Your approach to travel awards

[StarTrekDoc]

@Vagabond - KIS and you're doing it right.  Cashback for the majority and specific Catergories for the Freedom card and the Amazon card.

Reserve card - if you don't travel much or spend $300 on 'travel' categories for the credit, then move back to the Preferred before the next year cycle. -- You can't cancel and bonus points back the Preferred because chase considers them both the same card bucket unfortunately, so just move back to it.  Remember to get the Global Entry for you and all the family (have to get Authorized User cards for each of them first on that account and then Global entry).  That will save bundles of time to London at customs.

As @treesrock mentioned, the power of Sapphire is ability to move to points and book on upgraded tickets or high value hotels -  we routinely use for 3-5% value for urban Hyatt, United upgraded seats, and Southwest coupled with the Companion Pass.  Does take a little effort, but quite easy to do.

The Marriott points is a good opportunity to double dip with Hotel+Airline Points LINK  Too bad they ended the companion pass triple benefit  Choose your preferred airline and it'll get you mostly there.  Couple that transfer with some additional Sapphire transfers to United you have definitely a special vacation memory on hand with a week Ritz, First Class United (or any of its partners -- even better), and Park Hyatt (via Chase points) to add a quick  Paris trip from London.

 

[Zaphod]

With chase reserve you can also transfer to AA and SW and some hotel partners as well. They are very simple to use, literally just a click of a single button that says pay in cash vs. points.

I dont worry too much about hacking per se, but will transfer to AA sometimes if I am using door to door regionals as they have a fixed points per travel system vs. a total cost elsewhere.

Just use the points, you probably have a lot of free travel ahead of you. I have been traveling extensively for non fun stuffs this year but luckily have been using points the whole time, it helps a lot.

As far as whats more valuable, obviously it is going to depend on what you value. Most travel cards are 1% on most things, 2-3% in select categories. However, what sets apart travel cards is the lucrative sign up bonuses. After that, cash back (if not points based) is far more versatile. Its just very easy to get a new card every year or so and get a big dose of free travel.

[hightower]

I take advantage of new card bonus offers like the Chase Sapphire rewards card I got earlier this year (I got the big 100k bonus points and it paid for a big chunk of our trip to Hawaii).  I always take the cash back option for that card if I use it because it pays 1.5%.  My wife is going to use a new sapphire card to pay for our house painting project this month.  We'll get $500 cash back for using it one time and then we'll never use it again.  So, I try to look for opportunities like that.

However, the majority of my credit card usage comes from our Delta Skymiles American Express.  Even though technically the card pays 1% in bonus points, we feel we get a lot in return for those points.  We've been bumped up to first class status several times.  We almost always get free upgrades to Delta Comfort.  We get 2 checked bags free each (so we usually walk on to the plane not carrying anything which I love). We have also flown many completely free flights by redeeming those points.  We use the card to book hotels and car rentals as well which often pay double or more in points. So, I feel it is a valuable program and that's why we keep using the card.  We fly a lot so we prefer a card that pays us flight benefits.

[treesrock]

Vagabond MD wrote:

Thanks for all of the responses.

I do use a cash back card (Fidelity) for the majority of my regular credit card functions. The cash reward (2%) gets automatically credited to my Fidelity brokerage account on a monthly basis.

I use Ally credit card (2.2% cash back for gas and groceries) and the Chase Amazon (5% back toward future Amazon purchases).

I was using the Chase Freedom card for the rotating (but limited) 5% back categories, but keeping track of all of this has gotten out of hand and particularly annoying for my wife, who always seemed to be using the wrong card at the wrong time. I have left her with two cards, Ally (Gas and groceries, written in Sharpie on the card ) and Fidelity (everything else).

I have been using the Chase Sapphire Reserve card, primarily for travel and occasionally for dining, and have accumulated nearly 300,000 or so points. Based on what I am reading here, I will probably use the points to purchase two RT flights to London over spring break ($3000 value, based on current pricing) and should have some points left over for other stuff.

