Frequent Miler

Stephen and I have been acting as judges for the ongoing Flying by the seat of our Points Challenge! If you’d like a refresher of how we scored Stage 1, check out this post. You can check out the information below for more general details about this challenge, but in this post, we’ll talk all about how our contestants scored for their second stage: the international divergence to Croatia, Switzerland, and Morocco!

Judging Stage 2 of the Flying by the Seat of our Points Challenge

Mark your calendars: if you have Bilt points, Monday will be a great day to consider transferring them. If you’d like to fly Air France or KLM in business class, we published a couple of helpful tricks this week, whether that’s how to find a calendar of availability or how to book via chat with Virgin Atlantic. Read about all that and a lot more in this Frequent Miler Week in Review.

Bigness from Bilt, tricks for booking Air France & KLM, updated hotel point values and more [Week in Review]

I’ve flown Qatar Airways several times now and have found that service seems to range from fine to extraordinary. On my recent flight from Zagreb to Doha I experienced truly extraordinary service. The great service combined with excellent food and comfortable seats made this daytime flight one of my favorite flights ever.

Qatar A320 Business Class Review (Phenomenal!)

This belongs in the “things we’ve been meaning to write about since the start of the challenge.” Last week, Prince of Travel discovered that it was now possible to book Oman Air flights using Air France/KLM Flying Blue miles. One Mile at a Time lists Oman Air...

Air France/KLM Flying Blue adds Oman Air: Book the “world’s best first class” with points

This week, Greg, Tim, and I have been crisscrossing the planet on our 2024 Frequent Miler team challenge. If you haven’t been following on Instagram, see the post below about how to follow. Read on for more updates from our week on the road and find easy links in the table of contents below if you’re after the podcasts or more from this week at Frequent Miler.

Around the world in a flash: catching up on a wild week [Week in Review]

Several shopping portals are offering increased rates for purchases at GiftCards.com that yield between 2 and 4 points per dollar spent. Better yet, American Airlines and Southwest Airlines both have site-wide shopping portal bonuses ending today and tomorrow that would stack nicely to make for a great return on spend.

2-4x at GiftCards.com, stack with airline portal promos

For years, people with Visa business cards could enroll in a program called Visa SavingsEdge. This program provided card-linked offers that gave statement credits for certain retailers, services, travel companies, etc. For example, you could earn 2% when filling up at Chevron, 4% on Wyndham and MGM Resorts bookings, 5% on Mailchimp subscription payments, etc.

New Visa SavingsEdge has launched; need to relink credit cards (but might not be worth it)

The Wall Street Journal published a report over the weekend that there is friction in the relationship between Wells Fargo and Bilt. Both Wells Fargo and Bilt released statements confirming their commitment to their partnership. Did the details match the headline? What did the article actually say and what do we make of it? Find out on this week’s Coffee Break.

Podcast: Bilt is costing Wells Fargo dearly. Should you duck & run or double down? | Coffee Break Ep15 | 6-18-24

In April, when Mr & Mrs Smith properties went live within World of Hyatt, the details didn’t exactly impress us. There’s not much in the way of guaranteed benefits and the properties (overall) are a poor value when booked as awards. Now, there’s at least some incentive to...

World of Hyatt credit card now earns 4x at Mr & Mrs Smith properties

The American Express Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant card has had a a bit of a topsy-turvy journey over the last few years, befitting its unusually wordy name. It began life known as the SPG Luxury card, the high end offering of the now-defunct Starwood Preferred Guest program and was launched at the same time that Marriott began its merger with the Starwood and Ritz Carlton reward programs.

Amex Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant Credit Card Review (2024)

Community Voices represent independent, third-party users who have joined our contributor program but not yet verified their accounts. Community Voices are expected, like all users, to adhere to our Community Standards.

community_voice

Total Apex Sports & Entertainment

The zodiac signs that are perceived as lazy are those who are prone to procrastination. Such individuals love to work at their own pace and sometimes delay the delivery of assignments or tasks. People who love their comfort zone are sometimes seen as lazy people since their work rate is not as high as others.

3 Zodiac Signs Who Are Lazy

Hertz – 10.1%. There are some good cashback rates available here if you’re wanting to book any paid travel with the eligible companies. Be sure to also check Capital One Shopping as you might see even higher targeted rates there (e.g. I have an offer for up to 12% with Priceline).

