At its core, Frequent Miler is a blog about the miles & points “game”. The game goes like this: we take advantage of marketing offers to earn huge numbers of miles & points. Next, we take advantage of “sweet spot” awards to get the most value from those miles & points. Repeat… Travel… Enjoy… See “The Games We Play” for more information.
Who Is Frequent Miler?
Stephen
AuthorStephen Pepper isn't a Dr or a Sergeant.
What Is Frequent Miler?
You’ve probably heard of other sites that sound similar. Why should you specifically visit Frequent Miler?
Readers Come First
Most points & miles blogs make their money from credit card affiliate links. If you click through one of these links and get approved for a credit card, the blog gets paid a commission. That’s true for Frequent Miler too. The difference is that we never display our affiliate links if we know of a better public offer. For example, it’s common for an affiliate link to lead to a 40,000 point bonus at the same time that a 50,000 point offer is available which doesn’t pay a commission. We only display the better offer. As a result, we believe that our credit card pages are the best on the internet.
Further, our posts are driven by our interests, not by a desire to “sell” credit cards. If we write that we love a credit card perk, it’s because we’re truly excited about it, not because we want you to sign up through our affiliate links. In fact, you’ll find just as many posts singing the praises of cards in which we don’t earn affiliate commissions as those we do. The same is true in reverse. If we don’t like a card we’ll tell you so even if it means losing commissions.
We Analyze The Heck Out Of Things
We’re known for our in-depth analyses of rewards cards, special offers, rewards programs, and much more. If you want to know whether a deal is worth doing and how to maximize value from it, this is the blog to read. We collect our best in-depth posts on our resource page here or select from the topics below.
We Have Fun
We love what we do. The content on this site exists because we write about topics we’re excited about. We love the game, and the excitement shows in our writing. For the last two years we’ve engaged in (ruthless) but friendly competitions to have a little fun and test out miles & points or travel concepts. Not only are the Frequent Miler challenges a ton of fun for us and our followers, but it can lead us to discover many, many great deals that we then share with followers. The most spectacular deal found during the 40K to Far Away challenge was the ability to fly from anywhere in the US to Hawaii for only 7,500 points! You can read more about the challenge and what we learned by clicking here. We plan to do similar challenges at least once a year, but maybe more often. Of course, our fun isn’t limited to an occasional challenge. Nick and Greg do a video and podcast each week (Frequent Miler on the Air) where we discuss the latest miles & points topics, argue about who’s right or wrong, and generally have a great time. Viewers and listeners regularly tell us how much they enjoy listening in. To subscribe, search for Frequent Miler on whatever podcast app you use, or subscribe to our YouTube channel by clicking here: youtube.com/c/thefrequentmiler. We also enjoy meeting our readers! Once every two or three months we visit you. Visits usually involve a few presentations and plenty of opportunities to chat. We call this series “FM to Go“. Click here to read all about it.
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How to maximize American Express bonuses through referrals
09:26
Rocking Shopping Portals for Huge Rewards | Frequent Miler on the Air Ep291 | 1-24-25
01:32:43
What's in Our Wallets? (Jan 2025) | Coffee Break Ep42 | 1-21-25
18:15
Your ticket to the Delta Sky Club | Frequent Miler on the Air Ep290 | 1-17-25
01:03:40
Our Marriott Bonvoy Wishlist | Coffee Break Ep41 | 1-14-25
12:45
Airline Elite Status via Hotel Stays | Frequent Miler on the Air Ep289 | 1-10-25
01:10:55
How to find and book Etihad First Class Apartments
16:35
Greg's experience booking a Preferred Hotel with Choice points | Coffee Break Ep40 | 1-7-25
19:11
10 point-ish things we're most looking forward to | Frequent Miler on the Air Ep288 | 1-3-25
01:03:52
When are points better than cash & vice versa? | Coffee Break Ep39 | 12-31-24
16:20
Heads up! Because I solicit team feedback when answering questions on posts and pages like these, it may take some time for me to get to your questions. Thanks in advance for your patience! - Carrie
Hi Frequent Milers, I’m kind of new to the points and miles game. I’m looking to book two JAL business flights to Japan using Alaska miles. Unfortunately, the seats are always booked when they become bookable on Alaska website. I noticed Cathay Pacific has access to those reward seats earlier than other partners. Is it possible to book those business seats with Cathay first, then cancel when it becomes bookable on Alaska, and book them through Alaska hoping those reward seats would show up? I might have to pay the cancellation fee, but saving a few hundreds charging fees and earning Alaska status miles might be worthy. Thank you!
