56. Best Ways to Redeem American Express Points

56. Best Ways to Redeem American Express Points

coming up on let’s get to the points you know what guys I think it’s time for another let’s get to the points challenge I like it oh dear let’s do it we are each going to talk about how we would redeem 270,000 American Express membership Reward Points so I decided with my 270,000 American Express points I’m going to check out seats. Arrow my situation is going to be an actual real life booking of redemption that I did two weeks ago so my second option is something that is a bucket list of mine that I want to do one day and that is book a round the world trip we going to go to Japan I’m going to book an Ana is the room and then we’re sleeping on the streets going to be close now let’s get to the points she loves to pretend being a crazy rich Asian it’s Serena sometimes his journey is the destination it’s me she takes family budget travel to another level it’s Nicole and he only lies flat over the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean it’s m Shannon welcome and thank you for joining us on let’s get to the points video and audio podcast where we bring you the very best in tips and tricks in the world of Miles points and travel I’m a Channon joined by my co-hosts who love traveling the world with their families using their credit card points and Miles first up she’s our points and Miles ninja always finding the best family redemptions for everyone in her house it’s Serena hi everyone he’s our points of Miles friend that always shares the deal first it’s our Miguel y what’s up and she’s not afraid of a great deal however when it comes to spiders and rental cars now that’s another story it’s Nicole hi guys how are you please help us out click that subscribe button now below to our YouTube channel Spotify Apple podcast wherever you watch or listen also give us a like and leave us a comment below and tell us what think about our show now it’s time to do it let’s get to the points all right as we start out tonight I’ve got a little gift for each of you 270,000 American Express membership reward points to spend because you know that’s how much you can get right now from one sign up offer on the American Express business Platinum right now isn’t that right Serena yes we are currently seeing a very high welcome offer for the American Express business Platinum of 250 50,000 bonus points I’ve been able to pull this offer up on searches when I Google American Express business Platinum the standard offer is 150,000 so seeing 250,000 is really good there are reports of people seeing a 300,000 bonus Point offer but I have not heard of anyone I actually know who has seen it with their own eyes I think the 250,000 bonus offer is pretty easy to find if you try different browsers different devices and Incognito or private Windows the American Express business platum has a high annual fee of $695 but the card comes with some credits that can help offset the cost of the card it also comes with a very high minimum spend the new requirements for the business Platinum is you have to spend $20,000 within 3 months because of that high spend you want to be sure to time your application with big purchases like property taxes or estimated federal income taxes if for some reason you can’t find the 250,000 offer we have a link in the show notes with a 150,000 bonus offer for the business platinum and if you need more AMX points you can pair that offer with the American Express business gold which currently has a high offer of 130,000 bonus points with a referral you know what guys I think it’s time for another let’s get to the points challenge I like it oh dear let’s do it we are each going to talk about how we would redeem 270,000 American Express membership reward points 270,000 points assumes one person gets the 250,000 AMX business Platinum offer and gets an additional 20,000 points from doing the spend on the card 250,000 bonus points plus 20,000 points for the spend equals equals 270,000 American Express points American Express has multiple Transfer Partners both Airline and hotels and I’m curious how you guys are planning to use your points but I just have one question too I’m wondering if Mitch is GNA blow past his points budget not tonight I’ve took I’ve taken an oath I’ve taken an oath I’m going to follow it and I’m going to stay within my Lane okay well we yet to see that all right so with that challenge I accept it you know I’ll go first I’m going to stay within the rules of this sign up bonus and I think you’re all going to be really surprised just how far I can get on this mhm yeah that was reassuring this trip is going to be for two of us it’s going to be for myself and my P2 my current P2 a mini status update for all of you we’ve decided to make amends over the Spirit flight and the 26 credit card thing that I had going on so we’re not going to be getting a divorce cuz that sucks cuz I wanted all the point points but you know that’s how it goes anyway first we are going to go to Asia and to be more specific we are going to go to Japan and I was kind of going back and forth with you all over the chat today about this but here’s kind of where I landed on all this so kind of check me as I go through this I’m going to book Ana is the room via virgin Atlantics Flying Club for 52,500 points per person each way and the taxes and fees are going to be kind of high $270 per person so Miguel you had some really good points over the chat today and I agree with you 100% the difference between booking this via Ana’s mileage plan and virgin comes down to just a couple of things so one being not having to book a roundtrip award like you do with Ana gives me a little more freedom a little more wiggle Brom and second depending on that seasonality rates could be a little higher smidge higher on Ana so two people round trip comes out to about $542 per person taxes fees that’s really high but that’s just how it goes with the fuel Sur charges on Ana and 52,500 points per person each way so that right there puts me at 210,000 of the 270 that I have to blow so check me am I still within my lane and then we’re sleeping on the streets it’s going to be close so now that I get to include that minimum spend of the 20,000 that I get for having the card that’s 12 hours in a Hilton yeah and as you all pointed out last time I needed somewhere to sleep so that’s what I’m working on right now and it’s not going to be on the streets Nicole so are you ready for this we are going to take the train down to Koto cuz I want to go back to Kyoto and there is ready for this a Comfort Hotel part of the choice program it’s got a free hot breakfast it’s a pretty decent location and 16,000 points per night is going to give me about four nights maybe a couple scraps left over after that there you go four nights in Kyoto round trip in business on Ana’s the room and I did it all and I stayed within my budget I would love to see you in a choice