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Started By
Message
Italy trip 2022: best credit card points program to start now
Posted on 2/17/19 at 8:42 am
Posted on 2/17/19 at 8:42 am
Want to start a rotation of taking my kids on a big Europe trip every 5 years. Planning on our first trip to be Italy in 2022. I'm not trying to plan or book anything now but want to start early accumulating points now. We currently have a credit card that gives 2% cash back on anything. I could potentially use this and build up $7k-$10k over the next few years and just cash that out but I wanted to see if there is another program that would give us better "returns" as far as travel.
Note: we don't travel much during the year for work and most vacations are driving vacations and we stay in condos or cabins or airb&b so we really don't have a chance to build up miles or hotel points. This would be 99% based on purchases.
ETA: i am loyal to no airline or hotel program. Only loyal to price and efficiency when it comes to travel.
Thanks!
Note: we don't travel much during the year for work and most vacations are driving vacations and we stay in condos or cabins or airb&b so we really don't have a chance to build up miles or hotel points. This would be 99% based on purchases.
ETA: i am loyal to no airline or hotel program. Only loyal to price and efficiency when it comes to travel.
Thanks!
This post was edited on 2/17/19 at 8:46 am
9
Posted on 2/17/19 at 8:50 am to poochie
Started my research here. We watch their travel vlogs all the time and are very good. Kind of cheesy but they have over 500k followers and know their 'ish:
LINK
It depends on a lot of factors: what your objective is? Carrying a balance?
We ended up with the Chase Sapphire Reserve Visa card. We're moving to put all recurring costs on like utilities, travel and entertainment. Key as always is to try to pay it off or you dilute the value.
LINK
It depends on a lot of factors: what your objective is? Carrying a balance?
We ended up with the Chase Sapphire Reserve Visa card. We're moving to put all recurring costs on like utilities, travel and entertainment. Key as always is to try to pay it off or you dilute the value.
Posted on 2/17/19 at 8:57 am to Nole Man
Thanks, i will check them out. Never (or rarely for strategic purposes) carry a balance. Also, building a house between now and then and will POUND my credit card(s) as much as i can to build up some rewards (cash or otherwise). We have almost everything we can attached to our card.
Posted on 2/17/19 at 9:02 am to poochie
also, i must admit that i have no idea how "miles" or "points" work. Say you get 50,000 miles for signing up for a card. What is that worth? Is that transferred to a cash equivalent or distance traveled equivalent?
Posted on 2/17/19 at 9:18 am to poochie
I would hand the card to my wife and tell her to go out and find some sales and se how much money she can save me. She would come back with enough points for a round trip ticket to Europe.
Posted on 2/17/19 at 9:33 am to geauxpurple
Posted on 2/17/19 at 9:38 am to poochie
Chase ecosystem.
You have a 2 player strategy.
1. Both you and wife sign up for Chase sapphire preferred. Hit MS.
2. You transfer points to wife.
3. You downgrade CSP to freedom unlimited
4. You get Sapphire Reserve, hit MS
5. Have wife transfer all points to you (should be like 125k - 150k transferred)
6. Now at almost 200k after your minimum spend.
7. Have wife downgrade to Freedom.
8. Wife applies for CSR. Hit MS.
9. Should have like 300 to 350 k
You have a 2 player strategy.
1. Both you and wife sign up for Chase sapphire preferred. Hit MS.
2. You transfer points to wife.
3. You downgrade CSP to freedom unlimited
4. You get Sapphire Reserve, hit MS
5. Have wife transfer all points to you (should be like 125k - 150k transferred)
6. Now at almost 200k after your minimum spend.
7. Have wife downgrade to Freedom.
8. Wife applies for CSR. Hit MS.
9. Should have like 300 to 350 k
Posted on 2/17/19 at 9:44 am to poochie
quote:
also, i must admit that i have no idea how "miles" or "points" work. Say you get 50,000 miles for signing up for a card. What is that worth? Is that transferred to a cash equivalent or distance traveled equivalent?
