Getting Started: Glossary of Terms
Getting Started Guide
Points & Miles Glossary
The points and miles world has its own language. This page breaks down the abbreviations, acronyms, newer tools, loyalty currencies, and shorthand you’ll see in travel hacking groups, award travel discussions, and credit card strategy posts.
Learn the language before you dive deeper.
You don’t need to memorize every term on day one. Use this page as a reference while reading deal posts, comparing credit cards, joining group discussions, or planning your next award trip.
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Start with the basics, then come back to this glossary whenever a term makes you pause. The goal is confidence, not overwhelm.
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Common Terms
The shorthand you’ll see most often in points, miles, credit card, award-search, and award travel conversations.
5/24
Chase’s rule that you generally cannot get a new Chase product unless you have fewer than five new credit card accounts in the rolling prior 24 months. Read our 5/24 guide.
AF
Annual fee.
AI
All-inclusive, usually referring to an all-inclusive resort.
AO
Amex Offers, which are targeted offers from American Express for bonus points, statement credits, or cash back at specific merchants.
AU
Authorized user on a credit card.
Amex Blue Business Plus Card. See credit card resources.
BRG
Best Rate Guarantee.
Award Alert
A notification from an award-search tool when award seats or hotel award nights become available for routes, dates, cabins, or properties you are watching.
Award Search Tool
A paid or free tool that helps search multiple airline or hotel programs for award availability. Examples include PointsYeah, Seats.aero, Roame, Points Path, and similar tools.
Bilt Rewards
A flexible rewards program best known for earning points on rent and everyday spending, with points that can transfer to select airline and hotel partners.
Bilt Rent Day
Bilt’s monthly promotion on the first day of the month, often featuring boosted earning, games, transfer bonuses, or limited-time travel deals.
Cached Availability
Award space shown by a search tool based on recently collected data rather than a fresh live search. It can be useful for spotting patterns, but it may be stale by the time you click through.
C1 Points
Capital One’s loyalty program currency.
CB
Cash back.
Chase Freedom; Visa with rotating 5x categories. Not open to new applicants. Popular product-change card for the Sapphire Switcheroo.See credit card resources.
Chase Freedom Flex; Mastercard with rotating 5x point categories.See credit card resources.
Chase Freedom Unlimited; earns 1.5x points on all spend.See credit card resources.
Chase Ink Cash Business Credit Card; commonly valued for 5x earning at office supply stores.See credit card resources.
Chase Ink Preferred Business Credit Card; earns 3x on internet and advertising, among other things, and enables transfers to Chase partners.See credit card resources.
Chase Ink Premier Business Credit Card. Marketed as a UR-earning card, but generally functions as cash back and does not allow transfers to partners.See credit card resources.
Chase Ink Unlimited Business Credit Card; earns 1.5x points on all spend.See credit card resources.
CL
Credit limit.
CLI
Credit limit increase.
CP
Companion Pass, usually referring to the Southwest Companion Pass.
CPP / CPM
Cents per point or cents per mile, commonly used to estimate the value received from a points or miles redemption.
Chase Sapphire.
Chase Sapphire Preferred; commonly valued for travel, dining, and access to Chase transfer partners.See credit card resources.
Chase Sapphire Reserve; commonly valued for travel, dining, travel credits, and Chase transfer partners. Also sometimes means customer service representative.See credit card resources.
DP
Data point; anecdotal information shared by another traveler or cardholder.
Devaluation
When a loyalty program makes points or miles less valuable, often by raising award prices, adding restrictions, increasing fees, or reducing sweet spots.
Dynamic Award Pricing
Award pricing that changes based on demand, cash price, seasonality, or other program rules instead of using a fixed award chart.
Family Pooling
A loyalty feature that lets multiple members combine points or miles into a shared household, family, or group account when the program allows it.
FNC
Free night certificate.
EIN
Employer Identification Number; a special ID number for business entities.
GE
Global Entry, a trusted traveler program.
HUCA
Hang up, call again; a strategy of calling customer service again to reach a more helpful representative.
Live Availability
Award space checked directly against the airline, hotel, or loyalty program in real time. This is generally more reliable than cached availability, but still not a guarantee until booked.
Mattress Run
Booking a hotel room mainly to earn points, elite nights, or status rather than because you need the stay.
MCGC
Mastercard gift card, often discussed around office supply store promotions.
ME3
Middle Eastern Three: Emirates, Qatar Airways, and Etihad.
MR
Membership Rewards points, American Express’s loyalty currency.
MS
Manufactured spending, a risky method of generating points. Not to be confused with MSR.
MSR
Minimum spend requirement; the amount you need to spend to earn a credit card welcome bonus.
NLL
No Lifetime Language; refers to an offer that may allow a welcome bonus despite prior card history, commonly discussed with Amex offers.
