Here’s the new chart in table format. All prices are roundtrip and based upon travel originating in the Contiguous 48 U.S. states:

The post Interactive Award Map: American Airlines AAdvantage March 22, 2016 first appeared on Weekend Blitz.

Map of Myanmar/Burma. Yangon = home of the main international airport for the country. Mandalay, Bagan and Inle Lake are popular tourist destinations within the country.

There are essentially 3 major international entry points for Myanmar: Yangon, Mandalay and Naypyidaw.

Destinations served from Yangon-RGN:

This represents all non-stop flights to/from Yangon-RGN

This is a zoomed in view on the region

Destinations served from Mandalay-MDL:

All non-stop flights served from Mandalay-MDL

Destinations served from Naypyidaw-NYT:

Non-stop routes flown to/fom Naypyidaw-MDL

Most travelers will find it most economical and logical to make Yangon-RGN their Myanmar entry and departure points. From Yangon, you’ll need to plan the rest of your destinations.

Of all of the above flights, those wishing to travel with miles or points will be most interested in the routes operated by companies who participate in one of the 3 major alliances.

British Airways Avios

Transfer Partners: 1:1 Chase Ultimate Rewards & 1:1 AMEX
Alliance: Oneworld Alliance

A pretty good option for many might be to include a combination of a paid booking and an award booking with British Airways Avios.

The Avios award chart is distance-based and based upon segments, meaning, if you add in a few connections, you can quickly wind up with a rather unreasonable price tag in miles. A great option, however, could be to book a paid flight to/from one of the following gateways and then book an award to carry you to the final destination of Myanmar.

Referencing the Avios award chart:

You’ll find that the 3 Oneworld routes into Myanmar will cost:

The even better news is that British Airways won’t hit you up for outrageous fuel surcharges that might make this method a deal breaker. Here’s a few sample bookings:

Kuala Lumpur-KUL to Yangon-RGN will only cost you 15k Avios + $35 roundtrip in economy

American Airlines

Transfer Partners: Not partners with Chase or AMEX
Alliance: Oneworld Alliance

American Airlines no longer allows stopovers on its awards, but an open-jaw shouldn’t be a problem since it permits one-way award bookings. If you’re traveling from North American to Myanmar (or any other country in “Asia 2” as designated by American Airlines:Bhutan, Brunei, Cambodia, China, Guam, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Saipan, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam):

North American to Myanmar on American Airlines requires 70k American Airlines miles roundtrip in economy

We’ll go more into depth on the best routings using American Airlines miles to Yangon-RGN but, in the meantime, here are the intermediate airlines that you can choose from to bring you the last stretch to Myanmar:

Delta SkyMiles

Transfer Partners: 1:1 AMEX
Alliance: SkyTeam

The Delta SkyMiles program is making big changes starting Jan 1, 2015, but, so far, the award prices to Southeast Asia (including Myanmar) will remain the same. Here’s the award chart for Delta award flights booked after Jan 1, 2015:

Delta Skymiles 2015 Program = 80k SkyMiles in Economy to Myanmar

Delta Skymiles 2015 Program = 140k SkyMiles roundtrip in BusinessElite to Myanmar

The one big change that will affect an award booking is that (until Dec 31, 2014) you can include a stopover and open-jaw in your award booking. This will likely end on Jan 1, 2015 when the new program takes hold. The good news? You will be able to book one-way SkyMile awards, which means you could spend 40k SkyMiles getting to Myanmar and then return on a different airline’s rewards or purchase a paid ticket home.

SkyTeam actually has a pretty solid presence when it comes to routes to/from Myanmar; here are your choices for the last leg:

United MileagePlus miles

Transfer Partners: 1:1 Chase Ultimate Rewards
Alliance: Star Alliance

Given all of your options, the United MileagePlus program may very well be the most versatile program to use for award travel from the U.S. to Myanmar and other countries in South Asia. Although it’s not the cheapest U.S. based carrier (United costs 10k more miles RT than American), United still allows awards to be booked with 1 free stopover and 1 free open-jaw:

A United MileagePlus award ticket to Myanmar will cost you 80k miles roundtrip in economy

Economy: 80k miles
Business: 140k miles
First: 160k miles

This means you can easily visit 3+ cities on one award ticket.

