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I’M NOT SOMEONE WHO enjoys spending money on luxury travel. I’d never pay cash for a business class airline ticket or a hotel suite. Nonetheless, on a recent trip to Spain with my husband, we flew business class and had suites in all four hotels we stayed at.
We also visited lounges in every airport before our flights, had access to executive lounges at two hotels where we could get free meals, snacks and cocktails, and indulged in lavish breakfast buffets at the other two. We paid for none of these extra amenities, but we certainly enjoyed them.
We managed this through a judicious deployment of points, miles and hotel status. I paid for the business class airline tickets with points earned through American Express and Chase credit cards. I’m a Titanium Elite member with Marriott, which got us complementary suite upgrades at three hotels, and my Diamond status with Hilton procured us the suite at the fourth hotel. The other perks at the hotels also came from my status with those brands, and access to airline lounges came automatically with our business class tickets.
In addition to all of those luxuries, we were able to use the TSA Precheck and CLEAR lanes when we departed from San Francisco, and the Global Entry lane when we returned, so we cleared U.S. immigration quickly. Our membership in all of these programs was paid for by holding specific travel credit cards. We also have access to American Express and Priority Pass lounges at airports around the world because of the credit cards we have.
You might have noticed that I’ve mentioned a variety of different credit cards, and you might be wondering how I earned all those points and miles. Well, at the risk of horrifying HumbleDollar writers and readers who have as few credit cards as possible, I’ll confess to having many. No, I don’t have as many cards as some travel writers, such as the staff of The Points Guy. But I currently have 13.
My cards are a carefully curated combination of co-branded airline and hotel cards, as well as cards which earn “flexible currency,” meaning Ultimate Rewards (UR) points from Chase and Membership Rewards (MR) points from Amex. Among points-and-miles adherents, these latter cards are considered the most valuable because they can be used in different ways depending on your travel goals.
You can purchase travel directly from the Chase or Amex travel portals, using points or money, and thereby earning yet more points. Alternatively, UR and MR points can be transferred to airline and hotel partners, and they can also be put toward rental cars and other uses. For example, for our flight home from Spain, I transferred UR points to my United Airlines account and then used those miles to buy our tickets.
As for earning points or miles, there are several ways to do so. First, you can earn sign-up bonuses when obtaining these various cards. That’s the quickest and easiest way to fatten up your points or miles account. Second, you can earn points or miles by actually traveling—staying at a Marriott and earning Bonvoy points, flying on Alaska Airlines or a partner airline and earning Alaska Airlines miles, and so forth.
Third, you can put as much of your day-to-day spending as possible on various credit cards to earn points and miles—things such as utility and cable bills, insurance premiums, and supermarket, pharmacy and gas station purchases. Finally, you can earn points by shopping online with partner merchants. When we were furnishing our new condo in 2019, I earned 75,000 extra Ultimate Rewards points by not only using a Chase card that earns UR points, but also by purchasing from merchants such as Pottery Barn while logged into the UR portal.
When I was younger, I used to listen to a personal finance radio show hosted by Larry Burkett, who strenuously preached that credit cards were bad, that you should only have one of them if you really had to, and that if you ever had a month where you couldn’t pay off your card in full, you should cut up the card and never get another one.
It took me a long time to question the idea that credit card usage was inherently bad. But finally, I did some reading and thinking for myself. I was surprised to learn, for example, that having more than a few credit cards doesn’t necessarily harm your credit score and, indeed, can boost it. But you have to know what you’re doing and be able to keep track of payments, rewards and rules for usage.
The key to responsible credit card ownership for me includes the following three principles:
1. Always pay off any credit card you use in full every month. Whatever benefit you might earn from getting credit card points will be negated if you’re paying interest on card balances.
2. Only get a new credit card if you have a specific travel-related goal for obtaining it. Every one of my 13 cards is in my wallet or sock drawer for a reason. Other people may not care about travel rewards and instead focus on cash-back cards, but it’s the same principle.
3. Only keep a credit card with an annual fee if you can justify it by recouping perks that are worth even more. My most expensive card is my Amex Platinum, which costs a hefty $695 per year, plus an additional charge for authorized users. But there’s a long list of benefits that I use, and they add up to well over $1,000 a year. These include CLEAR membership for my husband and me, TSA Precheck and Global Entry fee reimbursement, airline and hotel credits, Uber credits, and digital streaming credits.
