Frequent Miler on the Air – Détails, épisodes et analyse

In today's episode, we're schooled about Wells Fargo cards, we learn about earning points on your mortgage, and we talk about how you can take the sting out of Southwest's customer unfriendly changes.

(01:03) - Listeners give us more ideas about making a great Wells Fargo Wallet

Find our episode "A World-Class Wells Fargo Wallet" here.

(08:20) - Mesa Homeowners Card: Earn transferable points on mortgage payments

(14:20) - Goldbelly no longer selling $10 gift cards (minimum is $25)

(16:06) - Read about maximizing your "coupon" credits from American Express here.

(16:15) - Capital One Shopping pulls many good gift card redemption options (and it varies from one cardholder to the next!)

(20:05) - Pepper Rewards app not working (Taking payment but not producing gift cards, no coin...

(22:44) - Likely: JetBlue partnering with United

(27:51) - AA reducing award holds to 24 hours

(29:04) - Emirates breaking up with some transferable currencies (temporarily?)

Read more about this Emirates speculation here.

(31:39) - Transfer SAS to Scandic hotels and back

(34:26) - New Details announced (fare bundles, bags, credit cards)

(41:09) - Cardholders will win big

(47:05) - Is Southwest Priority Card the best airline card ever?

(53:09) - Is Southwest Priority Card even better than elite status?

(57:23) - But....is the writing on the wall?

(1:01:19) - If you have a major purchase you weren't expecting, which credit card would you put it on (and how would you decide?)

Visit https://frequentmiler.com/subscribe/ to get updated on in-depth points and miles content like this, and don’t forget to like and follow us on social media.

Music Credit – “Ocean Deep” by Annie Yoder

There are credit cards that help make your points actually more valuable, just by having the credit card on hand. You can find all of the cards discussed on this show on our Best Offers page. 

(00:40) - United: Discounted awards, ability to upgrade

(01:38) - Delta: 15% discount

(01:54) - JetBlue 10% rebate

(02:20) - Aeroplan: 1.25 PYB, better award pricing

(02:55) - Avianca Lifemiles Elite: Comes with Lifemiles+ Lite (10% discount on awards)

(04:09) - Spirit points pooling

(04:58) - IHG: 4th night free (& 10% back old card)

(06:00) - Wyndham 10% discount

(06:50) - Hilton 5th Night Free

(07:33) - Amex Membership Rewards: Business Platinum card 35% rebate

(08:49) - Chase: make the points on your cash back card transferrable, 1.25/1.5

(10:32) - Capital One: make cash back points transferrable

(11:49) - Citi: make cash back points transferrable, 10% rebate

(14:54) - Wells: make cash Transferrable

Visit https://frequentmiler.com/subscribe to get updated on in-depth points and miles content like this, and don’t forget to like and follow us on social media.

Music Credit – Beach Walk by Unicorn Heads

A few years ago American Express introduced this kind of model for their Platinum card where they increased their annual fee, but attempted to make up for it by offering a whole collection of credits and rebates that could be valuable if you did the work to make use of them and happened to have natural needs for them. In other words, these new benefits felt a lot like coupons, thus introducing the nickname for these kinds of card benefits. Now, United seems to be taking a page from American Express' book by "couponizing" their credit cards.

(02:02) - Denbigh writes in about our "getting started with points and miles" episode saying "Thank You for an episode worth the time, even for an experienced practitioner."

Find our Getting started with points & miles episode 298 here.

(4:02) - As previously reported, Southwest is planning reduced earnings on paid flights, expiring flight credits, charging for checked bags, and changing the value of points

(04:50) - Point value changes already taking place

Read more about the variable points values here.

(07:23) - Other Info revealed in Southwest's recent video

Read more about their updates in that video here.

(12:05) - No-go for Capital One / Discover acquisition. DOJ doesn't like it

Read more about this DOJ decision here.

