Annual Reminder

Overall, it’s been a tough time for miles. They’ve have been devaluing as a currency for years now. It’s safe for us to call that a trend, right? Figured it might be good to get my annual reminder about The Flight Deal out of the way early this year. So here it is. Recent alerts include Newark to Amsterdam for under $400 and San Francisco to Rome for under $500. Bookmark it or sign up for alerts. I literally only say that about one website so it’s probably worth listening. This has been my 2018 reminder (also see: 2014, 2015, and 2016). Have a great weekend, nerds!

Newbie New Year

Like clockwork, I’m getting a flurry of January newbie questions about what card to get. Probably a new year’s resolution thing. I guess I started doing all this in a January myself. The year was 1897 and…well, I digress…

As of today, the answer to the card question is pretty clear for noobs. If you haven’t been playing this game at all in 2016 or 2017…it’s an ideal time to go for the Southwest Companion Pass. I’ve been talking about it forever. A personal card is worth 50,000 points at the moment and a business one is good for 60,000. That can change, but as of this post, the pass is yours through the end of 2019 if you can get both of those bonuses. Hard to beat. Your mom, cousin, boyfriend, girlfriend, buddy, or mail order bride can fly with you for free. Anyone you designate as your companion. It’s still the best deal going in domestic travel.

Obviously, this post doesn’t apply to non-newbies. If you’ve gotten more than 5 credit cards in the last two years, Chase isn’t your friend (with only a few exceptions).

Catching Up

Whew, I think I’ve responded to the entire pile of emails from the last two weeks (note: responding to over 1,000 emails in 2 days is a little carpel tunnely). If I brain farted and somehow skipped yours, please tell me. As far as I know, I’m caught up. I do realize I dropped a Monday bomb on you guys. I’m aware. I apologize if it wasn’t done smoothly. Just know that nothing is changing for a while. I’ll definitely keep you posted with more details in a few months as I get organized. Ok, enough long posts for now. Lots to catch up on. Let’s move…

  • In the non-shock of the year, Southwest…gasp…has a new sale. Alaska and Emirates do too.
  • Big thanks to readers Sara and Bruce for correcting the Southwest, Amex Hilton, and Surpass card bonuses in yesterday’s Top 25. Fixes have been made.
  • Make sure you’ve registered for these promos from Southwest, Hilton, and IHG. Won’t take long.
  • Speaking of IHG, they still have the most underrated hotel card. But their points are starting to annoy me. Turns out I hate devaluations in 2018 just as much as I did last year.
  • New Airbnb guests can get 5 SkyDongs per dollar spent here.
  • Don’t let American Express trick you into thinking their new Hilton points transfer is good. The new rate still sucks. Save your Membership Rewards points for something better.
  • And please, for the love of Tom Hanks, don’t use your Ultimate Rewards points for Best Buy gift cards. Pretty please.
  • On a positive note, many of you just reaped the rewards of last year’s work and got Hertz President’s Circle status yesterday. If so, you can try matching that status to Enterprise and Avis. Most of you probably have National status already. If not, you can match with them too.

 

 

The Top 25 Credit Cards

(If you see any errors, please let me know. I try to keep a full list, but it’s a lot of information and I do make mistakes)

 

Significant Changes Since Last Month:
-Removed Citi Prestige for now.
-Wyndham back up to 45,000.
-Amtrak down to 20,000.
-Some readers seeing 100,000 for American Express Platinum via CardMatch again.

 

Before Playing This Game:
-Find a new hobby until you can pay off all balances each month.
-Take a second to look at what you’re applying for and confirm a bonus is what you expect.
-Get a screenshot of the bonus description in case you have issues collecting it later.
-Take 2 minutes to read the small print before applying.
(Look for “once in a lifetime,” “no bonus for cardholders in last 24 months,” etc.)
-Keep everything very organized in a spreadsheet. You’ll thank me later.

 

Time for my monthly Top 25 Credit Cards. It’s called “Top 25” out of tradition, but you’ll get many more links than that below. Again, if you’re a rookie, make sure you read The Newbie Guide. It’s a little outdated but many basic questions can still be answered there. For people running out of cards, remember there’s often a Business card option. Also, “churning” (getting the same card more than once) might be an option. The dates here were a guideline but things always tend to vary individually. If you’re new, it might be wise to start with Chase cards because of the limitations they’ll place on you soon.

Miles and points are far from an equal currency. 50,000 Delta SkyMiles are worth less to me than that amount from Alaska Airlines. 25,000 Hyatt points mean way more than the same number from Hilton. And so on. These links work right now (January 2nd at midnight). If you read this later, many of the offers will have changed. Things move fast so read offer details and terms before applying. Especially all that small print when you’re trying to get bonuses more than once on the same card. Ok, enough chatter…here we go! My “Top 25” current credit cards are below.