Lest you judge my champagne tastes too harshly, I’ll end this piece by telling you about the next trip we’re taking—another trip without a champagne price tag. It’s a five-day jaunt to Chicago over this coming Labor Day weekend. We’re flying Southwest from Sacramento to Chicago Midway (Southwest points for my husband’s ticket, companion pass for me). We’ll be staying at the Chicago Ritz Carlton (four free nights thanks to our Marriott Bonvoy credit cards and from earning status, plus some Marriott points for the fifth night).
We’re attending two games at Wrigley Field to see our San Francisco Giants play the Cubs—one game in a luxury suite and the other in club box seats right behind the first base dugout—both paid for with Marriott points via their “Bonvoy Moments” program. No, flying Southwest isn’t exactly luxury travel and, no, we won’t get a suite upgrade at the hotel. But we’re taking a very nice trip for relatively little outlay.
Travel is an important goal for us as we near retirement. We’re not “too fancy” to fly economy. But as we get older, being able to fly business class on a lengthy international trip, have extra space in a hotel suite, access airport and hotel lounges without paying extra, and get through airport security more easily, all combine to make travel more pleasurable and manageable.
Dana Ferris and her husband live in Davis, California. She’s a professor in the writing program at the University of California, Davis, and is the author or co-author of nine books on teaching writing and reading to second language learners. Dana is a huge baseball fan and writes a weekly column for a San Francisco Giants fan blog under the nom de plume DrLefty. When not working, she also loves cooking, traveling and working out. Follow Dana on Twitter @LeftyDana and check out her earlier articles.
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Thanks for sharing Dana. I used to have only one CC but now have 3: Costco Citi, Wells Fargo (our primary bank) and Amex for its 6% reward for food. It is easy to use these and they are rewarding. I started using CCs instead of debit in the pandemic.
I was curious how you were able to accumulate so many points?
I had to work at it because I don’t own a business or travel extensively for work, both of which are the quickest ways to run up a lot of points. I earn points through a combination of everyday spending put on rewards credit cards, sign-up bonuses for new cards, and travel itself. Also, once you have status and/or a co-branded card, you get points multipliers when you spend money. For example, every time I stay at a Marriott property, I earn the following:
–10 points for every dollar spent just for being a member and staying there
–a 75% points bonus on top of that because I have Titanium Elite status
–6 points for every dollar spent if I use a co-branded Marriott credit card to pay the bill.
I have similar multipliers with my Hilton status and credit card. As you can see, it can add up quickly.
This was too much detail for the article, but I also get free night certificates every year on my card anniversary for my Marriott cards (I have a personal card and a business card) and get an extra free night award once I requalify for Titanium status. I get a free night award on my Hilton card every year, too. Our trip to Chicago this weekend is being covered by four free night certificates and some points for the fifth night.
Thanks for sharing. I am impressed! I like the cash back with Costco Citi visa card. Then every couple years, I will get new cards from Hilton to get its promotional point offer for hotel stays.
By the way, I was just at the Philie’s game about one week ago when SF Giants visited.
Dana Ferris, Wow! I’m impressed. It seems like the more you spend the more points you get!
The key is to make sure the money you were going to spend anyway turns into points, not just to spend more. Otherwise just buy what you want and don’t waste time playing the game.
Great article Dana,good to see the amount of comments you’ve received.As a long time reader of HD I’ve always been surprised that this topic has not been covered more due to the frugal nature of most people on her.
I’ve been lucky enough to be doing this for a long time, and though I’ve never had a business or traveled for work I was able to accumulate more miles than I ever thought possible. After the Great Recession it was so easy to accumulate points and miles. We used to do App-oramas. We would APPly for 13 credit cards in a day and then once approved we would use manufactured spending to meet all the minimum spending requirements that were due in 90 days.
This article brought back great memories of how easy it used to be to do this, but while it is more challenging now, it is still extremely rewarding, just a lot more reading on staying up to date with everything
Glad to hear it has been rewarding and enjoyable for for you. This hobby is not for everyone, but if you have the patience and time to do it, keep at it!
Just remember YMMV!
Thanks for the kind words, and I’m glad to meet someone else who enjoys this “game.”