Pros: United doesn’t pass on fuel surcharges from their partner airlines. Thai Airways is a Star Alliance member and is very well suited to get you around Southeast Asia.
Cons: If you book Business or First class with partner airlines the award prices increase dramatically.

US Airways

Transfer Partners: Not partners with Chase or AMEX
Alliance: Oneworld Alliance

Economy: 80k miles
Business: 120k miles
First: 160k miles

Pros: Allows one stopover or one open jaw, No fuel surcharges except on British Airways and Iberia
Cons: Fuel surcharges on British Airways and Iberia

AeroMexico

Transfer Partners: 1:1 AMEX
Alliance: SkyTeam Allaiance

Economy: ~112k KMP miles
Business: ~152k KMP miles

Air Canada Aeroplan

Transfer Partners: 1:1 AMEX
Alliance: Star Alliance

Economy: 90k miles
Business: 155k miles
First: 215k miles

Pros: Allows stopovers and open-jaws
Cons: Warning! Many carriers might charge a fuel surcharge from around ~$300 for economy to ~$900 for business

Air France/KLM Flying Blue

Transfer Partners: 1:1 AMEX
Alliance: SkyTeam Alliance

Number of Air France/KLM Flying Blue miles required for a roundtrip award:

Economy: 80k miles
Premium Economy: 160k miles
Business: 200k miles

Cons: Warning! You’ll get hit with fuel surcharges!

Alitalia MilleMiglia Club

Transfer Partners: 1:1 AMEX
Alliance: SkyTeam Alliance

It’s not entirely clear if Myanmar falls into Indian Sub-Continent or Southeast Asia on Alitalia’s award chart as they don’t specifically list it, but this will give you a ball park idea:

Economy: 70k – 80k miles
Business: 95k – 100k miles

ANA Mileage Club

Transfer Partners: 1:1 AMEX
Alliance: Star Alliance

Economy: 75k – 100k miles
Business: 115k – 145k miles
First: 180k – 220k miles

Asia Miles

Transfer Partners: 1:1 AMEX
Alliance: Oneworld Alliance

Asia Miles has a distance-based award chart that goes up in price depending upon how many partners you choose to book with. For example, here’s the chart for booking 2+ Oneworld Alliance members:

You’ll be hard pressed to use any less miles than the Award Zone 10 or 11 so count on the following amounts:

Economy: 95k – 110k miles
Business: 140k – 160k miles
First: 205k – 235k miles

Pros: “You can make a maximum of five stopovers, two transfers and two open-jaws at either origin, en-route or turnaround point, subject to airline partners’ terms and conditions.”
Cons: Fuel surcharges!

Iberia Plus

Transfer Partners: 1:1 AMEX
Alliance: Oneworld Alliance

While Iberia also uses Avios, the same currency as British Airways, its award chart is priced a bit higher:

Economy: 82.5k – 112.5k miles
Business: 165k – 225k miles
First: 249k – 337.5k miles

Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer 

Transfer Partners: 1:1 Chase Ultimate Rewards & 1:1 AMEX
Alliance: Star Alliance

Economy: 70k – 75k miles
Business: 160k – 170k miles
First: 215k – 220k miles

Virgin America Elevate

Transfer Partners: 100 Elevate points = 200 Membership Rewards® Points AMEX
Alliance: None

While Virgin America doesn’t publish a full award chart, they do give you a few estimates on select routes. Below is the range for flights from San Francisco-SFO to Hong Kong-HKG and Dubai-DXB so it should give a decent estimate of what to except if requesting a full booking to Myanmar.

Economy: 40k – 50k Elevate points, adjusted to typical rates = 80k – 100k AMEX points
Business: 95k – 115k Elevate points = 190k – 230k AMEX points
First: 130k Elevate points = 260k AMEX points

BOTTOM LINE: You’ll want to use the miles/airlines that make the most sense for you. I’ve been hoarding Chase Ultimate Rewards points so any of the airlines that partner with Chase will be a good choice for me. For 80k miles roundtrip that includes a stopover and an open-jaw, United will likely be our best bet.

Featured image: https://flic.kr/p/8ZQFgr

The post Traveling to Myanmar Using Miles and Points first appeared on Weekend Blitz.

