All Blog Posts 🗺️

🤙🏿 Welcome back to the Better Than Points Newsletter - the premier place for all things Credit Card Points News and Travel

Not a subscriber yet? Sign up free here

So I’m back in Texas, defeated and with no one to blame but myself. Apparently, I didn’t know this but you have to check in at least 45 minutes prior to your flight or the system locks you out and not even the airline desk can help you. This didn’t just bite me in the butt once but twice on my way back home…all because I switched my flights to take Hawaiian airlines new airplane back home. Needles to say my Leihoku suite seat turned into a premium economy seat and an extra connection.

Here are 3 headlines, 2 hacks, and 1 question answered this week…

3 Headlines

One.

Stay two nights get third free (LINK)

American Express is celebrating their 40th anniversary and with that are giving Amex Plat cardholders extra perks for a limited time. The one that stood out the most was a third night free when you book two through their portal. Although only 200+ Fine Hotels + Resorts and The Hotel Collection properties are participating, this is a great discount if you had some travel already planned.

Two.

BILT adds Hilton Honors as transfer partner (LINK)

The list of credit card partners just keeps growing. As of now Bilt can transfer to all 4 of the major hotel brands Hilton, Hyatt, IHG and Marriott Bonvoy. While they are transfer partners, it doesn’t necessarily mean you should transfer points over to them. Given that the ratio is 1:1 and Hilton points are only worth .6 cents vs Bilts 2.05 But if you just need a couple points to top off it’s great to know you have that option.

Three. 

[Deal Alert] New York (EWR) to Bahamas (NAS)

From now until September you can find 5k United miles flights each way. Just log into the United portal and look at the 30 day calendar. Let me know if you end up booking and taking advantage of this deal!

Bonus.

Waldorf Astoria Costa Rica Hotel Bookable with points (LINK)

The hotel is set to open in early 2025 with room rates going for $3,000 a night. 🤯 When points availability opened up you could book this property for 95,000 Hilton Honors points per night but now they are up to 120,000. It’s still a good value but not sure it will last long so if you’re itching to go to Costa Rica this looks like a nice place to book 4 nights and get the fifth one free.

2 Hacks

One.

This one hits because I used it to find a flight home when I was rebook to go into a different airport. If you can’t find a flight through google flight consider running the search on Capital One, Chase or the Amex travel portal. They are able to show multi leg flight that sometimes wont show up on google.I had a Venture X travel credit so changing flights only cost be $68.

Two.

If you miss a connecting flight and you paid for it with points you might be able to get your points back even after the flight already happened. This happened to me with a United flight I booked through Air Canada. I called the help desk and let them know my original flight was changed to a different airport so I couldn’t make my connection and they were able to refund me the 12.5K in point and taxes/fees. Preferably try doing this before the flight to make certain you get your points back.

1 Question From You

Every week I answer one question from the community. Reply to this email with yours because you’re probably not the only one that has it.

Question

Phillip had a question in regards to the Chase Sapphire Cards given that they have an really good increased intro bonus going on right now. He wanted to know if he could apply for the Chase Sapphire Preferred even though he had the Reserve to get the elevated intro bonus.

No. You can only have one Sapphire card at a time. What he can do is downgrade his current Sapphire Card into a no annual fee chase card like the Unlimited/Flex and apply for a new Sapphire Card to get the bonus. The only thing is, to be eligible for the sapphire bonus your last sapphire bonus has had to have happen more than 48 months ago.