Points and Miles Primer
What are they? Why use them?
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For all the travel we do, I find it crazy how late we entered the points and miles game. Had I known earlier what I know now, I could have visited more places for less cost and had even more enhanced experiences. As with most things nowadays, there are countless websites and YouTube videos/channels devoted to earning and maximizing points and miles. To not duplicate all the wonderful advice out there, this page just offers a brief overview of the points and miles game. My various blog posts cover our personal card choices, perks of different card types, maximizing points & miles usage, and co-branded vs. non-co-branded cards. My wife and I thoroughly enjoy traveling with each other, pack light, and work hard to secure travel bargains.
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By “bargains”, I don’t necessarily mean “cheap” or “inexpensive”, but rather good value. For example, an Ibis Hotel in Paris is a LOT less expensive than the Intercontinental le Grand. But, if we can leverage/use points for the Intercontinental, we get a five-star experience for much less than the Ibis (or even “free”). Similarly, while I may be able to fly from Miami to Madrid for $500 roundtrip in economy, if I can use miles (or points) to upgrade to business/first class for a few hundred dollars more, I do it, because those premium tickets might cost thousands of dollars if bought outright, making a points or miles redemption a great value. I may even use my miles to purchase tickets outright if it represents a good value/bargain.
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First things first: miles are what you redeem (and usually earn) on airlines, while points are earned for everything else (like hotels, rental cars, shopping, etc.) It can be confusing, because most airlines have a miles and points earning structure, even though you only redeem miles. Even more confusing, some non-co-branded credit cards earn you miles, while others earn you points – each of which are often redeemed via their proprietary travel portal or transferred to another loyalty program. Still, for redemption purposes, I think of “miles” as related to airlines and “points” as related hotels & shopping. But, I do NOT use points/miles for shopping, as I believe it to be a poor value. I do earn miles and points for shopping, however, by maximizing how I shop/what I buy.
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Second thing: each hotel chain, airline, and credit card company have their own earning structures. And if you’re going to play the game, you need to learn them. Or at least those companies you frequent.
Internationally, the big hotel chains are Choice, Hilton, IHG, Marriott, and Wyndham. There’s also Accor, Best Western, Hyatt, and Radisson, as well as lesser-known/smaller brands like Sonesta – each of which have their own co-branded credit card assortment. Of course, you also have other lodging alternatives like AirB&B, VRBO, and locally-owned/non-affiliated hotels in most places.
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The US hosts the big three airlines: American, Delta, and United. These are each part of an “Alliance”, and as such, usually share award ticket availability with partner airlines. American is part of Oneworld, Delta has SkyTeam, and United founded the Star Alliance. Some airlines, like Etihad, are not affiliated with an Alliance (yet!), and have their own frequent flyer structure, though you can often redeem your points or miles on those airlines via one of the big three, or through your credit card’s travel portal (like American Express or Chase or Citi).
Some airlines, like Southwest, Spirit, and Frontier do not belong to an alliance either, and not only have their own rewards structures, but their own co-branded credit cards. Generally speaking, when it comes to airlines, the higher your elite tier (e.g., Silver, Gold, etc.) and class of service (e.g., economy vs. business vs. first), the more miles/points you earn. Keep in mind that each airline also has different hubs, and flying a non-hub airline has advantages and disadvantages.
Pro Tip: For airfare redemptions, you can also look at flying from less popular airports. For example, Heathrow has some really, really high taxes, even for reward flights. And flying from Edinburgh or Gatwick can reduce those. You just have to get to those airports (a short, cheap flight usually cheaper than the taxes and fees on the reward ticket). Additionally, you could look at another airport less than a 2-hour flight from London, like Paris, or Copenhagen, or Helsinki, where you can easily hop to from London, and begin your redemption journey from there for both a lot less in taxes and perhaps better availability. Flying from the largest and most convenient airport is not always the cheapest option!
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In the US, for credit cards you’re looking at (mainly): American Express, MasterCard, and Visa offered by the larger banking corporations, each of which have their own cards as well as multiple co-branded cards. Co-branded cards usually offer some sort of status and/or extra perks with a partner of some sort, like an airline or hotel, or a merchant, like Amazon, Disney, or Target.
Major banking corporations in the reward credit card mix specifically for the US include: American Express, Bank of America, Barclays, Capital One, Chase, Citi, Discover, and US Bank, as well as your local banks and credit unions, who each issue a variety of different, usually non-co-branded, cards. Non-co-branded cards usually offer “transferable” points that you often redeem via a “travel portal” (like American Express’ or Chase’s or Citi’s non-branded cards), or give you cash back.
Each card also might come in different “levels”, like Gold or Platinum. These usually represent different levels of service and perks, as well as associated fees. That's right: most credit cards that offer decent perks will also come with an annual fee, anywhere from $29 to several hundred dollars (or more).
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To further complicate things, most every card offers a sign-up bonus, some of which can be pretty lucrative, and some people sign up for many cards so they can get a lot of bonuses. Even though you can find dozens of stories where people have 15 or 20 (or more!) different credit cards (presumably to rack up bonuses and earn lots of points and miles fast), I believe you really only need a few cards to play the points & miles game well and extract maximum benefits from them. Plus a lot of brainpower and time...
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