For those who love it, shopping is its own reward. For everyone else, we can console ourselves by earning big rewards while shopping. In this week’s podcast, Nick and Greg discuss the art of extreme stackery (yes, that’s a made-up word) so that we can all reap rewards (miles, points, and cash back) when shopping. Additionally, on the podcast, we talk about the latest big Hyatt news, booking Etihad flights with Air France/KLM Flying Blue miles, and more.
Elsewhere on the blog this week, read all about Hyatt’s big changes; find out how Tim got over $1400 for a delayed flight; learn about a new transferable points card; and more. Watch or listen to the podcast or read on for more from this week at Frequent Miler.
This week’s podcast
00:00:00 Intro
00:01:42 Giant Mailbag
00:02:36 — Backpack tip
00:03:09 — Nordic Choice
00:06:00 — AutoSlash for the win
00:06:52 — Schwab debit card rocks
00:08:12 — Open Hotel Alert to the rescue
00:08:57 — Turkish Airlines: valuable mess
00:10:22 Card Talk: Amex Blue Business Plus
00:16:42 Award Talk: Book Etihad w/ Flying Blue miles
00:22:29 Award Talk: BREAKING NEWS from Hyatt
00:22:57 — Hyatt’s revamped Milestone Rewards
00:37:17 — New ways to earn Hyatt elite nights
00:40:04 — Mr & Mrs Smith integration w/ Hyatt
00:50:38 Award Talk: Get the room you really want Nick’s way
00:54:47 Main Event: The Art of Extreme Stackery Extreme Rewards via Extreme Stacking
See blog post–> Extreme stacking for holiday purchases
01:33:05 Question of the Week: When going for the Companion Pass, should I open the personal or business Southwest card first?
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This week on the Frequent Miler blog…
Big World of Hyatt news
Big Hyatt changes are in store for 2024:
- Huge (mostly positive) changes to Hyatt’s Milestone Rewards: Hyatt is revamping its Milestone Rewards. At each Milestone (starting at 20 nights and every 10 nights thereafter), there will be more choices, rewards will be shareable, and there will be new and more valuable rewards for those achieving 100 nights or more (up to 150 nights). For more modest travelers, serious awards kick in at 40 nights.
- New ways to earn Hyatt elite nights for meeting planners, travel advisors, and Hyatt Leverage admins: For every $5,000 of eligible spend, earn 2 qualifying nights towards elite status and Milestone Rewards.
- Hyatt goes next level with Mr & Mrs Smith [Integration “early 2024”!]: Hyatt has announced full integration of “100s” of Mr & Mrs Smith properties in early 2024. I’m excited!
- Earn Hyatt elite night credits & points when buying Mr & Mrs Smith gift cards: While waiting for full integration, you can take advantage of the short term opportunity to earn Hyatt points and elite nights by buying Mr & Mrs Smith gift cards.
Wells Fargo to add transfer partners and launch new Autograph card
Transferable points and new credit cards are coming soon from Wells Fargo. It’s exciting to think that we may soon have a new player in this game. I realize that not everyone is a Wells Fargo fan, but more competition to give us transferable points is always a good thing. Now I’m crossing my fingers that they’ll offer good transfer ratios and decent transfer partners (let’s hope that Choice isn’t the only choice).
See: Wells Fargo to add transfer partners and launch new Autograph card
How Tim got over $1400 for a delayed flight: A Guide to EU 261 Claims
Tim’s Singapore Airlines flight from Frankfurt to JFK was delayed and so Tim filed an EU 261 claim. He received over $700 per person from Singapore Airlines (over $1400 total). There’s much more to this post than a happy story for Tim. This is a mini-guide that you can refer to when you too get delayed when flying from or to Europe.
See: How Tim got over $1400 for a delayed flight: A Guide to EU 261 Claims
“Up to” something? Amex adding weirdly worded welcome offers
Well… ick. Amex has been experimenting with new ways of describing welcome bonus offers. Now, instead of always seeing fixed offers like “90,000 points after $5,000 spend”, you’ll sometimes see things like “Earn up to 150,000 points” or “Earn 100,000 points or more.” You won’t know exactly what your welcome bonus will be until after you apply. Fortunately, after you apply, but before you accept the new card, Amex will show you the full details of the offer and you’ll have a chance to back out with no harm to your credit report. Still… this can make comparison shopping for new cards much more difficult.
See: “Up to” something? Amex adding weirdly worded welcome offers
United’s Excursionist Perk: Ideal for Positioning Flights?
One of the strengths of United’s mileage program is the ability to add a free segment to an international award. They call this an “Excursionist Perk award.” If you need an extra flight in the middle of an international trip, this might work for you. There are also ways to use Excursionist Perks that are not nearly that simple and definitely not what United intended. In this advanced award booking post I explored the question of whether Excursionist Perks are ideal for booking positioning flights for international travel.
See: United’s Excursionist Perk: Ideal for Positioning Flights?
American Express Hilton Honors Aspire Credit Card Review (2023)
Amex made big changes to their Hilton Aspire and Surpass cards recently. In this post, Tim reviews the new Aspire card. Is it worth the new $550 annual fee? Personally, I’m looking forward to dumping one of my two Delta cards next year in order to free up room in my Amex portfolio for a Hilton card.
See: American Express Hilton Honors Aspire Credit Card Review (2023)
That’s it for this week at Frequent Miler. Keep an eye on this week’s last chance deals to be sure that you don’t miss any before they are gone.
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Got a great stack on Cyber week sale at Saks. Wanted a Staub grill pan that was on sale at Zwilling.com and had Amex offer of $30 at Zwilling. But at Saks, noticed they also carried Zwilling products with same discounted prices. Was planning to buy some Bombas socks at Saks to use my Amex Platinum credit anyway, so bought Bombas and Staub pan (total $151.99) which earned a $75 Saks GC for spending $150. Also got $50 back from Amex Platinum credit and Rakuten 15% (2280 MR pts).
Used GC to buy a special Zwilling’s Henckels knife that DH wanted – still on sale at Saks at same price as Zwilling’s Cyber Week price. Saks applied a 10% discount but now I was $1 under limit for free shipping (couldn’t find any cheap item worth buying to offset the S&H – was still saving, tho’). Best portal earning was ShopThruChase at 6%, All in, by using portals and shopping at Saks, spent $46 less out of pocket than by getting just the Bombas at Saks and the pan and knife at Zwilling. My kind of shopping deal.
My best stack was via the C1 Shopping app in May. Saw 100% back on Under Armour. Given that it was almost surely a mistake, I was unwilling to hit it too hard. Still, redeemed about $300 or so in rewards, made the purchases. Next morning, the app was offering 10%. So, a mistake. They tracked and paid out on the 100%.
Those of conscience will boycott Elon Musk. Find deals somewhere other than Twitter/X.
Per your comment about dumping a Delta card to free up room for the Aspire, how long do you need to wait between closing one AmEx card and opening another when you’re at the limit?
It usually takes 30 days for Amex’ system to see the open slot. However, you can apply prior to that. If you are declined, call Amex for reconsideration and identify that you’ve closed slot #5.