US Bank not-so-smartly nerfs a card, best card path to airline status, Preferred reader tips and more

Someone recently asked about when it makes sense to earn cash back instead of miles. Clearly, I am someone who is obsessed with earning miles and leveraging them for outsized value, but even a die-hard like me has to admit that turning down cash back puts a price tag on my points in the form of the lost opportunity to earn cash.

No card put that opportunity cost into sharper perspective than the US Bank Smartly card when it launched just six months ago. With the chance to earn up to 4% cash back everywhere, it created such a high opportunity cost as to make collecting miles at 1x, 2x, or even 3x difficult to justify. But the question on many minds was “How long will this last?”. Nobody expected the answer to be “forever”, but if you told me it would be less than a week over six months before it got nerfed, I wouldn’t have believed it. That really goes to show the enthusiasm for rewards credit cards: the card must have become so unprofitable in such short order as to go from launch, to concerns voiced at the watercooler to concerns voiced at a meeting to decisions made and an end date announced in almost record time.

Whereas Greg contemplates picking up the next card collectible to be grandfathered in to its unsustainable model, I almost feel relieved that I didn’t dive in. Instead, I’ll continue to dive in to hotel award alerts, great reader tips for Preferred Hotels, the best ways to get to Asia using miles and more without remorse. Read on for all that and more in this Frequent Miler week in review.

This week on the Frequent Miler blog…

Elite status via credit card spend: AA vs Delta vs United

It really is amazing how much spend would be required to earn elite status via credit card with United in comparison to American Airlines or Delta. What this analysis leaves out is how easy it is to supplement credit card spend with easy shopping portal offers to earn American Airlines elite status, which I think gives it an edge in terms of ease versus American. I would have loved to have seen Alaska included here — while one can only earn the bottom end of elite status with Alaska through credit card status, it nonetheless would be useful to see how much it would take to earn that bottom level. I imagine that most chasing airline elite status are likely supplementing it with some amount of flying, so which airline makes the most sense is probably a more complex comparison than credit card spend alone. Keep in mind that you can also earn elite status through credit card spend with JetBlue, Spirit, and Frontier airlines as well.

How much are Southwest Rapid Rewards points worth?

Those who might be contemplating spending toward status with Southwest Airlines need to know that Rapid Rewards points are now worth less than before in most cases. That said, the cheapest fares now present opportunities for outsized value, so if you’re able to plan ahead and travel off-peak, Southwest points might become more useful for you. Just remember that having the Southwest Companion Pass does not double the value of your points. If you disagree, see my response about that in the comments of the post.

Negative changes coming to the 4% US Bank Smartly credit card

If all this talk about spending for status and decreasing point value has you leaning toward cash back, you’ll need to lean hard and fast toward the US Bank Smartly card. Starting April 14th, this card will become significantly stupider. It didn’t take a prodigy to predict the eventual stupification of the Smartly card, though I am surprised to see it dulled so bluntly. If you want to keep $10K in a Smartly Checking account at the opportunity cost of not earning a decent interest rate in the name of earning 2.5% back on up to $10,000 per month, then feel free to apply from April 14th onward. If you’d like for investments to count and to get the same 2.5% back with only $5K on hand, then run, don’t walk, to pick up the card no later than 4/13.

Guide to booking Preferred Hotels with points

If, like me, you had mostly written off Preferred Hotels as a waste of time because of how fraught with problems the entire experience has been for many people, you need to read Greg’s update to our Guide to booking Preferred Hotels with points. It sounds like there have been some improvements to the site. Even more importantly, readers have chimed in with some incredibly valuable tips for smoothing out some of the wrinkles, which might make this program much more appealing than before.

A battle of the hotel award alert tools leads to loving them all the more

Trying to snag a great hotel award during a period of peak demand can be a challenging exercise. If you have struggled to find award availability, you have to get into award alerts. I’ve recently been putting several through their paces and I’ve been really been learning to love the power of letting a tool do the obsessing so that I can stop thinking about searching again and again. While I found one tool to alert me faster than others, another tool offered the ability to search for an upgrade award that really came in handy.

Domestic flights for less | Frequent Miler on the Air Ep301 | 4-11-25 | Podcast

A reader recently brought up the fact that it is sometimes more expensive to take a domestic positioning flight than it is to fly in long-haul business class when you’re an award traveler. On this week’s Frequent Miler on the Air, we discuss a number of ways to take the sting out of domestic airfare, from partner awards to discounts to companion certificates and more.

ANA award chart changes get an A…and an F (One way award flights bookable, round trip increases & no more Round The World)

I can’t really justify my disappointment with ANA over its discontinuation of its Round-the-World award chart from June 24th onward. It’s a difficult award to put together, particularly if you want to avoid surcharges. But it has been a long-standing dream of mine to put this to use and I’ll be disappointed when it’s gone. Tempering my disappointment is the coming ability to book one-way Star Alliance awards like business class to Europe for 50,000 miles. Since I have 30,000 ANA miles that will expire a few days after one-way awards become live, I’m going to proactively send 20K over to ANA in the hopes to thread the needle and book something during the window before my 30K miles expire!

How to find rooms for 4 in Europe and when is Bilt worth it? | Ask Us Anything Ep74 | 4-2-25

Last week, the team hosted our monthly “Ask Us Anything” on Youtube, where we fielded questions live and on the spot. From some tips for rooms for four people in Europe to the Bilt card and far more, we enjoyed an hour of talking points and miles. Catch the replay in the place of this week’s Coffee Break.

Kasbah du Toubkal (Mr & Mrs Smith): Bottom Line Review

Having spent a couple of nights in Marrakech last year thanks to our Flying by the Seat of our Points challenge, I was curious to read Tim’s review of this property located about an hour away from Marrakech. Tim’s review had some twists for me — I initially thought he wasn’t very pleased given the confusion at check-in, “rustic” nature of the grounds, and “workmanlike” staff, but then he caught me off guard saying that he would love to return for an even longer stay! Clearly, there was a lot to love so long as expectations are set properly. I hope some readers check this place out and can chime in with their own thoughts.

Villa Copenhagen, Denmark (Choice / Preferred Hotels / Amex FHR): Bottom Line Review

I really enjoyed our long layover in Copenhagen during Million Mile Madness. I’d definitely be interested in returning for a few days, so I read Stephen’s review of the Villa Copenhagen with interest. First of all, I’m surprised that it’s possible to book an FHR property in this part of the world for less than $300 per night. That would certainly make it intriguing. However, while it had nice-looking finishes, the room looked tight for my tastes. I’d like to have some room to move around without tripping over luggage, and that might be tough here from the looks of it.

Best Ways to get to Asia using points and miles (2025)

Tim has been working to push out updates on all of our guides for the best ways to get to various regions around the world using points and miles. This week, it was the ways to get to Asia that got a refresh. If you need a refresher on your best options, check this post.

Delta SkyMiles Complete Guide (2025)

Keep in mind that when you need to dive a bit deeper into any of the major US airline or hotel programs, we probably have a complete guide with everything you need to know. Further, we’ve been working to update all of them with the latest info. This week, we dusted off the complete guide to Delta SkyMiles.

That’s it for this week at Frequent Miler. Keep an eye on the upcoming last chance deals to be sure you get them before they’re gone.

Want to learn more about miles and points? Subscribe to email updates or check out our podcast on your favorite podcast platform.