We can’t believe that we are already half-way through the year, it seems like the year just started – a new year, without travel restrictions and endless opportunities to travel and explore our beautiful world. In terms of your miles and points management, you should have at least two “major” check-ups each year – one mid-year and one at the end of the year. This is to ensure that you are progressing on elite statuses with airlines and hotels, making plans to redeem and earn more miles and points, what your credit card strategy is and what new cards you could open, and just overall planning out your travels and how miles and points can help you make the most of them.
Airline Elite Status Progress
Perhaps the most important elite status in the miles and points world is with the airline you frequently fly on. Mid-year is the best time to check on your current elite status qualifying miles for the year and see if you are about half-way through re-qualifying. If you are over 45% and you have future travel booked knowing that you will hit 100% of the requirement by the end of the year, you are probably okay.
If you are under 45% of the required elite status qualification miles and definitely want to achieve your targeted elite status level, it might be time to start thinking about mileage/status runs if you don’t have a lot of travel planned for the rest of the year that would naturally push you to the required amount of elite qualifying miles. Depending on your frequent flyer program, if you have the airline’s credit card you may be eligible to earn elite miles for credit card spend – be sure to check the details.
If you are an elite member with a different airline than with the one you fly most of the time, re-evaluate your frequent flyer program strategy – will you flying airline A and crediting flights to airline B also make sense next year? If you are under 50% of the way to re-qualification, it might be time to go over all of the benefits and make a decision to which frequent flyer program you will be loyal to.
miles & points can help you travel the world
Hotel Elite Status Progress
Hotel elite status is generally much easier to earn than airline elite status, mainly because most hotel credit cards offer you X number of nights towards an elite status level or sometimes one of the benefits is the entry-level elite status as long as you hold on to the card. Since it is mid-year now, have a look at your hotel elite night levels and see how close you are to re-qualifying with your preferred hotel chain and make an estimate if you will reach all of the required nights for your desired elite level.
If you definitely want to reach a certain level with a hotel chain’s frequent guest program but think you will be short, consider your options – either mattress runs or perhaps applying for a credit card that will give you a boost in elite qualifying nights. Remember that hotel chains also frequently have promotions which could offer either double points or elite nights – be sure to sign-up for the newsletters.
Miles & Points Credit Card Spending and New Applications
If you recently opened a new credit card, be sure to check how much more you might have to spend to receive the sign-up bonus. The last thing you want to do is not reach the minimum spend requirement on a credit card with a huge sign-up bonus. Remember that annual fees, interest charge fees, and any other bank-related fees do not qualify towards the spend amount and neither do purchases that you have returned.
Mid-year is also a great time to evaluate your current credit card strategy and see if you might be interested in applying for any new cards. Usually you should check for higher-than-normal sign-up offers every few weeks on credit cards, but mid-year might be a good time to go over all of your cards, when the annual fees are due, what card you use for which purchase, and perhaps whether or not your overall strategy is working to your advantage – you can always adjust as necessary.
Earning and Burning Your Miles & Points
The best way to be involved in the miles and points world is by having miles and redeeming them quickly – this strategy is known as earn and burn. Miles and points isn’t money in the bank that you can use for everything – the longer you keep your miles and points, the less value they will eventually have. This is because airlines and hotels constantly adjust and devalue their programs, making your miles and points worth a bit less every time. Never think of your mileage balances as a long-term investment but rather constantly be earning and redeeming them.
Generally speaking, foreign frequent flyer programs make less changes than U.S. programs do, so if you must keep some miles/points and not use them, a foreign program would be usually the way to go. Not only that, but you should always be earning transferrable and flexible points with bank programs that you can transfer to participating airlines or hotels when needed – this way you are safe from an airline devaluation and have more options.
All in All
Mid-year is a great time to check up on all of your miles and points strategies – plan out the rest of the year and perhaps even a few months of the next year, to make sure you will be earning and redeeming miles as necessary. Be sure to go over all of your miles, points, rewards, and certificates and note their potential expiration dates and make plans to use them. Now is also a great time to review your credit card strategy and make plans for which cards you may want to open up next and what minimum spends you still need to complete. Being organized in the miles and points world is crucial for success and ensuring your rewards never expire.