— Earn redeem Relax
An Introduction To Travel Using Credit Card Points & Airline Miles
Credit card points and frequent flier miles are rewards offered by banks and airlines to their customers. They are earned by spending money on credit cards, flying on airlines, or as perks and bonuses through special offers. Your points and miles can be redeemed for goods and services through the loyalty program’s redemption portal, applied to the cost of purchases, or used for travel. Credit card points can also be redeemed for cash back on your balance or transferred to partner loyalty programs. Some merchants, such as Amazon, even allow you to use credit card points right from their checkout page.
Using credit card points on travel is one of the most popular redemption options because banks and their partners offer some of the best transfer rates available.
To truly take advantage of this and maximize your points value you need to swiftly navigate through a complex matrix of award programs, redemption options, and fluctuating transfer rates. On top of that, earning points is not as simple as it used to be and there are opportunities and loopholes available that banks try to hide from you.
Yes, it’s confusing, but Award Magic has your back. We can help you understand how to earn the most points, work through redeeming those points, and help you relax when booking that reward travel so you can start loving your trip before you even walk out the door.
When is the best time to book award tickets?
There is lots of advice out there about how to get the cheapest plane ticket possible. Often, people confuse the concept of booking on a Tuesday or Wednesday with actually flying on a Tuesday or Wednesday (spoiler alert: the latter…
– Earn
How To Earn Reward Points
Points and miles are earned through credit card spending and flying. Accrual in the golden age of reward travel was straightforward – miles earned were miles flown. Nowadays, there are two ways to look at maximizing your points earnings. Using particular credit cards for your regular spending or big sign-up bonuses. Below we discuss these two methods in more detail.
Right Card For The Right Purchase
Credit cards with reward programs offer points when you use the card. The standard rate for a points-earning credit card is 1 point for every dollar spent. So a $50 purchase = 50 points. Many cards have category bonuses that earn extra points for specific purchases. Some cards give 3x the points on gas; others give 5x the points on flights. There are also co-branded credit cards that link a bank and a company so purchases made on that card earn extra points towards the company’s reward program.
To really maximize your points, try using a card for purchases that have a bonus in that category. If you pair the right card with your spending habits, you’ll be surprised at how fast your reward balance grows.
Pro
Regular spending is going to happen anyway, might as well make the most of it.
Con
Keeping track of all the bonuses and what card to use when isn’t always easy, especially when bonus categories are constantly changing.
Sign-Up Bonuses
Credit card companies like to entice new customers by offering big sign-up bonuses when you are approved for a new card. The bonuses we’re talking about are received after meeting a specific spending threshold within a certain amount of time. Taking advantage of these offers is a great way to score a lot of points quickly. Bonus offers fluctuate so tracking them and applying at the right time will really boost your earnings.
Pro
You will quickly earn lots of points in one lump sum.
Con
Tracking the bonus offers and calculating if you’re going to meet the spending threshold can require hours of research and planning.
How AM Helps
At Award Magic, our job is to stay on top of the points and miles award programs.
We offer a one-on-one consultation service for crafting a strategy that will maximize your rewards based on your spending habits and the current deals out there. We will tell you exactly which cards to get and how to use them in order to ensure you will meet your points earning goal.
How To Earning Points Through Regular Spending
What is the smartest way to earn credit card points? The best way to earn credit card points is sign-up bonuses and maximizing your regular spending habits to earn more for the same purchases. Sign-up bonuses are a large chunk of…
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How To Redeem Reward Points
Now it’s time for the best part about having reward points, using them! Whether you are looking to find the most worthwhile reward ticket or simply getting cash back, your points are worth money. The value of your points can be calculated by dividing the cash price of whatever you’re using them for by the points required.
The higher the points value the more money those points were worth. Credit cards have redemption portals that are exactly what they sound like, where you redeem your points for goods, services, and exclusive experiences. There are three general redemption categories: cash, shopping, and travel. Below we’ll discuss these in more detail.
Cash Back
Cash back is a reward offered by many credit cards where a percent of a purchase comes back to you as a statement credit. Sometimes you have to go into their portal to apply it; other times it is automatically credited back to you.
Pro
This is a simple, straightforward way of redeeming your points.
Con
Statement credits often lead to a low point value, usually less than 1 cent per point.
Shopping
Shopping can include using points for gift cards, deals with specific companies, or through a merchant’s checkout page.
Pro
It is a straightforward way of redeeming points at a medium value and getting something expensive for free feels good.
Con
Shopping is restricted to the options in the redemption portal and it’s generally true that using points through a merchant’s checkout page will lead to a lower points value.
Travel
Travel usually provides the highest points value compared to the other redemption options. Credit card companies have their own travel portals and often allow you to take their points and transfer them to their airline and hotel partners. We’ll dive deeper into this in the next section.
When to use points vs cash
People tend to ask me when I know to use points for a particular flight booking instead of paying for it with cash outright. My standard answer is that you should do whatever you want with your points to ensure…
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How To Travel With Points
Whether you are looking to maximize the value of your points or find the most worthwhile reward for cashing them in, you can’t go wrong using points to travel. There are two ways to use points for travel, using the credit card’s travel portal or transferring your points from your credit card to a partner airline or hotel chain. We go into both options below.
Credit Card Travel Portals
Credit card reward programs have built in portals where you can use your points for many travel purchases including cars, hotels, and flights. You can redeem your points simply by logging into your account and searching the options.
Pro
Travel portals are straightforward and often offer incentives you can take advantage of.
Con
You will generally redeem your points at a lower value than if you transferred them.
Transferring Points To Airlines
Many credit card companies have a list of reward transfer partners. This means you can use an airline’s website or reward flight search engine to find the cheapest flight available for tickets on your preferred airline and use your card’s points to book it. The process of searching, calculating, and comparing tickets to maximize your points value requires navigating partnerships and fluctuating transfer rates.
Pro
Your points will get higher value than average when used properly.
Con
Your points can only be transferred to carriers that are your credit card transfer partners.
How AM Helps
We make sure to regularly read what is new and trending in the points and miles world. By keeping tabs on the current transfer bonuses, airline deals, and under the radar partnership bookings, our experience and expertise will ensure you get the maximum value out of your points.
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Transfer bonuses: what are they are why are they useful?
There are two different types of currencies used when you are booking award tickets: airline miles or credit card points. Some people fuse those two currencies into one concept when, in reality, they are very different. The basic difference is: Miles…
From workshops to booking the trip of a lifetime, Award Magic offers a variety of services to help you earn, redeem, and use your points on travel.
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