Getting the most out of Award Travel

Traveling is expensive. Traveling around the globe with a number of stops in a number of countries and cities, way more expensive. Obviously you can cut down on costs through free tours and entertainment or staying in hostels once you arrive, but the costs of getting there are hard to avoid. That's where loyalty credit cards and reward travel points come in handy. Most award programs (Delta) take a really long time to build up a number of points to actually be useful, especially if you're like me and do not travel for work or earn points any way other than personal travel, but there are some really good deals you can latch on to if you get it while the time is right.

For my around the world trip, I was fortunate enough to already have a Delta Platinum American Express card that I have been earning points and status on for the last few years. I had 200K points to kick off the trip which is great, and very much not enough. The Delta AMEX does have an annual fee of $195, but it also comes with free checked bags, higher priority boarding status, and a companion pass for anywhere in the US, so if you're smart about it, the fee will pay for itself. If you are based in Atlanta or one of Delta's hub cities, I highly recommend this card. Another big plus is that a couple of times a year they will do a huge sign up bonus of 70K miles and 10K MQMs (almost halfway to status just for getting the card), while the normal offer is usually half that. I think it's usually March and November months for this deal, but don't hold me to that. And if you need a referral, I'm happy to help you out!

I also opened a Citi Thank You Rewards card which gives you 50K points if you spend $4000 in the first three months and earns double and trip points on travel, gas and dining purchases. And finally, because I am an avid follower of #TPG, I opened a Chase Sapphire Preferred card. This card earns you 50K points after $4000 in spend as well, but it also is the ultimate travel card. I got an additional 10K points for referring a friend to this card, which you can do up to 50K points, so get all your friends on board.

So, I started my travel planning with roughly 310K miles to use towards limiting expenses so I could put my money towards the more fun things, like scuba diving, bungee jumping, koala and kangaroo petting, etc. The biggest thing to take note of, is making sure that the points to dollar ratio made sense and getting the most out of your points. There is no reason to use points on a $30 puddle jumping flight from Malaysia to Phuket, Thailand. Use your points on the long haul flights and upgrade where possible. I am going to have a 12 hour flight from Bangkok to Paris which is normally a $700 one way ticket on Air France, but 80K delta miles got me a first class lay flat seat that will likely be more luxurious than some of the places I am staying. I also used only 30K United points (transferable from your Chase card) for Zagreb back to Atlanta on Turkish Airlines and 30K New Zealand Air (transferable from Citi Thank you) points for Honolulu to Auckland and from Melbourne to Singapore another 30K points on Emirates (transferable from Citi Thank You). All flights combined I spent less than $500, which opens up thousands of dollars to spend on the adventure part of the trip. More importantly, I still had points to spare and Chase and Citi cards work for hotels, too. I will let you know how that booking goes and if the rewards are worth it.

The great thing about Citi Thank You and Chase are that they have portals where you can also trade points for a value with other reward programs, and continue earning rewards with those programs at the same time. For example, I transferred to United points to book travel, but I can still earn United miles on my flight getting me ready for the next trip I take. So many benefits in these cards and #TPG does a really good job of breaking each card down so you can select the one that makes the most sense for you (do you prefer luxury travel and airport lounges? Are you looking for travel insurance through your credit card? etc).

Happy credit card shopping!

#chasesaphirepreferred #CITIthankyou #deltaamex #rewardtravel #skymiles