hotel I think that would be better than the spirit challenge yeah so let me say this Nicole honestly I’d probably be happier with a lower-end hotel like this in Japan because it’s incredibly clean and I could probably make it work there for about four nights in this place I looked up the reviews online they weren’t horrible and there are so many places to eat and seeing Kyoto to be honest I probably wouldn’t spend a lot of time in my room anyway I want you to compare the reviews on Google which has more stars Spirit or this Choice Hotel I’m guessing the Choice Hotel does I will say though however while preparing for this challenge today it was a little difficult finding some award space on Ana but not inoss that’s why I would say screw it I’d make P2 get a 270,000 American exess Platinum business card we’d have a total of 540 American Express membership reward points and I’d just go book Singapore via aerop plan and book The Marriott property that I really wanted that’s what I’d really do but of course you would I wanted to stay in my Lane with this Challenge and I can do it four nights you kind of blew past your budget Mitch you you said you’re going to get two cards but that’s okay it’s great to give people options but my first option I had it all in I was right in there I was right in there okay Nicole so tell me how did I do did I at least stay within the bounds of the challenge this time you did but it was more like a fairy tale I’m still in my mind picturing you at a choice hotel it you know my mind cannot compute at the moment but mathematically you are correct okay good well I’m ready to see what you’re going to do with all of these American Express points I thought what do I do the young lady who likes to save scrimmage kind of like a squirrel you get all stuff and you hide it away so I decided with my 270,000 American Express points I’m going to check out seats. arrow and as long as I’ve been using sead Arrow this is probably one of the first times I’ve used the explore function I’ve always just put in the dates that I needed and where I wanted to go and use it but today I’m like let me try something new you know since I’m flush with points I’m going to split it up into different trips I am going to save 42,000 points for my son because it’s his graduating year I want want him to be able to take a trip to Europe with his friends I’m giving him enough points that he can get a one-way ticket through one of the flying Brew promotions so anywhere from the US to anywhere in Europe I’m saving him 22,500 verin Atlantic points to come back from London Heath through to Miami because there’s always a direct flight then this summer I am booking myself a individual trip it’s finally time for me to be on a trip by myself so I’d like to get to anywhere in Asia because my goal is to get to the Philippines so I found a flight on seats. Arrow from IAH which is in Houston you’re going to like this Mitch to Singapore at 87,500 points I would then get a cash flight from Singapore to Manila or BKK one of those coming back I found a flight using seats. ARA the explore function again from o to taipe on EVA airline business class for 75,000 points I think I’m going to do like a capsule hotels since it’s just myself or find some kind of Airbnb that is you know decent enough I’m I’m okay with not having a nice big room cuz we should be outside exploring anyways 87,500 points for the one Wei plus 75,000 coming back is 162,00 then I’m going to add about 45,000 for my son’s graduation trip and I’m at 27500 leaving me with 42,000 points and I’m like you know what I want to take Nyla somewhere I texted her today and I was like Nyla if you could go somewhere next summer where would it be by the way I have a kid for sale and if you buy one of the kids you get the other one for free let me guess let me guess she said gree oh that was the first one that’s the first thing she said yes and I was like M I’m not so sure you’re ready for grease yet maybe that be your graduation present and she also said iiza because I want to be clubbing I was was like what I felt like Miguel what luckily that’s not a bad idea so again using seats. Arrow I looked up Miami Madrid in the explore function I found some economy tickets for 12,000 points from Miami to Madrid using Air France now I would pick the longest layover so maybe we can stop in Paris because she likes that it just gives us time to explore another country and the cash fair from Madrid to iiza was only about $40 with my 270,000 I’m taking a trip to Asia in business class my son’s going to Europe for his graduation trip and Nyla and I will be clubbing iniz I would have Club in AA I know right iiza is on my short list so when she said that I was like we could totally do that but I need for you to be at least 18 are you sleeping on the street Nicole I’m not sleeping on the street but I either have to use cash or scrimage some high at points because there’s some really cheap all-inclusive hotels in Spain when you use your Chase point so I don’t know I’m like I’m like Mitch this time I’m going over a budget we’re not talking about Chase here I know I’m sorry I apologize then yes I’m sleeping on the streets or in a capsule hotel or in one of those questionable airbnbs well how how many points do you have left over Nicole how many do you have left anything about a thousand I was digging around on American Express Travel MX travel Choice I’m hanging up on you no no no no it’s worse than choice so I was digging around on MX travel and I was looking at redeeming points for just the regular hotels of course the rates are horrible right but if you want to stay within the rules of the challenges I was fighting some places around the Japan area for like 50 bucks a night so you know do they look nice though Mitch yeah okay I never used the AMX portal to look up hotels I should look into that now thank you for that yeah it’s one of the kind of the first places I to check these days when I’m looking for cash rates cuzz I just like to look at see what fine hotels and resorts are on there and what the benefits are and everything I was really digging through there like looking at all the other hotels I wanted to see how cheap I could go like what’s the lowest price I could find now you sound like me I I took a page out of the ni Playbook how low can you go if you book a hotel through American Express Travel portal you’re not going to get as good of a rate unless it’s the fine hotels and resorts that they’ll give you 1 cent per point which is decent especially if it’s a good rate but if it’s not part of fhr or the Hotel Collection you’re actually going to get about 6 cents per point so it’s not that good of a deal unless you’re doing the fhr hotels and there no fhr for $50 right I don’t think so wishful thinking didn’t find one no but of course Mitch would only be looking at the fhr which is why you know he was looking there I was just trying to stay within the rules of the challenge yeah if I