Episode Description

If you’ve been paying attention to points and miles this year and something has felt off, like the ground keeps shifting under the rules you thought you understood, you are not imagining it.

I’m joined again by my good friend and points expert, Kevin Zanes, to make sense of it all. We are hitting pause at the halfway mark of the year to ask what the biggest stories in points, miles, and award travel have really been so far, and more importantly, what those changes tell us about where this whole hobby is headed. This year hasn’t just brought the usual devaluations we all expect. It has brought step changes big enough to make both of us reconsider strategies we’ve relied on for years.

Kevin and I each picked our top three stories and compared notes. We get into the Hyatt award chart overhaul and whether chasing Globalist status still makes sense, the new Qatar restrictions on booking award flights for family and friends, the three new Bilt cards and how they reshuffled where our everyday spend goes, and the way United is now tying its best award space and discounts to holding a co-branded card. I also walk through the Chase change I’m most worried about, a differential transfer ratio to Hyatt that depends on which card you hold, and why I think it could open a floodgate. Listen in as we spend just as much time looking forward as back, on super currencies, newer players like Symphony and Rove, and the rise of the co-branded airline card as a value multiplier.

Whether you’ve been collecting points for a decade or you just opened your first card, this one is less about the headlines and more about reading the trends underneath them, so you can decide where your own time and attention are actually worth spending for the rest of the year.

Turn your expenses into points and save tens of thousands of dollars a year on your wishlist travel. Don’t miss out! Click here to know more about my comprehensive online program, Points Made Easy.

What You’ll Learn from this Episode

• Why this year’s devaluations feel fundamentally different from the gradual ones we’ve grown used to, and what a step change signals about the future
• How the Hyatt award chart overhaul is hitting high-end properties hardest, and why it has one of us questioning whether chasing Globalist status is still worth it
• What the new Qatar restrictions on booking award flights for other people actually require, and whether other loyalty programs are likely to follow
• Why the three new Bilt cards changed where everyday, non-category spend should go for a lot of us
• How United is quietly tying its best award space and biggest discounts to holding a co-branded card, and why airline cards are becoming a value multiplier
• Why the Chase transfer ratio change to Hyatt may matter far more as a precedent than as a single devaluation
• Where to look for opportunity as older assumptions come apart, from savings-account points to emerging transfer partners

Featured On the Show

• Earn up to 5,000 bonus points for opening and funding a new Symphony account here 
• Kevin Zanes: Website | LinkedIn | YouTube
• Follow me on Instagram
• Get on the waitlist for the Points Made Easy Course here!
• If you have any questions or you want me to dive deeper into a specific topic, email me here: podcast@pointmetofirstclass.com

Some links in these show notes are affiliate links, meaning we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.

Click here to download the full episode transcript

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