, Seats.aero, PointsYeah.com, Roame.travel, and Award Tool, outlining their strengths, pricing, and unique features like real-time searches, cached results, alerts, and multiple airport search capabilities. While no single tool is perfect, they emphasize choosing one based on travel habits and preferred airlines. Cameron closes the episode with a tip for booking domestic flights—purchasing the cheapest same-day flight and leveraging schedule changes to switch to a more desirable option for free.Chase to Avios Transfer BonusNew Hilton Amex OffersFrontier Companion PassWhere to Find Us The Free 110k+ member Award Travel 101 Community. To book time with our team, check out Award Travel 1-on-1. You can also email us at 101@award.travel Our next meetup will be May 16-18, 2025 in Chicago! Tickets are SOLD OUT and the waitlist is exhaused but stay tuned for news about our next meetup! Our partner CardPointers helps us get the most from our cards. We love being able to automatically add all of our offers and quickly seeing the best card to use for every purchase. Signup today at https://cardpointers.com/at101 for a 30% discount on annual and lifetime subscriptions! Lastly, we appreciate your support of the AT101 Podcast/Community when you signup for your next card!

Hilton credit cards come loaded with perks that CAN BE worth more than the card's annual fee IF you use them well. On today's show, we discuss how we use these credits. (01:06) - Hilton points for the win that all starts with the Venture X credit card promo to enter into the special access raffle to buy Taylor Swift tickets. (06:24) - This person was trying to use up a $200 Hilton resort credit for themself and their player 2 account, booking on December 31st for a date beyond the expiration. (09:39) - Hilton has a bad habit of taking a substantial deposit (in this case, several hundred dollars) at many of its resorts at the time of booking. But is booking with points and cash (sliding the cash slider as far as possible) a way around this?. (15:15) - Learn more about the Hilton Aspire card here. (17:15) - Diamond status (18:42) - Annual Free Night Reward every year (20:19) - $400 Hilton Resort Credit per calendar year ($200 semi-annually) (22:11) - $200 Flight Credit ($50 per quarter for purchases directly with airlines or via Amex Travel) (24:05) - $199 CLEAR (R) Plus fee credit per calendar year (24:35) - $100 on-property credit with Aspire Card package (25:24) - Learn about the Hilton Surpass card here. (26:12) - Free night award after $15K spend in calendar year (27:55) - Free Gold status. Diamond elite status with $40K calendar year spend (28:40) - $200 in Hilton credits ($50 per quarter) (30:28) - Learn about the Hilton Business card here. (32:16) - Free Gold status. Diamond elite status with $40K calendar year spend (32:31) - $240 in annual credits for Hilton purchases (Up to $60 per quarter) (33:27) - Complimentary National Car Rental(R) Emerald Club Executive(R) status (34:07) - You gave advice that if using "2-player mode", both applicants should open their Hilton Aspire cards on the same day. If you didn't do that and your annual free nights don't post together, is there a way to fix this?

On this week's episode, we talk about our Capital One mistake, how Uber has tried to "Bonvoy" us, and the many ways we use our Platinum credit card credits. (01:27) - OOPS: Capital One doesn't transfer to JetBlue like we implied (02:33) - BUT...then this week Capital One announced they ARE adding JetBlue as a transfer partner, (but at horrible rates) (05:24) - Hotel transfer bonuses, yay or nay? (10:29) - Uber adding 1.5% charge to rides abroad – here's how to avoid overpaying Read more about this Uber change here. (14:37) - How we use our Amex Platinum "coupon book" credits... (15:34) - Read more about maximizing American Express credit card rebates and credits here. (16:07) - Both consumer & business cards (30:50) - Amex Platinum (consumer card) Learn more about the Amex Platinum consumer card here. (48:37) - Amex Business Platinum Card Learn more about the Amex Business Platinum Card here and read the Platinum Guide here. (58:03) - Read about the indirect Amex Platinum benefits here. (58:51) - One reader asks for advice about a Qatar Airways issue they experienced on a cash flight (for Q-Suites) where the entertainment system went out and the reimbursement offered for this problem was unsatisfactory.

Would you pay more for fully refundable rewards? What do you do with pets when you travel? These questions and more came up in our Ask Us Anything, Live Ep72, originally broadcast live on 2-5-25. (04:31) - Who were our most-helpful followers for the Million Mile Madness challenge? These followers will be eligible for prizes for their help! (13:31) - How would you structure your credit card strategy with a P2? See our podcast episode about 2-player strategies here. (17:45) - Frequent Miler is by far my favorite travel blog. What blogs do you follow and why? (19:47) - ​​Any tricks to apply for 2 cards in 1 day? I feel like I read a post on how to do this but I can't find it now. Find our credit card application rules by bank here. (24:02) - are you guys surprised at how many people completed the challenge? (25:00) - I know Greg went big with Alaska transfer, I'm curious how big the rest of the team has gone? And do any of you think the merger and Amex transfer will cause a devaluation soon? (28:32) - Any word yet on Chase's 1 million point giveaway winners (that ended last week)? (29:13) - any thoughts on aeroplan 25 status match from Marriott Titanium? could be interesting for booking economy award tickets for upgrades on long haul flights? (30:47) - Marriott & Hilton appear out of favor with you these days. Hyatt remains your favorite but If you don't or can't stay at Hyatt, what is now your hotel chain of choice between IHG, Choice, Wyndham or? (33:34) - new SW companion pass promo (personal card, 4K spend in 3 months): is this just through end of 2025? Seems like a great opportunity to try.I can make that spend in a week! (34:32) - ​​have any of you ever had to transfer airports in Taipei. i have a 4-hr layover during which i have to travel between airports with a carry-on. is that even possible? (36:24) - What are the best opportunities for long haul business class availability for 4 "when schedule opens?" With 4 travelers and bound by school schedules I want to book ahead but it's getting very hard. (38:37) - ​​Thoughts on the recent update to Citi's T&Cs on welcome bonuses for their strata premier when product changing. Seems like it's a blow against churning  (40:26) - How much more are you willing to pay for award ticket that is fully refundable? I find myself going for AA or United flights even though UA may be cheaper on LifeMiles for example (45:23) - ​​really curious... do any of you have pets? what do you do with them when traveling? (51:48) - How often do you folks buy points? I recently started buying IHG, Hilton, Avianca, and Avios points when they are on sale, and find it a great alternative for folks with low spend. (53:36) - any awesome hotel redemptions coming up for you guys? Subscribe and Follow

On today's episode the fellas chat about how to get the Southwest Companion Pass with just one card, whether or not your Marriott points just became more valuable, and how to get great value out of Capital One miles. (01:17) - One of our younger readers talks about a huge award booking success, all achieved without pro award booking tools. (05:40) - Quick overview of the Million Mile Madness challenge Watch our Ask Us Anything, Live here. Rewatch the entire Million Mile Madness Challenge in one video here. (10:27) - Get Southwest Companion Pass through 2/28/26 Learn more about this here. (13:25) - Frontier Platinum status fast track: Earn 20k Elite Status Points by 4/30/25 Learn more here. (18:46) - Transfer bonuses (21:13) - Earn 20x Avios on hotel bookings & 15x on car hire (book by 2/24/25) Learn more about this here. (23:58) - Use JetBlue points to book TAP (25:04) - Refreshing posts about award booking tools (30:50) - Are Marriott points more valuable? Learn more about the value of Marriott points here. (33:54) - My experience applying for the UK's electronic travel authorisation (ETA) Learn more about the UK ETA here. (36:15) - Capital One Miles usually worth exactly 1 cent each (37:21) - Get more than 1 cent per mile via transfer partners (38:49) - Real-life examples... (49:04) - Cardholder exclusives (51:00) - Capital One cash back can be converted to miles (53:08) - Which flight reward search tool is best if I need specific dates and locations?

On this episode, we'll talk about a crazy new premium credit card, we'll debate double elite night hotel promotions to see if they're mattress run worthy, talk about a nice new way to use JetBlue points, and discuss how to double your rewards with a partner. (01:15) - One reader writes in about booking their family with roundtrip business class flights to Australia for Christmas and New Years!!! (05:00) - New JetBlue Premier Card... Learn more about the premier card here. (12:13) - IHG Premier offer up to 170K after $4K spend in 3 months Learn more about the IHG Premier card here. (13:33) - IHG overlapping promos Learn more about the targeted double elite nights here. (14:58) - Learn more about Double points here. (19:10) - Marriott's overlapping promos: Learn more about Double elite nights + 1K bonus per night here. (25:58) - Marriott increases top-end point prices Read our Marriott Complete Guide here. (30:30) - CardPointers Learn more about CardPointers here CardPointers here. (32:48) - Book TAP Air with JetBlue points (39:13) - More rewards Check out our How to video for maximizing rewards with Amex referrals here. (43:38) - More spend (44:56) - Companion Flights Find our How your Southwest Companion can fly 4 free | Coffee Break Ep32 here. Find our Complete Guide to the Southwest Companion Pass here. Find our Two for the price of one: How to get a free companion ticket | Ep218 here. (46:10) - Find our How to Use Delta Companion Certificates Video here. (47:33) - Free weekends (50:50) - One reader has One Amex Platinum Card and one Amex Business Platinum Card. If they cancel or downgrade one of the cards, how does that impact their Delta lounge access for the calendar year?

