Travel Hacks - Credit Cards

Welcome to Travel Hacks! These posts will be an ongoing series of posts where we will walk through some of the travel hacks we’ve found during our previous travels and while planning for this world trip over the past few years. Some of these hacks may seem like common knowledge, while others may be a new trick you can add to your travel toolbelt! Be on the lookout for several more additions of Travel Hacks over the next few months where we’ll discuss our strategy towards Airline Points & Status and What’s In Our Wallet in 2024 among other topics, but we wanted to start first with a general overview of how we approached our spending in the couple of years before our trip.

Modern credit card rewards can make planning (and paying for) an around the world trip much easier … if you know how to use them correctly. Leading up to our trip we researched and experimented with how to maximize the rewards we could get from everyday purchases and how to game the system to benefit us. By implementing these strategies in 2022 and 2023, we’ve maximized the rewards we have available to us during this adventure, including close to 1 million AAdvantage miles & 200,000 American Express points. 

What To Spend on Credit Cards

Right off the bat, we should mention that we believe every single purchase you make should be made with a credit card, as long as you can afford it. Some people use credit cards to make large luxury purchases they aren’t really able to afford and won’t be able to pay off for many months to a few years. Let us state very clearly that we do not endorse that kind of credit card spending, it tends to only have limited short-term benefits, but significant long-term problems. 

However, for those purchases you can afford, big and small, we believe it’s always best to purchase it with a credit card. Getting a mile, point, or some percentage of cash back is always more than you get when paying with a debit card or cash. Over time, these incentives earned on purchases can build into huge reward banks, potentially helping stretch a trip out by several months. That said, to get the most out of each purchase, it can help to spread your purchases across multiple cards, particularly when some offer extra incentives for spending in specific categories or with specific brands. We both have 4+ credit cards in our wallets, each with a specific purpose and different perks, which make keeping them worthwhile.

How To Spend Across Multiple Cards

When you are starting to build out your wallet with multiple credit cards, it’s important to understand where and how you can get extra benefits from your existing cards or from a new one added into your mix. Many credit cards have elevated rewards for certain spending or spending with certain merchants, for example the Apple Goldman Sachs credit card gives 1% cash back on everyday purchases but 2% if used through Apple Pay and 3% on purchases or subscriptions from Apple. Alternatively the Bank of America Cash Rewards credit card pays 1% cash back on everyday purchases, 2% at grocery stores, but more importantly 3% cashback on one category of your choosing, which you can switch on a monthly basis. This means that if you choose the category “online purchases” and pay using that credit card for any online transactions in the month, you’ll get 3% cash back on, for example, any gear you buy for your trip!

Beyond cash back cards, travel credit cards, like those from specific airlines and hotel groups will often offer elevated earning for certain categories. For example the Citi AAdvantage MileUp credit card offers 1X mileage on all purchases and 2X on American Airlines spending, but rewards all grocery spending at 2X as well. Another card like the Chase Freedom Unlimited credit card offers 3% cashback on every purchase, on the first $20,000 spent each year, but also includes elevated earnings of 4.5% cashback on drugstores & dining (including takeout) and 6.5% on travel booked directly through Chase Ultimate Rewards. Neither of these cards have an annual fee, which makes their rewards even more significant, as you don’t need to offset any annual fee expense to start receiving a tangible benefit!

When you keep track of where you can earn elevated rewards on specific spending with each credit card, and ensure that the correct spending is made on each card, it quickly accelerates your ability to build up a rewards bank. Likewise, if you add a new card to your wallet with the awareness that it earns outsized rewards for one type of spending, make sure to modify your habits and shift any relevant subscriptions or typical spending activities to the new card. Remember to stay mindful of maximizing your existing cards’ potential by playing the rewards game!

Credit Card Partner Offers

One additional way that you can multiply the rewards you're getting with any card is to regularly check to see if they have any current partner offers and activate them for what suits your spending. This generally applies to cards issued directly through a financial institution for travel purposes like the Bank of America Travel Rewards, Capital One Venture cards, Chase Sapphire cards, or American Express cards. 

