If there is one thing better than travel, it’s got to be free travel! We just love getting upgrades or free flights with the points we’ve managed to collect. We have travel rewards cards that collect points, we of course collect points with our favorite airlines and hotels, and we also collect points through shopping portals.
This past year, we’ve been more opportunistic with our airline choices picking more direct routes and/or better pricing. Part of the reason is that despite having Miami as a hub, American Airlines has reduced and cancelled numerous flights that they used to have as direct non-stop flights.
For example, our flight to Paris was cancelled and replaced with a New York City connection. Bonaire and Cayman Islands flights from Miami were reduced in frequency. We understand that airlines are struggling to recover from the pandemic. However, having a connection always adds another level of risk such as missing the connecting flight because of a flight delay or cancellation. And if you have checked bags, well they might not make it! That’s happened to us more than once, so that’s why we prefer to travel with only carry-on bags.
Our direct flight to Frankfurt was also cancelled and rerouted via Charlotte, so we opted instead for a refund and booked a non-stop Lufthansa direct flight. We even got a great deal by booking a train connection with the airline to Cologne, Germany. It actually cost less than stopping in Frankfurt.
As we approach the year’s end, we were skeptical about our chances of requalifying for status with American. With some last-minute business flights for my husband that were booked we got some renewed hope and decided to sharpen our pencils.
Tips to earn more travel points
We came to realize that we had literally been leaving a lot of points on the table. For example, simply booking hotels through the Chase shopping portal would net us 10x the points vs. the usual 7x we get when using the Chase Sapphire Reserved card alone.
Booking Marriott, Hyatt, or Hilton hotels through the AAdvantage shopping portal gets us extra AA loyalty points simply by redirecting to their sites from the shopping portal.
By selecting the right card for groceries, restaurants, gas, travel, and other purchases we can maximize what we earn leading to a better chance of requalification (and of course getting those free trips even faster!).
Another example: When we recently renewed our Global Entry, we both used the same credit card. We later came to realize that the card will only credit one membership. Had we used another card with similar benefits we could have had a credit for both memberships. A $50 credit lost!
Importance of having a good strategy
You really need a strategy to keep up with all the complex and changing options.
As a start, select the cards that collect the points that you are going to use. Being in Miami, AA Loyalty Points get us more options than airlines that have less flights from here.
You may also opt for travel rewards cards with their own systems of points. Like the Chase Sapphire cards. Here you earn points, and you can buy tickets on any airline (almost!) to redeem them. As a bonus, since you end up buying the flight you also double dip and collect airline points for the flight unlike flying on a regular points ticket.
Keep track of the thresholds you need to achieve for the perks to kick in. This can be a certain amount of spend to get rewards on card opening or spend thresholds for free nights or points bonuses you can get every year. You can also decide that once you’ve made the threshold you wanted to achieve you can switch those purchases to a different card. This can be useful if trying to qualify for multiple programs.
Look also at what day-to-day purchases you make that can be bought through the shopping portals. Retailers love to make it easy for you to buy. One or two clicks and the purchase is done.
See our post: How to Shop Your Way to Free Travel
Conclusion
It comes down to think before you click. Are you using the right credit card? Should you make this purchase through a shopping portal (it’s literally just one more click)? Our go-to AAdvantage shopping portal runs specials that sometimes net 10x the points for purchases from 950 retailers. It even has a browser plugin that automatically enables the mileage collection and applies coupons to your purchase.
I’ve left a sticker on my laptop to remind me and with some luck we will once again qualify for status in our favorite programs this year.