wanted to be very streamlined and stay within the rules and not use any cash then I could cancel my son’s trip cancel n’s trip and use that money to pay for a hotel I like that our challenges have a little bit of fluidity to them because in real life you’re not spending all of your points on your travel there’s some aspects that you need to spend money on whether it’s food entertainment activities so it’s 270,000 AMX points you know with a Plus+ Nicole I love your ideas so the purpose of this was just to give you guys out there some ideas on how to redeem your American Express points and I used my American Express points differently my situation is going to be an actual real life booking a Redemption that I did two weeks ago Mitch and Miguel have talked about Marriot bonvoy moments these are experiences that you can bid on with your Marriott points I don’t have Marriott points but thankfully I can transfer American Express points to Marriott to bid on these experiences there was one marott moments package that Miguel told me about a few weeks ago that was related to soccer and it was such a great deal my daughter plays competitive soccer so this package was right up her alley the bidding started at 15,000 Marriot points and this is what it included a Manchester United junior soccer school coaching session on the beach in Cancun Mexico a complimentary welcome reception Q&A autograph and photo opportunity with a Manchester United Legend a full Manchester United playing kit and here’s the best part two nights at the all-inclusive Mar at Cancun for one parent and a child and if there are extra people in your room you would just have to pay the resort fee only a few people were bidding on this package so I knew my chances of winning were pretty good I took Mitch’s advice and I waited until the very last minute to put in a bid I transferred my American Express points to Marriott put in my bid for 20,000 points and I won so if I were to book the Marriott Cancun outright with cash it would have cost $1,300 total if I were to have booked just the room with points it would have been 149,000 Marriott points for the two kns instead I paid only 20,000 points for the room and the soccer experience was a bonus now for flights with this only being 2 weeks away flights were not cheap and award flights were not sa level it was about $900 roundtrip per person on United for the non-stop flight in economy and I’m not going to pay that if I were to use United miles for these flights they would have cost 70,000 United miles roundtrip in economy so instead I used the 35% rebate benefit that we get with our AMX business platinum card I chose United as my selected Airline I booked the flights through the MX portal and with the 35% rebate which I will get back later in about a month the net amount of points I’m paying roundtrip per person is $58 8,000 points in economy we also don’t have Marriott status in our family but the business platinum card gives you Marriott Gold status and it was very easy to link the two accounts and set it up so far I’ve only spent 136,000 points so far so I have some points left I would also transfer points to Hilton and stay at the Waldorf Historia Cancun for 105,000 points for one night I’m channeling my inner Mitch and I’m going to live high on the hog before I head home you live it live high as you can on that hog to recap my flights are not the greatest Redemption but it’s very nice to use the 35% business Platinum points rebate benefit when I’m not finding good award availability the Marriott moments experience was hands down a phenomenal Redemption at just 20,000 points here’s the bad news I didn’t go on this trip what I had to stay home with my little one because she had a swim meat but my husband and my 12-year-old went to Cancun and had the time of their lives playing soccer eating and drinking anything they wanted minus the Waldorf atoria because there’s no way I’m going to let them stay at a waldorf without me right of course Serena how much was the Walter for Storia per night did you consider the ratio oh you’re right I forgot the one to2 ratio so I can actually stay two nights at the Waldorf this is even better than I thought so that’s a total of four nights in k Cancun with this one bonus that’s what I call a win for sure my husband and daughter had a great weekend at Marriott Cancun they had a nice room with a balcony which was overlooking the resort and the Beautiful Blue Ocean all-inclusive properties are so nice because all of your food and drinks are included and you don’t need to worry about paying a bill after every meal my daughter loved the fresh tacos at breakfast with handmade tortillas and she had them every morning for the soccer activities she was very lucky to meet Quinton Fortune who is a Manchester United football legend she also received a lot of goodies like a water bottle a bucket hat and a uniform but her absolute favorite thing was this white hat signed by Quinton Manchester United soccer school had a training session on the beach with the kids and I think the coolest thing about all of this is giving my daughter the opportunity to play a sport she loves in another country with other children who also love this sport it’s almost unbelievable this package only cost 20,000 points yeah I was actually considering bidding in this and just skipping the soccer stuff because I mean you were still getting the two nights at the all-inclusive right for 20,000 points it’s ridiculous like I really really wanted to go but I couldn’t because we would have to leave the last day of school and the kids have parties and all that stuff so I didn’t want him to miss their last day of school otherwise I would have totally gone and just skipped the soccer stuff this worked out perfectly because last day of school was Wednesday my husband and my daughter they left Thursday night so it worked out perfectly so thank you Miguel it was a really fun opportunity for them Miguel is always finding those hot deals I love that you sent Parker on a trip and then tell him to get Boll he’s on assignment yeah I said to him okay do you want to go to this because I want to go if you don’t want to go like do you really want to go he said yeah I want to go and I’m like okay you got to get landscape footage like this here’s what comes got to be like this no shaky video so this is just an example of me making my family’s dreams come true with points and miles make those dreams come true yeah thank you Miguel you helped out with this one too yeah no problem I’m telling you I wanted to do it myself I actually didn’t share this with anybody like on Instagram or anywhere because it was like such a low point that I was like we need to keep it as low as possible because Serena wants to go and I might go too so I actually didn’t tell anybody else besides you guys yeah that’s a great strategy cuz then I didn’t have as much competition so I actually have two ideas of what to do I couldn’t stick to just one so