credit card points travel/miles/airline and hotel rewards

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'll give my take as a frequent traveler with little spare time. I don't "churn" cards because I dont' have time for that. I have 2 cards:
AmEx Platinum
Chase Sapphire Reserve

AmEx gets all my airfare because you get 5x points. This also gives me gold status on both Hilton and Marriott hotels. Lots of free breakfasts and routine upgrades (usually outside the US).
Chase gets everything else.

Then, each partners with various airilnes so you can convert AmEx/Chase points to that airline's points, and it's diferent airlines for each. When I want a flight, I convert the points at that time.

Big caveat: the annual fee on these cards is $600-700/year. However, you get credited for various spending so actual cost is a lot lower.

But for all this, you need to spend a lot to make it worth it. Work lets me use my personal card for travel, so between the 2 cards I'm spending $200-300k/year.

As for the "just get a cash back card", you don't get much value from that _if_ you want to use it for business class travel. A simple example: a round-trip business calss flight from here to Europe may be $7k if you buy it, or 140k points. To earn $7k on your cash back card, you need to spend let's say $350k. To earn 140k points, that would be $30k on airfare (AmEx 5x points) or maybe $100k on typical regular spending (Chase gives 3x points on restaurants).

In summary, it's a balance of how complicated you want to make your life.. the marginal benefit compared to your time to manage the "tricks".

I feel like am doing something wrong. Every time I check, the flight cost in miles is not cheaper for me than just paying cash. For example, I was recently pricing out a business class flight on united to London, cost was ~4K, but also costs 400k miles! Is there a particular airline or hotel chain where this is more feasible? Would love to make this work, but have never had much success

You need flexible points like Chase that can transfer to wherever the best deal is. We paid 10k Virgin miles per person to London (transferred from Chase.)

How do you do this logistically? Do you need to sign up to be a Virgin member so you can search for award seats? And then quickly transfer from your Chase points balance? I thought transfers from Chase could take a few days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'll give my take as a frequent traveler with little spare time. I don't "churn" cards because I dont' have time for that. I have 2 cards:
AmEx Platinum
Chase Sapphire Reserve

AmEx gets all my airfare because you get 5x points. This also gives me gold status on both Hilton and Marriott hotels. Lots of free breakfasts and routine upgrades (usually outside the US).
Chase gets everything else.

Then, each partners with various airilnes so you can convert AmEx/Chase points to that airline's points, and it's diferent airlines for each. When I want a flight, I convert the points at that time.

Big caveat: the annual fee on these cards is $600-700/year. However, you get credited for various spending so actual cost is a lot lower.

But for all this, you need to spend a lot to make it worth it. Work lets me use my personal card for travel, so between the 2 cards I'm spending $200-300k/year.

As for the "just get a cash back card", you don't get much value from that _if_ you want to use it for business class travel. A simple example: a round-trip business calss flight from here to Europe may be $7k if you buy it, or 140k points. To earn $7k on your cash back card, you need to spend let's say $350k. To earn 140k points, that would be $30k on airfare (AmEx 5x points) or maybe $100k on typical regular spending (Chase gives 3x points on restaurants).

In summary, it's a balance of how complicated you want to make your life.. the marginal benefit compared to your time to manage the "tricks".

I feel like am doing something wrong. Every time I check, the flight cost in miles is not cheaper for me than just paying cash. For example, I was recently pricing out a business class flight on united to London, cost was ~4K, but also costs 400k miles! Is there a particular airline or hotel chain where this is more feasible? Would love to make this work, but have never had much success

You need flexible points like Chase that can transfer to wherever the best deal is. We paid 10k Virgin miles per person to London (transferred from Chase.)

How do you do this logistically? Do you need to sign up to be a Virgin member so you can search for award seats? And then quickly transfer from your Chase points balance? I thought transfers from Chase could take a few days.