Great article, thanks for sharing. I also have a small business which opens up an entire additional ecosystem of business card possibilities. I probably have around 20 cards, which I track in a spreadsheet. We just back back from the Newport Jazz Festival and used points for all air, hotel, and car expenses. I think I have more than 3 million points/miles, not to mention thousands in cash back. It isn’t that much work and can yield great rewards; you just need to track the details.
someone mentioned “if you choose not to pay the taxes”. That is not an issue. Federal Court ruling years ago determined that credit card points/rebates are not taxable income. Rewards for opening a bank account (checking or savings) have been determined to be income and you’ll receive a 1099. But there is no issue with accepting credit card benefits; it is not taxable income.
That’s awesome. I’m always a little jealous of people who can either rack up points through a business and/or through work travel. I don’t travel much for work anymore since COVID, so I have to be a bit more creative to amass points, and I’ll never get into the millions.
Loved your article. It sounds like us, even though I’m the one doing the work, and gotta say, it is very satisfying. We are retired and enjoy the perks from our credit cards. We also enjoy a trip so much more now that we can “spread out, especially on an airplane.
We’re also learning through experience what we do and don’t “need” when traveling. For example, a flight to Hawaii from California is only about 4.5 hours. We don’t need lie-flat first-class seats for that, or even a meal, but maybe premium economy with a bit more leg room is nice.
When we flew back from Spain, our flight was during the day, and we didn’t sleep at all. It was a long flight, and we whiled away the time eating, drinking, and watching movies. We didn’t really need the business class seats, and premium economy would have been just fine. So length of trip and time of day matters.
I can’t deal with keeping track of points so I mostly use the credit card that gives the most cash back. I have a few cards precisely because I read that having a few is good for credit score and the ones I have originally gave cash bonuses for spending in the first 60 or 90 days and continue to have competitive cash back, or points for people who like to work this way. Also, I travel so little for business that I don’t accumulate hotel and flight points, but I know road warriors who use their points to take their families on vacation, and don’t report the points as a form of income. For some, it’s a nice tax free perk.
Dana, I’m impressed, and completely agree with your principles. I also agree with George Popodopoulos when he says below “keeping it simple is way under rated.” So true about so much.
Thanks for reading! As for “keeping it simple,” I’ve thought about how we’ll probably need to simplify this as we get older. We can afford the annual fees and are very committed to traveling in the years ahead where we (hopefully) have good health and energy. (We’re 63 right now.) But I can see that there will come a point where I won’t want or need to do all this.
I picked up a lot of great tips from this article. I wouldn’t trust myself to manage as many credit cards as Dana does. I have 4, one just for car rentals because it covers the collision insurance. I try to pay any balance off every month. I pay almost all my bills online but not with autopay, which I find is too easy to lose track of.
I found you have to double check card benefits because they can change over time, and they don’t always notify you. Platinum cards used to be the top no-fee cards with the best benefits but not anymore. Now its Signature cards. I hadn’t done any traveling for the last couple years due to the crazy covid rules. When I did this year, I found my Master Platinum card had dropped the vehicle rental insurance and I had to upgrade to a new Visa Signature card.
I don’t travel a lot, once or twice a year, but I now fly Delta first class, which I started going a couple of years before I retired (year and a half now). My finances had improved over the years, so I decided it was time to live a little. Frist class is so nice, yes, the tickets are more expensive, but they come with great benefits. Free luggage check-in for 2 full size bags, 70 lb. limit, free cancelation refunds, wide seats, separate check-in lines. Some kind of meal (that still isn’t what it used to be. Still no cloth tablecloths or napkins, just a box lunch). The best thing I like, besides the seats, is the first-on-first- off benefit, especially if connecting flights are tight.
Great tip about not getting GE and TSA Pre-check separately. God willing, I’m taking a tour of Israel next year and was going to get both, but now I’ll just get GE.
Most credit card insurance collision is not primary. You go to your own insurance company first for coverage. That’s what makes the exorbitant insurance from rental car companies somewhat appealing. American Express has an “add-on” rental car coverage that is primary (pays first) and the charge is $24.95 for 42 days of coverage. I use this because you only pay $24.95 once for the entire 42-day coverage period. No deductible. Haven’t used it yet the program has a good reputation. I hear Chase has a rental car coverage that is primary at no charge, but I haven’t checked it out.