OTA
Online travel agency, such as Expedia or a bank travel portal.
Phantom Availability
Award space that appears in search results but cannot actually be booked when you try to complete the reservation.
Points Path
A browser tool that displays points prices alongside cash fares in Google Flights, helping compare when to pay cash and when to redeem miles.
PointsYeah
An award-search tool used to compare flight award availability across multiple loyalty programs and set alerts for specific award trips.
P1 / P2
Player 1, Player 2, and so on. Usually refers to another household member participating in the points and miles strategy.
PC
Product change; switching from one credit card to another card offered by the same issuer.
Recon
Reconsideration call; contacting a credit card issuer after a pending or denied application. Book coaching if you want help preparing.
Roame
An award-search tool used to find flight award availability across multiple programs and routes.
Rove Miles
A newer standalone travel rewards currency earned through Rove’s travel and shopping platform, with the ability to transfer miles to select airline and hotel partners.
PYB
Pay Yourself Back, a Chase feature used to redeem points toward certain purchases.
RTW
Round the world trip.
Sapphire Switcheroo
The process of product-changing a Sapphire card to a Freedom card to pursue another Sapphire bonus through a new application.
Seats.aero
An award-search and alert tool commonly used to find premium-cabin award seats, route availability, and broad award patterns across supported programs.
Stacked Earning
Using multiple earning layers on the same purchase, such as a rewards credit card, shopping portal, card-linked offer, promo code, and loyalty program points.
SM
Secure message; private messaging through a bank website or app.
SUB
Sign-up bonus; points, miles, or cash back offered for opening a new credit card and meeting requirements.
T&C
Terms and conditions.
Transfer Bonus
A limited-time promotion where bank points transfer to a partner program at an elevated ratio, such as 1,000 bank points becoming more than 1,000 airline miles or hotel points.
TY / TYP
ThankYou Points, Citi’s transferable points currency.
WF Rewards
Wells Fargo Rewards, the bank’s rewards currency. Some Wells Fargo cards can now transfer rewards to select airline and hotel partners.
UR
Ultimate Rewards points, Chase’s transferable points currency.
VA
Virgin Australia.
VGC
Visa gift card, a prepaid debit card sometimes used in bonus or category-spend strategies.
YMMV
Your mileage may vary; results may differ by person, account, location, representative, or offer terms.
Credit Card Issuers
Common shorthand for banks and card issuers you’ll see in credit card strategy discussions.
Amex
American Express.
BOA / BofA
Bank of America.
Barclays
Barclays Bank.
CapOne
Capital One.
Chase
Chase Bank.
Citi
Citibank.
Discover
Discover Financial Services.
US Bank
U.S. Bank.
Wells Fargo
Wells Fargo.
Airline & Loyalty Programs
Common airline codes and program names you’ll see when searching award flights or transfer partners.
AA
American Airlines; AAdvantage.
AS / Atmos Rewards
The combined Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines loyalty program, replacing the old Mileage Plan/HawaiianMiles split under one Atmos Rewards brand.
AV
Avianca; LifeMiles.
BA
British Airways; Avios.
DL
Delta Air Lines; SkyMiles.
EK
Emirates; Skywards.
ET
Ethiopian Airlines; ShebaMiles.
EY
Etihad; one of the ME3 airlines.
HA
Hawaiian Airlines; HawaiianMiles has been integrated into Atmos Rewards following the Alaska/Hawaiian loyalty combination.
KL / AF
Flying Blue, the combined loyalty program of KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and Air France.
LH
Lufthansa; Miles & More.
LX
Swiss International Air Lines; Miles & More.
QR
Qatar Airways; Privilege Club.
SQ
Singapore Airlines; KrisFlyer.
UA
United Airlines; MileagePlus.
VS
Virgin Atlantic; Flying Club.
WN
Southwest Airlines; Rapid Rewards. Airline of the coveted Companion Pass.
Hotel Loyalty Programs
Hotel program names you’ll commonly encounter when planning points-friendly stays.
Hilton Honors
Hilton’s hotel loyalty program.
IHG Rewards
IHG’s hotel loyalty program.
Marriott
Marriott Bonvoy hotel loyalty program.
Hyatt
World of Hyatt hotel loyalty program.
Mr & Mrs Smith
A boutique and luxury hotel collection now bookable through World of Hyatt in many cases, often at dynamic award rates.
Radisson
Radisson Rewards hotel loyalty program.
SLH
Small Luxury Hotels of the World. Formerly a popular Hyatt partner; now more commonly discussed in connection with Hilton Honors integrations and boutique hotel bookings.
Want help turning the lingo into an actual strategy?
Once the terms start making sense, the next step is learning which cards, tools, and booking strategies fit your goals. Keep going through the Getting Started path or book a consult for personalized help.