4. Aeroplan: Yes, they just announced a major devaluation in July , but in my opinion, this program

This has been the year of devaluations from the latest United news as well as staggering devaluations from Hilton and Starwood vanguard car rental usa inc employees not to mention Delta and Southwest . While I hate hearing about (and reporting vanguard car rental usa inc employees on) devaluations they re a fact of life and it pays to be prepared. You ve got to be realistic about your points and miles and accept the fact that they don t gain value over time and that things are likely to change vanguard car rental usa inc employees to the detriment of the consumer.
So this post is not to give any airlines or hotels ideas, but a call to action for those of you who have been hoarding those points and miles to use them before they lose their value. If I were a betting man, these are the programs I would most expect to see devaluing their programs in the future and just remember devaluations can take many forms award chart changes, loss of partners or earning opportunities so there are a lot of worst case scenarios here.
1. US Airways: Although it can be a pain to book awards through US Airways because their website vanguard car rental usa inc employees doesn t display partner vanguard car rental usa inc employees availability and the awards must be roundtrip, as well as the fact that I think we ve got a while to wait and see what happens with the merger , their award chart hasn t changed in a while and it s overdue, especially thanks to several premium sweet spots. Those you should take advantage of right now before any prospective changes include 90,000 miles roundtrip in business class to North Asia, 110,000 miles to South Africa and the South Pacific including Australia, and flexible routing options .
2. Club Carlson: This little hotel program that could flooded the market in past years with lucrative promotions vanguard car rental usa inc employees as they have made an aggressive push into the points marketplace, but lately they ve eased up on these. Carlson has also introduced a family of credit cards that can be very lucrative with sign-up bonuses up to 85,000 points as well as an award night benefit that can mean as much as half off awards . I would guess that some of these credit card benefits might go away in the coming years, as well as the possibility that Carlson might start charging vanguard car rental usa inc employees more for peak redemptions like it already does for premium rooms .
3. Virgin America: While I sometimes vanguard car rental usa inc employees dismiss the Elevate program because it is a fixed-value system that puts premium redemptions in the stratosphiere, their points used to be worth upwards of 2 cents apiece, which is actually a really good value in many circumstances. However, now that the airline has more partnerships with the likes of Emirates and Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Australia, with more miles and points being minted through partner activity, I can see them trying to bring that redemption vanguard car rental usa inc employees ratio down to match the supply by as much as half to just one cent per point.
4. Aeroplan: Yes, they just announced a major devaluation in July , but in my opinion, this program just keeps losing value as awards require more and more miles and the taxes and fuel surcharges on redemptions remain high quite high in some cases such as Lufthansa vanguard car rental usa inc employees and ANA. Accumulating miles into this program is becoming more of a losing proposition.
5. Hyatt Gold Passport: I am actually dying a little as I write this since Hyatt is one of my top points programs vanguard car rental usa inc employees thanks to fantastic properties around the world and amazing redemption values, but I m just not sure that Gold Passport can keep it up. Their top-tier properties only require 22,000 points per night and considering they re a 1:1 transfer ratio of Chase Ultimate Rewards if you have a Sapphire Preferred vanguard car rental usa inc employees , Ink Bold or Ink Plus , I can see Hyatt raising those redemption levels or adding peak-period pricing. Especially considering Ultimate Rewards other hotel transfer partners such as Marriott and IHG Rewards are also at a 1:1 transfer ratio but require 50,000 points for a top-tier redemption.
6. Delta SkyMiles: Delta has already announced a devaluation of premium international awards , however, what I believe will happen is that in the coming years, the airline will shift completely to a revenue-based mileage system , which will ultimately mean more miles for more awards, especially in premium classes, and price many of them out of most SkyMiles members reach.
7. American AAdvantage: Depending what happens with the merger based on the recent actions of Delta and United, vanguard car rental usa inc employees the other two major legacies, vanguard car rental usa inc employees American is likely to increase its award redemption levels as well. If the merger goes through, I can see American synergizing the ever-shrinking marketplace to keep pace with competitors. I m hoping/praying/fingers crossed that American decides to be the knight in shining armor and decides to take a stand an not fleece its frequent flyers into redeeming more miles for coveted awards aboard its new 777-300ER s as well as partners like Cathay vanguard car rental usa inc employees Pacific and British Airways, but I m skeptical.