one’s going to be very quick but I think it’s something that’s not really talked about and I’m talking about Emirates so when we talk about Emirates and their fifth Freedom routes that fly from JFK to Milan or from New York to Athens those are the ones that are talked about but there’s another one from Mexico City to Barcelona that it’s a pretty good deal I think you could actually look for what they call SA level availability and you can fly out for 120,000 points round trip you can transfer American Express points directly to Emirates to book this and 120,000 * 2 240 you can have two people fly round trip in Emirates business class from Mexico City to Barcelona and so you have 30,000 points left I mean that could get you a few nights in Mexico City while if you’re going to position to Mexico City for this flight Marriott has what they call City Express it’s a new brand of hotels that are really cheap and some of the kns are only about 10 to 15,000 points per night so you could get a few nights at one of those in Mexico City before heading off to Barcelona the hotel in Barcelona you’d have to do that cash because you’re out of points but I think it’s a pretty good idea for for a trip Miguel I think that’s a good Redemption because it’s really kind of hard these days it used to be easier to do Emirates redemptions when they were with Alaska Airlines with mileage plan but a lot of people kind of struggle now because the taxes and fees and the Redemption rates are pretty high with Emirates so I think that’s a great alternative that you just let up there for Emirates if you actually book a award ticket with Emirates and you’re flying in and out of Dubai the taxes can be really high I’m talking about $800 per person each way now if you book this either the New York New York or the Mexico City flights they don’t have taxes that high I think the taxes are maybe like $300 round trip so I think it’s pretty good that’s a steal I’ll find a street to sleep on if I get a fly that now unfortunately on the Mexico City to Barcelona route they don’t have first class so they do have I I think Serena doesn’t like the angled flat I think they might have them on the trip 7s that fly there but I think they’re fine and 120,000 points round trip for an 11-hour flight each way I think is a pretty good deal okay so I don’t mind those angled flat seats but my daughter said they were the worst business class flight she’s ever sat in was was that adir actually it was she said this is the worst business class I’ve ever been in mostly because there wasn’t enough counter space she really likes her counter space but she’s eight like I don’t know why she needs counter this is the eight-year-old it’s for all her skin care counter space is important to 8-year-olds what was your second option so my second option is something that is a bucket list of mine that I want to do one day and that is book a round the world trip Ana has this program where you can book a round the world ticket and it’s actually a pretty good deal you can book up to 12 different segments 12 flights for the same price and depending on the mileage flown you follow their Award chart and that’s what you pay the a a Around the World ticket allows you to fly either AA or any other Star Alliance Partners they have a chart for economy business class and first class and the rates going to vary depending on the actual mileage flown with 270,000 American Express membership rewards points I’d want to book two of these tickets so would try to find award availability for the 20,000 to 22,000 miles flown band which would cost 125,000 points per person 125,000 * 2 is 250,000 so I have a little left over for a hotel or two along the way the round the world ticket is not easy to to book but can provide lots of value if you’re able to book it there are some rules that you have to follow you must fly in One Direction that’s either going west to east or east to west you must cross both the Atlantic and the Pacific Ocean there’s a maximum of 12 segments flown a maximum of eight stopovers this is the locations where you’re going to want to spend a few days or weeks you can do no more than three stopovers in Europe and no more than four stopovers in Japan the trip must last at least 10 days and the itinery must touch at least one country in three different areas so the first area is north America South America Central America and Hawaii area two is Europe middle eastn Africa and area three is Japan South Korea China southeast Asia and Pacific Southwest some tools that are going to help you is flight connections.com so you can see which airlines fly which direction flight connections.com can help you find different routes for you to take you can also look at Star allance website for the round the world tool that’ll help you calculate how many miles you’re going to fly and then the last thing that I wanted to cover is which airlines you want to try to book and which to avoid because there are some that charge very high fuel SAR charges some of the airlines that you’d want to book because they have no or little fuel SAR charges are Air Canada Air New Zealand aanka Eva and United Airlines now there’s some that charge a little bit more but not too much and that’s Ana Singapore and Turkish and the ones you absolutely want to avoid because they have very high fuel search charges is Austrian lansa and Swiss Air now I think some of the harder segments to book are the ones that cross the ocean so you know crossing the Pacific into Japan or crossing the Atlantic into Europe those are the ones that I’d probably concentrate on trying to find First and the rest are going to be easier to find but this is a kind of a very difficult uh booking for you to make but that’s why it’s a bucket list that I haven’t done yet but I still want to do one day so I don’t know maybe I’ll get this 250,000 business Platinum bonus and and book it I have no doubt that you will book this I was going to say if I know anyone that can book this with no problems it would be you Miguel all right Miguel so those around the world bookings you know I don’t know a lot of people that have done them but they’re a great way to really redeem your points with an Ana so you know you’ve given us some really good ideas there now on the other side of that coin $20,000 minimum spending requirement it’s quite a lot that might not be something that everyone can do so do you guys got any good ideas on how people can meet that minimum spending requirement I recently got this card offer and we timed it with the remodeling of our bathroom this bathroom is I don’t know probably older than me so it was about time it got redone and we were waiting to get it done and since the opportunity presented itself we use the card to pay for the renovation of the bathroom so any big changes in your home also with two teenagers about to start driving my son’s already driving we have to pay our car insurance every 6 months that’s another thing that we have