Category Archives for Credit Cards.
Details on the new Air Canada Aeroplan credit card from Chase will come out in December. As a result of the co-brand relationship, Air Canada is already a transfer partner of Chase’s Ultimate Rewards.
Already you can get an extra 10,000 miles with the card if you sign up to be notified when it launches. Now they’re adding 10 upgrades into the mix as well and dropping a hint about a card benefit. This adds onto an easy status match for U.S. frequent flyers.
Bank of America is releasing a new Visa Infinite rewards card and details have leaked. The card will be available to the public November 22.
J.P. Morgan Chase warned that the financial performance of its card business was being dragged down by “rising costs on marketing and promotions.” This caused shares of other card issuers to drop on the day of the report, because the issue is industry-wide.
This is interesting of course for the 7x points-earning categories, though that doesn’t represent huge spending for most people (which makes 7x possible to offer!), and even with 4x on dining this is strong earn for a no annual fee card.
The Hyatt program is smaller than many of Chase’s co-brand partners, but it hits above its weight because it’s a good program and members know it. A small business card is going to be a small slice of the smaller program pie. But Chase has been willing to do smaller portfolios – we’ll be seeing the Air Canada U.S. credit card soon, they are introducing an Instacart card.
By narrowcasting it’s possible to really target what a small group of consumers want, delivering things that group values without spending to build a card that delivers well for everyone. In other words it should be possible to deliver greater subjective value at lower cost. That was my frame as I walked into an event Chase and Hyatt hosted to announce the card.
Capital One keeps doubling down on adding value to travel, and they did so in April introducing… 1:1 transfers to some airlines so you really could earn 2 airline miles per dollar on all of your spend.
It was a limited set of airlines initially. That’s changing. They’ve added several airlines to the 1:1 transfer tier, making the earn power of Capital One Venture as well as Spark Miles even better.
It’s a complex process for the card issuer to remove the offer across all of the places where it’s been available.
So the truth is all signs point to the offer ending, but I don’t think we know for certain the exact moment when it’ll end.
What are the cards that really offered outsize value and aren’t available anymore, or played a real role in the development of where we are today?
I don’t know how The Points Guy can offer such a list without talking about Diners Club.
United elites striving for status will find this card valuable, though, and those who would pay for a club membership are better off doing so in most cases via this card’s annual fee in my view anyway. The rest of the add-on benefits are gravy.
I don’t see any points bonuses without being logged into my American Express Membership Rewards account. But as soon as I log in, it’s a bonanza. Through September 30 American Express is offering simultaneous points transfer bonuses, including with programs where we rarely see Amex offering a bonus to all of 12 different programs.
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