We do this on United— yes we are mileage plus members and we search award inventory and then transfer the points. United transfers from chase have always been instantaneous for us. You can check on the points guy’s site for more info too

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'll give my take as a frequent traveler with little spare time. I don't "churn" cards because I dont' have time for that. I have 2 cards:
AmEx Platinum
Chase Sapphire Reserve

AmEx gets all my airfare because you get 5x points. This also gives me gold status on both Hilton and Marriott hotels. Lots of free breakfasts and routine upgrades (usually outside the US).
Chase gets everything else.

Then, each partners with various airilnes so you can convert AmEx/Chase points to that airline's points, and it's diferent airlines for each. When I want a flight, I convert the points at that time.

Big caveat: the annual fee on these cards is $600-700/year. However, you get credited for various spending so actual cost is a lot lower.

But for all this, you need to spend a lot to make it worth it. Work lets me use my personal card for travel, so between the 2 cards I'm spending $200-300k/year.

As for the "just get a cash back card", you don't get much value from that _if_ you want to use it for business class travel. A simple example: a round-trip business calss flight from here to Europe may be $7k if you buy it, or 140k points. To earn $7k on your cash back card, you need to spend let's say $350k. To earn 140k points, that would be $30k on airfare (AmEx 5x points) or maybe $100k on typical regular spending (Chase gives 3x points on restaurants).

In summary, it's a balance of how complicated you want to make your life.. the marginal benefit compared to your time to manage the "tricks".

I feel like am doing something wrong. Every time I check, the flight cost in miles is not cheaper for me than just paying cash. For example, I was recently pricing out a business class flight on united to London, cost was ~4K, but also costs 400k miles! Is there a particular airline or hotel chain where this is more feasible? Would love to make this work, but have never had much success

You need flexible points like Chase that can transfer to wherever the best deal is. We paid 10k Virgin miles per person to London (transferred from Chase.)

How do you do this logistically? Do you need to sign up to be a Virgin member so you can search for award seats? And then quickly transfer from your Chase points balance? I thought transfers from Chase could take a few days.

For some airlines you need to make an account, for others you do not. Transfer times depend on the airline, but mine to Virgin have always been basically instant.

For Virgin you can go here: https://www.virginatlantic.com/reward-flight-finder and then just input your options. If they aren't in the drop down just do say LHR to IAD and hit find reward seats. Then on the next page you can edit the airport codes in the URL to see your options.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These programs are changing fast. They have so many miles and points in the system they are imposing restrictions, increasing how much you need to spend each year and devaluing points and miles. Many have done the number and are walking away from these programs.

After The New York Times asked readers how they felt about their loyalty programs, more than 100 wrote in to say they were done chasing airline status. Some of the respondents said they were considering canceling their airline credit cards, where banks team up with airlines to offer additional benefits like lounge access, and which offer more opportunities to earn status tied to spending. Many expressed disappointment at how they had spent years accruing points and miles with their chosen airlines only for them to become significantly devalued as airlines made changes to their programs.

Ms. Brantner recalled a time when she had to spend $15,000 each year with Delta to reach the top-tier status. Now the company is asking customers to spend $28,000 annually to earn Diamond status. She also learned that her American Express Delta Reserve credit card would be imposing restrictions on how many times she could use the airline’s Sky Club lounges — unless she spent at least $75,000 on her card each year.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/28/business/airline-loyalty-programs-rethinking.html

https://onemileatatime.com/news/capital-one-venture-x-lounge-access-changes/

https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2024-airline-miles-points/

Airline status has become increasingly worthless, particular in a hub city like DC. Much better offer booking business class on points if that’s what people are after.

OP here. Thanks, this is exactly what I was after. I'm more interested in upgrades than anything else, and don't care at all about lounges.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I haven’t paid for vacation flights in over 3 years. I travel for leisure with 2 kids, mostly in economy because of numbers, and have no loyalty to any one program. At present I’m working Amex, Chase, American and Alaska programs. Points are earned largely through initial bonuses and ongoing spending.

In the last 3-4 years we went to France, Turkey, UK, Morocco, Netherlands. Just came back from 2 weeks in Scandinavia, and have Austria booked for tgiving and Italy for spring break.

