After excitedly breaking the news of the Turkish Miles & Smiles sweet spot to Hawaii during our 40K to Far Away challenge back in 2019, you might think we became huge fans of ThankYou Rewards in my household. The truth is, after a few Turkish redemptions, we’ve largely slept on Citi for years, despite Greg showing some great ways to use ThankYou points for lodging. Then, it happened: two nights ago, I was about to break down a use a $1,000 Hotels.com gift card (earned from Capital One Shopping) to book a single night at a hotel (well beyond my ordinary nightly budget). I had thought there were no points-bookable properties…..but then I finally woke up! The short story is that my wife transferred 23,000 Citi points to a Citi partner and my $1,000 Hotels.com gift card lives to see another stay.
I’ll share more detail about that booking (including the name of the hotel and program) in a few weeks after we complete it, but for now suffice it to say that Citi has my attention. The rumored 100K welcome bonus on the expected-to-launch-within-days Citi Strata Elite may draw my attention a little closer yet, but can the card keep my attention long-term? Probably not, but we might just have to take them up on 100,000 reasons to make sure.
This week on the Frequent Miler blog…
Citi Strata Elite complete details leaked (and my personal analysis)
Greg offers a very balanced look at the leaked details of the Citi Strata Elite card. Even with a pretty balanced look at things, I just can’t see how this card will catch on. Please do me a favor and observe a moment of silence for the poor Citi phone reps who are going to have to field endless calls about why someone’s restaurant visit charge didn’t come through at the right time to earn the 6x on Friday and Saturday night. When you’re done with that, make sure that your smart watch has an extra clock face that always shows the hour in Eastern time so when you’re in Europe or Asia or Africa or Australia you can maybe figure out whether your dining purchase could earn 6x. And that’s the only bonus category they could muster that wasn’t on bookings made through their travel portal? Truth be told, I always said that I didn’t think Citi would launch an ultra-premium card because they just clearly weren’t interested in competing in that space. It turns out that I was wrong about launching the card, but if this doesn’t prove me right about their lack of desire to be competitive, I’m not sure what would. The welcome bonus will certainly make this one worthwhile for a year. I look forward to hearing Greg’s take after a year with the card, but I think I could predict that, too.
Southwest “ruins” its credit cards. Now might be the time to get one.
While Citi managed to underwhelm with the leaked Strata Elite details, the Southwest credit cards as we know them are ruined forever. Sort of. So, too, is the Southwest that we knew and loved. In a world where Southwest has changed its business model, the cards actually aren’t a bad deal if you fly Southwest often. I think many folks were probably surprised at the lack of coupon benefits, but I can’t imagine that Southwest wanted to go out of their way to be appealing in their new business model. But the real story here has nothing to do with the cards themselves and everything to do with the Companion Pass. Will it remain unchanged for long enough for a bonus you earn in January to help? Personally, I think this is the last best chance at a Companion Pass, but I don’t think it can wait until January. See the post for more of my thoughts.
PSA: Those Caribbean JetBlue same-day turns might not work out
Last weekend, my family had same day turns booked on JetBlue from San Juan to both St. Thomas and St. Croix. Unfortunately, we ended up cancelling the St. Croix leg as we thought that we wouldn’t likely make the connection after our experience in St. Thomas. I hadn’t realized that the US Virgin Islands are separate from the US Customs area, so even though it is US territory, all travelers pass through customs and security. Rather than emptying into the gate area, arriving flights empty into baggage claim, which means having to clear both customs and airport security before the flight. We barely made the return flight in St. Thomas (those with TSA Precheck would have been in better shape). We thought it was be tighter still in St. Croix, but I have an update: I ran into a traveler today at Hartford airport who did both same-day turns this week and made the flight both times (he said there were three people doing it on the St. Croix leg), so maybe it can be done after all! In our own case, the St. Croix leg on which we were booked got diverted to St. Thomas and eventually landed in San Juan hours later than expected, which would have caused us to miss our connection home anyway, so maybe it was for the best that we canceled.
A look at the Rove Miles platform: Earn transferable miles for bookings & shopping, use miles for outsized value
Rove Miles is an interesting relatively new platform for earning transferable miles independent of credit cards. You can earn Rove Miles for flight and hotel bookings and shopping portal purchases and then transfer them to partners that include Air France / KLM Flying Blue, Avios programs, and more. This could be a particularly useful card in conjunction with a Mesa Homeowners card thanks to quite a bit of overlap in transfer partners. Personally, I could see this being appealing at times when I’m booking hotel rooms — particularly for others in the family and/or when I don’t care much about elite credit or benefits. Readers in the comments point out that it is sometimes possible to get borderline ridiculous return on hotel bookings, so the platform is probably worth a look for that. Just make sure that you pair it with a capable award search tool.
