Every month, the Frequent Miler team takes your questions live on YouTube.
We normally hold Ask Us Anything at 9pm on the first Wednesday of the month. That means that our next Ask Us Anything session will therefore be live at 9pm Eastern Time on Wednesday, August 6. And of course, the best way to make sure you don’t miss these live episodes is to subscribe to our YouTube channel here and click the bell icon next to the “subscribe” button to enable notifications from our channel.
You can watch the most recent Ask Us Anything video below!
Want to catch up on past Ask Us Anything recordings? Click here.
More info
Join us once a month on our Frequent Miler YouTube channel. We’ll be there to chat, answer questions, and joke around. See you there!
- When: the first Wednesday of every month at 9pm Eastern Time, so August 6 this month.
- Where: Our Frequent Miler YouTube channel. Subscribe now, here.
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Will Bank of America points become transferable to the new Alaska Group “Atmos” mileage program? I think they would get a lot more interest in the Premium Rewards and Premium Rewards Elite cards. I guess we need to see first the details for Alaska Premium credit card.
If you have the fee free citi Strata and either the premier or elite can you pool miles and transfer to AA? Or any miles earned with the Strata can only be transferred to the limited list of partners?
Yes, if you have a Premier or Elite card, you can transfer your Strata points to one of those cards and then transfer on to American.
How do you typically like to get around a city that you’re visiting, especially international? Are you more likely to take a taxi or Uber to get to places, take public transit, or do you prefer to just walk everywhere?
What are some of your favorite programs that offer free stopovers when booking with points?
Is there a cap on how many points you can be gifted with Virgin Atlantic. My uncle gifted me 100k but I need 160 so is the limit to the person giving or the recipient. Now I have someone else trying to gift me points and I don’t want them to transfer if I can’t receive them.
also, I’m not that lucky I’ve bought flights for them and they are just paying me back
If you find yourself points and miles bankrupt, at 5/24, and in Amex pop-up jail what can one do to get enough points to take a nice trip?
Sorry I’m in Asia so I can’t make the AMA but i really want to ask Nick:
Nick you probably know Turkish airline rewards redemptions better than anyone else in the world.
Would you recommend to your loyal readers (like me!) to do the Turkish 1MM Challenge?
I get a sense from your posts that finding redemptions can be a bit of a needle in a haystack (I mostly fly to Asia and South America with domestic sprinkled in). I’d hate to have these 1MM miles and struggle to use them! I don’t mind grinding a bit to find flights, but my peek at Seats.Aero shows almost no availability to say Asia from NA at a low level. I’d hate to burn my million on 3 overpriced J seats because there’s nothing to get.
(And yes I just xfer’d a LOT to Hawaiian for Alaska so I understand the risk/reward of getting landed points).
Thanks in advance and looking forward to tuning in later.
Cheers Nick for the great response!! I was hoping to get an answer like: “oh yeah if you have time find award flights, especially to Asia or Latin America this might work out.” But much like all your posts about TK, sounds like its a tough place for redemptions. Per your advice I’ll give it a miss. Funnily enough, as i thought of doing the challenge, the one place I really wanted to visit was Cairo. So I think I”ll just book a ticket there. Cheers and thanks again
Here’s my question. What’s the best credit card and rental car company to use to rent a car, not just factoring in primary coverage but also roadside assistance? This question is triggered by the flat tire we got at an overlook parking lot on top of a mountain, 120 miles from the rental agency on a holiday weekend with only a donut spare that isn’t supposed to be used for that many miles. Thanks
Here are my questions for Ask Us Anything…
I have what AMEX calls a ‘classic’ green card. It’s not the green card that you can apply for today. This was one of the very first cards I got back in 1985 so it’s my oldest card.
I has a $55 AF and not much in the way of perks/benefits.
I called to product change to a $0 AF card, but they didn’t give me any great options.
I have other AMEX cards that earn MR so I don’t need to keep it for that reason.
I’m hesitant to just close it since it’s my oldest card.
What would you do?
1) Close it regardless of the impact it would have on my credit?
2) Product change to a card with a higher AF (if that’s possible) but one that has some decent perks/benefits?
3) Just suck it up and just keep paying the $55 AF each year?
4) Something else I’m not thinking of? …like…do you know of a card I could downgrade to from this card that maybe AMEX customer service didn’t/wouldn’t offer to me on the phone/chat?
Personally I would close it if you have a great credit score and many other CCs. Despite it being your oldest, I don’t think it would have a big impact on your score. Some sites let you do simulations on your credit score by changing items like average credit card age if you want to see who it is likely to impact that.
Thanks for the feedback, Jay. I’ll checkout those simulators.
Here is my question for this month’s Ask Us Anything episode: what trip or adventure are you most looking forward to this Summer?
Who is Carl and did he really kill the Amex SUB?
Greg just gave up his CSR!!! Yet, he still has 80+ cards!!! Inquiring minds want to know what cards are in his wallet . . . that he actually uses for travel and dining. (As opposed to those with one-off benefits.)
What the worst ever credit card sign up bonus?
Any bonus that included a Founders Card (basic) membership as a benefit.
Do you know if Chase uses any criteria beyond 5/24 and reliable credit to deny credit card applications? I’m currently 2 cards below the 5/24. My plan was to first apply for the elevated and now expired IHG Business offer (which doesn’t count toward the 5/24), then wait 30 days and apply for the elevated Sapphire Preferred offer. However, I wasn’t immediately approved for the IHG Business card (quietly denied). When Rakuten ran its 30,000 offer, I applied for the Sapphire Preferred without first calling Chase to reconsider the IHG Business application. Sapphire Preferred wasn’t immediately approved either, and the reconsideration line told me it’s under additional review, with a response coming by snail mail. For context, I have two Ink Business cards that are about 1.5 and 3 months old. I’m unsure if that’s a factor, but I’m not getting my hopes up.
Yes, the Inks are a factor. For several months now, Chase has throttled the rate at which one can obtain business cards. Someone posted the rules last year. Can’t remember where. Sorry. But, if I recall the rules correctly, you’ll need to wait until six months from the date you obtained card #1 before you’d be eligible for card #3.
Thanks, I’ll look into this. To clarify, the Ink cards were 1.5 YEAR ago, and 3 months ago.
Question for the upcoming AMA: What is the most meaningful award redemption or trip with award redemption(s) you’ve had? For example, I saw a vlog from a points/miles influencer who did most of their honeymoon on points and miles. Or perhaps you booked a trip on points and met someone who had a very considerable impact on your life.