Frontier charges for tickets, then cancels due to “credit review”

On October 7, 2026, my colleague Jeremy booked a ticket on Frontier Airlines from Austin (AUS) to Denver (DEN), which cost around $189. He used our small business credit card, as it’s for a work trip. Side note — no, I didn’t force Jeremy to fly Frontier, but I was surprised to see he booked it, so maybe we need to have a little chat about that. 😉

Anyway, at around 4:30PM on October 7, Jeremy received the confirmation email from Frontier, which said “you’re all set.” Our business credit card was also charged, showing a purchase on October 7, and the transaction posted on October 8.

Well, at around 11:30PM on October 9, 2026, around 55 hours after the initial booking, Jeremy received an email with the subject line “Frontier Airlines Booking Alert.” It read as follows:

Your Frontier Airlines flight and any subsequent flights have been removed from your itinerary and refunded to the form of payment on file due to a credit review. You may rebook online or with the help of a Customer Service agent using a new form of payment. Please note: a rebooking fee will apply if booked through an agent.

Go figure that since the ticket was booked a few days ago, the fare has nearly doubled. I don’t want to be a conspiracy theorist, but that sure is convenient, especially when the airline made no effort to reach out to Jeremy about the payment.

Following this, Jeremy contacted Frontier’s chat support, and a “resolution specialist” explained there was nothing they could do, and if he wanted to rebook, he could only do so at an airport with a valid government ID:

I understand that you used your company card for legitimate business travel and that the cancellation was unexpected. Unfortunately, I’m unable to override the fraud review decision or reinstate the canceled reservation. If you would still like to travel, a new booking will need to be created. Per the notes on the reservation, you would need to visit the airport with a valid government-issued ID so an agent can assist you with the booking process.

For the record, Jeremy has never had any sort of an issue with a Frontier ticket, and he’s not someone who is playing some sort of shady game that would arouse suspicion (I mean, unless booking business travel on Frontier is suspicious to the airline).

Why does Frontier seemingly have issues accepting payment?

Of course credit card fraud is a concern many companies deal with, though typically you’d think risk would be minimized by doing some sort of verification at the time the transaction is processed, as is common with many retailers, rather than reversing a transaction that has already posted.

To issue a ticket, and then days later cancel it, after the person has already been billed, while citing fraud, seems a little suspect. And now the airline is claiming that if Jeremy wants to book a ticket with the airline, he needs to do so at the airport? Seriously?!? Does Frontier want to lose money?

Here’s where it gets interesting, though. In late 2025, I covered how Frontier denied a passenger boarding over credit card fraud concerns. The passenger filed a Department of Transportation (DOT) complaint, and in the carrier’s response, they made the following claim:

As per Frontier Airlines’ policy, when a ticket is purchased using a credit card by someone who is not traveling, the cardholder must be physically present at the airport with the original credit card and a valid government-issued photo ID. This requirement is in place to ensure the security and verification of payment details.

This is of course totally ridiculous, and also so counterproductive if you’re trying to sell airline tickets. Under these rules, a parent couldn’t even buy a ticket for their college-aged kid without going to the airport.

I followed up with a spokesperson for the carrier, given the absurdity of that claim, and they told me the following, acknowledging their DOT response wasn’t accurate:

To be clear, our policy does not require a cardholder to be physically present at the airport any time they buy a ticket for someone else traveling, and different names between a ticketed passenger and credit card used alone will not flag a reservation for potential fraud. Other possible indicators – such as an abnormal IP address or a history of chargebacks with the credit card, to name a couple – may flag a reservation for potential fraud.

In-person verification at the airport with ID and credit card is only required when a reservation is flagged for potential fraud, as was the case in this instance. We sincerely apologize for the confusion and inconvenience that followed, and as such issued a full refund to the customer involved. We always strive for a seamless travel experience.

But funny enough, they just outright canceled Jeremy’s ticket. They didn’t ask for verification, or anything else. For what it’s worth, Jeremy made the purchase from the United States, he has never filed a chargeback with the airline, etc.

Bottom line

It’s really hard to give Frontier Airlines money. My colleague Jeremy booked a roughly $190 ticket on the airline, and our company credit card was charged. Over two days after the booking was confirmed, he received notice that the ticket had been canceled “due to a credit review.” Yes, despite the fact that the credit card had been charged.

He was told he could rebook with an agent for a fee, or rebook online, but go figure the fare has gone up significantly.

I don’t want to be a conspiracy theorist, but I’m confused. Is Frontier really this bad at taking people’s money, or is this some sort of a sneaky operation intended to get people to rebook when fares go up? I’ve just never seen such unprofessional handling of an alleged need for credit card verification.

Has anyone encountered something similar with Frontier?

Westin Miami Airport plans scrapped altogether

Miami Airport is undergoing quite the modernization (or so they claim — it’s still a dump, in my opinion, years into this kicking off), and part of that included plans for a 451-key property belonging to Marriott’s Westin brand, connected directly to the terminal.

We’ve now learned that the developers behind the project have completely given up on this concept. The reason is because the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) rejected the 150-foot high hotel, over concerns it would create a radar blind spot, posing a safety issue for aircraft at the airport.

Negotiations have now been going on for nearly two years to redesign the structure, though at this point the developers have just decided that it’s no longer economically viable. Keep in mind the whole concept for the Westin came after a years-long bidding process, which the developers had won. The deal was supposed to be that the airport would get annual payments of $2.5 million or 3.5% of gross revenue, whichever is greater.

Airport officials are now trying to expedite a new request for proposals for a different hotel operator. We’ll see if anything comes of that…

Miami Airport’s modernization sure leaves a lot to be desired

Miami is my home airport, so I’m all too familiar with the facility. The airport is spending a mind-numbing $14 billion on its modernization, in a program that’s taking around a decade. However, I have to say that even years into this starting, I can’t help but just be dismayed at the state of things.

The main indications I’ve seen of this “modernization” are simply broken people movers and escalators with those “MIA — Modernization In Action” signs.

I realize airports are ultimately about getting people on their way, but other airports at least look pretty when they’re redesigned. I believe the satellite portion of Concourse E has been redone, and the below is what the “after” of the project looks like.

I understand airport projects take years, and that airport infrastructure in the US is also so complicated, given the need to make changes while continuing operations. But compared to the redesigns we’ve seen at some other airports, I can’t help but not feel very optimistic about this project.

When it comes to lodging at Miami Airport, at least there’s a new in-terminal Wait N’ Rest facility, though it’s really expensive for what’s offered. Beyond that, Miami Airport already has a hotel connected directly to the terminal — the Miami International Airport Hotel — though I’m pretty sure that property was last updated in the 1990s, or something. Honestly, you’d think they could just improve that a bit, and it would do the trick.

Bottom line

Unfortunately the planned Westin at Miami International Airport is no longer happening. While the hotel was supposed to open this year, the FAA blocked the project due to a radar blind spot concern that the 150-foot tall building posed. The developers decided the economics no longer made sense with a full redesign needed.

The airport is now trying to find a new partner for this project, and we’ll see what comes of this, if anything. Given that the hotel was supposed to open in a matter of months, this was a drawn out project. If anything does come of this, don’t expect it before 2030, and that’s probably absolute best case scenario.

What do you make of the Westin Miami Airport plans being scrapped?

Could American or Japan Airlines fly from Miami to Tokyo?

City and airport officials in Miami have long wanted a nonstop link between Miami and Tokyo. This would presumably be on either American or Japan Airlines, given that the former has a huge hub in Miami, and the latter is part of a joint business venture with American, meaning the airlines coordinate schedules and fares.

To incentivize this kind of service, Miami mayor Daniella Levine Cava is also evaluating the concept of a minimum revenue guarantee for an airline to operate the route, saying “the model functions by guaranteeing the airline a specific predetermined amount of revenue for a new route over a defined introductory period.”

Part of the new optimism seems to be based on a claim that Japan Airlines has better availability of long range jets, given the carrier’s upcoming aircraft deliveries. Airport officials plan to present the business case for this service during upcoming meetings targeted at joint business between Florida and Japan, and also at a conference dedicated to route development.

According to the mayor’s report, “direct flights from Miami would significantly enhance access to Japan and Northeast Asia, facilitating business travel, investment activities, and cultural and educational exchanges.” She went on to say that “most recently, JAL has begun taking delivery of new long-haul aircraft capable of operating nonstop service between Tokyo and MIA, with additional aircraft expected over the next two to three years, improving the long-term feasibility of the route.”

Miami Aviation Director Ralph Cutié stated that “we feel fairly confident that that’s going to happen,” but “we’re just not sure when,” though “it could be probably in the next couple of years.”

Around the same time last year, the airport released a report about the long haul destinations it’s most targeting, with the others including Asuncion, Riyadh, Singapore, and Tokyo. A Singapore route wouldn’t even be possible with any plane that currently exists. Meanwhile I’m sure Riyadh is realistic, since Saudi Arabia is throwing money at any new route to the city.

I’m not holding my breath for a Miami to Tokyo route

As someone who lives in Miami, I’d of course love to see a nonstop link to Tokyo. I’m not saying this is impossible, but I do think it’s not terribly likely, and I don’t think it’s any more likely than it was five years ago. To start, here are some of the challenges this route would face:

• This would be Japan Airlines’ longest route to the United States, and the economics of ultra long haul flying are complicated
• Miami is the major airport that’s most southeast in the United States, so it’s not great in terms of efficient domestic connections
• While the route could be popular with those connecting to Latin America, the challenge is that the United States doesn’t allow sterile transit, so passengers would need a visa just to transit the United States
• Those in Miami are largely already loyal to American or oneworld, so when they’re connecting to Japan, they’re pretty likely to fly with American or Japan Airlines; so there’s not necessarily all that much incremental business to win

That being said, I don’t think this route is impossible, especially if Miami is willing to offer an airline enough incentives to operate the service. Furthermore, Japan Airlines is taking delivery of some more planes in the coming years, and perhaps this could be part of a next wave of growth.

Florida is the state with the biggest economy that doesn’t have a nonstop flight to Japan. Furthermore, while international connections in Miami aren’t ideal, it’s still the best option for most people connecting to Latin America, given American’s huge network from there.

So yeah, if I were a betting man, I don’t think this will happen any time soon. I could see it happening some number of years down the road, though, when Japan Airlines does take delivery of many more new aircraft. But I can’t imagine this is among Japan Airlines’ top three new routes on the horizon.

Bottom line

Miami is once again (or still?) seeking a nonstop link to Japan. City and airport officials are hoping that American or Japan Airlines will launch the route, and are even looking at offering some sort of a revenue guarantee to make this service more appealing.

While I’d of course love to see a flight like this, I don’t think it’s necessarily any more likely than it was a few years ago. Officials point out how Japan Airlines is getting more wide body aircraft, though I expect it’ll be several more years before those lead to substantial incremental growth, rather than just fleet renewal. Meanwhile American’s long haul fleet growth is minimal.

What do you make of the prospects of a nonstop Miami to Tokyo route?

Houthis attack Riyadh Airport, as tensions escalate

On Thursday, October 8, 2026, Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis escalated their attacks against Saudi Arabia, as they try to shut down the country’s airspace and oil facilities with missile fire. In the latest attack, the group struck Riyadh’s airport.

In this case, an Airbus A320 belonging to national carrier Saudia was completely destroyed in the attack. This is the second time that the airport has been struck by a missile this week, with the Houthi militia warning that “all global airlines” flying in Saudi Arabian airspace are at risk.

A spokesperson for the Houthis claims the group “struck its target with precision,” using a ballistic missile, saying that “we reiterate our call and warning for the last time to all global airlines regarding the consequences of continuing to operate flights in Saudi airspace, which has become a theater for our military operations.” Meanwhile other sources dispute the claim of what happened, saying that the plane was actually hit by shrapnel from an interception of another missile.

The positive news is that no passengers are believed to have been on the plane at the time of the attack, and it’s believed that there were no fatalities. That’s fantastic, because the outcome could’ve been very different if this were a fully loaded plane.

As you’d expect, this attack brought operations at the airport to a standstill, and many airlines have suspended flights to the airport. The Houthis are targeting Saudi Arabia over the country’s support for government forces in Yemen’s reignited civil war.

Saudi Arabia is backing Yemen’s United Nations-recognized government, to take back the territory from the Houthis. This conflict is an overspill from the war between the United States and Iran, and is just the latest layer of chaos in this whole mess.

This can’t be good for Riyadh Airport’s prospects

Admittedly the public is often quick to forget things, but the Houthis essentially saying that all airlines aren’t safe in Saudi Arabia isn’t exactly great for optics. Of course the intent is also to instill fear, but I imagine on some level that works.

This is very bad timing for Riyadh Airport in terms of the growth it’s currently seeing. For one, you have Riyadh Air expanding at a very fast pace, and that includes trying to attract connecting passengers traveling between other regions. I have to imagine that many people may think twice before connecting through Riyadh (along with other points in the region) at the moment.

For that matter, Delta is expected to launch a route from Atlanta (ATL) to Riyadh later this month. My goodness, talk about absolutely awful timing. I imagine that this attack will finally be what it takes for the airline to postpone the launch of this flight.

Keep in mind that safety aside, demand for this flight has been virtually non-existent, based on everything we know. Like, we’ve possibly never seen a new route with such little demand. But since the route is being subsidized by the Saudi Arabian government, it sure seems like the economics for this flight could work for Delta even if the plane just flies empty to Riyadh.

Delta has reportedly not been wanting to postpone the launch in light of that, and also to avoid bad optics around this route, and the carrier’s partnership with Riyadh Air. But I have to imagine that at this point aircraft insurers will prevent this route from launching.

Bottom line

A Saudia Airbus A320 was destroyed at Riyadh Airport, after an attack by the Houthis. The Houthis claim they hit their target, while others claim the plane was actually hit by shrapnel from an interception of another missile. The Houthis are warning all airlines to stay clear of Saudi Arabia, and of course that’s intended to create chaos, given that Saudi Arabia is backing the more legitimate government of the country.

With Delta expected to launch flights to Riyadh in the coming weeks, the timing of all of this couldn’t possibly be worse.

What do you make of this Riyadh Airport attack?

For quite some time now, there have been rumors of Southwest launching long haul flights, and that appears to now be closer to becoming a reality, as the airline is reportedly weighing a Boeing 787 order.

Southwest may order dozens of wide body planes

Reuters is reporting that Southwest is leaning toward the Boeing 787 for its first wide body aircraft order, with a possible deal for up to dozens of these jets being under consideration. The airline is reportedly studying how quickly these planes could be obtained, including through lessors or the secondary market.

On the surface, the Dreamliner is sold out through the end of the decade, so it remains to be seen if Boeing could open up some earlier slots for Southwest (given what a good Boeing customer the airline is), or if finding other ways to acquire the planes could make sense.

Southwest is weighing launching long haul, international flights. The people familiar with the carrier’s fleet planning of course cautioned that no final decision has been made. Southwest’s board ultimately has the final say here, and formed a Fleet Oversight Committee in 2025, to manage the company’s aircraft fleet acquisition strategy.

What would Southwest’s long haul strategy be?

Southwest executives of course haven’t been secretive about the fact that they’re considering long haul flying. Their goal is to give Southwest customers fewer reasons to book with competitors, and to make the Rapid Rewards program more appealing, and they feel both of these things would be strengthened by launching long haul flying.

Southwest CEO Bob Jordan has made it clear that the goal isn’t to have a long haul network comparable to that of the “big three” US carriers, but instead, to launch service to up to a dozen long haul destinations, which would take Southwest customers most of the places they want to go. As I see it, there are three general challenges with Southwest’s potential long haul strategy, none of which couldn’t be overcome.

First, I imagine that a lot of the demand for Southwest long haul flights would be seasonal, so I wonder how well the airline can manage this on a year-round basis. An annual summer trip to Europe has become a rite of passage for so many Americans, so I imagine flights to Athens, London, Paris, Rome, etc., would be the priority, and would do fine financially.

But what about winter? Of course there’s counter seasonal flying to South America, the South Pacific, etc., but the demand there isn’t quite as robust, especially among Southwest’s customer base.

Second, long haul demand in general is centered so much around the “big three” joint ventures, where each of American, Delta, and United, are teamed up with collection of international airlines to coordinate fares and schedules. Operating outside of those arrangements isn’t easy.

Lastly, this is by no means a deal breaker, but it’s also interesting how some of Southwest’s biggest hubs, like Dallas Love Field (DAL) and Chicago Midway (MDW) aren’t exactly built for long haul flying. I’d assume that Baltimore (BWI) would be the most logical hub for Europe flying — Denver (DEN) and Las Vegas (LAS) are just too far west to capture most Europe demand, if an airline is only going to serve a city out of one airport.

Bottom line

We’ve known that Southwest Airlines is considering wide body flying, and it sounds like this is closer to becoming a reality. The airline is reportedly considering acquiring Boeing 787s, though it remains to be seen if this would be a new order, or if the airline would acquire the planes through a lessor or secondhand, in order to get them as soon as possible.

Southwest’s goal is to maybe serve up to a dozen long haul destinations, both to take Southwest flyers where they want to go, and to make Rapid Rewards more compelling.

It’s fascinating to see Southwest’s transformation, and how the airline basically changing everything that has made it unique, to instead just copy the other guys, has been a winning strategy. If the day comes where I’m in a lie flat seat on a transatlantic Southwest flight, I’m going to be seriously confused…

What do you make of Southwest’s potential Dreamliner order?

Etihad executive Arik De leaves airline suddenly

Etihad Chief Revenue & Commercial Officer Arik De has left the airline, effective immediately. Someone tipped me off on this earlier. I checked Etihad’s leadership page at the time, and his profile was still there, only to be removed a short while later.

In the meantime, De has taken to LinkedIn to confirm that he’s leaving:

Today, nearly 5 years later, a wonderful chapter of my life comes to an end. Proud to have been part of the great Etihad transformation – from an airline with 3B USD in revenue to nearly 10B USD, and a sustainable profit trajectory that allows for a bright future.

As I leave behind an airline fundamentally different in every aspect than the one I joined, more diverse on each and every leadership level, of course there are innumerable things to be proud of. However, the one that makes me most proud is the team I leave behind. The team who really deserve all the credit for where Etihad is today.

Finally, a big thank you to Abu Dhabi and the UAE. Without the platform this country provides, I could not have gone beyond borders of what was deemed possible. As I look forward to my next role, I will forever remain in debt.

His announcement mentions a bunch of names, though interestingly, the CEO isn’t someone he is thanking. It sure seems likely to me that he was let go, and that this was done with little notice, as no replacement has been announced for his role. Furthermore, as I understand it from some contacts, there were no clues of this being imminent, aside from at the very top.

De was appointed to the role of Chief Revenue Officer in December 2022, and then was promoted to Chief Revenue & Commercial Officer in December 2023. De previously worked at carriers including WestJet, Air Asia, Aeromexico, and TAP Air Portugal. He came to Etihad as part of the new ex-TAP Air Portugal management team, when current CEO Antonoaldo Neves was appointed to his role.

I certainly have some strong thoughts on this

As I said above, I’m trying to be careful about how I cover this. In May 2024, I wrote about how a former airline executive took to LinkedIn to accuse another airline executive of essentially creating an alter ego, “Ivander Sebastian,” to simply flatter himself. I won’t go over that here, but check out that post, as the whole situation is just super cringe.

I’ve never met De, or interacted with him, beyond one email exchange, which I found a little odd on one level (but that’s neither here nor there). However, I have to be honest, I can’t say I’ve heard very good things about the work culture he created at the airline. There’s no denying that he’s outwardly very charming and charismatic, and he always says the right things, publicly thanks staff, and seems like a team player.

But of course broadly speaking, there’s also often a difference between how people present themselves publicly, and how they really act, especially when they’re someone who thinks they’re always the smartest person in the room.

I am curious what the reason for his sudden departure is, though. Reading between the lines, it seems highly likely he was let go by the CEO, based on him not even mentioning the CEO in his announcement. As positive of a spin as he tries to put on the LinkedIn post, it doesn’t sound like something from someone who left voluntarily.

Etihad has certainly had an interesting several years. The airline has grown a lot, and based on listening to executives at the carrier, you’d think that they’re absolutely rolling in dough in terms of profitability. Even throughout the current war, the executives seem completely unfazed, which makes you wonder. I think there’s a little more here than meets the eye…

Bottom line

Etihad Chief Revenue & Commercial Officer Arik De has suddenly left the airline. Etihad has undergone quite the transformation in recent years, and De has been in charge of the carrier’s strategy. So to see him leave at a time that’s this challenging is a little unusual.

Everyone can decide for themselves what they make of this, but I think some people in Abu Dhabi will have some strong opinions here, so feel free to sound off in the comments. There are a lot of smart people working at Etihad, so I hope someone with a little less hubris is given an opportunity here…

What do you make of this Etihad executive change?

Along those lines, American has just made a very positive announcement, which seems like the obvious choice. I wrote about how this was rumored last week (initially leaked by JonNYC, of course), and it’s now official!

American will expand Starlink Wi-Fi to all mainline aircraft

Over the summer, American announced plans to introduce Starlink Wi-Fi starting in 2027. The catch is that American initially only announced plans to introduce the service on all Airbus A320-family aircraft. This includes more than 500 planes, comprised of A319s, A320s, A321s, A321neos, and A321XLRs.

Fortunately American has now come to its senses, and has announced that it plans to introduce Starlink on all mainline aircraft. So this means the entire fleet of Boeing 737s, 777s, and 787s, are also getting Starlink. In total, more than 1,000 mainline planes will be getting the service.

Installation is still expected to start as of early 2027, though we don’t know with what timeline this will wrap up. Unfortunately there still aren’t plans to introduce Starlink on regional jets, unlike what we’re seeing at United, where the airline plans to have Starlink on all mainline and regional jets by the end of 2027.

It goes without saying this is a major boost to the passenger experience, because the quality difference with Starlink is huge.

Here’s how American’s Chief Customer Officer, Heather Garboden, describes this development:

“Our customers have told us that dependable connectivity can make a meaningful difference in how they spend their time in the air. Whether they are livestreaming a favorite show, gaming, collaborating in real time on an important work deal, scrolling social media or online shopping, Starlink will give our customers countless options to make the most of their time while traveling. Just as importantly, it provides the foundation for future innovations that will further enhance the customer experience.”

This is finally an easy win for American against Delta

As I said above, part of American’s issue is that no matter how many positive announcements it makes, it’s really only catching up with Delta and United, and for many changes we’re talking about a horizon of many years.

So while it’s great to improve tech, lounges, cabins, etc., that only gets you so far when competitors are doing the same, and are several steps ahead. United certainly isn’t letting American gain any ground.

However, American announcing a comprehensive Starlink plan (and hopefully rolling it out aggressively) is probably be the single best thing that the airline can do to increasingly compete with Delta, at least from a passenger experience standpoint. Delta has made the silly decision to not introduce Starlink, as it instead plans to partner with Amazon Leo.

The issue is that Amazon Leo is only launching as of 2028 (best case scenario), and Delta has also only committed to installing it on part of its fleet. Delta CEO Ed Bastian has been getting some bad press over his alleged comments about Elon Musk.

Delta has really self-owned by not committing to Starlink. I’m happy to see American taking the easy win here, putting Delta in third place among the “big three” when it comes to connectivity.

Bottom line

American Airlines has announced plans to install Starlink Wi-Fi on all aircraft, rather than just on roughly 500 Airbus A320-family aircraft. So we’ll now also see Starlink on all Boeing planes, including narrow body and wide body aircraft.

As American tries to become more competitive, introducing legitimately high speed Wi-Fi from Starlink across the fleet is the obvious move. Unlike many other changes at American, this will actually lead to a competitive advantage, given how Delta is falling behind with Wi-Fi.

What do you make of American introducing Starlink throughout the mainline fleet?

We’re also going to see a second Centurion Lounge open at an airport that already has one, plus two existing Centurion Lounges expanded. Let’s go over the details…

London Heathrow gets second Amex Centurion Lounge

American Express plans to open a second Centurion Lounge at London Heathrow Airport (LHR), in Terminal 5, complementing the existing lounge in Terminal 3. The new lounge will be roughly 9,000 square feet, and is supposed to open in 2028.

Details are limited, but the lounge is expected to feature premium food and beverage offerings, a variety of seating and dedicated work areas, a VIP area, and “design inspired by London’s cultures, histories, and the River Thames.”

Terminal 5 is of course home to British Airways, so this will be one of the only non-oneworld lounges in the terminal. At just 9,000 square feet, expect that this lounge could get quite busy.

Philadelphia gets expanded Amex Centurion Lounge

American Express plans to expand its Centurion Lounge at Philadelphia Airport (PHL). The lounge will double in size, from its current 6,000 square feet, to two stories totaling more than 12,000 square feet. The lounge will temporarily close for renovations on October 16, 2026, and it’s expected to fully reopen by the end of 2027.

The expanded lounge is expected to feature “design inspired by Philadelphia’s history, creative energy, and craftsmanship, alongside work from local artists.” Beyond that, the lounge is expected to have a Blue Roast by American Express Coffee and Wellness Bar.

Houston gets expanded Amex Centurion Lounge

American Express plans to expand its Centurion Lounge at Houston Intercontinental Airport (IAH). The lounge will nearly triple in size, from 8,000 square feet to more than 23,000 square feet, making it one of the largest Centurion Lounges in the network. The expanded lounge is expected to open in 2028 — there’s no indication of the existing lounge closing, so I’m not sure what exactly is going on there, but I’ll report back when I hear more.

New offerings will include a specialty dining experience inspired by Houston’s culinary scene, Blue Roast by American Express, a second full service bar, expanded seating, and additional restrooms and showers. As Amex describes it, “with a design influenced by the surrounding landscape and coastal influence, the reimagined space will celebrate Houston’s vibrant culture, culinary scene, and enduring connection to space exploration.”

Bottom line

There are huge upgrades coming to the Amex Centurion Lounge network. We’re going to see a second Centurion Lounge open at London Heathrow, as well as significantly expanded Centurion Lounges in Houston and Philadelphia. These are all awesome changes, especially when paired with the new Centurion Lounge Newark.

What do you make of these Centurion Lounge updates?

This is one of several Centurion Lounge updates today, as we’re also seeing changes to Centurion Lounges at three other airports.

30,000 square foot Centurion Lounge coming to Newark

In 2027, a 30,000 square foot Amex Centurion Lounge is expected to open in Terminal A at Newark Airport. Initially the lounge was supposed to be 18,000 square feet, so it has nearly doubled in size before even opening.

The lounge will span two floors, and will “take inspiration from New Jersey’s rich cultural heritage and culinary traditions.” Card members can look forward to a range of new offerings at the lounge, including the following:

• A Blue Roast by American Express Coffee and Wellness Bar, featuring espresso beverages, cold brew, seasonal coffee specialties, smoothies, avocado toast, chia pudding, and more
• Three distinct New Jersey-inspired bar experiences — The Main Bar will feature craft cocktails and curated wines, the Specialty Bar will put a modern spin on the state’s iconic diner culture, and the Pine Barrens-inspired Terrace Bar will offer gelato, Italian pastries, and Italian-inspired cocktails
• Signature offerings from the Culinary Collective by The Centurion Lounge, featuring dishes created by James Beard Award-winning Resy chefs, including Kwame Onwuachi, Mike Solomonov, Mashama Bailey, and Sarah Grueneberg

This new Centurion Lounge is a great development!

The new Amex Centurion Lounge Newark is exciting on a few levels. For one, it’s the largest Centurion Lounge to date, so that’s always good to see, given consistent crowding issues with the lounge network.

This new lounge will also mean that Amex is the first bank to have its proprietary lounges at all three New York City-area airports, as there are also Centurion Lounges at New York LaGuardia (LGA) and New York Kennedy (JFK).

Furthermore, Newark Airport lacks exciting lounge options other than from United, so it will be nice to have an alternative. If nothing else, more lounge space is always a good thing in terms of less crowding in other lounges.

Bottom line

American Express will be opening a huge Centurion Lounge at Newark Airport, which will be the biggest lounge in the system, at 30,000 square feet. It’ll feature an impressive number of amenities, including a coffee bar, as well as three other New Jersey-inspired bars.

The lounge sounds like it’ll be great, and it’s nice to see Amex continuing to up its game with Centurion Lounges, especially given the quality we’re seeing from Capital One Lounges and Chase Sapphire Lounges (admittedly their networks are much smaller). Unfortunately we’ll need to be patient some time longer, as this lounge’s opening has now been delayed until 2027.

What do you make of the Amex Centurion Lounge Newark?

It’s always cool to see new long haul dots added to the map, so let’s take a look at the details. Air France recently cut flights to Denver, Colorado, so presumably these routes are partly how the airline is choosing to instead allocate those planes.

Air France plans Paris to Nashville flights as of May 2027

As of May 14, 2027, Air France plans to add 3x weekly flights between Paris (CDG) and Nashville (BNA), with the following schedule:

AF38 Paris to Nashville departing 2:10PM arriving 4:40PM
AF39 Nashville to Paris departing 6:55PM arriving 10:15AM (+1 day)

The 4,372-mile flight will operate on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, in both directions. It’s blocked at 9hr30min westbound and 8hr20min eastbound. It’ll be operated by an Airbus A350-900, featuring business class, premium economy, and economy.

Nashville has seen a gradual but impressive amount of transatlantic growth over the years. The airport currently has service from both Aer Lingus and British Airways, which belong to the same oneworld transatlantic joint venture (otherwise including American, Finnair, and Iberia). There’s also seasonal service on Icelandair, though perhaps that’s not a “true” transatlantic flight.

So it’s cool to see that the SkyTeam transatlantic joint venture will also now have a nonstop flight out of Nashville. Of course this will be practical not just for travel to and from Paris, but also for connections to other points in Europe, Africa, India, the Middle East, etc.

Air France plans Paris to San Diego flights as of May 2027

As of May 17, 2027, Air France plans to add 3x weekly flights between Paris (CDG) and San Diego (SAN), with the following schedule:

AF58 Paris to San Diego departing 10:10AM arriving 12:50PM
AF59 San Diego to Paris departing 3:10PM arriving 11:05AM (+1 day)

The 5,698-mile flight will operate on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, in both directions. It’s blocked at 11hr40min westbound and 10hr55min eastbound. It’ll be operated by an Airbus A350-900, featuring business class, premium economy, and economy.

San Diego has also seen a nice amount of transatlantic growth over the years, as the airport has service from British Airways, KLM, and Lufthansa, so all three transatlantic joint ventures are represented there. The SkyTeam transatlantic joint venture will be the first to have service from two carriers.

Bottom line

Air France appears to be adding two new destinations in the United States as of the summer of 2027, as the airline will fly from Paris to both Nashville and San Diego. Both routes will operate 3x weekly, and this represents the first time the airline will operate regularly scheduled, consistent flights to these destinations.

These are both very cool additions to Air France’s network, and competitively, probably make more sense than flying to Denver, where United has a huge advantage.

What do you make of Air France’s newest routes to the United States?

KLM plans Starlink introduction in mid-2027

KLM has announced that it plans to start introducing Starlink Wi-Fi on intercontinental flights as of mid-2027. The service will be free for all Flying Blue members in all classes of service, and will be rolled out in phases, though it’s not yet known when rollout will be complete.

Presumably it’s coming to all Boeing 777s, Boeing 787s, and newly delivered Airbus A350s. With Airbus A330s being phased out, I don’t expect that those planes will get Starlink, but time will tell how things play out.

Starlink is known for its high-speed, low-latency broadband internet, and the service is offered gate to gate. Starlink Wi-Fi allows for live streaming, productivity similar to on the ground (with high upload and download speeds), gaming, e-commerce, and more.

Starlink is becoming increasingly popular with airlines, and we’ve seen dozens of carriers sign up for the service. As a passenger, having Starlink sure makes a big difference. KLM currently has a mix of Intelsat and Panasonic Wi-Fi on most of its wide body planes, so Starlink represents a massive upgrade in terms of bandwidth.

Here’s how KLM CEO Marjan Rintel describes this initiative:

“We are making a long-standing wish of our passengers a reality: fast, free Wi-Fi on intercontinental flights starting in mid-2027. This will allow passengers to stay connected even high above the ocean. The introduction of free Wi-Fi is part of KLM’s continued efforts to provide its passengers with a comfortable, digitally connected travel experience.”

Why Starlink isn’t coming to short haul KLM flights

What’s interesting is that while most other major European carriers are introducing Starlink across their fleets, that’s not the case at KLM. Instead, KLM won’t be offering Starlink on its short and medium haul flights.

Why is that? Well, KLM has just recently been installing Viasat Wi-Fi on its narrow body planes, with free connectivity also available for Flying Blue members. So the airline isn’t ditching Viasat Wi-Fi on those planes, but instead, will keep that service.

The issue is that KLM still isn’t completely consistent on short haul flights. Admittedly it’s because the carrier is modernizing its narrow body fleet, so planes like the 737-700s and 737-900s are being phased out, and don’t yet have connectivity.

Bottom line

KLM plans to roll out Starlink Wi-Fi throughout its wide body fleet, with installation starting as of the middle of 2027. Starlink will be free for all Flying Blue members, and should represent very nice improvements in bandwidth compared to existing services.

I figured an announcement like this was imminent, since KLM was really the outlier by not having previously committed to the service. Don’t expect to find Starlink on short and medium haul flights, though, as KLM will continue to offer Viasat on those planes.

What do you make of KLM’s Starlink plans?

Free Starlink Wi-Fi coming to Royal Air Maroc

Royal Air Maroc plans to equip 41 aircraft with Starlink Wi-Fi, with installation expected to start as of early 2027. The service will be offered free of charge to all members of its Safar Flyer frequent flyer program (it’s not clear if you need to have your frequent flyer number on the reservation, or just need to be a member of the program).

It remains to be seen when the Starlink rollout Wi-Fi will be completed. In theory, Starlink Wi-Fi could be installed on 41 planes in a matter of weeks (United is installing Starlink on 20 planes per week at the moment), but understandably, smaller airlines typically aren’t that fast. Royal Air Maroc currently doesn’t offer any Wi-Fi on a vast majority of its aircraft, so this will represent a massive upgrade.

Royal Air Maroc’s fleet currently consists of around 70 aircraft, including ATR 72-600s, Embraer E190s, Boeing 737-800s, Boeing 737 MAX 8s, Boeing 787-8s and Boeing 787-9s. I’m not quite sure how they come up with the number of 41 planes, based on the fleet breakdown.

I’d assume that all Dreamliners, plus the 737 MAX 8s, will all get Starlink, and that brings us to 32 aircraft. Perhaps nine of the existing 737-800s will also get Starlink? Seems kind of random, but whatever.

According to Royal Air Maroc CEO Hamid Addou, “this agreement reflects a clear ambition: to offer our passengers a travel experience that meets the highest international standards.”

Starlink is known for its high-speed, low-latency broadband internet, and the service is offered gate to gate. Starlink Wi-Fi allows for live streaming, productivity similar to on the ground (with high upload and download speeds), gaming, e-commerce, and more.

Starlink is becoming increasingly popular with airlines, and we’ve seen dozens of carriers sign up for the service. As a passenger, having Starlink sure makes a big difference.

This is a (rare) positive initiative from Royal Air Maroc

It’s great to see an airline in Africa introducing Starlink Wi-Fi, because as mentioned above, no other airline in Africa has officially committed to Starlink yet.

One thing I do find interesting is how Royal Air Maroc is otherwise sort of “stuck” when it comes to its fleet growth and passenger experience:

• The airline has a fleet of 70 planes, with no additional next generation aircraft on order; the only other planes the airline has on order are two used Embraer E190s
• Royal Air Maroc has a wildly inconsistent customer experience; across the carrier’s Dreamliners, there are at least four business class configurations, between the custom built 787-8s with those awful “top/bottom” seats,” the ex-Xiamen Air 787-8s, the standard 787-9s, and the 787-9s intended for WestJet (at least all the 787-9s have the same general types of reverse herringbone seats, but with different configurations)

It’s just interesting to see an airline that has virtually no more planes on order, and no official plans to streamline things. Hey, I actually don’t think there’s anything wrong with that, necessarily, since this is efficient, and there probably wouldn’t be a return on investment in spending an endless amount of money introducing some cutting edge product.

But it’s quite a contrast to carriers like Royal Jordanian, for example, which are completely overhauling their fleet, introducing a new business class, etc.

Bottom line

Royal Air Maroc plans to introduce Starlink Wi-Fi as of early 2027, making it the first carrier in Africa to announce plans to install the service. Royal Air Maroc will offer Starlink on 41 planes, so presumably that covers all Dreamliners, all 737 MAXs, and some number of other 737s.

It’s great to see the airline making an investment in passenger experience, since it’s something we don’t otherwise see much of from the carrier.

What do you make of Royal Air Maroc’s Starlink plans?

Biman Bangladesh orders A350-900 & A321neos

Biman Bangladesh Airlines has announced a firm order for 10 Airbus aircraft, including four A350-900s and six A321neos. The airline explains that these planes will operate out of Dhaka (DAC), of course, and the airline plans to “leverage the latest-generation aircraft’s exceptional range, efficiency and operating economics to strengthen its network.”

The airline claims that these planes will help the airline serve North America, and also to expand to key destinations across Europe and the Middle East. The airline hasn’t yet announced the delivery timeline for these aircraft, though the claim is that these are firm orders.

Interestingly, back in 2023, Biman Bangladesh announced that it planned to place an order with Airbus for the A350. However, that wasn’t finalized at the time, and the airline ended up going with Boeing, only to now still place an order with Airbus.

