Are They Still Skypesos?

Hosts Angie Sparks and Justin Walter open with a member highlight—Lori’s Northern Lights trip to Finland with her son—before diving into a busy news week. Wyndham Rewards is overhauling its award chart to four fixed tiers (5,000–45,000 points/night) starting September 15, 2026, with most hotels expected to stay in the lower tiers. Asiana Airlines will exit Star Alliance on December 16, 2026 as part of its Korean Air merger, though bookings and elite benefits continue as normal until then. One Key Rewards (Expedia/Hotels.com/Vrbo) is making changes effective July 28 that look like a net negative—boosting non-flight earning to 3% OneKeyCash while killing flight earnings and dropping its Hotel Price Guarantee. And Bilt Rewards added Preferred Hotels & Resorts’ “I Prefer” program as a new transfer partner as of June 22.On the personal front, Angie’s chasing spend on an Alaska business card and two Amex Business Platinum cards (timed conveniently around their Milwaukee meetup payments), plus deposits down for Morocco and golf trip tours—now hunting flights to Ireland for four. Justin knocked out bonuses on a United Explorer and Citi AAdvantage card, celebrated landing a Ritz-Carlton card in the household, and is weighing Delta One vs. AA business class for a Rome trip while a Munich trip hangs in the balance.The main topic tackles whether Delta SkyMiles still deserves its “SkyPesos” reputation, pointing to a string of elevated card offers and Thrifty Traveler Premium alerts suggesting real value can be found with the right search strategy (round-trip searches often price better). They close with a timely tip: burn those credit card credits before June ends—Justin’s using his Uber credit on dinner that very night.Where to Find UsThe Award Travel 101 Facebook Community.To book time with our team, check out Award Travel 1-on-1.You can also email us at [email protected] your Award Travel 101 Merch hereReserve tickets to our Late Summer 2026 Meetup in Milwaukee now. award.travel/mke2026Our partner CardPointers helps us get the most from our cards. Signup today at https://cardpointers.com/at101 for a 30% discount on annual and lifetime subscriptions! Lastly, we appreciate your support of the AT101 Podcast/Community when you signup for your next card!Technical note: Some user experience difficulty streaming the podcast while connected to a VPN. If you have difficulty, disconnect from your VPN.