Our next all travel card | Frequent Miler on the Air Ep315 | 7-18-25

In this podcast episode, we'll talk about how Bilt is going cardless (but with more cards). We'll see how Etihad is making unfavorable decisions, vying for our Bonvoyed of the year "award", and we'll talk about which credit card is the best for all kinds of travel expenses (since the Chase Sapphire Reserve® Card might night make sense for non-flight, non-hotel travel expenses anymore.) 

(Correction Note: The 3x transit category that we mentioned on the Autograph Journey and Autograph cards is only on the Autograph card.)

Giant Mailbag

(01:16) - "In a recent episode, Greg and Nick talked about checking flights you already have booked to see if the [award] price has gone down..."

Find our free checked bags via credit card resource here.

Card News

(07:01) - Citi Strata Elite to be launched in the third quarter of 2025

(08:14) - Bilt switching from Wells Fargo to Cardless next year; adding two premium cards

Bonvoyed

(11:06) - Alliant cashback card changes to flat 1.6% everywhere on 9/1

(12:15) - Etihad makes award changes & cancellations even more confusing and punitive

Read more about Etihad adding award fare buckets and increasing change fees here.

Awards, Points, and More

(17:06) - Greg easily booked a Preferred Hotel with points transferred from Citi

Main Event: Our next "all travel" card

(21:11) - Chase Sapphire Reserve® Card 3x grandfathered until Oct 26. Airlines, hotels, motels, timeshares, car rental agencies, cruise lines, travel agencies, discount travel sites, campgrounds and operators of passenger trains, buses, taxis, limousines, ferries, toll bridges and highways, and parking lots and garages...

(23:26) - So what should our broad travel card be now? Here's what we're looking for...

(24:13) - What about Chase's other cards?

(27:45) - Travel cards that didn't make the cut due to narrow definition of travel

(29:35) - Travel cards that almost made the cut

(31:49) - Broad "Travel" definition cards

(42:36) - What's our pick?

Question of the Week

(48:32) - What's the best strategy to go about closing cards with the intention of opening new ones? This listener offers the Chase Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card as an example. 

Read our complete guide to credit card application rules here.

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Music Credit – “Ocean Deep” by Annie Yoder

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