Here’s all that Rumee A. Hossain, Biman Bangladesh’s chairman, had to say about this order:

“Bangladesh is a dynamic nation of 200 million people, backed by a resilient economy and a rapidly growing travel market. We are uniquely supported by a deeply connected global diaspora of 15 million people. In this context, our planned fleet expansion represents a measured and reasonable ambition.”

How these Airbus planes fit into Biman Bangladesh’s fleet

For context on Biman Bangladesh’s fleet, the airline currently has 19 aircraft, including four Boeing 737-800s, four Boeing 777-300ERs, six Boeing 787s (four 787-8s and two 787-9s), and five De Havilland Dash 8s. Just recently, we saw the airline place a firm order for 25 Boeing jets, and now we’re seeing the airline place a firm order for 10 Airbus jets.

It’s pretty wild to see a non-startup airline with 14 jets order 35 more jets, nearly tripling its fleet. I also can’t help but be a bit confused by the unnecessary diversity of this order. Based on the current order book, the airline has the following planes on the way:

• Six Airbus A321neos
• Four Airbus A350-900s
• 10 Boeing 737 MAX 8s
• Two Boeing 787-9s
• 13 Boeing 787-10s

In terms of next generation aircraft already in its fleet, Biman Bangladesh currently has four Boeing 787-8s and two Boeing 787-9s. So if we assume those planes stick around, that means the airline will have:

• Six Airbus A321neos
• Four Airbus A350-900s
• 10 Boeing 737 MAX 8s
• Four Boeing 787-8s
• Four Boeing 787-9s
• 13 Boeing 787-10s

Also, random side note. The airline talks about how it wants to expand to North America, though keep in mind that Bangladesh doesn’t have a Category 1 rating with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), so airlines from Bangladesh can’t currently launch flights to the United States. That could change over time, though, but it definitely limits North America growth!

Bottom line

Biman Bangladesh Airlines has placed an order for 10 Airbus aircraft, including six A321neos and four A350-900s. The A350 order was rumored a few years back, so it’s nice to see this be official.

However, I can’t help but be confused by the number of different aircraft types being ordered, from a fleet commonality perspective. That’s because the airline also recently ordered 25 Boeing jets, split between the 737 MAX and 787.

What do you make of Biman Bangladesh’s Airbus aircraft order?

Norwegian sued for putting ponytail on plane in social media post

During the 2026 World Cup, Norwegian Air Shuttle posted a picture to its social media channels, showing one of the carrier’s Boeing 737s with a big ponytail, with the caption reading “we’ve never looked more Norwegian.” This was an obvious reference to Erling Haaland, the Norwegian soccer player who is known for his ponytail look.

In response to this, Haaland has now filed a lawsuit against the airline, claiming this picture commercially exploited his identity without permission. The soccer player’s lawyer noted that “the case concerns Norwegian’s unlawful use of Haaland’s distinctive signs in its promotion of plane tickets during the football World Cup.”

A spokesperson for Norwegian Air Shuttle explained that “like almost all of Norway, we supported the national team this summer, through a few spontaneous posts inspired by trends on social media,” and this was just intended as a lighthearted way of doing that.

This case is expected to be heard in Oslo District Court on Friday, October 9, 2026, so I’m curious what comes of this.

Legally there’s probably merit to the case, but…

While I’m no legal expert (especially on Norwegian law!), technically Haaland and his legal team seem to be correct. I mean, Norwegian Air Shuttle is unmistakably using Haaland’s likeness in these social media posts during the World Cup, since I imagine almost everyone in the carrier’s intended audience knew exactly what this was in reference to.

Admittedly it doesn’t excuse “stealing” his likeness, though I imagine from the carrier’s perspective this wasn’t really thought of as a commercial ad campaign, but instead, was more of a spur of the moment social media post based on trends at the time. That doesn’t excuse it, and I suppose the goal was to build brand awareness.

I think the other thing is that during the World Cup, there’s a great sense of national pride and competitive excitement, and this was intended to lean into that.

This does seem a little petty and minor in the scheme of things, but hey, that’s not for me to decide…

Bottom line

Erling Haaland is suing Norwegian Air Shuttle over a World Cup social media post, where the airline put a ponytail on a Boeing 737, saying it has “never looked more Norwegian.” The famous Norwegian soccer player’s legal team is arguing that the airline was trying to steal his likeness, while the airline claims it meant no harm, and was just intended to show support for the national soccer team.

What do you make of this lawsuit?

Alaska sells Breeze tickets, awards Atmos Rewards points

Alaska Airlines has quietly started selling tickets for travel on Breeze Airways, as first flagged by Enilria, and then analyzed by Cranky Flier (thanks to 1990_ for flagging this). This partnership is based on an interline agreement, which is the most basic level of cooperation you can have between two airlines. However, it’s being taken to the next level:

• Alaska is selling tickets for travel on Breeze directly on its website; you can have an interline agreement without actually directly selling tickets on another airline
• Alaska is awarding Atmos Rewards points for travel on Breeze; there’s typically no expectation that an interline agreement comes with any sort of loyalty reciprocity

To go into a bit more detail, it seems that Alaska is selling Breeze flights, but the inverse isn’t true. Furthermore, Alaska isn’t selling mixed itineraries on Alaska and Breeze, but instead, it’s only selling Breeze flights in select nonstop markets that Breeze operates in, where the two airlines don’t compete.

So far, this only includes select flights to and from Charleston (CHS), Las Vegas (LAS), and Raleigh Durham (RDU). Let me emphasize that before anyone gets too excited about earning Atmos Rewards points for Breeze flights, I’m not sure where Alaska actually comes up with its pricing for these itineraries. The airline doesn’t get you access to all of Breeze’s fares, and they don’t actually seem to correspond directly to any of Breeze’s fare bundles.

What’s Alaska’s motive for this Breeze partnership?

On the surface, this partnership seems incredibly random. We know that Alaska and American have a close partnership, but here we’re basically seeing Alaska start to sell flights on another US carrier that it otherwise has no partnership with or connection to.

On the one hand, I suppose there’s little downside to this, since it’s not like Alaska and Breeze actually compete much. Alaska is essentially acting as an online travel agency, just getting some sort of a cut on the flight, in exchange for loyalty perks.

The current partnership very much seems to fall into the “why bother” category. I can’t imagine many flyers looking to travel from Charleston to somewhere else in the region are thinking “hey, let me go to Alaska’s website and see what’s available.” And then when they see the lack of fare options compared to Breeze’s site directly, I also can’t imagine they’re very encouraged to book.

Alaska has around $15 billion in revenue annually, and I imagine this arrangement may generate hundreds of dollars, give or take. But I suppose if we just take this at face value, we can also assume that Alaska tries to make up for its lack of global coverage through all kinds of airline partnerships, so maybe the airline is trying to grow domestic coverage through arrangements like this, and this Breeze partnership is a small trial in that direction.

Maybe there’s not much to read into here, and this is just how things will be. Or maybe there’s more to it. We’ll see…

Bottom line

Alaska Airlines and Breeze Airways have quietly launched a partnership. While this is based on an interline agreement, it goes beyond that, as Alaska is selling select flights on Breeze, and is awarding Atmos Rewards points for booking through these channels.

This is definitely an unusual arrangement, to see a US carrier sell flights on another US carrier it otherwise has no partnership with. But I guess for Alaska, it’s not that off brand, since all kinds of partnerships have long been a strong suit of the carrier.

What do you make of this Alaska and Breeze arrangement?

American plans huge Charlotte lounge improvements

Charlotte is American’s second largest hub, though as a premium traveler, it has to be one of the least pleasant to travel through, given the current state of lounges. The primary Admirals Club is an outdated and crowded disaster, though last year we at least we saw the opening of the Provisions by Admirals Club concept, essentially a grab & go lounge.

Fortunately there are some positive changes on the horizon. American plans to open a new Flagship Lounge in Charlotte, as well as a new Admirals Club. This will represent a significant increase in lounge space at the airport. While exact details still remain limited, we have just learned some additional information:

• The new Admirals Club will be 40,000 square feet, making it the largest lounge in American’s system
• Construction on the new Admirals Club will start before the end of 2026, though an opening date has not yet been announced for the Admirals Club or Flagship Lounge

The first rendering has just been released of the new Admirals Club, and here’s how the design is described:

The design of the new space draws inspiration from Charlotte’s unique character, incorporating elements that reflect the city’s tree canopy, rich textile heritage and blend of modern sophistication with southern charm. Once complete, the space will feature distinct zones tailored to traveler needs, including spa-style shower suites, bars and serveries and multiple areas where customers can relax, dine, work and recharge.

As you’d expect, the updated lounge spaces will follow American’s new lounge design concept, matching what we recently saw in Philadelphia (PHL), with the opening of a new Flagship Lounge and Admirals Club. American has also announced plans to open a new Flagship Lounge in Miami (MIA), so there’s a lot to look forward to.

Where will American’s new Charlotte lounges be located?

As was reported by JonNYC a few years back, the initial plan here seemed to be for the new lounges to be located on the mezzanine level near the Concourse D & E connector.

Here’s what I find interesting. Based on what we learned at the time, there’s expected to be around 40,000 square feet of lounge space in this new area. So it sounds like that space won’t actually be a combined Admirals Club and Flagship Lounge space, unless something about the overall available space has changed.

Interestingly, the new press release has no additional details about the Flagship Lounge, or when construction will start. That makes me wonder if something about the plan has changed.

The initial plan was for the new lounge space to eventually replace the existing primary Admirals Club, as it’s supposed to be used by the airport for something else. So if American plans to open a new 40,000 square foot Admirals Club, where will the Flagship Lounge go? Or is there maybe a new plan, and could the existing Admirals Club eventually become the Flagship Lounge?

Regardless, this is a huge step in the right direction, and it will be a massive improvement. Now we’ll just have to see how long it takes until these new lounges actually open, as there’s still no official opening timeline. With construction on the Admirals Club only starting at some point this year, I imagine it could well be 2028 or beyond when this new lounge opens… and that says nothing of the Flagship Lounge!

Bottom line

American Airlines plans to make a huge investment in its lounges in Charlotte. This includes a first-ever Flagship Lounge for the airport, plus an all-new Admirals Club. The new Admirals Club is expected to be around 40,000 square feet, making it the largest in the system. However, since the new lounge complex is expected to be around 40,000 square feet, it sounds like the Flagship Lounge will actually take up some other space.

I’m delighted to see American continuing to invest in its lounges, as there was no airport more in need of an investment than Charlotte. Now we just have to be patient, since we have no clue when the lounges will actually welcome their first guests. There’s no timeline for construction starting on the Flagship Lounge, while construction on the Admirals Club will start later this year.

What do you make of this Charlotte lounge news?

United States replacing passport stamps with biometrics

United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has revealed plans to eliminate the routine use of passport stamps when entering the United States. As it’s described, CBP has engaged in a series of initiatives aimed at modernizing its processes, optimizing resources, reducing operating costs, and creating a welcoming environment for all arriving travelers (when I think CBP, the first thing that comes to mind is definitely “welcoming,” yep!).

This has included things like the automation of forms, implementation of new mobile technology, and increased use of biometric facial matching. As the latest step of this, passport stamps will be eliminated to reduce primary processing times and operating costs.

It’s noted that when appropriate, admissions stamps may still be used during secondary processing, and in limited circumstances in primary, when processing immigrant visas or upon a traveler’s specific request. Travelers can retrieve evidence of their admission, authorized length of stay, and five years of arrival data, by accessing the CBP I-94 website.

Now, it’s worth noting that it’s not like the United States has consistently used stamps in recent years anyway. Certainly those with Global Entry haven’t had their passports stamped. Beyond that, though, even foreigners largely haven’t had their passports stamped. It just hasn’t been consistent, we’ve seen all kinds of trials, etc. But what we’re seeing now is an official phasing out of stamping as a standard part of the process.

This is a common sense development

Passport stamps are kind of a funny thing, and the idiom “too much of a good thing is a bad thing” comes to mind. Some people get really excited by passport stamps, because of course they can be a fun memory of the places you’ve traveled to. It’s kind of like collecting a fridge magnet from a place you’ve visited, only… in your passport.

However, for frequent travelers, these stamps can become a pain, since your passport can fill up pretty quickly, requiring you to get a new one.

The novelty of passport stamps aside, instead relying on biometric data is just generally a smart move in terms of border security. After all, the data is being collected anyway, and it’s ultimately much more reliable than a stamp.

It is funny to see the United States planning on increasing the number of pages in standard passports, all while actual passport stamps are becoming increasingly rare. Then again, it’s not like it costs much to print some extra pages, so it’s at least useful for all the visas that people may need.

Bottom line

While this has been a long time coming, the United States now plans to fully phase out passport stamping as a standard part of the immigration process. CBP has ultimately relied on biometric data for entry anyway, so this is hardly a radical development, especially with many passengers already not being stamped.

Passport stamps are increasingly becoming a thing of the past, and that’s at least useful for frequent travelers in terms of not having to pick up extra passports, due to running out of pages.

What do you make of the US eliminating passport stamping?

Iberia denies passenger boarding, but lies about it

Australian YouTuber Kym Illman posted a roughly 11-minute video titled “Iberia Airlines LIED to me!” He booked a ticket on Iberia from Milan Malpensa (MXP) to Madrid (MAD) through Expedia. On September 7, 2026, he showed up at the airport around 2.5 hours before departure, but wasn’t able to check-in.

He was told he wouldn’t be allowed to board the flight. The reason? According to the check-in agent “Expedia needs to pay Iberia, and this time didn’t.”

So the guy ended up booking a new itinerary to get to Madrid, which included flying ITA Airways from Milan Linate (LIN) to Brussels (BRU), and then Brussels Airlines to Madrid. This itinerary cost hundreds of dollars, and got him to Madrid six hours later than planned.

As you’d expect when booking a third party ticket, he got the runaround. Initially he was told by Iberia that they couldn’t help him with the ticket since he booked through Expedia, and they were responsible for issuing the ticket correctly.

This is where it gets interesting. When he emailed Expedia and heard back, the online travel agency corresponded that they “contacted the airline, and they confirmed that the issue was not related to the payment.” The email continued that “according to their records, the flight was oversold, and as a result, they were unable to accommodate you on the scheduled flight.”

So he then reached out to Iberia, and they actually had a pretty impressive response, though weeks later:

• The airline confirmed that “we regret to inform you that your denied boarding was due to the flight being fully booked”
• The airline immediately issued a full refund, and also issued EC261 compensation
• Oddly, the airline claimed that it couldn’t pay for the taxi between Milan Malpensa and Milan Linate because the taxi invoice was dated prior to the incident (did the taxi driver put the wrong date, or what?)

My take on this Iberia denied boarding situation

I have several thoughts of this Iberia denied boarding situation. Regarding the initial explanation for the denied boarding:

• It is conceivable that a ticket wasn’t issued correctly (you can have a confirmation code without having a ticket number), in which case I would’ve checked for a ticket number, and would’ve immediately called up Expedia, since he was there 2.5 hours before departure, so he had quite a bit of time to spare
• I assume Iberia uses contract staff in Milan, so it’s pretty brash to just totally lie about something; one wonders if the contract agent made this up on the spot, if Iberia instructed the contract agents to deny boarding to the third party guests, or what
• I hate to give Iberia credit here, but I’m almost shocked that they admitted to Expedia, and then to the customer, that the flight was in fact overbooked, rather than trying to come up with some other imaginary excuse; like, I’ve made some pretty straightforward EC261 requests over the years, and have had airlines just outright lie to me in writing, so at least the company was honest in the end

Bottom line

Iberia denied a passenger boarding in Milan, claiming that Expedia (which he booked through) hadn’t paid Iberia for the ticket. There are some situations where tickets aren’t issued correctly, though that explanation was definitely suspect.

So the passenger ended up booking a separate itinerary, and then reached out to Expedia customer service. Expedia customer service said the airline confirmed the flight was oversold, and then the airline also confirmed that was true, and issued compensation.

It really is sad the extent to which airline representatives will just completely lie to customers, with zero shame whatsoever.

What do you make of this Iberia denied boarding situation?

That’s not the only news, though. In addition to plans to introduce a new first class seat, the airline has also shared the details of its new first class soft product, which is coming to all planes, regardless of whether or not they have the new cabins.

British Airways promises a new era of first class

British Airways is overhauling its first class soft product, with the first comprehensive changes that we’ve seen to the cabin since before the pandemic. Beyond the new seats, let’s take a look at what we can expect — all of these changes should be available effective immediately.

First, British Airways is introducing a new unisex first class cabin amenity kit from British heritage house Swaine. It’s available in two colors — royal blue and cream — and contains a selection of skincare products from Wildsmith, with a Circadian Rhythm collection, aimed at supporting hydration and comfort. Products include a face mist, hand and body lotion, ceramide multi-balm, lip balm, face cream, and an overnight mask.

Next, British Airways is introducing a new woven day blanket in first class, featuring a herringbone design. This is complemented by a navy blue cushion with subtle detailing. There’s also new cool-touch fabric navy sleepwear, along with slippers. Then with turndown service, the crew will prepare the bed with a lightweight cotton duvet and newly designed pillow.

When it comes to dining, British Airways is promising greater choice, with a new “From the Grill” concept, whereby customers can create their preferred meal from a selection of proteins, including British roast rack of lamb, grilled salmon, sides and sauces, as well as a selection of signature mains.

To go along with the new dining experience, the airline is rolling out contemporary stoneware and fine bone china. Cutlery is designed by Studio William, while wine glasses are developed in collaboration with Richard Brendon.

British Airways is also promising a new service standard in first class, with updated First Service Specialist (FSS) training, rolling out for all first class trained crews. This is “designed to enable a more personalised service,” and “the programme helps crew respond to individual preferences while delivering the warm, intuitive and attentive hospitality that defines First.”

My take on British Airways’ first class soft product updates

It’s great to see British Airways overhauling its first class soft product. However, at least based on what we know so far, this strikes me as being ever so mildly evolutionary, rather than revolutionary. Admittedly British Airways isn’t providing many pictures or additional details about what has changed, but I just struggle to get overly excited about any of these changes.

Okay, there’s new cutlery, and new amenity kits, and first class flight attendants will be trained on… first class service. The customization of being able to create your own meal is nice, but also not exactly a game changer.

But look, it’s not like I was expecting British Airways to reinvent the wheel with its first class. When you look at transatlantic first class products, British Airways has three things going for it:

• The airline dominates slot controlled Heathrow, which has a lot of premium demand, and people value the ability to fly nonstop
• British Airways first class tends to be the most reasonably priced first class product across the Atlantic
• British Airways has a massive first class footprint, the second largest in the world (only after Emirates), so the airline has lots of first class seats to lots of destinations

When you look at the competitive dynamics, Air France La Premiere first class is much more of a niche product, and it’s priced at the top end of the market globally. It’s only available in select markets, and the cabin is small.

Meanwhile you have Lufthansa Allegris first class and SWISS Senses first class, which is almost a self-own in terms of the reduction in capacity it represents, as you have just three seats per plane, so they’re also trying to skim the market, though they seem to be struggling with figuring out how to price it correctly.

British Airways first class doesn’t need to be perfect, it just needs to be good enough. And I do think the airline is accomplishing that.

Bottom line

British Airways has just overhauled its first class soft product. While the airline is also introducing a new first class hard product, the new service, amenities, and food, are coming to all planes with British Airways first class.

There’s ultimately nothing here that’s revolutionary, but instead, we’re just talking about incremental improvements. First class flight attendants will be trained in first class service (wow!), there will be new pillows, blankets, amenity kits, cutlery and china, and even updates to dining, including the ability to increasingly customize meals.

This all seems like a logical evolution of the product. Is there anything here that should make anyone at Air France lose any sleep? Nope. But ultimately British Airways has a different strategy, and that’s fair enough.

What do you make of these British Airways updates?

While British Airways had already revealed what we can expect from the carrier’s new first class suite (debuting on this plane), the airline has just shared more details of what we can expect on the A380s, including all-new cabins, plus an updated version of the carrier’s business class.

British Airways A380s getting new seats in all cabins

British Airways has today unveiled the new cabins that will be installed on the carrier’s retrofitted Airbus A380s, with a nose-to-tail transformation. The plane will feature redesigned interiors, new seats in every cabin, plus upgrades to the onboard experience.

Here’s how British Airways CEO Sean Doyle describes these updates:

“This is a major milestone for British Airways and the future of our A380 fleet, marking one of the most significant transformations we’ve ever undertaken on any aircraft. We’ve completely reimagined the customer experience, introducing new and updated seats in every cabin, all carefully considered to deliver greater comfort and an elevated customer experience.”

“At the heart of the transformation is our brand-new First suite, but this investment goes far beyond a single cabin. From redesigned interiors and upgraded dining to new amenities and service delivery, every detail has been thoughtfully designed with our customers front and centre, helping them to have a more seamless and memorable experience when they fly with us.”

First, as we’ve already known, British Airways will debut an all-new first class product, featuring proper doors, much improved technology, and plenty of additional storage. This product will debut on the A380, and then the same cabin is expected to be installed on British Airways’ Boeing 777Xs, which will be delivered at some point in 2027 and beyond (probably more likely 2028 or 2040 or never, I dunno).

While I doubt this will be the world’s best first class, it’s still a significant improvement over what the airline currently offers. For what it’s worth, while there was initially talk that first class could move to the upper deck, that’s not the case, and it will in fact be staying on the lower deck.

Next, British Airways plans to introduce a Club World (business class) cabin that takes up the entire upper deck, consisting of 106 seats, and spread across four zones. This will make it the world’s largest business class cabin. Here’s what’s interesting — British Airways isn’t just installing its existing Club Suites business class, but instead, it’s evolving the product.

Now, I’d consider the evolution to be minimal here, but the idea is that it’s a refreshed design with a new color scheme, inspired by the carrier’s blue, red, and cream accents. The new business class seats will reportedly have more storage and improved functionality, but otherwise British Airways is light on details here. There’s also going to be a Club Kitchen snack bar area.

Lastly, British Airways is also promising “brand-new seats and upgraded cabin interiors” in World Traveller Plus (premium economy) and World Traveller (economy). However, the airline hasn’t released many additional details there, beyond the below renderings. However, we do know both cabins will be entirely on the lower deck, since the upper deck will be dedicated to business class.

How British Airways’ Airbus A380 seat count will change

For context, British Airways’ Airbus A380s are currently configured with 469 seats, including 14 first class seats, 97 business class seats, 55 premium economy seats, and 303 economy seats.

Once the planes are reconfigured, capacity will be decreased to 417 seats, including 12 first class seats, 106 business class seats, 84 premium economy seats, and 215 economy seats.

As you can see, this will be a massively premium A380 in terms of the layout, as the airline will have an extra nine business class seats and an extra 29 premium economy seats, though in the process it’s losing two first class seats and 88 economy seats.

Admittedly we knew the airline would lose some cabin density, given the awful old seats that British Airways had in business class on these planes. At least the cabin layout will be much more logical, with business class on the upper deck, and first class, premium economy, and economy, on the lower deck. Compare that to the current setup, where part of business class, premium economy, and part of economy, are on the upper deck, and first class, part of business class, and part of economy, are on the lower deck.

Anyway, I’m happy to see British Airways’ A380s getting a totally fresh life. After all, at the start of the pandemic, British Airways grounded its A380 fleet, as several airlines did. However, in the years since, the planes have been flying around in simply horrible condition, so it’s great to see that they’ll go from the worst planes in the fleet, to probably the best.

The only thing I’d mention is that the upper deck of the A380 isn’t as wide as the lower deck, so I’m curious how spacious the reverse herringbone seats feel, given that width can really impact comfort there.

Bottom line

British Airways is starting the process of fully overhauling its Airbus A380 cabins, with the first jet currently being retrofitted. We knew the airline would introduce a new first class product, but we’ve now learned a bit more.

British Airways is also introducing an updated version of its Club Suites business class product, as well as new seats in premium economy and economy. When you combine the general comfort of the A380 with these updates, it should be a pretty nice ride! I’d expect that these new cabins will also be what’s installed on the carrier’s Boeing 777Xs, if/when those planes are delivered.

What do you make of British Airways’ updated A380 cabin interiors?

British Airways’ hub lounges undergoing major improvements

British Airways has announced plans to redesign all of its Heathrow lounges over the coming years, which will be one of the carrier’s largest lounge investments in history. This even includes opening a new lounge. Initially, this project will center around three things:

• An all-new lounge at the Heathrow Terminal 5C gates (there’s currently not a lounge in this concourse)
• A complete redevelopment of the Heathrow Terminal 5 arrivals lounge
• A new first class check-in experience at Heathrow Terminal 3, in partnership with American Airlines

The catch is that we’ll have to be patient. To start, let’s talk about the new British Airways Galleries Lounge at Heathrow Terminal 5C, due to open in late 2028. This is the furthest pier in Terminal 5, and it doesn’t currently have a lounge. The lounge is described as being inspired by flight and British design, with materials and finishes sourced from across the UK.

The lounge will have a light and open feel, and feature architectural elements inspired by the skies, alongside dedicated areas for dining, relaxation, work, and pre-flight shower facilities. The lounge will also have a 17-meter bar, expected to be among the longest airport lounge bars, as well as views of the apron.

Next, the airline is opening a new arrivals lounge, with refurbishment expected to start in early 2027, with an opening later that year. The lounge will boast a coffee bar and deli, larger dining areas, quiet relaxation zones, and dedicated work booths. It will also offer 59 shower suites, and shared dressing and preparation areas.

First class customers will also have access to a new Concorde arrivals experience, with private cabanas, a la carte dining areas, and elevated design.

Lastly, British Airways and American Airlines will introduce a new first class check-in experience at Heathrow Terminal 3, set to debut this winter. The dedicated facility will provide customers with a more private and stylish facility, with plenty of seating, and updated design.

Here’s how British Airways CEO Sean Doyle describes these updates:

“This investment is a major milestone in the evolution of our lounges and reflects our ambition to create a more connected and consistent customer journey. These spaces will take our lounge design concept to the next step, building on Miami and creating a distinctive British Airways look and feel across key customer touchpoints, from First Wing and our lounges to the onboard experience.”

“By showcasing the best of British design, craftsmanship and hospitality, we will deliver a more premium, seamless experience for our customers. This is the first of many developments in the pipeline, and we look forward to sharing more as we transform the customer experience in the years ahead.” 

This is a huge project, and there are still lots of questions

British Airways has a big lounge footprint at London Heathrow, given that it operates out of two terminals, and has lounges with multiple sets of entry requirements. As it currently stands, British Airways has eight lounges at the airport.

At London Heathrow Terminal 5, you have the Concorde Room (primarily for British Airways first class passengers), the Galleries First Lounge (primarily for oneworld Emerald members), and three Galleries Club Lounges (for business class passengers and oneworld Sapphire members), with a north lounge, a south lounge, and one in Terminal 5B. There’s also the Arrivals Lounge. Then in Terminal 3, you have the Galleries First Lounge and Galleries Club Lounge.

To state the obvious, renovations are typically a double edged sword, in the sense that they require closing down existing lounges, which can be unpleasant.

The good news here is that the second lounge to open at Heathrow with the new design will be an all-new facility, so this could potentially minimize disruptions for existing customers. The idea is that once a new lounge opens, additional existing ones can be closed to be renovated. That brings up two points, though.

First of all, it sounds like this will be a very long term project. The first new lounge will open in late 2027, and the second new lounge will open in late 2028… and that leaves seven more lounges to be renovated! I imagine we’ll be well into the mid-2030s before this project is complete, just based on how long things take.

Next, there are rumors that the overall organization of existing lounges will be updated, and that could include things like the Concorde Room being moved to a new location. However, details about that haven’t yet been revealed, so we’ll have to be patient, and all we can do is speculate.

I can’t help but wonder if we could finally see British Airways materially improve the first class ground experience, to make it a little more competitive with what’s offered by Air France, Lufthansa, and SWISS. Admittedly British Airways has a much larger first class footprint, but still, it would be nice to see some more improvements.

Bottom line

British Airways has formally announced plans to overhaul its lounges at London Heathrow Airport. While all lounges will eventually get a refresh, in addition to a new lounge opening, expect this to take a very long time.

The British Airways Arrivals Lounge will be the first to be updated, and we can expect that to open in late 2027. Then an all-new British Airways Galleries Lounge in Terminal 5C will open in late 2028. It remains to be seen what happens with the other seven existing lounges. They’re all expected to be updated, though the concepts could be changed materially.

What do you make of British Airways’ Heathrow lounge plans?

As you’d expect, a lot more information is coming out about the terror plot each day, especially since the pilot is being questioned, and isn’t really hiding what his intentions were. For example, we learned that the Omani national had actually been banned from flying at his previous job at Oman Air, after the airline discovered his radical views.

We’re now finding out just how premeditated this attack was, how he was very close to pulling off this terror plot on a previous flight, and also what exactly his plan was, including why he didn’t simply lock the captain out of the cockpit. My gosh, this was so close to being an absolutely catastrophic terror attack that could’ve killed many hundreds of people.

The flydubai pilot’s awful plan to commit terror in Israel

Hamam al-Hammami, the flydubai first officer responsible for the recent attempted terror attack, is in custody in the UAE, and has been questioned extensively. Reuters is now reporting on some new details about this attack, and why things played out the way they did:

• The pilot had reportedly been planning the terror attack since before he was even hired at flydubai; he specifically wanted to work at an airline that flies to Israel, so that he could carry out this attack, and flydubai flies to the airport up to 10 times per day
• His plan was to operate the flight as usual, and just seconds before landing at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport, he wanted to divert the aircraft, and crash it into the terminal building, to kill as many people as possible
• The reason he simply didn’t lock the captain out of the cockpit is because he didn’t want anyone to know what was happening, so that no security forces would get involved, the plane wouldn’t be intercepted, etc.
• He had reportedly planned to carry out this terror attack earlier this year, when he was already working a flight to Tel Aviv, but got cold feet at the last minute, possibly because he knew someone onboard the flight
• When it comes to how he carried out the attack, he reportedly got out of his seat to pray in the back of the cockpit, but he then grabbed the emergency axe and attempted to kill the captain

It’s not yet clear if this pilot was acting alone, or if he was part of some larger terror network. Two thoughts come to mind:

• The captain of this flight, as well as the passengers who helped, are heroes to the highest degree imaginable; he didn’t just save the lives of everyone onboard, but he potentially saved the lives of many hundreds of people on the ground
• Now it makes sense why the first officer didn’t simply lock the captain out of the flight deck, and I must say, this was a well thought out terror plot, in terms of not arousing any suspicion, and potentially carrying out a very successful attack (let me very clear, “well thought out” and “successful” in the worst way imaginable)

How did this flydubai pilot get clearance to fly, though?

From a preventability standpoint, there are two biggest questions outstanding.

First of all, how did this pilot get his job at flydubai? It seems like there needs to be more communication between airlines and governments when it comes to concern over pilot mental health, radicalization, etc.

Oman Air removed the guy from flying duties when they discovered his radical views. Presumably Oman Air probably had no clue the guy was applying at other airlines — what are they supposed to do, just email every airline on planet earth to warn them about him?

But it seems like airlines should have some sort of a database for pilots who reach that threshold of “concern.” For that matter, when pilots are hired at other airlines, is there no sort of “reference” process, whereby previous employers are contacted? Or did he maybe not even list Oman Air?

Meanwhile flydubai claims it did perform the standard background checks on him. On the one hand, you’d hope they could catch something like this. On the other hand, realistically speaking, I can also see how this could slip through the cracks.

I think the biggest question is how the guy was rostered onto a flight to Israel. There’s talk of how Israel’s agreement with flydubai required the airline to only roster crews from countries with relations with Israel. But before we put that blame entirely on the airline, Israel confirmed it had the manifest for the crew, so they knew who was operating the flight.

I guess the idea is that there was some breakdown in verification here, and that Israel wasn’t actually actively monitoring those lists. If so, that’s a major security lapse for Israel, a country that prides itself in its unrivaled national security.

Bottom line

As the days go on, we’re learning more details about just how heinous of an attack the flydubai first officer was planning. His intention was to kill the captain without anyone noticing, have the plane proceed as normal, and then just seconds before landing in Israel, crash the plane into the terminal building.

This also wasn’t a spur of the moment decision, as he had reportedly been planning this since before he was even hired at flydubai. For that matter, he specifically applied to work at flydubai because the airline flies to Israel.

What do you make of the new details about this flydubai terror plot?

American will no longer involuntarily bump passengers

Airlines frequently oversell flights, given that there are often no shows, misconnects, etc. Airlines are really good at getting this right, though in some situations, there do end up being more passengers than seats at the gate (in which case a flight goes from being oversold to overbooked).

In those situations, airlines are first supposed to voluntarily deny passengers boarding, meaning that they offer some sort of compensation in exchange for passengers agreeing to take another flight. When that happens, it’s a win-win, since passengers are trading their seat for vouchers, gift cards, free tickets, etc.

If an airline can’t get enough volunteers, then they start to involuntarily deny passengers boarding. At this point, passengers are due cash compensation, which is government mandated. Involuntary denied boardings are also reported to the Department of Transportation (DOT), so the frequency with which airlines do that is published, and may be factored into overall airline quality scores.

Speaking of which, this is an area where American has historically ranked dead last. Just for context, in 2025, American involuntarily denied boarding to around 15,000 passengers, making up around 60% of the roughly 25,000 passengers who were involuntarily denied boarding across US airlines last year.

Arguably involuntary denied boardings should never happen. After all, there will always be some passengers who are willing to volunteer if the price is right, so it all comes down to how much the gate agents are invested in ensuring no involuntary denied boardings, and also how much discretion they have to increase compensation to get volunteers.

Along those lines, View from the Wing flags how American is telling its employees to stop involuntarily bumping passengers, as the airline has a new “zero involuntary denied boarding mandate.” This isn’t just some pie in the sky thing, but the airline is literally telling employees not to involuntarily deny passengers boarding under any circumstances. The airline is authorizing those who are bumped to be rebooked on the next flight, even if it’s already sold out. Here’s the memo to employees:

MANDATE: ZERO INVOLUNTARY DENIED BOARDINGS

“No invols” is no longer a goal – it is a company requirement. Continue working the oversale until every affected customer has voluntarily accepted the offer and confirmed travel.

1. DO NOT CLOSE THE AIRCRAFT DOOR – The aircraft door must remain open while any potential involuntary denied boarding is outstanding. All required volunteers must agree to the voluntary conditions before door closure. Take a delay, when necessary, to resolve the oversale.

2. LEADERSHIP MUST BE AT THE GATE – Airport leadership at the CSM level or above must be present for any oversold flight and actively support the team through resolution, including going above max compensation. DOD no longer authorizes or denies going above max compensation – station leadership will determine whether a higher amount is necessary to secure volunteers and prevent an involuntary denied boarding

3. NEW CUSTOMER-FRIENDLY ANNOUNCEMENTS – Begin early and use the new upbeat and transparent language that explains why fewer seats are available than originally anticipated, including an aircraft swap or weight-and-balance restriction when applicable. The new announcements make it easy for customers to volunteer.

4. YOU MAY GUARANTEE VOLUNTEERS THE VERY NEXT FLIGHT – A volunteer may be confirmed on the very next departure, even when that flight does not currently show available seats. Use Find/Protect; if the next flight has no availability, call Day of Departure (DoD) for booking support. An involuntarily denied customer would receive only the next flight with available seats – an important comparison when having a one-on-one conversation with a customer.

5. USE TRANSPARENT ONE-ON-ONE CONVERSATIONS – If individual outreach will help secure a volunteer, work the priority list before door closure. Call DoD only to obtain the customer-specific DOT involuntary denied boarding compensation amount. Explain that amount and present a voluntary package with compensation and a confirmed seat on the very next flight.

DOCUMENTATION: Record the solicitation start time, each compensation increase, escalation details, and any oversale anomaly in the O-text.

This really shows that American is trying to improve

The airline industry is of course more competitive than ever before, especially in the United States, where the major carriers are all trying to decommoditize air travel, and create brand loyal customers.

So we see airlines make all kinds of flashy announcements, some of which have substance, and some of which don’t. But this change from American is actually pretty remarkable, since it’s not even being announced publicly, so American isn’t even doing this to score brownie points.

Instead, this is clearly about actually trying to improve operations, create an overall better passenger experience, and also get better Department of Transportation statistics (something that’s worth striving for). Operational reliability in every way is important, and American is only now starting to embrace that concept.

Things are headed in the right direction, and I’m happy to see that. But as I always say, the issue is that when you’ve squandered nearly a decade in a hyper competitive industry where positive changes often take years to be realized, it’s not exactly easy to catch up.

Bottom line

American Airlines has committed to no longer involuntarily denying passengers boarding. The idea is that when flights are oversold, the airline will ensure that passengers are only voluntarily denied boarding, rather than involuntarily being denied boarding.

This is being done through managers increasingly being involved in oversell situations, and being able to authorize higher compensation amounts, and even rebookings on sold out flights. This is a really positive change that should’ve been made a long time ago. But hey, better late than never (which, if American is looking for a new slogan…).

What do you make of American committing to no longer involuntarily denying passengers boarding?

However, there are some things that could make this card worthwhile, including a potentially lucrative welcome offer, no preset spending limit, and some credits that can help offset the annual fee. If your business spends a lot, you value having an Amex, and you just want to earn simple cash back without a complex rewards structure, this could be a good option.

No Preset Spending Limit means your spending limit is flexible. Unlike a traditional card with a set limit, the amount you can spend adapts based on factors such as your purchase, payment, and credit history

This post is my in-depth review of the Amex Graphite Business Cash Unlimited. Is the card worth it, and if so, under what circumstances? And what are the best alternatives?

