Starting May 28 of this year, Southwest will be making some major changes to the things we've known and loved. For example Most people will be losing free checked bags on Southwest starting May 28 of this year, they'll be introducing basic economy, flight credits will now expire (after 6-12 months depending on what type of fare you bought) and the value of points will become much more variable.

(01:49) - Commenter Brad says: "I’m an accountant who completely understands the math of cutting expenses or raising revenues to increase profit... I don’t understand, though, what the business strategy is here. Building a strategy that revolves around hoping customers won’t notice you’re charging them more for a worse product doesn’t seem like the kind of pitch that would get you an A in an MBA strategy class."

Read the original post where this comment appeared here.

(03:38) - 2 Bags No longer Fly Free for Most (pricing not yet disclosed)

(05:58) - Basic economy fares

(06:33) - Flight credits will expire (From May 28, 2025)

(08:29) - Variable redemption rates

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Music Credit – Beach Walk by Unicorn Heads

In today's episode we'll talk about how American Airlines out-crazies Citi, Southwest out-bonvoys Marriott, and we'll talk about what we think are the 5 best award search tools that make it much easier to find those coveted awards.

(01:25) - One reader shares their concerns about tax payments made by an American Express card not counting towards sign up bonus spending.

(05:28) - Read more about paying taxes with a credit card here and check out our podcast Episode239 about paying taxes to earn rewards.

(05:45) - Capital One Venture X Business cards have a Rideshare Protection benefit (which you can read more about here.)

(08:00) - Hilton cards offer free night thru 4/29 (which you can read more about here.)

(10:29) - Wyndham Earner cards big bonuses

Read more about these Wyndham Earner bonuses here.

(13:39) - Citi: accidentally credited a client’s account with $81 trillion when it meant to send only $280 (Read more about this here.)

(15:22) - American Airlines made a huge blunder which you can read about here.

(19:25) - Marriott StudioRes

(26:00) - Southwest for the win

Read more about Southwest slashing points earning on Wanna Get Away fares here.

(29:52) - Alaska starting to roll out mixed partner awards

Read more about this here.

(32:23) - Aeroplan Family Points Sharing Returns

Read more here.

(35:20) - Hilton adds more and more SLH properties

(38:06) - Find current transfer bonuses here.

(41:14) - Read our post about award search tools here.

(42:47) - Live Searches vs. Cached Discovery

(47:23) - Alerts are KEY

(50:25) - Flexible Live Search is very important

(51:59) - Which is Best?

(54:57) - Runner up

(59:07) - Best for Beginners

(1:02:28) - Best for advanced people

(1:05:10) - Best add on (to use in addition to these other tools)

(1:08:15) - Worth mentioning

(1:12:17) - Discounts available in our post about which award search tool is best here.

(1:12:28) - What should you do with your Capital One miles?

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