The Beginner’s Guide to Earning Points and Miles

I’ll be the first to admit that travel isn’t always cheap. While it’s possible to explore destinations like Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam on a budget, your expenses eventually add up even if you’re only spending $20 per day.

Since I started traveling the world full-time nine years ago, I’ve used travel credit cards to collect points and earn miles. It’s helped me afford round trip flights, upgrades to business class and stays in some of the world’s top luxury hotels.

But with so many different travel credit cards out there, it’s a bit overwhelming trying to decide which one is the best option for you. Plus, there are other things to consider like annual membership fees, reward schemes and how to earn points on your purchases.

Here is a beginner’s guide to earning points and miles with your travel credit card!

Do you want to use your miles to fly first class or would you rather take two trips in coach? Having a goal in mind will help you stay focused on the points and create a strategy that will help you achieve what you set out to do.

If you can, try to earn points for the airline you fly most often. I struggle with this because there’s often no rhyme or reason to the destinations I visit, and it’s hard for me to stay loyal to one airline.

However, no matter who I fly with, I always make sure to sign up and enter my loyalty number when booking a flight!

I’m a big fan of airline alliances like Star Alliance and Oneworld Alliance which group a bunch of different airlines under the same umbrella. It makes it easy to collect miles and redeem them because you can use points earned on one airline other airlines within an alliance — not just a single airline!

Another helpful tip: ALWAYS keep your boarding pass! If you ever forget to claim points on a flight, you’ll need your ticket number to claim the points after your flight.