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New Year Announcement

Welcome back, nerds!

Hope you guys got a chance to unplug (at least a little). Just started looking at the giant pile of emails which I plan on catching up with by the end of this week. Responses are coming. My time away was spent on Kauai and it was, without a doubt, one of the best times of my life. Almost perfect. The kind of vacation that’s so good it’s a little confusing to return home. Service at the Grand Hyatt was spectacular across the board. But now it’s time to start real life again…

What are my goals here for the year?

The majority of 2018 will stay the exact same…
Being honest, providing as much useful information as possible, avoiding fluff, trying to respond within 24 hours, no ads, short posts (with exceptions every once in a while as my emotional dam bursts), and just trying my best not to be a douchebag.

There will probably be a noticeable difference in sentimentality from time to time, though. Yeah, it’s time to make that announcement of some pretty big news here…

2018 will be my last year with the MileNerd blog.

I guess anything’s possible so I could keep going by doing one long monthly post and updating the credit card list…but that’s very unlikely. The best bet is that I won’t be around here at all after 2018. Retirement time is quickly approaching for me. It’s something I’ve felt for a few months.

As closing time gets near, I’ll write some longer (and I’m sure more emotional) posts about this. I’ll explain the reasons. But my goal is to keep things normal for now. When the end gets closer, you can expect a pretty memorable last month here on a wide range of subjects.

No, I don’t know yet what will happen to MileNerd.com beyond 2018 yet. I have a couple of standing offers and will likely get others. I’ll look at anything that comes in. I remember at one point last year hearing from a data geek type who was totally blind to anything beyond financial bottom lines. He only saw things through the lens of Twitter followers, ad income, etc. In his black and white eyes, none of this computed…how I could possibly be so uninterested in that stuff. Or how a one-man blog with no social media or advertising got offers. I tried explaining that it’s pretty simple (at least for non-robots). Being the most trusted name next to a nonstop parade of shady, paint-by-number blogs that don’t mean anything to anyone is a unique position. That uniqueness becomes an intriguing possibility to certain people. They see a depth of loyalty in my readership. It’s something very different. Doing this day after day…year after year…and never compromising myself…to a lot of people, this name means something. Add in the Google ranking stuff when people are searching for a mile blog and it ‘aint rocket science. I’m sure there were other appealing factors I don’t pay attention to like the USA Today ranking thing, etc. None of it is the stuff I focus on. But I’ll hear the offers and we’ll see if there’s a good fit (whether a blogger, award booking company, etc). Obviously, I’ll never sell this to anyone who tricks people. If I have doubts about a new owner being upfront with their intentions…they’re not going to be the new owner. We’ll see what happens. If I’m not comfortable with any of the options, I’ll just hold on to it until the right fit comes along.

So where does this leave you guys? Obviously, the kindness of good people matters to me. Probably more than you know. It’s the main reason that I’ve continued to do this. I really love the magnetic aspect of wonderful, clever, decent humans finding their way here. So this is what I’ve come up with…

Last month, I had so many conversations with new people from here (and plenty more with readers I’d spoken to previously). Something clicked. It made perfect sense in my head. Even though my daily monologue is (usually) pretty interesting, the dialogue is a hell of a lot better. It’s really not even close. The readers of MileNerd are exceptional people. They’re not the usual comment section weirdos found on blogs. So, not only am I not going to leave you…I’ve been working on a plan to bring you guys together in an online community. One that I’ll be a part of with you. My goal isn’t just to make online introductions, but to actually turn those into “real world” friendships. I have experience with this and I’m uniquely qualified to do it (for a few reasons). I’ll explain it in detail in the upcoming months. In short, I know how to do this. And I know how to do it well.

I really don’t like the world of miles and points bloggers. That includes the readers. It’s a weird “community.” What I have here is something different. It’s not of that same world. You guys are something better. Nothing I’ve done here matters more than the group of special people I’ve managed to gather. Looking back, I think that’s what this has all been about. So I’m going to bring you together and take it private. Away from the noise of a public blog. It’s going to take a shit ton of work to organize, but definitely worth the time. I’ll start sharing more details over the next few months. I’m still here for now and, believe me, I’m not going to be leaving you. This evolution is going to be something even better.

For now, I’m planning to keep things business as usual. You’ll see my usual 5 posts a week and I’ll be around to answer all emails (just give me a few days to catch up please). I’m really excited about what’s next. Happy new year, guys!

More soon…