This opens up lots of opportunities for maximizing short, non-stop flights out of or to American Airlines’ and US Airways’ hub cities:

• US Airways hubs: Charlotte-CLT, Philadelphia-PHL, Washington-Reagan-DCA and Phoenix-PHX.
• American Airlines hubs: New York-JFK, Miami-MIA, Dallas-DFW, Chicago-ORD and Los Angeles-LAX

First in this series, we looked at the US Airways hubs and only US Airways flights:  Charlotte, North Carolina-CLT, then Philadelphia-PHL, Washington-DCA and Phoenix-PHX. Now, with the merger getting closer and closer to finalizing, I’ve begun mapping the American Airlines hub cities with a combination of AA and US flights. I’ve started with the New York hub at JFK and included flights from other New York area airports including LaGuardia-LGA, Newark-EWR, Westchester County-HPN and Long Island-ISP.

The New York-JFK hub is a substantial hub for American Airlines, with about a dozen international destinations as well as decent number of US cities served.

I have compiled this map to help assist in visualizing and then planning just how far a British Airways Avios will take you on AA/US:

Some great values are:

• As with all of these Avios redemptions, just about any Zone 1 city in green is probably a great value at just 9k Avios roundtrip, especially those destinations to Canada (Montreal-YUL or Toronto-YYZ)
• New York-JFK to Bermuda-BDA for 15k Avios (if you can find availability) is a steal.
• Any of the destinations in the Caribbean end up being a pretty solid deal for just 20k Avios roundtrip: San Juan-SJU, Saint Thomas-STT, Saint Maarten-SXM, St Kitts and Nevis-SKB or Cancun-CUN.
• All of the European cities served by AA out of JFK can be booked for only 40k miles RT, which can be a good deal most of the time, especially compared to Delta or United who charge 50% more miles at 60k RT: Dublin-DUB, Manchester-MAN, London-LHR, Paris-CDG, Madrid-MAD, Barcelona-BCN, Zurich-ZRH, Milan-MXP.

Pros to booking with Avios instead of AA or US miles:

• You can often save thousands of miles if you optimize your route
• British Airways is a transfer partner of American Express and Chase Ultimate rewards so it might be easier to generate points

Cons to booking with Avios instead of AA or US miles:

• The Avios award chart is based on non-stop flights, adding additional segments will increase the cost of an award.
• Booking with Avios isn’t always cheaper. For example, AA’s seasonal saver awards to Europe cost just 40k miles RT, so you’d be better off booking with AA miles because you can take advantage of multiple segments. Another example is that New York to the West Coast is 25k miles with Avios or with American miles, so it’s a wash either way.

Here’s a simple chart with the destinations served:

When you’re ready to book, follow this guide: How-to: Book US Airways Flights With British Airways Avios. And, don’t forget that you can transfer American Express Membership Rewards Points to British Airways to book flights with Avios.

BOTTOM LINE: Although the addition of US Airways to the Oneworld Alliance only adds ~15-18 flights to American’s New York markets (mostly short, regional destinations), AA+US still has quite a strong route network with many choices to save a lot of points/miles when booking award tickets if you try to use BA Avios. Only 15k miles from New York to Bermuda? Yes, please.

The post American Airlines (+ US Airways) Flights: Using British Airways Avios out of New York-NYC first appeared on Weekend Blitz.

First in this series was Charlotte, North Carolina-CLT, then Philadelphia-PHL and Washington-DCA. Now, we’ll look at Phoenix, Arizona. It turns out that just short of the Washington-Reagan hub, Phoenix has only a few international destinations–but, they have Mexico pretty well covered along with a few Canadian cities.

I have compiled this map to help assist in visualizing and then planning just how far a British Airways Avios will take you on US Airways:

Some great values are:

• As with all of these Avios redemptions, just about any Zone 1 city in green is probably a great value at just 9k Avios roundtrip.
• All of the Hawaiian destinations are a great deal at just 25k miles round trip: Kona-KOA, Kahului-OGG, Honolulu-HNL and Kauai Island/Lihue-LIH.
• Cancun-CUN for 20k Avios or Cabo San Lucas-SJD for 15k Avios is a solid deal.

When you’re ready to book, follow this guide: How-to: Book US Airways Flights With British Airways Avios. And, don’t forget that you can transfer American Express Membership Rewards Points to British Airways to book flights with Avios.

BOTTOM LINE: Phoenix’s strong suit seems to be the short hop flights to Mexico and especially the 25k Avios roundtrip flights to Hawaii. Most other carriers will charge you at least 45k miles to Hawaii or 35k miles to Mexico or Canada, making the non-stop US Airways redemptions a great deal.

