Not that many exciting new signup promotions recently, but we still keep making updates throughout the site. Here is a summary of some important updates.

• BofA Alaska Airlines Visa received a revamp with a historical best offer of 70,000 miles + $99 companion pass.
• Delta introduced a new perk for all its cobranded cards (Delta Gold Amex, Delta Platinum Amex, Delta Reserve Amex): 15% off miles for awards travel on Delta flights.
• Amex elevated signup bonuses on all the Hilton cobranded cards: 100,000 points for Hilton Amex, 150,000 points for Hilton Surpass, and 165,000 points for Hilton Business Amex.
• Capital One rebranded Spark Travel Elite as Venture X Business Card, which shares almost all the features as the personal Venture X Card.
• Chase Aeroplan Visa saw another 100,000 miles offer, but with a high $20K spending requirement.

BofA Alaska Visa has offered the best historical bonuses for both the personal version and business version:

• Personal version: up to 65,000 miles + one $99 companion certificate (40,000 miles + one $99 companion certification which allows you to take a companion for $99 plus fees and taxes starting $22 when you pay your own ticket, after spending $2,000 within 3 months of new account opening, and additional 25,000 miles after spending a total of $8,000 with 6 months).  Based on our current valuation of 1.8 cents a piece, the signup bonus is worth $1,180.
• Business version: $200 statement credit + 40,000 miles + one $99 companion certificate after spending $2,000 within 3 months of new account opening.  The signup bonus is worth $945 in our book.​​

It is obvious that U.S. Bank learned a lot from the success of Chase Sapphire Reserve Visa Infinite, our #1 Best Credit Card.  Intentional leaks a few weeks before the official launch of its high-end Altitude Reserve Visa Infinite have already made many super excited.  On May 1, 2017, with the introduction of Altitude Reserve, most of the rumored details were confirmed true - Altitude Reserve offers a 50,000 points signup bonus (=$750 in travel rewards), $325 annual travel credits that are easy to recover, 3x points on travel and mobile pay spending (=4.5% travel rewards), Priority Pass Select membership with four free visits each year, hotel privileges through Visa Infinite, primary rental car collision coverage, and the highest level of travel/consumer protection among all U.S. Bank credit cards, all come with a $400 annual fee.  As you may have noticed, many of Sapphire Reserve's winning features are found here; however, we do welcome the competition it brings to the already heated high-end card market.  Please see our review for detailed facts and analysis of this card.

It comes no surprise that Altitude Reserve scores high in all four "P"s we evaluated - Promotion (#15 Best Card for Signup Bonus), Points (#2 Best Card for Rewards), Perks, and Protection.  Overall, it is now rated #3 Best Credit Card by Dr. Credit Card, right behind Sapphire Reserve and Citi Prestige.  As a result, our #1 Best Card for Rewards, Amex EveryDay Preferred, previously #10 Best Credit Card by Dr. Credit Card, falls off the Top 10 list.

During last couple of weeks, we continued updating the website.  You probably don't want to miss out the enhanced signup bonus on Citi AAdvantage Platinum Select MC (60K each, for personal and business) and BofA Alaska Visa (30K + $100 credit + one free companion certificate).
​
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Please check out our Promotions page for currently the best offers including four new offers: 60,000 miles on Citi AA Executive WEMC, 60,000 miles + 10,000 MQMs + $100 credit on Amex Delta Platinum SkyMiles (personal or business), 50,000 miles + $50 credit on Amex Gold Delta SkyMiles (personal or business), and 30,000 miles + $100 credit + a $99 companion certificate on BofA Alaska Visa.

Our Points page has been updated to reflect our revised recommendations for the Best Two-Card Combos, which we copy below:

Best Rewards Credit Card Combos
Theoretically you need way too many cards to maximize rewards - one for gas, one for groceries, one for dining, one for airfare, one for hotels, one for general spending, and so on.  In real life, most of us can't manager that.  That is why here we will recommend the best two-card combos that will hand you much bigger rewards than a single card while still keeping things manageable.