Bonvoyed by Wyndham! I booked a stay with points in Kauai at a Wyndham timeshare but I could only get a standard room at the time for 15k points (13,500 actually as a card holder). A villa became available which is almost twice the size for the same points as both price as one bedrooms. I log into my account and the villa is not visible. I log into my wife’s account and there it is, just like the regular public view. I cancel my reservation and try to re-book but it still isn’t visible in my account. I change the search by a week and, when logged into my account, I can only see standard rooms but the rest of the world, including my wife, can book the villa for 15k. Two calls to the reservation line and nothing they could do. And “no”, I do not have enough in my wife’s account to book it.
Hacking Hilton. I recently got the Aspire card and I’ve booked 2 rooms in mid February at the WA in Park City on points and free night certificates. I booked two king rooms for 2 adults and four kids. I’d love to get confirmed in advance into a 2 BRM suite with a pullout couch. The hotel is offering a paid upgrade in advance that is way out of my price range. The combined BAR for my two rooms is equal to the BAR for the room I want. How do I convince the hotel to upgrade me so they can release my second room back into available inventory? Should I just gamble on a space available diamond upgrade? Help!
Southwest companion pass info needed We just got the card in June and are up to 120,000 points and were hoping to hit 135,000 in January to have a 2025 and 2026 pass
now I think I’m reading points earned toward companion pass expire on Jan 1st of each year?
So, do we hurry up and reach 135,000 before the end of the year so we at least get 2025 and not have to start all over in January?
Thanks
Yes, you absolutely need to hurry up and reach 135,000 right now!
You need to earn 135,000 points within a single calendar year to get the Companion Pass. Earning some points in June or July or August 2024 and some points in January 2025 will not work.
The strategy for a two-year companion pass is to open your Southwest cards October 1st or later and wait to meet the spending requirements until after January 1st so that you earn your 135,000 points in January and have a Companion Pass valid for the rest of that year and all of the next year. That doesn’t work if you get your Southwest card(s) in June, so your strategy now is to earn the required 135,000 points in 2024 and you’ll have a Companion Pass that is valid until the end of 2025.
If your December statement hasn’t yet cut, you can put spend on your Southwest card and those points will post with your December 2024 statement. If your December statement has already cut, then don’t bother spending on the card as those points won’t post until your January statement and won’t help you earn the pass.
Some ways to earn qualifying points this month include:
-Southwest shopping portal. Note that points earned from a purchase count, but if there’s a promo like “Spend $1,000 by [insert date], earn 2,000 bonus points” note that the 2,000 bonus points don’t count. But if there’s an offer like “open a new Verizon line and get 15,000 points”, then those 15K points *do* count.
-Make hotel bookings through Rocketmiles. I think you’ll need to also complete the stays this month for the miles to be earned this month, though I’m only half sure about whether they need to be completed now.
-Order flowers through 1-800-Flowers with the coupon code that offers 1,000 points with a $29.99 order. Note that you can only do this 12 times per year total.
-Rent cars with their partners
-Refer a small business to SWABIZ. You can earn 25,000 points pretty easily this way — see more in the link below.
We have more about all that and some other stuff in our Complete Guide here:
https://frequentmiler.com/complete-guide-southwest-companion-pass/
Note that referring someone else to a credit card now won’t work — it takes too long for the referral points to post. So if you referred someone today, you won’t get the points until 2025.