The Chase Sapphire cards (Reserve and Preferred) have primary rental car coverage, and so does the Chase Ritz Carlton card. Those are the ones I use for rental cars.
Interesting, resourceful and fun post, Dana.
sounds like you enjoy the planning and strategizing almost as much as the rewards you reap.
coupled with your travel experiences you could have a great second career as a travel agent.
Thanks, Marjorie, and you’re right–it’s fun for me, like playing a game. I found myself rather bereft during the COVID shutdown when I not only was not planning or researching new trips but rather was canceling them.
Added: And you’ll get to travel the world like a rock star!
I do the same as the author and manage to travel in style for a fraction of the cost if paid. It is important to know that it can actually be a fair amount of work trying to efficiently use the miles, but for better or worse, I’ve been successfully throwing myself at this for years.
That said, I look at my 10 credit cards–each with a very specific use and purpose–and realize that if something were to happen to me, there’s no way my wife could decipher this. So I’ve slowly started to cut back the cards and make things easier for my wife (or other heirs) take care of things if the time were to come. I know from experience in managing my parents’ modest estate that there’s plenty of work to do so no point in making someone close out 10 credit cards as part of that.
As I said to someone else above, I’m sure we will also pare back as we get older. In fact, in thinking about this article, I realized that there are several cards I have that are no longer serving any purpose, so I’ll probably close them. It’s important, though, to realize that closing cards can cause at least a temporary dip in your credit score (since your overall credit limits will drop and that affects your utilization rate), so if that matters to you, you might want to spread out closing them over a few months.
As a longtime HD reader, integrity and conflict-free advice is a hallmark of why I keep coming back article after article. If you want to trust a random guy on the Interwebs the 10xTravel website and Facebook group is by far the best how-to guide on the points and miles hobby. I already emailed the founder (Bryce Conway) a copy of this HD article. https://10xtravel.com/
I’ll definitely check it out. Thanks!
I have been around this “hobby” (which has become a mega business) for over 30 years.
It has changed a lot and the bang for rewards is definitely a lot less than it used to be. Several factors involved, airlines are making money, all programs moving to revenue based structure and killing fixed award charts, fees galore added, finding awards to book is becoming harder, planes/hotels are full and, most importantly, the pace of devaluations are increasing even more frequently.
When you see a blog talking up yet another credit card you need to understand they make A LOT of money from the sales commissions banks pay them. When you see blogs continually do that every day you probably should consider another blog with better ethics.
There is NO best credit card out there. Just like there is no best stock or ETF. We are all different. Different goals, different travel aspirations, different money habits, different schedules, different family structures, different financial situations, different lodging preferences, different local airports we start travel from. And I could go on…
But there is ONE thing you must do before you embark on this addictive hobby. NEVER ever carry a balance, ALWAYS pay it in full. Every time. Because all the souls who do not do that pay for our rewards, it is a sad reality.
In general, a few other tips:
Bank transferable points are preferred to pure airline or hotel points, because of inherent flexibility.
Focus on the airline that flies most out of your local airport. And one hotel chain you prefer. To get started and wet your appetite so to speak.
Delta Skymiles and Marriott Bonvoy are two currencies you are most likely not going to get much value out of. Most stingy companies out there. You fly Delta because they do a great job flying, not because of SkyMiles. Regarding Marriott, it is a matter of time before you get Bonvoyed too (google it).
Miles and points travel bloggers are essentially bank financial product salesmen. Never forget that. And they always pump out how amazingly they travel for free repeatedly. It is all marketing, nothing is really free!
Anyway, I do blog once a week. Name of my blog is travelbloggerbuzz. Yes, my blog sells a few cards that pay the blog costs, it is a labor of love. I curate web content once a week, Humble Dollar articles repeatedly make it to my blog.
There is so much bad information in this area online it is sad to watch really. I would not mind maybe writing here once in a while if I find the time.
Thank you.
George Papadopoulos
Consumer travel advocate, Chris Elliott, takes an interesting counterpoint on airline/hotel awards programs – recommending his readers avoid them and skewering The Points Guy and other bloggers. He’s written several articles about how they profit from biased recommendations and often mislead people.
I have no opinion either way. But do find it interesting to read diverse points of view.
If I had a spouse that did all the work, I’d be thrilled to enjoy the rewards this article mentions! But I don’t and life’s just too short to spend my dwindling life energy figuring all this out.