• Fidelity Visa | Citi Double Cash + one category bonus cashback card: This combo is for people who love cash back!  As presented before, Fidelity Visa and Citi Double Cash, both with no annual fees and offer a straightforward unlimited 2% cashback, are extremely hard to beat.  Of course, you may also consider Barclays Arrival Plus for 2.11% travel rewards and other added benefits come with the $89 annual fee.  No doubt you will put most of your spending on one of these three cards.  However, adding a 5% category bonus card will certainly get you more cash.  You need to do your math to figure out which category you spend the most and how much you can earn by carrying an extra card.  Say if you spend $500 each month on a 5% category, every year you will earn $500 x 12 x (5-3)% = $180 beyond your normal 2% cash back by carrying this extra card.  Some people may say "$180 is awesome! I am in." but some may say "For the hassle of remembering which card to use, I will pass."  So it is totally up to you.  Now let's look into the most popular bonus categories to give you some ideas: (a) Groceries: Amex Blue Cash Preferred ($75 annual fee, 6% on groceries for up to $6,000 spent each year) - to maximize cashback, you will spend $6,000 a year on groceries and the extra cashback you earn beyond 2% is $6,000 x 4% - $75 = $165; (b) Gas: PenFed Platinum Rewards Visa Signature ($0 annual fee, 5x points on gas) - if you monthly gas expense is $600, the extra cashback  beyond 2% is $600 x 12 x 2.25% = $162;  (c) Airfare: PenFed Premium Travel Rewards Amex ($0 annual fee, 5x points on airfare) - if your annual airfare expense is $8,000, the extra cashback beyond 2% is $8,000 x 2.25% = $180; (d) Chase Freedom or Discover it ($0 annual fee, 5% on quarterly rotating categories, up to $1,500 spent each quarter) - the annual maximum extra cashback beyond 2% is $1,500 x 4 x 3% = $180; (e) US Bank Cash+ ($0 annual fee, 5% on two categories you select, up to $2,000 spent each quarter) - the annual maximum extra cashback beyond 2% is $2,000 x 4 x 3% = $240.
• Amex SPG + Amex Premier Rewards Gold | Citi ThankYou Premier: This powerful combo is for people who prefer miles/points to cashback.  Amex SPG will be the card for most general spending, as it has the highest return rate (=2.25%) among all four programs that allow points transfer to frequent traveler miles/points.  Then, you may choose between PR Gold and ThankYou Premier as the second card.  Both offer very powerful bonus categories: PR Gold covers airfare (3x) and gas & groceries & dining (2x); ThankYou Premier covers gas & travel (3x) and dining & entertainment (2x).  While Amex MR points and Citi ThankYou points are worth pretty much the same in our book, which card to pick eventually depends on your spending patterns and the frequent traveler programs you have in mind for transfer.  Finally, you may also consider Sapphire Preferred, Amex EDP, or Citi Prestige as the bonus category card.
• Amex EveryDay Preferred + Citi Prestige: We highly recommend this combo as an alternative to the previous one, for the simple reason that the two cards complement each other in the bonus categories almost too perfectly.  With 30 transactions per month, EDP offers highest return for groceries (4.5x, up to $6,000 spent each year) and gas (3x), while Prestige covers airfare & hotels & travel agencies (3x) and dining & entertainment (2x).  So with this combo, you can easily cover the five most important bonus categories: grocery, gas, dining, airfare, and non-air travel, with only two cards - that is an incredible deal!  As for general spending, EDP returns higher rewards at 1.5x (=2.25%) and will be ideal for most purchases.  However, we recommend using Citi Prestige for items that may have price drop within 60 days such as electronics for the Citi Price Rewind benefit, and when traveling abroad for the waived foreign transaction fees and embedded EMV chip.
• Chase Freedom Unlimited + Chase Sapphire Preferred: Even though Chase Freedom Unlimited is branded as a cashback card, it actually earn UR points at 1.5x for all purchases without an annual fee.  Normally you won't be able to transfer UR points earned through Freedom Unlimited to frequent traveler miles/points since it is a lower tier UR product, limiting the value of a point at 1 cent.  However, the secret here is that if you have a premium UR card such as Sapphire Preferred, you can transfer the UR points earned from Freedom Unlimited to Sapphire Preferred account so all of sudden these points become transferable to miles/points.  This hugely increases the value of Freedom Unlimited, making it returning an impressive 2.25% cashback equivalent for general spending based on our current valuation of UR points.  Obviously, Sapphire Preferred will be the card to charge to for travel & dining (2x).  In addition, we recommend using Sapphire Preferred for foreign travel and items that may have price drop within 90 days.  Lastly, if you don't mind having three cards in your wallet, adding Chase Freedom, which returns 5x on quarterly rotating categories, will make amazing Chase UR triplets.  UR points earned through Freedom are also transferrable to frequent traveler miles/points when you have Sapphire Preferred, and then Freedom returns an incredible 7.5% on 5x categories.  Bear in mind there is a quarterly $1,500 spending cap for the 5x categories on Freedom, so if you do everything exactly right, you will be earning an extra 21,000 UR points a year (1,500 x 4 x (5 - 1.5) = 24,000) by adding this non-fee card to your wallet.

