Category Archives: Credit Cards

The Big Three Points Currencies – Hedging Against Future Devaluations

February 8, 2014 Point A 9 Comments

Periodic devaluations of miles and points programs are a fact of life (check out my Burn Points Baby Burn post for a further discussion of this topic). If you’re going to play the Pointing “game,” you should be aware that one day you can wake up and find one of your “anchor” loyalty programs will suddenly be worth a whole lot less (as happened to me with the recent United Devaluation). However, there are ways you can blunt the impact of these occurrences.

Specifically, you can participate in a loyalty program that doesn’t lock you into a single airline or hotel brand. As I try to hedge against future potential devaluations, I’ve found it useful to direct my spending towards accumulating the following “Points Currencies.”

Ultimate Rewards points can be transferred on a 1:1 basis into the following airline and hotel loyalty programs:

In addition, you can choose to transfer your points to yourself, spouse or domestic partner.

The great thing about the Starwood Preferred Guest program is that you can redeem Starpoints at over 1,100 hotels & resorts in nearly 100 countries worldwide. Starwood has a broad geographic footprint and brand diversity. The major Starwood Brands include Sheraton, Westin, W Hotels, Le Meridien, St. Regis, Four Points and several others.

You can also transfer your Starpoints (in the majority of cases on a 1:1 basis) into the frequent flyer programs of the following airlines:

Plus, for every 20,000 Starpoints you transfer you receive a Bonus of an additional 5,000 points! In addition, the Starwood Preferred Guest program offers a Member-to-Member Transfer feature. This allows a member of the same household to move Starpoints between accounts. The terms for such a transfer state “Both accounts must have been active with the same address on each for at least 30 days.”

Finally, the American Express Membership Rewards program further expands your options for both airline …

… and hotel transfer partners.

As you can see, by collecting one or a combination of these Points Currencies you not only expand your redemption options but also protect yourself by spreading the risk across different programs. That way, a major devaluation doesn’t have to be a miles & points “extinction level event.”

But how do you collect these “Points Currencies”? Stayed tuned for a couple of my future posts where I provide you with some options and ways to maximize your Pointing opportunities.

How about you? Do you accumulate any of the Big Three Points Currencies? What do you think of the programs?

Credit Cards, Pointing, Starwood

Starwood Starpoints Starstruck – The Mai Tai Made Me Do It

September 1, 2013 Point A 8 Comments

There are some things that drive a man to drink. Then there are those drinks that drive a man to collect points.

I’ve been a Starwood Preferred Guest member for several years and carry the hotel loyalty program’s branded American Express Card. Although I’ve collected Starpoints in the past and have used them to redeem a number awards, this is one program that I haven’t been paying a lot of attention to lately.

As I mentioned in my earlier post about my Workhouse Cards, much of my Pointing activity has focused on the accumulation of United MileagePlus Miles and Chase Ultimate Rewards Points. United is my “home” airline and the MileagePlus program has enabled me to redeem great awards such as a couple of First Class seats on the carrier’s Star Alliance partner Lufthansa (check out my earlier posts on my experience at Lufthansa’s First Class Terminal and my flight experience in Lufthansa First Class for more details).

Then, late last year I wrote about how I became Hot for Hilton and how its HHonors program became one of the cornerstones for my Pointing efforts. However, as I mentioned in my last post (Burn Points Baby Burn), only a few months later the HHonors program implemented a massive devaluation. At this point, I was a free agent again and ready to look elsewhere for Pointing opportunities.

Ironically, we were staying at the Embassy Suites Waikiki Beach Walk during our Hawaii vacation this past May. We were scheduled to attend a Luau at the Royal Hawaiian and popped by the hotel to scope out the venue. We decided to take a break and have a drink so we ducked into the hotel’s Mai Tai Bar where they gave us a beach side table with this view …

I immediately fell in love with the place and knew I HAD to stay here one day … the hotel not just the bar. I had my Starwood Preferred Guest American Express Card on me and was able to earn double points for all of my drinks since the Royal Hawaiian is a Starwood property. After I made the switch from Mai Tais to Pina Coladas, I was feeling relaxed, enjoying the view of sun and surf and was reminded of the value of the Starwood Preferred Guest program.

