Milenomics² Podcast Episode 210: The Highs and Lows of a Week in the Points & Miles World (Patreon)

0:21 Fluz

• They made multi-use (“Brand”) cards available for people who weren’t on the Zoom call
• They didn’t work reliable
• 1-Time cards also didn’t work reliably
• Cashouts are taking longer than ever for many
• But then…
• Fluz Multi Use “Brand Cards” launch
• They’re pretty fabulous
• 1.5% MC, 1% Visa
• New BINs, new opportunities

08:52 Amex

• Churnability seems harder than ever at the moment
• We discussed last week how a 90-day duplicate app seems to be the gateway to approval
• On top of this…
• Employee Offers
• 20k for $4k reportedly dead/dying
• 15k for $4k is the new thing
• Business Platinum (link)
• Business Gold (link)
• Blue Business Plus (link)
• Be sure to use the correct link for the card you're adding it to, data points say using a mismatch won't work. 
• Seems bad, but it a new POID means a new opportunity on the same cards
• With approvals harder to come by of late this isn’t terrible
• Best to check Slack for links, situation is fluid
• Business gold 4x on the first $150,000 in spending per calendar year something to be cautious of with 99 Employee offers.

18:30 Alaska

• They told Robert to pound sand on a status match (because they’d previously matched him)
• BofA told Robert they did not create a new Alaska account for him, but they actually did
• Then Alaska matched him to 100k after all
• New unified partner award chart
• In my mind a bigger issue than how many miles required is the scarcity of saver/partner awards

24:35 JetBlue/Qatar

• We were all excited about the ability to book JetBlue Mint w/Qatar miles, but they nerfed the miles required almost immediately
• You can also book Qatar flights with JetBlue miles now
• Could be compelling in either direction if the award space is there and there’s a transfer bonus

32:10 Department of Corrections

• Wolftown points out that Hertz 4 hour grace period comes from booking with an Amex Platinum CDP code, not status
• RenaM points out that you can transfer to/from Qatar Avios without a 90 day wait. Iberia has the 90 day restriction per T&Cs.
• Thanks for these!
• Semi-related: I transferred Citi TYP from my wife’s account to my LHW account no problem. Point being, it always pays to try stuff that shouldn’t work.

39:09 Main Topic: Paid Upgrades

Intro: Why we like paid upgrades ahead of time

39:25 AA Paid Upgrades

• Good article on this at OMAAT
• Tried this on short flights BOS-PHL: Cheap First upgrade relative to cash difference 🙂
• Tried booking BOS-PHX: Upgrade cost < 24 hours after booking was > cash difference 🙁

48:20 Kicking Tires on Hyatt Suite Upgrades

• Royal Palms Scottsdale 🙁
• Park Hyatt NY 🙁

53:30 Ritz-Carlton Orlando 🙁

• Dec 14-17
• Unoffical Meet-up
• Held at the RC
• Bad upgrade options offered, and not even available until close in

55:46 Closing Good News:

• You can now book JAL Premium Economy with Alaska miles!
• Booked TYO-BOS for 55k + minimal taxes & fees
• Great placeholder in case something better doesn’t appear