Why You Need To Think Strategy When Booking Flights

Loyalty is still rewarded when you fly. So when you book that next flight, be sure to use the right credit card to maximize perks. Most of the airlines have co-branded credit cards, United, American, Southwest, Alaska, Delta. Depending on what's important to you i.e. lounge access, priority boarding, free checked bags, extra miles, companion ticket and which airline you typically fly will determine which card makes the most sense for you. 

For example, I flew to New York last weekend and booked my American Airlines flight with my co-branded Citi American Platinum Select World Elite Mastercard which includes one FREE checked bag and priority boarding. 

Priority boarding means you move up to boarding group 6 which for my flight meant the difference between being allowed to carry on my bag or checking my bag. 

If you tend to fly different airlines, then I recommend the Capital One Venture or Barclays Arrival Plus. Both cards let you "erase" travel charges with points earned. You can charge any airline, hotel, train or other travel and then use points to offset the purchase. Both come with a large sign up bonus and annual fee waived for the first year. 

Cash In On Great Deals For Travel Gear

Ebags offers just about everything you might need to pack your stuff when you travel. And they were offering great deals for Black Friday and Cyber Monday. But even if you missed those, the deals are continuing. 

Just this morning, I found 70% off packing cubes. A 6 pack set for just $24.99 plus 2 shoe bags for just $11.99. 

Of course, we use a shopping portal and today, Ebates is offering 12% cash back on purchases from Ebags. Woohoo! 
FREE Shipping for purchases over $49 or 2-day FREE shipping with ShopRunner. 
So if you are planning to travel over the holidays, even though I always advise you to travel light, you might want to stock up. If you want to shop at Ebags, use my link for $10 off your first purchase. 
And if you don't have an Ebates.com account yet, use my link and you will get $10 cash back with your first purchase. 
So use the two links together and that's $20 off! That's how we do it at almostFREEfamilytravel.com

Remember Your Amex Offers On Black Friday

We already talked about using shopping portals for extra savings and miles during Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales. Now let's talk about stacking offers by using the right credit card for your purchase. 
Some credit cards offer additional bonuses like these from American Express. 
If you log into your American Express card online and scroll to the bottom of the page, you will see a list of Amex offers like these. They rotate and range from a few bucks off to some huge savings. 

You need to activate the offer before you make the purchase and then American Express will issue a statement credit. Of course, you will make your purchase through a portal, but you will use this Amex card to double dip. 

Chase Freedom offers rotating categories. This quarter, you get 5% cash back at Costco, department stores and Chase Pay. 
If you are a Target shopper, then the Red Card always gives 5% back and if you shop at Amazon, then the Amazon card also always gives 5% cash back. 
So before you make any purchases this week, do some homework and it could end up saving you some big bucks! 

Save Money Using Portals On Black Friday

Black Friday and Cyber Monday are the biggest shopping days of the year. Most of the popular retailers will offer some sort of deal to get you to open your wallet. And the shopping portals are not going to be left out. Good news for you because you can double dip! Actually triple dip if you use the right credit card for your purchases. 

How does this work?

This morning, we checked Ebates.com, one of my favorite cash back shopping portals and they have already listed a few Pre-Black Friday deals like 5% cash back on Amazon devices bought through Amazon.com, 10% back at JC Penney and more. They are also featuring promo codes and Black Friday ads from stores. 

So how does it work? It's easy. 

1. Sign up for a FREE account through this referral link. You will get a FREE $10 for using my referral link. 

2. Then find the retailer where you want to make your purchase 

3. You will see the cashback offer for Ebates.com members 

4. Click on the shop now button 

3% might not seem like much, but if you use shopping portals every time you shop, it starts to add up. And when Ebates.com sends you your "big fat check", it's time to celebrate. 

So remember shopping portals this holiday season and let us know how it goes. 

Yes, You Can Do New York City On A Budget

Driving in NYC 

Traveling to NYC last minute and on a budget, possible? Yes! New York City is one of the most expensive cities in the world, but if you plan it right even last minute, you can stay within your budget and have a great time.
Flights and hotels take the biggest bite out of the budget. For flights, using google.com/flights will let you know what flights are available and then you can check each airline to find out how many miles you will need. Sometimes, you can find last-minute flights for as little as 12,500 miles each way.
For this last minute flight, I found a flight from San Diego to JFK for 12,500, but the return would cost 20,000 miles so I opted to pay for the return. Booked my American Airlines flight using my Citi American credit card so I would get one FREE checked bag, extra miles, and priority boarding.

The Wyndham New Yorker Hotel

Now Wyndham hotels are always 15,000 points per stay so I checked awardmapper.com  to see if there were any Wyndham hotels in NYC. There are about 8 Wyndham hotels in the city and two still had rooms available including The New Yorker, an iconic relic. Awesome! This hotel runs about $350 per night so it's a huge savings. The hotel is well located, but no breakfast included.
The hotel even has a deal with the parking garage next door so you can leave your car $40 for 24 hours. You don't need a car in NYC, in fact, it's probably better not to bring a car. But I picked up my daughter from school so it made sense this time. I almost always try booking my car through costco.com since it seems to offer the best deal.  For this weekend, I was able to book a car for just $100 for the weekend and I earned American Airlines miles on that rental too. Remember to join the car rental loyalty club and give your information when you pick up your car.

Of course, we had to split the hot trend in NYC of an egglu or soft waffle cone ice cream spectacular. This one is from New Sensations. Cost $8. 

And I always head for bagels in NYC. Found this new bagel shop right around the corner from the hotel. Liberty Bagels Mid Town had dozens of bagel flavors and smears including vegan and tofu. Yum!
Check out the 1/2 price ticket booth in Times Square for show tickets or try https://www.todaytix.com/x/nyc for great online deals.
Have fun and enjoy the city!

Shop Early And Get Bonus Miles

If you do your holiday shopping early, then you can rack up some serious bonus miles. Most of the airline shopping portals are offering bonus miles like this offer above from American Airlines. Southwest, United, Alaska and American are offering very similar spends and bonuses through November 18th. 

Remember shopping portals are awesome. Whenever you shop online, use a portal to double dip on miles. 

For example, I remodeled my kitchen recently and needed to buy the backsplash. I found the one I liked at Home Depot. But instead of buying it in the store, I logged into the American Airlines shopping portal, clicked on Home Depot and earned 5x miles for each dollar I spent plus 500 bonus miles.  And I charged the backsplash to my Capital One Venture card so I can use the points to erase my travel purchases. 

It all adds up and miles earned through the Southwest shopping portal count towards the companion pass. 

That's how we do it here at almost FREE family travel. 

Bonus 50,000 Marriott Points For An Upgrade

If you currently have the Marriott Premier credit card, you may be eligible for an upgrade and bonus of 50,000 points. It's a little tricky to figure out if you are eligible and what the upgrade bonus will be. Try this link and if that doesn't work, log in to your Chase credit card account, click on reward details, click on the ad asking you to learn more about the credit card and then click on upgrade. 

Be sure to take a screenshot or photo of your offer like I did above before you click accept just in case. I talked to customer service who confirmed that upgrading does not affect 5/24 status. Though you may have to pay the difference in the annual fee which is $10. But $10 for 50,000 Marriott points is a bargain. Some members are reporting offers as low as 10,000 points which may not be worth it. 

Let us know how it goes for you in the comments below.