A second team challenge in 2024 that will bring three of us around the world again is kicking off and needs your help. Elsewhere on the blog and podcast, we discuss huge (and largely awesome) changes to Alaska Mileage Plan, whether the AA/Hyatt partnership is deepened or devalued, and a lot more. Read on for more.
This week on the Frequent Miler blog…
Start your (search) engines: You’re invited to Frequent Miler’s Million Mile Madness challenge
Two weeks ago, I did not have “Frequent Miler will run a second team challenge in 2024” on my bingo card….and yet here we are. Greg, Stephen, and I looked at the SAS EuroBonus promotion to earn 1,000,000 miles and couldn’t look away: each of us is going to pursue earning one million bonus miles by flying 15 SkyTeam carriers by the end of 2024. Better yet, we want readers to get in on the action: help us craft the best possible itineraries and you might win a prize — or even the grand prize, which is yet to be announced but should be pretty cool. Read more about the challenge and parameters and how you can play along in this launch post and follow our Million Mile Madness landing page for regular updates.
Catching up on 2 weeks of big miles & points news
Greg spent the end of September and first part of October on vacation. As fate would have it, quite a bit of news broke in this space during that window of time. In this post, Greg catches up on what’s new and shares his concise reactions to each — including his interest in the SAS EuroBonus promotion that eventually grew into the challenge above.
Alaska Mileage Plan updates: Earn status with award flights, credit cards, shopping portal spend & more (+ other changes)
Speaking of big news, this week Alaska Mileage Plan announced major updates to the Mileage Plan program in 2025. While there are some downsides in the mix, I couldn’t possibly be more excited on the whole. In particular, I’m very excited that partner award flights will earn elite credit. That’s awesome! You’ll also be able to earn elite miles through credit card spend, through the shopping portal, and more. In 2025, I see myself getting even more heavily invested in the Alaska/Hawaiian partnership.
This week on Frequent Miler on the Air, we discuss our thoughts and feelings more completely regarding the changes coming to Alaska Mileage Plan. Also on the show, hear us discuss the Million Mile Madness challenge, quite a few news items, and whether or not we’re more bullish on using an Alaska Airlines credit card to pay your rent with a fee.
No more Hawaiian credit cards after joining programs with Alaska
It’s not all roses and sunshine in Alaska/Hawaii-land. Word is out this week that the Hawaiian Airlines credit cards are not long for this world. It is expected that Barclays Hawaiian Airlines credit card holders will eventually get converted over to Bank of America cards and that benefits will change, so if you want to get a Hawaiian card and the associate miles (which can convert 1:1 to Alaska) and benefits (like the ability to pool miles on the Hawaiian side), the time to make your move is sooner rather than later.
Convert Bilt points to Qantas, Virgin Australia, and ITA Airways Volare (You can, but please don’t)
If you have Bilt Rewards points and you’ve been wondering whether there are any hidden transfers you’ve been missing, Greg takes a deep dive to look at how you could get “creative” and use a new Bilt transfer partner as something of an intermediary on the way to park your points with a number of other airline programs. However, the value proposition here is weak — just because you can, it doesn’t mean you should.
Best credit card combinations for earning tons of transferable points
If you’re really interested in diversifying your mileage earning, you need to get serious about the major transferable currencies. Pick your favorite currency and there is probably an ideal pair of cards to have and hold that can help you juice your points balances and keep them growing year after year…