The Amex And Chase Points Playbook Is Changing — Some Programs Are Rising, Others Are Getting Riskier

I like transferable points better than airline miles or a hotel’s points because they’re a hedge against devaluation. If one program loses value, you transfer somewhere else. And you put the points where you need them once you see what awards are available. You aren’t precommitted or locked into only the seats or rooms that a single program makes available.

This week’s Frequent Miler podcast was a good Ndiscussion of the changing fortunes of transferable points programs – which have been getting more and less valuable (that’s about relative changes, not about which program is best per se). And then where that leaves us.

I thought there were some good tips to open the show as well:

1. Top elites can use Hyatt’s points advance to lock in today’s award prices for future redemptions, after the May 20 devaluation, even if you don’t have the points in your account. You just need to have the points at least 7 days prior to the stay. And you can’t confirm a suite upgrade in advance until the points have been applied. (You can’t change the dates on a future award without repricing the redemption to then-current prices.)

   That said, you need to not have enough points in your account in order to do the Points Advance. So make a dummy Hyatt award booking to drain your balance, then call Hyatt to make the Points Advance booking you actually want.

   

2. Citi ThankYou accounts should be combined. Citi is ending points sharing on May 17, but combining your own ThankYou accounts remains different and apparently continues. If combining fails online, make sure every profile field matches exactly on the ThankYou Rewards site, not merely Citi.com. Sometimes hidden profile fields block this and require calling ThankYou Rewards.

   

3. Open Avios accounts now and keep details matching. Qatar Privilege Club is adding limits on how many people you can redeem awards for, apparently aimed at mileage brokers. They also expect tightening of linking Qatar and British Airways accounts, including account age requirements. Open relevant Avios accounts now and keep names, email, phone, and profile details consistent across programs.

   

4. Chase Sapphire bonus rules changed. Having or recently receiving the bonus on one Sapphire card may no longer block you from the other Sapphire card bonus. Chase added “may not be available” lifetime-ish language for the same Sapphire product. That’s net negative long term, but potentially good if someone wants both Preferred and Reserve bonuses which had previously been blocked (several readers report success with this).

   This is crucial because Chase Sapphire Reserve® (See rates and fees) has its biggest-ever offer to earn 150,000 bonus points after you spend $6,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. I’d jump on this $795 annual fee card.

   

The podcast take is that American Express have been trending down, Capital One has been holding steady, Bilt has been steady at the top while Capital One hasn’t moved much. Wells Fargo has moved slowly up. And Rove is showing significant growth. Again, this is primarily about direction, not relative position.

• American Express: has a lot of low value partners. Their biggest transfer partner is Delta and there are few frequent flyer programs in the world that offer less redemption value. And SkyMles taxes more miles if you don’t have their credit card, making Membership Rewards transfers even worse for most. They have Air Canada Aeroplan, Air France KLM Flying Blue, Qantas and Avios programs which makes it fine. ANA was a unique offering but that’s been devalued. And they aren’t running transfer bonuses like they used to.

  Here are Membership Rewards transfer partners:
  

  • Star Alliance: Air Canada Aeroplan, ANA Mileage Club, Avianca Lifemiles, Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
    
  • oneworld: British Airways Club, Cathay Pacific Asia Miles, Iberia Club, Qantas Frequent Flyer, Qatar Airways Privilege Club
    
  • SkyTeam: Aeromexico Rewards, Air France-KLM Flying Blue, Delta SkyMiles, Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
    
  • Non-alliance: Aer Lingus AerClub, Emirates Skywards, Etihad Guest, JetBlue TrueBlue
    
  • Hotel: Choice Privileges, Hilton Honors, Marriott Bonvoy

  

  Amex is clearly living off of excitement around the (genuinely excellent) statement credits offered on the American Express Platinum Card® (see rates and fees) . I think that’s a fantastic card to have but hopefully you’re not actually spending money on it, outside of airfare (and purchases that earn credits back).

• Chase: Changes to United’s program mean you also need a United credit card to get the most value. It’s amazing to me that Chase hasn’t worked out with United that their own top cardmembers get equivalent treatment.

  With United^SM Explorer Card (See rates and fees) offering up to 80,000 bonus miles (70,000 bonus milesafter you spend $3,000 on purchases in the first 3 months your account is open + 10,000 miles when you add an authorized user in the first 3 months your account is open) and a $0 introductory annual fee for the first year, then $150, this is clearly the play for United flyers – though those who also want club lounge access should instead apply for the $695 annual fee United Club^SM Card (See rates and fees) with its offer to earn up to 110,000 bonus miles and 3,000 PQP.