In today's episode we'll discuss what's up with Hilton gift cards, we'll intensely debate Virgin Atlantic award charts, cover 2 different points millionaire promos, then finally, we'll tell you how to earns tons of rewards through shopping portals. (01:29) - One reader reports on their success with the Southwest Companion Pass with just one of the Southwest business cards when it had the elevated 120k offer. Read more about the companion pass here. (04:29) - Chase Bonvoy Bold: now features Chase's Pay Yourself Back benefit. (08:36) - Citi changed transfer rates to Flying Blue to 1.25 (temporarily) (11:38) - Qantas devaluation Aug 5th Check out our Complete List of Transferrable Points Partners here. (18:30) - SAS Eurobonus Millionaire update (22:49) - Chase Travel giving away 1 million Ultimate Rewards points to 10 winners (24:12) - Virgin Atlantic still has award charts (32:43) - Westgate Resorts now bookable w/ Choice Privileges (35:15) - Portal Overview (43:00) - Our favorite shopping portals (starting with Rakuten) (55:54) - Portal Myths Learn more about common shopping portal myths here. (1:12:08) - Stacking Opportunities For more stacking ideas, check out The Art of Extreme Stackery | Ep231 | 12-2-23 here. (1:13:43) - Learn more about card linked offers here. (1:15:26) - Gift Cards (1:16:32) - Learn more about buying gift cards at discount (e.g. Pepper) here: https://frequentmiler.com/instant-gift-card-deals (1:18:05) - Super Stack Example (1:24:26) - What's the deal with Hilton Gift Cards?

In this episode, Greg and Nick will look at 4 ways to access Delta Sky Clubs, they'll reveal a hot reader tip for a free stay in Atlantis in the Bahamas, and they'll discuss the Air France / KLM Flying Blue devaluation. Check out the full episode below. (01:28) - It seems like a lot of people are running into issues lately with using the $200 platinum credit for Fine Hotels and Resorts.  (07:03) - United TravelBank glitch (now resolved) [Reported on Reddit] (09:50) - Air France KLM Flying Blue award prices increase by 15-25% to/from Europe Read more about this price change here. (18:02) - It's not too late to book Atlantis even if your Caesars Diamond status is about to go away. (20:28) - Sky Clubs vs other airport clubs Read more about how to get into Delta Sky Club Lounges here. (23:01) - Overall Requirements (24:12) - #1 Premium Credit Cards (24:27) - Amex Platinum (not to be confused with Amex Delta SkyMiles Platinum) Learn more about the Amex Platinum card here. (31:31) - Delta Reserve consumer or business Learn more about the Delta Reserve card here. See: How to get Delta Sky Club access for you and your family here. (39:58) - #2 Fly Delta One; or any Sky Team airline in business or first class (42:56) - #3 Elite Status Check out our blog post: Shortcuts to Delta elite status here: https://frequentmiler.com/delta-elite-shortcuts/ Or check out our episode "Easy path to Delta Elite status in 2024 Ep281" here: https://frequentmiler.com/easy-path-to-delta-elite-status-in-2024-frequent-miler-on-the-air-ep281-11-15-24/ (45:51) - #4 Sky Club Membership Learn more about Delta Choice Benefits here: https://frequentmiler.com/delta-choice-benefits/ (55:16) - Many times when I'm booking stays, there's only availability for standard rooms. How do approach getting an upgrade if there's no availability?

There are a few ways now where you can earn elite status on airlines entirely through hotel stays! This is sort of a new development that we're excited to discuss in today's podcast. (01:32) - Whoops: Forgot United offers elite earnings on award tickets (UA flights only) Find episode 288 here. (04:09) - IHG Choice Benefit annual lounge membership trick worked this year (05:58) -  One reader finds a way to get an offer to upgrade back to Amex Platinum for 50K bonus points after 2K spend. (08:03) - Alaska Biz Card 70K offer is back: 70K miles and Companion Fare™ Learn more about the Alaska Business card here. (09:27) - Costco card goes up to 5% at Costco Gas on 1/19/25. All other gas/EV will stay at 4% (12:32) - US Bank Altitude Go: beginning on April 15, 2025, cardholders will be limited to earning 4x on the first $2,000 in dining, takeout and restaurant delivery purchases each quarter. Learn more about that update here (13:45) - Sonesta credit card taking a siesta Learn more about the Sonesta siesta here (15:34) - Pay1040 fees up, down, all around (21:42) - Hyatt promo: Earn double elite night credits for stays at Under Canvas properties Read more about that Hyatt promo here (28:21) - Marriott Choice Benefit 40K expiry (33:30) - BA goes revenue-based (Read more about that change here (34:45) - Daily Getaways Dead: The program has been discontinued (36:29) - Marriott ->> United Premier Silver AND Air Canada Aeroplan 25K Read more about that here (40:59) - Hyatt ->> American Airlines Read more about this option here (50:49) - Hyatt Explorist/Globalist elite members can trade Hyatt points for status for a day (53:33) - Not as many shortcuts with Hyatt as with Marriott Read more about this here (1:03:00) - Should I mattress run with Advantage Hotels the rest of my way to AA Executive Platinum status? (1:06:14) - How do you value your time, for example when an hour of effort will save you a small chunk of change?

(00:00) - It's a new year and we're excited about all the "point-y" things happening for us in 2025! Give this episode a listen to find out what we're looking forward to. (01:07) - One reader's interesting experience disbanding a United miles pool highlights a possible hack and brings up a few questions.... Learn more about miles-pooling here: https://www.united.com/en/us/mileageplus/miles-pooling/ (04:17) - Can a pool leader leave a miles pool? (04:35) - Can I leave a miles pool after joining? (07:25) - Chase United card devaluation: TravelBank credits instead of statement credits (11:10) - Chase Aeroplan PYB (Pay Yourself Back) Travel limited to 200K (13:51) - Marriott Choice Benefit 40 night selection expiry Read more about this update here: https://frequentmiler.com/marriott-bonvoy-choice-benefits/  (16:27) - IHG Ends Annual Lounge Pass Loophole In 2025 (19:52) - Pay taxes via credit card slightly cheaper (starts at 1.75%) but down to 2 processors PayUSATax gone ("We are no longer processing federal tax payments on behalf of the IRS.") Learn more about paying taxes with a credit card here: https://frequentmiler.com/pay-taxes-via-credit-card/ (25:21) - Greg and Nick's "Bonvoyed" pick: Hyatt breaks our hearts with Mr & Mrs Smith Read our "Bonvoyed of the year" post here: https://frequentmiler.com/frequent-milers-peoples-choice-bonvoyed-awards-2024-edition/ (26:47) - Readers' "Bonvoyed" picks... (28:10) - Our picks for for Deal of the Year Read our "Deal of the Year" post here: https://frequentmiler.com/2024-deal-of-the-year-and-readers-choice-vote/ (29:02) - Readers' picks for Deal of the Year (31:01) - Small Luxury Hotels SLH (33:07) - Preferred hotels & Resorts (35:30) - Alaska Mileage Plan mixed partner awards (40:13) - Earning Alaska elite status through award bookings (42:51) - Alaska premium card (45:00) - Digging into SAS awards (47:17) - Finding a great Vacasa redemption (I bought points) (49:17) - Finding great Capital One Miles deals See the "Deal of the Year" episode here: https://frequentmiler.com/deal-of-the-year-2024-frequent-miler-on-the-air-ep287-12-27-24-podcast/ (52:09) - Getting back into the swing of bank account bonuses (54:05) - Trying out the AA bus from PHL-ACY. (58:57) - Would a Delta Gold status be useful for a Korean Air flight booked via Delta miles?

