In today's episode, we'll talk about how The Standard is coming to Hyatt...(but we're too old for it). Nick will enlighten Greg about the fact that Air France flies to French Polynesia, and we'll talk through our recent award booking stories.

(01:24) - A correction about the Delta Business Gold card (with a $150 hotel credit, not $200 as mentioned in the episode).

(02:23) - Would a speculative Discover Miles card be worth it for the 3x everywhere for the first year, with the chance that those all become transferable to C1 miles when the merger goes through?

(08:05) - Greg acquired Smartly 4% card, downgraded Chase Sapphire Reserve, and got approved for Chase Sapphire Preferred

(20:06) - Citi Rewards+ may be achievable for some

(22:54) - Cardless removes one card per lifetime limit

(24:10) - Qatar cards increased offers

(29:54) - Rakuten’s shopping portal has a great new trick | Coffee Break Ep55 | 5-5-25 (Earn Amex and Chase cards at once)

Check out the coffee break episode 55 here.

(34:52) - TPG: "Chase Sapphire Preferred vs. Amex EveryDay Preferred: A $95 annual fee showdown"

(37:57) - Hyatt integration of The Standard

(43:15) - Air Tahiti bookable via Flying Blue

(47:19) - Nick: Hilton free night extendable

(50:43) - Gondola no longer requires access to your email

(52:09) - Greg: Booked premium cabin flights to Japan for his son

Read more about this trip here.

(1:01:28) - Nick: Booked unexpected trip to Bora Bora

(1:18:54) - Greg: Booked lie-flat round trip to London for 3

(1:34:28) - Why do people choose to do all this work for travel rather than just cash back?

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

In today's episode, we'll talk about why we like the Rakuten shopping portal and also discuss a great new trick Rakuten has up its sleeve...

(00:42) - What is a shopping portal?

(01:15) - Choose cash back or Amex Membership Rewards points (must link Amex card)

(02:55) - Great refer-a-friend promos ($40/4K)

(04:08) - Frequent 10x, 15x, 20x promotions

(04:43) - Portal includes travel sites like IHG, Marriott, Choice, Hertz, Avis, Expedia, some airlines

(05:13) - Double dip with hotel / car rewards / airline miles etc.

(06:38) - In-store offers

(07:08) - NEW: read about new Rakuten credit card bonuses here.

(10:26) - Our Rakuten referral links:

• Nick’s Referral Link
• Greg’s Referral Link
• Stephen’s Referral Link
• Tim’s Referral Link

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

We tend to ignore Wells Fargo cards because there are so many other great credit cards out there, but they actually do have some compelling cards out there. In today's episode we'll discuss which ones you might want in your wallet.

(01:47) - Re: Clarifying our "Beyond 100K Sapphire Preferred" episode, which you can read more about here.

(19:33) - Bigger Capital One VentureX Business Card offer via private banker

Listen to the podcast episode about the public Capital One VentureX Business card offer here.

(22:49) - Citi decreasing redemption rates on emirates starting 7/27

(26:24) - Read more about the OneKey Cash devaluation for Vrbo stays here.

(29:10) - A top up fee for priority pass lounge access

(32:10) - Read more about the Japan Airlines devaluation here.

(35:26) - More Japan Airlines (JAL) news

Learn about how to Book JAL with JetBlue points here.

(39:29) - More Bilt news

(44:55) - Learn how to use Bilt to pay student loans with points here.

(46:24) - United MileagePlus Showing More Awards After Changing Settings

(49:51) - Wyndham Points + Cash reservations now bookable with as few as 750 points

(51:12) - Learn more about Gondola here: https://frequentmiler.com/gondola/

(57:04) - Transferable points

(59:27) - Notable Wells Fargo credit cards which have transfer abilities

(1:01:07) - Notable Wells Fargo cash back cards, which can be moved to a transferrable point card

(1:04:33) - Here's how you can build a world-class Wells Fargo wallet

(1:07:44) - Downsides (and fun hypotheticals)

(1:13:32) - See our current transfer bonuses resource here.

(1:16:22) - How many of your millions of miles come from sign up bonuses vs credit card spending, and where does most of your credit card spend come from?

Read more about how to increase credit card spend here, and watch our episode 197 about increasing spend here.

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 Capital One Venture X Business card is out with a massive welcome bonus of 750K points...but the devil is in the details. Is this card really worth it?

(00:27) - Capital One Venture X Business card details

Read our Capital One Venture X Business card review here.

(03:47) - The welcome bonus is broken down into two pieces: 150K after $30K in 3 months, then 200K after $200K ($170K more) in 6 months

(04:52) - What's the total earnings with 2x for spend?

(05:25) - Is it worth it?

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

If you just got 100K points from a brand new travel rewards card, you should know a few things to help make sure you're earning even more points, saving money, and getting great value. Plus we'll also look at "Amex referral reformatory rescinded" and how to earn points on RENT with any credit card.

(01:30) - One reader shares a success story using the "email the GM" strategy...

(03:37) - Capital One Venture X Business Card: Up to 350K Miles

Read our review of the Capital One Venture X Business Card here.

(06:55) - Amex referrals back for many (referral reformatory rescinded)

(09:48) - Two Hawaiian cards in one day (my quick experience)

(17:23) - Synchrony reintroduces Cathay Pacific card

(21:06) - Bilt now offers rewards when you pay your rent with non-Bilt credit cards

(26:48) - Virgin jacked up fees on KLM/ Air France then backed off

(31:03) - Frontier Elite Gold status for $40

(35:22) - 30% transfer bonus from Citi to Virgin Atlantic thru May 17

(36:39) - Read our FAQ about this card here.

(38:45) - Earn more points

(59:09) - Save money

(1:09:49) - Redeem points for great value

(1:17:33) - DON'T TRANSFER TO...

(1:20:50) - World of Hyatt credit card gives an additional Hyatt category 1-4 free night certificate with 15K spend in a calendar year. But with recent Hyatt category changes, is it still worth spending towards that goal?

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

On a recent podcast episode, we talked about all the important considerations when you're just getting start in the points and miles game. But in this episode, we'll go one step further and talk about which credit cards you might want to consider as someone just getting started.

(00:10) - Listen to our "Getting started with points & miles" Ep298 here.

(01:12) - Some of the things you might ideally look for are: great welcome bonuses, transferable points, a good way to use points without transferring, and maybe a card that's good for everyday spend...

(02:00) - For those who want to go even further with hobby, you may want the many options to expand point earnings

(02:39) - Read about the offer here.

(07:01) - Read our review of the Capital One Venture card here.

(10:25) - Read our review of the Citi Strata Premier card here.

(13:27) - Read more about the Bilt card here.

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