  $75,000 spenders on a Sapphire Reserve card get status with Chase’s partners IHG, Southwest and Hyatt. They don’t pay anyone as much as they do United – they should be able to accomplish this. Meanwhile, Hyatt’s impending devaluation cuts the value of Chase transfers to what’s been its best transfer partner.

  

  Current points transfer partners include:

  • Airlines: United MileagePlus, British Airways Executive Club, Air France KLM Flying Blue, Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer, Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards, Virgin Atlantic Flying Club, Iberia Plus, Aer Lingus AerClub, Air Canada Aeroplan, JetBlue TrueBlue
  • Hotels: World of Hyatt, Marriott Bonvoy, IHG One Rewards

• Capital One: is fine, they haven’t done a lot to improve the value of the product but it hasn’t really lost value either. They have too many of their better transfer options at less than 1:1. They earn 2x on all spend which helps, but there’s now a better 2x-or-more card in the market (Bilt Palladium, and with better transfer partners and transfer bonuses).

  They still ahve EVA, Japan Airlines, good point sharing, and repeated JAL transfer bonuses that bring the effective ratio close to 1:1.

  Here are the partners for points transfers.
  

  • Star Alliance: Air Canada Aeroplan, Avianca LifeMiles, Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer, TAP Miles&Go, Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles, EVA Air Infinity MileageLands
    
  • oneworld: Cathay Pacific Asia Miles, British Airways Executive Club, Finnair Plus, Qantas Frequent Flyer, Qatar Airways Privilege Club, Japan Airlines Mileage Bank
    
  • SkyTeam: Aeromexico Club Premier, Air France KLM Flying Blue, Virgin Red
    
  • Non-alliance: Emirates Skywards, Etihad Guest, JetBlue
    
  • Hotels: Choice Privileges, Wyndham Rewards, Accor Live Limitless, Preferred Hotels I Prefer Rewards

  

  Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card (See rates and fees) covers its cost after the first year with a travel portal credit and annual points, which means it makes sense to carry for the lounge access. The Capital One Landings in New York and DC are fantastic, and the lounges are good (but Denver and Dallas especially get overrun).

  

  

  I can get more than my money’s worth out of the New York JFK lounge cheese counter and the Ess-a-bagel bagels, lox, pastrami and smoked whitefish, not to mention the tapas from the José Andrés Capital One Landings at New York LaGuardia and National airport in D.C.

  

  

• Citibank: rocketed up in value with the addition of American Airlines AAdvantage transfers, but they’ve cut back transfers to Preferred Rewards and Choice. Those were a bit niche but the excitement around the introduction of Strata Elite and AAdvantage transfers needs to be kept up with additional adds to the program.

  Citi Strata Elite^SM Card (See rates and fees.) earns points quickly and has credits that overwhelm in the cost of the card in my view, especially during the first cardmember year. And points transfer to:

  • oneworld: American Airlines AAdvantage, Cathay Pacific Asia Miles, Malaysia Airlines Enrich, Qantas Frequent Flyer, Qatar Airways Privilege Club
  • Star Alliance: Avianca LifeMiles, EVA Air Infinity MileageLands, Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer, Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus, Turkish Airlines Miles & Smiles
  • SkyTeam: Aeromexico Club Premier, Air France KLM Flying Blue, Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
  • Non-alliance: Emirates Skywards, Etihad Guest, JetBlue TrueBlue
  • Hotels: Leading Hotels of the World Leaders Club, Accor ALL – Accor Live Limitless, Choice Hotels Choice Privileges, Preferred Hotels I Prefer, Wyndham Hotels Wyndham Rewards

  

• Wells Fargo: is way up from a low base. Wells Fargo added partners including Wyndham 1:2 and Cathay Pacific, while already having Choice 1:2. But they still lack unique high-value airline partners and transfer bonuses.
  • Star Alliance: Avianca LifeMiles
    
  • oneworld: British Airways Executive Club, Iberia Plus, Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
    
  • SkyTeam: Air France KLM Flying Blue, Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
    
  • Non-alliance: Aer Lingus Aer Club, JetBlue TrueBlue
    
  • Hotel: Choice Privileges, Wyndham Rewards

  

• Bilt Rewards: Bilt has the most valuable points in the market, and it’s not even close. And Bilt Palladium Card (See rates and fees) has the strongest points-earning for actual spend of any card.

