Travel Insurance: Do You Need It And Which Should You Choose

Are you travelling for the holidays? A lot of us are and well, when we travel things happen. So the question is should you buy travel insurance? 

Well it depends. 

Our client, Deborah, said that travel insurance recently saved her thousands of dollars when she and her partner came down with Covid while on a trip to Croatia and Greece. They had to change plans and stay at an island hotel for 5 days while they recovered. Travel insurance covered the additional hotel nights, cancelled hotel nights, food and transportation. 

Some credit cards include travel insurance if you buy your flights, hotels or car insurance with it. If you use points to buy your flights and/or hotels, coverage will depend on how you booked the flight and hotel. Did you transfer the points to an airline or hotel partner, if you did, then Chase considers itself no longer responsible for the trip. And you would only be covered if you purchased travel insurance from the carrier or hotel brand. 

If you booked through the Chase Travel Portal, then Chase would still cover your trip and would refund you in cash rather than points. 

The credit cards we like that include travel insurance are:

Chase Sapphire Reserve -  details about coverage from Chase.com 

• Travel and Emergency Assistance Services: If you run into a problem away from home, call the Benefit Administrator for legal and medical referrals or other travel and emergency assistance. (You will be responsible for the cost of any goods or services obtained.)
• Trip Delay Reimbursement: If your common carrier travel is delayed more than 12 hours (six hours for Sapphire Reserve) or requires an overnight stay, you and your family are covered for unreimbursed expenses, such as meals and lodging, up to $500 per ticket.
• Trip Cancellation / Interruption Insurance: If your trip is canceled or cut short by sickness, severe weather and other covered situations, you can be reimbursed up to $10,000 per person and $20,000 per trip for your pre-paid, non-refundable travel expenses, including passenger fares, tours and hotels.
• Baggage Delay Insurance: Reimburses you for essential purchases like toiletries and clothing for baggage delays over six hours by passenger carrier up to $100 a day for 5 days.
• Lost Luggage Reimbursement: If you or an immediate family member check or carry-on luggage that is damaged or lost by the carrier, you're covered up to $3,000 per passenger.
• Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver: Decline the rental company's collision insurance and charge the entire rental cost to your card. For Sapphire Reserve cardmembers, coverage is primary and provides reimbursement up to $75,000 for theft and collision damage for rental cars in the U.S. and abroad. Sapphire Preferred Cardmembers can be reimbursed up to the actual cash value of the vehicle, but coverage excludes certain cars, such as high value and exotic vehicles.
• Travel Accident Insurance: When you pay for your air, bus, train or cruise transportation with your card, you are eligible to receive accidental death or dismemberment coverage of up to $500,000 ($1,000,000 for Sapphire Reserve).
• Certain travel reimbursement, cancellation protection and emergency services are available to Chase Sapphire Reserve® cardmembers on eligible travel booked with their credit card. Here’s some more information about the benefits offered with the card.
• Emergency Evacuation and Transportation - If you or a member of your immediate family are injured or become sick during a trip far from home that results in an emergency evacuation, you can be covered for medical services and transportation up to $100,000.
• Roadside Assistance - If you have a roadside emergency, you can call for a tow, jumpstart, tire change, locksmith or gas. You’re covered up to $50 per incident 4 times a year.
• Emergency Medical and Dental Benefit - If you're 100 miles or more from home on a trip, you can be reimbursed up to $2,500 for medical expenses if you or your immediate family member become sick or injured.

Chase Sapphire Reserve is one of our favorite cards, it comes with 60,000 bonus points, $300 travel credit, Priority Pass Lounge Membership, $120 Global Entry credit and more.

