by Joe Petrovic
2 hours ago
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Welcome back to the Award Travel 101 Podcast — from the originalFacebook community created for miles and points enthusiasts. In this episode, we review the latest news as well as our recent meetup in San Antonio, “Talk ‘Bout a Fiesta.”
The Award Travel 101 Podcast is brought to you in part by Thrifty Traveler Premium. Get Thrifty Traveler Premium deal/award alerts sent straight to your inbox.Use promo code “AT10” for $10 off your first year.Head to ThriftyTraveler.com for more details and check out theirGoogle Flights guide. Recent finds include:
- One-way business class to New Zealand for 50,000 points
- Round-trip to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for 40,000 miles
- Round-trip premium economy to Europe for 56,000 miles
You can find these atThriftyTraveler.com/Premium
Page Contents
- Award Travel 101 Podcast Show Format
- How To Listen to the Award Travel 101 Podcast
- Episode 66 — Nice to Meetcha!
- Previous episode show notes
- Award Travel 101 Podcast Episode 66 Show Notes
- Post of the week
- News
- Trip updates
- What bonuses did we get?
- Highlight Feature: Nice to Meetcha!
- Tip of the week
- Where To Find the Award Travel 101 Community
Award Travel 101 Podcast Show Format
We break each show into six sections:
- Question/win of the week— asked or shared by members of the Award Travel 101 community
- News and enhanced offers
- What bonuses did we get— which will tell you what credit cards we're working on and why
- Trip updates
- Highlight feature
- What you didn't know— a feature dedicated to a big or small tip that will help you better maximize the value you receive from your rewards.
How To Listen to the Award Travel 101 Podcast
Episode 66 — Nice to Meetcha!
You can find us anywhere you listen to other fine podcasts including:
Previous episode show notes
| Episode Number and Title |
|---|
| Episode 1 — Meet Award Travel 101 Community Administrators Angie & Joe |
| Episode 2 — Booking a Dream (African Safari) Trip |
| Episode 3 — Creating Memories Through Big And Small Trips |
| Episode 4 — 8 Steps to Better Award Travel |
| Episode 5 — Cruise (on Points), Racking and Stacking, and Keep or Kick it to the Curb |
| Episode 6 — Transfer Bonuses, Hyatt Bonus Journeys, and Benefits of AwardWallet |
| Episode 7 — So Many Program Changes with AwardWallet’s JT Genter |
| Episode 8 — Hyatt Changes, AA Domestic First Class Routes, and Meet the Mods (Jackie Wisniewski) |
| Episode 9 — Freedom Bonus Categories, Award Travel Wins, and Meet Jerod Morales |
| Episode 10 — When to Part with Points and Angie's Safari Trip |
| Episode 11 — |
| Episode 12 — Status Matching for More Value |
| Episode 13 — How Often Do You Get a New Card? |
| Episode 14 — Incredible Trip to New Zealand on Points, Plus a Trip to the Freddie Awards |
| Episode 15 — |
| Episode 16 — Citi Product Change Rules and Meet the Team: Allison Caraway |
| Episode 17 — Husband Cashes in All Their Points and Programs To Book Round The World Flights |
| Episode 18 — Gorgeous Pictures from Iran and Cards That Earn Status |
| Episode 19 — The Tools We Use |
| Episode 20 — Mistakes We've Made |
| Episode 21 — Crafty Way to See Taylor Swift and Ways to Earn Hotel Free Night Certificates |
| Episode 22 — First Class Trip to Croatia and Should You Speculatively Transfer Points |
| Episode 23 — Our Favorite Award Programs |
| Episode 24 — |
| Episode 25 — What Are Points Worth |
| Episode 26 — |
| Episode 27 — Which Card Offers the Best Travel Protections |
| Episode 28 — Pancakes and Points |
| Episode 29 — Favorite Card Perks and Putting Them All Together |
| Episode 30 — What's In Our Wallet? |
| Episode 31 — |
| Episode 32 — 40 Cards – Is it Necessary? Will it Ruin You? |
| Episode 33 — The Power of Business Cards |
| Episode 34 — |
| Episode 35 — I Quit Work...To Travel |
| Episode 36 — Meet the Mods: Sophie Keller |
| Episode 37 — Under-Appreciated Award Currencies |
| Episode 38 — Qsuite, Longest Flight in the World, and Bali |
| Episode 39 — Chicago Seminars and Zorkfest Recap |
| Episode 40 — Unique and Aspirational Flights |
| Episode 41 — Let's Get Thrifty |
| Episode 42 — How Do You Track All of Your Rewards? |
| Episode 43 — Building Your Point Balances with Justin Vacula |
| Episode 44 — The Lingo |
| Episode 45 — 2023 Trip Recaps |
| Episode 46 — Rio, Copacabana, and Taylor Swift |
| Episode 47 — Festivus, Yes! Devaluations, No! |
| Episode 48 — Globetrotting to 197 Countries with AwardWallet's Ryan Smith |
| Episode 49 — New Year's (Award Travel) Resolutions |
| Episode 50 — How Many Points Did We Earn in 2023? |
| Episode 51 — Catching Up with Toni Perkins-Southam |
| Episode 52 — Strategies for Building Healthy Credit and Better Offers |
| Episode 53 — Close-In Booking With Allison Tackette |
| Episode 54 — Oh, P2 — What Did You Do? |
| Episode 55 — Flexible Over Fixed Points |
| Episode 56 — Budget Travel With John Ryan |
| Episode 57 — Card Strategies — Let’s Get Crafty |
| Episode 58 — Maximizing Spend for the Most Rewards |
| Episode 59 — Finding Award Space |
| Episode 60 — First International Business Class Flight |
| Episode 61 — Points Down Under |
| Episode 62 — How You Doing? |
| Episode 63 — When to Hold 'em and When to Fold 'em |
| Episode 64 — The Most Powerful Tool in Award Travel |
| Episode 65 — The Largest Hotel Chains — Which One's Right for You? |
Award Travel 101 Podcast Episode 66 Show Notes
Post of the week
Charlie Hagadorn had a post about a feature in the paid version of seats.aero — one of the award search tools called rooms.aero.