Link: Learn more about the Graphite™ Business Cash Unlimited Card

Amex Graphite Business Cash Card summary & key details

Before I get into my Amex Graphite Business Cash Unlimited review, let me briefly summarize the key details of the card:

• Amex Graphite Business Cash Unlimited Card annual fee: $295 (Rates & Fees)
• Amex Graphite Business Cash Unlimited Card welcome offer: $1,500 cash back after spending $50,000 within the first six months
• Amex Graphite Business Cash Unlimited Card rewards: 2% cash back on all eligible purchases, plus 5% cash back on flights and prepaid hotels booked through Amex Travel Online
• Amex Graphite Business Cash Unlimited Card credits: Up to $2,400 in American Express One AP statement credits, after spending $250,000 on eligible purchases on the card in a calendar year
• Amex Graphite Business Cash Unlimited Card foreign transaction fees: None (Rates & Fees)

Beyond that, here are what I consider to be some of the major pros and cons of the Amex Graphite Business Cash Unlimited:

• Amex Graphite Business Cash Unlimited Card pros include the solid welcome offer, the lack of a preset spending limit, and the consistent 2% cash back on spending
• Amex Graphite Business Cash Unlimited Card cons include the high annual fee, given that the card offers a pretty industry standard 2% return on spending

Amex Graphite Business Cash Card bonus, fees, rewards, and credits

With the above out of the way, let’s look at the various aspects of the Amex Graphite Business Cash Unlimited, from the welcome offer, to the fees, to the rewards structure, to the other perks. This card is fairly straightforward, so there’s not all that much to understand, for better or worse.

Graphite Business Card $1,500 cash back welcome offer

The Amex Graphite Business Cash Unlimited currently has a welcome offer where you can earn $1,500 cash back after spending $50,000 within the first six months. Rewards Dollars can be redeemed as statement credits to offset transactions, or as a payment method for Amazon purchases.

Given that the card ordinarily offers at least 2% cash back, that means spending $50,000 would earn you a minimum of $2,500, equivalent to 5% cash back on that amount of spending, which is solid. Admittedly the spending requirement is big (it averages out to $8,333 per month over the course of six months), but I do think businesses that spend a lot might find this to be achievable.

Graphite Business Card $295 annual fee

The Amex Graphite Business Cash Unlimited has an annual fee of $295 (Rates & Fees), which is definitely on the steep side, especially given the relatively narrow appeal of the credits offered on the card, which require a lot of spending.

With the card’s 2% cash back rewards structure, you’d essentially recoup the annual fee (in terms of rewards) after $14,750 in spending.

Graphite Business Card $95 authorized user fee

The Amex Graphite Business Cash Unlimited has an authorized user fee of $95 (Rates & Fees), though you can also get a no annual fee Employee Business Expense Card with no additional fee. Still, that’s a rather steep authorized user fee for a card that doesn’t actually offer many incremental perks. You can add up to 99 employee cards to your account.

Graphite Business Card no preset spending limit

The Amex Graphite Business Cash Unlimited has no preset spending limit. The idea is that this gives you flexibility in ways that traditional credit cards don’t. The amount you can spend adapts based on factors such as your purchase, payment, and credit history. Rather than having a set limit, you could grow your purchasing power the more you consistently use your card and regularly make payments.

In fairness, it is also worth mentioning that not having a preset spending limit can also lead to some declines if the amount you can charge decreases, so it’s a little less predictable than a regular credit card. However, I find that more often than not, it works in the favor of cardmembers.

Graphite Business Card 2-5% cash back rewards

In terms of its rewards structure, the Amex Graphite Business Cash Unlimited offers a minimum of unlimited 2% cash back on all purchases. On top of that, the card offers 5% cash back on flights and prepaid hotels booked through Amex Travel Online.

All cash back on the card is earned as Rewards Dollars, which can be redeemed as statement credits to offset transactions, or as a payment method for Amazon purchases.

2% cash back on credit card spending is the “gold standard,” as I see it, so that’s excellent, and what everyone should be aiming for, at a minimum. Meanwhile the 5% cash back on Amex Travel might sound appealing, but there are some catches. If you can route travel spending that way, it’s a good option, but the catch is that you may sometimes find lower rates elsewhere, so there could be an opportunity cost to booking that way.

Graphite Business Card up to $2,400 statement credits

The Amex Graphite Business Cash Unlimited offers up to $2,400 in American Express One AP statement credits, after spending $250,000 on eligible purchases on the card in a calendar year. Statement credits will be applied to the monthly bill charged to the card for Amex’s accounts payable solution, One AP.

American Express One AP is an accounts payable solution that can help transform the way your business pays suppliers. With One AP, you can streamline your supplier invoice payments on a single platform and pay by virtual card, check, and ACH. Enrollment is required.

Graphite Business Card Pay Over Time feature

The Amex Graphite Business Cash Unlimited offers the Pay Over Time feature, whereby cardmembers can carry a balance with interest on eligible charges, up to the Pay Over Time limit. The way this works, eligible charges will automatically be added to a Pay Over Time balance, up to the Pay Over Time limit.

You can choose to pay for these charges over time with interest, or you can pay your full balance each month, whichever is best for your business. You must pay in full any charge or a portion of a charge that is not added to a Pay Over Time balance.

Personally, I recommend paying the balance in full each billing cycle if possible, to avoid interest charges. However, I think it’s worth clarifying that the Pay Over Time option is possible, given that this isn’t a traditional credit card.

Is the Amex Graphite Business Cash Card worth it?

The Amex Graphite Business Cash Card earns 2% cash back, and I consider that to be the minimum “gold standard” of credit card rewards. So the card’s rewards structure is perfectly fine. The 5% cash back on travel is also pretty limiting, given that you have to book through Amex.

I think the issue is the steep annual fee, given that there are also much more affordable (and even no annual fee) cards with that kind of a rewards structure. In fairness, Amex doesn’t have another business card earning unlimited 2% cash back, so this is at least a new product for the card issuer. It’s just not a new concept more broadly, and there are lots of competing cards that I’d consider to be superior.

So who should consider the card? As I see it, the Amex Graphite Business Cash Card is targeted at a specific demographic. This card could make sense for the following types of customers:

• Those who can take advantage of the welcome offer — earning $1,500 cash back is excellent, and of course that assumes you actually spend enough to unlock the welcome offer
• Those who value the lack of a preset spending limit, since this can of course make a big difference for businesses that frequently make large purchases
• Those who value the excellent consumer protection that Amex is known for on purchases, which can make a difference for many small business owners when things don’t go as planned
• Those who can take advantage of the American Express One AP statement credits, assuming that’s something you value

I do truly think this is a niche product. But the idea is that if you’re a small business owner charging hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars on credit cards per year, that annual fee won’t make much of a difference.

Still, I’d like to compare this to some other popular products, as I think there are other cards that may be a better fit for some other people.

Amex Graphite Business vs. Amex Blue Business Cash comparison

Perhaps the best direct comparison to the Amex Graphite Business Cash Card is The American Express Blue Business Cash® Card (learn more). The card has no annual fee (Rates & Fees) and offers 2% cash back on the first $50,000 spent every calendar year (and 1% cash back thereafter).

The upside here is obvious, as you’re earning 2% cash back with no fee. The downside is that the welcome offer is much smaller (though also with a smaller spending requirement), the card has foreign transaction fees, you’re capped at earning 2% cash back on the first $50,000 spent annually, and the card does have a preset spending limit.

For a small business mostly spending money domestically, the Amex Blue Business Cash is a great alternative to the Amex Graphite Business Cash.

Amex Graphite Business vs. Amex Blue Business Plus comparison

Another potential alternative to the Amex Graphite Business Cash Card is The Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express (learn more). The card has no annual fee (Rates & Fees) and offers 2x Membership Rewards points on the first $50,000 spent every calendar year (and 1x points thereafter).

If you’re good at redeeming points, that’s a pretty incredible return, since based on my latest miles & points valuations, Amex points are worth 1.7 cents each, for a return of up to 3.4%. The downsides to the Amex Blue Business Plus are otherwise identical to those on the Amex Blue Business Cash — the welcome offer is much smaller (though also with a smaller spending requirement), the card has foreign transaction fees, you’re capped at earning 2x points on the first $50,000 spent annually, and the card does have a preset spending limit.

Amex Graphite Business vs. Amex Business Gold comparison

Speaking of premium Amex business cards, it’s also worth comparing the Amex Graphite Business Cash Card to the American Express® Business Gold Card (learn more). The Amex Business Gold has a $375 annual fee (Rates & Fees), and offers an incredible rewards structure (with up to 4x Membership Rewards points in select categories), plus statement credits that can greatly help offset the annual fee.

As I see it, the Amex Graphite Business Cash Card is the better option if you value cash back and a straightforward rewards structure, while the Amex Business Gold is the better option if you can take advantage of the bonus categories, and are willing to put in the effort to maximize points.

Amex Graphite Business vs. Capital One Spark Cash Plus comparison

While the above comparisons are all to Amex cards, I think it’s also worth comparing the Amex Graphite Business Cash Card to the Capital One Spark Cash Plus (learn more), as it’s perhaps the most direct competitor.

The card also has a massive welcome offer, offers a minimum of 2% cash back with no caps and no foreign transaction fees, and it has a $150 annual fee. Furthermore, the card offers an annual bonus of $150 if you spend at least $150,000 on the card in a calendar year, essentially rebating the annual fee.

I do think the Capital One Spark Cash Plus is more compelling than the Amex Graphite Business Cash Card on balance, unless you specifically have a reason you’d like an Amex, or value the statement credits tied to spending $250,000 per year.

Amex Graphite Business vs. Chase Ink Premier comparison

I’d also like to compare the Amex Graphite Business Cash Card to the Ink Business Premier® Credit Card (learn more), as it’s another potentially lucrative cash back card.

In addition to a big welcome offer, the card offers a minimum of 2% cash back on all purchases, and 2.5% cash back on purchases of $5,000 or more, all with no foreign transaction fees, and a $195 annual fee. So if you have a business that frequently makes large purchases, the Chase Ink Business Premier could be a great alternative.

Amex Graphite Business Cash Card FAQs

Bottom line

The Amex Graphite Business Cash Card is one of Amex’s newest business cards. The card has a $295 annual fee, and offers unlimited 2% cash back, with no preset spending limit, plus a large welcome offer. The card also offers up to $2,400 in American Express One AP statement credits, after spending $250,000 on eligible purchases on the card in a calendar year.

Ultimately I’d consider this to be a niche card. The card could be worth getting for the excellent welcome offer, and it could be worth it if you have a business that spends a huge amount, and values the lack of a preset spending limit, the card’s Amex branding, and/or the statement credits.

Beyond that, though, I tend to think there are better options. If you’re not a huge spender, the Amex Blue Business Cash and Amex Blue Business Plus are excellent options. If you’re willing to maximize points and bonus categories, consider the Amex Business Gold. And if you’re looking for the best direct alternative that’s arguably more lucrative, consider the Capital One Spark Cash Plus.

If you want to learn more about the Amex Graphite Business Cash Card, follow this link.

The following links will direct you to the rates and fees for mentioned American Express Cards. These include: American Express® Business Gold Card (Rates & Fees), The Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express (Rates & Fees), The American Express Blue Business Cash® Card (Rates & Fees), and Graphite™ Business Cash Unlimited Card (Rates & Fees).

What makes the Strata Card especially interesting is how it fits into the bigger picture. Citi now has a full Strata lineup with three cards at different price points. There’s the no annual fee Citi Strata Card, the $95 annual fee Citi Strata Premier® Card (learn more) and the $595 annual fee Citi Strata Elite℠ Card (learn more). Together, they create one of the strongest card portfolios for earning transferable points.

In this post, I’ll cover everything about the Citi Strata Card, including the welcome offer, bonus categories, how to redeem your points, and how to build the best card strategy with the full Strata lineup.

Link: Learn more about the no annual fee Citi Strata℠ Card

Citi Strata Card summary & key details

Before I get into my Citi Strata Card review, here’s a brief summary of the key details of the card:

• Annual fee: $0
• Welcome offer: 20,000 ThankYou points after spending $1,000 within the first three months
• Points earning rates: 5x points on hotels, car rentals, and attractions booked through Citi Travel, 3x points at supermarkets, gas and EV charging stations, and on select transit, 3x points on an eligible self-select category of your choice, 2x points at restaurants, and 1x points on everything else
• Foreign transaction fees: 3%
• Best for: Consumers looking to maximize Citi points earnings across several popular bonus categories, anyone who can pair the card with another Citi card to unlock the better transfer ratio to travel partners

Here are my thoughts on the Citi Strata Card‘s main advantages and drawbacks:

Citi Strata Card bonus & eligibility

The Citi Strata Card is a great option whether you apply directly or pick it up through a product change from another Citi card. Let’s start with the welcome bonus and how to qualify.

Welcome offer of 20,000 ThankYou points

The Citi Strata Card has a welcome bonus of 20,000 ThankYou points after spending $1,000 within the first three months. That’s a low spending requirement, which makes it easy for most people to hit.

Those 20,000 points can be redeemed for $200 cash back, or if you have the card alongside a premium Citi ThankYou card, they can be transferred to airline and hotel partners. Based on my latest miles & points valuation, I consider ThankYou points to be worth 1.7 cents each, which puts this bonus closer to $340 in value.

Is it the biggest bonus out there? No. But the Strata Card is really about long term earning power, and the bonus is a nice cherry on top.

Card eligibility & application rules

There’s one key restriction to know about when it comes to qualifying for the Citi Strata Card bonus. The welcome bonus isn’t available if you currently have or have ever had a Citi Strata Card or Citi Strata Student card account. Unlike many Citi cards, there’s no 48-month window here, so this is effectively a “once in a lifetime” bonus.

But here’s the good news: eligibility for the Citi Strata Card’s bonus is independent from other Citi ThankYou cards. So you’re fully eligible even if you already have the Citi Strata Premier Card or Citi Strata Elite Card.

As for general approval, Citi’s main rules are simple: you can be approved for one Citi card every eight days, and at most two every 65 days. This only counts Citi cards, and other issuers don’t factor in.

Credit score recommendations

There’s no hard-and-fast credit score requirement for Citi Strata Card approval, but I’d recommend having a score in the “good” to “excellent” range. Personally, I probably wouldn’t apply if my score were under 700, and ideally I’d want to be at 740 or higher. That said, approvals depend on many factors, including income, credit history, how much credit Citi has already extended to you, and more.

A few more things to know about applying

Approval timing: Citi approvals are often instant. If your application goes to manual review, don’t panic. It doesn’t mean you’ll be denied. Expect a final answer within about a week.

Which credit bureau does Citi pull? It varies. Citi may pull from Equifax, Experian, or TransUnion depending on multiple factors.

Denied? You can try again. Getting denied once doesn’t mean you’ll always be denied, especially if your credit situation improves. I’d wait about six months before reapplying.

Product changes don’t earn bonuses. If you switch to a Strata card through a product change, you won’t get the welcome bonus. Apply directly if the bonus matters to you.

Authorized users are still eligible. Being an authorized user on someone else’s Citi card doesn’t affect your ability to apply for your own card and earn the welcome bonus.

Impact of a denial on your credit score: The only downside is a hard inquiry, which might temporarily ding your score by a few points. That’s usually not a big deal, and getting approved for a card and using it responsibly can actually help your credit score over time.

Product change & downgrade option

If you’d rather not use a new application, Citi is generally pretty flexible about product changes. If you’ve had another Citi personal card for at least 12 months, you can call and ask to switch to the Strata Card.

Keep in mind that a product change won’t make you eligible for the welcome bonus. The bonus is only for people who apply directly. But if you want to save your applications for cards with bigger bonuses, this can be a smart approach.

Citi Strata Card fees

Fees are of course a major consideration for people when applying for cards, and it’s an area where the Citi Strata Card both delights and disappoints a little.

No annual fee

The Citi Strata Card has no annual fee for the primary cardmember or authorized users. You can hold this card long-term at zero cost, which is great for keeping your credit score healthy. Holding a card long-term also adds to your average age of accounts and total available credit.

Foreign transaction fee

The Citi Strata Card does charge a 3% foreign transaction fee, so I wouldn’t use it for purchases in foreign currencies. For international spending, you’re better off with the Citi Strata Premier Card, which has no foreign transaction fees.

Citi Strata Card points earning structure

The Citi Strata Card has some impressive bonus categories, especially for a no annual fee card. Here’s the earning structure:

• 5x ThankYou points on hotels, rental cars, and attractions booked through Citi Travel
• 3x ThankYou points at supermarkets
• 3x ThankYou points on select transit (car rentals, taxis, ride services, subways, tolls, parking, ferries, buses, and railways)
• 3x ThankYou points on gas and EV charging
• 3x ThankYou points on one self-select category of your choice
• 2x ThankYou points at restaurants (cafes, bars, fast food, takeout, and delivery)
• 1x ThankYou points on everything else

A couple of notes on the categories. The supermarket category generally won’t include warehouse clubs, convenience stores, or specialty vendors. The gas and EV charging category won’t include purchases at warehouse clubs or stores that aren’t classified as gas stations or EV charging. And the restaurant category typically won’t include bakeries, caterers, or restaurants inside hotels, grocery stores, or department stores.

The Citi Strata Card self-select category

One of the unique features of the Citi Strata Card is the 3x points self-select category. You get to pick one of the following:

• Fitness clubs
• Select streaming services
• Live entertainment
• Pet supply stores
• Cosmetic stores, barber shops, and hair salons

Select streaming services is the default when you open the account. You can change your selection once per calendar quarter through your Citi account online. This is a nice touch. It lets you tailor the card to your actual spending habits.

Earn 5x ThankYou points with Citi Travel

The Citi Strata Card offers 5x points on Citi Travel bookings, which sounds great, but I’d flag that booking through a credit card portal usually means you won’t earn loyalty points with the hotel program. If earning hotel status or points matters to you, that’s worth keeping in mind. Of all the bonus categories, this is the one I’m least excited about, personally.

Citi Strata Card ThankYou points redemptions

How much your ThankYou points from the Citi Strata Card are worth depends on the most premium card in your portfolio. Here’s the breakdown.

Citi Strata Card only redemptions

If the Citi Strata Card is your only ThankYou card, you can redeem points for cash back, gift cards, or travel at roughly 0.75 to 1.0 cents per point. You can also transfer to most Citi ThankYou airline and hotel partners, but with a catch: transfers are at a reduced ratio, generally about 30% less than the premium rates.

Citi Strata paired with a premium card

There’s a trick to maximizing your ThankYou points. If you also have the Citi Strata Premier Card or Citi Strata Elite Card, you can pool all your points and transfer them at the best possible ratio to all 20 partners, including American AAdvantage.

Here’s a comparison of the transfer ratios. A quick note on how to read this: a ratio of 1,000:1,000 means 1,000 ThankYou points converts to 1,000 airline or hotel miles. A ratio of 1,000:700 means you only get 700 miles for every 1,000 points, which represents a 30% penalty.

The key thing to remember: it’s about the most premium card you have when you redeem, not when you earn. You can start earning points on the Strata Card now, and as long as you pick up a premium card later, all your points can be transferred at the better rates.

Citi Strata Card benefits

The Citi Strata Card is pretty light on extra benefits, which makes sense for a no annual fee card. Here are the ones worth knowing about.

Intro APR offer

The Citi Strata Card offers a 0% Intro APR on purchases for 15 months; after that, the variable APR will be 18.74% - 28.74%, based on your creditworthiness. It also offers 0% Intro APR on balance transfers for 15 months; after that, the variable APR will be 18.74% - 28.74%, based on your creditworthiness. There is an intro balance transfer fee of 3% of each transfer (minimum $5) completed within the first 4 months of account opening. After that, your fee will be 5% of each transfer (minimum $5). Even among cards with intro APR offers, not every one extends the offer to new purchases, so that’s a nice touch.

Other Citi card benefits

Beyond that, the Citi Strata Card comes with standard Citi card perks, such as:

• Citi Merchant Offers for cash back with certain retailers
• The Citi Entertainment program, which gives cardholders access to presale tickets
• Mastercard ID theft protection

The Citi Strata lineup: Choosing the right cards

Citi now has three Strata cards, and there’s real value in building a portfolio. Here’s a quick look at how they compare.

Citi Strata Card (No annual fee)

This is the card we’ve been talking about. The Citi Strata Card has lucrative bonus categories (especially 3x points at supermarkets, gas, transit, and on your self-select), no annual fee, and is a solid complement to the premium cards. The Welcome bonus is 20,000 points after spending $1,000 in three months.

Link: Apply for the Citi Strata Card

Citi Strata Premier Card ($95 annual fee)

The Citi Strata Premier Card is the card I’d call the best value in the lineup. It offers 10x points on select Citi Travel purchases, 3x points on dining, gas, EV charging, supermarkets, airfare, and hotels, with no foreign transaction fees. It also comes with a $100 annual hotel credit that can help cover the annual fee. The welcome bonus is 60,000 points after spending $4,000 in three months.

Having this card unlocks the full power of the ThankYou ecosystem. You can transfer all your points to partners at the best ratios, including American AAdvantage.

Link: Apply for the Citi Strata Premier

Citi Strata Elite Card ($595 annual fee)

The Citi Strata Elite Card is Citi’s premium play. The card earns 6-12x points on select Citi Travel purchases and 3-6x points on dining (including 6x points on Citi Nights), plus 1.5x points on everything else. But the real draw is the perks, as the card offers a Priority Pass membership, four annual Admirals Club day passes, an up to $300 annual hotel credit, an up to $200 annual Splurge credit, and an up to $200 annual Blacklane credit.

The first-year value is especially strong, since some credits are tied to the calendar year rather than your card anniversary. That means you can stack extra value with your first annual fee. Welcome bonus: 75,000 points after spending $6,000 in three months.

Link: Apply for the Citi Strata Elite

My recommended Citi card strategy

At a minimum, you’ll want either the Citi Strata Premier Card or Citi Strata Elite Card. These are the cards that unlock the full transfer partner lineup. From there, complement it with the no annual fee Strata Card for those bonus categories (especially supermarkets and the self-select), and/or the Citi Double Cash® Card for 2x points on everything else.

If you’re looking for the easiest-to-justify setup, the Strata Premier plus the Strata Card and/or Citi Double Cash Card is a fantastic combination at minimal cost.

Is the Citi Strata Card worth it?

The Citi Strata Card is a compelling no annual fee card on its own, with bonus categories you won’t find on many other free cards. But where it really shines is as part of a broader strategy.

Pair it with the Citi Strata Premier Card or Citi Strata Elite Card, and you’ve got a setup where you’re earning 3-5x points on a wide range of spending categories like supermarkets, gas, transit, restaurants, and your custom self-select, while your premium card handles the travel perks and unlocks the best transfer ratios.

Between the Strata Card, the Strata Premier, and the Double Cash, you can build a portfolio that earns at least 2x (and often 3x or more) on virtually everything you spend, for just $95 in total annual fees. That’s pretty hard to beat.

Citi Strata Card vs. Citi Double Cash Card comparison

As I mentioned above, the Citi Double Cash Card is another great no annual fee option. Since neither card carries an annual fee, it’s worth considering having both in your wallet to earn as many ThankYou points as possible across purchase categories. Here are the main differences:

• The Citi Double Cash Card earns a flat 2x points on all purchases (1x points when you make a purchase, and 1x points when you pay for a purchase), rather than offering specific bonus categories
• The Citi Double Cash Card also has an introductory APR offer, but it’s limited to balance transfers
• The Citi Double Cash Card comes with an extended warranty, a benefit that isn’t available on the Citi Strata Card

Citi Strata Card vs. Chase Freedom Unlimited Card comparison

If you’re drawn to the Citi Strata Card’s earning structure and lack of annual fee but you’re not set on earning Citi points, the Chase Freedom Unlimited® (learn more) is also worth a look. It has a similar, though not identical, earning structure and some other great benefits:

• The Chase Freedom Unlimited earns 5% cash back on travel purchased through Chase Travel, 3% back on dining and at drugstores, and 1.5% back on all other purchases.
• Like the Strata Card’s points, the cash back rewards you earn on the Chase Freedom Unlimited are actually rewards points that become more valuable with transfer partners when you pair them with another card, in this case ideally one like the Chase Sapphire Reserve® Card (learn more) or Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card (learn more)

The better pick for you really comes down to whether you prefer earning Citi ThankYou points or Chase Ultimate Rewards and how your spending aligns with each card’s bonus categories.

Citi Strata Card FAQs

Bottom line

The Citi Strata Card is a no annual fee card that punches well above its weight. Between the 3x points categories on supermarkets, gas, transit, and your self-select choice, plus 2x points on restaurants, it’s one of the more rewarding free cards out there.

But the real value is how it fits into the broader Citi ThankYou ecosystem. Pair the card with the Citi Strata Premier for an incredibly well-rounded setup, or go all-in with the Citi Strata Elite if you value premium perks. Add the Citi Double Cash for 2x points on everything else, and you’ve built a portfolio that maximizes points on every dollar you spend.

With American AAdvantage in the ThankYou ecosystem, there’s never been a better time to build out your Citi card strategy. The Citi Strata Card is an easy and free way to start or to round out what you already have.

If you want to learn more about the Citi Strata Card or want to apply, follow this link.

The card also offers amazing flexibility, since rewards can earn you cash back, or you can even potentially earn airline miles or hotel points at an advantageous rate. I’ve had the Citi Double Cash for years, and it’s one I’ve used for everyday purchases that don’t fall into another bonus category.

In this post, I’ll walk you through everything you need to know. I’ll cover everything from the welcome offer and rewards structure, to how you can transfer and combine your points for maximum value.

Link: Learn more about the Citi Double Cash® Card

Citi Double Cash summary & key details

Before diving into the full Citi Double Cash Card review, here’s an overview of the card and its key features:

• Annual fee: $0
• Welcome offer: $200 cash back after spending $1,500 in the first six months of account opening
• Cash back earning rate: Unlimited 2% cash back on purchases (1% cash back when you buy, plus an additional 1% as you pay), plus 5% on select travel booked through the Citi Travel Portal; while it’s a cash back card, the rewards you earn are actually Citi ThankYou points that you can redeem with transfer partners, though there’s a catch with the transfer ratio, which I’ll get into later
• Foreign transaction fees: 3%
• Best for: Those who want a single cash back card with a solid flat earning rate and no annual fee, and consumers who already have other Citi cards in their wallets

Here are the pros and the cons of the Citi Double Cash Card in my view:

Citi Double Cash Card bonus & eligibility

The Citi Double Cash Card is a great option whether you apply directly or pick it up through a product change from another Citi card. Let’s start with the welcome bonus and how to qualify.

Welcome bonus of 20,000 ThankYou points

The Citi Double Cash Card currently offers a welcome bonus of 20,000 ThankYou points after spending $1,500 within the first six months. That’s a pretty reasonable spending requirement, especially with a full six months to hit it.

Those 20,000 points can be redeemed for $200 cash back, or transferred to airline and hotel partners at a reduced ratio. But if you have this card alongside one that earns premium ThankYou points, like the Citi Strata Premier® Card (learn more) or Citi Strata Elite℠ Card (learn more), those points transfer at a 1:1 ratio to most airline and hotel partners. I personally value ThankYou points at 1.7 cents each, which puts the bonus closer to $340 in value.

This card is really about the long term value, not the flashiest welcome bonus. For context, the card didn’t even have a bonus in the past.

Card eligibility & application rules

The welcome bonus on the Citi Double Cash Card isn’t available if you’ve received a bonus on this exact card in the past 48 months. Beyond that, your eligibility is unrelated to any other Citi card you might have. So you can absolutely pick this up even if you already hold the Citi Strata Premier Card, Citi Strata Elite Card, or Citi Strata Card.

The main Citi application rules to keep in mind: you can typically only be approved for one Citi card every eight days, and at most two Citi cards every 65 days. This is a rolling limit.

Product change and downgrade option

If you’d rather not use up a new card application, Citi is generally pretty good about product changes. If you’ve had another Citi personal card for at least 12 months, you can call Citi and ask to switch to the Citi Double Cash Card.

Just keep in mind that a product change won’t qualify you for the welcome bonus. That’s only for people who apply outright. But if you’d rather save your applications for cards with bigger bonuses and annual fees, this can be a smart move.

Citi Double Cash fees

Fees are of course a major consideration for people when applying for cards, and it’s an area where the Citi Double Cash both delights and disappoints a little.

No annual fee

The Citi Double Cash has no annual fee for the primary cardmember or for authorized users. It doesn’t get better than that. Holding onto no annual fee cards also helps your credit score in the long run, since it increases your average age of accounts and your total available credit.

Foreign transaction fee

One thing to be aware of is that the Citi Double Cash does charge a 3% foreign transaction fee. That means using it for purchases in foreign currencies would actually cost you more than you’d earn back. For international spending, a card like the Citi Strata Premier or Citi Strata Elite (which has no foreign transaction fees) is a better fit. Save the Double Cash for your everyday domestic purchases.

Citi Double Cash rewards earning structure

The Citi Double Cash has a simple rewards structure:

• 1x ThankYou points when you make a purchase
• 1x ThankYou points when you pay for that purchase

That gives you up to 2x ThankYou points per dollar spent after paying your bill. There are no caps or rotating categories to track, just a flat 2x points on everything.

You might see Citi’s marketing refer to this as “1% cash back when you buy, 1% cash back when you pay.” It’s the same thing. The rewards come as ThankYou points, and you decide how to use them.

There’s also a 5x points category for hotels, car rentals, and attractions booked through the Citi Travel portal, but the 2x on every purchase across the board is the main selling point of this card.

This is among the best returns you’ll find on a no annual fee card. Very few cards beat a flat 2% on everything without conditions.

Citi Double Cash Card redemptions

After you earn your 2x ThankYou points on the Citi Double Cash, you’ve got some great options for putting them to use.

Option 1: Cash back at one cent per point

The simplest option for points earned with the Citi Double Cash is to redeem your points for cash back at one cent each. There’s no minimum redemption amount. You can choose between a statement credit (which posts in two to three days) or a direct deposit to any bank account.

You can also use points for Amazon purchases or gift cards, but neither gives you more than one cent per point. So you might as well take the cash.

Here’s an interesting twist: the Double Cash actually lets you redeem points at a better cash rate than some of Citi’s premium cards. The Citi Strata Premier and Citi Strata Elite only let you redeem for 0.75 cents per point in cash back, while the Double Cash gets you the full 1.0 cent. Since you can pool your points, you could redeem all your ThankYou points through the Double Cash at that higher rate.

Option 2: Transfer points to airline and hotel partners

This is where things get really exciting. Citi ThankYou points can be transferred to 20 travel partners, including 15 airlines and 5 hotel programs. To unlock the full value, you’ll want one of Citi’s premium cards alongside the Double Cash (more on that below).

Airline partners: Air France-KLM Flying Blue, American AAdvantage, Avianca Lifemiles, Cathay Pacific Asia Miles, Emirates Skywards, Etihad Guest, EVA Air Infinity MileageLands, JAL Mileage Bank, JetBlue TrueBlue, Qantas Frequent Flyer, Qatar Airways Privilege Club, Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer, Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus, Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles, Virgin Atlantic Flying Club

Hotel partners: ALL Accor, Choice Privileges, Leading Hotels of the World Leaders Club, Preferred Hotels & Resorts I Prefer, Wyndham Rewards

American AAdvantage and EVA Air are two unique and valuable partners you won’t find with most other points programs. Beyond those, my personal favorites include Air France-KLM Flying Blue, Avianca Lifemiles, Emirates Skywards, Qatar Privilege Club, and Singapore KrisFlyer.

Transfer ratios: With vs. without a premium card

If you only have the Citi Double Cash, you can transfer points to most partners, but at a reduced ratio that is generally about 30% less than the premium rates.

Below is a comparison of what the ratios look like with Citi Double Cash transfer partners.

The key takeaway? It’s about the most premium card you have when you redeem, not when you earn. You can start earning points on the Double Cash right now. If you pick up a premium card later, all your existing points can be transferred at the better ratios.

How to transfer and combine your Citi Double Cash points

Let me walk you through the mechanics of actually using your ThankYou points, including those earned with the Citi Double Cash.

Transferring points to travel partners

The process is simple. Log into your Citi ThankYou account (make sure you’re logged in under a card that gives you full partner access, like the Citi Strata Premier or Citi Strata Elite). Then:

1. Click “More Ways to Redeem,” then “Points Transfer”
2. Select the partner you want to transfer to and click “Continue”
3. Use the slider to choose how many points to transfer (in increments of 1,000)
4. Enter your loyalty program number and confirm

Most transfers are instant, though some can take up to two days. One rule to know: you can only transfer to a partner loyalty account that’s in the primary cardmember’s name.

Combining points between accounts

If you have multiple Citi ThankYou cards, you can easily combine your points online. This is important because you’ll want your points sitting with your most premium card for the best transfer ratios.

To combine, log into your Citi account, hover over the dropdown with your name and ThankYou balance, then go to “My Citi Accounts” and click “Combine My Accounts.” From there, you can link any ThankYou accounts under your login.

One important warning: if you close a Citi ThankYou card, the points on that account expire after just 60 days, even if you have another ThankYou card open. This is more restrictive than what you’ll find with Amex, Capital One, or Chase. So always transfer or combine your points before closing a card.

The best card combo: Citi Double Cash + Citi Strata Premier

If you’re looking for the best value with low fees, it’s tough to beat pairing the Citi Double Cash with the Citi Strata Premier. I’d call it one of the best card duos out there. Here’s why:

• Earn 2-3x points on everything: The Strata Premier offers 3x points on dining, gas, EV charging, groceries, airfare, and hotels, while Double Cash covers everything else at 2x, and that means you’re earning at least 2x on every single purchase
• Unlock the full transfer partner lineup: Having the Strata Premier gets you access to all 20 transfer partners at the best ratios, including American AAdvantage
• Flexible redemptions: You can redeem all your pooled points for one cent each cash back (through the Double Cash), or transfer them to partners at the premium ratio (through the Strata Premier), which gives you the best of both worlds
• Low cost: The Strata Premier has a $95 annual fee, plus a $100 annual hotel credit that can cover it, while the Double Cash is free, so you’re paying under $100 total for an industry-leading setup
• Great welcome bonus: The Strata Premier offers a strong bonus to jumpstart your points earnings

Alternatively, if you value premium perks like lounge access, the $595 annual fee Citi Strata Elite is another great complement to the Double Cash. The credits and benefits can go a long way toward offsetting the annual fee.

My recommended Citi card strategy

• If you already have the Strata Premier: Apply for the Double Cash now, as the welcome bonus, everyday earning power, and long term credit score benefits make it a no-brainer
• If you don’t have either card: Start with the Strata Premier for the bigger bonus, then pick up the Double Cash eight or more days later, and you’ll have an amazing rewards setup ready to go

How I use the Citi Double Cash

I use the Citi Double Cash as one of my main cards for personal spending within the US, whenever there’s no bonus category in play. It’s also great for things like paying income taxes for a processing fee under 2%, where I’m basically racking up AAdvantage miles for under one cent each.

With the ability to transfer points to American AAdvantage, racking up miles at 2x per dollar on everyday spending is pretty incredible. For domestic purchases that don’t fall into a bonus category, this card is hard to beat.

Citi Double Cash perks

As a no annual fee cash back card, the Citi Double Cash Card doesn’t have an extensive list of extra benefits. There are a few things that stand out, though.

Intro APR offer

The Citi Double Cash offers 0% intro APR on Balance Transfers for 18 months. After that, the variable APR will be 18.49% - 28.74%, based on your creditworthiness. That’s a generous timeframe if you need to transfer over a balance from another card and get some breathing room to pay it off. There is a balance transfer fee, and the intro APR doesn’t apply to purchases made on the card.

Other Citi benefits

The rest of the card’s benefits are available across most Citi cards in general, including:

• Access to the Citi Entertainment program, with presale tickets and exclusive experiences to a variety of live events
• Citi Merchant Offers that you can add to your card to get money back on purchases with certain merchants
• Extended warranty

Is the Citi Double Cash Card worth it?

In short: absolutely. Here’s what makes the Citi Double Cash Card stand out:

• No annual fee — zero cost to hold forever
• 2x ThankYou points on all spending — no caps, no rotating categories
• Choose how to redeem — cash back at two cents per dollar, or two transferable points per dollar with even more upside
• Helps your credit score — more available credit and a longer account history

Earning 2x transferable points per dollar with no caps and no annual fee is excellent. And with American AAdvantage in the ThankYou ecosystem, this is essentially a card that earns 2x AAdvantage miles per dollar spent (with the right card combo). That’s the first time we’ve seen that kind of earning rate with one of the “big three” US airlines.

The flexibility here is what really makes it special. You don’t have to decide between cash back and travel rewards upfront. Earn your points, and decide later.

I’ll run through a few other options that you might be considering alongside the Citi Double Cash so you can see how they stack up.

Citi Double Cash vs. Chase Freedom Unlimited comparison

If you’re looking for a no annual fee cash back card, the Chase Freedom Unlimited® (learn more) is another top option to consider. It has a slightly different earning structure than the Citi Double Cash’s flat-rate rewards, though:

• 1.5% cash back on all non-bonus category purchases
• 3% back on dining at restaurants
• 3% back on drugstore purchases
• 5% on travel purchased through Chase Travel℠

If you spend a lot on dining and drugstore purchases, the Freedom Unlimited has an edge over the Citi Double Cash. If you have other Chase cards, too, like the Chase Sapphire Reserve® or Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card, earning 1.5% or more on every purchase with the Freedom Unlimited becomes a minimum of 1.5x Ultimate Rewards points on all spending.