Capital One Venture X - details about coverage from Capitalone.com 

• Trip cancellation and interruption insurance - If you booked and paid for your trip with a card belonging to a network that offers trip cancellation and interruption insurance, you may qualify for reimbursement in certain situations. For example, they can include unexpected health issues or accidental injuries. The death of an immediate family member or someone in your travel party may also qualify. Maximum reimbursement depends on your card and can vary significantly. For example, some Capital One consumer credit cards may offer up to $2,000 per trip. (For others, it could be less or more.)
• Trip delay insurance - Travel schedules don’t always go as planned. Flights may get delayed or severe weather may affect your travels. Or you may need to pay for a meal or last-minute hotel room while you wait. If you paid for your trip with a card that has trip delay insurance, certain reasonable costs you incur during the delay might be covered.
• Rental car insurance - If you pay for a rental car with your card, you might be able to skip the added cost of buying insurance through the rental company. Credit card rental car insurance through some Capital One cards could cover collisions and theft.
• Lost or delayed baggage insurance - Lost, delayed or even stolen baggage can interrupt your trip. If you need to buy replacement items, you could be reimbursed.
• Travel accident insurance - In cases of severe injury or death, you or your family members could receive benefits if you booked and paid for your trip with a card that offers travel accident insurance.

Capital One Venture X is my second favorite credit card because it earns 2x points on every purchase, offers a 75,000 bonus, $300 travel credit, $120 Global Entry credit and access to Capital One Lounges. 

If your credit card doesn't cover your needs or if you need additional travel insurance for a cruise or tour, I recommend Faye Travel Insurance. It's generally inexpensive and you can adjust coverage on the company website to suit your needs. 

I am an official partner with Faye Travel Insurance so reach out if you need help with this. 

Guide To Getting Your First Credit Card

Watching the Northern Lights from inside an igloo in Lapland, Finland

For the second time in a week, a young person in their 20's has asked me how to get started using points and miles. When I ask them what credit cards they have, they look at me with a blank look. "I use my debit card." 

Guide To Getting Your First Credit Card 

So let's take a step back and talk about how to dump the debit card, build a credit score and responsibly use a credit card. This is the first step towards using points and miles to travel. 

I have published a guide to getting started with 5 easy steps and one bonus tip so here you go:

1. Become An Authorized User - Ask your parents, partner, sibling or other trusted person if you can be an authorized user on their credit card. If they have a Capital One Venture X card, even better, because it’s FREE to add you and you get Capital One and Priority Airport Lounge access. But being an authorized user on any card will help you build a credit score. If you can't be an authorized user though, it's okay, just go on to step 2. 
2. Open Your First Credit Card - I recommend walking into the bank where you have your checking account to open your first travel credit card. If you do not have a checking account yet, then walk into the bank where your parents have their accounts. Open a checking account and apply for your first travel credit card.
3. Your First Credit Card - The first credit card should have NO annual fee. You will keep this credit card forever to boost your credit score. It doesn’t matter if it’s a Chase, Bank of America or Wells Fargo credit card. I recommend the Chase FREEDOM Flex, Unlimited or Rise no annual fee credit cards or the Bank of America Travel Rewards no annual fee credit card.
4. Set Up Auto Pay - The most important thing to remember is to pay your credit card balance in full every month. Credit cards charge crazy 25% interest on outstanding balances and you want no part of that. The easiest thing to do is to set up auto pay so you don’t forget.
5. Reach The Minimum Spend - Mark the date on your calendar that you opened the card and then mark a second date 90 days later. This is the date when you need to reach the minimum spend on the credit card to earn bonus points or cash.
6. Bonus tip: You will need to continue to use your new credit card and pay the bill on time every month for approximately one year. At that point, you should have a healthy credit score and be able to open your next card.

If you need more help, feel free to schedule a 1:1 coaching session with me or enroll in my travel coaching program. Both are super affordable and will help you be successful in traveling for almost FREE. 

You Got Capital One Lounge Access, Now What?

 

Enjoying an alberol spritz in the Capital One Lounge in Denver! So even though my flight was delayed, I was able to charge my phone, do some work, enjoy a drink or two and a nice meal. 

Lounge access comes with my Capital One Venture X credit card. In fact, I added my three children as authorized users which is FREE and they get lounge access too. Well worth, the $395 annual fee. 

But while I was waiting in line, I heard so many people confused about how lounge access works and how much it costs. 

So let's try to sort this out. 

