If a round-trip flight from New York to Montreal for 9,000 miles – or from New York to Miami for 15,000 miles – seems too good to be true, you should familiarize yourself with British Airways “avios” (British for “miles”?). These redemption rates aren’t short-term promotions or off-season specials; they’re the standard redemption rates under […]
How to Use British Airways Avios To Generate Huge Savings On American Airlines Flights
March 20, 2013 By 22 Comments
Reports Of The Death Of The Chase Exclusives Program Have Been Greatly Exaggerated
March 9, 2013 By 1 Comment
About a year ago, I opened a Chase checking account to capitalize on certain incentives offered by the Chase “Exclusives” program: namely, an extra 10 points per transaction on my Chase Freedom card (regardless of the size of the transaction) and a 10% bonus on base points earned each month. These incentives transformed my Freedom […]
An Introduction To The Three Major Flexible Points Currencies, And How They Render Your Airline-Specific Credit Card (Nearly) Obsolete
February 19, 2013 By 4 Comments
The best credit cards earn flexible points, and by that I mean points that can be transferred to a variety of different loyalty programs. The beauty of accumulating flexible points, as opposed to points or miles that are specific to any one particular loyalty program, is that they allow you to defer your redemption decision […]
When You’re Hooked On Both Points and Caffeine, This Happens
February 16, 2013 By 3 Comments
I’m a bit of a coffee fiend, so I was pretty pleased to see that the bonus categories for the Chase Freedom card this quarter are gas stations, drug stores, and Starbucks. As I conceded in my review of the Freedom card, there does seem to be something unholy about the fact that “Starbucks” […]
Why (And How) You Should Be Earning A Kickback Of At Least 2% On All Of Your Credit Card Purchases
February 4, 2013 By 3 Comments
Credit card rewards come in many forms — including cash, points, miles, and statement credits — but if you have a good credit score and your rewards are not worth at least 2 cents on the dollar, you’re leaving money on the table on every single purchase. The 2% Minimum Where does that baseline rebate […]