Recap Week Ending 9/27/26

Luckily nothing too crazy this week so here’s another last-chance reminder to use your monthly and quarterly credits. Hilton is the biggest culprit for quarterly credits, and some of them are pretty sizable, so use them!! And Chase Sapphire Preferred transfer rate will drop from 1:1 rate to a 4:3 rate starting Oct. 1.

Bilt added Amtrak as a transfer partner which is neat, although Amtrak points redemptions are relatively fixed to the cash price of the train ticket.

Finally, tomorrow marks the one year of me sending my first newsletter edition. To celebrate, my premium points deal subscription is discounted at 25% off, and you lock in that price for the lifetime of your active subscription. $89.99/year to get hard-to-book points deals, often before other popular services send them, is a pretty good deal. It helps you save time and not miss out on the hot points deals. Learn more about upgrading here.

A few days until October 1. That means you should be using your expiring monthly & quarterly credits and potentially thinking about a strategy for Chase Sapphire Preferred→Hyatt.

To track your premium credit card coupons benefits, I like using a spreadsheet. Frequent Miler has a Google Docs sheet you can use. See below for major quarterly credits.

If you somehow have missed the news, Chase Sapphire Preferred and Chase Ink Preferred (business card) will see the transfer rate to the beloved Hyatt program go from 1:1 rate to a 4:3 rate. Only the Sapphire Reserve (personal or business version) that has the $795/year annual fee will maintain the 1:1 transfer rate to Hyatt.

So, are you going to speculatively transfer Chase points to Hyatt before the deadline? It’s a personal decision, and you should think about how often you use Hyatt vs. the opportunity cost of using Chase points in a different way vs. opening up the $795/year Chase Sapphire Reserve card to keep a 1:1 transfer rate.

Is it important to have some form of elite status for an airline or hotel loyalty program? Some argue no, especially if you are already booking business or first class flights that comes with many perks. But I disagree. And having status with airlines is becoming more important as airlines restrict awards and remove previously-given benefits to non-elites. Here’s an old Reddit post + discussion on various perks elite status can offer.

For airlines, you may need some form of elite status just to have a better chance to book that business or first class award flight. Sometimes, it’s literally a requirement (Emirates & United come to mind). Then, as airlines continue to “improve customer choices” by unbundling their services into “light fares” (so you have to pay separately for lounge access, bags, and seat selection unless you pay more for what you previously already got), elite status often gets around those issues.

Airline elite status also can have reciprocal benefits when flying on airlines in the same alliance. An example is my American Airlines status gives me Oneworld Sapphire status, which is the middle tier Oneworld status. However, this has saved me hundreds in dollars (maybe over a thousand) in the last year because having Sapphire (or Emerald) allows for free seat selection on other Oneworld airlines, British Airways and Qatar Airways. I have flown 8 segments on those airlines this year (with my wife) so that is 16 seat selection fees I didn’t have to pay!

Bilt’s Rent Day (October 1) has two transfer bonuses - Amtrak and Hilton. Amtrak is interesting as they are Bilt’s newest transfer partner and were added this week (Bilt PR) at a 2:1 transfer rate.

In Bilt fashion, there is an Amtrak transfer bonus of 25-125% depending on your Bilt status. Redeeming Amtrak points for tickets generally has a fixed rate of around ~2.5-2.7 cents per point and is tied to the cash fare, so that makes 1 Bilt point worth around 1.3-1.35 cents per point when transferred to Amtrak before any transfer bonus.

There’s also a Hilton transfer bonus, but you really shouldn’t use it unless you are Bilt points rich + have higher-level Bilt Status. Bilt to Hilton has a 1:1 transfer rate before transfer bonus, and Hilton points can often be bought for 0.5 cents per point. So unless you have Gold Bilt status or higher, you are turning Bilt points into at best a 1 cent per point value (breakeven) with a 100% bonus. There’s also the opportunity cost of using Bilt points vs. other programs like Alaska, Hyatt, JAL, or United. And don’t forget that Amex transfers at a 1:2 rate to Hilton, and Amex points are much easier to earn than Bilt points.

Bilt is also offering a fast-track offer for Hilton status if you transfer any amount of points to Hilton? (I can’t find a direct source on this but Frequent Miler says this).

Hilton status match details & requirements. You will instantly match and get the below Hilton status based on your Bilt status if you transfer Hilton points. If you meet the Hilton stay requirements over the next 90 day, you will be upgraded to the next Hilton tier (matched to Silver→stay 6 nights in 90 days→upgraded to Gold). If you match to Diamond, you need to meet the stay requirement to maintain Diamond.

Fly Swiss business class between North America and Europe, starting at 60k points before any transfer bonuses. Book through Star Alliance airlines with Air Canada and United probably the best options.