Some quick hits from around the web that may be of interest to readers include a scam over Spirit Airlines, some interesting tidbits (both good and bad) from Citi’s latest Investor Day, the EU’s intention to enforce EU261 on airlines that cancel due to rising fuel costs, and more.
Citi’s Investor Day Gives Clues on Credit Card DirectionCiti’s Investor Day Gives Clues on Credit Card Direction
Miles Talk covers Citi’s latest investor day call, on which Citi shared some interesting information about the success of the Strata cards in 2025. It’s unbelievable to see that they grew their card portfolio by 35%. Part of that was obviously on the back of far more PR than usual, given the launch of both the Strata and Strata Elite cards and some of the unintentional negative PR thanks to the Wall Street Journal piece about the fiasco regarding applications.
Of concern to some in our community is the fact that Citi mentions the desire to reduce the cost of expensive points redemptions. One has to wonder how much that has to do with transfers to American Airlines. Hopefully, the way they reduce their cost is by offering poor value redemptions that other segments of cardholders are happy to use, while leaving transfer partners and earnings rates intact for those of us about maximizing rewards.
No more Priority Pass lounges in Doha soon
While Priority Pass is more miss than hit here in the US, it tends to be far better outside the United States. Unfortunately, that soon will not be true in Qatar, as Head for Points highlights the fact that Doha’s three Priority Pass lounges will leave the network this week.
Viral Effort To Buy Spirit Airlines Claims $437 Million In Pledges — Now Scammers Are Stealing Their Money
Scammers gotta scam, and not unlike when tragedy strikes and scammers set up fake charities, View from the Wing reports scammers are out there trying to take advantage of people who have bought into the idea of a public pledge to buy Spirit Airlines. There is no official fundraising going on for what probably started mostly as just a fun idea, with little intention of actually making it happen. No official body is collecting any money for this, so if you saw this and you pledged something, and you get contacted by someone looking to take money from you, run. Spirit is gone. As disappointed as some will be about that, it’s not getting resurrected.
Airlines still have to pay compensation if flights cancelled due to fuel crisis, EU says
Europe offers fantastic consumer protections. One of the best of those, or at least best known in our community, is EU 261, which provides protection if airlines cancel or significantly delay your flights to and from European Union countries. I wrote about my own experience with an EU261 claim a couple of months ago, where my family ended up getting over $2,000 for a delay that caused an overnight connection. With fuel prices increasing, there have been news stories everywhere about European airlines cancelling or considering cancelling summer-time flight periods. While airlines surely hoped this would be considered extenuating circumstances that would exempt them from EU261, The Guardian reports that the EU Transit Commissioner has made it clear that rising costs will not qualify for an exemption. That will obviously encourage airlines to keep flying their routes, although I’m sure some will count on consumers not knowing their rights. So, if you’re traveling in Europe this summer and your flight gets cancelled, know what rights you have under EU261. I took some heart in this, but also in the fact that the article mentions that Ryanair has no intention to cancel flights this summer. I have a Ryanair flight booked that’s an important part of my overall trip, so I was particularly encouraged to hear that Ryanair has been proactive in preparing for the increasing fuel costs. That also makes me less sympathetic to airlines crying foul since Ryanair successfully hedged their costs, or so they say.
It is worth noting that The Guardian also reports that the UK’s rules will be different, which might affect anyone looking to claim UK261 (our own Stephen Pepper reported on his own recent UK261 claim).
Amex Charging Annual Fee for Delta Gold Card No-Fee Offers
According to Danny the Deal Guru, it sounds like some folks who recently opened Delta Gold cards under an offer that should have waived the annual fee for the first year were incorrectly charged an annual fee shortly after opening their accounts. I imagine that Amex will make this right, so check your statement carefully, and if you were charged an annual fee that you believe shouldn’t have applied, it is worth chatting with Amex to open a case and begin an investigation in order to hopefully be credited properly.
Rove: Complete Rove Survey & Get 250 Miles
Rove Miles has unquestionably been on the upswing as of late. If you want to pick up a few easy miles that should only take a few minutes to earn, Doctor of Credit has the details on a quick survey to score free miles.
IHG and ANA Launch New Partnership With Status Matches, Reciprocal Earnings, and More
ANA and IHG have formed a partnership, and Award Wallet has the details. That’s not bad news, though it won’t make much difference to most readers. If you’re booking paid stays, it’ll be nice to be able to earn some IHG points along with them, and if you have ANA elite status, you can match to IHG. This one is of limited use, but it could be useful for the folks to whom it applies.
Bank of America Refunding Spirit Airlines Annual Fees – But Only If You Ask
Now that Spirit Airlines has folded and its miles are worthless, Bank of America is refunding annual fees on Spirit Airlines MasterCards…..but Doctor of Credit reports that they are doing so only if you ask. This seems like horrible customer service in my opinion, but if you’re a Spirit Airlines MasterCard holder, you shouldn’t be left holding the bag. Instead, you should definitely call Bank of America and ask for your annual fee back.
Lufthansa Admits Defeat On Allegris First Class Double Bed Monetization
I hadn’t closely followed Lufthansa’s monetization of its double seat in first class, but after reading this take from Ben at One Mile at a Time, I can’t believe they allowed the plan as it was running to fly for as long as they did. At any rate, I’m glad to see that the seat can now be selected free of charge. It would be awesome, though, if the 50% off for a second passenger applied to award bookings. I don’t imagine we’ll see that, and even if we did through Lufthansa Miles and More, the surcharges would probably still make it unappealing for most people. Somewhat ironically, while Ben seems to think this is a very positive change, I think this is probably a negative change for award travel enthusiasts, who typically can’t book first class far in advance and were probably winning out more often than not by not selecting a seat assignment until check-in. Still, file this under good to know if you book Lufthansa, first class.
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good recap of D O C