2022 Frequent Flyer Retrospective: Airline Points & Status

Around every New Year I take stock of my balances in various frequent traveler points programs, both to see how well I've done in accumulating & using miles as well as to set goals for the coming 12 months. When I did this review 12 months ago there wasn't a lot of change to report. I'd only flown 21,000 miles in 2021. Air travel continued to be fitful this year as we stayed home the first few months during the (first) Omicron surge and were cautious about traveling later. I logged only 32,000 miles in 2022— more than last year but down from the 50k-ish I flew annually for a few years before Coronavirus, and way down from the 150k annually I flew 10-15 years ago.

That said, it's time to review where I landed in the various programs at the end of 2022.

⬆️ Southwest Airlines: Earn and Burn (Needs More Burn)

Despite seemingly not flying very much this year I earned a lot of points on Southwest. Between flights and credit cards and partner bonuses I earned 215,000 Rapid Rewards (RR) points. To some people that would be good news. To me, not so much because I wanted to spend, aka burn, more points than I earned. I burned 145k points this year. The balance of points in my account swelled to 379k.

A lot of people would celebrate, "Woohoo! I have nearly 400,000 points!" I don't celebrate it because carrying a big balance is a bad thing. Points only ever devalue so it's a poor idea to keep them banked for too long intending to use them later. For 2022 my goal was to burn faster than I earn. It's my goal again for 2023.

Elite status-wise, I managed to renew both Southwest's Companion Pass and A-List Preferred status— the latter by a whisker in December. Cinching these took some deft play to capture special bonus offers from Southwest. Southwest is the one airline for which I both want to & can earn meaningful status, so now the status chase starts over for 2023.

⬆️ United Airlines: Credit Card Boost— Twice!

For years United was my airline of choice. Back in my travel heyday I flew them over 100,000 miles a year for several years, reaching Million Miler lifetime status in 2013. In 2021 flew them not at all. Not a single flight. In 2022 I did better than that but only by a little. I flew UA on 3 one-way trips.

One of those flights was on points, consuming 31k of my points balance. I would've called this section "Chipping Away at the Pile" except the pile (of miles) actually got bigger this year. It got bigger because I opened not one but two UA credit cards with juicy signup bonuses. I finished the year at 450,000 points.

The downside of carrying such a large points balance is the same as in other programs, though it's not as theoretical with United. United has clearly devalued its points over the past several years. Years ago I valued them at 1.8 cents per point (cpp). Today they're only worth 1.1 cpp.

Status-wise I maintain Premier Gold with United, a benefit of reaching Million Miler years ago. What's the value of that status? Well, on those few flights I flew I was able to reserve a room seat in Economy Plus. Those seats with extra legroom are a valuable perk that make flying more comfortable. What's it worth, though? Certainly it's more than zero but really not the $60-80 per flight it would cost to buy ad hoc if I were not an elite status member.

↔️ American Airlines: Sitting on Three-Quarters of a Million

You might wonder about the arrow icons I'm using here. I've marked AA with a sideways arrow. It's not an opinion of the airline but an indication that my points balance barely moved this year. That's because I haven't flown AA in 18 months. I did book a flight though, planned for September 2023, using points which dropped my balance to 730,000.

Still, 730,000 remains a huge balance— and that's a problem, because of the constant threat of devaluation. Indeed AA has announced sweeping changes to its frequent flyer program for 2023. Among the changes are new award charts. I haven't spent time digging into the new charts to gauge how bad it is, but I know it's bad. It's never good.

There's another risk, too, besides devaluation in letting points sit too long. That's expiration. While a number of airlines adopted a "Points never expire" policy during the pandemic AA is one that's kept with the old way of zeroing out your account after 24 months of inactivity. Since I haven't flown AA in 18 months my huge pile of points were in jeopardy of expiring in a few months. Fortunately any activity resets the clock on the whole balance. Before I found that opportunity to book a flight in November I turned to hooking up with Aadvantage Dining during the year to keep my miles alive. That gave me about 2,000 points and— more importantly— renewed the other three-quarters of a million until late 2024.

↔️ Delta: Also Sitting, But Only on 15k

Another sideways arrow, another airline I didn't fly at all in 2022. Unlike my massive points balance with American Airlines, though, my points balance of Delta Skymiles is a mere 15,000.

With Delta, at least, miles never expire. But since my balance is just 15k I don't really care. Once upon a time 12,500 miles was enough for a one-way domestic ticket. Delta led the way with devaluations years ago. Its Skymiles were dubbed Skypesos by frustrated frequent flyers. Well, the unlimited expiry gives me more time to figure out how to make such a now-small quantity worth anything.

2022 Frequent Flyer Retrospective: Hotel Points & Status

Every year around the start of the year I take stock of my balances in various frequent traveler points programs, both to see how we'll I've done in accumulating & using miles as well as to set goals for the coming 12 months. Earlier today I posted a wrap-up of my airline miles and status for 2022. Now it's time for the same with hotel points and status.

As with flying, hotel stays have been on a comeback this year as Coronavirus fades into a new normal. In 2022 I logged 68 hotel nights. That's not back to the level of 2019 when I had 93 hotel nights, but it's 70% more than in 2021.

⬇️ Marriott: Bonvoy(age), Points

Marriott returned to being my #1 hotel program in 2022, at least in terms of nights stayed. I stayed 19 nights with them. The count rises to 22 if we include nights Hawk paid for with points or certs from her account.

