Are you someone who tries to earn enough points and miles to travel with your entire family? Do you have friends constantly picking your brain to figure out how you travel around the world for free? It may be time to stop going it alone and get your friends and family involved in your travel hacking hobby.
Our Top Picks for October: Credit Cards With Bigger Than Usual Sign-Up Bonuses
Marriott SPG Merger Opens New Doors for Points and Miles Collectors
New Opportunities from the Marriott/Starwood Merger
Remember when it was first announced that Marriott would be buying Starwood? It struck fear into the hearts of many travel hackers that the industry’s most valuable transferable point program might be ruined or even eliminated by a hotel chain with a low value rewards program. So far, those fears have been unfounded. Marriott and SPG recently announced the first major changes to their awards programs and the news is good!
Using Chase Ultimate Rewards Points: Best and Worst Uses Through the Booking Portal
Chase Ultimate Rewards is a great program with many fans. Just like the American Express Membership Rewards and Citi ThankYou programs, Ultimate Rewards offer multiple ways to redeem points. It is the only program that allows easy cash redemption at 100:1, but it mostly shines on travel redemptions.
If you
Chase Sapphire Reserve Post-Mortem and Ways Around the 5/24 Rule
The release of the Chase Sapphire Reserve card set off a whirlwind of excitement, disappointment, questions, and answers around the travel blogosphere. When the card was released, Chase was not particularly clear on the details regarding some of the benefits. Now that people have received their cards and started activating and using the benefits, we have a better understanding of everything this card entails.
How to Find Millions of Airline Bonus Miles
Everyone knows that you can earn frequent flyer miles by flying, and if you’re serious about collecting miles you probably also know that using a rewards credit card is a great way to earn while you’re on the ground. What you might not know is that there are a lot of other ways to earn, too.
What’s Next on Marriott/SPG: Linking Accounts, Maximizing Benefits and Other Miles/Points News
The biggest news in travel at the moment is the merger between Marriott and Starwood. Travelers are asking what it means to them. Here’s how to take advantage of the best benefits with the two programs plus the latest in other travel news for the week.
Complaining for Miles: What to Do and What Not to Do
Travel can be grueling, and when things go wrong, a domino effect can lead to missed connections or even forced overnights in some places. Add to that surly airport employees or crew members and lost luggage, and you can have quite the unique experience. If you save your complaints for cocktail parties or the hotel bar, you might be missing out on much-deserved compensation.
How to Upgrade Your Flight with Delta SkyMiles
Many travelers who earn frequent flyer miles aren’t always interested in booking an award ticket. Instead, they want to use their miles to upgrade a ticket they’ve already bought with cash. Upgrades and award travel have a lot in common, but the rules are unique for every loyalty program. This post discusses how to upgrade a ticket purchased with Delta Air Lines.
How to Navigate Award Routes
It can be frustrating to redeem award miles for an overseas trip. But, keep in mind that not all hope is lost since many airline websites fail to show award space from all of their partners. This means that there are many routes with open seats available for award tickets going empty, but you may have to call the airline mileage program to find them.
How to Meet the Minimum Spend on Your Travel Rewards Credit Card
Every travel hacker knows that the quickest way to a free flight is having the right credit card. Whether it’s a co-branded airline card or a card with transferable points, such as the Chase Sapphire Reserve, getting a sign-up bonus will boost your points balance faster than any other strategy. These tips will help you get that big bonus.
Best Credit Card Combo: Delta Platinum and Delta Reserve
Are you someone who frequently flies on Delta airlines and is looking for
Marriott and SPG Deal Closes, Hilton Stays Earn Delta Elite Status and BA Rolls Out Red Carpet
Bet you didn’t know that you could boost your Medallion Qualification Miles with Delta by staying at a Hilton? Well, you can through a limited time promotion. We have that and lots of other good news in this week’s roundup.
Best Amex Credit Card Combo: Amex Everyday Preferred and Amex Platinum
The Everyday Preferred card and the Platinum card is the best two-card combination in the Amex cards lineup. The combined benefits of these cards provide just about everything a travel hacker could want in their credit card portfolio—
Are Fixed Value Points Programs Worth It?
Have your hopes for a dream vacation ever been ruined by a lack of airline award availability? Do you have miles in a bunch of different programs but not enough in any particular one to book an award? Do you find yourself confused by complicated airline award charts and routing rules? There is a great way to add simplicity and flexibility to your travel rewards portfolio: fixed value points.
Which Amex Membership Rewards Earning Cards Are Worth Holding Long-Term?
Amex Membership Rewards is unique among transferable points programs in that it is the only program that has a
Buying, Sharing and Getting Bonus Miles is Trending
There’s a lot going on in the travel world this week. Delta nixes Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse access for some, but rewards sports fans in Washington. JetBlue puts up boxing mitts with Delta in Atlanta, again. And lots more.
Which Credit Cards Offer Flight Delay Coverage?
If you have seen people at the airport sleeping on the floor, shaving in the restrooms, and generally looking as if they have spenT hours and hours at the airport, they probably have. Some of these situations might be due to long layovers, but some of them are caused by flight cancellations and lengthy delays. The US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics states that so far in 2016, almost 458,000 flights have been delayed, almost 35,000 flights have been canceled, and almost 7,000 flights have been diverted, and that only includes the data for the U.S.
Can You Downgrade Barclaycard, BofA, Capital One and U.S. Bank Travel Credit Cards?
The time to think about downgrading a premium credit card is when your annual fee is due and you don’t feel that the benefits you’re getting from the card are worth it anymore. There are many reasons to downgrade instead of just closing your account.
Best Uses of Citi ThankYou Points for Flights to South America
The Citi ThankYou program has 12 airline transfer partners, but none of them would be considered household names by Americans. Citi has members like Malaysia Airlines, Eva, Singapore and Virgin Atlantic, and many people don’t quite understand how to use these airlines to fly from the U.S. But this is where airline alliances are especially helpful.