Easy Companion Pass, hunting Hyatt elite status, and the worst coupon book yet [Week in Review]

They say that timing is everything. Unfortunately, my timing isn’t going to nail the opportunity to pick up a second household Companion Pass.

As you’ll see in the most recent version of Greg’s Picks, the Southwest Performance Business credit card is offering a terrific welcome offer through 10/28/25 that would make it possible to earn a Companion Pass that would be valid for nearly two years with just a single welcome offer, if you time things out right. With some domestic travel in the works next year, I would love to be able to pick up the Performance card. We already have one Companion Pass (in my wife’s name), but since we travel as a family of four, a second pass would help us cut domestic travel costs in half (not to mention the value we’d get from the introductory bonus). Sadly, I’m currently at 5/24 and not scheduled to drop to 4/24 until December. The timing on this offer was close to perfect for me, but it will unfortunately end before I am eligible to get it.

The good news is that, at the time of writing, there is still a chance for those who are under 5/24. While Southwest has gotten its fair share of negative press this year, the Companion Pass remains a terrific deal, and, although I can not predict the future with certainty, it seems doubtful that Southwest will announce any changes on that front at this late point in the year. Even at the low end of value, you can get north of $0.01 per point in value from Southwest Rapid Rewards points, and there are now some opportunities to get well over 1.5c per point with off-peak travel. Combine the value of the welcome offer and Companion Pass (if you time it right) with the card’s baggage and seating benefits, and I think this one probably deserves more attention than it has received. May the timing be ever in your favor.

This week on the Frequent Miler blog…

Hyatt Milestone chasing, revisited and reevaluated

A little over a year ago, I wrote about why I thought that Hyatt Milestone Rewards are worth chasing, even for those who need to mattress run many nights. This year, I found myself in position to test my resolve on that: with the chance for me to end the year with 65 elite nights or my wife to end up with 35, should one of us consider mattress running to the next level? If yes, which one? While we still love Hyatt and many of the valuable milestone rewards, it turns out that my feelings have changed a bit about when to mattress run.

Hyatt: End of year elite planning | Frequent Miler on the Air Ep329 | 10-24-25

On this week’s Frequent Miler on the Air, we dig into those Hyatt Milestone Rewards a bit further and discuss Greg’s end-of-year plans. We also discuss the United & JetBlue tightening the knot, Bilt’s latest updates, and a Hawaiian credit card perk that has significantly improved with broader access to Alaska Airlines flights.

AA’s disappointing $350 Globe card | Coffee Break Ep74 | 10-21-25

American Airlines launched the AAdvantage Globe card this week, though not to much fanfare. The $350 Globe card is a rather disappointing replacement to the Aviator Silver card if that’s what it is. When I wrote the post about the card launch, I questioned whether this could be the replacement since it had previously been announced that cardholders wouldn’t lose any perks when converted to Citi, but on this week’s coffee break, Greg makes the case for how it could be argued that this doesn’t lose perks, at least at a high level. When you dig into the details, this card is mostly interesting for its solid introductory bonus.

Wyndham Rewards Insider: Is this $95 per year subscription worth it?

Wyndham Rewards must have seen all the major banks digging into the coupon book model and decided that they could play that game, too, but without even involving a credit card. This week, they launched Wyndham Rewards Insider, which seems like an awful use of $95. See Stephen’s post for why — and don’t get excited about the bonus point earnings. You know that Wyndham is awful at math.

The credit card coupon book travel game (Chicago getaway via Chase Sapphire Reserve® Card)

Greg wrote a terrific post this week about using just the Sapphire Reserve card’s coupon credits to book an entire getaway, including hotel, all food, entertainment, and transportation, with less than $100 out-of-pocket expense. As he notes at the top, this concept has come up each of the last few years in behind-the-scenes Frequent Miler challenge discussions (we’ve been talking about doing this with the Platinum Card® for the past few years!), but I think the new coupon credits on the Sapphire Reserve card make for an even better option, with the StubHub credit providing for a fun entertainment option. Bravo to Greg for a job well done with this plan!

Parlaying status with JetBlue’s Match to Mosaic

With my temporary Mosaic status from the Dunkin’ flight taken over the summer now expired, and several JetBlue flights coming over the next two months, we have been facing increased costs to fly on JetBlue (from checked bags to seat selection to the cost of a same-day flight change). While considering our options, I realized that JetBlue still offers a Match to Mosaic program that confers 3 months of benefits, while requiring the member to earn tiles to keep status long-term. While we all expect to have Mosaic 1 for the next 25 years once we complete the 25 for 25 promotion, this seemed like a great path to get those benefits in the interim. My wife was able to match her AA status (earned from an Instant Status Pass), though data points in the comments indicate that it is taking longer to see the benefits from these matches than I had anticipated.

