I’ve written quite a few posts recently about redeeming my miles/points for free or almost free travel. Right after I check out of one of the nicest in Hotels in Hawaii, that I got got free, I’m checking in to one of the other nicest hotels in Hawaii for two nights, completely for free. I’m visiting Peru to hike the Inca Trail and flying within the country for just $14 roundtrip. I’m headed off to Oktoberfest in Germany and then visiting some countries many people may have never even heard of, much less visited. And I’m doing it for just the cost of taxes and fees.
And for these specific trips I’m able to maximize by points and travel by using programs with transferrable points. I could have redeemed the flights within Peru for example for 25,000 miles using a number of different programs. But because I used a specific program, (British Airways’ Avious) I grabbed those flights for only 9,000 miles total. That means I have 16,000 miles to save for future travel.
There are three main, “Transferrable Points” programs. American Express Membership Rewards Points, Chase Ultimate Reward Points, and Starwood Preferred Guest Points.
I don’t currently have any cards with the Amex Membership Rewards Program, so I’ll focus on the last two.
Chase Ultimate Rewards are tied into a few different Chase Cards, the Ink, the Bold and the Sapphire Preferred. The Sapphire Preferred is probably the #1 card I’d recommend right now if someone wanted to take the first, slow step into the points and miles hobby. It’s the one I’ve recommended to friends when I’ve encouraged them to come up with a plan to travel.
Chase points are earned just like any other card. When you spend money, you receive points. They can then be transferred to Amtrak rail, four hotels and six airlines. They just added Singapore Airlines as a partner. I’ve used Ultimate reward points to book flights via United and British airways, and super luxurious hotels via Hyatt. The process is simple and instant. Just sign into your Chase account, select the program you want and transfer them over.
In this case I redeemed 50,000 points to stay at the Maui Andaz, saving me close to $1,000 for a two night stay. And as I said, the transfers are instant. I’ve been on the phone with a reservation agent to make sure a flight is available before I made a transfer. After being told, “Yes it’s available but I’m seeing you don’t have enough points,” I’ve countered with, “Try it now.” One button click and a few seconds later the points were in my account.”
And not only can you use the points to book through one of the 11 Chase partners, but also THEIR partners as well. For example for my trip to Peru, I transferred points to British Airways. And while British Airways doesn’t fly the route I was going, one of their partners, LAN Airlines, does. As a partner, LAN accepts British Airways Avios, so I was able to transfer from Chase, to British Airways, and then book a LAN flight using those British Airways miles.
The Starwood Preferred Guest Card
Earlier this year I picked up the American Express Starwood Preferred Guest Card. While it might be classified as a “Hotel” card. It operates just like the Chase Sapphire Preferred in that it operates off of transferrable “star points.” So it’s not tied to Hilton or Delta or American Airlines. Instead you earn points and then transfer them to other programs. There are two major benefits that the SPG card holds over the Sapphire Preferred.
One, the list of transfer partners is huge. SPG has over 30 airlines you can transfer to. And maybe of these are abstract that you’d never really use unless you were flying a very specific trip. One of these is Flying Blue however, which is how I ended up saving close to $1,000 on flights to and back from Europe.
The second benefit is the SPG transfer bonus. When you transfer at least 20,000 points you get a 5,000 point bonus. That’s huge, and means you’re getting 25% more points, completely for free. For my trip to Germany for Oktoberfest I knew it would cost me 12,500 miles each way, or 25,000 total. But I didn’t need to transfer over 25,000 miles from my SPG account to my Flying Blue account. Instead I needed to only transfer 20,000 and I was given 5,000 as a bonus.
Overall
By ensuring that I had cards that focus on transferrable points, I’ve been able to continue to maximize my miles and continue to save money. Whether it be trekking through Peru or heading to Oktoberfest, transferrable point cards like the Chase Sapphire Preferred and the Starwood Preferred Guest have really helped me maximize my miles and points. Just like having a coupon or waiting for a sale, knowing which points to use and which miles to redeem ensures you’ll be able to take more trips.
