Big changes are coming: Top miles and points to-do’s.

The past few months have brought a slew of announced changes coming over the next several months. If you’ve felt like your head has been spinning to keep up with deadlines and dates for major program changes, you are not alone. In this post, I wanted to collect and consolidate a bunch of the major […] The post Big changes are coming: Top miles and points to-do’s. appeared first on Frequent Miler. Frequent Miler may receive compensation from CHASE. American Express, Capital One, or other partners.

May 23, 2025 - 21:35

Big changes are coming: Top miles and points to-do’s.

The past few months have brought a slew of announced changes coming over the next several months. If you’ve felt like your head has been spinning to keep up with deadlines and dates for major program changes, you are not alone. In this post, I wanted to collect and consolidate a bunch of the major to-do’s to consider before they expire over the next several months. We’ll intend to republish this post over time as changes develop and to include important monthly, quarterly, semi-annual and (eventually) end-of-year to-do’s to make sure you take advantage of opportunities while they last.

a hand writing on a checklist

For a limited time

Consolidate Southwest credits / Cancel Southwest flights by 5/27/25 for a credit that doesn’t expire

See our post about this here

Flights cancelled starting 5/28/25 will receive a credit that expires in 6-12 months, but if you cancel an existing flight by 5/27/25 your resulting flight credit will not expire. Keep in mind though that once you use flight credits from 5/28 onward, they will be subject to the new policy. If you have multiple smaller credits in your Southwest account today, it makes sense to consolidate those while you can still book & cancel and get an un-expiring credit. Keep in mind that the new baggage policies also come into effect on 5/28.

Book ANA Round the World & ANA metal by June 24, 2025

See our post about this here.

ANA will eliminate its storied “around the world” award chart on June 24, 2025. If you’ve had your heart set on a journey with up to 8 stopovers and up to 12 total segments, you’ll need to book by 6/24. Note also that award pricing on ANA-operated flights (“ANA metal”) will also increase on 6/24. The good news is that ANA will finally allow one-way award redemptions when the changes kick in.

Transfer American Express Membership Rewards points to Hawaiian Airlines HawaiianMiles by June 30, 2025

See our post about this here.

Remember that HawaiianMiles will no longer be an Amex transfer partner after June 30th. A transfer to Hawaiian (even a speculative one) is a popular move for two reasons: first, remember that you can move miles from HawaiianMiles to Alaska Mileage Plan at a 1:1 ratio, so this is a limited-time way to transfer Amex points to Alaska Airlines (which is a program with a number of sweet spot uses and miles that are ordinarily hard to get). Second, HawaiianMiles cardholders can send miles to or receive miles from other HawaiianMiles members. This makes it possible for a family to consolidate all of their family miles on the Hawaiian side and then move the miles to Alaska. Take advantage of a transfer while you can.

Apply for Hawaiian Airlines credit cards (by June 30, 2025?)

We expect that the Barclays and Bank of Hawaii-issued Hawaiian Airlines Mastercards will be discontinued at some point. We don’t yet have any official word as to whether or when that will happen, but it seems reasonable to guess that these cards may go away after June 30th (perhaps they will last until the new program launches in August?). It seems like the Barclays Hawaiian Miles Mastercard, the Bank of Hawaii Hawaiian Miles Mastercard, and the Barclays Hawaiian Miles Business Mastercard are likely living on borrowed time. Get yours while you still can if you’re interested in Alaska miles.

Move your Hawaiian Miles to Alaska

There’s no firm deadline for this and the miles will end up in whatever the combined program ends up being even if you don’t do anything, but there’s no sense in waiting. Hawaiian Miles have very few good uses, so you might as well get these miles on the Alaska side now. If you wait until the programs are merged, you risk being out of commission while they match up account information. Just move stuff over before the programs merge.

Pay your rent with any Visa, Mastercard, or Discover credit card & earn 1 Bilt point + credit card rewards for each dollar spent though 7/20/25

See our post about this here.