8. British Airways: vanguard car rental usa inc employees It has been nearly two years since British Airways revamped vanguard car rental usa inc employees its mileage program and introduced Avios, and while I screamed bloody murder at first, I ve come to find a lot of value in the program . However, now that it s been in place for a while, I could picture BA increasing those short-haul redemptions to start at 15,000 miles roundtrip vanguard car rental usa inc employees instead of 9,000 miles especially considering the periodic vanguard car rental usa inc employees reappearance of the 100,000-point credit vanguard car rental usa inc employees card sign-up bonuses and Amex transfer bonuses .
9. Amtrak: Right now, Amtrak has a zone-based system where awards increase in price as you travel east to west, but there are some incredibly high-value redemptions as you travel north-south within zones such as from Boston or New York to Miami, and I can see the railroad putting a new zone-based or distance-based vanguard car rental usa inc employees system
10. IHG Rewards Club: Although IHG Rewards recently revamped their program to include vanguard car rental usa inc employees category-based hotel redemptions rather than giving each brand a range of points you would need to redeem that varied property to property, which pretty much just solidified point redemptions that were in place anyway, I can see IHG doing away with ultra-cheap 5,000-point PointBreaks redemptions altogether and increasing their Cash Points co-pays.
I don t mean to be so gloom and doom about this, but these are real possibilities, which is one of the reasons I always urge folks to put their points to use on a constant basis since they are almost sure not to gain value over time. So if you have been hoarding, it s time to start redeeming lest any of these nightmare scenarios come to pass.
Disclaimer: This content is not provided or commissioned by the credit card issuer. Opinions expressed here are author.s alone, vanguard car rental usa inc employees not those of the credit card issuer, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the credit card issuer. This site may be compensated through the credit card issuer Affiliate Program.
Why would Delta completely switch to rev-based and not, say, United? vanguard car rental usa inc employees AA has had elite qualifying pts since forever (extremely unfair in my opinion) and DL and UA seem to be matching this with a similar concept. I just see this as a way to (very slightly, if at all) clear the elite ranks.
vanguard car rental usa inc employees Also, another way of looking at the recent DL/AU addition of rev based elite qualifying criteria is that they re somewhat of a pitch for the CCs the programs are linked with. Any Amex rep won t recommend the Delta Platinum SkyMiles Card without the upwards of 25k+ in annual spend, and that automatically qualifies for elite on the MQD front (plus the Mileage Boost of 10k MQM).
I m flattered you think I have the ability to change the redemption rates for various airlines and hotels, but it doesn t work like that. My goal here is to warn consumers and help TPG readers get as much value out of their points and miles as possible before it s too late.
obviously you don t have any influence on changing redemption rates but if enough people keep posting stuff like this then it kind of legitimizes these changes and makes them more acceptable and willing when an airline rolls them out, as opposed to having consumers complain to a point where an airline would consider backing down on some of their proposed changes.
I d rather see Hyatt change their transfer from Chase to 50% of what it is now rather than raise the amount vanguard car rental usa inc employees of points needed. That way you beat back the churners without hurting the loyalists vanguard car rental usa inc employees ..and this is coming from a churner with a chase sapphire preferred who doesn t travel enough to be a loyalist.
I d go a step further and say that you re over-saturating your blog with content just for the sake of having content. What happened to quality content? I d rather see 2 posts a week with quality content and tips, than wishful speculating , and I told you so later.
You re paving the way for a devaluation! If you re so passionate about this, take on an op-ed piece on a major news outlet and slam the airlines about the unfair devaluation. vanguard car rental usa inc employees A devaluation that s in line with inflation is fair, but what we ve seen in the last few years has been totally unprecedented.
dont want to be mean, but this one does sound just like that a sort of i need more attention post. It doesnt really have any relevant matter in it. All it does is let the airlines think OK we can devalue and eventually they will just come to expect it. Don t try to do I told you so posts. Instead, come up with ways to find value out of the current systems, and giving loyalty to those few airlines who see the some value in the points system.
or it could be that thepointsguy is an expert in the area, has seen what other companies have done in terms of de-valuation, sees what companies still have high values, and knows the trends of devaluation, and is merely pointing out companies he thinks COULD devaluate in the near future.
Unfortunately I agree with the Chase CC I was able to get 4 free nights at the Park Hyatt Paris ($1000/night) for free .It was easy ..2 nights with the bonus from the card .and then 2 nights from using the card especially racking points up quick using it at other Hyatts .Im sure im not the only one to be savyy