Every month, the Frequent Miler team takes your questions live on YouTube.
We normally hold Ask Us Anything at 9pm on the first Wednesday of the month. That means that our next Ask Us Anything session will therefore be live at 9pm Eastern Time on Wednesday, February 4.
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More info
Join us once a month on our Frequent Miler YouTube channel. We’ll be there to chat, answer questions, and joke around. See you there!
- When: the first Wednesday of every month at 9pm Eastern Time, so February 4 this month.
- Where: Our Frequent Miler YouTube channel. Subscribe now, here.
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I’m curious what type of points/miles strategy you would use in our situation.
My wife and I pet/house sit for folks all across the country, and we’ve started to branch out internationally. Our housing accommodations are therefore taken care of (save for an occasional hotel we book before early or after late flights, if necessary). Many people we sit for also usually allow us to use their vehicle.
I know, in this hobby, the more flexibility you have the better. Because of the way we travel, though, we usually don’t have the luxury of knowing when we’re going to be traveling. We get pet sitting opportunities sent to us each evening and cherry pick the ones we’re interested in doing.
So our travel schedule is dictated by the people we’re sitting for.
What would your credit card points/miles strategy be in our situation? …don’t really need to worry about hotel or car rental bookings, prefer non-stop, business/first class (or anything with decent leg room… I’m 6’3″ tall), and need to be able to cancel/change for free or for a reasonable cost.
If it helps, looking back over the past couple years, for domestic flights, we’ve flown mostly United and AA (but have no particular loyalty to either). We’ve done 2 international pet sits in the last 2 years.
And, here are our current point balances (we’re also working on 125K AMEX Bus. Gold SUB and a 100k Citi Strata Elite SUB)…
221,196 Alaska Airlines (Atmos Rewards)
188,683 Amex (Membership Rewards)
95,254 Capital One
71,742 Hilton (Honors)
52,300 British Airways (Club)
45,664 Wyndham Rewards
32,599 American Airlines (AAdvantage)
16,352 US Bank (Altitude Rewards)
16,245 Chase (Ultimate Rewards)
3,500 Aegean Airlines (Miles & Bonus)
2,654 Bilt Rewards
2,481 Citibank (ThankYou Rewards)
1,980 United Airlines (Mileage Plus)
738 JetBlue Airways (TrueBlue)
685 Southwest Airlines (Rapid Rewards)
500 Hyatt (World of Hyatt)
299 Bank Of America
28 Hawaiian Airlines (HawaiianMiles)
You might get more responses in the Facebook Insiders group than here.
I actually thought the FM team looked at this page when they were doing their Ama show. That’s why I posted it here. I’m not sure where we’re supposed to post questions for the AMA shows.
For issuers other than Amex, is it risky to buy merchant-branded gift cards to hit mininum spend for SUBs? Chase seems fine from experience, but what about US Bank (specifically biz cards), Cap 1, Citi, BOA, or Cardless? Also, I’ve heard that when buying in-store it helps to add a candy bar or something to make it less obvious, but what if you are buying GCs from a vendor online, such as Doordash Gift Cards or Paypal Gift Cards, where the vendor name shows the purchase is clearly gift cards?
What you meant to include: “Here is a link to add this to your calendar”.
What would you do with 150k TAP points now, given that TAP will tax them away at about 25k miles/year under their invidious subscription terms?
Is there a difference between Bilt 2.0 points and Bilt 2.0 “housing points”?
Pasting again…What is the difference between Qatar Airways miles and Qatar Airways Avios points ? Does a QR flight earn both or only one ? Is there a expiry date on either of these ? I know Avios can be used for BA awards etc.
https://frequentmiler.com/avios-complete-guide-british-airways-qatar-iberia-aer-lingus-finnair/
What airlines would you recommend transferring 100k AMEX points? I may cancel the card before renewal next month.
Thanks FM team for your recent breakdowns on using points for lodging! I am super curious to hear from all of you if you have any aspirational lodging redemptions in mind, specifically at SLH and LHW properties, that you are planning towards or that have caught your attention.
Stephen, how has moving back to the UK changed your credit card game and stacking?
We still have an address in the US, so I can still get US cards. Stacking is less of a thing because, for the most part, we’re not buying stuff there. I’m still using US shopping portals, Amex Offers, etc. where applicable. Some offers work in the UK too; for example, I used an Ikea Chase Offer at Ikea in the UK and got the 10% statement credit.
Some cards aren’t useful over here. For example, using a Chase Freedom or Freedom Flex card for 5% doesn’t make sense as it has a foreign transaction fee. The Citi Premier card is a good option for grocery store spend as that earns 3x.
Thanks for the reply! It sounds like it is more limited, too bad the curve card is no longer active. That would have allowed for cards with a foreign transaction fee to be used without a fee and get the 5x
Are you on the hunt for new opportunities that are not possible in the US but might be in the UK?
I’ve been located in Germany for some years now and find it both a blessing to easily pass on some more complicated US plays, and a curse when jumping through hoops to partake in the game
I would love to find opportunities in the UK, but I haven’t really done any research yet while getting settled in. I imagine there’ll be some possibilities; the ideal thing would be to find some kind of way to generate spend at no cost in order to take advantage of the 3x on the Alaska Summit card for foreign transactions.
Understandable, good opportunities like that take a lot of research and probing. I’ve found some spend at no cost but only in small amounts, unfortunately not scalable or from the couch.
Alaskan Summit card is a really nice for expats. We tried that with P2, she has been a BoA banking customer for years but nothing on the credit side. She got approved albeit with a couple fraud flags (which aren’t entirely unwarranted). Card arrived at our US address but another fraud alert to activate it and they wouldn’t clear it without going in branch, and because we are in Germany that was harder than usual. Ultimately they closed it after 30 days for fraud and removed the record from P2s credit report, refunded the annual fee. Optimal outcome at that point.
Does Citi restrict users with Custom Cash cards to transfer Thank You points to another user?
For context – My P2 runs a 3 custom cash card setup, and I was hoping to transfer her TY points to my Citi account, before transferring them to Flying Blue.
What are you guys getting at Lululemon if not giftcards ?
Something that can only be returned for store credit
I know the guidance for credit cards with annual fees that you are not using is to downgrade to free options vs. cancelling after a year and a day. What is the guidance for bank accounts that you opened for bonuses? If heard that you can close them after a year but at the same time I don’t want to get black listed.
No issues in cancelling after a year and a day for CCs. I’ve never had issues with bank accounts either.
My passport expires in October 2026. I’ve realized this week that, based on the number of trips planned, it is going to be a very close race between the passport expiry and running out of empty pages for stamps. I’m sure you’ve encountered such a situation before. Would you just apply for a new passport early? What happens if i run out of empty space for stamps half-way through my trip? Thanks
What is the difference between Qatar Airways miles and Qatar Airways Avios points ? Does a QR flight earn both or only one ? Is there a expiry date on either of these ? I know Avios can be used for BA awards etc.
Other than UA, do any other domestic carriers offer family or friends pooling points?