The Quick Start Guide for Credit Card Points & Miles
Traveling on credit card points and miles isn’t a new hack. And, it isn’t one-size-fits all!
In this guide, I’m going to walk you through who is a good candidate for earning free trips through credit card promotions, what cards I recommend first, and the basics of how to redeem your points for free travel once you have them.
First, who is a good candidate for earning credit card points & miles for free or cheap travel?
- If you spend $1,000 or more per month on your normal expenses (including bills),
- If you have a track record of responsible spending, and no credit card debt,
- AND if your credit score is >650,
You are a great candidate for starting your journey and earning credit card points and miles—potentially earning thousands of dollars every year in free plane tickets, hotel stays, and more!
If your spending isn’t above $1,000 per month or your credit score isn’t above 650 yet, both of these only require patience. If you have never had a credit card before, you may need to start with an entry level credit card, such as a low-limit card from the bank you personally use. As you use that and pay it off in full every month, your credit score will improve, and you’ll soon be eligible for huge amounts of points and miles.
However if you have a track record of reckless spending and past or present credit card debt, I recommend that you stop here. This is not a wise travel method if there’s a risk of debt!
The Catch: One credit card isn’t really going to cut it.
When you see people on social media earning millions of points every year, flying business class to Europe, and getting suite upgrades at the Hyatt, the catch is that they are opening new credit cards all the time.
The secret sauce is in the Sign-Up Bonus (SUB). This will look something like, “spend $4,000 in the first 3 months after opening the card and we’ll give you a Sign-Up Bonus (SUB) of xx,xxx points.”
Then, after you hit that $4,000 and earn the xx,xxx points, you open another card and do it again. By the time you, potentially your spouse or sibling, or kid are in on it too, you can be in the millions of points just by putting your bills and every day spend on credit card for Sign-Up Bonses (SUBs) on new credit cards!
What credit cards should you start with?
Now that we’ve established that your spending, habits, and credit would make you a good candidate for earning points & miles, as well as the strategy of opening multiple cards to maximize the potential points you can earn—what cards should you start with?
(There are sooo many options, trust me, I know.)
Hands down the best credit card to kickstart your points & miles journey is the lovely:
Chase Sapphire Preferred
For a modest $95 annual fee, this card will earn an impressive 75,000 points (worth at least $1,000+) towards anything travel after spending $5,000 on the card within 3 months from opening. Because it's not a branded card, you're going to be able to spend these points on almost any airline, almost any hotel, and so on. Because of these reasons, it's my top favorite travel card, and the first I recommend to everyone.
Note that I think this one, the Chase Sapphire Preferred, is much better than the more expensive Chase Sapphire Reserve! This is just a personal opinion, but I don’t have the Reserve because I don’t think it’s a good value for it’s heafty $795 annual fee, so I don’t have one personally and don’t recommend it. Stick to the Sapphire Preferred for the same amount of points!
And if this truly is your first credit card points, enjoy it! Book a flight! I went to Ireland for a week with the points I earned from first opening my Sapphire Preferred in 2022. 🙂
Here are some of my favorite cards to follow up with after the Sapphire Preferred:
Chase Freedom Flex
This is a FREE card! Just by applying and spending $500 within 3 months from opening, this card will earn 20,000 points. If you transfer these 20,000 points to your Chase Sapphire Preferred, they are worth 25,000 points (or at least $250 in travel)! For free! I do recommend getting this after the Sapphire Preferred, though, so you get that multiplier for the extra 25% boost.
Capital One Venture X
After spending $4,000 within 3 months of opening on this one, you'll earn a pretty 75,000 miles (worth at least $750). You'll also get a $300 travel credit each year you hold the card, AND this card carries some of the best lounge access out there including all Capital One Lounges AND Priority Pass lounges (1,300 lounges globally!). The $395 annual fee is more than paid back to you in these benefits.
And just like that—in, what? 6-8 months of working the credit card game? You’ve already earned 155,000+ points and miles towards travel. A $2,000+ value, just by putting your normal spending on credit cards and paying it off in full every month.
These kinds of promotions can multiply the more people you’re getting into the game as well. A lot of very prominent travel bloggers will have a team of 2-3 people opening up every card in a cycle, and earning millions of points in the proccess.
After you have a credit card or two, and have started your points & miles journey with one or all of the cards above, check out my strategy for earning BOGO flights on Southwest Airlines through points & miles here! I also recommend brancing out eventually to the Hyatt personal card, as Hyatt points are the most valuable in the hotel space.
You earned the points & miles—now what?
There are practically endless ways to spend your points and miles so I’m going to keep this simple.
- Probably the simplest way to redeem your points and miles is to log into the credit card’s travel portal, seach for the flight you want, and book using your points. This isn’t necessarily the method to get the most value possible out of your points, but I’ve done this plenty of times for free flights all around the world! There is no shame in just redeeming your points and miles right in the travel portal of your credit card—this is much better than letting your points build up and never using them!
- Every so often your credit card will offer you “transfer bonuses”, in which you can transfer your points to a specific airline or hotel and you will get a bonus percentage of points when you transfer (e.g. 100,000 points turns into 125,000 points). This is great if you have a specific usage for the points and can stretch them further by utilizing a transfer bonus, but note that you cannot transfer points back to your credit card once they have been transferred to the airline or hotel.
- With certain softwares and advanced search techniques, it is possible to stretch your points even further by learning how to get premium cabin airfare, brand loyalty statuses, and more with points. But I would advise against attempting to start from this point. Start slow!
Enjoy it!
With this simple and straightforward quick-start guide to earning credit card points and miles, you are well on your way to enjoying free and deeply discounted travel all around the world!
Here are some beautiful sights I have visited thanks to credit card points and miles promotions.
Happy travels!
