Earn miles without flying. Frequent Miler is all about getting the most out of the loyalty game. You can easily earn hundreds of thousands of points and miles without traveling, then learn how to use those points towards luxury travel. In this podcast, Frequent Miler founder Greg, and senior author Nick debate current topics in the points & miles world.
Which Marriott Bonvoy transfer partners are best? Podcast listener "FlyerDad" asked us this question recently, writing: Marriott points are truly the most valuable airline currency given the number of programs they transfer to. But I have never heard you guys discuss who their most valuable transfer partners are, as you do for all the other transferable currencies. Would you consider a podcast on the "forgotten" but most valuable transferable reward points in the game? We’ve been answering a reader or listener question at the end of each Frequent Miler on the Air podcast episode. Now, we’ve turned the question of the week into its own weekly episode. Tune in every Sunday at 5pm for our Question of the Week podcast. And if you have your own question you’d like to submit, you can send it to mailbag@frequentmiler.com.
In today's episode we'll talk about how Amex has added a valuable new hotel partner, Seats.aero has added useful new tools, and we'll discuss the many ways to amass a Membership Rewards fortune. Giant Mailbag (00:59) - Ross: Another hidden gem card? Bonvoyed: JetBlue, Air Canada, LifeMiles (04:51) - JetBlue & Air Canada add basic fares to premium cabins (06:27) - Your Lifemiles+ free award changes/cancellations may end sooner than you think Awards, Points, and More (08:55) - Amex adds new transfer partner LHW (16:28) - Philippine Airlines flights now bookable with Alaska Atmos Rewards (Read more about this here: https://frequentmiler.com/philippine-airlines-flights-now-bookable-with-alaska-atmos-rewards-book-biz-class-from-75k-points/) (17:48) - United transcontinental business class from 27K miles for cardholders (19:14) - Seats.aero has added a few new tools for Pro members (24:00) - Nick's experience with The Edit by Chase Travel℠ Main Event: How to Amass Amex Points (26:26) - Amex Membership Rewards are suddenly interesting again (31:03) - Sign Up Bonuses (41:26) - Two Player Mode (43:55) - Read about multi-referrals here: https://frequentmiler.com/maximizing-value-from-amex-multi-referrals/ (48:31) - Amex offers Learn about Cardpointers here (https://frequentmiler.com/cardpointers/) or Savewise here (50:01) - Rakuten Shopping Learn about Rakuten referrals here: https://frequentmiler.com/rakuten-best-ever-5k-membership-rewards-50-referral-bonus-for-both-sides/ (53:21) - Category bonuses Subscribe and Follow Visit https://frequentmiler.com/subscribe/ to get updated on in-depth points and miles content like this, and don’t forget to like and follow us on social media. Music Credit – “Ocean Deep” by Annie Yoder
The Robinhood Platinum card now live for invited members, so in today's episode, we'll see how it compares with another Platinum card, the American Express Platinum Card®. (00:17) - Robinhood Platinum card is now live for invited members... (00:50) - Here are some of the basic details of the card (01:22) - How is this card different from the American Express Platinum Card®? (03:27) - 5X categories (04:28) - Airport lounge access (04:49) - Elite status (16:56) - How is the Robinhood Platinum Card better? (19:11) - How is the American Express Platinum Card® better? Subscribe and Follow Visit https://frequentmiler.com/subscribe/ to get updated on in-depth points and miles content like this, and don’t forget to like and follow us on social media. Music Credit – “Ocean Deep” by Annie Yoder
How do you decide whether to buy flights with cash or miles? Follower Owen asked this question recently, saying: "On the podcast you guys often say that you rarely book flights with cash. I find that, especially when booking domestic flights, I often can’t get amazing value from my points (let’s say <1.5cpp). As a result, I tend to hoard my points for those big outsized value redemptions (international business class, Park Hyatt stays, etc.) so I end up booking the flight with cash. How do you think about these situations, especially when you have less flexibility around dates? (Let’s say you’re traveling for an event, or just traveling during peak season). How much do you value the extra flexibility that comes with booking with points? At what point do you decide you have plenty of points so redeeming for lower value isn’t the end of the world?" We’ve been answering a reader or listener question at the end of each Frequent Miler on the Air podcast episode. Now, we’ve turned the question of the week into its own weekly episode. Tune in every Sunday at 5pm for our Question of the Week podcast. And if you have your own question you’d like to submit, you can send it to mailbag@frequentmiler.com.