The great thing about the Starwood network is that you can redeem Starpoints at over 1,100 hotels & resorts in nearly 100 countries worldwide. Starwood has a broad geographic footprint and brand diversity. The major Starwood Brands include Sheraton, Westin, W Hotels, Le Meridien, St. Regis, Four Points and several others. This program is a great complement to the Hilton HHonors network for your hotel Pointing activities. If there’s not a Hilton where you traveling then there will likely be Starwood Hotel.

You can also transfer your Starpoints (in the majority of cases on a 1:1 basis) into the frequent flyer programs of the following airlines:

Source: Starwood Preferred Guest

Plus, for every 20,000 Starpoints you transfer you receive a Bonus of an additional 5,000 points! This ability to transfer points makes the Starwood Preferred Guest American Express Card a great complement to the Chase Sapphire Preferred Visa and its Ultimate Rewards program which also allows you transfer your points into a variety of airline and hotel programs. More details on the Sapphire card can be found in my earlier blog entry on My Workhorse Cards.

Finally, the Starwood Preferred Guest program offers a Member-to-Member Transfer feature. This allows a member of the same household to move Starpoints between accounts. The terms for such a transfer state “Both accounts must have been active with the same address on each for at least 30 days.” With such a feature, your household can pool your points to achieve awards faster as I outlined in my blog post Feeding the Points Kitty.

So how will Starpoints get me back to the Royal Hawaiian for those Mai Tais? The hotel is charging $450 or 20,000 Starpoints per night for a Standard Garden View Room in early May. Therefore, we will need a total of 40,000 points for a weekend stay. The Starwood Preferred Guest American Express Card is a great way to get us the Starpoints that we need.

I already have the Starwood Preferred Guest American Express but my Partner F does not. Fortunately, American Express is running a special sign up bonus of 30,000 Starpoints through September 3, 2013 (note: If you’re not ready to pull the trigger on this application yet, the “regular” sign up bonus will be 25,000 Starpoints after the deadline expires). You receive 10,000 Starpoints after your first purchase and an additional 20,000 Starpoints after you spend $5,000 on the card within six months. Once F has met his spending requirements on the card he will have received a total of 35,000 Starpoints (e.g. the bonus points as well as points earned from meeting the minimum spending requirement). I currently have 7,400 points in my SPG account so I can then transfer 5,000 points to F so that we will have a total of 40,000 Starpoints for us to redeem for that weekend in Honolulu.

Aah, I love the smell of a great new credit card application in the morning … especially one that will get me back to that beach in Waikiki!

Note: I am neither an employee of Starwood or American Express nor do I receive any compensation from recommending this card. I just think the Starwood Preferred Guest American Express Card would be a great addition to your arsenal of Pointing tools. Also, I am not a financial advisor so be sure to consult a registered financial professional if you have questions regarding your personal financial situation or the use of credit cards. You can learn more about the Starwood Preferred Guest American Express Card at this link.

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Awards, Credit Cards, Pointing

Feeding the Points Kitty

July 26, 2013 Point A 8 Comments

Wikipedia has this to say about a Kitty:

1) May refer to Cat (animal), a small carnivorous mammal of the subspecies Felis silvestris catus
2) In poker terminology, a pool of money built by collecting small amounts from certain pots, often used to buy refreshments, cards, and so on
3) In Pointing terminology, refers to the place where travel fanatics like me stash their hard earned miles and points

Yes, I have a Kitty (refer to Definition #3 above). As a matter of fact, I have several Kitties where I store the miles and points I’ve accumulated. Oh, and to help fund the dream vacation I mentioned in my last post, I even tapped into the Kitty maintained by my Partner F. You see, in the world of Pointing it pays to diversify AND join forces to achieve your travel goals.