If you and your DH consistently open new cards 3-4 times a year, you can travel in business class 1-2 times a year easily, more if in economy. It’s a fun hobby but there is definitely a learning curve and ongoing research.

I get that this is the strategy, but I feel really uncomfortable with the idea of opening new cards "3-4 times a year." I wouldn't get in trouble with that -- I pay them off each month. But for some reason it still makes me nervous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These programs are changing fast. They have so many miles and points in the system they are imposing restrictions, increasing how much you need to spend each year and devaluing points and miles. Many have done the number and are walking away from these programs.

After The New York Times asked readers how they felt about their loyalty programs, more than 100 wrote in to say they were done chasing airline status. Some of the respondents said they were considering canceling their airline credit cards, where banks team up with airlines to offer additional benefits like lounge access, and which offer more opportunities to earn status tied to spending. Many expressed disappointment at how they had spent years accruing points and miles with their chosen airlines only for them to become significantly devalued as airlines made changes to their programs.

Ms. Brantner recalled a time when she had to spend $15,000 each year with Delta to reach the top-tier status. Now the company is asking customers to spend $28,000 annually to earn Diamond status. She also learned that her American Express Delta Reserve credit card would be imposing restrictions on how many times she could use the airline’s Sky Club lounges — unless she spent at least $75,000 on her card each year.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/28/business/airline-loyalty-programs-rethinking.html

https://onemileatatime.com/news/capital-one-venture-x-lounge-access-changes/

https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2024-airline-miles-points/

Airline status has become increasingly worthless, particular in a hub city like DC. Much better offer booking business class on points if that’s what people are after.

OP here. Thanks, this is exactly what I was after. I'm more interested in upgrades than anything else, and don't care at all about lounges.

Points aren't for upgrading, they're generally best used for just booking the flight in business to begin with.

[Anonymous]

You rarely can use points to upgrade OP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'll give my take as a frequent traveler with little spare time. I don't "churn" cards because I dont' have time for that. I have 2 cards:
AmEx Platinum
Chase Sapphire Reserve

AmEx gets all my airfare because you get 5x points. This also gives me gold status on both Hilton and Marriott hotels. Lots of free breakfasts and routine upgrades (usually outside the US).
Chase gets everything else.

Then, each partners with various airilnes so you can convert AmEx/Chase points to that airline's points, and it's diferent airlines for each. When I want a flight, I convert the points at that time.

Big caveat: the annual fee on these cards is $600-700/year. However, you get credited for various spending so actual cost is a lot lower.

But for all this, you need to spend a lot to make it worth it. Work lets me use my personal card for travel, so between the 2 cards I'm spending $200-300k/year.

As for the "just get a cash back card", you don't get much value from that _if_ you want to use it for business class travel. A simple example: a round-trip business calss flight from here to Europe may be $7k if you buy it, or 140k points. To earn $7k on your cash back card, you need to spend let's say $350k. To earn 140k points, that would be $30k on airfare (AmEx 5x points) or maybe $100k on typical regular spending (Chase gives 3x points on restaurants).

In summary, it's a balance of how complicated you want to make your life.. the marginal benefit compared to your time to manage the "tricks".

That's an expensive flight? I'm flying business class to London on BA this fall, and rt is right at 4k.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We skip the airline cards because they are not good value for us - YMMV.

We have a Marriott Bonvoy card that gives us status-credit "nights" for every $3000 in credit card spend -- plus triple Marriott points on any hotel/airline spend, double points on restaurants/dining, single points per $1 on other spend. It costs $95/yr and we get a one night free stay at a lower tier property (which makes the fee break-even for us).

We picked Marriott mostly because they have hotels everywhere. They have several different cards. Look them all over and pick the one that best fits your situation.

This is super helpful. I've often wondered why people who are making travel plans always seem to be prioritizing Marriott properties.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Llfetime status is nearly impossible with Hyatt, but much easier for a frequent traveller who has a suitable Marriott Bonvoy card. Spouse has frequent travel for work (and his travel expenses go on his Marriott card) so she bounces between Platinum and Titanium status. Main family benefits are better hotel rooms at checkin and free breakfast and hotel lounge access.