But while you can move points from the Citi Double Cash over to transfer partners without requiring another card, this isn’t possible with the Freedom Unlimited. You’ll need to have a Chase card with an annual fee to get the most value out of your points.

Citi Double Cash vs. Capital One VentureOne comparison

If you’re looking for a no annual fee card, I think it’s also worth briefly mentioning the Capital One VentureOne Rewards Credit Card (learn more). The card offers a minimum of 1.25x miles per dollar spent, which is on the surface lower than what you’ll get on the Citi Double Cash. However, there are potentially a couple of advantages:

• The Capital One VentureOne has no foreign transaction fees, so it’s a great card to use abroad
• The Capital One VentureOne earns miles that can be transferred to airline and hotel partners at the best possible ratio, with no need to have another card to unlock the best transfer rate

Still, the 1.25x miles earning isn’t terribly competitive with what you’ll find on the Citi Double Cash, so the latter would still be my preference, unless international purchases are important to you.

Citi Double Cash vs. Citi Strata Card comparison

For those who want to stay with Citi, the Citi Strata℠ Card (learn more) is the other main no annual fee option that earns ThankYou points.

• The Citi Strata Card earns up to 5x points: 3x points on supermarkets, gas and EV charging stations and select transit, and a self-select category of your choice, 5x points on hotels, car rentals, and attractions booked through Citi Travel, and 1x points on everything else
• The self-select category has the following options, and you can change your category once a quarter: fitness clubs, select streaming services, live entertainment, cosmetic stores, barber shops, and hair salons, or pet supplies
• Like the Citi Double Cash Card, it charges a 3% foreign transaction fee, so you won’t want to use it abroad

The Citi Strata Card has some valuable bonus categories, including some you won’t find on other cards. If your spending matches up with the categories, it’s worth a look. The two cards actually complement each other well, since you can earn higher bonus rewards on certain spending with the Strata Card and use the Double Cash to earn 2x on purchases that don’t qualify for a higher multiplier.

Citi Double Cash Card FAQs

Bottom line

The Citi Double Cash Card is a no annual fee card that offers unmatched flexibility. Whether you want straightforward cash back or transferable travel rewards, this card delivers 2x ThankYou points on every dollar you spend, after paying the bill.

Pair it with the Citi Strata Premier Card and you’ve got one of the best credit card combos in the game. You’ll earn 2-3x points on all your spending, and get access to 20 airline and hotel transfer partners (including American AAdvantage), and all for under $100 in annual fees.

If you haven’t looked at this card before, now is a great time. The ThankYou ecosystem has never been stronger, and the Double Cash is right at the heart of it. It’s one of those rare cards that earns its spot in your wallet through sheer everyday value with no gimmicks or hoops, just a really solid return on your spending.

If you want to learn more about the Citi Double Cash Card or want to apply, follow this link.

So this post is my in-depth IHG One Rewards Premier Select Credit Card review, given that the card was only recently launched. What perks does this card offer, do they justify the annual fee, and is this card worth it compared to the other options in the portfolio? I do think the IHG Premier Select Card is potentially easy to justify, so let me explain why.

Link: Learn more about The Brand New IHG One Rewards Premier Select Credit Card

IHG One Rewards Premier Select Card summary & key details

Before I get into my IHG One Rewards Premier Select Card review, let me briefly summarize the key details of the card:

• IHG One Rewards Premier Select Card annual fee: $350
• IHG One Rewards Premier Select Card welcome offer: Limited time offer of 200K IHG One Rewards bonus points after spending $5,000 within the first three months
• IHG One Rewards Premier Select Card rewards: 12x points on IHG spending, 6x points on dining and all other travel, and 3x points on all other purchases
• IHG One Rewards Premier Select Card elite status: IHG One Rewards Platinum status just for being a cardmember, IHG One Rewards Diamond status when you spend $25,000 on the card per year, and 20 elite night credits toward status annually
• IHG One Rewards Premier Select Card perks & credits: An annual anniversary free night award worth up to 60K IHG points, up to $300 in annual IHG food & beverage rewards, up to $200 in annual airline statement credits, up to $50 in annual United TravelBank Cash, and more
• IHG One Rewards Premier Select Card foreign transaction fees: None

Beyond that, here are what I consider to be some of the major pros and cons of the IHG One Rewards Premier Select Card:

• IHG One Rewards Premier Select Card pros include the huge welcome bonus, and the fantastic ongoing perks that more than justify the annual fee, from the free night award, to the IHG food & beverage credits, to the airline credits, and more
• IHG One Rewards Premier Select Card cons include the high annual fee, the lack of airport lounge access, and the included elite status not actually being that exciting

IHG One Rewards Premier Select Card bonus, eligibility, & fees

When we apply for credit cards, some of the most important factors are the welcome bonus, the eligibility rules for getting the card, and the annual fee. How does the IHG One Rewards Premier Select Card do on those fronts? Let’s take a look.

IHG One Rewards Premier Select Card 200K bonus points offer

The IHG One Rewards Premier Select Card has a welcome offer of 200,000 IHG One Rewards bonus points after spending $5,000 within the first three months. This is being marketed as a limited time launch offer, and it’s valid for applications through November 18, 2026.

Based on my latest miles & points valuations, IHG One Rewards points are worth 0.5 cents each. That means to me, the welcome bonus is worth $1,000. This is among the best welcome offers that we’ve seen on this card, though admittedly it doesn’t quite match the best welcome offers out there, though.

IHG One Rewards Premier Select Card bonus eligibility rules

When you pull up the IHG One Rewards Premier Select Card application, you’ll see the following terms:

This product is available to you if you do not have this card and have not received a new Cardmember bonus for this card in the past 24 months.

This is actually a positive aspect of the card, as eligibility is considered independently from all of IHG’s other cards, whether the two lower annual fee personal cards, or even the business card, which is The New IHG One Rewards Business Credit Card (learn more).

The two other IHG personal cards have a clause of mutual exclusivity, so the idea is that if you want to pick up multiple IHG personal cards, you’ll want to get one of the lower annual fee cards first, and then the IHG One Rewards Premier Select Card.

It’s also worth remembering the Chase 5/24 rule, whereby you sometimes won’t be approved for a Chase card if you’ve opened five or more new card accounts in the past 24 months (certain business cards are excluded). However, that no longer seems to be consistently enforced.

Fortunately nowadays Chase uses a pop-up feature during the application process, which should let you know if you’re not eligible for the bonus on a card (this appears after submitting your application), before there’s a hard pull on your credit.

Lastly, it’s worth keeping in mind that Chase will often let you product change from one card to another, assuming you’ve had a card for at least 12 months. So this would be an opportunity to upgrade or downgrade personal cards within the IHG portfolio, if you decide a different card is a better fit for you.

IHG One Rewards Premier Select Card $350 annual fee & $0 authorized user fee

The IHG One Rewards Premier Select Card has a $350 annual fee for the primary cardmember, and you can add authorized users to the card at no extra cost. As you can tell, this is a steep annual fee, though in fairness, the card does also offer some really strong perks that will help with justifying that.

IHG One Rewards Premier Select Card points earning

When it comes to actually spending on the IHG One Rewards Premier Select Card, what is the rewards structure like? The card has several bonus categories that can boost your rewards, but still, don’t get too excited.

IHG One Rewards Premier Select Card 12x points on IHG spending

The IHG One Rewards Premier Select Card earns 12x IHG points per dollar spent at IHG hotels. Personally, I value that at a 6% return on that spending, which is very good.

You’ll see the card markets itself as offering up to 28x IHG points per dollar spent at IHG hotels, but there’s nuance to that. That includes the 10x IHG points you usually earn per dollar spent at most brands, plus the 60% bonus (an extra 6x points) you get on account of having IHG One Rewards Platinum status, a card perk.

But for the purposes of credit card spending, you’re only earning an incremental 12x points.

IHG One Rewards Premier Select Card 6x points in select categories

The IHG One Rewards Premier Select Card has two bonus categories in which it earns 6x points per dollar spent. Those include dining, plus all other travel, including rideshare.

Those are some very broad bonus categories, though the catch is that based on my valuation of IHG points, that’s like a 3% return on spending. That’s not all that much to get excited about for bonused spending categories.

IHG One Rewards Premier Select Card 3x points on everyday spending

For any categories in which it doesn’t offer bonus points, the IHG One Rewards Premier Select Card offers 3x IHG points per dollar spent in non-bonused categories. Based on my valuation of points, that’s like a 1.5% return on everyday spending, which I wouldn’t consider to be very competitive nowadays. However, there are some extra incentives to spend that could make it more worthwhile.

IHG One Rewards Premier Select Card 20K bonus points for spending $15K

Beyond the standard rewards structure, the IHG One Rewards Premier Select Card offers 20,000 IHG bonus points if you spend at least $15,000 on the card per calendar year. That definitely helps a little bit with the rewards structure.

Put another way, the card ordinarily offers a minimum of 3x points per dollar spent, so if you were to spend exactly $15,000, that would boost your return to a minimum of 4.33x points per dollar spent. Still, it’s not all that much to get excited about.

IHG One Rewards Premier Select Card no foreign transaction fees

It’s worth noting that the IHG One Rewards Premier Select Card has no foreign transaction fees, so it’s not a bad card to use abroad. Then again, that’s nothing remarkable, because for a card with an annual fee this high, you’d certainly expect there to be no foreign transaction fees.

IHG One Rewards Premier Select Card benefits, credits, & elite status

The area where the IHG One Rewards Premier Select Card really shines is when it comes to the perks, and this is the main reason you should consider applying for the card. From the annual free night award, to the elite status, and more, there’s a lot of upside to having this card. If you stay at IHG properties with any frequency, you should come out way ahead.

Anniversary free night award worth 60K points

The IHG One Rewards Premier Select Card offers an anniversary free night award that’s worth up to 60,000 IHG One Rewards points. The free night award is issued shortly after the account anniversary each year, and is then valid for 12 months.

One thing I appreciate about IHG free night awards is that you can top them off with as many points as you’d like. So if a hotel costs 65,000 points, you can book it using the free night award plus a supplement of 5,000 points. If a hotel costs 100,000 points, you can book it using the free night award plus a supplement of 40,000 points.

It should be easy to get full value from this every year, and as I see it, this alone more than justifies the annual fee on the card.

Up to $300 in IHG food & beverage rewards annually

The IHG One Rewards Premier Select Card offers up to $300 in food & beverage rewards at IHG properties annually. The way this works is that you get a $75 food & beverage reward voucher deposited in your account each quarter, and each is valid for that quarter.

Each must be redeemed against eligible food and beverages charged to the room during a single stay. Eligible charges generally include, food, beverages (including alcoholic beverages), and gratuities. This must be used in conjunction with a stay by the primary cardmember, so they can’t be used without a stay.

Up to $200 in annual airline statement credits

The IHG One Rewards Premier Select Card offers a $200 statement credit each calendar year when you spend at least $250 on flights purchased directly with an airline. Note that this perk is presently valid through December 31, 2027, meaning you can only take advantage of this in 2026 and 2027, though of course it’s possible this also gets extended into the future.

Getting $200 off a $250+ flight is a great deal. Even if you don’t have a specific flight, you can always book a ticket that’s flexible, and then most airlines will let you take a credit that can be used for some amount of time. So I’d consider this to be worth close to face value.

Up to $50 in annual United TravelBank Cash

The IHG One Rewards Premier Select Card offers up to $50 in United TravelBank Cash per year:

• Each calendar year you’ll receive one $25 United TravelBank Cash deposit around January 1, and another around July 1
• Deposits made between January 1 and June 30 expire on July 15, and deposits made between July 1 and December 31 expire on January 15
• You must complete one-time registration to receive this benefit

If you fly United with any frequency, then this is like $50 worth of travel on United per year, which is awesome.

IHG One Rewards Platinum status for being a cardmember

The IHG One Rewards Premier Select Card offers IHG One Rewards Platinum elite status for as long as you’re a cardmember. IHG Platinum status ordinarily requires 40 elite nights in a year, and offers perks like a 60% points bonus, complimentary room upgrades, late check-out subject to availability, a welcome amenity, and more.

IHG One Rewards Diamond status with $25K spending

The IHG One Rewards Premier Select Card offers IHG One Rewards Diamond elite status when you spend $25,000 on the card in a calendar year. This is IHG’s top tier elite status, and it ordinarily requires 70 elite nights in a year.

It offers incremental perks like complimentary breakfast and better room upgrades. One thing worth emphasizing is that many of the perks of IHG elite status are associated with the Milestone Rewards program, which you qualify for based on how many elite nights you earn. That’s where the next benefit comes into play.

20 elite night credits annually for being a cardmember

The IHG One Rewards Premier Select Card also offers 20 elite night credits toward status annually, which is the most elite nights offered by any IHG card. You might wonder what the point of this is, given that you already get IHG Platinum status, which requires more than 40 nights. Well, the idea is that this gets you closer to Milestone Rewards perks, which you earn for every 10 elite nights you rack up in a calendar year, from 20 nights to 100 nights.

Potential Milestone Rewards perks include bonus points, food & beverage rewards, confirmed suite upgrades, club lounge access, and more.

Two elite night credits for every $5K in spending

Beyond the 20 elite nights that the IHG One Rewards Premier Select Card offers annually for being a cardmember, you can also earn two elite nights for every $5,000 spent on the card. This can help you qualify for higher Milestone Rewards thresholds.

However, that’s a lot of money to spend for Milestone Perks that aren’t actually that valuable. If you happen to earn them, great, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to spend just to earn those extra elite nights. I suppose it could make sense as part of a larger strategy, if you’re trying to earn Diamond status, and unlock some other spend-based perks as well.

Fourth night free on award redemptions

The IHG One Rewards Premier Select Card offers a fourth night free on award redemptions, with no spending requirement. You can use this perk an unlimited number of times on eligible reservations. This is essentially a way to save 25% on points redemptions, assuming you stay in increments of four nights, so it definitely helps with stretching IHG points.

Up to $120 Global Entry, TSA PreCheck, or NEXUS credit

The IHG One Rewards Premier Select Card offers a Global Entry, TSA PreCheck, or NEXUS credit once every four years. Just charge the membership fee of up to $120 to your card, and it will automatically be reimbursed. It doesn’t matter who the fee is being paid for, as long as you charge it to your eligible card.

Save 30% on IHG One Rewards points purchases

Just for having the IHG One Rewards Premier Select Card, you can save 30% on the cost of buying IHG points. Often there’s strategic value to buying points, so on the surface, that might sound compelling. The catch is that this discount only applies when you’re buying IHG points at the normal cost.

IHG One Rewards ordinarily sells points for one cent each before any bonus. However, the program frequently offers a 100% bonus on buying points, which brings the cost down to 0.5 cents each. So getting a 50% discount is much better than getting a 30% discount, which would get you a cost of 0.7 cents per point.

Secondary rental car coverage

The IHG One Rewards Premier Select Card offers auto rental collision damage waiver coverage. Decline the rental company’s collision insurance and charge the entire rental cost to your card.

Coverage is provided for theft and collision damage for most cars in the United States and abroad. Do note that domestically the coverage is secondary to your personal insurance, though.

Protection with trip delays, lost luggage, and more

The IHG One Rewards Premier Select Card offers a variety of other protection when traveling. Among these features is:

• Trip Cancellation & Trip Interruption Insurance — be reimbursed up to $10,000 per trip when your trip is canceled or cut short due to sickness, severe weather, etc.
• Lost Luggage Reimbursement — be reimbursed up to $3,000 per passenger if you or your immediate family member check or carry on luggage that is damaged or lost by an airline
• Baggage Delay Insurance — be reimbursed up to $100 per day for three days for essential purchases when your bag is delayed by over six hours

Make sure you check your cardmember agreement for all of the details, since there are terms & conditions.

DoorDash & Instacart perks

The IHG One Rewards Premier Select Card offers some perks with both DoorDash and Instacart, which are pretty standard benefits for Chase cards. Specifically:

• Complimentary DoorDash DashPass (up to $120 value) — get one year complimentary DashPass by DoorDash, providing unlimited deliveries with $0 delivery fees and lower service fees on eligible orders (activation is required by December 31, 2027); after that, you are automatically enrolled in DashPass at the current monthly rate
• DoorDash non-restaurant promo (up to $120 value) — get up to $10 off monthly on groceries, everyday essentials, and more, on DoorDash through December 31, 2027, as long as you remain enrolled in your Chase DashPass membership
• Up to $120 in Instacart credits — receive a $10 Instacart credit monthly, up to $120 total each calendar year, for purchases made directly through Instacart with your card, and the benefit is valid through December 31, 2027
• Complimentary Instacart+ membership for three months — get an Instacart+ membership for three months, including unlimited deliveries with $0 delivery fees on eligible orders; after that, you’re automatically enrolled in Instacart+ at 25% off the annual rate, and the benefit is valid through December 31, 2027

Is the IHG One Rewards Premier Select Card worth the $350 annual fee?

The IHG One Rewards Premier Select Card follows the pretty standard trend we see among premium cards — the annual fee is higher, but there are many perks that can help offset that.

I don’t want to overcomplicate this — I think if you’re going to apply for a personal IHG card, then picking up the IHG Premier Select Card is the obvious choice:

• The card has the biggest welcome offer of all cards in the collection
• Before you pay your second annual fee, you’ll potentially get $400 in statement credits toward airline tickets (one for the 2026 calendar year, and one for the 2027 calendar year)
• The free night award is worth the most points, so will deliver the most value
• That doesn’t even begin to account for the IHG food & beverage credits, which are actually a substantial amount

Yes, the annual fee is steep, but keep in mind that if you decide that the card doesn’t work for you after a year, you can always downgrade it to a lower fee or no annual fee card.

IHG One Rewards Premier Card vs. IHG One Rewards Premier Select Card comparison

The IHG One Rewards Premier Card has a $150 annual fee, so how does the annual fee compare to that of the IHG One Rewards Premier Select Card? While there are a lot of differences between the cards, here are the key ones that could move the math in favor of the $350 annual fee card over the $150 annual fee card:

• The IHG Premier Select Card has the biggest welcome bonus of all, and that really helps with justifying the first year’s annual fee
• The IHG Premier Select Card offers an anniversary free night award valid at a property costing up to 60,000 points, rather than one worth 50,000 points
• The IHG Premier Select Card offers a $200 statement credit when you spend $250+ on a flight booked directly with an airline, rather than a $100 statement credit, so that’s a big difference right away
• The IHG Premier Select Card offers up to $300 in annual food & beverage rewards at IHG properties, rather than up to $100 in credits, so that’s also a big difference
• The IHG Premier Select Card offers IHG One Rewards Platinum status just for having the card, and IHG One Rewards Diamond status for spending $25,000 on the card in a calendar year, so it offers a higher status automatically, and has a lower spending requirement for Diamond

Personally I think the math on the most premium version of the card works out quite nicely.

IHG One Rewards Premier Select Card vs. IHG One Rewards Business Card comparison

In addition to the three personal cards, Chase and IHG also have the IHG One Rewards Business Card, which has a $200 annual fee. As I see it, this card could be a good complement to the IHG One Rewards Premier Select Card. Why?

Well, you can potentially pick up some pretty substantial incremental perks. For example, the IHG Business Card offers an anniversary free night award worth 50,000 points, and I’d consider that to basically cover the annual fee.

The card also offers up to $100 in annual IHG food & beverage vouchers, up to $100 in annual airline statement credits (through 2027), etc. The beautiful thing is that you can get both the personal and business card, so if you have the Chase “slots” available, there’s no reason not to get both, in my opinion.

Best IHG One Rewards Premier Select Card alternatives

If you’re not actually that committed to the IHG ecosystem, there are lots of other great cards to consider. In particular, these are cards with relatively reasonable annual fees and great rewards structures, and they’re very well rounded:

• The American Express® Gold Card (learn more) has a higher annual fee, but is tough to beat for those who spend a lot on dining, and also offers credits that can help offset the fee
• The Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card (learn more) has a low annual fee, and is among the best cards for everyday spending
• The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card (learn more) has a reasonable annual fee, and is well-rounded for offering bonus categories, plus excellent travel and rental car coverage
• The Citi Strata Premier® Card (learn more) has an affordable annual fee, and lucrative 3x points categories

IHG One Rewards Premier Select Card FAQs

Bottom line

The $350 annual fee IHG One Rewards Premier Select Card was recently introduced and potentially represents a great value. While the card has a steep annual fee, it offers very strong perks, including a huge welcome bonus, an anniversary free night award worth 60,000 points, IHG Platinum status, up to $300 in annual IHG food & beverage credits, up to $200 in annual airline statement credits (through 2027), and more.

If you’re eligible for this card, the value really is excellent. You can always give this card a try, and if it’s not working for you, you can downgrade it after 12 months.

If you want to learn more about the IHG One Rewards Premier Select Credit Card, follow this link.

So this post is my in-depth IHG One Rewards Business Credit Card review, reflecting the recent card changes we saw. What perks does this card offer, do they justify the annual fee, and is this the best option compared to the other products in the portfolio? Long story short, I think the IHG Business Card is really easy to justify — either as a standalone decision, or paired with a personal card, to double dip some benefits, including earning multiple free night awards annually.

Link: Learn more about The New IHG One Rewards Business Credit Card

IHG One Rewards Business Card summary & key details

Before I get into my IHG One Rewards Business Card review, let me briefly summarize the key details of the card:

• IHG One Rewards Business Card annual fee: $200
• IHG One Rewards Business Card welcome offer: Limited time offer of 190K IHG One Rewards bonus points after spending $5,000 within the first three months
• IHG One Rewards Business Card rewards: 10x points on IHG spending, 5x points on flights booked directly with airlines, rental cars, dining, select advertising, and gas, and 3x points on all other purchases
• IHG One Rewards Business Card elite status: IHG One Rewards Platinum status just for being a cardmember, IHG One Rewards Diamond status when you spend $50,000 on the card per year (starting in 2027), and 15 elite night credits toward status annually
• IHG One Rewards Business Card perks & credits: An annual anniversary free night award worth up to 50K IHG points, up to $100 in annual IHG food & beverage rewards, up to $100 in annual airline statement credits (through 2027), and more
• IHG One Rewards Business Credit Card foreign transaction fees: None

Beyond that, here are what I consider to be some of the major pros and cons of the IHG One Rewards Business Card:

• IHG One Rewards Business Card pros include the big welcome bonus, and the fantastic ongoing perks that more than justify the annual fee, from the free night award, to the credits and elite status
• IHG One Business Card cons include the not very exciting return on spending, compared to the other cards on the market

IHG One Rewards Business Card bonus, eligibility, & fees

When we apply for credit cards, some of the most important factors are the welcome bonus, the eligibility rules for getting the card, and the annual fee. How does the IHG One Rewards Business Card do on those fronts? Let’s take a look.

IHG One Business Rewards Card 190K bonus points offer

The IHG One Rewards Business Card has a welcome offer of 190,000 IHG One Rewards bonus points after spending $5,000 within the first three months. This is being marketed as a limited time launch offer, and it’s valid for applications through November 18, 2026.

Based on my latest miles & points valuations, IHG One Rewards points are worth 0.5 cents each. That means to me, the welcome bonus is worth $950. This is among the best welcome offers that we’ve seen on this card, though admittedly it doesn’t quite match the best welcome offers out there, though.

IHG One Rewards Business Card bonus eligibility rules

The welcome bonus on the IHG One Rewards Business Card isn’t available to those who currently have the card, or those who have received a new cardmember bonus on this card in the past 24 months. Eligibility for this card is considered completely independently from eligibility for the personal cards.

That’s fantastic, since it means you can pair a personal and business card, and I think that makes a lot of sense, given how the perks on these cards can be complementary.

It’s also worth remembering the Chase 5/24 rule, whereby you sometimes won’t be approved for a Chase card if you’ve opened five or more new card accounts in the past 24 months (certain business cards are excluded from counting toward that). However, that no longer seems to be consistently enforced.

IHG One Rewards Business Card $200 annual fee & $0 authorized user fee

The IHG One Rewards Business Card has a $200 annual fee for the primary cardmember, and you can add authorized users to the card at no extra cost. This does put the card’s annual fee $50 above its personal card counterpart, which is the IHG One Rewards Premier Card. Still, many people will find that to be worth the cost.

IHG One Rewards Business Card points earning

When it comes to actually spending on the IHG One Rewards Business Card, what is the rewards structure like? The card has some bonus categories that can boost your rewards, but I still wouldn’t consider this card to be terribly lucrative for everyday spending.

IHG One Rewards Business Card 10x points on IHG spending

The IHG One Rewards Business Card earns 10x IHG points per dollar spent at IHG hotels. Personally, I value that at a 5% return on that spending, which is good, but not amazing, as there are some other cards offering a better return on hotel spending.

You’ll see the card markets itself as offering up to 26x IHG points per dollar spent at IHG hotels, but there’s nuance to that. That includes the 10x IHG points you usually earn per dollar spent at most brands, plus the 60% bonus (an extra 6x points) you get on account of having IHG One Rewards Platinum status, a card perk.

But for the purposes of credit card spending, you’re only earning an incremental 10x points.

IHG One Rewards Business Card 5x points in select categories

The IHG One Rewards Business Card has five categories in which it earns 5x points per dollar spent. Specifically, you can earn 5x IHG points per dollar spent on dining, select advertising, gas stations, flights booked directly with airlines, and rental cars. This is valid globally, and there are no caps on the rewards you can earn in these categories.

Those are some very well rounded bonus categories, but the catch is that based on my valuation of IHG points, that’s only like a 2.5% return on spending, which isn’t terribly lucrative for bonused spending.

IHG One Rewards Business Card 3x points on everyday spending

For any categories in which it doesn’t offer bonus points, the IHG One Rewards Business Card offers 3x IHG points per dollar spent in non-bonused categories. Based on my valuation of points, that’s like a 1.5% return on everyday spending, which I wouldn’t consider to be very competitive nowadays. However, there are some extra incentives to spend that could make it more worthwhile.

IHG One Rewards 20K bonus points for spending $25K

Beyond the standard rewards structure, the IHG One Rewards Business Card offers 20,000 IHG bonus points if you spend at least $25,000 on the card per calendar year. That definitely helps a little bit with the rewards structure.

Put another way, the card ordinarily offers a minimum of 3x points per dollar spent, so if you were to spend exactly $25,000, that would boost your return to a minimum of 3.8x points per dollar spent. Still, it’s not all that much to get excited about.

IHG One Rewards Business Card no foreign transaction fees

It’s worth emphasizing that the IHG One Rewards Business Card has no foreign transaction fees, so it’s not a bad card to use abroad. Then again, that’s nothing remarkable, because for a card with an annual fee like this, you’d certainly expect there to be no foreign transaction fees.

IHG One Rewards Business Card benefits, credits, & elite status

The area where the IHG One Rewards Business Card really shines is when it comes to the perks, and this is the main reason you should consider applying for the card. From the annual free night award, to the elite status, and more, there’s a lot of upside to having this card. If you stay at IHG properties with any frequency, you should come out way ahead.

Anniversary free night award worth 50K points

The IHG One Rewards Business Card offers an anniversary free night award that’s worth up to 50,000 IHG One Rewards points, identical to the one offered on the personal version of the card, the IHG One Rewards Premier Card. The free night award is issued shortly after the account anniversary each year, and is then valid for 12 months.

One thing I appreciate about IHG free night awards is that you can top them off with as many points as you’d like. So if a hotel costs 55,000 points, you can book it using the free night award plus a supplement of 5,000 points. If a hotel costs 100,000 points, you can book it using the free night award plus a supplement of 50,000 points.

It should be easy to get full value from this every year, and as I see it, this alone more than justifies the annual fee on the card.

Up to $100 in IHG food & beverage rewards annually

The IHG One Rewards Business Card offers up to $100 in food & beverage rewards at IHG properties annually. The way this works is that you get a $25 food & beverage reward voucher deposited in your account each quarter, and each is valid for that quarter.

Each must be redeemed against eligible food and beverages charged to the room during a single stay. Eligible charges generally include, food, beverages (including alcoholic beverages), and gratuities. This must be used in conjunction with a stay by the primary cardmember, so they can’t be used without a stay.

Up to $100 in annual airline statement credits

The IHG One Rewards Business Card offers a $100 statement credit each calendar year when you spend at least $250 on flights purchased directly with an airline. Note that this perk is presently valid through December 31, 2027, meaning you can only take advantage of this in 2026 and 2027, though of course it’s possible this also gets extended into the future.

Getting $100 off a $250+ flight is a great deal. Even if you don’t have a specific flight, you can always book a ticket that’s flexible, and then most airlines will let you take a credit that can be used for some amount of time. So I’d consider this to be worth close to face value.

Up to $50 in annual United TravelBank Cash

The IHG One Rewards Business Card offers up to $50 in United TravelBank Cash per year:

• Each calendar year you’ll receive one $25 United TravelBank Cash deposit around January 1, and another around July 1
• Deposits made between January 1 and June 30 expire on July 15, and deposits made between July 1 and December 31 expire on January 15
• You must complete one-time registration to receive this benefit

If you fly United with any frequency, then this is like $50 worth of travel on United per year, which is awesome.

IHG One Rewards Platinum status for being a cardmember

The IHG One Rewards Business Card offers IHG One Rewards Platinum elite status for as long as you’re a cardmember. IHG Platinum status ordinarily requires 40 elite nights in a year, and offers perks like a 60% points bonus, complimentary room upgrades, late check-out subject to availability, a welcome amenity, and more.

IHG One Rewards Diamond status with $50K spending

As of 2027, the IHG One Rewards Business Card offers IHG One Rewards Diamond elite status when you spend $50,000 on the card in a calendar year. This is IHG’s top tier elite status, and it ordinarily requires 70 elite nights in a year.

It offers incremental perks like complimentary breakfast and better room upgrades. One thing worth calling out is that many of the perks of IHG elite status are associated with the Milestone Rewards program, which you qualify for based on how many elite nights you earn. That’s where the next benefit comes into play.

15 elite night credits annually for being a cardmember

The IHG One Rewards Business Card also offers 15 elite night credits toward status annually. You might wonder what the point of this is, given that you already get IHG Platinum status, which requires way more than 15 nights. Well, the idea is that this gets you closer to Milestone Rewards perks, which you earn for every 10 elite nights you rack up in a calendar year, from 20 nights to 100 nights.

Potential Milestone Rewards perks include bonus points, food & beverage rewards, confirmed suite upgrades, club lounge access, and more.

Two elite night credits for every $5K in spending

Beyond the 15 elite nights that the IHG One Rewards Business Card offers annually for being a cardmember, you can also earn two elite nights for every $5,000 spent on the card. This can help you qualify for higher Milestone Rewards thresholds.

However, that’s a lot of money to spend for Milestone Perks that aren’t actually that valuable. If you happen to earn them, great, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to spend just to earn those extra elite nights. I suppose it could make sense as part of a larger strategy, if you’re trying to earn Diamond status, and unlock some other spend-based perks as well.

Fourth night free on award redemptions

The IHG One Rewards Business Card offers a fourth night free on award redemptions, with no spending requirement. You can use this perk an unlimited number of times on eligible reservations. This is essentially a way to save 25% on points redemptions, assuming you stay in increments of four nights, so it definitely helps with stretching IHG points.

Up to $120 Global Entry, TSA PreCheck, or NEXUS credit

The IHG One Rewards Business Card offers a Global Entry, TSA PreCheck, or NEXUS credit once every four years. Just charge the membership fee of up to $120 to your card, and it will automatically be reimbursed. It doesn’t matter who the fee is being paid for, as long as you charge it to your eligible card.

Save 30% on IHG One Rewards points purchases

Just for having the IHG One Rewards Business Card, you can save 30% on the cost of buying IHG points. Often there’s strategic value to buying points, so on the surface, that might sound compelling. The catch is that this discount only applies when you’re buying IHG points at the normal cost.

IHG One Rewards ordinarily sells points for one cent each before any bonus. However, the program frequently offers a 100% bonus on buying points, which brings the cost down to 0.5 cents each. So getting a 50% discount is much better than getting a 30% discount, which would get you a cost of 0.7 cents per point.

Is the IHG One Rewards Business Card worth the $200 annual fee?

As I see it, the IHG One Rewards Business Card is a great value, regardless of how loyal you are to IHG, and regardless of how much you plan on spending on the card.

The card’s $200 annual fee is easy to justify based on the perks that it offers. The card offers an anniversary free night certificate, a fourth night free on award redemptions, IHG One Rewards Platinum status, up to $100 in annual food & beverage rewards, up to $100 in airline statement credits, and more.

If you stay at an IHG property even once in a while, then there’s absolutely upside to having this card. Furthermore, if you’re willing to put minimal effort into maximizing the card perks (like using the statement credit for airline tickets), you’ll also come out ahead. Of course I should acknowledge that there are so many cards that offer outsized value nowadays, so perhaps the biggest hesitation is just the general credit card fatigue of maximizing so many benefits.

One of the other great things is that you can always get both a personal and business card from IHG, and in some ways that can earn you lots more rewards. For example, if you value the free night award, you might as well get two free night awards per year rather than one.

IHG One Rewards Business Card vs. IHG One Rewards Premier Card comparison

Eligibility for the IHG One Rewards Business Card is considered independently from the personal IHG cards, so that opens up a few opportunities to pair cards. Perhaps it’s most interesting to do a direct comparison to the $150 annual fee IHG One Rewards Premier Card, which I’d consider to be the personal version of the $200 annual fee business card.

There’s a ton of overlap between the cards, though as I view it, there are a few key differences:

• The IHG Business Card offers Platinum status just for being a cardmember, while the IHG Premier Card offers Gold status just for being a cardmember
• The IHG Business Card offers Diamond status after spending $50,000, while the IHG Premier Card offers Diamond status after spending $40,000
• The IHG Business Card offers 20,000 bonus points after spending $25,000, while the IHG Premier Card offers 15,000 bonus points after spending $15,000

Both of these cards are excellent, and personally, I think it’s worth picking both up, so that you can earn two free night awards per year without having to spend anything. However, otherwise I think the math comes down to whether you’d rather pay an extra $50 annual fee, or would rather have IHG Platinum status automatically.

What other business credit cards should you consider?

If you’re just looking for a well-rounded and rewarding business card with an annual fee that gives you a lot of flexibility, here are some other cards to consider:

• The Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card (learn more) is one of the best value business cards, as it has a $95 annual fee, and has lucrative 3x Ultimate Rewards points bonus categories
• The Capital One Venture Business (learn more) has a $95 annual fee, and offers a flat 2x Capital One miles per dollar spent, so that’s a great rewards structure
• The American Express® Business Gold Card (learn more) has a $375 annual fee (Rates & Fees), but it has some big 4x points bonus categories and credits that can help offset that fee

IHG One Rewards Business Card FAQs

Bottom line

The $200 annual fee IHG One Rewards Business Card is a rewarding credit card, regardless of whether you’re a frequent IHG guest, or only stay with the brand occasionally. The card has a big welcome bonus, and also offers ongoing perks that will justify the annual fee for most.

As I see it, the anniversary free night award is the single biggest benefit of the card, and should more than justify the fee in and of itself. I also love how IHG lets members top off free night certificates with as many points as they’d like, which means people should be able to get full value from them.

On top of that, the card offers elite status, and quite a few credits that can also easily offset the annual fee. I think it’s really easy to come out ahead with this card, so I guess it just comes down to how many cards someone is willing and able to pick up.

If you want to learn more about the IHG One Rewards Business Credit Card, follow this link.

The following links will direct you to the rates and fees for mentioned American Express Cards. These include: American Express® Business Gold Card (Rates & Fees).

So this post is my in-depth IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card review, reflecting the recent card changes we saw. What perks does this card offer, do they justify the annual fee, and is this the best option compared to the other products in the portfolio? Long story short, I think the IHG Premier Card is really easy to justify, though I still think many people may prefer the more premium IHG Premier Select Card.

Link: Learn more about The New IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card

IHG One Rewards Premier Card summary & key details

Before I get into my IHG One Rewards Premier Card review, let me briefly summarize the key details of the card:

• IHG One Rewards Premier Card annual fee: $150
• IHG One Rewards Premier Card welcome offer: Limited time offer of 180K IHG One Rewards bonus points after spending $3,000 within the first three months
• IHG One Rewards Premier Card rewards: 10x points on IHG spending, 5x points on flights booked directly with airlines, rental cars, dining, grocery stores, and gas, and 3x points on all other purchases
• IHG One Rewards Premier Card elite status: IHG One Rewards Gold status just for being a cardmember, IHG One Rewards Platinum status when you spend $15,000 on the card per year, IHG One Rewards Diamond status when you spend $40,000 on the card per year, and 15 elite night credits toward status annually
• IHG One Rewards Premier Card perks & credits: An annual anniversary free night award worth up to 50K IHG points, up to $100 in annual IHG food & beverage rewards, up to $100 in annual airline statement credits, up to $50 in annual United TravelBank Cash, and more
• IHG One Rewards Premier Card foreign transaction fees: None

Beyond that, here are what I consider to be some of the major pros and cons of the IHG One Rewards Premier Card:

• IHG One Rewards Premier Card pros include the big welcome bonus, and the fantastic ongoing perks that more than justify the annual fee, from the free night award, to the credits and elite status
• IHG One Rewards Premier Card cons include the not very exciting return on spending, compared to the other cards on the market

IHG One Rewards Premier Card bonus, eligibility, & fees

When we apply for credit cards, some of the most important factors are the welcome bonus, the eligibility rules for getting the card, and the annual fee. How does the IHG One Rewards Premier Card do on those fronts? Let’s take a look.