The post US Airways Flights: Using British Airways Avios out of Phoenix-PHX first appeared on Weekend Blitz.

Our Haul

McCown:

• AAdvantage World MasterCard / Citi Platinum Select = 50,000 American Airlines AAdvantage Miles + $0 annual fee 1st year
• US Airways Premier World MasterCard = 40,000 US Airways Dividend miles + $89 annual fee
• Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card from American Express = 30,000 Starpoints + $0 annual fee 1st year

Jeffrey:

• AAdvantage World Elite MasterCard / Citi Executive = 100,000 American Airlines AAdvantage Miles + $200 fee 1st year (but it includes 1 year of lounge access)
• US Airways Premier World MasterCard = 40,000 US Airways Dividend miles + $89 annual fee
• Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card from American Express = 30,000 Starpoints + $0 annual fee 1st year
• Club Carlson Premier Rewards Visa Signature Card = 85,000 Gold Points + $75 annual fee

Totals =

• 230,000 American Airlines/US Airways miles for $378, ~0.16 cents per mile
• 60,000 SPG Starpoints for $0
• 85,000 Club Carlson Gold Points for $75, ~0.09 cents per point

While most of the annual fees are waived for the 1st year, we’re still paying a few of them. I don’t really mind eating the annual fee for a big signup bonus because I just view it as buying points at a really good price. For example, the 230,000 AA/US miles we got for just $378 means we’re essentially buying miles for 0.16 cents each; this is an amazing rate since the typical price to purchase miles is in the 2.1 to 2.5 cents/mile range. We’ll reassess in about a year before the annual fees begin to hit (or renew) and likely cancel most of the cards, or drop them down to no annual fee versions.

The rationale / how far we can go

American Airlines / US Airways

We’ve never had the US Airways or American Airlines cards, so the thought was to each apply for both of them and, hopefully by the time we’re ready to use the points, American and US would have fully merged their programs or at least begun allowing the transfer of points between the 2 programs. This will yield us a total of 230,000 American points to work with and could get one of the following:

• 4 roundtrips to Japan or Korea (off peak) = 50,000 miles rt each
• 9 roundtrips within the domestic US or to the Caribbean/Mexico (off peak) = 25,000 miles rt each
• 3 roundtrips to the South Pacific (Australia, New Zealand, French Polynesia) = 75,000 miles rt each
• 2 roundtrips to India = 90,000 miles rt each
• 3 roundtrips to China, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam etc… = 70,000 miles rt each

SPG: Starwood Preferred Guest

We both jumped on the 30,000 Starpoint offer since it is usually a promotion that they run once per year (the normal bonus is 25,000 points).

How far can 60,000 Starpoints take you? Using the 5th night free award with Starwood, 60k points can get you 10+ nights at a category 3 property. Examples include: Sheraton Krabi Beach Resort, Sheraton Nha Trang Hotel & Spa.

If you want to take it to the extreme, you could stay at a category 1 property for 22 Nights with 60,000 Starpoints. For example, the Sheraton Senggigi Beach Resort, Indonesia would qualify:

Club Carlson

To start, you’ll want to read this post about when I discovered how awesome this deal is: Blitz Deal: ~20 Free Nights with 1 Credit Card Bonus. Club Carlson hotel redemptions start at 9,000 points/night but, if you have their credit card, you will get the final night of any award redemption for free. This means that if you stay at only Category 1 properties and stay there for only 2 nights (you pay 9,000 for the 1st night, the 2nd/last night is free) you’ll pay only 9,000 points total = 4,500 points/night. So, the 85,000 Club Carlson points will yield us up to 18+ free nights.

Part of the “catch” is finding Category 1 properties that qualify for the 9,000 points/night redemption. Here’s a map of the current choices:

What about my credit score?

As we’ve written about before, getting new cards can often times boost your credit score in the long run (although they may take a 1-3 point ding per application in the short term. Read up more about getting in on the miles and points game here:

• Credit Score Crash Course
• How-to Guide: Taking a Trip For Free!

BOTTOM LINE: The quickest way to earn miles and points is still large credit card signup bonuses; we just loaded up and now’s a good time for many to do the same before the US Airways offers disappear.

