If you want to build a great redemption, an award alert tool can be invaluable. Once you’ve mastered finding availability, a fun next step is mastering programs that offer interesting ways to book complicated awards. More on those topics along with updates to the Hyatt/AA partnership, new Bilt transfer partners and a lot more in this Frequent Miler Week in Review.
This week on the Frequent Miler blog…
Award alerts really work
If you’re finding award availability to be a big drag, it absolutely makes sense to use award alerts. In this post, Greg notes the tools that have been working well for him as well as the one tool that hasn’t. This post isn’t meant to highlight a specific tool but rather to say that these tools can be very useful for snagging valuable awards.
Understanding the Air Canada Aeroplan award chart
After we published a video showing how to book an Air Canada Aeroplan stopover, it occurred to me that understanding Aeroplan’s award pricing is a key to imagining cool stopover awards. In this post, I explain how to use the Aeroplan award charts to determine the cost of an award, with or without a stopover.
Podcast: How Nick booked his baller family of 4 round the world adventure featuring Taylor Swift in Europe, a free Mediterranean cruise, tropical beaches…
This summer, my family enjoyed an extended trip around the world where we visited 10 different countries and flew mostly in business class and enjoyed some awesome experiences. I’ve previously written about the trip, but on this podcast episode we discuss how I booked it and what we did.
How to get free cruises by gaming casino status matches
One of the components of my big summer trip was a “free” cruise of the Adriatic Sea on MSC. While you can still spend time on the high seas for close to free by starting with a $95 annual fee, that specific cruise would cost an extra $1400 today. This post has been updated for 2024 with changes and updates like that one. It should come as no surprise that the cruise matching game has tightened and opportunities are shirking here. I always said that this was a “strike while the iron is hot” opportunity. Frankly, I’m amazed that these opportunities are still around at all — and if some of this sticks around for just a couple more months, we’ll start our second round of the matching and maybe get a couple more free cruises. That said, after recent changes to the MSC offer, the calculus is changing for us here.
Chase Sapphire Reserve Credit Card Review (2024)
The Chase Sapphire Reserve has been at or near the top of the travel rewards credit card food chain since its launch years ago. Does it still deserve that top spot? Tim updates this review with some new details that may influence your thoughts on that. As a New York resident, I’m extremely unhappy with the changes to rental car coverage.
Bilt adds Accor Live Limitless and TAP Air Portugal as transfer partners
More choice for transfer partners is a good thing, and some will no doubt be happy with niche uses of these two new Bilt partners. Happier still will those folks when we almost surely see a big Rent Day transfer bonus to TAP at some point in the future. That said, without a big transfer bonus, neither of these programs offer standout value in most cases. If and when TAP launches stopovers on award tickets, things might get more interesting.
Podcast: Chase Ink Business Premier | Card Talk Ep9 | 10-10-24
The most common point of confusion in the Chase ecosystem is this card that earns Ultimate Rewards points that are not so “ultimate” after all. Every time we receive an email from someone who opened a Premier card when they meant to open a Preferred card, I feel their pain. Watch or listen to this week’s Card Talk for more detail about why this card is different and for whom it may still be a good fit.
Citi ThankYou Rewards Complete Guide
Citi ThankYou points can be a highly underrated currency given a strong set of transfer partners and numerous ways to earn the points without spending a fortune in annual fees. See our updated complete guide for everything you need to know about ThankYou points.
Hyatt & American Airlines deepen partnership, add more reciprocal earning opportunities
Hyatt and American Airlines have announced changes coming to their partnership for 2025. While many will undoubtedly be disappointed at the death of the double dip, I imagine that some Hyatt loyalists will be happy to pick up some small wins with American Airlines….so long as they want to fly on American Airlines.
Is the Maldives worth it? | Ask Us Anything Ep70 | 10-2-24
Our monthly Ask Us Anything happens on the first Wednesday of the month. If you missed us live, catch the replay here or download it for listening on your favorite podcast platform.
Southwest Companion Pass Complete Guide 2024
One of the greatest value achievements in domestic travel has to be the Southwest Companion Pass. Still alive and kicking in 2024, we have updated our complete guide with everything you need to know about how to get the pass (and how to make sure you don’t accidentally miss getting it!), how to leverage it, and what to avoid.
That’s it for this week at Frequent Miler. Keep an eye on this week’s last chance deals and be sure to grab them before they’re gone.
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Coffee in the morning and reading your blog, it’s my routine, you guys cover most of everything important in travel news/deals
Maybe less man feet pics from now on?!? less as in never again…
Is it worth having a survey-of-stopover-awards article that includes Alaska, Air France, etc.? Just a thought.
Yes, that’s been on my mind to do, really I just haven’t taken a deep dive into Air France rules.