The Milenomics Podcast Network

Milenomics² Podcast Episode 210: The Highs and Lows of a Week in the Points & Miles World

Added 2023-11-21 02:43:28 +0000 UTC

0:21 Fluz

They made multi-use (“Brand”) cards available for people who weren’t on the Zoom call
They didn’t work reliable
1-Time cards also didn’t work reliably
Cashouts are taking longer than ever for many
But then…
Fluz Multi Use “Brand Cards” launch
They’re pretty fabulous
1.5% MC, 1% Visa
New BINs, new opportunities

08:52 Amex

Churnability seems harder than ever at the moment
We discussed last week how a 90-day duplicate app seems to be the gateway to approval
On top of this…
Employee Offers
20k for $4k reportedly dead/dying
15k for $4k is the new thing
Business Platinum (link)
Business Gold (link)
Blue Business Plus (link)
Be sure to use the correct link for the card you're adding it to, data points say using a mismatch won't work.
Seems bad, but it a new POID means a new opportunity on the same cards
With approvals harder to come by of late this isn’t terrible
Best to check Slack for links, situation is fluid
Business gold 4x on the first $150,000 in spending per calendar year something to be cautious of with 99 Employee offers.

18:30 Alaska

They told Robert to pound sand on a status match (because they’d previously matched him)
BofA told Robert they did not create a new Alaska account for him, but they actually did
Then Alaska matched him to 100k after all
New unified partner award chart
In my mind a bigger issue than how many miles required is the scarcity of saver/partner awards

24:35 JetBlue/Qatar

We were all excited about the ability to book JetBlue Mint w/Qatar miles, but they nerfed the miles required almost immediately
You can also book Qatar flights with JetBlue miles now
Could be compelling in either direction if the award space is there and there’s a transfer bonus

32:10 Department of Corrections

Wolftown points out that Hertz 4 hour grace period comes from booking with an Amex Platinum CDP code, not status
RenaM points out that you can transfer to/from Qatar Avios without a 90 day wait. Iberia has the 90 day restriction per T&Cs.
Thanks for these!
Semi-related: I transferred Citi TYP from my wife’s account to my LHW account no problem. Point being, it always pays to try stuff that shouldn’t work.

39:09 Main Topic: Paid Upgrades

Intro: Why we like paid upgrades ahead of time

39:25 AA Paid Upgrades

Good article on this at OMAAT
Tried this on short flights BOS-PHL: Cheap First upgrade relative to cash difference 🙂
Tried booking BOS-PHX: Upgrade cost < 24 hours after booking was > cash difference 🙁

48:20 Kicking Tires on Hyatt Suite Upgrades