I also have Marriott points (over 300,000) which I have been saving/hoarding for a special vacation, but I might as well start spending those down, too, when the occasion arises.

Click to expand...

Vagabond I suggest you check prices on your flight using points on United and British Airways, might be a better deal, might not be.  But worth a look.

[u500_insulin]

I do not look at the fact that reward miles might not be as good as cash back in terms of value. With MD burnout so high, it is nice to look forward to a vacation, and having travel miles forces you to do that. If you get cash back then you might use that money for coffee. It has been shown that experiences lead to more happiness and not "stuff"

 

Use the miles to enjoy your life, do not look at it purely from a mathematical perspective

 

 

[SwanSong]

I use Alaska Miles and the BoA card, which I have settled on as being the right program for us.  They fly into our small airport, and they go the places we want to go and are flexible in redeeming miles, which, for instance, American Airlines simply is not.  For now, you can re-apply frequently for their rewards cards.  It only takes 35k miles to get a round trip to Hawaii, and their rewards card also offers a companion ticket annually, which is really nice.  For us, flights to Hawaii for a family of 4 involve the purchase of a single airline ticket and then $122 for a companion fees and tax.  Minimal work.  Good return.  Convenient.  Am I optimized?  No.  But it works for me.

[RosieQ]

I try and get more than 2 cents per point value for any awards point that I'm using. Since I usually have the cash to buy the product if I need to I break it down mathematically.

1) Shop for your ticket on Google Flights, Kayak, Orbitz etc and get the cash price for the product you would purchase.

2) Check for availability on an awards partner (ie United) and then take the total price of the ticket in cash (see #1 above) divided by the (number of miles needed plus price in fees/0.02).

For example I want to fly from my small town in CA to Lisbon Portugal next year. Cash price for an economy ticket is $1346. United miles would cost 60k miles and $168 in fees. To check and see if it's worth it I would do 1346/(60,000+168/0.02) = 0.019. So about 1.9 cents per mile or more or less a wash. That's usually the case for domestic fares these days. Getting above 2.1 cents usually takes a business class award which I likely wouldn't have paid cash for anyways. I do consciously avoid using miles when they are down in the 1.5 or 1 cent per point range though.

I find that points are more valuable for getting to obscure locations with smaller flights that would have higher ticket prices but are still within a geographic zone that doesn't cost much in points. For example it's only 25k miles to get to Kodiak Island, Alaska which usually has substantially higher cash prices due to multiple connections on small regional flights. Easter Island. Palau.

I did the travel hacking all the time to travel during residency and had some great adventures but now I usually pay cash for economy tickets and then when I get a large enough stash redeem for a nice business class flight once in a while.

[Molecularblonde]

hightower wrote:

I take advantage of new card bonus offers like the Chase Sapphire rewards card I got earlier this year (I got the big 100k bonus points and it paid for a big chunk of our trip to Hawaii).  I always take the cash back option for that card if I use it because it pays 1.5%.  My wife is going to use a new sapphire card to pay for our house painting project this month.  We’ll get $500 cash back for using it one time and then we’ll never use it again.  So, I try to look for opportunities like that.

Click to expand...

StarTrekDoc wrote:

 

Choose your preferred airline and it’ll get you mostly there.  Couple that transfer with some additional Sapphire transfers to United you have definitely a special vacation memory on hand with a week Ritz, First Class United (or any of its partners — even better), and Park Hyatt (via Chase points) to add a quick

I'm not certain if I should post this in a separate thread, as I do not want to detract from the OP's questions....

 

Currently we have two credits cards. A Chase United Mileage Plus MC and an American Express Delta Skymiles card. As someone else said, we too have several hundred miles on both. Physician burn out is a reality and so I try to use the Mike's as incentive to travel.  But we never seem to get any upgrades.

For day-to-day purchases, (gas, groceries, Amazon) I'm using our Wells Fargo debit card. Is there any product that is a debit card that offers cash-back or any other incentives for the user?

