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?
We had a lot of fun questions on our most recent Ask Us Anything, Live episode, including a question about how many credit cards each of the Frequent Miler team has. Maybe it’s a spoiler alert to say that one person has over 80 credit cards (between them and their spouse). Can you guess which Frequent Miler team member that is?
You can watch the full episode above, or click the timestamps below to navigate directly to a specific question within YouTube.
03:30 – Am I eligible for business credit cards?
08:18 – If you book two basic tickets without seat assignments for an adult and a toddler, will the airline automatically seat you together? If so, at what age will this no longer happen?
10:08 – Nick has 9 American Express Platinum cards in his household; how many American Express Platinum cards does Greg have?
12:46 – How many cards do each of y’all have between you and P2 (player 2)?
15:29 – How do you keep track of the various offers / decide which ones to pursue?
18:54 – Greg, now that you’re not chasing Delta status, how are you going to redirect the 250k spend you used to do for Delta Diamond? Any other airline / hotel status are you’re chasing?
22:28 – Tim, does it make sense for a new business traveler based in SFO / NYC to be Alaska loyal and credit all Alaska / American Airlines flights to Alaska, or American? I feel like Alaska miles aren’t as valuable and American Airlines shines.
27:00 – Anyone have suggestions for a use of Hilton FNC (free night certificate) for this month on the East Coast?
30:54 – Booking British Airways from USA to LHR and trying to minimize fees – Party of 4 including 1 lap infant, 1 person is One World Emerald. What’s the best program? Krisflyer? Nick mentioned 4-5 ways to reduce British Airways fees! Thanks!!
34:25 – Is there a way to cash out Ultimate Rewards points at 1.5 cpp (cents per point), like you can with American Express Business Platinum?(booking a flight and cancel?)
36:10 – You can only charge business expenses on a Business card though, right? Not personal?
37:49 – I drive a company car with a company gas card that I cannot earn miles on. Besides the Shell/American Airlines partnership that earns 3x miles per gallon, what other options do I have to get some rewards on this?
39:52 – My p2 (player 2) and I both have been approved for 6 Chase Ink cards across two businesses each. How do I know when I should stop applying for Chase Ink cards? Is it safe to just keep applying until I get denied?
40:52 – Please talk me through the fear of booking my first award flights.
46:26 – Hi team, could you tell me if I product change or cancel a card during the extended warranty period, is the protection still effective with the old card?
47:16 – Here’s a question a lot of us have on our minds: do you think priority pass restaurants will eventually be phased out?
50:13 – Do y’all use Travel Freely to track your cards? Why/why not?
53:20 – I very rarely fly internationally and am having difficulty finding good value with American Express points; am I missing out on other good sweet spot redemption options outside of international business tickets?
54:05 – Is there a point were too much available open credit card limit may prevent you from being approved for new cards by an issuer (i.e. $200K, $300K, etc)?
56:18 – Has anyone had any luck using Hilton Aspire resort credit early? I have a trip planned for December 2024 and would love to double-dip the $200 aspire credit. So the $200 aspire Hilton resort credit is Jan to June and resets July to December. Would love to find a way to use $400 for my December Hilton trip
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Wanted to add a data point on the putting personal spend on business card” question. BOA closed my first alaska business card and sent an email and letter stating something to the affect that they closed it because my spending did not appear to be for business purposes. Only had the card about 4 months and I did pay residential rent (only thing that really stood out as couldn’t have been solely business, although it was a business run out of that house) with it among other personal expenses. It was sometime in 2021, i had already received the SUB, and I subsequently signed up and was approved for a new alaska business card.
Thanks for sharing! We can now no longer say we’ve never heard of that happening. I’m glad there weren’t any long term ramifications for you.
Just to touch on the last question Stephen made a point on about the Conrad Maldives and trying a prepayment for the Aspire. I had a similar situation for a stay at the Waldorf Astoria Maldives last year where I wanted to use 2 Aspire credits that were going to reset before our stay. I contacted the property and they said the only thing I could prepay or do a deposit on was the yacht transfer fee, which I was fine with if it would use my aspire credits. I requested to pay each person separate since I wanted to use 2 credits and they sent me 2 links that were through the bank of the Maldives, so I had the same concerns that Stephen brought up that it would not work, but tried it anyways. The two transactions had slightly different names when they went pending with one being “WALDORF ASTORIA MALDIVES” and the 2nd “WALDORF ASTORIA MALDITHAAFUSHI”, but about 4 days later the resort credits came through and both transactions post as Hilton transactions for the 14x earnings. So Conrad might have the same merchant setup.
I am currently on target to earn a SW companion pass by late Feb. However, my wife and I are planning a vacation starting April 1 that would involve a SW round trip flight. Can I use miles to book my flight now and add her as a companion later? What is the best process? Should I book a paid flight for her now and cancel and re-book later once the companion pass comes through?
Yes just book your ticket now and add her as a companion later. I’ve never had an issue finding a companion seat.
You could book her a seat now then cancel it after you add her as your companion and rebook the ticket. That way it saves a seat on the plane. Companion pass works as long as a seat is available.
It would be great if these were offered in podcast form.