Category Archives: Airlines + Miles

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When Should You Add or Upgrade to a Premium Citi ThankYou Point Credit Card?

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Good afternoon everyone, I hope your weekend is going well.  A few days ago, I read Frequent Miler’s post (Now transfer from most Citi cards to most ThankYou partners (even from Custom Cash)) and I started thinking about Citi ThankYou Point (TYP) transfers.  Among my 6 Citi TYP earning credit cards, I have always had a Citi Strata Premier Credit Card (and the OG Citi Premier) in order to transfer TYPs to airline and hotel partners.  Recently, Citi started allowing non-premium Citi TYP cards to transfer TYPs to travel partners, but the transfer ratio is ~70% of the premium Citi TYP cards.

For example, if you have a premium Citi TYP card (Strata Elite, Strata Premier, Prestige, or AT&T Access More), your transfer ratios are normally 1,000 TYPs = 1,000 airline miles (like this Avianca LifeMiles transfer).  Conversely, if you have one of the many non-premium Citi TYP cards (ThankYou Preferred, Strata, Double Cash, Custom Cash, ThankYou Mastercard, AT&T Universal Rewards World, AT&T Universal Savings and Rewards, AT&T Universal Rewards, AT&T Points Plus, or AT&T Access), your transfer ratios are normally 1,000 TYPs = 700 airline miles.

My question became… at what point should you add or upgrade a premium Citi TYP card to your Citi lineup?

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My 2025 Plans for US Bank Smartly & Altitude Reserve Credit Cards

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Good afternoon everyone, I hope your week is going well.  There have been lots of new credit card launches and major credit card changes in the month of July, but in this post, I am going to focus on the changes to the US Bank Smartly Credit Card and US Bank Altitude Reserve Credit Card (no longer available for new applicants).  Doctor of Credit wrote about the various changes to the Smartly cards here: [Varies By Cardholder] U.S. Bank To Nerf Existing Smartly Cardholders On September 15.

US Bank Smartly Credit Card – Changes coming September 15, 2025

I have 2 Smartly credit cards from product changes in January 2025 from a US Bank Cash+ and a US Bank Altitude Connect.  Luckily, I received the “better version” letter for both of my Smartly cards so that I can keep earning 4% with $100K in investment / retirement accounts with US Bank.  Effective September 15, 2025, my credit card rewards will be capped at $10K spend / month and will not work on education, school, gift cards, insurance, tax, business-to-business transactions, and third party bill payment services.

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5 Credit Cards, $1,000 in Annual Fees: Which Retention Offers Did I Receive?

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Good afternoon everyone, happy Friday!  In the first week of July, I had 5 credit card annual fees post to my accounts, totaling over $1,000.  As part of my credit card / travel hacking philosophy, I call the credit card company every time an annual fee posts and see if there are any retention offers available, then I decide if I will keep the card open for another year or close the card.

Here are the 5 credit cards and the results of each retention offer call:

Credit Card Name Annual Fee Date Posted
Chase IHG Rewards Business Credit Card $99 7/1/2025
JPMorgan Chase Ritz Carlton Credit Card $450 7/1/2025
American Express Marriott Bonvoy Business Credit Card $125 7/2/2025
American Express Delta Platinum Business Credit Card $350 7/2/2025
Laura’s Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card $59 7/7/2025

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Check Barclays Account for 2,500 Hawaiian Airlines Miles Offer (Targeted)

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Good afternoon everyone, I hope you had a great weekend.  If you have a Barclays Hawaiian Airlines Credit Card, you might want to log into your Barclays account to see if you are targeted for a great offer: earn 2,500 bonus Hawaiian Airlines Miles after you make 5 purchases of $50 or more.  The offer ends July 31, 2025, and you must enroll in the offer by July 31, 2025.   This is a great offer since you can move the Hawaiian Airlines miles over to your Alaska Airlines account (How to Transfer, Combine, or Move Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines Miles (with Direct Links)).

Laura was targeted for this offer – she opened this credit card in August 2024 and has not put any spend on the credit card since getting the sign up bonus in October 2025.  Unfortunately, I was not targeted for this offer – I opened my credit card in March 2025 and haven’t put any spend on the credit card since getting the sign up bonus in April 2025.  Therefore, this offer may be targeted to members who have not used their credit card in the last several months.

Here is how you can see if you are targeted for this offer.  These screenshots are from the Barclays app, but the process should be similar if you are starting from your Barclays online account.  Sign into your Barclays app / account, then click on the Offers icon, then select your Hawaiian Airlines account.

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Cutting $2,000 in Credit Card Annual Fees: Our Simplified Wallet Strategy for 2025

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Good morning everyone!  For the past few years, I’ve shared a year-end recap of the total credit card annual fees I paid and whether the benefits were worth it. In my most recent post from December 2024 (I Paid $5,341 in Credit Card Annual Fees in 2024 – Was it Worth it?), I calculated a net profit of $15,914, factoring in $5,341 in annual fees and $360 in retention offers.

I didn’t mind jumping through many hoops to maximize those card benefits last year, but with a baby girl arriving in early August, my wife and I recently decided it’s time to simplify our lives.  That means cutting back on complexity and costs by reducing the total annual fees we’ll pay in 2025. In this post, I’ll break down our credit cards into four categories: cards we have already closed, cards we plan to close later this year, cards we will downgrade, and cards with annual fees we will keep. Let’s get started..

Cards We Have Already Closed

Credit Card Name Annual Fee Notes
Laura’s AMEX Gold $325 Closed card in February
Barclays JetBlue Plus $99 Closed card in March
Bank of America Air France / KLM $89 Closed card in March

We didn’t receive any retention offers on these cards. While the AMEX Gold Card includes a variety of coupons / credits, it simply wasn’t worth the effort to maximize them this year. Continue reading →