For F and I, United is our preferred airline. The carrier’s MileagePlus program is one of the industry’s most versatile frequent flyer programs. Here’s what is currently in our MileagePlus Kitties:

Me: 100,323 Miles
F: 95,103 Miles

How did we get here? Well, part of those balances came by travel the old-fashioned way – BITS (“Butt-in-the-Seat”). However, the vast majority of those miles were earned through the use of miles and points earning credit cards. Check out my earlier post on What’s In My Wallet – My Workhorse Cards for how your everyday spending can rack up your points totals pretty quickly.

In that post, you’ll see that MileagePlus isn’t the only program that we’re using. Another foundation of our Pointing strategies is the Chase Sapphire Ultimate Rewards program. Here’s what is currently in our Ultimate Rewards Kitties:

Me: 22,051 Points
F: 71,143 Points

Ultimate Rewards points are incredibly useful in that they can be transferred to a wide array of airline and hotel programs. There are a lot of options for how you can structure an award. In other words, there’s more than one way to skin a cat. Ewww … probably not the best analogy to use in feline-themed blog post.

So, how would this all work if you wanted to structure an award? Well, let’s say that F and I wanted to spend Valentine’s Day in Paris. Two Business class tickets require 200,000 MileagePlus miles total. In fact, here’s what’s available (check out how much these tickets REALLY cost!).

Since we need to top off F’s account he could transfer 5,000 Ultimate Rewards points on a 1:1 basis into his MileagePlus account. This would give us enough miles to book those two Business Class tickets.

Of course, we’ll need a place to stay. So, with the remaining miles we could book 4 nights at the Park Hyatt Paris for 88,000 points by transferring what we need from our Ultimate Rewards accounts into our Hyatt Gold Passport hotel programs.

As this example shows, you can mix and match airline and hotel programs by using a combination of both MileagePlus miles and Ultimate Rewards points. In addition, since United is a member of the Star Alliance airline network, you’re not restricted to just one airline.

In general, premium cabin awards get you the most bang for the point buck. However, although, F and I have enough points for 2 Business Class awards, I think we’ll be holding out for First Class. You see, for “only” 17,500 more points per person we can go from …

This (United Business Class)

To This (United First Class)

Or if you play your cards right … Maybe THIS (Lufthansa First Class)

A redemption on Lufthansa First Class is the “Great White Whale Award” for many in the miles and points world. It’s out there …. But you have to jump through a few hoops (or be lost at sea for several years) to achieve it (sorry for going overboard with the Moby Dick references). I’ll recount how I was able to do this in a future post so stay tuned!

However, there’s a new award redemption which I predict will be the next “must have” for miles and points collectors. Eva Air (of Taiwan) has recently joined the Star Alliance. As a result you should be able to redeem for awards for this ….

Hello Kitty Eva Air

I MUST fly this plane one day. Of course, I do need to warn you. Five minutes listening to the Hello Kitty music on the website is equivalent to riding Disney’s It’s A Small World ride for 10 hours. You will NOT be able to get this tune out of your head. You’ll also have an incredible urge to eat cotton candy and sushi formed into “cute” shapes. Mmmm … pass the goldfish shaped wasabi … I think it’s time for lunch!

Credit Cards, Pointing, US Airways

A Tale of Three Credit Card Offers – 30K or 40K Miles for the US Airways MasterCard?

December 24, 2012 Point A

In one of my earlier posts I talked about how credit card spending fuels my Pointing activities. In other words, it’s not the amount of time my behind has spent in an airline seat but rather my credit card spending that has allowed me to rack up significant point totals. On top of that, the sign up bonuses associated with opening new credit card accounts have provided healthy boosts to my mileage balances.

Over the past few days, the latest credit card deal circulating through the travel blogosphere is the announcement of improved sign up bonuses for the US Airways Dividend Miles MasterCard. The bonus on this card is pretty “easy” to earn since you receive the miles by making only a single purchase of ANY size. There is NO required “minimum spend” (which you see on most credit card offers) in order to receive your bonus. The annual fee is $89 and the most common publicly available offer is available on the US Airways website.

However, a number of the leading travel bloggers have reported the following signup promotion which would provide you, under generally the same terms, with an additional 10,000 miles.

