Has anyone had good luck traveling with credit card miles? Just signed up for this card and I was trying to figure out how to use my signup bonus and couldn't figure out how to get anywhere I want to go. One way tickets to Tokyo were like 200k miles if I were to transfer to Delta or Air Canada and had 2 layovers on the way. Granted I live in a city with shit connections that isn't a hub for any major airlines, but even putting San Francisco in as my starting point barley made it better. Couldn't even get British Airways to give a quote for a ticket to Lima in miles so I could fly LATM. Air Canada and Delta giving retarded routes again. Can someone give me some tips?
You should have planned all of this before signing up for the card.
I'll just tell you generally that Japan is a hard destination to find availability for this year because everyone wants to go back.
Don't transfer to delta, you'll get 1 cent per point value and you'll get taxed to make it even lower
Transfer to an international partner during a limited deal and use it toward business or first class long haul flights for the most value
For (transferable) miles to be of outsized value, you must:
1) Identify routes you like to to redeem on, consider availability in class of service
2) Collect with favorable rates (sign-up bonuses, spend bonuses)
3) Redeem with favorable rates (transfer out bonuses)
If you cannot do all three, you're going to get poor value that barely beats $0.01/mile redemption, which after fees actually goes below $0.01/mile, and defeats the purpose of such a card (i.e. worse off than a 1% cashback card)
If you can do all 3 and the planets align, you will have extraordinary trips with extraordinary value. Some are nearly impossible, e.g. Availability for North America <-> Australia/New Zealand, and is not changing anytime soon
Shit is there any decent option to get from the West Coast of the US to East Asia or South America with Amex points?
I thought amex was supposed to be so good, but it's easier to figure out cheep travel ideas with my old Chase points because United at least has an explorer tool.
Seems like Singapore airlines will let me book flights to Hong Kong at not insane prices. Any ideas of getting to Chile/Peru/Argintina with amex points?
I am not doing the work but I know you can transfer AMEX points to British Airways then use BA points to fly on American Airlines metal down to Lima from Dallas.
Alright you found my expertise.. you can transfer AMEX points to Virgin Atlantic. They have direct flights from Minneapolis and LAX to Tokyo (HND) for 70k Virgin miles round trip.
Currently AMEX is running a promotion that 1,000 Amex Points = 1300 VA miles.
So roughly 54,000 Amex points gets your a round trip direct flights to Tokyo from one of those two cities.
If you need an AMEX referral link for the 150k bonus let me know as my card is letting me share that with others.
>and LAX
sorry it appears the LAX flights route you through Minneapolis.
If you can get to MSP you can use 70k Virgin Miles round trip direct to Tokyo on Delta metal.
Yo anon can you hit me with that 150k referral link I have a gold card but wanna churn the plat while I’m abroad
will you wait until Jan 1st? I get nothing from a referral until 1/1/23.
Also give me a dummy email address to send it to.
For sure.
[email protected]
Shoot me the referral after the 1st. Great timing cuz I was looking at signing up today anyways.
I sent it.. ill leave it up to you if you want to wait until the 1st. I usually find a way to get my 55k bonus points per year from referrals.
Dope just got it thanks man
I’ll wait til the 2nd or later just to be safe.
It appears the 150k offer is still valid in the new year.
What a waste of time.
Just pay for direct flights.
Airline miles are such a scam.
Don’t know why you would want to waste an etx 4-6 hours with all this junk to save a little money. Time is worth something.
Just get a Visa card and use your points for amazon junk.
>Time is worth something
Yet here you are spending your valuable time commenting on this post.
>Save a little money
I’ve probably redeemed something like $300k in flights over the years.
That means you spent like 80 million dollers.
No, it just means I’ve had high tier redemptions. Business class flights get pretty pricey.
Okay wise guy, how much do you spend on your credit card a year?
Spending is split across a variety of cards but I’d guess somewhere around $60k with most of it being work expenses.
I know for a smooth brain this may be a hard concept... however I run a small business and am able to charge about $400k/year.
If I did the cash back cards I would have $4,000 of taxable income. however miles and points are not taxed and often I can get a better redemption than .01 = $1
>get a better redemption than .01 = $1
Yeah, maybe the redemption is a little better, but then you have to waste a day of your vacation on connecting flights, which stresses everyone out and leads to fights and bed crashes on the first day of arrival so you lose another day.
Meanwhile the smart man enjoys his vacation travel and doesn’t have to worry about leaving at 6am on a Thursday for a flight in the wrong direction in off season to min max every single part of his personal balance sheet.
Also I never said cash back card, I said amazon point cards.
This guy has been posting this same larp before. When people call him out on his math not adding up he disappears.
You might be mixing me up with someone else. I responded to his comment several times.
I know ANA has some West Coast to Asia award miles too that you can transfer AMEX points into. However if you want a Delta flight always check Virgin Atlantic first as they have deals like this on Delta metal.
ANA has SFO to Tokyo flights for 52.5k ANA miles in May 2023. ANA 1000 = AMEX 1000
Credit card points are all a game. You either enjoy playing it or you don't. Nothing wrong with either attitude. If you don't want to play the points game then play the cash back game. If you don't want to play any games just get a 2% cash back card and make that your only credit card
I suspect that all these games will get nerfed in the not too distant future. The push by large corporations to limit credit card swipe fees continues to gain momentum. At some point there will be a Congress receptive to this goal and some legislation will get passed.