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🤙🏿 Welcome back to the Better Than Points Newsletter - the premier place for all things Credit Card Points News and Travel

My name’s Luis and I’m the one writing this (hit me up here!)

Hey friend!

Found some interesting nerdy points and travel stuff out this week.

So lets get into it!

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Deal of the Week: 150,000 Bonus Points

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This is one of those rare moments where a major travel card is offering a welcome bonus that’s never been this high:

🚀 150,000 bonus points after $6,000 in purchases in the first 3 months.

Yes, the annual fee is on the higher side—but if you’re strategic, the bonus can set you up with enough points to make a serious dent in travel.

What 150,000 points can do (realistically):
✅ Cover a round-trip business class flight (depending on where you’re going + availability)
✅ Or cover multiple nights at a great hotel (sometimes a full week, depending on the property)
✅ Or give you the flexibility to mix flights + hotels and still have points left over

Bottom line:
If you’ve been waiting for a big bonus to jumpstart your travel plans, this is the kind of offer that doesn’t come around often.

👉 Check it out here to see the full details (bonus + terms).

Each week, I’ll share something cool I’ve discovered or tackle a question from the community. It’s my little corner to explore ideas, offer fresh perspectives, and hopefully spark your own curiosity.

Earlier this week I listened to a podcast with the Delta CEO and it was super interesting.

Especially hearing how they went from almost bankruptcy to being the airline people fly no matter the price because of loyalty.

One of the most interesting parts was the Amex partnership.

They renewed the co-branded deal back in 2019 for another 10 years, and you can see why.

He mentioned that 10% of Amex’s worldwide billing is tied to Delta cards, and that 30% of Amex cardmember spend is on Delta cards.

For U.S. Amex cardholders, he said 30% of spend is going on Delta cards, which is insane.

It also made me think about how strong brand loyalty really is, especially when people aren’t deep in the points game.

Because a lot of those folks think they’re getting outsized value but they’re basically stacking SkyMiles, which are some of the least valuable points out there.

A lot of them would be better off earning flexible points with something like the Amex Gold, then transferring to Delta when they actually need to book.

Same flights, more flexibility, and you’re not stuck in SkyPeso land.

From Delta’s perspective though, this is exactly why they love the partnership.

They’ve basically said around 10% of their revenue is coming from that Amex relationship, so I don’t see it going anywhere.

Good for the airline. Good for Amex.

And for us, it’s a reminder that points are powerful, but only if you’re earning them in the right currency and using them strategically.

This whole podcast now has me curious.

If you weren’t aware, every year Hyatt updates hotel categories, and it usually isn’t for the best.

Category 1–4 hotels get the most attention because those are the ones you can use your Category 1–4 free night certificates on.

And every year, a bunch of hotels that sit right on the edge of a 3 or 4 get bumped up to a 5 or 6, which basically kills your ability to use those certs there.

This year is no different.

112 hotels are going up in category, while only 24 are going down.

A lot more hotels are moving up into Category 5 or 6 than moving down into 4 or 3.

And on top of that, Hyatt is also rolling out new pricing tiers.

Going from 3 to 5, which means a lot of these properties are going to cost more points to book.

So here’s the date to circle: May 20.

If you’ve got any trips coming up and you want to book Hyatt stays, do it before May 20 so you can lock in the current category and current points rate.

That includes using your Category 1–4 certs, and even the more valuable Category 1–7 certs, before properties move out of range.

This breaks it all down.

I’m interested to see what the new tier system looks like, but I’m not expecting it to be great.

So if you have any Hyatt hotels you’ve been meaning to book, book them now before the category changes and the new pricing brackets kick in.

Nothing pains me more than award chart increases, but Aeroplan is doing it too.

And it stings too because Aeroplan has one of the best setups out there.

Its distance/region based pricing has been predictable and fair.

The silver lining is that most partner flights aren’t getting crushed.

A lot of business class partner awards are moving from 70,000 Aeroplan points to 75,000.

We’ve seen way worse, so shout out to them for not completely gouging us and giving us a heads up.

They’ve also lowered some rates for really short routes.

Where it gets uglier is on Air Canada’s own flights.

Those have already been higher, and that’s where you’ll feel the pain more.

This all takes effect June 1, so I’m not in full panic mode.

But it’s still something to keep in mind.

Here’s a good list with the amount that they’re changing.

If you’re booking one of their 50+ partners, paying an extra 5,000 points isn’t the end of the world.

With them having so many transfer partners and a great online portal to book flights, I still have no issue using them.

But this is just another reminder that these sweet spots never stay sweet forever.

Check out these crazy award deals!

This section includes some of the best award flights of the week bookable with points and miles.

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This section includes some of the best links videos and articles of the week around the points and travel community