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?

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Music Credit – “Ocean Deep” by Annie Yoder

Word on the street is the Amex Platinum card is going to be "refreshed" which may mean new benefits, new cost, new rebates, and more. In this episode, we'll make some predictions about what we might see.

(01:06) - Predicting the Refreshed Platinum Card annual fee

(02:55) - Earning rate change?

(04:04) - Coupon changes?

(06:49) - Will the airline incidental fees credit change?

(11:57) - Perk changes?

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

Hilton credit cards come loaded with perks that CAN BE worth more than the card's annual fee IF you use them well. On today's show, we discuss how we use these credits.

(01:06) - Hilton points for the win that all starts with the Venture X credit card promo to enter into the special access raffle to buy Taylor Swift tickets.

(06:24) - This person was trying to use up a $200 Hilton resort credit for themself and their player 2 account, booking on December 31st for a date beyond the expiration.

(09:39) - Hilton has a bad habit of taking a substantial deposit (in this case, several hundred dollars) at many of its resorts at the time of booking. But is booking with points and cash (sliding the cash slider as far as possible) a way around this?.

(15:15) - Learn more about the Hilton Aspire card here.

(17:15) - Diamond status

(18:42) - Annual Free Night Reward every year

(20:19) - $400 Hilton Resort Credit per calendar year ($200 semi-annually)

(22:11) - $200 Flight Credit ($50 per quarter for purchases directly with airlines or via Amex Travel)

(24:05) - $199 CLEAR (R) Plus fee credit per calendar year

(24:35) - $100 on-property credit with Aspire Card package

(25:24) - Learn about the Hilton Surpass card here.

(26:12) - Free night award after $15K spend in calendar year

(27:55) - Free Gold status. Diamond elite status with $40K calendar year spend

(28:40) - $200 in Hilton credits ($50 per quarter)

(30:28) - Learn about the Hilton Business card here.

(32:16) - Free Gold status. Diamond elite status with $40K calendar year spend

(32:31) - $240 in annual credits for Hilton purchases (Up to $60 per quarter)

(33:27) - Complimentary National Car Rental(R) Emerald Club Executive(R) status

(34:07) - You gave advice that if using "2-player mode", both applicants should open their Hilton Aspire cards on the same day. If you didn't do that and your annual free nights don't post together, is there a way to fix this?

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Music Credit – “Ocean Deep” by Annie Yoder

With a $350 annual fee, the Delta Platinum credit card is not cheap. But like most of these more expensive cards, it comes with perks and credits that help off-set that cost. Since Greg has this card, we'll find out how he makes use of these various perks and credits.

Learn more about the Delta Platinum card here and the Delta Platinum Business card here.

(00:15) - $350

(00:55) - 15% off when using miles to book an award flight (Delta metal only)

(02:22) - Annual $2,500 MQD Headstart

(04:49) - Companion ticket each year upon card renewal

Learn more about Delta Companion Certificates here.

(07:36) - Delta Stays rebate

(09:14) - $10/Month Rideshare

(14:12) - $10/Month US Resy restaurants

(16:58) - Priority boarding, first checked bag free on Delta flights, and complimentary upgrade list: get added to the complimentary upgrade list after Delta elite members and Reserve cardmembers

(17:53) - Cell phone protection

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

On this week's episode, we talk about our Capital One mistake, how Uber has tried to "Bonvoy" us, and the many ways we use our Platinum credit card credits.

(01:27) - OOPS: Capital One doesn't transfer to JetBlue like we implied

(02:33) - BUT...then this week Capital One announced they ARE adding JetBlue as a transfer partner, (but at horrible rates)

(05:24) - Hotel transfer bonuses, yay or nay?

(10:29) - Uber adding 1.5% charge to rides abroad – here’s how to avoid overpaying

Read more about this Uber change here.

(14:37) - How we use our Amex Platinum "coupon book" credits...

(15:34) - Read more about maximizing American Express credit card rebates and credits here.

(16:07) - Both consumer & business cards

(30:50) - Amex Platinum (consumer card)

Learn more about the Amex Platinum consumer card here.

(48:37) - Amex Business Platinum Card

Learn more about the Amex Business Platinum Card here and read the Platinum Guide here.

(58:03) - Read about the indirect Amex Platinum benefits here.

(58:51) - One reader asks for advice about a Qatar Airways issue they experienced on a cash flight (for Q-Suites) where the entertainment system went out and the reimbursement offered for this problem was unsatisfactory.

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

The American Express Gold Card has a $325 annual fee, but it offers up to $424 of value in credits. Here we'll talk about how we make sure to put those credits to use.

Read more about maximizing American Express credit card rebates and credits here.

(01:07) - $325 annual fee

Find out more about the Amex Gold Card here.

(01:19) - Category bonuses

(01:42) - How do Greg and Nick use those category bonuses?

(03:12) - Up to $424 in credits (or as we like to call them, "coupons").

(03:28) - Resy: $50 semi annually

(08:59) - Uber: $10/month

(12:12) - Dining partners: $10/month (Goldbelly, Wine.com, Five Guys, Seamless/Grubhub, The Cheesecake Factory)

(14:08) - Dunkin: $7/month

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