Every year around the start of the year I take stock of my balances in various frequent traveler points programs, both to see how we'll I've done in accumulating & using miles as well as to set goals for the coming 12 months. Yesterday I posted a wrap-up of my airline miles and status for 2024. Now it's time for the same with hotel points and ( Read more... )

Around every New Year I take stock of my balances in various frequent traveler points programs, both to see how well I've done in accumulating & using miles as well as to set goals for the coming 12 months. One thing that's different recently is now all the airlines I fly with and the hotels I stay with are doing it, too. They've been emailing me " ( Read more... )

Another one of my credit cards posted its annual fee following account anniversary recently. This is a card I happen to have owned a long time, 7 years. That's longer than any other hotel/airline affinity card I currently own, and longer than all but one hotel/airline card I've ever owned in the past. As I've kept this card so long you might think ( Read more... )

I just clinched A-List Preferred ("A+") status on Southwest Airlines for another year. It's the highest level elite status in one of their two elite programs. Of course, I also have the other valuable elite status- I re-earned Companion Pass in OctoberA+ status is much like elite status in other airlines' programs. Its main benefits are early ( Read more... )

Today I closed another one of my credit cards. This one was the Citi® / AAdvantage Business™ World Elite Mastercard®. Yeah, that's a whole lot of marketing-speak right there.

Unlike the Chase Southwest Rapid Rewards Priority card I closed three days ago I've only owned this card for just over a year. Also unlike that Southwest Airlines affinity ( Read more... )

Today I closed one of my Southwest Airlines credit cards. Yes, I have two. Well, had two. The one I closed is the Chase Southwest Rapid Rewards Priority card. I just hit my three year anniversary with it. Among other things that means the annual fee for the next year, a significant $149, recently posted. I decided it wasn't worth $149 to keep ( Read more... )

The other day I wrote about the 2% cash-back credit cards I own. Cash-back cards like these are great options for people who want to get into the game of cards that pay dividends but don't want the complexities redeeming points with airlines and hotels. As I've explained before, airline/hotel affinity cards are only worth it if you travel regularly ( Read more... )

Recently I closed one of my credit cards, the Barclays AA AAdvantage Aviator card. You know how they say, "When one door closes, another opens"? Well, when I closed one card I opened another. 🤣 Except it wasn't cause-effect or even karma. It's really more of a coincidence.


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"Well, folks," airline pilots tend to say when they're about to share bad news over the intercom. Well, this aviator has flown its last flight (for now) and has landed in the great hangar in the sky. The aviator I'm talking about is the American Airlines AAdvantage Aviator card from Barclays Bank. I closed the card recently because I don't see it ( Read more... )

I'm checking in how I'm using- and not using- my frequent flyer/hotel points for travel in June 2024. As usual, our trips use a mix of points and cash. That's because while points rates are almost always available for bookings in modern airline/hotel programs, they are often poor values for the high number of points required relative to the cash ( Read more... )