I’m already lost reading the strategies in the comments! It feels like “Beautiful Mind” stuff to me. lol.
Chris Elliott has been consistently a thorn on the side of bloggers pushing every travel rewards credit card they can sell. And he does have some great consumer protection views of course. But imho he takes it to the extreme on the other side and you need to realize this is how he makes his living. Which is way more ethical than the side he fights against, that’s for sure. At one point, he agreed to move his domain to the main website in this space, Boarding Area. Which was the oddest pairing ever! As expected, he did not last long in that website…wonder what he was thinking going there in the first place.
CJ, you make an interesting point. It’s amazing how all these credit cards companies can give away so much money and still stay in business.
Yes it is amazing indeed. This whole industry relies on the unhealthy habits of Americans binging using plastic. And suffering the consequences by paying exorbitant interest charges to the banks for decades. It is just awful to watch. This practice (reeling in new credit card customers with ridiculously high sign up bonuses we experienced players feast on taking it to the banks, pun intended) is allowed to exist only in the US.
The debit card abuses were reeled in some years ago, which pretty much destroyed the rewards you get with them. There have been legislative efforts to do the same with credit cards but they always fail. Because…lobbying and very strong resistance from the industry that makes millions pushing these products. If this is ever fixed, I guess most of us who do this for a hobby will have to find another hobby, so sad. But maybe it is better for humanity. Then again, banks will have to target other ways to stay in business. And they will….So, the status quo continues. I am not complaining, I have earned probably close to 100 million miles in my lifetime but have slowed way down only aiming to burn at least 1 million miles per year…
To an earlier posted who posted about the apporama days applying for 13 cards in one day, those were the days. And they are not coming back due to increasing bank restrictions against some of these gamers who play the system. Even AMEX has a separate department cracking down, the Rewards Abuse Team, infamously called the RATs…I could go on. You all do what is comfortable for you, sticking it to the banks and airlines/hotels is addictive, you have been warned.
I agree that you have to evaluate everything for yourself and take the recommendations with a grain of salt.
And yes, my husband enjoys the travel perks that I do all the work for! He’d probably be fine with just paying for what we want, but I’m not ready for that.
Good points, George. Marriott Bonvoy and Delta are the worst in devaluing point and miles.
Good stuff. I’ll look up your blog!
I agree with what you said about credit card balances (it’s the first of my three principles) and picking the airline(s) and hotel chain(s) that make the most sense for you. For us, we fly a lot of Southwest because we live in California and on Alaska/Hawaiian regularly because they fly to Hawaii and we go there at least once a year. Other airline choices are more trip-specific, and for international trips, we drive to SFO rather than flying out of our home airport, SMF, so that we can avoid/have fewer stops.
Thanks for the wise warnings. The affiliate marketing fee game is indeed fraught with conflicts of interest — it’s why we don’t engage in affiliate marketing (or sponsored content or sponsored links) here at HumbleDollar — and folks should be aware that the travel advice they see online is often designed to enrich the blogger, not the reader.
Congratulations! You put in the work and enjoyed the rewards. While I do have multiple credit cards and I do collect miles I keep it simple. I do very little travel within the US, and I actively avoid American chain hotels abroad, so I have never bothered with hotel points. I have a Citi Bank card that gets me AA miles, which gives me access to all the OneWorld carriers. I use the miles to fly business class. I haven’t paid a fee for a card in years. When the annual fee comes due I call to cancel and I usually get a sweetener to renew instead. If not, I cancel and reapply later when they have a promo. These days I also have a Citi Visa, but that’s because I joined Costco to get cheaper hearing aids and I only use it there. My Capital One cards are cash back and I use them for travel, although now Citi doesn’t charge foreign conversion fees I only need them for back up. I also have a PenFed card which I got because it had a PIN as well as a chip
Thanks, Kathy! I know you’re a savvy traveler and spender. I haven’t gotten into the calling to cancel and getting a sweetener to stay game yet, but I’m in several Facebook groups (The Points Guy and Amex Platinum) with people who do this all the time. Haven’t gotten into the Capital One or Citi ecosystems yet—Chase UR and Amex MR are all I can stay on top of right now while still working.
I’m someone who tries to maximize credit card “spend” returns. I’m leaning toward the 2% cash back reward. My favorite, so far, is the Citibank Double Cash Back, but there are others out there.