Speaking of points and certs, almost all of my nights with Marriott were award nights. Only 5 nights were cash. Three of those were for business, two were for leisure when the points rate was ridiculous. Through all those award stays I reduced my mountain of Marriott's too-preciously named Bonvoy Points from 567k to 400k.

I hold Lifetime Titanium status in Bonvoy, the second highest of five elite levels. It's a benefit of my past years of much heavier travel. If I had to qualify from scratch this year, my 19 nights would get me Silver status— three levels lower. And I'd only get that high because Marriott changed the program to count awards nights toward elite status. Prior to that my 5 paid nights would've earned me "dirt" status— i.e., none. ...Not that my significantly higher status was particularly valuable. There aren't a lot of upgrades and other benefits to be had at the basic suburban hotels where I spent most of these 19 nights. Though I did enjoy an attractive little upgrade to a balcony room and a delicious breakfast at the Orlando World Center Marriott where I stayed just 1 night before bailing out for a hurricane.

For 2023 my goal remains the same as the past several years: Spend down that mountain of points. The mountain is smaller now than a year ago but 400k is still way more than I want to carry. Hotel and airline points only ever lose value over time, so it doesn't pay to save them too long hoping to use them later.

⬇️ Hilton: Diamond Starting to Shine

Hilton was my #2 hotel chain with 18 nights stayed this year, very close behind Marriott, though it's #1 by revenue as 11 of those nights were on cash. Of the 7 nights on points, two were really nice ones when we stayed at the Hilton Sedona resort. The other 5 were 5 nights in Barstow at a Hampton Inn.

Together these redemptions used 280,000 points from my Hilton Honors balance. That's a great spend of points! I did earn piles of points of points from the 11 paid nights, though, so year-over-year my Hilton Honors balance decreased from 482,000 to only 365,000. Thus my goal for 2023 with Hilton Honors is the same as it was 12 months ago: Find a good, big redemption opportunity to spend those points on. Or lots of little ones. Or both!

Status-wise I remain Diamond elite (top tier) with Hilton because of a credit card. That sure as heck beats having to earn it the old fashioned way with 28 trips or 50 nights of "butt-in-bed" like I used to back in the day.

The value of Diamond status is mixed. At limited service hotels, such as Hampton Inns, I often get a small but appreciated room upgrade. At full service hotels there's often a minor upgrade, too, plus credits on food & beverage purchased at the in-house restaurants. On the one hand, a free $25/day doesn't suck. On the other hand, the restaurants are overpriced so $25 doesn't go as far as you'd think. But still, it's a worthwhile benefit that helps offset the $450 annual fee of the credit card.

⬇️ IHG: Burn, baby. Burn!

Intercontinental Hotels Group (IHG), whose portfolio includes Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express, was my #1 hotel program in 2021 based on number of nights stayed. For 2022 it dropped to third place. I still managed 13 nights with them, though. And they were all free!

Five of those free nights were on free-night certificates from carrying an IHG credit card. Two I used in combination with 2 that Hawk had, putting them together for a free 4-night stay in Waikiki, Hawaii. Ironically that wasn't the highest redemption value this year.... The Waikiki hotel's cash rate was only about $150/night. A roadside Holiday Inn Express we stayed at in nowheresville, WA, in August would've been almost $300 if I hadn't used a cert for it!

With all the redemptions this past year I spent about 120k IHG points. I earned a few, too; so I landed at a balance of 179k. On the whole this is a reasonable place to be. I'm glad to have spent this 120k (plus several certs) on a bunch of award stays. That's exactly what I earned them for! I'm looking forward to doing it again in 2023.

Status-wise I remain Platinum with IHG, a benefit of owning their affiliated credit card. Platinum is their second highest tier. In the past I've groused it's not worth much because there really aren't elite benefits to be had at the limited-service properties I make most of my stays at. In 2022 I did get a few suite upgrades that were... well, amusing if not also a nice touch. Those include the suite with a "view" of the Strip in Las Vegas, a suite on our stay in Palmdale, CA in April, and our July stay in Montrose, CO where I made a video walkthrough of our suite upgrade.

↔️ Hyatt: A Great Use of Chase Points!

It's been years since I earned a point with Hyatt but this year I transferred 78,000 to them and used nearly all of them. The transfers were from my Chase Sapphire Preferred card. I got great value for those points: 4 nights at a resort in Florida for our anniversary, plus a random night on the road during another trip.

This continued the pattern of how Hawk and I used Hyatt points in 2021. We barely spent a penny at their hotels— well, okay, we spent a few hundred on food and a corner room upgrade when we stayed 4 nights at a resort in Florida in September. But we haven't paid for a night with them in years.

I canceled my transfers credit card earlier this year, so no more Hyatt transfers for me. Hawk still has her card, though, and is thinking about getting a Hyatt credit card, too. So maybe we'll have more nice stays on her dime!

🔄 Choice, Wyndham, Best Western, Etc.: Whatever

I have memberships in several other hotel rewards programs, with points balances remaining in at least a few of them. (Others are zeroed out due to expiry.) Choice and Best Western I know I have small balances in but don't care; they're not enough points to redeem for award nights, and I didn't stay at any of their hotels to think about earning points this year.