FWIW I received 60,000 miles on a Delta Skymiles AMex card that I got last spring. Just booked 2 RT tix to Newark in Sept. Each ticket was 19,000 points + $11 cash.
Posted on 2/17/19 at 9:50 am to CptBengal
What does Hit MS mean?
Posted on 2/17/19 at 10:45 am to poochie
Complete the minimum spend (MS) for bonus
Posted on 2/17/19 at 12:10 pm to poochie
What airport are you flying from and what airlines have hubs there?If you need AA miles a Chase card does you no good. Citi is the path to AA miles. Chase is the path to United miles along with SW, JetBlue and others. American Express gets you Delta Miles, Jetblue, British Airways and others.
Posted on 2/17/19 at 12:18 pm to VABuckeye
MSY which is a hub for pretty much nothing.
Does the price of a ticket affect the number of points needed? Like a flight today may cost $1000 but there may be a sale that drops it to $500. Do you shop flight prices when using miles?
Does the price of a ticket affect the number of points needed? Like a flight today may cost $1000 but there may be a sale that drops it to $500. Do you shop flight prices when using miles?
Posted on 2/17/19 at 12:20 pm to CptBengal
quote:
You have a 2 player strategy.
1. Both you and wife sign up for Chase sapphire preferred. Hit MS.
2. You transfer points to wife.
3. You downgrade CSP to freedom unlimited
4. You get Sapphire Reserve, hit MS
You've been out the game awhile because you have to wait four years now to do the CSP/CSR shuffle.
Posted on 2/17/19 at 12:36 pm to poochie
quote:
MSY which is a hub for pretty much nothing.
Does the price of a ticket affect the number of points needed? Like a flight today may cost $1000 but there may be a sale that drops it to $500. Do you shop flight prices when using miles?
Class of service affects number of points needed and every airline is different.
For instance, I went to Italy last September. AA in business class was 57500 miles each way. Iberia was 32000 Avios from Madrid to JFK. Even with the flight from Naples to Madrid for a couple days stopover it still cost me a lot less miles than using AA miles to get home from Italy.
Find out which currency (miles or points) get you there for the least amount in the class that you want to fly in. Avoid flying at peak times. It costs more points/miles.
It's not that difficult a game but it does require research to get the best redemptions. For flights overseas for me that is getting a business class seat for as few miles as possible but still fitting my schedule.
Posted on 2/17/19 at 12:48 pm to poochie
Get Chase Reserve, Freedom, and Freedom Unlimited for all your spend. Also get Amex Platinum ($50 net per year and tons of value).
Posted on 2/17/19 at 1:56 pm to Teddy Ruxpin
quote:
You've been out the game awhile because you have to wait four years now to do the CSP/CSR shuffle.
shite. I went chase early but have maxed out that ecosystem and will only be under 5/24 every 4 years to get SW Comp.
That sucks for new users. I loved it up and saw they sent from 24 to 48
Posted on 2/17/19 at 4:07 pm to poochie
Posted on 2/17/19 at 5:17 pm to poochie
quote:
We currently have a credit card that gives 2% cash back on anything. I could potentially use this and build up $7k-$10k
If you are spending $100k/ year on a personal credit card you shouldn't be worried about freaking $7-10k man.
Honestly that's $150/ month. I'd personally bank the 2% and just save yourself.
Posted on 2/17/19 at 5:40 pm to baldona
quote:
Honestly that's $150/ month. I'd personally bank the 2% and just save yourself.
He would be giving up a shitton of travel rewards by doing that lame arse cash back.
Posted on 2/17/19 at 6:21 pm to poochie
I did it with United Mileage Plus, flew my wife and myself for New Orleans to Zurich for free using points. Took a train from Zurich to Milan then Venice. Flew wife, daughter, and myself back for free as well. I'm currently saving up points to go to Paris & Amsterdam.
With tge special sign up bonus it doesn't take long to accumulate points.
With tge special sign up bonus it doesn't take long to accumulate points.
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