points Archives - Your Mileage May Vary

When It Comes To Earning Points And Miles, I’d Rather Be The Tortoise Than The Hare

For over twenty years, I’ve had credit cards that earned points or miles. I originally had an American Express Gold travel card that paid me 1.5x points for all travel purchases. Back then, any bonus category was rare, so earning extra Membership Rewards points for my trips was fantastic. I eventually got a Diners Club card because once I was old enough to rent a car (25 years old), the primary renter’s coverage was very important to me (being the son of an insurance claims adjuster helps you set your priorities).

I’ve seen travel cards come and go. It was only about ten years ago that I started getting serious about points and miles. I cautiously waded into the world of credit card sign up bonuses. Continue reading “When It Comes To Earning Points And Miles, I’d Rather Be The Tortoise Than The Hare”

Why We Stay Loyal To Airline Brands (And Why We Sometimes Shouldn’t)

Why do we stay loyal to airline brands? I guess that depends on how you define loyalty. For points and miles people, their first reaction may be to think about loyalty programs. Now, I’ve argued that these programs aren’t really about loyalty anymore and more about incentivizing you to change your current habits.

I’m not talking about this type of loyalty. I’m simply asking why do we to stick with a particular company. I’d bet that you have a go-to airline that, all other things being equal, you’ll book first. Now, if that’s because you’re a part of the loyalty program and need to keep your status, maybe it’s time to hop off that hamster wheel.

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What Should I Do With My Citi ThankYou Points?

On September 1, 2019, Citi is going to change the fourth-night free benefit on the Citi Prestige to make reservations only bookable through the ThankYou portal or by calling a Thank You representative. Then on September 22, 2019, Citi will remove most of their travel insurance and shopping protections from almost all of their card portfolio.

These changes made me rethink our Citi card portfolio and one of the possibilities was canceling our Citi Prestige card. With Citi’s rules, if I cancel a card the points associated with that card expire in 60 days, even if you’ve transferred those points to another Citi ThankYou card which you are keeping open.

If I’m going to need to cash these points out, I better explore my options.

Continue reading “What Should I Do With My Citi ThankYou Points?”

Pro Tip #7 – Spend Your Points Already!

I use examples from my own life in this blog to serve as an example to everyone else. Whether it’s a silly mistake that I’ve made when booking a flight or a great redemption, I feel there’s always something to be learned. So when I had the same thought go through my head twice in the same week, it has to be something that others have pondered over as well, right?

For example, say that you find somewhere you can redeem miles or points for a free flight, hotel room or rental car. You get ready to finalize the booking but there’s a voice in the back of your head telling you this isn’t the best redemption and you should just pay cash and save your points. You’ll even earn points if you pay cash. These points are worth X and you’re merely breaking even. Save your points for later.

You know what you need to do with that voice? Imagine that your brain is made of tiny boxes, and find the box that’s saying you shouldn’t redeem your points and CRUSH IT!! OK? (Brownie points to anyone who gets the reference and posts in the comments!)

Maybe it’s not even your inner voice but a post on some website or a Facebook group comment that told you you’re using your points wrong. Know what?

Here are the two instances I had where I had to just take a deep breath and spend my points or miles:

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This Monster Sign Up Bonus Is Back, And It Caused A Flashback To Why I Started This Blog

In 2016, I saw headlines on several blogs that I followed about a credit card sign up bonus that was too good to pass up. Here’s what one article from back then said about the card:

Breaking news: one of the best (and certainly one of the biggest) miles & points offers is now back. For a limited time, you can earn a total of 100,000 British Airways Avios points after applying for their signature card and meeting a number of spending requirements.

One of the best offers. I needed to get in on this limited time offer so I went to the Chase website and signed up for the card. I was instantly approved and started spending. The amount needed to get the bonus wasn’t small.

The first 50,000 points are easy—you’ll get them after completing a $2,000 minimum spend in three months. This is worth it on its own, even if you can’t earn the additional 50,000 points for spending more.

For the adventurous, you’ll be able to earn an additional 25,000 Avios for spending $10,000 within the first year, and then another 25,000 Avios for spending $20,000 within the first year.

I decided to go big but I wasn’t all in. I set a goal to spend the $10,000 on the card for 75,000 Avios. I passed on the $20,000 bonus points and the Travel Together Ticket that came with spending $30,000 on the card.

It took several months but I eventually hit the spending threshold and had over 85,000 Avios. Now what?

Continue reading “This Monster Sign Up Bonus Is Back, And It Caused A Flashback To Why I Started This Blog”