Frequent Miler on the Air

There are some creative ways to use airline miles to fly further with less miles. In other words, you can see more and spend less. We'll talk about these fun tricks in today's episode.

(01:00) - The validity of Etihad Guest Miles will be extended by 18 months based on qualifying member flight activity. We thought this means you have to credit paid flights to Etihad to extend your miles...but is that true?

(04:20) - How do you handl...

There's been a trend where credit card issuers increase annual fees on rewards cards, and attempt to make up for it by adding credits and rebates for somewhat random things (which often require a lot of mental effort and organization to put to use.) Today, we'll speculate how far this trend is going to go...

(01:03) - Recent history of couponization

(05:51) - Expected refresh of Platinum card

Check out the Coffee Break episode 47 ...

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 b...

Wyndham is having an excellent point sale that lasts until April 15th (2025). Read more about it here or listen to this episode for details. 

(01:15) - Wyndham point sale: Through April 15th, if you buy 3,000 or more points, you get up to an 80% bonus.

(01:47) - Simultaneously, all 3 Wyndham Earner cards have increased welcome bonuses

Learn more about the increased bonuses for all 3 Wyndham credit cards here.

(02:55) - Vacasa Vaca...

Winning the game doesn't have to be hard. Points & miles is like complicated board game -- seems overwhelming at first. But the rewards for winning are incredible. In today's main event we'll show you how to get started.

(02:09) - Tyler writes in about success with Chase travel insurance

Read more about Chase Sapphire Reserve & Ritz-Carlton cards' excellent travel protections here.

(03:58) - Bilt rent payment method is changing - ...

(00:10) - In this episode we talk about the airline rewards programs and hotel rewards programs that seem to be changing in value. Some of them are going up in value and some are going down. 

(00:42) - Alaska Mileage Plan miles are going up in value

(02:08) - Southwest points are going down

Listen to our episode about these Southwest changes here.

(02:45) - Avianca Lifemiles are going down

(04:43) - Hilton points are going up

(06:...

Bilt Rewards is a program that became famous for giving you rewards for your rent payments, but these days there are many ways to earn Bilt rewards. In this episode, we'll pay special attention to how you might want to use your Bilt points.

(01:15) - John writes in with a correction for Nick's statement that there's a "zero percent chance" the tax payment won't count toward the bonus.

(06:57) - Andrew writes in about applying for a...

What do we think are the best hotel programs for outsized value? Have we noticed some of the same Alaska Airlines quirks that our listeners have? What have our experiences with the EVA Air program been (if any)? We answered these questions and more on the Ask Us Anything hosted live on YouTube on March 5th, 2025.

00:40 Read more