credit card points travel/miles/airline and hotel rewards

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I use chase sapphire but I don’t have the energy to make a full time job of it. Honestly I should have just got cash back. I normally end up using the travel portal so the value isn’t great.

Same here. The Edit thing is killing me though. I used it once, and it was nice, but the extra fee is normally not worth it.

Yeah the Sapphire Reserve really not worth the fee anymore for most people- downgraded to the Sapphire Preferred a year ago, very happy. $95 annual fee with excellent travel insurance is worth it, plus $50 annual hotel credit, and $10 off through Doordash each month at grocery stores (just do pickup at Wawa).

Jumping through the hoops of the new restaurant and luxury hotel credits on the Reserve just not worth it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I use chase sapphire but I don’t have the energy to make a full time job of it. Honestly I should have just got cash back. I normally end up using the travel portal so the value isn’t great.

Same here. The Edit thing is killing me though. I used it once, and it was nice, but the extra fee is normally not worth it.

Yeah the Sapphire Reserve really not worth the fee anymore for most people- downgraded to the Sapphire Preferred a year ago, very happy. $95 annual fee with excellent travel insurance is worth it, plus $50 annual hotel credit, and $10 off through Doordash each month at grocery stores (just do pickup at Wawa).

Jumping through the hoops of the new restaurant and luxury hotel credits on the Reserve just not worth it.

The great couponification of cards has been terrible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have an United Credit Card. We live by a United hub as does my DD. We always fly United and run all of our purchases through the United credit card. It adds up and works for us!

The problem is a lot of times United is more expensive vs other carriers. Looking at the total cost vs benefits it is not worth it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have an United Credit Card. We live by a United hub as does my DD. We always fly United and run all of our purchases through the United credit card. It adds up and works for us!

The problem is a lot of times United is more expensive vs other carriers. Looking at the total cost vs benefits it is not worth it.

Whichever answer is best for one person will not be the best for everyone.

[Anonymous]

We fly United even if it costs more to keep status, use Club, know the ropes. It is now better to buy tickets outright with points rather than try to upgrade. More flexibility too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, the points/miles travel hacking stopped being worthwhile a decade ago once most airlines and hotel chains largely moved from award charts to dynamic pricing.

It's still possible to accumulate lots of points and miles but redeeming them efficiently is way harder now. Better to get cash back and pay for the seats/upgrades that you want.

It is demonstrably better to pay for seats with points than with cashback.

Not apples to apples because the inventory of saver award seats is way smaller than revenue tickets. Also, if you have status, there usually the opportunity cost of the qualifying point you would’ve gained from booking with cash or credit card points cashback.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, the points/miles travel hacking stopped being worthwhile a decade ago once most airlines and hotel chains largely moved from award charts to dynamic pricing.

It's still possible to accumulate lots of points and miles but redeeming them efficiently is way harder now. Better to get cash back and pay for the seats/upgrades that you want.

It is demonstrably better to pay for seats with points than with cashback.

Not consistently. It depends on the airline and traveler profile including preferences like fare class and direct vs indirect flight, as well as flexibility regarding destination, timing, and need for cancellability.

I can travel to London on direct flights 1-15 Aug for $995 for basic economy or 102,000 mileage points plus $216. Terrible value for the points although the award fare is cancellable whereas basic economy is not.

Even if I book further out now for 1-15 May 2026, a basic economy fare is $689, economy is $889 and fully refundable is $1,089. The same award fare is 76,700 + $232 taxes. If I don’t need the flexibility then it makes far more sense to buy basic economy or economy. Even paying for fully refundable economy probably makes more sense than using points.

If I’m prepared to travel somewhere other than London then the calculation changes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, the points/miles travel hacking stopped being worthwhile a decade ago once most airlines and hotel chains largely moved from award charts to dynamic pricing.

It's still possible to accumulate lots of points and miles but redeeming them efficiently is way harder now. Better to get cash back and pay for the seats/upgrades that you want.

It is demonstrably better to pay for seats with points than with cashback.

Not consistently. It depends on the airline and traveler profile including preferences like fare class and direct vs indirect flight, as well as flexibility regarding destination, timing, and need for cancellability.