What are the best miles and points deals we've seen in 2024, and which deals came out above the rest? In today's episode of Frequent Miler on the Air, we'll decide what we think the best miles and points deal of 2024 was. (01:05) - Feedback about Greg's "Frequent Miler's 2024 State of the Business Report" Read Greg's "Frequent Miler's 2024 State of the Business Report" here. (08:12) - Additional datapoints regarding possible Atlantis stays for after February 1st (12:14) - Greg's Marriott Mattress Run (20:48) - Capital One Offers (26:18) - Easily extend National Free Day (28:41) - Catch our "Bonvoyed of the Year" episode from last week to see which loyalty snafus we thought were the worst in 2024. (29:11) - Buy Aeroplan miles for 1.14cpp: Read more about buying Aeroplan miles here. (30:41) - Big payouts via Capital One Shopping (36:35) - Virgin goes dynamic & lowers surcharges Read more about Virgin's dynamic pricing here. (40:00) - Bilt transfer bonus up to 150% to Flying Blue, Virgin Points, and IHG One Rewards (Jan 1) (42:19) - Bilt transfer bonus up to 100% to Alaska (July 1) (44:05) - Amex +10x restaurants referral offer Read more about this Amex referral offer here. (47:11) - 120K Ink Business Preferred offer + 40K referral (48:27) - Hilton SLH (53:20) - Alaska's awesome shorthaul AA pricing Read more about the Alaksa award chart winners and losers here. (57:41) - SAS Eurobonus Millionaire Read more about the SAS Eurobonus Millionaire challenge here: https://frequentmiler.com/sas-eurobonus-millionaire-promo-frequently-asked-questions-million-mile-madness-2024/ (1:00:02) - Which did we actually take advantage of? (Or which didn't we?) (1:01:59) - So...which was the best? (1:11:10) - Read more about this story here: https://loyaltytraveler.boardingarea.com/2015/05/25/frequent-flyer-history-latinpass-million-miles-mileage-runs-that-bankrupted-a-company/ (1:13:17) - Can you swap a cash seat you've already purchased with Southwest with a companion seat with your companion pass instead? Subscribe and Follow

Today we'll take a look back at the year and talk about what loyalty programs have done to us instead of for us. This is for the loyalty grinches! (01:07) - Revisiting a question we'd answered previously about whether or not several domestic flights a month would be enough for earning status. (06:18) - One reader has some information to share about the Atlantis property they booked now (before their Caesar's Diamond status disappears) for a stay in the future... Read more about booking the Atlantis hotel here. (10:12) - Flying Blue: Sends emails saying "Congratulations you are now a Flying Blue Ultimate member" (11:44) - IHG: Purchase EQPs. 120K price: $640, no... $800, no... $1000, back to $640... (16:27) - Nick flies to Mexico but doesn't leave the airport (21:12) - Greg and Nick forgot about Bilt Find our podcast episode about the upcoming Alaska Premium card here. (23:42) - Preferred Hotels: Greg's ongoing Preferred Hotel booking saga (29:48) - AA: Can now use miles to book Hawaiian flights from mainland US (31:39) - Aviator Silver companion cert ain't all that Read our Aviator Silver companion cert first impressions here. (38:14) - Hilton Aspire resort credit-eligible hotel list un-shrinks (39:40) - Marriott Upgrade Awards now clear five days out (again) (43:27) - Southwest: assigned seating Read about Southwest's upcoming assigned seating here. (46:31) - 2023 Bonvoyed Awards Recap... 2024 Dis-Loyalty Nominees... (51:38) - Chase & Capital One priority pass drops restaurants (55:56) - Virgin goes dynamic (59:08) - Virgin devalues Delta One to Europe (1:02:36) - Wyndham Vacasa devaluation (1:06:19) - BA & Qatar raise prices for short-haul partner awards (AA, Alaska) (1:09:54) - Etihad nerfs award cancelations and point expirations (1:15:43) - Bilt reduces Rent Day earnings to 1K bonus points (1:18:50) - Wyndham Biz kills free cruises (1:21:20) - Hyatt integrates Mr & Mrs Smith (1:23:14) - Final picks (1:30:20) - Why are there so many pop-up ads on your site?

In this episode, Greg and Nick review some of the hotel and flight awards that stood out for each of them in 2024 so they can determine the best of the best for their 2024 award travels. (01:06) - Bilt buy house benefit correction See the previous episode where Greg talked about the Bilt buy house benefit here. Read more about the Bilt Buy House benefit here. (02:42) - Greg's latest experience booking Preferred hotels with Choice points See the previous episode here. (10:17) - Greg: "You're a SAS EuroBonus Millionaire!” (11:56) - Nick: Yikes! (19:24) - Stephen: 1 more needs to be credited (21:32) - Business Platinum gains $200 Hilton credit! (29:48) - IRS temporarily displayed lower fees for paying taxes by credit card (32:04) - Should Greg mattress run 1 Marriott night? (37:24) - Alaska news Read more about Alaska Airlines launching premium card here. (41:48) - Waldorf Astoria New York now bookable with points and free night certificates. (44:22) - Greg's candidates for top awards in 2024 - flights (52:20) - Nick's candidates for top awards in 2024 - flights (56:59) - Best flight pick overall (1:00:32) - Greg's candidates for top awards in 2024 - hotels (1:11:07) - Nick's candidates for top awards in 2024 - hotels (1:21:05) - Beat hotel pick overall (1:22:54) - Other top experiences in 2024 (1:30:07) - Which airline would you prioritize to fly and earn miles with: American, United, or Southwest? 

There are a lot of things in the points and miles world that kind of come to a head at the end of the year, so you'll want to know what you should be taking care of here at the end of 2024. And of course, read our end of year checklist for 2024 here. (01:30) - What happens when a Choice Rewards hotel booking has no record of your reservation, but the points are missing? (07:32) - Preferred Hotels now bookable with iPrefer points (16:34) - Amex 40% transfer bonus to Virgin Atlantic (21:31) - Earn elite status (23:05) - Do you have enough MQDs for Delta elite status? Check out our post here. (24:48) - Remember to time your SouthWest companion pass properly Read our Complete Guide to the SouthWest companion pass here. (28:37) - Marriott Bonvoy: Easiest option is Bonvoy Brilliant, but you can read about the many other options here. (44:11) - Use airline incidental credits by December (47:42) - Platinum $200 calendar year. See Amex airline fee reimbursements. What still works? (56:19) - Apply for cards with annual credits (57:47) - Transfer / pool points (1:02:19) - Redeem points or miles for annual rebates (1:03:48) - With the Caesar's Diamond status match ending, is there anything Wyndham Earner Business card-holder's should take advantage of now? Read more about this status match ending here. Visit https://frequentmiler.com/subscribe to get updated on in-depth points and miles content like this, and don't forget to like and follow us on social media. Music Credit – Beach Walk by Unicorn Heads

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, we're chatting about the 10 "Frequent Flyer-ish" things we're thankful for! (01:01) - A reader shares all the ways their recent trip was impacted by Frequent Miler tips! (02:58) - It in the hands of SAS now! (05:50) - Wyndham Biz drops Caesar's match Read about changes to casino status-matching for free cruises here. (09:38) - Avianca LifeMiles Elite Card: Up to 120K miles Read more about this card bonus here. (12:10) - Bonvoy Brilliant cardholder “Luxury Experience Rate” at participating properties Read more about this new Luxury Experience Rate here. (16:09) - Citi Double Cash & Custom Cash: 24-month extended warranty Read moe about the Citi Double Cash & Custom Cash 24-month extended warranty here. (17:11) - U.S. Bank Smartly Credit Card: Up to 4% cashback Read more about the US Bank Smartly card here. (22:03) - C1 Shopping targeted deals (26:46) - Bilt - earn points when buying a home & using an eXp Realty agent (29:41) - Huge welcome bonuses continue (31:37) - Awesome category bonuses continue (33:01) - The Amex points parade marches on (34:48) - Paying taxes great way to meet min spend (36:13) - PayPal waives credit card fees when doing good Listen to our Coffee Beak Episode about Kiva loans here. PayPal Giving Fund Fundraiser Hub. (39:25) - Transferable points programs keep expanding (43:42) - Award chart sweetspots live on Find AA's excellent partner award chart here. (50:06) - Free changes and cancelations continue for US airlines (except for basic economy types of fares) (52:09) - Status matches create opportunities (55:00) - Airlines continue to make business and first class more aspirational (58:22) - Loyalty partnerships create sweet opportunities (1:03:41) - See our how-to video for Rooms.aero here. (1:06:26) - When you get a new card, what's the checklist of tasks you do to keep it all organized? Visit https://frequentmiler.com/subscribe to get updated on in-depth points and miles content like this, and don't forget to like and follow us on social media. Music Credit – Beach Walk by Unicorn Heads

