While it's been yet another banner year of flight deals at Thrifty Traveler Premium, here at Thrifty Traveler dot com, our team is also closing out another year covering some of the biggest stories in travel, airline news, points and miles, and more.
The last year was another record-setter by the numbers and Americans' appetite for piling up points apparently knows no bounds. Scan through the list of our most popular stories from the last year, and it's undeniable: Americans are hungry to find cheap flights, put their points and miles to use, and travel smarter.
But it wasn't all good news. Some of our most-read posts from 2025 also reflect travelers' broader frustrations: With the growing number of use-them-or-lose-them perks on credit cards, with Chase in particular, and just how far you have to go to find a good deal.
Here are the top 10 stories from another year in travel.
10. Amex’s New ‘As High As’ Offers Are Bad News for Points Collectors
American Express shook things up this year when it comes to doling out big welcome bonuses to travelers opening a new card. And odds are, it's bad news.
Instead of showing you your welcome offer upfront, Amex now displays a teaser: You could earn as high as 100,000 points after spending $6,000 in the first six months on the American Express® Gold Card. Or as high as 175,000 points after spending $8,000 in the first six months on American Express Platinum Card®.
But there's a catch: You won't know what offer (if any) you're eligible for until you apply. After you submit your application – but before you accept the card (if you are approved) and your credit score is pulled – Amex will let you know the exact welcome offer you are eligible for.
Fortunately, thanks to Amex’s Apply with Confidence feature, you can check what offer you might get before proceeding with your application. Unfortunately, it's clear what Amex is up to with this new system: With the power of data and AI, the bank is increasingly tailoring these welcome offers from person to person.
“We want to find the exact point that will take you over and make you react to an offer – not below, not too high, just the perfect offer,” Amex Chief Financial Officer Christophe Le Caillec explained.
That means the days of hunting for an even bigger bonus via personal referral links or an incognito browser are likely numbered … if they're not over already.
9. Chase Won’t Eliminate Free Sapphire Lounge Guest Access for Top Cardholders
While American Express has been charging cardholders to bring guests into Centurion Lounges for years and Capital One will soon follow suit, Chase zagged in 2025.
On the heels of the long-awaited overhaul of its flagship Chase Sapphire Reserve®, the bank confirmed it has no plans to slash free guest access for cardholders. That means travelers with a Sapphire Reserve Card can continue bringing two guests into each and every Chase Sapphire Lounge for free.
Now, that could change over time – maybe even soon. Airport lounges are more crowded than ever these days.
Still, it was a surprising bright spot in Chase's otherwise lackluster relaunch of the Reserve Card.
8. Get Our Free Credit Card-Tracking Tool: Now with 40+ Cards & Add Your Player 2!
We are laser-focused on one mission here at Thrifty Traveler: to help you travel more for less. And with all the travel cards raising fees and adding benefits in 2025 alone, it was clear that you all needed some help keeping track of everything.
So we built a tool to help you … for free. Go figure, our one-of-a-kind spreadsheet has been a smash hit: You can track more than 40 top travel cards from many of the major banks, airlines, and hotel chains all in one place.
I say one-of-a-kind because it truly is – not just because our team spent weeks building this free tool. It's incredibly comprehensive yet still easy-to-use, with features you won't find elsewhere, like:
- Start by selecting each card you've got and they'll automatically appear as tabs below
- On each card's spreadsheet, you'll get a clear warning as each individual credit or benefit is approaching its expiration date
- Each spreadsheet will automatically tally up the total value you've gotten as you mark each credit as used and turn green at the top once you've recouped your entire annual fee
- You can track separate cards for a spouse or companion – aka a “Player 2” or “P2”
Read the full story & download this free tool here!
7. Struggling to Use Your Delta Companion Certificate? Read This Guide
I've lost track of how many times I've heard the same refrain from friends, family, acquaintances, and even borderline strangers: “My Delta companion certificate is useless, I can never use it!”
No doubt, this once-a-year certificate from top Delta SkyMiles credit cards sound great on paper – who wouldn't want a BOGO flight? And these certificates are even more powerful now, allowing you and a pal to fly not just within the mainland U.S. but also out to Hawaii, down to Mexico, throughout the Caribbean, and beyond.
On the flip side, many flyers feel these companion certificates have also gotten much harder to use over the last few years, running searches that turn up blank again and again. That's because Delta is incredibly selective about which specific fares are actually eligible for these BOGO tickets.
We put together an in-depth guide for how to put them to use, including some next-level tips on how to find those precious eligible fares. You're welcome.
6. It's Official: Chase Sapphire Reserve® Hikes Annual Fee, Adds Tons of Perks
The launch of the Chase Sapphire Reserve® nearly a decade ago practically broke the internet: a premium Chase travel card with an unprecedented six-digit welcome bonus. This year, they went back to the well.
The bank officially relaunched its flagship premium travel card in June, upping its annual fee to a whopping $795 while adding an American Express-like series of money-saving credits on everything from luxury hotels to dining and beyond. It even got a new look.