United and JetBlue reciprocal earning and redeeming is live, but the pricing is dead on arrival

Speaking of JetBlue, this week, they tightened the knot a bit with United, as the BlueSky partnership officially launched. It is now possible to earn and redeem across both airlines. Unfortunately, redemption rates are poor, and reciprocal elite benefits won’t start until early 2026. However, interestingly, as we discuss on this week’s Frequent Miler on the Air, United is rolling its non-flight travel sales business into JetBlue’s wholly owned Paisly. That is wildly interesting as airlines like AA and Delta (and credit card issuers!) have only pushed harder and harder to get members to book hotels through them, suggesting that commissions on those bookings are desirable. It is surprising that United would fold its own revenue stream into JetBlue’s….unless, perhaps, United is hearing wedding bells. Time will tell.

Flight and Hotel Reviews

KLM A330-200 Business Class: Bottom Line Review

Tim flew KLM’s A330 business class to Rwanda. The most interesting piece of this review for me was to hear that the flat bed seat on this product is 81″ long. As someone who is not nearly as tall as Tim, I could immediately imagine how that would be a major pro for him, while being something I didn’t even notice when flying KLM’s A330 in the past. I have to agree with his main thoughts on KLM’s A330, though: very open and spacious, yet with very little storage space. Like Tim, I wouldn’t be unhappy with this if it were the only option, but it wouldn’t be my pick on a multiple-choice test.

Hyatt Centric Malta: Bottom Line Review

Greg and his entire crew went to Malta for the 100K Vacay benchmark trip and stayed at the newer Hyatt Centric Malta (newer as opposed to the Hyatt Regency very nearby). When I spent 5 nights on Malta a few years ago, I was very tempted by the great points deal offered by the Hyatt Regency, but the reviews I’d read had consistently agreed with what Greg found to be the main drawback: the location isn’t great. I ended up booking a cash rate at the Westin Dragonara, which is also in St. Julian’s, but on the beach (which, given that we were traveling with young kids, was much better for us). However, if I went back to Malta, I might consider staying at one of the Hyatt properties the next time, as they provide such a great deal, and I would ideally like to have a car to explore more of Malta anyway. Either way, if you followed Greg’s trip, hopefully you have Malta on your map. It is definitely a place I’d recommend visiting — Valletta and Mdina are beautiful!

Updated Resources

Greg’s top picks (my favorite card offers)

Greg regularly keeps his top picks updated, but this week he both updated and republished them to remind you that you can always find his subjective analysis on the best offers in this post (and to highlight a few that end soon). The short-term standout opportunity, in my opinion, is the Southwest Rapid Rewards Performance Business credit card. At this point, I think it is doubtful that we’ll see Southwest announce changes to the Companion Pass for the 2026 qualification year, so it is highly worth considering this card sooner rather than later.

How long does it take to transfer points to airline and hotel programs?

One of the biggest mistakes I see repeated by newcomers is trying a “test transfer” — i.e. a small transfer of 1,000 points to an airline — to make sure that the transfer works and is instant. The trouble with that strategy is that a second, much larger transfer made shortly thereafter can sometimes (and perhaps often) lead to the second transaction being held for fraud concerns (I assume because that behavior looks more like a thief testing the waters before clearing you out). Instead, check this page for information on the expected transfer times to various programs. It is still possible that you’ll get unlucky and have a longer-than-expected transfer time, but in most cases, the times you see here will be what you should expect.

Current Amex Offers

The last couple of rounds of Amex Offers have released some very good offers that could save you money, particularly with certain travel brands. It can sometimes be tedious to weed through all of the offers in your account, so see this post for an easily searchable database where you can see whether there is an offer out worth hunting down on your own cards.

Best Uses of Capital One Miles (2025)

Capital One Miles have a wide range of top uses, as evidenced by our lengthy guide to the best uses of miles. Tim updated this resource post to include the latest uses. Keep in mind that we sometimes see terrific opportunities via Capital One Entertainment. This week, in our Frequent Miler Insiders, we discussed World Series tickets, and again yesterday we saw two come back into stock for a World Series package that included a meet-and-greet with a former player (George Brett), pregame food & drink, access to watch batting practice from the field, a picture with the trophy, and lower-level seats for $300 / $325 in cash back rewards or 37K / 40K miles. Every now and then, you can really knock it out of the park with Capital One miles.

That’s it for this week at Frequent Miler. Keep an eye out for this week’s last chance deals to catch the list that expires at the end of this month.

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