(12:56) - Citi (seemingly) no longer allowing product changes between card families

(15:53) - Greg apparently never got credit for one of his 15 flights...

(19:38) - Air France / KLM saver availability from the US stinks

(24:23) - Bilt April Rent Day: Up to 100% bonus to Avios

(27:59) - Wyndham point sale not as fixed as we thought (thru April 15)

Find our Wyndham’s Excellent Point Sale episode 50 here.

(29:00) - Six United cards have increased annual fees, decreased benefits (slightly) and added "coupons"

(30:32) - Summary of changes

(45:45) - New Card Line-Up Overview

(46:28) - "Coupon" Deep Dive

(1:01:04) - If you still want a United card, which is best?

Read more about which United card is best here.

(1:05:42) - Which club card is best?

(1:08:27) - How do you manage the fear of account shut-down?

Visit https://frequentmiler.com/subscribe/ to get updated on in-depth points and miles content like this, and don’t forget to like and follow us on social media.

Music Credit – “Ocean Deep” by Annie Yoder

(00:00) Intro: There are a multitude of ways to fly to Hawaii using miles and points (and even many ways to get a deal on cash tickets). On this week's show, we discuss ways to fly to Hawaii from around the US from as few as 10K or 13.5K points each way.

(01:06) New FM intro

(03:22) Card Talk: Sonesta World Mastercard

https://frequentmiler.com/sonesta/

 -Card Details

-What are points worth?

(16:00) What crazy thing . . . did Marriott and Starbucks do this week? https://frequentmiler.com/link-marriott-starbucks-accounts-to-occasionally-earn-double-stars-minimal-bonus-points/

(19:51) Mattress running the numbers: Wyndham Rewards Hotel Pass https://frequentmiler.com/wyndham-rewards-selling-30-night-hotel-pass/

(27:48) Award Talk

(27:55) New Reasonable Redemption Value for Hotel Points https://frequentmiler.com/what-are-hyatt-points-worth/

(30:29) Aeroplan promotion with Miles4Migrants) https://frequentmiler.com/earn-7500-aeroplan-points-with-a-100-miles4migrants-donation/

(34:19) 15% transfer bonus from Citi to Cathay Pacific Asia Miles https://frequentmiler.com/citi-thankyou-offering-15-transfer-bonus-to-cathay-pacific-asia-miles/

(27:03) Enterprise Rent-A-Car Status Match https://frequentmiler.com/enterprise-status-match-giving-status-through-february-2026-match-from-hotel-airline-car-rental-programs/

(30:29) Amex referral bonuses now as high as 45,000 points for targeted cardholders https://frequentmiler.com/amex-referral-bonuses-now-as-high-as-45000-points-per-referral-up-to-100k-per-year-per-card/

(42:44) Main Event: Best Ways to fly to Hawaii https://frequentmiler.com/best-ways-to-fly-to-hawaii-from-the-us-mainland/

(43:04) Cash deals

(43:30) Delta companion certificates

(44:55) Alaska Companion Fare

(46:13) Southwest Companion Pass

(47:32) Vacation packages

(49:15) Award deals: Economy

(49:24) United flights via Turkish Miles & Smiles for 10K each way

(50:48) Finnair Avios for American Airlines (15K) or Alaska Airlines (13.5K)

(52:52) Alaska Mileage Plan for Alaska from 15K

(53:35) Singapore Krisflyer for central/Western US to Hawaii (13-14K)

(54:33) Using Alaska miles to fly AA for 17.5K from Dallas and west coast

(55:32) Use United to fly United from 11.1K from the west coast

(56:42) Aeroplan for 12.5K from the west coast to Hawaii on United

(58:00) Qatar Avios for 13K one way from the west coast

(59:00) Flying Blue for Delta from 18K

(59:16) Virgin Atlantic for Hawaiian Airlines for 20K each way from the west coast

(1:00:16) JetBlue for Hawaiian Airlines for 20K each way from the west coast (1:00:48) American Airlines miles for AA from 20K each way

(1:01:39) Southwest Airlines when cash fares are cheap

(1:02:00) "First class" flights to Hawaii with miles

(1:02:57) Turkish miles for United: 15K miles each way

(1:05:35) Finnair Avios for American Airlines" 38K miles

(00:00) The Wall Street Journal reported friction in the relationship between Wells Fargo & Bilt. What was reported and what do we make of the details? Find out in this episode of Coffee Break.