You Got The Capital One Venture X Lounge Access, Now What?

For simplicity, I am going to focus on the Capital One Lounges (currently in Washington DC Dulles, Denver, Dallas and coming soon to Las Vegas) and the Priority Pass (a network of 1,600 lounges worldwide). I know there are other lounges out there for business class and various airlines, but we are just going to focus on these. 

First question, how do you get lounge access:

• Capital One Lounge - Capital One Venture X credit card holders get unlimited lounge access for Capital One Lounges. They can also bring two guests with them. Capital One Venture credit card holders get 2 lounge passes per year. 
• Priority Pass Lounge - Capital One Venture X credit card holders get membership included as a benefit for the card holder and authorized users. Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card holders get membership for the card holder only. Amex Platinum and Business Platinum cards holders also get membership included. Chase Sapphire Reserve, Amex and Capital One Venture X card holders can bring two guests. 

The Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card used to include a restaurant benefit as well which was awesome, but it dropped that benefit in July 2024. 

You Got The Capital One Venture X Lounge Access, Now What?

Once you activate your membership online to the Priority Pass, you will get a card in the mail and a digital card that you show at the lounge entrance along with your boarding pass. You can download the app and find lounges worldwide. 

You can only visit the lounge while you are waiting for a flight departure and not  upon arrival unless you are connecting to another flight. 

For the Capital One Lounges, you show your boarding pass and your Capital One credit card. Since there are only three lounges currently, they are packed and often have a waitlist. 

It's a good idea to get on the wait list, but it's a bit tricky to find in the app. 

You Got The Capital One Venture X Lounge Access, Now What?

• Login to your Capital One account
• Click on Explore rewards and benefits
• Click on Lounges in the upper right corner
• Click on the lounge
• You will see the current capacity and then a button to join the waitlist 
• Once you do that, you will get a text when it is your turn to enter 
• You have 10 minutes to show up or you will lose your turn and have to join the waitlist again

Both the Capital One Venture X and Venture card come with a 75,000 bonus for a $4,000 minimum spend. The Venture X carries a $395 annual fee, but you get a $300 travel credit, $120 Global Entry credit, Priority Pass membership and Capital One lounge access for the card holder and up to 4 authorized users for FREE. The Venture card only carries a $95 annual fee and comes with 2 lounge passes each year. 

The Chase Sapphire Reserve carries a hefty $550 annual fee, comes with a $300 travel credit, $120 Global Entry credit, Priority Pass lounge access and 1.5 to 1 value for Chase Ultimate Rewards points in the travel portal. 

Both Capital One and Chase Ultimate Reward points are considered flex points and can be transferred to dozens of airlines and hotels. 

If this sounds interesting to you, I recommend going through my points and miles course which includes a 1:1 strategy session with me, a custom tracker and ongoing group coaching. Let's get you traveling for almost FREE and making those priceless memories! 

How You Can Get Your Next Tour or Airbnb For FREE

 

Some places that you travel to like Diamond Beach in Iceland do not have chain hotels that you can book on points like Marriott, Hyatt or Hilton. Or maybe like our family of five, hotels are not a good choice because you need two rooms or you will be forced to eat out for every meal. 

How You Can Get Your Tour or Airbnb For FREE

So how can you get your Airbnb, Bed and Breakfasts and tours for FREE if you can't use points?

The secret is in the Capital One Venture credit card.  Current bonus offer ends Sept. 9th so read carefully. 

The Capital One Venture and Venture X credit cards include a travel eraser and travel credit through the Capital One Travel Portal. 

 

Let's explain: 

1. Travel Eraser - When you log into your Capital One account and click view rewards, cover travel purchases, you will see a list of qualified purchases. Any purchase that codes as travel will qualify to be erased like Airbnb, tours, rental cars etc. You can erase the whole purchase or just part of it. You can even erase some of the purchase and then when you have more points, erase the rest. You have three months to erase the purchase so start with the oldest ones first. The value is 1:1 so some would argue you can get more value out of your points by transferring them to an airline, but I believe this is personal to your strategy and goals. For example, I erased the hotel charge for our 5th person in Tahiti. We already had our flights and over water bungalow covered so this was a random travel purchase we could get for FREE. Worth it! 