Greg, Nick, and Stephen are spent the last two weeks competing to satisfy the SAS EuroBonus Millionaire promo with the most style, affordability, and speed. If you've been following along by reading their journal posts, you know that this was a much harder task than they bargained for and they relied on reader input along the way. We've got some cool prizes planned for the reader who was most helpful including certificates to cover five free Hilton hotel nights and more! But to determine that winner, we need your help deciding which traveler achieved the goal with the most SAS! Cast your vote here! (00:22) - SAS offering 1 million miles to anyone who registers and flies 15 qualifying SkyTeam airlines (01:00) - FM turned it into a team challenge: (02:50) - During the challenge the team met live on Youtube a couple of times. There we recapped what we'd achieved to-date and the judges awarded us interim scores. (03:30) - Catch up on the live check-in recordings during the Million Mile Madness challenge Cast your vote here! (1:21:00) - Wrap up of Nick's final travel days after the last live check-in (1:24:38) - We will host a final livestream on Tuesday November 26th PM ET where final scores will be announced. Subscribe and Follow Visit https://frequentmiler.com/subscribe/ to get updated on in-depth points and miles content like this, and don't forget to like and follow us on social media. Music Credit – “Ocean Deep” by Annie Yoder

United recently announced an increase in elite requirements for 2025. Will Delta follow suit? Luckily, for this year, there's still time... (02:18) - A reader has a datapoint for us about the Equinox credit saying: "My wife successfully used the equinox credit for a massage. She enrolled in an equinox plus membership that came with a 7 day free trial. She was able to book and complete her massage within the 7 day trial period. The credit posted within 2 days and she canceled the membership." (06:17) - Last year Delta announced a drastic increase in elite requirements in 2024 for the 2025 elite year. After a public outcry, they reduced the requirements so much that in 2024 it is easier than ever to earn Delta elite status. Read more about the easy path to Delta elite status here. (08:05) - Multiple elite levels... (13:44) - Besides paying big $ for flights, how can you get status? (19:02) - Delta Status match, which you can read more about here. (23:03) - In summary, what are the easiest paths... (24:48) - Delta cards may be expensive but offer a lot of value Learn more about the Delta Platinum card here, and the Delta Reserve card here. (31:17) - What's the best way to do a long-haul holiday flight for a family with young children?  See which award search tools are best here.

The SAS EuroBonus Millionaire promotion may turn out to be 2024's Deal of the Year. We just have to fly 15 SkyTeam airlines before the end of the year to earn 1 million miles. However, if for some reason SAS doesn't honor the promotion, they'll make it to our 2024 naughty list for sure. As you listen to this, Nick, Greg, and Stephen are in the air somewhere in the world trying to complete this promotion in 2 weeks or less. Learn all about the promotion and how we're going about tackling it in today's main event. (02:43) - A reader has a tip about the US Bank Travel Portal allowing AR point redemptions at 1.5c for Disney theme park tickets, at the Disney retail pricing... (04:34) - Trick for finding Finnair Avios award availability Read more about our solution for finding Finnair award availability here. (06:44) - Opportunities to buy miles cheaply (can be great for people who can't get USA credit cards) (07:27) - Read more about Flying Blue's subscriptions to buy miles here. (07:50) - Alaska/Hawaiian for 1.25c per mile Read more about buying Alaska / Hawaiian miles for 1.25 c per mile here. (09:01) -What is Million Mile Madness? Follow the Million Mile Madness challenge here. ​​(15:39) - Hi FM Team, do you have any backup or contingency plans in place if one of your flights is cancelled or severely delayed? Good luck on your adventure! (19:12) - Departing soon? Best wishes to all the contestants (24:07) - Will there be a live wrap up show for the challenge? (26:50) - What have you done ahead of time for tight connections during your challenge? Like buying seats in the front of plane, familiarize the airport layout, etc… (31:11) - ​​Which airline are you most and least looking forward to flying as part of the challenge? (37:11) - What is each contestant most confident they'll be the "best" at? (44:29) - ​​I was trying to book a flight on AA using Alaska taking off in 2 days, and their website said that the itinerary is "too close to departure." Is this phantom award space? (46:05) - You know “player 2” is a common topic among the hobby. Would anyone here consider having their spouse joint one podcast explaining their thoughts of their significant other engaging in the hobby? (48:06) - ​​My Hyatt globalist expires soon. Can/should I make bookings after expiration and guest of honor myself? (51:33) - ​​Hawaiian biz card only offers 50k after $4k spend now (used to be 80k after $2k spend) Considering it may go away, should we jump on it now? (53:41) - Greg, Delta Amex companion certificates terms are very restrictive. Any best practices to find eligible fare class for non-holiday weekends far in advance? (54:58) - ​​Is their a resource for which Hilton Resorts accept pre-payments? (55:47) - What is each contestant's personal mission? (1:00:44) - Does booking yourself a Hyatt GOH earning an additional elite night? (1:01:59) - Did you get confirmation that SAS will allow you to award the miles to the helpful readers? (1:02:41) - Do you think you'll run into each other during the challenge? (1:005:46) - The Amex Platinum card offer requires a lot of spend so one reader made an $11K estimated tax payment to meet that spend, but an agent later told them that kind of expense is not eligible for meeting spend requirement, outlining a few other ineligible expenses as well. Is this true?

If you learn a few advanced tricks, you can book awards for less miles than you'd think, and for better products or flights than you might think as well. (01:07) - About our Coffee Break: Earn miles while saving and paying for college | Coffee Break Ep31 | 10-28-24 | Podcast See episode 31 of Coffee Break "Earn miles while saving and paying for college" here. (01:36) - Giftcards dot com added fee - it still seems to be earning GCdotcom rewards, but might not last (02:14) - One reader says as of 2024, you can rollover 529s into Roth IRAs. Learn more about our ongoing challenge at https://millionmilemadness.com (05:44) - Quick recap SAS Eurobonus allows points pooling (Read more about SAS points pooling here.) (06:52) - Stephen is all booked! Read Stephen's Million Mile Madness journal here. (08:35) - Read Nick's Million Mile Madness journal here. (11:36) - Greg: "Speed and Style" Read Greg's Million Mile Madness journal here. (17:05) - Marriott Homes & Villas promo: Stay 2+ nights & spend $1k+ to earn 30K bonus points Read more about the Marriott Homes & Villas promo here. (18:24) - Choice enhances program in 2025 Read about Choice Privileges improvements coming in 2025 here. (20:19) - Virgin Atlantic's dynamic award pricing is live Read more about Virgin Atlantic's dynamic award pricing here. (23:03) - United increasing elite requirements for 2025 (24:41) - DOT Refund Rule (26:56) - JetBlue's excellent status match Find our episode about JetBlue's status match here. (27:39) - Last minute bookings/changes (29:53) - Same day changes (32:09) - What is Skiplagging? (35:37) - Mix cabins for lower prices (39:25) - Start to End Distance based pricing (43:37) - Weird pricing (45:50) - Distance based award tricks... (51:59) - Avoid sucky programs (1:01:33) - How can I time an Amex Platinum consumer card downgrade to gold card in order to get maximum credits from each, and what happens if I upgrade again later... would I get the benefits again?

Have you heard about our newest team challenge yet? The good news is we have some prizes to share this time, and the bad news is...it is proving to be way more challenging than expected! (01:25) - One reader sends their appreciation for the fresh look of our podcast on YouTube. (02:47) - You can find all our how-to videos on our Resources page here. (03:41) - Waived award redemption fees / surcharges, even on one-way tickets – with Cardless Qatar Card (08:02) - Citi adds Preferred Hotels iPrefer at 1:4 ratio [new transfer partner] (13:24) - Amex launches 200K Biz Gold / 250K BizPlat referral offers Learn more about the American Express Business Gold card here. Learn more about the American Express Business Platinum card here. (17:42) - Hawaiian Business Card duplicate account number issue resolved...and more thoughts about Hawaiian / Alaska merger (21:15) - Chase reduces travel protections (31:45) - What crazy thing . . . .did Air France do this week? (36:37) - Transfer bonuses from Citi to Virgin and Wyndham: Yay or nay? (39:23) - Million Mile Madness! Find out more about challenge updates and details here. (40:20) - SAS EuroBonus Millionaire basics... (42:29) - Is the SAS EuroBonus Millionaire promo worth it? (52:12) - Million Mile Madness 2024 - how you can participate and what you could win! (1:03:08) - Stephen's challenge status so far... Help Stephen with some tips (and potentially win an awesome prize for your tips) here. (1:05:14) - Nick's challenge status so far... Help Nick with some tips (and potentially win an awesome prize for your tips) here. (1:09:51) - Read our post on what still works for Amex airline incidental credits here. (1:12:25) - Find frequently asked questions about the SAS challenge here. (1:15:44) - Greg's challenge status so far... Help Greg with some tips (and potentially win an awesome prize for your tips) here. (1:26:15) - Check out Nick's FAQ post about the SAS EuroBonus promo (and our Million Mile Madness challenge) here. (1:28:08) - What are some best practices to make sure points don't expire?

