Tuesday, July 9, 2019

Mistake - Don't Let Your United Miles Expire

Darn! Even experienced miles and points travelers can make a rookie mistake. I had 8,923 United miles in my account and I let them expire. Ouch. 
The good news is that United.com now offers a way to reinstate your miles. The bad news is it may not help. 



You can pay $50 for up to 5,000 miles and $100 for up to 20,000 miles OR pay $100 and then buy a flight. That might make sense if you had let a lot of miles expire. 
United gives you up to 18 months after the miles expire to reinstate them. 
Nice offer, but Delta miles never expire. 


I will probably let these miles go instead of paying to get them back. But now I will be updating my spreadsheets with a new column. By the way, the easiest way to reset your expiration date without flying is to use the shopping portal. Just one purchase will reset the expiration date. 


Thursday, July 4, 2019

What does FREEDOM mean to you?



Today marks the celebration of Independence Day and freedom. Freedom can mean many different things to many different people. It can mean freedom to make your own decisions, freedom to live the lifestyle you choose, freedom to pick your career, freedom of thought and speech and on and on.
So what does freedom mean to you?
For me, it means the freedom of time; time to travel and see the world. The freedom to learn new cultures, meet new people and explore. 
And in order to have that freedom, I need to find a way to make travel affordable for my family.
That's been my mission for the last 4 years with this blog, almostFREEfamilytravel.
Every article, tip and piece of advice I give is meant to help you and me achieve the freedom of travel. 
I learned 4 years ago that travel does not have to be expensive. You just need to have a plan and focus on execution. 
And the gift you can give to your children will live on forever. 
So I hope you continue to enjoy my blog and enjoy your own definition of freedom. 

Stephanie 

Tuesday, July 2, 2019

Chase Sapphire Reserve Vs. Preferred, Which One?





Two great cards, the Chase Sapphire Reserve and the Preferred, but which one should you choose? I just fell under the 5/24 rule which means I can apply for another Chase credit card. Chase changed the rules a few years ago so you can only be approved for 5 credit cards in a two year period. Some cards are excluded, but most are not.
Since I knew I wanted to open two Southwest credit cards in December 2018, I held off opening any other cards for the last 24 months.
The bonus is I actually have four spots open, wow! I was approved for the two Southwest credit cards, woohoo, and earned the companion pass, (The companion pass is one of the best travel perks out there, you can read about this pass by clicking here) but I have another spot. I actually have two spots, but I am going to hold off using the last one.
I have been eyeing the Chase Sapphire cards for awhile because I already have the Chase Freedom and the Chase Ink Business card, but neither of those allow you to transfer Ultimate Reward Points to airlines unless you have a Sapphire card.
So now the question is which one?

Here are the pros and cons:


The biggest con, of course, is the difference in the annual fee $95 versus $450. However, if you break down the annual fee, you might make a different choice. 
For $450, you get a $300 travel credit so that knocks the annual fee to $150 and you also get a $100 Global Entry credit so now you are talking $50. If you value lounge membership and plan to use the Chase travel portal, then the Reserve starts to make sense. 
However, you get 10,000 extra bonus points with the Preferred. 
So you need to weigh the pros and cons depending on how you like to travel. 
Let us know what you decide. 


Thursday, June 27, 2019

How To Earn Southwest Miles Without Flying....Fast



Once you get your new Southwest Peformance Business credit card and make $5,000 in purchases to reach your minimum spend and get the bonus of 80,000 points, the question is how to earn the companion pass quickly. 
You are awarded the companion pass when you earn 110,000 in a single calendar year. The pass is good for the year you earn it and the following year. So the earlier you earn it in the calendar year, the more value you can get out of it. 
For example, I earned the companion pass in February 2019. It is good through December 31, 2020. 
You can use it as many times as you want and change your companion three times each calendar year. 

So how can you earn 25,000 Southwest points quickly to reach the magic number of 110,000 without flying?

Here are a few ways to do it:

1. Use Rocketmiles.com to book hotels. Look for hotels with bonuses of up to 10,000 points. A quick search shows hotels in New Orleans, LA in November with bonuses of up to 15,000 points for 2 nights. The points will take about two weeks to post. 

