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2026 Travel Predictions Midyear Review: Which Predictions Came True?

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Good afternoon everyone, I hope your weekend is going well. As we approach the halfway point of 2026, I thought it would be fun to revisit my 2026 travel predictions and see how many have come true so far.  Predicting the future is never easy, especially in the travel and credit card world, but it’s always entertaining to look back and see what actually happened.

Below are my original predictions and a midyear update.  Predictions in green have come true, while predictions in red have not come true just yet… 

Airline Predictions (0 / 3):

  • Alaska Airlines will change the Global 25K Companion Award into a Global 25K Award Discount (valid for a single passenger). – Nope, Alaska Airlines has not made any changes to the Global 25K Companion Award. 
  • Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, or Delta Airlines will launch a debit card. – Nope, none of the 3 airlines has launched a debit card.
  • Southwest Airlines will not award Rapid Rewards Points on Basic Fares. – Nope, Southwest Airlines has not made any changes to earning points on Basic fares.

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How to Find Out When All of Your Wyndham Rewards Points Expire

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Good afternoon everyone, I hope your week is going well. After reading about the new $395 annual fee Barclays Wyndham Earner Premier Credit Card and the new benefit that Wyndham Rewards points no longer expire for Premier cardholders, I became curious about my own account.

Wyndham tells you how many points expire next, but it doesn’t tell you when the rest of your points expire. I wanted to know exactly when all 111,018 of my Wyndham Rewards (WR) points were scheduled to expire, and it turns out there’s an easy way to find out.

The good news is that Wyndham Rewards customer service can email you two detailed reports that show exactly when every point was earned, redeemed, and scheduled to expire. Here’s how to request them.

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Success! I Used My $325 Altitude Reserve Travel Credit Through the US Bank Travel Center

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Good afternoon everyone, I hope you had a great Father’s Day Weekend. I enjoyed celebrating my first Father’s Day with Madison and Laura.

Last week, I needed to book a hotel stay for an upcoming trip. While planning the reservation, I remembered that I hadn’t yet used the $325 annual travel credit on my US Bank Altitude Reserve Credit Card, so I decided to put it toward this booking.

This was my first time using the travel credit through the US Bank Travel Center. In previous years, the credit was automatically applied to eligible travel purchases made directly with the credit card. Under the current system, however, the credit must be used through the US Bank Travel Center, so I booked the hotel reservation there instead.

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My Online Passport Renewal Only Took 2 Weeks (Full Timeline & Process)

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Updated 2pm PT on 6/21/26: I hope everyone is having a wonderful Father’s Day Weekend!  A week ago, I received an email from the Trusted Traveler Program (TSA PreCheck / Global Entry) that said my passport on file had expired and that I needed to update my passport information in the system. Thankfully, I was able to enter my new passport information into the system.  Screenshots of the email and passport update process are shown below.

Good afternoon everyone.  Almost a year ago, I received an email reminder from the US Passport Renewal system notifying me that my passport was due to expire in June 2026. Since Madison was born in August 2025 and we didn’t have any international travel planned for the next couple of years, I decided to wait until the expiration date got a little closer before starting the renewal process.  I recently completed the online passport renewal process, and the experience was surprisingly fast and easy (spoiler alert: it only took 2 weeks!)

Getting Started with Online Passport Renewal

To begin the process, I visited the official Travel.State.Gov website and went to the Renew Your Passport Online page to start the process.

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Why I Haven’t Had a Hyatt Credit Card (or Hyatt Elite Status) for Nearly 6 Years

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Good morning everyone, I hope you had a great weekend.  With all the recent news about the refreshed Chase Sapphire Preferred Credit Card and the upcoming change to Chase Ultimate Rewards transfers to Hyatt, I thought it would be interesting to share why I don’t currently have a Hyatt credit card and don’t have any Hyatt elite status either (shocker!).

Grant’s World of Hyatt Account (as of 6-14-2026)

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