Good morning everyone, happy Friday!  I recently watched a Frequent Miler On The Air Podcast episode on YouTube where Greg and Nick reviewed their 2024 predictions, so I figured it would be fun to review My Overly Ambitious 2024 Airline, Hotel & Credit Card Predictions.  The original predictions are in black, correct predictions are in green, and incorrect predictions are in red.  Without further ado, here are my predictions for 2024:

My 2024 Airline Predictions

• Alaska Airlines or Southwest Airlines will introduce a “family pooling” benefit for miles or travel credit. – Nope, but Southwest Airlines Wanna Get Away Plus fares do offer Transferable Flight Credit that can be used for other Rapid Rewards members.
• American Airlines will allow Web Special awards to be changed online (currently, they can only be cancelled). – Nope, not yet, but I haven’t booked any AA Web Special awards recently.
• British Airways will add another airline (besides Finnair) to the Avios family. – Nope, not yet, Qatar and Finnair were the most recent additions.
• Delta will change their 15% SkyMiles discount for Delta credit cards holders. – Nope, not yet, I haven’t booked many Delta awards this year.
• United will allow you to combine multiple travel bank funds and future flight credits for the same reservation. – Nope, not yet, I confirmed this a few days ago when I purchased a United Airlines flight.

My 2024 Hotel Predictions

• Best Western will become a transfer partner with a transferrable points currency. – Nope, not yet, but Wells Fargo or Bilt could add Best Western.
• Choice will allow you to book award stays more than 100 nights in the future. – Nope, not yet, come on Choice, get with the 21st Century!
• Hilton Free Night Certificates will be allowed to be turned into Hilton points. – Nope, not yet, but that can be used for properties costing up to 150K points!
• Hyatt Free Night Certificates will be allowed to top up with points. – Nope, not yet, get with the 21st Century too!
• IHG will allow transfers to or from any member that has IHG Platinum status. – Nope, not yet, this is only available for IHG Diamond members or those with IHG Business Rewards.
• Marriott will allow you to top up Free Night Certificates with more than 15,000 points. – Nope, not yet, but I am hopeful.
• Marriott will make major changes to their “credit card matrix” and allow members to have more Marriott cards. – Nope, not yet, but I did close my old Marriott Bonvoy Business Credit Card and recently opened an American Express Marriott Bonvoy Business Credit Card.
• Wyndham will allow Vacasa Vacation Rentals to be booked entirely online. – Nope, not yet, you still need to call to book Vacasa Vacation Rentals.

My 2024 Credit Card Predictions

• American Express will remove Hawaiian Airlines as a transfer partner before the Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines merger is finalized. – Nope, not yet.
• Bank of America will introduce a 5x rotating category credit card to compete with the Discover It Credit Card and Chase Freedom Flex Credit Card. – Nope, not yet.
• Barclays will come out with a premium Wyndham Rewards credit card that offers higher bonus categories. – Nope, not yet, what was I thinking with this prediction?  Higher than 8x at gas stations?
• Bilt will offer a debit card that rewards “non-renters”. – Nope, not yet, but I did transfer all my Bilt points to Alaska Airlines on Rent Day with a 50% bonus.
• Capital One will start charging for Capital One Venture X Credit Card guests at Capital One Lounges. – Nope, not yet, thankfully because I visited the Denver Capital One Lounge last month with Laura.
• Chase will introduce a 4x and 5x bonus category on the Chase Sapphire Reserve Credit Card. – Nope, not yet.
• Chase will introduce a premium IHG credit card that comes with IHG Diamond Elite Status. – Nope, not yet, but Chase did increase the sign up bonus for the IHG Premier to 5 60K FNCs.
• Citi will add American Airlines as a transfer partner of Citi ThankYou Points. – Nope, not yet, come on Citi, now that Bilt no longer has American Airlines, now is your chance to swoop in and get AA.
• Citi will start allowing product changes to the Citi Dividend Credit Card or Citi Prestige Credit Card. – Nope, not yet, but I’m curious about the Citi Prestige revamp.
• Discover will offer referral bonuses above $100 per referral. – Nope, not yet, the $100 referral bonus is still the standard offer.
• US Bank will change the US Bank Cash+ Credit Card into a 5x rotating cash back card. – Nope, not yet, thankfully because I like selecting the same categories each quarter (utilities).
• Wells Fargo will have a unique transfer partner once their transferrable points currency is live. – Nope, not yet, but it could happen.

There you have it folks, those are my 2024 predictions and midyear review.  For those keeping track, I got 0% of my predictions correct, but I still have 6 months to get on the board!  Please let me know if I actually got 1 of my predictions correct.  Thanks for reading and have a great weekend everyone!