News
- Current offer on The Business Platinum Card® from American Express
- — what a letdown
- Lufthansa first class bookable with LifeMiles again — was down for a bit but it’s live again
- New rules, laws, and protections for travelers — this is still a long way from being finalized
Trip updates
- Angie
- Booked a return flight from India.
- Kid got a new puppy — updating Southwest Companion?
- Joe
- New Hilton on Clearwater — may change father–son trip around a bit to use a Hilton Free Night Award
What bonuses did we get?
- Angie
- Working on some authorized user card offers.
- Hilton Free Night Awards have been deposited.
- Joe
- Working on maxing out the 10X bonus on American Express® Gold Card referral for 14X
Highlight Feature: Nice to Meetcha!
We just returned from our meetup in San Antonio for Fiesta. There were over 150 Award Travel 101/Award Travel 201 members in attendance, plus speakers and most of the moderators team. It was so great to catch up with friends and put a face to the names we see in the group. We started at McIntyres, then several people turned Joe's suite into a T-Swift karaoke lounge until the early hours.
Speakers:
- Justin Vacula (Hurdy Gurdy Travel Podcast) blew everybody’s minds with some creative ways to hit minimum spend and earn status (Podcast Episode 43)
- Toni Perkins-Southam (Forbes Advisor) shared deals and lessons learned over the years as well as the one most important aspects of the Award Travel (Podcast Episode 51)
- Logan Robinson (Aligned Incentives) discussed how to simplify meeting minimum spends
- Ryan Smith (AwardWallet) shared some under-the-radar card perks and benefits (Podcast Episode 48)
- Several of the Chicago Seminars‘ organizers were there to share updates AND a nice discount for attendees (Podcast Episode 64)
After the sessions on Saturday afternoon, we had tickets to the illuminated Fiesta Flambeau night parade — the largest illuminated parade in the country. In addition to the networking and friendship building that occurs, meetups are a great place to learn lesser-known tips and tricks that can’t really be discussed in a large community.
Our next meetup location was revealed during the meetup also! AwardTravel201 will be in Seattle for a social meetup. We’ve mentioned in the past it’s a great way to make friends, learn tips and tricks, and find travel partners. Dates are August 16–18, 2024. It was first released to attendees and Award Travel 201 members and will open to Award Travel 101 soon. There is early bird pricing through May 31, 2024.
Tip of the week
Angie's story to check what cards are saved in your Uber/Lyft wallets.
“I landed in SAT with only one random (Amex) valid card in my Lyft account, since I’ve closed the Chase Sapphire Reserve®. After reviewing an article from AwardWallet, I discovered I could earn 5x with my Chase Freedom Flex℠ or Ink Plus® Business Credit Card (no longer available to new applicants) card, so I added those to my wallet. The only cards in my Uber account now are my Amex cards for my Uber credits, but they only earn 1x after those credits are gone. Plus, Uber wouldn’t let me update my payments methods, so Lyft it was!”
Related: All of the Lyft Benefits Available Through Credit Cards
Where To Find the Award Travel 101 Community
For questions, you can join us in thefree100,000+ memberAward Travel 101 Community.
- If you want to jump into more intermediate and advanced strategies, ourAward Travel 201 community($89.99 annually) is filled with those who want to dig into the weeds, looking for more outsized value.
- To book time with our team to discuss how to better your earning and burning strategies, check outAward Travel one-on-one.
- You also can email us at contactawardtravel@gmail.com.
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