Six months later, it's clear this isn't going as well as Chase hoped. Why else would the bank be doling out $400 retention offers to disappointed cardholders torn about renewing?
Still, this was undeniably big news when it dropped.
5. 10 of the Best Award Search Tools to Use Your Points & Miles
All the points and miles in the world can't help you if you can't find flights you can actually book with them. Whether you're just starting out with points and miles or already consider yourself an absolute pro, searching for award availability can be a huge pain.
So it's only natural that travelers would be looking for a way to help with this difficult task. There are dozens of tools to choose from: A new one seems to come out every month. We rounded up some of the best tools to help simplify and expedite your award searches.
From the beginner-friendly Point.me and Roame to more advanced sites like Seats.aero and Expert Flyer, these tools can help you zero in on the flights you want to book using your miles.
4. The Best Delta One Business Class Deals We've Found in 2025
We've heard it all: “SkyMiles are worthless” or “you can't book Delta business class without paying a fortune” and even “SkyPesos.”
Instead of complaining, we dig for deals … and we found more of them than ever in 2025. Yes, this year really felt like it was a turning point for Delta. After years of urging travelers aiming to fly business class to forget about earning SkyMiles, we found more than a dozen stellar deals, including:
- Tokyo-Haneda (HND), Taipei (TPE), and Seoul (ICN) for as low as 83,000 SkyMiles each way
- The new route to Marrakech (RAK) bookable in Delta One for 170,000 SkyMiles roundtrip
- Roundtrips to Europe for as low as 170,000 SkyMiles, too!
- One-ways to Brisbane (BNE) in Australia for as low as 102,000 SkyMiles each way
- Delta's new route to Hong Kong bookable for under 94,000 SkyMiles each way
That's just a small sample of the excellent deals we unearthed in 2025. And those deals occasionally get even better thanks to a workaround to book Delta flights for fewer points via Air France/KLM Flying Blue. While Delta is notoriously stingy with allowing partner airline programs like Air France to book their prized business class seats, 2025 was a different story.
3. How Delta Turned SkyMiles into the Clearance Meat of Airline Miles
This is either the best headline we've ever published … or the worst. There is no in between.
It may seem counterintuitive but you can, in fact, get a good deal buying a great cut of meat just before it goes bad … just like you can still get a more-than-solid deal redeeming SkyMiles, despite their reputation for being “worthless” and the ensuing (not-so-friendly) nicknames frequently attached to Delta's mileage program.
It just pays to know exactly what you're buying – and why it's on sale in the first place. With Delta, it's a two-part formula:
- The airline slashes SkyMiles rates on underperforming routes or during off-peak travel periods in a bid to fill seats that would surely otherwise go out empty. That includes dirt-cheap economy redemptions to Europe for under 30,000 SkyMiles roundtrip (and sometimes even sub-20,000) as well as some shockingly cheap Delta One business class fares to Southeast Asia
- Delta touts those deals, trusting that travelers (including sites and services like ours) will help spread the word, giving SkyMiles' reputation a boost … and, hopefully, convincing them to continue swiping their Delta Amex cards and keep earning SkyMiles
Whatever the reason, it's working: SkyMiles deals are better than ever. Keep the meat coming, Delta.
2. Amex Leaks Huge Hotel Credit Ahead of Platinum Card Refresh Next Month
By the time Amex officially pulled back the curtain on the new, arguably improved, and undeniably more expensive American Express® Platinum Card this fall, there had been a steady drip of leaks of what the bank had in store. And this was the biggest one – a sign of what was to come.
A month before the new, $895-a-year Platinum Card (see rates & fees) officially hit the market, the bank accidentally published a breakdown of what might be its best new benefit: Up to $300 in credits twice a year (for up to $600 annually) for prepaid bookings at Fine Hotels + Resorts® and The Hotel Collection properties through Amex Travel. The Hotel Collection requires a two-night minimum stay.
It's a souped-up version of the hotel credit first added a few years back, but that was only good for up to $200 each year. What's more, this credit is now available on The Business Platinum Card® from American Express too.
Alongside other new additions, it was enough to make the new Platinum Card an undeniable smash hit. Against all odds, what was once widely viewed as frustrating glorified coupon book has become a mainstream mainstay.
1. How to Use Google Flights to Find Cheap Flights
We love you, Google Flights. We really, really love you. And it's clear our readers do, too.
Forget KAYAK, Expedia, Hopper, Skyscanner, and every other flight search engine out there. Google Flights is better than them all. Yes, that’s right: The search engine behemoth is also king when it comes to finding cheap flights. It’s incredibly powerful, with tons of features that will help you zero in on the best price.
Year after year, Google Flights somehow just keeps getting better, with new features that help you zero in on the cheapest time to book your flight … or even book a trip by train, instead! And now it offers something you won't find on any other search platform: For the first time ever, you can exclude some of those stingy basic economy fares from your search results altogether.
We've put a ton of time and energy into this guide to explain the ins and outs of Google Flights – its benefits, a few drawbacks, and the best ways to use it to find cheap flights no matter where you're going. And as Americans traveled in record numbers in 2025, it's clear that they found it helpful.
