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The Points Guy believes that credit cards can transform lives, helping you leverage everyday spending for cash back or travel experiences that might otherwise be out of reach. That's why we publish a variety of editorial content and card comparisons: to help you find a great card to turn your goals into reality.
Our site may earn compensation when a customer clicks on a link, when an application is approved, or when an account is opened with our partners, and this may impact how or where these products appear. While we don't cover all available credit cards, our editorial team creates and maintains all of the analysis of these cards, and our content is not influenced nor subject to review by any credit card company, bank or partner prior to (or after) publication. Please view our advertising policy and product review methodology for more information.
Credit card writer Danyal Ahmed is an avid traveler, averaging about 100,000 aeronautical miles per year. He regularly applies that knowledge and his expertise in credit cards to his role as a credit card writer at TPG.
July 30, 2025 • 9 min read
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Quick summary
The article outlines a strategic approach to maximizing points and miles for premium travel by using specific cards for different types of purchases.
Key tactics include prioritizing certain cards for airfare, hotels, dining, gas and groceries to optimize rewards and access valuable travel perks like lounge entry.
The author highlights the importance of matching card benefits to high-value redemptions, such as premium cabin flights, to extract maximum value from points.
Pooling points with a partner and diversifying across multiple rewards programs further enhances the ability to book luxury travel at reduced out-of-pocket cost.
What to consider
Maximizing value requires regular use of premium cards for large travel expenses and taking advantage of perks such as lounge access and transferable points.
Recent changes to some card benefits may affect earning rates for travel and dining, so staying updated is important.
Combining points with household members and leveraging new transfer partnerships can increase redemption options.
What you'll miss from the article
A detailed breakdown of which types of purchases to allocate to each card and how to coordinate with a partner to maximize points for premium travel.
Generated by AI with support from our editorial team.
Comments
By commenting, you agree to our Community Guidelines to help create a positive space for conversation. The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser, our partners, or The Points Guy (“TPG”). They have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by any of these parties. All responses are submitted by individual contributors, and neither the bank advertiser, our partners, nor TPG are responsible for ensuring that all posts and/or questions are answered.
Whenever I talk about trips I take, it may seem like I have an unlimited stash of points. Spoiler alert: I don't. Instead, I make sure to use the right strategy to earn as many points and miles as I can every year.
There's no secret or hack. I just carefully use the right credit cards in my wallet and follow my golden rules to help me maintain my premium travel lifestyle.
Whether it's redeeming points for flights and hotels or gaining access to lounges, here is what I do to help make my travels more comfortable.
Put the king of premium credit cards to good use for flights
Viewed as one of the ultimate travel credit cards, The Platinum Card® from American Express is synonymous with luxury travel because of its perks (such as lounge access) and the allure it gives off from being a metal credit card.
Airfare
Among the Amex Platinum's list of benefits, the card's ability to earn 5 points per dollar spent on airfare purchased directly with the airline or through American Express Travel® (on up to $500,000 in purchases per calendar year, then 1 point per dollar after that) is what helps me the most when planning trips.
This earning rate for flights is the highest of any credit card, apart from booking travel through an issuer's respective travel site, such as Chase Travel℠or Capital One Travel.
WESTEND61/GETTY IMAGES
If my airfare costs $1,500 or more, I will always charge it to the Amex Platinum. This way, I earn at least 7,500 Membership Rewards points per transaction and build up my points balance throughout the year.
I decided on $1,500 because I try to earn 100,000 Amex points per year. As a family of three, when our airfare is at least $1,500 per person, I net about 22,500 points when using my Amex Platinum. Traveling at least four times a year, the numbers worked out to at least 90,000 points per year just from airfare.
Amex's 5 points per dollar helps me build up my points balance fast enough to make at least one redemption each year.
Recently, that meant transferring 100,000 Amex points to Air Canada Aeroplan to book a nonstop one-way Polaris business-class ticket on United Airlines from Sydney Airport (SYD) to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX).
For reference, the cash fare for the same ticket averages $5,100, so my redemption equates to about 5.1 cents per point. This is far greater than 2 cents per point for Amex or 1.4 cents per point for Aeroplan, according to TPG's July 2025 valuations.
But the premium travel experience with the Amex Platinum isn't limited to flying; it starts on the ground with Amex's Global Lounge Collection network, which includes its impressive collection of Centurion Lounges.
Featuring 26 lounges worldwide, Amex's Centurion Lounges offer everything from elevated food and beverage options to showers and private rooms. Some even have a children's playroom.
