👋 Hi Reader,

Happy Saturday! Hope your weekend is off to a great start! Here are some highlights from today's newsletter:

• 📖 The new rules of points & miles in 2026
• ✈️ 20% Aeroplan bonus + 25% off awards
• 🏨 Hyatt's hidden 50% discount on second rooms
• 🏦 U.S. Bank finally has transfer partners
• ❌ Amex kills multi-card offer activation
• 🍽️ Resy to add 25k+ restaurants, wineries and experiences
• 🚁 Redeem your Bilt Cash for BLADE helicopter rides
• 🏡 Offer for $199 back on $199+ at Trust & Will

If you enjoyed reading this newsletter, I'd really appreciate it if you would forward this to a friend who might too! And if that's you, make sure to subscribe here. Thank you so much!

Chris

📖 The New Rules of Points & Miles in 2026

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This week, we'll break down the biggest trends reshaping points and miles. We discuss new ways to earn transferable points without a credit card, the award search tools worth using right now, a six-month check-in on Bilt, and what's coming next for premium cards.

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⭐ My Top Picks

✈️ Aeroplan: 25% Off Awards + 20% Transfer Bonus

Two Aeroplan deals landed this week:

• Award Sale: Up to 25% off award flights worldwide when you book by Tue 8/18​. Travel must be between 9/8/26 and 6/30/27.
• Transfer Bonus: 20% bonus when you move a popular bank's points to Aeroplan until 9/30. You also get an extra 10% on 50k+ point transfers if you're an eligible cardholder.

🚫 Amex Kills Activating Offers on Multiple Cards

Historically many tools like CardPointers have been able to use a workaround to activate Amex offers on multiple cards at once. Unfortunately, that stopped working for most people this past week, so each offer can only be activated on one card (which is the way Amex always intended).

🚁 Bilt Cash Now Books BLADE Helicopters

Bilt finally turned on the BLADE redemption it promised at launch. You can now book BLADE helicopter transfers between Manhattan and JFK or EWR in the Bilt app and apply up to $350 of Bilt Cash per seat, twice a year. If you hit platinum two years in a row, that means you could end up getting a great deal on 4 seats on a BLADE flight all at once.

🔄 U.S. Bank Finally Has Transfer Partners

After a year of delays, U.S. Bank launched its first four transfer partners for Altitude Reserve cardholders, but two of them (Flying Blue and Qantas) are no longer showing up. That leaves Ethiopian at 1:1 and Accor at 2:1. The Accor transfer will only get you ~1.15¢/point, but Ethiopian is interesting, with business class from 15,000 miles.

🍽️ Resy Credits to Work at Some Tock Restaurants

Resy has just added Tock's 25,000+ restaurants, wineries and tasting experiences to their app, and starting 9/15 "select" Tock restaurants will work with Amex Resy statement credits. Resy recently added some restrictive language that made people worry about many restaurants not qualifying, but so far that hasn't actually happened, so I'm optimistic that the Resy credit will work at most Tock restaurants (and possibly the wineries and experiences).

🏨 Recommendation: Hyatt Family Plan

When traveling with our family I much prefer booking a suite that has room for all of us, but sometimes it's not possible or wildly expensive, so we need to book two rooms. In that case, you should know that Hyatt has an unpublished Family Plan Rate that takes up to 50% off a second room when you're traveling with kids. I actually booked two second rooms with points that I'm about to cancel because 50% of the cash rate is a much better deal. To book these rates, you can call the hotel, message @HyattConcierge on X or email your My Hyatt Concierge (if you're Globalist). Note that the second room has to be a cash rate, but the first room can be cash or points.

📰 The Rest of the Week

💳 Credit Cards & Points

• Amex: 350 new Fine Hotels + Resorts properties — I find it hard to use my FHR credits, so more hotels will hopefully help!

✈️ Airline News & Promos

• American: Up to 50x miles for cancer donations (ends 9/30) — You're paying ~2¢ per mile and it's likely not tax-deductible, so I wouldn't consider this unless you were already looking to donate.
• Avios: Free award calendar for BA, Aer Lingus & Iberia — This is a great addition that will make it even easier to find award availability on Avios flights.

🏨 Hotel News & Promos

• Hyatt: Up to 5 free nights in LatAm & Caribbean​
• IHG: Iberostar up to 50% off + $800 credit​
• Radisson: Finnair transfers & status match — Transfers are not a good deal unless (like me) you have a small Radisson balance you'd love to get rid of.

💎 Award Deals

• 🇦🇷 Argentina: Biz to Buenos Aires from 50K Alaska​
• 🇧🇷 Brazil: Biz to São Paulo from 40K AA​
• 🇪🇺 Europe: Biz to Vienna for 75K Aeroplan​
• 🇲🇻 Maldives: Park Hyatt Hadahaa from 25K Hyatt​
• 🇯🇵 Tokyo: Reopened Park Hyatt from 35K Hyatt​

🔗 Card-Linked Offers

• ADT: $250 back on $250+ — Only for new residential service.
• AT&T: $50 back on $55+ fiber internet — Free money if AT&T Fiber is already your provider.
• Caesars: 10% back, up to $50 in Vegas, Reno & AC — You have to book direct with Caesars Rewards.
• Marriott: $30 back on $300+ via Citi​
• Trust & Will: $199 back on $199+ — We used Trust & Will for our Estate Plan and this offer (if targeted) stacks with this 20% deal.

💬 Parting Thoughts

As always, thanks so much for reading! Hit reply and let me know what you think. I read every response. 🙏

Chris