We’re in the early days of 2024, which means we have a full year ahead of us for a whole lot of travel. After heading home to spend time with friends and family to celebrate the holidays and ring in the new year at some of the hottest NYE parties and festivals, no one should blink an eye if you decide to jump-start your travel in 2024 with a little solo getaway.
After getting some insider tips on valuable credit card sign-up bonuses for holiday travel with some of the world’s leading experts, we decided to ask them their best strategies for earning and redeeming credit card and flight points earned from holiday shopping to be used for the beginning of the year travel plans. With spending at an all-time high for gifts spanning home goods, fitness, kitchen, streetwear, adventure and travel, and more, make sure you’re maximizing your credit cards and redeeming them for an epic early-year trip.
Vivian Tu (@your.richbff): “Travel Hack” With Point Multipliers & Look For Airline Bonuses
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The first thing I always say is to always be mindful of what credit cards you’re using to get the most cash back from every purchase, especially for holiday spending on gifts. Now this doesn’t necessarily work all the time, but if you have some flights that you took in the summer and some that you need to book soon, sometimes it does make sense to buy those point multipliers or to actually just buy points and then redeem them for reward travel over buying them in cash. This is essentially “travel hacking.” If you’re able to buy the points for less money than what it costs to buy the flight, then it’s a great way to pay a lot less.
A good way to do this is to test two incognito browsers, pull up the flight that you want to take, and see how much it would cost in cash. Then pull up another incognito tab and see how much it would cost to buy X amount of points through an airline.
With your credit cards, they are partners with many different airlines and hotels. What you can do is see if there are ever any bonuses. Sometimes certain airlines offer bonuses to offload some of the liabilities on their balance sheet because they owe that to consumers if there are too many outstanding points. To encourage you to spend those points, they might change up their 1:1 point match and up it to 1.5 points or miles on the credit card to be used on booking with a partnered airline.
That’s a great way to make use of a good redemption rate for early-year travel.
Thomas Lonergan (@travelliketommy): Secure Some Exceptional Flight Deals For Holiday Travel With Flight Points
There’s tons of great flight deals for last-minute and early-year travel. Some examples of exceptional getaways using flight points include:
- Fly from most cities on the East Coast to Madrid, Spain in business class for as low as 34,000 points on off-peak dates via Iberia Airlines. More information can be found here.
- Fly from IAH, LAX, or SFO to Australia or New Zealand in business class for as low as 75,000 United Polaris or Air New Zealand points via Air Canada. More information can be found here.
- Fly from SFO to French Polynesia in business class for as low as 55,000 United Polaris points via Air Canada. More information can be found here.
- Fly Emirates first class from JFK or EWR to Milan, Italy or Athens, Greece for only 102,000 points or Dubai for 163,000 points. More information can be found here.
- Fly to Tokyo in business class for as low as 47,500 points via All Nippon Airlines booked through Virgin Atlantic. More information can be found here.
Kyle + Kenz Parks (@adventure_parks): Look At Airline Shopping Portals
Don’t overlook shopping portals. Almost every airline has one. These sites allow you to earn bonus points by shopping online — no matter the card you use. You simply search for a store and click the link to be redirected to the store’s normal online website. Anything you purchase after that will earn the points per dollar listed on the shopping portal.
You can even use Rakuten to earn AMEX Membership Rewards instead of cash back.
When it comes time to redeem, learning your card’s transfer partners is key. This is almost always the best way to use your points. For example, all major card programs transfer points to Air France-KLM Flying Blue. You can book flights to Europe for just 12k points through this program – a pretty insane deal! The list of transfer partners can be found on your online account under “Transfer Points”, “Transfer to Travel Partners”, “Convert Rewards” or a similar page, depending on your bank.
You might not see the airline you want to fly, but this is where airline partnerships and alliances come into play. For example, Chase points don’t transfer to Delta, but they transfer to Virgin Atlantic and Air France – both SkyTeam partners of Delta. These two programs can often book Delta-operated flights at a much lower rate than what Delta charges.
Allison Tackette (@luckytictac): Analyze Where You Spend The Most Money
While earning welcome offers will earn you points faster, find ways to boost your points where you spend the most money. Look for the top 1 – 3 areas where you spend the most. Then find a card that earns the most points in that category.
Spend a ton on groceries? The American Express Gold is your best option.
Angel Trinh (@pennywisetraveler): Hit Your Spending Requirement ASAP On American Express Cards
American Express does instant approvals, so you can get a virtual card number right away and add your card number immediately to Apple Pay.
If you make your spending requirement right away, usually within a few days American Express will give you the signup bonus right away for the points, so you do not have to wait until the next statement cycle. Most banks give you the signup bonus within 1-2 statement cycles.
American Express also has calendar benefits, so if you get a card right away for December 2023 you can also take advantage of getting the same benefit in January 2024.
For example, on the Amex Platinum card, you can get both in December 2023 and January 2024 $200 hotel credit, $50 Saks, $200 airline incidental credit, $20 entertainment credit, $35 Uber (for December 2023), and $15 Uber for January 2024.
You also get to enjoy the airport lounge benefits right away which include Centurion Lounge, Escape Lounges, Delta Sky Club (you must fly Delta same day), Plaza Premium, Priority Pass lounges (not including restaurants), and Air Space.
Angelo Minella (@paidwithpoints): Buy Gift Cards At Grocery Stores To Maximize Points For End-Of-Year Travel
I implement this strategy every day and you can optimize with holiday spend. I use the AMEX Gold because it earns 4x / $1 on grocery spend. (Any high-earning grocery card will do). Go to a qualified grocery store and buy gift cards from there to use elsewhere. For example, a $100 Lowes gift card will earn you 400 points and you use that gift card at Lowes. Rinse and repeat this method and you can earn a lot of points over time.
Another method is to refer your friends to sign up for a card, such as the AMEX Gold. AMEX referral program allows you to earn up to 100,000 Membership Rewards points for successfully approved referrals.
Mix the grocery spend and a few referrals and you can fly business class to Europe with those membership rewards points by transferring them into partnered airlines!
Ryan Horn (@profitsandpoints): Make Use Of Bank Retention Offers To Earn Additional Credit Card Points
One under-appreciated way of earning additional credit card points is through retention offers. Banks really do not want to lose you as a customer, so you can contact them and see if they have any retention offers associated with your account to encourage you to keep your card open longer. All you have to do is call or chat with the bank!
These offers commonly take the form of credit card points but they could also be statement credits or an annual fee credit. It only takes a little bit of your time, and it could net you enough points to book that next trip. I have earned thousands of points over the years via retention offers.
Remember: it never hurts to ask!
Sierra Smith (@highsierrapoints): Maximize Point Multipliers During Holiday Shopping
Aim for cards that earn transferable points from banks like American Express, Chase, Capital One, and Citi. Try to maximize point multipliers during holiday shopping – like 4x at grocery stores with the Amex Gold card. When redeeming your points compare the cash, travel portal, and transfer partner costs to find the best value.
Use tools like seats.aero or point.me to help you find award flights with transfer partners.
Spencer Howard (@straighttothepoints): Book Last Minute Flights With Points To Save Money & Flight Points
Sign up for business and first class flight alerts here.
If you’re trying to book flights with points and miles, be ready to book last minute but accept that it just might not happen on busy travel days. Sometimes, you’ll have to keep an eye out for options for days before something pops.
Be ready to book when you see something!