In today's podcast episode we'll talk about Seats.aero enhancements, The Amex Green mystery, and credit cards that are rarely talked about but worth a look. Giant Mailbag (00:46) - Mea Culpa re Marriott/Japan Airlines Card News (05:11) - Amex Green card intrigue Crazy Thing (10:44) - Nick's Bilt hotel experience Awards, Points, and More (15:29) - Chase offers: new terms about "abuse", which you can read about here (17:56) - Transfer up to 60K points between Wyndham & Caesars through 9/11/26, which you can read about here (21:24) - Citi may be adding JAL as a transfer partner, which you can read about here (24:57) - Singapore Airlines now requires minimum of 1K miles to search for award flights which you can read about here (27:49) - Qatar walks back restrictions for some elites, which you can read about here (29:30) - Delta status match terms/condition I didn't know about (31:50) - Seats.aero enhancements, which you can read more about here (36:59) - Gondola updates Main Event: Hidden Gem Credit Cards (40:27) - Reader Elliot gave us a request: "I've got a number of favorite credit cards that I virtually never hear talked about" (41:12) - The favorites rarely discussed and what we think (51:08) - Rakuten American Express® Card and what we think (59:00) - The Wells Fargo Choice Privileges Mastercard Select and what we think (1:02:07) - Casino cards like the MGM Rewards World Elite Mastercard®, Unity™ by Hard Rock Mastercard® Credit Card and Caesars Rewards® Visa Signature® Card (and what we think) (1:09:02) - Which hidden gem cards did Elliot miss? (1:10:36) - Can we name any other card that gives you 2 free checked bags? Read more about free checked bags via credit cards here (1:15:52) - Others? (01:32:57) - Check out our Best Offers Page for a database of credit card offers here Subscribe and Follow Visit https://frequentmiler.com/subscribe/ to get updated on in-depth points and miles content like this, and don’t forget to like and follow us on social media. Music Credit – “Ocean Deep” by Annie Yoder
Greg's been thinking through how to handle the recent shutdown of his Wells Fargo checking account. Worried the shutdown would eventually impact his credit cards, he had to make a decision about where to transfer his points... (01:30) - Greg's Wells Fargo shutdown (08:54) - Reader tip (13:03) - Nick's advice (16:20) - Greg's decision Subscribe and Follow Visit https://frequentmiler.com/subscribe/ to get updated on in-depth points and miles content like this, and don’t forget to like and follow us on social media. Music Credit – “Ocean Deep” by Annie Yoder
Does being an authorized user affect your eligibility for a new credit card offer? Reader Mike emailed us with this question: My wife has the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card and I am an authorized user. Now, I want to apply for the Chase Sapphire Preferred card for myself. Is being an authorized user on the card you want to apply for have any consequences? We’ve been answering a reader or listener question at the end of each Frequent Miler on the Air podcast episode. Now, we’ve turned the question of the week into its own weekly episode. Tune in every Sunday at 5pm for our Question of the Week podcast. And if you have your own question you’d like to submit, you can send it to mailbag@frequentmiler.com.
