More Premium Cards Inbound
Story of the week: Premium Card Overload
There has been an explosion of new and refreshed high-end credit cards over the past few months… and so far it’s looking like that means great deals for sloths looking to convert a single card into a vacation.
The big news this week is the impending launch of Citi’s new premium card, and the rumors are flying as to the details. With nothing official to report on yet, I’m going to take it easy this week and leave the Citi deets to be next week’s problem. Instead, I’m just going to ask no one in particular: where did all this come from?
The only premium card on my radar entering the year was the TBD Alaska Premium card, given how elegantly it paired with my strategy of turning rent into Bilt points, Bilt points into flights to Japan, and flights to Japan into Alaska status.
While I’ve been waiting for that Alaska Premium card to drop, the premium space has exploded: a United fee hike, a Sapphire Reserve refresh, an Amex response, and now JetBlue, Bilt, and Citi all joining in. Did I miss anyone? Please don’t touch my Venture X. (Again) 🥺
This is a lot of movement in a space that I don’t cover all that much. If you don’t spend a lot on luxury goods, or you’re not willing to spend actual out-of-pocket money for premium perks, these cards often aren’t great long-term products. But when they are trying to outduel themselves for top customers, that seems to mean some pretty incredible opportunities to accumulate a lot of points in a hurry. If you're willing to float a big fee upfront and juggle a few credits, you might come out of this premium card frenzy with a mountain of points and a trip abroad (or two).
Quick Points of the Week ⚡
Major news 🚨
AI is coming to your travel experience. Delta is using it to price flights, Hertz is using it to charge extra for small dings, while Marriott is rolling it out to determine elite room upgrades.
View from the Wing thinks AI pricing could be good, and I am inclined agree—the idea is to target customers based on their willingness to pay, so if you’re a bargain hunter you could stand to benefit. More consistent room upgrades could be good news as well. Rental car shenanigans are not so good, but I wonder how long Hertz can stay afloat once word gets out that any little scuff could add hundreds to your rental bill.
New products 🆕
For those of you with fancier pants:
Amex is launching a new quick-service lounge concept. (h/t OMAAT)
There’s a new rewards program for upscale indy hotels. (h/t TPG)
Bilt is launching a network of premium hotels with elite-like benefits for Bilt Gold and Platinum members.
More value 📈
Bilt’s travel portal is changing the game. I use my Bilt points to fly to Japan via Alaska MileagePlan, so I missed Bilt lapping the field with benefits like direct airline bookings via the portal. 🤯 View from the Wing explains.
More miles on Lyft. You can now earn 2-3x miles when you choose Alaska as your rewards partner on Lyft. That matches Bilt on most rides and beats Bilt on some (like rides to or from the airport). If you’re just transferring Bilt points to Alaska like I am, might as well switch. FYI: Lyft has previously offered a 1,000-pt bonus for newly-linked loyalty accounts. It isn’t available right now, but you may want to consider the possibility in deciding if you want to take that step now or wait and see if a similar offer comes along in the future. After all, it’d take $1,000 in Lyft rides with an extra point to beat that bonus.
Delta card? Get some free Uber One. Just beware that auto-renew. TPG has the story.
ANA improvements. I’ve been bearish on ANA due to their often-exorbitant taxes and fees, but Daily Drop reports that they are now allowing one-way bookings, which allows mixing and matching—e.g. spend more cash and fewer Amex points outbound, while burning more Alaska or AA miles but much less cash on the return.
Extra points 🪙
Get free Accor points. Frequent Miler reports that you can earn 1,000 Accor Live Limitless points if you download the Accor app for the first time. It’s a great additional bonus if you snagged the Bilt/ALL bonus a few weeks ago but didn’t download the app. Keep in mind that Accor points expire pretty quickly, so you may want a strategy to use or extend them within a year.
Sign-up bonus of the week 🎯
With no stars out with giant new offers this week, I’m highlighting the United Quest card, whose recent relaunch I labelled “a disappointment.” I stand by that, but if you want it anyway, this is the best time ever to get it.
As I mentioned when was refreshed, you’ll probably need to fly United at least a few times a year to break even on this card, which is hard to justify when its lower-tier sibling (the Explorer) has easier break-even math, a waived first-year fee, and comes with a pair lounge passes. But this card is solid, and could be a better bet for certain United Loyalists.
The standard offer on this card is 60,000 miles, but right now the card offers a best-ever 100,000 miles, plus 3,000 Premier Qualifying Points (PQPs)—that’s halfway to elite status (more than halfway if you hit segment minimums). This bonus won’t get you to elite status unless you’re investing pretty heavily in United already, but those 100k miles could just about take you all over the world. I searched United for literally two minutes and found a round-trip to Dublin for 80k, Tokyo for 92k, and Ulaanbaatar for 110k. With negligible fees. Those rates are solid but not mind-blowing for Dublin or Tokyo. But Ulaanbaatar for 110k? That’s an incredible deal—cash prices with any flexibility typically run $2,000+ for that off-the-beaten-path adventure. (Remember, you can top off your United stash with Bilt or Chase points.)
Just remember that airline cards can be tricky—this is the best ever public offer, but you can sometimes do better getting airline cards in-flight, in-app, via direct paper or e-mail offers, during checkout, etc. But I haven’t personally seen a better deal on this card.
Other great current bonuses
100k + $500 on the Chase Sapphire Reserve (our take)
80k on the Citi AAdvantage Platinum Select (our take)
175k points on the Hilton Aspire (our review)
75k miles on the Chase Sapphire Preferred (our hot take 🔥)
Up to 100k on the Amex Gold (including via referral link) (our take)
Up to 175k points on the Amex Platinum
5 free nights with the IHG Premier (our take)
Enjoy the weekend! 🦥
Save up for those big annual fees, and enjoy your lounge access. 💸