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.

Hotel Predictions (0 / 6):

• Choice Hotels will allow a Cash + Points redemption option. – Nope, Choice Hotels has not introduced a Cash + Points redemption option. 
• Hilton will cap their Free Night Certificates at 150K or 200K points, but topping up with points. – Nope, Hilton has not capped their Free Night Certificates. 
• Hyatt will announce that Globalist Elite Status will require 75 or 80 nights for 2027. – Nope, Hyatt has not changed the requirements for earning Globalist status, although they’ve changed just about everything else this year.
• Marriott will blow up their “credit card matrix” and allow members to have more Marriott Credit Cards. – Nope, Marriott still uses their infamous “credit card matrix” to determine which credit cards you can apply for and receive the sign up bonus.
• Omni Hotels, Best Western, or Sonesta will be added to a transferable points program (my guess is Citi). – Nope, none of these hotel brands has joined a transferable points program.
• With the loss of Vacasa, Wyndham Rewards will partner with a new vacation rental company. – Nope, there still is no replacement for the loss of Vacasa Vacation Rentals. 

Credit Card Predictions (1 / 11):

• AMEX, Chase, or Capital One with cap free lounge access based on credit card spending tiers: 4 free visits for all card holders, 10 free visits if you spend $25K, and unlimited free visits if you spend $75K. – Nope, there have been no changes to capping lounge access from those 3 credit card issuers.
• 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, Bank of America has not introduced a 5x rotating category credit card. 
• Barclays will resurrect the Barclays Arrival Credit Card, offering a juice sign up bonus and at least 5 transfer partners. – Nope, Barclays has not resurrected the Barclays Arrival Credit Card. 
• Bilt Card 2.0 will include Silver Elite Status for the $95 annual fee card and Platinum Elite Status for the $495 annual fee card. – Nope, so close! Bilt offers Gold Elite Status as a sign up bonus on the $495 Bilt Palladium Credit Card. 
• Citi will bring back the 1.25 CPP value when booking travel through the Citi ThankYou Point travel portal if you have the Citi Strata Elite Credit Card. – Nope, Citi has not changed the cents per point when booking travel through the Citi ThankYou travel portal. 
• Citi will launch an upgrade offer for the Citi Strata Premier Credit Card to the Citi Strata Elite Credit Card. – Nope, Citi has not launched any upgrade offers to the Citi Strata Elite Credit Card. 
• Either the Barclays AAdvantage Aviator Red Credit Card will become a Citi American Airlines Credit Card or the Barclays Hawaiian Airlines Credit Card will become a Bank of America Atmos Rewards Credit Card. – Correct! Finally, I got one! The Barclays AAdvantage Aviator Red Credit Card has converted to the Citi AAdvantage Platinum Select Credit Card. 
• Rove will partner with another online shopping portal or award search tool (my guess is Points Yeah). – Nope, Rove Miles has not partnered with another online shopping portal.
• Some Priority Pass Memberships will bring back restaurant access, but will cap the number of visits per year. – Nope, Priority Pass restaurant access has not returned to any credit cards.
• The US Bank Smartly Credit Cards and US Bank Altitude Reserve Credit Cards will allow points to be combined and at least 5 transfer partners will be added by end of Q1. – Nope, US Bank did not launch their transfer partners yet (or maybe ever at this point) and points cannot be combined between these 2 credit cards.
• Wells Fargo will improve the Autograph or Autograph Journey Credit Cards right before the Bilt Cards convert. – Nope, so close!  Wells Fargo did add Cathay Pacific Asia Miles (1:1 ratio) and Wyndham Rewards (1:2 ratio), but that did not happen before the Bilt conversion in early February. 

So… 1 out of 20 isn’t exactly a Hall of Fame performance, but thankfully there are still 6 months left in the year. Hopefully a few more of these predictions will come true before the end of 2026.

Which prediction do you think is most likely to happen before the end of the year? Let me know in the comments! If you have any questions, please let me know. Thanks for reading and have a great weekend!