Welcome Back!

Hope everyone is doing well.

I know I took an extra week off, as I originally intended to return to writing on the 26th of June. Unfortunately, my father passed away, and as such, I needed a bit more time. I probably still need some time, but I do want to write this week’s newsletter, so here I am.

The support my family has received throughout this has been incredible, and has given us a lot of time and opportunity for reflection (and tears). A lot of those thoughts have been around how I could’ve done better by him before his passing, and how I can honor him and his memory going forward. Those thoughts will probably go on for a while, so I can only hope that my own remaining life is lived in his honor.

Anyway, speaking of reflecting, since we are halfway through the year, I wanted to just write out my reflections on the points and miles landscape. Yes, in my absence, I missed a lot, including the Chase Sapphire Reserve refresh and some devaluations - if you do want me to cover those in more detail, let me know and I’ll get to them in future newsletters.

In today’s edition:

• ✉️ Thoughts on the Current State of Points & Miles ✉️

• 🏦 Transfer Bonuses ✈️

• 📰 Other Stories & Deals 💰️

• 💳️ Best Card Signup Bonuses 💳️ 

✉️ Thoughts on the Current State of Points & Miles ✉️

I will admit, if I had written this out a month ago, it would have been more positive than what my thoughts about the landscape of points and miles are now. June 2025 has been a rough month for people that churn credit cards, collect and use points - nevertheless, the hobby lives on! I don’t know how coherent this will be, so sorry in advance and thank you for reading.

This reflection will be in two halves: Where I am Concerned, and Where I am Optimistic.

Where I am Concerned

I’m concerned about a number of things, really! From the feeling that we are at the will and whimsy of the banks and airline rewards programs, to a fear that legislation in the US may at some point come in and change the rewards landscape for the worse, there’s a lot going on in my mind.

One area of particular concern, especially over the past month, is the premium/luxury credit card space. Those cards with annual fees of $390 and up - they’ve taken quite the beating. We have the Venture X losing guest access for lounges, the CSR getting a crazy amount of credits that are not entirely easy to use (the way they’ve implemented the DoorDash credits is just crazy), and the Amex Platinum jumping in for their own changes later this year… It doesn’t look good from a lounge access perspective - not only in that it cuts people out of lounge access (guests as well as people that cancel cards), but also in that I personally don’t believe these changes will reduce guest access significantly in the short-medium term.

The bigger concern to me is around airline rewards programs. Hotel rewards programs haven’t been monumentally changed since the big players moved to dynamic pricing, but the airline rewards programs seem to devalue their programs constantly (Iberia, United, Lifemiles, and more). Perhaps it is because there are more airline rewards programs to track than hotel ones?

But generally, what we are seeing is that airlines make changes to their programs all the time, and some of them make changes without letting its customers know in advance. Higher redemption rates and increased taxes and fees on mileage tickets are tough, and it’s tougher knowing we can’t really do anything about these changes as they come. Some don’t even devalue, but just hide award availability from some users…

In the case of the banks with their premium cards, they are generally saying “Well, our card is losing us money/congesting our lounges - how can we profit more while solving the problem?”. In the case of airlines, they are generally saying “Well, our rewards program is earning us money - how can we profit more?”. And the answers to both of those questions seem to squeeze us consumers and our wallets just a little harder.

Where I am Optimistic

Despite every devaluation and card (re/de)fresh that gets thrown our way, there’s still so much opportunity to use our points for value. It’s not like all programs change at the same time, so when one changes and another changes later, it’s just a process of pivoting to the next one that still presents the most value for what exact flight we want.

There are also loopholes/bugs that occur in this space. There are often error fares for cash prices too, but you have things like the Lifemiles devaluation confusion earlier this year, as well as Emirates limiting first class bookings to elite members, but also then in error(presumably?) to people with Aeroplan and Qantas miles 😆

Outside of redeeming, the earnings on cards are still solid. I always say that people should earn credit card rewards because the alternative (earning nothing, or using cash or debit) just represents so much value left on the table. The Amex Gold in particular, for me, still represents good value - a $325 card that offers $424 worth of credits that I manage to use fully. Everyone knows what cards work for them and not, and there should still be many cards out there that represent good value to its holders.

Maybe optimistic isn’t the right word, but if recent life events have taught me anything, its to not take things for granted and appreciate them more! So maybe that’s the approach to this section of the reflection. But things like transfer bonuses, Hyatt being a Chase transfer partner, status match offers, and other deals serve as a reminder to us to take advantage of all of these benefits!

So what now?

Rewards programs and cards change regularly, but otherwise, I don’t think the boat has been rocked too bad, and maybe that’s where my optimism comes from. But all the negative changes we’ve seen so far this year should be a reminder that I still think the best way to play the points & miles game is “earn and burn”. Use your points sooner than later! Travel when you can and while you can! Your points were likely worth more a year ago than they are today, and it’ll be same a year from now. Happy earning and happy travels 👍️

🏦➡️✈️ Transfer Bonuses

A chart of transfer partners by bank, along with other information, can be found here!

¹ If you have the Aeroplan credit card via Chase, you get an additional 10%, for a total 30% transfer bonus here.

² New transfer bonuses since the last newsletter are presented in bold.

📰 Other Stories & Deals 💰️

• 🇫🇷 New month means new Flying Blue Promo Rewards!

• 📉 Just like Citi previously, Amex is also decreasing its transfer ratio to Emirates, from 1:1 to 5:4. This will be implemented on September 16th, 2025.

• 👎️ Referral bonuses for Chase Ink business cards have received a downgrade too - referral bonuses are given only when the applicant is applying for their first Ink card, not for existing Ink cardholders…

💳️ Best Card Signup Bonuses 💳️ 

Again, the usual solid cards:

• Chase Sapphire Preferred^® / Reserve®

• Chase Freedom Unlimited^®/Flex^®

• Amex Gold & Plat

• Capital One Venture X

Do search for public links for the above cards to compare signup bonuses to make sure you get the highest one (incognito mode, Resy, etc.).

For cards with elevated signup bonuses (targeted bonuses are not included), I’ve got:

📤️ Spread the Word! 📤️

Thanks for subscribing! This newsletter is committed to helping you maximize your points and rewards, at no direct cost to you! (appreciate you using any of my referral links, though!)

If you do find this newsletter informative, helpful, or entertaining, I’d greatly appreciate you spreading the word about it! If not, please do give me feedback on how I can improve your Sense per Point experience.

Also, if my newsletter helps you to book travel using points, let me know! It’ll make me so happy 😄 

Hope that all makes sense - That’s all for this week’s edition of Sense per Point.

Wishing everyone a wonderful rest of your day and week 😊 

- Sean Kim

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