Starting on 7/21/25, the earning rate is being cut in half to 1 Bilt point per $2 spent. While this may still be a decent avenue for spend toward a welcome bonus and it may still be worth it with a 2x card to some, you’ll want to make any existing rent payments by 7/20 to earn more Bilt points.

Transfer Citi ThankYou Rewards to Emirates by 7/27/25

See our post about this here.

Starting on 7/27/25, Citi ThankYou Rewards will reduce the transfer ratio by 20%. You can transfer 1:1 until 7/26/25, but after that 1,000 Thank You points will only get you 800 Emirates Skywards miles. Of course, now that Emirates first class awards are only available to members with elite status, this may not be particularly appealing. And given the fact that Emirates has a hard 3-year expiration policy (miles expire at the end of your birthday month in the 3rd year after you transfer, just to make it extra confusing), this one is not recommended for a speculative transfer.

Book United Excursionist Perk tickets by August 21, 2025

See our post about this here.

This niche featured of the United MileagePlus program has been one of the last holdouts from a time when United had a really interesting award program. Drew at Travel is Free long ago wrote a great guide to using the perk (long since scrubbed from the net it seems), but Greg and I have both written about using this before to get a “free” one-way ticket.

Redeem Citi points for $0.01 per point with Strata Premier until 8/24/25

See our post about this here.

This is almost a nothingburger because having a Double Cash or Custom Cash card will maintain the $0.01 cash out rate, so this really only affects those who only have a Strata Premier and want to cash out Citi points at $0.01 per point.

Use Citi Rewards+ 10% rebate by July 26, 2026

See our post about this here.

Those who opened their Rewards+ card from July 20, 2024 through July 19, 2025 will continue to have access to the 10% Points Back rebate until July 19, 2026. You can earn the rebate on up to 100K points redeemed each calendar year.

By May 31, 2025 (end-of-month checklist)

Use Amex coupon credits

See this post for your best options

I have a reminder set at the beginning of the month to use things like wireless credits, office supply store credits, and various restaurant credits, but if you haven’t yet used these you’ll want to make plans now.

Use Instacart benefits

See this post for your best options.

Remember that you’ll have to register your card through the promo page and then switch the payment method for each order to use the credit(s) associated with that card.

Use DoorDash benefits

See this post for more detail.

Several popular cards offer repeating DoorDash credits; some are restaurant-specific and others exclude restaurant orders.

Check current point transfer bonuses

See this post for more detail.

Ending on 5/31 are bonuses from Capital One to Qantas, Chase to Air France / KLM Flying Blue, and Citi to Qatar. Speculative transfers are inadvisable, but it is worth keeping an eye out for a good use of a bonus. Keep in mind also that bonuses to Virgin Atlantic and Wyndham end before the end of next month.

By June 30, 2025(end-of-quarter / semi-annual checklist)

Use Amex coupon credits

See this post for your best options.

Keep in mind that quarterly benefits include the airline credit on the Hilton Honors Aspire card and the Hilton credits on the Amex Business Platinum, Amex Hilton Business, and Amex Hilton Surpass cards. Semi-annual benefits like the Saks credit must also be used by June 30th. Avoid waiting until the last minute to order: Saks tends to finalize the order when they ship your item, so if you wait until the end of June to order and they don’t ship until July 1st, you may miss the credit for January-to-June.

Use final $200 Dell credit

See this post for more detail.

You can get your final $200 statement credit for qualifying Dell purchases through June 30th, but keep in mind that Dell tends to finalize the order when they ship your item, so if you wait until the end of June to order and they don’t ship until July 1st, you may miss the credit for January-to-June. Note that beginning on July 1st, this will become a $150 statement credit for the entire year.

Maximize rotating category bonuses

See this post for more information.

This quarter’s bonuses include broadly useful options like Amazon, Wholesale Clubs, and Grocery Stores. Don’t forget to activate before making a purchase.

The post Big changes are coming: Top miles and points to-do’s. appeared first on Frequent Miler. Frequent Miler may receive compensation from CHASE. American Express, Capital One, or other partners.