Amex has offered increased signup bonus to 30,000 points (from the regular 25,000 points) for its Amex SPG, for several summers in a row.  Now it is back through September 14, 2015.  This time, you will need to spend $3,000 within 3 months to receive 30K points for the personal card version, and you will need to spend $5,000 within 3 months to receive 30K points for the business card version.  Our current valuation of Starpoints is 2.25 cents per point, thus the signup bonus for each card will be $675.  If you sign up both personal and business cards, you will receive 60,000 points.

Also note that even though the annual fee is waived for the first year, it has been increased from $65 to $95 effective today.  However, Amex does bring a few new perks to justify the increase in annual fees: waived foreign transaction fees, complimentary unlimited Boingo Wi-Fi plan, complimentary premium internet at participating Starwood hotels, and finally access to Sheraton Club Lounges for business cardholders.  We have updated our review to reflect these changes. 

Landing page for personal card
Application page for personal card
Landing Page for business card
Application page for business card

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We never blogged about the signup bonus on BofA Alaska Airline Visa Signature before since the best offer used to be 30K which was not considered good enough.  Finally BofA is bringing this long waited 50K offer, making it on par with competitors.  One thing to note is that the $75 annual fee is not waived.  You will receive 25K miles upon card opening and an additional 25K miles if you spend $1,000 within 90 days.  Even when it says "by invitation only" on the page, based on the past experience when you apply through the link and are approved for a Visa Signature you will almost certainly receive the 50K bonus.  If your credit is not good enough and are only approved for a Visa Platinum you will only get 5K miles.  Since the page also indicates limited time offer, act fast if you are interested.

Application Page (expired)

The value of miles/points is always constantly changing and highly personal.  That is why we don't usually give out a specific number for the value of miles/points in a certain program.  However, when devaluation happens, it is inevitable to talk about it, as we did in the articles covering 2011 Amex MR devaluation as well as early 2013 hotel program devaluation.  It looks like 2013 is really a bad year for points and miles collectors, as we have just seen another wave of devaluation recently.  We will cover several programs in this article and the one program that takes the hardest hit is no doubt one of our favorite - Chase Ultimate Rewards (UR).  Several key UR partners including United Airlines, Hyatt Gold Passport, Southwest Airlines, and Korean Air, are adjusting their redemption rates for next year.

• United Airlines Mileage Plus:  First of all, let's say this is the worst devaluation we have ever seen in the airline industry.  Until recently, United hasn't changed its award charts for so many years, and after its merger with Continental Airlines, we always thought this day would come; however, we did not anticipate something this bad.  Effectively February 1, 2014, United will have new award charts which represent massive devaluation.  United used to have exact the same charts for traveling on United metals and on its Star Alliance partners.  Starting February 2014 this won't be the case any more.  The new United Saver/Standard Chart isn't too bad - in many markets the rates remain the same and in others the rates go up, by around 7%-20%.  The new Star Alliance Chart, however, is pretty terrible just to look at.  Economy class will have moderate increase in rates; business class will have about 20%-40% increase in rates; first class is the worst hit - the rates increase around 60%-90%.  For example, business class to Europe will increase from 100K to 140K; first class to South Asia will increase from 140K to 260K.  While it all sounds horrible, bare in mind United miles will still be valuable and competitive, considering the new rates are somewhat closer to those in many other programs and you still don't pay fuel surcharge.  Our personal value of United miles will go down from 1.8 cents to 1.5 cents a piece.  The best strategy for now is surely to burn United miles if you can before next February (travel through January 2015). 
  
