You no longer have to close or downgrade one Sapphire to get the other

1️⃣ It seems Chase will eliminate the 10% anniversary bonus on the Sapphire Preferred 

A couple of days ago, several users reported seeing a message in the Chase app mentioning that the 10% bonus on points earned each anniversary with the Sapphire Preferred would be eliminated starting October 1, 2026. 

This is a benefit of this card that, while not the most generous, can be relevant for those who use the card considerably. 

For example, if you spend $15,000 during the year with the card, you get an extra bonus of 1,500 points. Effectively, it's like earning an additional 0.1x on all your purchases. It's not impressive, but seeing a reduction in benefits is never good news. 

However, it seems the message completely disappeared from the app. Users who reported seeing it two days ago said they no longer see it today, and personally, we don't see it on any of our accounts either. Did they backtrack or are they simply going to announce it again later? We lean much more toward the second option. We'll have to wait and see. 

💳 The point of this news: Seeing reductions in benefits is never good news, although we believe very few will actually be affected by this change. We dare say that many users were not even aware of the benefit, and personally, we are among those who do not use this card for purchases but rather as a bridge to access the bank's transfer partners, so at least here, there is no impact. 

2️⃣ You no longer have to close or downgrade a Sapphire to get the other

Chase formally removed the restriction that prevented having the Sapphire Preferred and the Sapphire Reserve at the same time. For years, the Sapphire "family rule" forced us to choose between one or the other, and it was not possible to have both. 

If you had the Preferred and wanted the Reserve or vice versa, you had to downgrade or cancel the one you had to qualify for the other.  

From now on, you can have both at the same time if you want without having to eliminate the other. This opens the door to getting two welcome bonuses when they are at a point where they are too good to pass up, as is currently the case with the Sapphire Reserve: 150,000 points after spending $6,000 in 3 months (the best bonus in this card's history). 

💳 The point of this news: While Chase has made some pretty drastic changes since last year, it seems they are still trying to fine-tune details like these. If you have one of these cards and the other is offering a bonus you want to take advantage of, it is now possible to do so without having to eliminate your original card. 

3️⃣ Amex adds new rules for Centurion Lounges (it's not as bad as you think)

Starting July 8, we are going to see 2 new rules regarding access to American Express's very popular Centurion Lounges:

1. 5-hour window: First, you will only be able to enter the lounge within 5 hours prior to your connection or 3 hours prior to departure of your original flight. This officially eliminates the practice of arriving at the airport excessively early to work from the lounge all day (or hang out). Basically, Amex no longer wants its lounges used as a personal office for 8 hours or even more. 
    

2. Same flight or nothing: Second, any guest you bring must have a ticket for the same flight as you. If you have a friend or family member traveling on a different itinerary or with another airline, they cannot enter with you. Bringing guests already became much more restrictive a couple of years ago when Amex eliminated the benefit of up to 2 complimentary guests, and now, well, a bit more.

💳 The point of this news: If you are a frequent user of the Centurion Lounges, you might have to adjust your watch. If you travel with family, consider adding authorized users to your Platinum card ($195 a year for each) so they have their own access. 

4️⃣ Excellent redemption to travel to Europe from the USA in the middle of summer with Delta (without having Delta miles)

We are always talking about using our points strategically to get the best value out of them, but we know the best way to visualize this is with real examples, so we want to share a redemption we recently made. It wasn't for us, but for Carlos's mom. 😊

On our recommendation, she decided to take advantage of the offer on the Capital One Venture card when it was offering 75,000 miles + a $250 travel credit because she wanted to travel to Europe in the summer of this year without spending much (this offer is no longer available but is still offering 75k miles). 

Tickets in the summer are expensive enough as it is, and now with the gas situation, don't even get us started... 

Since she met the required minimum spend and already had the bonus in her account, it was time to act. The most important thing for her was to get a non-stop flight between New York and Madrid, any day within the first three weeks of July, and that the flight schedule wasn't exhausting. 

Since her miles are with Capital One, we had to search for availability with any of the partner programs, which number more than a dozen.  

We knew that options would be limited because the only non-stop options are Delta, Iberia, American, and Air Europa. Spoiler: Capital One does not transfer to any of these airlines. But this is where the strategy part comes in... The ✨ alliances ✨ are your best friends. 

We found a non-stop flight with Delta at an excellent time by booking through Air France for just 46,000 miles + $100 in cash, including checked baggage. 

The cash price? None other than $1,066. Ouch! 🤕

Many people believe that 46,000 miles are worth at most $460, but here we see that was not the case at all. 

The most impressive thing is that if Carlos's mom had had Delta miles and wanted to book this same flight (as 95% of people would do), it would have cost 86,000 miles instead of 46,000. 

Yes, practically double.

And the best part is that Carlos's mom still has 40,000 miles in her account (she had 85,000 between the bonus and regular spending), and continues to earn 2x on everything because it is her day-to-day card.

💳 The point of this news: Booking with points directly with the airline we want to travel with is not always going to be the best option. In fact, on many occasions, it is not even necessary to have their own miles to be able to fly with them. Knowing and understanding the power of alliances is the key to maximizing the value of our points. So if you are still thinking about joining the APM™, you can see that with just one trip you can recoup your investment (more info below).

5️⃣ Best card offers currently

If you want to take advantage of a current offer to accumulate points, miles, or cashback, we leave you our recommendations by category in this link.