Credit card points are useless if you have kids

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I hope your ex wife is lounging on a beach and laughing.

Ex-wife is probably busy packing for her beach vacation she planned last year.

[Anonymous]

Just redeem for cash, which is definitely not "useless."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just redeem for cash, which is definitely not "useless."

Agree, the only real benefit is premium cabins for somewhat of a discount which I'd never pay for anyways. Guess it just depends on the scope of the trip.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Points are about flexibility--dates, layovers, locations. If you want this specific date to this specific location at this specific hotel, you're going to be disappointed.

Only true if you don’t have reasonable mileage and CC point systems.

We use a combination of Delta miles, Citi prestige, and Amex platinum. Hasn’t been a problem to book flatbed business to Hawaii twice, Tahiti once, and Europe a few times in the past 8 years or so.

And? Anyone can book reward flights. What you're leaving out is 1) how many points the flights required and 2) taxes and fees and 3) the direct equivalent if paying cash.

I will accept business class on points can be a deal, paying the points+taxes equivalent of, say, $1500 for a ticket that would cost $3k in cash. But you're still paying $1500 while the same airline has direct economy seats for $600.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can't do it last minute with points. [b] OMG. Plan far in advance. I'm going to Hawaii in a couple weeks with flights on points.

This

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We just booked 3 round trip flights between DC and Honolulu on Delta One for $32 using a combination of Delta miles and points.

If you think there isn’t value to having points with kids then you’re bad at planning travel, bad at traveling with your kids, or both.

I think OP is bad at planning, clearly, since he's trying to book something 5 days in advance. That's basically a last minute trip.

[Anonymous]

Just need to plan further out, be more flexible, or be more knowledgeable. Points require some effort but it is undoubtedly worth it if you put in the effort.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Leave the kids at home.

right, leave the vacations with kids to the exwife, and the dad can go on vacations by himself. Dad of the year!

[Anonymous]

I hate points. I just get cash back now. Less trouble.

[Anonymous]

we saved point for years (basically forgetting about them) and took the entire family of on vacation to hawaii for 10 days on points. Blew the whole thing in one wad.

[Anonymous]

I get about $2k a year cash back.

[Anonymous]

I just went to PR with my college age son on his long winter break. It cost me around ten grand for 5 days. You cannot go during the high season for cheap. Now we stayed at a 5 star resort but it's still very pricey in February.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, I gave up my chase sapphire after several years of accumulating points but never being able to find any of these amazing rewards flights or hotel stays people boasts about. I always found the available reward travel to be the equivalent of cashing out the points and buying a comparable flight directly. What people aren't honest about are the taxes and fees, so when they say they flew to Paris in business on points, they aren't telling you they also paid $1k in taxes and fees along with the points. I'm not interested in paying 1k + whatever points for a flight I can buy for 600 in economy as it doesn't get you there quicker.

However, the points are free money. I ended up cashing out all our points for a few thousand dollars. Cancelled the chase cards and signed up for two different credit cards:

Amazon Prime visa for 5% cash back on all Amazon purchases including at Whole Foods. Given that we do most of our grocery shopping at Whole Foods, this was a no brainer especially on top of the regular prime discounts and sales at the store.

For all non WF / Amazon purchases, I use a Fidelity 2% cash back card that funnels the cash back to a Fidelity money market account.

Both cards do not have a yearly fee.

Once I realized I should get the credit card that worked with my lifestyle, the answer became quite clear. The travel reward cards are not ideal for most people, including me.

Suggest you do the same.

OP here thank you so much for sharing your experience. I am start to feel the same as you once did. As others have said it seems like points are better suited for those who are flexible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I tried booking a last minute 5 days trip leaving this Friday for me and my 2 kids to either Puerto Rico or Miami and OMG the prices (hotels and airfares) are insane.

I have hyatt points and couldn't find any availability. I also have Chase points but the cash values are insane.

What's the point of having points? I am done with credit card points.

I understand many kids will be off this week, but for most of us we can't take our kids out of a school in a random week in October because we can't afford to travel any other time because it's too expensive.

I'm just ranting.

And interestingly I looked throughout the year and the prices were elevated throughout so it's not like I waited until the last minute.

Ok rant over lol.

Costs are up for everything because of Trump and Republicans yeah maybe you should learn econ.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Huh?

Last spring break, we flew to France for 120K points and $1K in taxes. 4 tickets on KLM.

This spring break, we are flying to Zurich. 140K points and $1K in taxes. 4 tickets again.

We stayed 4 nights in a suite in NYC with the kids for Veterans Day weekend. All the holiday decor is already up. It was 90K points total, I booked it one month out.

Booking 5 days out for a holiday weekend? Of course there is NOTHING left.

I don't understand this. We have Global Services status on United. About once every five years there's some great deal, but in general, using airline points are shit these days. Like we're trying to go to paris 'some time' in summer on economy plus, and United still wants something crazy like 240k points per person per round trip. 140k for 4 people is not a thing anymore.

United just had an award sale to five different European cities, I think it was 25k each way. I almost pulled the trigger on a couple of them but didn’t. Still, these sales aren’t all that unusual. Economy Plus is trickier, of course.