Tag Archives: Chase Bank

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My Overly Ambitious 2024 Airline, Hotel & Credit Card Predictions

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Good morning everyone, I hope your holiday season is going well.  Yesterday, I wrote The Results Are In! My Wild & Crazy 2023 Airline, Hotel & Credit Card Predictions.  In that post, I shared how my 2023 predictions did (spoiler: not great).  But I am not deterred because 2024 is a new year and I have several new predictions that are surely to come true.  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.
  • American Airlines will allow Web Special awards to be changed online (currently, they can only be cancelled).
  • British Airways will add another airline (besides Finnair) to the Avios family.
  • Delta will change their 15% SkyMiles discount for Delta credit cards holders.
  • United will allow you to combine multiple travel bank funds and future flight credits for the same reservation.

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The Results Are In! My Wild & Crazy 2023 Airline, Hotel & Credit Card Predictions

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Updated at 7am PT on 12/28/23: 1 correction made to the UA “Miles & Money” prediction.  I am now up to 4 / 31 :)

Good morning everyone, I hope you are having a great holiday season so far!  Now that we are approaching the end of 2023, it’s time to review my 2023 predictions and see how (badly) I did.  Correct predictions are in green and incorrect predictions are in red.

My 2023 Airline Predictions (1 / 4)

  • American Airlines or Alaska Airlines will be added as a transfer partner from a transferable points currency. – No, AA and AS were not added as a transfer partner in 2023, but AA is still a transfer partner of Bilt.
  • British Airways will change their award chart to calculate the number of Avios needed on a combined distance flown, not on a segment by segment basis. – No, BA has not changed their award chart to calculate combined distance flown.
  • Delta Airlines or United Airlines will introduce a “Miles and Cash” payment option for award tickets (pay 10,000 miles or pay 8,000 miles + $40). – Yes, UA does have a “Miles & Money” payment method that offers between 0.75 CPP – 1.0 CPP (Frequent Miler article).
  • Southwest Airlines will work very hard to make up for their December 2022 travel nightmare by offering a transfer bonus from Chase and spending offers on their credit cards in January 2023. – No, SWA did not introduce any transfer bonuses in 2023.

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I Paid $4,807 in Credit Card Annual Fees in 2023 – Was it Worth it?

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Good evening everyone, I hope your holiday season is going well.  With the end of the year right around the corner, I decided to publish my 2023 version of credit card annual fees I paid this year.  For comparison, here are my previous credit card annual fee posts:

For this year’s post, I decided to break up the list of credit cards into 5 sections:

  • New credit cards with sign up bonuses
  • Credit cards with retention offers
  • Credit cards that have been upgraded / downgraded / product changed
  • Annual fees saved on closed credit cards
  • All other credit cards

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How Much Money Did I Make from Bank Account Bonuses in 2023?

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Good morning everyone, I hope your week is going well.  Doctor of Credit has a Best Bank Account Bonuses page that he keeps up to date with the best offers each month.  In that master post, he links to individual bank account bonuses with helpful information regarding the bonus details, how to avoid monthly fees, when to close the account, how often you can open a new account, and much more.  For the last 9 years, I have been opening new checking accounts, savings accounts, brokerage accounts, and cash management accounts for the new member bonuses.  At the end of each year, I share my results on the blog.

Over the last 9 years, I have made over $24,000 in bank account bonuses.  You will receive 1099-INT / 1099-MISC tax forms every year, so you have to pay taxes on the bank account bonuses, but sometimes you can fund the opening deposit with a credit card and earn miles, points, or cash back.  If you are lucky, you can meet a minimum spending requirement by funding a new checking account or reach a high spending target to earn more rewards.  Here are my results from the last 9 years with links to corresponding yearly summaries:

Drum roll please… Here are the 13 new accounts I opened in 2023 that paid out $3,685 in bonuses:

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December Credit Card Dilemma: AMEX Platinum or AMEX Gold?

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Good afternoon everyone, happy Friday!  My wife and I have a $6,000 bill that is coming up in the next few weeks, so we (mostly me) are trying to figure out which new credit card to get to pay the bill (and earn a new sign up bonus along the way).  Traditionally in December, this is the time of the year that most travel hackers focus on spending the holidays with their friends and family setting themselves up for a Southwest Airlines Companion Pass in early January or getting a new American Express Platinum Card for the opportunity to go for the “Triple Dip” – where you can use the new card benefits at the end of 2023, again in 2024, and one more time in early 2025 before the annual fee is due.

My wife currently has a Chase Southwest Airlines Priority Credit Card and I am over Chase 5/24, so the Southwest Airlines Companion Pass is off the table for us.  My wife has never had *any* American Express cards as the primary account holder, but she is an authorized user on a few of my AMEX cards.  The “Triple Dip” on the AMEX Platinum seems like a no brainer, but AMEX has messed up our plans by adding a “Family Rule” on the American Express Gold Card that says:

You may not be eligible to receive a welcome offer if you have or have had this Card, the Premier Rewards Gold Card, The Platinum Card® from American Express, American Express Platinum Card® by Charles Schwab, The Platinum Card® from American Express Exclusively for Morgan Stanley or previous versions of these Cards.

Basically, if she gets the AMEX Platinum, she will not be eligible for the AMEX Gold sign up bonus in the future.  So this is where the dilemma comes in.  Should she go for the “Triple Dip” on the AMEX Platinum and forgo ever getting a sign up bonus on the AMEX Gold?  Or should she get the AMEX Gold now and then apply for the AMEX Platinum in the future (maybe in December 2024)?

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