2. You can book a rental car and earn miles on Southwest

3. You can dine at restaurants and earn miles on Southwest. Remember to dine within 30 days of opening your Southwest dining account and post a review to get a new member bonus. Plus opt in to email communication to get 3x points. 

4. And my favorite, the Southwest shopping portal. Earn thousands of points by doing your online shopping through the Southwest portal. 

5. You can even earn points for taking surveys, but this is pretty slow. 

Let us know in the comments below how you earn those extra points! Good luck! 


Tuesday, June 25, 2019

How To Get Buy One, Get One FREE On Southwest, Fast


The Southwest Airlines companion pass is one of the best travel perks out there. If you earn 110,000 points in a single calendar year, you earn the pass for that year and the following year. 
The pass is buy one, get one FREE on any Southwest flight. 
And you can change your companion three times each calendar year.
For example, I took my son to the East Coast in March to look at colleges. I booked my flight from San Diego to Chicago with points and then added my son as my companion and his flight was FREE. As long as there is an empty seat on the plane, Southwest will allow the companion on board. 
Right now, the new Southwest Performance Business credit card offers an 80,000 point bonus that counts towards the companion pass. If you add in the 5,000 points for the minimum spend, you would only need to earn another 25,000 points to earn the pass. 

110,000 - 80,000 - 5,000 = 25,000

You could earn 25,000 with purchases on your new credit card which earns 3x points for purchases on Southwest Airlines, 2x points on business supplies and 1x points everywhere else. 
In my next post, I'll talk about ways you can earn Southwest points without flying. 
That's how we do it at almostFREEfamilytravel.com 


Thursday, June 20, 2019

How You Can Score 80,000 Southwest Points!


Chase and Southwest Airlines just announced a new business credit card with an 80,000 point bonus! That's crazy and the highest bonus we have ever seen. Plus if you get this bonus, it puts you very close to earning a companion pass. The Southwest companion pass is one of the best travel perks around. Once you collect 110,000 points in a calendar year, you earn the companion pass or buy one get one FREE for the rest of that year and the following year. 
Plus 80,000 points on Southwest can get you and your family a long way. Point values vary for flights depending on the price of the flight. But my flight from Fort Lauderdale to Havana last year only cost 2,956 points each way. 

Let's break it down:

New Performance Business Credit Card

  • $199 annual fee 
  • $5,000 minimum spend 
  • $100 Global Entry credit
  • 9,000 points on your anniversary 
  • 3x points for purchases on Southwest
  • 2x points for purchases on search engine, internet, cable and phone
  • 1x points for purchases everywhere else
  • 4 upgraded boardings 
  • Inflight WIFI
The fine print
You can apply even if you already have the Southwest Premier business credit card 

Chase and Southwest reps will hold a series of business events for business owners to talk about how to grow their businesses. 
Bottom line, if you are under 5/24 and have a small business (I'll write a follow up post with what qualifies as a small business), apply for this card, it's a no brainer. 

Tuesday, June 18, 2019

Double Points With The Wyndham Shopping Portal



Wyndham is offering 2x points when you shop through its shopping portal. Now I didn't even know Wyndham had a shopping portal and I love shopping portals. 
But I'm glad they do because shopping portals are a great way to build miles and points on airlines and hotels or earn cash back or FREE products. 
I tend to use the shopping portals from Southwest, American Airlines, United Airlines, Ebates now known as Rakuten (If you use my referral link, you will get a bonus discount) and the Marketplace. 


Shopping portals all work the same way, though the cash back or points/miles that you earn from each retailer can vary from portal to portal. You can use cashbackmonitor.com to quickly check rates for a specific retailer. You can see above that through the Wyndham shopping portal, Macy's is offering 1 point per dollar with the bonus. It usually offers .5 points per dollar.


Services are also included in shopping portals with big points/mile bonuses. 

To use a shopping portal:

  • Log in to your membership account 
  • Find the retailer you want to shop with 
  • Click on that retailer, you will be redirected to the retailer's website
  • Shop normally and purchase 


Note, you must make your purchase on that redirected website for the tracking to work so you get the points. If you think you lost the tracking by clicking on another website, leave your items in the cart and go back to the shopping portal and repeat the original steps. 
Your items will still be in the cart and the tracking will be turned back on. 
It takes about 1-2 weeks for you to get an email alerting you that you earned points. 
And a few weeks after that for the points/cash back/miles to post.