We’ve earned thousands of extra points and miles from these partner offers, but we’ve found the partner offers from American Express to be especially generous. Through American Express we’ve had offers like 10% cashback, up to $100, on Expedia hotel purchases, 6X rewards points on Chipotle, or $100 cashback for purchases over $500 on any Hilton location in certain regions. These offers have both saved us hundreds of dollars and earned us thousands of points we’ve used for travel experiences we wouldn’t have otherwise been able to afford.

Be aware though, most credit cards require you to log into your account and activate specific offers before they apply to your card. If you don’t, you’ll miss out on the extra reward earnings, which can be a very frustrating realization – trust me! One easy way to find out which offers are available to you, is to sign up for offer alert emails from your bank. I know we all already get too many emails, but these ones can actually make a difference in your trip experience!

Which Cards Brought Us The Most Value

In 2022 and 2023 there were two cards that helped us most in reaching our world trip goal: The American Express Platinum card and the Barclays AAdvantage Aviator Red World Elite Mastercard. Each of these cards helped us build large travel rewards banks, which we have been able to use to cover various travel expenses when planning our 2024 world trip. Beyond helping us to accrue rewards, each of these cards also provide additional benefits that have made our travel experiences smoother and more enjoyable. With 50+ flights we’re still scheduled to take this year this will make an even bigger difference!

With all of the flying we are routinely doing, we’ve gotten tremendous value from using the American Express Platinum credit card, especially from enhanced travel protection and the complimentary Priority Pass membership. With Priority Pass, we’ve already had access to some incredible lounges, where a shower and a hot meal has helped us survive long travel days. We signed up for this card when American Express was offering an elevated 125,000 point bonus introductory offer, worth $1,250 if redeemed directly through the AmEx travel portal or up to $3,500 if maximized by transferring to some of their travel partners. While this card does have a very high annual fee at $695 (plus $195 for each additional full-benefits user) we consistently recoup this cost through several benefits:

• $240 back each year with the Digital Entertainment Credit

• $200 hotel credit for American Express Fine Hotels + Resorts or The Hotel Collection

• $200 Airline Fee Credit

• $200 in Uber Cash

• Complimentary Priority Pass membership

We also place tremendous value on the enhanced travel protections that the card provides like Trip Delay, Interruption, and Cancellation insurance alongside the Premium Global Assist Hotline which provides emergency coordination and assistance services when we travel 100+ miles from home. 

The Barclays AAdvantage Aviator Red World Elite Mastercard also brought tremendous value, as a result of the long relationship I have with American Airlines and the OneWorld Airline Alliance. I signed up for this credit card when they were offering a terrific 70,000 bonus mile introductory offer, worth almost $1,200 at 1.7 cents per AAdvantage mile as price by Nerd Wallet in 2024, which is enough to cover the $99 annual fee for over 12 years! With this card I earn 2X AAdvantage miles on every American Airlines purchase, increasing the impact that credit card spending has had on building up our reward bank and ultimately covering the costs of almost all our major flights in 2024.

Alongside this, the card earns equal loyalty points with every purchase. For those unfamiliar with the AAdvantage program, these loyalty points are the sole metric which American Airlines uses to determine a flier’s status. Earning these loyalty points through credit card spending has helped me maintain my Executive Platinum status with American Airlines, enabling Sarah and I to use First Class check-in and lounges as well as board with ticketed first class passengers on any OneWorld member airline flights, turning a stressful travel day into quite the luxurious experience.

Summary

In short, credit cards can be a great way to help you afford a trip around the world, especially if you know how to maximize your reward potential and make an effort to use them responsibly. By using credit cards for all of our daily expenses, as well as planned intermittent large purchases, we’ve built up huge reward banks and maintained our airline loyalty status. Both of these have helped us afford this trip and make the travel itself much more seamless. Trust me, when you’re regularly having 24-hour travel days, where you’re not quite sure what time it is and feeling rather frazzled, the extra benefits can revive you for the adventure that awaits.