Using points and miles to travel for less is what we’re all about … but even two brilliant, handsome podcasters like us (yes, that’s sarcasm) need some help to earn more of them, get organized, and redeem those awards for better travel. So this week, we open up our toolboxes and run through the tools we use to travel better – including a few tools we created for our listeners to use for free!
Come to get smarter about points and miles, stay to hear the rollercoaster that is Gunnar’s self-esteem during this episode…
Join us for all the travel news that’s fit to podcast! Tune in now on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts! And be sure to subscribe now to get each new episode every Thursday morning.
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Show Notes
00:00 – The most annoying person at the party: The person who just got back from vacation
01:54 – Recapping Kyle’s trip to England and Scotland (that we previewed back in Ep. 12)
09:25 – Something Hot: The Amex Platinum Lululemon credit & how to use it on gift cards
12:20 – Something Hotter: The Park Hyatt Tokyo was wide-open using Hyatt points!
15:00 – Something Cold: Who is the Amex Platinum for Business Card for, anyway?
17:45 – A word from our sponsor: Get max value from your points with Thrifty Traveler Premium
18:50 – The Extra Mile: Our tools of the trade for next-level award travel
19:15 – The tools we use to earn points and miles (Cardpilot, Rakuten, & more)
30:00 – The tools we use to organize our cards, points and miles (our new card benefit spreadsheets, Travel Freely, & more)
38:00 – How we spend our points and miles wisely (Award alerts, award search tools, the guide to transfer bonuses, & more)
45:30 – Listener Observation: How to beat AA’s solo passenger tax
48:00 – On the Spot: What would Gunnar change about himself … travel-wise
Produced by Nick Serati and Gunnar Olson
Edited by David Strutt (Find him @davidstrutt on Fiverr!)
Show music: “All That” by Benjamin Tissot
Hi guys! Very interesting discussion on the new Amex Platinum Card and the fact that you have a really cool spreadsheet to track all the benefits. My wife and have been doing some personal calculus on if that card is right for us, and it actually makes more sense to potentially get the Amex Gold Card. Do you guys have a tracking spreadsheet like this that’s specific to the Amex Gold Card?
We appreciate everything your team does and we love the podcast!
Thanks for the kind words, Marcus! Stay tuned for something for the Gold Card.
Great episode! Thanks!
My husband and I have 15-20 credit cards each and are entering retirement (i.e., much lower spending). We’d both like to get down to about 4 cards each. How do we do this without cancelling most of them and totally taking a hit to our (stellar) credit ratings?
Episode #19 – Kyle, I feel ya big time RE: standing in line for security and people are not prepared or act surprised that they need to remove metal, liquids, etc. Hello… what have you been looking at for the last 20 minutes while waiting? Paying attention to your surroundings and taking social cues helps everyone. Phew, exits soapbox! (I think this can apply to the check-out line in the grocery store too! :-))
We loved Oban. We went to Oban by train from Glasgow. We took a boat tour to Mull, Iona, Staffa, and Lunga. We went during puffin nesting season and saw so many puffins. I highly recommend this tour company.
https://westcoasttours.co.uk/tours/tour-mull-iona-and-staffa/
Fellow travel enthusiast from the Midwest here!
Just wanted to share my travel social media username/handle – @TravelSizeBudget on Facebook and Instagram. I attended Thrifty Traveler University a few years ago regularly follow TT’s amazing content. I started @TravelSizeBudget last year to offer my own unique spin on travel – from the usual (points and miles, affordable fares) to the less common (savings and convenience on food, souvenirs and more). Thanks for continuing to inspire me, Thrifty Traveler!
Great podcast! Thanks for all the great information.
Hello Gunnar,
I am enjoying and appreciating all you travel savings information. Would you please help us finding an appropriate venue to get results form lost bag by United? In June last yWe re senior citizens 1K United. Last year in June we checked 6 bags from LAX to HNL. One of the bags never arrived and we filled a claim at HNL. There was lack or no communication from United including corporate. We provided photos and invoices for 4 pro racing high end OZONE kites $12,500.00. The bag never made it “downstairs” after being check at 1K counter at LAX. I wrote countless letters , got a lots of lying and contradicting run around or no responses. Now we found out someone is selling our stolen kites on E-Bay because they all have serial numbers and person who bought one of the kites very ‘cheap” called Ozone co. to ask why is someone selling a $4,000.OO kite for $1,500.00 and the company contacted us since they have record of us paying a full price. E-Bay is not taking any responsibility. Now United finally e-mailed us claiming they do not cover “sports equipment”. Our bags were handed to United employees and they should be responsible. Would you have any suggestions how can we recover our losses? I would appreciate any suggestion you could provide. I know its not what you are about but since you have lots of travel experience maybe you know something that can help us. Keep up the good work.