I have a friend who loves Hilton and has a Hilton Surpass card with $95 annual fee. He wants to keep his Diamond status which requires 40,000 points each year. He gets 3x points for regular purchases and 6x point for restaurants. I suggested he get a cash back card and just use it to pay the $450 annual Hilton Aspire card fee.
Bottom line: You can spend a lot (too much) time figuring out the best return on these cards. Just do what makes you happy. By the way, the CardCon convention is coming up in November. Maybe use points and fly in?
https://cardconexpo.com/
The Amex Hilton Surpass card requires $40,000 spend on the card to earn Hilton Honors Diamond status. Please don’t do that. There is really not that much of an improvement when you go from Hilton Honors Gold to Diamond elite status.
Citibank Double Cash card is a straight up no annual fee 2% cash back card. At a minimum, everyone should earn that for all spending. And life will be a lot simpler instead of trying to keep up with ever evolving maddening changes with airline and hotel programs.
Card Con? Do the speakers fly for free on ConAir to it? 🙂
If you have an Amex Platinum Card, you are an automatic Diamond Hilton member.
Automatic Hilton Honors Gold, not Diamond, is a benefit of the Amex Platinum card.
I have a Hilton Aspire card, and in my opinion, it’s the best value of all the higher-end co-branded cards. You get automatic Diamond status, $250 per year airline credit, another $250/year resort credit, and a free night award that can be used almost anywhere. In the four years I’ve had the card, we’ve used the free night for the Arizona Biltmore hotel in Phoenix, the Hotel del Coronado in San Diego, and the Oceana LXR in Santa Monica (twice).
“Best value” is relative for everyone. So glad it works for you and you are happy with it though!
Point taken.
Most importantly, have fun in Chicago this weekend, esp in beautiful Wrigley Field! It’s going to be warm, bring your hat & sunscreen.
Go Cubs! 🙂
Thanks! Yes, I’ve been watching the weather projections! It’s very warm where I live in the summer, so I’m used to that, but it’s more humid there. We’re also doing an architectural tour river cruise and an afternoon at the Art Institute, plus some nice dinners lined up.
We’ve been to Wrigley once before, about 10 years ago, and are looking forward to going back. Looks like the hotel is an easy Red Line trip away from the ballpark. Should be a good series since the Cubs and Giants are fighting for the same wild card spots.
I admire your remarkable strategy in scoring points for air travel, accommodations and entertainment. You did well learning how to work the system!
Thank you! It’s kind of a fun hobby.
We have the Delta Amex Reserve card, and got it for almost exactly the same reasons as you write about here. Waited to get the card until it offered 80,000 miles. $695 seems crazy, but we just used miles to book round trip flights to Madrid, Spain (Delta Comfort, so a step up from Economy and a step down from Business class) and paid just $95 each in airline fees. Using the Delta (and KLM and AmEx) lounges during travel has made flying much more enjoyable. Reimbursed TSA and Global Entry makes check-in and customs smooth and effortless. Travel has become rather enjoyable again!
We don’t fly Delta much from where we live, but I know a lot of points enthusiasts use their cards and perks a lot. Sounds like a great redemption. We were in Madrid as part of our Spain trip that I wrote about. Have a great time! Don’t miss the Prado Museum if you like art museums.
If a person travels a lot or traveled for business, it all makes sense, but a bit too much work and perhaps credit fraud risk for me.
I have two cards, Amx and Chase United card and these days accumulate most points with every day purchases which add up. I am Diamond at Hilton I can transfer points from Amx to Hilton rewards.
Nothing compared to what you do, but it did get us round trip first class to South America a couple of years ago. I like being able to buy on Amazon with my Amx points too.
I left the corporate world when firm decided to stop allowing us to book business travel on personal credit cards because I could really bring it on big time. This is what I miss the most from my corporate days, all the free miles and points! I am now managing son’s business travel and he is raking it in, it brings memories lol.
