I plan on applying for the Strata Premier here soon, so this is definitely something I could work on!

Hey Lindsay! I think you'd be interested on a presentation I'm giving for a free virtual travel summit taking place on Jan 10th-12th where I'm talking about different ways on how to Earn points and miles including a couple of ways I haven't talked about in any videos. Here's a link to a free ticket with limited viewing access: nmt--bougieinabackpack.thrivecart.com/bougie-jan-2025-free-summit/ Also a VIP ticket to get unlimited access and more: nmt--bougieinabackpack.thrivecart.com/bougie-vip-goody-bag-jan-2025/ Generally speaking maximizing your daily spend and taking advantage of shopping portals with mini bonuses from things like meal kits or other similar transactions is a good place to dig into in between sign-up bonuses.

Happy to help David, thank you!

I definitely would love the boost with the portal, and the Sapphire lounges are popping up pretty quickly now

I appreciate you, glad I can help!! Let me know if you have any questions

I don’t have many insights unfortunately, buying points can make sense in some cases if you can find a good deal or take advantage of a sweet spot.

Neither of them charge foreign transaction fees so you’re safe to use both! I’d use the Sapphire for dining for 3x points, and travel expenses for 2x Chase points, and you can use the Venture X for 2x points on any other category. Hope you have a blast in Europe, where are you visiting?

@ awesome! I’ll be going to Ireland for new years

Love that

Thank you!

Exactly, and I can’t think of a better itinerary when you can do both Hawaii AND Japan!

Really? How

💯 that’s the plan eventually!

Thank you! If you liked this video, you’re going to love my newsletter: nursemichaeltravels.com/newsletter/

For sure!!! It’d be hard to justify a CSR if you fly from DC airports

Hi and thank you! The only thing that has changed is the pricing, unfortunately the points prices did increase since I published the video, but you should still be able to find availability and book flights on Qatar, but not every flight will be available. What are you looking for exactly and I can see what I find?

Sounds like a well oiled machine!

👌🏽👌🏽 what’s on the top of yalls list?

That’s one of the perks, right? 😂😂

@@NurseMichaelTravels Absolutely Yes Sir!! I love it and always enjoy your videos. keep them coming!

Thank you, and Will do!

One P, Retired but only travel 2-3 times per year and most often SEA to CGK Business class. sitting on a small pile of Alaska miles looking for the big redemption some day... whatever that looks like we don't know yet.

Great tip! Round The World tickets are definitely a steal if someone’s got the patience to master those award bookings! Thank you for sharing this

You’re welcome! Glad to help!

🥳 welcome! And I appreciate it, I hope my channel is helpful for you, let me know if you have any questions

😂 it’s easy to forget about it for sure!

Awesome, welcome! Let me know what you think!

The answer could vary depending on where you’re trying to go. International or domestic? First choices that come to mind include: Virgin Atlantic, Flying Blue, Avianca. - Turkish Airlines if you’re talking domestic Economy.

international flights

Virgin Atlantic is great if you can find their saver pricing to the UK. They’ll have other destinations if you find KLM/Air France availability on Virgin Atlantic Flying Blue is good to get to anywhere in Europe. That emirates sweet spot to Milan or Athens from JFK is great as well. Singapore Airlines can be okay, their points price is just okay, but their fees are really low. Get to Singapore from several airports, plus their LAX-NRT. They have JFK-FRA route as well but there’s typically cheaper points prices for economy when getting to Europe. British Airways will sometimes have okay redemptions. With economy you’ll just want to compare it to the cash price because sometimes it won’t always be a good deal if there’s an alternative cheap flight deal

You’re welcome! And that’s awesome you found a flight! The fee is annoying. AMEX charges fees whenever you transfer domestic airlines like Delta and Hawaiian Airlines sadly. I’d definitely do the $6 over the 1200 points

They’re hard to beat!

This is true! Thanks for adding this! Just beware of their cancellation/refund policy! It’s explained a bit more in depth in this article: awardwallet.com/blog/etihad-guest-refund-policy/

That’s a great duo to have. I’ve got the Denver capital one lounge on my list, it keeps escaping me 😂. Capital One’s one of my favorites for flights, keep me posted on what yall end up booking! And lmk if you’ve got any questions

That doesn't sound bad if that's all there was available. I definitely get the desire to have it all on one ticket versus needing a separate positioning flight, I'm assuming that's for one-way business class? Flying Blue stopovers are nice because they're free, but the bad thing about it is that you need to call, and see if they can do it, I haven't done it yet so I don't have first-hand experience but from what I understand your stopover flight also needs to be saver award space which may or may not be that easy. With Air Canada, it will cost you 5k points, but many times you can book it online.

Happy Thanksgiving bro!

Sorry for the late response, PointsYeah & Seats.aero are my personal favorites there are a couple others out there. I go into detail about how I use various ones in my award search toolkit that I’ll link, But for Turkey, I would check Turkish Airlines’ website specifically, the tools will sometimes miss their availability, and then maybe search other options with layovers like Flying Blue nmtravels.ck.page/search

Appreciate it! I've been looking forward to sharing this tool!

Thank you! That 4th night free stipulation is definitely worth knowing avoid future disappointment.

😂😂 mine was getting bad too, took me back to my old computer growing up when pop ups were everywhere

Do you mean for Savewise? Here it is: getsavewise.com/pro?ref=michael63

@@marcg3038 did you already transfer? The redemption is still possible, the pricing has increased since I published this though. I don’t have it on hand atm. If you haven’t transferred yet, check to see if it’s available via Alaska Airlines and take advantage of the Hawaiian merger

Glad I could help!

Solid choice, always easier to find flights once you get to Asia. What’s your preferred way to get to Japan?

For me personally, I prefer JAL and SIN due to a couple of reasons. See my 2nd home based is Japan and here in LAX so JAL is because I do have JAL points (can generate it on going) to book directly and prefer OW status. Cash booking is ok too while in JP to SEA (cheaper than LAX/US to SEA). Plus getting special cash discounts for JAL (only for certain Japanese). As for SIN, I just like the services if not better than JAL. Here in the US, I do transfer points to SIN a lot to JP or just used JAL. ANA is ok but still want OW high status (JAL).

That sounds like an awesome setup. I've heard One World status is definitely one of the more valuable statuses.

Awesome redemption!!!

​@@NurseMichaelTravelsyes, have chase korean credit card. Took 3 years to build up those points.

Oh those were with Korean Air miles!? Wow those are hard to earn

@@NurseMichaelTravels yes, korean miles with their sponsored chase card, very hard to earn. $1.00 equals one mile. So, for that 150k trip, I had to purchase $150,000 of merchandise. But during t h e covid years, I purchased everything on that card so by end of 2022, had 300k points or miles credited on korean air. 300k = $300,000 worth of purchases.

Now know what not to do, the signup bonuses is what I am after nowadays. Two years running with 550k points. Amex platinum signup bonus Venture X signup bonus Venture signup bonus Southwest priority signup bonus Amex Marrriot Brilliant signup bonus