Frequent Miler's latest team challenge, Million Mile Madness, is almost done! The last two weeks Greg, Nick, and Stephen competed to earn 1 Million SAS miles by flying 15 airlines. But who completed the challenge with the most Speed, Affordability, and Style?
Welcome to today’s Frequent Miler week in review, where we recap this week’s highlights.
First up this week, Cathay Pacific is out with a credit card for US consumers. We explored whether you should be inspired to go after the sign up bonus. With a bonus worth about $300 and an annual fee of $95, this card isn’t very inspiring unless you are a very heavy spender overseas, where this card will earn 1.5 miles on everything. Even still, a card like the Chase Freedom Unlimited earns 1.5 points on all purchases and can be paired with a Chase Sapphire Preferred or Sapphire Reserve for much greater flexibility. I’m sure the Cathay Pacific credit card must make sense for someone — I’m just not sure who.
On the other hand, the Cathay Pacific Companion Ticket Awards might make sense for a much wider range of people — most especially those with an Amex Business Platinum card if paying with points does prove to work with this benefit. Greg’s done the initial research, but there are still questions to be answered. One thing we know for sure is that Cathay offers excellent business class and these awards might be the inspiration you need to get that Cathay Pacific credit card after all.
Next, we explore some interesting offers for big spenders. Do you spend $50k per year? You might be interested to know the best rewards for $50K spend as the shortlist includes some cards that you may not have initially considered — but you should.
Starwood is back with increased signup bonuses on the SPG credit cards. With the sign up bonus on these very popular cards reaching 35K points and Amex limiting signup bonuses to once-per-lifetime, many people have asked if they can earn the bonus. Are you eligible for the Amex SPG 35K bonus? We review whether or not you are for each of these separate products.
Two weeks ago, consumer arbitration specialist Alexander Bachuwa brought us the story of a man named Daniel whose wedding was delayed because he had incurred $100,000 in legal fees over an arbitration case. I called Daniel out in the week in review saying that he obviously doesn’t read Alexander’s informative arbitration columns at Frequent Miler, otherwise he’d have known better. Of course, I was wrong! Daniel is a Frequent Miler reader and responded to Alex’s post. This week, Alexander interviews him and gives us more of the story in The Fine Print: The Consumer strikes back.
Finally, while we’ve seen a lot of airline status program “enhancements” that have been anything but, Greg unearths a rare gem in the updates to Delta Diamond Choice benefits. I haven’t been on a Delta plane since circa 1986, but his post kinda sorta almost makes me want to earn Delta Diamond status. Whether you manufacture Delta Diamond or earn it the old-fashioned way, it’s good to know the best uses of the benefits when you get there.
That’s it for this week at Frequent Miler. Stay tuned for highlights from around the web and this week’s last chance deals!
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