Milenomics² Podcast Episode 265: News, New Cards & Plenty of Updates

News

0:20 First off: Thank you for the response to MSP-3!

• Saturday October 11th, 2025 at the MSP Airport Conference Center

• Join the Waitlist if you’re interested in coming

• Looking forward to seeing everyone there

1:44 Alaska Premium Card Coming Aug 20, 2025

• 100,000 mile welcome bonus

• 3x Dining

• 10% bonus earnings on card spend w/BofA checking

• 10,000 status points on anniversary + 1 status point for every $2 spent on card

• $395 AF

• Lower credit line then close unused cards to position for this?

• Almost getting into Elite season too

08:24 Hawaiian Abandons BOS-HNL Nonstop

• Said to be “underperforming” route

• Last flight Nov 19

• I really dislike it when an airline sells tickets for a flight then cancels the route before finishing it out

• Hawaiian says they’re redeploying to more profitable routes, but I blame Alaska

• We’ll see if Delta gives this route another go

10:56 Rumor: Amex to Increase Platinum FHR Credit and Increase AF (DoC)

• AF going to $895

• FHR credit $600/yr ($300 per 6 month window)

• FHR will now apply to Business Platinum as well as Personal Platinum

• Hot take: This is potentially tremendous if you have the patience to stitch together stays through separate bookings on separate cards (we’ve done more for less!)

• Set to coincide with 35% airfare rebate on Business Platinum premium cabin flights being restricted to airline of choice Sept 18, 2025

17:07 Amex Business Platinum Churning Attempts

• Me: 200k + referral, pending within 90 days, waiting for cards to clear out

• P2: 150k RSVP mailer, pending

• Related: Will we be done with Personal Platinums soon? No more Resy dining uplift. Morgan Stanley has lost its charm. Offers always seem inferior to Business Platinum, and a little harder to churn.

22:37 $600 Hilton Stay: Amex Business Platinum Swipe-Fest Failure

• 2 $300 rooms were needed. 

• Would have been a great deal on points

• BUT expiring $50 Business platinum credits led me to try a stunt

• Went down in the early morning and asked the night desk clerk to pay for the room on multiple cards and gift cards

• The request did seem to be understood. 

• Sure enough after much swiping and waiting around the entire did not work. 

• Frustrating. 

• Somehow Capital 1 double paid, so I guess that’s good news. 

30:44 Golf Club Purchase Super Stack: $200 off $750 at Club Champion

• Amex lifestyle 

• Saw clubs elsewhere for less, Club Champion price matched

• AND would let me split this across three cards each with a $200 off $750 offer

• AND got them to run the purchase on MA tax free weekend. 

• The wins offset the losses 🤷🏻

34:13 Approved: Bonvoy Business 125k + Referral

• New tab trick, went pending

• Called next day, rep said backend team was reviewing

• Got approval email next day without further involvement

34:37 Using a Marriott 85k Cert for a Day Use Sheraton: Hairbrained or Brilliant?

• Went to a Red Sox game, it was Hot and a day game, with dinner plans out after

• Just wanted a room close to the ballpark to freshen up

• And this 85k certificate is clanging around and has been a tough one for me to get use for historically

• Room use from 1-9pm. 

• $35 valet from Spothero (not going to get stuck in the parking lot like last time).

36:55 MSP Meetup Booking

• Airfare

• Noticed Delta still charging more for two one-ways than roundtrip

• So many options. Ending up booking Delta Main Cabin for $329 roundtrip with a $200 eCert earned by spending $10k on Amex Delta Business Gold (back when Fluz worked w/Amex).

• Outbound: Suncountry, return booked Delta First with some nudging from Robert. $79 one way, 37k delta the other. 

• Lodging

• Noticed fraud on my IHG account

• Currently booked with UR points at the IHG. Considering changing that, also looking at the Regency which is low $100 per night. 

46:02 Wyndham Vacasa Booking Window Devaluation

• As reported on Slack the booking window for Vacasa reservations has gone down to 6 months. 

• This makes more popular places a little harder to book. 

• Verified this myself, cannot yet book April 2026 Maui 

• Discussion: This program started as a 15,000 per bedroom per night night (up to $500 per bedroom) opportunity and now is a 15,000 per bedroom per night up to $250 per bedroom and 30,000 per bedroom per night ($251-$499). 

• It seems like they’re trying to keep the spirit of the program in place and I appreciate this. 

• Still just a tremendous value. Probably no other program has allowed me to take more trips. 

50:38 Approved: Wells Fargo Autograph Journey Card

• Applied for this back in Early June. 

• At the time my checking account was dormant and my only WF card had not been used in months

• Reactivated and used the Checking account and started spending on the Signature card 

• Applied again Aug 16 and instantly approved with $25k CL. 

• 5x hotels and 60k points after $4k spend. 

• With the Signature card this unlocks great uplift as Robert has mentioned previously. 

54:58 Booked: Long Weekend in Vienna for January 2026

• Space available on non-stop return on Austrian Business Class

• Booked with Aeroplan (didn’t realize I had 100k clanging around there)

• Booked Park Hyatt for 25k per night and applied Suite Upgrade Award online at time of booking

• Considered Chase “The Edit” portfolio, but tremendous value in Hyatt (and one last hurrah before this iteration of Globalist expires)

• Monitoring the outbound for something fun (either Austrian direct, Lufthansa First, or maybe even routing through JFK for Singapore First)