Starwood Adds a New Airline Crossover Rewards Partner, Hyatt Eliminates Status Challenges, Citi to Give You Your Credit Score, and American Updates Award Rules

News and notes from around the interweb:

  • Barclaycard was on this a year ago. (HT: Million Mile Secrets)

  • The Trip Sherpa is reporting that Hyatt’s fast track to top tier elite status, which was easily abused, has been eliminated. I’ve reached out to confirm this, and if true to see whether they are replacing it with any alternative way to smooth the path for elites with other hotel chains to move their business to Hyatt. (HT: @ManchesterKyle)

  • My Ultimate Guide to Booking American AAdvantage awards needs a slight tweak, because JonNYC is reporting that the language for allowing connectings in a third region when traveling between two regions has been modified slightly for connections in Sri Lanka (SriLankan is a new oneworld airline).

    North America to Indian Sub Cont/Middle East

    Central/South America Zone 1 to Indian Sub Cont/Middle East

    South America Zone 2 to Indian Sub Cont/Middle East

    Can now all connect in:
    Europe & Bhutan /British Indian Ocean Territory /Sri Lanka

  • Starwood has launched ‘Your World Rewards’ with Emirates, a program that looks very similar to their Crossover Rewards program with Delta — earn Starwood points in addition to miles when purchasing Emirates tickets, and Starwood elites get elite treatment from the airline as well. I don’t yet know details on what Emirates elites get from Starwood, but it’s like similar to how Delta elites are treated. (HT: @TravelJono)


About Gary Leff

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 »

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Comments

  1. Since SriLankan Airlines does not fly from USA-Sri Lanka (or from Canada or Mexico), does that rules change help those based in the US?

    With a direct flight, it would give another way to get to the Maldives, but I’m not seeing any way it helps out immediately.

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