Every year reshapes the points-and-miles landscape, and 2025 delivered some of the biggest swings we’ve seen in recent memory. From amazing earning opportunities to painful devaluations, the hobby reminded us why it’s exciting—and why it can be frustrating. Here’s a full look at the good, the bad, and the truly ugly in the points-and-miles world.

 

The Good

1. Record-Setting Welcome Offers

Banks came out strong this year, giving us some of the largest welcome offers in years. Several premium cards crossed the 100k-to-150k-point threshold, we saw some welcome offers between 200k and 300k points, and even some mid-tier cards offered elevated bonuses that made them unexpectedly great options. For beginners, this was one of the easiest years to build a substantial points balance quickly. Here are some of the cards that had amazing welcome offers this year:

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With all these great offers (and more), we each earned over one million points, and Jess is pushing almost two million!

 

2. More Transfer Partnerships 

Flexible currency programs expanded with new transfer partners—both airline and hotel—giving travelers more ways to extract value from their points. Here are just a few of the additions.

• Capital One added Japan Airlines, Qatar Airways, and Preferred Hotels as transfer partners.
• The best new transfer partnership, in my opinion, is the addition of American Airlines as a partner to Citi. ThankYou® Points can now be transferred to at a 1:1 ratio for eligible cardholders.
• BILT added Etihad Guest, Japan Airlines, Southwest® Rapid Rewards, and Qatar Airways as transfer partners.

 

3. Increased Earn Rates in Everyday Spend

Competition among banks pushed some cards to boost earning rates on groceries, dining, gas, or travel. For people who earn primarily from spending rather than welcome offers, this was a significant win. Additionally, some impressive credits were added to some cards for spending on restaurants. I recently earned a credit on a $150 meal at Tavernetta in Denver, and the meal was excellent!

 

 

4. Credit Card Refreshes Added More Credit and Benefits to Offset Annual Fees

My two favorite refreshes this year were the card_name and the card_name.  These new credits made these keeper cards in my wallet. Read about the changes here and here. While neither card would be my choice for a beginner, they are perfect for someone who has spent more time in the points and miles world.

 

 

5. New Credit Cards

New cards being offered on the market is one of our favorite additions to points and miles! These cards mean new opportunities to earn points. Here are some of the cards introduced this year.

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• Citi Strata Elite℠ Card

 

The Bad

1. Higher Annual Fees 

A few cards raised their annual fees again, and this is not a shocker. Some added credit card perks and benefits that made it worthwhile for some people to pay more, but for those who don’t like the “coupon book” experience, it doesn’t make sense to pay the higher annual fee. I mean, we are talking about annual fees creeping up close to $1,000! Yikes! The big welcome offer is almost always worth it for the first year, but if you aren’t using those benefits, they may not be for the second year.

 

2. Fewer Approvals for Chase Ink Cards

We all felt this and had to adjust our plans. Whether it was to take a break or cancel some of them in order to get approvals again, it affected many of us. I was thrilled when I started getting automatic approvals again!

 

3. Transfer Partners Transfer Ratios Changed

Many transfer partner ratios changed from being 1:1 ratios to something less, which means that in some cases, you may be transferring more points for the same award travel than you did before. We hope this isn’t a growing trend toward lower transfer rates across the board. So far it seems to be limited to some of the more niche programs that tend to not be our bread-and-butter redemption partners, e.g., Capital One changing Emirates transfer ratios from 1:1 to 2:1.5.

 

4. Referral Bonuses Taken Away or Reduced

Earning a referral bonus is a great way to accumulate more points and miles. Sadly, some cards have had referral bonuses removed, reduced, or restricted to only certain eligible card applications.

 

5. Wyndham and Vacasa Part Ways

Booking a vacation rental with points through the Wyndham/Vacasa partnership was a use of points that many people valued. Unfortunately, 2025 saw the end of this opportunity.

 

6. Award Space Became Less Reliable

Demand surged this year, pushing programs to release fewer low-level awards. Premium cabins were especially scarce, and long-haul business-class award seats were often snapped up within minutes of release.

 

The Ugly

 

1. Sudden, No-Notice Devaluations

The most painful moments of the year came when major programs raised award prices overnight with no advance warning. For travelers saving toward a dream redemption, these surprise jumps wiped out months—or years—of planning in an instant. Long-haul premium redemptions were especially hit hard. I used to frequently spend 70K points for business class seats on average, but I am now paying closer to 100K.

Devaluations occur often and always will; however, when we have no warning, that is especially frustrating. Hilton devalued their award redemptions overnight and was probably the worst offender this year. Other offenders:

• Air France-KLM Flying Blue: Raised award redemption requirements on some awards.
• British Airways: Increased points needed for partner flights on American and Alaska Airlines by up to 60%.

 

 

2. New “Lifetime Language”

The lifetime language added to my favorite Chase Ultimate Rewards® earning cards was definitely shocking. Ultimate Rewards® are key to my travel 😩, but I am staying hopeful that it won’t be as bad as it initially seemed. TBD, for sure. Read more here.

 

2. Dynamic Pricing 

Airline loyalty programs leaned fully into dynamic pricing—even on partner awards—leading to wild, unpredictable swings. Some routes are priced at absurd levels, making travelers question whether loyalty is still worth pursuing.

 

3. Hotel Category Inflation

Hotel programs continued their drift toward higher pricing bands, with many properties effectively jumping a category or two. Some high-demand destinations saw increases of 25–40% compared to last year.

 

What This Means 

If this year taught anything, it’s that flexibility is power. The winners in the points and miles world were those who:

• prioritized transferable currencies,

• booked early and stayed alert to changes,

• kept diversified balances across programs, and

• took advantage of elevated offers while they lasted.

Are we freaking out? Nope! With a smart strategy, the value is still there—it’s just hiding a bit. Change is certain and adjusting the way we earn and use points and miles may be necessary, but we are confident that we will continue to travel much the same way in 2026.

 

Bottom Line

The points-and-miles hobby has always been a balance of opportunity and challenge, but this year was insane! Just as soon as we were okay with one change, another happened. While devaluations and availability unpredictability stung, the earning side of the hobby was stronger than ever. If you stayed focused and kept up with the constant changes, you likely came out ahead. 

 

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