Hi Travel Junkies,

Every couple of months I publicly share my own points/miles moves to help pull back the curtain on how the pros are able to travel for next to nothing.

So without further ado, here is what I have been up to lately:

  • I applied and was immediately approved for a Citi Thank You Premier card. 50,000 Citi Thank You Points after $4,000 spend in 3 months, no fee first year. I have no specific plans for these points but the 50,000 bonus makes it an easy choice for anyone over 5/24.
    • This is my second Citi Thank You Premier card, having had it a little more than 24 months ago. Which qualifies me for another bonus per Citi’s new bonus rules.
  • I applied and was immediately approved for a Barclays AAdvantage Aviator Red World Elite MasterCard. 60,000 bonus AA miles after first purchase, $95 fee is not waived. No immediate plans for these points but I always enjoy having a large number of AA miles on hand. Particularly with the amount of award space that they have released in the past couple of months.
  • I applied and was rejected for a Merrill Plus Visa Signature card from Bank of America. I knew this was a long shot but decided to go for it based on rumors that the card will be discontinued this month. My attempts at reconsideration did not go well, to say the least.
  • I finally was able to product change my Chase Ink Bold to the new Chase Ink Preferred card. Chase was not allowing anyone to do this until recently, despite my almost weekly requests. I won’t get a signup bonus for doing this (and can’t anyway because I am well beyond Chase’s 5/24 rule) but the 3x points on social media advertising will be huge given how much 10xT spends in that category.
  • I cashed in 110,000 Lufthansa miles and ~$2,000 to book two round-trip business class tickets to Italy this coming January. Yes, the $2,000 in fees is not ideal, but I had to use these miles before they expired this month and had no other need for them. Truth be told, I had completely forgotten I had these Lufthansa miles until a few weeks ago. A rookie mistake on my part.
  • I redeemed 17,000 Southwest points to book a weekend getaway to Washington D.C. with my wife and daughter. Each of them flew free thanks to my Southwest Companion Pass and a lap child ticket. I stayed at the beautiful W Hotel Washington D.C. for just $188 per night thanks to some rewards from Hotels.com and the fact that D.C. is pretty slow this time of year.

A recent weekend getaway to D.C. with my daughter

  • I just booked another similar weekend getaway to Boston in early October for just 14,000 Southwest points round trip. Still debating as to whether I will go, as this will be the weekend after the Vegas Reader Meetup and my 4th city in as many weekends. Thankfully, Southwest award redemptions are 100% refundable so I can change my mind at any time.
  • Speaking of the Vegas Reader Meetup, I bought a case of these for the occasion. This should make for a fun monthly conversation with our accountant.

What about you? What points/miles moves have you made lately?

Happy Travels,

Bryce