Feel free to reply if you have further questions. Good that you caught this now and not in January!
ouch…we slacked off the past 2 months because someone had told us that if you earn that by your december close day which ends in january you would earn for 2025 and 2026…I dont think we can drum up enough to get it done by december 31st
I think either you or they were misunderstanding — if you open your Southwest card(s) after October 1st *and you wait until after your December statement cuts to meet the spending requirement*, then the intro bonus points will post with your next statement (in January), counting toward the 2025/2026 Companion Pass. But, unless I’m misunderstanding something, you opened the card in June and presumably earned your welcome bonus months ago already since the spending period was probably 3 months, right?
Keep in mind that having one of the Southwest cards gives you credit for 10,000 points toward the pass, so you really need to earn a total of 125,000 points (but if you’re looking at the tracker in your Southwest account, it’s already taking those 10K into account — so if it says you’re at 120K, then you need 15K more).
Has your December statement cut yet? If not, you might consider making an estimated tax payment and/or prepaying any bills that you can afford to prepay.
I’d hate to see you have to start over at 0 since you won’t be eligible for a new cardmember bonus on another consumer card (assuming you opened a consumer card) until 24 months have passed since you earned the bonus on your current card.
yes opened a consumer card in June and have received 80,000 pts. SW app says ~120000
I’m assuming most points earned are 1 point per $
new question, same subject…how do you pay estimated taxes with a credit card…I’ve never heard of that ability
Through one of the official payment processors. We have a guide for that:
https://frequentmiler.com/pay-taxes-via-credit-card/
But, again, whether that is useful depends on when your December statement cuts. Do you know what day your December statement period ends?
Yes, you’ll earn 1 point per $1 spent on the credit card in general. But check this post to see if you’re targeted with 5x at specific places as that might help you:
https://frequentmiler.com/chase-spending-offers-for-q4-2024-with-direct-registration-links-for-cobranded-cards/
Keep in mind that Amazon sells a lot of different gift cards, which might help you meet some spend.
With the shopping portal, you can earn more than 1 point per dollar spent at various retailers:
https://rapidrewardsshopping.southwest.com/b____.htm
For instance, you could sign up for Blue Apron and get 4,000 points:
https://rapidrewardsshopping.southwest.com/me____.htm?gmid=5259
If you’ve never signed up before, you can just click through from Rapid Rewards shopping, pick whatever the cheapest options are for the first shipment, and cancel after that first shipment. You’ll get your 4,000 points dated to the day you clicked through and described.
Hello Fresh has a similar offer, but the terms do state that your subscription must be active for 60 days. The trick there is to just get the first delivery and then keep “skipping” delivery (so you don’t get charged again) until the 60 days is up and then cancel.
https://rapidrewardsshopping.southwest.com/me____.htm?gmid=4890
So if you did just those two offers with the cheapest boxes, it wouldn’t cost you a ton (I just clicked through Hello Fresh and it looks like the cheapest option — 2 meals per week for 2 people — costs about $22 for the first box, then just keep skipping delivery), you’d end up getting some food, so it’s not a total waste, and that would be 8,000 points just between those two things.
And those are just two examples — there are a lot of options.
just payed 16k in estimated tax at a site called pay1040…so for a second card to get the following 2 years, when should I start my SWA Biz account or my wife opening one?
Thanks so much
Love the podcast and all of your content! Wish the last coffee break on best cc perks was longer. Please consider a coffee break on best cards with low spend on a sub. We just sold our business and no longer easy to make those 15k MS. Ive been a points and miles hacker since 1985..now those were the days!!
I love the FM team and have really enjoyed your blogs, videos and social media posts. I’ve learned so much but find that my largest out of pocket expense is domestic positioning flights. I know that sounds crazy but flying around the world biz class and staying at high end hotels is cheap compared to the couple hour flights to position from my small airport. Larger near by airports are 3+ hours away and the cost difference isnt enough to make it worth while. I use several search tools (seats,pointsyeah,Googleflights) but continue to struggle. I know you have discussed domestic positioning flights before but really need some help with piece of the puzzle.
