Miles & Points Stocking Stuffers
Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah & Happy Holidays everyone. I wanted to take some time to give a list of miles and points changes that I wish would have been in my travel stocking this morning. These are 5 things that at least have a chance of happening, otherwise it wouldn't be fun. Let me know what your number one travel wish is for 2025 over in the ToP Facebook Group.
American Airlines Becomes A ThankYou Points Partner
Let's start off with one that has some serious legs. When it was announced that Citi would be taking over the complete American Airlines credit card portfolio there was an interesting quip about the ThankYou points program mixed in. It made it seem like American Airlines was, at a minimum, seriously considering joining the ThankYou points program. That would be plausible with Citi taking over the entire credit card portfolio. When you consider that American also pulled out of the Bilt Rewards program earlier this year, and it looks like that could have been a necessary precursor. This would be a huge win for Citi and their ThankYou points program. I know I am planning on grabbing a Citi Strata Premier, at least in small part, to prepare for this possibility.
Cardless Removes The Worst Rule In The Business
We have talked a few times about how Cardless has the worst application rule in the business. They only allow you to get one credit card for your entire life. Don't confuse that as you can only get each kind of credit card once, or that you can only have one Cardless card open at one time, no, you can only get one Cardless card EVER. You can't even sign up for another card from Cardless without a welcome offer just to have it. It is one and done, which is the craziest rule around.
The only reason I think this has somewhat of a chance is because I doubt Cardless co-branded partners are aware of this rule. If they were, I doubt they would be too happy knowing their product is a do or die versus every other Cardless option. If Cardless continues to add more products this problem will continue to grow. If they get enough pressure from the public, or their partners, then they will need to amend this rule.
Capital One Approvals Get Easier
There are few credit card issuers that are as difficult to decode as Capital One is. There does not seem to be a rhyme or reason on who they approve, and who they don't, for their credit card applications. You can do things to improve your approval chances, but we have no real understanding of their approval criteria. We have data points of approvals with 20+ hard inquiries and denials with 3 hard inquiries. It makes it difficult to game plan for this one.
With Capital One buying Discover I wonder if things will change. Discover is a fairly easy approval, which is the polar opposite of Capital One. Will the merging of the two companies change anything for us? Will the Capital One corporate culture win over, or will the Discover way bleed in a bit? I doubt they will want to take on a new card market and make it more difficult for loyal users. That would devalue their asset right off the bat. Even if the purchase is more about accessing the Discover payment network, it could end up working in our favor overall too.
Alaska Airlines Doesn't Devalue Their Program The Entire Year
People have been shouting from the rooftops that Alaska will be devaluing their program any day now. The thinking is that with easy transfers from Membership Rewards, thanks to their purchase of Hawaiian Airlines, they have too much liability on their books not too. They probably wish they could, but a part of the government approval was that they can't devalue the program any time soon. Does that gives us another year? Maybe. The fact that they had some bigger devaluations in earlier 2024 gives me some hope at least.
No More Coupons!
It is sad to say, but this almost feels like the least likely to happen. Credit card issuers continue to move more and more towards “coupon” style card perks to offset ever rising annual fees. We can thank American Express for kicking this trend off. They are also the biggest abuser of the system. I know Derrick is fed up with all of the Hilton property credits that have been rolling out the last few months. I think that is exactly what may cause hope to die here. With the Dell credit potentially ending during the summer of 2025 it will require something else to replace it. I wouldn't be surprised to see Amex roll in with a larger Hilton credit to take its place. Although, the Dell credit could just go to a once per calendar year type of thing too.
Who am I kidding? American Express loves to break these things up as much as possible to cause massive breakage. A monthly Dell credit coming your way soon folks!
In all seriousness, it would be nice to have a year where we didn't have a new thing added to our plate to track. Many of these are difficult to use, and consume more of our time than they are worth. I actually think Bank of America has done it best with their credits.
Miles & Points Stocking Stuffers: ToP Thoughts
I hope at least a few of these stocking stuffers come true for us next year. That is especially true for the American Airlines joining the Citi ThankYou points program. Let me know what your biggest hope is for next year when it comes to miles and points over in the ToP Facebook Group.