The post Our Credit Card Sign-up Bonus Spree: 375,000 miles and points first appeared on Weekend Blitz.

Source: http://www.airliners.net/aviation-forums/general_aviation/read.main/3969134/

For those (like me) that needed to do a double take:  yes, that is a piano installed on a Boeing 747! Sometime around 1972, American Airlines introduced their new “LuxuryLiner” fleet; here’s a commercial hitting the highlights:

Here’s a shot of the entire lounge:

Source: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/travelbuzz/1344151-traveling-back-70s-3.html

American Airlines’ new “LuxuryLiner” fleet featured many of their McDonnell Douglas DC-10, Boeing 707 and Boeing 747-100 aircraft. The Boeing 747-100s were probably the coolest in that the airline removed 60 seats and placed a living room-sized lounge and piano bar for its coach passengers to enjoy. Just look at how much fun they’re having (in this staged photo by a professional photographer):

Source: http://airlinespastpresent.blogspot.com/

I don’t know about you, but I’d take the above photo any day over the current reality of flying coach:

Source: http://pagesay.com/messed-up-flight-dont-settle-for-a-food-voucher/

The lounges were all equipped with Wurlitzer electronic organs:

Source: http://www.710kmpc.com/photo.htm

And, flying in First Class didn’t suck either:  passengers were able to reserve a table for up to 4 people to eat dinner, hangout etc…

Source: airlinespastpresent.blogspot.com

Here’s another AA commercial from 1972 touting their new fleet:

The post A Piano Bar…on an Airplane?!! first appeared on Weekend Blitz.

First in this series was Charlotte, North Carolina-CLT, then Philadelphia-PHL and now we’ll look at Washington, D.C. It turns out that the Washington-Reagan hub has the fewest international destinations–most of the flights end up being commuter flights to/from the Eastern half of the U.S.

I have compiled this map to help assist in visualizing and then planning just how far a British Airways Avios will take you on US Airways:

Some great values are Washington-DCA to:

• As with all of these Avios redemptions, just about any Zone 1 city in green is probably a great value at just 9k Avios roundtrip.
• Bermuda-BDA or Nassau-NAS can be booked for only 15k miles round trip in economy.
• Southern Florida destinations are another pretty good deal for 15k miles round trip: Ft. Lauderdale-FLL, Miami-MIA and Key West-EYW

When you’re ready to book, follow this guide: How-to: Book US Airways Flights With British Airways Avios. And, don’t forget that you can transfer American Express Membership Rewards Points to British Airways to book flights with Avios.

BOTTOM LINE: The U.S. Air hub in Washington, D.C. has the least interesting routes of all of their other hubs, but there’s plenty of value to be found booking Avios awards in the U.S. Even if you’re not able to take an exotic vacation from DCA as easily, it makes great sense for booking otherwise expensive flights to the eastern half of the US.

The post US Airways Flights: Using British Airways Avios out of Washington, D.C.-DCA first appeared on Weekend Blitz.

First in this series was Charlotte, North Carolina-CLT, and now we have flights out of Philadelphia-PHL. There are easily 60+ million people that can reach Philadelphia International Airport in less than a 4-5 hour drive or train ride, making it a highly accessible airport and one that can be easily leveraged for very good Avios redemptions. I have compiled this map to help assist in visualizing and then planning just how far a British Airways Avios will take you on US Airways:

Legend

Some great values are Philadelphia to:

• Most of Western Europe (the UK, France, Spain, Portugal, Germany, the Netherlands) for 40k Avios roundtrip in economy.
• Freeport-FPO, Nassau-NAS and Bermuda-BDA for 15k Avios roundtrip.
• All of the Caribbean for 20k Avios roundtrip.
• A bunch of cities in Eastern Canada (Ottawa-YOW, Toronto-YYZ, Toronto-YYZ & Quebec City-YQB) for 9k Avios roundtrip.
• Just about any Zone 1 city in green is probably a great value at just 9k Avios roundtrip.

When you’re ready to book, follow this guide: How-to: Book US Airways Flights With British Airways Avios. And, don’t forget that you can transfer American Express Membership Rewards Points to British Airways to book flights with Avios.

BOTTOM LINE: Philadelphia-PHL is US Airways’ central hub and provides the largest selection of flights that can be booked with Avios. Some make great sense (i.e. Bermuda for 15k miles, Quebec City for 9k miles) whereas others are better off booked with regular US Airways/American miles (i.e. West Coast flights).

