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Frequent Miler "Ask Us Anything"

How to use that 100K bonus, and which vacation home platform rules

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The SAS EuroBonus Millionaire promotion may turn out to be 2024's Deal of the Year. We just have to fly 15 SkyTeam airlines before...
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Paul

I love your content, thank you for all you do, but there is a huge question that I am extremely curious about.

You often say how you accrued millions of points, more than you can spend. For a “normal” person, even opening 8+ cards a year, getting to this level of miles accrual sounds so difficult, so I wonder where the gap is.

I would be curious to know these two things:

1) How many of your millions of miles come from sign up bonuses vs spending (rough percentage)?

2) What are your main sources of credit card spend? Is it your business expenses, reimbursement through work, genuine organic spending as part of your lifestyle, or other methods?

I started playing the game, open 3-5 cards a year, have about $50k of credit card spending a year (I put everything on my card, including rent!), but it’s highly discouraging, I cannot imagine reaching a balance that will allow this kind of “careless” flexibility.

Thanks!

Paul

Thank you for answering guys on the last show, really appreciated you taking the time!

Last edited 11 days ago by Paul
betty

how can i use my emirates points (expire 1/2026) to book with united? do i go to united and use my emirates number ? I transferred too many point for a previous trip and need to use them before they expire (35,000)

HiltonGC

Given the Hilton Gift Card shortage, any other recommendations for $50 credit on Amex Biz Plat ?

Mital

Question about Chase and Hyatt. I have WOH credit card but my wife doesn’t. She doesn’t have WOH account but she does have Chase points (reserved card). I want to transfer her Chase points to my Hyatt account. What is the best way to transfer her Chase points to my Hyatt account.

Enjoy Fine Food

I found a SLH property with availability for 4 nights throughout Aug/Sep/Oct — many times showing 5 or more nights on the calendar view. When I tried to book 5 nights, availability vanished. Do SLH hotels play this game to avoid 5th night free? Is there a way around it?

Quinn

Does your new human-written newsletter have an RSS feed? I know, that’s what the blog is for – it has an RSS feed – but it is a firehouse. The ideal format for me is a semi regular summary of the best things that your team has discovered, like the new newsletter, available as an RSS feed.

BTW, the subscription page of the website has a bunch of placeholder content.

Nick Reyes

Good question! I don’t think so because it isn’t published on the website — it’s just an email. I don’t *think* that an email can have an RSS feed.

Thanks for the heads up on the subscription page — Carrie is on it!

Quinn

Some email services provide access to newsletters via RSS (e.g., Substack and Mailchimp both do) but it seems this feature isn’t available from FeedBlitz, who you use for your newsletter.

But I found a free service that converts emails to RSS: https://kill-the-newsletter.com/

Daniel

Hi guys, my name is Daniel and i’m completely new to the world of credit and points and I’d love to know if theres a system or process of what cards to open first. it seems like theres so many cards and it can get overwhelming…. any ideas?

Robert

Hope you can help here! What is the best way to utilize expiring at end of year 2024 Turkish airlines miles for US purchases? Can you redeem for gift cards for US?

Thanks Rob

george

Is it ok to use Crefit card to buy hotel/airline points to meet spend requirement on welcome offers?? i know not supposed to purchase visa cards etc

TY

Nick Reyes

Points are a completely legitimate product you’re purchasing. Most issuers do not have many restrictions around which products you can purchase, but a points purchase isn’t even questionable – you’d be fine with that.

John

Hello Nick. I was recently on a virgin voyages cruise. I was hoping to run thousands of dollars through the casino. The plan was to log into a slot machine, charge the room, cash out the ticket. It worked! But I was shut down after about 2k. I am wondering if you have any tips to avoid being “greyed out” on the machines. I didn’t gamble any of the money, and that must have been what tripped the casinos algorithm. How much of the money charged to the machine should I gamble with to avoid tripping their systems?

John

P.s. I did gamble with some of the cash, but I didn’t log into my account for fear I would forget to log out and someone might use it. That was a regrettable decision. If I had logged in, maybe they would have let me keep going for a little bit longer?

D W

My P2 was recently approved for the Capital One Venture X. I on the other hand have not been able to obtain approval for the Venture cards. If I am added as an authorized user to P2’s Venture X card, and am approved for a Savor One cash back card, can I convert the cash back to points to transfer to P2? Thanks.

Trent Sanders

Have you ever heard of an airline freezing your awards account, but not notifying you that the account is frozen? It recently happened to me with VS. I found a flight on KE to SGN flying out of LAS. Ever time I chose the flight and entered the passenger and credit card information it acting like it was processing the purchase and then just returned to the search screen. I tried for weeks and chalked it up to phantom award space (plenty of articles online about VS and KE phantom space), but the flights continuously showed up on searches. I finally called VS and that is when I was informed my account had been frozen due to suspicious activity. After multiple phones calls and several weeks I was able to get the account unfrozen and miraculously the KE flights I wanted were still available. Never had this happen before.

Roger Hoffmore

You talk often about buying sometimes large amounts of gift cards – such as from an office supply store. Any problems to be aware of? Aren’t gift cards considered “cash-equivalent” and thus could get one in trouble from the bank?

Roger Hoffmore

United TravelBank has been recommended by many on YouTube as a way to capture the quarterly Amex Flight Credits… but I’m finding that TravelBank credits expire. I have $25 in the TravelBank from a new IHG Premier Card that hit my TravelBank account in July and that expires in January. So I’m hesitant to buy TravelBank credits with my Amex now. Where else can I park my Amex Flight Credits. I would eventually use the United credits if they didn’t expire, but in the current situation, they are basically useless. Please advise. Thanks!

Last edited 9 months ago by Roger Hoffmore
Stephen Pepper

The IHG credits for United expire after 6 months, but regular United TravelBank credits are valid for 5 years from the date of deposit.

Here’s a post with your other options for using Amex airline fee credits https://frequentmiler.com/amex-airline-fee-reimbursements-still-works/

Roger Hoffmore

Thanks so much Stephen! Very helpful.

Julie Kirtley

How can I access my credit card purchases on line?

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