Alaska Airlines is making some big changes in 2025! We'll talk about why we think these changes are exciting...(and will share an exciting announcement of our own!)  (01:20) - Greg was recently curious about if the Hawaiian Miles personal card would be getting elevated offers and one reader says the answer is yes! Check your emails for higher offers! Listen to our episode about the Hawaiian / Alaska merger here: https://frequentmiler.com/podcast-alaska-hawaiian-airlines-wedding-planning-frequent-miler-on-the-air-ep269-8-23-24/ (03:25) - Fly 15 SkyTeam airlines (and credit to SAS or redeem SAS miles) by end of year and get 1 MILLION MILES... you all had ideas for us related to this challenge... (05:29) - Greg's post "Catching up on 2 weeks of big miles & points news" (Read the post here: https://frequentmiler.com/catching-up-on-2-weeks-of-big-miles-points-news) (07:04) - For the first time ever, the FM team will do 2nd challenge within 1 year...and we want you to participate! Read more about our newest challenge here: https://frequentmiler.com/start-your-engines-for-frequent-miler-million-mile-madness/ (19:47) - Alaska / Hawaiian transfers live (22:28) - Spirit Airlines adds free WiFi and ditches award fees for Free Spirit members. (23:56) - Virgin Atlantic to go to dynamic award pricing - companion and upgrade vouchers may become more usable (28:33) - Choice Privileges max award pricing for Preferred Hotels reduced from 118k to 87k. Only 9 out of 310 are currently priced 80K or higher. Meanwhile, 68 properties are priced 30K or lower. (30:43) - Bilt adds Accor Live Limitless and TAP Air Portugal as transfer partners. (36:18) - Marriott & Aeroplan launch reciprocal status match opportunity. (42:42) - Huge mostly positive changes to Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan coming 2025... Read more about the changes to Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan here: https://frequentmiler.com/alaska-mileage-plan-updates-earn-status-with-award-flights-credit-cards-shopping-portal-spend-more-other-changes/ (43:03) - Earning Elite Status with Alaska Airlines (53:59) - Mileage Plan Milestones (1:04:46) - Other changes (1:13:11) - Some more negative changes (1:15:14) - Summary of our assessments (1:17:46) - Someone wrote in asking if the Alaska changes change our mind about whether it makes sense to earn Alaska miles when paying rent through Bilt

In today's episode, we'll look at how Nick booked his baller family of 4 a round-the-world adventure featuring Taylor Swift in Europe, a free Mediterranean cruise, tropical beaches in Mauritius, and DisneySea in Japan! (01:28) - Beware of agents erroneously telling you your free night certificate is not applicable at SLH properties! (05:30) - What is this segment even about? (And how should you evaluate opportunities?) (11:42) - Amex airline fee reimbursements Learn more about airline fee reimbursements here. (19:05) - Read more about Nick's incredible trip here. (22:22) - Getting to Europe on JetBlue in Mint (business) class via Qatar Avios Read how to book JetBlue Mint via Qatar Avios here. (27:25) - Getting around Europe (35:04) - “Free” MSC cruise from Venice to Montenegro, Croatia, Greece, and Italy Read how to get free cruises through casino status matching here. (39:45) - Venice to Paris: Air France Business Class via Virgin Atlantic for 9,000 points + ~$22 each (45:19) - Big Air Canada Aeroplan award from Paris to Japan (1:01:40) - Train to Tokyo (1:10:49) - Tokyo to Hawaii to New York (1:24:45) - Amex Gold card now has a coupon for a $7 Dunkin' credit. Does it work for Baskin Robins too?

In addition to our regular weekly podcast, we also host an Ask Us Anything Live on YouTube once a month where the Frequent Miler team answers listener questions about points, miles, rewards cards, and whatever else comes to mind. This episode originally aired on October 2, 2024. Greg was busy vacationing, but the rest of the gang answered a broad range of listener questions about points, miles, and rewards cards. (00:35) - Is the Maldives worth it? (06:25) - Nick, how painful will the virgin dynamic pricing be? (08:03) - Is anyone finding it harder to use debit cards for money orders? (10:45) -Why is award availability to Asia so bad right now, and is there any relief in sight? (15:13) - Which US airport hub do you like to transit through (ie ease of traveling through terminal, number of connecting destinations, lounge access, etc) (18:40) - Miles and Earn Burn is saying that the recently AMEX Biz Gold to Plat upgrade offer links may not be "safe" to use. What is your take? (20:44) - When do you think the strata elite or wells beyond will come out? (24:37) - In general, what services do you rec for big or ongoing purchases that don't usually take credit cards? Other than the % fee, should we be careful using these services? (29:40) - Delta Amex companion certificates terms are very restrictive. Any best practices to find eligible fare class for non-holiday weekends far in advance? Read Greg's post about companion certificates here: https://frequentmiler.com/travel-companion-tickets/ Watch our How To video about using Delta Companion Certificates here: https://frequentmiler.com/how-to-use-delta-companion-certificates-video/ (31:42) - What has been the most outstanding deal so far in 2024 and will you do a coffee break if an outstanding deal happens? (36:33) - Hi FM Team, what was your most difficult / challenging travel experience and what did you learn from it? (49:25) - What do you guys think about Aero plan card in the context of them extending the PYB for travel at 1.25 Cpp especially with possible transfer bonus from Chase. Good way to cash Chase UR Points ? (51:32) - Does Amex allow stacking of offers? Specifically, looking to stack a $100 credit with a 15k MR point bonus for a Leading Hotels resort in Rome. The hotel is listed on both Amex offers. Thanks (52:47) - ​​If the Barclays Aviator red converts to Citi Strata, can I product change to a Custom cash and immediately apply for Citi Strata for the SUB? (54:10) - Is there any airline proram where if i buy my ticket with miles I can still earn miles? TY 4 all you do! Subscribe and Follow

Last week we talked about how to earn Citi ThankYou Rewards, but now we'd like to discuss some of the best (and worst) ways you can use your Citi ThankYou Rewards. Catch last week's episode about accumulating Citi ThankYou Rewards here. (01:17) - In a recent podcast Greg stated that United hadn't before offered discounted business class awards to elites. One listener writes in with a correction that Platinum and 1K have had expanded access to saver awards in business class. (04:06) - How to evaluate credit card welcome bonus offers Compare all the best credit card sign up offers here. (11:57) - Counting down the best uses of ThankYou Rewards from least favorite to most favorite... Learn more about the Citi Premier card here. (13:40) - 10. Transfer to Wyndham to book Vacasa, Cottages, etc. (15:30) - 9. Transfer to Emirates. Book Emirates 1st class for 102K (JFK to Milan, or Newark to Athens) Learn how to find and book Emirates first class awards here. (17:19) - 8.Transfer to Turkish to book 10K one-way to/from Hawaii (18:12) - 7.Virgin: fly AF/KLM Business class to Europe starting at 48,500; also intra-Europe as low as 4K (19:55) - 6.Transfer to Avianca LifeMiles to book business class to Europe for 70K without surcharges (LifeMiles+) (22:11) - 5.Transfer to Choice 1 to 2. Book Nordic hotels, Japan, Preferred, etc. (24:19) - 4.Transfer to Leaders Club. Book Leading Hotels of the World for 1.6cpp (25:24) - 3.Transfer to Qatar Avios. Book Qatar QSuites for 70K Learn more about finding award space for Qatar QSuites here. (27:30) - 2.Transfer to EVA Air Infinity MileageLands. One-way business class flights from the US to Taipei cost 75K to 80K miles (30:27) - 1.Transfer to Qatar Avios then to Iberia. Book Iberia biz class from east coast to Spain for 34K off-peak or 50K peak (33:42) - BEST USE: Transfer to Flying Blue. Book Air France/KLM biz class to Europe for 50K Learn more about viewing the Flying Blue award calendar here. (36:31) - Find out about current point transfer bonuses here. (40:18) - WORST 5: Counting down from best of the worst to worst of the worst (40:34) - 5.Buy gift cards (41:46) - 4.Book travel through Citi (43:46) - 3. Transfer to AeroMexico (or transfer to ANY program to book low-value award) (44:59) - 2. Pay with Points (0.8 cpp value) (46:44) - 1. Shop with Points (usually: 0.8 cpp value) (49:38) - Do you have tips about rental car programs and how to maximize value with car rental rewards?

