Basically this, they are known to shill for the CC companies and often would rather push referrals than what best fits someone’s situation. They also massively inflate what their values of points really are to sell to newbies. That and the guy who started it / runs it is a giant POS.
Fantasy Football - Footballguys Forums
This is a sample guest message. Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!
Do you hoard credit card points? (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter fantasycurse42
- Start date
Basically this, they are known to shill for the CC companies and often would rather push referrals than what best fits someone’s situation. They also massively inflate what their values of points really are to sell to newbies. That and the guy who started it / runs it is a giant POS.
Instinctive
Footballguy
Yeah value is a good point too. My spreadsheet I think I use like 50% of TPG valuation as a rough guide for real value lol
Hopefully i am not coming off too harsh to anyone that likes their site, if its helped someone get started or saved/made you money then thats great! But there are definitely better resources out there if you’ve got the time and energy to learn more. There are a lot of travel blogs and points sites out there, and unfortunately a lot of them are mostly interested in making money off clicks and their readers (like many things in life.)
Instinctive
Footballguy
As with most things in life, getting a few different viewpoints is often best. I also often peruse:
One Mile at a Time
View from the Wing
FlyerTalk
God Save the Points
Frequent Miler
SFBayDuck
Footballguy
Yeah all good, I appreciate the perspective! Like I said, I've found it helpful as a beginner just to understand the basics. I listen to All the Hacks podcast at times, joined the 10x travel group on FB (they have a pretty detailed free course), and have poked around that Reddit thread a bit.
I'll check those out, thanks!
McBokonon
Footballguy
I brought this up in whatever other thread this is being discussed, but join the 10X Travel group on Facebook. They have a simple course that gives you basics on how this all works, and then after that it's a good, fluid (and large) group that gets more into the nitty gritty.
Thank you @McBokonon and @Buckna
Started dwelling into this - it's a bit overwhelming though. Really want to start doing this one a regular basis as I'll have time nearing retirement.
Started dwelling into this - it's a bit overwhelming though. Really want to start doing this one a regular basis as I'll have time nearing retirement.
SFBayDuck
Footballguy
That's basically where I'm at - still doing some work travel so it makes getting the spend for the sign-up bonuses pretty easy (and reimbursable!), so figured I'd start to dive into this. It actually started with getting the Platinum card for lounge access when I had a bunch of trips planned, that card has already more than paid for it's hefty annual fee without even including the free food and drink or yet-to-be-used travel redemptions.
If I am able to retire in the next couple of years, figured it'd be nice to get a head start on earning a bunch of points and miles to use on travel. Once I have better clarity on when I can pull the ripcord I'll probably play the SW Companion pass game as well, so holding off on getting that business card for now.
Last edited:
DA RAIDERS
Footballguy
The Reddit chart is pretty damn good
DA RAIDERS
Footballguy
does anyone have a search engine that they use for finding flights using miles/points? it's sooooooooooooo tedious to search individual airlines.
McBokonon
Footballguy
Unfortunately, the tedious part is why good award deals can still be found at all. If it was easy, everyone would do it. There's a few sites out there (free but limited, paid but also limited) but nothing comprehensive.
FreeBaGeL
Footballguy
Signed up for an Amex Business Platnum a few months ago with 175k bonus points. Was able to buy two tickets to Italy for my wife and I with that and a little extra. Came to like 260,000pts, minus 35% in points refunded due to the Amex Plat perk of getting 35% points refund on your airline of choice.
In cash it would've cost $2600. Got it for the $695 sign-up fee and that's not even counting the other perks/free money included with that ($400 at Dell, Adobe subscription, etc).
In cash it would've cost $2600. Got it for the $695 sign-up fee and that's not even counting the other perks/free money included with that ($400 at Dell, Adobe subscription, etc).
culdeus
Footballguy
In a month get another with 250k points. Not too hard
NutterButter
Footballguy
That has a $20k spend requirement in the first 3 months right?
McBokonon
Footballguy
Yes. If you can’t make that organically, culdeus can teach you how to use Drakko or Woozit to max camp figs and slappify the mook powder.
NutterButter
Footballguy
Yeah, put me down for a 'no' with either approach.
FreeBaGeL
Footballguy
Was 15k back when I signed up. The newer (higher) bonuses have a little higher spend.
FreeBaGeL
Footballguy
In most cases the travel reimbursement returns significantly more than just redeeming for cash, though it does require a little extra work.
For instance those flights I mentioned above would have cost $2600 with cash, but I booked them for 169k points in the end, which would have only been worth $1690 in cash.
If you travel to Asia, especially first class, you can usually get significantly higher redemptions up to 4x the value of cash for the points.
NutterButter
Footballguy
One thing I noticed about the chase portal is that the fares displayed there aren't always the lowest. For instance, when tracking a flight on united, they frequently have a one day price drop that's not reflected in the portal. This caused me to reconsider using my chase card since any point value is lost with the unrealized price difference. I think a way around this is to just book the ticket with the portal and then when you see the price drop, do a flight change through united where you theoretically should get the difference back as a credit; this isn't for basic economy where you'd be hit with a change fee. Anyone else experience this? This is just for folks that use the portal. If you're the transfer and use elsewhere type, this doesn't apply to you.
