credit card points travel/miles/airline and hotel rewards

[Anonymous]

Card travel portals are a very very bad deal. Always book directly with the airline.

[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.

Yes you need member accounts with all airlines you plan to fly, and they need to be linked to your Chase account in the system. Names need to match exactly. WHen ready to book, you transfer points and book. Transfers are near immediate in my experience. Wait for a bonus transfer period if you can.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I get the concept of throwing them into a drawer and not using them. But this is still going to effect your ability to get other credit if you need to (mortgage, car loan, etc).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I loathe Expedia.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I get the concept of throwing them into a drawer and not using them. But this is still going to effect your ability to get other credit if you need to (mortgage, car loan, etc).

Hasn’t been the case with me but I’m pretty diligent about closing them after 2 years. But I get that it’s important to stay with your personal comfort level.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I get the concept of throwing them into a drawer and not using them. But this is still going to effect your ability to get other credit if you need to (mortgage, car loan, etc).

DP here and this is a total urban myth. I’ve opened 3-4 cards a year for 2.5 years now and my credit score is 850. It was around 800 when I started.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I get the concept of throwing them into a drawer and not using them. But this is still going to effect your ability to get other credit if you need to (mortgage, car loan, etc).

DP here and this is a total urban myth. I’ve opened 3-4 cards a year for 2.5 years now and my credit score is 850. It was around 800 when I started.

Same here and I took out 2 helocs in the meantime with no trouble.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I get the concept of throwing them into a drawer and not using them. But this is still going to effect your ability to get other credit if you need to (mortgage, car loan, etc).

DP here and this is a total urban myth. I’ve opened 3-4 cards a year for 2.5 years now and my credit score is 850. It was around 800 when I started.

Yes it's a misunderstanding/caution repeated by people who don't have a complete understanding of how credit scores work.

https://onemileatatime.com/guides/applying-credit-cards-hurt-credit-score/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
A big added bonus of using United miles for us is you can book open jaw flights with a free connection between arrival and departure points (eg we flew to Brisbane Australia and flew out of Sydney with a free flight in between). And you can book flights on miles and cancel for free (great when there is uncertainty over travel plans).

United is ending this next month.

Which? Open jaw?

No the Excursionist Perk which allowed you to add that free (although pay taxes) separate flight in between cities of an open jaw.

https://upgradedpoints.com/news/united-ends-excursionist-perk-devaluation/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I get the concept of throwing them into a drawer and not using them. But this is still going to effect your ability to get other credit if you need to (mortgage, car loan, etc).

Hasn’t been the case with me but I’m pretty diligent about closing them after 2 years. But I get that it’s important to stay with your personal comfort level.

2 years? Most people in the game close after a year to avoid another annual fee.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You rarely can use points to upgrade OP.

Low enough odds on intercontinental flights (unless you are high level elite and use the upgrade points like United PlusPoints) that it's not worth even pursuing upgrades with miles. Waste of time and effort.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I get the concept of throwing them into a drawer and not using them. But this is still going to effect your ability to get other credit if you need to (mortgage, car loan, etc).

Hasn’t been the case with me but I’m pretty diligent about closing them after 2 years. But I get that it’s important to stay with your personal comfort level.

2 years? Most people in the game close after a year to avoid another annual fee.

Yes but I see the banks are getting stricter with what they perceive as churning so I err on the side of caution.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I get the concept of throwing them into a drawer and not using them. But this is still going to effect your ability to get other credit if you need to (mortgage, car loan, etc).

Hasn’t been the case with me but I’m pretty diligent about closing them after 2 years. But I get that it’s important to stay with your personal comfort level.

2 years? Most people in the game close after a year to avoid another annual fee.

Yes but I see the banks are getting stricter with what they perceive as churning so I err on the side of caution.

Seems overly cautious, but if it works for you, great

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
A big added bonus of using United miles for us is you can book open jaw flights with a free connection between arrival and departure points (eg we flew to Brisbane Australia and flew out of Sydney with a free flight in between). And you can book flights on miles and cancel for free (great when there is uncertainty over travel plans).

United is ending this next month.

Which? Open jaw?

No the Excursionist Perk which allowed you to add that free (although pay taxes) separate flight in between cities of an open jaw.

https://upgradedpoints.com/news/united-ends-excursionist-perk-devaluation/

Bummer!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I get the concept of throwing them into a drawer and not using them. But this is still going to effect your ability to get other credit if you need to (mortgage, car loan, etc).

Hasn’t been the case with me but I’m pretty diligent about closing them after 2 years. But I get that it’s important to stay with your personal comfort level.

2 years? Most people in the game close after a year to avoid another annual fee.

Yes but I see the banks are getting stricter with what they perceive as churning so I err on the side of caution.

Seems overly cautious, but if it works for you, great

Age of credit matters too so it’s good to keep a few cards open long term.