A second team challenge in 2024 that will bring three of us around the world again is kicking off and needs your help. Elsewhere on the blog and podcast, we discuss huge (and largely awesome) changes to Alaska Mileage Plan, whether the AA/Hyatt partnership is deepened or devalued, and a lot more. Read on for more.
This week on the Frequent Miler blog…
Start your (search) engines: You’re invited to Frequent Miler’s Million Mile Madness challenge
Two weeks ago, I did not have “Frequent Miler will run a second team challenge in 2024” on my bingo card….and yet here we are. Greg, Stephen, and I looked at the SAS EuroBonus promotion to earn 1,000,000 miles and couldn’t look away: each of us is going to pursue earning one million bonus miles by flying 15 SkyTeam carriers by the end of 2024. Better yet, we want readers to get in on the action: help us craft the best possible itineraries and you might win a prize — or even the grand prize, which is yet to be announced but should be pretty cool. Read more about the challenge and parameters and how you can play along in this launch post and follow our Million Mile Madness landing page for regular updates.
Catching up on 2 weeks of big miles & points news
Greg spent the end of September and first part of October on vacation. As fate would have it, quite a bit of news broke in this space during that window of time. In this post, Greg catches up on what’s new and shares his concise reactions to each — including his interest in the SAS EuroBonus promotion that eventually grew into the challenge above.
Alaska Mileage Plan updates: Earn status with award flights, credit cards, shopping portal spend & more (+ other changes)
Speaking of big news, this week Alaska Mileage Plan announced major updates to the Mileage Plan program in 2025. While there are some downsides in the mix, I couldn’t possibly be more excited on the whole. In particular, I’m very excited that partner award flights will earn elite credit. That’s awesome! You’ll also be able to earn elite miles through credit card spend, through the shopping portal, and more. In 2025, I see myself getting even more heavily invested in the Alaska/Hawaiian partnership.
Podcast: Alaska Airline’s Exciting Mileage Plan Enhancements | Frequent Miler on the Air Ep277 | 10-18-24
This week on Frequent Miler on the Air, we discuss our thoughts and feelings more completely regarding the changes coming to Alaska Mileage Plan. Also on the show, hear us discuss the Million Mile Madness challenge, quite a few news items, and whether or not we’re more bullish on using an Alaska Airlines credit card to pay your rent with a fee.
No more Hawaiian credit cards after joining programs with Alaska
It’s not all roses and sunshine in Alaska/Hawaii-land. Word is out this week that the Hawaiian Airlines credit cards are not long for this world. It is expected that Barclays Hawaiian Airlines credit card holders will eventually get converted over to Bank of America cards and that benefits will change, so if you want to get a Hawaiian card and the associate miles (which can convert 1:1 to Alaska) and benefits (like the ability to pool miles on the Hawaiian side), the time to make your move is sooner rather than later.
Convert Bilt points to Qantas, Virgin Australia, and ITA Airways Volare (You can, but please don’t)
If you have Bilt Rewards points and you’ve been wondering whether there are any hidden transfers you’ve been missing, Greg takes a deep dive to look at how you could get “creative” and use a new Bilt transfer partner as something of an intermediary on the way to park your points with a number of other airline programs. However, the value proposition here is weak — just because you can, it doesn’t mean you should.
Best credit card combinations for earning tons of transferable points
If you’re really interested in diversifying your mileage earning, you need to get serious about the major transferable currencies. Pick your favorite currency and there is probably an ideal pair of cards to have and hold that can help you juice your points balances and keep them growing year after year.
Getting the elite experience without elite status via credit card & preferred partner hotel booking programs
Once you’ve opened those favorite credit cards, you may wonder which of them can open doors to luxury hotel booking platforms or where you can go to get better benefits without needing to commit a year’s worth of hotel stays. In this updated guide to preferred partner and credit card booking platforms, we’ve added a number of new platforms and moved / removed a few that have sunset since original publication.
Podcast: Hyatt’s partnership with AA: Deepened or Devalued? | Coffee Break Ep29 | 10-15-24
Last week, Hyatt and American Airlines announced major changes in their partnership. Gone is the chance to earn points and miles in both programs at the same time, but in its place we see some opportunities for Hyatt elites to pick up choice benefits that could come in handy when flying American Airlines. Some saw this as a deepened partnership, but others called out the huge devaluation. We’re pretty firmly in the camp that things change and the changes here seem net positive for Hyatt award travelers. To be clear, these new Milestone Rewards aren’t necessarily top-of-the-line, but Hyatt elites definitely got the better of the new deal.
How to book Alaska Mileage Plan stopover awards [Video]
One of the best features of the Alaska Mileage Plan program is the ability to have a free stopover on a one-way award ticket. In this week’s “How to” video, we demonstrate how you can book a stopover award online yourself. Thankfully, this is pretty easy to do and it is a program feature expected to stick around even once the program completes its merger with Hawaiian Miles.
That’s it for this week at Frequent Miler. Keep an eye on this week’s last chance deals and be sure to grab them before they’re gone.
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Could you also start posting on threads in addition to X? A large number of us are trying to switch over, but really requires the content we like to be posted there as well. Thanks!