In today's episode, we'll talk about how Wells Fargo shut down Greg's checking account, we'll ask "Did Marriott devalue again?", and we'll look at the many ways to turn hotel status into airline status. Giant Mailbag (01:12) - Rick shares a note about Bilt Cash at Walgreens Card News (04:25) - Chase Freedom Flex® dropping foreign transaction fees, but also losing cell protection Crazy Thing (06:22) - Capital One Shopping: 95% back at Instacart (new members) Awards, Points, and More (12:05) - Rove adds Qantas Read more about Rove adding Qantas as a transfer partner here (13:30) - Choice points on sale through July 20 (14:21) - Greg's Wells Fargo shutdown Learn more about Greg's Wells Fargo shutdown here (24:58) - Nick's Sapphire Reserve® Exclusive Tables Blunders (31:07) - FHR Las Vegas observances (35:10) - Marriott devaluation... or not? Read Stephen's thoughts about the supposed devaluation here (37:43) - How to apply Marriott free night certs to upgraded rooms Learn more about this here Main Event: Turn hotel status into airline status (42:29) - First up: New Airline + Hotel partnerships (42:58) - Read more about the Hyatt / Aeroplan partnership here (53:00) - Read more about Marriott and Japan Airlines here: https://frequentmiler.com/marriott-japan-airlines-launch-deeper-partnership-earn-bonus-points-get-status-match-earn-status-points-more/ (1:01:00) - Key hotel/airline match-ups (and other hotel/airline tie-ups)... (1:16:35) - Special topic: Airline hotel portals Subscribe and Follow Visit https://frequentmiler.com/subscribe/ to get updated on in-depth points and miles content like this, and don’t forget to like and follow us on social media. Music Credit – “Ocean Deep” by Annie Yoder
Bonvoy is the program we love... to hate. Having said that, we'd be lying if we said there were no redeeming features of this program. In this episode, we'll talk about the pros and cons of the Marriott Bonvoy program. (00:58) - Pros (06:53) - Cons (11:50) - See our resource (or "matrix") for determining which Marriott card you may be eligible for here Subscribe and Follow Visit https://frequentmiler.com/subscribe/ to get updated on in-depth points and miles content like this, and don’t forget to like and follow us on social media. Music Credit – “Ocean Deep” by Annie Yoder
What are our favorite USA destinations? If you go for the AA elite status as your Hyatt milestone benefit, when does the AA status expire? We answered these questions and more on the Ask Us Anything hosted live on YouTube on June 3rd, 2026. (00:43) - Why does BILT still have “Coming Soon” for Blacklane and Blade BILT Cash redemptions after nearly 6 months? Sure feels like many of us are gonna have a glut of expiring, unusable BILT Cash at year’s end… *sigh* (03:04) - What do you guys do for internet access on your phones when traveling abroad…pay for international service through your carrier, purchase a VPN, something else I maybe don’t know about? Haha See our GigSky posts here: https://frequentmiler.com/tag/gigsky/ (11:41) - Curious what each of you would say are your top favorite Hyatt stays? I want to book a couple hotels for next year before Hyatt continues their devaluation rollout. (17:44) - A question on credit card travel protections. If you use different credit cards for different parts of your trip (e.g., one for flights, another one for hotels, maybe a third for car rentals) (19:04) - I’m now at 4/24, so I want to apply for the 100K Chase Sapphire Preferred card for myself. Is being an authorized user on the card you want to apply for have any negative consequences? (20:25) - How does the Hyatt Milestone (100+ nights) reward for AA Platinum status for a year work? Does it give you LP to top you up to Platinum status? What’s the process after that to earn Platinum Pro? (21:13) - Sorry if this has been asked before…..is there going to be another live podcast?? I really want to go if there will be another one! My vote is Omaha ;) Center of the country and not too far for anyone (22:10) - Do you have any advice for upgrading from Club World to First class on British Airways? Can it be done with Avios, or cash? You guys are the best!!! Thanks for all you do. (24:08) - On your latest coffee break, if you go for the AA elite status on your Hyatt milestone, when does the AA expire? Find our recent coffee break here: https://frequentmiler.com/which-hyatt-milestone-reward-should-i-pick-coffee-break-ep113-7-7-26/ (27:08) - Do you have any tips for how to get a Business card NLL offer from Amex? (31:40) - Then my question would be what are your favorite USA destinations? Wouldn’t that be a fantastic podcast? See Stephen's post about underrated US destinations here: