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The Award Travel 101 podcast returns! After three years off, Angie and I felt the time was right to bring back the AT101 Podcast. Each week, the podcast recaps of what we're covering in the Award Travel 101 by AwardWallet Community as well as what you see on the AwardWallet Blog.
Speaking of the Award Travel 101 community… if you haven't joined already, go join now! We have over 90,000 members who love visiting their friends and family, exploring new destinations around the world, and experiencing previously imagined adventures for pennies on the dollar.
On each show, we cover as much ground as possible in 30-60 minutes a week to allow you to keep up with exciting events in the travel and loyalty space, news, and updated offers, that you can listen to on your way into work, while out exercising, or just looking to relax and hear what others are doing in the space.
Award Travel 101 Podcast Show Format
We break each show into six sections:
- Question of the Week — asked by members of the community
- News & Enhanced Offers
- What Bonuses Did We Get — which will tell you what credit cards we're working on and why
- Trip Updates
- Highlight Feature
- What You Didn't Know — a feature which will be dedicated to a big or small tip that will help you better maximize the value you receive from your rewards.
How to Listen to the Award Travel 101 Podcast
You can find the Award Travel 101 Podcast here or anywhere you listen to other fine podcasts, including:
Previous Episodes
- Episode 001 — Meet Award Travel 101 Community Administrators Angie & Joe
- Episode 002 — Booking a Dream (African Safari) Trip
Check out the most recent episodes:
- Episode 003 — Creating Memories Through Big AND Small Trips
- Episode 004 — 8 Steps to Better Award Travel
Award Travel 101 Podcast Episode 3 Show Notes
Question of the Week
Please help me persuade my husband to open a southwest card. He took a new job in June that has him flying SW to Phoenix from STL every month, sometimes twice a month. He could already have a companion pass, but he’s too stubborn to listen to me. And he thinks we should only have one credit card and earn our tiny 1% cash back. He won’t take the time to ask someone that uses a SW card why he should do it, bc he doesn’t want to open another cc. What are some bullet point perks I can take him to consider?
News & Enhanced Offers
- Alaska devalues award program — award chart becomes a very vague guideline, and it's not great.
- Amex Centurion Lounges limited to cardholder — effective 2/1/2023 only cardholders get access to Centurion Lounges — unless they spend $75,000+ annually. Will this make a difference, and is there a workaround?
- IHG 175K Card Offer — is this card worth getting over a flexible point currency like Amex Membership Rewards?
- Ink 90K [now expired] — 90,000 Ultimate Reward points on two different fee-free cards, are you kidding me? How is this offer still alive, and should you get it?
What Bonuses Did We Get?
- Ink Unlimited — Checkout this post on “What You Can Do With Your Chase Ultimate Rewards” in the Award Travel 101 community to see why I LOVE earning points to do things I would not have done otherwise
- Amex Gold referral — How I pulled 124,000 Amex Membership Rewards from paying bills I already had to pay
Trip Updates
Angie talked about rebooking her trip (how?) many times last week. Is it still on?
Highlight Feature: Booking Trips Small or Big
- Joe's recent trip with daughter — I recently visited 3 different resorts over three days for an extended daughter/daddy weekend trip. See how I used travel rewards and loyalty programs to get more bang on our trip (which retailed for $5,200) for just a few hundred dollars, while treating my daughter to incredible suite upgrades, time at the ocean, and an incredible waterpark.
- Joe's Summer trip to Croatia with his almost 80 year old dad
- United Polaris — Thrifty Traveler Premium Plus subscription notice — use CODE: AT101 to save $10
- 5 different hotels from Marriott, Hilton, and Hyatt — all on points
- See Erin's “2 weeks in Croatia, Bosnia and Slovenia!” post that has been tucked away in my memory
- Positioning Flight — hardest piece to put together
- Emirates A380 5th Freedom Route
What You Didn't Know
Have you thought about Choice Hotels? I shared this with our Award Travel 201 (our premium/paid community): travelers get 2 Choice points for 1 Citi ThankYou Point. Plus, you can book awards — up to suites — all for the price of a standard award.
Where To Find Us
For questions, you can join us in the free 90,000+ member Award Travel 101 Community. If you want to dig into some of the less discussed strategies, our Award Travel 201 community is filled with those who want to dig into the weeds a little more. To book time with our team to discuss how to better your earning and burning strategies, check out Award Travel 1-on-1.
You can also email us or find us on Twitter or Instagram. If in-person meetups interest you, save the date for our next available meetup, and keep an eye out for more announcements coming soon!
Let us know what you think of the show so far, and hit us up with questions or topics you'd be more interested in hearing!
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