Last edited:
NutterButter
Footballguy
Might depend on the card. With chase sapphire, you'd never take just cash if you'd use the money to travel. There's a redemption multiplier for using their travel portal to redeem in the portal (1.25 for preferred and 1.5 for reserve) so for instance your $100 in points now becomes $150 using the reserve card. If you're looking to fly 1st or business, then there's also the option to transfer the points to an airline where you'd get even greater value. I only fly coach so can't be more specific since I just use the portal.
Judge Smails
Footballguy
Got 2 for my businesses that I'm starting. AmEx Business Marriott and Chase Ink. I crave Marriott points and both of these feed into it
culdeus
Footballguy
you shouldn't
SFBayDuck
Footballguy
Got denied for both Sapphire Biz and Venture X a couple weeks ago. I was discouraged and about to just stop playing for awhile but I had a big bill to pay so figured I’d try one more time - and got approved for Amex Gold Biz with a 200K SUB on $15K spend in three months. Going to be tight meeting that spend but I’ll find a way! Paid that $2400 bill already (gotta love the instant credit card number Amex gives you), and have a client conference with entertainment coming up in Vegas so should give me a good start.
culdeus
Footballguy
15k au are a thing now. Get 99 of them and do 220k. now you just got another $3k in the bank for opening some envelopes
I did it for a trip last year transferring points from my wife to my account to pool them together. Wasn't too hard. They do warn that it can take like 24 hours for the points to show up in the other account but when I did it, it was extremely quick and almost instantaneous.
Hilton cards just went down from higher offers to their normal offers. If not in a hurry may be worth it to wait for them to go back up as it happens frequently.
culdeus
Footballguy
Yes. I wouldn't burn a 5/24 slot on a Hilton card if that was the plan though.
Desert_Power
Footballguy
Did you survive the great AMEX shut down today?
culdeus
Footballguy
So far I'm actually ok. Don't think will last
DA RAIDERS
Footballguy
In plain English, what happened with Amex points today?
culdeus
Footballguy
People that earned large amounts of MR thru a few methods were shut down. Right now what is unclear is the criteria they are using. They are rumored to have come for what would be considered small time levels as well.
People take earning MR as an near job. Losing them will suck but this had to end at some point with either the closing of the NLL loopholes or AUs simply not earning
Today in the light of day it seems driven by AA getting mad about point brokers and
Desert_Power
Footballguy
I had no idea what was going on until I checked into the Amex channel for a discord I am in. Never really got into Fluz though, beyond just using it for my own discounts. Not good at mixing MS with work so mostly avoid for now.
culdeus
Footballguy
People used fluz to super max out the resy10x plus referral. Fluz knew what was going on. People were pushing millions of dollars into that.
culdeus
Footballguy
There are scattered reports that innocent normal fluz users are getting clipped. Same as a few other plays like ppb and the aeroplan stuff.
culdeus
Footballguy
It's always the airlines that lose their ****. They hate people selling points for premium airfare and undercutting the market. It goes to say that at some point people are going to look to sell points out higher than what you can cash out to.
The Schwab max played a role here also. 1.25 uncapped was not worth brokering. 1.1 capped was.
The Schwab max played a role here also. 1.25 uncapped was not worth brokering. 1.1 capped was.
DA RAIDERS
Footballguy
Best search engine for award flights?
Northern Voice
Footballguy
Moving on to the TD First Class Travel Visa Infinite in the short term here, should meet the minimum spend requirements quickly with vet bills and going to Bonnaroo in June, assuming the border is still open for Canadians at that point...
Again, will only help Canadians but:
Earn up to $1,000 in value, including up to 135,000 TD Rewards Points, no annual fee for the first year and additional travel benefits. Conditions Apply. Offer effective as of January 7, 2025.
- Earn a welcome Bonus of 20,000 TD Rewards Points when you make your first Purchase with your Card.
- Earn 115,000 TD Rewards Points when you spend $5,000 within 180 days of Account opening.
- Earn a Birthday Bonus of 10% of the TD Rewards Points you have earned over the past year, up to a maximum of 10,000 TD Rewards Points.
- Get an annual TD Travel Credit of $100 when you book at Expedia® For TD.
- Get an annual fee rebate for the first year.
The TD rewards definitely seem best used for travel (higher redemption value) but I can make good use of them this summer. Will probably keep the Amex for groceries, the 6% back is just too good to pass up with costs rising more and more.
FreeBaGeL
Footballguy
There's not much that will do like a Google flights type search but with awards points instead of cash.
Daily drop pro is one that I use but has an annual fee and it is still new so still rough around the edges with a lot of features not launched yet and some award programs still in the process of being integrated (ie they couldn't include delta flights until about a month ago).
DA RAIDERS
Footballguy
I’m not seeing an option to search with google flights using award points. What am I missing?
Instinctive
Footballguy
He's saying there's not much that would do that. Google does it on price not points, and it's hard to find an equivalent for points. There isn't an option that works on Google.
Points.me, points.aeeo, and I'm sure a few others do ok? They're subscription based and I am pretty sure it's a person doing the work on the other end. Our firm has a free trial for one of them I haven't used. The reddit AwardTravel has tips and tricks for this stuff too but by and large it's hard to find great airline redemptions because as airlines have changed business model to rely on selling points to banks rather than to profitable fly people as a primary income stream, they've more or less tried to eliminate or hide any good deals and make using the miles very difficult.