to pay and I use that towards the minimum spend also yeah Nicole doing a home uh remodel is a good time for you to get something like this so you can meet that high minimum spend cuz you’re spending that money anyway a few years ago I actually got bonus that was really good with American Express for for the business Platinum they were giving you 15x for shop small which is small businesses so it just so happened that you know the vendors that we use were categorized at small businesses so we got almost half a million points from the sign a bonus and the 15x on that spend so it was good times back then great sounds like great times so I mentioned earlier in the show you can time it with property taxes and federal income taxes estimated taxes for this year but also recently I had a big purchase my daughter just got braces and it was $6,900 jeez our orthodontist wants us to pay up front and then our dental insurance gives us a check for part of it a small part of it afterwards stuff like that can add up another thing to think about too is and we’ve talked about this on the show before is buying groups and some of the more popular holidays in the buying group area is these Prime days and Prime day is going to be coming up pretty soon they’re probably going to have some really good deals so that might be another opportunity for you to do is the buying groups too now remember if you’re going to use buying groups to make your minimum spend these do come at of risk so your miles may vary and you want to not take on any more risks than you can afford to lose yeah the only times I’ve used buying groups is when I had to meet the minimum spend requirement for a couple business platinums that I’ve had before so that’s the only times I’ve used it because that kind of spend is just too much for my what I spend normally so that’s the only time that I’ve used it and I don’t really like like to do the buying groups uh for my regular spend talked about buying groups in one of our earlier episodes so you can go back and check it out we talked about the buying groups that we use what are some of the strategies that we use to meet minimum spin with the buying groups definitely go back and check out that episode Nicole I’m curious have you been actively using buying groups lately I do use the buying groups yes I use them not just for minimum spend but also for acquiring miles on American Airlines because that also helps with status and have there been any issues with packages not being delivered or getting paid on time have you come across that in the recent few months for me no I only stick with by Forme retail.com and I haven’t had any issues with them they usually play Within 2 to 3 days and we haven’t had any lost packages cross your fingers that will stay that way but knock on wood Miguel I haven’t had any issues so definitely your mileage may vary and don’t spend more than you can afford to lose as always that’s some really good advice especially when it comes to the buying groups so you just definitely want to be careful if you’re going to use those to meet the minimum of spending requirement all right up next it’s time for our weekly recap it’s now time for our weekly recap where we share our tips and Insider lessons with you from the stuff that we’ve recently booked so we’re going to start with Miguel and you like to unbook stuff on this segment did you unbook anything no so this is actually a preview of what I’m going to unbook in a few weeks so okay I booked a couple a potential flights because I’ll be in Europe and I’m hoping that a few days before my departure to come back home I get to book lansa first class to come back so I got to prepare for that I booked a flight getting to Frankfurt because that’s where I would want to fly out from Norway to Frankfurt and then I also booked a flight from Chicago back home because Chicago normally seems to have more availability than other cities coming back from Europe I’m going to try to either book Lono first class to Mexico City or to Chicago just in case that opens up before my trip I am going to be able to make it home because I have those other positioning flights that are double booked for now so you have positioning flights with no flight yeah I mean IFA first class opens up in Frankfurt I already have my flight I use 12,500 American airline miles to fly thin air from Helsinki where I’ll be to Frankfurt now if it doesn’t open up I can just cancel it get my miles back and I already have my flight from Helsinki back home so How likely do you think this will happen well I have two dates that I can make this work so I think I think this is probably like a 60% chance that’s pretty good and you need one seat I just need one that’s all I need yeah it might be 70 if you only need one seat what is your reason for choosing either Mexico City or Chicago why not the other cities is there a particular reason well because Mexico City and Chicago seem to have more availability than other cities there is also like New York which probably is pretty common but then it’s harder for me to get back home from New York where at Chicago we have non-stop flights with United American and Southwest and if I do Mexico City there’s flights back to suades where I live you know 45 minutes away from here those are the reasons that I thinking about those two so Miguel are you picky about this aircraft does it have to be a 747 no I’m not actually I would do either one of them I really like the the ground experience the first class terminal there and the seats are all pretty much the same anyway so I really don’t don’t care if it has eight seats or 10 or whatever um I think the A340 would be nice because it’s different because it has the urinal oh it’s a l things in life but I think to Mexico City anyway they’re flying the 747 uh which is I think the only one that I’ve flown for their first class before so but I don’t really care just as long as you get that little rubber ducky you’re fine and the champagne and the cavar so Miguel just like you we’ve got our upcoming trip to Europe in just a couple of weeks as well and we’re headed to Copenhagen too and we’re going to spend a couple of nights there so let me back up just a bit before we get into all of of this so my Hyatt status you know pretty much locked in until February of 2026 so I can remove the pressure from my to-do list and I can just kind of sit back and Coast with hayatt for a while I was trying to find us a place to stay when we’re in Copenhagen and I was digging around for hotels properties there there really isn’t any good redemptions with hide in Copenhagen and there’s a couple Marriot properties but you know after that great deal Serena talked about with Marriott moments I want to save my Marriott points for other things and other redemptions anyway plus all the rates there are ripoffs anyway so I kept digging around a little bit and I Came Upon This comwell Dolce by Windam property that looks really affordable now it’s not