134. The New Era of Award Travel: What's Changing and How to Adapt

Point Me To First Class

Devon Gimbel MD

Finances, Education, How To, Travel, Credit, Expenses, Card, Cards, Society & Culture, Professionals, Tips, Personal, Places & Travel, Business, Points, Rewards

5 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 22 September 2025

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

If you've been in the points game for years, you've probably noticed how much has changed recently. And if you're newer, you might be wondering if you're already too late.

In this episode, I share why I don't believe we're in the "golden age" of award travel right now — but also why points are still incredibly valuable if you know how to adapt. Over the last couple of years, the rules around earning and redeeming points have shifted faster than ever. Credit card issuers are tightening welcome bonus and referral opportunities, airlines are reserving more award space for their own loyalty members, and transfer ratios are changing in ways that don't always benefit us.

But this doesn't mean points are dead. It just means the strategies that worked five or ten years ago won't cut it anymore. I'll walk you through the biggest changes in points earning and redeeming, and the four core skills you'll need to thrive in this new era of award travel.

Whether you've been collecting for a decade or you're just getting started, this episode will help you see clearly where the points landscape is headed and how you can still unlock incredible value.

Turn your expenses into points and save tens of thousands of dollars a year on your wishlist travel. Don't miss out! Click here http://www.pointmetofirstclass.com/pointsmadeeasy to know more about my comprehensive online program, Points Made Easy. Enrollment opens on September 20, 2025 to September 27, 2025.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Point Me to First Class, the only show for employed professionals, entrepreneurs, and business owners who are looking to optimize their higher than average expenses to travel the world.
0:10.7	I'm your host, Devin Gimble, and I believe that your expenses are your greatest untapped asset, if you know how to leverage them.
0:17.8	Ready to dive into the world of credit card points and miles so you can travel more, travel better, and travel often. Let's get started.
0:29.6	Hey everyone, welcome back to the podcast. I wonder how many of you listening to this podcast
0:35.4	have been in the points and award travel hobby for a while now,
0:39.4	five to ten years or longer, like I have, and have observed just how much this game has seemed
0:45.4	to change over that time, especially in the last year or so. Or are you more new to this whole
0:51.6	points travel world, really diving in seriously, more recently in the last one to two years?
0:56.7	And are you looking around wondering if there are still real opportunities to find solid points deals for travel,
1:03.7	or even worried that maybe we're reaching a tipping point where there are enough or even too many people into points now,
1:10.7	that it might be too late
1:12.2	for you to be as successful with points as you've heard other folks talk about. Is this truly
1:17.1	the golden age for award travel, as some other points educators seem to suggest, or is their
1:23.4	vision slightly altered by rose colored glasses? While I, unfortunately, do not have any insider
1:29.3	info or crystal ball to know exactly what's going to happen in the award travel world over the
1:34.7	coming months or years, I do have the benefit of hindsight, having been in this hobby for over a
1:39.9	decade, and I think that we are currently experiencing a significant shift in several trends
1:45.4	in points travel. I think enough of the old rules have changed and ways of doing things
1:50.5	have changed that we're entering a new era in what it takes to come out ahead in points earning
1:55.6	and points redeeming. And spoiler alert, I don't agree that we're in the golden age for
2:00.6	a war travel right now. But I also don't agree that we're in the golden age for award travel right now.
2:02.1	But I also don't have an entirely doom and gloom perspective about the value that points still
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