This week, I’m handing the newsletter over to Eric Rosen, TPG’s director of travel content. Eric has been deep in the points and miles world from the beginning, and he’s breaking down how a two-player strategy can help you earn rewards faster and more efficiently.
Have a great holiday season,
BK
✈️ ✈️ ✈️
For most of my life, I was playing the points game in solo mode — a single traveler making the most of his credit cards to see the world on his own. That changed in 2016 when I met my future husband, Jeff. In the nine years since, I’ve had to evolve my credit card strategy into two-player mode so we could both make the most of our points and miles … and it’s been even more rewarding.
For starters, playing the credit card game with two people means twice the potential welcome bonuses. We can both apply for the same cards and each earn their bonuses separately. What’s more, even if I already have a specific card with lifetime welcome bonus limits, if Jeff doesn’t have it already, he could still get it. Not only that, but some credit cards offer extra bonus points for adding an authorized user, which we’ve taken advantage of to earn an extra 5,000 points or miles here and there.
Depending on the cards we’re each carrying at any given time, we can also double up on certain benefits, such as annual companion tickets with certain airline cards or annual free night certificates with certain hotel cards. Two flights or two nights are better than one!
But it’s not all about doubling up on cards just for points. After all, many cards come with high annual fees, so we have taken a more nuanced approach in order to avoid too many overlapping benefits. I travel a lot more than Jeff, and he tends to travel mostly with me, so I’m the one with more expensive credit cards that come with lounge access (and he can still get access as an authorized user with some cards), while he tends to carry more basic versions that offer elite status-like perks such as priority boarding and free checked bags for the times he’s traveling alone.
We also split most of our expenses, so we have homed in on a single card that both of us can use in each bonus category, including dining out, groceries and gas, so that we can better keep track of our expenses while also maximizing our purchases.
I thought the best part about finding the man of my dreams would be doubling my wardrobe with all the new clothes I’d have to borrow. It turns out that the best part was being able to amplify my rewards strategy in new ways, so that Jeff and I can travel the world together.
If you want to learn more about doubling up on rewards, check out these posts:
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Photo Credit: ERIC ROSEN/THE POINTS GUY.
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