👋 Hi Reader,

Happy Friday! Wanted to share some of my top finds from the past few weeks again. There's a lot of great stuff, so I really hope you enjoy it. And thanks in advance to anyone who forwards it along to someone you think might enjoy it too!

Have a great weekend :)

-Chris

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🛫 Points & Miles

💳 3x Points on Everything for a Year

One of my favorite no annual fee cards that offers 3x points on dining and 1.5x points on everything else is currently offering new cardmembers double the points on all spending for the first year. That means you'd be getting 6x on dining and 3x on everything else for a whole year, with no limit to how much you can earn.

I'm intentionally not including the name of the card, because I'm not allowed to mention it in email, but you can learn more here (and while you won't see the double points offer on the first page, as you click through the learn more/apply now buttons, you'll eventually see it).

🛩️ 75k Southwest Miles + Companion Pass in 2024

All three consumer Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards credit cards are offering increased welcome bonuses of 75,000 points. If you time everything right, this could make it easy to get 2 for 1 flights in 2024 and 2025 with the Southwest Companion Pass. You can learn about the cards and welcome bonuses here (and support All the Hacks at the same time).

🛫 25% - 150% Transfer Bonuses

Chase ➡️ Air France/KLM Flying Blue: +25%
​You can receive a 25% bonus when you transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards points to the Air France/KLM Flying Blue program until 11/30. We usually see similar bonuses to Air France a few times per year, so I wouldn't recommend transferring speculatively, but if you're planning a trip right now, it could be a great way to save.

Citi ➡️ Avianca LifeMiles: +25%
​You can also earn a 25% bonus when you transfer Citi ThankYou Points to the Avianca LifeMiles program until 11/4. Similar to Flying Blue above, I wouldn't recommend transferring speculatively, but if you're planning a trip right now, it could be a great way to save. That said, Avianca has a bunch of great award sweet spots, like Europe for 20-30k miles in economy or 63k in business. There's a list of some great ways to use LifeMiles in this article.

Bilt ➡️ Emirates Skywards: +75-150%
​As part of Bilt's 'Rent Day' this month, you can earn a massive transfer bonus 75-150% (based on your Bilt Status) when you transfer points to Emirates on 11/01. While this may make sense for flying on Emirates, their partner redemptions probably still aren't worth it.

💳 Big Changes to the Amex Hilton Surpass and Aspire

With no notice, Amex made some big changes to some Hilton cards. For the Aspire, the annual fee increased, Priority Pass access is gone, the annual credits have changed and it has a few new perks. For the Surpass, the annual fee also increased, but it also has some new credits and perks too. As an Aspire cardholder, I think the changes aren't really that bad, so I'll keep mine open. Full details on the changes here.

🏨 IHG Rewards Q4 Bonus Point Promo

If you're planning to stay at any IHG hotels before the end of this year, you can earn 2,000 points for every two nights between 10/12 and 12/31. You can register for the promo here.

🍽️ Marriott's Eat Around Town: Earn 8 Points Per Dollar

If you enroll in Marriott's Eat Around Town program, you'll earn 8 points per dollar spent when you dine and pay with your linked card during the month of October 2023. Even better, if you're not already enrolled, you'll get a new member bonus of up to 6,000 Bonvoy points for complete an online review of a restaurant within 30 days of your visit.

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🕵️ News, Deals and Finds

🛫 Airline Program Changes

Flying Blue to Reduce Award Pricing
​Air France-KLM Flying Blue recently confirmed plans to introduce a new pricing model for award flights, making the frequent flyer program even more lucrative. The new changes haven't officially rolled out yet, but flights should require 66-71% fewer miles. You can read this article to find out how the award pricing in most markets have been decreased.

New Southwest A-List Status & Perks
​With so many negative changes in the airline status game recently, Southwest decided to announce some positive news about its Rapid Rewards program. Starting in 2024, Southwest will lower the tier requirements to qualify for A-List and A-List preferred status, which will also include a few better perks like upgrades and free drinks!

Delta Rolls Back Some Changes to SkyMiles
​Last month, Delta made a handful of changes to their loyalty program which included a complete overhaul of the SkyMiles program. After facing a lot of backlash from their customers, Delta CEO announced that they'll backtrack on some of their changes, which you can read more about here. If you're chasing Delta status for 2024, some these changes might actually make it easier for you.

📺 Free Paramount Plus with Amex Platinum

One of the perks of the Amex Platinum that I've never bothered using is a free Walmart+ account. However, I just realized that you can get Paramount Plus free as a Walmart+ member, so I went ahead and signed up last night. You just need to log into your Walmart+ account and find the offer for “Video streaming with Paramount+” under the section called “Your W+ benefits.”

🚖 $75 Uber credit with CLEAR Enrollment

If you decide to enroll as a new CLEAR member and use the promo code CLAIMUBER75, you'll get a $75 Uber credit with your enrollment. This even works if you're enrolling with a Amex Platinum or Business Platinum, which both include a $189 CLEAR credit. More details here.

🔍 AI Tools For Travel Planning

I recently came across a few FREE AI tools for travel planning that I thought you might enjoy:

1. ​Roam Around: Customized itineraries
2. ​Curiosio: A road trip planner (note: only has 24 countries available at the moment)
3. ​Guide Geek: Your own travel assistant via WhatsApp or Instagram

✉️ Money with Katie Newsletter

My friend Katie runs the Money with Katie Newsletter where she makes personal finance topics like spending habits, wealth-building best practices, and financial psychology actually fun to read. If you're looking for some personal finance hot takes you’ll actually enjoy, you should definitely check out her newsletter!

📖 Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals

In the past few weeks, I've received so many recommendations to read this book, to the point where I'm genuinely surprised I haven't read it yet, but it's next on my list. While I can't personally vouch for it, this book has been endorsed by a lot of people who liked Die with Zero: Getting All You Can from Your Money and Your Life by Bill Perkins.

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📱 Cell Phone Plans Episode is Out!

I've gotten so many requests to do a deep dive on Cell Phone Plans and I finally released an episode going through ever single option and way to save money. In fact it led us to change our carrier after almost a decade and we're now paying less than half of what we did before thanks to some special insider discounts I discussed. So check it out if you're interested in the best carriers, deals, plans, insider pricing, insurance and so more.

Listen to Ep138 on Cell Phone Plans

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Thanks to our partner today: MileValue