👋 Hi Reader,

Hope you all had a great Halloween and are enjoying your extra hour this morning! Here are some highlights from today's newsletter:

• 🛥️ How we booked a luxury trip to Europe for 70% less
• ✈️ Last shot at a Companion Pass via card bonus ends 12/2
• 💳 Bilt changea their card rewards program AGAIN
• 🌟 Citi AAdvantage cards get new benefits
• 🔗 Card-linked offers worth $700+ in savings
• 🎃 The history of Halloween

If you enjoy reading, please forward this email to a friend who might too! And if that's you, make sure to subscribe here. Thank you so much!

Chris

🛥️ Booking a Luxury Trip to Europe for 70% Less

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This week, Amy and I break down how we planned an unforgettable trip to Switzerland and Lake Como mostly on points, miles, and free-night certificates. We share how speculative bookings and award alerts landed us better business class flights, the rental car hack that avoided a cross-border drop-off fee, and one of our best uses of Hilton points. Plus, an inside look at a fairy tale hotel for families in Switzerland.

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📋 My Past Week

Here's a quick recap of what I was up to last week

• Last night we had a blast trick-or-treating with the kids. In an effort to prevent chaos when we told the kids to stop eating candy and get ready for bed, we asked them yesterday morning how many pieces of candy they thought was reasonable to eat that night. They picked 5 and 11, and surprisingly they didn't have any issue sticking to their self-imposed limits. But who knows how the rest of the week will go...
• I ended up getting my iPhone Duo on Monday, so I've had about a week to play with it and I'm really impressed. I find myself using it folded most of the time and the wide screen hasn't been an issue for me. When I do unfold it, it's been really great to have extra room to work on things that benefit from a lot more screen space (reading, using AI, watching videos). I've also had a few times where being able to split-screen multi-task was so helpful. The two main things I haven't loved are that I haven't found a good MagSafe wallet that's been released yet and it's a bit trickier to use one-handed. That said, I'm definitely keeping it.
• Even though I use AI all the time, my usage of AI agents (e.g. proactive personal assistants) has come down over the past six months. It's primarily because once the shiny fun aspect wore off, I realized I didn't have as many regular use cases for an agent every day. On top of that, it seemed like every few weeks a new agent was launching like Muse, Instinct, Dots etc. Then Claude's Duet launched and since ~90% of my non-coding AI use is on Claude, I wanted to give it a try. I got my invite to the beta a few days ago and so far, I'm really excited, but I think I'm going to need to retrain my brain on how to work with an agent, because I'm struggling to figure out what should be a chat, a coding project and an agent task. More to come soon.
• After what has felt like a chaotic past month, with 4 conferences/meetups in the past 5 weeks, my wife and I are heading to relax for 3 nights at the Miraval wellness resort & spa in Arizona. I'm so excited to have a few days to relax with Amy and very appreciative that my parents will be watching our girls. Even better, Miraval is one of the best uses of Hyatt points out there, so it feels great to be getting such a deal!

⭐ My Top Picks

💳 Bilt 2027 Changes: Lock In 4% Bilt Cash Now

Bilt is changing its program again, and this one has a deadline. Starting 1/1/27, new cardholders will no longer earn 4% Bilt Cash on everyday spend, and existing cardholders will lose it on their cardmember anniversary unless they choose Flexible Bilt Cash in the app. While there might be some scenarios where the updated card rewards are better for you, everyone I know who has done the analysis (myself included) has decided that opting to keep 4% Bilt Cash is the better choice. Given these changes, if you've been eyeing a Bilt card, you might want to do it sooner rather than later.

✈️ Last Shot at a Companion Pass via Card Bonuses

This is likely your last chance to earn a Southwest Companion Pass through a card welcome bonus, because starting in 2027, card bonuses, referrals, and anniversary points will no longer count toward the pass. Right now, three Southwest cards are offering up to 90K points, and cards approved by 12/2 will still qualify for Companion Pass points under the 2026 rules, even if the bonus posts in 2027.

🌟 Citi AAdvantage Cards Get New Benefits

Citi is rolling out several changes to American Airlines cards.

• AAdvantage Executive: Adds up to $200 in annual inKind dining credits, split into 2x $100 credits (Jan–June and July–Dec). inKind is a free dining rewards app that's helped me save $100s, so I'm a big fan of this new perk.
• Platinum Select Personal & Business: Annual fees increase from $99 to $150 starting 1/24/27, but both cards gain several new benefits, including a $100 annual in-flight credit, Global Entry/TSA PreCheck credit, 3x miles on AAdvantage hotels and car rentals, and additional travel protections. The business card also gets a few more increased bonus categories.
• Platinum Select Personal: The $180 Turo credit is now permanent, offering $30 per booking, up to 6 bookings per year.

🛒 DoorDash Buying Instacart for $17B

​DoorDash is acquiring Instacart for $17B with plans to combine DashPass and Instacart+ benefits while keeping the two brands separate. There are no immediate changes to credit card perks that include DashPass, DoorDash and Instacart credits, but I wouldn't be surprised if these perks get reshuffled after the deal closes.

🎃 The History of Halloween

In the spirit of Halloween, here's a fun read on the history of Halloween, including some intriguing, lesser-known rituals and traditions. Two wild things I learned are that one-quarter of all candy sold annually in the U.S. is purchased for Halloween and that Americans spend ~$700 million on costumes for their pets!!

📰 The Rest of the Week

💳 Credit cards & points

• Amex: 35% Marriott bonus still live
• Bilt: Up to $150 off hotels, book by 11/1 — This is a disappointing rent day that I won't be taking advantage of.
• Citi: 10% bonus to Cathay Asia Miles​
• Citi: Adds Copa ConnectMiles, 1:1 on premium cards — TBD on whether Copa has any sweet spots for redemptions.

✈️ Airline news & promos

• Alaska: Anchorage to Tokyo on a 737 MAX​
• AT&T: Free 5K AA miles for linking accounts — I'm glad I'm not paying the premium for AT&T, but if I were, I'd be doing this deal.
• JetBlue: Creditors hire bankruptcy advisers — This news makes me want to use up my TrueBlue points ASAP.

💎 Award deals

• 🇪🇺 Europe: Biz class on Delta, United & AA​
• 🇮🇪 Ireland: Biz class from 45K Atmos points​
• 🇯🇴 Jordan: Biz class from 70K Atmos points​
• 🇵🇪 Peru: Biz class from 27.5K AA miles​
• 🇬🇧 UK: Upper Class from 29K Virgin points​

🔗 Card-linked offers

• Leading Hotels: 15K MR for $700 spend​
• Delta: $250 off $2,000​
• Air New Zealand: $350 off $1,800​
• Delta Stays: $100 off $600 prepaid hotels — Check your Delta cards first, since it may stack with the annual Delta Stays credit.
• Enterprise: $60 off $300​

💬 Parting Thoughts

As always, thanks so much for reading. I’d love to hear your thoughts on today’s newsletter, and if you enjoyed it, please let me know why!

Chris