3 new ways to earn transferable points | Frequent Miler on the Air Ep316 | 7-25-25 | Podcast
It’s always exciting to see new kids on the block in this hobby, particularly when they have an interesting concept and value proposition. That’s certainly the case for at least 2 out of 3 of the new ways to earn transferable points that we discuss on this week’s Frequent Miler on the Air. I’m rarely ever tempted to book hotels through an online travel agency like Expedia or Pirceline (though, in fitting irony, I’m typing this post from a Holiday Inn Express I booked via Priceline with a 30% back offer from Capital One Shopping!), but Rove Miles might just offer enough return to influence my behavior now and then.
Lake Como Highlights
Greg recently enjoyed some time at Lake Como and gathered some of the highlights here. Personally, I love Lake Como. While it is true that in summertime the crowds can be tough in places like Bellagio, I think Lake Como really lives up to its reputation for beauty. Greg’s pics speak volumes to that in my opinion. I especially like the picnic he did — I never would have thought to have looked for something like that, but now I’ll have to keep it in mind for future trips as I think that sort of thing could be a lot of fun!
Bilt Rent Day for August: Get up to 100% transfer bonus to Avianca LifeMiles
Bilt Rent Day is just a few days away. If you’ve sitting on a stash of Bilt points and have Platinum status, a 100% transfer bonus to Avianca Lifemiles could surely make for an excellent deal. Lifemiles is one of my favorite award currencies — getting two for one is a great deal. Even at the lower status tiers, the transfer bonus here could be of interest if you have a good use of Lifemiles in mind, but remember that this bonus is available on August 1st only.
Why Stephen chose Capital One Miles for 100K Vacay
Stephen is bringing the heat for 100K Vacay! Determined to win, Stephen chose Capital One Miles specifically because he thinks they create the toughest path to victory — and he wants it. I’m excited to see Stephen fired up to win this thing, but it does apply some pressure to the rest of us. I know that he can take a theme and run with it — and after being rested and energized, it sounds like he is ready to run with it indeed.
Combined Hawaiian Airlines & Alaska Airlines program will launch on October 1, 2025
It’s now official: The combined Alaska Airlines / Hawaiian Airlines loyalty program will launch on October 1, 2025. That’s a little later than initially planned and we don’t yet have full details of what the combined program will look like, but now we know when to expect it and that functionality within your Hawaiian account will be limited during the last week of September. If you’re sitting on many miles in your Hawaiian Miles account, I’d recommend proactively connecting to Alaska and transferring your miles lest you risk
How to maximize value with Amex multi-card referrals
While many issuers offer the opportunity to earn points for referring new cardmembers, Amex offers the broadest program, offering the chance to earn a bonus for referring someone to almost any Amex card. Have a card that earns Membership Rewards points and a friend who wants a Hilton card? You can refer them and earn Membership Rewards points for yourself while they get a new Hilton card bonus. If you’re managing credit cards with a partner — like a spouse or significant other — you can juice up your collective points balance by referring each other for new cards. This post explains how to do it.
How to convert Amex Membership Rewards to cash with the Schwab Platinum card (new simplified format)
Amex has recently simplified the process of converting Amex Membership Rewards points to a Schwab brokerage deposit. It is now possible to enter a custom number of points to convert — no more need to choose a number of blocks of 1,000 or 10,000 or whatever. I’m glad they made this change as the previous system seemed a little silly.
Do you lose your points when you cancel your credit card? | Coffee Break Ep64 | 7-22-25 | Podcast
On this week’s podcast, Greg and I tackle a question that comes up frequently from newcomers in the game: Do you lose your points when you cancel your credit card? Phone reps are often mistaken about this, particularly when it comes to airline points and hotel miles. Transferable points can get complicated. Watch or listen to this coffee break for a breakdown.
Southwest assigned seating is coming soon; how it & boarding groups will work
Starting in just a few days, Southwest Airlines will finally begin charging for seat assignments. Stephen gathers everything we know about how you can select seats in advance for free, whether with status, credit card, or the bundle you book
1bdrm apartment in New York City for 30K Wyndham points per night: Beekman Tower, Trademark Collection Bottom Line Review
Would you believe that I booked a 1 bedroom apartment in New York City for just 27K Wyndham Rewards points per night (after the 10% Earner cardholder discount)? I was really surprised when I found this property and relatively impressed. It definitely isn’t fancy, but a living room, kitchen, and bedroom in Midtown Manhattan (OK, Midtown East) for 27K Wyndham points per night? That’s hard to beat.
Air Canada Aeroplan Complete Guide (2025)
Air Canada Aeroplan is one of my favorite award programs because Air Canada has more airline partners than any other airline in the world. You can get to some truly unique corners of the world with Aeroplan and their award chart is built for people who find the journey as exciting as the destination. Our complete guide has everything you need to know about Aeroplan.
That’s it for this week at Frequent Miler. Keep an eye on this week’s last chance deals to be sure you grab them before they’re gone.
Want to learn more about miles and points? Subscribe to email updates or check out our podcast on your favorite podcast platform.
US Bank Smartly v1.0 legacy cardholders are officially nerfed.