https://frequentmiler.com/6-underrated-states-to-visit-for-a-domestic-vacation/ (36:30) - What’s the summer /2026 challenge ? Can we get India involved as a destination/layover /Stopover? (36:52) - For Stephen and Tim — looking for their thoughts on the BILT ecosystem currently and how they use the new 2.0 cards See the podcast episode where Greg and Nick shared their thoughts on Bilt here: https://frequentmiler.com/bilt-palladium-review-6-month-checkpoint-frequent-miler-on-the-air-ep364-6-26-26/ (43:46) - Have any of you personally interacted with EES yet? How long was the delay leaving the eu? Is it less when leaving a smaller airport on a direct flight to a US destination? (46:13) - Would love to hear the teams experience with the Atmos Summit card and reaching status. (50:00) - Greg, what's the update for the Citi saga? (51:29) - Do you use any app to manage and monitor all the credit cards and their benefits or just use excel sheet? (56:00) - Stephen did you try the clam pizza? Visit https://frequentmiler.com/subscribe/ to get updated on in-depth points and miles content like this, and don’t forget to like and follow us on social media. Music Credit – “swappin’ back n’ forth” by up @ night
On today's podcast episode, if you couldn't get enough of Basic Economy, don't worry! Delta has introduced Basic Business. We'll share a potential trick for getting 25,000 AA miles for free, and talk about Credit card Travel Credits: which are worthwhile and which are worthless. Giant Mailbag (01:10) - Joaquin says, "One thing I haven’t considered before listening to you was to monitor the price of a hotel or flight after booking to cancel and rebook it if the price drops." Bonvoyed (07:40) - Delta introduces Basic Business (and Premium Select, and First) Awards, Points, and More (13:54) - Delta Stays is better than Greg thought Read more about Delta Stays here (17:23) - Chase Sapphire Reserve® Card OpenTables (20:38) - Hilton expands partnership with Explora Journeys (luxury cruises) The best credit card travel credits (23:27) - Many premium cards come with travel credits to justify their annual fees. We rank them... (24:31) - General travel credits (26:16) - Airfare & Airline Fee credits (32:03) - Hotel credits Subscribe and Follow Visit https://frequentmiler.com/subscribe/ to get updated on in-depth points and miles content like this, and don’t forget to like and follow us on social media. Music Credit – “Ocean Deep” by Annie Yoder
Greg earned a 3-night Hyatt milestone reward, which means he's faced with a choice of what to pick. He's got 90 days to pick that reward, but he's whittled away a lot of that time and now just has a few weeks left to decide. Which Hyatt Milestone Reward should I pick? (01:22) - 30 Night milestone rewards (02:10) - Pick One: 2K Next Stay Award (03:30) - Club Access Awards (2) (04:22) - $25 FIND Experience Credit (06:14) - 2 Preferred Seat Coupons on American Airlines (07:19) - What should Greg pick? (10:23) - Which Hyatt milestone rewards are best at each milestone? Subscribe and Follow Visit https://frequentmiler.com/subscribe/ to get updated on in-depth points and miles content like this, and don’t forget to like and follow us on social media. Music Credit – “Ocean Deep” by Annie Yoder
Do we book speculatively, hoping for a schedule change? Reader "LR" sent us the following question: "I was intrigued by a recent post about schedule changes in another group that I follow. This particular person noted that anytime United or AA makes a schedule change of any type, you can change your flight at no additional cost to your preferred route. Sometimes you may even have flexibility within several days of the original flight. So my question is, is this a tactic that you all use if you book flights far in advance? Pick the cheapest award price from one city to another, and then hope for a schedule change in order to change it to your preferred route? And then on an even more complicated note- have any of you had success following a schedule change, of changing from a flight in “first class (non-lay-flat seats)” to a different flight on “Delta One” or AA’s “flagship business” or United Polaris (etc, all of which have lay-flat seats)? I assume these are considered different classes and would require a fee upgrade. I’m trying to book flights home from Hawaii next March, and I’m wondering if this kind of tactic may work." We’ve been answering a reader or listener question at the end of each Frequent Miler on the Air podcast episode. Now, we’ve turned the question of the week into its own weekly episode. Tune in every Sunday at 5pm for our Question of the Week podcast. And if you have your own question you’d like to submit, you can send it to mailbag@frequentmiler.com.
