If it feels like everyone on your Instagram is traveling business class… well, a good number of them are. Credit card points have made traveling quite the luxurious experience for those who are willing to learn. We have been traveling first- and business-class for over a decade. We like to say that Vay was our OG points guy had he started a blog first, and he’s definitely our friends’ and family’s personal points guy.
There are many points systems and credit cards to apply for, and it can be daunting to navigate it all. There’s informational symmetry and an inordinate amount of information and communities to peruse. There are many travel blogs, forums (i.e. flyertalk), Reddit, Facebook groups, email lists, etc., and it can be overwhelming. There are many strategies used to maximize points, credit card bonuses, churning (canceling/re-applying), manufactured spending — entire communities in subreddit and forums that discuss the intricacies and nuances of this ecosystem.
Over the years, friends have been leaning on Vay to learn how to book first-class international flights. A couple years ago, during the pandemic, we hosted a Zoom webinar where dozens of friends showed up to learn how to best use their credit card points for travel.
In this post, we want to simplify where to begin by answering these two key questions: (1) What credit cards should I apply for? (2) How do I accumulate points?
What credit cards should I apply for?
The cards that give you the highest bonus for the flights/hotels you want.
Chase Preferred Card – 100,000 bonus
It’s currently the best credit card promotion by a long shot; high bonus, low annual fee ($95), and great benefits. Chase Ultimate Rewards are one of the most valuable and versatile points that we use for flights and hotel stays.
The best value is transferring the points to airline or hotel partners and booking aspirational vacations compared to cashing out the points at 1% ($1,000 cash back) or booking through the portal at 1.25% ($1,250 travel value).
The last time this bonus was offered was 4 years ago. We highly recommend anyone that qualifies to apply for this promotion bonus. In our humble opinion, it’s the best valued promotional bonus offer.
Chase Sapphire Preferred – If interested, you may use our referral link that will offer you 100,000 bonus points for the Preferred.
100,000 bonus points is offered for a limited time only.
American Express Platinum – Potential 150,000 + Bonus
This referral link leads you to a 150,000 points offer! In case you don’t see 150,000, try the following strategy below:
The usual public offer is 80,000 points. To get the higher amount, follow these simple steps: Set up an incognito window on different browsers: Safari, Firefox, Chrome. Search and open AMEX Platinum link on browser. Keep setting up new incognito windows until the 150,000 offer comes up (see below image). I find it easiest when using mobile and opening incognito windows in Safari.
How to minimize the cost and maximize the benefits
Although the AMEX Platinum annual fee is $695/year, there are ways to optimize and maximize the usage of the card. For example, some benefits such as $200 airline and $200 hotel credits are based on the calendar year and can be fully realized at once. This is one way to get 3 years of credits with 1 year’s worth of annual fee if you don’t want to keep the card or continually pay the annual fee.
- Sign up for the AMEX card December 2025. Use all $400 of the credit. (Airline credit can be used to purchase United travel bank, and the hotel credit can be used to prepay for a future hotel stay).
- Use up the $400 hotel/airline credit for 2026 + all other credits.
- Use up $400 hotel/airline credit at the beginning of 2027. Cancel the card, and get prorated annual fee credit back.
By following these steps, it becomes an amazing deal to get 150,000 membership reward points, $1,200+ in benefits with 13 months’ worth of annual fee. Personally, we keep the card and utilize the benefits to justify the annual fee, but this is something I would do if my goal is to minimize fees and maximize benefits.
For AMEX, the primary transfer partners we use/plan to use are Air Canada, Virgin Atlantic, Alaska (via Hawaiian Airlines), Asia miles, Air France.
For Chase, we mostly use Hyatt because Amex generally covers most airlines.
Also, by planning and leveraging transfer bonuses, points redemption can be maximized even further. Our goal is always aspirational and luxury traveling with flights and hotels around the world. Whether it’s to the Maldives for our honeymoon or Santorini, Greece for our babymoon, and many Asia/Europe trips, Amex and Chase points can cover most of these trips.
So how do I accumulate points?
It really does begin here! With the best promotional credit card bonus offers. Coming up soon will be a post on what 100,000 Chase points/150,000 AMEX points can get you — or, rather, where!