• Hyatt Gold Passport:  In our March article on 2013 hotel program devaluation, we predicted Hyatt would add a new category which would cost around 30,000 points per night within a year.  And it is too bad our prediction become true.  Hyatt has announced that a new award chart will go into effect on January 7, 2014.  Currently, the top Hyatt category is 6 requiring 22,000 points per night in a standard room; after January 6, 2014, the top category will be 7 requiring 30,000 points per night, representing a 35% increase.  Hyatt also adjusts redemption rates for other categories as well as club rooms and suites accordingly.  While rates in some categories remain the same, most redemption rates go up by 10%-50%.  Previously we conservatively value Hyatt points at 1.5 cents a piece; now our value will go down to 1.2 cents per point.
• Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards: This one is pretty straightforward since unlike most other programs, Southwest has a revenue based chart.  Southwest announced back in September that starting March 31, 2014, the WGA (cheapest fare and no capacity control) will require 70 points per dollar, an increase from 60 points per dollar.  So here you go - the value of RR points will decrease from 1.67 cents per point to 1.43 cents.  Note that for award travel you only need to pay Security Fees ($2.50 per segment) and the aforementioned value is based on ticket price before all fees and charges, thus in reality you actually achieve slightly higher value.  For most cases, we say the new value will be 1.5 cents per point, decreased from 1.8 cents.
• Korean Airlines SkyPass:  This is a mild one compared to United's.  But still devaluation can never be a good thing.  Back in September Korean Air announced that as of April 1, 2014, the new award charts will go into effect.  While the chart for traveling on Korean Air metal doesn't change that much, the new SkyTeam partner chart represent most devaluation - rates in many markets remain the same and others have an increase of about 10-20%.  Our previous value of Korean Air miles was not as high as United/US Airways/American due to higher mileage requirements and fuel surcharge, and our new value for post April, 2014 Korean Air miles will be slightly decreased to 1.4 cents per mile.
• Chase Ultimate Rewards (UR):  Since miles/points of its key partners United, Hyatt, Korean Air, and Southwest all decrease in value, we will have to downgrade our value of UR to 1.5 cents a piece, from the current 1.8 cents value.  Even though we hate the devaluation as much as you do, we still recommend several UR cards including our favorite Sapphire Preferred, Freedom, and Ink Business due to the fact that UR is still a versatile and competitive program.  In comparison, SPG looks greater than ever before, but we anticipate the merger between American Airlines and US Airways will change that.  After the merger, the new American Airlines will certainly devaluate its miles to follow its rivals, but the degree of the devaluation remains to be seen.
• Delta Air Lines SkyMiles: Delta miles have been joked as "SkyPesos" for reasons.  For one thing they probably have the least value among all US based programs and probably rank low in all programs worldwide.  Secondly, redeeming miles require too much effort since booking agents are not trained well to complete simple tasks (or trained well not to do that on purpose?).  Thirdly Delta has been notorious for making customer-unfriendly moves in the past.  This year, Delta has again demonstrated that they don't care much about its members.  Back in August, they announced revised award charts would go into effect on June 1, 2014, but different from other programs, the change would be immediate, meaning any travel after that day will be subject to the new rates.  Other programs allow you to book an award using the old rate before the change date and to travel as far as a year from that date.  Delta's move was not well received by its members; however, to add insult to injury and make everyone confused and speechless, Delta announced in early November that it would have a interim chart which is worse than the current chart but better than the new chart for travel between February 1, 2014 and May 31, 2014!  While the new chart (June) represents devaluation not as drastic as United's - coach class has few changes while business class has an increase between 15%-25% in many markets, the way Delta handled the situation couldn't have been worse.  Our value of Delta miles will be adjusted from 1.3 cents to 1.1 cents per mile.
• Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan:  The change that will go into effect on January 14, 2014 is really mild compared everything mentioned above.  The devaluations are mostly on Alaska's own metal to Hawaii - the rates increase by less than 10%.  Also some increase for Refundable Awards which are not interest of most travelers.  The best part of the program, partner redemption, is not affected.  In general, we consider the value of Alaska miles remains the same as 1.8 cents per mile.  However, after seeing all those terrible moves of other airlines, we don't expect this to last very long.  Since Alaska is a transfer partner of SPG, we recommend not to transfer SPG points to Alaska miles until you have a trip in mind and the seats are available for your dates of travel.

To summarize, we will list our value in cent for each currency.  Remember the value is highly personal and your miles may very well vary!

• United: decreased from 1.8 to 1.5
  
• Hyatt: decreased from 1.5 to 1.2
  
• Southwest: decreased from 1.8 to 1.5
  
• Korean Air: decreased from 1.5 to 1.4
• Ultimate Rewards: decreased from 1.8 to 1.5
  
• Delta: decreased from 1.3 to 1.1
  
• Alaska: remains 1.8
  

Bank of America Alaska Airlines Visa Signature is offering 40,000 miles as the signup bonus, 15K miles up from the regular offer.  Note that just like the regular offer the first annual fee is NOT waived.  Also you get the $99 companion certificate up front, which is the whole reason why this card makes our Top List.  Please see our review on Alaska Airlines Visa Signature for detailed analysis.

The link to the application is here.