Pop quiz – do you really understand all the different transferable points out there? And speaking of transferable points, with Capital One’s transfer bonus to Qantas this month, are you sure you know how to find and book Emirates first class awards (and how Qantas miles can help)? There’s a lot to keep you on your toes this week, so get those reading glasses on and dive in!
This week on the Frequent Miler blog…
Podcast: Tips for Better Family Travel | Frequent Miler on the Air Ep267 | 8-9-24
After Nick answered a family-travel question in a recent Ask Us Anything – Live, our proverbial phone has been ringing off its proverbial hook with readers eager to hear more family-travel tips. We’re finally answering that call. Episode 267 of Frequent Miler on the Air was dedicated to this very topic so tune in to find out how Nick survives enjoys his family travels.
American Express Hilton Honors Aspire Credit Card Review (2024)
The $550 annual fee may make it seem superfluous, but the perks of the Hilton Aspire card are nothing to sneeze at. In fact, it’s arguably the best value of any major hotel credit card, so says our very own Tim. Check out his review of the card to learn about the Hilton Diamond status you’ll get, a broadly useful annual free night certificate, and $600 airline and Hilton credits.
A quick guide to transferable points programs
Award booking can feel like a treasure hunt, but that’s why transferable points are so valuable. The optionality you gain from earning points that can be transferred to different hotel or airline partners can be crucial for saving money, miles, or making your trip happen at all. Check out this updated guide to transferable points programs to make sure you’ve got all the basics down.
Marriott Amex Cards: Best Ever 155K and 185K Welcome Offers
American Express just launched some impressive, limited-time welcome offers for both the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant and Bonvoy Bevy cards, each one almost doubling the previous version. Now the Bevy is giving 155,000 Bonvoy points after $5,000 minimum spend within the first 6 months, and the Brilliant card is giving 185,000 points after $6,000 spend in 6 months. They are also available via referral, which would add even more for folks who have another American Express in their household. Read more about these offers in Tim’s post.
Podcast: Wells Fargo One Key+™ Mastercard | Card Talk Ep2 | 8-8-24
Expedia, Hotels.com and VRBO sort of share a rewards program called One Key. As a rewards program, we found it overall disappointing, but that doesn’t necessarily mean Wells Fargo’s new One Key+ card is also disappointing, right? We’ve recently decided to break out the “Card Talk” segment of our Frequent Miler on the Air episodes into their own mini podcast/video episodes. This one discusses the Wells Fargo One Key+ card in more detail.
How to find and book Emirates first class awards
This month (through 8/31/24) Capital One is offering a 20% transfer bonus to Qantas. Since Qantas miles can be used to book Emirates flights, now might be a good time to refresh your memory on how to find and book Emirates first class awards. And it may be worth considering the transfer, especially for routes where Emirates charges nearly as many miles (or more). Greg’s post will get you up to speed.
Chase Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card Review (2024)
We’ve got another credit card review for you – the Chase Ink Business Preferred card. This card often has one of the most lucrative welcome offers around. And circling back to the value of transferable points, this card supports transfers of Chase Ultimate Rewards (UR) points to travel partners, and actually unlocks that ability for all of your other no annual fee UR-earning cards as well.
American AAdvantage and Hyatt launch reciprocal instant status match / challenge
AAdvantage members with Gold status or higher can get a 90-day trial of World of Hyatt Explorist status with the opportunity to extend that status through February 2026 by staying 10 nights during the trial period. Simultaneously, there is a targeted offer for Hyatt elite members, where World of Hyatt Explorist and Globalist members who have linked their World of Hyatt and AAdvantage accounts can get complimentary American AAdvantage elite status when they register for an American Airlines “Instant Status Pass.” They can then extend that status for additional four month periods by completing qualifying Loyalty Point activity. Read the post for more specifics on how these status matches both work.
Which Premium Cards are Keepers?
In order to help identify which premium cards are worth keeping and whichnshould be canceled, Greg keeps a Google Doc spreadsheet with tabs for each of the most popular ultra-premium rewards cards. On each tab you can enter your estimated value for each perk and then return to the summary tab to see which cards are keepers. This spreadsheet has now been updated with the recent changes to the Amex Gold and Strata Premier cards along with a few other changes. Be sure to check out this valuable resource.
Podcast: Best card for groceries & dining (commenters strike back) | Coffee Break Ep21 | 8-6-24
On a recent podcast, we discussed the most rewarding card for groceries and dining, picking ~4 cards we thought were good for both of these categories. Some of our listeners gave us suggestions for cards they thought we should have included. In this Coffee Break episode, Greg and Nick go through some of the suggestions and talk about the nuances of why they didn’t include them…or question whether they should have.
Best fee-free transferable point credit card combo
In this post, Greg asks the question – what would it look like to fight back against Amex’s “offer coupon-like benefits then raise the fee” trend by using only fee-free cards? He wonders, is it possible to put together a “super wallet” of sorts that earns 2 to 4 transferable points per dollar everywhere — with no annual fee? These are the kinds of thought experiments that make Greg so good at this hobby.
7 ways to get CLEAR for less
Did you know that there are ways to reduce the $199/year price of CLEAR? In this post, Greg reviews 7 ways to reduce the price of CLEAR and answers some frequently asked questions as well.
Which hotel credit card is the most rewarding for spending?
In this post, Tim set out to examine the top hotel cards with big spend bonuses and get a rough estimate of the return on each one. For this post, he’s focusing specifically on the perks you get for spending on the card (not the perks you get for just holding it.) If you only focus on the total value of the points and free night certificates that you get from reaching the big spend thresholds on the cards below, which cards are the most rewarding?
That’s it for this week at Frequent Miler. Keep an eye on this week’s last chance deals to be sure you catch those expiring soon before they’re gone.
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