We've been talking a lot lately about unique uses for Citi ThankYou points  such as transferring to Leading Hotels of the World, but how do you accumulate these points? That's what we'll talk about in today's episode of Frequent Miler on the Air. (01:20) - During Ask Us Anything, Greg said that Amex to Hilton transfer bonus would have to be 70% to match standard Chase to Hyatt transfer value. One reader thought of a situation where a 1.7 cents per point value could be reached via Bilt to Virgin Atlantic 125% transfer bonus for Platinum members. Watch our recent Ask Us Anything here. (07:53) - Hilton Aspire resort credit-eligible hotel list shrinks Read more about the Hilton Aspire resort credit eligible hotel list changes here. (09:29) - Targeted 120,000 Membership Rewards points Business Platinum upgrade offers Read more about the 120K Membership Rewards points Business Platinum upgrade offers here. (13:36) - Venture X and Venture X Business Cards: Hertz President's Circle status NOT ending 12/31. Read more about the Venture X card here, and the Venture X Business Card here. (14:50) - What crazy thing did Nick and Greg do? (They missed the 70K Hawaiian card bonus change to 50K, hours before discussing it on the podcast.) (15:10) - Listen to our conversation about the Alaska / Hawaiian merger here. (17:21) - What crazy thing did Barclays do? (21:15) - Targeted IHG double elite night credits on up to 2 stays through 12/31/24 (Read more here.) (28:01) - Wells Fargo Rewards® points now transfer to Virgin (29:02) - Targeted Avianca LifeMiles sale - 200% bonus (through MONDAY 9/30) (Read more here.) (31:46) - AA Targeted promo to get Loyalty Points when spending AA miles (32:37) - Melio business bill payment service now has paid membership tiers Read more about Melio here. (35:28) - Pepper Rewards adds point history and pending point information Learn more about Pepper here. (39:23) - Spirit updates, including removing redemption fees and free wifi for Gold members (40:55) - ThankYou Rewards quick overview and basics Find out about unique rewards you can get with ThankYou points here. (46:23) - Welcome bonuses Learn more about the Strata Premier card here. Learn more about the Double Cash card here, and the Custom Cash card here. (50:54) - Earn through spend... (1:01:02) - Targeted Bonuses (1:02:44) - Retention Bonuses (1:07:19) - 2 person (or "2 player") strategy (1:10:10) - A reader won 50K American Airline miles from a work event and is considering accumulating more...

Alaska has announced that their merger with Hawaiian Airlines is complete! So what are the details, and what does this mean for us? We'll discuss this in today's episode. (01:36) - What's with the stupid virus pop-up on our website? (03:40) - Greg's update on the Pacific Northwest Points Travel Festival and some of the folks he met (09:04) - Read about 10-year old Walker's first place win at the USA Mullet Championship here! (11:57) - Learn more about the next Points Travel Festival here. (12:50) - Big offers from Delta, Amex Marriot, IHG and more... Read more about the Delta card offers (up to 110K miles) here. Read more about the Amex Marriott Bonvoy Business Card offer here. Read more about the new IHG card offers here. Read more about the Ink Business Unlimited 90K offer here. (25:22) - Read "The Points Parade marches on thanks to a new round of targeted 250K offers" here. (30:00) - Read more about Amex Uber credits here. (31:39) - Read "Downgrade paths: How to keep your card but break up with your annual fee or find a better fit" here. (33:14) - Read more about buying groups here. (33:39) - Chase 50% transfer bonus to Marriott through 11/15. Learn more about this transfer bonus here. (37:15) - Rental car deals with Avis and National... (42:42) - Citi Transfer bonuses through Oct 19 Learn more about Citi's 25% transfer bonus to Avianca here. Learn more about Citi's 25% transfer bonus to Leading Hotels of the World here. (44:28) - Hilton adds over 100 additional SLH properties Read more about Hilton's 100 additional SLH properties here. (46:59) - In case you missed it, you can find our "Debate: 30% Amex to Hilton Transfer Bonus. Should we do it?" Coffee Break Ep26 here. (47:26) - Read more about the Alaska / Hawaaiin merger green light here. (47:54) - Quick facts (48:20) - Earn and redeem miles across both airlines (early 2025) (48:31) - Single loyalty program coming (Details mid 2025) (49:09) - Huaka'i by Hawaiian (for Hawaii residents) (50:16) - Seamless miles transfer (52:14) - We still have questions! (57:39) - Listen to Podcast episode 269 about the Alaska / Hawaiian merger here. (1:01:39) - What are the short term opportunities to consider? (1:03:27) - Combine Alaska miles into one account for free! (1:06:10) - Apply now for Hawaiian Airlines cards before its too late...orr wait for better last-gasp offers? Learn more about the Hawaiian Airlines personal card here, and the Hawaiian Airlines business card here. (1:25:43) - A reader used their Amex Platinum to pay for the tax on an award ticket, then got a charge for trip delay. Doesn't this card already have travel delay covered, though?

This time Tim was on vacation, but the rest of the Frequent Miler crew got together on YouTube for another Ask Us Anything, Live. (On the first Wednesday of every month, we host a live YouTube to answer your points and miles questions in real time!) (00:30) - How did TeamLabs "Borderless" compare with "Planets"? Read more about our TeamLabs experience here. (04:57) - ​​What are your thoughts on new U.S. bank smartly credit card? (07:08) - Hi team! If I downgrade my Ritz card to get the Amex Brilliant sign up bonus, then upgrade again to the Ritz card, will that affect my Ritz 85k certificate? Anything to be careful of so I don't lose the 85k Ritz certificate? (08:56) - ​​What is one place (non-US) destination that has a bad reputation for tourists and doesn't deserve it or alternatively is very overrated? (16:45) - Hi Greg, I was 0 for 3 on my CC applications for Barclays Hawaiian Airlines Personal, Barclays Hawaiian Airlines Biz, and Bank of America Sonesta. Did you have better luck with your CC applications? (18:16) - ​​Any suggestions on how to improve odds on getting targeted for useful Amex? offers? (20:28) - I want to stay at Hilton Tokyo Bay for Fam of 5 - Disneyland and Disney Sea…. what card should I get first? Are there specific rules to follow like Marriott? (26:04) - ​​I have big spend coming up, capacity for ~20k in spend, but I can't get business cards. Any recommendations on sign up bonuses/big spend bonuses? Read more about who can apply for business cards here. (27:57) - Have you ever had issues with gift card fraud? How would you deal with it? (31:13) - What parts of Japan besides Kyoto and Tokyo do you enjoy (33:07) - How much of a transfer bonus from Amex to Hilton would you find to be on the same level as the normal 1:1 transfer from Chase to Hyatt? (34:38) - I have United Silver, is booking basic economy on United and/or Star Alliance partners still going to give me the free checkin luggage? (35:34) -What's the best bet for a new card or downgrade to keep Amex points when cancelling a Gold? My husband has a Business Platinum and it's too hard to get all the benefits/offsets for a second one. (39:16) - ​​What is the best use of Avios after all the short-haul devaluations? (40:16) - ​​What is your favorite hotel ecosystem for long term commitment? (42:42) - Nick, I got the surpass on July 31 and close to meeting spend. want to work towards the 15k spend for 2nd free night certificate but need to pause since I got approved US Bank Altitude Reserve. Will spend in 2025 before anniversary count? (44:13) - ​​What's your best guess on how long the JetBlue status match offer will be active? I have JetBlue cash flights booked in October (domestic) and December (Mint to London). Trying to time it right. (45:24) - ​​Can't book JetBlue economy via Qatar? I tried using the article for finding mint via Qatar using ITAmatrix. I used “P” fare class for economy Got the calendar, but Qatar website doesn't show the flights. (47:44) - what's the best award booking using Lufthansa miles without the exuberant taxes and best way to find availability? (49:43) - ​​Planning trip to Ghana or Kenya next June. Would like to use Flying Blue and Qatar to stop in Ams and Doh. Is it worth it to transfer points now hoping award prices come down closer to the trip? (51:17) - Why don't you guys have a (paid) service for your subscribers to help make award bookings? I've been following for almost a couple of years. I know you teach us to do it on our own, but... (54:36) - NICK and Greg shared an amazing video about finding award availability on Jetblue and booking via Avios. I believe They used Matrix.Ita. Is there a way to find united availability using same process Watch the JetBlue Mint via Qatar how to video here. (56:25) - ​​Should I go for the Hilton Surpass now for the 150k sign up bonus that I can find via incognito browser or wait for a better offer? Subscribe and Follow