In order to take advantage of these deals you need to access the application through the links provided by the blogger. The following are two bloggers who have posted some useful background information on the current round of US Airways deals.

View from the Wing

Mommy Points

Note: You will be accessing the application through these bloggers’ “affiliate links” which will not cost you anything. However, they do provide the blogger with a “referral bonus” should your application be accepted. I DO NOT receive any compensation from the credit card companies. However, whenever I apply for a new card, I try to do so through the links offered by my favorite bloggers.

Nevertheless, a third offer exists which provides an even more generous set of incentives.

This offer provides not only the 40,000 miles of the previous deal but also waives the first year’s fee AND provides you with an annual bonus of 10,000 miles on the card’s anniversary date in subsequent years. You can access the application via the following link:

Chairman’s Preferred Offer

While technically this set of bonuses is targeted to members of US Airways’ top tier Chairman’s Preferred frequent flyers, several travel bloggers have reported that applicants still receive these benefits. In my case, I applied for this card in late November, received instant approval and already have my bonus miles. In addition, the hard copy of the Terms & Conditions which accompanied the card state that I am entitled to the benefits outlined above. However, access to this particular may be changing since a curious new requirement to enter your “US Airways Employee Number” has appeared on the application in the last couple of weeks. I’m not sure if this means that the opportunity to capitalize on this particular signup bonus has now ended. However, you should be aware that you run the risk of not receiving the full range of these benefits if you apply via “Chairman’s Preferred” route.

So, why am I collecting miles on airline I’ve never flown on? I have to admit I’m somewhat intrigued by US Airways’ frequent flyer program. Their Dividend Miles program offers some pretty interesting redemption opportunities. For example, US Airways is a member of the Star Alliance which provides you access to the award availabilities of not only the foreign partner airlines but also that of United which is one of the Alliance’s major anchors. There are also surprising “gems” in the Dividend Miles Award Chart. For example, a roundtrip Business Class award ticket to North Asia (China, Hong Kong, Korea, Japan) is only 90,000 miles vs. 120,000 miles on United. In addition, on such an award you can potentially make one stopover, arrive and depart in different cities and even route your itinerary through Europe. US Airways also regularly offers 100% bonuses for either purchasing or transferring miles. These various earning and redemption options are what drew me to the Dividend Miles programs and served as the inspiration for adding the US Airways Premier World MasterCard to my arsenal of Pointing tools. Hmmm, I think I’m going to need a bigger wallet …

Credit Cards, Hilton, Pointing

Hot for Hilton – A New Target for My Pointing Activities

December 11, 2012 Point A 2 Comments

Lately I’ve been obsessing quite a bit over Hilton … no, not that one. Come on folks, everyone know I’m more of a Kardashian type of guy (not). What I’m talking about is another key element in my Pointing strategies. Just as United is my preferred carrier, Hilton has emerged as the hotel chain upon which I’ll be focusing my attention.

My ultimate goal is to be able to book a few days at the Conrad Koh Samui in Thailand. This is an absolutely stunning hotel that consists of a series of one bedroom villas perched over the ocean. An award stay at this property will form the cornerstone of a Dream Trip I’m planning. Right now, the going rate at the hotel is $700 or 50,000 Hilton HHonors points per night. Since it’s highly unlikely I’ll be able to convince my Partner F to fork over the dollars to pay the standard rate, it looks like points will be the way we’ll get ourselves to this tropical island.

Over the last year I’ve been accumulating a few points here and there. There have been a number of special offers to earn points by “Liking” various Hilton brands on Facebook and opting in to receive promotional text messages. Surprisingly, I haven’t been overly spammed for my efforts and the marketing outreach hasn’t been too intrusive.

I was even was able to take advantage of trading in points from My Coke Rewards, Coca-Cola’s loyalty program, for 8,500 Hilton HHonors points. Of course, that involved drinking ALOT of carbonated beverages.

Oh yeah, I even managed to squeeze in a hotel stay along with all of those other Pointing activities.