(01:16) What the Wall Street Journal Article says

(02:01) Digging into article details a bit about the Bilt / Wells Fargo relationship (06:34) Fraud and Money Laundering Concerns

(09:44) The Wells Fargo and Bilt response

(10:34) WSJ article key points quick summary

(11:12) Our take about what this all means

Visit frequentmiler.com/subscribe to get updated on in-depth points and miles content like this, and don’t forget to like and follow us on social media..

Music Credit – Beach Walk by Unicorn Heads

Greg and Nick have been consumed with last-minute travel the last week and a half so it's great timing for them to summarize 10 important tips for last-minute award travel.

(01:17) - Standing ovation for the annual challenge! (Mailbag)

(06:43) - Annual Challenge recap and overview

Watch the Stage 1 recap video here: https://youtu.be/bMt_NfuuINI?feature=shared

Watch the Stage 2 recap video here: https://youtu.be/gyJPtTZN1EE?feature=shared

Watch the Stage 3 recap video here: https://youtu.be/HTmEAicB3dw?feature=shared

(34:15) - Curve overview (Card Talk)

Find out more here: https://www.curve.com/en-us

(37:56) - Hilton SLH integrated testing phase (Award Talk)

(40:26) - Preferred Hotels / Choice devaluation (55K to 87K) (Award Talk)

(42:34) - Aero plan credit card & elite members status match to iPrefer Titanium (before June 28) (Award Talk)

(44:18) - Book Oman Air w/ Flying Blue miles (Award Talk)

(44:30) - Book El Al with Virgin points (Award Talk)

(44:51) - Points Path adds support for Air Canada & Alaska Airlines (Award Talk)

(47:00) - General advice

(52:38) - Great awards often open last minute (ex: Lufthansa first)

(57:16) - Diversify. Having different types of points and miles helps.

(58:28) - Become adept at award search tools. Huge time saver.

(1:00:26) - Don’t rely entirely on award search tools. They don’t catch everything (no Virgin Atlantic on a couple, no BA / QR Avios, didn’t see LifeMiles for my redemption, etc)

(1:03:41) - Consider keeping stashes in programs you use often. This only applies if you have a lot of points and miles, but it could help avoid a failed transfer.

(1:05:27) - Watch out for transfer times

(1:08:10) - Get a good VPN. I wonder if some of my problems could have been averted if I’d used one all along.

(1:11:22) - Know that Aeroplan’s contact center isn’t 24/7. This can be a big pain when you’re overseas.

(1:12:37) - Beware the phantom menace. Tons of Swiss space that isn’t real.

(1:17:02) - Have some tricks up your sleeve. This could alternatively be called "persistence pays off". Don’t give up right away. Examples include searching Avianca’s site multiple ways, forcing a stopover with Aeroplan to get a flight to show up, booking a refundable something as a backup, etc.

(1:20:10) - How do you go about finding activities while you travel? (Question of the Week)

Greg and Nick are busy returning home from a jam-packed week competing in our 2024 annual team challenge "Flying by the Seat of our Points". For this coffee break episode, we've highlighted a portion of the final livestream from Kuala Lumpur where the team reflects on the highlights (and lowlights) of their individual journeys.

You can find out all kinds of details about this challenge here: https://frequentmiler.com/2024-annual-challenge/

This episode is a little different because Greg and Nick are busy competing with eachother for the Flying by the Seat of our Points Challenge!

