In the spring of 2017 I opened a Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card from American Express. At the beginning of this year, that card was product changed to the Marriott Bonvoy Amex Card.

The Mariott Bonvoy Amex Card is not open for applications. Those that have one were all product changed from a Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card.

The bonuses on all of the personal Southwest cards are generally the same:

So if you spent $12,000 within the first year on your new personal Southwest credit card, you'd end up with at least 72,000 Rapid Rewards.

May 30 (tomorrow), the price of British Airways Avios awards flying all of the following partner airlines will increase in price:

Alaska AirlinesAir ItalyAmerican AirlinesCathay PacificFinnairJapan AirlinesLATAMMalaysia AirlinesQantasQatar AirwaysS7Sri LankanRoyal Jordanian Airlines

Award prices flying British Airways, Iberia, Aer Lingus, and Vueling will not change price as of now.

Singapore Krisflyer, loyalty program of Singapore Airlines, increased the price of various partner award prices on April 16, 2019. These changes weren't without notice, as they announced in March the impending devaluation. Devaluations always suck but are inevitable.

Singapore devaluations sting in a special way as they are by far the easiest mile to earn. Every major transferrable point currency--Chase Ultimate Rewards, Amex Membership Rewards, Citi Thank You Points, Capital One miles and Marriott Rewards--transfer to Singapore Krisflyer, so they are the sweetheart of foreign loyalty programs.

Thankfully the changes weren't drastic.

Opening five credit cards within 24 months will render you ineligible for any further Chase credit cards, until that five number has dropped to, at the most, four credit cards within the last 24 months. While not published by the bank, the Chase 5/24 rule is widely accepted as truth by the miles and points community after years of shared and collected experiences.

Business credit cards do not, anecdotally, count in your Chase 5/24 total.

United published some heavy-hitting changes to their loyalty program over the weekend. In a nutshell, United is following Delta down the path towards a totally revenue-based loyalty program.

United has announced dynamic award pricing effective immediately for flights with travel dates of November 15 and on. This means that instead of having set, published prices for award flights, the mileage price will fluctuate based on the cash price. No more award charts.

In January of 2018, I began a credit card fast that lasted for nine months. In other words, I stopped applying for new credit cards. At that point I had been cutoff from Chase credit cards for a long time, years, and was tired of it. I had opened a number of new credit cards, more than five in the prior two 24 months, which is where the Chase 5/24 rule gets its name from.

Have you also been Bonvoyed? Thanks to reader Vince, who shared in a comment below the site www.bonvoyed.com. It was created by people like us so we can share our grievances in the hopes that perhaps someone from Marriott may decide to give a $h1t.

Warning: If you're considering a points transfer to utilize one of the various mileage sweetspots of the Etihad Guest loyalty program, don't pick Marriott Rewards for the job.

I'm bumping this up to the top of the blog roll as a reminder to make a change by TODAY. You must choose the designated airline for any Platinum card (including the Business Platinum), and the Hilton Aspire card (which comes with up to $250 incidental fee credit) by today as well if you want it to be different than last year's. 

One of the most valuable benefits of the Platinum Card® from American Express is up to $200 in statement credits for incidental fees with your designated qualifying airline every calendar year.

It's time to take that Citi Prestige Card you forgot about out of your sock drawer and put it back in your wallet. I'm sure there are quite a few of you who kept this card around for it's Fourth Hotel Night Free benefit, as those who pay to stay at hotels can save thousands of dollars from it every year that easily make up for the $450 annual fee. That benefit is being devalued later in the year, at which point you may want to reconsider whether keeping the card longterm is worth it.