Miles and Points Encyclopedia

In the world of miles and points, people use a lot of strange names and acronyms for point programs, award bookings, and more. Here’s a one-stop-shop resource with all the definitions you could ever need. This is one of the many resources you can gain access to in our travel tool kit. The task is simple — make just one newsletter referral, which you can find at the bottom of our daily email.

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• Definitions

• Acronyms

• Airline Loyalty Programs

• Airline Alliances

Miles and Points Definitions

5/24: pertains to how many cards you can open within a specific timeframe with Chase bank (5 cards/24 months)

Airline alliances: groups of airlines that have partnered together. These groups let each other book flights on one another’s airlines and even redeem points on their airlines.

Authorized User: a person added to a credit card account by the primary cardholder. Anyone can be an authorized user if they meet the card issuer's age requirements. You may choose to add your child, spouse, partner or close friend as an authorized user.

Annual Fee: what you must pay every year for the privilege of keeping the card, typically in exchange for certain benefits.

Awards Booking: flights or hotels that are bookable with points.

Award Availability: not all seats on all flights are bookable with points (similarly, not all rooms at all hotels), you must first find the availability in order to book.

Base Fare: the amount you’ll pay before taxes, fees, surcharges, etc.

Code Sharing: an agreement between airlines to sell seats on each other's flights

Credit Bureau: a company that collects information relating to the credit ratings of individuals and makes it available to credit card companies, financial institutions, etc. (Experian, Credit Karma, etc.)

Credit Rating: a score or grade that a company or organization gives to a possible borrower and that indicates how likely the borrower is to repay a loan

Devaluation: when an award program either raises the award prices (making it cost more points to redeem) or takes away perks/benefits, devaluing the program

Elite Status: given to preferred customers as they reach higher levels of loyalty, often comes with premium benefits. You can earn status in many ways from flying a certain amount of miles to spending a certain amount of money.

Fifth Freedom Flight: flights that carry passengers between 2 countries that are not the operating airlines home base. These routes give you the opportunity to fly a much better airline for less. (Example: Flying Emirates between Athens and New York)

Foreign Transaction Fees: a fee charged by a credit card issuer or bank for every transaction made in a country outside of the U.S.

Global Entry: A trusted traveler program run by the federal government that allows you to use a dedicated line to complete an expedited immigration screening when arriving in the U.S. from abroad. Read more about Global Entry here.

Layover: is a flight connection of less than 4 hours domestically and less than 24 hours internationally, anything more is known as a stopover.

Mileage Run: a flight, or a series of flights, with the intention to earn qualifying miles to get you closer to earning elite status.

Miles and Points: a form of currency that airlines, hotels, and banks offer in return for loyalty (Also called Avios or whatever the company wants to call them. Regardless of the name – this is what you earn and can redeem travel.)

Metal: in context refers to the actual operating airline -- the name painted on the side of the plane.

Open Jaw: this is when you book a flight from Point A to Point B, but then return to Point A from a totally separate Point C. Looks like this (LHR - CDG, AMS - LHR):

Positioning Flight: a short (or cheap) flight you take to set yourself up for a larger journey, usually saving money and/or points and miles in the process.

Sign Up Bonus: also known as a welcome offer, sign-up offer, or welcome bonus. This is an incentive banks give you to join. Typically connected to a minimum spend.

Speculatively Transferring: This is the practice of transferring points without a specific booking in mind and is generally not recommended in the miles and points world because of the dynamics of award availability.

SSSS: Secondary Security Screening Selection... lucky you. This is a marking on your boarding pass that indicates you have been selected for an additional security screening.

Stopover: when you connect in a city for more than 24 hours (internationally) or more than 4 hours domestically. Thanks to airline stopover programs, you can intentionally book a stopover in an airline’s hub city to explore. Often comes with some fun incentives to do so! Learn more about stopovers in this podcast episode.

Sweet Spots: when the stars align, or maybe the miles in this case, they give you outsized value on an awards redemption. Learn more about sweet spots in this podcast episode.

Transfer Bonus: an incentive that banks give you to transfer to specific airlines or hotels. No, we cannot guess when they are, yes they are amazing when they align with your plans.

Transfer Ratio: the increment of points you’ll transfer from your flexible earning currency over to an airline or hotel. Usually something like 1:1 or 2:1 - 1:1 means transfer 1,000 points and get 1,000 points while 2:1 means transfer 2,000 points and get 1,000 points. It’s important to understand these ratios to make sure you are not wasting your hard-earned points.

Miles and Points Acronyms

Sometimes it can feel like people in the miles and points world are speaking in a secret code language. You might hear something like “I booked a flight with FB on VS with UR points from my CSP and CIC after landing a SUB. Plus I booked with HH with an FNA, gosh I can’t wait for my amazing trip!!!” And go... wait, what...

Acronyms and points are best buddies. Here’s your cheat sheet to decode and talk like a miles and points pro.

As you get the hang of these acronyms, here’s another helpful tool to keep track of the most up-to-date transfer bonuses across all programs.

Airlines:

Hotels:

HR: Amex Fine Hotels and Resorts program

FNC: Free night certificate

HH: Hilton Honors (Hilton’s loyalty program)

IHG: InterContinental Hotels Group, now known as IHG Hotels & Resorts

LHRC: Chase Luxury Hotel & Resort Collection

MB/Bonvoy: Marriott Bonvoy loyalty program

WoH: World of Hyatt (Hyatt’s loyalty program)

Banks:

Other:

5/24: Chase approval rule, see definition above

AU: Authorized User

AF: Annual Fee

CPP: Cent Per Point

HUCA: Hang Up Call Again

OTA: Online Travel Agency

P1/P2: Player 1/Player 2 used when couples/family members strategize together, learn more here

PC: Product Change (example: changing your Sapphire Preferred to a Freedom Unlimited)

SUB: Sign Up Bonus

YMMV: Your mileage may vary

Airline Loyalty Programs

Airline Alliances

Star Alliance:

Star Alliance is the largest alliance. Some main airlines -- United, Lufthansa, Air Canada

Full list:

Aegean Airlines, Air Canada, Air China, Air India, Air New Zealand, All Nippon Airways, Asiana Airlines, Austrian Airlines, Avianca, Brussels Airlines, Copa Airlines, Croatia Airlines, EGYPTAIR, Ethiopian Airlines, EVA AIR, LOT Polish Airlines, Lufthansa, Scandinavian Airlines, Shenzhen Airlines, Singapore Airlines, South African Airways, SWISS International Air Lines, Thai Airways, TAP Air Portugal, Turkish Airlines, and United Airlines.

Skyteam:

SkyTeam is primarily focused on Delta, KLM and Air France but includes airlines like Aeromexico, Korean Air, and more.

Full list:

Aerolineas Argentinas, Aeromexico, Air Europa, Air France, China Airlines, China Eastern Airlines, Czech Airlines, Delta, Garuda Indonesia, ITA Airways, Kenya Airlines, KLM, Korean Air, Middle East Airlines, Saudia, TAROM, Vietnam Airlines, Virgin Atlantic, XiamenAir

OneWorld:

Finally, the OneWorld alliance includes American Airlines, British Airways, Qatar Airways, Ibera, and a number of others.

Full List:

Alaska, American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Iberia, Japan Airlines, Malaysia, Qantas, Qatar, Royal Jordanian, Sri Lankan Airlines, Royal Air Maroc