Over the past week, I’ve been loving my ultra-premium credit cards more than ever.
My family is currently chasing JetBlue’s 25 for 25 promotion, so we’ve flown to or through 11 domestic destinations over the past few weeks. Just this week, we have used a Ritz-Carlton credit card to access the Boston Chase Sapphire lounge (remember that Ritz cardholders still get unlimited guests!) and our Amex Platinum cards to access Escape lounges at Portland (PWM), Fort Lauderdale (FLL), and Providence PVD).
That’s in addition to visits late last month to Escape Lounges at San Juan (SJU) and Palm Beach (PBI) (sadly, the Escape lounge at Hartford-Bradley (BDL) is currently under renovation or we’d have had one more). While Amex Platinum cardholders do not get free guests at Centurion lounges (unless they spend $75,000 on their card in a calendar year), cardholders do still get 2 complimentary guests at Escape lounges, so my wife and I have been able to get our family of four into all of the above Escape lounges with two Platinum cards (she’s been using the Business Platinum she got from her strategic Business Gold upgrade). It certainly has been nice having a place to get food and drinks for the whole family without getting hit with airport prices!
Speaking of free lounge access, we also enjoyed the Marriott JFK M Club on a day use rate — read more about day use rates, Greg’s great experience with Citi-to-Preferred Hotels, why we think American Airlines won’t devalue because of transfers from Citi, and a lot more in this week in review.
This week on the Frequent Miler blog…
Legit value: Transfer Citi to Preferred Hotels 1:4 [my experience]
Greg recently enjoyed a great experience booking Preferred Hotels, one of Citi’s newer hotel partners. Since points transfer 1:4 to Preferred Hotels, this can be a fantastic deal. I had mostly ignored Preferred Hotels because of the many issues folks encountered at the beginning of this partnership, but if Greg’s recent stay is any indication, it seems that they have gotten their stuff together. Greg’s post made me take a peek at the I Prefer site for the first time in a while and I’m suddenly getting more interested than ever in Citi points.
Will AA devalue now that Citi transfers to AA? | Coffee Break Ep66 | 8-5-25
The American Airlines partner award has long been a source of speculation over when we may see a devaluation. While cardmembers have long pined for transfers from Citi ThankYou Rewards to American Airlines, many folks have been concerned that the launch of transfers to AA would spell the end of great-value AA awards. However, we don’t think there will be a direct correlation — at least with the partner award chart. Given the dynamic nature of awards on American Airlines, we may see prices climb a bit at times of high demand, but our expectation is that partner awards won’t really be affected. That said, nobody will be shocked if and when partner awards devalue — we just don’t think transfers from Citi will be a core cause. Hear more about why on this week’s Coffee Break.
The 100K Citi Strata Elite offer is still alive (but you may need a new link)
The Citi Strata Elite 100K offer is absolutely worth a look. While 100K may seem like a standard “good” offer these days, consider that you could also get $1,000 in easy-to-use coupon credits in the first year and this card really starts to look like a good trade for year 1 at $595. I don’t know as though I’d want to keep this card long-term over the Strata Premier, but this offer is so good that I’d be happy to try it out and make that decision when the fee rolls around next year. Despite rumors that the offer would end 8/1 and then 8/7, it hasn’t ended, but you may need to get a fresh link from a banker if you dragged your feet and didn’t apply before the previous links expired. The offer is still available, but you may need to reach out to a banker for a fresh link.
Citi ThankYou Rewards Complete Guide
Citi ThankYou Rewards spent years as a second or third-tier transferable rewards program thanks to limited welcome bonuses, few unique transfer partners, and no notable hotel partnerships at all for a long time. However, Citi ThankYou Rewards has come roaring back over the past two years with new partnerships, great bonus categories, and now finally an ultra-premium credit card of its own. This post has everything you need to know about ThankYou points, from some of the best value sweet spots to the complexities of combining points and more.
The Rental Car Game | Frequent Miler on the Air Ep318 | 8-8-25 | Podcast
A listener asked us for a podcast episode on rental car programs. The truth is that we don’t get as excited about rental car programs because there aren’t many opportunities for outsized value. However, there are opportunities to leverage elite status from credit cards and match that status around to enjoy some elevated benefits. And not all free days are equal, with the rewards from some programs being more valuable in the right situations. Listen to this week’s Frequent Miler on the Air for just about everything we know about car rental programs.
Eat out, earn more: Guide to card-linked dining programs for airlines, hotels & more
Stephen’s guide to card-linked dining programs will be super useful to anyone residing in an area with good coverage for these types of programs. Not just a list of dining programs, this post is chock full of great tips like how to quickly earn VIP status to increase earnings, which have the best welcome offers, how to stack with card-linked offers and more.
How to book Day Use rates with major chain hotels
They say that necessity is the mother of invention. My need this week for a place to relax between an early morning JetBlue flight to JFK and a very late departure from JFK led to a deep dive into day use rates. I ended up at the Marriott JFK Airport, where I got a room for the day and lounge access as a Platinum member. In the process of landing on that answer, I explored day use rates from all of the major chains. I can say this much for certain: the next time we plan to arrive in Europe early in the morning, I’m going to have to give Accor a look.
Southwest assigned seating live for 2026 travel
Southwest is now selling seat assignments for flights departing from 1/27/26 onward. That marks another move in the major transformation of the Southwest experience — and for family travelers who want to select seats in advance, it marks quite an additional expense. That said, given pricing, the Southwest Rapid Rewards Priority Card (or perhaps the Southwest Performance Business credit card) will be a great value for anyone who plans to fly Southwest more than a couple of times per year.
That’s it for this week at Frequent Miler. Keep an eye out for this week’s last chance deals to be sure you get them before they’re gone.
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