RewardExpert's Program Reviews and News

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Upcoming Southwest Rapid Rewards Changes for 2023

Southwest Airlines, one of the major US airlines and the world’s largest low-cost carrier, is making some changes to its Rapid Rewards® program and Companion Pass. The changes will go into effect starting January 1, 2023.

If you are a Rapid Rewards member, you may have already received an email from Southwest informing of these changes. If not, here is everything you need to know about the upcoming update in the Rapid Rewards program.

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Airline Loyalty Programs During the Pandemic: Updates and Changes

Airline Loyalty Programs

The COVID-19 outbreak affected both business and pleasure travel, and losses of the global airline industry will be huge this year. To retain some of their loyal customers, many airlines have updated their loyalty programs. Below are some of the airlines that have updated their mileage rewards programs due to the coronavirus.

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What Changes to Southwest Airlines’ Rapid Reward Program Mean for Frequent Flyers

shows a soutwest counter at the airport

Southwest Airlines is continuing an ill trend in which airlines are making it increasingly difficult to remain loyal to a single air carrier.

Recently, United Airlines did away with mileage being the basis of its frequent flyer program, replacing miles flown with dollars spent and number of flights taken.

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14 Southwest International Destinations for Your Next Getaway

Map with Southwest international destinations

Southwest Airlines is my favorite domestic airline due to their awesome customer service, no-frills approach and great benefits, like the Southwest Companion Pass. But did you know that there are 14 Southwest international destinations to choose from?

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Why You Should Think Twice Before Buying Southwest Early Bird Check-In (Updated with New Price Points)

Southwest Early Bird Check-In

When you fly Southwest Airlines, you know you’re getting an Economy seat at an affordable price. Southwest consistently ranks among the best airlines for customer service, but the one complaint people have is not getting a good seat because they checked in too late.

If you don’t have the new Southwest Rapid Rewards Priority credit card that gives you free boarding upgrades, you can pay an extra $15
(or more, depends on popularity and length of each one-way flight) to check in earlier than everyone else. But should you buy Southwest Early Bird check-in?

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Delta Increases Spending Threshold for Diamond MQD Waiver

There have been rumors going around the travel blogosphere for some time that Delta would be making negative changes to the Medallion Qualifying Dollar (MQD) waiver offered by Amex cobranded credit cards. Many feared that Delta would completely eliminate the MQD waiver for top tier Diamond status. If that occurred then travelers would have been required to spending $15,000 directly on Delta flights in order to qualify for Diamond status.

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Top 5 Frequent Flyer Programs for Domestic Flying

There are so many frequent flyer programs out there, and determining which programs to earn miles in can be a challenge. Each program has it’s own strengths and weaknesses, both when it comes to earning miles, redeeming them and more. Fortunately, you don’t need to do all of the research to determine which miles are best for you. Below we will go into detail about the top five frequent flyer programs for flights within the US and what makes these programs the best so you can decide which program is right for you.

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10 Reasons to Book Flights Using Chase Ultimate Rewards Points

Those who hold a Chase Ultimate Rewards-earning credit card know the value of these precious rewards points. The flexibility to transfer the points to partner hotel and airline loyalty programs allows you to book free hotel nights and airline award tickets. However, you can also redeem points to book travel directly on the Chase Ultimate Rewards travel portal. There are several travel redemption options available including booking hotels, cruises, rental cars, and activities, however, one redemption you should consider for your Chase Ultimate Rewards points (UR points) is to book your flights on the Chase travel portal. Here’s why.

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Air France/KLM Flying Blue Sweet Spots

If you’re not already using Air France and KLM’s Flying Blue rewards program, you should start thinking about getting familiar with it. Flying Blue is a transfer partner of Chase Ultimate Rewards, American Express Membership Rewards, Citi ThankYou Points and Starwood Preferred Guest points and offers some incredible sweet spots. Let’s take a look at some of Flying Blue’s best sweet spots.