I can travel to London on direct flights 1-15 Aug for $995 for basic economy or 102,000 mileage points plus $216. Terrible value for the points although the award fare is cancellable whereas basic economy is not.

Even if I book further out now for 1-15 May 2026, a basic economy fare is $689, economy is $889 and fully refundable is $1,089. The same award fare is 76,700 + $232 taxes. If I don’t need the flexibility then it makes far more sense to buy basic economy or economy. Even paying for fully refundable economy probably makes more sense than using points.

If I’m prepared to travel somewhere other than London then the calculation changes.

Right, it really depends, on a lot of factors. Knowing those factors, and how to use transferable points and bonuses and such, is where you get real value, but also takes real time and effort to learn how it all works.

You can go on Virgin in August for as low as 24k+$435 in economy, for instance. Or on BA at some times for similar points cost with an Amex transfer bonus.

That's why most people really in the game keep their points in Amex or Chase,who have a lot of transfer partners and give you the most flexibility. Then you book each ticket (even each direction) as its own flight, assessing the best options. On our last trips to Europe we flew Virgin out, United back, and then American out, Air France back, and then American out, United back.

The Virgin flight was booked with Air France miles (much lower cash fees, and had a big Amex transfer bonus), and one of the United flights was booked through Air Canada (had a huge stash of Amex points, and United isn't an Amex partner, but Air Canada is).

Just an example of how folks maximize, and the complexity it can take on. It's kind of fun once you figure it out, but it definitely has a big learning curve

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, the points/miles travel hacking stopped being worthwhile a decade ago once most airlines and hotel chains largely moved from award charts to dynamic pricing.

It's still possible to accumulate lots of points and miles but redeeming them efficiently is way harder now. Better to get cash back and pay for the seats/upgrades that you want.

It is demonstrably better to pay for seats with points than with cashback.

Not consistently. It depends on the airline and traveler profile including preferences like fare class and direct vs indirect flight, as well as flexibility regarding destination, timing, and need for cancellability.

I can travel to London on direct flights 1-15 Aug for $995 for basic economy or 102,000 mileage points plus $216. Terrible value for the points although the award fare is cancellable whereas basic economy is not.

Even if I book further out now for 1-15 May 2026, a basic economy fare is $689, economy is $889 and fully refundable is $1,089. The same award fare is 76,700 + $232 taxes. If I don’t need the flexibility then it makes far more sense to buy basic economy or economy. Even paying for fully refundable economy probably makes more sense than using points.

If I’m prepared to travel somewhere other than London then the calculation changes.

Right, it really depends, on a lot of factors. Knowing those factors, and how to use transferable points and bonuses and such, is where you get real value, but also takes real time and effort to learn how it all works.

You can go on Virgin in August for as low as 24k+$435 in economy, for instance. Or on BA at some times for similar points cost with an Amex transfer bonus.

That's why most people really in the game keep their points in Amex or Chase,who have a lot of transfer partners and give you the most flexibility. Then you book each ticket (even each direction) as its own flight, assessing the best options. On our last trips to Europe we flew Virgin out, United back, and then American out, Air France back, and then American out, United back.

The Virgin flight was booked with Air France miles (much lower cash fees, and had a big Amex transfer bonus), and one of the United flights was booked through Air Canada (had a huge stash of Amex points, and United isn't an Amex partner, but Air Canada is).

Just an example of how folks maximize, and the complexity it can take on. It's kind of fun once you figure it out, but it definitely has a big learning curve

How did you manage to synchronise all the transfers and bookings? Did you have accounts with Air Canada, Air France, Virgin and American that you checked to identify all the flights? Did you then transfer all the points to each airline and were you lucky that there were transfer bonuses at the time that you wanted to book? I would love to understand the steps if you’re happy to share.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, the points/miles travel hacking stopped being worthwhile a decade ago once most airlines and hotel chains largely moved from award charts to dynamic pricing.

It's still possible to accumulate lots of points and miles but redeeming them efficiently is way harder now. Better to get cash back and pay for the seats/upgrades that you want.

It is demonstrably better to pay for seats with points than with cashback.

