My Point Earning Vacation

On my trip to San Diego, I hope to make it valuable point earning opportunity. In my previous post, I discussed that I will be earning plenty of miles off a cheap airfare on US Airways. However, there are other opportunities as well.

First, I will stop by the CNBC News store at DCA for a bottle of water and a magazine. Why? The CNBC News store is a partner of Thanks Again here. Thanks Again allows you to earn points for spending money at various airport vendors. I earn 1pt for every dollar spent at CNBC News store. What makes this sweeter is that Thanks Again is a partner of Delta and therefore, an opportunity for me to earn 500 bonus miles through my Delta Grand Slam (explanation here) – you will have to sign up for Thank You Again and register your credit card before making a purchase. 

Estimate amount spent: $6 

Estimated SkyMiles earned: 506

Second, when I arrive in San Diego, I will take a Super Shuttle to my hotel. Super Shuttle is also a partner to Delta, so I will earn the normal 50 SkyMiles for the ride plus my bonus of 500 SkyMiles for knocking off another partner award. The cost from the airport to my hotel is $8.00. However, I found a $2 off code here (the code I used was UFCJB, but there are other more valuable codes depending on your airport.) I left my driver a $2 or 25% tip. 

Amount spent: $8

Estimated SkyMiles earned: 550

The next point opportunity lies in my hotel stay. I will be using points for one night at the Four Points San Diego. However, I will hand over my Starwood Amex for any incidental charges. (This may or may not earn me points – depends on if I spend money at the hotel, maybe breakfast, as internet is provided free!) 

Estimated amount spent $??, 

Estimated Starwood points earned: ???

One of my meals, I will make sure I spend $25 at a Dining Rewards restaurant. Very Good Points blog has a great write up on dinging rewards. Dining Rewards is an amazing program. You earn miles by spending money at restaurants within the program. Normally, you can earn between 3 to 8 miles/points per dollar spent at participating restaurants including tax and top. With Delta's program, you earn 3 Skymiles miles per dollar spent. In addition, if you are not a member of Delta Dining Rewards (like me), you can earn a bonus of 1,200 Skymiles if you spend $25 within 30 days. (I am going to sign-up this week for Delta Dining Rewards). Spending $25.00 at a restaurant will net me a total of 1,275 Skymiles + 500 bonus Skymiles through the Delta Grand Slam. 

Estimated Amount spent: $25+

Estimated SkyMiles Earned: 1,275+

Somewhere in my trip, I will stop at McDonald’s because I have sync my card with one of Amex’s promotions, details here. I will get a $5 statement credit for spending $5+ at Mcdonald’s. Free Food :)

Estimate Amount spent $5+, 

Estimated Starwood Points earned: $1+ with a $5 statement credit

My second night will be spent at the Holiday Inn. By staying here, I will spend $150 on one night but net a total of around 10,000 Priority Club points, if not more. How? Well, one earns, as a non-elite, 10 per $1 spent. My hotel room will cost $150, so 1500 Priority Club points. Then, I have loaded a bunch of codes on my account (see this blog post from New Girl in the Sky) and that should net me between 7,000 and 9,000 points. This stay should get me very close to Gold Status for the year, which really only earns me more points per stay ie 25% bonus. I’ll let you know how this turns out. 

Estimate Amount spent: $150.00

Estimated Priority Club Points Earned: 9,500 to 11,500

In addition, I booked my stay at the Holiday Inn through the Chase’s Ultimate Reward Portal which offered an additional 4 points per dollar spent on Holiday Inn reservations. Therefore, I will net an additional 600 Ultimate Reward Points.

Estimate Amount spent: $0 (see above)

Estimated Ultimate Reward Points: 600

Since I am sitting in coach for this flight ( I told you I am a normal flyer), I will be hungry, so I will most likely buy some type of food on US Airway….gasp, paying for airplane food. I will use my new Barclays US Airways card and earn 1 point for every dollar spent. I bet I will spend about $10 on each flight. 

Estimate Round Trip Spend: $20

Estimate Points US Airways Miles Earned: 20

For the entire trip, I plan on earning approximately the following points/miles:

US Airways Miles: 9150         

Delta SkyMiles: $2330+ 

Priority Club Points: 9500+ 

Ultimate Rewards Points: 600

Starwood Points: ???

No bad for spending about $350. These totals do not count the points I will earn from placing the charges on my various credit cards, so they will defiantly be higher.

Did this take me time to figure out how to earn these points? Yes. 

Did I probably spend to much time thinking about this? Yes

Was it worth it? Oh, yeah!

By simple taking time before your trip, one can earn a massive amount of points afterwards. Yes, it takes time, but when you see the balances in your frequent flyer accounts increase, its well worth the time!

Happy Weekend Travels All!!!!