On today's episode, we'll see how the 5x airline card saga continues, Nick will give us more reasons to use the Southwest app, we'll hear some exciting news about Frontier, and we'll dive deep into Hyatt's devaluation. Giant Mailbag (01:06) - More comments about our comments about there being "No airline cards offer 5x or more" Crazy Thing: Chase (03:41) - Points Boost is sometimes different between Chase Sapphire Reserve® Card & Sapphire Reserve for Business℠ Card Bonvoyed (07:22) - Lifemiles+ eliminates free cancellation benefit for new subscribers Awards, Points, and More (11:35) - Alaska Wallet funds can now be used for AS companion fares again (12:20) - Rove adds Frontier as a transfer partner Read more about Frontier being added as a Rove transfer partner here (15:30) - Nick's Southwest notes Main Event: 12 things to know about Hyatt's devaluation (21:18) - Hyatt recently introduced new award charts. We dug into the numbers... Read more about the changed value of Hyatt points here (22:20) - 1. Median point value dropped ~10% (23:10) - 2. Cherry-picked value dropped <10% (24:34) - 3. It could have been much worse (26:31) - 4. It will probably be much worse next year (27:46) - 5. Points more valuable with certain brands (30:37) - 6. Points less valuable with certain brands (32:14) - 7. Points are less valuable at high end (34:27) - 8. Points are more valuable at low end (35:54) - 9. Many cities offer excellent value (39:45) - 10. Singapore offers surprisingly poor value: 1.0 (40:47) - 11. Worst and best values barely budged (41:52) - 12. Mr & Mrs Smith not as bad as we thought Subscribe and Follow Visit https://frequentmiler.com/subscribe/ to get updated on in-depth points and miles content like this, and don’t forget to like and follow us on social media. Music Credit – “Ocean Deep” by Annie Yoder
When it comes to transfer bonuses, conventional wisdom has been not to transfer unless there's specific use in mind. But sometimes the bonus is too good to ignore. Speculative Bilt transfer bonuses (00:16) - Conventional wisdom: don’t transfer without specific use in mind. But... (01:19) - With Bilt 2.0, earning hundreds of thousands of Bilt points is not so difficult anymore (04:11) - So which bonuses are worth doing for airline programs? Transfer bonuses where Greg & Nick disagree (or both said maybe) Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards Air France-KLM Flying Blue British Airways Avios Avianca LifeMiles Cathay Pacific Cathay Japan Airlines JAL Mileage Bank Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles Virgin Atlantic Flying Club Transfer bonuses Greg & Nick would NOT do Etihad Guest Emirates Skywards TAP Air Portugal Miles&Go (26:15) - So which bonuses are worth doing for hotel programs? Transfer bonuses Greg & Nick would definitely do Hyatt Accor Transfer bonuses where Greg & Nick disagree (or both said maybe) I Prefer Subscribe and Follow Visit https://frequentmiler.com/subscribe/ to get updated on in-depth points and miles content like this, and don’t forget to like and follow us on social media. Music Credit – “Ocean Deep” by Annie Yoder
How are you using AI for trip planning? Frequent Miler reader Jared wrote in: I recently asked the Bilt Neighborhood Concierge AI which weekends a particular Bilt Home Away from Home hotel (Kimpton Journeyman) had availability between August and December. It gave a useful and seemingly accurate response. Have you recently found any other good uses of Bilt's or other AIs? We’ve been answering a reader or listener question at the end of each Frequent Miler on the Air podcast episode. Now, we’ve turned the question of the week into its own weekly episode. Tune in every Sunday at 5pm for our Question of the Week podcast. And if you have your own question you’d like to submit, you can send it to mailbag@frequentmiler.com.