IHG One Rewards Premier Card 180K bonus points offer

The IHG One Rewards Premier Card has a welcome offer of 180,000 IHG One Rewards bonus points after spending $3,000 within the first three months. This is being marketed as a limited time launch offer, and it’s valid for applications through November 18, 2026.

Based on my latest miles & points valuations, IHG One Rewards points are worth 0.5 cents each. That means to me, the welcome bonus is worth $900. This is among the best welcome offers that we’ve seen on this card, though admittedly it doesn’t quite match the best welcome offers out there, though.

IHG One Rewards Premier Card bonus eligibility rules

When you pull up the IHG One Rewards Premier Card application, you’ll see the following terms:

This credit card is not available to either (i) current cardmembers of any personal IHG One Rewards Credit Card, or (ii) previous cardmembers of any personal IHG One Rewards Credit Card who received a new cardmember bonus for any personal IHG One Rewards Credit Card within the last 24 months.

As you can tell, the IHG One Rewards Premier Card isn’t available to those who currently have any personal IHG credit card, or previous cardmembers of any personal IHG credit card who have received a new cardmember bonus on a card within the past 24 months.

It’s worth emphasizing that eligibility is unrelated to having The New IHG One Rewards Business Credit Card (learn more).

It’s also worth remembering the Chase 5/24 rule, whereby you sometimes won’t be approved for a Chase card if you’ve opened five or more new card accounts in the past 24 months (certain business cards are excluded). However, that no longer seems to be consistently enforced.

Fortunately nowadays Chase uses a pop-up feature during the application process, which should let you know if you’re not eligible for the bonus on a card (this appears after submitting your application), before there’s a hard pull on your credit.

Lastly, it’s worth keeping in mind that Chase will often let you product change from one card to another, assuming you’ve had a card for at least 12 months. So this would be an opportunity to upgrade or downgrade personal cards within the IHG portfolio, if you decide a different card is a better fit for you.

IHG One Rewards Premier Card $150 annual fee & $0 authorized user fee

The IHG One Rewards Premier Card has a $150 annual fee for the primary cardmember, and you can add authorized users to the card at no extra cost. This puts the card’s annual fee above the typical $100 fee we see for some mid-range cards, but well below the $300+ fees that we see on many other cards nowadays.

IHG One Rewards Premier Card points earning

When it comes to actually spending on the IHG One Rewards Premier Card, what is the rewards structure like? The card has several bonus categories that can boost your rewards, but still, don’t get too excited.

IHG One Rewards Premier Card 10x points on IHG spending

The IHG One Rewards Premier Card earns 10x IHG points per dollar spent at IHG hotels. Personally, I value that at a 5% return on that spending, which is good, but not amazing, as there are some other cards offering a better return on hotel spending.

You’ll see the card markets itself as offering up to 24x IHG points per dollar spent at IHG hotels, but there’s nuance to that. That includes the 10x IHG points you usually earn per dollar spent at most brands, plus the 40% bonus (an extra 4x points) you get on account of having IHG One Rewards Gold status, a card perk.

But for the purposes of credit card spending, you’re only earning an incremental 10x points.

IHG One Rewards Premier Card 5x points in select categories

The IHG One Rewards Premier Card has five categories in which it earns 5x points per dollar spent. Specifically, you can earn 5x IHG points per dollar spent on dining, grocery stores, gas stations, flights booked directly with airlines, and rental cars. This is valid globally, and there are no caps on the rewards you can earn in these categories.

Those are some very well rounded bonus categories, but the catch is that based on my valuation of IHG points, that’s only like a 2.5% return on spending, which isn’t terribly lucrative for bonused spending.

IHG One Rewards Premier Card 3x points on everyday spending

For any categories in which it doesn’t offer bonus points, the IHG One Rewards Premier Card offers 3x IHG points per dollar spent in non-bonused categories. Based on my valuation of points, that’s like a 1.5% return on everyday spending, which I wouldn’t consider to be very competitive nowadays. However, there are some extra incentives to spend that could make it more worthwhile.

IHG One Rewards Premier Card 15K bonus points for spending $15K

Beyond the standard rewards structure, the IHG One Rewards Premier Card offers 15,000 IHG bonus points if you spend at least $15,000 on the card per calendar year. That definitely helps a little bit with the rewards structure.

Put another way, the card ordinarily offers a minimum of 3x points per dollar spent, so if you were to spend exactly $15,000, that would boost your return to a minimum of 4x points per dollar spent. Still, it’s not all that much to get excited about.

IHG One Rewards Premier Card no foreign transaction fees

It’s worth emphasizing that the IHG One Rewards Premier Card has no foreign transaction fees, so it’s not a bad card to use abroad. Then again, that’s nothing remarkable, because for a card with an annual fee like this, you’d certainly expect there to be no foreign transaction fees.

IHG One Rewards Premier Card benefits, credits, & elite status

The area where the IHG One Rewards Premier Card really shines is when it comes to the perks, and this is the main reason you should consider applying for the card. From the annual free night award, to the elite status, and more, there’s a lot of upside to having this card. If you stay at IHG properties with any frequency, you should come out way ahead.

Anniversary free night award worth 50K points

The IHG One Rewards Premier Card offers an anniversary free night award that’s worth up to 50,000 IHG One Rewards points. The free night award is issued shortly after the account anniversary each year, and is then valid for 12 months.

One thing I appreciate about IHG free night awards is that you can top them off with as many points as you’d like. So if a hotel costs 55,000 points, you can book it using the free night award plus a supplement of 5,000 points. If a hotel costs 100,000 points, you can book it using the free night award plus a supplement of 50,000 points.

It should be easy to get full value from this every year, and as I see it, this alone more than justifies the annual fee on the card.

Up to $100 in IHG food & beverage rewards annually

The IHG One Rewards Premier Card offers up to $100 in food & beverage rewards at IHG properties annually. The way this works is that you get a $25 food & beverage reward voucher deposited in your account each quarter, and each is valid for that quarter.

Each must be redeemed against eligible food and beverages charged to the room during a single stay. Eligible charges generally include, food, beverages (including alcoholic beverages), and gratuities. This must be used in conjunction with a stay by the primary cardmember, so they can’t be used without a stay.

Up to $100 in annual airline statement credits

The IHG One Rewards Premier Card offers a $100 statement credit each calendar year when you spend at least $250 on flights purchased directly with an airline. Note that this perk is presently valid through December 31, 2027, meaning you can only take advantage of this in 2026 and 2027, though of course it’s possible this also gets extended into the future.

Getting $100 off a $250+ flight is a great deal. Even if you don’t have a specific flight, you can always book a ticket that’s flexible, and then most airlines will let you take a credit that can be used for some amount of time. So I’d consider this to be worth close to face value.

Up to $50 in annual United TravelBank Cash

The IHG One Rewards Premier Card offers up to $50 in United TravelBank Cash per year:

• Each calendar year you’ll receive one $25 United TravelBank Cash deposit around January 1, and another around July 1
• Deposits made between January 1 and June 30 expire on July 15, and deposits made between July 1 and December 31 expire on January 15
• You must complete one-time registration to receive this benefit

If you fly United with any frequency, then this is like $50 worth of travel on United per year, which is awesome.

IHG One Rewards Gold status for being a cardmember

The IHG One Rewards Premier Card offers IHG One Rewards Gold elite status for as long as you’re a cardmember. IHG Gold status ordinarily requires 20 elite nights in a year, and offers perks like a 40% points bonus. That status is better than nothing, but don’t expect much in the way of on-property recognition for being a Gold.

IHG One Rewards Platinum status with $15K spending

The IHG One Rewards Premier Card offers IHG One Rewards Platinum elite status when you spend $15,000 on the card in a calendar year. IHG Platinum status ordinarily requires 40 elite nights in a year, and offers perks like a 60% points bonus, complimentary room upgrades, late check-out subject to availability, a welcome amenity, and more.

It’s not the most useful elite tier in the world, but it’s definitely better than IHG Silver or Gold!

IHG One Rewards Diamond status with $40K spending

The IHG One Rewards Premier Card offers IHG One Rewards Diamond elite status when you spend $40,000 on the card in a calendar year. This is IHG’s top tier elite status, and it ordinarily requires 70 elite nights in a year.

It offers incremental perks like complimentary breakfast and better room upgrades. One thing worth emphasizing is that many of the perks of IHG elite status are associated with the Milestone Rewards program, which you qualify for based on how many elite nights you earn. That’s where the next benefit comes into play.

15 elite night credits annually for being a cardmember

The IHG One Rewards Premier Card also offers 15 elite night credits toward status annually. You might wonder what the point of this is, given that you already get IHG Gold status, which requires more than 15 nights. Well, the idea is that this gets you closer to Milestone Rewards perks, which you earn for every 10 elite nights you rack up in a calendar year, from 20 nights to 100 nights.

Potential Milestone Rewards perks include bonus points, food & beverage rewards, confirmed suite upgrades, club lounge access, and more.

Two elite night credits for every $5K in spending

Beyond the 15 elite nights that the IHG One Rewards Premier Card offers annually for being a cardmember, you can also earn two elite nights for every $5,000 spent on the card. This can help you qualify for higher Milestone Rewards thresholds.

However, that’s a lot of money to spend for Milestone Perks that aren’t actually that valuable. If you happen to earn them, great, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to spend just to earn those extra elite nights. I suppose it could make sense as part of a larger strategy, if you’re trying to earn Diamond status, and unlock some other spend-based perks a well.

Fourth night free on award redemptions

The IHG One Rewards Premier Card offers a fourth night free on award redemptions, with no spending requirement. You can use this perk an unlimited number of times on eligible reservations. This is essentially a way to save 25% on points redemptions, assuming you stay in increments of four nights, so it definitely helps with stretching IHG points.

Up to $120 Global Entry, TSA PreCheck, or NEXUS credit

The IHG One Rewards Premier Card offers a Global Entry, TSA PreCheck, or NEXUS credit once every four years. Just charge the membership fee of up to $120 to your card, and it will automatically be reimbursed. It doesn’t matter who the fee is being paid for, as long as you charge it to your eligible card.

Save 30% on IHG One Rewards points purchases

Just for having the IHG One Rewards Premier Card, you can save 30% on the cost of buying IHG points. Often there’s strategic value to buying points, so on the surface, that might sound compelling. The catch is that this discount only applies when you’re buying IHG points at the normal cost.

IHG One Rewards ordinarily sells points for one cent each before any bonus. However, the program frequently offers a 100% bonus on buying points, which brings the cost down to 0.5 cents each. So getting a 50% discount is much better than getting a 30% discount, which would get you a cost of 0.7 cents per point.

Secondary rental car coverage

The IHG One Rewards Premier Card offers auto rental collision damage waiver coverage. Decline the rental company’s collision insurance and charge the entire rental cost to your card.

Coverage is provided for theft and collision damage for most cars in the United States and abroad. Do note that domestically the coverage is secondary to your personal insurance, though.

Protection with trip delays, lost luggage, and more

The IHG One Rewards Premier Card offers a variety of other protection when traveling. Among these features is:

• Trip Cancellation & Trip Interruption Insurance — be reimbursed up to $5,000 per trip when your trip is canceled or cut short due to sickness, severe weather, etc.
• Lost Luggage Reimbursement — be reimbursed up to $3,000 per passenger if you or your immediate family member check or carry on luggage that is damaged or lost by an airline
• Baggage Delay Insurance — be reimbursed up to $100 per day for three days for essential purchases when your bag is delayed by over six hours

Make sure you check your cardmember agreement for all of the details, since there are terms & conditions.

DoorDash & Instacart perks

The IHG One Rewards Premier Card offers some perks with both DoorDash and Instacart, which are pretty standard benefits for Chase cards. Specifically:

• Complimentary DoorDash DashPass (up to $120 value) — get one year complimentary DashPass by DoorDash, providing unlimited deliveries with $0 delivery fees and lower service fees on eligible orders (activation is required by December 31, 2027); after that, you are automatically enrolled in DashPass at the current monthly rate
• DoorDash non-restaurant promo (up to $120 value) — get up to $10 off monthly on groceries, everyday essentials, and more, on DoorDash through December 31, 2027, as long as you remain enrolled in your Chase DashPass membership
• Up to $120 in Instacart credits — receive a $10 Instacart credit monthly, up to $120 total each calendar year, for purchases made directly through Instacart with your card, and the benefit is valid through December 31, 2027
• Complimentary Instacart+ membership for three months — get an Instacart+ membership for three months, including unlimited deliveries with $0 delivery fees on eligible orders; after that, you’re automatically enrolled in Instacart+ at 25% off the annual rate, and the benefit is valid through December 31, 2027

Is the IHG One Rewards Premier Card worth the $150 annual fee?

As I see it, the IHG One Rewards Premier Card is a great value, regardless of how loyal you are to IHG, and regardless of how much you plan on spending on the card.

The card’s $150 annual fee is easy to justify based on the perks that it offers. The card offers an anniversary free night certificate, a fourth night free on award redemptions, IHG One Rewards Gold status, up to $100 in annual food & beverage rewards, up to $100 in airline statement credits, up to $50 in annual United TravelBank Cash, a Global Entry fee credit, and more.

Everyone in my family has an IHG credit card, if for no other reason than that we consistently redeem the free night certificates at hotels that would cost $250+ when paying cash (and potentially even more with the ability to top off with points).

Even if you’re not an IHG loyalist, the group has thousands of hotels around the world, so you’ll likely find yourself in a situation where an IHG property is convenient. If you’re trying to decide between cards, let’s just compare the IHG Premier Card to the rest of the portfolio.

IHG One Rewards Premier Card vs. IHG One Rewards Card comparison

The IHG One Rewards Credit Card has no annual fee, which, of course, sounds appealing compared to the $150 annual fee on the IHG One Rewards Premier Card. However, I think there’s a lot of merit to picking up the $150 annual fee card over the no annual fee card:

• The IHG Premier Card has a much more lucrative welcome bonus, so there’s a huge incentive to applying for the card
• The IHG Premier Card offers an anniversary free night award valid at a property costing up to 50,000 points; that alone justifies the annual fee, in my opinion
• The IHG Premier Card offers a fourth night free on award redemptions, without a spending requirement
• The IHG Premier Card offers a $100 statement credit when you spend $250+ on a flight booked directly with an airline; this is an annual calendar year benefit through December 31, 2027
• The IHG Premier Card offers up to $100 in annual food & beverage rewards at IHG properties, in the form of a $25 quarterly credit that can be redeemed during hotel stays
• The IHG Premier Card offers up to $50 in United TravelBank Cash annually, in the form of a semi-annual $25 credit
• The IHG Premier Card offers IHG One Rewards Gold status just for having the card, and IHG One Rewards Platinum status for spending $15,000 on the card in a calendar year

Those are a massive number of perks. also keep in mind that you can always pick up the IHG Premier Card, and if you decide it’s not the right fit for you, you should be able to downgrade it after a year. That gives you a lot of flexibility.

IHG One Rewards Premier Card vs. IHG One Rewards Premier Select Card comparison

The IHG One Rewards Premier Select Card has a $350 annual fee, so it’s even more premium that the $150 annual fee IHG One Rewards Premier Card. While there are a lot of differences between the cards, here are the key ones that could move the math in favor of the $350 annual fee card over the $150 annual fee card:

• The IHG Premier Select Card has the biggest welcome bonus of all, and that really helps with justifying the first year’s annual fee
• The IHG Premier Select Card offers an anniversary free night award valid at a property costing up to 60,000 points, rather than one worth 50,000 points
• The IHG Premier Select Card offers a $200 statement credit when you spend $250+ on a flight booked directly with an airline, rather than a $100 statement credit, so that’s a big difference right away
• The IHG Premier Select Card offers up to $300 in annual food & beverage rewards at IHG properties, rather than up to $100 in credits, so that’s also a big difference
• The IHG Premier Select Card offers IHG One Rewards Platinum status just for having the card, and IHG One Rewards Diamond status for spending $25,000 on the card in a calendar year, so it offers a higher status automatically, and has a lower spending requirement for Diamond

Personally I think the math on the most premium version of the card works out quite nicely.

IHG One Rewards Premier Card vs. IHG One Rewards Business Card comparison

In addition to the three personal cards, Chase and IHG also have the IHG One Rewards Business Card, which has a $200 annual fee. To be honest, there’s a lot of overlap between that card and the $150 annual fee IHG One Rewards Premier Card, so let me highlight a few of the differences:

• The IHG Business Card offers Platinum status just for being a cardmember, rather than requiring spending
• The IHG Business Card offers Diamond status after spending $50,000, rather than after $40,000, so it’s actually harder to earn Diamond with the card
• The IHG Business Card offers 20,000 bonus points after spending $25,000, rather than 15,000 bonus point after spending $15,000

Both of these cards are excellent, and personally, I think it’s worth picking both up, so that you can earn two free night awards per year without having to spend anything. However, otherwise I think the math comes down to whether you’re rather pay an extra $50 annual fee, or would rather have IHG Platinum status automatically.

Best IHG One Rewards Premier Card alternatives

If you’re not actually that committed to the IHG ecosystem, there are lots of other great cards to consider. In particular, these are cards with relatively reasonable annual fees and great rewards structures, and they’re very well rounded:

• The American Express® Gold Card (learn more) has a higher annual fee, but is tough to beat for those who spend a lot on dining, and also offers credits that can help offset the fee
• The Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card (learn more) has a low annual fee, and is among the best cards for everyday spending
• The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card (learn more) has a reasonable annual fee, and is well-rounded for offering bonus categories, plus excellent travel and rental car coverage
• The Citi Strata Premier® Card (learn more) has an affordable annual fee, and lucrative 3x points categories

IHG One Rewards Premier Card FAQs

Bottom line

The $150 annual fee IHG One Rewards Premier Card is a compelling option, whether you’re an IHG loyalist, or someone who just stays at an IHG property every so often. The card has a big welcome bonus, but also offers ongoing perks that should easily cover the annual fee.

This free night certificate is the single biggest benefit of the card, and consistently offers outsized value. That’s especially true with the ability to top off the certificate with points, to redeem at a more expensive property.

On top of that, the card offers elite status, and quite a few credits that can also easily offset the annual fee. I think it’s really easy to come out ahead with this card, so I guess it just comes down to how many cards someone is willing and able to pick up.

If you want to learn more about the IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card, follow this link.

However, as you’d expect, cards with no annual fee are often lacking in other areas. So this post is my in-depth IHG One Rewards Credit Card review. What perks does this no annual fee card offer, and should it be in your wallet, or are you better off picking up one of the more premium cards in the portfolio, like The New IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card (learn more) or The Brand New IHG One Rewards Premier Select Credit Card (learn more)?

Let me emphasize that the IHG credit card portfolio was recently overhauled, and this card is the rebranded version of the former IHG Traveler Card, as it was previously known. So my IHG Card review is intended to reflect all the updates.

Link: Learn more about The New IHG One Rewards Credit Card

IHG One Rewards Card summary & key details

Before I get into my IHG One Rewards Card review, let me briefly summarize the key details of the card:

• IHG One Rewards Card annual fee: $0
• IHG One Rewards Card welcome offer: Limited time offer of 125K IHG One Rewards bonus points after spending $2,000 within the first three months
• IHG One Rewards Card rewards: 5x points on IHG spending, 3x points on dining, grocery stores, and gas, and 2x points on all other eligible purchases
• IHG One Rewards Card elite status: IHG One Rewards Silver status just for being a cardmember, IHG One Rewards Gold status when you spend $15,000 on the card per year, and five elite night credits toward status annually
• IHG One Rewards Credit Card foreign transaction fees: None

Beyond that, here are what I consider to be some of the major pros and cons of the IHG One Rewards Card:

• IHG One Rewards Card pros include the lack of an annual fee or foreign transaction fees, plus the complimentary IHG One Rewards Silver status and five nights toward elite status
• IHG One Rewards Card cons include the rather lackluster return on everyday spending, plus the lack of other material perks

IHG One Rewards Card bonus, eligibility, & fees

It goes without saying that when we apply for credit cards, some of the most important factors are the welcome bonus, the eligibility rules for getting the card, and the annual fee. How does the IHG One Rewards Card do on those fronts? Let’s take a look.

IHG One Rewards Card 125K bonus points offer

The IHG One Rewards Card has a welcome bonus of 125,000 IHG One Rewards bonus points after spending $2,000 within the first three months. This is being marketed as a limited time launch offer, and it’s valid for applications through November 18, 2026.

Based on my latest miles & points valuations, IHG One Rewards points are worth 0.5 cents each. That means to me, the welcome bonus is worth $625. That’s actually rather good for a no annual fee card. Admittedly it pales in comparison to the best welcome offers out there, though.

IHG One Rewards Card bonus eligibility rules

When you pull up the IHG One Rewards Card application, you’ll see the following terms:

This credit card is not available to either (i) current cardmembers of any personal IHG One Rewards Credit Card, or (ii) previous cardmembers of any personal IHG One Rewards Credit Card who received a new cardmember bonus for any personal IHG One Rewards Credit Card within the last 24 months.

As you can tell, the IHG One Rewards Card isn’t available to those who currently have any personal IHG credit card, or previous cardmembers of any personal IHG credit card who have received a new cardmember bonus on a card within the past 24 months.

It’s worth emphasizing that eligibility is unrelated to having The New IHG One Rewards Business Credit Card (learn more). The generally mutually exclusive nature of some of the welcome offers is a reason you may want to consider getting the card that actually makes the most sense for you in the long run.

It’s also worth remembering the Chase 5/24 rule, whereby you sometimes won’t be approved for a Chase card if you’ve opened five or more new card accounts in the past 24 months (certain business cards are excluded). However, that no longer seems to be consistently enforced.

Fortunately nowadays Chase uses a pop-up feature during the application process, which should let you know if you’re not eligible for the bonus on a card (this appears after submitting your application), before there’s a hard pull on your credit.

Lastly, I should mention that Chase will often let you product change from one card to another, assuming you’ve had a card for at least 12 months. So this would be an opportunity to upgrade or downgrade personal cards within the IHG portfolio, if you decide a different card is a better fit for you.

IHG One Rewards Card no annual fee & no authorized user fee

The IHG One Rewards Card has no annual fee for the primary cardmember or for any authorized users. So that’s a major incentive to pick up this card. Also keep in mind that holding onto credit cards for a long time can help your credit score, as it boosts your average age of accounts.

So there’s value to getting some cards that you might want to hold onto in the long run, like this one, given the overall positive impact it can have.

IHG One Rewards Card points earning

When it comes to actually spending on the IHG One Rewards Card, what is the rewards structure like? Well, the card has several bonus categories that can boost your rewards, but still, don’t get too excited.

IHG One Rewards Card 5x points on IHG spending

The IHG One Rewards Card earns 5x IHG points per dollar spent at IHG hotels. Personally, I value that at a 2.5% return on that spending, which I wouldn’t consider to be terribly exciting, given the other cards you can use for hotel spending, to earn more rewards.

Let me mention that you’ll see the card markets itself as offering up to 17x IHG points per dollar spent at IHG hotels, but there’s nuance to that. That includes the 10x IHG points you usually earn per dollar spent at most brands, plus the 20% bonus (an extra 2x points) you get on account of having IHG One Rewards Silver status, a card perk.

But for the purposes of credit card spending, you’re only earning an incremental 5x points.

IHG One Rewards Card 3x points on dining, groceries, & gas

The IHG One Rewards Card has three categories in which it earns 3x points per dollar spent. Specifically, you can earn 3x IHG points per dollar spent on dining, grocery stores, and gas stations. This is valid globally, and there are no caps on spending.

Those are some very well rounded bonus categories, but the catch is that based on my valuation of IHG points, that’s only like a 1.5% return on spending, which isn’t terribly lucrative, especially for a bonus category.

IHG One Rewards Card 2x points on everyday spending

For any categories in which it doesn’t offer bonus points, the IHG One Rewards Card offers 2x IHG points per dollar spent on everyday purchases. Based on my valuation of points, that’s like a 1% return on everyday spending, which I wouldn’t consider to be very competitive nowadays.

IHG One Rewards 10K bonus points for spending $15K

Beyond the standard rewards structure, the IHG One Rewards Card offers 10,000 IHG bonus points if you spend at least $15,000 on the card per calendar year. Now, that helps the lackluster rewards structure a bit, and for some people, it could be worth putting that amount of spending on the card, given the other perks (which I’ll cover below). However, I wouldn’t say that has particularly broad appeal, personally.

IHG One Rewards Card no foreign transaction fees

It’s worth emphasizing that the IHG One Rewards Card has no foreign transaction fees, so it’s a solid card to use abroad. While the rewards structure isn’t great, plenty of no annual fee cards do have foreign transaction fees, and that’ll wipe out any of the rewards you earn for spending pretty quickly.

IHG One Rewards Card benefits & elite status

As you’d expect, typically the higher a card’s annual fee, the stronger the benefits and perks. So given the lack of an annual fee on the IHG One Rewards Card, are there any meaningful benefits? Well, there are some benefits, but everyone can decide for themselves how meaningful they are.

IHG One Rewards Silver status for being a cardmember

The IHG One Rewards Card offers IHG One Rewards Silver elite status for as long as you’re a cardmember. IHG Silver status ordinarily requires 10 elite nights in a year, and offers perks like a 20% points bonus. While this status isn’t going to be life-changing, it’s better than nothing.

IHG One Rewards Gold status with $15K spending

The IHG One Rewards Card offers IHG One Rewards Gold elite status when you spend $15,000 on the card in a calendar year. IHG Gold status ordinarily requires 20 elite nights in a year, and offers perks like a 40% points bonus. It’s probably not worth spending that much on the card purely for that status, though, since the benefits are fairly limited.

Five elite night credits annually for being a cardmember

The IHG One Rewards Card also offers five elite night credits toward status annually. You might wonder what the point of this is, given that you already get IHG Silver status, which requires more than five nights. Well, the idea is that this gets you closer to Milestone Rewards perks, which you earn for every 10 elite nights you rack up in a calendar year, from 20 nights to 100 nights.

Potential Milestone Rewards perks include bonus points, food & beverage rewards, confirmed suite upgrades, club lounge access, and more.

Fourth night free on award redemptions with $5K spending

As of 2027, the IHG One Rewards Card offers a fourth night free on award redemptions, but it’s tied to spending. Specifically, if you spend $5,000 on the card in a calendar year, then you unlock the fourth night free redemption benefit for the entire remainder of the calendar year, plus the following year.

This is essentially a way to save 25% on points redemptions, assuming you stay in increments of four nights, so it definitely helps with stretching IHG points. Note that IHG’s more premium cards offer this benefit without any spending requirement, so that could be a major incentive to pick a more premium version of the card.

Save 30% on IHG One Rewards points purchases

Just for having the IHG One Rewards Card, you can save 30% on the cost of buying IHG points. Often there’s strategic value to buying points, so on the surface, that might sound compelling. The catch is that this discount only applies when you’re buying IHG points at the normal cost.

IHG One Rewards ordinarily sells points for one cent each before any bonus. However, the program frequently offers a 100% bonus on buying points, which brings the cost down to 0.5 cents each. So getting a 50% discount is much better than getting a 30% discount, which would get you a cost of 0.7 cents per point.

Travel & purchase protection

The IHG One Rewards Card offers some potentially useful coverage, especially when you consider this is a no annual fee card.

For example, the card offers trip cancellation and interruption insurance, whereby if your trip is canceled or cut short by sickness, severe weather, or other covered situations, you can be reimbursed up to $5,000 per covered traveler and $10,000 per trip for your pre-paid, non-refundable travel expenses, including passenger fares, tours, and hotels.

The card also offers purchase protection, which covers your new purchases for 120 days against damage or theft, up to $500 per claim and $50,000 per account.

As always, be sure to check the guide to benefits for all the details and terms.

DoorDash & Instacart perks

The IHG One Rewards Card offers some perks with both DoorDash and Instacart, which are pretty standard benefits for Chase cards. Specifically:

• Complimentary DoorDash DashPass (up to $120 value) — get one year complimentary DashPass by DoorDash, providing unlimited deliveries with $0 delivery fees and lower service fees on eligible orders (activation is required by December 31, 2027); after that, you are automatically enrolled in DashPass at the current monthly rate
• DoorDash non-restaurant promo (up to $120 value) — get up to $10 off monthly on groceries, everyday essentials, and more, on DoorDash through December 31, 2027, as long as you remain enrolled in your Chase DashPass membership
• Up to $120 in Instacart credits — receive a $10 Instacart credit monthly, up to $120 total each calendar year, for purchases made directly through Instacart with your card, and the benefit is valid through December 31, 2027
• Complimentary Instacart+ membership for three months — get an Instacart+ membership for three months, including unlimited deliveries with $0 delivery fees on eligible orders; after that, you’re automatically enrolled in Instacart+ at 25% off the annual rate, and the benefit is valid through December 31, 2027

Is the no annual fee IHG One Rewards Card worth it?

There’s never going to be a one-size-fits-all answer as to whether or not a credit card is worth it. Given that the IHG One Rewards Card has no annual fee, it’s hard to argue that it’s not worth it, given that it’s not actually costing you anything to hold onto.

The card has a good welcome bonus, and it offers modest perks, not that you’d expect more for a no annual fee card. The thing is, it’s not actually a terribly rewarding card for everyday spending, and it also doesn’t offer that many strong perks.

The way I’d instead frame the “worth it” question is to decide if another IHG card is a better choice. That’s where I think the two more premium versions of the card come into play, and can really add value.

What it comes down to for me is that if you’re an IHG loyalist, there’s not much value to having the IHG One Rewards Card, and there are other cards to consider instead. And if you are an IHG loyalist, there’s a ton of value to getting one of the more premium cards.

IHG One Rewards Card vs. IHG One Rewards Premier Card comparison

The IHG One Rewards Premier Card has a $150 annual fee, is the more premium version of the IHG One Rewards Card, and I’d argue that there’s a strong case to be made for picking up that card over the no annual fee card. Just to highlight some of the card’s advantages:

• The IHG Premier Card has a much more lucrative welcome bonus, so there’s a huge incentive to apply for the card
• The IHG Premier Card offers an anniversary free night award valid at a property costing up to 50,000 points; that alone justifies the annual fee, in my opinion
• The IHG Premier Card offers a fourth night free on award redemptions, without a spending requirement
• The IHG Premier Card offers a $100 statement credit when you spend $250+ on a flight booked directly with an airline; this is an annual calendar year benefit through December 31, 2027
• The IHG Premier Card offers up to $100 in annual food & beverage rewards at IHG properties, in the form of a $25 quarterly credit that can be redeemed during hotel stays
• The IHG Premier Card offers up to $50 in United TravelBank Cash annually, in the form of a semi-annual $25 credit
• The IHG Premier Card offers IHG One Rewards Gold status just for having the card, IHG One Rewards Platinum status for spending $15,000 on the card in a calendar year, and IHG One Rewards Diamond status for spending $40,000 on the card in a calendar year

Those are just some of the perks, but the point is that I think a vast majority of people will come out ahead with this card.

IHG One Rewards Card vs. IHG One Rewards Premier Select Card comparison

The IHG One Rewards Premier Select Card has a $350 annual fee, and is the newly introduced IHG credit card. This is the most premium card in the portfolio. I realize if you’re looking at a no annual fee card, you’re probably not very interested in applying for a card with a $350 annual fee. However, the card does have very strong perks, so let me just make the case:

• The IHG Premier Select Card has the biggest welcome bonus of all, and that really helps with justifying the first year’s annual fee
• The IHG Premier Select Card offers an anniversary free night award valid at a property costing up to 60,000 points
• The IHG Premier Select Card offers a fourth night free on award redemptions, without a spending requirement
• The IHG Premier Select Card offers a $200 statement credit when you spend $250+ on a flight booked directly with an airline; this is an annual calendar year benefit through December 31, 2027
• The IHG Premier Select Card offers up to $300 in annual food & beverage rewards at IHG properties, in the form of a $75 quarterly credit that can be redeemed during hotel stays
• The IHG Premier Select Card offers up to $50 in United TravelBank Cash annually, in the form of a semi-annual $25 credit
• The IHG Premier Select Card offers IHG One Rewards Platinum status just for having the card, and IHG One Rewards Diamond status for spending $25,000 on the card in a calendar year

Seriously, the math here is too easy. I mean, with your card’s first annual fee, you can potentially earn two $200 statement credits for airline purchases before your second annual fee is due, and that’s more than the annual fee. Keep in mind you can always downgrade the card in the future, if you’ve had it for at least a year, and it’s not working for you.

What other no annual fee cards are worth considering?

If you’re committed to getting a no annual fee card, what other cards should you consider? As I see it, the following are cards that have strong perks, no annual fee, and they’re more broadly useful:

• The Citi Double Cash® Card (learn more) offers a minimum of 1x points when you make a purchase and 1x points when you pay for that purchase, though the card does have foreign transaction fees
• The Chase Freedom Unlimited® (learn more) offers 3x points on dining and drugstores and a minimum of 1.5x points on everyday spending, though the card also has foreign transaction fees
• The Capital One Venture One Rewards Credit Card (learn more) offers a flat 1.25x miles on all spending, and doesn’t have foreign transaction fees, so it’s a widely useful card
• The Bilt Blue Card (learn more) offers a minimum of 1x points, and the card doesn’t have foreign transaction fees

IHG One Rewards Card FAQs

Bottom line

The no annual fee IHG One Rewards Card has no annual fee, which is obviously compelling. The card also has a great welcome offer given its lack of an annual fee, and offers a number of basic perks. The argument could be made to apply for this card, given the lack of an annual fee and good bonus.

However, my main hesitation, and the reason I don’t recommend that, is because the more premium cards are simply more lucrative. The IHG One Rewards Premier Card and IHG One Rewards Premier Select Card are so much better. Yes, they have annual fees, but the welcome bonuses are much bigger, and if you stay at IHG properties with any frequency, the math will work out nicely. And if you don’t stay at IHG properties with any frequency, then the IHG One Rewards Card probably isn’t for you anyway.

If you want to learn more about the IHG One Rewards Credit Card, follow this link.

Sale on purchased IHG One Rewards points

Between October 10 and October 13, 2026 (that’s a short window!), IHG One Rewards is offering a bonus on purchased points. The standard promotion seems to be for a 100% bonus. In order to unlock the best offer, you need to purchase at least 35,000 points in one transaction.

How much does it cost to buy IHG One Rewards points?

Ordinarily you can buy IHG One Rewards points for as little as one cent each (the pricing isn’t linear), before any discounts or bonuses. With that in mind, if you were eligible for a 100% bonus and purchased 200,000 IHG One Rewards points pre-bonus, you’d receive a total of 400,000 points at a cost of $2,000, which is a rate of 0.5 cents per IHG point.

IHG sells points quite often, and when the program does, the bonus is typically in the range of 80-100%. So the 100% bonus is in line with the best offers that we see from the program.

While The Brand New IHG One Rewards Premier Select Credit Card (learn more), The New IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card (learn more), The New IHG One Rewards Credit Card (learn more), and The New IHG One Rewards Business Credit Card (learn more), offer a 30% discount on purchased points, that benefit only applies when buying points at the normal cost, and wouldn’t be applicable here.

How many IHG One Rewards points can you purchase?

IHG One Rewards ordinarily lets members purchase up to 150,000 points per calendar year, before any bonuses. However, during this promotion that cap has been increased to 200,000 points, pre-bonus.

Which credit card should you buy IHG One Rewards points with?

IHG One Rewards points purchases are processed by points.com, meaning they don’t count as a hotel purchase for the purposes of credit card spending.

Therefore I’d recommend using a card on which you’re trying to reach a minimum spending requirement, or otherwise, a credit card that maximizes your return on everyday spending. See this post for more on which credit cards are best for buying points.

Best cards for non-bonused spending:

• Citi Double Cash® Card
• Chase Freedom Unlimited®
• Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card
• Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card
• The Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express

Citi Double Cash® Card

Learn More Terms Apply. | See Rates & Fees

• Earn 1% cash back when you make a purchase, earn 1% cash back when you pay for that purchase
• $0

Chase Freedom Unlimited®

Learn More

• Earn 3% Cash Back on Dining
• Earn 3% Cash Back at Drugstores
• Earn 1.5% Cash Back On All Other Purchases
• $0

Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card

Learn More

• Earn 2x miles per dollar on every purchase
• No Foreign Transaction Fees
• 10,000 bonus miles every account anniversary
• $395

Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card

Learn More

• Earn unlimited 2X miles on every purchase, every day
• No Foreign Transaction Fees
• Global Entry/TSA Pre-Check Credit
• $95

The Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express

Learn More Terms Apply. | See Rates & Fees

• 2x points on purchases up to $50k then 1x
• Access to Amex Offers
• No annual fee

Is buying IHG One Rewards points worth it?

IHG One Rewards has dynamic award pricing, which means there’s no minimum or maximum number of points a hotel stay can cost. Rather, the cost of an award stay generally correlates somewhat to the cost of a revenue stay.

However, that doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll get the same value with all hotel stays. There are many situations where you can get outsized value by buying points and then redeeming them, so let’s get into that in a bit more detail.

Tip: Get a fourth night free with an IHG credit card

You’ll get the most value from your IHG points if you have The Brand New IHG One Rewards Premier Select Credit Card (learn more), The New IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card (learn more), and The New IHG One Rewards Business Credit Card (learn more).

That’s because the cards offer a fourth night free benefit, meaning that you can book a four night award stay for the cost of three nights. This is essentially the equivalent of 25% off in increments of four nights, since you can use this benefit an unlimited number of times.

At what hotels can you redeem IHG One Rewards points?

