The rumored Amex Gold Card changes went live this week, but do they make the card fool’s gold, or are the new credits solid gold? Read or listen to our thoughts below. The other big news of the week is Southwest moving into its Premium Seating Era — and while I’m sure that many will be here for it, my enthusiasm is admittedly weak. Read on in this week in review for more on those topics, how to save a bundle on a cruise or with a price guarantee, and several updated resources.
This week on the Frequent Miler blog…
Amex Gold Card Changes Now Live
The Amex Gold card has been revamped and more highly couponified — and accompanying those changes is an increase in the annual fee. This post has everything you need to know about what’s changing. Crucially important is that existing cardholders get the new benefits right away but won’t pay the newly increased fee until first renewal after 10/1/24 — so be sure to maximize those new credits right away.
Podcast: Rumored Amex Gold Card Changes: Good or Bad? | Coffee Break Ep19 | 7-23-24
Before the Gold card changes were officially announced, on this Coffee Break episode we discussed the changes that were rumored to be coming on the Amex Gold card. The rumors proved to be true as those changes went live just a couple of days later. On this coffee break, Greg and I discuss our thoughts on those changes — and why neither of us is likely to recommend this card to beginners moving forward.
How I pay for groceries now that Curve is dead
There is a dedicated contingent of enthusiasts out there working their Citi Custom Cashes for grocery purchases. I use the plural form there because, for many of us, that strategy requires multiple Custom Cash Cards. Greg was in that boat and had been using the Curve card to “go back in time” to spread charges across his Custom Cash cards. But now that Curve is dead, Greg has ironically moved to the Amex Gold card. I say ironically because if you listened to the podcast episode above, you’ll hear that he wouldn’t a Gold card to a newcomer — but since he knows that he won’t be charged the increased annual fee yet and will be able to take advantage of the new benefits for a reduced price for a while, the Gold card wins out for now.
Hilton Honors is winning me over, but I’d like one more enhancement…
Greg speaks for many of us when he says that Hilton Honors is winning over hearts and minds with the new partnership with SLH and a renewed focus on developing their own luxury properties. Greg thinks that just one thing is missing: a reasonable way to guarantee a suite. I would love to be able to book a suite for a reasonable number of points and/or with some sort of upgrade instrument. But I don’t have just one enhancement — I think I’d need Hilton to go back to free breakfast rather than the F&B credits within the United States before I’ll be able to go all-in on Hilton.
Saving big on a cruise by stacking an agent with discounted gift cards
Over the past couple of years, I’ve written pretty extensively about casino status matching for “free” (or very cheap) cruises. Family members wanted to join us on a couple of cruises next year, so I went through the process of booking a full-fare cruise for the first time. I was surprised by how much I could save with the right cruise agent. In the end, between the savings of booking through an agent and discounted gift cards, we saved 20%+ over the cost of going directly to the cruise line website and booking with a credit card.
Southwest Airlines: Assigned seating, premium class and red-eye flights are on the way
It’s the end of an era: next year, Southwest will abandon its open seating policy in favor of charging for seating assignments, including premium seating. They’ll also introduce red-eye flights. I’m not terribly excited about this as I’ve long been fine with Southwest’s boarding practice (and thanks to family boarding, we’ve never had an issue getting the seats we wanted) — I don’t really want to pay extra so that I can select seat 23C in advance instead of arriving and taking 24C or 25C or whichever aisle seat is still open. Similarly, I wasn’t very excited about red-eye flights since I assume this means that the more desirable daytime flights that I actually want to book will get more expensive — but Greg points out that if they do, the way around it will be to book a cheap red-eye at a Wanna Get Away Plus fare in order to do a same-day change to a better flight.
Persistence pays off with a Hotels.com Price Guarantee claim success
In this post, I likened my Hotels.com Price Guarantee claim to taking batting practice. That is to say that I knew that if I just relaxed and kept swinging, I’d eventually connect. After running through the process (and getting denied numerous times), I felt like I might have saved myself by providing a direct link to the competitor instead of the name of the competitor site in the “where found” box. Still, persistence is going to be key.
What are Best Western points worth?
If you’ve ever seen a Best Western promotion to earn extra points, you may have wondered what the extra points were worth. Greg put Best Western through the same grinder as the rest of our hotel points and came out with a median value of 0.61c per point. Perhaps even more useful to know is that there was very little variance — the 80th percentile was only 0.66c per point. If I had Best Western points to use, I probably wouldn’t waste much effort trying to cherry-pick for an extra 5 one-hundredths of a point, I’d just use them any time I could get 0.61c per point or anything more and be happy enough.