The post US Airways Flights: Using British Airways Avios out of Philadelphia-PHL first appeared on Weekend Blitz.

1. American Airlines Buy Miles Sweepstakes – 1x prize of 500,000 AAdvantage miles

• Prize: 1x prize of 500,000 AAdvantage miles. Appx value = $9,950
• How to Enter (there are 2 ways to enter):
  • Enter 2x for free just by completing this form: https://promo.aa.com/promos/?s=519255&src=%5bsource_id
    
    
  • Enter 2x by purchasing AAdvantage miles from Points.com (this is generally a bad deal and I do not recommend you do): http://www.buyaamiles.points.com
    
    
• More info:
  • Promotion ends June 13, 2014
  • “There is a limit of a total of two (2) entries per e-mail address regardless of entry method.”
  • On or about July 2, 2014, a random drawing will be conducted and the potential Winner will be notified by E-mail on or about July 9.
  • Full Terms and Conditions

2. American Airlines “24 Hours” Sweepstakes – 5x prizes of 200,000 AAdvantage miles or US Airways Dividend Miles + 7 Free Hilton Night Certificates, a Hasselblad Stellar Point and Shoot camera

• Prize:
  • 200,000 AAdvantage miles OR US Airways Dividend Miles – appx value = $3,980
  • 7 Free Hilton Night Certificates – presumably can be used at any Hilton worldwide, appx value = $300/night
  • Hasselblad Stellar Point and Shoot camera – appx value = $2,000
  • Total appx value = $8,080
• How to Enter:
  • Go to https://secure.fly.aa.com/oneworldexplore/ –> Play the “24 Hours” game. It takes about 30 secs per entry.
    
• More info:
  • “There is a limit of a total of three (3) entries per e-mail address.” I think this means you could enter with multiple email addresses, but just make sure they’re valid email addresses since this is how they will notify you if you win.
  • Contest ends June 13, 2014; winners will be notified by email or telephone on or about June 20, 2014.
    
    

BOTTOM LINE: With the recent addition of US Airways, American Airlines/Oneworld is very excited about its strengthened alliance. In fact, it’s so excited that it’s sponsoring a bunch of promotions that encourage you to learn about the new routes, services and destinations. Might as well throw you name in the hat– your odds are significantly better than the lottery.

The post Deal Blitz: Free Entry to Win 500,000 American Airlines AAdvantage Miles first appeared on Weekend Blitz.

1. Understand your credit score

This is imperative to getting in on the free miles game. Start by reading our Credit Score Crash Course post here. This will give you an idea of what is behind your credit score.

2. Look up your credit score

Before going any further, figure out what you’re working with. Please don’t go to just any website for a credit report– there’s a reason that the FreeCreditReport.com guys can afford all of those TV ads and catchy jingles:  they’re making a ton of money off of the uninformed consumer. Here are 3 great sites that are reputable, legitimate and free (none of the sites will ask for a credit card!):

• AnnualCreditReport.com – This is THE site for free credit reports. In fact, “Under federal law you are entitled to a copy of your credit report annually from all three credit reporting agencies – Experian®, Equifax® and TransUnion® – once every 12 months” and this is the site that provides it. Note: it provides credit reports, not credit scores.
• CreditKarma.com – Provides an approximation of your FICO score based upon data from TransUnion.
• Credit Sesame – Provides an approximation of your FICO score based upon data from Experian.

Your FICO score is typically what most lenders will use to judge your credit worthiness — but unfortunately isn’t free. You can order a report from the official FICO agency on their website, myFICO.com, but it will cost you and probably isn’t worth it–the 3 sites above should give you ample data to make an informed decision.

Once you’ve reviewed your credit and feel that you’re in good enough financial health to open a credit card (or 2), you can start shopping the current bonus offers.

3. Shop for big-bonus credit cards

Credit cards want your business. They stand to make a lot of money off of you by collecting the 2-3% service fee they charge to vendors, and even more if you end up carrying a balance. This means large sign-up bonuses for credit card products from different banks and card issuers.

