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What to expect
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1 How to get started
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2 Choosing the right card
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3 How to use points & miles
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Intro to Points
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Welcome to your three-day Intro to Points guide. Over the next few days, we’ll be diving into all the fundamentals so you can start booking those free flights with your points and miles.
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Before we dive in, allow me to introduce myself. I’m Kurt, a writer with too many travel credit cards in my wallet! Points and miles have gotten me nearly $25,000 in free travel over the past few years. In this special email series, I’ll let you in on all my secrets so you, too, can use points and miles to save on travel.
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Today’s email unpacks
- What are credit card points and miles
- How to earn points and miles
- The best cards to earn points and miles
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What are credit card points?
General-purpose travel credit cards from banks offer their own rewards currencies, called points. Each bank has its own points system, so you’ll need to hold their specific card to earn its brand of points. These points are the most valuable because they are the most versatile: You can transfer them to airlines or hotel partners for a free flight or hotel stay. Stay tuned for more on how to transfer points in the third email.
What are airline miles?
Each airline has its own reward currency. In the interest of clarity, we’ll refer to airline reward currencies as miles and credit card currencies as points.
Airline credit cards earn airline miles, which can only be used to book flights with that specific airline or its partners. If you are loyal to one airline, these cards might be a good fit for you.
Airline credit cards can range from entry-level to ultra-premium options. Depending on its level, some possible benefits airline credit cards offer include:
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Companion passes, which can let your travel buddy fly for a discounted price
- Free checked baggage
- Priority boarding
- Airport lounge access
- Seat upgrades
- Fast-track to elite status
- Statement credit for applications to Global Entry or TSA PreCheck
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What credit cards earn points and miles?
Due to card issuer regulations, we cannot publish the names of cards in this email. We break down the types of points each card earns in our guide.
Some of our favorite cards offer:
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How to earn points and miles
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Travel credit cards: Hands down, the easiest way to earn points and miles is with credit cards. Travel credit cards often offer a shiny welcome bonus for spending a certain amount (usually $4,000 or up) within a few months after opening the card. A welcome offer can get you 50K–100K points or miles, depending on the card. This bonus alone could very well be enough points or miles to earn you a free roundtrip flight to Paris or Tokyo!
Plus, travel credit cards allow you to earn bonus points on your everyday spending, such as groceries or dining out, internet and cell phone bills, and even your monthly rent.
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Flights or other travel purchases: If you sign up for a free loyalty membership with an airline, like American Airlines, or a hotel chain, like Marriott, you’ll earn points or miles when you book flights or hotel stays with that brand. You can also earn additional points per dollar when booking with a branded hotel or airline card.
In addition, some travel credit cards, like my favorite card, earn 2X bonus points on flights or other travel-related expenses. (Another great card earns 5X points on flights.)
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Shopping portals: Many airlines, credit card issuers, and even hotels have online shopping portals that allow you to earn additional points per dollar spent if you click through to the merchant’s site. The portal rewards you with additional airline miles or points in exchange for using the portal’s referral link.
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Dining rewards programs: Many major US airlines and hotel chains have dining programs that let you earn more points when dining out. Sign up by linking your airline or hotel loyalty membership number and a credit card to the account. Then, when you eat or drink at participating restaurants in the rewards program and pay with the same card, you’ll earn points or miles with that brand.
While you can enroll in the dining programs with multiple airlines or hotels, you cannot use the same card with more than one program at a time. (Just be aware that miles earned may expire, so make sure to check the program terms!)
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Other ways to earn points through travel
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Earn Marriott Bonvoy points through Uber: Use those points toward a stay at a Marriott property. Or, you can transfer Marriott Bonvoy points to an airline partner to top up for a flight redemption.
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Earn points on Lyft rides: You can link your Lyft account to earn bonus miles or points with Delta SkyMiles, Alaska Mileage Plan, Hilton Honors points, or Bilt Rewards points.
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Rental car portals: Many airlines, hotels, and credit card issuers allow you to book a rental car through their own travel portal and allow you to earn points and miles at a higher rate than if you booked directly through a car rental company. Just do your research and compare prices before you do so.
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Earn airline miles with rental car reservations: When you rent a car through a rental car company, you have the option to earn airline miles or hotel points with your car reservation instead of earning loyalty points with the car company.
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Earn airline miles on vacation rentals: If you link your Delta SkyMiles account with Airbnb, you can earn 1 mile per dollar on Airbnb bookings. Earn United MileagePlus miles through VRBO by booking through their portal.
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Tip: To maximize your points earnings, target one airline that you want more miles with. Then, select that airline for your dining rewards, shopping portal, rideshare, and rental car purchases. It'll add up fast!
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Your turn
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Learn what points and miles are and how to earn them.
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Decide what type of points or miles help you get to where you want to go.
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Sign up for airline loyalty membership accounts.
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Link your dining and rideshare accounts to your favorite airline miles program.
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Tomorrow’s itinerary
In tomorrow’s email, you’ll learn about the different types of travel credit cards and how to pick the right one for you.
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How helpful was this Intro to Points email?
If you have unanswered points and miles questions, we’d love to hear it!
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A disclaimer about card names:
Due to the quirks of credit card compliance, we are sometimes not allowed to use the actual names of cards or certain banks in emails. This means we have to resort to using more generic language when talking about some credit cards.
We know this can be confusing or frustrating, but we encourage you to click through. Regardless of the many rules of credit card compliance, our mission will always be to put our readers first and help you travel better for less.
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