 

Also, is the the Chase Saphire card a better product than my current Chase Mileage Plus card? And, if so, can I switch our miles to that from the current Chase card?

Hightower had written above that. It's funny, we never get bumped up to first class or anything like that with the Delta miles card.

Thank you in advance.

MB

[VagabondMD]

treesrock wrote:

Vagabond MD wrote:

Thanks for all of the responses.

I do use a cash back card (Fidelity) for the majority of my regular credit card functions. The cash reward (2%) gets automatically credited to my Fidelity brokerage account on a monthly basis.

I use Ally credit card (2.2% cash back for gas and groceries) and the Chase Amazon (5% back toward future Amazon purchases).

I was using the Chase Freedom card for the rotating (but limited) 5% back categories, but keeping track of all of this has gotten out of hand and particularly annoying for my wife, who always seemed to be using the wrong card at the wrong time. I have left her with two cards, Ally (Gas and groceries, written in Sharpie on the card ) and Fidelity (everything else).

I have been using the Chase Sapphire Reserve card, primarily for travel and occasionally for dining, and have accumulated nearly 300,000 or so points. Based on what I am reading here, I will probably use the points to purchase two RT flights to London over spring break ($3000 value, based on current pricing) and should have some points left over for other stuff.

I also have Marriott points (over 300,000) which I have been saving/hoarding for a special vacation, but I might as well start spending those down, too, when the occasion arises.

Click to expand…

Vagabond I suggest you check prices on your flight using points on United and British Airways, might be a better deal, might not be.  But worth a look.

Click to expand...

I did this, and it confirmed my previous experience and overall impression. The number of United Mileage Plus points for the RT spring break London trip for the preferred date/time is more than going through Chase (130,000 vs. 107,000) and if we flex on the time, slightly better on United (95,000 vs. 107,000). If we were not constrained by school vacations and such, you can go as low as 60,000 RT through United Mileage Plus, but we are so we can't.

We generally have better connections and options flying Delta, compared to United, but unfortunately Delta is not a partner with Chase. Also, Delta is not known to rough up docs nearly as much as United is.

[RogueDadMD]

I'm not intense about the travel hacking, but I have done it many times and involved my wife (who was NOT supportive of the concept at the beginning).

Our everyday card is the Citi Doublecash -- 2% cash back on any purchase.

To make it easy for her, when we're trying to get reward bonuses on a card, I basically hand her the card and tell her to use for every purchase, then when we hit whatever threshold I take it back and she goes back to using the Citi card.  We've done this for multiple cards and as I've made it easy for her she's okay with it (still can't say she is supportive, but she's no longer negative).  It's also saved us tons of money (Chase points, AmEx, points, SWA points and companion pass) with almost no effort.

Unless you are such a high earner that you really don't have a need to pay attention to expenses at this level (such as WCI and above), it certainly makes sense to do it.  A few thousand dollars a year for a few hours of effort is a pretty good payback -- I don't make that much moonlighting, and even if I did, it's less stressful to screw around reading The Points Guy website and update a basic Excel document I use to track this stuff than to pull extra shifts in the ER.

I work extra ER shifts on occasion to pay for things such as fancy vacations without stressing the regular monthly budget.  If I am going to do that than it's only logical to instead spend a small fraction of that time credit card churning for the same purpose and for a higher level of reward.  If you're in a work situation where extra money generating opportunities are not available, then this makes even more sense than doing surveys or trying to find some random side hustle.

I've also ended up with small amounts of leftover points or without giant big trips to use them on -- I've either just let them sit knowing eventually I can use them or just redeemed them for whatever is available.  Just because a point sometimes ends up worth less than 2 cents (the 2% cashback equivalent from my regular card) doesn't mean you shouldn't use it.