However, in order to achieve my goal of recreating the perfect Hangover 2 experience (minus the booze, drugs, sex and memory loss – umm, wait that doesn’t leave much left, does it?), I’m really going to need to up the point accumulating ante. As I indicated in an earlier post, awards earning credit cards and the related sign up bonuses play a key role in my Pointing strategies.

Hilton offers a variety of co-branded credit cards that provide both generous sign up bonuses and serve as vehicles for ramping up your Pointing through bonuses awarded for spending in everyday shopping categories.

After evaluating these various options, I settled on the Hilton HHonors Surpass Card from American Express. This card provides a welcome bonus of 40,000 HHonors Points after your first purchase along with the opportunity to earn 20,000 additional HHonors points after you make $3,000 in purchases within the first three months of your card membership.

The Surpass Card also earns 6 HHonors points for every dollar that you spend at supermarkets, drugstores, gas stations and for communications expenses such as wireless, home telephone, cable TV and satellite TV purchases. You earn 3 HHonors points for each dollar that you spend on all other purchases. In addition, the Surpass Card, allows you to earn 12 HHonors points per dollar spent across Hilton’s portfolio of brands.

Finally, the Surpass card provides me with a year of Hilton HHonors Gold Tier Benefits (including a 25% points bonus, late check-out privileges, complimentary benefits) and access to reduced points requirements for awards. For example, my Partner F has the standard Hilton HHonors American Express Card which allowed us to book an upcoming 5 night stay in London for 160,000 HHonors points instead of the usual 200,000 HHonors points.

With the Hilton HHonors Surpass Card from American Express I’ve added another workhorse card to my wallet. In future posts I’ll provide a more detailed comparison of the merits of the various Hilton rewards cards as well as how the Surpass Card fits into my overall daily spending and Pointing strategies.

In the meantime I’ll continue my trip research by re-watching the Hangover 2, The Beach and Brokedown Palace. On second thought, anyone out there have any other movie recommendations?

Credit Cards

What’s In My Wallet – My Workhorse Cards

November 25, 2012 Point A 3 Comments

As I indicated in an earlier post, I am primarily a leisure traveler. Many of the frequent flyer points that I accumulate are earned not by “time in the air” but through credit card spending. Over the last several years, the emergence of credit cards associated with pretty much every airline or hotel brand has provided the consumer with a multitude of Pointing vehicles and opportunities. In addition, credit card “Sign Up” bonuses can yield a healthy kick start to an average traveller’s mileage balances.

However, any discussion of credit cards must first start with a discussion of financial responsibility. I take a very conservative approach to my use of credit cards. I always pay my balance off in full every month and keep a close watch on my credit score. I take a very thoughtful and strategic approach to choosing the credit cards I apply for and the timing of when I apply for those cards. The maintenance a strong personal financial situation and responsible spending habits create a “virtuous cycle” that is very important part of an overall Pointing strategy.

There is an astonishing array of points earning cards available in the credit card universe. However, to get us started I’d like to give you a sense for “what’s in my wallet” and how I am using those cards as part of my overall Pointing strategy. Please, bear in mind that I am very much of a “United Airlines guy” so that my credit card choices will have a MileagePlus / Star Alliance slant to them.

So how am I earning all of these points? Well, the answer is fairly obvious – instead of using cash, I try to pay for every financial transaction I conduct with a credit card. By using a card that earns points, I am “monetizing” every purchase I normally would have made. In addition, certain cards offer bonuses based on spending category

The following are the cards that I use on a daily basis. They form the core of my Pointing strategies.

Chase Sapphire Preferred Visa

I just applied for this card in September and it has quickly become my favorite “everyday use” card. What makes this card a cornerstone of my personal Pointing strategies is that it rewards me with 2X points in the categories that account for the largest portion of my personal spending – Dining and Travel. For example, I use this card to pay for my monthly public transportation fare cards in addition to the taxis that I take when it’s raining and I’m too much of a wimp to wait for the bus. I also receive double points on Uber – the on demand car service (more on this latest obsession of mine in a future post). Once I get to the office I’ll charge my morning bagel followed by mid-day slice of pizza and get double points as I do it. The card earns 1 point per each $1 dollar spent on everything else.

