Point Me To First Class

The way almost everyone has earned the Southwest Companion Pass is about to disappear, and the window to still do it the old way is closing.   For years, the Companion Pass has been one of the most valuable, and most reachable, perks in points and miles, a buy-one-get-one on nearly every Southwest flight that can be worth thousands of dollars. Then Southwest announced a sweeping overhaul of its Ra...

There's a good chance one of your best rewards cards quietly stopped paying its full bonus rate months ago, and never said a word about it. It's called a bonus category spending cap, and more of the cards you carry probably have one than you'd expect. These limits are one of the quietest ways to leave points on the table, and they catch even seasoned points travelers off guard. In this episode, I...

One of the most useful hotel programs in my wallet right now is also the most boring, and that turns out to be exactly why it works.   That program is Accor, and it tends to get overlooked in the points world, often by the very people who would get the most out of it. My guest, Dr. Suzanne Manzi, is the one who got me paying attention to it, and she knows the program inside and out.   We talk thro...

You can have a small fortune in points between two people and still not be able to book the trip you want.   That's the trap this episode is built to help you avoid. Combining or sharing points with a partner, a spouse, or a family member sounds like it should be simple, but every points currency plays by its own rules, and a couple of them won't let you share points with someone else at all. Know...

Some of the most valuable miles in award travel belong to a program most people have written off.   For years, Alaska Airlines miles were easy to overlook, and unless you lived in Alaska or flew the airline often, you probably had little reason to think about them. My guest, Betsey Wilson of Become Travel Rich and Alaska Airlines University, has spent more than two decades in this program and know...

Planning an entire trip around one airline seat is a backwards way to travel, and every so often it's exactly the right one. My friend Andrea and I have wanted to fly first-class Singapore Airlines Suites on the A380 for years. When we two award seats on their newest first class on a long-haul flight, we built a five-day trip around the world around them, five flights, and almost no regard for whe...

Collecting a big pile of points is not the same as being able to book the flights your family wants.   That gap shows up nowhere more clearly than when you're trying to get your whole family into business class to Asia. This week my guest is Maria Fung, founder of Maria Points the Way, who helps families use points and miles to reach Asia and Asia-Pacific.    When Maria moved from Hong Kong to the...

Some of the biggest points opportunities have nothing to do with your credit card at all.    It turns out hotels quietly reward the person who books an event with them, a conference, a retreat, a wedding, a family reunion, and most people have no idea. They're called planner points.    To unpack them, I sat down with Rachel Posada Fletcher, who spent years as an event manager negotiating exactly t...

Six months ago, Bilt rebuilt its entire rewards program, including releasing the new premium Palladium card with its promise of earning transferable points on rent and even mortgage payments, drawing a lot of attention in the points world. Today we are following up on what it's actually been like to carry and use the Bilt Palladium card now that the shine has worn off and real life has set in.   K...

Have you ever wondered what your award search tool can see that you can't?   My guest this week is Keith Van, who leads community at seats.aero, one of the award search platforms I reach for most. What made this so fun for me is that his team sees something the rest of us never do. They can watch how travelers everywhere are searching for award space all at once, which means they notice patterns i...

Have you ever run an award search, come up empty, and quietly wondered whether the flights you want are even out there?   That frustration usually comes down to one thing, and it isn't that the flights don't exist. It's that most of us were never taught how to search for them well. In this episode I break down two ways to search for award flights outside your credit card travel portal, where trans...

Have you ever wondered whether there's still travel value hiding inside the expenses you already have, points you could be earning but aren't, with no real way to know for sure?   That's one of the few questions in this hobby I've never been able to answer for you, and it's probably one you've quietly wondered about yourself. We have a rough way to gauge how well we redeem points, our cents per po...

Have you ever had a points question where every source online seems to contradict the last, and what you really want is for someone to walk you through how to actually decide?   In this listener Q&A episode, I'm answering the questions you have sent in on everything from choosing your next credit card and where to credit your cash-paid flights to which Hyatt award is worth using, when. But the big...