Travel days can be hectic, so I love being able to relax in a lounge, enjoy free food and drinks and let my kid burn some energy in a playroom. It's a good way to get that premium travel experience, especially when you're not flying in a premium cabin.
ZACH GRIFF/THE POINTS GUY
What else to consider
Keep in mind that this card is not for everyone. To make holding it worthwhile, you need to maximize its perks or use it regularly for airfare purchases. Otherwise, the $895 annual fee (see ) is hard to ignore, even if you use its array of coupon book-style credits.
Maximize my secondary card for travel and dining purchases
The next card in my wallet that helps me keep up my premium travel lifestyle is the Chase Sapphire Reserve® (see ).
This card has been in my wallet for nearly a decade, and it's all thanks to the broadly defined bonus categories of travel and dining. Although all other travel earning rates have changed due to the card's recent refresh, I'm still keeping the card.
Chase also has its own set of Sapphire lounges, giving me access to additional lounges worldwide.
ZACH GRIFF/THE POINTS GUY
All other travel
While the Amex Platinum is my primary card for pricier airfare, whenever I purchase flights that cost less than $1,500, I always charge them to my Sapphire Reserve.
This helps me accrue Chase Ultimate Rewards at a rate of 3 points per dollar, each of which is worth 2.05 cents, according to TPG's July 2025 valuations.
After October 26, when the Sapphire Reserve's changes go live for me, I'll start to earn 4 points per dollar on airfare. Even though I'll stop earning 3 points per dollar on other travel purchases, I'll still charge them to my Sapphire Reserve to earn Ultimate Rewards points.
I have held off on having a cobranded hotel credit card for years now, as hotel loyalty programs can undergo drastic changes to their award charts that often result in increases to the number of points needed for a free night.
It's a safer bet for me to use my Sapphire Reserve for all hotel charges because I'll soon earn 4 points per dollar, slightly more than the previous earning rate, thanks to the card's recent changes.
Four Seasons Tokyo at Otemachi. DANYAL AHMED/THE POINTS GUY
Chase also broadly defines dining purchases as those made at restaurants, food carts, coffee shops and more.
So, rather than worry about which purchases will qualify and if there's an annual spending cap to keep track of — as is the case with the American Express® Gold Card, which earns 4 points per dollar at restaurants worldwide until hitting an annual purchase cap of $50,000 (then 1 point per dollar for the rest of the year) and has some exclusions to what counts as a restaurant purchase — I can use my Sapphire Reserve to earn 3 points per dollar without thinking twice.
With it, I'll earn 2 miles per dollar on all my other purchases. This is especially useful now that other travel purchases on the Sapphire Reserve only earn 1 point per dollar. By doing this, I expand the diversity of my transferable points.
I estimate this could provide me with another 20,000 to 30,000 Capital One Miles each year, which I could transfer to partner airlines that overlap with Amex and Chase.
Rely on a different card for gas and grocery purchases
Driving in California is a fact of life and can be quite costly. Gas prices hover around $4.50 a gallon, so filling up two cars several times a month is expensive.
To earn rewards and lessen that sting, I use my [applyLink pid="10652" overridetext="Citi Strata Premier® Card" position="5"] (see ). With it, I earn 3 Citi ThankYou Rewards points per dollar spent on gas, and there is no cap on how many points I can earn.
FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
Another simple way I rack up rewards for travel is to put all my grocery purchases on the Citi Strata Premier, as those also earn 3 points per dollar.
In my personal experience, having my spouse who also has her own set of travel credit cards is a game changer.
She earns her own transferable points with Chase and Amex, as well as American Airlines AAdvantage miles with her Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Elite Mastercard® (see ).
This gives us additional points and miles to play with, and I can even combine her Chase points with mine, as Chase allows points sharing with members of your household.
Premium travel redemptions for airline tickets or hotels are costly, but thanks to some careful strategizing around which cards to use for which purchases, I've collected half a million points and miles a year with these specific cards, plus those held by my wife, this way for nearly a decade.
Without these spending rules in place, I wouldn't be able to keep my premium travel habits.
Everyone's expenses and travel goals are different, so it's important you do what best fits your lifestyle and travel aspirations.
For me, paying over $1,200 for these three cards makes sense, as I easily recoup the cost by making sure the majority of my points and miles go toward premium cabin redemptions on airfare — something that would otherwise cost me over $40,000 a year.
