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Which points should you spend first?
This question only becomes relevant a little later on as youβve been in the space long enough to accumulate significant sums in more than one points currency.
I believe it's also really only relevant if thereβs a transfer partner youβre looking to use that supports multiple flexible points such as Singapore Airlines, British Airways, Flying Blue, Virgin Atlantic, etc.
Thereβs not a hard rule to this of course. Iβll share with you my personal ranking and rationales.
Which points you spend first generally comes down to a few factors: how easy or difficult those points are for you to earn, what unique sweet spots are available with that currency, whether there's a transfer bonus, and your own preferences. That said, if there's a transfer bonus that's useful for a redemption I'm looking at, that takes precedence over nearly everything.
My order of preference for spending points is:
- Amex
- Capital One
- Chase
- Bilt
- Citi
Now for the record, if thereβs a transfer bonus thatβs useful for a redemption Iβm looking at, that will take precedence over this list.
I prefer to use Amex points first because theyβre relatively easy to earn with a lot of sign-up bonus options to pursue. Plus, their points have steadily been getting devalued with its recent Emirates and Cathay Pacific transfer ratio changes.
Then Capital One, which I don't earn particularly fast and doesn't have many unique opportunities outside of EVA and Japan Airlines. Those are two very valuable transfer partners, but really taking advantage of them means earning a lot of Capital One points, which isn't going to happen for me. So I don't hesitate to use these for flights.
I never hesitate to use Chase points because they're also relatively easy for me to earn, but I almost exclusively use Chase points for hotels by transferring to Hyatt. Now that I have the Sapphire Reserve, I'll also look at options via the Travel Portal to see if there's a good deal. I generally don't touch them for flights unless there's a transfer bonus I really want to take advantage of.
Bilt points are tricky. I don't earn them particularly fast because I opted out of the Palladium card, which is the main producer card for most people.
But they have a valuable set of transfer partners, so I only use them on the more valuable ones like Japan Airlines or Alaska Airlines. At the same time, I don't want to hoard them.
There's a general caution with Bilt that the program could face big devaluations or other changes. I'm not trying to fearmonger here, there's no sense or signs of that happening soon. But everything changes all the time in points and miles!
Then finally Citi points. I like to keep these for their valuable and unique partners, particularly American Airlines for their business class sweet spots or economy flights with low taxes and fees. They're not particularly easy to earn outside of a couple of sign-up bonuses and regular spend, so I'm slower to burn them if I have other points available.
But remember, this list only becomes relevant if you have points with multiple currencies. If you only have Chase points and it would be useful to use them for a flight by transferring to Flying Blue or Virgin Atlantic instead of a Hyatt hotel, I would encourage you to do so.
As an aside, we're finishing up our time in Switzerland which has been b-e-a-utiful.
But it's also been expensive! Would you be interested in hearing more about our itinerary, cost breakdown, tips, etc., in an upcoming newsletter?
(Majority answer wins)
| Are you interested in seeing how much Switzerland costs and how we kept our expenses down? |
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