IHG has over 15 hotel brands, so there are lots of options for redeeming your IHG One Rewards points. IHG points can be redeemed at the following properties, among others:

• For luxury & premium hotels, there’s Six Senses, Regent, InterContinental, Kimpton and Hotel Indigo
• For mid-range and limited service hotels, there’s Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Candlewood Suites, Staybridge Suites, voco, and EVEN

How much are IHG One Rewards points worth?

Everyone will value points differently, but personally I value IHG One Rewards points at ~0.5 cents each, and I tend to value points pretty conservatively. So the purchase price is around what I value these points.

Do IHG One Rewards points expire?

For non-elite members, IHG One Rewards points expire after 12 months of inactivity. However, any sort of points earning or redemption activity would reset the expiration of your points. Furthermore, IHG One Rewards points don’t expire for elite members in the program.

Keep in mind that IHG elite status is quite easy to earn. Just for having The Brand New IHG One Rewards Premier Select Credit Card (learn more) or The New IHG One Rewards Business Credit Card (learn more), you receive Platinum status, without any sort of a spending requirement.

Does IHG One Rewards have blackout dates?

IHG One Rewards doesn’t have blackout dates on award nights, but the program does have capacity controls. What this means is that some number of standard rooms will be made available for award redemptions every night, but that doesn’t mean that all standard rooms are available for award redemptions.

Bottom line

IHG One Rewards is offering a sale on purchased points. Through October 13, 2026, IHG One Rewards is offering a promotion, and members seem to be eligible for a 100% bonus, which is an opportunity to buy points for 0.5 cents each.

There are instances where buying points can save you over 50% on the cost of a luxury hotel stay. I also think there’s value in having a “reserve” of IHG points, given the brand’s global footprint. You can get even more value out of buying IHG points in conjunction with the IHG Premier Card, which can get you a fourth night for free on award redemptions.

Do you plan on buying IHG points with a bonus?

At the moment, we’re seeing an elevated new member bonus for those who register for an account, making it the ideal time to sign-up, if you haven’t done so already (thanks to Doctor Of Credit for flagging this).

Earn 15K bonus miles with AAdvantage Business

Through October 31, 2026, the AAdvantage Business program is offering 15,000 AAdvantage bonus miles to anyone who registers for the program with promotion code GET15K. Bonus miles will post within six to eight weeks following the successful enrollment in the program. For what it’s worth, prior to this, the bonus was up to 10,000 miles, so this is 50% better.

I should mention that in order to be eligible to participate in the AAdvantage Business program, you need to have a business in the United States or Canada with a Federal Employer Identification Number (FEIN) or Business Number. However, even small businesses are eligible for this program, so that’s pretty awesome.

There’s no activity required to earn the 15,000 bonus miles in your AAdvantage Business account. Let me emphasize that with AAdvantage Business, miles are accrued to the business, and can then be shared with any company member, so they can redeem through their personal AAdvantage account.

There’s one main catch with the AAdvantage Business program, which is that in order to actually redeem the rewards you earn, you need to meet one of two activity requirements:

• You must have at least five unique travelers who have credited flights to the AAdvantage Business account, totaling at least $5,000 in flight revenue over the course of a calendar year
• Alternatively, you can be a Citi® / AAdvantage Business™ World Elite Mastercard® member, in which case the minimum requirement is waived, and there’s no minimum to the spending or number of travelers

Maximize value by double dipping

There’s the opportunity to really maximize value here by taking advantage of two promotions. The Citi AAdvantage Business Card often has a great welcome bonus, with the $99 annual fee even waived for the first 12 months.

So there’s value to taking advantage of both of these promotions:

• First sign-up for the AAdvantage Business program with promotion code GET15K
• Once you’ve signed up for it, apply for the Citi AAdvantage Business Card (based on your AAdvantage account number, your new credit card should automatically link the two accounts)
• This then lets you earn both the bonus miles that are part of the credit card bonus, as well as the bonus miles that are part of the AAdvantage Business program bonus

There are many reasons to apply for the Citi AAdvantage Business Card, and the unique double dipping opportunity some cardmembers are eligible for has made this one of my go-to cards for everyday spending.

Bottom line

The AAdvantage Business program is offering 15,000 bonus miles to new businesses that sign-up with promotion code GET15K. Assuming you’re eligible, this is absolutely worth taking advantage of.

The only catch is that in order to actually cash out those miles from your business account, you need to have qualifying activity. That could include having five travelers spend $5,000 in a year, or there’s the easier option, which is just to pick up the Citi AAdvantage Business Card. Just make sure you open the business account before you apply for the credit card, so that your card will then automatically correctly link to the account.

Do you plan on taking advantage of this AAdvantage Business promotion?

Spend $1,250+ with ITA Airways, save $225

With a new targeted Amex Offers deal, you can earn a $225 statement credit when you spend $1,250 or more with ITA Airways by November 30, 2026.

There are some terms to be aware of:

• The flight needs to be booked directly through the ITA Airways website or app
• The flight needs to originate in the United States and be charged in USD
• While you need to book by November 30, 2026, it’s okay if you travel on subsequent dates
• The offer is not valid for purchases by phone, at terminals, lounges, or onboard flights

It’s possible that there’s also a version of the offer for 22,500 bonus Membership Rewards points if spending $1,250+. If so, I’d definitely prefer that offer, since based on my latest miles & points valuations, Membership Rewards points are worth 1.7 cents each, so those points would be worth $382.50 to me.

Ideally you’ll see this offer on the Amex Platinum

This offer is targeted, though it’s possible you’ll see it on multiple of your Amex cards. If so, I’d highly recommend registering your Amex Platinum Card for this offer. That’s because the Amex Platinum offers 5x points on airfare purchased directly with airlines.

I value Membership Rewards points at 1.7 cents each, so to me those points alone are worth an incremental 8.5% return. On top of that, the Amex Platinum offers valuable travel protection, should you experience irregular operations.

In other words, if you took advantage of this offer with the Amex Platinum Card for a $1,250 ticket, you’d receive a total of 6,250 points, plus you’d get a $225 statement credit. By my valuation, that’s a return of $331.25 on $1,250 of spending with ITA Airways, which is excellent.

Bottom line

There’s currently a targeted Amex Offers deal that can save you money on an ITA Airways trip. Specifically, through November 30, 2026, you can save $225 when spending $1,250+ directly with ITA Airways. If you’re planning travel on the Italian flag carrier in the near future, this has the potential to be a great deal.

Were you targeted for this Amex Offers deal, and if so, do you plan on taking advantage of it?

Atmos Rewards launches this promotion on the first Wednesday of each month (which the program calls “Atmos Members Day”), so we just saw the one for October launched. Let’s go over the opportunities, as you can save up to 50% on award tickets. There are some cool markets in which you can save miles, though unfortunately only economy travel qualifies.

Save on Atmos Rewards awards to select destinations

For the new Alaska Atmos Rewards Global Getaways promotion, you can save up to 50% on award travel to half a dozen destinations, with the following restrictions:

• This is valid for bookings made between October 7 and October 10, 2026
• This is valid for travel between January 15 and March 8, 2027
• This is valid specifically for redemptions in economy, and not for travel in first class, business class, or premium economy
• You can receive discounts as long as you’re traveling to one of the eligible destinations and are originating in the United States; while discounts aren’t 100% consistent, they are generally valid for travel on all partner airlines when there’s saver level award availability
• These awards have the same change and cancelation policies as all other Atmos Rewards awards, so they’re refundable at no cost, minus the partner award booking fee (which it’s even possible to get waived)

The theme for this Global Getaways promotion is “welcome to winter done right,” with the idea being to “explore the world’s greatest cities where winter becomes the main event.”

With this sale, you can save on one-way redemptions to the following destinations (these savings are up to 50%, but not always that high):

• Helsinki, Finland (HEL)
• Munich, Germany (MUC)
• Paris, France (CDG)
• Sapporo, Japan (CTS)
• Seoul, South Korea (ICN)
• Stavanger, Norway (SVG)

My take on Alaska’s Global Getaways promotion

I very much appreciate Alaska Atmos Rewards’ creativity with this promotion, as nowadays it’s pretty rare to see programs offer award sales that are also valid for travel on partner airlines. Now, admittedly I wish there weren’t quite as many restrictions in terms of the booking window, travel period, the class of service limitations, and the one-way discount, but still, there will be value here for some, and it’s better than nothing.

If you’re simply looking for the lowest cost award, some of these award prices are very tough to beat. For example, getting from the United States to South Korea for 20,000 points in economy without paying high carrier imposed surcharges is quite a value. Keep in mind that with Atmos Rewards, award flights even earn status points, so could help you qualify for status.

I do hope that over time we see some first and business class award sales as well (it’s probably not happening, but we can dream, right?). Many of us have historically loved the program for the value it offers for premium cabin travel, so this promotion doesn’t help us much with that.

This is basically Alaska’s version of Air France-KLM Flying Blue Promo Rewards or Singapore KrisFlyer Spontaneous Escapes, except it applies for travel on partner airlines (rather than just for travel on the program’s airline), and is exclusive to economy (while the other promotions are mixed).

Bottom line

Alaska Atmos Rewards has launched its latest Global Getaways promotion, which is a monthly redemption deal offering up to a 50% discount on awards. This time around, you can save points on economy redemptions to select destinations. You need to book by October 10, 2026, for travel in early 2027. While this won’t be useful for everyone, I imagine some people will get value from this.

What do you make of Alaska’s Global Getaways promotion?

InKind is my favorite dining rewards app, and if you live in a market that has a good number of InKind restaurants and like dining out, there’s no reason not to use this, as you can earn bonus rewards, in addition to your credit card rewards for dining spending. Honestly, a large percentage of my dining when at home is at InKind restaurants.

Promo: If you’re new to InKind, follow this link to get $25 off your first dining experience of $50+

InKind’s generous refer a friend bonus offer

InKind has a refer a friend program. Ordinarily, when you refer a friend to InKind and they complete their first dining purchase of $50+ (before tax, tip, etc.), you each get a $25 bonus to use toward a future dining experience.

We’re currently seeing a limited time offer available. Through October 20, 2026, the person referring another person to InKind gets $50 for the referral, while the person being referred still gets $25. So of course this improved offer benefits the person referring more than the person being referred. However:

• The $25 bonus for the person being referred is as good as offers with the program get
• Once you’re referred, you can also start referring others, and be rewarded in that way

You can find my refer a friend link here, and others are welcome to leave their link in the comments section as well.

How to use the InKind referral program

I know sometimes people get confused about the logistics of referral programs, so let me just very explicitly break down how this works for the person referring and the person being referred.

If you’re referring someone to InKind:

1. Log into the InKind app, click the three horizontal lines at the top left of the screen, and then click the “Refer a Friend” link in the menu
2. Share your referral link with a friend; you can click the “Share referral” button, and then you can text or email your referral link to a friend
3. Once your friend completes their eligible dining experience of $50+ before tax and tip, you’ll receive your referral bonus the same day
4. InKind Cash Back (the rewards currency earned for referrals) is valid for a full two additional calendar months from when it’s earned; in other words, rewards earned any time in October would be valid through the end of December

If you’re being referred to InKind:

1. Make sure you sign-up for your InKind account using a referral link, so that you can earn the reward
2. Dine at an eligible restaurant, and when you do, you’ll want to pay through the InKind app; that’s always how you pay when using InKind, so just let the server know that you’re doing that
3. You should see $25 automatically deducted from the total, assuming you’re spending $50+ before tax and tip

Why I love the InKind dining app

There are many dining rewards apps out there, though I’d argue that InKind is in a league of its own when it comes to the quality of restaurants, plus the level of rewards offered.

The major downside to InKind is that the network of restaurants isn’t that huge, at least outside of major cities. In total, InKind has thousands of participating restaurants around the United States, with many being in cities like Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, San Francisco, etc.

InKind offers 10-25% back in rewards on all dining spending. It’s not like other apps, in the sense that it doesn’t matter when you dine or how you make a reservation. You just trigger the rewards by paying through the app while at the restaurant, and it couldn’t be easier.

InKind also often sells credits at a huge discount, so you can legit score massive discounts on great restaurants. Living in Miami, some of the restaurants I most frequent belong to InKind — Chug’s, Michael’s Genuine, Otto & Pepe, etc.

If you dine out and live in a city that has InKind, you’re missing out by not joining. It’s funny, I often have friends who are hesitant or put off joining, and then when they finally do join, they can’t stop telling me how much they love it, and how they can’t believe they took so long to sign-up. For more details, see my guide to the InKind dining app.

InKind referral code frequently asked questions

Bottom line

InKind is an awesome dining rewards app that I use constantly. If you’re considering referring friends, through October 20, 2026, InKind is offering double the rewards. Ordinarily, when you refer someone and they make a $50 purchase, you each receive a $25 reward. With this offer, the person referring gets $50, while the person being referred gets $25.

You can find my refer a friend link here, and others are welcome to leave their link in the comments section.

However, let me state that I find Hilton points purchase promotions broadly to be a lot less lucrative than in the past, given that Hilton Honors underwent a massive devaluation, and within the past year or so, top properties have gone up in price by up to 67%. So only take advantage of this if you know what you’re doing, and are aware of the program’s latest pricing.

Promotion on purchased Hilton Honors points

Between October 7 and November 21, 2026, Hilton Honors is offering a bonus on purchased points. Different members may be targeted for different bonuses, so you’ll want to log into your account to see what you’re eligible for. It would appear that the best offer is for up to a 120% bonus, which kicks in when you purchase at least 5,000 points in one transaction.

How much does it cost to buy Hilton Honors points?

Hilton Honors ordinarily charges one cent per purchased point, including all taxes and fees. That’s before any discounts or bonuses. If you’re eligible for the 120% bonus and maxed out the offer, you’d receive a total of 528,000 points at a cost of $2,400, which is a rate of 0.45 cents per Hilton Honors point.

When Hilton Honors offers a promotion on purchased points, it’s typically for either a 100% bonus or 50% discount, so this offer is better than all of the past offers that we’ve seen.

How many Hilton Honors points can you buy?

Ordinarily, Hilton Honors lets members buy up to 160,000 points per account per calendar year, before any bonuses. However, during this promotion, that cap has been increased by 50%, to 240,000 points. With a 120% bonus, that means you could purchase up to 528,000 points.

Do note that Hilton lets you combine points across accounts at no cost, so in reality you could acquire substantially more points by simply buying them across accounts and then consolidating them.

Which credit card should you buy Hilton Honors points with?

Hilton Honors point purchases are processed by points.com, meaning they don’t count as a hotel purchase for the purposes of credit card spending.

I’d recommend using a card with which you’re trying to reach a minimum spending requirement, or a credit card that maximizes your return on everyday spending. When in doubt, review which credit cards are best for buying points and miles.

Best cards for non-bonused spending:

• Citi Double Cash® Card
• Chase Freedom Unlimited®
• Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card
• Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card
• The Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express

Citi Double Cash® Card

Learn More Terms Apply. | See Rates & Fees

• Earn 1% cash back when you make a purchase, earn 1% cash back when you pay for that purchase
• $0

Chase Freedom Unlimited®

Learn More

• Earn 3% Cash Back on Dining
• Earn 3% Cash Back at Drugstores
• Earn 1.5% Cash Back On All Other Purchases
• $0

Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card

Learn More

• Earn 2x miles per dollar on every purchase
• No Foreign Transaction Fees
• 10,000 bonus miles every account anniversary
• $395

Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card

Learn More

• Earn unlimited 2X miles on every purchase, every day
• No Foreign Transaction Fees
• Global Entry/TSA Pre-Check Credit
• $95

The Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express

Learn More Terms Apply. | See Rates & Fees

• 2x points on purchases up to $50k then 1x
• Access to Amex Offers
• No annual fee

Is buying Hilton Honors points worth it?

There’s potentially huge value to be had buying Hilton Honors points. Hilton Honors sells points at a reasonable cost, has lots of aspirational properties, has good redemptions with a fifth night free opportunity, and elite status is also easy to earn with the program. Hilton’s partnership with Small Luxury Hotels of the World (SLH) is also awesome, and offers great redemption opportunities.

When you combine those factors, buying points can be a great deal.

How many points do you need for a free night at a Hilton?

Hilton Honors doesn’t have a published award chart, but rather the program has dynamic award pricing. This means that the cost of a standard free night award can vary depending on the day of the week, time of year, etc.

As a general rule of thumb, Hilton Honors free night awards start at 10,000 points per night, and go up to 250,000 points per night (which is a shame, because up until last year, properties maxed out at 150,000 points per night).

Sometimes you’ll see award costs that are way higher than these amounts. In those situations it’s because there’s not a standard room available, so higher pricing kicks in for premium rooms. That’s generally not nearly as good of a use of Hilton Honors points.

What is the Hilton Honors fifth night free benefit?

If you have Hilton Honors elite status (which is easy to earn, as I’ll outline below), you receive a fifth night free on award redemptions. This is a way to stretch your points even further, and whenever possible, I’d recommend making your Hilton Honors award stays in increments of five nights.

To take advantage of this, just log into your Hilton Honors elite account, and go through the process of making an award booking for five nights. When you get to the booking page, you should notice that the cost of the fifth night is automatically deducted.

Tip: Easily earn Hilton Honors elite status

One thing I love about the program is how easy it is to earn elite status with credit cards, including both Hilton Honors™ Gold Status and Hilton Honors™ Diamond Status. These tiers offer perks like room upgrades, complimentary breakfast, hotel credits, and more. For example:

• The Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card (learn more) offers Diamond status for as long as you have the card
• The Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card (learn more) and The Hilton Honors American Express Business Card (learn more) offer Gold status for as long as you have the card
• American Express Platinum Card® (learn more) and The Business Platinum Card® from American Express (learn more) offer Hilton Gold status for as long as you have the card (Enrollment required)

Do Hilton Honors points expire?

Hilton Honors points don’t expire as long as you have at least some account activity once every 24 months. Eligible account activity includes earning or redeeming points, so buying points would even reset the expiration of your points.

How much are Hilton Honors points worth?

Everyone will value points differently, but personally I value Hilton Honors points at 0.5 cents each, and I tend to value points pretty conservatively. As you can see, the pricing here is potentially better than what I value these points, and there are lots of ways to get outsized value with this promotion.

Does Hilton Honors have blackout dates?

Hilton Honors doesn’t have blackout dates on award nights, and all standard rooms are available for award redemptions. So this is about as good of a policy as you’ll find with any hotel group when it comes to award room availability.

How else can you earn Hilton Honors points?

There are lots of ways to earn Hilton Honors points, beyond just staying at Hilton properties or buying the points directly. You can easily earn points by using Hilton Honors’ co-branded credit cards, which also offer great welcome bonuses. These cards include the following:

• Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card (learn more)
• Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card (learn more)
• Hilton Honors American Express Business Card (learn more)
• Hilton Honors American Express Card (learn more)

While you can also transfer points from Amex Membership Rewards to Hilton Honors, I tend to think this doesn’t represent a very good deal, given how valuable Amex points are.

Bottom line

Hilton Honors has just launched a best-ever bonus on purchased points, whereby members can receive up to a 120% bonus, which is an opportunity to acquire points for 0.45 cents each. In the past we’ve generally seen bonuses of up to 100%, so this is a better offer than ever before. In fairness, Hilton Honors points have also been devalued a bit over time. With a short term use in mind, there are plenty of situations where this could represent a good deal.

Do you plan on buying Hilton Honors points with a bonus?

In this post, I’d like to recap the details of this offer, as this is the ideal time to apply.

Link: Learn more about the Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Legend Mastercard®

Earn 125K miles with the Citi AAdvantage Executive Card

The Citi AAdvantage Executive Card is offering a limited time welcome bonus of 125,000 AAdvantage bonus miles after making $15,000 in purchases within the first five months of account opening. This is the best offer that I ever recall seeing on this card.

Personally, I value AAdvantage miles at 1.5 cents each, so to me that bonus is worth $1,875. There are some incredible uses of American AAdvantage miles, so you can redeem this for experiences like Etihad’s A350 business class or Qatar Airways’ A350 business class.

Also keep in mind that any spending on the card will qualify for Loyalty Points (helping you earn elite status, including Gold, Platinum, Platinum Pro, or Executive Platinum), though the welcome bonus as such won’t.

Citi AAdvantage Executive Card eligibility requirements

If you’re interested in applying for the Citi AAdvantage Executive Card, the typical Citi credit card application restrictions apply, including that you can be approved for at most one Citi card every eight days, and at most two Citi cards every 65 days.

On top of that, the bonus isn’t available to those who have received a new account bonus on this exact card in the past 48 months. Eligibility is unrelated to having any other American Airlines credit card, so you’re eligible for this card even if you have other products, like the Citi® / AAdvantage® Globe™ Mastercard® (learn more).

Read my guide to Citi AAdvantage Executive Card approval.

Why the Citi AAdvantage Executive Card is worth it

The Citi AAdvantage Executive Card has a $695 annual fee (you can receive a $145 discount if you’re a Citigold client), though it offers a bunch of perks that can help offset that. For one, the AAdvantage Executive Card is the best card for accessing American Admirals Clubs:

• The Citi AAdvantage Executive Card offers an Admirals Club membership for the primary cardmember
• The Citi AAdvantage Executive Card offers Admirals Club access for authorized users; you can add up to three authorized users for a total of $175 (so potentially under $60 each), and then beyond that it’s $175 per authorized user

What’s the difference between the Admirals Club membership for the primary cardmember and Admirals Club access for authorized users? Well, the member can access some partner lounges, like Alaska Lounges, while the authorized users can’t.

Regardless, the primary cardmember and authorized users are each able to bring two guests or their immediate family into Admirals Clubs when flying American or an eligible partner airline on the same day.

On top of that, the AAdvantage Executive Card offers a variety of other perks, including:

• A first checked bag free on domestic American Airlines itineraries for the primary cardmember and up to eight companions on the same reservation
• Priority check-in, priority security, and early boarding, when flying American Airlines
• Up to 40,000 bonus Loyalty Points per year, unrelated to spending on the card; you’ll earn 10,000 bonus Loyalty Points when you pass each of the following Loyalty Points thresholds over the course of a membership year — 50,000 Loyalty Points, 90,000 Loyalty Points, 165,000 Loyalty Points, and 240,000 Loyalty Points
• Up to $500 back in statement credits per calendar year on eligible American Airlines Vacations purchases; this is a semi-annual credit of $250, which applies for a booking of two or more travel components, like a flight, car reservation, or hotel booking
• Up to $180 annually in Lyft credits every year, in the form of up to a $15 credit each month after making three eligible rides
• Up to $120 back annually on eligible prepaid Avis or Budget rentals every calendar year, which can even be used toward a single rental
• Up to $100 back annually on eligible American Airlines inflight and Admirals Club purchases when using the card, so this can be used for snacks and drinks onboard, premium drinks in the Admirals Club, etc.
• A Global Entry or TSA PreCheck credit of up to $120 every four years, as reimbursement for the application fee
• Travel protection, including for trip cancellation and interruption, trip delay, lost baggage, and worldwide rental cars
• 12x AAdvantage miles on eligible rental cars booked through aa.com/cars, and eligible hotels booked through aa.com/hotels; beyond that, earn 4x AAdvantage miles on eligible American Airlines purchases, and 1x AAdvantage miles on other purchases, all with no foreign transaction fees
• Omni Hotels & Resorts perks, including automatic Champion status, plus an Omni free night reward once per calendar year after completing an eligible stay of two or more consecutive nights
• Avis President’s Club status, with enrollment available through August 31, 2028; this offers perks like car upgrades, expedited services, complimentary additional drivers, and more
• Receive access to World Legend Mastercard benefits, including The Mastercard Collection and Mastercard Priceless experiences

The only thing I should otherwise mention is that with the recent refresh of the card, new cardmembers no longer receive a 25% savings on American inflight purchases, and also no longer receive up to $120 in annual Grubhub credits.

Read a detailed review of the Citi AAdvantage Executive Card.

Citi AAdvantage Executive Card welcome bonus FAQs

Bottom line

The Citi AAdvantage Executive Card has a huge limited time welcome bonus of 125,000 AAdvantage bonus miles after $15,000 in purchases within the first five months. While the bonus is great (and I value it at $1,875), there are lots of reasons beyond the miles that you might want to keep the card.

The card’s $695 annual fee is less than you’d otherwise pay for an Admirals Club membership. You can then add up to three authorized users at a reasonable cost, and take advantage of all kinds of other perks, ranging from hundreds of dollars worth of credits, to 40,000 bonus Loyalty Points per year.

This card has been in my wallet for years, and it’s one that I think any American frequent flyer, or anyone pursuing AAdvantage elite status, should consider.

Does anyone plan to pick up the Citi AAdvantage Executive Card with the limited time 125K miles bonus?

Earn 30,000 Amex points for spending with ANA

With a new targeted Amex Offers deal, you can earn 30,000 bonus Membership Rewards points when you spend $2,500 or more with All Nippon Airways by November 30, 2026.

There are some terms to be aware of:

• The flight needs to be booked directly through the ANA website, app, or call center
• The flight needs to originate in the United States and be charged in USD
• While you need to book by November 30, 2026, it’s okay if you travel on subsequent dates
• The offer is not valid for inflight purchases of Wi-Fi, entertainment, or phone service, standalone hotel bookings and car rentals, purchases through third parties or affiliated agents, codeshare flights or ANA flights operated by partner airlines, duty free shopping and orders, travel insurance/trip protection, Mobile Rental Service, and Bid My Price

There might also be a version of the offer for a $300 statement credit rather than 30,000 points, but I’d definitely consider the points deal to be the better value.

Ideally you’ll see this offer on the Amex Platinum

This offer is targeted, though it’s possible you’ll see it on multiple of your Amex cards. If so, I’d highly recommend registering your American Express Platinum Card® for this offer. That’s because the Amex Platinum offers 5x points on airfare purchased directly with airlines on up to $500,000 per calendar year and then 1x.

Based on my latest miles & points valuations, Membership Rewards points are worth 1.7 cents each, so to me those points alone are worth an incremental 8.5% return. On top of that, the Amex Platinum offers valuable travel protection, should you experience irregular operations.

In other words, if you took advantage of this offer with the Amex Platinum for a $2,500 ticket, you’d receive a total of 42,500 points, which I value at $722.50. That’s like a return of nearly one-third.

Bottom line

There’s a new targeted Amex Offers deal for 30,000 bonus Membership Rewards points when you spend $2,500+ on an All Nippon Airways purchase. If you’re planning travel on ANA, this has the potential to be a great deal.

Were you targeted for this Amex Offer, and if so, do you plan on taking advantage of it?

Earn Amex bonus points for spending with Amazon

With a new targeted Amex Offers deal, you can earn some number of Amex Membership Rewards bonus points for spending a certain amount with Amazon. There seem to be two primary versions of this offer, both valid for purchases through December 5, 2026:

• Spend $50, earn 500 Amex bonus points, up to three times (so 1,500 bonus points after spending $150)
• Spend $150, earn 1,200 Amex bonus points, up to three times (so 3,600 bonus points after spending $450)

It’s possible there’s also a version offering a statement credit rather than bonus points, though I usually consider the points versions of Amex Offers deals to represent the best deal.

The promotion is only valid for purchases made through Amazon’s US website or mobile app, using the enrolled card. The offer excludes corporate gift cards and custom designed gift card purchases. It also excludes Prime memberships and auto-renew subscription services. However, just reloading your Amazon balance should qualify (or at least has qualified for me in the past).

This Amazon promotion is worth taking advantage of

Based on my latest miles & points valuations, I consider Amex Membership Rewards points to be worth 1.7 cents each, meaning:

• With the offer for 500 bonus points for $50 in spending, you’re earning an incremental $8.50 return, or 17%
• With the offer for 1,200 bonus point for $150 in spending, you’re earning an incremental $20.40 return, or 13.6%

That’s excellent, especially when you consider that this is before factoring in any credit card rewards you’d ordinarily earn. Given that many of us do quite a bit of shopping through Amazon, I’d consider this level of a return on spending to be pretty noteworthy.

Also keep in mind that it’s often possible to save on Amazon purchases by redeeming just a single Amex point, so check to see if you’re eligible for that.

Bottom line

The Amex Offers program has a targeted promotion, offering bonus points for spending with Amazon. One version of the offer is for 500 bonus points for spending $50, while another version of the offer is for 1,200 bonus points for spending $150. Given that Amazon is one of the largest retailers in the world, I know many will probably want to take advantage of this… I know I will.

Were you targeted for this Amex Offers deal, and if so, do you plan on taking advantage of it?

It’s great to see this valid over the next several months, since this covers peak season in Dubai (hey, I realize Dubai tourism is down, and I’m not telling people they should plan a trip there — I’m just sharing what’s available!).

Unlock savings in Dubai with My Emirates Pass

With My Emirates Pass, you can save money at hundreds of restaurants, leisure destinations, and retail outlets, across the United Arab Emirates. The discounts vary, though they can be as much as 50%. You can find the full list of partners here.

As you’d expect, there are some terms to be aware of:

• My Emirates Pass is valid between October 1, 2026, and March 31, 2027
• In order to use My Emirates Pass, you need to present your Emirates boarding pass for travel between October 1 and March 31, along with a photo ID; a single boarding pass from the offer period will do the trick, so you can use it months later (and if you live in Dubai, it’s certainly a reason to hold onto your Emirates boarding pass)
• The savings are only valid for the person listed on the boarding pass, unless stated otherwise in the terms (though quite a few offers explicitly list that they are valid for a larger group)
• You can use your boarding pass as often as you’d like for savings, so either keep your paper boarding pass, or if you have a mobile boarding pass, take a screenshot

Many people living in the UAE are already eligible for big discounts all over the place (for example, Emirates employees can save up to 50% on many things), though if you’re not eligible or are just visiting, this is a fantastic way to save money around the country.

What kind of savings are available with Emirates?

Searching savings opportunities through Emirates’ website is easy:

• You can filter based on whether you’ll be in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, or Ras Al Khaimah; you can filter even further by the specific neighborhood
• You can filter by the type of business you’re looking for, with the choices of dining experiences, leisure, mind & body, and retail & shopping

The choices are extensive, and with each listing you can see how much you can save, and what the limitations are.

Bottom line

My Emirates Pass has been brought back for the winter season. With this, your Emirates boarding pass can unlock savings at hundreds of businesses in the UAE. If you’re traveling with Emirates to Dubai anytime soon, don’t throw away your boarding pass.

This is a smart promotion — the point of Emirates isn’t just to transport people, but also to get them to visit Dubai. Offering people further savings for visiting certain retailers is a win-win.

Is anyone headed to Dubai, and plan on using My Emirates Pass?

For those who may not be familiar with the process of applying for business cards, in this post I’d like to talk about Amex small business cards. What are the popular Amex business cards, what are the rules for getting approved, can you apply with a sole proprietorship, etc.?

Amex business card application rules & restrictions

Amex’s consistent rules regarding getting approved for business cards are as follows:

• Welcome offers are generally “once in a lifetime,” so you’re typically not eligible for the welcome offer on a card if you currently have it, or have received a welcome offer on that card in the past; some cards also have “family” restrictions, whereby you’re not eligible for a welcome offer if you have a card in the same family
• Amex typically limits cardmembers to having five credit cards at a given point, including personal and business cards; however, this only applies to traditional credit cards with preset spending limits, so cards like The Business Platinum Card® from American Express and The American Express® Business Gold Card don’t count toward that limit
• Amex typically approves cardmembers for at most two cards every 90 days, and that includes both personal and business cards; ; however, this only applies to traditional credit cards with preset spending limits
• Amex will sometimes decide that people aren’t eligible for welcome offers on cards despite otherwise following the rules, and in those cases, you should get a pop-up during the application process warning you of this

Are Amex business cards easy to get approved for?

There’s not really published data on how hard various cards are to get approved for. That being said, anecdotally speaking, I find Amex business cards to be among the easiest to get approved for. That’s true compared to other business cards, and even compared to many personal cards. That doesn’t just apply for people applying as corporations, but also for sole proprietorships.

To add to that, I find that the Amex business cards that aren’t credit cards, like The Business Platinum Card® from American Express and The American Express® Business Gold Card, are actually the easiest to get approved for.

Here’s what makes it even better, though. Not only are Amex business cards easy to get approved for, but they’re also among the lowest risk cards you can apply for.

Getting denied for a card isn’t a big deal, but it’s even less big of a deal with Amex. When you go to the application page for a business card, you should see a note stating “Know if you’re approved with no personal credit score impact.”

As you’ll see explained there, you’ll get a decision about your approval without any impact on your personal credit score. So in the event you’re not approved for the card, it has absolutely no impact on your personal credit score. This is as risk-free as card applications come.

However, do keep in mind that if you accept the offer, there could be an impact on your credit score. After all, it’s an inquiry on your personal credit, but of course that doesn’t have to be a big deal.

Can you earn Amex business card welcome offers more than once?

As mentioned above, Amex card welcome offers are generally “once in a lifetime,” meaning you can only earn the offer on a card once. However, there are a couple of caveats with that, as the reality is a bit nuanced.

First of all, there’s a debate as to how a “lifetime” is defined. Anecdotally, some people report being eligible for a welcome offer again roughly seven years after they’ve last had a particular card. This isn’t a published policy, but some people report success with that. Keep in mind that thanks to Amex’s pop-up warning about welcome offers, you’ll generally be warned if you’re not eligible for an offer.

Second of all, Amex frequently targets members for business card applications, even if they wouldn’t otherwise be eligible. These applications generally have “no lifetime language” in the terms, meaning there’s nothing in the terms stating you can’t qualify for a welcome offer again.

I’ve been targeted for many of these cards over the years, including for cards I already have, so clearly there are some exceptions. Let me emphasize this only applies if you’re targeted for a card, and if the terms don’t have any language around not earning a welcome offer if you have or have had a card.

Do Amex business cards count toward Chase’s 5/24 limit?

Chase has the 5/24 limit, whereby you might not get approved for select Chase cards if you’ve opened five or more new card accounts in the past 24 months, across issuers.

Many people try to be strategic about the cards they apply for in light of that. That’s why it’s worth noting that applying for any Amex business card won’t count as another new product toward the Chase 5/24 limit. That’s because the cards as such generally won’t appear on your personal credit report, which is why they’re not added to the total. So absolutely knock yourself in terms of applying for Amex business cards, as it won’t impact your Chase card eligibility from a 5/24 perspective.

Applying for Amex business cards as a sole proprietor

You need some sort of a business to get approved for a business card, but not necessarily in the way that many people would assume. You don’t need to have a corporation to pick up a business credit card, but rather, a sole proprietorship qualifies as well.

A sole proprietorship is the most basic form of a business, where it’s owned and run by one person, and isn’t incorporated. The owner has unlimited liability, and the business has no legal existence, separate from the owner. The owner reports the business’ income on their personal tax return, and pays federal and state income tax on profits.

Now, I’m obviously not here to advise as to what kind of a business someone should set up (you should talk to a tax professional about that), but in most places there’s literally no barrier to having a sole proprietorship, as it doesn’t even require registering in any official capacity.

For many people, a side hustle could very well be considered a sole proprietorship, whether you have a property you rent out, you do consulting, you sell stuff online, you’re a freelance writer, you are a rideshare driver, etc. There’s value to being able to separate your business expenses from your personal expenses, and of course the very lucrative business cards that we see don’t hurt either.

How to fill out an Amex business card application

Those who already have business credit cards are probably familiar with the application process, but for those who aren’t, let’s talk about what you need to know.

It can be intimidating to apply for your first business card, though even if you’re a small business or sole proprietorship, you should be eligible. When applying for an Amex business card, you’ll be asked the following questions:

• Legal business name
• Business name on card
• Company DBA name
• Business address
• Business phone number
• Industry type
• Company structure
• Years in business
• Number of employees
• Annual business revenue
• Estimated monthly spend
• Federal tax ID
• Role in company

If you’re a sole proprietorship, how should you approach this? First of all, and most importantly, answer everything truthfully. I think the concern that a lot of people have is that they think they need an incorporated business, a separate office, etc., in order to be considered for a business card. That’s not the case:

• You can use your name as your legal business name
• The business address and phone number can be the same as your personal address and phone number
• You can select “other” as your industry type, if the options don’t otherwise describe your business
• If you’re a sole proprietorship, you can select that as your company structure
• In terms of years in business, there’s no shame in saying it has been less than a year, one to two years, etc.
• In terms of the number of employees, saying just one is perfectly fine
• For the federal tax ID you can put your social security number

Of course you’ll also have to provide your personal information, including your social security number, your total annual income (which includes all eligible income you can reasonably use to pay your bills, including income from a spouse), etc. There’s also a non-taxable annual income section, but that can be left blank.

While a lot of people are intimidated by applying for their first business card, I think most are pleasantly surprised at the results. Best of all, keep in mind that with Amex you’re generally warned if you won’t be approved for a card without an impact on your personal credit, so there really is limited downside.

What happens after you submit your Amex business card application?

Once you submit your Amex business card application, what’s next? In some cases, you may be approved for a card nearly instantly, often within a matter of seconds. If you’re approved, you’ll have the option of accepting the card and the welcome offer.

In other cases, you may get a “pending” decision, while Amex reviews your information. Note that this absolutely isn’t the same as a denial. In some cases an approval or denial will automatically come through, while in other cases they may require some more details. If more details are needed, make sure you complete all that information in the requested timeline.

Meanwhile in some cases you may find that your Amex application is denied. Amex will then provide a reason for the denial. This could of course be for a variety of reasons — maybe the details you provided on the application just weren’t correct, while in other cases, maybe Amex has just decided that they don’t want to approve you.

You can always contact Amex after the fact and request for your application to be reconsidered, though don’t necessarily expect the decision will be reversed. Otherwise, you can always still apply for a card in the future, especially if aspects of your creditworthiness have changed, like your credit score, income, etc.

