150 episodes listed below
Points strategy with real trip bruises.
MTM Travel turns miles-and-points news into quick, practical debate. It mixes credit card changes, award booking tradeoffs, lounge complaints, airport meltdowns, and messy trip stories without pretending travel optimization is tidy.
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MTM Travel is a rapid, conversational travel show about miles, points, loyalty programs, and the strange real-world compromises behind them. It is not a tidy classroom-style guide. The show works more like a running trip debrief, where a flight problem or hotel annoyance becomes a larger argument about how the travel system actually behaves. Recent episodes cover card changes, credits, lounge access cuts, devaluations, transfer partners, hotel worries, travel problems, and policy changes. The credit card talk is detailed, but it is rarely abstract. A benefit gets judged by whether a normal traveler can use it without playing ridiculous games. A credit becomes a question about breakage. A redemption becomes a debate over whether five extra inches of legroom is enough to justify the points. The travel stories give the analysis its bite. Mark’s trip turns into a case study in TSA uncertainty, flight changes, hotel expectations, and the emotional cost of over-optimizing. Other trip stories bring in lounge access, narrow-body business class, airline pain, ATM trouble, and the small logistics that can derail an otherwise smart plan. The show also likes bigger industry hypotheticals, including airline mergers, loyalty program liabilities, and whether onboard phone calls would make flying worse. It can be blunt. It can wander. The tangents usually circle back to a usable takeaway, even if the path runs through a sponsor read, a personal aside, or a complaint about airport design. MTM Travel is best for listeners who already understand the language of points and want candid, experience-driven judgment. It favors tradeoffs over hype. The result is a show that makes travel hacking feel less like a spreadsheet and more like two people comparing notes after another complicated trip.
Made for: Best for miles-and-points hobbyists who already know the basics and want candid reactions to credit card changes, airline quirks, lounge access, redemptions, and trip logistics. It also suits frequent travelers who enjoy practical complaints as much as clean advice.
What sets it apart: The show stands out by testing travel advice against actual messy trips, not just theoretical value charts. Its strength is the fast back-and-forth between deal analysis, annoyance, and lived experience.
The fun side of miles, points and travel! Hosted by Shawn Coomer and Mark Ostermann, MTM Travel dives into the points hobby & the lifestyle of travel with topical conversations and plenty of laughs along the way.Mark & Shawn have a combined 18 years of experience covering these topics on Miles to Memories and Travel on Points and are cohosts of the popular MtM Vegas Youtube Show on the Miles to Memories Vegas channel. They also host the 20 Minute Travel news show on this same feed where you can keep up with the latest deals, news and happenings.
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
MTM Travel turns card offers and loyalty benefits into candid lessons from real flights, hotels, lounges, and booking problems.
Shawn Coomer and Mark Ostermann bring points travel out of the spreadsheet and into airports and hotel rooms. Their conversational back-and-forth connects card offers and loyalty benefits with the moment a booking goes wrong, a lounge disappoints, or a redemption produces an…
A Bermuda suite takes your points and cash; airport ice cream gets its day in court.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A lively points-and-travel debate where airline absurdities meet the compromises of booking an actual trip.
Faster in-flight internet gives an old travel question fresh urgency: if calls are technically possible, should airlines allow them? The hosts weigh convenience against a cabin full of loud conversations, then turn to what hotels owe their customers and the unruly prospect of…
A practical, mildly exasperated take on American Express credits, redemption friction, and offers worth the trouble.
American Express dominates this lively discussion of shifting credits and offers that can feel like easy money until redemption gets complicated. The $200 incidental credit draws the sharpest commentary.
A disrupted Bermuda trip becomes a candid look at flight planning, hotel value, and points strategy.
Mark's Bermuda trip gives the episode a clean center: four days shaped by flight changes, TSA worries, a long travel day, and a family that still comes away wanting to return.
A candid travel debrief where airport chaos becomes practical points-and-miles insight.
Airport disorder gives this travel show its shape, following Mark from TSA unease into a disrupted Turkey plan, St. Paddy's Day in Ireland, and the everyday friction of flying Turkish.
A hot airport lounge and a stubborn ATM turn into a useful debrief on where travel plans can break down.
This single-episode review follows a trip home that keeps turning small inconveniences into useful travel lessons. After an Aer Lingus flight from Dublin, a long Dulles layover puts the Capital One Lounge under the microscope: no televisions for March Madness, too much heat, and…
A Bermuda points trip weighs shaky logistics, uneven hotel value, and the pull of returning.
MTM Travel frames a four-day Bermuda getaway as a useful reminder that a points plan can look better on paper than it feels in motion. The trip runs through a Spirit booking, an overnight near JFK, and a long travel day before landing at the Fairmont Hamilton Princess.
Deep Disney parks talk, right down to the signage.
Real family routes, practical travel stories.
Everyday curiosities, explained with a sideways grin.
Mark and Shawn discuss Mark's Vegas trip, including his red-eye flight, late nights, and a ride in Shawn's Rivian.
A travel podcast discussing new American Airlines Globe, Citi's forced generosity, 24-hour Chinese spas, and a new portal with big payouts and transfers.
The host discusses booking a last-minute trip to Europe, compares economy and business class, mentions having six Hilton credit cards, and shares an exciting detour to Epic Universe in Orlando.
Mark recounts his spring break trip to Bermuda, which included a Spirit flight to New York, TSA chaos at JFK, and a failed landing attempt that turned into a 'flight to nowhere'.
Shawn and Mark discuss a new Southwest Companion Pass offer via the Performance Business Card with 120,000 points after $10,000 spend.
MTM Travel opens with whether Starlink connectivity will bring phone calls onto airplanes, and Mark says he likes that airplanes still force him offline.
MTM Travel centers this episode on American Express changes, including a new five-referral limit that resets prior referrals and can improve the math on Membership Rewards cards.
MTM Travel follows Mark's Bermuda run, which starts with Spirit into LaGuardia, a Hyatt Regency overnight at Resorts World JFK, and a 3 a.m.
The hosts discuss Amex cutting Saks credit and tightening lounge access, preview a trip report from Bermuda, and tease Citi's Strata revamp.
Mark and guest discuss travel concerns including TSA delays, Citi's devaluation of transfer partners, and Hyatt's potential negative changes, while Bilt becomes the top transfer partner.
Turkish Airlines’ business-class meal was so chewy it “popped my crown off.”
Capital One’s new Discover-backed debit card declined twice in Poland and Dublin.
Mark and the host discuss Citi's mistake and subsequent correction, new AA Globe, 24-hour Chinese spas, and a new portal with big payouts and transfers.
Travel podcast discussing Amex Fine Hotels & Resorts issues, a status match opportunity, a disappointing Seoul hotel, and a new way to earn a Southwest Companion Pass.