[hightower]

Molecularblonde wrote:

hightower wrote:

I take advantage of new card bonus offers like the Chase Sapphire rewards card I got earlier this year (I got the big 100k bonus points and it paid for a big chunk of our trip to Hawaii).  I always take the cash back option for that card if I use it because it pays 1.5%.  My wife is going to use a new sapphire card to pay for our house painting project this month.  We’ll get $500 cash back for using it one time and then we’ll never use it again.  So, I try to look for opportunities like that. 

Click to expand…

StarTrekDoc wrote:

 

Choose your preferred airline and it’ll get you mostly there.  Couple that transfer with some additional Sapphire transfers to United you have definitely a special vacation memory on hand with a week Ritz, First Class United (or any of its partners — even better), and Park Hyatt (via Chase points) to add a quick

I’m not certain if I should post this in a separate thread, as I do not want to detract from the OP’s questions….

 

Currently we have two credits cards. A Chase United Mileage Plus MC and an American Express Delta Skymiles card. As someone else said, we too have several hundred miles on both. Physician burn out is a reality and so I try to use the Mike’s as incentive to travel.  But we never seem to get any upgrades.

For day-to-day purchases, (gas, groceries, Amazon) I’m using our Wells Fargo debit card. Is there any product that is a debit card that offers cash-back or any other incentives for the user?

 

Also, is the the Chase Saphire card a better product than my current Chase Mileage Plus card? And, if so, can I switch our miles to that from the current Chase card?

Hightower had written above that. It’s funny, we never get bumped up to first class or anything like that with the Delta miles card.

Thank you in advance.

MB

Click to expand...

I should have clarified, we spend enough on that card to get us to the "Silver Medallion" status.  That is what gets us the free upgrades.

[Miss Bonnie MD]

treesrock wrote:

Chase Reserve user here, was previously using a Chase Sapphire Preferred prior to the Reserve coming out.  I’m surprised to hear people using this card’s points to book through the Chase portal, I’ve always found that the points are worth much more when transferring to Chase travel partners, particularly United and Southwest.

The point transfer one-to-one, and occur instantly, so if you see a flight that is cheap on the points you can immediately transfer the points and book.  Takes a little more work but you save WAY more money this way.  But then again, the Chase portal is super easy, plus you then have Chase travel support in case anything goes wrong.  But I personally transfer to the travel partners.  I’ve paid for numerous round trip flights with points alone using this method.

But to respond to the OP, based on your current use of points, I think you would be MUCH better off using a cash back card, since you don’t seem motivated to “travel-hack”.  It takes a lot of effort and unless you enjoy it, its not worth it and you might as well make things easy on yourself and mindlessly get cash back.

Click to expand...

it just never worked out for me to xfer points. Can only really do certain airlines too.

[Mminter]

My opinion:

 

Pick a credit card sponsored by an airline company, for example Southwest credit card. It is very easy to redeem and accumulate points.

I had other cards that were a "pain" to redeem and so far I am happy with this one. They automatically transfer your points to your airline company(Southwest in this case)  so when you buy you go to the airline company and its right there all your points.

 

 

[eyeballboy]

Redeeming miles through airlines is a major hassle.  Capital One gives 2% back for travel.  You purchase whatever travel you want on any airline, any hotel and then once it posts to your credit card statement, you use the purchase eraser to use the miles to give you the credit back.  No black outs, no specific airline/hotel, you buy the best deal/airline/hotel whenever you want and Capital One reimburses you with your accrued points.  Easy-peasy!  Hands down the best way to do it IMO.

[Jenn]

Easy for me- tiny town with one airline serving us. And usually buying from them is smartest way, and I use my gold AMX card to buy tickets anyway. SO I sign in, make my reservation, and they ask 'paying with miles or $?' and I use miles if I have enough for the schedule I want. Otherwise rack up more points paying with $ for the trip.

Why not take the time when you're likely to have luck (non busy travel holiday travel) to get your ticket via the miles program? WOrse case scenario you wasted 10 minutes. Best, you save a few $1000 and prevent losing the miles used.