2. Travel Credit in the Portal - The Venture credit card comes with a $250 travel credit with the current bonus offer which ends Sept. 9th and the Venture X always comes with a $300 travel credit when you purchase hotels or flights through the Capital One Travel Portal. In order to use this credit, you must book your hotel or flight through the Capital One Travel Portal which works great for independent hotels and bed and breakfasts. In the booking process, the portal will ask if you want to use your travel credit to cover the purchase. You do not have to use the entire credit on a single purchase.  

 

Some people are hesitant to book travel through third parties like the Capital One Travel Portal, but I have found it to work quite well. Even when my flight was cancelled due to weather last summer, I was notified by both the airline and Capital One of the cancellation and how to reschedule. 

Ending Sept. 9th, Capital One Venture credit card is offering a $250 travel credit, $100 Global Entry credit and 75,000 bonus points when you sign up. There is a $4,000 minimum spend and a $95 annual fee. So with the travel credit, you are actually making money on this card approximately $1,000. You can only get this bonus once every 4 years. We do not know how long this offer is going to last so don't wait. 

The Capital One Venture X card is a good option if you want airport lounge access for you and your authorized users. The current offer is 75,000 bonus points for a $4,000 minimum spend and a $395 annual fee, but it includes a $300 travel credit. 

If you need some help figuring out if this card will help you reach your travel goals, join my Travel Coaching Program. The next cohort launches September 15th and it's my personal goal to help my clients collectively save more than $100,000 in 2025. 

5 Reasons Why You Might Want To Visit Tahiti Instead Of Hawaii

Crystal clear water, colorful fish, over the water bungalows, lots of seafood, yep, Tahiti is gorgeous. And I'll let you in on a secret. I actually liked it better than Hawaii. Yep, I said it. 

And if you want to take a big trip next summer, now is the time to plan. 

Did you have FOMO watching your friends post photos from Hawaii, well, starting planning now for next summer and you can vacation in an even better location for almost FREE. 

First, let me tell you why I like Tahiti more than Hawaii. 

5 Reasons Why You Might Want To Visit Tahiti Instead Of Hawaii

#5 International Travel - this can be both a pro and a con. But for me, I love to travel internationally, it's really my jam. Tahiti is located in French Polynesia which is a French territory. What that means is that yes, you will need a passport and Global Entry is helpful, but it also means French wine, French cheese and fresh baguettes. Yum! It also means you can practice your French. For some, just leaving the country is a con, but this may be an easy way to start travelling internationally. It's safe, easy to navigate, direct flight from the West Coast, simple to use points and miles to snag flights, the people are friendly and helpful, English is used everywhere, credit cards are accepted almost everywhere and you can rent a car and driving here is also easy. Picture one road around the island. Easy! 

#4 Easy to use points and miles for flights and hotels - It takes a lot of points and miles to travel to Hawaii and Tahiti for almost FREE, but both are doable. I think there is actually more availability on flights to Tahiti just because it is less popular and less crowded. You can read here about how I used points and miles to save $15,000 on our family trip to Tahiti and Moorea. There are also inexpensive food trucks with huge portions on Tahiti and on Moorea, you can find local "Snack" restaurants with fresh fish for about what you would pay in the US. There are also grocery stores on both islands. For our family of 5, all of the meals we ate out cost about $20-$25 per person including one alcoholic drink. 

#3 Over the water bungalows - This is the bucket list dream for a lot of people and you can do this in Tahiti, Moorea and Bora Bora. And the best part is that you can use points and miles to pay for it, woohoo! We stayed at the Sofitel Resort on Moorea using Chase Ultimate Rewards and it was fantastic. Our stay included breakfast always a plus. Because we are family of 5 and the over the water bungalows allow a max of 3 people, we also booked a garden room. Booked both rooms on points and miles and shhhh, we all stayed in the OWB bungalow. 

