A loyalty point is a currency whose issuer sets the exchange rate, and 2026 keeps proving it: Hyatt's May 20 award-chart overhaul raised the top-category ceiling from 45,000 to 75,000 points, and The Points Guy cut its Hyatt valuation from 1.65 to 1.55 cents in June (it has since recovered to 1.6). The airlines are further gone: Delta, United, and American all scrapped published charts, and five airline currencies dropped in TPG's August table alone.
The defense:
- Earn transferable bank points, not airline miles; on TPG's August numbers every US bank currency (1.75 and up) beats every airline mile (1.55 tops).
- Transfer to an airline only at the moment you book.
- Do not hoard; balances only reprice against you.
- Book when schedules open, 330 to 361 days out; AwardFares finds Delta's dynamic prices often lowest right at window open.
Spend it before the next memo.