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Citi Prestige 75k Offer and Membership Rewards 40% Transfer Bonus to Avios

Citi recently implemented a massive wave of changes to its flagship Prestige card. Most of these were announced last year year but did not become effective until this week. Just ahead of the July 23rd implementation, Citi announced some meager positive changes to put a positive spin on things. While most of these recent developments are barely worth mentioning, there is one legitimate bit of good news: the sign-up bonus on the Citi Prestige card has gone up to 75k points.

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Best SPG Transfers for Select Foreign Carrier Awards

There is no such thing as a perfect airline frequent flyer program, which is why rewards programs like Starwood Preferred Guest are so great. They allow you to transfer points to the airline of your choice when the need arises and when an award ticket you’re looking for costs less with one airline program than another. Here are a few examples of some goal-oriented transfers that can save you a great deal of miles.

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American Airlines Inflight Dining Program

american airlines dining

American may not have been on the cusp of the inflight dining scene, but with its merger with US Airways, many changes were made for the better. American, unlike US Airways, operates both a business and first class cabin.

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The Year in Review: Frequent Flyer Program Changes in 2016

A lot happened in the world of frequent flyer programs this year. Not surprisingly, award chart devaluations were the norm, particularly for premium cabins. The news wasn’t all bad, though. Some redemptions actually dropped in price, and airlines and credit card issuers introduced new partnerships, giving members more redemption and transfer options.

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How to Earn and Use Hawaiian Airlines Miles

hawaiian airlines

Hawaiian Airlines’ reward program doesn’t get as much attention as some of the larger airlines, but it has some unique features that make it useful for many travelers, especially those planning a trip to Hawaii or between various Hawaiian Islands. Let’s take a look at Hawaiian’s award chart, award booking process and ways to rack up Hawaiian miles yo help you get familiar with the Hawaiian carrier.

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United Loopholes Allow for Some Creative Routings

When United recently overhauled its award ticket rules this past summer many saw it as a massive devaluation. United had relatively friendly award routing rules that allowed one stopover and two open jaws on roundtrip award tickets.Those rules are gone now though and have been replaced by the “Excursionist Perk,” which is essentially a free segment on an international itinerary. It comes with new rules. We bring you workarounds. Read on.

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New Elite Qualifying Dollar Benefit on American Airlines Aviator Cards

Earlier this year American Airlines made the latest copycat move in the world of frequent flyer program devaluations when they announced the addition of an Elite Qualifying Dollar (EQD) requirement beginning in 2017. EDQ requirements mean that you must spend a certain amount of money with the airline in addition to flying a certain number of miles or segments to qualify for elite status.

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The Best Use of Allegiant Air Points

Allegiant Air’s reward program, myAllegiant, is a bit unusual. You can’t earn points by flying and the airline doesn’t offer elite status. In fact, the carrier’s gone out of its way to say that its program is for “infrequent flyers.”

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Allegiant Air myAllegiant Program Review

allegiant program

Allegiant Air is a Las Vegas-based carrier that primarily focuses on holiday travel and smaller regional airports. With its current fleet of 81 aircraft, the airline serves 117 destinations with both scheduled and charter flights. Tickets are typically cheap, making the carrier a good budget option if you happen to live in an area it serves.

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Tips and Tricks for Beating the New United Award Booking Rules

Tips and Tricks for Beating the New United Award Booking Rules

The dust has settled from United Airlines’ new award booking rules which went into effect on October 6. While the news was worse than originally thought, there are some tricks that allow for creative award routings. In United’s zeal to create a mechanical computer-dependent system, it seems they did not program in enough rules to prevent travelers from hopping around the globe with complex itineraries that provide tons of value for MileagePlus members.

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United’s New Award Rules Are Worse Than Initially Feared

United’s New Award Rules Are Worse Than Initially Feared

Anytime an airline announces changes to their award program, the changes are usually worse than the airline tries to make them sound. In August, United announced major changes to award booking rules as well as to their online booking engine. These changes became effective last week on October 6 and now that we have had some time to test out the new booking engine, we can confirm the devaluation is worse than expected and that United’s original announcement was a bit deceptive.

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