The OWB bungalows are everything you think they are going to be

• Lounge chairs sitting on the deck over crystal blue water. 
• A ladder connected to your personal deck so you can snorkel and swim right off your bungalow. 
• Rays and colorful fish swimming below. 

Other hotels with OWB include The Hilton Moorea, Manava Resort in Moorea, Intercontinental in Tahiti and the St. Regis, Four Seasons and The Conrad in Bora Bora. 

#2 Rays, Sharks, Turtles and colorful fish - Yes, in Hawaii, you can see rays, turtles, sharks and colorful fish, but in Tahiti, I would argue that there are just more and the water is so crystal clear, you can see everything with your naked eye. The water is also warm and the islands are surrounded by reefs so the water is very calm and great for kids. My favorite tour was a 6 hour Sharks and Rays Lagoon Tour With Lunch by Moorea Miti tours. The tour includes a cooking lesson to learn how to make Poison Cru with real salt water and fresh coconut. You can book this through our partner Viator. 

 5 Reasons Why You Might Want To Visit Tahiti Instead Of Hawaii

#1 Stunning scenery and crystal blue waters - Besides the wildlife, the scenery is stunning just like in Hawaii, but it's not crowded and more accessible. You can drive to the black sand beaches, waterfalls, scenic views and mountain hikes. To me, Tahiti felt like what Hawaii was probably like fifty years ago. Very local, very calm and tranquil. Though there are tours and hotels, it's just not crowded. There are very few lines and nothing seemed sold out. 

If you would like help planning your Tahiti adventure or using points and miles to take this bucket list vacation, check out our website for travel advising and our new Travel Coaching Program. We would love to help you and your family make memories! 

Why I Visited Two Capital One Lounges In The Same Day

They say once you experience something you can't go back. Well, that's how I feel about airport lounges. A quiet space amongst the chaos of the airport. A place with food, drinks and my favorite, coffee. A place with WIFI, comfy chairs and sometimes even a resting room and showers. 

Recently, I spent time in the new Capital One Lounge in Washington DC Dulles Airport and then just hours later during an extended layover, visited the Capital One Lounge in Denver. 

How much does this all cost? Nothing if you are holding a Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card or  Capital One Venture X credit card. There are a few others too that include this benefit, but I'm going to focus on these two credit cards. 

There are 1,500 Priority Pass lounges around the world and three Capital One lounges (Dallas, Denver, Washington DC Dulles). Everyone must present a valid boarding pass to enter and check in at the lounge desk. You can find a list of all the lounges worldwide on the Priority Pass website or app.

• The Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card includes the Priority Pass membership. Once you receive your credit card, just login to your Chase.com account and activate the membership. Priority Pass will send you a physical card in the mail. You can also access a digital card online. Through July 1st 2024, the pass includes some restaurants too where you are eligible for a $26 per person credit. The pass is good for the card holder and two guests. Authorized users also get a Priority Pass membership, however, it costs $75 per year to add an authorized user so that's not the best option.  
• The Capital One Venture X  credit card includes the Priority Pass membership as well, but not the restaurant credit. It is also valid for the card holder and two guests. A benefit of the Capital One Venture X is that you can add authorized users for FREE and they ALSO get FREE Priority Pass lounge access for themselves and two guests. I added all three of my children as authorized users which helps them build their credit and gives them an emergency credit card plus they have access to Priority Pass lounges and the three Capital One lounges. Pretty sweet! 

The Chase Sapphire Reserve is offering an increased bonus offer right now of 75,000 points for a $4,000 minimum spend, but it does carry a $550 annual fee. 

The Capital One Venture X is offering 75,000 bonus offer for $4,000 minimum spend and a $395 annual fee. 

Both are great cards and can have a vital part in your travel strategy. Join my travel coaching program for help to determine which one best fits your needs for your future travel goals. 

Thank You Southwest For A Surprise LUV Voucher

 

Flew home from the East Coast a few weeks ago on Southwest Airlines. All was going well. The first flight took off on time, but the connecting flight was a different story. We arrived in Denver to change planes and found that our flight was delayed about three hours and now scheduled to leave after midnight. 

