A few weeks ago, Nancy spilled the beans about her treasure, AKA miles and points balances. It generated a lively discussion, so I figured I might as well do a great reveal myself. Similar to what Nancy said, I have more than some, less than others. If we are talking about my normal friends, they would say I’m swimming in miles and points. On the other hand, hardcore hobbyists would consider my balances to be pitiful. And that’s OK, because I’m not competing with anyone.
My goal is not to hoard for some apocalyptic event, but to take my family places I’m interested in for as little out-of-pocket cost as possible. So far, I’ve been able to achieve that goal and I don’t have any reason to think that my “wings” will be clipped anytime soon. But even if my ability to generate miles and points disappears, I will still have my many travel memories.
My current miles and points balances
Flexible and semi-flexible points:
In the first category I currently have just 50k Amex Membership Rewards and 4k Capital One points. Yep, that’s it. Due to some financial setbacks I have recently redeemed 120k Capital One points towards travel expenses and have no regrets.
I also have 120k Ultimate Rewards points parked in Chase Freedom Flex account. Technically, I can’t transfer those to travel partners, but I can always upgrade to CSP or CSR card. In fact, I intend to do just that in a near future because I have upcoming travel plans that will require Southwest and Hyatt points.
Total balance: 174K points
Airline miles:
Between our two accounts, my husband and I have close to 200k Alaska Mileage Plan miles, 200K Jet Blue miles, 72k Air France Flying Blue miles, 67K AA miles, 38K United miles, and 6K Lifemiles.
Total balance: 583K miles
Hotel points:
Like Nancy, we don’t prioritize hotel points, but it’s nice to have some on hand. We have 260K Best Western points, 40K Hyatt points, 30K IHG points, 8K Hilton points and 12K Choice points. I’ve had my Best Western stash for 1.5 years (mostly acquired via credit card bonuses) and plan to burn it towards a road trip out West within a year or two. Hopefully, the program won’t be gutted in that space of time.
I generally don’t recommend pursuing hotel bonuses unless you can burn the points immediately. But at the time my husband and I were getting rejection after rejection, so I figured investing in Best Western points (worth half a penny on average) would still yield a better return than getting cash back on everyday spending. I still believe that.
Total balance: 350K points (looks more impressive than it really is)
Upcoming points:
I’ve recently been approved for Amex Gold 90K points offer via someone’s referral link (you are welcome). As far as I know, the offer is currently 75K points, so you may want to hold off applying. I was also approved for 70K offer on Alaska personal card, and 70K offer on Barclaycard Aviator card (AA miles). I still can’t believe it, to be honest, especially since I got lots of denials just a few months earlier.
But it just goes to show that your fortunes can change quickly in this hobby. I guess the fact that several of my inquiries recently fell off my credit report suddenly put me back in “desirable” category. I’ll take it! I was especially surprised to get approved for Amex Gold card since I’ve gotten a pop-up message for years on it. I give credit to Nancy for nudging me in the right direction. This is why I will never hold out for Chase cards and won’t let 5/24 rule determine my application patterns. It would be silly to miss out on lots of juicy bonuses just to (maybe) collect 75K Ultimate Rewards at some point in the future.
Total upcoming windfall: 230K miles and points (hopefully)
Total miles and points balance:
1 million and 337 thousand miles and points
Whoa, I was actually surprised that my stash is bigger than Nancy’s (she has 840K points). However, appearances can be deceiving. If you look at her post, you’l notice that most of her balance is invested in miles and flexible points. My Best Western stash may look impressive on paper, but those points are worth only 0.5 cents apiece. The same goes for Hilton, IHG and Choice points. Hyatt is different (I value points at 1.25 cents apiece), but I only have 40K points in that program.
Like Nancy, I got most of my miles and points via signup bonuses. See Beginner’s Guide: 7 Steps to Free Travel with Miles and Points.
WHAT AM I GOING TO DO WITH THOSE MILES AND POINTS?