If unfamiliar, every year we put together a team travel challenge designed to force us to reach challenging and entertaining goals with our points and miles, and showcase what can be done with these tools. It's a fun way to stretch the limits of points and miles and show you all what that actually looks like.

For this year's annual challenge, Stephen and I have given Greg, Nick, and Tim surprise destination assignments for a travel challenge testing our team's last-minute travel booking skills. The first "domestic convergence" destination was revealed on Monday night during a live checkin on YouTube where the contestants learned of a domestic location they'd need to reach by Wednesday 6pm local time, when we had another live checkin to reveal another series of surprise destinations. By the time this challenge wraps up, we'll have had 4 live checkins.

For this podcast episode you'll watch and listen to a summary of the first two checkins, the Monday night reveal of our domestic launch point, and the Wednesday night reveal of each contestant's individual international assignments. You'll also hear our contestants review the booking decisions they made to meet their first assignment, and you'll hear stephen and i break down our scoring decisions. This recap will bring you up to speed so you can head over to our YouTube and catch the third live checkin which will have just wrapped up by the time this podcast goes live, and will tell our contestans of their final destination assignment. 

Check out this link for more! https://frequentmiler.com/2024-annual-challenge/

(00:00) - You know that sinking feeling when you know things are going wrong? With a brand new travel challenge just launched last night, we've got our past travel challenge snafus in mind.

(02:53) - 40K to Far Away

Learn more about the 2019 40K to Far Away Challenge here.

(03:09) - Greg: Train breaks. Bus breaks

Read Greg's story about his South African misadventures here.

(06:18) - Nick: Asleep on bus, can’t enter Bangkok, bike ride to nowhere

Read about Nick's misadventures during 40K to Far Away here.

(11:20) - 3 Cards, 3 Continents

Read more about the 2022 3 Cards, 3 Continents Challenge here.

(11:46) - Nick: Canyoneering

(12:48) - Greg: Air Canada married segment problem, then wouldn’t let me check in

Read more about Greg's married segment problem here.

(16:22) - Party of 5

Read more about the Party of 5 Challenge here.

(16:52) -Greg (and Nick): Santiago, arriving at the Ritz w/out a backpack

Visit here to get updated on in-depth points and miles content like this, and don’t forget to like and follow us on social media. You’ll find all other Frequent Miler on the Air episodes here.

Music Credit – Beach Walk by Unicorn Heads

Nick has loved LifeMiles for a long time but Greg has traditionally been less convinced. Recent changes make Greg curious to hear more about Nick's long-time love of LifeMiles. Can Nick convince Greg to become a fan?

(01:33) - On Ep 255: Strategizing Hilton cards, credits, and free nights, Greg’s podcasted plan left people with questions about family language for Hilton cards (Mailbag)

Find episode 255 here.

(05:12) - Hilton cards with new welcome bonuses (Mattress Running the Numbers)

Learn more about the Hilton fee free card here.

And learn about the Hilton Surpass card here.

(12:27) - Southwest now on Google Flights (Award Talk)

(16:09) - Finnair Avios now combinable (Award Talk)

(18:20) - AA NOT eliminating mile & loyalty point earnings through OTAs (Award Talk)

(19:22) - Cardless Avianca LifeMiles Cards (Card Talk)

Read more about the Avianca LifeMiles American Express® Card Here.

Read more about the Avianca LifeMiles American Express® Elite Card here.

(28:33) - Easy miles to get

(31:51) - LifeMiles+ subscriptions

(49:30) - Using LifeMiles, standard pricing

(53:43) - Hidden sweet-spots

(59:30) - Mixed cabin pricing

Read Greg's post "Aviance Miles - First Class for Less" here.

(1:04:47) - How to search for complicated awards

(1:11:14) - How to search for awards (less complicated)

(1:22:10) - Downsides...

(1:25:32) - Pop Quiz for Greg about quadruple dip opportunities for a Hilton Curio Collection hotel