In today's episode, we'll talk about Qatar's crazy new rules if you want to redeem rewards for friends & family, how Wyndham is going to devalue (but it might not be so bad), and we'll take a look back at the first 6 months of Bilt 2.0: The good, the bad, and where things stand now. Bilt Palladium Review: 6-month checkpoint Giant Mailbag (01:13) - Gary Leff has a couple of minor interesting notes on our recent ‘question of the week’ podcast episode Find our recent Question of the Week episode here Crazy Thing: Qatar Airways Privilege Club (07:51) - Want to use Qatar Avios to book flights for friends or family? Good luck! Read more about this Qatar Avios restriction here Bonvoyed by Wyndham (15:36) - Learn more about Wyndham Rewards new award pricing here Awards, Points, and More (19:43) - Learn about Bilt adding I Prefer 1:2 here (23:24) - Learn more about the Hyatt / Under Canvas Promo: 15% points rebate on award stays here (28:59) - Necker Island has new award pricing: 250K per night for 2 adults (35:08) - Random tips from Nick Main Event: Bilt Palladium Review: 6 month checkpoint (41:16) - Background: Bilt changed card issuers and moved from 1 card to 3 (51:39) - Palladium card details (54:10) - Bilt Elite Status details (55:41) - Bilt Cash details (1:01:48) - Nick's Review (1:10:49) - Greg's Review Subscribe and Follow Visit https://frequentmiler.com/subscribe/ to get updated on in-depth points and miles content like this, and don’t forget to like and follow us on social media. Music Credit – “Ocean Deep” by Annie Yoder
When you have multiple family members working together to earn travel rewards, it becomes more important to share and combine points. So which programs are best for this ability to share? (02:07) - Why Transferable Points matter (05:07) - Why transferable point sharing matters (07:20) - Read more about Citi discontinuing points sharing here And read about Wells Fargo's end to combining points here (08:04) - Transferable points ranked from worst to best for points sharing Subscribe and Follow Visit https://frequentmiler.com/subscribe/ to get updated on in-depth points and miles content like this, and don’t forget to like and follow us on social media. Music Credit – “Ocean Deep” by Annie Yoder
Book airfare through credit card portal or direct? Frequent Miler reader Mike wrote in with this question: American Express Platinum cards give you 5x points for direct bookings to airline flights. However, most airlines give you 3x to 5x for using their own co-branded cards for those same flights. Direct bookings give you more options if things go sideways (e.g., flight cancelations that require a rebooking). Or would prefer 8x Chase Sapphire Ultimate Rewards multiplier? If you use Amex or Chase, you have to deal with an online travel agency to re-book replacement flights. Do you prefer Amex Platinum, Chase Sapphire Reserve, over direct bookings versus that airline’s own co-branded card, and why? We’ve been answering a reader or listener question at the end of each Frequent Miler on the Air podcast episode. Now, we’ve turned the question of the week into its own weekly episode. Tune in every Sunday at 5pm for our Question of the Week podcast. And if you have your own question you’d like to submit, you can send it to mailbag@frequentmiler.com.
In today's podcast we see how Wells Fargo Attunes out, we'll talk about the PAZE craze (and why it pays to pay with PAZE), and Greg convinces Nick that a $395 Wyndham card is a good idea. Giant Mailbag (01:37) - Deya has a success story about Chase price match Find our Best Rate Guarantee coffee break episode here Card News (07:07) - Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card refresh is out (08:48) - Read more about Resy credit changes (14:33) - A new collectible is born: Wells Fargo Attune card no longer accepting applications Crazy Thing (18:19) - Chase erroneously emails about Ink Plus 5X (20:55) - Capital One Shopping: -0.25% Accor Awards, Points, and More (27:43) - Learn more about the PAZE $10 back, 10 times per card opportunity here Find a Clover map here (34:55) - Citi ThankYou 50% transfer bonus to ACCOR Main Event: Wyndham's intriguing new card lineup (39:46) - Wyndham refreshed its card line up... (41:13) - Changes to current cards Read more about the card changes here (51:55) - Wyndham Earner Premier card (NEW) Learn more about the Wyndham Earner Premier card here (1:05:28) - Should you care about Wyndham Rewards? Learn how to value Wyndham points here Subscribe and Follow Visit https://frequentmiler.com/subscribe/ to get updated on in-depth points and miles content like this, and don’t forget to like and follow us on social media. Music Credit – “Ocean Deep” by Annie Yoder
Keep the useful structure, then change the audience, point of view, and voice until the idea is unmistakably yours.
