The 2024 Bonvoyed Awards | Frequent Miler on the Air Ep286 | 12-20-24 | Podcast

By
Caroline Yoder
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2

Today we’ll take a look back at the year and talk about what loyalty programs have done to us instead of for us. This is for the loyalty grinches!

Watch the full episode below, or listen on your favorite podcast platform. You can click the timestamps below to navigate directly to a specific part of the episode within YouTube. For a transcript of this episode, click “Watch on Youtube” on the video below, then click the “…more” link in the video description. This will expand full video details. Scrolling down past the timestamps and chapters, you’ll see a “Show Transcript” button. If you’re an Apple Podcast listener, you can touch and hold a podcast episode to reveal an option to view a transcript.

Main Event: The 2024 Bonvoyed Awards

Giant Mailbag

(01:07) – Revisiting a question we’d answered previously about whether or not several domestic flights a month would be enough for earning status.

(06:18) – One reader has some information to share about the Atlantis property they booked now (before their Caesar’s Diamond status disappears) for a stay in the future…

Read more about booking the Atlantis hotel here.

Crazy Thing “Fipple Header”

(10:12) – Flying Blue: Sends emails saying “Congratulations you are now a Flying Blue Ultimate member”

(11:44) – IHG: Purchase EQPs. 120K price: $640, no… $800, no… $1000, back to $640…

(16:27) – Nick flies to Mexico but doesn’t leave the airport

(21:12) – Greg and Nick forgot about Bilt

Find our podcast episode about the upcoming Alaska Premium card here.

(23:42) – Preferred Hotels: Greg’s ongoing Preferred Hotel booking saga

Awards, Points, and More

(29:48) – AA: Can now use miles to book Hawaiian flights from mainland US

(31:39) – Aviator Silver companion cert ain’t all that

Read our Aviator Silver companion cert first impressions here.

(38:14) – Hilton Aspire resort credit-eligible hotel list un-shrinks

(39:40) – Marriott Upgrade Awards now clear five days out (again)

(43:27) – Southwest: assigned seating

Read about Southwest’s upcoming assigned seating here.

Main Event: 2024 Bonvoyed Awards

(46:31) – 2023 Bonvoyed Awards Recap…

2024 Dis-Loyalty Nominees…

(51:38) – Chase & Capital One priority pass drops restaurants

(55:56) – Virgin goes dynamic

(59:08) – Virgin devalues Delta One to Europe

(1:02:36) – Wyndham Vacasa devaluation

(1:06:19) – BA & Qatar raise prices for short-haul partner awards (AA, Alaska)

(1:09:54) – Etihad nerfs award cancelations and point expirations

(1:15:43) – Bilt reduces Rent Day earnings to 1K bonus points

(1:18:50) – Wyndham Biz kills free cruises

(1:21:20) – Hyatt integrates Mr & Mrs Smith

(1:23:14) – Final picks

Question of the Week

(1:30:20) – Why are there so many pop-up ads on your site?

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Music Credit – “Ocean Deep” by Annie Yoder

Heads up! Because I solicit team feedback when answering questions on posts like these, it may take some time for me to get to your questions. Thanks in advance for your patience!
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Ralph

Good episode as always, Greg and Nick! I agree that Hyatt probably deserves the 2024 Bonvoyed award. However, I think there were a few disloyal candidates that also should have been in the running:

  1. UA blocking almost all saver award space to their Star Alliance partners: Maybe this one feels bigger for me as an IAD flyer, but I used to be able to consistently count on finding solid J availability from East Coast to Europe on UA via Aeroplan or Lifemiles. These days, there is almost nothing and it has really even devalued Aeroplan and Lifemiles for me because now there’s way less Star Alliance award space without UA saver space.
  2. Avianca Lifemiles Devaluation: With J awards in Europe going up to 70k and the end of mixed cabin award pricing, there is little reason for me to ever use Lifemiles instead of Aeroplan. While on paper, this wasn’t that big of a devaluation, I think it really killed the final competitive edges that Lifemiles had over Aeroplan for Star Alliance Partner awards.
  3. Chase Ink train slows down: The drop of the referral bonus on Ink cards from 40k to 20k is definitely something to lament. It’s tough to see Chase go the other way while Amex NLL Biz bonuses seem to continue to chug along.
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Matthew

The 2025 United Elite qualifications are 10,000 PQP + 30 PQF or 12,000 PQP. 2024 was 8,000 PQP + 24 PQF

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