the best location but it’s a workable location for us in Copenhagen so anyway I went down the crazy Rabbit Hole of wendam and you know what guys I realized we have not really ever talked about wendam on our show before they’ve got some really good offer ERS on three of their credit cards right now they got the no fee earner card they got the earner Plus card and they got the earner business and the earner business card even comes with diamond status which is great for matching to Caesar’s Diamond status and that could be pretty valuable for people that go to Las Vegas Caesar’s reward members they get diamond status they get Resort fees wave they get a $100 celebration dinner they get some other cool perks that come along with that so having that status can save you some money when you’re visiting Las Vegas having that business card is probably the easiest way to get status with Caesars you can also transfer City in Capital One points to wind them but I’m getting a rate around $140 cash a night and I’d rather save my city and my Capital One points and redeem them another way so that’s what I’m going to do is I’m going to do a cash rate for this property and that took me down another Rabbit Hole of their current promotion that Windam is having so if you stay between two to four nights consecutively you can earn up to 15,000 points without holding the credit card so the big part of this promotion is you’ve got to register and it’s got to be pretty much a direct booking and a cash stay it can’t be on points either way I was already going to do this anyway so it’s nice that I’m going to get some bonus points with that stay and at this point I was this close to applying for the wind earner business credit card with Barkley’s but just wasn’t ready to pull the trigger yet and I wanted to have status with wendam before we get to this property that’s why I wanted to get this card so it turns out wendam has a pretty easy status match challenge that they’re offering right now and it’s way easy to get status for 90 days so pretty much you just got to have a pulse of a status with Marriott or Hilton and they’re going to match you so if you got gold or above at Marriott or at Hilton you can match up to their Diamond status which is their top tier and that’s pretty good super easy how you can match status but if you wanted to match your Hiatt status you got to be a globalist which that didn’t make sense to me but whatever once they match your status you’ve got 90 days to meet the number of nights and you got to stay 10 nights to keep your status not sure if I’m going to do it because you know it’s Windom and who really cares but hey you know it’s not bad to have this Windom status for our stay coming up in Copenhagen so I was really excited about this this Windom status and the points and the promotion that I’m going to get for this cash rate that I’m going to stay there that’s great so no need to open the card you can just status match yeah and it’s good for 90 days I remember you sharing in the chat about this promotion and I also went down the rabbit hole because I have two nights in Turkey I have to find a hotel and I found one close to the airport in capid doia and I was on the verge of booking it and I’m I still have it on hold but this is a great promotion so for those places where you can’t find a Marriott or a Hilton or a Hyatt Windam is a is a great alternative to use especially with this promotion going on now and I forgot I status match back when and I have Windam Diamond the only reason it’s keeping me from booking this is that it’s about an hour away from where we want to be and I’m like I’m not ready for that drive yeah I also did the status match to Windom Diamond why just why not uh but I Tred to match into Caesar’s diamond and no luck they do say that if you did a promotional status match they won’t match that into Caesars so unless you have the business the Windom business card there’s pretty much no other way for you to status mention to Caesar Diamond unless you gamble millions of dollars I guess yeah that’s a good point Miguel because I also saw that in the terms and stipulations and all the fine tape I was like you know I mean that’s okay if I can’t this is kind of like a trial run for me to see what the status is worth and if I want to do it or not I mean am I going to be doing a mattress run at the you know Howard Johnson’s to keep my status you know probably not that bring back memories Howard Johnson but you know I could always get that business earner card to get my status so I figured this was kind of a way to keep the training wheels on and see if I like the status or not and that’s the whole purpose of status match right they want to try to reel you in so let’s see if they wow you so we did talk about the Windom earner business card and during our last game show do you remember Mitch what was your answer did you want it have it had it or me it was kind of a m but was the good M so now it seems like it’s the same I will say after I’ve done all this research and I went down the rabbit hole it’s really moved up on my list because they’ve got some pretty cool properties that are really good redemptions and a couple of them that like I had my eye on is there’s the one in Hanoi Vietnam there’s the Beckman Tower that’s in Midtown New York but the one that I really want to try that looks really exciting is the Windam Grand in yangan in myammar that one looks like a really nice property I want to go to myamar really bad and this would be the perfect opportunity to do that so which one do you want more that property or card number 28 oh I think card 28 will be the Windom business Plus card so continuing on with Europe I need to book a flight from Istanbul to Paris for our flight home during our summer vacation James just had his annual fee post on the capital 1 Venture X card so it’s time to use the $300 in travel credits and I purposefully waited for the annual fee to post so we could use that credit so I went in today to booked the ticket from Istanbul to Paris I put all four of our names in actually let me backtrack a second I got a notification that the price had dropped because you know you guys get all the emails that I have all these alerts set on the let’s get to the point email that the price dropped and when I went in it was $168 down from $189 when I put all the information in to select the flight it says there’s an error that had occurred I hit refresh the price goes from 168 to 1889 I had a few Choice words but I left it alone I was like maybe I’ll go back down tomorrow I went back again yesterday 18 189 I was like you know what nla you remember that time we went to the car and I tried to save $80 and it was this whole spider thing I’m like I’m just going to book it I went to book it again same problem had the error I was like maybe it’s the internet so I tried it at school same error long story short I tried to call Capital One travel to see if they could book it manually I