She also is approaching Million Mile status on United, which gets lifetime Gold status. Gold has free United Club or StarAlliance lounge access for family on international trips, free checked bags, and somewhat earlier boarding

We find that it does still pay to try to concentrate spend on one airline and one hotel chain. The key to success on this is for one parent to have frequent work travel.

One parent?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'll give my take as a frequent traveler with little spare time. I don't "churn" cards because I dont' have time for that. I have 2 cards:
AmEx Platinum
Chase Sapphire Reserve

AmEx gets all my airfare because you get 5x points. This also gives me gold status on both Hilton and Marriott hotels. Lots of free breakfasts and routine upgrades (usually outside the US).
Chase gets everything else.

Then, each partners with various airilnes so you can convert AmEx/Chase points to that airline's points, and it's diferent airlines for each. When I want a flight, I convert the points at that time.

Big caveat: the annual fee on these cards is $600-700/year. However, you get credited for various spending so actual cost is a lot lower.

But for all this, you need to spend a lot to make it worth it. Work lets me use my personal card for travel, so between the 2 cards I'm spending $200-300k/year.

As for the "just get a cash back card", you don't get much value from that _if_ you want to use it for business class travel. A simple example: a round-trip business calss flight from here to Europe may be $7k if you buy it, or 140k points. To earn $7k on your cash back card, you need to spend let's say $350k. To earn 140k points, that would be $30k on airfare (AmEx 5x points) or maybe $100k on typical regular spending (Chase gives 3x points on restaurants).

In summary, it's a balance of how complicated you want to make your life.. the marginal benefit compared to your time to manage the "tricks".

I feel like am doing something wrong. Every time I check, the flight cost in miles is not cheaper for me than just paying cash. For example, I was recently pricing out a business class flight on united to London, cost was ~4K, but also costs 400k miles! Is there a particular airline or hotel chain where this is more feasible? Would love to make this work, but have never had much success

I have definitely found that it NEVER makes sense to use United or BA points to fly economy to the UK possibly mainly as the cash fees are so high. Don’t know about business class though.

The UK speicifically has huge taxes on flights. Use points for flights to other places.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'll give my take as a frequent traveler with little spare time. I don't "churn" cards because I dont' have time for that. I have 2 cards:
AmEx Platinum
Chase Sapphire Reserve

AmEx gets all my airfare because you get 5x points. This also gives me gold status on both Hilton and Marriott hotels. Lots of free breakfasts and routine upgrades (usually outside the US).
Chase gets everything else.

Then, each partners with various airilnes so you can convert AmEx/Chase points to that airline's points, and it's diferent airlines for each. When I want a flight, I convert the points at that time.

Big caveat: the annual fee on these cards is $600-700/year. However, you get credited for various spending so actual cost is a lot lower.

But for all this, you need to spend a lot to make it worth it. Work lets me use my personal card for travel, so between the 2 cards I'm spending $200-300k/year.

As for the "just get a cash back card", you don't get much value from that _if_ you want to use it for business class travel. A simple example: a round-trip business calss flight from here to Europe may be $7k if you buy it, or 140k points. To earn $7k on your cash back card, you need to spend let's say $350k. To earn 140k points, that would be $30k on airfare (AmEx 5x points) or maybe $100k on typical regular spending (Chase gives 3x points on restaurants).

In summary, it's a balance of how complicated you want to make your life.. the marginal benefit compared to your time to manage the "tricks".

I feel like am doing something wrong. Every time I check, the flight cost in miles is not cheaper for me than just paying cash. For example, I was recently pricing out a business class flight on united to London, cost was ~4K, but also costs 400k miles! Is there a particular airline or hotel chain where this is more feasible? Would love to make this work, but have never had much success

I have definitely found that it NEVER makes sense to use United or BA points to fly economy to the UK possibly mainly as the cash fees are so high. Don’t know about business class though.