  If you’re maximizing the value proposition of spending alongside housing payments, it can earn 3.3 Bilt Points per dollar on most of your spending. I’ve ever written how to turn this into a 4x on everything card. And I’ve then taken advantage of 100% and even 125% transfer bonuses to their partners. No card can match this, which is why it’s the primary card that I use for spending (when I’m not trying to earn another card’s initial bonus).

  In addition to being able to spend points through their travel portal at 1.25 cents apiece, Bilt has the most – and best – transfer partners overall:
  

  • Star Alliance: Air Canada Aeroplan, Turkish Miles & Smiles, United Airlines MileagePlus, Avianca LifeMiles, TAP Air Portugal Miles&Go
    
  • oneworld: Cathay Pacific Asia Miles, Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan, Iberia Plus, British Airways Club, Japan Airlines Mileage Bank, Qatar Airways Privilege Club
    
  • SkyTeam: Air France KLM Flying Blue, Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
    
  • Non-alliance: Emirates Skywards, Southwest Airlines, Aer Lingus Aer Club
    
  • Hotels: World Of Hyatt, IHG One Rewards, Marriott Bonvoy, Hilton Honors, Accor ALL – Accor Live Limitless, Wyndham Rewards

  

  Greg suggests that the program value is arguably even up, which is hard to do from where they start. They’ve got the best transfer partners in Alaska, Japan Airlines, Emirates still 1:1, Hyatt, United, and more. They continue to run big Rent Day transfer bonuses up to 125%.

• Rove Miles: They’re very bullish on Rove Miles because it has added Japan Airlines 1:1, SAS 1:1, Virgin, Aeroplan, Lufthansa Miles & More, to Air India, Air France KLM etc. Rove’s transfer bonuses have also been unusually strong, including a prior 50% Japan Airlines bonus.
  • Star Alliance: Air India, Lufthnasa, THAI, Turkish, Air Canada
    
  • oneworld: Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Qatar, Japan Airlines
    
  • SkyTeam: Aeromexico, Air France KLM, Vietnam Airlines, Scandinavian, Virgin Atlantic (and Virgin Red)
    
  • Non-alliance: Etihad, Hainan Airlines
    
  • Hotel: Accor

  

  Rove doesn’t have a credit card, which makes sense because they’re new but is also odd because their original vision was a currency that could be white labeled for smaller banks. They have an unusually strong earning shopping portal and points-earning for hotel bookings (including bookings that earn loyalty points in hotel programs). They even let you book a prepaid hotel and access the points right away (a hotel booking could even cover the flights to get there).

  It’s a program worth joining because I find their shopping portal often gives me the best deal. They have to deliver more value than other programs because they are new and they do not really have their own natural customer base to market to. They win by offering members a better deal than anyone else.

Greg Davis-Kean offered this conclusion,

I’m looking at this overall list of all these transferable points programs that we listed, thinking to myself, You know what, if I could only have two types of points between Bult and Rove, I can’t think of any programs that I’d be missing out on. Maybe EVA, I guess..you wouldn’t have any access to ANA?

EVA Air Infinity MileageLands is a surprisingly useful program because they make award space available to their own members that’s not available to Star Alliance partners, and it’s reasonably priced. You can travel to Asia over Taipei. Award space is better on connecting flights than if you want to travel to Taiwan. So I guess I do miss that.

ANA I don’t worry so much anymore now that they’ve devalued their program so much. The award rates are still reasonable, but they add fuel surcharges. Also their own flights to Japan are pretty reasonable still.

Their take is that Citi and Amex look weaker than they did, Chase is exposed because Hyatt has been doing too much of the work, Capital One is stable with some useful upside, and the most interesting momentum is coming from Rove and Bilt.

What I like about Chase is we know they’ll defend their currency. They agreed to pay United Airlines more for their miles in 2020 even with 7 years to go on their existing contract to keep MileagePlus transfers a part of Ultimate Rewards. Before the refresh of Sapphire Reserve, they reportedly lost billions of dollars cumulatively on the product but relative to the size of the bank this was mostly immaterial (they did file a couple of 8-Ks related to higher than expected cardmember acquisition costs after the product first launched).

While they’ve seemingly played games with PointsBoost since the refresh, they weren’t willing to compromise on one-to-one points transfers and preferred to drop Emirates Skywards rather than reducing their value like other programs did.

For rates and fees of the American Express Platinum Card®, click here