The gate crew said it was a weather delay due to unstable weather in Florida where our plane was coming from.  We had checked to see if there was another flight leaving Denver earlier that we could request to hop on, but no luck. So we waited. 

The good news was that there was a Capital One Lounge in Denver and a restaurant included in the Priority Pass. The Priority Pass is a benefit included in the Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card. You can read about this amazing perk here. 

Our flight eventually took off and we arrived home late, but safe. 

My experience with weather delays is that you are usually out of luck for compensation.

So imagine my surprise when I received this email a few days later.

Woohoo! Two $100 vouchers for the delay. Nice! But why? This google search may provide a bit of an answer. 

Why did Southwest give me a voucher?

Flyers can receive a Southwest LUV Voucher if their flight is canceled or delayed within seven days of departure, they arrive three or more hours later than planned, and the delay or cancellation was caused by something Southwest could control, such as maintenance or staffing.

In my case, the gate crew told us it was a weather related issue. However, reading further there is another issue if your delay is pushed past midnight and/or three hours. Both of which were true in our case so that may actually be the reason we were awarded the vouchers. 

As promised, a few days later this email showed up with a voucher number. The voucher had also been added to my Southwest account, 

The voucher is a travel credit that has to be applied to a cash ticket. However, now that you can pay cash and points for a flight, you can actually use multiple forms of payment for the same ticket. So in theory, you could use the voucher and then use points to buy a flight. Once you cash in the voucher, it is non transferrable. But the first time you use it, you can actually use it to buy a ticket for anyone. 

Thank you Southwest! Nice to be compensated without having to ask. 

Woohoo! Another Client Success Story!

 

I love using points and miles to save on travel, but what I love even more is to help others save on travel. 

So far, dozens of people have joined my Travel Coaching Program and saved thousands! You read about the honeymoon couple who used points to score FREE flights to Italy. 

Now we have another client success story! 

This time, our client saved $3,200 on a month long trip to Iceland and Italy. 

The client spent 4 days in Iceland and 3 weeks in Italy. 

Here is how she used points to save:

Capital One Venture X Card

• $395 (charge $ 4,000 3 months)
• $300 Travel Credit (so card cost $99 but we split the charge)
• $100 Credit towards Global Entry (got entry card coming back from Venice @ LAX)
• 75,000 bonus miles
• Priority Lounge Access (used in Seattle and Venice)

American Express Delta

• Used points to buy a $500 gc (they were giving a 10% discount on gc) used GC towards plane ticket home. Plus miles I had so my ticket was FREE.

• Used points towards upgrade 2 passengers to Premium Plus coming home from Italy flew Delta Home

If you want to learn how to use points and miles to travel for FREE, consider joining my Travel Coaching Program. You get five short videos explaining the basics, a personal tracker and then 1:1 with me where we talk travel goals and set a plan in action. Then you can join our monthly live coaching session forever for FREE!

We look forward to helping you plan your next trip! 

Hot Tips: Maximizing Points and Miles to Slash College Costs

It's that time of the year, time to visit college campuses. If you are like me, you may be visiting campuses all over the country. This trek can cost thousands of dollars if you pay for hotels, flights, food and the car rental. Or you can save thousands by using points and miles. And since college tuition is closing in on $100,000, every penny saved is worth it. 

I just returned from a two week mega college campus visit and I'm going to break it down so you can see how I used points and miles to save. 

We started by flying Southwest Airlines exclusively because I earned the companion pass last year. This alone can make a huge difference. The Southwest Companion Pass is the best value around. BOGO for any flight, anytime for up to two years on Southwest Airlines. You can read about how I earned the pass here. 

My daughter and I flew from San Diego to New York to Nashville to Providence, Rhode Island and back to San Diego. Four flights paid for with Southwest points and my daughter aka my companion flew for FREE. The value on the flights alone was approximately $1,200. 