Using this card earns Ultimate Rewards points which can be transferred on a 1:1 basis into the mileage programs of United Airlines, British Airways, Southwest Airlines and Korean Air. Alternatively, you can transfer your Ultimate Rewards points into the loyalty programs of Marriott, Hyatt, Ritz-Carlton, Priority Club (Holiday Inn and Intercontinental) and Amtrak. Another great travel benefit of this card is that when any I book my travel through the Ultimate Rewards website I get 3 points for every dollar that I spend. In addition, the card does not charge you foreign transaction fees on any purchases that are made outside of the United States.

Finally, the Chase Sapphire Preferred will award you with a 7% Annual Points Dividend on all points that you have earned on purchases over the course of the year (including on points that you have redeemed for awards). Signing up for this card will also give you a big boost of 40,000 Ultimate Rewards points once you have met the minimum spending requirement of $3,000 in the first 3 months of card ownership.

Chase United MileagePlus Select Visa

This is a card that I’ve had for several years now. The Chase United MileagePlus Select Visa provides me with 3X Mileage Plus points on eligible United purchases. However, the true value of this card is that I earn 2X points in such everyday spending categories as gas, home improvement purchases and dining. However, what really makes this card a “keeper” for me is that I earn 2X points on all of my grocery purchase. With Dining and Travel covered by my Chase Sapphire Preferred and Groceries covered by my Chase MileagePlus Select I have the overwhelming majority of my daily spending earning me at least double points. Unfortunately, Chase no longer offers this card. However, in a future post I’ll provide you with some ideas for other cards that can help you capture some additional value on that quart of milk that you just purchased at your local grocery store.

Chase United MileagePlus Club Card

Now that I have the Dining, Travel and Groceries categories covered, what about everything else? Not being the type of Pointer content to earn a merely a single point for every dollar I spend, I’ve turned to the Chase United MileagePlus Club Card to fill in the gaps. The MileagePlus Club allows you to earn 1.5 MileagePlus points for every dollar that I spend. The rest of my non-dining and non-travel spending goes on this card. As with the Chase Sapphire Preferred card, foreign transaction fees are waived.

The card provides access to the United Club, the airline’s airport lounge network, in the U.S. as well as participating Star Alliance affiliated lounges overseas. The card comes with Premier Access travel services which allows the cardholder to use the airline’s priority check-in, security, boarding and baggage handling services. You and a companion are also allowed to each check two bags for free when you charge your airline ticket on the card.

However, this is a pricey card. The annual fee is a whopping $395 ($95 statement credit after your first purchase). That said, in my case I did the math in advance and found that my travel patterns are such that I can justify the cost of the card. In particular, I travel a few times a year with my parents. On those trips, the 3 of us always check our bags which alone nearly covers the cost of the annual fee. In addition the Premier Access Travel services and Lounge Access make traveling through the airport with my elderly parents less stressful and more comfortable.

Another way to look at “what I get” with this card is that I have effectively “purchased” lower level Elite Status on United. I get the same advanced boarding and travel benefits as MileagePlus Premier Silver members. What I do not receive are the 25% bonus miles, free access to Economy Plus preferred seating at check-in and the possibility of upgrades that come with Elite Status. That said, I am still receiving double points on United purchases. In addition, I can always “buy up” to Economy Plus if I’d like a little more legroom. Finally, flying out of an “elite-heavy” hub like Chicago means that the possibility of upgrades for Premier Silver members may be limited anyway.

I have a few other cards in my Pointing arsenal that I use for other purposes and in specific travel scenarios. I’ll talk more about those cards in future posts. However, in terms of day-to-day credit card spending the Sapphire Preferred, MileagePlus Select and MileagePlus Club cards are my Pointing workhorses.

One last thing that falls into the “cool” category … the Sapphire Preferred and MileagePlus Club cards are issued in a “metal” material that is heavier than your typical plastic credit card. I love a financial product that doubles as weapon and will pair nicely with my James Bond lifestyle and cat-like reflexes. Oh but wait, that’s for a future post as well 😉