My favorite Amex business cards

American Express has a variety of lucrative business cards. Some earn Membership Rewards points, while others are co-branded cards that can earn you valuable airline or hotel rewards.

If you’re looking to earn Membership Rewards points, consider one of these cards:

• The Business Platinum Card® from American Express (learn more) — the card offers big perks that can make it worth holding onto
• The American Express® Business Gold Card (learn more) — the card offers excellent bonus categories and great perks
• The Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express (learn more) — the card has a lucrative rewards structure

If you’re looking to earn cash back, consider:

• The American Express Blue Business Cash® Card (learn more) — this is the best Amex business cash back credit card with no annual fee
• The Graphite™ Business Cash Unlimited Card (learn more) — a cash back business card with unlimited 2% cash back and 5% on Amex Travel bookings

If you’re looking to earn hotel rewards, consider one of these cards:

• The Hilton Honors American Express Business Card (learn more) — the card offers elite status and other perks that can make it worthwhile
• The Marriott Bonvoy Business® American Express® Card (learn more) — the card offers an annual free night award, bonus elite nights, and more

If you’re looking to earn airline rewards, consider one of these cards:

• The Delta SkyMiles^® Reserve Business American Express Card (learn more) — the card is for Delta super users who are loyal, and want to spend their way to status
• The Delta SkyMiles^® Platinum Business American Express Card (learn more) — the card is good for a relatively frequent Delta flyer, who values perks
• The Delta SkyMiles^® Gold Business American Express Card (learn more) — the card is best for the casual Delta flyer, who wants basic benefits

Overview of American Express’ core business cards

With the above basics out of the way, let’s talk a little more about each Amex business card, and why some consumers may want to consider them.

Amex Business Platinum Card overview

The American Express Platinum cards are some of the most well-known premium cards out there. The Business Platinum Card® from American Express is the business version of the card, offering some outstanding perks, though the card also has a steep annual fee.

At the moment, the Amex Business Platinum has an incredible welcome offer where you can earn a bonus as high as 300,000 Membership Rewards points after spending $20,000 within the first three months. Welcome offers vary and you may not be eligible for an offer.

Personally, I value Membership Rewards points at 1.7 cents each, so to me those 300,000 points are worth $5,100.

The Amex Business Platinum has an annual fee of $895 (Rates & Fees). This is one of the highest annual fee cards out there. The card offers so many benefits just for being a cardmember, and some of the most valuable benefits are credits. The card potentially offers over $2,000 in credits annually, including:

• Up to $600 annual hotel credit (semi-annual, $300 in January through June, and $300 in July through December, on prepaid bookings through Amex Fine Hotels + Resorts® or The Hotel Collection (2 night minimum required for The Hotel Collection))
• Up to $360 annual Indeed credit ($90 per quarter)
• Up to $250 annual Adobe statement credit (after spending $600 or more on U.S. purchases made directly with Adobe each calendar year)
• Up to $219 annual CLEAR+ credit
• Up to $200 annual Hilton credit ($50 per quarter)
• Up to $200 annual airline fee credit
• Up to $150 annual Dell statement credit (with an additional $1,000 statement credit after spending $5,000 or more on those purchases each calendar year)
• Up to $120 annual wireless credit ($10 per month)

The Amex Business Platinum offers 5x Membership Rewards points on prepaid hotels and flights that are booked through Amex Travel, plus 2x Membership Rewards points for purchases at U.S. construction material & hardware suppliers, electronic goods retailers and software & cloud system providers, and shipping providers, as well as on eligible purchases of $5,000 or more, regardless of the category.

The card also offers one of the most comprehensive lounge access benefits of any card, including Amex Centurion Lounge access, Delta Sky Club® access, a Priority Pass™ membership, Escape Lounge access, and select Lufthansa Lounge access. Cardmembers also receive complimentary Hilton Honors™ Gold status, Marriott Bonvoy® Gold status, Hertz President’s Circle elite status, and National Emerald Club Executive status. (Enrollment is required for select benefits)

Read a full review of the Amex Business Platinum Card.

Amex Business Gold Card overview

For businesses looking to earn Membership Rewards points, The American Express® Business Gold Card could prove to be the card for you, given that it earns up to 4x Membership Rewards points for spending in certain categories.

The card currently has a lucrative welcome offer as high as 200,000 Membership Rewards points after spending $15,000 on eligible purchases within the first three months. Welcome offers vary and you may not be eligible for an offer.

Personally, I value Membership Rewards points at 1.7 cents each, so to me those 200,000 points are worth $3,400.

The Amex Business Gold Card has an annual fee of $375 (Rates & Fees). Each billing cycle you earn 4x Membership Rewards points in the two categories where your business spends the most each billing cycle. There are a total of six eligible categories to choose from. Note that you earn 4x points on the first $150,000 in combined purchases from these categories each calendar year, and then 1x points thereafter. Categories eligible for 4x points include:

• Purchases at U.S. media providers for advertising in select media (online, TV, radio)
• U.S. purchases made from electronic goods retailers and software & cloud system providers
• U.S. purchases at restaurants, including takeout and delivery
• U.S. purchases at gas stations
• Transit purchases including trains, taxicabs, rideshare services, ferries, tolls, parking, buses, and subways
• Monthly wireless telephone service charges made directly from a wireless telephone service provider in the U.S.

Based on my valuation of Membership Rewards points, that’s the equivalent of a 6.8% return on spending in those categories, which is incredible.

To help offset the annual fee, the Amex Business Gold Card offers up to $240 back annually for eligible U.S. purchases with Grubhub, office supply stores, and UPS.com shipments. This comes in the form of up to $20 per month in statement credits toward eligible purchases. The card also offers a $12.95 monthly credit toward a Walmart+ membership, plus access to The Hotel Collection, where you can receive a $100 hotel credit and a room upgrade if available for stays of two or more nights.

Read a full review of the Amex Business Gold Card.

Amex Blue Business Plus Card overview

The Blue Business Plus Credit Card from American Express is almost too good to be true, given that the card has no annual fee (Rates & Fees), offers up to 2x transferable points per dollar spent, and gives you access to some other useful perks as well.

The Amex Blue Business Plus Credit Card currently has a welcome offer where you can earn 15,000 Membership Rewards points after spending $3,000 on eligible purchases within the first three months.

The Amex Blue Business Plus Credit Card earns 2x Membership Rewards points on everyday business purchases, and that applies to the first $50,000 spent per calendar year. You earn 1x points per dollar thereafter. Personally I value Membership Rewards points at 1.7 cents each. To me, that’s the equivalent of a 3.4% return on everyday business spending, which is phenomenal.

The Amex Blue Business Plus also offers 0% intro APR on purchases for 12 months from the date of account opening. After that, your APR will be a variable rate (currently in the range of 16.99% - 28.74%) (Rates & Fees). I wouldn’t recommend using the Amex Blue Business Plus for purchases outside the United States, as the card does carry foreign transaction fees of 2.7% (Rates & Fees).

Read a full review of the Amex Blue Business Plus Card.

Amex Blue Business Cash Card overview

The American Express Blue Business Cash® Card is a credit card that has no annual fee (Rates & Fees) and that offers a solid cash back rewards structure. For someone looking for a cash back Amex business card, this is as good as it gets.

The Amex Blue Business Cash has a welcome offer where you can earn a $250 statement credit after spending $3,000 on eligible purchases within the first three months.

The Amex Blue Business Cash offers 2% cash back on all eligible purchases on the first $50,000 of purchases each calendar year, 1% thereafter. The cash back you earn is automatically credited to your statement with every billing cycle.

The Amex Blue Business Cash offers 0% intro APR on purchases for 12 months. After that, your APR will be a variable rate (currently in the range of 16.99% - 28.74%) (Rates & Fees). I wouldn’t recommend using the Amex Blue Business Cash for purchases outside of the United States, as the card does carry foreign transaction fees of 2.7% (Rates & Fees).

Read a full review of the Amex Blue Business Cash Card.

Amex Graphite Business Cash Card overview

The Graphite™ Business Cash Unlimited Card is pretty straightforward:

• The card has a $295 annual fee (Rates & Fees), and authorized users cost $95 each, though you can also get a no annual fee Employee Business Expense Card
• The card has a welcome offer of $1,500 cash back (earned as statement credits) after spending $50,000 within the first six months
• The card offers unlimited 2% cash back on all eligible purchases, plus 5% cash back on flights and prepaid hotels booked through Amex Travel Online, all with no foreign transaction fees (Rates & Fees)
• The card is a hybrid product, meaning it has no preset spending limit — your spending limit is flexible and may adapt based on purchase, payment, and credit history
• The card offers up to $2,400 in American Express One AP statement credits, after spending $250,000 on eligible purchases on the card in a calendar year; statement credits will be applied to the monthly bill charged to the card for Amex’s accounts payable solution, One AP

Read a full review of the Amex Graphite Business Card.

Amex business card application FAQs

Bottom line

American Express business cards can be very beneficial additions to your wallet, so hopefully this is useful for anyone who hasn’t yet applied for an Amex business card. Even if you’re not someone who has applied for Amex business cards in the past, you may be pleasantly surprised by the results.

At the moment there are some particularly good offers on Amex business cards, so this is a great time to take advantage of one of these offers. In particular, you can’t go wrong with a card like The Business Platinum Card® from American Express or The American Express® Business Gold Card.

What has your experience been applying for Amex business cards?

The following links will direct you to the rates and fees for mentioned American Express Cards. These include: American Express® Business Gold Card (Rates & Fees), The Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express (Rates & Fees), The Business Platinum® Card from American Express (Rates & Fees), The American Express Blue Business Cash® Card (Rates & Fees), and Graphite™ Business Cash Unlimited Card (Rates & Fees).

There’s often confusion about who is eligible for these cards (based on which cards you currently have), so in this post, I’d like to cover the basics of what you need to know to get approved for these cards.

Chase IHG One Rewards credit card basics

To start, let’s cover the annual fees and welcome bonuses available on the four IHG credit cards issued by Chase that are currently open to new applicants. The following limited time welcome offers are currently available for applications through November 18, 2026:

• The no annual fee IHG One Rewards Credit Card has a welcome bonus of 125,000 IHG bonus points after spending $2,000 within the first three months
• The $150 annual fee IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card has a welcome bonus of 180,000 IHG bonus points after spending $3,000 within the first three months
• The $350 annual fee IHG One Rewards Premier Select Card has a welcome bonus of 200,000 IHG bonus points after spending $5,000 within the first three months
• The $200 annual fee IHG One Rewards Business Card has a welcome bonus of 190,000 IHG bonus points after spending $5,000 within the first three months

Eligibility for welcome bonuses differs between each of these cards, so let’s try to make sense of those details.

IHG One Rewards personal credit card eligibility

IHG One Rewards’ personal credit cards have somewhat strict eligibility requirements, though there is some important nuance to it.

In the case of the no annual fee IHG One Rewards Credit Card and the $150 annual fee IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card, you’re not eligible for the welcome bonus on either card if:

• You currently have any IHG One Rewards personal credit card
• You’ve received a new cardmember bonus on any IHG One Rewards personal credit card in the past 24 months

Just to explicitly copy and paste those terms from the application:

This credit card is not available to either (i) current cardmembers of any personal IHG One Rewards Credit Card, or (ii) previous cardmembers of any personal IHG One Rewards Credit Card who received a new cardmember bonus for any personal IHG One Rewards Credit Card within the last 24 months.

The good news is that the $350 annual fee IHG One Rewards Premier Select Card has less strict terms. You’re not eligible for the welcome bonus on this card if:

• You currently have this exact card
• You’ve received a new cardmember bonus on this exact card in the past 24 months

Just to explicitly copy and paste those terms from the application:

This product is available to you if you do not have this card and have not received a new Cardmember bonus for this card in the past 24 months.

In other words, if you want to pick up more than one personal IHG card, the best play is to get the IHG One Rewards Credit Card or IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card, and to then later apply for the IHG One Rewards Premier Select Card.

That’s because applying for the no annual fee or $150 annual fee doesn’t preclude you from getting the $350 annual fee card, while getting the $350 annual fee card first does preclude you from getting the no annual fee or $150 annual fee card.

IHG One Rewards business credit card eligibility

Eligibility for the IHG One Rewards Business Card is independent of eligibility for any of the personal IHG cards. You’re not eligible for the welcome bonus on this card if:

• You currently have this exact card
• You’ve received a new cardmember bonus on this exact card in the past 24 months

This means that it’s possible to earn the welcome bonus on this card regardless of which personal IHG card you have, as long as you’re otherwise eligible for Chase cards.

General Chase credit card application restrictions

In addition to the IHG One Rewards specific restrictions, be aware of Chase’s general application restrictions:

• Chase has the 5/24 rule, whereby you typically won’t be approved for a card if you’ve opened five or more new card accounts in the past 24 months; however, there are increasingly data points that this is no longer being consistently enforced
• Chase doesn’t generally have a strict limit on how many total cards you can have at any given point, but rather the limiting factor is regarding the overall credit you’ll be issued
• You can typically be approved for at most two Chase credit cards every 30 days, and I generally wouldn’t recommend applying for more than one Chase business credit card every 30 days

These are just general guidelines, though do note that there’s always some inconsistency based on what other cards you’ve applied for, your overall relationship with Chase, etc.

What credit score do you need for an IHG One Rewards credit card?

There’s not a consistent rule as to what credit score you need to be approved for a Chase IHG One Rewards credit card. Broadly speaking, I’d recommend having a credit score in the “good” to “excellent” category if you’re going to apply for any of these cards.

Personally, I probably wouldn’t apply if my credit score were under 700, and ideally, I’d hope to have a credit score of 740 or higher. That being said, people with scores lower than that have been approved for these cards, and conversely, people with scores higher than that have been rejected. There are lots of factors that go into approval — your income, your credit history, how much credit Chase has already extended you, etc.

Lastly, anecdotally I’ve found that IHG cards are among the easiest co-branded Chase cards to be approved for, so that’s at least good news.

Best IHG One Rewards credit card application strategy

If you do intend to apply for more than one IHG One Rewards credit card, what’s the best strategy? As I see it, there are just two general guidelines I’d follow:

• If you plan to apply for both a personal and business IHG card, get the IHG One Rewards Business Card first; that’s because applying for a business card won’t count as a further card toward the Chase 5/24 limit
• If you plan to apply for two personal IHG cards, you’ll want to apply for the IHG One Rewards Credit Card or IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card before you apply for the IHG One Rewards Premier Select Card; that’s because eligibility for that last card is unrelated to whether you have either of the first two cards, but the inverse isn’t true

Bottom line

Chase and IHG One Rewards have a portfolio of four credit cards, including three personal cards and one business card.

On the business card front, the most important thing to understand is that eligibility for the IHG One Rewards Business Card is considered completely independently from eligibility for the personal IHG cards, which is great news.

Then among the personal cards, you’re not eligible for the welcome offer on the IHG One Rewards Credit Card or IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card if you have either card, or if you’ve earned a new cardmember bonus on either card in the past 24 months. Meanwhile eligibility for the IHG One Rewards Premier Select Card is considered independently, so you could pick up that card even if you’ve had either of those two cards.

If you’ve applied for an IHG One Rewards credit card, what was your experience with getting approved?

So, let’s talk about KLM’s miniature houses — what’s their history, what makes them interesting, and how do you get them? Today is even a special day on this front, because October 7 is KLM’s birthday, so we just saw a new miniature house released.

What’s the history of KLM’s Delft Blue houses?

The history of KLM’s houses is probably the single thing that makes them the most intriguing. Prior to the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978, the United States’ Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) regulated most aviation policies, including fares, routes, and schedules.

This was intended to create a level playing field between airlines, and one of the regulations prohibited airlines from providing passengers with tangible incentives for booking them over a competitor.

Well, in 1952, KLM found a loophole. As a gift for people choosing to fly with KLM, the airline started passing out little blue-and-white ceramic houses filled with Bols Genever gin. But wait, isn’t that a tangible incentive?

KLM argued that it wasn’t a gift, but rather the airline was just serving to-go drinks. At the time, KLM replied to the critics with “is there a law that tells us drinks have to be served in a glass?” To be clear, I’m not suggesting the US aviation policies were the only reason this was introduced, but instead, that this is how KLM got away with being allowed to offer this, in spite of regulations.

That’s how the KLM miniature house mania started, and the rest is history…

How many KLM Delft Blue houses are there?

KLM currently has 107 different Delft Blue houses, one for each year that the airline has been in business. That’s another thing that makes this so cool, as the airline releases a new one each year, specifically on October 7, which is KLM’s birthday. So in 2025 we saw the 106th house introduced, and just today (in 2026) we’ve seen the 107th house introduced.

Now, since KLM didn’t offer these houses when it first launched, it had to do some “catching up.” So a couple of times we’ve seen the airline release more than one in a year. For example, in 1994, on KLM’s 75th anniversary, the airline released 15 houses. However, on an ongoing basis we now see one new house each year.

A few other interesting facts about these KLM houses:

• They measure at most 10 cm x 5.5 cm
• They each depict a real Dutch house, with some being generic, and others being rare or special, such as the Rembrandt house and Anne Frank house
• All houses are in greater Holland, but only a little over 50 are in Amsterdam; also, house #85 is located in Willemstad, Curaçao
• The “houses” aren’t actually all houses, with some being of buildings of historical or architectural interest, like the Heineken brewery, the former KLM headquarters, and more
• KLM produces around 850,000 of these per year, though roughly 150,000 of them don’t have gin, as they’re used for destinations to and from the Middle East, where alcohol may be prohibited

How can you get KLM Delft Blue houses?

The primary way to get a KLM Delft Blue house is to fly an intercontinental flight in KLM business class. Toward the end of the flight, the crew will come around with a tray displaying these Delft Blue houses, and you can pick one. This is available on all intercontinental flights, and you’re limited to one per person.

The airline generally stocks a few different houses on each flight, though only a handful are in circulation at any given point in time.

Each house contains a number on it, corresponding to the number that it is in the collection. For those who are serious about collecting these houses, KLM has apps for Apple and Android, so you can keep track of your collection, and also learn the backstory of each house.

Note that while you can only get these houses directly from KLM onboard, there is quite a secondhand market for these, and you’ll find a lot of people selling KLM houses online.

Here’s another trick that not many people are aware of. If you get duplicate houses, you can actually swap them for another one inside the KLM Crown Lounge 52 Amsterdam Schiphol, which is the non-Schengen lounge at the airport. They won’t have all the houses available, but there will at least be some available that you can trade for.

Bottom line

KLM’s Delft Blue houses are not only cool for avgeeks and collectors, but they also have quite an interesting history. They were introduced many years ago as a workaround to incentivize passengers to book KLM, and the airline has been releasing a new one every year since.

I think the history is half of the fun of these, so if you’re flying KLM but weren’t familiar with the backstory, now you know…

What do you make of KLM’s miniature houses?

Perhaps the three most well known premium cards include the American Express Platinum Card® (learn more), Chase Sapphire Reserve® Card (learn more), and Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card (learn more). However, we’re also increasingly seeing co-branded airline and hotel premium cards, like the Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Legend Mastercard® (learn more) and Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card (learn more).

While premium credit cards aren’t for everyone, nowadays I’d say they’re pretty easy to justify for many people who like to travel. Yes, you’ll pay a high fee upfront, but the perks typically more than justify that. In this post, I’d like to take a closer look at the value proposition of premium cards. What kind of perks do they offer, who do they make sense for, who shouldn’t consider these premium cards, and what are the best alternatives?

The basic value proposition of premium credit cards

While each premium credit card has its own unique perks and costs, the general value proposition of premium cards is mostly the same. The idea is that the cards have steep annual fees, and then cardmembers can offset them through a combination of perks, including credits, airport lounge access, and other privileges, ranging from elite status, to free night awards, to exclusive access to things.

Every single premium credit card offers some number of credits, and in a vast majority of cases, those credits have a retail value of more than the annual fee. The catch is that these credits are generally intended to create some amount of breakage, and they’re not all equally easy to use. That’s because some are issued monthly, or quarterly, or semi-annually, and there’s nuance to maximizing them.

These perks also almost never cost the card issuers as much as the retail value may suggest, for one of two reasons:

• The credits are merchant funded, and are intended to make it attractive for cardmembers to switch some business to that merchant
• The credits are for travel portals of the credit card company, so the credit card company earns a commission on bookings, and hopes that they come out ahead that way

On top of that, airport lounge access has become an increasingly common perk of premium credit cards. This often includes a Priority Pass membership, but it also sometimes consists of bank branded lounges, or even lounge access through airline partnerships.

So the way to think through the value of these cards is that you take the annual fee, you subtract the value of the credits you get, and then you decide how much you value the other perks offered, including lounge access.

The argument in favor of premium credit cards

With the basic value proposition of premium cards out of the way, let me talk a bit about the argument in favor of premium credit cards, and who should consider applying. As I see it, it’s worth getting a premium card if you meet some of the following criteria…

You’re willing to put effort into maximizing card credits

For the most part, I tend to think that really making the math on premium credit cards work requires using some number of the credits to help offset the annual fee. You don’t always have to use all the credits, but do try to be realistic about which credits you’ll actually use, and which you won’t.

It could even be that a credit sounds valuable, but if you have to use it monthly, you have to be honest with yourself about whether you’ll find value in that, or will even remember to do that. Again, don’t think you have to use every credit, but just make sure that you’re offsetting enough of the annual fee with credits so that the cost of holding onto the card is otherwise justifiable.

You value airport lounge access perks

Arguably the single most consistent perk of premium cards is that they offer some sort of airport lounge access. That’s not necessarily true for all premium hotel cards, but there is commonly an airport lounge access element to these cards.

If you do value airport lounge access, getting a premium credit card can be the best value way to access those experiences. While different premium cards get you access to different lounge networks, there is also a lot of overlap, so also try to be realistic about that. Having one Priority Pass membership is useful. Having six Priority Pass memberships doesn’t get you much incremental value. 😉

You value travel rewards, airline & hotel elite status

One other thing that most premium cards have in common is that they accrue points that can most efficiently be redeemed for travel rewards, so be sure that’s something you actually value. There’s no point in getting an Amex Platinum and spending money on it, only to redeem your points for gift cards, where you’re losing a massive amount of value.

Along the same lines, lots of premium credit cards offer some sort of airline or hotel elite status. In some situations that’s just entry level status, while in other situations, it’s potentially high tier status. If you stay with a hotel group with some frequency, there’s potentially quite a bit of upside there, and a card’s annual fee could be more than covered by the incremental perks after just one trip.

The argument against premium credit cards

As I see it, there’s also a pretty strong argument to be made against premium credit cards. I think that’s especially true when the realistic and practical side of our brain kicks in, rather than the side of our brain that gets excited by big headline numbers. As I see it, it’s maybe not worth getting a premium card if one or both of the following things applies to you…

You suffer from credit card fatigue

I think in general we’ve seen the increasing trend of credit card fatigue, whereby people are just growing tired of putting endless mental energy into maximizing credit card perks in order to justify card annual fees.

Can you come out ahead on these cards individually? Absolutely, quite easily, even! However, at some point these products go from feeling like exclusive luxury cards, to being more along the lines of coupon clipping. I have to be honest, I have almost every premium card, and while I do make the math work, sometimes it sure feels like a chore.

Every year I have to remember to use a countless number of credits, sometimes I need to pay with three different cards when I check out of a hotel, etc. You don’t want miles & points to go from something that’s a funny hobby, to something that just feels like a pain.

You are kind of over “normal” airport lounges

Airport lounges can greatly elevate the airport experience, and in particular, there are some amazing first class lounges and business class lounges around the globe. While credit card lounges can also be high quality on the surface, the issue has become the crowding.

There’s an irony to this entire transformation we’ve seen to the lounge situation over the years, and how monetization has changed. Airport lounges used to be a place to get away from the hustle and bustle of the terminal.

Nowadays airport lounges are sometimes the busiest part of a terminal, full of people looking to eat “for free” in order to justify their credit card annual fees. Look, I’m as guilty as anyone, I’m just trying to be realistic, though! At some point, the true luxury becomes just picking up that $20 sandwich in the terminal, and sitting in an empty gate area, where you actually have space to yourself.

Doing the math on some popular premium credit cards

Often I think it’s worth explaining the value of credit cards in the form of examples. So let’s take a look at some of the most popular premium credit cards, and work our way through the math. What annual fees do these cards have, and how hard is it to justify the cost of holding onto them?

I won’t even discuss the welcome offers on these cards, which can get you a ton of value upfront, and are all the more reason to consider at least giving one of these cards a shot. I’m also just trying to provide some examples across a wide variety of cards, but I’m certainly not including all cards.

Just to be thorough, let me mention some of the other cards that I won’t be addressing in more detail, like the Atmos™ Rewards Summit Visa Infinite^® Credit Card (learn more), Bilt Palladium Card (learn more) (Rates & Fees), Citi Strata Elite℠ Card (learn more), Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card (learn more), Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant® American Express® Card (learn more), United Club℠ Card (learn more), etc. After all, the intent is to demonstrate the overall value of the cards, rather than go over every single card detail.

Capital One Venture X Credit Card value proposition

The Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card (learn more) has a $395 annual fee, and it’s also the premium card that might be easiest to justify, in my opinion.

How do I justify the annual fee? The card offers a $300 annual travel credit (good as cash through the Capital One Travel portal) plus 10,000 anniversary bonus miles. I value Capital One miles at 1.7 cents each, so those 10,000 miles are worth $170 to me — but even if you redeem them for one cent each, that’s $100 in value. So by my math you’re getting $470 worth of value with those two perks, but at a minimum you’re getting $400 in value, more than the annual fee.

But that’s only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Venture X benefits, as you’re basically getting a bunch of other things thrown in. The Venture X offers 2x miles per dollar spent, making it one of the most rewarding cards for everyday spending. The Venture X also offers a Priority Pass™ membership and access to Capital One Lounges and Capital One Landings. Then the card offers perks like primary rental car coverage and cell phone protection.

As you can see, it’s really easy to make the math on the Capital One Venture X work, even if you’re not someone who would usually consider a premium credit card.

If you’re looking for a business card instead, the Capital One Venture X Business (learn more) has a lot of similarities, and can absolutely be worth it.

Chase Sapphire Reserve Card value proposition

The Chase Sapphire Reserve® Card (learn more) has a $795 annual fee, and is probably the most popular premium card with younger generations, given how well rounded it is.

How do I justify the annual fee? Well, the Sapphire Reserve offers a $300 annual travel credit, a $300 annual dining credit, and $500 annual hotel credit. Obviously those perks alone can more than cover the annual fee, though there is some nuance to maximizing them. The travel credit is straightforward and the dining credit is relatively easy to use, while the hotel credit requires booking a certain way.

But the Chase Sapphire Reserve offers many benefits beyond that. For example, the Sapphire Reserve offers excellent bonus categories for spending, including 4x points on direct airfare and hotel purchases, plus 3x points on all dining purchases. The Sapphire Reserve also gives you the ability to redeem all of your Ultimate Rewards points at the best rate possible, including when moving points to transfer partners, like World of Hyatt.

Next, the Sapphire Reserve offers a Priority Pass™ membership, giving you access to 1,300+ lounges around the globe, on top of unlimited access to Chase Sapphire Lounges, plus access to select Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounges. The Sapphire Reserve also offers excellent travel and rental car coverage, which can come in handy if you travel a lot.

Independently I wouldn’t say the Chase Sapphire Reserve is quite as easy to justify as the Capital One Venture X, but the major benefit of this card is all the other cards you can maximize in the Ultimate Rewards ecosystem by having the Sapphire Reserve.

If you’re looking for a business card instead, the Sapphire Reserve for Business℠ (learn more) could be worth it, though just keep in mind the benefits do differ somewhat.

American Express Platinum Card®

The American Express Platinum Card® (learn more) has a  annual fee (Rates & Fees), so it’s among the most expensive premium cards out there. Arguably the card set the standard for premium cards, though nowadays its value proposition can be pretty polarizing.

Fortunately, I find the Amex Platinum’s annual fee to be quite easy to justify, thanks to the potentially thousands of dollars in credits it offers. The Amex Platinum offers up to $600 in annual hotel credits, up to $400 in annual Resy credits, up to $200 in annual Uber credits, up to $200 in annual airline fee credits, and more. To me, this card is really about the credits. (Enrollment is required for select benefits)

Beyond that, the Amex Platinum offers a variety of perks, including the most comprehensive airport lounge access of any card. You get a Priority Pass™ membership, limited access to Delta Sky Clubs® (when flying Delta same day), access to Amex Centurion Lounge access, and much more. (Enrollment required)

The one downside to the Amex Platinum is that it’s not actually very rewarding for everyday spending, and doesn’t have many bonus categories. The only thing that gets me excited is to earn 5x points on flights booked directly with airlines or on AmexTravel.com, up to $500,000 per calendar year, and then 1x points.

If you’re looking for a business card instead, The Business Platinum Card® from American Express (learn more) is worth considering, though note that there are some differences between the two versions of the card.

Citi AAdvantage Executive Mastercard

While the above are all bank-branded cards, I thought it would be interesting to look at a premium airline card as well. The Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Legend Mastercard® (learn more) has a $695 annual fee. What do you get for that?

Well, the card offers an American Admirals Club membership for the primary cardmember, making this the best card for Admirals Club access. You’re already coming out ahead there compared to the cost of outright buying a membership.

What makes the Citi AAdvantage Executive even better is that you can pay a total of $175 to add up to three authorized users to the card, meaning you’re potentially paying under $60 per authorized user. Those authorized users then also get Admirals Club access when traveling on American or a partner same day, and they can even bring guests.

The card offers several other great perks, like up to 40,000 bonus Loyalty Points per year, up to $120 in annual credits with Avis and Budget, and more. If you fly American frequently, then I think this card is absolutely worth it.

Hilton Aspire Card

In addition to a premium airline credit card, let’s also take a look at a premium hotel credit card. The Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card (learn more) has a $550 annual fee (Rates & Fees). While that’s no doubt steep, the card should be very easy to justify for anyone who stays at Hiltons with any frequency.

What are you getting for the Hilton Aspire Card annual fee? Benefits include Hilton Honors™ Diamond Status for as long as you have the card, an anniversary free night award annually, which can be redeemed at a property costing up to 250,000 Hilton Honors points, up to $400 in annual Hilton resort credits (get up to $200 in statement credits semi-annually for eligible purchases made directly with participating Hilton resorts), up to $200 in annual airline flight credits (get up to $50 in statement credits each quarter, for a total of up to $200 back each year, on flight purchases made directly with an airline or through AmexTravel.com), and more.

Personally I think the Hilton Diamond elite status and anniversary free night award alone justify the annual fee on the Hilton Aspire. Then if you add in the Hilton resort credits and airline flight credits, you can potentially come out way ahead with this card.

What’s the best alternative to premium credit cards?

Many people assume that high annual fee cards must also be rewarding for actual spending. While that’s sometimes the case, it’s by no means consistently the reality. Some premium cards are more lucrative for spending, while others aren’t.

So while premium cards may be needed to unlock certain perks, like some kinds of airport lounge access, it’s absolutely not needed to get a great return on spending. As a matter of fact, many of the best cards for actually spending have lower or even no annual fees.

Some of the most lucrative cards for spending include the American Express® Gold Card (learn more), Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card (learn more), Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card (learn more), and Citi Double Cash® Card (learn more).

Premium credit card value FAQs

Bottom line

There are credit cards at just about all price points. While many people have no issue picking up a no annual fee or sub-$100 annual fee card, premium credit cards with high annual fees are a different story.

I’m not saying everyone should pick up a credit card with a $300+ annual fee, though I do think the cards are easier to justify than most would assume. That’s especially true with a card like the Capital One Venture X, which offers annual credits and perks that more than justify the annual fee.

Cards like the Amex Platinum and Chase Sapphire Reserve might take a little more work to maximize, but it’s still not too hard to make the math work, assuming you value airport lounge access, and are willing to put the effort into maximizing the credits.

Meanwhile if you’re loyal to a specific airline or hotel group, there’s also a lot of value to picking up the most premium card in the collection, whether it’s the Citi AAdvantage Executive or Hilton Aspire.

The one caution I’d add is that actually getting good value from premium cards requires putting in a lot of effort, and understandably, that’s not something everyone wants to do. Shocking as it might be, not everyone’s life revolves around maximizing credit card perks. 😉 Also, airport lounges sure have changed over the years, and while the quality is often great, crowding has really made these lounges lose some of their luster.

What’s your take on the value proposition of premium credit cards? Which do you find to be worthwhile?

The following links will direct you to the rates and fees for mentioned American Express Cards. These include: American Express Platinum Card® (Rates & Fees), and Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card (Rates & Fees).

For Capital One products listed on this page, some of the above benefits are provided by Visa® or Mastercard® and may vary by product. See the respective Guide to Benefits for details, as terms and exclusions apply.

While the card has a steep $550 annual fee (Rates & Fees), I find that to be easy to justify, thanks to benefits like Hilton Honors™ Diamond Status, an annual free night reward, an up to $200 annual flight credit (get up to $50 in statement credits each quarter, for a total of up to $200 back each year, on flight purchases made directly with an airline or through AmexTravel.com), an up to $400 annual resort credit (get up to $200 in statement credits semi-annually for eligible purchases made directly with participating Hilton Resorts), and more. The card also consistently has a good welcome offer.

In this post, I’d like to take a closer look at how the Hilton Aspire Card $400 annual resort credit works. This is one of the perks that can easily recoup much of the card’s annual fee, though there’s often some confusion about how exactly it works.

Link: Learn more about the Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card

Details of the Hilton Aspire Card $400 resort credit

The Hilton Aspire Card offers up to $400 in hotel statement credits every year, redeemable at select Hilton resorts. The credits are issued semi-annually, so you get a $200 credit in January through June, and a $200 credit in July through December.

As you’d expect, there are some terms to be aware of:

• This credit is valid specifically at select Hilton family resorts, and not at non-resort hotels, and you can find a full list of eligible Hilton resorts here; however, there are data points of some properties not on the list crediting as well
• The credit can be applied either toward room rate or incidental spending on property; to take advantage of this perk, you must pay with your Hilton Aspire Card, and purchases must be charged to a room, so don’t pay directly for a meal or spa service with the card
• Officially, the credit can’t be applied toward advance purchase or non-refundable rates, as the credit is intended for on-property settling of the folio
• The terms suggest that the statement credit may not post if a transaction is made with an electronic wallet or through a third party (such as an app store), or if the merchant uses a mobile or wireless card reader to process the purchase; while that might not consistently be the case, it’s definitely a best practice to bring the physical card
• You can use this credit across one or more transactions, so if you don’t reach the $200 semi-annual limit in one transaction, you can do so across multiple transactions
• Eligible purchases can be made by either the basic card member or an authorized user, though you still only get a total of up to $400 in credits per year
• The semi-annual period of January 1 through June 30 and July 1 through December 31 is based on the transaction date, which may differ from the date you make the purchase, so try to avoid using the credit during the last few days of June or the last few days of December, just to be on the safe side
• It can take 8-12 weeks after an eligible purchase for the statement credit to post, though in practice they’ll typically post faster than that; if the credit doesn’t post within that time, you’ll want to call Amex customer service or send a secure message to Amex
• There’s no registration required to take advantage of this, as long as you make the correct eligible purchases with the card

Regarding the page that lists Hilton resorts, keep in mind that you can sort options either by hotel brand or by hotel region. Just don’t make the mistake of using the search at the top of the page (“Where to?”) as that will show you all Hilton properties worldwide, rather than just resorts.

Let me also emphasize that while Hilton has a partnership with Small Luxury Hotels of the World (SLH), none of those properties are on the list, since that’s more of a marketing partnership, rather than those hotels actually belonging to Hilton.

Tips for maximizing the Hilton Aspire Card $400 resort credit

I’d like to share a few general thoughts on maximizing the Hilton Aspire Card $400 resort credit. None of these are earth-shattering, though they’re worth keeping in mind.

First of all, just about everyone in my family has a Hilton Aspire Card, given that the card pays for itself, in my opinion. So one thing to keep in mind is that you can use multiple cards to settle a bill when staying at a hotel.

For example, if Ford and I are staying at an eligible Hilton resort, we’ll both bring our Hilton Aspire Card, and at check-out, I’ll have them charge $200 to his card, and then the remaining balance to my Hilton Aspire Card. I think some people forget that you can easily split hotel bills, and it’s important to remember this if you and your spouse both have the card.

Second of all, if you don’t stay at an eligible Hilton resort at least once every six months, some Hilton resorts will let you complete a credit card authorization form in advance to authorize a certain credit to your room. That would allow you to pre-pay for part of your room.

For example, say you have a resort booking that you confirmed in April, but you’re staying in August. Some resorts are willing to already charge you $200 in advance to essentially have a credit to your account (think of it like a gift card toward your stay), so that you can maximize your credit for the first half of the year that way. Not all properties will do this, but some will, and it generally should trigger the credit (since the property is directly processing the purchase).

Next, while non-refundable and pre-paid rates technically don’t qualify for the credit, anecdotally many people report that such booking sometimes still trigger the credit. It seems to all come down to how the charge is processed, with it more frequently working at resorts outside the United States. So don’t count on it, but also don’t be surprised if it does work.

Lastly, if you really want to stack credit card perks, keep in mind that you can book many luxury Hilton resorts through the Hilton for Luxury program, and that gets you extra perks on those stays. You could even stack this with things like the American Express Platinum Card® (learn more) up to $600 annual hotel credit, which can be redeemed at Amex Fine Hotels & Resorts properties. So you could use the Hilton Amex Platinum credit toward the room rate, and then the Hilton Aspire credit toward incidentals, to really double dip and get maximum value.