did all the verifications you know what’s your name James Haynes what’s pass four of your credit card da d d and they was like okay ma’am who are you and I’m like it’s not ma’am it’s sir oh dear she was like ma’am you’re on a recorded line I’m like it’s sir I was like all right I think the gig’s up I was like Nicole Haynes and I immediately went into explaining like I didn’t even give her an opportunity to like question the identity and she was like well the card holder had to call so I had James call this afternoon and the gentleman realized that there were two James on the reservation so so he’s like I’m going to put his middle name in so we can separate the two he went in Tred to process the reservation and he said I’m sorry there’s no space available I’m like something’s not right so we’re flying transavia and I looked on their website and there were 10 seats available at this price I tried it again after he put the middle name it wouldn’t work so I was like you know what I’m going to try to book one seat it was available I tried to book two seats wasn’t available so I was like you know what I’m just going to have to book it directly on trans AIO something dawned on me I’m like let me book James and Nyla so at least I could use the travel credit so I booked them got the confirmation and immediately got the confirmation from transavia it seems like their systems are connected because I already got that I’m like let me go back in and try again so I put my name and my son’s name together and I was able to get the seats it seems like because on the one reservation with all four of us because I had two James haes even though the middle name was in there it wouldn’t process the one reservation together so I had to book J and N separate and me and my son together and then we were able to use the travel credit I don’t know if that’s ever happened to anyone but I thought it was just very Weare that I couldn’t book all four together so I was able to use my travel credit all is right in the travel world I have never heard of this Airline before I’m curious about it oh this is our second time flying them really yeah they’re actually a flying blue partner so we flew them on our very first point and Miles trip when we were flying between Portugal and Paris they don’t fly into Charles theal they’re frying to Orly so it’s kind of like a Ryan Air type of thing but I think it’s a little better Mitch you would love the inside the upholstery on the seat is like 1970s avocado green okay but there is cushion on the seat it’s a little better than Ryan a and they actually do Serve You A light meal on a short flight it’s not a bad deal you can put your flying blue number I’m assuming you could probably put your Delta number in also since it’s part of the sky team what about my ITA number do you want ITA points I have some in there I have some orphan in there from my oh valari executive and look you have the card right there ready to go I just I just number 18 no I just got this in the mail so I did a status much to Ita like two years ago and they’ve been extending it a year another year so I got this in the mail it had the Customs stamp cuz it came from Italy oh that’s very fancy so that’s our Europe trip I have one more think that it’s like Miguel it’s a potential book but this one is very devastating to me all right so this Japan trip planning it’s coming to a halt cuz I’m trying to like clear out these other trips and I don’t know what happened and nla was like do you know that Disney’s only $50 in Japan I was like no no no I know where this is going she’s like we should go to Disney in Tokyo and I’m like but do we have to and I think she saw the look on my face but we’re here to make our kids’ dreams come true I could do that for her I could I could you know sacrifice one wonderful day in Tokyo to go to Disney thanks Miguel now I’m going to Disney it’s perfect cuz I think Miguel has some iPods there he wants you to pick up this is true yes okay you can stop by and get my airpods yet okay Nicole so when you’re in Japan we’ve got to make this a big win for Miguel you’ve got to find his headphones that would be a great win for him what are some other wins and losses that you have this week this week is good this week is really really good Jean the real Jean PB said he booked Iberia business class for 34,000 for next May are you ready for this for his daughter’s wedding oh my gosh Jean congratulations congratulations Vic P51 said he booked his parents Q Suites double bed to India next year and he’s so excited for them I’m excited for them yeah I know right wand Rio paid for her friend’s wedding reception using my 14x AMX business goal and she paid me back already that is a big win Ria that is so smart Ria is one of our winners from our anniversary giveaway so congratulations Ria and Jackie or legal consultant is here and Jackie has a loss she says I forgot to buy those Australia tickets for $1,400 snooze you lose Jackie yeah too busy lawyering that’s right too busy lawyering Lauren from This Is How We Do trips says she’s looking for a flight and she set a price alert on Google but she only found one seat for her Safari flight and now she has to drive a little bit further and pay more for ground transportation for sure I would say Lauren just hold out a little bit you never know closer in something cheaper might pop up one more Abbot 8 says she has A8 instant status pass and has already been upgraded twice to First Class she says she’s going to cue her fancy pinky finger keep sending us your wins and losses we love to hear about all the trips you’ve booked whether it’s for a wedding or for your parents please share it with us every Monday and we look forward to sharing them here on the show hey guys my name is prvi and I live in Maryland I’m a big fan of let’s get to the points I always begin my weekends by listening to the show I love all the tips that you guys share and I even write them down in a folder so that I can use all of them later I’ve got two points and Miles related questions when you book an award flight through another Airlines program for example if you book an eart flight the American Airlines miles how do you make sure what the package policy is is it Ethan’s package policy that applies or is it American Airlines my second question has to do with equipment changes on an award flight that you’ve already booked how do you make sure the airline doesn’t switch out the equipment on you or if they do what are your options for example if you’ve booked a cut Q sues uh what do you do if Cur changes the Q sweet plan to a non-q sweet plan thank you for all the great work that you do and happy travels okay prv just got to say nice folder you got there man I’m loving the folder organization I love it all I got mine right here so he’s got some great questions for us tonight when it comes to booking different airlines with different award programs and that dreaded aircraft swap so Nicole I think you’re going to