We love Chase Ultimate Rewards primarily because of the ability to transfer to partners (and we specifically love the ability to transfer to Hyatt.) Chase Ultimate Rewards is actually one of the best ways to get Hyatt points, in fact. We'll talk more about amassing Chase Ultimate Rewards (and why you would want to) in this episode of Frequent Miler on the Air. (01:18) - A reader experiences an issue with a price on his Etihad award that was not as advertised... (08:43) - Read more about the Chase Ink Business Unlimited card here. (10:21) - Read more about the U.S. Bank Smartly credit card here. (19:47) - Read our Guide to Credit Card Application Rules by Bank here. (21:29) - Double Elite Night Credit on Marriott Homes & Villas (Targeted, Book by 9/20, stay by 12/31) Read more about the double elite night credit here. (32:34) - 30% transfer bonus from Amex Membership Rewards to Hilton Honors (thru 9/30) (33:24) - Reminder: 30% transfer bonus from Amex Membership Rewards to Avios (thru 9/30) (33:40) - 20% transfer bonus from Capital One to Air France / KLM Flying Blue (thru 9/29) (35:20) - Preferred Hotels now up to 118,000 Choice points (not long ago 55K max!). Read more about great value preferred hotels, bookable with Choice points here. (40:03) - We all know that Chase Ultimate Rewards points are super valuable... Learn more about Chase Ultimate Rewards sweet spots here. (41:55) - How to get the Chase Ultimate Rewards points... (42:04) - Chase Ultimate Rewards welcome bonuses Read more about Chase's best credit card sign up offers here. (42:22) - What are the rules for applying for Chase cards? (What is the 5/24 24 month, 48 month, etc): See our Complete Guide to Credit Card Application Rules by Bank here. (42:59) - There are lots of Chase cards available... Again, you can learn more about Chase cards here. (45:29) - Which Ink Business card is not like the others (and will not earn you points that can be transferred to partners)... (48:59) - Earning Chase Ultimate Rewards via referral bonuses (51:06) - 2 Player Mode for Chase Ultimate Rewards (54:28) - What can you earn as you spend on Chase cards? Learn more about spending options here and here. (1:05:12) - Chase's shopping portal (and other miscellaneous ways to earn Chase Ultimate Rewards points) (1:07:12) - When does it make sense to credit paid flights to a different airline's frequent flyer account (within the partner airline)? (1:10:23) - Learn more about our 40K to Far Away challenge here. (1:11:59) - Learn more about wheretocredit.com here

Hyatt's elite program can be really valuable - for instance when you reach certain milestones you can get valuable perks, and there's multiple ways of reaching those milestones. In this episode, Greg and Nick debate the best way of getting there.   (01:21) - Multiple readers (coincidentally named both forms of "John") chime in with feedback from recent podcast episodes... (01:42) - Find podcast Ep269 Alaska/Hawaiian Airlines Wedding Planning here. (04:21) - Find podcast Ep262 How to get great value from you Platinum card here. (07:34) - Nick experiences a crazy Hilton resort fee for using the pool (11:42) - Bilt's September 1 Rent Day promo. Should Greg transfer his points? Read more about Bilt Rent Day promos here. (20:58) - Bilt adds Walgreens FSA & point earning Read more about Bilt rewards adding points-earning at Walgreens here. (28:34) - Delta (probably gone) : US to Taipei on Delta One from 98,000 SkyMiles (83,300 for Delta cardholders) Read more about finding this US to Taipei deal here. (33:26) - Find our World of Hyatt Complete Guide here (35:10) - Read Greg's post "Hyatt milestone spending -- what's my X?" here. (36:59) - Read Nick's "Hyatt Milestone chasing: should we all mattress run to Globalist status?" here. (39:49) - Hyatt Milestone Details: Earn valuable benefits after every 10 qualifying nights starting at 20 nights (but real value starts at 30)... (47:20) - First let's talk about mattress running... (52:54) - Credit card spend options... (52:56) - Learn more about the World of Hyatt card here. (53:43) - Learn more about the World of Hyatt Business card here. (56:26) - Which is better - mattress running or credit card spend? (1:07:33) - A reader just discovered you can redeem Cathay Pacific miles for hotels and wonders if we've heard of anyone doing this?

Late 2023, Alaska Airlines announced that it planned to acquire Hawaiian Airlines and just last week, the DOJ allowed the merger to move ahead. Today, we'll talk about how to prepare for this "wedding" between programs. (01:12) - The value of my Life miles just disappeared into Finn Air Listen to Ask Us Anything Ep69 here. Listen to Frequent Miler on the Air Ep268 "Best Uses for Virgin Points" here. (02:25) - Dell no longer selling many 3rd party items (headphones, etc) (03:59) - Amex Business Platinum card credits for Dell, Adobe, and Indeed are ending 12/31/24 Read more about the Amex Business Platinum card here. (06:48) - Which hotel award search tool is best? Read Greg's post about which hotel award search tool is best here. (10:17) - Radisson Rewards instant status (Read more about Radisson Rewards instant status here) (11:50) - Marriott just sent Greg a $50 promo gift card for continued loyalty Main Event: Alaska/Hawaiian Airlines Wedding Planning (13:24) - Late 2023, Alaska Airlines announced that it planned to acquire Hawaiian Airlines... (15:44) - Backing up... Let's talk about the pre-merger situation with both airlines... (16:29) - Alaska Airlines recently joined oneworld alliance, recently overhauled award charts, and pledged to offer mixed partner awards by late 2024 (17:50) - What we like about Alaska Airlines... (21:29) - Alaska miles are hard to get in huge quantities... (23:12) - Alaska credit cards... Learn more about the Alaska Airlines Visa Signature card here. Learn more about the Alaska Airlines Visa Business card here. (24:41) - Currently, very few great uses for Hawaiian Airlines miles (25:21) - Hawaiian Airlines has wide body jets with lie-flat business class seats, and international destinations: South Korea, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Tahiti, Cook Islands (26:31) - Getting Hawaiian Airline miles... Learn more about the Hawaiian Airlines World Elite MasterCard by Barclays here. Learn more about the Hawaiian Airlines Business card here. (29:07) - What we know about the merger so far... (30:30) - What we don't know yet... (36:21) - Amex Membership Rewards 20% transfer bonus to Hawaiian through 8/31/24 (46:34) - One reader booked a one way partner flight through Flying Blue, then it was revoked at the Copa counter without notice or explanation. Is this common and what should you do in this kind if situation? Subscribe and Follow

In addition to our regular weekly podcast, we also host an Ask Us Anything Live on YouTube once a month where the Frequent Miler team answers listener questions about points, miles, rewards cards, and whatever else comes to mind. This episode originally aired on August 14, 2024.  (10:19) - Does Cathay Pacific still do multi-cabin award pricing? I tried both as a one-way and multi-city routing and the price remains the same online and speaking to a rep on phone.  (10:59) - How often can I upgrade - downgrade Surpass to Aspire and vice versa?  (13:22) - You educate us with helpful info. Do you ever have the chance to talk to banks, airlines or hotel programs to influence them?  (15:45) - ​​I have the Wyndham earner biz card and did the AC status match in Feb 2023. I've heard you can rematch at Oceans casino after 18 months. Does Hard Rock have any restrictions on rematching  (17:28) - ​​I have the Wyndham earner biz card and did the AC status match in Feb 2023. I've heard you can rematch at Oceans casino after 18 months. Does Hard Rock have any restrictions on rematching  (18:50) - When you all fly from the US in the evening and arrive in Europe in the mornings, do you typically book another night at the hotel or try and check in early? How do you handle that gap before checkin?  (25:02) - ​​I have about $15k of previously unexpected spend in the next few months, in five chunks of around $3k. What current credit cards offers would y'all pick to parlay that into lounges/status/etc? Thanks!  (27:25) - ​​Probably a question for Greg - is there a way to add a non-AF/KLM frequent flier # to a Flying Blue award? I recently matched to ITA Executive status and want to add to an AF award.  (28:36) - ​​I'm Hyatt globalist. Status match to American Airlines. How do I find the status challenge back with Hyatt?  (35:25) - Hi! I was curious about the timing for the cruises. When you receive the offer, is there a time you have to book, or is the offer for a specific cruise? I'm trying to figure out how to time it.  (38:40) - What is one sweet spot you hope to do in the near future? Either because you're afraid it will disappear soon, or because you just haven't done it yet?  (45:57) - ​​Question about Cap One lounges. I have a regular Cap One Venture card and 2 passes. Can I use the 2 passes on one visit, or do they only work for cardholders?  (46:24) - ​​What did you guys end up doing with your Amex Gold? Keep or cancel?  (50:10) - I don't have any travel plan for next 8 months, but i was targeted for 0.5 cents per point, (Hilton) - do you recommend to buy preemptive or should i wait and hoping that same offer will be back?  (51:21) - I plan to downgrade my Ritz to apply for BONVOY Brilliant. How long do I need to wait after the downgrade from Ritz to get approved?  (54:15) - ​​Is it possible to book an Aeroplan stopover with multiple stops?  (58:01) - Do you have a video that talks about American System-wide upgrades? Just used AA SWU from Tokyo to Japan for 3 people. Paid $1,800 total for $33,000 (website costs) for business class

