Credit Card Points Hacking

[Andrew Steffens]

Hey all

One of my hobbies is definitely traveling, and I suspect many here share that.  Are there any other points enthusiasts here?  Undoubtedly all of us have business expenses that can rack up large credit card points balances and can be used for travel in ways better than just using the CC's travel portal.

I am leaving Thursday going in business class (full lie flat seats) from Tampa to Switzerland for 70,000 points + $56.  If I used cash it would have been $8,500 and if I used Amex travel portal or United portal it would have been hundreds of thousands of those hard earned points :)

Not a total expert but happy to give tips :)

[Nathan Gesner]

Quote from @Andrew Steffens:

I tried checking out seats.aero and it won't let me search. Maybe it's down for a minute?

I recently read a short book that teaches how to maximize points. It's incredible how much you can travel for cheap/free if you learn to point stack and search for flights in advance. We aren't even implementing what we learned because we are too busy dealing with a personal issue and haven't been able to travel much for the last couple of years. However, we have over 1 million points saved up through ordinary spending. I've also bought over 20 round-trip flights with points in the last 6-7 years.

Most programs teach how to sign up for new cards and earn the bonus points. This program teaches to stick with a couple specific cards and learn to "stack" points so they have far more value. For example, some are turning one point into the value of 15 or even 20 points, stretching their points further. People on teacher's salaries are traveling to Europe in lie-flat seats or even first class.