Now, let's talk about hotels. This was the Wyndham hotel we stayed at in Vermont. It was probably the nicest Wyndham I have ever seen. Two nights, one night I actually paid for because I wanted to earn a few more Wyndham points for my next trip. The second night was FREE with my Capital One travel credit. Here's the breakdown of where we stayed for the rest of the trip and how we paid for the hotels each night. 

• 3 nights in New York - We stayed at a Marriott Residence Inn with an expiring FREE hotel night certificate and 40,000 Bonvoy points
• 2 nights in Vermont - paid for one night at the Wyndham, used the Capital One travel credit for the second night.  
• 2 nights in Nashville - 24,000 points transferred from Chase to stay at the Hyatt House for two nights
• 1 night in Boston - stayed at the Hampton Inn and Suites with a Hilton FREE night certificate 
• 1 night in Connecticut - used 23,000 IHG points to stay at a Holiday Inn Express
• 1 night in Washington DC - Holiday Inn Express booked through the Chase Travel Portal with 13,000 Chase points
• 1 night in Pittsburgh - 12,000 points transferred from Chase to Hyatt to stay at the Hyatt House 

10 nights in hotels cost me $170. The savings are approximately $1,800. And guess what, all the hotels included FREE breakfast. Another savings of approximately $200. 

We visited one Priority Pass lounge during our trip at the Pittsburgh Airport and ate at two restaurants included in the Priority Pass; The American Tap Room at Reagan National Airport in Washington DC and Providence Provisions at the Providence Theodore Francis Green Airport. Unfortunately, restaurants will be dropped from the Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card in July 2024. 

These visits saved us another $100 in meals. 

The car rental was $700 for the two weeks. I paid for it with the Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card so I earned 3x points and got great car rental insurance. If you had a lot of Capital One points, you could have paid for the car rental with that card and erased it. 

I paid for the gas with my Capital One Venture X card for 2x points. I paid for meals with my Chase FREEDOM Flex card which gets 5x points on restaurants this quarter due to the rotating bonus categories. 

We took a few Lyft here and there which I paid for with my Chase Sapphire Reserve for 10x points. 

So in summary, this trip could have cost approximately $5,000. 

• $1,200 for flights 
• $1,800 for hotels 
• $500 for meals 
• $700 for the car rental 
• $200 for gas 
• $100 for Lyft 

But with points and miles, this trip cost $1,200 and I earned thousand of points and miles to use on my next adventure. 

If you would like support with your own points and miles planning, join my travel coaching program. It's affordable and you get one on one support, a customized tracker, live group coaching forever and my points and miles video course. 

Another Great Redemption Benefit To Flex Points!

One of the huge perks of having flex points like Chase Ultimate Reward points is that you can transfer the points to a dozen different airlines and several hotel chains like IHG, Marriott and Hyatt. In fact, Hyatt often offers sweet redemption deals. 

This comes in handy when you need points in a loyalty program that you either don't have enough points or you don't have any. Points transfer to all these programs 1:1 so some transfers offer better value than others. 

For example, this past week, I was ready to book a Southwest flight to the East Coast, but I was short about 3,000 points. No problem, it took just a few minutes to transfer 3,000 points from my Chase account to Southwest and book the flight. 

To transfer points: 

1. login to your chase.com account

2. click on redeem points 

3. click on travel and transfer to travel partners

4. click on the loyalty program you want to transfer points to

5. confirm your loyalty program number 

6. enter how many points you want to transfer 

7. confirm and submit 

Some transfers happen immediately and others may take as much as seven days. You cannot transfer back to Chase so only transfer points when you are certain. 

If you want to start earning Chase Ultimate Reward points, we recommend you start with the Chase Sapphire Preferred credit card with a 60,000 bonus, $4,000 minimum spend and $95 annual fee or the Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card  with a 60,000 bonus, $4,000 minimum spend and a $550 annual fee (this includes a $300 travel credit, $100 Global Entry credit and Priority Pass Lounge membership plus 1.5% point value in the portal). 

If you decide to apply for any of those credit cards, please consider using my referral links. 

And if you would like help with redeeming points, you can enroll in my Travel Coaching Program or just book a 30 minute travel coaching session here.