Credit card points are useless if you have kids

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hey folks I got a chase card last year when a friend sent me a link. I now have 200k points. Is it considered a lot? I will ask ChatGPT what I can do with these points. But I would love to hear from real people who have used these points. I have a son and he is 14. I would love to take him to a trip. As of now I haven't decided where. But my goal will be to maximize these points.

I have $500 saved and I understand my 200k is worth $2000. So essentially a 6 days trip costing $2000 is what we can afford.

The best use is to transfer to airline and hotel partners to spend directly on their rewards platforms.

KLM/Air France is known for having pretty good transfer bonuses with Chase, if you want to take a trip to Europe.

Hyatt is the best hotel transfer partner with Chase. I can often get nights in NYC for 15K-25K points per night.

[Anonymous]

High end Hyatts are among the best redemptions. Not uncommon for 35k points ($350 if taken as cash back) to get you a night at a $1k++/night hotel. So 2.5-3x the value of cash back. Of course this only helps if you actually want to stay at a fancy Hyatt.

[Anonymous]

You are looking last minute? LOLOLOL

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:High end Hyatts are among the best redemptions. Not uncommon for 35k points ($350 if taken as cash back) to get you a night at a $1k++/night hotel. So 2.5-3x the value of cash back. Of course this only helps if you actually want to stay at a fancy Hyatt.

The issue with these hotels though is dining. They are often not near affordable restaurants and dining/breakfast on site really expensive and then you have tips.

I feel like they life you in to spend on dining.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You are looking last minute? LOLOLOL

Last minute can actually be a great time to look, dipshit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You are looking last minute? LOLOLOL

Last minute can actually be a great time to look, dipshit.

Almost never for busy holiday weekends/weeks to popular spots.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You are looking last minute? LOLOLOL

Last minute can actually be a great time to look, dipshit.

Almost never for busy holiday weekends/weeks to popular spots.

Depends on your level of flexibility. I’ve had tons of luck here the years getting T-14 seats. Only way I got to fly Lufthansa F.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You could spend hours with the neurodivergent folk on FlyerTalk and figure it all out, if your time is worth nothing to you.

Ha, some significant truth there. That's why many people refer to it as a hobby or game.

That was my point way earlier in this thread - I'm sure there are some one off amazing deals, but airline miles have absolutely been devalued several times. It's been about 15 years since I was a United 1k flyer and even then it wasn't great, but there were far more options. If you want to game the system for a business class ticket somewhere you might make it out ahead of a standard 1-5% CC with bonuses. Otherwise, that ship has sailed a while ago.

Most people who do well aren't necessarily getting the absolute best awards- what they are really doing is working massive credit card bonuses to get 100-200k points in bonuses every few months by churning through new cards. If you have a stash of a few million total Amex and Chase points that you can transfer to a range of airlines, and thus you care a bit less if you have to pay say 200k points for a roundtrip in business instead of 150k.

If you understandably want to stick with just one or two credit cards you use in an ongoing way, yes agreed a simple cash back setup is probably going to be better for most people.

This. This is what everyone in this thread is missing. It's not about saving up your points/miles through your spend for years and years. If that's how you're doing this, you're better off with a cash back card. It's about churning through signup bonuses.