I normally plan two years ahead at most, and try to accumulate points according to those plans. In the next year or two, I’m hoping to finally take my family to South America (see related post) This is where my Alaska stash will come in handy. I also hope to use up most of my Jet Blue and hotel points on an epic road trip out West. This is something I’ve dreamed of doing for a long time, and I want to plan it while my kids are still relatively young.
I will also need lots of miles for my daughter’s graduation trip two years from now. Originally, she wanted to visit Japan, but is now thinking about Europe. Either way, investing in flexible points, AA and Alaska miles should help me accomplish either goal. She also wants to bring her best friend, so I will have to cover three award tickets total. But I won’t be able to book anything for at least a year, so in the meantime I plan to focus on accumulating more cash, flexible points, miles and hotel currencies, in that order.
There will be more trips, I’m sure, but those three will use up most of my existing stash.
FINAL THOUGHTS
This was actually a fun exercise, as I’ve never looked into exactly how many miles and points we have at any given time. I know that during the height of Covid pandemic I’ve become a multi-millionaire, at least in the world of miles and points. But my newfound wealth didn’t last long, as I happily burned a good portion of my stash towards an amazing family trip to Japan. I even splashed out on business-class seats! I know for some burning points causes anxiety, but for me it’s the opposite.
I would conservatively estimate my current points balance to be worth around $12k, and I’ll likely get closer to $20k in retail value once I redeem. Of course, this isn’t my retirement fund and it certainly won’t grow over time. Still, I will most definitely recoup my initial investment and then some. Remember, most of these points came from signup bonuses.
To me, focusing on getting “free” travel via everyday spending is an equivalent of cutting out daily latte in hopes of an early retirement. It certainly helps, but if your income is pitiful, you won’t be retiring at the age of 30 just by making coffee at home. The same principle applies to points. Average family will do better by channeling most of their energy towards the big fish, so to speak.
There are exceptions, and I’ve passively accumulated 120K UR points via 5X categories on Chase Freedom Flex. But it took me 4 years to get there. On the other hand, I’m expecting to be 230K miles and points richer in just 6 months. For the most part, getting points via everyday spending is just a rounding error in your hustle for points.
It’s not even close.
Author: Leana
Leana is the founder of Miles For Family. She enjoys beach vacations and visiting her family in Europe. Originally from Belarus, Leana resides in central Florida with her husband and two children.
@Jennifer That’s pretty good! I bet it can easily cover several family vacations. Maybe not to the Maldives, but still.
This post prompted me to add my points up. Grand total of 581,000 with 108,000 more coming soon. I had no idea how many I had. Plus a few hotel certificates and a free cruise offer I need to book. Pretty happy with my stash. 🙂
@Projectx That’s mostly how I approach this hobby as well. I just redeemed Alaska miles on award tickets and got exactly 1cpm. And you know what? I’m totally fine with it. For me cash preservation is key, especially after we had some major financial setbacks. I can’t use my Alaska miles to pay a contractor or to fix a car. We do splurge on business class here and there, but it’s not essential. Like you, I pick destination first, then look for ways to leverage my miles and points. Not the other way around. But hey, to each his own. There is no right or wrong way to use points. I think it’s silly to impose my personal preferences on others.
@Leana I really don’t worry to much about cpm in terms of traveling (though i pay attention to it when transferring points, so URs to Marriott is a bad idea, for example). I find someplace we want to go, and then we go there.
In terms of travel bank, I’m set for a while, but still hustling. Thing is when we travel, we don’t splurge on premium cabins, but otherwise we tend to live it up. We live by a motto my old boss said to me one time… “you don’t go on vacation to save money.” Much easier to do when you play this game! LOL
@Prohectx I hear you! I suppose some would put me in a “hoarding” category. The thing is, I’m reasonably sure that I have enough miles and points to cover our tentative travel plans for the next two years or so. Yet here I am, still hustling. The thrill of acquiring points at a deeply discounted rate can be irresistible. Plus, I know I will put them to good use eventually. But yes, having reasonable expectations and not counting on getting 10 cpm out of your stash certainly helps.
