Update: Shortly after launching the ability for family pooling, United pull the option because of some tech issues. However, it seems they have fixed the issue and it's now on the site again.
While United doesn't have great award rates relative to its competitors, the ability to pool miles among friends and family (for free) could be quite useful. Neither American nor Delta have this feature, but Air Canada Aeroplan does.
Important Details
Joining And Leaving A Pool
Direct link to miles pooling page
Points Wire Note:
If there's one thing that disappoints me about this new feature, it's that you're restricted to booking flights operated by United. It would be much more useful if you could book award tickets on partner airlines.
For example, this restriction will prevent you from booking a United flight to Europe and connecting on a Star Alliance partner such as Austrian, Lufthansa, or Swiss. Since United doesn't fly to a ton of cities in Europe, that really restricts your options.
As for the restrictions on joining and leaving a pool, I think it's clear that you shouldn't join a pool unless you're about to book.
Citi is running a 25% transfer bonus to Avianca LifeMiles through April 14, 2024. Generally, Citi ThankYou Points transfer to LifeMiles instantly. Just remember that while LifeMiles is Avianca's loyalty program, you need to use the LifeMiles site to search for award space and book not the Avianca site.
Generally, I wouldn't recommend speculative transfers.
Disclosure: I serve on a Bilt advisory board and may earn a commission if you use the links below.
Update: As of today, you can earn 3x on rent with the Alaska Airlines Visa Signature credit card. Details below.
In the nearly nine years I've been involved in the points and miles community, I have heard countless people say they want Alaska Airlines to become a partner of a transferable points program. Well, it's finally happened.
Today, Bilt Rewards added Alaska Mileage Plan as a transfer partner.
With Alaska miles, you can book flights on Alaska Airlines, oneworld partner, or non-oneworld partners such as Aer Lingus and Condor.
While many people were sad to see Bilt and American Airlines announce that they'll be parting ways in June of this year, the addition of Alaska Airlines lessens the blow as its another strong oneworld member.
Earn 3x Alaska Miles On Rent
Later this year, Alaska Airlines Visa Signature cardholders will be able to pay rent with their card and earn 3x Alaska miles on up to $50,000 in rent each year. Unlike paying rent with Bilt, there will be a 3% processing fee. However, I'm sure some will find earning 3x more than offsets the fee.
Update: The Wells Fargo Autograph Journey Card is now available for application.
Let's take a quick look at the Wells Fargo Autograph Journey Card which comes with a reasonable $95 annual fee.
Welcome Bonus
You can earn 60,000 points after $4,000 spend in 3 months.
Bonus Categories
Benefits
Transfer Partners
The transfer ratios are 1:1 unless noted otherwise.
Supplementary Cards
You can pool points earned from the Active Cash (2x on everything) and the Wells Fargo Autograph Card with this card.
Points Wire Note:
The ability to earn 5x transferable points on hotel stays stands out for me and 4x on flights only trails the 5x you can earn with the Amex Platinum. I'll be curious to see what kind of trip delay coverage the Wells Fargo Autograph Journey Card offers.
While it's great to see Wells Fargo finally add transfer partners, the options are a bit light. LifeMiles covers Star Alliance, Flying Blue covers SkyTeam, and British Airways + Iberia cover oneworld. Hopefully, they'll make progress on adding additional partners.
Considering this card has a $95 annual fee, it's a pretty impressive offering.
Of course, Wells Fargo's reputation has taken quite a few hits in the last several years so it'll be interesting if that makes it tough for them to gain a foothold in the points community.
One Mile At A Time: "As you’d expect, Air France-KLM investing in SAS has major implications for passengers at the airline. SAS will be leaving the Star Alliance, of which it’s a founding member, and will instead join the SkyTeam alliance. While there’s no exact date yet, this is expected to happen in the second quarter of 2024, so somewhere between April and June."
Points Wire Note:
SAS (Scandinavian Airlines) has a solid business class product but isn't know for releasing much award space. I'll be curious to see if this changes with Air France-KLM's investment. If SAS does start releasing award space, the next questions will be how many Flying Blue miles will be required and what the carrier-imposed surcharges will be.
One Mile At A Time: "All Nippon Airways (ANA) has announced plans to significantly devalue award redemptions through its Mileage Club frequent flyer program."
"With this devaluation, we’re seeing changes to the ANA international award chart, as well as to the partner airline award chart. ANA Mileage Club has historically had really attractive redemption rates, among the lowest in the industry. With these changes, redemption rates will still be competitive, but just not as good."
Points Wire Note:
It's been a rough few weeks with devaluations. The silver lining is that the new redemption rates are still competitive generally.
Head for Points flagged three negative changes to Etihad Guest's revamp.
First, your points expire every 18 months unless you take a flight on Etihad or a partner. Head for Points was told that award flights will count, but that's not specified in the terms currently.
Next, Etihad Guest is implementing some wild cancellations fees. Based on when you cancel, you could lose up to 75% of the miles you used to book.
Finally, Etihad Guest Gold and Platinum members won't receive lounge access unless they select it as a benefit. This won't affect tons of travelers, but that's not a good change.
Executive Traveller: "Etihad Airways will roll out significant changes to its Etihad Guest loyalty program this year in a sweeping revamp which the Gulf carrier promises will make the scheme 'simpler, more rewarding and more personalised.'"
The changes are expected to launch in June of this year with most relating to how elite status is earned. While that's important for some road warriors who travel to/from/through the Middle East regularly, the part that matters to most award rates. According to Etihad, the economy and business class award rates to 70-80% of destinations will be reduced.
Points Wire Note:
Broadly speaking, Etihad Guest's award rates are awful whether you're flying economy, business, or first class. For years, they had some niche uses on partner airlines or even their own flights, but that changed last year when they heavily devalued their award charts. Yes, it was only March 2023 when they last changed their award rates - clearly, that didn't go well.
I'll be curious if any US routes see decreased award rates for business class and by how much. I could see them reducing economy rates but not business class and/or reducing business class rates by such a small rate that it doesn't really matter.
Given Etihad Guest's history, I'm not getting my hopes up but would love to be pleasantly surprised.
Frequent Flyer Bonuses: "For the next two weeks ASMALLWORLD has a new special offer to earn 20% more Miles & More miles and receive a discount when you purchase a Prestige membership. ASMALLWORLD bills itself as a social network for travel that provides a bunch of perks and benefits when you join."
Benefits
The upside to Miles & More miles is that you can book Lufthansa first class up ~360 days from departure. This gives you a massive advantage over those booking with partner programs which only get access within ~14 days of departure (if not even close to departure). A one-way first class award ticket requires 91,000 Miles & More miles.
Of course, you'll be on the hook for surcharges which are steep from the US. However, the surcharges aren't as bad on one-way flights from Europe to the US so that's what I'd book. The flights from Europe are daytime flights, so you can actually be awake to enjoy the experience!
Cost
During this promo, the cost is steep at 4,950 EUR (~$5,355). A small silver lining is that the purchase codes as travel.
One Mile At A Time: "Etihad Airways has a great inflight product in first class and business class, and historically it has been pretty easy to redeem points for these experiences. In particular, Etihad has partnered with American AAdvantage and Air Canada Aeroplan, meaning you could redeem both points currencies for travel in Etihad premium cabins."
"Unfortunately in recent months, it seems like actually redeeming partner miles for travel in Etihad premium cabins has become more challenging. In this post I wanted to cover the trends that we’re seeing when it comes to Etihad award availability, including a possible 30-day rule on redemptions."
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