go first I would like to say first of all thank you for your question and I giving you a teacher goal star for that folder now when it comes to the baggage it really is dependent on the carrier and the class of service that you are flying if you’re not comfortable with what you read on the internet I always would suggest that you call the airline and double check let them know how you book your ticket and then I would hang up and call somebody else to verify the story just to verify that the information from the first agent is corroborated by the second agent in terms of the equipment swap I’m going have to go Kindergarten teacher on this one and it’s kind of like you get what you get and you don’t get upset but I think you should get upset and ser is going to talk about that later that’s right Nicole so I’ll take the second part about the question about the aircraft swaer better known as equipment swap question because I’ve had this happen a couple of times to us over the years believe it or not let me paint the picture for you we’re flying the Long Way Home the best way we like to go from Hong Kong to Doha then do to LA and this was just a couple of years ago for reference as well so I had done all my homework I had my binder I had my folder I had it all laid out just like you and then me being the nerd that I am knowing what my inbound aircraft was I was using Flight Radar 24 to look it up and I did a little bit of homework and I found out that Qatar had swapped out the plane to the old Triple 7 which had the old layout of the 222 seat configuration and they removed the Q sues aircraft that we were going to be flying on of course we don’t sit next to each other when we’re on board the plane so they had moved us to very different seats apart and the flight was full of these soccer players and it just got worse after that point we ended up talking to the station manager in Hong Kong and I’m not even sure what happened at that point but we were able to get seats together he did a great job of that and then I thought you know what we’re safe we’re on our way home we’re in Doha we’re headed to LA everything’s going to be fine well and then we’re staying at the airport airside in Doha we were only there for 11 hours and wouldn’t you believe it I got another notification from expert flyer I had signed up for at the time that there had been an aircraft swap again W this time from DOA to Los Angeles oh my gosh crazy we were at the hotel and I caught the swap in time to go down to get our seats changed to where we could sit together but it just goes to show you that you know what you have booked you’re never safe from all these changes until the plane actually lands and they open the door that’s when you know what you booked is safe now just as a side note we did get this Scoop from the flight attendant on board that particular flight and come to find out at that time if Qatar had a large amount of cargo that they were going to use for a shipment on those flights they would swap the aircraft because they couldn’t operate the aircraft that had the Q Suite configuration with a cargo because of Weight and Balance so back to your original question about what your options are I think Nicole basically summed it up for you it’s just basically you get what they give you and that’s pretty much it you know this stuff happens they’re protected when they say seed assignments may change all that fine print it’s in there the best you could do is maybe advocate for yourself but when it comes to aircraft swaps like this it’s pretty much just the way it happens sometimes you get lucky and sometimes you get what happens to us you get Qatar you get guar I like that so for the equipment swap I’m subscribed to this app called flighty and they’ll send me notifications if there is an aircraft Swap and there’s like they said there’s really not much you can do about it except maybe try to have them switch it to a different flight that does have the aircraft you want to fly but other than that yeah it’s just whatever they have scheduled for that day or whatever they change into is what you’re going to get as far as the baggage I’m not sure this will work but you could always try something Nicole taught me and say that gentleman over there said the page was free and I don’t who knows your mou may vary hi pry I love your folder too makes me so happy and I love how Mitch has folders too make it work so Airlines have a contract of carriage they are bound to deliver you to your destination in whatever shape or form they deem is appropriate if they do a aircraft Swap and you’re not in Q Suite anymore they really don’t care and unfortunately you are stuck so you’re not entitled to anything but if you feel after the flight that you received an inferior product I think it’s worth your while to just ask reach out to the airline explain the situation have your information ready and then ask for either compensation or credit or points you never know what they might say I always think that it’s great to advocate for yourself just ask now there are times when you are entitled to compensation and that’s when they downgrade you either from first to business or from business to economy in those instances you should be getting something but with the aircraft swap you aren’t really entitled and it’s definitely your Mage may vary thank you everyone and thank you PRI V for your video question keep taking notes about our show in that book and you guys I just hope it’s not his burn book like in Mean Girls where he’s writing all the things about us I love how you know Mean Girls smitch right so keep taking those notes and whatever extra tips you write in there share them with us okay don’t burn us share the tips it’s so easy for you to be on our show simply drop us a line on any one of our social media channels or visit our website let’s get Toth points.com and we’ll answer your questions right here that’s it for now I want to thank all of our hosts it’s Serena bye everyone thank you Miguel later and we will see you next week in a different location right Nicole absolutely stay tuned see you guys next week and I’m Shannon you can find out more about us at our website let’s get Toth points.com and we’ll all see you here next Friday thanks for watching and [Music] listening let’s get to the point.com

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ON TODAY’S EPISODE:

0:00 OPENING
2:07 The Business Platinum Card® from American Express
4:04 How We Would Redeem 270k American Express Points
5:12 Using Points for Japan
9:23 Using Points for London, Singapore, and Ibiza
15:15 Marriott Moments Soccer Experience
22:08 Using Points for Emirates
24:38 Booking an ANA Round the World Ticket
27:36 Ways to Meet Minimum Spend
31:17 Prepping for Lufthansa First Class
33:44 Wyndham Status Match
40:06 Using the Capital One Travel Credit
45:23 Nicole’s Wins and Lessons
47:13 ASK US: The Dreaded Aircraft Swap

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