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Welcome back to the Award Travel 101 Podcast — from the original Facebook community created for miles and points enthusiasts. Angie is back with Joe to discuss card offers, news, trip updates, and the answer to whether having so many cards will ruin your credit.
Award Travel 101 Podcast Show Format
We break each show into six sections:
- Question/Win of the Week — asked or shared by members of the Award Travel 101 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 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
Previous episode show notes
- 1 — Meet Award Travel 101 Community Administrators Angie & Joe
- 2 — Booking a Dream (African Safari) Trip
- 3 — Creating Memories Through Big And Small Trips
- 4 — 8 Steps to Better Award Travel
- 5 — Cruise (on Points), Racking and Stacking, and Keep or Kick it to the Curb
- 6 — Transfer Bonuses, Hyatt Bonus Journeys, and Benefits of AwardWallet
- 7 — So Many Program Changes with AwardWallet’s JT Genter
- 8 — Hyatt Changes, AA Domestic First Class Routes, and Meet the Mods (Jackie Wisniewski)
- 9 — Sapphire Lounge Opening, New Bonuses, Meet the Mods (Jerod Morales), and Business Class for Six
- 10 — When to Part with Points and Angie's Safari Trip
- 11 — AvGeeks, Spreadsheets, & Cheatsheets – Meet the Mods (Mike Zaccheo)
- 12 — Status Matching for More Value
- 13 — How Often Do You Get a New Card
- 14 — Incredible Trip to New Zealand on Points, Plus a Trip to the Freddie Awards
- 15 — Best Card for Groceries & Award Travel Community Meetup
- 16 — Citi Product Change Rules and Meet the Team: Allison Caraway
- 17 — Husband Cashes in All Their Points and Programs To Book Round The World Flights
- 18 — Gorgeous Pictures from Iran and Cards That Earn Status
- 19 — The Tools We Use
- 20 — Mistakes We've Made
- 21 — Crafty Way to See Taylor Swift and Ways to Earn Hotel Free Night Certificates
- 22 — First Class Trip to Croatia and Should You Speculatively Transfer Points
- 23 — Our Favorite Award Programs
- 24 — LIVE From a Lounge & Is American Airlines Status Worth Chasing
- 25 — What Are Points Worth
- 26 — All the Upgrades & Traveling With Kids on the Spectrum
- 27 — Which Card Offers the Best Travel Protections
- 28 — Pancakes and Points
- 29 — Favorite Card Perks and Putting Them All Together
- 30 — What's In Our Wallet
- 31 – Next Meetup Announcement & Let's Go Crazy with AT in the TC
Award Travel 101 Podcast Episode 32 Show Notes
The Award Travel 101 Community and Podcast are brought to you by AwardWallet. Check out all of the features in AwardWallet Plus that can help you better track your progress and prevent loss or expiration. If you register for our next-level Award Travel 201 Community for $89.99 annually, AwardWallet Plus is included in your subscription (which means you get access to next-level strategies for just $5 per month). If this interests you, register here.
Post of the Week
Krista Wetmore was listening to the podcast and wondered, “He was an AU in his wife’s chase sapphire card. I’ve only seen that this is not a good thing to do. Are there times / reasons this makes sense to do?”
News
- New Flying Blue transfer bonus
- How far out do airlines open their schedules?
- If this guy is switching loyalty, should you?
Trip updates
- Angie: Getting home from MSP
- Joe
- Trip with my son for less than 52,000 points round-trip), 153,000 points worth of Free Night Award certificates, three free days, and just $54.05 out of pocket
- Use tools to identify premium planes not serving premium routes
- Hotel hopping
- Pancake run Alaska Airlines triangle – more to come!
What bonuses did we get?
- Angie: Considering another American Express® Business Gold Card or The Business Platinum Card® from American Express
- Joe: Done with minimum spending requirement on Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card
- Taxes due; should probably put this spending toward the Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card spend for earning a Free Night Award
Highlight feature: 40 Cards – Is it Necessary? Will it Ruin You?
Let’s dispel a myth: This isn’t “Free” travel, but you can:
- Build wealth (savings) with credit cards
- Bank bonuses
- Fixed point cashouts
- Overall goal to reduce costs on the thing you love: travel
- Can take the money saved on travel and knock out other debts sooner
- Our credit scores: Joe hit 850 recently again, then dropped… to 818
- Annual fees: Joe pays $5,742 (or $480 per month), but that doesn’t count any of my credits, perks, or benefits, which as a business owner (consult your tax advisor) could be written off ($2,200 in savings). Doesn’t include any points earned.
If you need help tracking all of your credit cards, Cardpointers could help.
Tip of the week
From Alec Legg
“A weird tip for those who book partner awards and have trouble booking seats. Try putting the PNR on other airline's ‘manage booking' tool. I just booked China Airlines through KLM, and the China Airlines site wouldn't let me choose seats or even let me pull up my record. I read to try Saudia, but that didn't work, but I tried Garuda Indonesia, and it let me pick my seats!”
Where To Find the Award Travel 101 Community
For questions, you can join us in the free 99,000+ member Award Travel 101 Community.
- If you want to jump into more intermediate and advanced strategies, our Award Travel 201 community ($89.99 annually) is filled with those who want to dig into the weeds, looking for more outsized value.
- To book time with our team to discuss how to better your earning and burning strategies, check out Award Travel one-on-one.
- You can also email us at contactawardtravel@gmail.com.
- Our next meetup is located in San Antonio, TX on April 26–28, 2024. For more details and to purchase tickets, visit our Taco ‘Bout A Fiesta! Eventbrite.
The comments on this page are not provided, reviewed, or otherwise approved by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.