The UK speicifically has huge taxes on flights. Use points for flights to other places.

Departure tax. You can fly into London. Just fly out of somewhere else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I haven’t paid for vacation flights in over 3 years. I travel for leisure with 2 kids, mostly in economy because of numbers, and have no loyalty to any one program. At present I’m working Amex, Chase, American and Alaska programs. Points are earned largely through initial bonuses and ongoing spending.

In the last 3-4 years we went to France, Turkey, UK, Morocco, Netherlands. Just came back from 2 weeks in Scandinavia, and have Austria booked for tgiving and Italy for spring break.

If you and your DH consistently open new cards 3-4 times a year, you can travel in business class 1-2 times a year easily, more if in economy. It’s a fun hobby but there is definitely a learning curve and ongoing research.

I get that this is the strategy, but I feel really uncomfortable with the idea of opening new cards "3-4 times a year." I wouldn't get in trouble with that -- I pay them off each month. But for some reason it still makes me nervous.

PP, you don’t keep using them. You spend what you need to get your bonus, and into the sock drawer it goes. Move on to the next. Rinse and repeat. Effectively you’re only using one card at a time. This is my record so far this year:

Barclays Aviator: 60k with American Airlines. Annual fee plus one charge.

Advantage City Business: 65k miles with 4,000 spend. Done.

Hawaiian with Barclays: 70k miles with 2,000 spend. Done.

I’m biding my time till end of July to get a chase sapphire .

Next year I will probably get a couple of amexes, a chase ink and possibly a hotel card.

I keep them all for a couple of years except my amexes and a sapphire.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'll give my take as a frequent traveler with little spare time. I don't "churn" cards because I dont' have time for that. I have 2 cards:
AmEx Platinum
Chase Sapphire Reserve

AmEx gets all my airfare because you get 5x points. This also gives me gold status on both Hilton and Marriott hotels. Lots of free breakfasts and routine upgrades (usually outside the US).
Chase gets everything else.

Then, each partners with various airilnes so you can convert AmEx/Chase points to that airline's points, and it's diferent airlines for each. When I want a flight, I convert the points at that time.

Big caveat: the annual fee on these cards is $600-700/year. However, you get credited for various spending so actual cost is a lot lower.

But for all this, you need to spend a lot to make it worth it. Work lets me use my personal card for travel, so between the 2 cards I'm spending $200-300k/year.

As for the "just get a cash back card", you don't get much value from that _if_ you want to use it for business class travel. A simple example: a round-trip business calss flight from here to Europe may be $7k if you buy it, or 140k points. To earn $7k on your cash back card, you need to spend let's say $350k. To earn 140k points, that would be $30k on airfare (AmEx 5x points) or maybe $100k on typical regular spending (Chase gives 3x points on restaurants).

In summary, it's a balance of how complicated you want to make your life.. the marginal benefit compared to your time to manage the "tricks".

That's an expensive flight? I'm flying business class to London on BA this fall, and rt is right at 4k.

London is a very competitive market from Washington (BA, United, and Virgin fly it.. there's even a flight from BWI!) so you'll get good pricing just paying outright, and the fall is shoulder season = low demand so prices are great. I'd save points for a summer trip in that case, but you need to plan pretty far out to get availability.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Beginner level here. I have liked the simplicity of the Chase Sapphire credit card. We put virtually all our expenses on it, and often use their travel portal, which allows you to earn more points just got booking through them. We haven’t scored free trips yet… my husband skeptical of the opening new credit cards thing, but as others have said, I think that’s really the way to do it so you get the sign on bonus.

We have traveled a ton on this card. It’s really easy. We haven’t transferred any points because we seem to reschedule travel fairly often so I don’t want to risk losing the points.

The one thing I don’t like is that they use Expedia to book the travel, which the hotels seem to mention when you check in. We have had bad experiences previously and avoid Expedia but are now using them again now. We haven’t had any issues but I imagine if we had an issue, we would need to deal with someone who works at Expedia and not Chase Sapphire.