TopCashback Travel Tuesday Flash Cash Back: Hilton 9%, Best Western 15.15%, Virgin Atlantic 3.03% & more

Shopping portal Rakuten is featuring increased rates for Dell purchases today, with 10% / 10x Membership Rewards points per dollar spent on laptops and desktops or 12% / 12x Membership Rewards points per dollar spent on Accessories, Servers, and Monitors. If you have a card with semi-annual Dell credits, today could be a good day to make use of any remaining credits for the first half of 2024. Alternatively, there are numerous card-linked offers available for Dell that could stack nicely with increased payouts.

Up to 12x Dell via Rakuten today (stack with card-linked offers & credits)

California State

Contributors represent independent, third-party users who have joined our contributor program and self-verified their accounts. They have also demonstrated their experience writing hard news for other outlets. Contributors are expected, like all users, to adhere to our Community Standards.

contributor

Alameda Post

California regulators just stopped AT&T from pulling the plug. California’s Public Utilities Commission on June 20 rejected AT&T’s application to stop providing landlines and other services in areas where there is no other option.

Still Need Your Landline?

All three of the consumer Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards credit cards are now offering increased welcome offers of 85,000 Rapid Rewards points after making $3K in purchases within the first 3 months. These offers are the best, in terms of total points, that we’ve seen in at least several years. If you’re looking for a card and/or trying to earn a companion pass, these are certainly worth considering.

Southwest Personal Cards: Limited-time 85,000 Point Offers

Writers represent independent, third-party users who have joined our contributor program and self-verified their accounts. Writers are expected, like all users, to adhere to our Community Standards.

writer

Chicago Happenings

What is more summery than an icy, sweet frozen drink? If the heat wave is getting to you, try whipping up this simple frozen strawberry lemonade. All you need is your choice of lemonade and some frozen strawberries. You can use store-bought lemonade, make your own from scratch, or a powdered version. As for strawberries, frozen ones are the easiest choice. If you'd rather use fresh, add at least two cups of ice until you reach a nice, frozen consistency.

2-Ingredient Frozen Strawberry Lemonade: Beat the Heat!

From 6/15/24 to 7/31/24, Chase Ultimate Rewards is offering a 20% transfer bonus for eligible cardholders when converting points to Air Canada Aeroplan. This is stackable with the existing 10% points bonus available to Chase Aeroplan cardmembers when those cardmembers transfer 50,000 or more Chase Ultimate Rewards points in a single transaction to Aeroplan points (up to a maximum 25,000 Aeroplan bonus points per calendar year).

Stackable: 20% transfer bonus to Air Canada Aeroplan from Chase (stack w/ cardholder bonus)

During our team’s 2024 last-minute-travel challenge, Flying by the Seat of our Points, each of the contestants found excellent award flights. In this post, I’ve described step by step (to the best of my memory) how I found each award. Hopefully this will prove helpful for your award searches in the future, regardless of whether you’re booking last-minute or well in advance.

How I found awesome awards for our last minute travel challenge

Wyndham Rewards has announced that it will be selling something called the “Ultimate Hotel Pass” in early July. This pass will allow for up to 30 nights at hotels and resort within Wyndham’s portfolio through the end of September…all for only $499+tax. If you were able to use all 30 nights, you’d end up getting them for an average cost of around $17 each…a pretty spectacular price.

Wyndham Rewards selling 30 night hotel pass for $499 – but there’s a gotcha

Missouri State

CJ Coombs

The first time my family walked into a Ponderosa Steakhouse was in the late 1960s. It was new and the experience was great. Like other new restaurants, if the management doesn't stay on top, the quality of service can decline. The location we went to did change through the years, but in the beginning, it was great.

The 1960s: the Ponderosa and Bonanza Steakhouses are still around in some states

NewsBreak

A Turkish Miles & Smiles sweet spot, using LifeMiles for Thai Airways business class and relaxin’ at the fish spa (Saturday Selection)

We’re doing something a little different for the Saturday Selection this week. As regular readers will know, we’ve just returned from our “Flying by the Seat...

A Turkish Miles & Smiles sweet spot, using LifeMiles for Thai Airways business class and relaxin’ at the fish spa (Saturday Selection)

Comments / 0