Welcome to the new and improved Frequent Miler! Thanks to consistent reader feedback, we’ve redesigned our redesign and it was a key topic of discussion in this week’s Frequent Miler On the Air (in video format above and podcast below). We also discussed a potential hidden opportunity in the Southwest announcement, how much Greg intends to spend toward Hyatt elite status, and whether or not the Double Cash is worth a 5/24 slot. All that and more above and below — watch, listen or read to the Frequent Miler week in review.
FM on the Air Podcast
For those who would rather listen than watch, the audio of our weekly broadcast is available on all popular podcast platforms, including:
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This week at Frequent Miler:
In Frequent Miler news:
Updated! Check out Frequent Miler’s New Homepage
It’s likely hard to miss if you’re reading this post (though if you are reading via email or some type of RSS reader, it’s worth clicking through to the site): Frequent Miler has a new look. In an effort to make the site fresh and more modern (for a host of reasons ranging from a reputable appearance to optimizations like improved page load time thanks to a theme that isn’t a decade old), our new Creative Director and the team at Boarding Area have been hard at work on the changes you see today. Unfortunately, in an effort to make different types of content easier to find (the more “meaty” articles like the ones you find in this week in review post vs short quick deal posts vs our multimedia), we had inadvertently created a confusing reader experience. We heard you and we reconvened the very next day to re-design our redesign, the result of which is a site that features our core content at the top of the page and all posts in chronological order after that, with our multimedia mid-way through. We’ll keep bringing you the same content, but hopefully it’s packaged a little prettier than before.
Challenge! StayCay to Far Away
It’s on from Sunday, April 19, 2020. Yours truly gets it cookin’ to kick off Round 1 of the StayCay to Far Away Challenge. Early polling suggests an unexpected front-runner at the early stages. Can Greg come from behind and unseat the would-be victor? Read all about the new challenge here and how you can take part in choosing your champion. Make sure to subscribe to our Youtube channel to get notified as our videos go live.
In elite opportunities:
Hyatt’s 3 elite nights per $5K spend. Deal or no deal?
World of Hyatt cardholders have an opportunity to earn 3 elite nights for every $5K spend for the next (approximately) 2.5 months. Is it worth spending toward status and milestone rewards? As Greg does the math, it really depends on how many nights you think you’ll have apart from this promo. As you’ll see/hear in Frequent Miler on the Air above, I plan to give this one a miss, but Greg plans to give it some gusto. What will you do?
Southwest extends status & companion pass, will let some vouchers convert to points
Southwest has announced what they’re doing in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and it’s surprisingly disappointing. As we discuss in FM on the Air above, this solution looks fair-ish on first glance, but the way they are handling the Companion Pass isn’t particularly fair to anyone. I expected better. One small bright spot: the ability to turn travel vouchers into Southwest points may make for an interesting opportunity to convert other bank points to Southwest at decent ratios.
In credit cards:
Citi’s awesome trio: Double Cash, Premier, Rewards+
With Citi’s recently announced changes to the Citi Premier card, they have created an awesome cheap combo: With one $95 annual fee and two cards that have no annual fee, you can earn 3x on the average person’s main spending categories and 2x everywhere else — and amp that up by getting 10% back up to 10K back per year on points used. Greg explores that combo in more detail here.
Saving $2,897 in annual fees: a Card Talk intervention
Sing it with me: You got to know when to hold ’em, know when to close ’em, know when to product change, know when you’ve won. Greg and I offered a credit card intervention for a reader who needed some help; we helped him trip out just under three grand in annual fees. See our suggestions and share your own thoughts in the comments.
Downgrade your credit card to go annual fee-free
If you’re looking to lighten your load in terms of annual fees to pay out given the current economic environment, this post lays out your best downgrade options for many of the most popular travel cards. In many cases, a downgrade to a card with no annual fee is better than canceling altogether.
Chase officially extends payment deadline by 3 months for some
Just a short quick tip here, but one worth checking out if you opened a personal Chase credit card between 1/1/20 and 3/31/20 since there it is likely that you’ll have some extra time to meet the spending requirements.
Catch us live next week!
Frequent Miler was Live (4/16) at 4PM ET. Ask us anything!
Just a quick reminder: we were live this past Thursday at 4pm Eastern and we’ll be back again next Thursday (4/30) at 4pm Eastern again. Come enjoy a miles & points distraction.
That’s it for this week at Frequent Miler. Check back soon for our week in review around the web and this week’s last chance deals.
Want to learn more about miles and points? Subscribe to email updates or check out our podcast on your favorite podcast platform.
The stuff about the southwest opportunities with cancelling for points was really interesting but the math of it makes my head hurt! Hopefully, we will get some clarity once it becomes functional.
Looks fine folks pretty easy to use .I think Steve should ” Put the Cookie Down” !!
#stayincave LOL
I’m sure I will get used to it but the redesign reminds me too much of a certain other travel blog that mainly just pushes credit card apps to newbies.
On point! I’m not one that takes to change well in the beginning but seems like a lot of clutter like that certain other blog. From a user experience perspective, there’s just too much going on in the page.
MMS? 🙂 And the font is the same too, I think. Wish it used a different one just to differentiate though I never go to MMS anymore (I never really went there to begin with).
I don’t like change much, so I was not happy about your new format at first, but I am sure I will get used to it and it does look pretty classy – much more professional. So far I have been able to find everything easily.
I, too, LOVE YOUR SITE and recommend it to everyone I meet as the best place to go for this kind of info. I try to use your application links whenever possible – except in the case where I or my wife can snag a referral bonus – like my recent 20K referral for the Ink Preferred – sorry 🙂
I think you may want to remind people that as a two-player “game” the card strategy is quite different and perhaps have a post on that. For couples that always travel together, there are great benefits:
– Only one needs elite status or companion pass for example.
– Only one needs to worry about 5/24. It’s like playing Honeymoon Bridge versus Solitaire.
– Only one needs the travel insurance (AMEX Platinum or Sapphire Reserve).
– Only one needs a 2X or 1.5X card for general spend (AMEX Blue or Freedom Unlimited).
– Only one needs a cash card (in my case the BoA Premium for 2.65% cash back).
– Only one needs an Ink card (unless you are hitting the limits too easily).
– I could go on ….