Credit Cards Travel Credit Cards

2024 Award Travel Abbreviations & Acronyms Glossary

A helpful guide to remember travel and credit card acronyms.

By Brandon Neth

Edited by Laura Bostwick

Updated Oct. 1, 2024

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As with any new hobby, there's a lot to learn about points and miles when you’re just starting out.

A question that comes up frequently in our Facebook community FBZ Elite Travel & Points is:

What do all of these abbreviations and acronyms mean?

It’s not unreasonable to wonder — in fact, sometimes it feels like reading a foreign language!

To help you on your way, we’ve compiled this list of commonly used acronyms and abbreviations in the credit cards, finance, and travel rewards spaces.

Jump To

A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z

A

A+ or AP – Barclaycard Arrival Plus

AA – American Airlines

AAoA – Average Age of Accounts

AF – Annual fee

AGC – Amex gift card

Amex – abbreviation for American Express

APR – Annual Percentage Rate

APY – Annual Percentage Yield

AS – Alaska Airlines

AU – Authorized user

AW – AwardWallet

B

B6 – JetBlue Airways

BA – British Airways

BB – Best Buy

BB+ – Amex Blue Business Plus

BBB – Better Business Bureau

BCE – Amex Blue Cash Everyday

BCP – Amex Blue Cash Preferred

BGR – Amex Business Gold Rewards

BOA or BofA – Bank of America

BRG – Amex Business Rewards Gold or Best Rate Guarantee

BRM - Branch Relationship Manager (a position at Chase Bank).

C

CB – Cash back or credit bureau

CBM – Cashback Monitor

CC – Credit Card or Club Carlson

CF – Chase Freedom

CFU – Chase Freedom Unlimited

CIC – Chase Ink Cash Business Credit Card

CIP – Chase Ink Preferred Business Credit Card

CIU – Chase Ink Unlimited Business Credit Card

CK – Credit Karma

CL – Credit limit or credit line

CLI – Credit limit increase

CP – Companion Pass (refers to Southwest Companion Pass)

CPM – Cost per mile

CPC – Chase Private Client

CPP – Centers Per Point, the monetary value of reward redemptions

CR – Credit report

CS – Chase Sapphire or Credit Sesame

CSP – Chase Sapphire Preferred

CSR – Customer Service Representative or Chase Sapphire Reserve

CU – Credit Union

D

DC – Debit Card or Citi Double Cash

DD – Direct deposit

DL – Delta Air Lines or Driver's license

DOB – Date of birth

Double Dip – combining two benefits or promotions in a single transaction

DP – Data point

E

Earn/Burn – slang for earning and redeeming reward points

ECON – Economy class (also abbreviated as 'Y')

EK – Emirates Airlines

EQ – Equifax

EY – Etihad Airlines

EX – Experian

F

F – First class

F9 – Frontier Airline

FA – Fraud alert or flight attendant

FACTA – Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act

FB – Facebook

FBZ – FinanceBuzz

FCRA – Fair Credit Reporting Act

FDIC – Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation

FHR - Fine Hotels and Resorts (Amex)

FR – Amex Financial Review

FT – FlyerTalk forums

FTF – Foreign transaction fee

FW – FatWallet

FWIW – For what it’s worth

G

GC – Gift card

GE – Global Entry

H

HH – Hilton Honors

HP – Hard pull, an inquiry on your credit that affects your score (as opposed to SP)

HSA – Health savings account

HT or H/T – Hat Tip (thanking and/or reporting a source)

HUCA – Hang up, call again (when calling customer service)

I

IHG – Intercontinental Hotel Group

INK – Chase Ink business credit cards (also see CIC, CIU, CIP)

J

J – Business class

JB – JetBlue Airways (also ‘B6’)

JAL – Japan Airlines

K

KE – Korean Air

KL – KLM-Royal Dutch Airlines

L

LHRC - Luxury Hotel Resort Collection (Chase)

M

MC – Mastercard

Metal – Used to describe flying with an airline's own product. For example, flying "AA metal" means you've booked a ticket through American Airlines and are flying on an American Airlines plane instead of a partner airline.

MGC – Merchant gift card

MCGC – Mastercard gift card

MO – Money order

MR – Membership Rewards, Amex’s loyalty program

MS – Manufactured spend

MSR – Minimum spend requirement

N

NFCC – National Foundation for Credit Counseling

NFCU – Navy Federal Credit Union

NK – Spirit Airlines

NSCRPA – Nationwide Specialty Consumer Report Agency

O

OD – Office Depot

OLCI - Online check-In

OM – OfficeMax

OOP – Out of pocket expense

OP – Original poster (first person to post on a topic)

Open Jaw – A roundtrip ticket with three or more points of departure/arrival

OTA – Online travel agency (like Expedia)

O/W – One-way airfare

P

PC – Product change or conversion

PO – Post Office

POS – Point of sale

PP – Priority Pass or PayPal

PRG – Amex Premier Rewards Gold

Q

n/a

R

RC – Ritz-Carlton

Recon – the reconsideration line for credit card companies

Rep – Representative

RR – Rapid Rewards, Southwest's loyalty program

RT – Roundtrip airfare

S

SD – Slickdeals

SM – Secured message

SP – Soft pull, an inquiry on your credit that does not affect your score (as opposed to HP)

SPG – Starwood Preferred Guest

SSN – Social Security number

SUB – Sign-up bonus

SW – Southwest Airlines

T

T&Cs – Terms & Conditions

TCB – TopCashback Portal

TIA – Thanks in advance

TR – Travel Rewards or trip report

TSA – Transportation Security Administration

TU – TransUnion

TYP – ThankYou Points, Citi’s loyalty program

U

UA – United Airlines

USB – U.S. Bank

ULCC – Ultra low-cost carrier

US – US Airways

USPS – United States Postal Service

UR – Ultimate Rewards, Chase’s loyalty program

V

VGC – Visa gift card

VS – Virgin Atlantic

VX – Virgin America

W

WF – Wells Fargo

WOH - World of Hyatt

X

n/a

Y

Y – Economy class (also abbreviated as ECON)

YMMV – Your mileage may vary (your outcome may differ from others)

YQ – Fuel surcharges

Z

n/a

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