Put me in the hoarder category. Or at least, I earn more than I burn in any given year. I really don’t redeem for premium cabins so any devaluation on airline miles while not ideal, hasn’t been that big of a hit. Hotel devaluations haven’t been that painful either, although I rarely use hotel points. For flexible currencies I usually end up booking through their portal or cashing out.
On the flip side my Delta miles have become more valuable recently since they implemented the 15% rebate for card holders.
The MS game is getting more and more difficult. Despite that I earned more last year than I ever have. Still, having a healthy “travel bank” so to speak ensures my vacations continue to be 100% free for quite some time.
@Luc I completely agree that miles and points can be a great insurance policy in case of an emergency.
Not sure if you read this post of mine on using United miles to get my parents back to Europe during the start of Covid pandemic https://milesforfamily.com/2020/03/23/using-united-miles-on-the-very-last-lufthansa-flight-to-belarus/
I just reread it and my blood pressure went up remembering this whole ordeal. That was a close call, and I don’t know what would have happened to my parents if I didn’t have access to United miles. We would probably keep them in US and end up spending a fortune on buying revenue tickets to get them back to Belarus some roundabout way. Best use of miles ever.
Sorry about your ordeal, but glad it too had a happy ending.
@Aleks Thanks for your comment! I actually sometimes collect miles without a clear purpose. My reasoning is, I’ll eventually get at least 1 cpm, which is good enough. I agree on AA program. It has really improved over the last few years. I have my doubts on whether the mileage rates for certain redemptions ( like JAL business class) will remain at current level, but those are hard to snag now anyway due to other programs getting access to them earlier. AA miles are actually the hardest ones for me to get ahold of, since Citi no longer likes us. And I don’t blame them! Nothing personal, just business.
Like you, I’m looking to 2025 with optimism when it comes to travel. Sure, our savings account is depleted at the moment. But! We still have miles, points and most importantly, decent health.
Interesting, thank you for sharing!
I’m also of the opinion the points should not be hoarded, with the intent to use them in the distant future. This was reinforced by the devaluations announced this year (Turkish, United, Hyatt and perhaps others).
One thing that’s useful to know is that having a stash of points can be highly valuable in case you need to make alternate plans. I have two examples.
First, I’m planning a trip to Italy in November. I looked for months, and there’s no availability in business class for the return flight (Italy – USA), on the exact day I need to travel. So I got economy seats instead and, if any business class award seats become available, I’ll cancel the economy ones.
Second, I happened to be in Dubai when the flood happened, so my flight to America was cancelled. I spent hours and hours with Turkish on the phone and they couldn’t find an alternative! I had an award seat and, perhaps because of that, they wouldn’t/couldn’t put me on a different flight, not even days later. So I was in a bit of pickle – I was ten thousand kilometers away from home, with my family, and had to find a place to stay and a way to fly back. No problemo: I used points to book four hotel nights (Hyatt properties), and also used points to get award seats on a different carrier.
Bottom line – remember that points can also be used for “insurance” purposes.
Thanks for sharing. Agree on your accumulating strategy, that’s what I do.
Can add that I’m not in rush to burn miles/points as soon as they acquired, even some people do – afraid of devaluations or program changes. There are some positive effects, like really low award rates on AA on local US destinations. For example, flights to FLG, Arizona were 9,000-12,000 compared to gigantic cash rates.
I still find hotel points to be very valuable, especially if used along 4th/5th night free benefits (IHG/Hilton) – although rates gone up significantly after Covid. Still lament an old good Club Carlson card that was giving free nights with almost every award night booked at Radisson properties. That was fun back then, but the card long gone gone now, along with RR loyalty program. It’s still one of the credit cards that I got most value from…
It would be interesting to see how Alaska miles will adapt post-deval with partner awards being less available/visible to book, but I’ve also seen improvement on some domestic AA rates and some international too. Looking into 2025 travel season with optimism!