Paying Amazon using Amex points is considered a poor value in general. And you can get better value transferring Amex points in other partners than Hilton Honors. But, as you stated, it is much less work this way and keeping it simple is way under rated. And two big thumbs up in reducing credit fraud risk holding a few credit cards, something no blogger in this space ever mentions.
jet blue mosaic member-great benefits and a great airline-customer service is great with a dedicated mosaic phone line
One of my 13 cards is a Jet Blue card. I used sign-up bonus points plus some Chase UR points I transferred to pay for SFO-JFK Mint seats (round-trip) last year. Oh my, was that nice. I’m not sure I can ever go back to a different transcontinental experience!
My husband’s career earned us many travel freebies as he flew all over the world. He was always loyal to Hilton…like you, we have enjoyed many food and beverage treats in their executive lounges, as well as room upgrades.
Global entry app is on my to-do list. My United Explorer card offers that as a perk.
Of all the perks, having Global Entry/TSA Precheck (which we’ve had for years) and Clear (got just a year or two ago) are the ones I’d never give up. Just a couple of weeks ago, Clear saved us when we were running a bit late for a flight. And not having to take off my shoes or my laptop out of my bag just starts off a trip so much more nicely.
I’m more of a Marriott loyalist than Hilton, but I use both, and some of our higher-end Hilton stays have been amazing. It’s good to have a stash of points in several different systems in case where you’re going doesn’t have good options in one of them.
I also try to charge as many of my daily expenses as possible to accrue miles and points for travel, but I’m still nervous about charging autopays like utilities in case the card is compromised. However, when I recently had to replace my car, I was going to pay the difference between my insurance settlement and the actual cost in cash, but my salesperson suggested charging the difference. That was several thousand dollars and beaucoup points all at once. Thank you, Marissa, at Enterprise Car Sales! And thanks, Dana, for some great travel ideas. That Business Class flight to Asia is looking like a “maybe” rather than a “no way.”😊
Interestingly, I just had my main daily card hacked and had to replace it, but Chase caught it immediately, so no problems. I was worried about having to redo all of my autopays, but it appears so far that they’re transferring over automatically.
I wrestled with putting my utilities on credit cards too and finally went with direct payment from checking (which might have its own issues). So, I have auto deposit and auto payment. Money goes and money goes out. Sometimes I feel like an innocent bystander.
My understanding is if there is a breach of your bank account your entire bank account can be emptied without reparations. As a result I do not link any business accounts to my bank except Planet Fitness as that is the only way I could get the $10/month plan, but if my account is hacked I know who to go to 🤞
Any utility I can pay with a card without a fee, I do. Set the payment date a few days before the due date. If something goes wrong, you can still pay timely.
Instead of getting GE and TSA Pre-check separately, consider just enrolling in GE since that $100 fee includes TSA Pre-check.
Yes, I should have clarified that. In our case, we had TSA Precheck first and later added GE, but you don’t need both.
I thought with Global Entry you didn’t need TSA Precheck but at Newark airport, they gave us a hard time and said we needed Precheck to not take off our shoes. We didn’t feel like messing with TSA at the time.
You need to update your airline account profiles with your Global Entry number…which is, inexplicably asked as “Known Traveler #”. And that should ensure to get TSA Precheck on your boarding pass…99% of the time. It was 100% but daughter did not get one last month…so maybe they start to get rationed lately? Those TSA Precheck lanes are sure getting longer these days!
Thanks Dana for the interesting article. I’m also Marriott Titanium Elite, and have enjoyed the benefits that come with that. When I travelled extensively with work the air miles and hotel points added up quickly, but mostly using a company credit card yard. For several years in the early 2000s I traveled frequently to Europe on business. We travelled business class and those miles were often doubled. Those miles and hotel points paid for a number of great trips for our family of four.
I am impressed!
My wife and I have been playing the Southwest Airlines credit card bonus game every few years. We each get two credit cards, one personal and one business with an annual fee of $69 – $99, that offer a rich bonus of 50k to 80k points for spending a minimum of $3,000 to $5,000 within 90 days of opening the account. We use the card to make normal, necessary purchases such as annual homeowners and auto insurance premiums, utility bill payments, etc. Why go to this trouble? It allows both of us to earn the Southwest Companion Pass, the most valuable of all airline travel rewards that allows the holder to bring one person on every flight taken as their flying “companion.” We time the application to earn the bonus as early in the year as possible, because the Companion Pass is good for that year plus the following calendar year. In our family, we use Southwest points to travel, and our children travel free as our Companions. Our family has flown virtually free ($5.60 per segment fee) to Maui, Cancun, Orlando, and multiple other destinations across the U.S. for “next to nothing.”