How do I find the deals? Good question, we regularly post about credit cards being offered with an attractive sign-up bonus. Alternatively, you can reference NerdWallet.com: Reward Cards for a list of all the cards being offered. We’ll get your started with the best credit cards on the market today:

• Lufthansa Premier Miles & More Mastercard = 50k miles – more info here
  • This card will give you enough miles to for a free round-trip flight in economy from the U.S to Europe.
• Chase Cards
  • Chase Sapphire Preferred = 45k points – more info here
  • Ink Bold Business Card = 50k points – more info here
  • Ink Plus Business Card = 50k points – more info here
  • All of the above Chase cards let you earn Ultimate Rewards points, which transfer directly to United & British Airways (and a host of others, but your best option in the USA will be United):
    
  • Points needed for a flight:  the 50k bonus you receive will put you very close to a round-trip flight to anywhere in the world. Here’s what it costs in points to different areas of the world:
    • 35k to Central America/Caribbean
    • 40k to Northern South America
    • 60k to Europe and Southern South America
    • 70k to North Asia, Japan and Oceania
• United MileagePlus Explorer Card = 50k miles – more info here
  • See above for how far United can take you; it might be a good idea to apply for both the Chase Sapphire Preferred and the United MileagePlus card so that you’ll have 100k miles to work with. If you’re headed to Oceania for 70k miles, you could then use the remaining 30k Ultimate Rewards points to book a few nights at a Hyatt hotel while on your trip.
    
    
• United MileagePlus Explorer Business Card = 50k miles – more info here
  
  
  
• US Airways MasterCard = 40k miles – more info here
  • The 40k won’t get you as far as the other offers, but if you have a trip envisioned in a few months, if might be a good idea to apply for both the this US Airways MasterCard and the AAdvantage card below. When US Airways and American Airlines continue their merger later this year, you’ll be able to transfer points seamlessly between the 2 programs, yielding a total of 90k miles.
  • If you’re willing to travel at “off-peak” times, you can squeeze a good bit of value from the 40k US Airways miles. For example, the U.S. to Europe or South America from Jan 15 – Feb 28, 2015 is only 35k miles.
    
• Citi Platinum Select / AAdvantage World MasterCard = 50k miles – more info here
  • At the “MileSAAver” rate, you can travel from the U.S. to Japan/Korean for just 50k miles!
• British Airways Visa Signature Card = 50k miles – more info here

4. Dream big and book your travel

Plan ahead! All of the above credit card offers can take anywhere from 2 to 10 weeks from signup to having the points hit your account so make sure you have plenty of lead time.

The programs that you’ll be confined to booking through will all depend on the currency of points you plan to acquire in step 3. My tip is to keep your options as wide open as possible and start with a currency that is transferable to many programs. An example would be any card (Chase Sapphire Preferred, Ink Bold, Ink Plus) that earns Chase Ultimate Rewards points. This will give you flexibility to use your points for either hotels (Hyatt, Marriott) or flights (United, British Airways, Southwest….) and is a good start for beginners. Keep in mind that any points not put toward your flight can be transfered to hotel points.

Here are a few of the guides we’ve written about using points– should be helpful for getting a gauge of where you can go most easily/for the least amount of points:

• British Airways: US Airways Flights: Using British Airways Avios out of Charlotte-CLT
• British Airways: How-to: Book US Airways Flights With British Airways Avios
• British Airways: Ultimate Honeymoon: The Caribbean for Free with British Airways Avios
• British Airways: Caribbean Island Hop with British Airways Avios (only 4,500 points/flight!)
• Hyatt, Marriott: Paris, France: Best Hotels for Free Using Points –> Spoiler alert, the answer is: Park Hyatt Paris Vendôme Hotel Review – Paris, France
• Delta: How-to: Use Delta SkyMiles to Book an Award Ticket to Europe: Searching Availability
• Delta: Ultimate Honeymoon: Thailand with Delta Skymiles
• United: All about our Turkey–Istanbul/Cappadocia–and Portugal Trip
• United: Award booking with United miles to Istanbul/Cappadocia, Turkey and Lisbon, Portugal
• United: Ultimate Honeymoon: French Polynesia with United miles
• United: Ultimate Honeymoon: Thailand with United miles

And, please comment below if you have any questions about where to go/how far your miles can take you–we’re happy to help!

Other travel-related necessities to help you plan:

• Great Travel Tool: Get a Credit Card with a Chip
• Travel Tool: Award Calculator
• Great Travel Tool: T-Mobile Unlimited International Data & Texting (and Cheap Calling, too)

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