Category Archives for Credit Cards.
Cardless has launched the brand new TAP Miles&Go American Express® Credit Card and it’s an intriguing tool for elite status that’s recognized on Star Alliance partner airlines (like United and Air Canada) and for earning miles that can be used for improved award availability across the Atlantic and for good value awards on partners like Emirates.
American Airlines is asking employees to lobby against legislation from Senators Dick Durbin and Roger Marshall that would limit credit card interchange.
Interestingly, American presents the (true) argument to employees that they pushed back on me over for so long – that they lose money flying planes (cost per seat mile is greater than passenger revenue per seat mile, and even passenger revenue plus cargo, in many quarters) and only turn a profit by selling miles to banks.
Hilton’s premium co-brand is interesting because it straight up comes with Honors Diamond status, though I view Hilton Diamond as worth less than similar status at Hyatt, Marriott, and IHG (no guaranteed late check-out from Hilton or IHG, even, but at least IHG offers confirmed suites).
The premium card is also the only one where Hilton spend is more rewarding that putting it on an alternative card.
There are folks who will come out ahead – those who already have unlimited Priority Pass and will get the full $200 per year value out of the statement credits – but overall judging the pure value of the card I don’t think this is a net improvement. It’s still a good value product but I don’t see this refresh as an improvement.
Prior to the Durbin amendment, 76% of checking accounts were free. That declined to 39% in 2012 after the rollout of the Durbin amendment and recovered slightly to 46% in 2022. Cramming down the debit revenue stream for banks will certainly benefit retailers, but we’ve seen that it isn’t paid for entirely by banks but by consumers through higher fees.
This new TAP Miles&Go American Express® Credit Card lets your spend contribute to Star Alliance Gold status, their award chart is reasonable especially ‘extra miles’ awards that let you travel on far more TAPs flight than are available to other airline partners.
The flight discounts are available on one-way bookings not just roundtrip. So consider booking paid travel one way, award the other. Fly for.. $1?
One of the reasons you can’t get your hands on concert tickets to the best shows when Ticketmaster releases them is because of… their value in earning frequent flyer miles. But many rewards points collectors are now getting burned.
American Express is bringing back Member Week for October 9 through 13. There’s one offer that really stands out to me – all Amex personal, business and corporate cardmembers can register to receive a $25 statement credit on $75 spend at over 200 participating Resy restaurants by December 8, 2023, and this can be earned twice (for a total of $50 back).
Cardless is launching a TAP Air Portugal Miles & Go American Express card. They haven’t released a lot of the product details yet, but it’ll be interesting to have this Star Alliance airline enter the U.S. co-brand market. They had just starting making an unfortunately-timed big push for U.S. customers right at the start of the pandemic, with easy access to inexpensive miles and Star Alliance Gold status. So this could be interesting.
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 »