You can use these points for cruises, hotels and some really compelling deals on flights, of course. In this episode, we'll discuss some of our favorite uses for Virgin Points. (01:28) - Tips for using AutoSlash for car rentals... (06:50) - The Amex Gold card's Dunkin' benefits can apparently be used at Baskin Robbins! Read more about the Amex Gold Card here. (09:58) - Qatar devaluation impacts using Qatar Avios to book American & Alaska (14:06) - Read more about award ticket change and cancellation fees here. (16:02) - LifeMiles devaluation (not all bad news) (17:44) - Catch our Learning to Love LifeMiles episode 257 here. (19:03) - Air France/KLM is bookable again with Virgin Points Main Event: Best uses for Virgin points (21:56) - Virgin Red & Virgin Atlantic Flying Club share same points, just link your accounts (22:29) - It's easy to get Virgin Points (22:49) - Learn more about frequent transfer bonuses here. (23:10) - Learn more about the Virgin Red credit card here. (23:19) - Delta One to Europe is effectively dead (24:37) - Now, fly Air France / KLM short distances in/near Europe (29:36) - Fly Air France/KLM to/from Europe (33:11) - Economy to/from London (fly Delta or Virgin Atlantic) (35:50) - Learn more about Virgin Voyages here. (39:39) - Read Nick's post on getting free cruises from status matches here. (42:34) - More rare Virgin Point deals... (47:25) - What do you do when a Marriott nightly upgrade award would put you in a suite with a lower room occupancy than the lower, standard room (and a lower occupancy rate than you need)?

#187: Learn the art of travel planning to enjoy incredible vacations. Travel pro Leigh and I share over 40 practical tips to create the perfect itinerary, save on flights and hotels, find travel inspiration, experience destinations like a local, and much more. Leigh Rowan is the founder and CEO of Savanti Travel, a full-service travel management company. Prior to that he was the COO of The Points Guy. Link to Full Show Notes: https://chrishutchins.com/travel-planning-leigh-rowan Partner Deals LMNT: Free sample pack of my favorite electrolyte drink mix Facet: Personalized Financial Planning + $250 enrollment fee waived Mint Mobile: $15/mo for unlimited wireless on the nation's largest 5G network Vuori: 20% off the most comfortable performance apparel I've ever worn DeleteMe: 20% off removing your personal info from the web For all the deals, discounts and promo codes from our partners, go to: chrishutchins.com/deals Resources Mentioned Leigh Rowan: Savanti Travel | Twitter Travel Publications for Inspiration Robb Report Travel + Leisure The New York Times: 52 Places to Go This Year Lonely Planet Flight Monitoring Tool: TripIt Activities, Experiences, Tours Airbnb Experiences Viator Context Travel International Data: Airalo | Mint Mobile Love and London: Get 10% off digital travel guides and itineraries with code "ALLTHEHACKS" Episodes: #1: Pro Travel Tips for Every Aspect of Your Next Trip with Leigh Rowan #51: Unlocking Travel Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous with Leigh Rowan #84: The Vagabond's Way: Time Wealth, Slow Travel, and Immersing Yourself in a New Place with Rolf Potts #86: The Best Deals for a Vacation Rentals, Exchanges, Fractionals, Timeshares and More! #89: Booking Flights with Points and All Things Award Travel with Tiffany Funk #94: How to Experience London Like a Local and Get There on Points with Jessica Dante (+ Chris' Trip Report) #107: Italy Unlocked: Insider Tips, Must-See Destinations and Booking Flights/Hotels on Points with Leigh Rowan #115: Iceland: Planning an Epic Adventure with Brandon Presser #156: Finding the Best Deals on Flights with Zach Resnick #166: Best Tools for Booking Flights with Points & Miles with Greg the Frequent Miler #167: Best Tools for Booking Hotels with Points & Miles with Greg the Frequent Miler Find other travel, points & miles related episodes here. Full Show Notes (coming soon) (00:00) Introduction (:) The Secret to an Incredible Vacation (:) Why Travel Planning Starts with Organization (:) Ways to Feel Inspired (:) Considering Seasonality and Timing (:) How Chris Uses Notion for Travel Planning (:) Leveraging ChatGPT (:) Tips to Monitor Booked Flights (:) 3 Ways to Make Your Layover Count (:) Double Booking Hack for Flights (:) Rules of Thumb for Creating an Itinerary (:) Finding Accommodation and Getting Deals (:) Why Leigh Emails Hotels After Every Booking (:) Finding Local Experiences (:) Free Walking Tours (:) Finding Travel Inspiration Through Online Videos (:) Should You Use Credit Card Concierges for a Local Experience? (:) The Importance of Local Embassies (:) Best Ways to Access Money Abroad (:) Travel Insurance (:) Important Trip Elements To Review For Upcoming Travel Connect with Chris Newsletter | Membership | Twitter | Instagram | LinkedIn Editor's Note: The content on this page is accurate as of the posting date; however, some of our partner offers may have expired. Opinions expressed here are the author's alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline, or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post.

#184: Sharing five tactics I've used recently to maximize points, lower property taxes, cut credit card annual fees, get a free companion pass, and earn thousands of dollars through bank and brokerage bonuses. Link to Full Show Notes: https://allthehacks.com/5-tactics-to-maximize-savings Partner Deals DRAM: 20% off my favorite sparkling water with zero calories, zero sugar Copilot: Free 2 months access to my favorite personal finance app with code HACKS2 Notion: Try Notion AI free to automate tedious tasks and streamline your work DeleteMe: 20% off removing your personal info from the web NetSuite: Free KPI checklist to upgrade your business performance For all the deals, discounts and promo codes from our partners, go to: allthehacks.com/deals Resources Mentioned All the Hacks: Credit Cards Bank Bonuses All the Hacks Membership #142: When Travel Goes Wrong: Pro Tips for Flight Cancelations, Delays, Lost Luggage, and More #166: Best Tools for Booking Flights with Points & Miles with Greg the Frequent Miler #167: Best Tools for Booking Hotels with Points & Miles with Greg the Frequent Miler #175: Monday Musings: Latest Deals, Summer Award Travel, Father's Day Gift Ideas, Calling 911 and More #181: Making an Easy $3k/mo from Online Deals with Kai Credit Cards: Aeroplan® Credit Card Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Performance Business Credit Card Chase Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card Hilton Honors American Express Card Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card Property Appraisal Appeal: Ownwell Flight Award Alerts: AwardTool | Seats.aero Avianca LifeMiles+ Subscription How to Earn A Free Southwest Companion Pass FlyerTalk Credit Card Retention Offers Best Bank Bonuses: Doctor of Credit HSBC: $1500 for $100k for 90 days Capital One: $1500 for $100k for 90 days Wells Fargo: $525 for $25k for 90 days Citi: $500 for $30k for 90 days Axos Bank®: $500 for $3k for 30 days with $1.5k direct deposit Wells Fargo: $325 for $1k for 90 days with $1k direct deposit Best Brokerage Bonuses: Doctor of Credit | Bogleheads WeBull: 2% on up to $100k (till 7/31/24) E*TRADE: $600 for $100k for 60 days TD : $750 for $100k for 30 days Tastytrade: $2000+ for $100k for 1 year Full Show Notes (00:00) Introduction (02:07) How To Lower Your Property Tax (06:27) Chris' Summer Award Travel Update (14:32) 3 Big Takeaways for Booking Award Flights (16:21) Earning A Free Southwest Companion Pass (23:39) How To Negotiate Annual Fees on Credit Cards (26:01) Best-Ever Credit Card Welcome Offers (July 2024) (27:43) Overview of Bank Bonus Categories (30:54) $1000+ Bank Bonuses (32:48) Mid Range Bank Bonuses ($150-$750) (38:37) Bank Bonuses on Direct Deposits (42:22) Chris' Key Takeaway on Bank Bonuses (44:35) Overview of Brokerage Bonuses (48:21) Best Brokerage Bonuses (July 2024) (55:32) Limited Time Monster Brokerage Bonus (Ending 7/31/24) Connect with All the Hacks All the Hacks: Newsletter | Website | Membership | Email Chris Hutchins: X | Instagram | Website | LinkedIn Editor's Note: The content on this page is accurate as of the posting date; however, some of our partner offers may have expired. Opinions expressed here are the author's alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline, or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post.