Not consistently. It depends on the airline and traveler profile including preferences like fare class and direct vs indirect flight, as well as flexibility regarding destination, timing, and need for cancellability.

I can travel to London on direct flights 1-15 Aug for $995 for basic economy or 102,000 mileage points plus $216. Terrible value for the points although the award fare is cancellable whereas basic economy is not.

Even if I book further out now for 1-15 May 2026, a basic economy fare is $689, economy is $889 and fully refundable is $1,089. The same award fare is 76,700 + $232 taxes. If I don’t need the flexibility then it makes far more sense to buy basic economy or economy. Even paying for fully refundable economy probably makes more sense than using points.

If I’m prepared to travel somewhere other than London then the calculation changes.

Right, it really depends, on a lot of factors. Knowing those factors, and how to use transferable points and bonuses and such, is where you get real value, but also takes real time and effort to learn how it all works.

You can go on Virgin in August for as low as 24k+$435 in economy, for instance. Or on BA at some times for similar points cost with an Amex transfer bonus.

That's why most people really in the game keep their points in Amex or Chase,who have a lot of transfer partners and give you the most flexibility. Then you book each ticket (even each direction) as its own flight, assessing the best options. On our last trips to Europe we flew Virgin out, United back, and then American out, Air France back, and then American out, United back.

The Virgin flight was booked with Air France miles (much lower cash fees, and had a big Amex transfer bonus), and one of the United flights was booked through Air Canada (had a huge stash of Amex points, and United isn't an Amex partner, but Air Canada is).

Just an example of how folks maximize, and the complexity it can take on. It's kind of fun once you figure it out, but it definitely has a big learning curve

How did you manage to synchronise all the transfers and bookings? Did you have accounts with Air Canada, Air France, Virgin and American that you checked to identify all the flights? Did you then transfer all the points to each airline and were you lucky that there were transfer bonuses at the time that you wanted to book? I would love to understand the steps if you’re happy to share.

These were different trips. So take one a while back- Virgin outbound (booked with Air France miles), United back. In that case,yes have accounts with all 3 airlines, but only have any substantive miles at United, and even then only maybe 50k.

So, found the Virgin outbound flight, everything looked good, but the fees were $600/person one way (they have since lowered them). Then checked Air France, since I know they are a partner. See the same flights available through Air France, it's 10k more points per person, but only $200/person in fees instead of $600. So that's an easy one. Then when I went to Amex to transfer the points to Air France (you only transfer right before you book, when you confirm flights are available), yeah I got lucky and they had a 25% bonus for transfers to Air France, so I needed even fewer Amex points.

Then for the return, really wanted United because it was a route that only United flies nonstop to Dulles. Had economy availability and transferred a few points from Chase to United to book 2 tickets. But I didn't have many Chase points and a lot of Amex, so then I confirmed the United flight was available through Air Canada, and transferred enough points from Amex to Air Canada to book the other 2 tickets.

But yes in general, have frequent flyer accounts at all the major airlines - but most of the time have little or no miles on them. It takes 2 minutes to sign up and then link to your Chase or Amex account, and just have a password manager to handle that part. Then when ready to book, only transfer the miles needed for that booking. That's because it's a one way only transfer- you can't send anything back to Chase or Amex. So once you transfer, you lose the flexibility of the Amex or Chase points. So only transfer what you need, and only after confirming availability for what you want to book.

[Anonymous]

I have learned a lot from the points guy and his social media and book. Recommend following him!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, the points/miles travel hacking stopped being worthwhile a decade ago once most airlines and hotel chains largely moved from award charts to dynamic pricing.

It's still possible to accumulate lots of points and miles but redeeming them efficiently is way harder now. Better to get cash back and pay for the seats/upgrades that you want.

It is demonstrably better to pay for seats with points than with cashback.

Not apples to apples because the inventory of saver award seats is way smaller than revenue tickets. Also, if you have status, there usually the opportunity cost of the qualifying point you would’ve gained from booking with cash or credit card points cashback.

Points do not limit you to one airline where you have status. No one airline serves all destinations equally well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, the points/miles travel hacking stopped being worthwhile a decade ago once most airlines and hotel chains largely moved from award charts to dynamic pricing.