If you've ever looked at the cash sitting in an emergency fund, a business account, or your tax reserves and wished it could earn travel points the way your spending does, this conversation is for you.   For as long as I've been earning points and miles, one piece has been missing. We've gotten very good at earning points on the money we spend, but almost no one has offered a way to earn transfera...

If you've been paying attention to points and miles this year and something has felt off, like the ground keeps shifting under the rules you thought you understood, you are not imagining it.   I'm joined again by my good friend and points expert, Kevin Zanes, to make sense of it all. We are hitting pause at the halfway mark of the year to ask what the biggest stories in points, miles, and award tr...

If you've been eyeing one of Hyatt's newer Mexico resorts and wondering whether it's actually worth your points, you're not alone.   I'm joined this week by Michele from Fancy Travel Pointers, and the two of us have both separately stayed at Park Hyatt Los Cabos at Cabo del Sol and Alila Mayakoba within the last six months. Instead of each doing a solo review, we decided to sit down and compare no...

Have you ever transferred miles into a program and then realized you only ever use it to book the same handful of flights everyone else does?   Air Canada Aeroplan might be the most useful airline program that US travelers consistently overlook, and after this conversation I think you'll see why so many experienced points and miles enthusiasts treat it as a core part of their strategy. Today I'm t...

If you've ever looked at United Polaris business class prices and thought they were completely out of reach, you're not alone. They can be outrageously expensive to book whether you're eyeing paying cash or points.   But what if there was a third path - something between paying full cash for a premium ticket and redeeming a massive amount of miles outright? Miguel Rueda, from the Let's Get to the...

Have you considered London as your next award travel destination but weren't sure where to start?   London is one of the most accessible and rewarding destinations for both beginner and experienced award travelers, but it comes with unique challenges that most people don't anticipate. The city's accessibility makes it ideal for your first international points trip, yet the mechanics of award prici...

Most travelers think booking a flight is the finish line. They hit purchase and consider the deal done.   Sam Hollander knew something they didn't: the booking is actually just the beginning. When domestic airlines permanently removed change fees during the pandemic, they accidentally created an enormous opportunity for travelers to save money after they've already booked their flights and hotels....

Have you ever wondered why Capital One's approval decisions feel completely random - approval for some, denial for others, with almost no rhyme or reason?   Capital One has a well-earned reputation for being unpredictable with credit card approvals. When Katie from Katie's Travel Tricks saw the launch of the new Capital One Business Venture card, she decided to move beyond anecdotes and collect re...

Have you heard about the quiet Chase promotion that could be one of the biggest points-earning opportunities we've seen in years?   In May 2026, Chase launched a promotion through the digital payment platform Paze that allows cardholders to earn 10 times Chase Ultimate Rewards points on eligible transactions—and up to 14 times on certain cards through the end of 2026. Dr. Michelle Walther and I di...

Have you ever fallen so in love with a city that you started seriously considering moving there?   That's exactly what happened to us in Kyoto. In part two of our Japan spring break trip recap, my husband Brandon and I continue our family travel story as we settle into five nights at the Park Hyatt Kyoto, a property so beautiful that I can confidently say it's the most stunning hotel I've experien...

Have you ever been tempted to completely change your vacation plans because of an irresistible points deal?   That's exactly what happened when Japan Airlines did a random first class award dump last April. I couldn't resist jumping on the opportunity to book our family of four in first class to Tokyo - even though it meant splitting us across two different flights and completely scrapping our ori...

Have you ever felt like you're so caught up in your daily roles and responsibilities that you've lost touch with who you are beneath all of that?   Dr. Stacey Funt, a radiologist, health coach, and founder of LH Adventure Travel, believes that travel has the power to help us reconnect: not just with the world around us, but with ourselves. She curates wellness and adventure group trips for women t...