Small Change – Huge Results

THE ONE TINY CHANGE YOU CAN MAKE RIGHT NOW

I know that title sounds dramatic. But it’s true.
If there is ANYTHING I can instill in ANYONE reading this, that wants to earn points & miles for travel, it’s…. focus on cards that earn flexible/transferable points/miles.

UNDERSTANDING THE VALUE

SEVERAL friends have told me they put EVERY single expense on their Southwest card. You all know I love Southwest. But guess how often I use my Southwest card? Never. Honestly, I don’t think I ever use it. Even to purchase early bird… I use my Amex Platinum to get 5x points.

#1. In my opinion, the Southwest card is worth getting, to get you closer to the Southwest Companion Pass. And to get a big chunk of Southwest points as a sign up bonus when you sign up and meet the minimum spend. My husband and I BOTH have Southwest cards, so believe me, we see value in this card!

#2. Southwest points are currently worth 1.2 cents each. And after January, they will be worth 1.15 cents each. This is fixed and does not fluctuate for Southwest flights.

#3. The thing you can do with these points is book Southwest flights. No matter what you NEED points for on any given vacation, THESE points can ONLY be used on Southwest.com

THE TINY CHANGE THAT GETS YOU WAY MORE VALUE

What I would tell ANYONE putting all their spend on a Southwest card….
Put your spend on THIS card instead: Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card

Why?

#1. This card earns more on categories which are probably some of your biggest budget items.
– 3x on online grocery (we order online & pick up – doesn’t work at Sam’s club, Target grocery, etc, needs to be a grocery store)
– 3x on dining (all dining… your 10th chick fil a order of the month? YEP! That expensive birthday dinner, YEP!)
– 3x on streaming services (Southwest card is 2x)

#2. If you need a Southwest flight, you can transfer points earned on this card TO Southwest. Or maybe Southwest doesn’t have a good non stop. You can transfer points on this card TO United. NOW you have choices.

#3. One of the absolute best uses for Chase Ultimate reward points (which you’ll earn from this card) are Hyatt stays. It is super easy to get 2 or 3 cents worth of value per point when transferred to Hyatt. Quick example… We will be staying at the Hyatt Regency in Orlando soon – booked with 9K Chase points we transferred to Hyatt – Room rate is $250 – 2.7 cents per point value.
How about staying at a luxury hotel? We recently got FOUR cents point value when we used points to stay at the Park Hyatt New York!

THE BEST PLACE TO START

Using one card for every purchase is certainly not what I recommend.
BUT… if that is where you need to start, to ease into this and see value, then that one card really should be the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card. It’s super easy to transfer your points to Chase’s transfer partners.

And look at this list of Transfer Partners…
Flying Blue – Air France KLM, Virgin Atlantic, Aer Lingus, Air Canada, British Airways, Emirates, Iberia, JetBlue,Singapore Airlines, Southwest, United Airlines, IHG Hotels & Resorts, Marriott Bonvoy, Hyatt

If you want to get the most value from your points, this simple switch (to a card earning transferable points), will change everything 🙂