It's still possible to accumulate lots of points and miles but redeeming them efficiently is way harder now. Better to get cash back and pay for the seats/upgrades that you want.

Thanks for setting this out. Very useful.

It is demonstrably better to pay for seats with points than with cashback.

Not consistently. It depends on the airline and traveler profile including preferences like fare class and direct vs indirect flight, as well as flexibility regarding destination, timing, and need for cancellability.

I can travel to London on direct flights 1-15 Aug for $995 for basic economy or 102,000 mileage points plus $216. Terrible value for the points although the award fare is cancellable whereas basic economy is not.

Even if I book further out now for 1-15 May 2026, a basic economy fare is $689, economy is $889 and fully refundable is $1,089. The same award fare is 76,700 + $232 taxes. If I don’t need the flexibility then it makes far more sense to buy basic economy or economy. Even paying for fully refundable economy probably makes more sense than using points.

If I’m prepared to travel somewhere other than London then the calculation changes.

Right, it really depends, on a lot of factors. Knowing those factors, and how to use transferable points and bonuses and such, is where you get real value, but also takes real time and effort to learn how it all works.

You can go on Virgin in August for as low as 24k+$435 in economy, for instance. Or on BA at some times for similar points cost with an Amex transfer bonus.

That's why most people really in the game keep their points in Amex or Chase,who have a lot of transfer partners and give you the most flexibility. Then you book each ticket (even each direction) as its own flight, assessing the best options. On our last trips to Europe we flew Virgin out, United back, and then American out, Air France back, and then American out, United back.

The Virgin flight was booked with Air France miles (much lower cash fees, and had a big Amex transfer bonus), and one of the United flights was booked through Air Canada (had a huge stash of Amex points, and United isn't an Amex partner, but Air Canada is).

Just an example of how folks maximize, and the complexity it can take on. It's kind of fun once you figure it out, but it definitely has a big learning curve

How did you manage to synchronise all the transfers and bookings? Did you have accounts with Air Canada, Air France, Virgin and American that you checked to identify all the flights? Did you then transfer all the points to each airline and were you lucky that there were transfer bonuses at the time that you wanted to book? I would love to understand the steps if you’re happy to share.

These were different trips. So take one a while back- Virgin outbound (booked with Air France miles), United back. In that case,yes have accounts with all 3 airlines, but only have any substantive miles at United, and even then only maybe 50k.

So, found the Virgin outbound flight, everything looked good, but the fees were $600/person one way (they have since lowered them). Then checked Air France, since I know they are a partner. See the same flights available through Air France, it's 10k more points per person, but only $200/person in fees instead of $600. So that's an easy one. Then when I went to Amex to transfer the points to Air France (you only transfer right before you book, when you confirm flights are available), yeah I got lucky and they had a 25% bonus for transfers to Air France, so I needed even fewer Amex points.

Then for the return, really wanted United because it was a route that only United flies nonstop to Dulles. Had economy availability and transferred a few points from Chase to United to book 2 tickets. But I didn't have many Chase points and a lot of Amex, so then I confirmed the United flight was available through Air Canada, and transferred enough points from Amex to Air Canada to book the other 2 tickets.

But yes in general, have frequent flyer accounts at all the major airlines - but most of the time have little or no miles on them. It takes 2 minutes to sign up and then link to your Chase or Amex account, and just have a password manager to handle that part. Then when ready to book, only transfer the miles needed for that booking. That's because it's a one way only transfer- you can't send anything back to Chase or Amex. So once you transfer, you lose the flexibility of the Amex or Chase points. So only transfer what you need, and only after confirming availability for what you want to book.

[Anonymous]

New poster here. We don't travel option, but we are planning a bigger international trip for our family of four next summer, and we hope to travel more in the future. We have a Chase card and a Bonvoy card. Is there another card we should open to help us with flights or hotels? We have great credit and always pay off our cards. We don't care about traveling first class, just getting the cost of our travel covered with points as much as possible. Advice?

[Anonymous]

You aren't getting enough points in a year to do much.