With Greg on vacation, the rest of the gang answered questions about maximizing the Alaska companion pass, whether or not the Hilton Aspire card is worth keeping, and our bold predictions for the miles and points game in 2024.
Watch the full episode above or click the timestamps below to navigate directly to each question in YouTube.
05:00 – Which credit cards should I apply for first?
10:00 – What is one miles and points item at the top of your holiday wish list this year?
13:28 – Can you give an example (hypothetical or otherwise) on how to maximize the Alaska companion pass? How do you maintain your high level status with Alaska?
18:45 – What is your favorite loyalty perk that no longer exists?
20:49 – Assuming you have Global Entry but also have checked bags, what is the minimum connection time you’d feel safe with when returning to the US from overseas and then connecting back to your home state?
25:22 – What is your bold prediction for the points game in 2024?
28:33 – Do you all think the points and miles game is easier or harder in “two player mode” (with your spouse, for example)?
30:15 – Are there any scenarios where checked bags can be checked through to the destination if you have a positioning flight and then an international flight under different PNRs and/or airlines?
33:27 – Is there any way around the Turkish restriction where you need to call to book your first trip if it’s for multiple tickets? If I book and cancel a single ticket, does that count?
36:36 – Who is keeping their Hilton Aspire Card?
40:42 – With the clear price increase, is there any way to cover +1 with the American Express Platinum clear credit? ex) Veteran/Student discount + family plan
43:12 – Thoughts on Alaska and Hawaiian Airlines partnership now as part of One World Alliance? Does this make AA miles even more valuable?
46:51 – Should we be looking at getting more Alaska airlines cards and or Hawaiian airlines cards before the merger? How do you think that will all shake out?
50:12 – Worth waiting for Hyatt Luxury card (at 3/24)* or blow past it and have to wait 2-3 years? Current Hyatt Globalist. Have Hyatt, Hilton Aspire, Marriott (2), IHG (2) , Sonesta, and Wyndham cards.
*This refers to the how close they are to Chase’s 5 cards in 24 months limit.
52:45 – What do you guys use to keep track of all your Chase / Bank of America / American Express / Citi offers?
54:47 – With all the Amex changes do you see changes for the American Express Gold Card benefits coming?
56:43 – With the new Hyatt changes, is buying the Mr. and Mrs. Smith Gift Cards a better idea at this time? How many do you think would be a good option?
59:00 – Any advice for booking accessibility rooms with points.
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Poor Greg. JFK broke my luggage last December too :(. Smashed it up pretty good. Luckily it was international inbound vs outbound.
Just to confirm, Stephen’s wild prediction is that Bilt will have a shopping portal? Thanks
Would it be possible for you guys to start uploading the As Us Anything to the podcast streams (apple, google, etc)
Came here to ask the same.
We have consciously decided not to upload Ask Us Anything as a podcast. You aren’t the first to ask for it, but we haven’t wanted to do it because our podcast, while not scripted, follows (what we hope is) a cohesive outline with regular segments, etc. We get feedback from people all the time who discovered FM because of the podcast and we’re very happy with the format it follows. We didn’t really want a newcomer to stumble on a completely unscripted show that jumps from topic to topic and where we might not be prepared with a cohesive set of thoughts about the questions. Don’t get me wrong — we love doing Ask Us Anything and we love that people enjoy watching / listening / participating. We enjoy the relaxed nature of the format, we just didn’t want to publish it on a channel where the content is planned / formatted and we didn’t want to create a separate monthly podcast for it.
All that said, I believe that Youtube automatically categorizes the show as a podcast and as such I think it can be found in Youtube podcasts if you’re a Youtube Music subscriber. But no, we don’t have plans to distribute it beyond Youtube at this time.
Thanks for taking the time to explain, Nick. Not sure why people downvoted it.