HumbleDollar readers will ask, what about the lost opportunity cost of using another card with cashback benefits? Compared to the 2% cash reward I would have earned using my typical credit cards (Fidelity and Spark Business), the points earned using the Southwest cards plus the value of the Companion Pass earns the equivalent of almost 5 cents per dollar spent. Not a bad ROI for the small investment of time to learn and then “execute” this process well, with an added payoff in family trips we might not have otherwise taken, and family memories made that are worth the slight hassle.
All cards are cancelled before the second year fee is due. We typically “rinse and repeat” this process every 2-3 years — until my son started working for Southwest and we now fly standby for free as his parents. Bon voyage to credit card rewards!
We hunt SW Companion Passes, too. Indeed, I’m executing that strategy right now. We’re currently on my husband’s Companion pass (most of 2022 and all of 2023). I got myself a SW business card earlier this year (80K bonus points), and in a couple of months, I’ll apply for a new personal card. I’ll make sure to earn the bonus before the end of December but not have the points post until early January so that our new pass will be good through 2025. Then we’ll have my husband cancel his card and repeat the process in a couple of years. I hope they never change the rules!
We also got a bunch of SW points for a Companion Pass through hotel partner stays a few years ago—they have some amazing bonus deals if you look. Not the easiest way to do it, but it worked.
I travel solo, so companion passes are not on my radar screen. Plus, the rare occasions when I fly in the US it’s either JetBlue or American.
Thanks for explaining what the Southwest Companion Pass is. A companion pass has different meanings with other airlines.
It’s by far the best one. I also have an Alaska card, which for a $99 annual fee gives you one companion ticket for $125. We use it every year, usually to fly to Hawaii.
Very good article. I definitely use some of your strategies. I have six credit cards but one time I have more than 10. The most important thing about points and miles is to use them because as time goes by they become worth less.
Thank you!
Your point in the last sentence is well taken. We flew on American Airlines around Memorial Day 2022 and the flight attendant announced that if you signed up for the Barclays AA card you would get enough points for two round trip tickets to anywhere in the US. Well in the past few months we have been monitoring flights to California to visit our daughter for Xmas. Unlike what the flight attendant stated we have been on a hamster wheel of using this card rather than our Chase card to obtain enough points for ONE free ticket. We finally bit the bullet and purchased the ticket but had to purchase $80 in miles to complete the deal.
Still the points were worth about $550, but I feel there was some false advertising going on.
BTW I suggest people get The Points Guy email as he provides interesting travel tips, one of which is to be sure you have at least two credit cards in case something goes awry with one. Other than the travel tips I feel you have to have a PHD in points management like Dana apparently has in order to not spend an exorbitant amount of time to make the system worthwhile.
LOL. I joke that managing my points-and-miles hobby is what I do to keep my aging brain nimble. Some people play Sudoku; I do this! I will say that other family members use me as a consultant now!
I admire the practice, but confess I’m way too lazy to deal with it all. I stick to a 2% cash back card for almost everything and just funnel any cash earned to a MM for my next trip.
How do you account for actually having to pay more money for the stuff you are buying due to the credit card fees most all are passing on in retail pricing nowadays?
Aren’t those fees paid by everybody, whether they use a credit card or not? There are some small retailers that charge less to cash-paying customers, but not many.
I’ve actually been to quite a few places that are now charging a 3% “service fee” if paying via credit card – including doctors’ offices, home repair companies and other local businesses. Started right after the pandemic.
I love credit cards for the easy annual expense tracking and points, but may have to reduce use if more places start charging extra.
I thought that used to be illegal, but places are either disregarding the law or it changed. Not sure which.
The establishments we’ve gone to have said they will charge 3% less if we pay cash. It’s a shame because, in addition to the points, credit cards are so convenient.
It would be interesting to know if charging more is illegal.
The egalitarian part of says if we did away with reward points, prices for everyone could be reduced a point or two. In the meantime, I’ll milk it for what it’s worth.
Wow, Dana you make travel sound fun, as well as frugal! I just referred my wife to your article as she sat down with her coffee. Few things motivate her quick mind to start working like saving money on travel. Thanks!
Sounds like your wife and I would hit it off! I get a nice adrenaline rush from scoring a good travel redemption.