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.
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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