Love your podcast so much, its the one i listen to over and over. Thank you for all the great content!
I have learned so much from your podcast. It is so dense with information that I sometimes have to listen more than once! I have a followup question to your most recent episode on Hyatt Globalist. How long does the status last? Do you need to time it like the Southwest cards to maximize it? Do you get it for the rest of the current year and the next year? Also, I understand that on the business card, you need to finish a block of $10k spend before the year is over to carry over those 5 nights, but is there a limit for the time frame to earn the status? If for example, I have 10 nights now and for some reason i do not reach 60 by the end of 2025, do my nights expire at some point or is it totally cumulative?
Thank you so much!
When you achieve Hyatt Globalist status, the status lasts the rest of the current year, all of the next year, and through February of the year after that.
Nights towards elite status do not carry over from one calendar year to the next. You need to earn 60 nights within a single calendar year to get Globalist status
I love your channel!! I have a question. I’m currently doing the AA / Hyatt status challenge consisting of 10 nights for explorist and 20 nights for Globalist. There is a current promotion in Florida giving you 2 nights and 1k points per night. I’ve reached out to Hyatt and sometimes they say yes and sometimes they say no… any thoughts? If you guys can help, I’d be so grateful.
I am new to Frequent Miler and am a little overwhelmed with all the content. I’m traveling to Asia in a couple of years and want a credit card that will put me in the best position to upgrade to first class (a recent trip to Europe made me realize that economy on long hauls is not as easy as it used to be…). I can’t find a post that addresses this. Any recs?
In most cases you’ll be much better off not by using miles to upgrade but by using miles to book business or first class from the get-go. To best position yourself for booking international business class flights you’ll want to accumulate transferable points such as Amex Membership Rewards, Chase Ultimate Rewards, Capital One Miles, or Citi ThankYou Rewards. Check out our best offers page to find cards offering the most of these points.
and one premium card to get extra perks like lounge access and travel coverage (I carry Capital One Venture X; what is in your wallet?). Oh, Global Entry perk is nice.
With lounge buddy no longer being supported – what does frequent miler suggest as an alternative or could you integrate this lounge feature into your app?
I’ve been using the LoungeReview app recently. It seems to work very well.
Hi All,
I had the Citi Premier card until it recently automatically changed in my account to the Strata Premier card. I earned the welcome bonus on the Citi Premier on 6/3/2020. I want to get the welcome bonus offer on the Strata Premier. My questions are:
1) Do I cancel the old Citi Premier (now Starta Premier) first? If so, what do I do with the transferable Thank You points to keep them transferable when/if I get the Strata Premier? I currently also have the Citi Double Cash and Citi Rewards+ card. Or do I downgrade to another card first instead of canceling?
Thanks for any help with this,
Barry
You don’t have to downgrade or cancel. You can have more than one Citi Strata Premier Card. You do however, have to make sure that it has been at least 48 months since you’ve earned the bonus on the Citi Premier card from 2020. This is not the open date of the account, it is the date that you saw the bonus points post to the account.
In Ask Us Anything Episode 65, Stephen mentioned a firefly festival in IN and a spreadsheet he has of stuff to see in every state. Um….any chance he’d be willing to share that.
Hi Team…….Love the site and appreciate the content very much. I have a question about Companion Pass please. I was awarded it on 7/15/23 (through 2024), so given that when did or does the calculation for the next one start and run through?
Recently in Amex pop up jail. Received Amex B Plat 150k offer. Approved. My plan was to use Plastiq pay mortgage to meet 15K SUB. It’s a no go it won’t process. Can you fore see any downside to cancel card before any spend placed on it? Aware of pre paying taxes and the usually SUB spend. Any thoughts on cancelling.Neg/pos.
Love your site.