How I use the Hilton Aspire Card $400 resort credit

To what extent do I maximize the Hilton Aspire Card $400 annual resort credit, and how? Of course in an ideal world, I’d use the entire $400 credit each year. However, the truth is that I just don’t consistently make it to eligible Hilton resorts that often, especially since I tend to stay at World of Hyatt and Marriott Bonvoy properties more than at Hilton Honors properties.

That being said, I stay at a Hilton resort at least once per year, and up until now, I’ve gotten at least $200 in value out of the credit every year. Sure, I could do a better job maximizing this, but at the same time, it’s probably not worth staying at a Hilton resort just to use a $200 credit.

By my mental accounting, I’m perfectly happy if I can use the Hilton resort credit at least once per year. The card has a $550 annual fee, and then the way I view it:

• I use the Hilton resort credit at least once per year, getting me around $200 in value
• I have no issues using the $200 airline credit, and more or less consider that to be worth face value
• The above two perks get me $400 in value (at least), and then I easily get $150 of value out of the annual free night certificate and Diamond elite status (and in reality way more value than that, since I consistently use the free night certificate at a hotel costing $1,000+)

How do the Hilton Surpass & Hilton Business Card hotel credits compare?

The post above is all about the Hilton Aspire Card resort credit, though let me also briefly address the Hilton credits issued with three other cards:

• The Hilton Honors American Express Surpass^® Card (learn more) offers up to $200 in annual Hilton credits, in the form of a $50 credit every quarter
• The Business Platinum Card® from American Express (learn more) offers up to $200 in annual Hilton credits, in the form of a $50 credit every quarter
• The Hilton Honors American Express Business Card (learn more) offers up to $240 in annual Hilton credit, in the form of a $60 credit every quarter

What makes these credits different, other than that they’re quarterly rather than semi-annual, plus the different amounts? Well, these credits are actually even more flexible, as they can be redeemed at any Hilton affiliated property globally, and not just resorts. So there’s a huge benefit to also being able to redeem at non-resort hotels.

Also keep in mind that you can stack these credits toward the same stay, by simply splitting payment at check-out.

Hilton Aspire Card resort credit FAQs

Bottom line

The Hilton Aspire Card offers lots of great benefits, and among those is a $400 annual resort credit. This is a semi-annual credit, so you get a $200 credit in the first half of the year, and a $200 credit in the second half of the year. It’s straightforward to use, assuming you’re staying at Hilton affiliated resorts with any frequency.

While I’d ideally utilize the entire credit each year, I often end up just using the credit once, since I often only stay at a Hilton resort once in a year. There are a few tricks to potentially getting creative with using the credit, but it’s up to each person to decide whether that’s worth the effort or not.

What has your experience been with using the Hilton Aspire Card $400 resort credit?

The following links will direct you to the rates and fees for mentioned American Express Cards. These include: Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card (Rates & Fees).

In this post, I’d like to focus specifically on the Chase Sapphire Reserve dining credit, which can get cardmembers up to $300 in value annually. I know this tends to cause some confusion, and there’s nuance to redeeming this, unlike the Chase Sapphire Reserve travel credit, which is basically good as cash.

Link: Learn more about the Chase Sapphire Reserve®

How to use Chase Sapphire Reserve dining credit

The Chase Sapphire Reserve offers up to $300 in dining credits annually, with the following terms to be aware of:

• The card offers an up to $150 statement credit semi-annually, once January 1 through June 30, and once July 1 through December 31
• The credit can be used across one or multiple purchases, until the $150 limit is reached
• The credit automatically posts for dining purchases at select restaurants, up to the maximum, with no registration required
• To qualify, the eligible card must be used for the dining purchase, though it doesn’t matter how you booked your reservation
• Certain types of purchases may not be identifiable and will not qualify, like delivery and takeout, merchandise and gift cards, purchases made through digital wallets, etc.
• Statement credits should post to billing statements within three business days, but may take up to four weeks
• Make sure you dine in a way where your credit will post to your account before the deadline, rather than just being a pending transaction, so that it counts toward the correct half of the year; to be on the safe side, I’d recommend dining at least three days before the end of the period, to give the transaction time to post correctly

In the event that you feel the Chase Sapphire Reserve dining isn’t working correctly, first make sure you actually followed the rules and dined at an eligible restaurant. If you did, you’ll then want to reach out to Chase customer service, and then can look into it.

Participating Chase dining credit restaurants

Many people may wonder at which restaurants the Chase Sapphire Reserve $300 dining credit can be used. This has actually been simplified a bit since this benefit was launched.

The Chase Sapphire Reserve dining credit can be applied to any restaurant belonging to Sapphire Reserve Exclusive Tables, and you can find that portal here. So if a restaurant is listed there, you can use your credit for dining.

You’ll find that there are hundreds of Sapphire Reserve Exclusive Tables restaurants across dozens of cities that are participating. The list remains subject to change, so I won’t fully list them here, but this includes restaurants in Atlanta, Austin, Baltimore, Boston, Central Coast, Charleston, Charlotte, Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Connecticut, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Greenville County, Hawaii, Houston, Jacksonville, Kansas City, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Maine, Miami, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Naples, Nashville, New Jersey, New Mexico, New Orleans, New York City, Oklahoma City, Orlando, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Portland, Raleigh, Rhode Island, Richmond, Sacramento, Salt Lake City, San Antonio, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, St. Louis, Tampa, Tulsa, Washington DC, and West Palm Beach.

This list really has grown very nicely, especially outside of the country’s few biggest metropolitan markets. I should also mention that the Chase Sapphire Reserve Exclusive Tables list was updated in July 2026, and we saw many restaurants added, and some removed. So it’s always worth frequently checking the list to see if anything has changed since the last time you looked.

Sapphire Reserve Exclusive Tables program perks

Beyond the Chase Sapphire Reserve $300 annual dining credit, it’s worth talking a little more broadly about the Sapphire Reserve Exclusive Tables program. As you’d expect based on the name, this is a free program offered to those who have the Sapphire Reserve, and it’s offered by both the primary cardmember and to authorized users. The Sapphire Reserve Exclusive Tables program is in partnership with OpenTable.

Beyond the ability to redeem your dining credit, the main perks of the Sapphire Reserve Exclusive Tables program include priority access to peak reservation times at some top restaurants, including a “Priority Notify” feature, whereby you can receive early access to tables before the public. There are also sometimes special dining events and activations for cardmembers.

Fortunately this is all really easy to use. Just go to the Sapphire Reserve Exclusive Tables partnership page, log in with your account details, and then OpenTable will show all the things you have access to.

Chase Sapphire Reserve dining credit value

Nowadays premium cards largely have high annual fees, and it’s possible to get outsized value, but it can take some effort. With that in mind, the Chase Sapphire Reserve dining credit is probably pretty polarizing for cardmembers. As is often the case, the perks of this card favor those who live in major cities.

For me, this dining credit is basically good as cash. I live in Miami, and there are a couple restaurants on the list that I frequent. So I easily get $300 of value out of that per year.

That being said, of course others will feel differently. If you wouldn’t otherwise visit the restaurants on the list, then that’s a major value that you’re not going to get out of the card. Admittedly premium credit cards with a variety of statement credits are designed for there to be breakage, so you don’t need to get full value out of every benefit for a card to make sense.

One of the other great things about the Chase Sapphire Reserve is that it offers 3x points on dining purchases globally with no foreign transaction fees, so it’s a great card to use on dining in the first place. As a result, you may find that you actually use this credit without even intending to do so, and without realizing that a restaurant was on the list.

In terms of a few other tips to maximize Sapphire Reserve dining credit value, keep in mind that you can generally combine this with other dining portals and programs. It won’t work with InKind, my favorite dining program, since InKind transactions are processed differently than standard reservations. However, it works with other dining rewards programs, potentially letting you earn some additional bonus points, beyond the 3x points for dining offered by the card.

Chase Sapphire Reserve dining credit FAQs

Bottom line

With the Chase Sapphire Reserve dining credit, you can get up to $300 of value per year, with a credit of up to $150 every six months. This is available at a limited number of restaurants in select cities, though the list is becoming more substantial over time, including in some smaller cities. If you’d otherwise frequent these restaurants, then this is awesome, and basically good as cash. Meanwhile if you wouldn’t frequent any restaurants on the list, it’s a different story.

What do you make of the Chase Sapphire Reserve $300 dining credit?

Let’s be honest, North African airlines (and airports, and maybe countries?) and I don’t get along particularly well. 😉 Egypt doesn’t care for me, and my Air Algerie flight on the outbound of this trip might just earn my lowest star rating ever, when I publish my full review.

So by comparison, I have to give Royal Air Maroc some credit, as I had a pleasant flight with the carrier, especially for a short haul. I’ll have a full review soon, but would like to share some initial thoughts.

Royal Air Maroc’s 737 business class seats are comfortable

Credit where credit’s due, I appreciate how Royal Air Maroc’s 737 business class consists of “real” business class seats. That’s the case throughout the dual-class 737 fleet, and it’s quite the contrast to what you’ll find on European carriers, as well as some other North African carriers, operating comparable routes.

It’s nice to have that assurance, rather than simply economy seats with a blocked middle. Now, the cabin wasn’t necessarily in great condition — there was a lot of wear and tear, and the toilet seat in the lavatory wouldn’t stay open without being held, which is less than ideal. But hey, that’s minor in the scheme of things!

Also note that there’s no Wi-Fi and no streaming entertainment, but there are some cartoons on overhead monitors (though Royal Air Maroc is introducing Starlink as of early 2027).

Royal Air Maroc’s business class food is quite good

Given that this was a flight of under an hour, I was very impressed by the quality and quantity of the food. A snack was served after takeoff, consisting of burrata, prawns, some veggies, a cheese plate, and a dessert.

There was even time for a cup of tea. Royal Air Maroc also serves alcohol on these flights, though I didn’t have anything on that front.

While limited in choice, there were also pre-departure drinks, which most European carriers don’t serve. One can’t really ask for a lot more on a flight like this.

Royal Air Maroc’s business class service was decent

North Africa is tricky when it comes to service, because I find in places like Egypt and Morocco, people are genuinely hospitable in a non-transactional or work setting, while otherwise, it’s more of a mixed bag. On this flight, the supervisor was a really nice guy, though he wasn’t the primary person serving the cabin.

Meanwhile the flight attendant working business class had the charm of a robot, but at least she wasn’t rude? This was a short flight and she went through the motions, so I’m hardly going to complain about that!

Another nice aspect of Royal Air Maroc’s “service” is that the airline offers a dedicated business class bus if you arrive at a remote stand in Casablanca, which makes the arrivals experience much more pleasant, in terms of speed and comfort.

Bottom line

Royal Air Maroc offers a pleasant business class experience on its Boeing 737s. The best part of the experience is the “real” business class seats, rather than just economy seats with a blocked middle. For a flight of this length, I thought the snack service was also very good.

It does feel like Royal Air Maroc tries a bit harder than carriers like Air Algerie and Tunisair, which isn’t surprising, given that Morocco is a big tourist destination, the airline is in oneworld, etc. I’d also say it’s much better than EgyptAir, though I’ve heard the carrier is improving, not that I’ll experience it firsthand any time soon…

What’s your take on Royal Air Maroc’s 737 business class?

Earlier this year, I sailed with Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection, and was very pleasantly surprised, as someone who has otherwise not taken a cruise since my childhood. I was impressed by the service, inclusions, and overall vibe of the experience. Then over the summer, I sailed on Four Seasons Yachts. While the ship takes luxury to the next level, unfortunately I found Four Seasons still has some work to do with service and food quality, especially since Four Seasons Yachts doesn’t operate with an all-inclusive concept.

Well, now I just had the chance to spend four nights experiencing Orient Express Sailing Yachts, which is the newest entrant into the market. Orient Express has historically been known for its amazing train journeys, though the brand has been expanding into hotels, and even cruising. The Corinthian launched over the summer, and is the world’s largest sailing yacht.

I’d like to share some initial thoughts on the experience, and then I’ll have a full review soon (so I’m not intentionally leaving out any details here, but I’m trying to keep this closer to 2,000 words than 6,000 words). Let me just say that I was absolutely blown away by the experience. Obviously it’s insanely expensive, but my gosh, they deliver in virtually every way.

Orient Express Sailing Yachts experience pricing & inclusions

Full disclosure upfront — while we paid in full for our journeys on Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection and Four Seasons Yachts, Orient Express Sailing Yachts invited Ford on this journey, and I tagged along. Ford was the only travel advisor on this journey, though they’ve invited some other high volume luxury travel advisors on other journeys as well.

All opinions expressed are of course my own, and I think the pictures and experience will speak for themselves. For what it’s worth, Orient Express Sailing Yachts itineraries start at around €4,000 per night, but go up from there, depending on the sailing, with summer Europe itineraries often retailing for closer to €5,000 per night. That pricing is for standard suites (“Suite Panoramique”), though we were assigned an “Appartement Prestige,” which typically retails for around twice as much.

The suite categories only go up from there, with the “Agatha Christie” accommodation typically retailing for around €25,000 per night. One thing that might surprise some people is that the top suite categories seem to be among the first to sell out. Heck, people have chartered the full yacht on multiple occasions in the first several months alone.

If you are going to book an Orient Express cruise, I recommend doing so through a travel advisor affiliated with Accor Preferred, as they can get you the best cost, and also add a shipboard credit (which can be used for things like spa treatments). Ford and his team are of course happy to help with these bookings, and can be reached at ford@fordbtravel.com.

Orient Express Sailing Yachts also operates under an ultra all-inclusive concept, unlike Four Seasons Yachts. We’re talking everything from airport transfers, to shore excursions, to butler service, to dry cleaning and laundry, to private training onboard, to an incredible selection of food & drinks. So while journeys are typically a little more expensive than with Four Seasons Yachts, I think the incremental cost is absolutely worth it.

One disclaimer I’d like to add is that our sailing was really empty. We sailed in early October, before the transatlantic voyage, and of the 54 suites, only 19 were occupied. There were 38 guests onboard, with 170 staff. The whole thing was utterly surreal. I can only share my experience based on my voyage, so as you’d expect, service was incredible, there was never a wait for anything, etc.

Of course I can’t say with certainty how much the experience differs if the ship is full (or nearly full — I believe 90% occupancy is the highest it has had to date). I’ve heard it still feels quite empty when close to capacity, but that’s not based on firsthand experience.

Lastly, I’d like to acknowledge that while I’ve heard overall great feedback about Orient Express Sailing Yachts (Pierre, an OMAAT reader and client of Ford’s, kindly shared his experience on the blog recently), there has also been some mixed feedback, like Trek Trendy’s video review. I think his feedback was totally valid and there were some shortcomings, and several of those have been swiftly addressed.

The Orient Express Corinthian is breathtaking

The Corinthian is Orient Express Sailing Yachts’ first ship. The ship has a total of 54 suites, so it can accommodate up to 110 guests at most. It’s a staggering 722 feet (220 meters) long, and four decks are dedicated to passengers. Just for context on how exclusive this is, Four Seasons Yachts has 95 suites, while Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection ships have 149-226 suites.

Words can’t describe how gorgeous every corner of the ship is. In charge of the design was French architect and Orient Express Artistic Director Maxime d’Angeac, and rumor has it that he was basically given a blank check for the interior, and you really feel that.

In terms of luxury, Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection is already beautiful, Four Seasons Yachts is decidedly more luxurious, and Orient Express Sailing Yachts is once again a big step up. Every single corner of the ship just feels so unnecessarily over-the-top, and will make you feel like you’re in a luxury hotel rather than on a ship.

This is true from the gorgeous hallways, to the seafood bar, to the speakeasy (accessible through the back of a barber shop), to the train-inspired bar (intended to recreate the historic Orient Express train cars), to the fine dining restaurant, to the downright unnecessary number of amenities, ranging from a recording studio, to a cinema, to what must be the world’s most unusual lap pool.

I also love how this is a sailboat — when we’d start sailing, it was so fun to be on the flybridge (the top deck) and just watch the sails be hoisted. The scale of these sails is unlike anything else.

Orient Express Sailing Yachts’ suites are gorgeous

The suites on Orient Express Sailing Yachts aren’t just nice compared to other ships, but they rival the top luxury hotels anywhere. They’re designed in such a tasteful and elegant way, that they feel more like what you’d expect at a “Palace” hotel in France, rather than on a ship.

The ship is heavily skewed toward larger suites, and I just can’t even imagine how much money was spent on the interiors. In particular, the bathrooms were just truly next level. As another example, while other cruise lines cut corners on outdoor furniture, on the Corinthian it’s from Loro Piana.

Orient Express Sailing Yachts’ food & drinks are phenomenal

The quality and variety of food and drinks on Orient Express Sailing Yachts is stellar, and I found execution to be very good. The entire culinary vision onboard is from Yannick Alléno, whose restaurants have a combined 17 Michelin stars. One of my issues on Four Seasons Yachts was that they charge for food, and the quality was really a mixed bag.

On Orient Express Sailing Yachts, the quality was exceptional across the board, and everything was oh-so-indulgent. On the drink front, Veuve Clicquot La Grande Dame is the house champagne, and it’s just poured out of magnums no matter where you are. It’s so readily available that it might as well just flow out of the shower heads.

There’s also a great wine list, plus an excellent cocktail selection. Fancy a caviar martini, anyone?

Speaking of caviar, you’ll find that sprinkled just about everywhere, from the smoked salmon dish at breakfast, to the caviar spaghetti (okay, I’d call that more than just a “sprinkling”). Mind you, these are the included restaurants, with no sort of supplement.

Lunch options were excellent, whether you want to go to the seafood bar for an omakase experience, or dine on the beautiful terrace.

And at dinner, the casual restaurant had white tablecloths, and was as good as the fine dining restaurant on some other ships.

Meanwhile I loved the Italian restaurant, where you could have everything from lobster, to caviar spaghetti, to the most delicious pistachio ice cream “volcano” dessert.

They absolutely nailed the food quality. I’m not afraid to speak my mind when it comes to food quality, and literally the only negative food feedback we had across our four days is that Ford’s lettuce on a salad one day could’ve been a bit crisper. That’s quite a contrast to Four Seasons Yachts, where I sent back my (paid) lunch pizza… twice (I’ve never sent back a pizza in my life).

Orient Express Sailing Yachts’ service is flawless

Orient Express Sailing Yachts has 170 staff for 110 guests, so absolute worst case scenario, you have a roughly 1.55:1 staff to guest ratio. On our sailing, it was more than a 4:1 staff to guest ratio. Yeah, obviously service was incredibly attentive.

I’ve never taken an Orient Express train journey (now I really want to!), though I was really impressed by the range of experience the crew had. Some had a cruising background, some had a hotel background, and some had backgrounds in other luxury areas, like fashion.

It really felt like every staff member knew every detail about every guest. Again, I imagine the light occupancy contributed to that, but still, the attention to detail impressed me.

I also liked how the service felt a bit more formal than on Four Seasons Yachts — not in a stuffy way, and not in a way that made guests feel like they had to be formal — but it just felt like really high end, and very much had a “good old days” vibe. Like, the uniforms were gorgeous, the housekeepers had different uniforms in the evenings, some of the service staff wore white gloves, etc. It just all felt a lot more like what you’d expect from a luxury hotel than a cruise.

Our butler, Reuben, was also awesome. Hilariously (but not coincidentally), he was German, so we all communicated exclusively in German, which was super fun. It always gave me a chuckle to call up the butler desk, and have Reuben answer in German. The one feedback I’d have for the butler service is that I wish they could also be reached via WhatsApp or some messaging platform, rather than just by phone.

I’d also say that while all the luxury cruise lines lately try to position themselves as “yachts” rather than “cruises,” this is the closest to actually feeling that way. For example, there’s no front desk or reception, since it’s supposed to feel more like a private yacht. That’s not to say that people aren’t around — they absolutely are — but everything seems designed to take the experience to the next level.

Bottom line

Orient Express Sailing Yachts has really taken “cruising” to the next level. I have to be honest — I love traveling, but I’m also always happy to go home, given how much I travel, so rarely am I sad about leaving. This is one experience that I simply didn’t want to end.

I can confidently say that Orient Express Sailing Yachts’ Corinthian offers an unforgettable experience. Yes, the base fares are moderately more expensive than Four Seasons Yachts, but in terms of quality and inclusions, it’s just on a different level. I hate to say it, because I love the Four Seasons brand, but based on my experience, it’s true.

I don’t want to suggest that everyone should sell a kidney to experience Orient Express’ cruising venture. However, there’s no denying that the ultra-luxury travel industry is hot like never before, and you have some hotels in Europe now charging $5K per night for a basic room in summer, with nothing included.

If money is no object (or you’re willing to splurge) but you’ve been hesitant to try cruising, Orient Express Sailing Yachts is definitely the most likely to delight. And while it’s expensive, they absolutely don’t skimp with inclusions, all while offering exceptional quality, and that’s something I really appreciate.

What’s your take on Orient Express Sailing Yachts?

After a memorable flight in Air Algerie’s A330neo business class, and a very secure connection at Algiers Airport (ALG), it was time to continue my journey:

• On the same ticket I had booked on Air Algerie from Montreal (YUL), I was connecting to Tunis (TUN), also in Air Algerie business class
• Then on a separate ticket I was supposed to fly Tunisair business class from Tunis to Marseille (MRS), but I ended up being downgraded due to a plane swap

What made these two flights so funny is that neither was actually operated by the airline I booked. I guess that’s not much of a downgrade when you get to avoid Air Algerie, but still, the whole thing just made me laugh. I spent my Sunday flying from Algeria to Tunisia to France on Lithuanian and Bulgarian airlines… as one does.

My Avion Express A320 flight on behalf of Air Algerie

My Air Algerie flight from Algiers to Tunis was operated by an 18-year-old Avion Express Airbus A320. You can pick whether you want to call the airline Lithuanian or Maltese — the company is technically based in Lithuania, while it has an air operator certificate in Malta.

On this flight I was in “business class,” which was really just about as no frills as an intra-Europe style business class gets. There were no power ports, no entertainment, etc. I guess one positive is that the cabin was so ancient that they hadn’t even invested in the new, uncomfortable slimline seats.

The crew was actually quite friendly, though a little incompatible with the customer base. The crew members spoke neither Arabic nor French, exactly the opposite of what you’ll find on Air Algerie, where they speak Arabic and French, but typically not English.

There was still one Air Algerie crew member onboard, presumably to ensure that service standards were being met (in other words, to make sure that no one was being too polite to customers). 😉

I must say, for an hour-long flight, the meal was actually quite substantial. As on the last flight, there are some opportunities with tray presentation. And Algerians sure do love their carbs — I love how I was presented the below, and then they came around with a bread basket and asked “would you like some bread?” No, I think the croissant and pastry cover it for me, thanks.

My Fly2Sky A320 flight on behalf of Tunisair

After five lovely hours in the Tunis Airport terminal, it was time to fly from Tunis to Marseille on a 12-year-old Fly2Sky Airbus A320. Fly2Sky is a wet lease operator based in Bulgaria (and the crew was definitely very Bulgarian!). On this flight I was in economy, since they downgraded me.

It’s not often you fly on two all-white Airbus A320s on different airlines on the same day!

Despite the plane being only 12 years old, it sure has been around the world!

Four things stood out to me about this flight:

• Every seat was taken, and my gosh, the pitch on this plane was just terrible
• I definitely stuck out like a sore thumb on this flight; for example, the passenger next to me didn’t understand how to use a seatbelt
• Despite this being a roughly 80-minute flight, they do serve a meal, which, I mean… that’s a nice gesture, but it was not particularly tasty (aside from the cake, which was decent)
• There was a single Tunisair flight attendant on the flight, and he was responsible for duty free sales; I couldn’t believe how many cartons of cigarettes were sold, as I wouldn’t be surprised if there were more cigarette carton sales than passengers onboard, and he was busy from takeoff to touchdown

Shouldn’t airlines have to disclose wet lease operations?

The concept of wet leasing has become increasingly common over time, as airlines deal with aircraft shortages, try to manage seasonal demand, etc. Generally speaking, a wet lease agreement leads to a reduction in quality, since work is being contracted out to a third party that isn’t necessarily as invested in the guest experience as the “native” airline.

Now, maybe that applies a little less when you’re operating on behalf of Air Algerie, which really doesn’t care about the guest experience.

But here’s what bothered me a bit. When you book a wet lease flight on Lufthansa or SWISS, it’s clearly disclosed at the time of booking that the flight is operating on behalf of other airlines. Meanwhile at both Air Algerie and Tunisair, that’s not at all the case.

For example, when you book a flight on Air Algerie that’s operated by a wet lease operator, it’ll just show the plane type, as if it’s operated by Air Algerie (in the below example, Air Algerie doesn’t directly fly Airbus A320s).

Of course I was able to figure this out, since I’m a huge aviation geek. But I just feel like from a disclosure standpoint, it should be reasonable to expect that this information will be conveyed at booking, just so customers know what they’re getting into. It’s no different than how a codeshare flight also shows what carrier is actually operating the itinerary.

Bottom line

I spent yesterday flying two all-white Airbus A320s, belonging to Avion Express and Fly2Sky, operating on behalf of Air Algerie and Tunisair. I have to say, compared to the passenger experience ordinarily offered on Air Algerie, that probably wasn’t too much of a downgrade, at least in terms of service.

That being said, it is an interesting state of things when you fly two back-to-back flights on A320s without liveries, neither of which actually belong to the airline you booked, with no disclosure of this detail during booking.

I thought I would be on Bulgaria’s Fly2Sky, but I actually ended up on Lithuania’s Avion Express. I digress, that’s not actually what this post is about. Instead, it’s about the incredibly bizarre jet bridge situation I encountered at the airport, which was unlike anything I’ve witnessed.

There were three document checks on the jet bridge!

During my layover, I got to briefly check out the Air Algerie Lounge at the carrier’s hub, which was actually reasonably nice, at least compared to my exceptionally low expectations.

I mean, it felt a bit like a furniture store — let’s call it a 2026 version of Flea Market Montgomery. Or Flea Market Algiers. Take your pick.

My Air Algerie flight was scheduled to depart at 7:10AM, with my boarding pass suggesting boarding would start at 5:40AM, a full 90 minutes before departure. I mean, why not have passengers show up the night before, while you’re at it?

Okay, that actually has nothing to do with the story, but the thing about Air Algerie is that nothing actually makes sense, so it’s hard to not throw in these tidbits. Anyway…

When boarding did finally start, the gate agent scanned my boarding pass and checked my passport, as usual. Just inside the door to the jet bridge was an Algerian police officer who was also checking everyone’s passport and boarding pass again.

Okay, fair enough, I’ve seen that at several airports, so that wasn’t at all unusual. However, 10 feet past him was another police officer, and she then checked all the same passports and boarding passes again.

And then at the very end of the jet bridge, there was a third police officer checking again. Like I said, I’ve seen one document check before, but three, all from the police?! I should also mention that this wasn’t just a quick glance, but each police officer carefully scanned the details on both documents.

I didn’t get the sense that this was a situation where they were looking for someone in particular, but instead, it just gave the vibe of “government workers performing tasks to justify their jobs.” Like, does anyone not find that to be insanely excessive? And by the way, if they were looking for someone in particular, you’d hope it wouldn’t take three police officers separately, carefully studying each passenger’s details.

Smoking on the jet bridge is apparently fine, though!

Here’s the funniest part of this story to me. Minutes before boarding started, the police officers were already on the jet bridge, as was one of the gate agents. All of a sudden, there was a noticeable smoke smell in the area. I wondered where that was coming from.

Well, the gate agent was standing just past the door to the jet bridge, and through the little “porthole” style window they have, I saw him smoking a cigarette. We’ll of course forget the announcement on the flight about how smoking outside of designated areas is strictly prohibited. Or perhaps the jet bridge is in fact one of those designated areas?

You’ve really gotta love places like Algeria. “Hey, safety is very important, make sure that each passenger’s boarding pass and passport are carefully inspected four different times within a minute.” “Oh, also, rules don’t matter, feel free to smoke.”

Bottom line

I’ve certainly had police or military do document checks on jet bridges, prior to boarding a flight. I’ve even had onboard air marshals inspect my bags in the jet bridge. But I’ve never had my passport and boarding pass checked by three different police officers on the same jet bridge.

I’m happy that there’s seemingly such a commitment to safety and rules that they don’t want anything to slip through the cracks. It might just be nice if they didn’t actively ignore smoking on the jet bridge at the same time. But hey, what do I know?

Is this just the standard operating procedure at Algiers Airport, or were they just overstaffed this morning, and looking for tasks?

I’ve gotta be honest, I hadn’t heard many good things about Air Algerie over the years, though the airline is modernizing its fleet, so I was curious to give the carrier a try, as it has been on my list for a long time. An airline having a bad reputation is no deterrent for me! While I came in with low expectations, the airline still managed to be significantly worse than I was anticipating.

Look, I don’t want to be dramatic. Obviously any flat bed business class is better than economy. But Air Algerie generally has very high business class fares, and the soft product was just so poor across the board. Off the top of my head, in my over five million miles of flying, I can’t think of ever having a worse business class soft product on a long haul flight.

On the plus side, at least the company is consistent — it’s clear that management puts about as much thought into the passenger experience as the crews do! In this post I’d like to share some initial thoughts, and then soon I’ll have a full review.

Air Algerie’s A330neo business class seats are fine

Let’s start on a positive note — I flew on an Air Algerie Airbus A330-900neo in a special livery, and I thought that was mighty cool. That’s just about where the good news about the flight ends, unfortunately. Man, those people in the Montreal Airport terminal got the best deal of all — they managed to experience the best part of Air Algerie without spending a cent.

While Air Algerie is taking delivery of factory fresh A330neos, that’s not what my plane was. Instead, I flew on an ex-Air Belgium A330neo that the airline acquired at the beginning of the year (ah, Air Belgium, good memories!). Air Algerie clearly did nothing to actually customize the interiors, so you really have no clue what airline you’re flying on based on the cabin.

This plane has a staggered configuration, so it’s comfortable enough, and I was in a “true” window seat.

However, the cabin was in rough condition, and it’s clear that zero effort is put into maintaining the interiors. But anyway, the hard product is the least of Air Algerie’s problems.

Air Algeria’s business class amenities are non-existent

Amenity kits, menus, slippers… what are those?! Air Algerie sure hasn’t heard of ’em, as none of them were available on this flight. Seriously, no amenity kit in business class on an overnight flight?!

There were headphones, which were only a little better than economy quality, as they weren’t comfortable, and had no noticeable noise cancellation. They were only handed out 20 minutes after takeoff, and were collected before landing. I’m not sure if the airline thinks people will steal those, or if it’s a “safety” thing?

There was a very large blanket and a decent size pillow. The set wasn’t very high quality, but it was substantial, at least. Unfortunately that’s a double edged sword. The cabin was hot as could be, and there are no individual air nozzles on these jets. I wanted to take my clothes off, not cover myself in a blanket that would keep me warm in Iceland in winter.

Air Algerie’s business class entertainment is terrible

This Air Algerie A330-900neo had Wi-Fi installed, back from the Air Belgium days. Of course Air Algerie doesn’t actually use that, though.

There is seat back entertainment, yet somehow there’s not even a map feature?!

The entertainment system otherwise had 100 movies and 36 TV shows, but it was definitely the “budget” entertainment package. Like, there was a single episode of “Fresh Off the Boat,” and it was the pilot episode, just to give you a sense of how cutting edge the entertainment is. I’m not really an inflight entertainment guy aside from the map, so I spent a lot of time raw dogging this flight!

Air Algeria’s food & drinks are awful

A choice of meals? What do you think this is, a restaurant? On Air Algerie you’re just served stuff, and there aren’t any options. It’s even a bit of a guessing game, because the crew doesn’t actually tell you what they’re serving you. But first, let’s actually step back for a moment.

I didn’t think Air Algerie was “dry” (meaning it doesn’t serve alcohol), but apparently they are… based on searching after the fact, it looks like the airline cut alcohol service a few years ago? Unfortunately that’s only the start of the issues. Diet soda? What’s that? They only have sugary juices and full calorie sodas, so that leaves water as the other option, along with coffee and tea.

But honestly, does it even matter? Good luck actually getting a drink. There was a single drink service with the first meal, timed oddly, as it came after the appetizers were served, and that was it. My glass sat empty for over two hours. Do you think they once offered a drink refill, or even passed through the cabin, when they didn’t otherwise have a specific task? Nope. I once asked for a refill, but it never came, so I just gave up.

As far as the meal service goes, there were no choices, but instead, everything was just plopped down in front of me, without any sort of an explanation. Below is the starter tray, which was some rather gross (watery and very fishy) smoked salmon, and I say that as someone who likes all kinds of fish dishes, as OMAAT readers can attest to. 😉 Could they put any less effort into the overall presentation of the tray?

Then below is the main course tray. The main course was fish, and I believe it was swordfish, or something along those lines. It was very cooked, dry, and tasteless.

Then there was a cheese course, which wasn’t terribly inspiring. Things were piling up, since they didn’t remove the main courses when they brought out the next course (and I already had to specifically ask them to remove the appetizer).

Then there was a fruit course, consisting of two whole apples. I’m sure they were washed thoroughly, and it’s always fun to try to cut into apples with a dull knife. I mean, I can’t fault them for throwing this in between the cheese and dessert course, it just seemed random.

Then there was a dessert, with three little tarts.

What about bread service? Bread was placed on the tray by hand, rather than using tongs, and for that matter, the tray was disgusting. It clearly wasn’t very clean, and even my knife was sticky when I opened it up from the packaging.

Breakfast just consisted of bread and some fruit.

It was served exactly two hours before landing, with the cabin lights being turned up all the way. Mind you, the initial meal service took nearly three hours (I don’t understand what they were doing), so there ended up being just under two hours between when the lights were turned off and when they were turned back on. Talk about a culinary journey, when five of the nearly seven hours of the flight are dedicated to eating!

To be clear, the food as such wasn’t that offensive. Instead, the issue was the service flow, presentation, cleanliness of items, lack of drinks, lack of clearing things, having to use the same cutlery for all dishes, the insanely drawn out service, etc.

Air Algerie’s service is really subpar

I don’t want to say the crew was rude. I’m sure they were all nice people, and I’m sure they’re very hospitable to others in their homes. But my gosh, on duty, they couldn’t have been more indifferent or less engaging if they tried.

I don’t think I once saw them smile at passengers, or engage in any sort of a typical service interaction you’d expect in business class. Service was just a complete mess. There were never refills, service items were never cleared from the seat, there was no communication about anything, etc.

Everything was just poorly timed. For example, they served the cheese course, and then a full 10 minutes later, they came around with the bread that accompanies the cheese course (again, no tongs!). They served the breakfast trays, and then a full 15 minutes later they offered people coffee or tea. Literally everything was poorly coordinated.

The flight attendant working my aisle also just didn’t speak English. I guess that’s fine because it’s not like she was communicative in the first place. But any time I did have a question, she was of absolutely no help (which is why it would be nice to have menus, so I at least have a sense of what’s on offer!).

“Drink?”
“Do you have wine?”
“Soda, juice.”
“Do you have Diet Coke?”
“Coke?”
“No, Diet Coke.”
“What?”
“Coke Zero? Diet Pepsi? Pepsi Max?”
*stares blankly*
“I’ll have a water, please.”
*serves me Sprite*

“Coffee or tea?”
“Do you have any tea without caffeine?”
“Coffee or tea?”
“Tea please, but no caffeine.”
“Coffee?”
“Tea, please.”

Side note, not that it’s directly reflective of service — I think this may have been my first flight out of North America where there the safety demonstration and announcements weren’t in English. Everything was in French and Arabic. And speaking of safety, the crew didn’t do any sort of pre-takeoff safety checks to see if people were buckled in, etc. But thank goodness we didn’t have access to those dangerous headphones before takeoff. 😉

Honestly folks, this preview would be so much funnier if I were writing this slightly buzzed from onboard the flight, rather than totally sober. But alas, here I am, on Air Algerie. I’m sure things will only get better from here, though, during my layover at Algiers Airport, and my connection on a mystery wet lease operator, before connecting to my downgraded Tunisair flight… right?

North Africa is always an adventure. If Algeria wants to join Egypt in taking a stance against me, it wouldn’t be much of a loss. 😉

Bottom line

Air Algerie might have the all-around worst business class soft product I’ve ever experienced. Honestly, put me on basically any other airline, and I’d have a better flight. I’ll gladly take Turkmenistan Airlines over them. Heck, even stick me on a Delta Boeing 767-300ER, I promise I won’t even say a single bad thing… I’ll even spend the whole flight talking about how premium Delta is, and how no one cares about fast Wi-Fi! I’ll even take that awful “top/bottom” Philippine Airlines A330 business class product, for all I care. Just not this again.

It’s sad, because it seems like fixing this product wouldn’t actually take a huge investment. I mean, it would take a culture change at the airline, which is easier said than done. But the soft product improvements shouldn’t be that hard or costly. Just… stop being incompetent.

I couldn’t help but chuckle at how the refreshing towel that sat on top of my tray for much of the meal had the slogan “Air Algerie — Always caring for you.” I’d love to see what not being cared for looks like!

Lastly, let me just briefly acknowledge one point — Air Algerie is an airline heavily targeted at the domestic Algerian market. Algeria doesn’t even want tourists, they make it a pain to get a visa. Air Algerie isn’t really trying to be very competitive in connecting markets, so maybe this product is “good enough” for their purposes. But still, I can’t imagine anyone who flies other airlines with any frequency would take this flight and say “what a good experience.”

What do you make of the Air Algerie business class experience?