Learn how to earn points and miles,
then spend them well.
Want to use miles to fly First Class around the world? Yes, it can be done! Sure, it sounds like one of those ‘too good to be true’ things, but it really works. We at Frequent Miler have been traveling in First Class for free (less taxes and fees) for years using the tricks explained in this blog. The catch (and yes, there’s always a catch) is that it takes knowledge and organization to pull it off. That’s where this blog can help!
Ironically, traveling is not the best way to earn miles & points (but it doesn’t hurt!). Credit card signup bonuses are the biggest and best opportunity for earning free points and miles. For many, it’s easy to earn hundreds of thousands of points each year through signup bonuses! Here’s how:
Apply
Spend
Get the Bonus
There's a reason that credit card companies are willing to give away points & miles. They make a lot of money from interest and fees. Interest and fee payments can quickly wipe out the benefits gained from signup bonuses. The only way to come out ahead is to pay your credit card bills in full, every month. If you can't do that, then I highly recommend against signing up for new credit cards.
Caution!
Earning Points and Miles
Earning Points and Miles with Credit Cards
Credit card welcome bonuses are the quickest and easiest way to earn crazy amounts of points & miles quickly. It used to be possible to apply for the same exact card over and over again in order to earn the same bonus every few months. Most card issuers have stopped allowing that, but for most of us that’s OK.
Our Best Credit Card Offers page shows over 8 million points & miles up for grabs across dozens of credit cards (some of which you can get again.)
Our guide to credit card application rules can help you learn more about which credit cards have which kinds of rules.
Many credit cards offer extra points for spend within certain categories. For example the Chase Sapphire Reserve offers 3X for travel & dining and the Amex Gold offers 4X for restaurants and 4X for US supermarkets (up to $25K per year spend, then 1X). We share the best category bonuses here.
It’s possible to increase credit card spend in ways that won’t deplete your bank account. Techniques vary from paying bills that can’t normally be paid by credit card to buying and selling. For details, see our Guide to increasing credit card spend.
Using Points and Miles
Making Good Use of your Points and Miles
Once you’ve earned points and miles, you want to use those points towards maximum value. There is a learning curve to knowing what counts as a good value and what doesn't so you may want to see how we value different points and miles currencies here.
Some points can be transferred to different airline and hotel programs. This is especially useful for booking flights, giving you lots of flexibility to book the deals that exist for your specific travel dates. American Express Membership Rewards points and Chase Ultimate Rewards points are both examples. You can learn more about the different transfer partners here.
Award pricing can be counterintuitive at times. For example, It can sometimes be cheaper to book a flight with an airline's partner miles than its own. There are award search tools that help with these nuances. Learn more about award search tools for flights here, and award search tools for hotels here.
Taking it to the Next Level
Airlines and hotels offer their top elite members perks that can be pretty valuable like free upgrades on flights or free breakfast at hotels. These perks are supposed to be reserved for top-paying customers, but you can learn about some status shortcut strategies here.
One reason we love miles and points is because they help us achieve exclusive, luxurious, or adventurous experiences most of us couldn't dream of otherwise. Learn how to find and book the world’s best first class award flights here.
Credit card and hotel points can both help you stay in some amazing luxury accommodations you’d never justify paying cash for. Learn more tips for luxury lodging using points here.
If you want to learn more, you're in luck! We talk about this stuff all day long and in many different formats. Visit this page to learn all the ways you can get more involved and learn more about miles and points.
I am curious about Capital One MLB tickets. I have been checking daily to see when the new tickets will come out but it’s a long process to check to see if the tickets have become available. Are there any sources where I can subscribe and be alerted when the tickets become available? Also, the last time they came out, I ordered a few sets of tickets in other cities, as I was hoping to travel to see some games in other parks. Each one of those orders outside of my own market were eventually canceled after being confirmed. Is there a problem with buying Capital One MLB tickets outside of your home market?
I heard Greg and Nick talking about Capital One on April 5th episode. I have a Capital one Venture card with $59 annual fee for 20 years now. I have a feature on my rewards called HOTEL DEALS and it has $900 hotel gift cards for 64,000 points. Are you familiar with that? I never hear anyone discussing it. I use it alot because it seems like a good deal to me. Do you agree and are you familiar with this reward?
Thanks, Diane
Hi Diane! Yes, that’s a good deal. I wrote about it years ago (see here: https://frequentmiler.com/the-best-hotel-credit-card-ever/), but it seems that only people with a very old Venture card account are grandfathered into that (Capital One wouldn’t be specific about when that feature existed when I pressed for details; I only know that some people like you and I have that redemption but most do not). It is indeed a good deal and I often redeem this way for Marriott cards.
I did register for this promo and stayed for 8 nights at the Iberostar Herceg Novi in Montenegro more than five weeks ago from April 20 until April 28. So far I have seen neither IHG Points nor has my stay shown up as an IHG qualified stay.
Has anyone heard from IHG after participating in this Promo?
Company got a Delta Amex Business Platinum Account, with cards for several employees.
How do the points work in this case? Are they pooled from all cards?