Best Uses of Capital One Miles
It’s been years since Capital One launched its airline and hotel transfer partners, but I think a lot of people continue to sleep on Capital One. This post outlines the many great uses of Capital One miles — from terrific MLB seats for 5K miles each to domestic flights from 10K miles each way to Scandinavian hotels that yield as much as 20c per point using Finnair Avios and a lot more, this post has everything you need to know.
Best uses for Delta miles
Believe it or not, there are still some ways to get good value out of your Delta SkyMiles. You generally won’t see great value using your SkyMiles to fly domestically on Delta, but this post includes the sweet spots that still exist. Maybe one of these days I’ll drop 13K Delta SkyMiles for a bottle of Dom Perignon in a SkyClub.
Hilton Honors Complete Guide
Our complete guide to Hilton Honors has been updated with everything you need to know for about the Hilton program and how to take advantage of its features. As a reminder, you can find resources like this one about most of the major loyalty programs (and a lot more) on our Resources page by clicking “Resources” at the top of any page on Frequent Miler.
That’s it for this week at Frequent Miler. Keep an eye on this week’s month-ending last chance deals to make sure that you make use of them before they’re gone.
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FYI it’s not only bing but also DuckDuckGo. I can enter “frequentmiler.com vacasa” and get nothing. It’s been this way for years.
Regarding Greg’s new affection for Hilton a la SLH, the entire universe shares his desire to book a suite with a reasonable number of points. But, it’s Hilton and we know it will never happen. Upgrade? But, it’s Hilton and we know it will never happen. There’s no harm expressing a desire but it is healthy to acknowledge its unlikelihood.
I do not understand how so many people see the Southwest change as good.
you would have to be consistently in C group to view this change as positive.
Southwest has long been the largest domestic mover of people. That is not something that happens by accident.
Southwest had one really crap quarter, as did most airlines. Following that they had a record profit Q2, but reduced revenues that 46% down.
That is very important information. That means they had higher expenses, which makes sense with significantly higher priced contracts, updating of technology, and inflation in general.
I am not hopeful that this fundamental change to the longstanding culture of Southwest (democratize the skies) will have the immediate impact they are seeking. I guess we will all see in real time how this plays out.
Maybe they should have just raised prices.
I love Southwest and fly them more than any airline except Delta. But I have to admit the check-in process has gotten old for me in the last few years. It isn’t always convenient to check in right at 24 hours, and even then there are so many early check-ins that I can still be well down the list. So this encourages me to to early check-in or use an early boarding pass, both of which add additional complications. And if I have a connecting flight that runs late and I get to my next flight after boarding starts I will still be in a middle seat.
If I was traveling solo it wouldn’t matter as much to me, but it would be nice to be able to get seats together when I book and not have to think about it any longer. I do hope they don’t make too many other changes because otherwise I like the simplicity, free bags, etc. And I don’t mind all coach because for domestic flights first class is a bit overrated anyway.
I totally agree with you, and sort of where I am coming from.
There is nothing wrong with options. People tend to love or hate SW. Basically SW gave people the option of traveling their way. They have have the largest domestic carrier for a few year so someone is happy with them.
even Q2 they said they had record profits, but lower revenue. Again, obviously doing something right in the customer satisfaction dept.
Options is the key word here.
Keep Southwest Weird
I have kids and hate open seating… if we have a tight layover or a delayed first flight we miss family boarding and end up begging strangers to switch with us. I also have a 6-year-old so we were about to lose the access to family boarding. I don’t feel like I should have to pay extra to sit with a 7-year-old child, but I think all airlines should let families sit together without extra charge.
They are basically changing to be like every other airline; which, by default, means that you will be paying extra to sit with a 7 year old child.
Only recently, maybe over the last year and a half, have I bothered comparing domestic flights by other carriers. This has mostly been because I have been a long term holder of Companion Pass, and an A-Lister.
What I have found from these comparisons is that buying a comparable ticket with either of the other 3 meant buying something above basic economy. This usually meant a higher fare, and you may still need to pay for luggage.
I don’t think Southwest regulars who asked for this quite understand what they have gotten themselves into. Transfarency, and democratizing the skies is dead; dead dead.
Last but not least, literally every other airline would allow you to pay for a seat. If you don’t like the Southwest model, would it not be exponentially easier to just choose 1 of the many… Wait, I mean, any other airline…
I guess I just don’t understand why so many people talked down about 1 single airline (largest domestic) that has done it differently.
I am calling it now. This is going to suck!