Sign Up For A Frequent Flyer Account (or other rewards program).

Welcome to the world of points and miles!  We’re sharing how ordinary people can travel to extraordinary places with the use of airline miles and hotel points.  In this series we lay out steps to save money and travel more.  These steps include: Getting Started with Points and MilesLook and Learn Before You LeapDecide What Type of Reward Points You Want to Begin EarningSign-Up For a Frequent Flyer AccountEarn Your First PointsEarn Points Through Credit Card Sign Ups- Part 1- Count the CostEarn Points Through Credit Card Sign Ups- Part 2- Ten Steps to FollowEarn Points Through Credit Card SpendingEarn…

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Booking Our Outbound Flight to Dubai and The Maldives

We’re planning a two-week trip to Dubai and the Maldives.    For the outbound flight we decided to fly Emirate.  Emirate operates a non-stop flight from LAX to Dubai on their A380.  We booked an award ticket that included a one week layover.  We would fly from Los Angeles to Dubai, stay in Dubai for a week, and then continue on from Dubai to the Maldives.  Both of these flights are allowed on a single award booking. When it comes to booking award flights on Emirates, there are several points and miles options.  The most straightforward approach is to use Emirates Skyward miles to book the flight.  This…

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Decide What Type of Reward Points You Want to Begin Earning

Welcome to the world of points and miles!  We’re sharing how Ordinary People can travel to Extraordinary Places by using airline miles and hotel points.  In this series we lay out steps to save money and travel more.  Here are the topics we cover.  Getting Started with Points and MilesLook and Learn Before You LeapDecide What Type of Reward Points You Want to Begin EarningSign-Up For a Frequent Flyer AccountEarn Your First PointsEarn Points Through Credit Card Sign Ups- Part 1- Count the CostEarn Points Through Credit Card Sign Ups- Part 2- Ten Steps to FollowEarn Points Through Credit Card SpendingEarn Points Through…

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Use your Airline Fee Credits in 2020

On January 1st, the clock has reset for many credit cards which reimburse airline expenses.  The reimbursement normally comes in the form of a statement credit on your credit card bill.  With the start of the new year, it’s time to begin planning for 2020.  I have four credit cards that offer airline reimbursements, all of these reset each year on January 1st.  Collectively, these four cards offer $650 worth of airline incidentals.  So using them is important. My breakdown is as follows:  American Express Platinum Card - $200 of Airline creditsAmerican Express Gold Card - $100 of Airline creditsAmerican Express Hilton Aspire -…

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Why My Top Credit Card For Earning Hilton Points Is Not A Card That Earns Hilton Points

We want to help ordinary people travel extraordinary places by using points and miles. We especially enjoy sharing lesser-known approaches to earning reward points.  Sometimes the most obvious way to earn points, isn’t the most effective, for example… Next month we’ll be staying in an overwater bungalow in the Maldives.  This stay was booked using Hilton points.  The most obvious way to earn Hilton points, is to sign up and use an American Express Hilton Card.  Amex Hilton Cards earn Hilton points for each dollar spent. They are solid cards, in fact…I have one! But, my top credit card for earning Hilton points is…

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Getting Started with Points and Miles- Look and Learn Before Your Leap

Welcome to the world of points and miles!  We’re sharing how ordinary people can travel to extraordinary places with the use of airline miles and hotel points.  In this series we lay out steps to save money and travel more.  These steps include: Getting Started with Points and MilesLook and Learn Before You LeapDecide What Type of Reward Points You Want to Begin EarningSign-Up For a Frequent Flyer AccountEarn Your First PointsEarn Points Through Credit Card Sign Ups- Part 1- Count the CostEarn Points Through Credit Card Sign Ups- Part 2- Ten Steps to FollowEarn Points Through Credit Card SpendingEarn…

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Getting Started in Points and Miles

Do you dream of traveling?  Want to travel more for less?  You’re in the right place!  Welcome to the world of points and miles.  Points and miles can help ordinary people travel to extraordinary places.  In this series we’ll look at practical steps to earn miles and save money while traveling more.  To get started, let’s do some dreaming… Where can Points and Miles take You?   Chances are you found this article because you want to travel.  If you could go anywhere, where can points and miles take you? Perhaps you dream of a visit to Paris, the city of lights.  Maybe it’s a full-blown family vacation to…

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My Current Strategy for Earning Points and Miles through Online Shopping Portals

I recently did a post on using online shopping portals to earn airline miles without flying.  That post was followed up with an article on earning cashback via shopping portals.  In this article I share my current shopping portal strategy and why I’m choosing this approach.  Over the years I’ve earned both airline miles, and cashback.  My current focus is this:  Earning Membership Reward points through the Rakuten shopping portal. Rakuten (formerly called Ebates) is best known as a cash back site, but now offers the option to earn Membership Reward points.  Membership rewards are the flexible point currency of American Express, and great for what I like to do, use them…

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Quick Tip: Consolidate Your gogo wifi passes prior to closing your CNB Crystal Visa Infinite credit card

CNB has recently slashed benefits on their Crystal Visa Infinite credit card.  Christmas is pretty much cancelled.  As a result, when the annual fee comes around, many card holders may chose not to renew their card.  Here’s a quick tip:  Consolidate Your gogo wifi passes prior to closing your CNB Card Each CNB card comes with 12 gogo passes. We have a total of four CNB cards (3 authorized users) so collectively we have 48 passes.  Prior to cancelling the cards, we went to the dedicated page on the gogo website and loaded all the passes into a single gogo account.  A separate gogo account is…

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Earn Cash Back When Shopping Online

Do you shop online? If so, maximize your money by shopping through an online portal. Online shopping portals reward you for using their portal as the starting point for your online purchases. This reward comes in the form of cash, airline miles or other reward currencies. I recently did a post on earning frequent flyer miles by using an airline's online shopping portal. In this post we'll look at earning cash back. Earning Cash versus Airline Miles Through Online Shopping Our blog is about travel, so why would someone who likes to travel, consider earning cash instead of airline miles?…

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