Here’s what’s in store for you in this update: Our household points and miles activity for July, a bit of travel news, some currently elevated credit card sign-up bonuses, and a new feature: free travel photo!
Household Points and Miles Activity for July
It was a busy month for points transfers and redemptions! Here’s the breakdown:
- earned 10,778 hotel points
- earned 3,139 Chase Ultimate Rewards
- transferred 62,000 Ultimate Rewards to Southwest Rapid Rewards
- redeemed 62,015 Southwest Rapid Rewards for airfare worth $1,039.90
- redeemed 15,990 Citi Thank-You points for airfare worth $200.27
- redeemed 6,462 Sun Country miles for airfare worth $58.65
- redeemed 17,092 Chase Ultimate Rewards for airfare worth $256.40
Travel News
In case you couldn’t figure it our from our monthly points and miles activity, we’ve been busy planning our fall trip. All of those transfers and redemptions were for airfare to and from Orlando for Nicoleen, me, and our three oldest kids. (The kids don’t know yet, so SSSSHHH!!) I tried to make a video of the booking process and the rationale, but I butchered several parts of it. If I have time to edit it thoroughly enough, it may end up on YouTube eventually.
Credit Card News
There are a couple of elevated sign-up bonuses going on right now.
- The Citi AAdvantage Executive card is up to 75,000 miles on the sign-up bonus, but with an increased spending requirement of $7,500 in the first three months. This is Citi’s ultra-premium American Airlines card and it comes with a hefty $450 annual fee. The 75k sign-up bonus is unquestionably worth more than the annual fee, but $450 is a lot to stomach for most people, not to mention the higher spending requirement. For an in-depth look at this card in light of the current promotion, check out MileValue’s post here.
- Another Citi ultra-premium card, the Citi Thank-You Prestige, recently underwent some changes. One of these changes was an increase of the sign-up bonus from 50,000 to 75,000 Thank-You points. This card also comes with a $450 annual fee but it has a suite of benefits that easily cover the fee (at least for the the first year). The Prestige was a good card to begin with, but I think the recent changes make it a top contender for my next round of credit card applications. Again with the deets, here’s MileValue’s post on the recent changes.
Free Travel Photo
Being the first ever Free Travel Photo, I figured I would start at the beginning. This is the breakfast that was waiting for me in Switzerland on the first morning of my first ever points redemption, in 2014. European breakfasts are still one of my favorite things to look forward to when traveling (for free) across the pond!
Recent ValueTactics Blog Posts
– Euro2017 – My Free Trip to Europe is the main page where you can find reviews and articles related to that awesome trip. Links will become active once each article goes online.
Now you’re updated. Go employ some Value Tactics!