Category Archives: Hotels + Points

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My Overly Ambitious (and Probably Wrong) 2026 Airline, Hotel & Credit Card Predictions

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Good afternoon everyone and let me be the first (or maybe the tenth) to wish you a very happy New Year! Fresh off the heels of reviewing my 2025 travel predictions (including 7 wins and plenty of misses), it’s time to look ahead. From airlines and hotels to credit cards and loyalty programs, here are my overly ambitious (and occasionally wishful) predictions for what 2026 has in store for the miles and points community.

Airline Predictions:

  • Alaska Airlines will change the Global 25K Companion Award into a Global 25K Award Discount (valid for a single passenger).
  • Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, or Delta Airlines will launch a debit card.
  • Southwest Airlines will not award Rapid Rewards Points on Basic Fares.

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Reviewing My 2025 Travel Predictions: 7 Wins & Plenty of Misses

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Good afternoon everyone, I hope your holiday season is going well. As we wrap up the year, it’s time to revisit My Overly Ambitious 2025 Airline, Hotel & Credit Card Predictions and see how my crystal ball actually performed.  Correct predictions are in green, incorrect predictions are in red, and half correct predictions are in orange.  Without further ado, here are the results of my 2025 predictions:

Airline Predictions (4/7 correct):

  • Alaska Airlines or Southwest Airlines will bring back their “convert travel funds to airline miles” feature.
    • No, this did not happen in 2025.  I would love to see this feature in 2026.
  • Alaska Airlines will let you use the Companion Fare to book Hawaiian Airlines flights.
    • Yes! You can use your Alaska Airlines Companion Fare to book Hawaiian Airlines flights, but only on domestic Hawaiian Airlines flights (link).  I would love to see this Companion Fare eligible for all domestic and international Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines flights in 2026.
  • American Airlines will return as a Citi ThankYou Points transfer partner.
    • Yes! You can now transfer Citi ThankYou Points to American Airlines (link)!
  • British Airways will lower their partner redemption prices for American Airlines and Alaska Airlines.
    • No, the redemption prices have not changed for American Airlines or Alaska Airlines.
  • Delta will increase the annual fee on their credit cards and increase the Delta SkyMiles discount to 20%-25%.
    • No, but the rumored super-duper-ultra-premium AMEX Delta credit card could have this benefit (link).
  • JetBlue will allow you to redeem points on a new partner airline (besides Etihad Airways, Hawaiian Airlines and Qatar Airways).
    • Yes! With the United Airlines and JetBlue “Blue Sky” partnership, you can redeem JetBlue points on United Airlines and vice versa (link).
  • United Airlines will bring back their “family pooling” feature.
    • Yes! You can pool United Airlines miles, but they can only be used for United and United Express flights, not Star Alliance partners (link).

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No Upcoming Hilton Stay? Turn Your Credit Into a $50 Snack Shopping Spree

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Reposting on 12/10/2025: as we approach the end of the year, you only have 3 weeks left to use your Q4 $50 Hilton Credit from your Hilton Surpass credit card and AMEX Platinum card. Don’t despair if you don’t have any upcoming Hilton stays, just go on a Hilton snack shopping spree! Read the full post for more details.

Good afternoon everyone, I hope your week is going well.  Last week, I received a reminder email from Hilton about the Q4 $50 Hilton credit on my American Express Hilton Honors Surpass Credit Card.  I also receive another Q4 $50 Hilton credit from my American Express Business Platinum Card.  In the past, it was easy to use both credits, I’d simply book a Hilton stay once a quarter.  But things are a little different now with a newborn at home.  So when Q3 was coming to an end, I had to get creative to make sure those Hilton credits didn’t go to waste.

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“Reflecting” on My New Mirrored AMEX Business Platinum Card

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Good afternoon everyone, and happy Friday!  A few weeks ago, American Express unveiled their new mirrored-finish Platinum Card lineup, and as a longtime card enthusiast, I knew I had to add this shiny collectible to my collection. Instead of applying for a new card, I logged into my American Express online account and ordered a replacement American Express Business Platinum Card.

While waiting for the replacement card to arrive, I discovered something interesting: you can’t add your old AMEX Business Platinum Card to your Apple Wallet once you’ve requested a replacement. Every attempt I made to add it resulted in an error until the new mirrored card arrived and was activated.

This post walks you through ordering a replacement AMEX Business Platinum Card, the delivery timeline, design changes, activation process, and adding your new card to your Apple Wallet.

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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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