How does redemption work? Thanks
Can I use the Chase Ink Preferred Business (Visa) card for payment with Plastiq for my mortgage? Table you provided for Plastiq shows that “Visa” is one of the cards that you cannot pay for mortgage (only Mastercard and Discover). I’ve read in some blogs and TPG that the Ink Preferred business card is an example for paying mortgage with the use of Plastiq. I’m confuse. Could you explain this? Thank you.
Hi,
I just signed up for weekly emails and i’m waiting for approval for the facebook page bc my buddy is not being offered 90k Amex Gold link, and I really could use one from the group…
Thing is I am not a Facebook person, really not….I just created a profile before trying to join the room and it probably looks like spam. trying to get in touch to let you know it’s not, entire profile is private and tried joining at about 925AM PST… I don’t know if it shows you my name/email or not when I try reaching out for a group invite…
Hi there! My apologies — one of us usually goes through Facebook requests every day or two to review them. I haven’t gotten there yet today, but if what you’re looking for is a link to the 90K offer, you don’t need to join — the reason for the referral thread is to gather reader referrals so that our Best Offers page will always have the best available offer. If you go to the menu on any page on our site and click on “Best Offers”, you’ll find links to all of the best publicly-available offers. You’ll find a link to apply for that 90K Amex Gold card right on our Amex Gold card page:
https://frequentmiler.com/amxgoldcard/
That’s a reader link — we insert a new reader link there every day.
News Feeds – same posts are appearing across Frequent Miler, Frequent Miler Quick Deals, BoardingArea. To cut down on duplication of posts, is there ONE of these that will cover posts w/o missing posts?
This one should be all you need: https://frequentmiler.com/feed/
I ran across your recent episode where you talked someone getting denied boarding, and asked about the worst thing that has happened on a trip. This reminded me of a harrowing experience that threaten to ruin a round the world trip we were on. After requesting United (ticket issuer) change us to a later departure from Vienna, fortunately I caught a bizarre change to the itinerary. Imagine showing up at a foreign airport with THIS reservation: https://drive.google.com/file/d/13Et-Ex2nR8_RkUaqWYJRo2bb1S3ZwRa5/view?usp=drive_link I spent hours trying to convince United representatives there was something terribly wrong with this schedule and their social media channels were totally useless. You would think the possibility of backward time travel would jump out at someone (arriving in 2001?). At one point they said it was fixed. After getting off the phone and checking, I found they had put us on two different flights to different countries! A few more hours on the phone got it “resolved” only to find we were blocked from checking in once we got to the airport. Had to put United on speaker with the Austrian ticket agent to finally get it resolved. The worst experience ever!
I should clarify–when I call the automated phone number on the back of the gift card, it tells me I have a valid balance, so I know (allegedly) that the card is still worth something, but it’s not being accepted on Sears.com.
I came across this site when searching for someone at Sears to talk to about their website not accepting my Sears gift card. Has anyone had any success reaching an actual human (whether by phone or email) to ask about issues with ordering online? I’ve come up empty after several days of trying. Thanks.
Can you explain or post an article on understanding the relationship of KLM & Transavia airlines? I know KLM is the parent company, but when my connection in Amsterdam is with them, when booking through KLM, no points, no lounge privileges & now I’m confused on a new policy on carry on. If I start my flight on KLM or Delta as a partner carrier & my final leg is on them, do I have to pay for my carry on?
Question on reactivating miles with American Airlines: I have 56000+ miles with AA that I can activate for $550. Is that considered a good deal?
Yes. Close to enough for a one way business class ticket from US to EU
Does anyone know when American Airlines might begin opening up award availability to book business class seats on the new Japan Airlines A350 NY-Tokyo non-stop route? As of this posting, it looks like AA is only allowing miles to be redeemed for premium economy and below, even for months in advance. Wondering if anyone has any insight on when this could change. Thanks!
That’s not a matter of American Airlines “opening up” award availability – Japan Airlines has to open availability to partners. Unless you’re seeing those seats available via other oneworld partners like Alaska or British Airways, it sounds like Japan Airlines just isn’t offering partner availability on those flights at this time. That wouldn’t be terribly surprising — Japan Airlines doesn’t tend to release a ton of award availability and on a route that likely has a lot of business class demand from business travelers, I would expect award availability to be quite tight. You have to keep searching, be flexible with dates, and/or use an award alert tool.
I am trying to buy economy RT ticket sgn-lax. I have the option to either purchase directly from KE, or on DL (with a DL number, but operated by KE). Anyone knows which route would generate the most MQD for the purpose of qualifying for DL elite status?
I’m not sure but I think you’ll earn the same MQDs either way. This page shows the MQDs earned with each of Deta’s partners: https://www.delta.com/us/en/skymiles/how-to-earn-miles/airline-partners
I’ve applied for and been rejected for the Amex Bonvoy Brilliant. They will give me the card, but not the bonus. Is it worth it to just get the card w/o the points? I want it primarily for Bonvoy Platinum, but hate giving up 90K points.. I’ve tried the reconsideration line, and they just say I’m ineligible for the bonus. Help???
It can be worth it to get the card for the Platinum status and annual free night certificate (and assuming you’ll use the monthly dining benefit).
You mention being rejected, not getting the pop-up. Did you check the Marriott card eligibility matrix to know if you’re eligible for it based on any other Marriott cards you may have?
https://frequentmiler.com/marriott-bonvoy-complete-guide/#Credit_Card_Eligibility